La Bella Farfalla

Icon Post - Once Upon A Time, Game of Thrones, Merlin, Agents of Shield

bella_farfalla — Fri, 20 May 2016 22:14:01 GMT

27 Once Upon A Time icons, 6 Game of Thrones icons, 7 Merlin icons, 3 Agents of Shield icons.

Previews:

1-27 - Once Upon A Time
28-33 - Game of Thrones
34-36 - Agents of Shield
37-43 - Merlin

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Rules, Info, etc
- Resource list can be found here.
- Icontest awards can be found here.
- If you want any icons edited at all (i.e different colours, fonts, text, etc) then just leave a comment and I'd be more than happy to change them how you wish.
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- Absolutely no hotlinking. If you're unsure what that is, please see this helpful tutorial.
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Comments are not required but sure do make me happy. Enjoy! :)

2015 Fanfic Review Meme

bella_farfalla — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 16:17:50 GMT

Total Number of Fandoms, Pairings, Stories and Word Count:
Fandoms: 5 (Once Upon A Time, Lost Girl, Legend of the Seeker, The Flash, and The Librarians)
Pairings: For OUAT mostly Emma/Regina, Ruby/Regina and Ruby/Emma/Regina, then lots of other random femslash pairings for drabbles and ficlets. For the others, Kahlan/Cara, Patty/Iris and Eve/Cassandra.
Stories: Over 60. Lost Girl - 2 (although they're both crossovers with OUAT), Legend of the Seeker - 1, The Flash - 1, The Librarians - 3, Once Upon A Time - over 50 (I can't be bothered to count all the drabbles and ficlets)
Total word count: 117249

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Holy shit more, so so much more. Like, what? I am blown away by how much I wrote. What the heck. Those statistics are from AO3 and there are actually a few things I wrote that I haven't put up there so there's actually slightly more even than that! That's insane.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
To be honest, anything other than OUAT! My obsession was strong right up until the train wreck that was season 5. So yeah I'm surprised any other fandoms even got a look in.

My favorite story this year (of my own):
IT'S SO HARD TO PICK JUST ONE! So I'll pick a couple…
Two Jewel Thieves Walk Into A Heist - Ruby/Regina jewel thieves AU which sinksanksockie drew amazing accompanying fanart for.
Fingers in Noses - Ruby/Emma/Regina in which Regina takes a moment to appreciate her family, and this is the fic that started my whole Red Swan Queen family series I've got going on and was the introduction of Isabella and Liliana, their two daughters who may or may not be heavily inspired by my friend's kids…

Did you take any writing risks this year?
Not massive ones. I guess starting a multi-chapter story (which I haven't managed to finish yet) counts as a risk given that I usually only write one-shots and drabbles. And I wrote a few angsty things, which is not my usual style.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Write less OUAT, more other fandoms. I especially want to write more Eve/Cassandra, and I reeeeally want to start writing Kara/Cat because I am supertrashco.

My best story this year:
I am so beyond proud of Fire Meet Gasoline (Swan Queen fic set right after the season 4 finale). It is a completely different style than I usually write, and I think it's quite beautiful, and yeah, I'm just really really proud of it.

I'm also really proud of The Art of Corruption, which is one of the longest one-shots I've written. It's an 8k fic about evil!Ruby slowly corrupting young Queen Regina.

Oh and Fighting Fate, a Swan Queen soulmates fic where everyone has the first words their soulmate says to them tattooed on their wrists, because that would explain why Emma's face looks like she's declaring her love when she says "Hi…" IT JUST MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!

My most popular story of this year:
Thank you for your application for the role of girlfriend, by a long way with over 4k hits and nearly 500 kudos. I made a silly girlfriend application graphic for Emma to Regina and it was kind of popular on Tumblr, so I thought I should fic it before anyone else did. It was fluffy and smutty and has like twice the number of kudos as my second most popular fic, Fighting Fate.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Two Jewel Thieves Walk Into A Heist, but that's probably just because I love it so much, and Fire Meet Gasoline, again just because I'm so proud of it I feel like it should be my most popular fic rather than somewhere in the middle.

Most fun story to write:
Pretty much all the winter Swan Queen Week fics, because I LOVE TROPES. I've written 3 body swap fics this year, one for each of my fave OUAT ships. Also Truth Will Out and The Best Laid Plans of Mistletoe and Men because I love meddlesome Zelena quite a very lot.

Most sexy story:
Well, Librarians Do It Better is a collection of three unrelated Eve/Cassandra porn ficlets, so probably that one…

Story with the single sexiest moment:
The New Bug, when Emma pushes Regina up against the car in the rain and they make out and then sexytimes happen in the car… Excuse me I need a moment.

Story with the single funniest moment:
Hmm this one's hard because I think the majority of my stories are supposed to be funny, but I don't think any of them are like 'laugh out loud' funny, more just 'make you smile' funny. So maybe Truth Will Out, where Zelena puts a truth serum in everyone's drinks? Oh or I'd Rather Be In Regina, where Ruby wears a tshirt that says that and Snow finds out her daughter is dating both Ruby and Regina?

Story with single sweetest moment:
This is a tie between the kisses in Safe In Our Pillow Fort and The Couple of the Ball. I'm rotting my own teeth just thinking about them.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Hmm I'm not sure, maybe some of my drabbles/ficlets with more obscure pairings. Like I loved you back then, you know which is Emma/Lily leading to Emma/Regina. I should write more Lily actually, since I'm so annoyed about her treament in canon. Although, let's face it, what am I not annoyed about in canon?

Hardest story to write:
Accidentally In Love, my one and only multi-chapter fic. I'm just too concise for multi-chapter and not great at plot, so it's taking me a while (even though I have the whole plot already lined up in my head, I'm just struggling to get it out).

Biggest Disappointment:
How To House Train Your Wolf. In my head it was supposed to be really really funny, but I don't think it came out that way. Plus it was an exchange fic, and so obviously I wanted it to be extra good so that the recipient would like it.

Biggest Surprise:
Not a fic, but getting kudos from THREE of my favourite fanfic authors!!! AND the fact that 53 people have subscribed to me as a user… Like, what? Fifty three whole people want to know when I write a new story?!? Whaaaaat?!?

Most surprisingly telling story:
I have no idea, not even sure I understand what the question is asking! Sorry.

"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
I'm pretty vanilla really, so the closest I've got to that is She's not your Emma either, you know. In which Emma arrives from the past to find the Dark Swan seducing Regina and the angstiest threesome ever ensues. I am first and foremost a fluff writer, so angsty porn is unusual from me.

Easiest story to write:
Surprisingly, Fire Meet Gasoline. It just flowed out of me all in one go.

Easiest character to write:
Emma. I just find it quite easy to find her voice.

Hardest character to write:
Regina, just because I love her so much and I read so many fics where I feel she's OOC that I always worry about whether I'm getting her voice right or not.

Favorite character to write:
Zelena. I love her so much. Plus because she has a British accent I can relax while writing her because I don't have to watch my vocab, she talks like me.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:
How many different ways can I find to get Emma and Regina together? I have no idea. I'm not sure I really had a theme for the year. It's really quite a mixed bag, some smut, some angst, some plot, but I guess mostly fluff and humour.

Side Note:
I would also just like to take a moment to say thank you to the three people who have encouraged me the most in my writing this year. Dear soulofsilence, misslestrange and thewalkingswen THANK YOU! Your kind words about my fic have meant so so much to me and it makes me so happy any time I see that you've liked something I wrote.

And to every single person who has read any of my fic, thank you as well! I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

7 Halloween OUAT Femslash Fics

bella_farfalla — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 17:13:50 GMT

Fic 1: Regina/Ruby (with some background Cruella/Ursula), 714 words, rated G, prompt: alone

Ruby watched carefully from her spot wiping down the counter at Granny's. Across the diner in a booth sat Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella and Regina. They had practically drank the bar dry this evening and they were making a lot of noise. Ruby was amazed, frankly, that there were people who could drink more than Leroy, she'd never thought she'd see that day.

Hosting a Halloween party at Granny's had seemed like such a good idea until the Queens of Darkness had crashed it. It had only taken an hour or so before pretty much everyone else had left the party as the women drank and intimidated everyone in sight.

Ruby could see how uncomfortable it made Regina to be back in that role, and she could also see that that's why she'd been drinking so much. So Ruby had decided hours ago that she would keep an eye on her, and if it looked like she was about to do something she'd regret, Ruby would intervene. Thankfully she hadn't had to. They hadn't done much more than drink and insult everyone they laid eyes on.

"Well I think it's time we left," Ursula announced loudly as she stood and swayed on her feet.

"Yes, we need to go before Ursula here is too drunk to, ah, perform," Cruella said as she too stood, equally as unsteadily.

Ruby winced at the entirely unwanted mental images her brain was helpfully providing. Judging by the disgusted faces that Maleficent and Regina both made they were thinking the same thing.

Cruella and Ursula shuffled out of the diner leaning heavily on each other and giggling. Ruby watched them go with a sense of relief. They weren't her problem now.

When she turned back to the booth Maleficent and Regina were huddled in close together in the booth, talking in low whispers that she couldn't hear, even with her heightened senses. She instantly felt her insides twist in fear and… something else. She hoped Regina was okay.

She'd just decided she should find an excuse to head over there when Maleficent laughed, raised her arm and disappeared in a puff of red smoke. The second she left Regina let her head fall to the table with a soft thunk.

Ruby immediately rushed over to her.

"Regina! Are you alright?"

Regina raised her head from the table and smiled at Ruby. Her eyes weren't quite focussed and Ruby instantly knew she was very, very, drunk.

"I am now," Regina slurred.

Ruby sighed, there was no way in hell Regina would be able to get herself home in this state.

"Come on," Ruby said, holding out her hand to Regina, "let's get you upstairs to a spare room."

Regina took her hand and slowly managed to slide out of the booth and on to her feet. She tried to take a step but lurched forward. Ruby caught her round the waist and then lifted her up so that she was cradling her in her arms. Regina wrapped her arms around Ruby's neck and nuzzled her face into her hair.

"You smell nice," Regina murmured as Ruby gently carried her up the stairs.

Ruby laughed, but found that Regina's words, and the way her fingertips were running through her hair, were doing funny things to her insides.

When they reached the first spare room Ruby set Regina gently down on the bed.

"Wait here, I'll go grab some pyjamas and a toothbrush for you, okay?"

Regina nodded with her eyes closed and laid down on the bed.

Ruby hurried off and found the items she needed, she also grabbed a glass of water and some asprin too, she had a feeling Regina would need those.

When she returned to the bedroom Regina was asleep and snoring lightly.

Huh, she never would have pictured Regina as a snorer…

Ruby stared at Regina for a moment. She seemed so small and helpless. She'd probably hate it if she knew that that was how she looked right then. Ruby smiled and pulled the blanket up over Regina. She'd already decided much earlier that evening that she would do everything she could to protect her, and in that moment Ruby finally understand why.

She leaned over and kissed Regina softly on the forehead.

"Happy Halloween Regina."

Fic 2: Emma/Regina, 563 words, rated T, prompt: costumes

Emma cackled in glee as she swung her mallet at the empty beer bottle.

"Fore!" She cried out, and raised a hand to shield her eyes as she watched the imaginary golf ball sail off into the night.

Damn, dressing up as Harley Quinn for the Halloween party had been the best idea ever, getting into character was a hell of a lot of fun. Although that probably had more to do with all the beer she'd drunk, but whatever. She'd always loved Halloween, but college Halloween parties? A whole new level of awesome.

Emma swung her mallet up over her shoulder and marched back inside the house in search of more beer.

Her prize in hand Emma turned and surveyed the party, looking for someone she knew. As she scanned the room a parting of the crowd caught her eye. Through the gap in the people walked a woman dressed in the best Poison Ivy costume Emma had ever seen. The woman walked through the party as if she owned the place, her back straight, head held high, ignoring the whistles and comments of all the men she passed. She was wearing a tight green leafy leotard, with vines painted up her legs and arms, and damn, her body was to die for.

Just then some drunk football player stepped out in front of Ivy and draped his arm over her shoulder.

"Heeeeey sweet cheeks, how about we go upstairs and I'll take care of your flower, if you know what I mean?" He slurred, and Emma could hear him from the kitchen.

Eurgh. Sweet cheeks? Take care of your flower? What was wrong with this guy?

Emma slammed her beer bottle down on the counter and marched over to the pair, swinging her mallet as she did so.

"I think you'll find she's spoken for actually dude," Emma drawled when she reached them.

Drunk football guy scrunched up his nose and looked her up and down.

"What, with Harley Quinn? No way."

Emma glared at him in outrage.

"Have you never read the comics or what?"

Drunk football guy rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, not worth it. She's not that hot anyway."

He turned and wandered away and Emma yelled at his retreating back, "SHE IS TOO!" before remembering that the she in question was still stood right in front of her.

"Uh, sorry about that," Emma coughed nervously, "but hey, at least he went away?"

Poison Ivy smirked, damn she was gorgeous.

"My hero," she drawled. Her voice was low and husky and Emma felt like fainting right there and then.

"Sweet Poison Ivy costume, so are you into the comics?"

The woman looked at her intently, as if deciding what to say, before finally replying.

"Yes. You?"

Emma grinned.

"Oh yeah, I love Harley and Ivy, otp for life, man. I'm Emma by the way."

She stuck her hand out to Poison Ivy, who completely ignored it.

"Regina. So, are you going to get me a drink or what?"

Emma chuckled. She liked this chick already.

"Depends, are you gonna give me a kiss if I do?"

Regina smirked again and then without warning reached out and grabbed Emma's shoulders, pulling her in for a burning kiss.

When she let go and pulled back Emma gaped at her in shock.

"Well?" Regina said with a grin, "where's my drink then?"

Fic 3: Regina/Maleficent, 404 words, rated T, prompt: Scary Films by Katie Melua

"Really Regina? This is what you call entertainment?" Maleficent curled her lip in disgust as she looked at the DVD cases in front of her.

Regina chuckled and stretched out on the sofa, her toes coming to rest on Mal's thigh.

"It's Halloween, Mal. Besides I like them. I like the adrenaline, I like feeling my reflexes when they make me jump."

Mal stared at her.

"How is that a good thing?"

Regina stared back.

"Wait, are you… scared of watching horror movies?"

Mal huffed and folded her arms across her chest and Regina knew she'd hit a nerve.

"You are! Oh Mal, come on, between us we're responsible for just as much bloodshed as one of these films, how can you be scared? Have you even watched a horror movie before?"

Mal glared at her as she replied.

"Well no, but I fail to see how being scared could possibly be fun!"

Regina smiled and reached for the TV remote.

"How about we just watch one? You might not even find it scary, and if you do I promise I'll hold you…"

Mal regarded her for a moment before she finally nodded in agreement, so Regina started the film and settled down to watch.

Thirty minutes in and Regina suddenly became aware that Mal was slowly shifting closer to her across the couch. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Mal stared wide eyed at the screen as she inched across the couch.

At the first brutal murder Mal squeaked, turning her head and burying it in Regina's neck.

It took all the self control she had not to laugh. Instead Regina slipped her arms around Mal's waist and pulled her closer.

As the music changed and the tension on screen began to dissipate Regina felt Mal's lips begin to brush over her neck. When they reached her collarbone she sighed in contentment.

"You know it's very hard to concentrate on the movie when you're doing that…"

Mal chuckled and Regina felt the vibrations of it on her skin.

"That's the idea."

When she felt Mal's hands travelling up her thigh Regina abandoned all hope of finishing the movie.

"I was enjoying the movie, you know."

Mal's hand began unbuttoning her pants.

"I think you'll enjoy this more…"

Regina chuckled and turned to face Mal, capturing her lips in a kiss.

She was probably right about that to be honest.

Fic 4: Cruella/Ursula (with some background Emma/Regina), 1218 words, rated T, prompt: costumes

Cruella laughed maniacally as lightening flashed outside the window.

"I'll show her… She thinks she can beat me? She doesn't stand a chance. Not this time."

Her face twisted into a vicious grin as her hands worked frantically to prepare what she needed for Ursula's downfall.

"No one's going to stop me now," Cruella muttered.

Thunder crashed outside the window.

"You hear me? NO ONE'S GOING TO STOP ME!"

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"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please!" Archie said into the microphone.

"I hope you're all enjoying the fifth annual Storybrooke Halloween festival. I'm pleased to announce that we have reached that time in the evening that you've all been waiting for, the Costume parade! This year our judges are: the mayor, Regina Mills, the sheriff, Emma Swan, and arguably the most important person in town, Granny Lucas!"

The crowd cheered as the judges waved and Archie waited for the noise to die down before continuing.

"We have seven wonderful entries this year, so sit back, relax and enjoy the show!"

The audience cheered as the music began and the first entrant strutted out on to the stage.

Snow was dressed as, well, Snow White, from the Disney version of the film and Regina rolled her eyes and leaned over to whisper to Emma, "I told you we shouldn't have let her go to Disneyworld…"

Next up was a group entry, a few of the dwarves were wearing some pathetic attempts at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes, which mostly just consisted of green clothes and face painted masks. They were booed off stage.

Then came an entry which Emma later swore was the cause of several exploded ovaries among the female members of the audience. Robin and Roland came out on stage with Robin dressed as Han Solo and Roland as an Ewok. Even Emma, who was normally immune to cute, couldn't help but let out an awwwww at the sight of little Roland in his furry Ewok costume.

Fourth came Ruby in a Wonder Woman outfit, to a chorus of wolf whistles from the crowd, including one from Emma, which earned her an elbow in the ribs from Regina.

Next was Belle, dressed as Katniss Everdeen, in a costume that she'd clearly had some help from Mulan and Merida in creating.

And that only left two more entries. They'd deliberately been left until last as everyone knew about the bitter rivalry this competition had created between them, and every year their attempts to outdo the other became more and more impressive.

The entire auditorium leaned forward on their seats as Cruella appeared on stage.

She'd painted her skin grey, and slicked her hair up. She swayed her hips as she sashayed down the runway, causing the eight fabric tentacles attached to her dress and held up with internal wire to sway as she moved.

It felt like the entire audience held their breath as they watched. Was she going to get away with that? How would Ursula react? And how would she be able to top that with her costume?

Before Cruella had reached the end of the runway, Ursula stepped out on to the stage. The tension in the room suddenly increased a notch. Normally the next entrant waited until the stage was clear before coming out. Ursula clearly wanted Cruella to see her… A collective gasp was heard around the room.

Cruella frowned and turned behind her to see what was causing the commotion.

Ursula smirked and began walking down the runway, swaying her hips as she went.

She was wearing a black and white wig, a long black evening dress, in her hand she held a long black cigarette holder, and over her shoulders was draped an enormous fur coat that looked suspiciously like Dalmatian fur…

At this point the crowd lost it. There were gasps and hollers and applause, although from the nervous looks on some people's faces, half the room were still expecting a cat fight to break out.

Ursula reached the end of the runway were Cruella was still stood staring at her, and the noise in the crowd instantly dropped as everyone held their breath in anticipation.

"Whilst the sight of you in fur is delicious darling," Cruella said, raking her eyes up and down Ursula, "I definitely wore it better."

She turned and stormed off the stage and the crowd collectively released the breath they'd been holding as Ursula hurried after her.

"Uh, well, that's all the entries folks!" Archie said, his voice echoing over the speakers, "We'll take a short break of 10 minutes or so for the judges to deliberate and then we'll announce the winner."

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Ursula cornered Cruella as she was heading into the bathroom.

"You're not mad at me, are you, Cru dear?" She said, reaching out towards her.

Cruella didn't answer, instead grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the bathroom, pressing her back against the door and kissing her fiercely.

"I would be, if the sight of you in fur wasn't so damned arousing," she murmured against Ursula's lips, one hand caressing the fur coat, the other caressing Ursula's breast over her dress.

Cruella tried to press her body up against Ursula's but the tentacles on her dress were in the way and try as she might she just couldn't get the contact she was after.

"Damn and blast these tentacles!" Cruella huffed, making Ursula chuckle.

She slipped one of her own, much more flexible, tentacles out from under her dress and up Cruella's, caressing the inside of her thigh.

"I thought you liked my tentacles darling," she murmured and Cruella once again crushed their mouths together in a searing kiss.

Just as things were starting to get good, Archie's voice echoed out over the PA system.

"Ladies and gentlemen our judges have come to a decision, could all participants please make their way on to the stage."

Cruella pulled away from her, her eyes full of fire.

"We'll continue this later, after I finally beat you in this damn costume competition!"

Ursula chuckled as she readjusted her dress and followed Cruella out of the bathroom.

"It's been three years and you haven't won yet Cruella, you need to learn to let it go…"

-------------------------------

Her moment had finally arrived, Cruella was sure of it.

She glanced between Ursula, who was looking infuriatingly smug, and the judges, who were all smiling and looking out at the crowd.

"And the winner of this year's Halloween costume competition is…" Archie said, and Cruella found herself leaning forward along with every other person in the room.

"Robin and Roland!"

The room erupted into cheers and applause, which thankfully drowned out the sound of Cruella's agonised wail.

All that effort, all that work, and she still hadn't won!

She looked over at Ursula to find her smirking.

"I don't know what you look so pleased about, you didn't win either."

"You know what they say, it's not the winning but the taking part that counts…"

Cruella glared at her, making Ursula chuckle.

"All right, perhaps I'm just imagining your face when we get home and you see me in nothing but this fur coat…"

Cruella grabbed Ursula's hand and dragged her from the stage, the competition immediately forgotten.

There would always be next year.

Fic 5: Emma/Elsa, 1020 words, rated G, prompt: dressing up (tenuously…)

It was the nerves that finally made Emma realise her feelings. Ever since Elsa had arrived she'd had butterflies in her stomach. At first she'd just thought it was fear over being frozen to death, but after the first day or so when Emma already trusted her (and to be honest that should have been another big clue, she hadn't survived this long by trusting people) she understood what those butterflies really meant. She liked Elsa.

She'd therefore taken it upon herself to be Elsa's unofficial guide and encyclopaedia to modern civilisation. So far Emma had taught her to use a cell phone with only minor causalities (she'd frozen the screen on her first phone when Emma had put her hand on the small of her back as she leaned in to show her something, and Emma was trying really hard not to overanalyze that one), she'd introduced her to the concept of TV and movies (she hadn't shown her Frozen yet though, she was saving that one up for a special occasion), and she'd taken Elsa out to eat every different kind of food she could think of (and she'd had to remind herself every single time that it wasn't a date. Definitely not a date. Dammit.).

But now it was time to introduce her to one of Emma's great loves, Halloween. It would also be the first time that she was coming round to Emma's apartment, so Emma's butterflies were back in full force. (It didn't help that Henry was over at Regina's, so it would just be the two of them, alone, on Halloween…)

The doorbell rang and Emma took one last calming breath before opening it.

Elsa was wearing her blue dress again (she'd been wearing 'normal' clothes for the past few weeks once she realised they were more practical) and from the coy smile on her face Emma guessed someone had finally shown her Frozen.

"So you came in costume then I see?" Emma teased.

Elsa chuckled as she entered the apartment.

"Well you did say it was tradition on Halloween… Were you ever going to tell me about that movie though? How did they know about me?"

Emma grimaced.

"I find it's best not to think about that kind of thing to be honest…"

Elsa began walking ahead of Emma up the stairs and into the living room when she suddenly threw herself back against the wall and froze (although not literally, thankfully).

"Elsa? What's wrong?"

Elsa held up a shaky arm and pointed into the living room.

"What's that… that beast doing in here?"

Emma looked where she was pointing, but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. There was no monster or creature, and the only animal in the room was her pet cat, Socks, who could hardly be described as a beast. He was still pretty much a kitten and was currently curled up sleeping peacefully on the arm of the couch.

"Where? What beast?" Emma asked in confusion.

Elsa continued to point in the direction of Socks, her lip now trembling to match her arm.

"You mean my cat, Socks? He's harmless Elsa, he won't hurt you."

Elsa turned her head towards Emma, a look of absolute horror on her face.

"But Emma, he's a black cat… They bring bad luck, they're a terrible omen… How can you share your home with it?"

Emma blinked in surprise.

"I had no idea you were so superstitious Elsa. But I promise you Socks isn't bad luck, or a bad omen. I've had him for almost a year now and he hasn't brought me bad luck."

She walked past Elsa and sat down on the couch, scratching Socks behind the ear.

"See? He's harmless. Why don't you come and say hello?"

Elsa's gaze flicked between Emma and the cat. Eventually she peeled herself away from the wall and tentatively made her way over to the couch. She sat down beside Emma, a little closer than they normally would have, their thighs brushing together, and Emma swallowed thickly. She picked Socks up and gently moved him to her lap. He instantly settled back down to sleep.

"Would you like to pet him?"

Elsa bit her lip and Emma had to fight the urge not to lean over and kiss her. Ever so slowly she reached out a hand towards Socks. She placed her hand on his head but didn't make a move to stroke him. Emma reached up and placed her hand over Elsa's, showing her how to pet him.

Elsa smiled the delighted smile of a child playing with a pet for the first time, and Emma felt her insides melt.

"He is rather cute, isn't he?" Elsa murmured, and Emma nodded.

"Much like his owner…"
Emma looked up sharply, had she really just heard that right?

Elsa was smiling shyly and looking at her intently, and the butterflies in Emma's chest threatened to explode out of her.

She found herself glancing at Elsa's lips as they both unconsciously leaned in towards each other.

When their lips finally met all the butterflies inside Emma disappeared. There was only warmth.

When they eventually pulled back Elsa was still smiling that shy smile. At some point Socks had jumped off Emma's lap, so Elsa's hand was now on her thigh, with Emma's still covering it. She hadn't even noticed.

"Was that… Was that okay?" Elsa asked timidly, and Emma smiled, bringing her other hand up to caress Elsa's cheek.

"Absolutely, I've wanted to do that for weeks…" She chuckled.

Elsa looked surprised and delighted.

"You… You have?"

Emma leaned in and kissed her once more in answer.

"So does this mean you've changed your mind about Socks now?" Emma asked, and Elsa frowned in confusion.

"Well I don't think you can say he's bad luck anymore… In fact it seems to me like he's very good luck right now…"

Elsa grinned, and with perfect timing Socks jumped up on to her lap. She started slightly but quickly recovered, scratching him under the chin.

"Yes, perhaps you're right, maybe he is good luck after all."

Fic 6: Swan Queen, 1106 words, rated T, prompt: spider web

Emma Swan hated Halloween. In fact she loathed it with every fibre of her being. Not least of all because it made her job very, very, frustrating.

"Yes, Mrs Crockett… Yes, I know… Yes… I will… No, no we won't cut their hands off… Yes I know that's what you did to hooligans in the Enchanted Forest but we don't do that here… No you cannot do it yourself if you catch them… I will arrest you Mrs Crockett if you try… Yes, my parents are proud of me… Now if you'll excuse me Mrs Crockett I should go and investigate… Yes alright, thank you, goodbye."

Emma slammed the phone down with more force than was strictly necessary and blew out a long frustrated sigh.

The Lost Boys had been egging people's houses for the entire week leading up to Halloween, and to be honest Emma was more concerned about what some of the town's residents might do if they caught them than any of the other pranks they might get up to over the course of the holiday.

"She's a wily old goat that Mrs Crockett," David chuckled from across the room and Emma nodded grimly in agreement.

"Don't worry, she won't really do anything to them, she's all talk. In fact it might be better if I talk to her anyway, why don't you go home for the night, Emma. I've got this one."

Emma couldn't help the big dopey grin that spread across her face at the thought. Home. She had moved in with Regina three weeks ago and she still found herself getting giddy and excited every time she thought about it.

"Are you sure?" She asked, trying and failing to suppress her smile.

"Absolutely," David chuckled, "you go be with your family. After all this is your first Halloween together. I'll go and take a statement from Mrs Crockett and then I'll head home too."

"Thanks Dad, you're the best!" Emma said as she threw on her jacket and grabbed her keys before hurrying out to the bug to make her way home.

Emma felt her phone vibrate in her pocket as she walked up to the front door of 108 Miflin Street. She pulled it out from her jeans as she unlocked the front door with her other hand, and she looked down at it to read the text message as she walked into the house.

As soon as she stepped over the threshold her vision was immediately obscured by something white and she instinctively began brushing it out of her eyes. As she did so her fingers got coated in the soft white substance and out of the corner of her eye she saw a black shape drop down from the door frame.

Emma began to panic as she realised that she was tangled in the biggest spider web she'd ever seen in her life and not only that but there was a massive spider heading towards her.

She clawed furiously at the spider web sticking to her face and tangled in her hair. Her breaths started coming in short sharp bursts and tears dripped down her cheeks as her mind relived all the terrible times as a child she had been locked in a basement or cupboard as punishment for nothing, alone in the dark with only the spiders for company.

Emma stumbled into the hallway and tripped over her own feet in her panic. She writhed around on the floor, still trying to free herself from the remains of the spider web that clung to her, until she heard footsteps hurrying towards her.

"Emma! Are you alright?"

"Get it off me! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and then gentle fingers brushing over her face. She tried to stop thrashing around so that Regina could brush the cobwebs from her face, but she could still feel the panic at not knowing where the spider was.

"There, it's all gone."

Emma blinked a few times and focussed her eyes on Regina now that they were no longer obscured. Her breath was still coming in ragged sobs and she could feel her pulse racing.

"There was a spider…" She said breathlessly, "I hate spiders…"

Regina gently helped her sit up, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"I'm so sorry Emma, I didn't realise. I wouldn't have put them up if I'd known…"

Emma frowned in confusion. Put them up? She looked around the room and only then noticed that the entire place was covered in Halloween decorations. There were spider webs and plastic spiders, plastic bats, candles, plastic skeletons, cauldrons full of candy, the works. The only thing missing were images of witches with green skin and warts on their noses… Three guesses as to why that was.

Emma's mouth fell open in surprise.

"I had no idea you were so into Halloween Regina…"

Regina stood and brushed down the front her skirt before holding out her hand to help Emma up.

"Well, Henry likes it… So it's a bit of a tradition…"

Emma felt her lie detector go off and she smirked. Her breathing and heart rate finally returned to normal now that she knew there weren't actually any spiders around.

"I think I'm going to need some candy," Emma said, reaching for the nearest cauldron, "you know, to help with the shock."

Emma watched Regina's face as she rooted around for her favourite candy. She looked like she wanted to argue, but then a look of guilt flashed across her face.

"Yes, of course, you can have one now, but no more until after dinner."

Emma chuckled and then cried out in triumph as her hand closed around a Snickers bar.

"Alright Mom," Emma teased, causing Regina to roll her eyes.

Regina stepped in close to her and reached up and brushed away the remaining tears from her cheeks with the pad of her thumb.

"I am sorry Emma, I didn't mean to scare you."

Emma leaned forward and kissed her softly.

"That's alright," she said when they parted, "just give me a little warning next time?"

"I can do that."

Emma smiled.

"So… Do you have a costume to go with all these decorations?"

Regina smirked in a way that always sent heat pooling straight between Emma's thighs.

"There might be an Evil Queen dress upstairs ready for later this evening, after Henry has gone to bed…"

Emma's mouth went try as several different mental images flickered through her brain, each one more tantalising than the next.

Damn, Emma thought, maybe Halloween wasn't so bad after all…

Fic 7: Emma/Regina/Ruby, 1106 words, rated T, prompt: costumes

Ruby huffed in frustration and flopped down onto the bed.

"Why is this so haaaaaard?" She whined.

"Because you have no imagination?" Regina drawled from her seat at the window, not looking up from her book.

Ruby stuck her tongue out at her. Regina smirked as if she'd seen it, despite the fact that she still hadn't looked up.

"What about a superhero? They're always a good choice," Emma said. She was sat at the dresser brushing her hair after a shower.

"Hmm maybe. Okay, come on then, do the thing."

Ruby bounced off the bed and stood behind Emma with her hands on her hips.

Emma watched Ruby's reflection in the mirror intently, then waved her hand. Ruby instantly became enveloped in a cloud of white smoke.

When it cleared she looked down at herself and her new outfit.

She was dressed as Wonder Woman, complete with enormous 70s style hair. She looked pretty good, if she said so herself.

Ruby smirked at Emma.

"Of all the superheroes of course you would pick the one with the smallest most revealing costume…"

Emma smirked back at her in the mirror.

"Oh Ruby, you really don't know your comic books do you? If I was going to go for the most revealing costume I would have done something more like this…"

She waved her hand again and this time when the white smoke cleared and Ruby looked down at herself she yelped.

She was basically naked with some green-ish gray… something… covering her modesty and creeping down her legs and up her arms into a green gauntlet with a red stone in the middle.

"Emma! What the hell kind of costume is this?"

Emma cackled and Regina finally looked up from her book.

"That's Sarah Pezzini from the Witchblade comics. It's pretty convincing actually, you do look quite a lot like her…"

"I am not wearing this to the party…" Ruby said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Shame," Regina murmured, raking her eyes up and down Ruby's body.

Ruby winked at her over her shoulder.

"I never said I wouldn't wear it in the bedroom…"

Before anyone could say anything more, Ruby was once again enveloped in white smoke. This time when she looked down she was wearing a skin-tight black catsuit with exaggerated white stitching detail on it.

"Emma that is NOT funny!" Ruby huffed.

"What? You don't want to be catwoman?" Emma could barely speak through her giggles.

Ruby glared at her in answer.

"What about you two anyway, what costumes are you wearing? Ooooh! We should do a group costume!" She said, getting excited at her own idea.

Emma stood up suddenly with a gasp.

"Oh my god I have the best idea ever!"

----------------------------

Snow rushed over to them as soon as they walked in the door of the party.

"Emma! Regina! Ruby! You came!"

Ruby didn't need her enhanced senses to smell the alcohol on Snow's breath.

Snow gathered Emma up into a very wobbly hug then pulled back and looked her up and down critically.

"You didn't come in costume…" She looked at Regina ad Ruby. "None of you did…"

"Oh we did, Mom. See if you can figure it out."

Emma patted her on the arm and they made their way into the house, leaving a confused looking Snow staring after them.

-------------------------------

An hour into the party and Ruby was getting pretty close to just telling Snow who they were supposed to be. She had guessed everything she could possibly think of and Ruby was longing for the chance to talk to someone, anyone, else at the party.

"Oh can't you give me a hint?" Snow whined, "you're all wearing normal clothes but Regina's skin is kind of… sparkly. How am I supposed to guess this?"

Thankfully Emma finally took pity on her.

"Alright, so our costumes are related. We're characters from a book series which has also been made into a movie series. I share the same surname as the character I'm dressed up as, and Ruby shares the same… uh… monthly tendencies? As the character she's dressed up as. And before you say it, yes I know you have definitely read this book series, back when you were Mary Margaret."

Snow squinted at them for a minute before her eyes widened and she began cackling in laughter.

"Oh no, no you didn't, did you? You're not dressed as Bella, Edward and Jacob from Twilight are you?"

Snow collapsed onto the sofa in a fit of giggles as they all nodded.

Regina brushed past Ruby and muttered quietly in her ear.

"Just imagine how she would have reacted if you'd worn the Witchblade costume…"

Ruby spat out her drink as she snorted.

Snow White Must Die - A Regina Mills Fanmix

bella_farfalla — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 13:18:14 GMT

A playlist exploring how Regina became the Evil Queen.

1. Never Born - Indiana
You ripped the heart of me, heart of me open, I'll rain a thousand curses on your soul

2. Dancing Dirt Into The Snow - Missy Higgins
You're dancing dirt into the snow while all around you people grow, and watch you bleed

3. Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Frida Snell
Despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a cage, and some would say what is lost can never be saved

4. I Want My Innocence Back - Emilie Autumn
I'll never forget the words you used to ensnare me, until my dying day you'll suffer for this I swear

5. Vow - Garbage
I can't use what I can't abuse, and I can't stop when it comes to you

6. Die Die Darling - Metallica
Die, die, die, my darling, just shut your pretty mouth, I'll be seeing you again, in hell

7. Rain On Your Parade - Duffy
I'm gonna rain on your parade, and I'll keep ~~raining~~, reigning, reigning over you

8. What Have You Done - Within Temptation
Would you mind if I killed you? Would you mind if I tried to?

Listen to the playlist online at 8tracks here

Rebloggable Tumblr post here

Magic! - A Swan Queen Fanmix

bella_farfalla — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 13:02:45 GMT

"True Love is the most powerful magic of all..." or, the cheesiest, corniest, Swan Queen playlist you will probably ever listen to.

1. The Spell - Alphabeat
Your magic has got me where I want to be, your magic is happening in front of me

2. Rendez-Vu - Basement Jaxx
I got you in my heart, I got you in my head, your magic it surrounds me

3. Magic - Colbie Caillat
You have got magic inside your fingertips, it's leaking out all over my skin

4. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
Every little thing she does is magic, everything she do just turns me on

5. It's Magic - Eddi Reader
I know in my heart the magic is my love for you

6. Under Your Spell - BtVS Cast
I'm under your spell, you just took my soul with you

7. I Put A Spell On You - Raney Shocknee
I put a spell on you, 'cause you're mine

8. Love You Like A Love Song - Glee Cast
You are beautiful, magical, lyrical, you are

Listen to the mix online at 8tracks here

Rebloggable Tumblr post here

Legend of the Seeker Fic - 'Good Cop, Bad Cop'

bella_farfalla — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 19:54:11 GMT

Title: Good Cop, Bad Cop
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan
Word Count: 665
Rating: Teen & Up
Warnings: None
Summary: Cara might have bitten off more than she can chew when she tells her partner she wants to see her be Bad Cop for a change.

----------------------

"I found out what all the officers are calling you, by the way."

Kahlan glances up as her partner flops down into her desk chair. Cara tosses a sandwich at her and Kahlan catches it easily. Salami. Typical. No matter how many times she tells Cara that she's a vegetarian, the woman insists on buying her food with meat in it. She sighs. She doesn't have time to go get anything else, so this will have to do.

"Yeah? And what's that?" She asks as she unwraps the sandwich. She takes a bite and grimaces at the taste of meat.

"They call you Mother Confessor," Cara says, her grin lighting up her whole face.

Kahlan snorts and struggles not choke on her mouthful of food.

"Seriously?"

"Well you do have the station record for getting the most confessions out of perps," Cara says with a shrug, "but I gotta admit I much prefer what they call me…"

She waits for Cara to tell her what that is but she never does.

"Which is?"

Cara leans back in her chair, putting her hands behind her head. She looks like the cat that got the cream.

"The Leather Bitch."

Kahlan laughs long and loud at that.

"Well, it's an accurate nickname, I'll give them that."

Cara chuckles.

"Hurry up and eat that, we need to put your skills to use in Interrogation Room 2, Mother Confessor."

Kahlan rolls her eyes. She knows without a shadow of a doubt that Cara is never going to let this nickname go. Great.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

She stands up and throws the rest of the sandwich in the bin, it's not like she was enjoying it anyway.

Cara is already sauntering off in the direction of the Interrogation Rooms and Kahlan hurries to catch up with her.

-----------------

The interrogation is a good one. Kahlan has to work hard to get what she needs out of the guy. But she does in the end. She always does. It helps that she has Cara there to intimidate him. The woman is terrifying. Kahlan can more than hold her own in a fight, but she has no doubt that Cara could kick her ass if it came down to it.

As she closes the door to the Interrogation Room behind her she feels the familiar rush of adrenaline, endorphins, whatever, that always accompanies a successful cross-examination.

"We make a good team in there, don't we?"

Cara's leaning against the opposite wall, arms folded, one leg bent with her foot against the wall.

"We most certainly do," Kahlan says. It comes out kind of breathless.

"You know, as much as I love being Bad Cop, and you do make an exceptional Good Cop, I would give anything to see you be Bad Cop for a change…" Cara says with a smirk.

Kahlan blames the post-interrogation adrenaline for what happens next.

She surges forward, grabbing Cara's leather jacket in her fists and pushes her back against the corridor wall. Hard.

She's got her whole body pressed up against Cara, who was clearly caught off guard.

"I'm not sure you could handle me if I was Bad Cop," Kahlan whispers, her lips mere millimetres from Cara's.

Cara smirks.

"Try me."

Kahlan crushes her lips against Cara's in a bruising kiss. It only lasts a few moments before Kahlan pulls back and steps away from Cara completely.

"When you get out of that, come to my apartment and I'll introduce you to bad cop," Kahlan says, smirking at Cara's look of confusion.

"What do you mean… Shit! Kahlan!"

Cara is pulling at the handcuffs that Kahlan attached to her wrist, and to the radiator, while they were kissing.

"Don't leave me waiting too long, babe." Kahlan says, blowing Cara a kiss and sauntering away.

"Kahlan! Kahlan! You can't be serious. KAHLAN!"

She chuckles at Cara's indignant shouts echoing down the corridor.

Perhaps she should be Bad Cop more often, Kahlan thinks, it's certainly a lot of fun.

Things what I made

bella_farfalla — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:01:03 GMT

So... I made myself a massive pair of Maleficent inspired horns! Now I just need an excuse to wear them somewhere...

Okay so these bad boys started out life as two blocks of florist foam. Like so.

I chose florist foam because it would be light weight and easy to carve. Half way through carving them I realised that they kind of looked like a GIANT MUSTACHE. This amused me greatly.

But then I carved them a bit more and made them look more like turds than a 'tache.

Then I painted them with 3 layers of gesso to give me a base to paint on top of. If I make anything like this again in the future I won't do this, instead I'll do a layer of papermache, because they were still really rough & with little air holes even after 3 layers of gesso.

Then I painted them using normal acrylic paints and a stipple sponge.

And then I super glued them to a headband. Voila! Finished horns.

I think I got the angles kind of wrong really, so I'm not completely happy with them. They stick up too much when I wanted them to be more going backwards. But they're not bad for a first attempt at making something like this, and I definitely learned how to do it better next time.

Next thing I make will be a unicorn horn for sure.

...

bella_farfalla — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 17:43:54 GMT

Gah, typical that I would go on holiday the week that a new femslash100 drabbletag starts! But I am back now and super looking forward to reading all your drabbles! Leave some prompts for me though guys, yeah? :P

Also super excited about the new round at lands_of_magic too! If you're reading this and aren't already a member you should totally join! It's a land comm based around all magical/fantasy fandoms. If you join tell them Bella from The Summer Court sent you. :)

I've been really bad at posting my fics here, I've written loads that I just haven't posted on LJ. So if you're interested in my OUaT fic head on over to my AO3, there's lots there!

And for anyone who's interested in real life: I've just got home from a week's holiday with my family near Chester, which was very nice. We went to Chester, Chester Zoo, Hawkstone Park Historical Follies (I think that's what it was called, it's awesome, it's like walking round Middle Earth!), Alton Towers, and some other places. While we were at Alton Towers they had to close one of the rides due to a giant swarm of wasps right by the track, it was crazy to see!

Other than that I've not been up to much, just work, and I've started going to 2 dance classes a week - World Fusion and Dancehall. They're great fun.

How is everyone else doing?

Home - A Swan Queen happily ever after fanmix

bella_farfalla — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 19:21:22 GMT

1. Come Here - Cass Fox
Because it feels like home when you are here

2. Ink - Indiana
I will not run. You have become my only destination.

3. If My Heart Was A House - Owl City
If my heart was a house you'd be home

4. Don't Go Home Without Me - Lights
This is the song I will sing to you when we're old and tired
I will sing it to remind you that I'm old beside you

5. Feels Like Home - Newton Faulkner
That is feels like home
And it knocks me out
Just to feel this way

6. Love Song - Pink
This is my very first love song that didn't end in tears
I think you re-wrote my love song, after all these years

7. Never Let You Down - Verve Pipe
I'm getting to like this feeling I've found
I'm getting to love the thought of having you around
And I will never let you down

8. Lift Me Up - The Afters
You lift me up when I am weak, your arms wrap around me, your heart's all that I need, your love catches me, so I'm letting go

Listen to the mix online at 8Tracks

Download the mix at MediaFire

Rebloggable Tumblr post

Once Upon A Time Ficlet - "The Curse"

bella_farfalla — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 14:17:27 GMT

Title: The Curse
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Red/Snow, Ruby/Regina
Rating: T
Warnings: None. Well, Regina being all 'Evil Queen'.
Word count: 429
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: AU where Regina has slightly different reasons for casting the first curse…
Author's Notes: In case it's not clear, first part is set in the Enchanted Forest, second part is set in Storybrooke under Regina's original curse.

"What about that one?" Snow asked, pointing at a small group of stars in the sky above.

She turned her head to look at Red who was lying next to her on the roof of their little cabin in the woods.

"That one looks like a Chimera to me," Red said, and Snow tangled their fingers together between them.

They had been living in this cabin for two months now, it was the longest they had ever been able to stay in one place. Snow tried so hard not to get her hopes up, but she couldn't deny that feeling blossoming in her chest. Perhaps they had finally done it. Escaped the Evil Queen. Maybe they could live out the rest of their days here in the woods, just the two of them. Their own little happily ever after.

"Do you think one day someone will look up and see us in the stars?" Red asked quietly, stroking her thumb over the back of Snow's hand.

"Perhaps sooner than you think, dear," a familiar cold voice said from the ground below.

And just like that the hope in Snow's chest died. It was over. She had found them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ruby dear, be a lamb and bring me a glass of water, won't you?"

Regina smirked at her own choice of words. There was nothing she enjoyed more than making references to the old land. It was just a shame that no one but her had their memories to appreciate them.

"Of course Regina."

Ruby's outfit today consisted of a sinfully short skirt, stockings and suspenders, and a blouse with four too many buttons open. Regina approved.

The bell rang as the door to the diner opened and Mary Margaret entered and took a seat at the counter.

"Morning Ruby," she said, shyly.

Regina loved watching Snow pine for the wolf. Poor meek little Mary Margaret. Far too shy to ever say anything more to her One True Love than a mere 'hello'. It was delicious.

"Here you are Regina," Ruby said as she set the glass of water down in front of her, "Can I get you anything else?"

Regina looked her up and down.

"Not right now dear, but be at my house at 10pm sharp. And don't bother wearing any underwear this time."

Ruby grinned like she was going to devour her.

"Of course, Madame Mayor."

Regina glanced at Snow and was satisfied to find her watching them with a frown.

Yes, this new curse was working fabulously. Regina definitely thought she could get used to this.

Swan Queen Fanmix - Hate Sex

bella_farfalla — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 22:11:22 GMT

1. Might Like You Better - Amanda Blank
I might like you better if we slept together

2. Skinny Genes - Eliza Doolittle
I really don't like your skinny jeans, so take them off for me

3. Bad Romance - Lissie
I want your love and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance

4. Kiss With A Fist - Florence and the Machine
A kick in the teeth is good for some, a kiss with a fist is better than none

5. Sour Cherry - The Kills
Shout when you want to get off the ride, cuz you crossed my mind, you crossed my mind

6. Northshore - Tegan & Sarah
Don't stare, don't glare, don't heal, don't mend, don't take, don't send, don't love me. Don't love me, don't love me.

7. Evening On The Ground - Iron & Wine
We were born to fuck each other, one way or another

8. I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria
I like you so much better when you're naked, I like me so much better when you're naked

9. Dirty Little Secrets - All American Rejects
I'll keep you my dirty little secret, don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret

10. Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars
I don't love you, but I always will

Listen to the mix online here

Download the mix here

Reblogable Tumblr post, if you're into that

Icon Post - 42 Once Upon A Time Icons (plus 3 David Bowie, 3 Fringe & 1 Arrow)

bella_farfalla — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 20:36:41 GMT

42 Once Upon A Time icons, 3 David Bowie icons, 3 Fringe icons & 1 Arrow icon.

Previews:

1-42 - Once Upon A Time
43-45 - David Bowie
46-48 - Fringe
49 - Arrow

[1-5]
[6-10]
[11-15]
[16-20]
[21-25]
[26-30]
[31-35]
[36-40]
[41-42]

[43-45]

[46-48]

[49]

Rules, Info, etc
- Resource list can be found here.
- Icontest awards can be found here.
- If you want any icons edited at all (i.e different colours, fonts, text, etc) then just leave a comment and I'd be more than happy to change them how you wish.
- I'm also also more than happy to take requests. If it's not from a fandom I'm familiar with then please post links to pictures.
- Absolutely no hotlinking. If you're unsure what that is, please see this helpful tutorial.
- If you use any of my icons pretty please credit me. Here's how;

Comments are not required but sure do make me happy. Enjoy! :)

Once Upon A Time Ficlet - "Dear Santa"

bella_farfalla — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:41:34 GMT

Title: Dear Santa
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Emma, Maleficent, Belle
Rating: U
Warnings: None
Word count: 744
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Emma, Maleficent and Belle write letters to Santa.

Dear Santa

So, I know that technically this year I may have done a couple of things that some people might consider naughty. But I just want to take a minute to explain myself.

So, to start with, the whole 'stealing' thing. I mean I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I was literally starving, and if I hadn't stolen food then I would probably have died. Sure I may have stolen some other stuff too, but all of it was absolutely necessary. I never stole anything just for fun or anything like that.

Secondly, fighting. I know it's wrong to fight, and I should be the bigger person and just walk away, but when I see kids picking on other kids it just really gets to me. So in a way, some might even say I was a bit of a hero. Definitely not naughty.

So hopefully, now that you have the context for the naughty stuff you can, you know, move me over to the nice list. If you can do that, then Santa, what I would like for Christmas is a family. A real family. People who love me and want me, and somewhere I can call home.

I know I've asked you for this every year since I was like four, so to be honest I'm not really expecting it. But I just thought, if there was even a tiny chance… Who am I kidding, this is stupid. I'm never going to have a family. Bye 'Santa'.

Emma

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Santa Claus

I hope this letter finds you and Mrs Claus well. How are the children doing? Arthur must be, what, fourteen now? Has he got any facial hair yet? Imagine a Claus boy with no beard!

As I'm sure you're aware from that book of yours, this year has been rather dull for me. I've not exactly done anything one could consider naughty or nice. I have been working on my embroidery though, I've become rather good at it, if I do say so myself.

Well now that we've got the pleasantries and catching up out of the way, on to the purpose of this letter, I suppose. Although it does feel somewhat crass doesn't it? After all we've been through together, me asking you for gifts like a commoner. Apologies. I didn't mean that the way it sounded.

I've had a lot of time to think, these past few years, and I've come to realise that isolation has done terrible to things to me, and made me do terrible things in return. However we all know I'm not the most capable when it come to human relationships, so I was wondering, if you would be so kind, as to give me a pet for Christmas. Something loyal and affectionate. I really think it would do wonders for my psyche. I'll leave the choice of animal up to you.

Give my regards to the rest of the family, won't you? We really must get together soon.

Love,
Maleficent

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Santa

This is the first time I've written to you, so I suppose I should introduce myself. My name's Belle, and I'm 17 years old. I don't really know if I've been naughty or nice. I've always tried my best to be nice, but that doesn't always mean I've succeeded, and sometimes we can even hurt other people without ever knowing it. Does that still count as 'naughty', if an action was unintentional and unknown? That's interesting. I'll have to read about that.

Sorry, I got distracted. If I have been nice enough for you to grant me my Christmas wish, then what I would like more than anything in the world, is to have an adventure.

I want to sail the ocean on a great big ship and meet pirates and mermaids. Or I want to fight a dragon and rescue the princess like all the princes get to do. Or maybe I could go up in to the mountains and save a whole village from a snow monster.

I don't mean that selfishly, I hope you know that, I don't want to be the hero and get all the praise. I just want to see the world, and face danger, and find true love, and all the other things I read about in stories but have no experience of.

I just want to feel alive, Santa. Can you do that for me?

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
Belle

Once Upon A Time Ficlet - "Run Away With Me"

bella_farfalla — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:25:35 GMT

Title: Run Away With Me
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Red/Snow
Rating: U
Warnings: None
Word count: 233
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Red asks Snow to run away with her.

"Run away with me."

The words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. She hadn't meant to say it, but that didn't mean she didn't mean it. Ever since she learned the truth about who she was, about what she was, Red had been looking for somewhere to belong, somewhere to call home. It wasn't until she met Snow that she understood that what she had been looking for was not somewhere, but someone.

"We can live in the forest. No one will find us," Red continued, unable to stop talking now because she feared that if Snow spoke it would be to say no.

"I know you're used to living in a palace, but, we can build a cottage, and I can hunt… I can teach you to hunt. I just… I love you, Snow. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We can't do that here. Your father… The kingdom… All the people I might hurt…"

Red trailed off, looking down at her feet, waiting for rejection.

"Do you really mean it?" Snow whispered.

Red looked up, hope blossoming in her chest.

"With all my heart, Snow."

"Then let's go. Tonight. I'll go and pack now."

Ruby felt as though her heart would explode with happiness.

"Do you really mean it Snow?"

Snow leaned forward and kissed her gently.

"With all my heart, Red."

Once Upon A Time Ficlet - "An Epic Kind of Love Story"

bella_farfalla — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:12:42 GMT

Title: An Epic Kind of Love Story
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Henry/Grace
Rating: U
Warnings: None
Word count: 617
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Henry and Grace might not have fought for their love like Snow and Charming, but that doesn't make it any less epic.

The first time she slipped her hand into his he thought he might pass out. Her hand was warm and soft and he hoped beyond hope his hand wasn't too sweaty.

"Do you want to go to the park?" she asked, swinging their arms back and forth.

That was the moment Henry decided, aged 7, that when he grew up he was going to marry Paige.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thanks for letting me hide out here," Grace said with a sigh, pushing her (currently purple) hair back from her face.

"That's okay. Just, you know, make sure my Mom doesn't see you. You know how she and your dad are…"

"Yeah tell me about it. So I'll just crash here for a couple of days and then when my dad calms down I'll go back home."

"Good plan. Okay, so I need to go back in the house, but I'll sneak you out some dinner later."

"Amazing! Your mom is the best cook. Thanks Henry, you're the best friend a girl could ask for."

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and Henry felt his face explode with heat. He should say something, tell her how he felt. If ever there was a moment, this was it.

"You too," he ended up saying, "I mean, not that I'm a girl, but, you know. I should go inside."

Idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell is wrong with you Henry?" Grace screamed, "I don't understand why you're being so mean! You've been my best friend for as long as I can remember, what's gotten in to you?"

Henry tried taking deep calming breaths. He couldn't. He couldn't tell her, could he?

But there she was. Looking at him like that. Like her heart was breaking and it was his fault and that is something he could never ever live with.

"Because he's not good enough for you!" he finally screamed back, "because he treats you like a burden when he should be treating you like the most precious and wonderful person that ever existed, and I'm angry at him for that, but I'm also angry at you for letting him! Grace, you deserve so much better than him. You deserve…"

"Someone like you?" Grace whispered, her voice full of wonder.

What could he say to that? That he wished with everything he had that she'd see him that way? That to him she really was the most beautiful person in any realm?

He didn't have to say anything though. Grace stepped forward and cupped his cheek with her hand.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," she whispered before leaning in and kissing him gently on the lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When you think of an epic love story I'd be willing to bet that most of you think of some kind of grand fairytale romance, heck I bet most of you think of my grandparents…"

A ripple of laughter went round the room.

"But Grace and I share a different kind of love story. We've been friends since we were children and then one day, we just opened our eyes and saw each other . Really, truly, saw each other. And we've been together ever since. Well, we were together before, really, we just didn't know it. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, we haven't had to fight for our love, we haven't had to find each other, but that doesn't mean that our love is any less epic. Sorry Gran and Gramps!"

"So if I could ask you all to be upstanding and raise a toast to my beautiful wife, the most incredible woman I have ever known. To Grace."

"To Grace, " the guests echoed.

Swan Queen Drinking Buddies Ficlet

bella_farfalla — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 19:55:13 GMT

Title: Lessons in Flirting
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
Rating: M
Warnings: None
Word count: 526
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Swan Queen drinking and flirting.
Author's Notes: I know everyone and their mum has written a Swan Queen drinking buddies fic… But you're not bored of reading them yet, right?

"You know what I miss?" Emma slurred, waving her arm around so that some of her drink sloshed over her hand. "I miss all the flirting and sexual tension from back when we used to hate each other."

"I never hated you!" Regina cried indignantly, sounding just as drunk as Emma felt.

Emma gave her the best side eye she could manage in her drunken state.

"Alright so I hated you a little bit. Or… a lot bit…" Regina mumbled.

Emma grinned even more lopsidedly than usual.

"But you don't hate me now, right?" Emma teased, resting her head on Regina's shoulder.

"No, dear. Provided you don't vomit on me at any point tonight of course."

"Which is why it's so weird that we don't flirt anymore now that we actually like each other."

"I don't know what you mean," Regina said, raising her chin to try and look proud, "I never flirted with you."

Emma laughed out loud. "So you just sit on everyone's desk with your legs crossed? And you look everyone up and down like that? And you…"

"Alright I get the picture Miss Swan," Regina huffed.

"Well," Regina said slowly, drawing little circles on Emma's arm with her finger, "if you miss it that much, perhaps we could bring back the flirting…"

Emma sat bolt upright.

"Seriously? You really mean that? Okay then I wanna start by telling you how fucking sexy you looked the other day in your glasses. And tonight in that outfit, I mean, wow, and… What?" Emma trailed off noticing Regina staring at her, looking shocked.

"I mean, it's been ages since we last flirted," Emma continued in a small voice, "I just… Have a long times worth of repressed, built up, sexual tension around you that I need to get out of my system…"

"Emma," Regina said breathily, and Emma's insides lurched around like a drunken sailor, which was appropriate, really. Maybe this was it. The moment that Emma had been hoping for forever. Maybe they would finally, finally, get to kiss…

"I think that was all a little too… direct to be considered flirting, don't you?" Regina said with a raised eyebrow, looking smug.

Oh. Oh shit.

"I can see I'm going to have to give you some lessons in how to flirt effectively."

Regina stood as she spoke, walking over to the door and swaying her hips seductively as she went. It was really very unfair that she was still able to do that, in heels no less, after the amount of alcohol they had drunk. Emma was pretty sure she was going to fall flat on her face as soon as she tried to stand up.

"I suggest you start by imagining me naked every time you look at me," Regina said as she raked her eyes up and down Emma's body, "that certainly helps me, at least."

And with that she turned and left the diner, leaving a poor drunk, and suddenly incredibly horny, Emma, sitting at the bar.

"Damn that woman." Emma whispered to herself as she heaved herself up off the bar stool, and promptly fell face first on the floor.

Once Upon A Time Fic - "How Batman Ruined Christmas"

bella_farfalla — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 17:59:54 GMT

Title: How Batman Ruined Christmas
Characters/Pairings: Regina, Snow, Charming, Henry, Emma
Rating: U
Word Count: 2218
Summary: Snow gives Regina and Henry a kitten for Christmas.
Warnings/Spoilers: None. Probably set somewhere mid series 3? I don't know. But baby Neal hasn't been born yet.
Author's Notes: Secret Santa fic for katleept at lands_of_magic

"What on earth is that?"

The disdain was evident in Regina's voice but it didn't worry Snow much, she knew she'd come around sooner or later.

"It's a kitten, Regina, what does it look like?" Snow couldn't help smirking as she replied, she didn't often get to out-sass Regina.

"And why is it in my house?"

"Because," Snow said, as she gently lifted the little black kitten out of the pet carrier, "It's my Christmas present to you and Henry."

The kitten mewed softly and Snow smiled as she stroked it. This idea had been a stroke of genius, if she said so herself.

A few months ago Henry had decided to live half the time at Regina's mansion and the other half the time with Emma, and although she'd never admit it, Snow could tell that sometimes Regina could get a little lonely during the times when Henry wasn't there. The obvious solution was, in Snow's opinion, a pet.

"Absolutely not," Regina stated, crossing her arms.

"I thought you might say that, so… HENRY!" Snow yelled, knowing he was somewhere in the house.

Sure enough, a few moments later Henry came thundering down the stairs.

"What? What is it? Is something happening? Is there a villain?" Henry panted.

"Oh no, nothing like that, don't worry Henry," Snow chuckled, "I just wanted to give you and your mom your Christmas present. Here."

Snow held the kitten out to Henry, who obviously hadn't noticed it before, as his eyes widened and a massive grin broke out on his face.

"Oh it's so cute! Is it a boy or a girl? Does it have a name already?" Henry asked as he reached out and took the kitten from Snow.

"It's a boy, and no he doesn't already have a name, I think you and your mom should name him together, don't you agree Regina?"

Snow turned to find Regina glaring at her intently, and she knew that she'd won then. There was no way Regina would return the kitten now that Henry wanted it.

"I think you should name him, dear. I'm not very good at thinking of names." Regina said, her face softening as she turned to her son.

Henry beamed.

"I'm going to call him… Batman!"

Snow and Regina exchanged glances.

"Is that really an appropriate name for a cat, dear?" Regina asked.

"Of course it is!" Henry said with a grin, "Look!"

Henry lifted the kitten up and tried to hold it over his head so that its ears made a batman mask, but the kitten was so little and fidgety that it didn't really work.

"Batman is a great name for a kitten," Snow said, fervently hoping the cat wouldn’t scratch him on the face.

"Here you go Batman," Henry said, setting the kitten down on the floor, "Why don't you go explore your new home."

The kitten looked around for a moment before running off in the direction of the kitchen, with Henry following close behind.

"Don't worry," Snow said, "he's already been to the vets and had all his jabs. And I also got you food and water dishes for him, and a couple of toys, although to be honest kittens will be just as happy to play with a piece of string."

"You know, I always knew you were sneaky, manipulative, and downright underhanded," Regina said, shaking her head.

Snow smiled. Once upon a time those words would have been said with utter conviction and hatred, but now there wasn't a trace of malice in Regina's voice, only amusement. Snow was so pleased that after everything they had been through they had arrived at a place where they could joke about these things with one another.

"What can I say," she replied with a grin, "I learned from the best."

Regina smiled at that too.

"Okay, well, I should go. What time shall we all come round tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was Christmas day and, to the surprise of everyone, Regina had offered to host the whole family for Christmas dinner. She had claimed it was simply because she had the biggest house, but Snow thought that there was probably something to do with being in control in there somewhere. Whatever the reason, Snow was really excited that they would all be spending Christmas together as a family, including Regina, this year.

"Lunch will be ready at 1, so feel free to come any time before then. I will be busy in the kitchen but I'm sure Henry will be pleased to show you all his presents which he no doubt will have opened at 6am."

"Emma will be exactly the same, like mother, like son. She'll probably go back to sleep after opening them though. So we'll probably be round at about 11. See you tomorrow Regina."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regina was stood at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg. She looked down into two large amber eyes, as the little black kitten climbed up her leg as if it were a tree.

"Batman!" Regina scolded loudly, instantly feeling utterly ridiculous for having to say that out loud.

She disentangled the kitten from her leg and deposited it in the hallway before heading back into the kitchen and shutting the door behind her so he couldn't get back in.

Regina took a calming breath before continuing to prepare the roast dinner. She would never admit it to another soul, but there was a part of her that was nervous. So she did what she always did when she felt this way, and tried to control absolutely everything. They had been through so much together, Snow, Charming and herself, even Emma really. It was hard to believe sometimes that they had reached a place in their relationship where they all considered each other family. Even though the Charmings had said so, Regina still sometimes doubted it and in truth that as why she had offered to host everyone for Christmas dinner, and why she was doing absolutely everything in her power to make it utterly perfect.

That and she knew without a doubt that she was a better cook than Snow, she hadn't spent several years in Storybrooke teaching herself to cook for nothing.

Regina had had just finished peeling all the potatoes when she heard a loud crash from somewhere in the house.

"Henry!"

Regina's heart raced as she dashed from room to room to try to find her son, she hoped he wasn't hurt.

When she arrived at the living room she was met with a scene of utter devastation. The large Christmas tree was laying on the floor, ornaments smashed around it. It had even knocked some bottles and glasses off of the side table which now also lay in pieces on the floor.

Thankfully, however, Henry was nowhere to be seen.

A little meow caught Regina's attention and she spotted Batman tangled up in a string of Christmas lights towards the top of the tree.

"How on earth did you get all the way up there, you little terror?" Regina murmured as she gently untangled the little ball of fluff from the lights, checking that he hadn't cut himself on any of the shattered glass or ornaments.

Just as she lifted the kitten free from the tree, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Henry yelled from upstairs. Trust her son to hear the doorbell but not the crash of the Christmas tree destroying the living room.

Regina worried her bottom lip while stroking the cat absent mindedly. She could easily clear the mess up with magic, but Henry still didn't like her using it for anything other than emergencies.

The sounds of Snow, Charming and Emma greeting Henry and taking off their shoes and coats drifted through the house and Regina sighed and left the living room, shutting the door to hide the utter chaos contained within.

"Try not to destroy the rest of my house, please, if that's not too much to ask, Batman," Regina said as she put the kitten down in the hallway. Despite the fact that this was clearly the worst behaved cat to ever have lived, Regina still found she quite liked the animal, and she hated to admit that it was partly due to her son's ridiculous choice of name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The starter, roast salmon terrine, had been delicious, of course, and Regina was feeling very pleased with the way dinner was going so far.

Regina was sat at the head of the table with Snow and Charming on one side and Emma and Henry on the other. Everyone was chatting happily, wearing their paper hats from their crackers, and Regina felt the most content she had in a long time.

The beeping of the oven timer in the kitchen interrupted the conversation and Emma and Henry both cheered in unison at the prospect of more food.

"If you'll excuse me," Regina said, standing, "that'll be the turkey."

After bringing out the vegetables and all the other trimmings to the table, and putting the final touches to the roast turkey, Regina triumphantly entered the dining room carrying the large bird like a trophy.

"I hope you're all hungry because…"

She never got to finish her sentence. As she neared the table a small black shape darted out of nowhere, jumped up on to the sideboard, and then straight at the turkey.

Regina lost her grip on the plate as the kitten landed on it, and watched in abject horror as the turkey sailed through the air, as if in slow motion, and landed on the floor with a loud squelch.

The kitten landed nimbly right behind it, and instantly ran forward and sank its teeth into the turkey, trying to drag it across the floor. Of course the turkey being twice the size of the little kitten meant it wasn't able to get very far.

"BATMAN!" Regina, Snow and Henry all cried in unison, causing Emma and Charming to look incredibly confused.

Snow rushed forward and scooped the kitten up in her arms and left the room. Regina could faintly hear Snow telling Batman how naughty he'd been as she let him out the back door.

At the same time Emma had dashed forward and tried to save the turkey.

"It'll probably be fine if we just cut these bits off…" Emma said hopefully.

Regina didn't say a word. The perfect Christmas lunch she had been planning was crumbling around her and she was feeling far more upset about that than she would care to admit.

"Excuse me, I, I just need a minute," she said, then turned and fled the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Regina? Are you okay?" Snow's gentle voice interrupted Regina's spiraling thoughts.

"Yes, dear, I'm fine, I'll be back in in a moment."

Snow entered the kitchen and leaned on the counter opposite Regina.

"Emma's managed to cut off all the bits of the turkey that touched the floor. Or the cat. There's plenty left that's still good. You should come and eat before it all gets cold."

"I will, I'll just be a minute longer."

Regina still didn't feel quite composed enough yet to face everyone again.

"You know," Snow started, looking down at her hands as she twisted the ring on her finger round and round, "you really don't need to worry so much about hosting the perfect Christmas dinner."

Snow looked up at her and smiled softly, and Regina realised the expression on her face had probably just told Snow that she had hit the nail right on the head as to the reason why Regina was so upset.

"Honestly Regina, you could have served us all cheese on toast and it would still be the perfect Christmas, because it's not the food that matters, it's the company. You're family, Regina, you always have been, and I'm so glad that I finally get to spend Christmas with you again."

Regina had never been very good at showing affection to anyone other than Henry, but Snow's words meant so much to her. She reached out and embraced the other woman.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Snow smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Come on, let's go eat some turkey."

Snow and Regina entered the dining room as Henry was animatedly retelling the events of the past five minutes despite the act that everyone had been there and seen it for themselves.

"Did you so the way he just jumped out of nowhere? Like a ninja!"

Emma laughed and put on her best gruff man voice, "He is the hero this turkey deserves. He is… BATMAN!"

Everyone laughed and Regina and Snow took their seats at the table once more.

"Mom, this was the best Christmas EVER!" Henry said, a massive grin on his face, "I can't WAIT to tell everyone at school what Batman did!"

Regina glanced at Snow who was looking at her with a smug see-i-told-you-so expression on her face.

"Well, if you think that's good, you should see what Batman has done to our Christmas tree," Regina said with a smile.

All her previous anxiety was gone, and she finally felt able to relax and enjoy Christmas with her family.

"I propose a toast," Snow said, raising her glass, "to Batman!"

"To Batman!"

Once Upon A Time Fic - "So This is Christmas"

bella_farfalla — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 17:38:59 GMT

Title: So this is Christmas
Characters/Pairings: Emma/Regina, Neal, Henry, Snow, Ruby, Elsa, Granny, Leroy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1964
Summary: 5(+1) Holiday Traditions in Storybrooke
Warnings/Spoilers: Totally AU, Neal is alive, Elsa is around but no mentions of anything that happens in S4 with her (I haven't watched S4 yet so I don't know what happens!)
Author's Notes: This was a Secret Santa fic for mizz_destiny over at lands_of_magic

Hey there little baby Uncle,

I can't believe how fast time has gone. It's Christmas already which means it's time for my review of the year for you. I really hope you'll appreciate these letters when you grow up and learn to read. If there's one thing I've learned it's that our stories are important, especially when your family are fairytale characters!

So what happened this year? Well, you'll be pleased to know that it was a very quiet year, we only had one villain threaten to curse all of Storybrooke for a change. His name was Hades, apparently he's the Greek god of the underworld or something. He had fire for hair and it was so cool. I still don't really understand why he wanted to curse us all, but whatever, the important thing is that Elsa came back and she froze him and that was that. Apparently she couldn't get back home after all. At first she was really sad about it, but then Mister Gold brought her sister and Kristoff here and now they're all going to stay, which is awesome! Elsa's really cool, and not just because she has ice powers! She's really helped my Ma a lot (that's your sister, by the way), which leads nicely on to the most important piece of news from this year… Drum roll please… My Moms FINALLY realised that they love each other and started dating! It's so great. They're both going to be each others happy ending and live happily ever after! I mean, it was pretty difficult at first, don't get me wrong, Gram and Gramps (that's your parents - our family is so complicated!) they didn't like it at first, but I think now that they've got used to the idea everything's okay again. I thought that my dad would find it hard, I know he still loves my Ma, and I think she still loves him too, but just maybe not in a 'true love, happily ever after' kind of a way anymore. Anyway, he was fine with it, so now we're just one big (and I mean really big) happy, but really weird, family!

The rest of the year has been pretty boring I guess. Oh! Except for the time you threw up on the top of Hook's head when he was bouncing you on his shoulders. That was the best. I wish I had been able to film it.

I think that's it from me. Happy Christmas little Uncle. I can't wait for you to learn to talk. I bet your first word is going to be 'Henry'. Gram would kill me though, so maybe on second thoughts you should stick to Mama or Dada for your first word!

Okay, I'm done, Henry out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The full moon shone brightly through the trees and Ruby padded silently through the forest. Her sensitive hearing picked up the slightest movement, and her nose told her every single animal, bird and person who had been through here in the past few days.

It means so much to her that they chose her to do this. Not just once, but every year. Any one of them could have done it, they all know how to hunt. Well, except Emma. But they chose her, and she appreciates what they're trying to say through the gesture.

She picks up the scent of the pheasant again and she's off, bounding through the forest with ease. The bird is big, when she catches up to it, perfect for the Christmas roast. She's clean and efficient in her kill, barely leaving a mark. The bird will look perfect once Granny has finished roasting it.

She runs back in to town, happiness coursing through her. She feels free. Free to run, and free to be herself in any form. Her friends don't ignore the wolf, they don't fear it, they accept it, and even more than that they celebrate it because they know that she wouldn't be her without it, and that means more to Ruby than she could ever express in words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was actually Regina's idea, even though she insisted that Snow take the credit for it. At the time, Regina and Emma weren't together and it had puzzled Snow why Regina would not only care enough, but also understand enough, to suggest it but then not want Emma to know that it had been her idea. Looking back on it now, Snow understood that it had all been part of Regina struggling to understand and accept her feelings for Emma, and although Snow had struggled with the idea a bit at first, now that she could see how happy they both were together, she wished it hadn't taken them both so many years to figure it out.

But as far as Emma was concerned, the now traditional Christmas Eve gathering at Granny's for roast dinner followed by a lot of alcohol was Snow's idea. Snow was okay with that. She loved the tradition, and more than that she loved how happy it made Emma. Regina had been right, Emma's past experiences of Christmases before Storybrooke had been incredibly lonely and painful, so filling Emma's holiday with the people who loved and cared for her, not just her family but friends as well, had worked wonders for Emma's mood, and always helped to bring her out of herself when her thoughts turned to the ghosts of Christmases past.

Snow smiled as she checked the room one last time for anything breakable. Dwarves and alcohol was sure to result in something getting broken, so best to minimize the risk as much as possible. Snow was looking forward to Christmas this year more than ever. Now that Emma and Regina were together somehow their family just felt complete, and Snow was sure that this would be their best Christmas yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you ready?"

Elsa's shouted question was met with loud cheers and claps. This was her favourite part of her powers. She had done this every year in Arendelle after learning to control them and her citizens learning of them.

Elsa lifted the hem of her skirt from the floor and stamped her foot down dramatically. Immediately, spirals of ice spread out from her foot, making beautiful fractal patterns across the ground. The crowd gasped in delight and Elsa smiled.

It amazed her how far she had come, from locking herself away in her room all the time to make sure no one ever found out about or was hurt by her powers, to making an outdoor ice-rink for the citizens of Arendelle every Christmas.

This year though she wasn't in Arendelle. When she'd realised that she couldn't leave Storybrooke last year she had been devastated. But once Anna and Kristoff were brought to Storybrooke too it got easier, and now she was perfectly happy here. Of course she missed Arendelle, but the people would be fine without her, they would find someone else to rule, and Elsa would always be happy wherever she was as long as she was with Anna.

Anna glided up to her on the ice, she'd gotten much better at skating recently, but was still nowhere near as good as Elsa, obviously.

"Come on Elsa, catch me if you can!" Anna giggled as she wobbled slightly before skating away.

Elsa grinned and skated after her sister, although not quite as fast as she was truly capable of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neal groaned as he was rudely shaken awake. His mouth felt like sandpaper and his head was pounding. He never should have tried to out-drink Leroy at the Christmas eve party last night. He might be short, but that guy could hold his drink.

"Come on, Neal, wake uuuuuup!"

He felt the bed dip and suddenly his tormentor was jumping on top of him, in time with the pounding in his head.

"Alright, alright, I'm awake Emma, jeez, you're worse than the kid, you know that?"

Emma sighed dramatically. "Come on you know we can't open any presents until we're all together. I want my presents! Now get. Out. Of. Bed." She punctuated each word with a violent shake, "and brush your teeth, you smell like a brewery."

A 30 minute shower later and Neal felt a little bit more human. He could have been ready much quicker but he liked to torment Emma. Judging by the look she threw him as he entered the kitchen she knew it too.

"Merry Christmas!" he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster through his hangover.

Emma tutted before running into the living room yelling "Presents now!"

Even from the other room the sound made him wince.

"Here," Regina said, handing him a glass of water and some asprin, "and there's coffee and breakfast if you want them."

"You're a life saver," he replied gratefully as Regina smirked and followed after Emma.

Neal was glad Christmas day was quieter than Christmas eve, and not just because he was hung over. There was something so nice about the four of them spending Christmas day together. Just Henry, his two moms, and his dad. Not your average family, true, but it worked for them. The first year they had spent Christmas together like this had been awkward as hell, but looking back Neal could see that that probably had more to do with the extremely unresolved sexual tension going on between Emma and Regina, and now that that was sorted out their little family was surprisingly relaxed and comfortable and, well, just, easy.

After an asprin, a cup of coffee, and a cold turkey sandwich, Neal finally felt ready to join the others in the living room.

"Hey, you started opening presents without me!" Neal said indignantly as he took in the scene in the living room, which already had wrapping paper strewn around the floor.

"You snooze you lose, dude!" Emma gloated, "but at least we didn't open your presents, here."

Emma handed him a present that had obviously been wrapped by Regina, not her, and he smiled as he sat on the floor next to Henry.

"Merry Christmas kid," he said, nudging Henry with his shoulder.

"Merry Christmas Dad," Henry replied with a smile which made Neal's heart clench with fondness.

Just like Emma he'd spent a lot of his life running, never expecting to have a real family, and now they had found one and Neal knew neither of them would be running away ever again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emma stared and stared. She was pretty sure her jaw was somewhere on the floor.

When Regina had said she had one last Christmas present for Emma to unwrap up in their room, Emma had expected something sexy, but not this.

There was Regina, lying suggestively on the bed, wearing what could only be described as a naughty Mrs Claus outfit. Regina was usually the queen of elegance of sophistication, so seeing her in something so, well, tacky, was short circuiting Emma's brain completely. In the red lingerie with fluffy white trim she somehow looked both completely adorable and smoulderingly sexy all at the same time and Emma was drinking in the sight of her.

Regina smirked as she stood and sauntered over to Emma.

"Well? Aren’t you going to unwrap your Christmas present?"

When Regina was stood right in front of her Emma finally snapped out of her trance and kissed her girlfriend deeply.

"I think we need to make this a new Christmas tradition from now on," Emma breathed against Regina's lips as she guided them back towards the bed.

"Next year you're dressing up," Regina said with her trademark smirk, as Emma started to remove the costume, and Emma was pretty sure in that moment she would agree to anything Regina said.

Archive Of Our Own

bella_farfalla — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 15:43:50 GMT

I finally joined AO3!

I haven't bothered to put on there the million and one drabbles I've written in the past, but I've put all the longer stuff up there.

So if you fancy going back and reading some of my older fic, you can find me here: http://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/

:)

Fic - Like A Man - OUaT - Emma/Ruby

bella_farfalla — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 01:47:37 GMT

Title: Like A Man
Author: bella_farfalla
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Emma/Ruby
Rating: 15
Warnings: None
Word count: 1234 (No, really!)
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Cowgirl Sheriff Emma and saloon girl Ruby… That's it, that's the plot.
Author's Notes: Written for a challenge at lands_of_magic
Inspired by the comment on this gifset.

It was high noon and the sun beat mercilessly down on the small group of people gathered in Storybrooke town square.

Sheriff Swan could feel the beads of sweat rolling down the back of her neck.

She just wanted to get this over with.

The man standing opposite her twitched and the Sheriff didn't hesitate. She pulled her pistol from its holster and shot the man square in the chest.

She didn't get to be the Sheriff by losing duels.

Emma sighed as she holstered her gun. Stoorybrooke was usually a pretty quiet mining town, they hardly ever even had visitors, but when they did, well, they always seemed to bring trouble.

Emma might be the best sharp shooter in the west, but that didn't mean she liked killing people.

This guy though, had been a real nasty piece of work. Killian, his name was, and if the reports were to be believed he had been raping and pillaging his way across the sate. It was probably no surprise then that on arriving at this town to find that the Sheriff was a woman he had immediately challenged her to a duel. Normally she wouldn't have bothered, but he had been Wanted: Dead or Alive, so it had seemed like the best way to deal with the scoundrel without causing any unnecessary casualties.

Emma left the town square without bothering to check on her adversary. She trusted Doc and her deputy to sort him out in whatever way was necessary.

Right now she just needed space. Emma swung herself up into the saddle of her horse and rode out of the town.

Riding always helped calm her. The scenery in these parts was truly breathtaking - a mix of arid desert, and soaring mountains. The new frontier. She could see why everyone was so keen to push out west. The gold helped too, of course. Not that she herself was motivated by wealth in the slightest, but she could understand why others were. It certainly made life more comfortable.

Eventually Emma returned to town, she didn't feel much better for her ride so she turned to her other favourite source of comfort - liquor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Granny's saloon was packed and raucous as usual. Ruby was wearing her usual revealing attire, and after several shots of whiskey Emma could hardly keep her eyes off her.

Her appreciation of the barmaid's legs was interrupted, however, by a drunken man knocking in to the back of Emma's stool, causing her to spill the entire shot of whiskey she'd just been about to down.

A hush fell over the bar. This was one of those moments of anticipation. Everyone had just enough liquor in them that if Emma threw a punch at the guy then the whole bar would no doubt erupt into a brawl. Emma knew this, but she too had had enough liquor, and a bad enough day, to be itching for a good punch up.

Ruby's voice interrupted Emma's thoughts.

"Here darlin' the replacement's on the house," she said, setting a new shot of whiskey in front of the Sheriff, "and as for you Leroy go home, I'm cuttin' you off."

Leroy put up a faint protest but still stumbled out the door of his own accord and the tension in the atmosphere dissipated as the usual sounds of merriment started to once again fill the bar.

Ruby propped her elbows on the bar in front of Emma and rested her chin in her hands.

"You know you don't have to be like a man to get respect, right?" she said. Emma scowled at her.

"All the fightin' and the shootin'… I mean you're good at it, don't misunderstand me, but it just ain't you," Ruby finished with a shrug.

"I'm the Sheriff, Rubes, shootin' and fightin' kinda comes with the territory."

"Yeah I guess. I just hate seeing you so troubled, that's all."

"Thanks Rubes, you're a true sweetheart. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Emma stood up to leave.

"Thanks for the drink darlin'" she called over her shoulder as she left the saloon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A knock on the door roused Emma from her slumber. She must have had more liquor than she thought.

"I'm comin'" she yelled, as she shuffled over to the front door.

On opening the door Emma was greeted by Ruby, smiling radiantly.

"I know it's late Sheriff, but well, I just wanted to check you were alright, is all."

Emma opened her mouth to say that she was fine but found herself instead saying, "would you like to come in?"

Ruby's smile widened.

Emma didn't usually appreciate concern, but somehow coming from Ruby it was touching, rather than patronising. She knew it was unusual for a town to have a woman as a Sheriff, but surely by now she'd been doing this long enough for the town to stop treating her like she couldn't handle it.

Emma's room was small, she lived above the Sheriff's station and didn't have much room for furniture. Ruby sat her herself down on the end of Emma's bed, bounced twice and then laid down looking up at Emma through her lashes.

Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Oh don't look at me like that Sheriff," Ruby drawled, "I much prefer the other way you look at me, you know, when you're imagining me without all these clothes on…"

Emma opened her mouth to protest.

"Oh don't bother denying it Sheriff," Ruby interrupted her, "why don't you come over here and stop imagining it and see it for real…"

Emma smirked as she walked towards the bed.

"I wasn't going to deny it. I was going to say that your outfit could hardly be described as all these clothes…"

Emma stood by the bed, raking her eyes once again over Ruby's body in her corset. When her eyes reached Ruby's face she saw the woman was grinning wolfishly.

"Well now, is that any way to talk to a lady, Sheriff?" Ruby teased, sitting up and grabbing hold of Emma's shirt, pulling her down on top of her.

Emma grinned.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" She said, before kissing Ruby, not giving her a chance to respond. They would bicker all night if one of them didn't do something, Emma reasoned.

Ruby grinned against her mouth.

This was going to be fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Long after the candles had gone out Emma was still awake.

Ruby was lying with her head on Emma's chest, her dark locks tumbling in every direction. Emma stroked her hair absentmindedly.

"I didn't mean it, you know," Ruby murmured, surprising Emma who thought she had been asleep.

"Didn't mean what Rubes?"

"What I said at the bar, that you're like a man. You're nothing like a man. Men don't care when they kill someone. Men don't care about anything at all. They only ever want one thing from me, none of them have ever really cared about me."

Ruby sat up suddenly and in the glow of the moonlight from the window Emma could see her intent expression.

"Do you care about me, Emma?"

Emma reached up to cup Ruby's cheek. She rubbed small circles with her thumb.

"I do, Rubes, I always have."

"Good," Ruby said firmly, "and you know I care about you too, don't you?"

Emma kissed her softly.

"I do, Rubes, I do."

Fic - Kenzi's Purely Platonic Cuddle Parlour

bella_farfalla — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:35:41 GMT

Title: Kenzi's Purely Platonic Cuddle Parlour
Author: bella_farfalla
Fandom: Crossover: Guardians of the Galaxy, Lost Girl and Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Gamora, Kenzi, Regina (with hints of Swan Queen)
Rating: PG
Warnings: CRAAACK. Also spoilers for everything.
Word count: 2020
Disclaimer: I do not own Guardians of the Galaxy, Lost Girl, or Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Kenzi gives free hugs to those who need them most.
Author's Notes: This is a birthday ficlet for my darling sunsets_dinos HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D

Gamora did not dream. In fact, she rarely slept.

It was self-defence, really.

Everyone assumed that she was not capable of feelings. They had to believe that, she supposed, for the thought that someone who was capable of feeling things like guilt, remorse, and compassion, could still be capable of doing the things that she had done… Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

But they were wrong. She did feel.

So she didn't sleep, and she certainly didn't dream, for they would undoubtedly be unpleasant.

So it was with some surprise that during a rare night of sleep, she opened her eyes and found herself in a rundown wooden house. The place was clearly lived in, it was covered in the same sort of filth that Peter filled the Milano with – empty food packets, crumbs, underwear, and weapons.

Gamora knew she was dreaming. She was aware enough of her own body to know that much. But she was certain that she had never been to this place before. She had never been capable of imagining anything new before, so this was another surprise.

There was a loud clattering to her left as someone descended the stairs. Usually Gamora would be ready to fight whoever it was, but since this was a dream she was not overly concerned.

A small human female came in to view. She had long dark hair and was dressed very differently to all the other humans Gamora had ever encountered. Just like the location, Gamora was certain she had never encountered this woman before.

The woman saw her and started.

“Whoa, well hi there, space-age-Elphaba. What’s your name?” she asked.

“How is it that you do not know my name if I have dreamed you?” Gamora asked in return.

The woman blinked.

“That’s impressive, how did you know you were dreaming? No one else has.”

“I know what being awake feels like, and this is not it, therefore I must be asleep.”

“Can’t argue with that logic, I suppose.”

“You mentioned there were others? If I’m asleep but I did not dream you, then how am I here? What is happening?”

“All valid and sensible questions, for a change. Believe it or not, you are dreaming and your soul has traveled to me because you are sad and lonely. So in order for you to wake up and go back to your life we just need to have a quick cuddle.”

The woman stretched out her arms and started towards Gamora, who took a step back.

“Stop! I will not succumb to your Sapphic sorcery!”

“Whoa there feisty-pants, there’s only one resident of the island of Lesbos in this house and that’s Bo-Bo. Me? I drive stick. The twig of Zamorra, in fact.”

The woman smirked.

“Wait, no, that was too crude, even for me, forget I said that and never ever tell Hale.”

Gamora nodded, not having really understood most of what she had said, so perfectly happy to ignore it.

The woman sighed. “As I was saying, if we hug, nothing dodgy, just a hug, then you’ll wake up and be on your way. Although now that I think about it, I should probably make sure you understand that unless you find someone to hug in real life you’re going to end up back here every time you fall asleep.”

“I don’t sleep often, don’t worry.”

“Well, okay, weird, but, doesn't it bother you that you’re, well, you know, lonely and… sad?”

Gamora sighed.

“Well, yes, it does. But I have lived a solitary life, and done terrible things, companionship of any kind has not been possible. Until now.”

The woman had been looking like a sad little puppy until Gamora’s last statement.

“Until now? Well that sounds hopeful.”

“Yes. I now have… friends.”

The word felt strange in Gamora’s mouth.

“Well then what the heck are you doing here? Go hug them, not me!”

Gamora laughed truly and deeply.

“We may be friends but we will never hug.”

“Why not?”

“Because Peter would use the opportunity to grope me, Drax would accidentally crush my rib cage, if I were to hug Rocket I would get fleas, or shot at, and Groot is currently too small to hug.”

The woman stared at Gamora intently.

“Man and I thought my friends were weird. Okay, so no hugging in real life. Well, I suppose since you don’t sleep often it wouldn't be a total inconvenience if you still came here for a hug every time you fall asleep. I’m glad you’re not alone in your life anymore, even if you can’t hug them. So what do you say, hug time now?”

Gamora smiled.

“Very well. What is your name, by the way?”

“Kenzi. You?”

“Gamora.”

“Okay then green girl Gamora, let’s do this.”

Kenzi once again extended her arms and walked towards Gamora, who did not retreat this time but instead walked towards Kenzi to meet her in a warm embrace.

This was the first time Gamora had ever truly hugged anyone. She had to admit it felt nice. There was a sense of comfort and safety to be so close to someone and to know and trust that they would not use the opportunity to kill you.

Perhaps it would be worth risking the occasional grope to hug Peter in this way, Gamora thought, as she opened her eyes back on the Milano.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome to Kenzi’s Purely Platonic Cuddle Parlour”

Regina’s eyes flew open and she stood up quickly. She was definitely not where she had fallen asleep. Someone must have cast a spell on her. Probably the woman who had spoken, she was certainly dressed like a witch.

“Did you cast a spell on me to bring me here? Who are you? Where am I?” Regina demanded of the slim dark haired woman standing in front of her, who was grinning inanely.

“Chill out lady. You’re just dreaming, so I have no idea where you are, you’re still wherever it was you fell asleep. And to answer your far more important question, my name is Kenzi, and I will be your hugger this dreaming.”

Regina blinked.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Kenzi sighed.

“I should really make a sign with all this on it, it’s getting boring having to repeat it. So, long story short, I got hit with some Fae ju-ju, surprise surprise, and now I’m basically like the patron saint of anyone-not-quite-normal-who-really-just-needs-to-hug-it-out. Whenever a sad and lonely little freak such as yourself falls asleep they wind up here and they don’t go away until I give them a good ol’ squeeze. Er, in a purely platonic way, of course.”

“Excuse me! I am not a freak!” Regina bristled.

“Oh yeah?” Kenzi raised a disbelieving eyebrow, “then how come the first thing you asked me was if I’d cast a spell on you? And also why are you dressed like the boobyful Queen of Sheba?”

Regina looked down at herself to find she was wearing one of her old Evil Queen dresses which had her assets on prominent display. She sighed.

“Speaking of which, I hope Bo doesn't come home and see you. There’s no way she won’t succubus the shit out of you, and I do not want to have to hug you after you two have done the do. Eww. Hey, that rhymed.”

Regina gave Kenzi the mother of all eye-rolls.

“Yes well, if I didn't have manners I would ask why you’re dressed like the illegitimate love child of Ozzy Osbourne and a Japanese cartoon character.”

“Ouch, lady, this is Grade A Kenzi couture. What’s your name anyway?”

“Regina.”

“Well for that last comment of yours I’m going to go ahead and call you Sassgina.”

Regina had to resist the urge to throw a fireball at Kenzi.

“Well if all I have to do to get out of here is to hug you, then can we please get it over with?” Regina huffed impatiently.

“Oh no I don’t think so.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sit your ass down lady, I have a duty of care to my patients you know. That and I don’t really fancy having repeat customers. So before we get to the hugging we’re going to do some good old fashioned soul searching. So, tell me, why aren't you getting enough hugs while you’re awake?”

Regina considered just throwing her arms round this annoying woman and hugging her to try and wake up, but she wasn't sure if that would work if Kenzi didn't hug her back, and she would feel incredibly foolish if it didn't, so she decided to cooperate.

“It’s complicated. It’s… Because of who I am. People… People just don’t hug the Evil Queen.”

Regina looked down at her hands.

“Sweetie, there’s only one evil queen, and his name is Vex. Also, seriously? Your name is Regina, and you’re a queen? Your name is literally Queen Queen?”

“My mother was a little obsessed with power. And besides, you're one to talk, what kind of a name is Kenzi? That sounds like the kind of name you give your dog. Here Kenzi! Good girl!”

“Sheesh. I’m starting to understand why you’re not getting enough hugs. But, okay, complicated past, I get that, second one tonight, actually. But do you really not have anyone who cares about you now?”

“Well yes, actually, I suppose, there’s Robin, he’s my… my…” Regina found she could no longer bring herself to say the word ‘soul-mate’, not after everything that had happened with Marian.

“But he chose his wife over me, so hugs are out of the question with him now. Then there’s Henry, my son, I know he loves me but, well, he has his other mother, Emma.”

Kenzi looked confused.

“Wait, so if your son has two moms, why aren't you lady-hugging-with-your-legs his other mother?”

“What, Emma? Because she…” Regina’s first thought had been because she hates me, but, well, after passionate declarations about fighting to find Regina her happy ending, and trying so hard to be her friend, and those great big puppy dog eyes when Regina had told her she didn't want to kill her, Regina was finding she could no longer convince herself that Emma didn't actually care about her.

“Oooooooh...” Kenzi’s voice interrupted Regina’s thoughts, “are you two divorced now? Sorry, I didn't realise.”

“What? No, Emma and I were never… We’re not… She doesn't… I don't…” Regina was never usually this incoherent, but she was having trouble holding on to a single thought. The idea of her and Emma like that had never even crossed her mind, but now that it had it kept crashing around her brain, just like the clumsy woman herself.

Emma cares for you.

Regina suddenly, desperately, wanted to hug Emma.

“Denial is not just a river in Africa honey!” Kenzi laughed.

“Enough!” Regina said, both to Kenzi and the spiraling thoughts in her brain, “it doesn't matter because Emma doesn't hug me.”

“Well hey, here’s a revolutionary concept for you, how’s about you go and hug her? Crazy, right?”

“You thought we were friends?”
“Crazy, right?”

Regina shook her head. She needed to get out of here.

“Okay, okay, you've made your point. I need more human contact. When I wake up I will make more effort to hug Henry. Now will you please hug me so I can get out of here?”

Kenzi was still chuckling.

“Okay, alright, but on one condition, you get your act together with this Emma woman. Do we have a deal?”

“Deal” Regina ground out through gritted teeth.

“Okay then, prepare yourself for the best, most comforting hug of your life, Sassgina!”

Kenzi threw her arms round Regina just the way Henry used to do when he was younger and despite herself Regina found she instantly relaxed into the embrace, closing her eyes and burying her face in Kenzi’s shoulder as feelings of warmth and comfort spread through her soul.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that before Regina eventually opened her eyes and realised she was lying in bed hugging her pillow like her life depended on it.

Fic - Once Upon A Time - Swan-Mills Family

bella_farfalla — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 00:32:57 GMT

Title: It was a dark and stormy night…
Author: bella_farfalla
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Swan-Mills Family
Rating: PG
Warnings: Really bad scary storytelling
Word count: 493
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Emma's not very good at telling scary stories.
Author's Notes: Written for a challenge at lands_of_magic but I ran out of time and have written this a few hours before the deadline, so it's not very good!

"It was a dark and stormy night…"

"Really Ma? That's pretty cheesy."

"Shush. And the man drove down the empty highway alone. He was…"

"A mass murderer, yeah I know."

"Are you going to let me tell this story or not?"

"Sorry."

"As I was saying. The man was alone. Eventually he stopped at a gas station. He filled his tank and bought a coke and drove away."

"Well this is the lamest scary story ever."

"Shush! A little while later a couple on their honeymoon stopped at the same gas station."

"Gross."

"Shush. Wait, gross? Seriously? Anyway where was I? Right. As the couple entered the shop they couldn't see the assistant anywhere, so the guy went in to the back…"

"…"

"Are you pausing for effect?"

"Yes, and you're ruining it."

"Sorry."

"And in the back of the shop, he found the shop assistant… Hanging from the ceiling with his hands chopped off!"

"This is the lamest scary story ever, I'm going to bed."

"Alright fine, whatever. But don't come trying to get into bed with me when you're too scared to sleep tonight!"

"Night Ma."

--------------------------------------------------

It was late, really late. Or early, depending on how you looked at it. Emma was in that strange state of being half asleep and half awake.

Then she heard a noise.

Emma sat up in bed, fully awake now. The shuffling noise in the hallway seemed to be getting closer.

Panic rose in Emma's chest.

She tried to wake the woman sleeping next to her.

"Regina…. Regina!" Emma hissed.

But it was no use. The woman slept like a log.

Emma tried to remember where she had left her gun, and realised with a sinking feeling that it was downstairs.

Suddenly the door to her bedroom started to slowly creak open.

"Ma?"

Emma exhaled the breath she had been holding in a loud whoosh.

"Henry! You scared the shit out of me! Oops, sorry, language, I know. What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep. I was wondering if I could maybe sleep with you guys tonight?"

"How will that help you sleep?"

Henry mumbled something Emma couldn't quite catch.

"What was that kid?"

Henry sighed and climbed up on to the bed, crawling in between his two mothers.

"I said I was scared. I couldn't stop thinking about that stupid story."

Emma couldn't help the shit-eating grin that spread across her face.

"Oh, so my story wasn't so lame after all, huh? Or are you just a massive scaredy cat?"

Henry glared at her as he climbed under the covers.

"You were scared too. You nearly peed your pants when I came in!"

That wiped the smile of her face.

"Do you want to stay here or not kiddo?"

Henry snuggled down further into the covers in answer.

"Thought so. Okay, lets try and get some sleep."

"Night Ma."

"Night kid. Oh and Henry?"

"Yeah?"

"That was a true story."

"Ma!"

"Joking!"

Swan Queen Drabbles

bella_farfalla — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 15:20:46 GMT

Sort of. I've got out of practice at making them 100 words exactly.

Title: You Wonder, You Wonder
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing: Emma/Regina
Rating: PG
Prompt: #425; Bed at femslash100
Word Count: 126

Early morning sunlight creeps in through the curtains and you wake slowly. The sleeping form beside you is bathed in light, all golden curls and eyelashes, and not for the first time you wonder if you're dreaming. The weight of feeling lays heavy on your chest and you wonder how it is you're still able to breathe. You wonder so many things. How she could love you. How she could forgive you. You would wonder until you lost your mind if she didn't silence your thoughts with a muffled, "Stop staring at me. You think too loudly." You smile and wonder how it is she can know you so well, before doing as you're told and closing your eyes to drift off to sleep once more.

Title: Nightmares
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing: Emma/Regina
Rating: PG
Prompt: Nightmare - requested by masfawkes at femslash100
Word Count: 158

You hate it when she's like this. So deep in sleep that you can't wake her, so tormented by her dreams that you fear for her safety. She's drenched in sweat, her limbs thrashing, strange guttural noises choking from her throat. It wouldn't be so bad if you didn't know for certain that all her nightmares are based on memories. On reality. On the things people have done to her. On that other life in another place, before you knew her. You want to get in the dream with her, to rescue her. But you can't. So you just hold her, even though she hits you, and you say her name, over and over, you tell her that you're there, that she's dreaming, that you love her. Slowly, slowly, she relaxes. Part of you hopes it's because she heard you, but most of you doesn't even care if it was you, so long as her nightmare is over.

Title: Going Commando
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing: Emma/Regina
Rating: PG
Prompt: Going Commando - requested by hikarievandar at femslash100
Word Count: 139

Emma groaned in frustration. It was almost time for the town council meeting. She hated town council meetings. They were so boring and pointless. But on the plus side, they did involve some quality 'legitimate-excuse-to-stare-at-Regina' time, which Emma was always a fan of.

Speak of the devil.

"Sherriff Swan. I trust that you will paying more attention at this meeting than the last one."

"That depends, Madame Mayor, will you make this one any more interesting than the last one?"

"Interesting, hmm, well how about this," Regina said with a smirk, before leaning in close, sending chills down Emma's spine, and whispering in her ear, "I'm not wearing any underwear."

Emma had to fight to contain a moan. Regina. Commando. In a pencil skirt. This was going to be the longest, most torturous, town council meeting of her life.

Fic - Once Upon A Time - Regina/Emma

bella_farfalla — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:27:20 GMT

Title: Emma, The Incredible Hulk
Author: bella_farfalla
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing/characters: Emma/Regina
Rating: PG
Warnings: One tiny little swear word.
Word count: 1224
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, blah blah, for fun not profit, blah blah, please don't sue me.
Summary: Emma gets angry when people still call Regina evil. Set in S2, after Snow & Emma return from the Enchanted forest but before the whole murder accusations thing.
Author's Notes: Omigosh I haven't written any fic since… *looks back at Livejournal* 2011! Blimey. So, um, sorry if it's pants.

Granny's is packed as usual, and Emma can't stop herself from looking around at everything and everyone and wanting to hug them all. She's just so damn glad to be home.

Home. Huh.

She still can't believe she has one. But as soon as she climbed out of that well she knew for certain that this really was home. When she saw Henry and Regina she…

"Regina better stay away from Henry, or so help me…" Snow's voice in the background brings Emma out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Emma asks, certain she must have misheard.

"I said that Regina better say away from Henry. I can't believe that woman. After all this time she's still just as evil as…"

"Whoa, now wait a minute," Emma interrupts, "if it wasn't for Regina absorbing that death curse we never would have made it home. I don't know much about magic but 'absorbing a death curse' sounds like a pretty dangerous thing to do to help someone, you know."

"It is," Snow admits, "it should have killed her." Snow's face twists and Emma wonders if she's trying to stop herself from saying something along the lines of "shame it didn't."

But then the words sink in and it's as if a fire lights in the pit of Emma's stomach. Emma briefly wonders if this is what Bruce Banner feels like before he turns into the Hulk, but then the sheer force of her anger overtakes her and her mouth explodes into words her brain doesn't have much control over.

"WHAT?!?" Emma yells, drawing curious glances from everyone in the room, not that she notices, "you mean to tell me that in order to allow us to get home, Regina absorbed that death curse knowing that it would probably kill her and yet you still think she's evil and want her to stay away from Henry? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"What's wrong with me?" Snow hisses, glancing around, aware that everyone in the room is watching them, "What's wrong with you! She's the one who put that death curse there in the first place! If she…"

"Which she only did to protect Henry!" Emma interrupts, "And having now met Cora I've gotta say I can't blame her. That woman is… Now that woman is evil, not Regina."

"You don't know what she's really like," Snow bristles, "you didn't know her before. The things she did…"

"God! I am so sick of you always bringing up her past like this. How do you ever expect her to change if you keep reminding her of who she used to be? I mean, I get that she did some really terrible things, but that doesn't mean that she is evil." Snow's eyes widen and she opens her mouth to say something but Emma doesn't give her the chance, too worked up to stop her own rant.

"Why can't you all see that she's trying really hard to be the kind of good person you all claim to want her to be, even while you're making it practically impossible for her to do it by constantly telling her she's evil! You guys are such hypocrites! You've all done shitty things too. Why do you all deserve second chances and she doesn't? You just… She's not… URGH!" Emma flaps her arms uselessly and grunts as her anger becomes so all consuming she can't even find the words to express herself anymore. She looks around at her companions, hoping to see someone, anyone, who agrees with her. But Henry is at school so all she sees is Snow and Charming looking almost as angry as Emma feels, although probably for different reasons, Emma thinks.

Emma turns round, planning to storm out of there, and comes face to face with a stunned looking Regina.

And just like that the fire in Emma's stomach goes out and she desperately tries to remember what she just said in case any of it might have hurt Regina's feelings, because that's the last thing she wants.

"Regina! How long have you been stood there?" she asks, slightly panicky.

"Long enough." Regina says, still looking utterly shell shocked.

Emma still kind of wants to punch her parents, but now she also really wants to hug Regina. Since neither of those things would be a good idea, Emma does the only sensible thing she can think of under the circumstances and storms out of the diner without another word to any of them.

Half way down the road Emma hears the familiar clicking of heels behind her and she decides to slow down and cut the woman some slack, since running in heels is never fun and Emma's feeling a little bit calmer now.

But when she turns round and sees Regina hurrying towards her she feels a tiny spike of anger again, not for the same reason as before, but still anger none the less.

"Did you know?" Emma demands when Regina reaches her.

"Did I know what?" Regina asks frowning in confusion, clearly having picked up on the anger in Emma's voice.

"Did you know when you absorbed the death curse that it might kill you?" Emma asks, quieter this time.

Regina looks her dead in the eye and simply says, "Yes".

For the second time that night the angry fire in Emma's stomach explodes.

"What the hell were you thinking Regina?!? You shouldn't have done that! What if it had been Cora instead of us coming through? What if you had died?!? You shouldn't have risked that."

Still never breaking eye contact Regina just says, so quietly that Emma almost misses it, "well, it would be no more than I deserve."

Emma doesn't know how to deal with the onslaught of emotions that Regina's statement produces in her. Blinding anger at everyone else for making Regina feel that way. Compassion, mixed with sadness, for the incredible woman in front of her who most definitely does not deserve to die and does not deserve to be made to feel that she does. And then something else that Emma's not quite able to name just yet.

Unable to express what she's thinking and feeling Emma does what she wanted to do earlier and throws her arms around Regina, trying to express it all in a hug.

She feels Regina stiffen at the unexpected embrace but Emma doesn't let go. She realises then that she doesn't ever want to let go.

Regina relaxes ever so slightly in her arms and Emma chokes out over a sob what she's only just now realising, "I'm so glad you didn't die, Regina."

She feels Regina's shoulders tremble and thinks she might be crying. Emma doesn't say anything, just continues to hold her.

She's not sure how long they stay like that, but eventually Regina stops trembling and Emma reluctantly pulls away.

They stare at each other awkwardly for a moment before Emma breaks the silence and says, with a voice that only wavers a tiny little bit, "Maybe you could come and have dinner with me and Henry sometime? I know he'd like that. I'd like that." She adds the last part quietly.

Regina stands up straighter then, smoothes out her clothes and even smiles a little as she replies.

"Yes, I'd like that too."

Oh we're all mad here...

bella_farfalla — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:45:55 GMT

I got bored, so I painted my face. It's meant to be the Cheshire Cat from the Tim Burton version.

Not looking forward to washing that all off now...