Mutual Healing Shipping Meme

[onlycareaboutshipping]

Mutual Healing Shipping Meme

Healing doesn't come quickly, whether the need comes from physical or mental wounds. But you're trying regain your strength - and yourself. People, as a general rule, are kind, or at least not outright inflammatory to you, it seems. Still, you just can't connect with them. No matter how nice, how caring, they don't understand. They've never experienced anything like what you've gone through, or they're not like you in a way that lets them see what you still go through; they have no frame of reference. Sure, they have sympathy, but it's not the same. So there's no real connection, despite any friendliness. It's so easy, then, to feel detached... ...until you meet them, in this place of both death and healing. They may not have been through the exact same struggles, they may not be exactly the same as you, but they know what darkness is light. How they handle this fact may be better or worse than how you do, yet you can see yourself in their actions. And for once? There's connection; more than that, too. Slowly, you can feel yourself opening up towards them, and then, falling for them. Is this something your used to? Will you fight your feelings, or will you jump at the opportunity to be with someone who can begin to get you? You may have little choice in the matter, as your instincts may just reach out to be with whatever compatible contact you can get. That's better, in the long run, though. Who else could have wounds like yours? Essentially, it's what it says: a "romance," in the loose definition, or "shipping" meme for characters who have been through the wringer or have hangups. Reply with your character, preferences, and any info you want to include. Remember, the more information, the more taggable you are. Respond to others. Thread.

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Anastasia/The Red Queen (ouat in wonderland)

[loveisnotenough]

[She's died twice, so that's a thing. Ana also comes with a fair amount of emotional baggage, much of which she loaded on herself by choosing power and status over love. In an attempt to undo the mistakes of her past, she shirked her duties as queen and nearly drove the kingdom into ruin. She's at the point where doubts anyone could love her after what she's done, and she wonders if she should even bother trying to be a better person.]

[contocricket]

((OOC: I am shamefully canon-blind on OUAT in Wonderland, but would the Red Queen like to meet a former cricket with terrible backstory who got tortured on a boat for days all while dealing with the issues and secrets of his neighbors?))

[loveisnotenough]

((OOC: Why yes, because this queen's mun has adored Archie for forever and a day! They can bond over lousy parents and being manipulated by Cora.

Plot-wise, set it in Storybrooke? Maybe she finally ran away from Wonderland after screwing up the kingdom. Ana can be pretty cold and arrogant on the surface; she had humble beginnings and then married into luxury so she's got a habit of putting on an aristocratic air. She also the ex-flame of Will Scarlet who's currently on the show, if that helps at all.))

[contocricket]

((OOC: Yay bonding!...Wait.))

((Set in Storybrooke works for me! Any particular timeframe I should stay in? Like obviously post-Jolly Roger for Archie, but where abouts would you prefer branching off?))

[loveisnotenough]

((Ooh, what if it's near the early Zelena arc? Archie would also have the bonus of "I have no idea where tbe last year of my life went" thing going for him.))

[contocricket]

((OOC: Oh you are evil. I approve! Shall I start us off?))

[loveisnotenough]

((OOC: :D Please do!))

[contocricket]

((OOC: Starting off as prose, but feel free to switch to action tags if you like. :) ))

After his "stay" aboard the Jolly Roger, the docks didn't hold any sort of comfort for Archie. He'd once loved the view from his office, but now he could hardly stand to look out the window unless he absolutely had to since the second floor office gave him a view of the harbor. So instead of walking by the water, Archie retreated more and more often into the woods when he didn't have patients or paperwork.

Pongo liked their walks in the woods since he got some time off the leash, but the intelligent dog had noticed that his human pet's walks were getting longer and longer yet cheered him less and less. He stuck close to the man, periodically bumping his hand.

Archie absently petted Pongo, not pausing in his walk. Two lives in his head. Being tortured on the Jolly Roger. Missing an entire year of his life. Not to mention having all that while juggling the issues and secrets of everyone else in Storybrooke.

Too much. It was getting to be too much.

[loveisnotenough]

Not enough, Anastasia had realized. It was never going to be enough: all the power in Wonderland couldn't fill the void in her life she'd created. Nor had she the strength to set it all right when she finally realized her error. It was all too late. Her only option was a swift exit before the peasants led a mob against her..

The White Rabbit had opened one of his holes between realms, and left her in the same town from which he'd once retrieved Will. The first week, it was hard not to be reminded of him while she pickpocketed here and there to get by. She still carried herself like a queen most of the time, but she had not always been so - she still knew how to get her hands dirty, and it was necessary for her to blend in quickly. Even her plainest travel outfit looked lavish compared to the strangely cut raiment of the townspeople.

Blending in was one thing, but getting along with others was a different story. The same gossip floated about the old woman's tavern that was a local staple of cuisine, to the point it had become exhausting. Great magic hung about the town, a fact corroborated by the collective curse of missing memories. As she wandered into the woods, Anastasia found herself envying the people of Storybrooke: how freeing it would be to forget the trials of the last year and the consequences that came with them.

[contocricket]

Forgetting wasn't always a blessing unless you forgot it all. In some ways, the original curse had given Archie a strange sort of Happy Ending...as miserable as it had been.

Pongo whined softly before he caught the scent of someone else in the wood. He froze, ears pricked up, as he sniffed the air again.

"Pongo, come on," the former cricket sighed.

The Dalmatian didn't listen, starting to follow the new scent even as Archie shouted after him.

ack sorry for the slow

[loveisnotenough]

Ana heard the rustle of leaves underfoot and turned around, instantly wary. Had she been followed? Who would dare? She stepped to the side of a tree, suspicious and peering just past it.

A spotted dog trotted into view, as though on the trail of a curious something. A wry smile curved her lips and she stepped out, kneeling down to hold out her hand.

"Now what's a handsome creature like you doing all the way out here, hm? Where's your master?"

No problem. I was slower.

[contocricket]

Pongo sniffed at her hand before shoving his nose into it, tail wagging madly. Then he lifted his head again at her question, and he turned around and started barking.

There was another rustle of leaves before Archie came into view, pulling his jacket sleeve free of a branch in the foliage that had tried to hold him back.

"Pongo, what did you think you were--Oh. Um...hello."

Awkward introduction was awkward.

Edgar Eicheln | oc | ota

[ofthecubs]

okay help so many ideas

[asidisappear]

one of those terribad aus where edgar starts to show up to trainings with shea? hogwarts au where she isn't a douchecanoe, post battle of hogwarts? somewhen when the chess set attacked earlier on? or just they both got injured a lot in challenges that happened at the same time and are learning how to deal?

we have so much time bb ;;

[ofthecubs]

either chess or challenges are what i'm feeling

.....this is truE :o also RNG said chess

[asidisappear]

It had all happened so suddenly.

There wasn't much of warning-- though, really, it wasn't like one was to be expected. The Chess Set had swept in like a hurricane, wrecking Suits and families in their wake. The losses to death and betrayal had left all of the Deck a little shattered.

But they were still here, broken as they were. They were learning to bear the weight of grief on shoulders that had already been a little broken in by hurt.

Ellie's still not healed enough from breaking most of her ribs in a fight with a Knight to be able to walk about for very long, even though it's been recommended to get her strength back up. Edgar will find her sitting on a bench with her eyes shut, one hand resting against her chest as she tries to catch her breath again.

the whOLE REST OF TIME (mostly tomorrow tho)

[ofthecubs]

Life has been happening much more in a stop and start now. Things move in an odd, halting fashion, like they're all still tripping around the pieces of their lives that have been so painfully ripped out.

It means they need to cling even tighter, in Edgar's opinion, to what they have left.

Ellie is someone he has left. Ellie is someone his whole world can reduce down to when he sees her stumble like this. Ellie isn't someone to lose.

"--hey. You're--?"

huzZAH (at least kinda. i'm being kidnapped to bb dragon tomorrow. :|a)

[asidisappear]

Her eyes will snap open upon hearing Edgar's voice and the concern laced in his words. She hasn't quite caught her breath enough to speak, but she'll wave her other hand at him in what's hopefully a soothing manner.

"--'ll righ'," she finally manages, "Just-- breathing."

(and hopefully having hella fun \o/)

[ofthecubs]

"...breathing."

It's important. It's something none of them are doing enough these days. There's a slump in his shoulders as he shifts forward the rest of the way to drop down onto the ground beside the bench. Sitting next to her properly would lead to clinging. Sitting on the ground means she's close and warm but he can keep his arms tight around his own stomach.

"Cool."

He can breathe here with her, right?

(i hope it will be \o/)

[asidisappear]

"'f you-- say so."

Mostly it's just necessary, at the moment. Having to think about breathing isn't an entirely unfamilar state of being, but even at the worst of times in her youth, it's never been quite as bad as this. It takes a moment to reply.

"You-- all right?"

(so much win \o/)

[ofthecubs]

He'll need to get up soon. He'll need to get back to taking care of what he has left.

It just feels so impossible to stand up, now that he's sitting here with her.

"--no. But-- who the hell is, these days, nn?"

(\o/)

[asidisappear]

A huff of a laugh. She manages to keep herself from wincing too much.

"Very true." But. "'re you-- not actively hurt, at least?"

[ofthecubs]

There's an instant sort of shift at the slight disruption in her laughter. There's no ability to hold himself back from reaching to rest a hand on her knee. Not everyone is as jumpy and nervous, but not everyone had been hit the same.

"...no. No, 'm-- fine."

[asidisappear]

"Y'sure?"

Because his hand is on her knee. Because there's a clear sort of nervousness in his eyes.

Dr. Archie Hopper aka Jiminy Cricket | OUAT | OTA

[contocricket]

((OOC: No smut please. This guy is the town psychiatrist and gets to carry everybody else's issues and secrets in addition to his own, even getting tortured in an attempt to get him to surrender some of those secrets, so for the purposes of this meme, using this AU where he's on the brink of a psychological meltdown.))