From the Waters of the West I Come

[The Count]

Well, there's a slow non-eventful water ride called The River of Time in the Mexico pavillion/subrealm of EPCOT's World Showcase. It's the only other ride—if that can be called a ride—apart from The Maelstrom in the Norway pavillion. *Notice how they're both water-themed, pacific versus aggresive. If only the'd gone forward with a planned Mount Fuji bobsled roller coaster in the Japan pavillion, , but that's what they got Expedition Everest over at the Animal Kingdom for.

Confused? With Mizumi's roles in an author's ficverse? *Chuckles. Yep, that book's gonna come in real handy for ya Queen of Cups.

 

[RedPiggy]

Ah. Haven't been to WDW in decades, so it could be a random memory of an earlier time.

My struggle in this fic is to avoid making her the ice cold frigid witch of RTL, but she's also not so vindictive as she is in the Comeback King Saga, what with her wanting to punish Jareth by destroying the past and thus the entire universe, which would negate Sarah by default. I want her to be caring, if a little snooty. I just don't think Jareth was fair in calling her shallow, particularly because Teen Sarah is certainly not deep. I can see why RTL Mizumi is so upset with a King who berates her for wanting pomp and beauty and dumps her for some powerless human girl who wants ... pomp and beauty.

I'm going back on my Celexa, so I'm hoping it doesn't interfere with this story. I had a bad asthma attack at work and it leaves me on edge. I just have to go back on the stuff. It irks me because I haven't felt like characters were dictating stories to me in awhile, like this one is. The issue with Mizumi's vulernability stems from a plot point not intended but came about anyway, as though she were demanding it be included. I just hope that my muse will last long enough to complete this tale. I already thought of a sequel, where we find out how a more humanoid goblin, Candlewic, appears in the Goblin Kingdom and why he sides with the forces of Moraine.

 

[The Count]

Hope you're able to get better from that asthma attack. Thank goodness my dad was still with us when that stuff hit us as well, haven't had an attack since 1991, but I have had other stuff to deal with physiologically.

Now that you said you're trying to portray Mizumi as snooty yet still showing emotionality, I'd say it is coming across as such. Hauty when pulling the "I'm nobility and you're beneath me" card, but also a touch of true humanity when needed at times. It's turning into a good read, looking forward to more when you're able to get it posted.

 

[RedPiggy]

The thing is, now that I look at it, she's only really snooty to Esker. She saves most of her haughty diatribes for him, but she thinks he is after her heart (for political reasons, most likely, and in the Comeback King Saga it's more pronounced). When she meets some random citizen, she has moments of revulsion but she genuinely cares that her people are suffering. She is torn between wanting to raise Moraine's status and finding her father's method of rule (similar to the problems between Junior and Pa) distasteful.

edit: And for any new readers of mine, I suggest going to the Fanfictiondotnet version of that story, as apparently the change in MC's structure turned my story into a horrible mess of an ugly thread. Vid links now break up what was once just unobtrusive links, formats are horrible skewed, etc. It's more readable on ff.net.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 7

Upon the lake blue,
Providing sustenance, too,
The black heron dives.

Mizumi knocked on the large pearl doors, covered in frost. The doors opened and Mizumi was greeted with icy mists sweeping out of her mother’s room, bedecked as it was with ice and snow and golden vessels of every sort.

Mizumi’s mother, a woman of rounded curves and frost-blue hair, hummed casually as her daughter entered.

“Mother, I request your advice in serious matters,” Mizumi began.

Her mother smiled and twirled her hair, lounging on a fur-covered chaise. “Your father governs the kingdom with adept skill, young daughter. Perhaps you should be at his side. After all, you are training to be Cup of Moraine, not a side dish.”

Mizumi bowed at her mother’s feet. “I have concerns I am being played like a lyre.”

“And this distresses you?”

Mizumi nodded.

Her mother plucked a comb made of jewelled coral and attended her daughter’s hair, singing a melody that suggested a leaf casually twirling in the air, “How can, the waters churn, if beaks did, not toward water turn? Spearing fish, grants hunger’s wish. Youngest one, it’s of no concern.”

Mizumi stood and looked away, frowning. “I dislike being manipulated, Mother.”

The latter laughed. “How silly of you! You are of Moraine! As the river requires banks to flow properly, so too does a lyre only sing when played!”

Mizumi wheeled around, growling. “I am master of my own destiny!”

Mizumi’s mother, unflustered, calmly reached for a teacup and sipped it slowly. Inhaling deeply, she remarked, “Tea is most lovely, darling. Have some. Sit, and be merry. You shall deal with the toads and they shall plague us no more.”

Mizumi’s lip quivered in anger, her face reddening through her white makeup. “I shall not have tea, Mother. I shall save my kingdom, even if my father despoils your name in every hovel.”

Mizumi’s mother coughed. “My, aren’t we testy today?” Sighing, she noted, “The river feeds the lake, my dear. You are new to the world and everything naturally seems so strange to you.”

“I am no child, Mother. I see quite clearly.”

Her mother nodded. “You see, but just as the cave fish can’t grasp a colorful field of flowers in the summertime, you don’t see what you think you’re seeing.” The elder female stood and dusted her frosted gown. Sparkles of ice scattered in the air around her. For the first time, she frowned. “He may be the river, dearest, but I assure you – I am the bank. He cannot flow anywhere I do not permit him.” She approached her daughter and glared at her. “Do not come to me again. Do not go to your father. You are unwelcome in the castle’s main wing until the McMooch family is no more.”

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 8

The air was musky, the scent of pond scum forcing even slugs to retch. Mizumi coughed and turned her head, clenching her eyes shut.

“Hard to know where yer goin’ if you don’t look where yer goin’,” cackled an aged female voice.

Mizumi opened one eye to find the female toad she had seen earlier, half as tall as she and dressed in the loudest and most gaudy robes ever to have graced the Lake of Moraine. How she kept her clothes so bright and distracting in this murky mudhole was baffling.

Her first instinct was to crush the throat of this horrid creature, a lump of flesh as disgusting as the wayward goblins that terrorized the Underground. Perhaps toads were goblins, she mused to herself.

“I take it yer here on account o’ that king o’ yers,” the toad offered, squatting on a rock.

No, far too intelligent to be a goblin, Mizumi decided.

“I am investigating troubling events,” Mizumi began in her most diplomatic voice. “Our people are being poisoned. I saw Esker question you and would like some further information.”

“Hmph!” the toad scoffed, squinting her eyes. “No one asks McMooches if they have any illness. Faes find themselves alone in the universe, despite all their neighbors.”

Mizumi perked up, frowning. “I am to understand your family is sick as well?”

The toad nodded, sniffling. “Naturally! That’s what I was tellin’ that creepy ugly fae boy you saw: I have o’er a hundred children and my most youngest, barely got his legs of course, is down with something most dreadful!”

“’Barely got his legs’?”

“Pffbt. Ain’t you ever heard how toads grow up? Y’know: tadpoles, get yer lungs an’ legs, become a toad …”

Mizumi nodded. “I suggest an alliance.”

The toad stroked her chin and her long pink tongue washed over her right eye as it briefly sunk into her skull. The toad stared at Mizumi pensively for several moments. “You … you wanna team up with us?”

Mizumi nodded, smiling briefly. “If you are suffering the ill effects as well, it stands to reason you would benefit from none of this.”

The female McMooch leaned forward. “Lemme get this straight: yer a fae of Moraine, Princess o’ the Cup an’ everythin’, an’ ya wanna help a McMooch?”

Mizumi extended a hand and a warmer smile. “Are you not living in this kingdom?”

The toad frowned. “We toads and fishes and slugs lived here ‘fore any fae of any import. ‘F anyone deserves first crack at healin’, it should be us.”

Mizumi sighed and stared at her in determination. “As future Cup of Moraine I shall endeavour to treat all inhabitants with the utmost respect. After all,” she continued, narrowing her eyes, “the Cup of Moraine is the Lake, and all its inhabitants live through its good grace.”

Mrs. McMooch smirked, smacking her green lips. “I see a spark o’ somethin’ in yer eyes I can get ta know, Princess. I can see yer intelligent an’ willin’ ta say what yer mind portrays. All things needed in a ruler fair, doncha think?”

“Then we are in agreement?”

Mrs. McMooch nodded. “I see a profitable future in a relationship wit’ the crown, o’ course. With any luck my youngest son will have the strength to zip even horseflies down his tiny little gullet.”

“Tell me, kind toad, your son’s name. I wish to extend my heartfelt wishes.”

She sniffled and rubbed her nose. “’Til now I ain’t named him yet. Mortality runs kinda high in toad life. That’s why I got a hundred of ‘em. Lucky if half survive the first ten summers.”

Mizumi smiled, her eyes bright. “A naming ceremony when this business is done, then.”

Mrs. McMooch grinned. “May the deal go down smoothly, Princess of the Lake.”

 

[The Count]

Okay, that helps explain a bit more of the story.

Interesting to see the difference between the two mothers, Mizumi's and Mrs. McMooch. The carrying of nobility—or puffed-up importance in the toad's case—is definitely present. Dunno if you're drawing upon Jadys for inspiration as to the current Queen of Cups, but her snowyness leading to icyness works. Maybe it was her cold glasslike exterior that broke the previous chapter off where it did. And then Mrs. McMooch shows that gleam of careful scheming that characterizes her family line in deciding whether she'll accept the alliance.

Also... Nice nod to the rest of the universe, rogue goblins roaming around in the underground.
Thanks for the update.

 

[RedPiggy]

I don't know who Jadys is, LOL. I just wanted a darker version of Ma Gorg, who wants the best but is treated like window dressing. Any accusations of Mizumi's shallow nature ought to stem from her.

 

[The Count]

Huh, thought I spelled that right, I meant Narnia's White Witch.

 

[RedPiggy]

Oh, well, it didn't matter how you spelled it. I didn't realize she had a name, LOL.