Poor Unfortunate Souls

“I find intelligence most attractive,” ursula responded easily, “how a person thinks is what makes  them interesting, after all.” she paused, tilting her head with a thoughtful look, “least attractive? simple,” she smirked, “weakness. why would i like someone who wasn’t powerful?”

“My favorite potion, darling, would easily be my...’fix it potion’.” a satisfied grin found its way onto her face as she shook her head, pride shining in her dark eyes, “i made it when the first person came to me looking for a way to...get back what they had lost.” she chuckled, “the negative effects vary, seeing as it depends on what exactly its fixing--but the basis of it, is that the user will lose something important. at best, it could be something like...their hair. at worst...” her mouth twisted into a dark smirk, “well, they could lose their humanity.”

          ❝   I TOLD maleficent i’d be willing to help you as long as i get my end of the deal.  same thing i told philip,  and it’s the same thing i’d tell robin hood if he came to me looking for aid with the rebellion.   i’m on my side,  and that just so happens to mean that i’ll help out just about anyone as long as i can get something out of it.   i’m a business man,  it’s what i do.   can’t teach an old dog new tricks,  right ?   ❞   anyone who knew him knew just how selfish and greedy he was.   coming from a place of nothing back in the land without magic and landing a seat on a throne with all the wealth he could possibly dream of and the knowledge that he he was a witch had gotten to his head.   now he was watching that all start to crumble around him,  and soon enough he’d be back to the same old oscar he was growing up,  nothing.   he didn’t want to be nothing again.   ❝   glinda won’t listen to me.   and it’s looking more and more like i brought my daughter here for nothing.   lord knows she’s not going to help me.   but if she’s to go home like she wishes i need my magic back.   glinda already told her she wasn’t going to help her and i’m not sending her to the other witches of oz.   they’d tear her apart,  or worse,  they’d tear me apart.   please,  ursula,  i’m desperate.   ❞

“I’ve heard the whispers of your daughter being around, I just didn’t think they were true,” ursula chuckled softly, crossing her arms, “maybe i’ll pay the girl a visit--I’m sure I could offer her something interesting.” she smirked at the man, enjoying the desperation coming from him in waves. it wasn’t everyday the great wizard of oz came to her begging for help, after all. she sighed dramatically, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “i’m inclined to help you, oscar, i am,” she gave him a look, “so i will, but for a price. first and foremost,” she smiled at him--though, some would consider it baring her teeth-- “i want your word you won’t be helping any of the princes or kings trying to keep their thrones. that shouldn’t be too hard for you, should it?” she chuckled, her eyes narrowing as she studied his face closely, “and speaking of glinda...i think she could get in the way of things, don’t you agree?”

––she was curious, though completely cautious this time over. and while she did take another final step forward with her tiny toes, she held her weary expression. she couldn’t get her hopes up, could she? furrowed eyebrows along with a frown still pulling at her lips. she ran a quick hand through her dark tangles to enunciate the conflict within.

she tilted her head to the side, pointing her ear towards Ursula as if to ask her to explain, as her hands travelled up to the necklace she wore, her bright shining engagement ring in between her fingers as she squeezed it for comfort. whatever choices she had, she’d have to make sure they went along with her new family, no matter how much she missed them . perhaps she was foolish to even hear the witch out, but if there were a chance for her to speak to her loved ones, wouldn’t she like to know about it? 

ursula smiled when she noticed the ring hanging from her neck, when she noticed the girls interest, “Well, I think you’ll like my deal,” she mused, “in the long run, I think it will be much better for your little family. how are they doing, ex-fiancee and daughter? is she missing her mommy yet?” 

she chuckled, her eyes going dark, her smile twisting into something cruel, “are you worried about their safety, knowing we’re back? knowing that Chernabog is here and your precious royals are dying? Worried that your almost-hubby might be the next one to get...kicked off of the throne?” she put her hands on her hips, studying the girl with a malicious glint in her eyes, “my deal just might help them stay alive, if you go through with it. how about you get your wonderful lover boy to side with Chernabog--because you know he will win--and I’ll give you your voice back. this way you get your voice and the knowledge your little family will be safe from the big-baddies.”

with a curt nod of her head, the young woman stepped forward closer to the other. the door slammed shut and she found herself jumping ever so slightly at the noise, then once more returning her gaze towards the witch. ‘ belle. ‘ she paused, ‘ belle dupont. ‘ a tender smile slipping across her features she watched the other, ‘ it’s a pleasure to meet you and thank you for letting me ask you these questions. ‘ 

‘ all right, i suppose my first one is: do you get to choose the backlash from the magic or is it pre-destined by the specific purpose of the spell? how does it correlate to the magic? ‘ it was intriguing in concept, and whenever she heard stories of people taking one of the potions or items from the witch they had negative reprocussions. she had always wondered how this came to be. curiosity killed the cat. something she was told rather often, also something she generally chose to ignore when going on to research things she was told to be wary of. 

she paused, her eyes lighting up when she realized this girl wasn’t like anyone else who would walk into her shop requesting answers; no, those people were usually airheads who wondered the difference between a potion or spell. this girls question, though, this one showed promise. “Well,” she started, turning towards the girl with a slight smile, “most magic, actually does not even have a backlash. though, most people don’t know that.” her smiled turned slightly cruel, “magic is pretty straight-forward, actually. make a potion, do a spell--it’ll do what you want it to do, usually, and nothing more.”

she laughed softly, “magic is powerful and perfect, dear, if you know how to use it right. and i obviously do,” she gestured to her cauldron, “the only time magic has backlash is when i decide it does. if some buffoon wants my help to have a girl fall in love with him because he is incapable of being a good person, for example, I think it deserves a backlash. perhaps he’ll get turned into a dog--she’d love him then, wouldn’t she?”

👻- For something that scares or disturbs them, but they refuse to tell anyone

☢️- for a controversy or scandal they have been able to keep mostly under wraps

🌧- for a heavy, emotional secret

“I don’t have any secrets,” ursula rolled her eyes, turning away with a huff. but really, she did have one secret she held closer to her chest than anything else; that secret being, of course, that sometimes she thought there was good in the world. that maybe she could do more, be better, use her magic to actually help people; maybe she didn’t have to be evil anymore. “secrets are weaknesses,” she continued, her voice airy, “and well, I don’t have any of those silly things.”

🍻- for something bad/mischievous you did as a child or teen that your parents don’t know about

“My mentor didn’t know I added her hair to her own potion,” she remembered with a fond smile, “she couldn’t understand why that potion made her turn green for a week.”

🌟- for a secret wish or desire of theirs

❤️- for a secret crush

“First of all, I don’t do crushes. They’re so childish,” ursula paused, laughing, “but if I had to choose someone, well...I’ve always admired Maleficent’s business practices.” 🐇- For a secret item they keep (stuffed animal, comfort object, etc)

Wandering into a witch’s lair hadn’t been Ella’s brightest idea but she was curious. She’d only have one taste of magic from a woman she would rather not see again and she had been left wondering what more could magic do, did it always have to come from a wand like her godmother’s did? If there were so many magic users in the world, why did they let girls like her suffer for years before intervening? She had heard of less than charitable souls who made people pay for their magic and then more questions had popped into her mind. What could you buy? At what cost? Could anyone learn magic?

All these and more had led her to Ursula’s shop. She’d heard one story about the witch, a rather peculiar one that told of a thread of a voice for legs. 

Approaching the woman at her cauldron at what she thought was a discreet pace, she startled once Ursula spoke but straightened up. There was nothing to be afraid here, she’d done nothing wrong. She reminded herself of that, once, twice before speaking in a hushed but sure tone.

“No, I-I don’t think so. I was only curious to see what’s in your cauldron.” She responded, feet taking her closer to the witch of their own volition so that she may peer and see the shimmery liquid for herself, whatever was in there had no scent she could recognize, she only knew it was foul.

Ursula rose a brow at the girl in front of her--this woman obviously had very little knowledge of magic if she thought she could just approach a witches cauldron like that. When she was younger, Ursula had learned not to approach a witch when they were brewing something; unless, of course, she wanted her hair to be added into the mixture leaving for some very surprising--and normally, very nasty--side effects. 

But, no matter that. Ursula was running a business--it would do no good to curse every one of her potential customers. So she put a polite smile on her face, waving her hand over the cauldron in display. “Well, it’s a potion, darling.” She reached over to throw a handful of blue herbs into the mix; once added, the mixture began to bubble rapidly. “A love potion, to be exact. One that can make the consumer fall madly in love with the person it was created for.”

“Are you interested in magic?” she questioned carefully, her voice maintaining her professional and welcoming tone. She didn’t want to scare the poor woman--no, she usually waited to scare the customer once they already signed a contract, after all.

          HEARING HER LAUGHTER made him regret coming to her even more than he already had.   he had no qualms with ursula or any of the other villains.   if he were being truthful,  he’d even go as far as to say he had quite a lot more in common with them than he ever did with the heroes and he knew glinda would attest to that.   ❝   i’ve got cash.   name your price.   ❞   he figured what she was looking for wasn’t money,  but either way he was willing to pay whatever price he had to in order to get his magic back.   at this point he’d tried almost everything with glinda.   he’d bargained with her,  swore he’d changed,  may have even gotten on his knees and begged her to no prevail.   he just hoped his little scheme with his long lost daughter would be enough to convince the good witch to remove this curse from him,  and if not,  ursula was his insurance policy.   ❝   don’t do that.   ❞   he starts,  shaking his head.   ❝   don’t act like you don’t already know damn well what i’m talking about.   it’s all in your smile,  ursula.   you,  maleficent,  amalia.   you all knew what happened to me from the start,  didn’t you ?   ❞

“so what if we did?” ursula questioned with a roll of her eyes, a hint of amusement playing in her dark hues. she gave a bored sigh, looking down at her nails as she continued to speak, “that particular situation didn’t affect us, did it? You aren’t siding with us, so, we weren’t really in a rush to help you. Why is that, by the way?” she questioned, her curiosity on the subject strong though her tone made it sound like she was bored. it had been a question that had popped into her mind when she saw him at the ball--she didn’t consider oscar a villain, not really, but she thought that after what happened to him...well. she’d think he’d be more inclined to help.

she looked back up at him, meeting his eyes with a taunting smirk playing on her lips, “And please, there’s no way in this world that you could meet my price.”

she had scrambled into the witch’s lair without thinking to knock – a terrible idea in concept, however, considering the circumstances she felt it was warranted. her hands wouldn’t stop shaking, eyes zipping past one item to the next until she finally met ursula’s gaze. ‘ sorry ‘ the words shot out of her mouth at a rapid speed, ‘ i just– i couldn’t…’ she continued blabbering on, incoherent sentences leaving her lips. this definitely was one of her lows, and those were things she simply could not handle. when under the influence she felt on top of the world, but when the drugs wore off, she lost all sense of purpose as well as her mind. 

or perhaps, she didn’t lose it but rather give it away as it had grown to heavy. the only thing that she knew for sure was that she needed more. always more. erratically she fumbled for the purse she carried around with her, fingers trembling so she couldn’t properly hold onto it– dreading it might slip from her hands. ‘ i need more, that stuff you gave me last time– i need more of it, please. ‘ a sense of urgency rolled through the tone of her voice as she jittered her way towards the counter. ‘ please…’ 

Her lips drew into a cruel smile; ah, she recognized this girl, of course she did. One of Triton’s other trouble making daughters. Unlike Ariel, this girl wanted something much easier to give--she didn’t want legs or love, oh no. All this particular little mermaid wanted was one potion. A potion that Ursula had made years back; something like a drug, though much more potent and much more addicting. It was one of her first creations; which, of course, meant it was one of the potions that had the worst types of backlashes. 

“Of course, Adella,” she smiled at the girl, murmuring an incantation under her breath to make the door slam shut behind the girl. “Lucky for you, I have a few bottles already made...” ones she made after her last order, knowing full well she’d be back sooner or later. “but, sadly, my price has gone up from the last time. supply and demands, you understand. will the price be a problem?”

He’d grown weary of his perpetual inaction. It was time to do something, to try something—anything, and Ursula fell under the spectrum of anything. 

He’d been pacing back and forward outside of her lair, contemplating entering, and everytime Adam finally worked up enough courage to even reach for the door, he’d recoil hesitantly. He hadn’t been too familiar with magic, only what was introduced to him by his fairy caretaker, and that alone was enough to startle him. There was no telling the sort of magic a sea witch could possess. 

But as he pondered further, he realized that no amount of magic, dark or good, compared to the ailment within him, the beast inside of him, and the havoc it had the potential to cause. He had to do something. 

“Fuck it,” he muttered with a long exhale, before bursting into her lair before his mind could con convince him otherwise. His eyes scanned the room whimsically— it was just as magical as he imagined. It was her commanding voice that brought him out of his trance, and he blinked at her wildly before finally responding. “My apologies— that was rude of me,” he began awkwardly. “But I think you may be able to help me with…. an ailment of mine. My name is Pri— Adam. Just Adam.”

She quirked a brow at him, studying the man--no, boy--in front of him. he seemed...well, he seemed nervous. and nervous people were usually desperate people weary of her magic and...well....those were her favorite type of people. She gave him a wide, welcoming smile as she waved him in, setting down the ingredient she had been holding and stopping the fire under the cauldron with a murmured incantation. she had a feeling her little potion would have to wait. bigger fish to fry, and all of that. 

she couldn’t help the curious tone her words took on, her eyes studying him closely. outwardly, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with him. he wasn’t too short or too weak...he was even handsome, so she didn’t think it could be a problem with love. perhaps power or money...those were always things people wanted, but she didn’t think they were considered an ailment. Well, no matter his problem, she had a spell or potion that could solve it.

“Well hello, just Adam,” she greeted with a smile, setting her hands on her hips. “no apologies necessary. and I’m sure I could be of help.” she chuckled softly, tilting her head curiously, “that is...if you tell me what it is you want and are prepared to make a deal.”