#ashadeofpemberley

So a while ago I came across the wonderful ButterflyBog fanfic ‘[I Want You to Want Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27274510/chapters/66635887)’ by the equally wonderful @ashadeofpemberley, and Grumpy Plant Scientist Bog is giving me all kinds of feels, so I’m breaking my scheduled 100-year disappearance off of this platform to share this here brainbaby with you. (Yes, I did try to go for a :star: sexy :star: vintage movie poster vibe with the first image- no, I have no clue what I’m doing).

Emma and Margaret meet though Margaret’s cousin, and Emma thinks she’s a delightful girl who would absolutely be happier if she was in love.  Margaret rejects all her matchmaking attempts, but likes her as a friend and they write to each other occasionally.  

When Margaret moves South again after her father’s death Emma comes calling.  Margaret worries that she’s going to start with the matchmaking thing, and she’s so not ready for that considering her tender and wounded feelings.  But Emma’s married now, and ‘reformed.’  Or at least as reformed as Emma can be - she does share a few thoughts with her husband but she has a good feel for things and knows there’s someone Margaret isn’t mentioning.  One day when Margaret lets John’s name slip Emma knows.  She has Knightly do some discrete checking, to make sure this man is acceptable for her friend.  

Gideon Gold – Did you attend college or university?

Yes indeed I did! I graduated from a Nazarene University (even though I’m not Nazarene, I just didn’t want to go to a big party school) with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts :) 

Grumpy – Ever been known by a different name?

Not really- I think at one point I considered going by my middle name because it was easier for me to say when I was a kid but I just never really committed to it.

Alice Jones – Do you paint, draw, or do anything else artistic?

All of the above! As I not so casually mentioned before, I have a degree in Fine Arts and mainly did drawing and painting while I was in school. I love doing ink drawings with crosshatching and watercolors. I’m still learning and improving so that hopefully I can be a full-time illustrator!!!

Snow White – Can you keep a secret?Maybe? Haha. I feel like I’m either quiet as a mouse or a full blabbermouth, like there is no in between. I’m tight-lipped if it’s important, though!

Ursula – Do you have a good singing voice?I do—I love to sing, and I’ve been singing with my mom for as long as I can remember, up at the front of the church, and leading worship. 

Granny – What’s your specialty entree that you cook really well?Oooh, good question. I’m good at throwing different pasta dishes together, though I don’t know if that counts, haha. My favourite go-to is penne pasta with sauteed kale and butter and lemon. So yummy.

Thanks so much! I’m surprised at how relevant these have been. :P

Hello, @ashadeofpemberley, it is I, your Santa (who is really very sorry about the delay, please imagine my hat in my hand and please imagine that I actually own a suitable hat for the occasion)

I loved chatting with you this summer and getting to know a little more about you. And I hope reading this story will be at least as fun for you as writing it was for me. It turned out a little... long, so I thought I’d post all the links here, and the actual chapters over on my writing blog. I hope this works for you.

Summary: Old West AU. Belle French is the new schoolmisstress for the growing town of Storybrooke, sent there by an impeccable agency and ready to start her new life out in the West. Except none of that is true. Belle is the daughter of an impoverished inventor, and the only way for her to clear her father's debts is to steal something from Mr. Gold, the most powerful man in town. The good news: becoming his son's personal tutor gives her a way to get closer than she'd ever hoped for. The bad news: despite all the stories she's heard, he seems to be a decent person. Good thing she's not developing any feelings for him. No, none at all.

Prompts: penpals, old west, conman, undeniable

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

Absolutely nothing can beat Belle’s burgers. I mean, Dad tries, but really, nothing can beat them. On the rare occasions that Belle goes into the Golden Plate kitchen, you can definitely tell the difference. Well, I can. Perhaps people with less burger experience can’t.

I wish I’d write that fic too. 

I want the total AU version where Neal is seventeen, and idolised by seven-year-old Gideon who worships the ground his big brother walks on. Emma is captain of the fencing team and Neal’s best friend, and when she comes over she teaches Gideon some very basic swordplay (with his little wooden sword of course), so he worships her too. He wants her to be his sister. And the best way for that to happen, in his opinion, is if Neal marries Emma. 

The idea is only cemented in his mind when Emma drives Neal home one night, and keeps teasing him about how she rescued him and she’s his saviour. Emma has a car, Neal doesn’t (Neal totalled his last car, and Gold refuses to buy him a new one so he’s saving for it), so when he gets stranded after a party and can’t get a cab, she has to come drive him home. Except from the way Emma’s teasing him, Gideon comes to a realisation: his brother is a princess, and Emma is a knight, and knights and princesses are supposed to get married and have a happy ending, right?

Even after Neal manages to convince him that princesses are girls and he doesn’t need saving, he can’t shake Gideon’s conviction that Emma is a knight and Neal’s Saviour, and so they’re supposed to kiss and have a happy ending.

The only problem is Emma’s shitty boyfriend Killian, who smells weird and is never nice to Gideon or Neal the few times he’s come to get Emma from their house. 

Basically I want seven-year-old Gideon challenging people to sword fights for his brother’s honour.