A Thief and a Queen

Shooting Star

Ha! I did it! I wrote seven entries for Inspired By OQ Week--even if I didn't manage to post on seven separate days. This is inspired by a comic by EvillyQueenie/queenieappleby, which I thought would be a nice bookend since I used one of her comics for my first entry. I hope she likes my take on this one. Once again, you can find a link to it on my Twitter.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week and thanks to audreysl0ve, who made it all possible. This has been a great celebration of our fandom and it's just been a lovefest. You all are wonderful!

Lucy Mills had a secret, one she told no one—not even her parents. They never would've believed her and probably would've thought what was going on was something evil. She knew otherwise, though. It wasn't evil but magic, thanks to a wish made on a shooting star one night. The next morning, all her toys were alive and able to play with her. It was every child's dream come true and she got to live it.

She had created elaborate backstories for each toy and she had kept adding details as she grew older, wanting to be a writer like her father. When they came to life, each toy recalled the story she had given them and treated them like their real story. Lucy loved watching the relationships she had created play out, pleased to see each happy.

One relationship, though, had grown outside of her influence between her two favorite dolls. There was the doll she had had since she was a toddler, one with dark hair and brown eyes dressed as a queen in a beautiful purple gown and tiny gold crown. Lucy had called her Queenie for years until she learned that the name Regina mean "queen" and so had started calling her that. Regina was a benevolent queen who ruled over the toys with kindness and fairness—though you did not want to get on her bad side as she did have magic and was not afraid to use it. Her specialty was fireballs, which Lucy had made out of crumpled up pieces of orange construction paper. She usually ended up throwing them at Zelena, the Wicked Witch of West doll Lucy had gotten for her sixth birthday. The Witch was jealous of Regina's power and believed she should be the one to rule—thanks for the backstory Lucy had created once where she had Zelena try to take the throne from Regina but had been defeated when all the other toys rose up against her.

Lucy's longest story had been her quest to find a suitable king for Regina. She had tried almost every male doll she had gotten but none seemed to be a good match for her favorite doll. Her latest doll had been a Robin Hood one but she hadn't had time to figure out if he was a good fit for Regina before her wish came true. Lucy had then come home from school one day to find him trying to talk to Regina, which seemed to anger the queen. She kept telling him to leave her alone, that she didn't associate with thieves, but he was persistent—no matter how many "fireballs" bounced off his felt-covered plastic chest.

Their relationship soon became the best show in Lucy's bedroom. She and the other dolls would gather to watch the two squabble, her threatening to kill him and him sassing her right back. Snow White had tried to intervene and set up a date for them but while Robin had appreciated it, Regina certainly hadn't. Lucy had found Snow tied to her toy train set while Prince Charming tried to free her as the train kept ramming into her. An annoyed Regina sat at the controls, muttering about how useless the train set really was. Lucy freed Snow and kept the two dolls separate for a bit.

Emma, one of her Barbie-esque dolls, suggested they lock Regina and Robin in the closet. "Eventually they'll just give in and kiss," she said.

"Or Regina will tear all my clothes to get back at me," Lucy answered. "I don't think Mom and Dad are going to buy 'my doll did it' when I tell them I need new clothes."

"I think we should just leave them alone and see what happens. I think Robin will win Regina over on his own, just like I did with you, Emma," her Captain Hook doll said. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.