this entry has technically been done for almost a week but i'm usually so tired after work that i haven't posted it. thank goodness my place of work isn't open on weekends.
Cynthia is sure that she knew herself as Cinderella's daughter before she knew her actual name.
When you're a princess, you learn to expect a certain amount of attention and fame. That much was decided before she'd even been born. Her birth is celebrated by the residents of Cinderellasburg just like her brother's before her and she isn't even aware of it. It's surreal to think about.
Her name is Cynthia Anna Charming, an identity of her own, yet the expectations of her follow someone else's strengths and weaknesses.
She's four, playing in the castle play room, when her grandfather comes in to play with them. He does that often and she loves it, she loves him, forcing him to have tea parties with her and climbing on his back so he can carry her around despite his ageing body. If he has any complaints, he saves it for when he's out of earshot.
Today, Chad has asked him to play the villain he has to fight with his toy sword. He approaches gallantly (or as gallantly as a five year old can) and says the stock phrases a hero usually would, declaring that he will destroy the villain and save the princess, which happens to be Cynthia.
It makes sense, really. She's the only other person in the room, and she already is a princess, so why wouldn't she be one for a made up fantasy game?
Instead, she says, "I wanna save the princess, too!" and pretends to wave around a sword.
Her grandfather chuckles and pats her head. "Your hands aren't made for the blade, Cynthia. I'll be starting to teach Chad how to swordfight soon and your mother and Prudence will begin teaching you proper princess etiquette. You'll be just like your mother! Won't that be fun?"
She nods and says it will be. It's the first time of many that she lies to her grandfather.
It isn't only her grandfather, either. The older she grows, the more she becomes aware of headlines and news articles surrounding her. Her name is always followed by 'Cinderella and Prince Charming's daughter', and sometimes they omit her name entirely. They say how much she looks and acts like her mother, how she's going to be just like her, speculating about her future when her age isn't even in the double digits yet.
Headlines are one thing, but that attitude begins bleeding into her everyday life. When she begins kindergarten at Auradon Prep, it becomes clear that there is a distance between those of royal blood and everyone else. Even the lesser nobles stare at them in awe.
Every time she walks into a room, she hears, "Look, it's Cinderella's daughter!" and the cacophony of whispers that follow. It's enough to deter her from talking to anyone she doesn't already know in her classroom (her fellow princes and princesses as well as Jane, Fairy Godmother's daughter, and Patrick, one of the Duke and Prudence's sons), and while she is pleasant to all of her classmates, there is a distance between them.
She expects this to be her life until she graduates, and she resigns herself to it when several of her classmates, a bunch of misfit boys, call out, "Hey, Cinderella's kid!"
Too polite to ignore them entirely, she turns in their direction, about to address them kindly despite their tone. That is, until someone does it for her.
"She has a name, you know."
Cynthia looks up. Perched on a nearby brick wall is the familiar face of Lisian White. She doesn't know him all that well, but she has exchanged pleasantries with him at royal events before leaving to hang out with her close friends, and she gets along well with his younger sister Peony. They are kind to one another, but she didn't realize they were acquainted enough for him to come in and defend her.
"Oh, Lisian!" one of the boys says, and she wonders how Lisian already has these kindergarteners referring to him by his first name despite being two grades above them. "Sorry."
Lisian shrugs. "Don't say sorry to me."
"R-Right," the same boy says, and Cynthia assumes he must be the leader. "Sorry, Cynthia."
Hearing her name leave a classmate's mouth is such music to her ears that she doesn't care if the apology is genuine or not. She smiles and says, "That's okay!"
The boys make a quick exit after that, returning to the monkey bars they've made their turf. She watches them go before turning to Lisian with a smile.
"Thanks, Lisian!"
Lisian jumps down from the wall. "Don't worry about it. You wanna come play with me?"
"Where are the rest of your friends?"
"Well, a few are in detention — long story — and the rest have that flu that's been going around, so they're not here today."
So she's a replacement. She can't bring herself to mind too much, though, not when Jane is spending time with her mother and Patrick has come down with the same flu Lisian's friends have. She doesn't particularly want to search around for other people she's friendly with, either, and so she smiles and nods.
"Okay, sure!"
And thus starts a beautiful friendship. Lisian lets her practice sword fighting with him when the adults aren't around and he doesn't care if she gets her dress dirty. Despite having a younger sister, he doesn't treat Peony like Chad treats Cynthia, nor does he bring Chad up unless she does first. Even Patrick likes him, and he tends to distrust most royals as a general rule of thumb.
Whenever the royal families all come together for a fancy event, Cynthia often finds herself spending time with Lisian (and Peony), even if it's only so they can appear busy and avoid the shrill voice of Audrey or the self-importance of Kosmis. Spending time with royalty who don't care about who her parents are has opened her eyes, if only a little, to the fact that she is more than just Cinderella's daughter.
So, of course, her grandfather has to ruin it.
"This would be such a fantastic opportunity!" she hears him saying to her parents when she's seven, almost eight. "Chad's future is set in stone, made for him the moment he was conceived, but Cynthia's was shakier, being the second born and a girl. This will ensure she's set for success."
Her grandfather is eager, but her parents share concerned looks. It's her father who speaks up and says, "That's all well and good, but we'll only agree if both of them are alright with it. We aren't about to force our daughter into something she doesn't want."
"You don't want to force me into what?" Cynthia asks from the doorway, making her presence known.
"Ah, perfect timing! Come here, my dear." Her grandfather opens his arms and she runs into them. Regardless of his outdated opinions, his hugs truly are the best. "You and young Lisian are good friends, are you not?"
Stepping back from the hug, she smiles and nods. "Yep! He's one of my best friends!"
"Well, how would you feel if, in the future, the two of you were married? Just like your parents."
Cynthia stops. Marriage? She didn't think she'd have to think about such a thing at such a young age. Her parents never did, not until they were young adults. Why is her grandfather thinking about something so far in the future when she isn't even a teenager, let alone ready to be married.
Her mother kneels in front of her, dress flowing around her knees. "You don't have to if you don't want to. We would never force that on you."
"Of course, of course," her grandfather says. "If you don't want to marry Lisian, there are plenty of other princes in the sea."
She stops at that. Other princes. Something about that doesn't sit right with her. It isn't that she doesn't get along with the other princes she knows, far from it, but the idea of marrying any of them is… odd. It isn't entirely unheard of — royals are betrothed all the time — but it isn't something she's dreamed of, not like Audrey and Kristina have. She can't imagine marrying another prince.
If it's Lisian, however, well… He is the prince who knows her best.
"If Lisian's okay with it, then I'm okay with it," she says with her sweetest smile.
It's a week later that Florian and Snow White write back to agree to the match, and from then on, Cynthia and Lisian are engaged.
When she asks Lisian next time she sees him why he agreed to marry her in the future, he merely shrugs and gives her his usual crooked smile.
"It wasn't like dad was going to let me say 'no'," he says. "Even if I'd fought it and been successful, he would've just found some other princess for me. If I have to marry a princess, one of my best friends sounds like the best options."
"Exactly," she says, glad they're on the same wavelength.
And for a while, that's enough for them. They're only children when it's first discussed, after all, and while they know true love exists, it's something that happens to people older and more experienced. They don't think about it when there are adventures to be had. Being children (as well as the duties that come from being royalty) are enough to distract them for the time being.
But as she enters her adolescence, Cynthia finds herself thinking about it more and more.
It's Audrey who puts the idea of love and attraction in her head as she sighs dreamily at a party one day and says, "Isn't Ben dreamy? Just look at him. I think I might be in love."
Cynthia glances across the room to where Ben is speaking with some ambassadors. He looks smart in his blue suit with gold and white trimming, and he has always had rather handsome features, but she doesn't find herself staring at him the way Audrey and many others do. He's objectively handsome, but that information doesn't mean much to her.
"I suppose?" she says, and it is definitely phrased too much like a question.
Audrey shakes her head. "Whatever, it's fine if you don't get it. That's probably for the best. You have to focus on Lisian, anyway, since you're marrying him and all. I know being betrothed to Ben would have me all…" She trails off, losing herself in her thoughts.
As she does, Cynthia thinks about her words. If she's marrying Lisian, she should find him attractive, right? And she does. He's tall with beautiful eyes that, quite frankly, she's jealous of. There are plenty of times where he's smiled at some poor, innocent passerby and they've all but swooned. Just like Ben, he's objectively handsome.
So why doesn't she feel anything beyond friendship?
It's a question that lurks in the back of her mind for the following months, though it isn't just Lisian or Ben she has this with. None of the princes catch her eye, not in the way her mother caught her father's, or vice versa. She isn't expecting love at first sight, but even the slightest pull of infatuation would be nice.
It isn't until she attends Nazira's sixteenth birthday party and sees the birthday girl descend the ballroom steps wearing the most gorgeous sea green and gold dress she's ever seen that she feels it. Butterflies swarm in her stomach and her cheeks heat. Something tells her it has nothing to do with the ballroom's harsh lighting.
Patrick pushes her jaw up so she isn't just standing there and gaping for the rest of the party. She shakes her head and forces herself to look away lest she give herself away.
Later that evening, after she's returned to the palace and changed into her nightwear, she asks Patrick and Sorren (her closest confidants) to give their insight.
Patrick, quite bluntly, says, "You probably like girls."
And suddenly everything makes sense.
She thinks of times where she's stared at famous princesses instead of their princes, when she's imagined looping her arm through theirs like a silly girl with a celebrity crush. She remembers being younger and having a few girls she wanted to always be around, to always hang out with, oblivious to why she wanted to speak to them specifically. She can't think of a time where a boy has ever had her feeling like that.
Her mood lifts when she figures it out, her lurking question now answered. She keeps it between herself, Patrick, and Sorren for a while, but soon she decides to tell Lisian. They are betrothed, after all.
It's during one of their monthly get-togethers (her grandfather set them up, of course, as though they don't already hang out at school all the time) in the palace gardens that she brings it up. She sets her teacup down with purpose and clears her throat.
"By the way, Lisian, I've figured something out about myself."
"Yeah?"
"I'm not really interested in princes, or any boys, really. Their sisters are way more interesting."
Lisian, to her surprise, laughs out loud. "So, no boys for you, huh?"
"Nope."
"Great," he says, leaning back in his chair. "More for me."
This time she joins in his laughter.
cynthia and lisian said wlw/mlm solidarity.
also grandfather charming loves his family, he really does, but his way of doing things is definitely outdated. he wants the best for his grandchildren but he doesn't really have the ability to see beyond his vision for them.
and let it be known that cynthia's middle name is anna after anastasia because cinderella 2 is CANON in this household you can pry anastasia and the baker from my cold dead hands tyvm.
there were a lot of random names thrown out there, so here's some more info about that:
patrick dukes, youngest son of the duke and prudence, he and cynthia are the same age and have been besties since they were little.
kosmis kallas, eldest son of hercules and megara, takes after his grandfather zeus way too much (that's a whole other can of worms we'll be opening down the line)
kristina romanov, eldest daughter of anastasia and dimitri, yes anastasia technically isn't disney but this is my party and i'll add unrelated media if i want to.
sorren dumont, son of jaq and mary, yes that technically makes him a mouse, but that's also another can of worms to open later.