Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2013. Found: 2017. - Licia

The library was quiet; she and Fiyero had agreed to meet at the library that Saturday to get started on their final project. So far, they weren't making much progress. A shaky title and a few haphazard ideas at best.

"So how exactly should we go about this?"

She turned as Fiyero joined her, a stack of books in his arms. "What exactly do we have to do?"

He shrugged. "Professor Brr wasn't too specific." He pulled out the sheet of paper they'd been given that had the instructions they were to follow in regards to their project on it. "Just figure out how myth and magic play into the world of 'Happily-Ever-After'." He lowered the paper. "We could look at..." A sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure where to begin. We don't really have fairy tales here; they're just stories. And where I'm from, they aren't even stories, they're legends; up until four decades ago, they were passed down orally instead of being written. You're from the fairy tale world, Raven. You have any ideas?"

She thought a moment, screwing up her mouth. "A few of the students at EAH are fairies- Farrah's the future fairy godmother; Faybelle is going to become the next Dark Fairy from Sleeping Beauty... maybe look at how fairies themselves play a part?"

He nodded. "Maybe. That takes care of the magic aspect, but what about the myth?"

A moment passed, before she reached up, tightening her ponytail. "Well, you said that where you come from, everything is oral?"

"My people didn't feel the need to write legends down until a few decades ago. Our legends were passed by word of mouth, from one generation to the next. Given that we were also fairly solitary- no one ever enters the Vinkus or has much contact with it- we had no reason to write down our legends until very recently."

"Right." She sighed, sitting back in her chair. They had a stack of books in front of them, but nowhere to really begin. After several minutes, Fiyero stood, gathering the books he'd grabbed off the shelves.

"Come on." A moment passed before she stood, grabbing her things.

"Where are we going?" He led her to the librarian's desk, checking out the stack they'd procured.

"We're gonna go find Elphie. When it comes to research, no one beats her."

After leaving the library, they found the green-skinned girl sitting by the canal with Glinda, working on her magic as the blonde read worked her way through a book for her literature class. So centered on what she was doing with Glinda's sandwich, she didn't hear Fiyero and Raven approach until Raven called to her, even though Fiyero tried to stop the younger girl. "Elphaba!"

That one sound was enough to throw off her concentration, causing the sandwich to explode in a mess of turkey, olive and mayonnaise. Glinda sat up from her lounging position on the blanket beside her best friend, flicking pieces of olive and mayonnaise off her book, and Elphaba narrowed her gaze. "Oz damn it! I almost had it!" She looked up at her boyfriend and half-sister, gaze sparking in annoyance."Thanks a lot, you two!"

Raven had the courtesy to look sheepish as she took a seat across from Glinda, while Fiyero simply shook his head. "I tried." He made his way towards his girlfriend, kissing her sweetly on mouth before taking a seat beside her. "Rae and I need your help with something, Fae." The green girl turned to him, mid-bite of her apple, waiting. The fact that Yero's nickname for her rhymed with her nickname for Raven wasn't lost on the young witch, though she kept quiet, chewing through her bite.

"What do you need help with?" Glinda asked, twisting the cap of her bottle off and taking a sip.

"We're having some trouble figuring out where to start on this project. Fiyero suggested that you might be able to help, Elah." The blonde and the prince started, but all Elphaba did was raise an eyebrow at the new shortening of her name. It was better than Fae- she still had no clue where Fiyero had thought that one up- so she couldn't complain. Biting into her apple, Elphaba reached for the notebook her boyfriend held, flipping it open to Fiyero's neat scrawl.

Fairies, Their Magic and Myth in Regards to 'Happily-Ever-After'

So they'd decided to go the fairies route; Elphaba couldn't fault them. The majority of Munchkin fairytales often involved some sort of elderly old woman or magical creature bestowing a gift of some sort on the character or characters, be it a blessing or a curse. Oftentimes, the blessing was given to the main character or characters- like Zixi and Mombey in The Ginger Sisters- while the curse was given to the secondary characters. She quickly skimmed their bullet points, before handing the notebook back to Fiyero. Raven watched as her sister settled back against the tree she was sitting under; Fiyero pulled her legs into his lap, taking the apple she offered and taking a bite.

"Well? Elah?"

"I can get a hold of Nanny back home. Ask her if she can send me the book of Munchkin tales Mama gave me when I was a toddler. It goes into the culture of fairy tales in Munchkinland history, but I'm afraid it won't be much." Fiyero and Raven shared a glance.

"It'll be better than nothing."

Eventually, the four returned to the girls' dorm; dropping off their things before deciding that a late dinner would be nice. They grabbed something at one of the cafes near the university and returned to the dorm, settling in front of the fireplace that was built into the far corner and faced out, towards the center of the room. Elphaba sat leaning against Fiyero, who wrapped an arm around her waist midway through the meal. It was as they were bouncing ideas off each other that Elphaba, curled against Fiyero's chest, shifted, her cheek rubbing against something hard beneath his shirt. The prince shifted, tugging her closer, never breaking his end of the conversation, though his girlfriend was now thoroughly distracted. Slipping her hands beneath his shirt, she attempted to grab the thing that had poked her, but he grabbed her hands, tugging them away. After several minutes- of which both Raven and Glinda watched in silent amusement- Elphaba managed to tug the string around his neck out from under his shirt, and essentially, the thing attached to it, expecting to find something like a comfort stone or family heirloom- things she'd read about that were often passed down in the Vinkus and worn for protection or assistance, like the small red jaspar stone she kept by her bedside to help calm her to sleep. Instead, her eyes widened in shock, and she had to choke out a breath.

"Yero?"