from talk floating around tumblr — westley vs. killian
.
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—the one where emma loves the princess bride
She had certainly thought of it before — how could she not, the Princess Bride was one of her favorite movies, Westley was her first crush, the words "as you wish" were inextricably tied to it — but only as a passing whim, oh wouldn't that be funny, the man in black, the dread pirate, ha-ha, but then she started really thinking about it.
Obviously, he was a pirate who wore all black and used the phrase "as you wish" often enough (albeit not, she fervently hoped, in the same way Westley did), and he was a man of action and somewhat more subtly a man of honor, and he possessed single-minded determination when he had a goal, and he could be very intimidating when he wanted to be, and he was extremely charming (she could just hear him saying that "shortage of perfect breasts" line), and at the core he was entirely motivated by love, and…
And Red Riding Hood was also the Big Bad Wolf and Rumplestiltskin was also the Beast…
She just couldn't figure out how to confirm it.
Or who was supposed to be Buttercup.
(Or, more accurately, who was supposed to be the beautiful, bold, broken blonde woman who became a princess late in life after spending a long time just going through the motions who was most definitely not her.)
There were also shades of Inigo, in the devoted-and-spending-a-very-very-long-time-preparing-to-avenge-the-murder-of-a-loved-one thing, and the obviously-rehearsed speech he'd given Gold when he'd stabbed him (although it wasn't quite as epic as Inigo's, but that was probably asking too much anyway).
(And Inigo took up the mantle of the Dread Pirate Roberts after Westley gave it up so he could be with Buttercup and no.)
No, she had to be wrong. Had to be wrong.
So maybe she decided to rewatch the movie with Mary Margaret in the hope of proving herself wrong, an endeavor which had utterly failed and, in fact, was having much the opposite effect.
"You know, it's funny," Mary Margaret mused slowly, after the 'to the pain' speech. "Westley kind of reminds me of Hook."
Goddammit.
"Eh," she replied, shrugging. "He doesn't have a Buttercup. You can't have Westley without Buttercup."
Mary Margaret looked at her for a moment, biting her lip like she was thinking hard about something, before finally turning away and saying (clearly lying), "No. No, I guess not."
She watched her mother in increasingly-worried suspicion. "That didn't sound convincing," she said bluntly, and Mary Margaret blinked, shrugging.
"No, you're right," she said, still a terrible liar. "He wouldn't give up piracy for anyone, or navigate a dangerous jungle or fire swamp just to help someone else, or… consistently say 'as you wish', or…"
"What exactly are you saying?" she snapped, and Mary Margaret held her hands up in supplication.
"Just… You know, Rumplestiltskin is also the Beast, there is a precedent…"
"Can this conversation be over now?" she muttered darkly, glaring at her mother, who stood up and cleared away the bowl of popcorn and empty mugs they'd worked their way through.
"As you wish."
Emma scowled.