seanan_mcguire @ 2011-04-08T09:20:00

2011-04-08T16:21:08Z

So—for a variety of reasons—I've had the song "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves" stuck in my head for about three days. This has started to drive me insane. Consequentially, I spent a good chunk of yesterday composing new verses, just so I'd be singing something different. The last time this happened, I found it so entertaining that I decided to make it a party game, and now I'm doing it again (yes, this is now officially a party). Give me a girl from folklore, myth, literature, or hell, modern media, and if I have a clue of who she is, I'll write a verse.

A few rules:

1. Fictional people only. Real people go in the bridge, and I already re-write that every time we do the song live.
2. One girl per customer.
3. Jean Grey is not eligible.
4. Don't make me come over there.
5. Please don't reference the original entry and try to stump me. I'm happy to do second passes at characters I've done before, but only while it stays fun.

Game on!...annnnnnd game off. I have all the requests I can handle, and will be adding new girls to the list throughout the weekend! Thanks for playing!

***

Alexis Castle.
Alexis was born into privilege and could have been rotten,
A spoiled little princess who never earned what she had gotten,
But she knew she was smart, and she chose to be strong,
And be centered and understand right over wrong,
And she grew up the best that she could, and she grew up so well,
And her father knew she was the best story he'd ever tell.

Alison Worthington-Oberf.
Poor little rich girl who starved for a little attention,
Trying so hard to be more than her parent's invention,
So Alison made herself over to be
The sort of a girl who could claim to be free,
Though she knew she was dying, she said that she'd live in the now...
Now they say that she's going to live, but she's not certain how.

Amy Pond.
Amy was left on her own, one more girl in a garden,
Adrift in a world wearing thin, with her heart bound to harden.
But he came across time, and he came across space,
Ancient little boy lost, and the last of his race,
And he offered his hand, and she took it without second thought...
There's times when the dreams we thought lost are the last one's we've got.

April O'Leary.
Green were the forests she played in when she was a sapling,
And dark were the days when the future came grasping and grappling.
She could have been felled like the rest of her kind,
But she ran for what hope and what help she could find,
Now she lives in a network of light and of life and of lies...
She's forgetting the truth of the wood: in time, everything dies.

Ariadne.
When Theseus asked for her aid, she provided it gladly.
She led him safe out of the dark, she believed in him; sadly,
He wasn't deserving of trust or of aid,
And sweet Ariadne he swiftly betrayed.
He left her asleep on an island; she woke, and she cried...
But the god of the vine would soon find her and make her his bride.

Barbara Gordon.
They called her a hero, it's true, when she wore cape and cowl.
She ran through the night fighting crimes, until she ran afoul
Of a joker whose joke was intended to kill,
But he didn't account of the strength of her will,
Now the Oracle sits, weaving webs out of knowledge and light.
They call her a hero, it's true, and they've always been right.

Bela (Supernatural).
Bela played fast, and she broke every rule that they gave her.
They say she got cornered and caught, all her lies couldn't save her.
They say she was one of the quick-fingered best,
That she stole from the rich, and then stole from the rest,
But that bargains once made can't be stolen, and some bonds must break...
She lived as a thief, and that may have been her first mistake.

Casimira.
Sweet Casimira requests neither penance nor pity,
A priestess of pleasures enshrined in the shape of a city.
The tourists arrive through the strangest of doors
Seeking something they've lost as they cleave to their fours,
And she gathers them close, shows them heaven, then sends them away...
For as she cannot leave, Casimira won't ask you to stay.

Cinderella (Fables).
Everyone knows of the girl who rose out of the ashes
From charmaid to princess, with cinders still coating her lashes.
And they know that she dances and loses a shoe,
And most will concede, this is technically true,
But our sweet Cinderella has never quite lain down her mask,
And when messes need cleaning in secret, she's up for the task.

Dorothy "Ace" McShane.
Dorothy just wanted something that she could believe in,
She was angry and lost and alone, and too bitter for grieving,
But she played her cards close to her chest and her hand,
With an ace in the hole, seeking somewhere to stand,
And when she met her savior, she asked him, "Is anything true?"
He said, "Tea gets cold—come on Ace, we've still got work to do."

Elizabeth Bennett.
They say that a man with a fortune must now seek a marriage,
A lady of breeding and grace and impeccable carriage.
Well, Lizzy was clever, and Lizzy was fair,
And Lizzy claimed stridently she didn't care
For the love of a man who would see her as less than his peer...
She was proud, he was blind, and the road to love never runs clear.

Emma Frost.
Emma was born in a hothouse of money and power,
Planted in hatred and told, "It's your duty to flower,"
But a diamond grows best on its own, in the cold,
And dear Emma refused to do as she was told,
So the bride won't wear white, but the White Queen will do as she will.
You can say that she's tarnished and torn, but she's glittering still.

Emma Peel.
Leather is lovely when battling bad guys in Britain,
And those who encounter her often leave staggered and smitten.
She fights for the sake of the crown and the Queen,
And the law's on her side, though her hands aren't quite clean,
She can fight any foe to a standstill before the last reel...
You can have trust in James Bond, but I'll stand behind Emma Peel.

Heidi.
Heidi belonged to the mountain, the wind, and the flower,
No penned-away princess, no maiden best kept in a tower,
And she pined and she wept when they took her away
To place where her heart never wanted to stay,
But she healed those around her with love, and they carried her home,
The child of the Alps, who would never more venture to roam.

Kate Beckett.
Kate found herself on a path that she never selected,
A little girl lost in a storm full of clues unconnected.
She mourned for her mother, she mourned for the dead,
And she followed the trail of the things left unsaid,
Seeking justice and answers and something akin to release...
Like the girl in the castle alone, Kate was looking for peace.

Kaywinnet Lee.
Kaylee grew up on the ground, but the black kept on calling,
So she chose to shape up and ship out, into future free-falling,
And she found her a bunk, and she found her a place,
And she found her a cause, and a future to face,
And they say that she's happy and free somewhere out in the black...
And we hope that they're right, because no one thinks she's coming back.

Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde.
Katherine Pryde was a good girl who tried to be better,
A slip of a thing with a spirit that no man could fetter,
And she slipped through the walls that were put in her way,
And it seemed in the end, she was too good to stay,
But they say that she saved the whole world, and they say she was brave...
It's a shame that the brave ones are always the first to the grave.

The Little Match Girl.
Frozen and fallen and sitting alone in the snowstorm,
Wishing for something a heart can hold onto to keep warm,
When the angels arrived, she was already gone,
For there's only so long little girls can hold on,
And I wonder if she would have asked, had she known of her fate,
Why angels would bother to come if they're always too late.

Luna Torquill.
They call her the Lady of Roses, they beg for her pardon,
The Duchess of Shadows, the fox-woman down in the garden...
But she came to this place through the dark, through the trees,
Where betrayal was whispered by even the breeze,
And she knows she's been broken, she knows there are pieces she lacks,
And she prays by the light of her candle she's hidden her tracks.

Marnie Cromwell.
Most little girls dream of crowns and a princess's pleasures;
Marnie found little appeal in those fairy tale treasures.
She dreamed about magic, and broomsticks in flight,
And the wonders that wait in the Halloween night,
And they say she got everything she ever wanted, and more...
The trick to the treat is in knowing just what to wish for.

Mary Poppins.
"Practically perfect" can be a great burden to carry.
There's sensibly flawed, but that wasn't enough for our Mary.
For she's gone with the wind and politely absurd,
And the only adult who still talks to the birds,
And she finds that she wishes they didn't try so hard to grow...
For when children grow up, that's when Mary Poppins must go.

Medea.
Medea loved Jason, forgetting that she'd be unneeded
Once he had achieved all the goals for which he sweetly pleaded.
She killed and she lied to be true to her man,
Never knowing forever was not in her plan,
And when he had his due, then he left and went back to the bay...
Medea was innocent, once. Jason took that away.

Megan.
Megan was wishing on rainbows for something far greater
Than the life that she lived on the farm, one more life lived for "later."
Then that pink and blue star tumbled out of the sky,
And it taught her to laugh, and it taught her to fly,
And she followed her Firefly willingly into the blue.
When you wish on a rainbow for love, sometimes wishes come true.

Morgan le Fey.
Morgan le Fey did no wrong beyond being undaunted
By fences constructed between her and all that she wanted...
Her bastard half-brother was handed it all
By those who believed that he never could fall
But she would not lie down and behave as they told her do.
Now they say she's a villain and no one knows whether that's true.

Olivia Dunham.
Olivia came from a world ruled by shadows and science,
A model of strength and the patron saint of self-reliance.
And she learned to be soft in addition to strong
When she stood in a place she could truly belong,
But the mirror reflection shows someone that she's never been...
In a war between worlds, is there really a way we can win?

The Page Sisters.
Hillary's father Revised anything he deemed broken,
Rewriting the world to leave legend and fable unspoken.
Robin and Pris were the daughters of fire,
Who burned and unmade, making lies of desire,
And they all of them turned down the sword for the file and the page,
For the power of kings is in knowing the strength of the sage.

Pamela Dean's Janet.
Janet was looking for purpose and seeking for knowledge,
A modern-day girl on the road to adulthood and college,
But the story she found was too strange to be true,
And it led her away from the life that she knew,
'Til the world was reduced to a choice on that dark Halloween...
If you want to play fairly, don't play with the cold Faerie Queen.

Parker.
Parker's not certain why anyone thinks that it's funny
To risk broken bones getting in between her and her money.
It's not that she's crazy, simply misunderstood,
And besides, these days she's only stealing for good,
Like a modern day Robin Hood, robbing the rich for the poor...
And it's strange to be somewhere where she's not afraid anymore.

Persephone.
Persephone lived with her mother in summer unending,
A rose in the shade of an oak, virtuoso of bending,
But she made her decision, she made her own choice,
So when winter comes down, wicked girls should rejoice,
For she chose to be wed to the darkness and make her own way...
She was born to the summer, but winter's where she chose to stay.

Polly Whitacker.
Polly was young when she tumbled through Nowhere to Now Here,
A simple distinct that never did seem to grow quite clear,
And she fell in love thinking it was a game,
And she gave up her heart when she gave up her claim,
But a trick is a trick, and a second chance sometimes entails...
Who never tries getting around the rules so often fails.

Rapunzel.
Little girls grow in seclusion; as women, they flower.
What's true in a palace must also hold true in a tower.
She longed for the lights as a bird longs to fly,
And when given the chance, she knew she had to try,
And she followed a thief who had promised to play out his part...
In the tangles that followed, she traded her hair for his heart.

River Tam.
River was damned for no crime she had ever committed,
A prisoner claimed without trial, who could not be acquitted,
For they needed the tools that she held in her mind,
And they left all she used to be tangled and twined
Into spiral-shard shatters and fragments of what used to be...
Now she runs like a river, but River can never be free.

Snow White (Fables)
New-fallen snow only needs to stay white for a season,
Melting away when the spring works its annual treason.
But a woman who's named for the Snow and its shade
May find herself stained and by more things betrayed
Than the coming of warmth; she may find herself bidden to grow...
Now she stands a bit taller, and goes by not "Snow White," just "Snow."

Storm.
Ororo was orphaned and lost, and seemed sure to be counted
As one more statistic to mourn as the body count mounted.
But she made her escape, and she called forth the rain,
Bringing downpour to drought, bringing comfort to pain,
And they called her a goddess, and they called her a mutant, and more.
She was lady of Storms, and she knew what true power is for.

Talia.
The story they tell speaks of spindles and curses and kisses,
Of sleepers who wake into lives full of blessings and blisses.
The truth is as cruel as the hot desert sand,
And the princess he woke was not his to command;
With the sun and the moon at her back and his blood on her hands
She went staggering into a story no heart understands.

Lt. Uhura.
Uhura was often regarded as part of the setting,
She did her job well, and the men paid her back by forgetting
That she too went out where we'd not gone before,
And they dreamed of the stars, but she wanted far more,
Wanted spaceways and stardust and dreams under alien skies...
She's the oracle priestess who speaks for the fair Enterprise.

Velveteen.
They say that great power's a burden, a gift, and a blessing;
They say that the motives of heroes leave lesser men guessing.
Well, Vel never asked to be noble or bold,
And she never agreed to do what she was told,
So they call her a villain for daring to go her own way...
She's the mistress of toys, and she never finds time now to play.

Wendy Watson.
Wendy had never aspired to glory or greatness,
An artist more truly defined by her casual lateness,
But she chose the wrong job, landed in the wrong place,
And was faced with a choice that most won't have to face:
Would she go save the world, would she be more than she'd ever been?
Would she stand by the Middleman's side...and could they ever win?

Willow Rosenberg.
Willow trees bend: it's the nature and virtue of willow.
They grow where the weather is cruel and the winter winds billow.
She was small, she was weak, she was nothing to fear,
But she bent, and she learned, growing year over year,
And when evil struck closest to home they learned what willows know:
Never challenge a Willow who's had so much reason to grow.

Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

seanan_mcguire @ 2011-04-08T09:20:00