[PAST] A Deal is a Deal... (Regina, invite/closed)

[evilmistress]

Maleficent paced back and forth before one of the many fireplaces of her castle, her purple gown swishing with every spin upon her heel. She was late; the great and terrible Evil Queen, late for an appointment with the Mistress of All Evil. The Fae couldn’t believe that she’d be so daring as to cause her to wait. Well, actually, she could believe it. But, she still didn’t like it! Her grip on her staff tightened as she brooded away, still on the prowl before her fireplace.

It wasn’t long before a stout little goblin, one of her sentries, waddled hurriedly into the room and right up to her, giving her some semblance of a salute before he began to talk. Maleficent merely scowled at him, but listened just the same.

“A carriage approaches, Your Majesty.”

Almost rolling her eyes at the dunce creature, Maleficent bent slightly to inquire further. “What kind of carriage, you tart?”

The goblin flinched slightly, fearing her wrath, before responding. “A black one, Your Majesty. The Queen’s carriage, Your Evilness.”

Well, that was better. With a wave, she dismissed the lowly creature and returned to her pacing. She wasn’t truly too mad at the Evil Queen. Maleficent found it hard to get really upset with those few she counted as her friends, especially these days. Really, the only problem was her annoyance at having to wait! Maleficent wasn’t much on patience; and, when she was, it wasn’t long before her patience wore out. In the corner of the room, her black unicorn brayed. She looked at it fondly before decided it would be more fruitful to sit.

Maleficent had decided to use one of the smaller dining rooms to meet with the Queen. She knew the Queen was coming to make her an offer, but she knew little else. The woman had remained purposefully vague in her proposal. Maleficent suspected she wanted something; but she’d be damned before she gave up one of her possessions without an equal price. She looked, once again, to her unicorn and idly stroked her staff with her thumb. Of course, there were some things that she would outright refuse to give up...

[Regina Mills]

Being the rather...meticulous woman that she was, the Evil Queen did not enjoy tardiness. And when it was she herself who was late, she enjoyed it even less - but in this particular situation, it had been inevitable. Just as she'd been preparing to depart the castle to travel and meet with one of her oldest - and only - friends, a patrol of guards had burst into the castle with urgent news. One of their number had been attacked and mortally wounded with an arrow on the road, the result of a carriage robbery - and the culprit? None other than her wretched stepdaughter, of course - Snow White. Regina felt an icy wave of hatred wash over her at the very thought. The foolish young woman had always been reckless. She could remember, back during a time when she had to smile and lie through her teeth about her love for her dear stepdaughter, when she'd taken Snow out for a riding lesson. Within the same day, Snow was already eagerly challenging her to a race - nearly falling off her horse in the process. So it came as very little surprise to Regina that her greatest enemy had now taken to an impulsive life of crime - but petty theft on the roads, really? It was almost as if her stepdaughter was actually trying to provoke her.

Well. Very soon, she would realize just how great a mistake that was. Now more than ever, she had reason to meet with Maleficent to discuss their bargain. Though she was sure her friend was not pleased with her for keeping her waiting, she was also sure that the Fae would very soon forget her irritation when she learned what Regina was willing to offer her. In return for the ultimate weapon against Snow, Regina was willing to offer Maleficent the contained form of the Dark Curse itself - powerful magic she'd obtained from Rumpelstiltskin. All who knew of the Curse lived in fear of it - fear that such a weapon would one day fall into the wrong hands. Well, it most certainly had. What she was going to do with it, however...depended on how today went. In truth Regina saw very little need to curse their entire world into oblivion if she could obtain an equally painful revenge on Snow in some other way...and that was just what Maleficent's infamous Sleeping Curse would provide.

As she exited the carriage, she gave a brief order to her guards to wait outside. There was little need for them here. Though there was a certain rivalry between Maleficent and herself, their frequent attempts to one-up one another very rarely resulted in violence. They were friends, after all...that would just be counter-productive. Smirking, Regina hardly acknowledged the goblins who humbly ushered her into the castle and directed her toward the room in which Maleficent waited. Since King Leopold's untimely death, the Queen had long abandoned her demure, gentle and elegant image - now there was little mistaking the confidence in her sauntering step, or the darkness that radiated from the way she moved and dressed. Today, for instance, her long black gown swept the ground as she walked, glittering slightly as it caught bits of light, her dark hair pulled low into a ponytail that fell over her shoulder. She would not have dared to appear so boldly as Leopold's little pet; he would have been appalled.

With a spiteful little sneer, she reflected that she did so hope he could see her now.

But her dark thoughts were abandoned as she swept into the dining room in which Maleficent was already seated, her lips curving into a half-smirk, half-smile. "Maleficent," Regina greeted with a formal nod. "So lovely to see you again. I do apologize for keeping you waiting, but I'm afraid my guards encountered a bit of...trouble shortly before I left. I had to attend to it." Her tone darkened a tad at that - though the darkness only showed in her expression for a fleeting moment. When it came to Snow, Regina had never quite been able to keep her hateful emotions at bay. But it mattered little now - and it would matter even less if Maleficent agreed to this deal...and condemned Regina's stepdaughter to her much-deserved fate.

[evilmistress]

As Regina had entered the Dark Fortress, Maleficent's goblin minions had rushed to and fro. One made sure to notify the Unseelie Queen of Regina's arrival and yet more were preparing a small banquet. It wasn't often Maleficent received visitors and so, friend or foe, she would treat them with the utmost etiquette fitting for Fae royalty. She may be one of the darkest creatures in existence, but she was still raised in a royal lifestyle.

Maleficent heard the Evil Queen enter the room and turned to greet her. "Regina~. Truly a pleasure to see you again. You can't honestly expect me to hold it against you when you are late when I couldn't meet you on better terms, myself, can you?" Yes, Regina's fall had sent quite the ripple through the universe. Maleficent would have personally... indoctrinated Regina into the darker aspects of life, personally, if it hadn't happened around the same time as that brat, Aurora, had to be dealt with. She had been so disappointed, not to be able to welcome the Evil Queen into her... family.

With a wave of her hand, two chairs at the dining table pulled themselves out. Sitting gracefully in one, Maleficent gestured for Regina to sit as well. "I'm impatient, but that doesn't mean I won't understand if certain appointments crop up." Maleficent smirked to the other evildoer, knowing Regina would know exactly what type of appointments she was speaking of. Crossing one leg over the other, Maleficent stamped her staff onto the floor of the room once, the noise echoing throughout the Fortress.

Hearing their cue, a half dozen goblins bustled into the room, carrying trays of food. Some held filling meals, others carried light snacks, all were placed on the dining table. Picking up a delicious-looking apple, Maleficent returned her attention to her friend. Regina had become one of Maleficent's closest friends, something she would not easily admit. She caught that particular expression of darkness in her features; enjoyed it. After Snow's betrayal, Regina will, naturally, never be the same again. There will always be a vast Darkness in her heart; Maleficent could sense it, even now. However, the Fae was growing worried that her friend was developing quite the unhealthy obsession.

"Now then, Regina, what is this business you wanted to speak to me about? I'm willing to bet it has something to do with that Snow of yours." Maleficent was quick and to the point. She was very eager to find out what, exactly, it was that the Evil Queen could offer her.

[Regina Mills]

Regina dipped her head slightly in thanks as Maleficent offered her a seat at the table - some might have been surprised at the dark Fae's hospitality, but Regina knew all too well that her friend was never one to do things without a certain sense of...style. With that she took a seat as well, glad that Maleficent hadn't seemed too concerned about her delay. There were far more pressing matters at hand and it was a topic that she was glad to brush off - just thinking about Snow's thieving antics ignited her anger all over again. So for the sake of her composure she quickly pushed the matter away and instead focused briefly on the goblins that had come scuttling into the room on Maleficent's cue. They certainly were obedient little things - probably making more loyal servants than men did at any rate, if the Huntsman was any indication.

No, her most recently hired assassin certainly hadn't been trustworthy, and she'd had very few qualms about tearing his heart right out. After all, didn't traitors deserve the worst of punishments? Grimly, Regina reflected that there were very few people remaining in her life whom she could actually trust. Apart from her father, Maleficent might've been just about the only one, actually - and even with her, 'trust' was a somewhat shaky term. They were friends, no doubt - the Fae was Regina's only friend, actually. But that still didn't mean that the Queen had ever once thought for a moment that she was entirely exempt from the other woman's... mischievousness.

But getting to the point of the matter was something she was all too willing to do once Maleficent brought it up. She'd yet to touch any of the food on the table herself - not because it didn't look appetizing, but because lately it was becoming increasingly difficult to will herself to touch much in the way of food or drink when she got herself worked up like this. The only comfort, she kept reminding herself, was what might possibly result from this meeting. It'd bring her that much closer to her revenge - and her eyes narrowed just a tad at Maleficent's open mention of her stepdaughter, as if to emphasize the thoughts that had just been running through the evil queen's mind.

"You'd be correct. After the huntsman I sent after her proved to be worthless..." She allowed a trace of disdain to edge her tone. "I've done some thinking. And I've realized that death...would be far too merciful a punishment for my dear stepdaughter." That mocking 'apology' letter Snow had sent her was proof enough of that - Snow was perfectly accepting of her fate, perhaps even welcomed an end to all of this at this point. So why should Regina allow her that? Why give her an easy way out when for Regina herself, there would never be an end to this nightmare? "I want a spell. A spell that would keep her inches from death, but just alive enough to drown in her regrets for eternity - a very specific sleeping spell." Her eyes flashed a little as she met Maleficent's gaze. They both knew the Fae was infamous for such a curse - it was that which would have doomed that silly Aurora, or whatever her name had been...if it hadn't been for true love's kiss, of course.

"I believe you know what I'm talking about, Maleficent. And I'm prepared to offer something I'd think you'd find...very worthwhile in return." Regina paused once more for a fleeting moment, allowing her words to sink in, before finally stating her offer. "The Dark Curse."

[evilmistress]

Maleficent sat and listened to Regina's qualms and proposal. The Evil Queen's problems were the very reason the Mistress of All Evil did not employ human men, herself. She's lived long enough and see many evidence and she knows full well the fallacies of Mankind. Her goblin minions were crude and idiotic, but they served their purpose. Being a low-caste Unseelie, they didn't have concepts for the many things that drove humans to their actions. Their whole lives are devoted to serving a higher caste of Unseelie and that is exactly what they do. After her banishment from Faerie, they were the only Fae that were still loyal to her. She had been a Queen; she had ruled over all Unseelie. However, when they became scared of her, she lost all but the followers too stupid to run away. Thankfully, the goblins remained loyal no matter how frightened they became of her.

As she listened to Regina's tirade of Snow White, Maleficent couldn't help but smirk to herself. If there was always one thing the two women could always agree on, it was that these types of things needed finesse. What fun would it be to just kill someone? No, it would mean so much more to make them suffer, instead. Better yet, make them suffer as much as possible and deny them the freedom of escaping after their suffering has ended, as well! Take, for example, her plan against Aurora. What good would it have been to just let Prince Phillip die in a cell while his precious princess slept forever? No, she'd planned to release him in his old age just so that he could die just before reaching his true love. Of course, those impudent Good Fairies had to sabotage her plans, but that's beside the point.

At the mention of the Dark Curse, the smile fell from Maleficent's face. Naturally, she'd heard rumor of the Dark Curse, the Curse to end all Curses. In fact, she had felt its dark shadow at the moment of its creation. Recalling such... Darkness still sent shivers running down her spine. It wasn't often she felt such evil enter the world. It wasn't uncommon, but it was, indeed, rare. What she wouldn't give to just have a peek at it... And here was Regina the Evil Queen, offering it to her. And for what? Her Sleeping Curse. Of course, if she committed to the deal, by the laws of Faerie she could not use the Sleeping Curse, again. Luckily, she was weaving a new Curse for herself, one she had already been planning to replace her Sleeping Curse. Naturally, she wouldn't tell the Evil Queen of this new Curse; there was no reason why she needed to know about it. She'll give Regina the Sleeping Curse and acquire the Dark Curse, it was an easy decision.

In a flash, Maleficent was out of her seat and, once again, pacing before the fireplace. Turning swiftly to Regina, Maleficent's tone was wary. "The Sleeping Curse is not to be taken lightly; it is no mere slumber. The Curse arrests the body from the victim; they do not move, they do not wake, they do not even age. They are held completely within their own mind, forced to endure ever guilt they have, to relive every wrongful act they've committed." Searching her friend's face for any form of forgiveness for her stepdaughter and finding none that she could see, Maleficent awaited Regina's admission of understanding before swiftly sitting back down at the tablet to continue, looking her only friend in the eye. "It is a powerful Curse. You will need an object to imbue, but not just any object will do! The Curse needs to physically enter the body; like the prick of the spindle on a spinning wheel, parting the skin so that the Curse may enter, for example."

Maleficent looked desolately to the only friend she had. She was expelled from Faerie, her entire race having deserted her. Regina Mills was her only friend in the world. "I do wish you would move past this, dear..."