Here are the pride-related prompts for the month of June! You can create any kind of KOTLC fan content based on these prompts; fics, fanart, playlists, moodboards, etc.
Please tag your creations as #kotlc pride 2025 and tag us so we can reblog it!
tiertice for the @kotlcpridemonth2025 prompt music !!! based on the song "eight fingers crossed" by the maine (ty to @gay-otlc for fully inspiring this)
a keefex snow queen au for @kotlcpridemonth2025âs fairy tale prompt!!! thank you so so much for hosting this event, and an even bigger thanks to @corvus-corvidae for drawing this fanart inspired by it, i seriously cannot thank you enough!!!
[ao3 link]
without further adoâŠ
~~~
Once upon a time, there was a land known as the Lost Cities (there still is, though thatâs somewhat beside the point). The Lost Cities considered themselves a utopia - that is to say, âa place, or state of things, in which everything is perfectâ.Â
Nobody harboured these beliefs more than the Lost Citiesâ rulers, the Council.Â
Unfortunately for the Council, not everyone inhabiting the Lost Cities considered it a utopia - if you thought so, I suppose that was my fault. I apologize sincerely for any miscommunication.
One such person - or rather, elf, for the Lost Cities were inhabited almost entirely by elves (once more, I apologize for any miscommunication) - to oppose the Council - and, by extent, the Lost Cities - was named Fintan Pyren, and he was once actually a member of the Council, though that is a story for another day - point is, he despised the Council, and had devised many a plot to destroy them. There was one that came closer to succeeding than any others, though.Â
He enchanted a mirror, you see, so that anyone who looked upon it could only see certain parts of themselves; not the beautiful and good (and the elves loved to believe that they were beautiful and good) parts of themselves; but the evil and ugly parts.
Fintan had intended to show the mirror to the Council and wreak havoc upon them; how this would change the system I do not quite know; but, once more, itâs irrelevant.
What is relevant, is how the plan failed - while Fintan attempted to carry it up the stairs to the Councilâs grand meeting room, the mirror fell, and broke. The rushed down to find the source of such clatter, and, by some miracle, Fintan escaped.
By some other miracle, the Council also found the mirror without looking into any of its shards. Unbothered, they ushered the gnomes to clean up the mess.
However, causing whomever gazes upon the mirror to see only the ugly and evil in themselves wasnât its only ability - if, for whatever reason, one were to end up on the opposite side of glass, they would only be able to see the ugly and evil in others.
That was terribly dull, I know - itâll be important later, I swear it. Now, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the true heroes of todayâs tale!
The first is a boy from a Noble but negligent family, Keefe Sencen. The second is practically Keefeâs antithesis, Dex Dizznee, born of a bad - yet loving - match.Â
Now, Iâm sure youâre wondering, how did two people like them become friends (and, eventually? more, but weâre not quite there yet, now are we?)? Not to answer a question with a question, but how does anyone become friends (and, eventually, more)?
Why, they met at school. They both had a taste for mischief, you see - it seemed (to them, perhaps not to us on the outside) only natural for them to become friends.
The Dizznees were lovely people, and invited often invited Keefe over, and made snacks every time he did. Dexâs younger siblings adored Keefe, and invited him to play in the rose garden which their parents had set up for them - sometimes, Keefe said yes (this caused him to develop quite the soft spot for roses), other times, he declined with a genuine smile. And for a while, everything was well.
Until it wasnât.
One day, Keefeâs mother, Lady Gisela (whom we know is a terrible mother, but, beyond that, had a sinister plot of her own, which I do not know the exact details of, for it fortunately did not succeed), gave Keefe a pair of glasses - but, as Iâm sure you guessed, they werenât normal glassesâno, as a matter of fact, they were made of shards of Fintanâs shattered mirror.
Thus, Keefe began seeing the world through reverse rose-tinted glasses. Now that everyone appeared evil and ugly, he found that he no longer cared about art, nor roses, nor his friends; nothing that he once adored.
In fact, the only thing he couldnât find any fault in were snowflakes, once winter hit. One day, he found a particularly beautiful snowflake by a river, and, for whatever reason (magic, most likelyâŠ) followed it onto the ice.
And then, since no soul gets a break in this story, the ice broke from underneath it, and for a few terrifying moments, Keefe thought he was going to die, which was a rather unfamiliar sensation amongst elves.
Then, he was pulled out of the water by none other than Lady Gisela Sencen herself, who, with some sort of vile magic, gave Keefe a kiss on the cheek to numb the cold, and then on the other to have him forget almost everything about his life.
Gisela then took Keefe to her secret snow palace, and everyone assumed that the young Keefe Sencen drowned in the river.
That is, everyone except for Dex Dizznee. âThere was no body found!â he complained to his parents the night before Keefeâs Wanderling planting; they only looked to him sympathetically.Â
With a huff, he left. If Keefe truly had drowned in the river (or hadnât), there was one person who would certainly know about it: Linh Song.
~~~
âDex! Hi!â Linhâs voice was cheerful, and hadnât Dex been so anxious for Keefeâs safety, he wouldâve felt a stab a guilt for visiting her only for a favour.
âLinh, is Keefe dead?â
Linh froze, and the pleasant pink disappeared from her cheeks. âW-what-?!â
âTheyâre saying he drowned in the river- is it true?â
Linh bit her lip. âI- itâs possible, but if someone had drowned in the river, I think I wouldâve known-â
âSo, no?â
âI-â her brows furrowed. âI donât think so, no.â
Dex exhaled sharply, then laughed. âOh, Linh- thank you so, so muchâŠâ
His laughter soon ceased, though. âBut⊠if heâs not dead- then, then where is he?â he thought aloud.
âI-Iâm not sure, Dex⊠Iâm sorry.â Linh murmured, and Dex felt the guilt that he hadnât earlier. He threw his arms around her. âItâs okay, Linh. Thank you so much for your help.â
She smiled weakly. âIâm sorry I couldnât do more.â
~~~
Fortunately, more help soon arrived, in the form of a flying horse who had a particular soft spot for Keefe.
I am, of course, referring to Silveny, though you surely couldâve that figured it out yourself.
Silveny, though, couldnât speak, so that proved to be a bit of a problem. Or it was, until she hoisted Dex onto her back and took off into the sky.Â
~~~
The first thing Dex noticed once Silveny landed was that it was cold. Which was odd, since the snow was just beginning to melt.
He shivered, suddenly wishing that he had worn a warmer cape. But when he glanced up such trivial thoughts were soon forgotten. Above him stood a shining castle that mustâve been made out of pure ice; even by elven standards it was incredible, far outshining even the âregularâ crystal palaces.
He was already shivering when he made it to the doors, which, much to his delight, opened without much struggle.
The room he stumbled upon was emptyâjust the glittering ice walls and the crunchy snow floor. Dex shuddered again, though this time it was less to do with the cold. Actually, maybe room was a bit of a stretchâit was more like a hallway, with dozens of doors in every imaginable direction.
He wasnât sure what compelled him to open the door that he did (was it fate?) but it seemed as though he chose correctly, for as he stepped into the room, he found Keefe laying on a shimmering, icy bed, face white. Dex felt his heart stop beating, but Keefeâs skin was still warm to the touch.
âKeefe?â he pinched his friendsâ cheek. âKeefe! Wake up!â
Nothing. With a huff (and a quick glance in either direction, which Dex realized almost immediately was futile, as the door was closed and the room had no windows, so even if someone was coming he wouldnât be able to tell) he hoisted Keefe into his arms.
Carrying Keefe back to where heâd left Silveny ended up being a lot more difficult than Keefe had anticipated, one of the more difficult parts being opening the doors without dropping Keefeâthough he did so, and did so miraculously without running whoever had kidnapped Keefe in the first place (remember, dear reader, Dex was not aware that it was Keefeâs own mother who had done such a heinous thing).
~~~
Once Keefe, Dex, and Silveny got back to the Forbidden Cities, Keefe woke up and, as his glasses had fallen off, regained all of his memories.
~~~
And rest assured, dear reader, Lady Gisela was, eventually, defeated, with the help of Keefe and Dex themselves, though the main honour of doing such a thing belonged to Sophie Foster.Â
