up on the mountain, i see down below. it's easy to lose yourself i know. can't hear what you're shouting, i'm deaf to your show. it's easy to lose your self control."A Far Away Land" is how most people would describe some magical place that they'd love to visit, but for Merryweather that was exactly where she lived. That is until she didn't.
It was definitely a day she'd never expected to come. A day when she would awake from slumber in a place that wasn't her home with her two sisters, Flora and Fauna. But that's exactly what happened on March 1, 2015. That morning she awoke to a buzzing noise and someone wiggling around beside her. Without much thought, she groaned for them to go back to sleep and buried her head under her pillow. But it wasn't long after the person stopped that infernal buzzing and got out of the bed that Merryweather realized there was something veryvery wrong with this scenario.
She continued to pretend to be asleep until after the other person (a male) had gotten up and left the room. Only then did she pull the pillow from over her head and look around the very unfamiliar room. Where was she?!
Despite her initial reaction to this unfamiliar place, there was something distinctly familiar about it all at the same time. As the days progressed, all these memories came to her that she swore she'd never lived. But if she'd never lived them, how could she be having them? She was a photographer and every moment she lived with her Nikon D750 in her hand came rushing back when she picked it up off her dresser. She went through the familiar motions of mounting her Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 lens to her camera body, lining up her shot, metering her exposure and snapping the shutter as she watched one of the feral cats in the neighborhood rub up against her window and cry to be let in.
As she walked down the street, people would call to her (apparently her name was Saffron) and wave, so she'd wave back. She recognized them, but didn't all at the same time. This surreal feeling went on for a few weeks as she tried to piece everything together. The man she had awoken in bed with was her boyfriend, Niklaas. She could very distinctly recall the moments they had spent together but the part that confused her the most about those moments were the emotions that came with it. Being a magical being back in A Far Away Land, she was well aware of the things that magic could do. It could make you see things. It could make you think things. It could make you do things. But very rarely could it make you feel things. So if this whole acid trip wasn't a magic trick, what was it?
As days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, Merryweather started realizing something. Whatever was going on, she didn't want it to end. For the first time in as long as she could remember she wasn't the youngest. She wasn't be ignored. She wasn't being looked over. She started fully embracing this new world she was living in and while it didn't make sense, she didn't try to actively make sense of any of it. She was happy and she wasn't being out shined.
Of course, just because she wasn't actively looking for connections to her home didn't mean she wasn't going to find them. Of course, the second she found her sisters she knew. Even if they didn't, she did. In this life, however, they were still extremely close. That only further solidified the fact that she didn't want to go back to A Far Away Land.
It's been over a year since she first woke up in a stranger's bed, but it's been the best year of her existence as far as she's concerned. She's kept all the memories of her past life to herself, convinced that if she ignored it she wouldn't have to go back.
• last name is grimm, like the brother's grimm. of course she didn't see a connection there until she discovered the story of "little brier-rose" by the brother's grimm.
• is a little spitfire and has problems with passive aggression. she's also pretty short for her age, topping off at five foot exactly.
• favorite color is blue.
⇢ facts
• has been taking pictures since she was 15 years old and has never taken an actual photography course. she's mostly self taught, though she has been to a few workshops and seminars. she started saffron grimm photography in her senior year of college.
• is a part-time substitute teacher and regularly works at springside chestnut hill academy. she started subbing when she first graduated college before her photography business really took off.
• while she photographs weddings, her "bread and butter" is in lifestyle portraiture. she likes to capture what she calls "the moments between pictures". while she understands the need/want for posed photographs, she prefers keeping things casual during her photo sessions. it's not uncommon for her to make a fool out of herself to get her clients to give a natural smile or laugh.
Merryweather is the youngest of the three "fairy godmother's" in the Disney adaptation of the Brother's Grimm fairytale (called "Sleeping Beauty" in the French telling and "Little Brier-Rose" in the German). Aside from being the youngest, she's the shortest and her favorite color is blue. Unlike her sisters, she's very bold and shows a complete disregard to her own safety, especially where Aurora is concerned. She hates Maleficent more than anything and wants to do nothing more than protect baby Aurora from the wicked witch.
Before she's able to bestow her blessing upon Aurora, Maleficent places the curse on her that she will die at the age of 16. While Merryweather can't undo the curse, she is able to counter act it by stating that instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a slumber that can be only broke by one thing: true love's kiss.
Aurora is taken into the woods to live with the fairies instead of in the castle with her parents. The fairies all pose as humans, forsaking magic for the 16 years that Aurora (now named Briar Rose) lives with them. On her 16th birthday, the fairies try to surprise her by making a beautiful dress for her to wear when she goes to the castle to be reuinted with her parents (that she doesn't know about). Before she can go, however, she is tricked into pricking her finger on a spinning wheel by Maleficent so that the curse can be completed (though Maleficent was unawares of Merryweather's blessing).
To spare the kingdom the pain of losing their princess (again), the fairies put them all under a sleeping spell that will break when Aurora awakes, but just before everyone is put to sleep, the fairies overhear the father of Prince Phillip saying that his son has fallen in love with a peasant girl named Briar Rose. The fairies rush to find Phillip, knowing he's the only one who can awaken Aurora from her sleep.
Long story short, they're able to help Prince Phillip find Aurora who then kisses her awake, thus bringing the kingdom from their eternal slumber.