THE LADLE AND THE BOWL AND THE LOCK AND THE KEY

THE LADLE AND THE BOWL AND THE LOCK AND THE KEY - A SPIRAL SATIRE

This fic is my open love letter to Gurren Lagann and to Michael Ende.
And to the dramatic works of William Shakespeare.
And to Gilbert & Sullivan's Savoy operas.
And to the Disney and Bluth 1990s animated musicals of my childhood.
It is an affectionate parody of all of them above, disguised as a musical with iambic pentameter and patter songs, a tempest of clichés from all of these genres (a pair of star-crossed lovers, a devious sissy villain, courtly and military intrigue, dramatic irony, the horrors of warfare, not to mention a dark fairy who got excluded from two christenings at once, to quote only some of them), and a slight satirical bent, which is a fusion/fairytale/royalty/wartime AU of an Ende fairytale with Gurren Lagann characters.
Pairings: mainly Gimmy/Darry (AU, they're not siblings); Simon/Nia; Rossiu/Kinon, Leeron/Simon and Leeron/Rossiu implied.


DRAMATIS PERSONAE

NEUTRAL AND DUPLICITOUS:
Kiyal Black as Herself, in the role of narrator
Yoko Littner as the Dark Fairy Magnificent
Leeron Littner as Lord Turncoat, Lieutenant and Head Advisor to the royals of the Left Kingdom/also as Lord Coatturn, Right-Hand Man and Head Advisor to the royals of the Right Kingdom (both of them being actually one and the same person).

IN THE RIGHT KINGDOM
Rossiu Adai as King Frederick
Kinon Black as Queen Winifred
Gimmy Adai as Crown Prince Dexter, their son and heir
Leeron Littner as Lord Coatturn, Right-Hand Man and Head Advisor to the royals of the Right Kingdom

IN THE LEFT KINGDOM
Simon Jiha as King William
Nia Teppelin as Queen Lillian
Darry Adai as Crown Princess Sinistra, their daughter and heir
Leeron Littner as Lord Turncoat, Lieutenant and Head Advisor to the royals of the Left Kingdom


PREMISE:
Once upon a time, there were two lands alike in dignity, separated by a common language. And by a narrow channel, more literally. One to the left and the other to the right of the straits.
Now it came to pass that both queens conceived, and brought their children to the light, at the same time. Yet, when it came to christen their respective heirs among much pride, pomp, and circumstance... both the royal couples forgot to invite a certain dark fairy (Now it was actually because, quite secretly, the right-hand man of one of the households burned her invitation, and the lieutenant of the other royals tore her invite to shreds: and both advisors were one and the same person, a wicked schemer whose aim was to anger the powerful fey and cause quite the stir...).
And thus it came to pass that the Dark Fairy Magnificent, appearing before both courts at the same time with her power of bilocation, gave the two royal children each a christening gift. To Prince Dexter she gave a lovely ladle with a key on its handle. To Princess Sinistra she gave a lovely soup serving bowl sealed with a padlock. To the parents of both children she said that, if the key entered the lock and the ladle entered the bowl, the result would be an endless soup, the most exquisite and nutritious, even slightly aphrodisiac, soup ever tasted.
And thus, envoys were sent by the rulers of both realms from land to land, seeking a matching ladle for the bowl with a matching key for the lock, and a matching bowl for the ladle with a matching lock for the key. And their quest was fruitless until, a decade later, Crown Prince Dexter met Crown Princess Sinistra, and Crown Princess Sinistra met Crown Prince Dexter. And, as they grew closer for each rendezvous at the stepping-stones of the old broken bridge, from acquaintances to friends and from friends to lovers, both of them learned of the existance of one another's christening gift. Everything was going as the fire-haired Dark Fairy, and as the right-hand man of the Right royals, and the lieutenant of the Left royals, who were one and the same person (wearing a black coat with lilac facings at the former court, and a lilac coat with black facings at the latter) had planned. Both households got to know, through their children, that what they sought lay just a strip of water ahead.
And soon, the tension between both realms would escalate into war, the prince and the princess subsequently becoming so-called star-crossed lovers... but could there be any hope?