kidasthings

[kidasthings]

Do you think Mae will learn sign language along her and Noa’s story ? Or maybe he’ll teach her some ?

I think it would be natural for her to pick up some if she lives among the apes for any length of time, sure. She might even have gestures of her own that were used in her own human group given she was raised/pretends to be mute.

[kidasthings]

how long do you expect your mae/noah fic to be ?

Oh, at least 50,000 words if not more. I haven’t really been able to get to it due to traveling and an upcoming surgery I am preparing for. Sorry, slow going so far!

[kidasthings]

Hey hey hey !! I wanted to ask have you seen the new deleted scene yet??? Noa protecting her 🥺🥺🥺

I just saw it! Thanks for alerting me to it. I -knew- that they were holding back. Honestly, I’d believe all these deleted scenes are being leaked slowly because they want to gauge audience reaction in a safe, controlled way to understand how we all feel about a human x ape relationship so it doesn’t tank the next movie.

[kidasthings]

I wanted to ask because I live for drama but what role is Soona gonna play between Noa and Mae ? How do you think she’ll react to them or do you think she’ll try to hold onto Noa ? I can totally see her begging him not to choose Mae over her.

Hmm.. in the future movies, or my fanfic? I think there are different answers there.

I think Soona is a foil for Mae in the movies. She represents the choices that Noa should take, the safe ones. She is a distraction from the more important relationship that follows between Mae and Noa. Without Soona, the audience will care less about Noa and Mae. Soona is the sacrifice of that possible path and safety that Noa could have, but won’t choose.

In my fanfic, Soona has a similar role. I will be a bit more involved with Soona, as she is feeling a patch of pure jealousy already and watches Mae like one of the village’s eagles. She doesn’t like Mae, she wants Mae gone, and even though Mae saved her life there is no gratitude there. Soona believes Mae is trouble, as she should, but she wouldn’t do anything to directly harm her. It is not in her character to do so. However, if she could convince Mae to leave the village willingly..

[kidasthings]

Please don't think I'm a weirdo with what I'm going to ask. Is there going to be some smut in later chapters?

I rated that bad boy M for a reason!

#notweird

[kidasthings]

I found your fic on ao3 yesterday and I’ve already read all 6 chapters!!!! I loved it!! Do you update Echos of Eden regularly ? Or have an update schedule?

Hey, thanks for being a reader!

I update it when I have time - I was traveling abroad for 3 weeks, and now I am back but facing some major life changes in the next few weeks. I think the last update was last Wednesday? I write when I have time, along with everything else going on, so it's been a bit of a whirlwind.

I also try to keep up with comments, so you might see more frequent activity there between chapters. I'm so glad you found it and got hooked; this definitely keeps me going. Chapter 7 will focus back on Mae and Noa, but I definitely have a side-story going with that Fort Wayne group and now Finn (wonder how he is going to end up..)?

Stay tuned!

[kidasthings]

Masterpiece.

I’m fVcking crazy, but I’m free… 🦐✨ I LOVE ‘EM AAAAAHHHHH

[kidasthings]

Today I have to work, but here is a silly sketch, no context at all 🫠

[kidasthings]

Do you think the apes in Kingdom age and mature at the same rate as humans? Ceasar by the end of War was 20 years old and he looked 40 (understandable considering all the stress he went through).

Noa looks young, but I hope he is not 10 years old... hahaha *bad joke*

That's a good question. I think we can't judge an ape by their physical years on this earth, but by their maturity levels in Noa's time.

Caesar likely died around 30-40 years old, given he was from the first set of evolved apes and had a rough time later in life. He didn't look very wizened on the funerary bier before they lit him up at the beginning of Kingdom.

Real chimps can live up to 60 years, but most die about 40 in captivity with relatively little stress.

In the future, by the time Taylor crash-lands on the forgotten Earth with the other astronauts, the evolved apes had lifespans resembling that of humans today.

Why do I think this?

As humans evolved, so did the length of our lifespans. It would stand to reason that the evolved apes would as well. By the time Taylor encounters Zira, Cornelius, Dr. Zaius and the other advanced apes, they have a thriving civilization that would allow for longer lifespans and therefore the ability to pass knowledge down from one generation to the other. If they lived for 30-40 years this would limit their progress.

For Noa and his clan, I'm thinking they live just a little longer than normal apes. Perhaps 50-70 years. Noa is likely the equivalent of a 19 year-old-human (maturity-wise) with Mae being just a tad older in her early 20's (chronologically and maturity-wise).

So, all that said, how old IS Noa chronologically?

Likely 14-16 years old, with the maturity of a 19-year-old. But this, like many things, is purely speculative. Some studies postulate that Neanderthals reached maturity 3-4 years before humans did, and we had no problems hooking up with them.

Totally different considerations, really.

[kidasthings]

Updated - Chapter 6 is out!

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Noa/Mae, Noa/Mae (Planet of the Apes), Noa x Mae Characters: Noa, Mae Additional Tags: Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Relationship(s), Slow Burn, Cultural Differences, Enemies to Lovers, Interspecies Awkwardness, Opposites Attract, Trust Issues, Forbidden Love Summary:

This story explores the fragile hope for reconciliation in a world torn apart by fear and prejudice. Can Noa and Mae forge a path toward peace, or will the shadows of old wars darken the future dreamed of by the legendary Caesar?

Now on AO3. More chapters to come!

[kidasthings]

Right.

It happened just like this. Trust me.

[kidasthings]

How do you think Noa is going to react when he realizes his attraction to Mae? I guess it is going to be different as hers, as it would be more about loyalty towards his clan that he would be conflicted. It would be interesting to explore his feelings about it.

I am actually heading towards exploring that very thing in my fan fiction, Echoes of Eden.

*insert shameless plug* “Heeeey kids, if you want to read a unique interspecies romance between a human and chimp who aren’t exactly thrilled to discover they are harboring feelings for each other over a slow, simmering campfire, check out my pinned post on my Tumblr!”

*coughs*

Anyway, I think Noa, being so forgiving of Mae, would be the first one to recognize his feelings for what they are. Mae is a bit more emotionally suppressed given her background and mission. She has to be.

Back to Noa.

He’ll know it in his subconscious for a while as he admires Mae. Once he makes the conscious decision to admit he is attracted to her, he’ll analyze it for a little bit, turn it over in his head to see the soft, white underbelly, and then make the decision to pursue it based on Mae’s actions to that point. Given how they parted, he wants to trust her but can’t quite get there. Even if he is attracted to her and admits that to himself, he still has to get over that lack of trust.

If Mae shows she can be trusted in future films, he’d likely act on his attraction. I see him grabbing the back of her head, sinking his fingers into her braid, and pulling her in to touch foreheads. He would say something sentimental to make her confront her feelings, or at least be aware of them.

If she shows him she cannot be trusted, he will hang back and obviously not act on his attraction. He can’t.

It doesn’t make the attraction disappear or make his situation any easier. It turns tragic, actually, and that is where we can surmise the Romeo x Juliet dynamic will interfere with any true happy ending.

Question is, will Mae prove to be the protagonist for the apes, or the antagonist?

Time will tell.

[kidasthings]

Am I the only one who got Hercules and Megara personality dynamic vibes from Noa and Mae? Doesn't hurt that both movies have a dramatic villain and that Charlton Heston narrated the beginning of the Disney Hercules movie.

Someone else mentioned that Noa and Mae are aligned in the Herc/Megara dynamic. They mentioned the song Megara sings - she isn’t in love!

I think Mae is not even aware at this point she feels attraction. I think she feels admiration for Noa, but that is tempered by that one, tiny conflicting issue that keeps rearing its ugly head - you know, the one where Noa is not even supposed to be intelligent or supposed to seem so human.

Once Mae gets past that, it’s not all daisies. About then she will need to start singing Megara’s song and go through that whole fun business.

Ugh, our girl has so much inner self-work to do.

[kidasthings]

Made my night!

Here's my redraw of the almighty telescope scene! This scene really stuck with me after my first viewing; even though I saw the initial clip in the trailers, I guess I wasn't expecting it to appear so intimate in the actual movie? The careful slowness of their movements, the gentle swell of music as Mae looks through the telescope while Noa watches ... It honestly felt kinda magical XD So I wanted to try and capture that here! :D

[kidasthings]

I want Mae to teach Noa how to read, or at least show him how his name is spelled.

Interesting premise, given we the movie-goers know how Noa’s name is spelled. Noa can’t write, so he wouldn’t know how to spell his name.

As Noa’s name was never written, Mae would need to spell his name for him either phonetically or spell it based on the knowledge of the biblical Noah or human names that are typically spelled that way.

Either way, we probably wouldn’t end up with Noa as a spelling unless Mae took some random creative license and got lucky. He’d likely be spelling his name as Noah or Knowah (Know + ah) if the name Noah was lost to time. Mae has only so many references to pull from 300 years into the future, after all.

What do you think?

[kidasthings]

I see it the same way. Soona is just a foil for a love triangle.

Noa's Potential Love Triangle

"You like her--Soona."

"We were born within a sunset."

Okay listen, I never thought I'd be here considering a potential love triangle in this series, but here we are. Now, I won't even touch on the interesting choice of having Mae of all characters ask this, but there are so many answers Noa could have given that ultimately tell the audience "yes, I like her."

Yes. Of course. I do. Sure. Maybe. Why wouldn't I? What, no! *looks nervous*

(I could go on all day.)

But no, he only says, very matter of factly, "we were born within a sunset."

So with that baffling response, I thought about it some more, and two things came to mind for what he might have meant:

They were born close together, like family, indicating his feelings are familial. (This jives with the actual vibe between them in the movie, imo.)

It doesn't really matter. They were born within a sunset and that (possibly) has some cultural meaning for their clan, like a sign they were meant to be together. Therefore, a relationship would be expected of them, no matter how they feel.

Now it could be one or both of these scenarios, but with the second I can see that playing into Noa's upcoming hero journey of becoming who he was meant to be. Interestingly, in this trailer we get:

Owen: Noa has to make a choice Proximus: Do you choose a human, over an ape? Owen: And only one will prevail. Proximus: Together, you will die. Noa: No, together--strong. *cues scene of Noa reaching for Mae on horseback and saving her*

From that trailer alone, you get a sense of what his choice will be. But in the movie itself, when Proximus lays this out for Noa, he does not choose. (Yet)

"Do you choose a human over an ape? Your sweet, little Soona or that stinking human?"

I think that's intentional for now, as I think the love triangle is potentially a catalyst for Noa, and Mae and Soona in particular, are meant to represent two different paths (and endings) for him. With this concept in mind, it could mean:

Choosing Soona means following the path that is expected of him, the one laid out since birth, the one he would have gone down had Mae not come into his life. Following the rules, following tradition, upholding his clan's legacy, and choosing for the world to stay as it is with apes dominating humans. (Apes, together, strong)

Choosing Mae means following the path that defies expectations, the new one that was forged because Mae came into his life. Questioning the rules, embracing change over tradition, upholding Caesar's legacy, and choosing for the world to evolve with human/ape coexistence. (Together, strong)

So Noa's answer of "we were born within a sunset" is not a yes or a no, just as Mae's response to "can ape and human live together" is not a yes or a no, because these characters have not chosen this "together strong" path yet. They are questioning everything they've ever known, are changed by this connection to each other, but they're still following their "expected path" at the moment.

Now I might be wildly off base with this theory of course, and I acknowledge that Noa could definitely become who he needs to be with Soona by his side--but I'm looking at this from the two path/two love interest narrative, along with many other factors. But I'll just finish with these quotes from Wes Ball.

"Her [Mae] whole journey is changed by meeting Noa, just as much as his journey has been changed by meeting her."

"These characters [Noa and Mae] have now saved each other, and they have a complicated connection. There is now a history and real feelings between the two, and that’s going to be important moving forward."

"Can apes and humans live together? Can we coexist? So that will be a continued theme throughout future movies, and if there’s any chance for peace between these species, it will probably be between these two characters."

"There's literally a door that opens at the end to hopefully many more possibilities. And the relationship between Mae and Noa and how they've changed each other, you know, is going to be crucial moving forward as they navigate the future together."

[kidasthings]

Can I trust you?...