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the-darkdragonfly · 5 months ago

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NEW CHAPTER! Tempest - A Captain Duckling Tale

Chapter 9

HEY!!! Tumblr hated me yesterday, but I'm back online now! I actually am not really sure why this chapter fought me so hard... but she was a tough nut! A million cookies to Maddie for cleaning up my mess 🥰

♥️♥️♥️♥️

A clawed hand, fingers gnarled like the branches on the oak tree her mother had taught her to climb as a child, reached through the bars towards her, Neal’s forearm pressing her solidly into the space between himself and the cage which held the creature.

His father.

She’d shaken her head- you’re an orphan, you told me that you were an orphan- when he’d revealed to her who and what the creature was.

“Emma…”

Her name was the creaking whine of an old door, hinges displeased, moving in the wind- Emma- the snap hiss of cold against metal.

“Don’t be afraid,” Neal soothed, pressing her closer to the bars, her slippered feet scrambling on the damp stones, unable to find purchase. “I told him about you, he’s been waiting to meet you for a long time.”

She’d trembled, skin cold from fright, fingers tingling with the chill of the damp and the fear which ratcheted through her blood.

An orphan, that’s what he had said.

But it had been a lie.

Not a lie, a secret- he’d whispered in her ear, as he pressed her steadily forward, the creature’s fingernails grazing her skin before she managed to twist away, bolting up the stairs barefoot, slippers discarded on against the stone twist of the hallway, her back slamming against the door which guarded the dungeon she hadn’t know existed until Neal, Baelfire, led her down into the depths of the earth.

That’s the name the creature had called him, pacing across the back of his cell, floor worn smooth from the action.

How long had the man been down here, she wondered, Neal’s hand warm at her elbow, a deceitful type of comfort she’d quickly learned, skin prickled with the chill of suppressed magic. Of evil.

I know you can help us, Emma.

♥️♥️♥️♥️

Read the rest here

It’s been a while - catch up here

Read my other stuff here

Tagging the usual suspects

@elizabeethan @donteattheappleshook @sailtoafarawayland @teamhook @wefoundloveunderthelight @caught-in-the-filter @ultraluckycatnd @veryverynotgood @snowbellewells @hollyethecurious @jrob64 @kmomof4 @artistic-writer @gingerpolyglot @xarandomdreamx @justanother-unluckysoul @zaharadessert @karlyfr13s @tiganasummertree @wyntereyez @klynn-stormz @onceratheart18 @rkrbirdgirl @ouatdaily @blowmiakisscolin @courtorderedcake @winterbaby89 @pirateprincessofpizza @superchocovian @deckerstarblanche @alexa-fangirl-forever @stahlop @undercaffinatednightmare @lostintheskyfaraway @anmylica @motherkatereloyshipper @last-tsarina @lfh1226-linda @hookedmom @yikes-00 @midnighth0ur @paradiselady19 @jonesfandomfanatic

♥️♥️♥️♥️

#tempest #the darkdragonfly #a captain duckling tale #captain swan #killian jones #emma x killian #emma swan #sassy pants will scarlet

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ryleigh130 · 11 months ago

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Okay, I wanna request something sweet and lighthearted since there has been angst in all of them so far 😭

So here is it: ghost with a young reader who's new to the team and cleary looks up to him a lot. Like, starryeyed expression when he kills someone in a "badass way", tries to do things the way he does, is quick to question other people but when he tells them something it's just "got it" and takes it for a fact, follows all his orders immediately, etc

They basically act like a kid around their idol, idk XD platonic of course

Little Duckling - - ryleigh130

Characters- ghost, mentioned: cap. price, gaz, and soap

Word Count: 1k

Relationships- platonic!ghost & gn! reader

Warnings- profanity, pet names, 3rd person pov, usage of c/n [code name/call sign]

Note- Thank you so much for the request! I hope you enjoy it! Prob a little OOC but I tried ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Also I HATE the ending so we can just ignore that but I literally had no clue how to end it.

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The Task Force 141 operated in the shadows, a clandestine unit of elite soldiers executing covert missions with lethal precision. Among them was you, [c/n]. You’re the newcomer to the team with a solid reputation after graduating top of your class for your stealth and deadly accuracy. But, with being the newbie on the team it left you feeling lost and little loney. The team made sure you felt welcomed but even so, you still felt out of place in the big leagues with some soldiers being almost twice your age. You yearned for a connection, a friend, someone who you could share your woes with, a soul in the unforgiving world of warfare.

You had joined the task force with a singular purpose - to prove yourself. You had trained relentlessly, honing your skills to perfection, but the weight of expectation bore heavily on your shoulders. Surrounded by seasoned veterans, each with their own tales of heroism and glory, you felt like a mere shadow in comparison.

But amidst the sea of faces, there was one who stood out - Ghost, the enigmatic figure cloaked in mystery and intrigue. From the moment you set foot in the base, you were captivated by him, drawn to his aura of quiet strength and unwavering resolve. Where others would turn away, you would draw nearer. You couldn’t explain it but to you, Ghost radiated safety and comfort so, you started to seek him out. You began to think of Ghost as more than just a teammate; he was a mentor, a brother almost, a guiding light in the darkness of uncertainty.

Despite your initial standoffish demeanor towards the rest of the team, you found yourself gravitating towards Ghost, seeking his attention like a moth to a flame. You watched him with a mixture of awe and admiration, hanging onto his every word with rapt attention. To you, Ghost was the epitome of everything you aspired to be - skilled, fearless, and utterly unyielding in the face of danger.

It wasn't long before your admiration for Ghost became apparent to the rest of the team. You would often be seen hovering at Ghost's side, offering to assist him with tasks or simply basking in his presence. The others found it amusing, the way you looked up to Ghost with such reverence, they often teased you about it on the strange occasions you weren’t seen with him.

“Well, well, well, look who it is, the little shadow” Gaz would tease with Soap right behind him,

“Where’s Ghost today? You’re usually so far up his ass we barely ever see you!” You responded to these comments with a simple eye roll and a classy middle finger, to which they would reply by laughing. Captain Price would even sometimes make little comment on your infatuation with the lieutenant,

“There’s the little duckling, is Ghost near I’ve been looking for him?”

Ghost, for his part, was initially taken aback by your adoration. Used to operating in the shadows, he was unaccustomed to being the object of someone's admiration. But there was something genuine about your reverence that touched him, a purity of spirit that he couldn't help but admire.

Over time, Ghost began to warm to you, offering guidance and encouragement whenever you sought it and occasionally referring to you as “duckling” in a somewhat affectionate manner. He saw potential in you, a spark of brilliance that only needed to be nurtured to flourish. And so, he took you under his wing, teaching you the tricks of the trade and imparting his wisdom with a patience born of experience.

Your bond deepened with each passing mission, forged in the crucible of conflict and tempered by the fires of adversity. You looked to Ghost not just as a mentor, but as a confidant, a trusted ally in a world fraught with uncertainty. And Ghost, in turn, found solace in your unwavering loyalty, a beacon of light in the darkness that surrounded them. You both might not have noticed, but you have each helped heal something inside both of you. Together you work each day to heal the past inside both of you and overcome the challenges the day presents you, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

#cod mw2 #john price #john soap mactavish #kyle gaz garrick #fanfic #simon ghost riley #fluff

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crows-junk-pile · 2 years ago

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So..... Ever After High Au. I have this idea and I can't get it out of my head so I'm making it. Also if you've read "The Fairytale Au" then a lot of who's the hermits parents are should sound familiar, if you haven't you should read it it's really good

Here's what everybody is :

Edit : changed somethings

Lizzie : Cheshire Cat

Grian : Little Red Riding Hood(and the big bad wolf)

Pearl : Robin Hood

Ren : The Big Bad Wolf(and red riding hood)

Scott : Either the Snow Queen or Kay(from the snow queen)

Tango : Red Shoes Girl

Jimmy : Little Mermaid

Scar : Puss in Boots

Evil X : Dark Fairy(from sleeping beauty)

Zed,Doc : the Billy Goats gruff

Keralis : Alice in Wonderland

X : Fairy Godmother

Shubble : Either The Wicked Witch of the East,West or the Candy Witch

Katherine : Prince Charming or The Swan Princess

Wels : Sleeping Beauty

Etho : Rumplestiltskin

Iskall,Joel : Jack(jack and the beanstalk)

Joe : Ethire someone from wonderland,a narrator(somehow he's corporeal) or beauty(from beauty and the beast,i got this from the fairy tale au)

False : Queen of Hearts or Prince Charming

Cleo : Geppetto

Xoroth(he's not corrupted don't worry) : Evil Queen

Stress : idk suggestions needed

Joey : Captain Hook

Bdubs : The Princess from princess and the pea or thumbelina

Cub : King Midas (once again I'm taking it from the fairytale au)

Jevin : The Genie(more fairytale au stuff)

Sausage : idk suggestions needed

Beef : Golden Goose(jack and the beanstalk,more fairytale au)

Xb : Ugly Duckling(fairytale au)

Impulse : Some kind of dragon(ie: the dragon from st.george,hydra), suggestions needed

Gem,Fwip : suggestions needed

Pix : Brothers Grimm(?,suggestions needed)

Oli : Pided Piper

Hypno : Rapunzel (stolen from fairytale au)

Mumbo : Magic Mirror( from snow white,stolen from fairy tale au)

TFC : suggestions needed,teacher at EAH

BigB : Candy Witch(?,suggestions needed )

Martyn : suggestions needed

Skizz : suggestions needed

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donteattheappleshook · 1 year ago

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Happy Birthday @The-DarkDragonfly!!

Happiest of birthdays @the-darkdragonfly to one of my best friends! I’m so glad that the fandom brought us together and while your birthday fic isn’t finished, I thought it would share some of my favorite fics of YOURS!

You are such a talented writer and such a wonderful person and if anyone hasn’t read these fics they are incorrect and need to fix it immediately)

This was very hard to narrow down because everything your write is perfect but I gave it my best shot!

The Ripple Effect

Of course I had to start with the fic that brought us together. This story, omg this story. Every time I read it I’m filled with an irrational anger at how unbelievably beautiful your prose is and what an ubelievable talent you have for creating atmosphere and building relationships between characters. The way you write this fic is magical, there’s no other word for it. It weaves through time and perspectives, dialogue and imagery and emotion and my heart just shatters every time I read about these two adorable broken idiots fixing each other and falling in love. And omg your little snippets of everyday life are so imaginative and hilarious and are so perfectly in character and somehow both incredibly specific and relatable. I could read a hundred million fics of just filler scenes (which I know you also have -Missing Moments)I will forever think of this fic when I watch the CS movie and wish that we’d gotten this instead.

Tempest

I hadn’t started this one when you were writing the first version but when you started on the rewrite omg I have jumped onboard and along for the ride the entire way with this adorable wonderful fic. I will say it now, I don’t usually like Captain Duckling but this story is so wonderfully written that you’ve managed to make me obsessed with your version of them. The dynamic between them is just beautiful and so honest and pure and they’re both just so. stupid. and I love them and will protect them with my whole heart. I adore the way that you don’t always give us all the moments of their relationship at once and just let us see it develop and then jump back and forth through time to give us scenes we’re already invested in and dying for. I love this fic and I’m fully aware that you’re gonna hurt me with it but I’m 100% here for it. And also - WILLIAM!!! My beautiful, sad, sassy, loveable William. I will never get enough of him and how you write him in this fic. He is the ultimate bestie and comic relief watching his mom and dad try to get their shit together and fall in love and I would die for him.

The Wreck of our Hearts

My birthday fic!!! This one is gonna be short because I get emotional just thinking about this story. You took my favorite Hook, Deckhand Hook, and mixed him with my other favorite, Silver Hook, and you’ve created a monster that no other Killian will ever live up to. Just an ultra sad broken man who still loves Emma so damn much and can I keep typing through my tears? I don’t know but I do know I’m gonna go reread through them.

People, please, if you haven’t, go read it. If you have, go read it again.

PS: If you ever wanted to revisit this universe or this character I’m not saying I’d be mad...

Old Times' Sake - A Captain Swan Tale

I don’t care if it’s July. This Christmas fic can be read any damn time of the year and it will destroy me and put me back together again every time. You’ve done it again! Taken my sad broken little babies and put them together and made them whole. This story is SO short (seriously I had to go back and check the word count because I couldn’t believe it) but it somehow has such a rich backstory woven in for both Emma and Killian, both their families and their relationship and oh man you know I’m a sucker for “what do you mean, feelings? this is just boning (LIES)” and you did it so perfectly here. This wasn’t my Christmas present but I’ve decided to claim it as such because it’s my favorite Christmas fic of all time (again, a genre I don’t like that you’ve somehow managed to make me adore - very rude. stop doing that. but also don’t. ever.)

Sill Love Songs

You KNOW I had to end with this one right? My very own birthday fic and omg I will forever be grateful to have you in my life for writing me this fic (and many other reasons but the point stands). This story is Hilarious. Like I was giggling and laughing out loud throughout because, you guessed it, William Fucking Scarlet. All I asked for was CS's love story told in the POV of his inappropriate wedding toast and GIRL. You delivered. He’s so absolutely perfect in this story. His interactions with Killian make me die (when he propositions him in the kitchen I thought I would straight up perish) and his interactions with Emma are equally hilarious but also so so soft and beautiful underneath it all. I did not expect to be hit in the chest with a mactruck of emotion in what I expected to be an aptly named silly little fic but of course I should have because everything you write carries so many layers of human emotion and you’re characters are so REAL and beautiful and flawed in such a true to life way. I don’t know where or how you developped such an amazing talent or if you were just born with it but I will selfishly devour and demand more of everything that you write with it.

I’m also just saying that the sequel doesn’t HAVE to be a birthday fic... I have a 2/3rds birthday coming up in August.....

Happy birthday bestie!

Thank you so much for everything that you write and for being such an amazing person in my life. I hope you have a wonderful birthday long weekend and a fantastic year!

And please add your tag list so they can all get a reminder of these amazing fics!

#happy birthday Kay!#honourable mention to every single other fic shes ever written #major cs fic rec #captain swan fic rec #cs fic rec #cs ff #talented author is talented #beautiful friend is beautiful

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jof2jokes · 1 year ago

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Daily Joke

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searchingwardrobes · 2 years ago

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No Wives, No Mothers, No Lovers 2/7

Yes, yes, I know! The chapter count went up! I really want to stick to consistently posting, and when I had only gotten through one bullet point on my outline after two hours and over 1k words, I decided to break up my outline into smaller chunks. I figure posting shorter chapters more frequently is better than a long wait for longer chapters? Maybe? Well, that’s what I’m going with. This will technically be six chapters with an epilogue.

I hope you continue to enjoy your gift, @snowbellewells !

Summary: He must be hallucinating. Because Emma Swan is supposed to be in Miami, Florida where he left her. Emma Swan isn’t supposed to be on this rocky stretch of beach, completely drenched, and wearing a ball gown of all things. A Lieutenant Duckling AU (sort of) in which Emma is a siren who isn’t supposed to fall in love with a human.

Length: about 1k words in this chapter

Rated: T

Chapter One

Also on Ao3

Tagging: @teamhook @kmomof4 @jrob64 @xhookswenchx @winterbythesea @thisonesatellite @welllpthisishappening @spartanguard @ohmakemeahercules @tiganasummertree @sparlecorn93 @sals86 @pirateprincessofpizza @xarandomdreamx @zaharadessert @huntressandlioness1 @jamif @undercaffinatednightmare @onceratheart18 @sparlecorn93 @sals86 @pirateprincessofpizza @xarandomdreamx @zaharadessert @huntressandlioness1 @winterbythesea

CHAPTER TWO

Killian sleeps better than he has in months, which is sort of a surprise since Emma is in his dreams and on his mind as he wakes. For some reason, her presence across the hall is like a tangible thing that soothes the ache of his heart.

Even though it’s his day off, Killian wakes before seven. Such is a fisherman’s life, rising before first light and watching dawn spread her rays across the water. He likes that part of it, actually. It’s the back-breaking work and the stench of fish that he detests. Being at the mercy of the volatile sea, however, is the worst part about it. It’s why he left Storybrooke to begin with. While quaint, it’s not the type of seaside town that draws tourists. Not with its downtown that time forgot, its dilapidated docks lined with rickety fishing boats, and the cannery that taints the air with the faint smell of salt and fish. Not that Killian doesn’t love it here in many ways. This is the community that welcomed his mother home with open arms, as well as her two sons. The people he adores. He even loves the downtown, though it’s seen far better days. He just doesn’t want to be a fisherman, and in Storybrooke, for the most part, that or the cannery are your only options.

So he’d worked as hard as he could to get good grades in school, fought for scholarships, and found himself with several options. He’d decided on the University of Miami because it was the farthest away yet still by the sea. Leaving Mom and Liam hadn’t been easy, but he immediately fell in love with the university and the colorful, vibrant city of Miami.

Then his mother had died, and nothing was the same.

Killian is slightly surprised when he goes downstairs to see Emma already at the breakfast table with Elsa and Liam. Not many young people their age are early risers. Emma is already halfway through a stack of Elsa’s pancakes as Killian takes a seat across from her. They smile at one another warmly, and Killian boldly winks at her. Pink stains Emma’s cheeks as she tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

“Pancakes, Killian?” Elsa asks, already setting a plate of them in front of him.

“Absolutely!”

Elsa sits down with her own plate, and she and the Jones brothers settle into their comfortable morning chatter.

“Looks like rain tomorrow.”

“It always figures, doesn’t it?”

“Pass the syrup?”

“Did you hear that Eric’s bought a third trawler?”

“He needs to expand with the baby coming. I was talking to Ariel just the other day . . .”

Killian catches Emma’s eye, wondering if she feels ignored, but she lounges comfortably in her seat, her pancakes forgotten, and a fond expression on her face. He reaches across the table and takes her hand.

“How are you this morning?”

Emma has the same pad of paper and pen from last night next to her plate. She writes something, then slides it across for him to see.

Never better, actually.

“Good,” he tells her. Then he clears his throat and interrupts his brother and his wife. “I wanted to show Emma around Storybrooke today. Could I have the truck?”

There’s immediate silence; not even a fork clinks against a plate. Liam’s jaw hangs open as he shares a weighted glance with Elsa.

“Of - of course,” he stammers.

Elsa’s eyes brighten as she glances from Killian to Emma and back again. “Is this . . . like a date?”

Emma blushes again, but she also holds his gaze as she nods.

“Yes,” Killian says, “it is.”

Elsa beams and clasps her hands together. “Then we need to call in reinforcements!”

Emma gives him a startled look, her eyes wide, and all Killian can do is shrug.

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Elsa is twenty-five years old and her sister Anna, Storybrooke’s one and only beautician, is twenty-three. Yet when the red-head arrives with a tackle box full of makeup and a giant shoulder bag of hair supplies, the two sisters squeal, giggle, and yank Emma up the stairs like they’re in high school again.

Liam rather eagerly disappears, claiming he has yard work to do. Killian thinks about joining him, but he doesn’t want to get dirty and sweaty. So instead he paces the living room, rubbing his hands nervously on his best pair of dark-wash jeans. Finally, after what feels like forever, he hears footsteps descending the stairs.

He turns and almost loses his balance at the sight of Emma coming down the stairs. She approaches him almost shyly, her hands clutching the fabric of her strapless sundress. Her hair shines, falling in large, soft curls over her bare shoulders.

“You look . . . amazing,” he breathes out, and her eyes sparkle at his praise.

“Emma Swan is modeling for us today a gorgeous lavender sundress.”

Killian glares at Anna over Emma’s shoulder, but the red-head just continues with her enthusiastic runway commentary as Elsa giggles.

“It’s strapless with a seersucker top, and the skirt is long with lots of movement.” Anna pauses, then clears her throat pointedly. “I said, the skirt is long with lots of movement.”

Emma rolls her eyes, but spins in a circle to show off the skirt.

“She’s wearing stylish yet comfortable gladiator sandals in light tan.”

Emma lifts the skirt a bit to show off the shoes.

“Then her accessories are simple yet tasteful with a coral necklace and bracelet which accents the peachy color of her lipstick and blush, perfect for a day at the seaside. Her hair -”

“Anna, I think they get the idea,” Elsa cuts her sister off.

Thank God, because if anyone can talk, it’s Anna. Even if Emma wasn’t mute, she probably wouldn’t have gotten a word in edgewise during her makeover.

“Right,” Anna says, not the least bit chagrined. “You two have a date, and we’re -”

“Leaving,” Elsa finishes for her, turning Anna around and shoving her up the stairs.

“It was wonderful to meet you, Emma!” Anna shouts as she ascends the stairs.

Killian sighs in relief as he turns to Emma, his hand extended to take hers. Emma, however, has gone suddenly pale. She’s staring at the tv over Killian’s shoulder, which he had forgotten was still on. He turns to see Good Morning America covering a story in the Bahamas. A reporter stands, microphone in hand, on a strip of tropical beach.

“The cruise ship went down just eight hours after setting sail. There was no distress call, and the coast guard is baffled as to the cause of the sinking. What’s most tragic is that the ship was hosting a destination wedding at the time. Sweethearts Corey Coffey and Sophie Baxter were lost along with many of their family and friends.”

The news story cuts to an interview with a friend who’d been unable to make the wedding. She shares about the storybook romance of Corey and Sophie as pictures of the couple flash across the screen.

As the story plays, Emma begins to tear the room apart, flinging throw pillows and shoving magazines off the coffee table.

“Emma? What is it?” he asks in concern.

She finds a remote and points it at the tv with shaking hands. Unfortunately, it’s for the DVD player, and no matter how many buttons she pushes, the news story drones on. She becomes more frantic and tears well up in her eyes. Killian stills her hands with his and gently takes the remote.

“Alexa,” he says to the room, “turn off tv.”

Ok. TV off, answers the electronic device.

Emma is breathing heavily, and Killian gently rubs her upper arms.

“It’s okay,” he soothes. “I get it. That’s a really sad story, huh?”

Emma nods, but she refuses to meet his eyes. Killian frowns, then gently lifts her chin.

“It probably reminds you of losing your family.”

Emma merely closes her eyes. A single tear slips down her cheek, and Killian reaches out to wipe it away with his thumb.

“That’s that, then,” he says, forcing levity into his voice. “That’s all the sadness for today. Because today is all about making you smile. Remember?”

Emma opens her eyes, and her body relaxes. Her lips turn up at one side, as if she’s testing out how to smile. Killian shrugs.

“Well, that’s a start anyway.” Then he offers her his arm gallantly. “Shall we?”

#captain swan ff #cs ff #lieutenant duckling #sort of #emma as a siren #urban fairy tale

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piningsiskin · 4 years ago

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i’m so in love with the immortal dream theory and that tales from the smp is relating to his backstory

like imagine

give me dream as cornelius! he visits the village sometimes to leave fresh flowers at corpse and robin’s graves. he sits by the campfire right outside the town, thinking about what he could’ve done differently. he stares at the small execution cell, thinking about what pain corpse would’ve felt as the village condemned him for being blind and not being able to tell who was the murderer. he stares at the small execution cell, wondering if robin finally felt peace as he died, because he’d be able to reunite with his father

give me dream as a member of blockbeard’s crew! he helps the captain lay out clues that lead to the treasure. he sails the seas with the crew, wondering if this is what it feels like to have a family again. he gets attached to the pirate life, and when captain blockbeard dies, he feels as though he’s lost a parent. (when he meets puffy, he’s reminded of his first captain, and can’t help but start idolizing her as a parental figure too)

give me immortal dream!! who reminisces about his past lives in prison!! who writes down all his adventures in those books of his, retelling the tales of the people he’s lost!! who draws portraits of his loved ones throughout the years so he doesn’t forget their faces!! THE ANGST FACTOR IS SO HIGH PLZ

#dream following puffy around like a duckling because that’s what he used to do to blockbeard #plz thats so sad hakdhfk #dream making flower crowns for robin’s grave because that’s the activity they used to do together #the immortal dream theory is pog #also it would explain why his morals are so weird #he’s lived through so many lives that they all blend together and he can’t differentiate them #angst factor #plz someone write fics of this because i’ve only read 1 #dsmp #dream #cornelius/dream #tales from the smp #captain puffy

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teamhook · 3 years ago

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Captain Swan Writers Spotlight

Hello, lovelies. I've decided to do a spotlight on Captain Swan writers. Fandom is not what it used to be, and we are lucky to have such a talented group. I want to highlight a new/underrated writer per post. We have new people, and I try to keep up, but sometimes I fail. Please, join me in showing them love. If you guys have any suggestions, let me know!

Up to the spotlight is:

Why two blogs? One is mostly art and the other one is fic but it’s the same lovely person.

@allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 @caught-in-the-filter AO3 WORKS LINK

Coming to Class ~ One-Shot

Summary: As soon as the semester ends, some mutual feelings are revealed, and mutual feeling ensues.

A very sexxy fic if you know what I mean

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Chasing a Shadow (Chasing a High) ~ Two-Shot

Summary: Fulfilling the prompt from karlyfr13s:

Smutty CS notion: sweet duckling Princess Emma stumbles on Dark Hook and is too intrigued for her own good...there are some things she just won’t tell Queen Snow

This was a two-shot and it was glorious!! Dark Hook is all I'm saying.

My Bad, Bad Devil, You Put the Angel in You ~ One-Shot

Summary: Angel!Killian/demon!Emma pwp written for Captain Swan Supernatural Summer 2021 (CSSNS 2021), my first time writing for the event.

Very sexy but if you are not into priest!killian fics its okay, she has other stuff

Punishment ~ One-Shot

Summary:

Inspired by an edit made by @itsfabianadocarmo

Emma intends to give herself a night of relaxing recreation at a tavern, where she has a chance encounter with none other than Captain Hook. He's a bit older than she'd pictured from the tales about him but no less handsome, so she decides to find out if he's still on his game. After a bit of enjoyable conversation, he invites her back to his ship, and with a teasing question and a dangerous promise, the pair head out for a night they certainly won't forget.

Okay, all I gots to say is SilverFox Killian...

Two Can Play at That Game ~ One-Shot

Summary: Emma gives Killian a secret, under-his-desk bj while he plays videogames online with their friend(s). (He gets some revenge, too.)

Prompted by @holdingoutforapiratehero and @anothersworld. ❤❤

This was very sexy and funny!

@andiirivera @anothersworld @apiratewhopines @artistic-writer @batana54 @beckettj @bethacaciakay @bixisarusher @branlovestowrite @brooke-to-broch @captainodonoghue @carpedzem @chasedancer17 @cocohook38 @courtorderedcake @darkcolinodonorgasm @deckerstarblanche @demisexualemmaswan @djlbg @donteattheappleshook @dovelyheart @elizabeethan @gingerchangeling @gingerpolyglot @holdingoutforapiratehero @hollyethecurious @hookedonapirate @hookedonaswanprincess @hookedonhiddles @ilovemesomekillianjones @imlaxdris71 @itsfabianadocarmo @jarienn972 @jennjenn615 @jonesfandomfanatic @jrob64 @justanother-unluckysoul @k-leemac @karlyfr13s @kday426 @killian-will-do @klynn-stormz @kmomof4 @kwistowee @kymbersmith-90 @laschatzi @lassluna @let-it-raines @lfh1226-linda @lonelyspectator12 @mariakov81 @motherkatereloyshipper @officerrogers @ohmakemeahercules @onceratheart18 @pirateherokillian @purplehawkcaptain @queen-serena88 @resident-of-storybrooke @revanmeetra87 @rumdrum91 @sailtoafarawayland @sals86 @scientificapricot @scribomaniac @searchingwardrobes @seriouslyhooked @shardminds @shireness-says @snowbellewells @sotangledupinit @spacekrulesbians @spartanguard @stahlop @superchocovian @swanslieutenant @tehgreeneyes @the-darkdragonfly @thejollyroger-writer @thepirateandhisson @therealstartraveller776 @thislassishooked @thisonesatellite @tiganasummertree @tomeandflickcorner @ultraluckycatnd @veryverynotgoodwrites @wefoundloveunderthelight @wellhellotragic @whimsicallyenchantedrose @winterbaby89 @winterbythesea @xarandomdreamx @xemmaloveskillianx @xsajx @zaharadessert

#Captain Swan #Captain Swan Writers Spotlight #CSWS

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maniibear · 3 years ago

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Feeling very senti today so doing a fic rec list of all the fics that are CARRYING me in this trash year of our lord twenty twenty one. No particular order bc great things cannot be ranked!

Autumn Thoughts by softwired Sangcheng; complete - One disaster human secretly courts another more disaster human in this incredible tale of classical poetry, elegant gifts, and sloppy desperate bids for emotional connection. Come for the cute premise, stay for Jiang Cheng betting that if he runs fast enough, his feelings can't catch him bc that's how this works. Also wangxian are there, and they bought shenanigans.

The Mustache by @fortune-maiden Gen; complete - A FILL FOR MY PROMPT (😍😍😍) where NHS grows a mustache. Call me biased but this is the funniest thing I've ever read. Sometimes psychological warfare is just you, your sworn brothers, the entire jianghu, and a very specific fashion statement!

The Twin Blades of Yunmeng by @ghostysword, @sometimesophie wangxian + est. sangcheng; Ongoing - THE mdzs rewrite, THIS!!! What a brilliant and thorough reimagining of a world where JC wields both Suibian and Sandu! WWX comes back as usual, but the whole gang goes to solve the murder mystery with him and there are FEELINGS. There are some fascinating twists re NMJ's body; the character voices are ON POINT, the juniors are ducklings, JC is reluctant captain of ship wangxian, and don't even get me started on the gorgeous illustrations omgggg - like, when ya'll see and read about Qin Su mmph. This fic is an experience ok, go have it~

The Law of Unintended Consequences by @oddlyexquisite sangcheng; ongoing - An arranged marriage political drama that I could not stop reading and still think about. Do you like a grumpy purple pikachu and mastermind songbird discovering that they love each other v much actually + Niebros feels, shuangjie background feels, 3zun middleground feels? Bc this fic delivers everything. Also, what. is. happening. with the silver?? 👀👀

Telling Dreams from One Another (it's harder than you think) by @spaceshipoftheseus xisangcheng; ongoing - SPEAKING of fics that are an experience!!! Ok alright, the premise is that NMJ and JGY reincarnate, but it's SO MUCH MORE. The worldbuilding alone - like, concept art for NHS's Unclean Realm where?? The layers to every single character, do you ever want to write fanfic of fanfic? Are you ever excited for a single character to be introduced in the context of a fic? That's how RICH this story is. Every hour of every day I'm screaming at the sheer prose, the imagery, the emotions with which I am BLEST!

What we yearn for by YetForNothing the Gusu ot4; nearly complete - Oh, the sheer ambition of this fic and how i n c r e d i b l y well the author pulls it off! What if Untamed, but NHS, LWJ, WWX, & JC are an OT4? What if each of them have varying sexual orientations, gender ids, and perspectives? What if they loved each other very very much and what if all that was weaved in PERFECTLY with canon events? When I say I cannot believe fanfic is free sometimes...

That's all for now, go enrich your lives, loves!~ Also, I did my best to pull everyone's socmeds from fic notes, but if I missed anyone's tumblr or twitter, please tell and I'm happy to edit the post <33

#mdzs #the untamed #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #fic rec #mdzs fic rec #cql fic #wei wuxian #lan wangji

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newtonsheffield · 4 years ago

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Ahh Yes, here I am again with something that nobody asked for

(@hella-sirius, @sassynach)

Now this is an AU of my Bridgerton and Sons AU based on that Spicy Sunday post from yesterday

I present That Boy™️ Anthony Bridgerton and "Ugly Duckling"🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 (We all know there's no such thing) Katie Sheffield

"Hey Bridgerton, Heads up!" A voice called through the crowd, and Katie's head spun towards the noise before she could stop herself. And there he was. Anthony Bridgerton, hid dark hair falling in his eyes, curling a little around his ears, his tie loose and his blazer a little askew, backpack hanging off one shoulder, a delighted grin on his face as he jumped a little to catch the rugby ball tossed his way. And Katie hated that her breath caught and her stomach rolled.

It was so so embarrassingly stupid, the way she couldn't seem to stop the heat from rushing to her cheeks whenever he was around. It had been like that from the very first time she'd seen him, when she'd stood at the front her english class and been forced to introduce herself at the beginning of term, freshly granted a scholarship. e'd looked up with polite interest while she spoke her name softly, and then taken her seat and he'd smiled softly at her, his eyes looking so ridiculously kind and something about it had stuck with her. So effortlessly handsome for a 17 year old.

Of course, he hadn't looked at her since, and why would he? She was a nobody and he was captain of the rugby team, on the debate team, a straight A student, they just weren't really in the same circle and it was fine. At least he was nice to look at.

A shove from behind knocked her off balance, her mind distracted not able to catch herself quickly enough, she went sprawlling on the ground, right at his feet. Katie felt her cheeks burn with humiliation, her glasses skidding some distance away from her as Cressida Cowper's voice rang out. "Shit, Sheffield, you should really watch where you're going." humiliated tears stung at her eyes as she sighed, scrambling around and then her glasses were right in front of her, being held out by a hand. She took them gently, sliding them back in place, her breath catching again as the face smiling kindly down at her came into focus.

"Are you alright?" Anthony's soft, deep voice asked. Kate felt her heart stutter, her mind whirring, barely able to get a word out. "It's Katie right?" She forced herself to nod. "Are you alright Katie?" He asked again, his eyes skimming over her. "Yeah, just a dented ego, I'm sure I'll survive to tell the tale. Maybe I'll get to sell my story to Good Morning Britain." She forced herself to say, something, Anything, her words a sarcastic drawl. She cursed herself. Anthony's eyes widened for a moment and then his laughter boomed through the hallway, sending Katie'd heart skittering after it. "That's a story I would love to see." He said softly standing, and holding out his hand. She took it gently and he tugged her firmly to her feet, though she stumbled a little, his hands shooting out to steady her resting on her waist and she felt her cheeks burn. "You're sure you're okay?" He said again, his eyes ghosting over her again. She nodded more firmly this time. "Cool, Well I have to get to Rugby practice, but um, I'll see you around Katie!" He said walking backwards away from her a smile still on his face. "Yeah, See you, Anthony!" And then he was gone, Katie's cheeks burning her heart letting out a familiar broken rhythm.

______________________

"You absolute fucking idiot!" Anthony hissed at himself as he marched out of the school doors, towards the rugby field. "Oh I'll see you around Katie! That was your fucking chance!" Anthony could still feel his hand burning from where he'd held her hand in his own, his heart racing as she'd stumbled against him.

From the very second he'd looked up in English and seen her standing there, nervously looking around the room, Anthony had known that he'd never think about anything the same way again. Her hair was like a dark curtain, curly and a little untameable, her eyes shining intelligently behind her glasses, the fluorescent lighting bouncing off her cheekbones. She was absolutely stunning, his breath caught in his chest and he burned with a curiosity to know everything about her.

He'd stood, when class finished, trying to make his way towards her, desperately trying to scoot past Cressida Cowper who was valiantly trying to get his attention, but she'd disappeared out of the door before he could reach her. He'd tried, so many times in the lat few months, to introduce himself, to talk to her about something, anything, but every time he got near her, his palms would get so sweaty, and his mouth went dry and he couldn't seem to stutter anything out. And then she always walked away, barely even noticing him. Like some kind of untouchable angel. Every time she walked past him he was seized by the mad urge to yell out. You're really pretty! Which he was sure would only get him suspended for harassment. Honestly, there was just something about her that seemed to turn him into a complete idiot. And now he'd really done it.

"Jesus!" He cursed again, throwing open the door to his locker in the change room, dropping his bag inside. "What's ticked you off?" Simon Basset's bored voice said to his left. Anthony sighed. "I just talked to Katie Sheffield." He muttered, his cheeks burning. Simon let out a gasp. "You finally did it! You finally talked to her?! Mate that's awesome!" Simon said clapping him on the shoulder happily. Anthony groaned again. "No, it wasn't awesome. I mean it was, she's really pretty, and she's kind of funny as well." He said, falling against the seat, kicking his shoes off. Simon groaned. "Oh man, she wasn't interested? That sucks dude." "I didn't even ask her I basically just stared at her like an idiot and then I said I'll see you around. I just... I can't seem to talk around her! Like am I an actual moron?!" Anthony said a little wildly, brandishing his hands like a madman. Simon chuckled. "Yes, but I don't think that's the problem here." Anthony scowled, "Look at it this way, at least you talked to her right?" Anthony nodded, "And she didn't run away from you screaming?" Anthony sighed again, "No, if anything I ran away from her. Ugh, She's going to think I'm such a loser." Simon slapped his shoulder sympathetically. "Try again tomorrow dude."

It was what Simon always said, but this time, when he closed his eyes he could see the way hers had looked at him so curiously. And when he saw her walking into school the next day, he couldn't help himself from calling, screaming really "Hey! Katie! Wait up!"

Again, sorry about me, obsessed with myself I suppose

#bridgerton and sons au au #a double au #literally someone just put me out of my misery #teenage!kathony #kathony #anthony x kate #anthony bridgerton #kate sheffield #kate sharma #just ugh #why are they so fucking cute?!#teenagers are so dumb and stupid #and it's cute af #no one knows how to moderate their feelings yet and they're just stumbling around like clowns

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the-darkdragonfly · 1 year ago

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NEW CHAPTER! Tempest - A Captain Duckling Tale

Chapter 8

helllllllooooooo! It's a hot minute for this one, eh? Sorry 'bout that. This chapter gave me no end of trouble, it wanted to go in about one million directions and I couldn't pick one! Anyway, a HUGE thank you to Maddie for yelling at me to write then patiently fixing what I wrote. love you, babe!

♥️♥️♥️♥️

“Scarlet!” Killian boomed, his voice thundering across the deck, all hands pausing in their work of loading the vessel with the rest of the goods, turning to watch young William Scarlet and their Captain. Will stood, having been crouched low inspecting the lowering of grain stores into the forward hold, and turned to his captain, face blank and at the ready.

“Below deck,” he snapped, turning away as the large coat swung around his legs, “now!”

William held his mask of deference until they were safely away from the eyes of the crew, before screwing his eyes shut and to feel his way along the walls of the hallway as Killian led him into his quarters.

“What are you doing, you fool?”

“I’m afraid I might see som’et I shouldn’t, aren’t I?”

Killian growled- we’ll talk about your flagrant lack of respect later- rolling his neck out against the tension which had ebbed and flowed through his veins since William’s lifeblood had seeped from his body, white pale and dying on a dock at his feet. He’d been helpless to stop it, and while he’d lost men before, he wasn’t prepared to lose the boy who had so much a son to him.

But Emma… she had saved him. She had saved his son.

“Could’a been worse, I s’pose,” Scarlet continued, cracking one eye open dramatically then the other when he had ascertained that the coast was in fact clear of naked women. “I could’a seen ye’r bare arse.”

“William…” his tone was low and warning, but Scarlet ploughed on.

“I may not ‘ave recovered from ‘at…”

“Are you quite finished?”

Scarlet nodded, gesturing with a flourish for Killian to continue, a smile nipping at the corner of his mouth.

.♥️♥️♥️♥️

Read the rest here

It's been a while - catch up here

Read my other stuff here

Tagging the usual suspects

@elizabeethan @donteattheappleshook @sailtoafarawayland @teamhook @wefoundloveunderthelight @caught-in-the-filter @ultraluckycatnd @veryverynotgood @snowbellewells @hollyethecurious @jrob64 @kmomof4 @artistic-writer @gingerpolyglot @xarandomdreamx @justanother-unluckysoul @zaharadessert @xsjax @karlyfr13s @tiganasummertree @wyntereyez @klynn-stormz @onceratheart18 @rkrbirdgirl @ouatdaily @blowmiakisscolin @courtorderedcake @winterbaby89 @pirateprincessofpizza @superchocovian @deckerstarblanche @alexa-fangirl-forever @stahlop @undercaffinatednightmare @lostintheskyfaraway @anmylica @motherkatereloyshipper @last-tsarina @lfh1226-linda @hookedmom @midnightsuki @paradiselady19 @jonesfandomfanatic

#tempest #a captain duckling tale #the darkdragonfly #captain swan #killian jones #emma swan #sassy pants william scarlet #there's a bath #act surprised plz

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erazonpo3 · 3 years ago

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WOWM

so What Once Was Mine came out and I read it.

My General Thoughts are that this book was something of a rollercoaster but in like a pop up carnival with dubious safety regulations and diseases in the DIY log flume water kind of way. I had some fun reading it but I also feel like I picked up a rash.

If you're like me and you enjoy picking a book apart for morsels of interesting concepts then you might enjoy it, if you think holy shit why the fuck is a literal real historical serial killer in this book I need to see this then you might enjoy it, if you care about engaging plots and character beats then you probably won't.

If you want to ask me anything specific go ahead, but otherwise for more in depth thoughts: spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of the Plot

Okay so here's the deal. The story has the framing device of two siblings in a cancer ward, where one tells the other a story. I'll get into that later, but that's how it starts. Our actual story starts with a pretty long prologue: We learn that the King & Queen got the Moonflower thinking it was the Sunflower, Rapunzel was born with silver hair, and then baby Rapunzel kills a maid who accidentally hurt her when brushing her hair.

Oh, by the way, Max is a human man named Justin Tregsburg. Yeah.

Anyway, the royal family puts out feelers for legit witches who can safely take care of Rapunzel because the baby is too dangerous, and Gothel shows up to take her away. Queen Arianna visits Rapunzel once (but is only allowed to watch through a peephole) and decides watching another woman raise her child is too painful and throws herself into restoring the kingdom's orphanages instead.

Now we're in the present. Rapunzel is nineteen and she wants to go and see the lanterns (a mourning tradition of the Dead princess in this story). She tries to argue with Gothel but gets shut down, and Gothel makes her kill a chicken to prove the point that she can't go outside because she's too dangerous. However we as the audience already know Gothel plans to sell Rapunzel off as a bride or a servant or a weapon to some other nobles, because she's evil.

Also by the way Gothel still has access to our Sundrop Flower and is using it to live forever that's just a thing that happens in the background.

When Gothel is gone Rapunzel watches as a man (Flynn) stores a satchel in a tree outside of her tower, and that motivates her to leave the tower for the first time. Then she goes back inside the tower with her prize of a crown, and a skink she found and named Pascal. Rapunezl and Gothel have another spat, and Rapunzel decides she will run off to see the lanterns and she will find Flynn and make him her guide.

She ends up at the Snuggly Duckling and she doesn't find Flynn but she does find Gina, a young career criminal girl looking to break the glass ceiling. Gina agrees to help her find Flynn. They find Flynn, and he agrees to help guide Rapunzel to see the floating lanterns for a split reward of the crown with Gina.

The Snuggly Duckling gets burned down by Countess Bathory (yes that Elizabeth Bathory) and the Pub Thugs are pissed about it and also they're helping Rapunzel even though she didn't sing the I've Got A Dream song don't worry about it. We learn that the nobles that wanted to buy Rapunzel are now hunting her down so she can go to auction.

Gina takes them to her adopted mother's cottage. Gina's mother is a white witch, who goes by the name of Goodwife. She doesn't get an actual name she's just The Goodwife. Anyhow, the cottage is a magic safe space (for now) and Goodwife teaches Rapunzel that her hair isn't inherently evil and may not even be all that deadly! Rapunzel learns that her hair has other powers too, like the ability to turn skink Pascal into a sentient Chameleon. Yeah.

Also Goodwife tells Rapunzel she's the dead princess but this isn't like, an immediate call to action. Not a lot happens until we get this story's version of the Mother Knows Best Reprise where Gothel finds Rapunzel again but has to flee, but this Rapunzel has a bigger support network and isn't buying it. Flynn and Gina decide the safest course of action is to bring Rapunzel to the castle, but along the way she gets kidnapped by the Countess.

Gothel is pissed because she still wants the money for Rapunzel, so she rallies the armies of all the opposing bidders. Flynn and Gina convince Max the Man to send for his troops, and he joins them in going to the enemy castle. Flynn tries to sneak in, gets caught, and meanwhile there's a bloody battle out the front between the noble armies. Max jumps into the fray, Gina turns around and rallies the Pub Thugs.

Rapunzel uses her shrinking magic (!) to disappear half the castle and escape with Eugene, and the Pub Thugs arrive and basically end the battle. The Captain is dying but it's okay! Rapunzel turns him into a horse :) Also Rapunzel sees Gothel and tells her to fuck off.

The story ends with a tearful reunion between Rapunzel and her parents, Eugene and Gina are implied to be biological siblings, and things are good but of course in direct parallel to Cass Gina leaves at the end to become an adventurer. The end.

(There are a few other smaller plot beats, but you get the idea.)

MY THOTS

So here are my thoughts™.

Framing Device

I'll just state that I didn't like that the story was told via the vehicle of an older brother telling his 16 year old sister a different version of the Tangled Movie in a cancer ward. From what I've heard it also isn't normal for the Twisted Tales series to use a framing device for the AUs either.

I sympathise with the author's personal story, of course I do. That doesn't mean I'm stirred with compassion every time the flow of the story is interrupted to remind you to be sad because this is a story being told to a girl sick with cancer. It feels more than a little tragedy-porny rather than emotionally touching, and maybe that's because I'm too burnt out on real life tragedy to waste emotional energy on fictional cancer patients but we don't need to do Fault In Our Stars discourse again.

Real World References

This story goes heavy with Real World references. And another issue with the framing device as above is that you do feel like this is a story being told by someone namedropping every historical figure they know which makes it harder to get into the story.

There's like... a lot of references to Christianity, particularly in the prologue. There's a priest that thinks Rapunzel's hair is the work of the Devil or whatever. It's a lot. The Patriarchy is a thing. And that's not even getting into the Countess. I put it very succinctly in my notes so I'll paste it here:

I wish she’d just been an OC who could exist to chew scenery because the fact that she was a literal historical serial killer is super. Off putting. Like, she could have been an obvious reference to Bathory, but it feels like Miku Binder Hamilton levels of uncomfortable to me.

I miss Lady D.

Which basically sums up my problem with trying to take the setting of Tangled and put it somewhere in the Real World and somewhere on the Timeline. Who thought this was a good idea.

Misc. Thoughts

So, I used the five highlighter colours my ipad allows to organise my thoughts and organised them accordingly: Yellow for out of place IRL references, Blue for worldbuilding/character points that aren't plot relevant but still interesting, Pink for when something I find personally amusing happens, Purple for when the story feels like it's trying to 1-up the movie in some kind of way and Green for Heterosexual Nonsense. I'll touch on those last two in the Character sections but be prepared.

Also: for a book about giving Rapunzel killer hair, her hair isn't very dangerous. I wanted to see Rapunzel kill someone, and I'm disappointed that I didn't.

Characters

I'll do a deep dive into my thoughts about the characters before wrapping it up. I'm starting with Gina because she's honestly the easiest to get through.

Gina

Gina is a new character introduced for the story. She's a young woman trying to make it as a career criminal but keeps hitting that glass ceiling. So here's the down low, for all those who want to know: Gina is basically Cass, only not really. She's implied to be Eugene's biological sister, as previously mentioned, but you can imagine she's Cass the entire way through without breaking your immersion because if you imagined Cass if she were adopted by a Goodwitch rather than the Captain and had a looser, more wilderness survivor than trainee guard upbringing then you get Gina.

I liked Gina! I think she's fun as her own character too, and her best moments are when she's interacting with her mother Goody Goodwife, and she of course picks up a natural sibling rivalry with Eugene, but I was disappointed with how little she really bonded with Rapunzel because she needed to make room for Eugene and Rapunzel's romance.

Rapunzel

Okay, here's our protagonist. There's a notable effort to make Rapunzel more active in her destiny and whatever, and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I was worried they'd try to go full butt-kicking girlboss with her but I was pleasantly surprised that Rapunzel was pretty useless in most scenes, genuinely love to see it.

With a more intimate look into Rapunzel's psyche through the medium of prose, we see Rapunzel really questioning Gothel's behaviour even before she leaves the tower, and while I appreciate that she can develop her own cynicism I feel it starts unnecessarily early. This is my purple colour; the movie needs to be "fixed" by showing the readers that this Rapunzel is quicker to distrust Gothel. She's also quicker to hatch a plan to go outside of the tower on her own, and she makes a plan to make Flynn her guide for the lanterns even though he never stumbles upon her in the tower- and even though she has a perfectly rational reason not to trust him which is that he is a stranger and a Wanted Thief.

In the moments where it does work is when Rapunzel is surrounded by her new support network: Flynn, Goodwife and Gina, who encourage her to question Gothel's sincerity, and Rapunzel comes up with her own defences for Gothel so that she can poke through them herself.

I have some other thoughts about Rapunzel's hair and her powers, like how the story provides the interesting concept that her hair gets different powers with the different phases of the moon, but a lot of the powers are uhhh stupid and also I feel like it really robs the story of the whole gripping conflict of "Yes I'm Rapunzel Yes my hair kills people what of it".

In as far as just Rapunzel herself though, she still felt pretty in character nonetheless, and maybe that's all I can ask.

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

My boy I am so sorry. They neutered my boy.

Long story short: Eugene in this story is the sexy lamp. He contributes nothing to the plot except to be there for Rapunzel to drool over. And of course because he won't get any character development, he starts from the very beginning as a sweet soft boi with none of the Flynn Rider characterisation from the movie because we don't have time for that, he needs to be husband material stat.

His whole character is the colour green for Heterosexual Nonsense.

So, here's the problem. In the movie, there's not a lot of time for ~friendship~ between Rapunzel and Eugene because they kind of immediately see each other as a romantic prospect. And whatever, it's a movie and there's only so much time. But this book had the opportunity to take things a bit slower and instead chooses to make Rapunzel get jealous whenever Eugene and Gina interact and for her to be constantly wishing he was holding her hand.

Say what you will about Lost Lagoon, but it tells a good romance story just by virtue of not intending to be a romance story, because the author is trying to convey a strong bond between Rapunzel and Cassandra without using "and they kiss" as a cheatcode. What Once Was Mine says "he was a boy, she was a girl, could it be any more obvious?" and leaves it at that.

Now as for how this all pertains to Eugene's character? Well, it just robs him of any flavour. In the movie there's a clear distinction between Flynn and Eugene, when we learn Eugene's real name about halfway through. We see a clear difference between the Flynn we knew- kind of an asshole, wanated to drop Rapunzel off at the Snuggly Duckling and get rid of her- and Eugene, who is sincere and chooses Rapunzel as his New Dream in opposition to his Old Dream of living alone on an island with a bunch of money.

This version of Eugene is basically Eugene all the way through, because the plot doesn't really need Eugene there but he has to be there because it's a Tangled AU so there's no Rapunzel rescuing Flynn from the guards and healing his hand scene, he just loves her immediately and that's that. They have a little spat at one point but it's cleared up later and not because they actually communicate but because they kiss.

Rapunzel only learns Eugene's real name at the very end of the story, and gives a speech about how Eugene is the real him, but it's just so flat because 'Flynn' has been sincere this whole time? Anyway he does nothing of value for the entire story except be there for Rapunzel to lust after. Eugene I'm so sorry.

Gothel

Gothel's sort of the Big Bad and is characterised as an abusive asshole, the usual. I wish there were a bit more nuance to her character but then again in this story she's not just being passively evil- taking care of Rapunzel for selfish reasons but nevertheless maintaining the status quo- she's being actively evil in trying to sell Rapunzel off.

It's notably funny that Gothel sees the Countess Bathory and is like "what the fuck".

Anyway Gothel in this story also feels very weak in part because this Rapunzel is more critical and in part because this Rapunzel has a new support network. It's for that reason the Mother Knows Best Reprise scene doesn't really work, because the original has Gothel pit Rapunzel against Eugene, whereas she can't do that here so it remains a Gothel vs Rapunzel thing.

She gets a boring death as an epilogue addendum that someone rips out the Sundrop flower, which tbh? lame. It would be a lot more fun if it were open ended but I am also preferential to Rapunzel actually using her killer hair to kill someone. Please

Captain Justin Tregsburg

It's Max. He was a human but then he got turned into a horse. what the fuck you guys

#how did you spend your day

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findingjoynweirdstuff · 4 years ago

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Dream SMP Recap (January 18/2021) - Founding of the Syndicate

Technoblade decides to start a new organization of anarchists in the Arctic and makes plans to find new recruits. He’s not the only one seeking recruits, though, as both Snowchester and the Eggpire attempt to gain Foolish’s favor, with varying degrees of success.

Puffy’s Hero Arc continues as the server also welcomes its second new member: HannahxxRose!

---

- Techno wants to speak with Phil alone, without Ranboo. He wants more people to join him in the fight for anarchy, and wishes to create a collective of like-minded individuals to help him. He feels that there are other people who hold his beliefs, but they aren’t aware of possible alternatives to the governments that exist.

He wants to form an association of anarchists to unite all the anarchists on the server.

He says he doesn’t think L’manburg was the only government. He’s heard rumors of other factions...

Techno doesn’t feel like they can trust Ranboo yet. They aren’t sure if he shares their beliefs, and he just hasn’t been there long enough to gain that sort of trust.

- Ranboo is nervous about being kicked out if he tells the truth, but decides to tell Techno and Phil about his memory issues, of him blowing up the Community House, and the fact that he’d had one of the discs

Techno says he doesn’t care about the Community House or the discs. He just thinks Ranboo’s a little weird, but they wouldn’t kick Ranboo out over it.

- Techno leaves and shows Phil the stronghold and End Portal. They call it a summoning circle and decide to make it into a cool table for their headquarters.

- DreamXD comes on for the first time since the Dreamon Hunters streams and destroys the End Portal, but is convinced to place it back after Techno and Phil reassure him that they have no plans to ignite it.

He calls himself “the protector” and says that he’s a separate entity from Dream.

- Techno and Phil continue to develop their plans, aiming to form a syndicate. The Syndicate is to remain secret. Techno wants to do some recruiting for more members.

He doesn’t see Ranboo as a reliable-enough possible recruit.

- Foolish logs on and wants a lot of gold.

- The Dream SMP has another new member! HannahxxRose on Twitch!

- She gets a welcome from Purpled and Karl. Antfrost and HBomb say hi as well.

- Purpled tours her around.

- Meanwhile, Tubbo wants to work on the nuclear weapons.

- Purpled explains that Hannah can build her house wherever, but Purpled’s the guy she’s got to go to to pay for the land plot. He also shows her his real estate office.

- Foolish wants 292 blocks of gold. Tubbo tells him to come to Snowchester.

- Tubbo says that he’s welcome to come hang out in Snowchester any time if he wants to be a part of something.

- Hannah plants “Hannah’s Rose” on the boardwalk.

- She then goes off and explores on her own.

- Foolish decides to join Snowchester!

- Puffy gives Hannah a Netherite axe and shovel as a gift. In return, Hannah gives her one of her roses.

- Puffy tells her how to cleanse in Prime water after touching the Blood Vines.

- Then, Puffy and Hannah go into Ponk’s Maze out of curiosity and get trapped in it. Hannah wanders through and wonders whether she should pull the lever to sacrifice the animals. She decides not to and escapes up the staircase.

Puffy has some extra difficulty getting out.

Puffy: “It looked like I was in Heaven. There was no god there.”

- Puffy explains the routes through the Nether and shows her the path to the Guardian Farm and Tubbo’s Jungle Base, then later Sam’s base.

- Finally, Puffy shows her the L’manburg Crater before taking her to see the Egg.

- Later, Puffy checks on the L’manburg Flag and the vines that have spread at the bedrock. She wants to create a hidden refuge somewhere.

She creates a bunker underneath Eret’s Castle.

- Puffy ponders to herself about her loyalties again. Everyone around her seems to have gone off the rails. She no longer has a duckling. The Eggpire’s plans are concerning.

Perhaps it’s time she talks to Techno?

- Puffy also reflects on how Hannah’s only just joined and is thus innocent. But who knows how long that will last?

She takes the rose Hannah gave her and goes to the bunker to write in the Captain’s Log.

“I’m forgetting what it means to be a knight, but maybe it’s more important to learn to be a hero first.”

- Puffy heads back to the Crater. For all that Tommy’s been through, he’s come back from all of it.

“We have an empty table with what feels like...empty knights. And honestly, even though I wasn’t part of L’manburg...I feel something more when I come here than when I go to the Castle."

“I’m not just a knight to Eret or the kingdom. I’m gonna try to be a knight to everybody.”

- She feels like Eret hasn’t done much as king to actually protect anybody.

- Bad logs on to check the Egg. He says his disguise needs to be updated or else it might fade. He also needs to be careful with people like Technoblade around...he has a plan to put up propaganda everywhere.

- He observes that the Vines in the Crater aren’t spreading as fast as he thought they would be, and theorizes that without the Egg’s direct presence there, their growth has been slower. He wonders if there’s a way to remedy that.

- Bad speaks with Foolish with the intentions of converting him to the Eggpire.

- Foolish tells Bad he’s already joined up with Tubbo in Snowchester. Bad asks which faction it is, and Foolish skirts around an answer. Bad is confident that the Egg might be able to convince him otherwise and leads Foolish to the Egg Room.

- Foolish asks what the Egg hatches? Bad says he doesn’t know, but it probably doesn’t matter. Isn’t it nice and red? Foolish says he’s “more of a green guy.”

- Foolish says he wants to sleep on it. Bad suggests he literally sleeps on the Egg.

- They run into Antfrost on the boardwalk as Bad leads Foolish to the green flower in the Casino. Bad says he doesn’t actually like the green flower, now that he thinks about it...something about it feels off to him. Foolish says he likes this one better.

- Bad tries to convince Foolish by pointing out that Puffy is in the Eggpire, but Foolish says that he wants to have his own space away from his father and not be in the same faction.

- Bad shows Ant the possible Eggpire flag design. Foolish points out that his eyes are bright green, which is why he’s more favorable to the color. It’s a fashion thing! Gotta stick to the color scheme.

- Foolish lets slip that he thinks the Egg is stupid. There’s an awkward recover and he then leaves the Eggpire members to continue with their propaganda.

- After working with Antfrost on the propaganda, Bad decides that he’s comfortable enough that he can reveal his true form to Antfrost. He takes off his disguise. Antfrost observes that the Egg has transformed him, but doesn’t seem disturbed by it.

- The Eggpire is merely a stepping stone for Bad. This isn’t about the Eggpire. It isn’t about Bad or Antfrost or any person in particular.

It’s only about the Egg.

---

Upcoming Events:

- Tommy and Tubbo confront Dream (Wednesday)

- Futuristic Tales From the SMP Episode (Saturday)

- Nuclear Weapons Test (January 26th)

#dream smp #dream smp recaps

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fuckyouquiznak · 4 years ago

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Dream's past

(pretty long but this is Tumblr, am I right?)

Puffy is the captain of a pirate ship and has two children, Cornelius and Tobias (yes Dream with horns is my kink + I am not over the name Cornelius Dream used during one of Karl’s tale).

Cornelius is the elder one, around six years older than Toby, and he loves the sea and the pirate life. He is a sunny kid, always smiling and telling jokes. Everybody in the crew loves him.

He and his mother are really close. They share the same kindness and curiosity, which makes them always ready go on adventures. Cornelius also loves his little brother, Toby. They haven't a dad, so he acts very protective and defensive around him. They are an happy family.

Until one day everything changes.

***

The ship docks at a strange place. A creepy island maybe, dark and mysterious.

Cornelius is told to stay on the ship because it might be dangerous, but he is too curious to stay still. He is grown up after all, he can handle an adventure. Moreover he is sure the island is hiding a secret. A treasure? A temple? He needs to know.

When nobody is watching he sneaks out of the ship and goes exploring on his own. But then he'll eventually find something there, something wicked and scary. Maybe it is just a cage... something Cornelius is not supposed to open. But again how could he know? And there are voices... they tell him to free them... (dreamons or maybe even DreamXD?)

And you know what they say... "curiosity killed the cat". Excepts Cornelius doesn't die. As soon as he opens the cage he hears a loud and shrill scream and then everything goes black. He wakes up a little after, but nothing has changed. Or at least it seems so.

He grabs his things and quickly comes back to the ship, pretending nothing happened.

***

However after a couple of days things get worse. Now the voices keep visiting him, especially during night. And he doesn't feel alright.

His mother thinks it might be just fatigue or scurvy. But Cornelius doesn't tell her about the voices and the cage. He stays silent even when he sees a white stain growing on his hand.

It can't be that bad, can it?

***

After a week or two Cornelius is not getting better: his head spins, his heart hurts and the voices keep being louder and louder in his mind, till he passes out.

When he wakes up the ship is burning. He has a lighter in his right hand. Fire starts spreading everywhere and the crew panic, trying to stop it with water. But it doesn't work. It's too late.

Cornelius stares at this hands horrified. He doesn't remember anything. Why is he in the middle of the fire? What happened? He cannot breath and closes his eyes. "Let it be just a dream" he prays "He can't be me". His voice cracks, noticing the white stain has grown all over his arm. (imagine it like Ranboo’s left side... these two are connected)

Puffy quickly reaches him and helps him get out of the cabin. They are both burned and covered in ash. Toby cries and squirms in his mother's hands. "It'll be ok" she says culling the baby too calmly to be in a middle of a fire. "Cornelius, you two will take the lifeboat". Cornelius hesitates. "What about you?" Puffy smiles back at him, her cheeks buried in tears: "A captain never leaves her own ship, duckling.. I've got responsibilities here".

"What about us? Mom you don't have to this" he prays, his voice broken. He doesn't want to leave his mother...

But she doesn't listen.

"Take your brother away from here. Row till you find a coast, then ask for help, ok? I'll find you both eventually. I swear" Her smile is weak and tired. They both know it's a lie. They will never meet again.

Puffy gives Cornelius a compass. "Will be together again" she promises. "Do it for Toby".

Cornelius grabs his little brother and finally leaves. He doesn't have the bravery to hold his mother one last time.

(Puffy will actually survive, but she'll forget everything)

The rest is like a memory.

He manages to reach a little beach a couple of days after the accident. When they touch the ground Cornelius collapses. (Tubbo, Puffy and Dream would have scars and marks after the ship break)

***

The following months are horrifying.

It's cold and desolate where they landed. Nobody is willing to help, mainly because they're scared of Cornelius' white mark.

He can't blame them anyway. There's something wrong and scary inside him. They had found a village at some point, but Cornelius had one of his episode and burned down the place.

Toby cries all the time. He is hungry and, most of all, he misses mom.

The voices are not helping.

Cornelius can't keep him anymore. It's already difficult being alone out there. He can't... he can't let his brother live in misery like this. And what if has an episode close to him?

When they reach a wooden house in the middle of the snow (SBI house of course), Cornelius is sure it's time.

He leaves Toby out of the house, with a letter that says: "Save Toby". He has seen a woman doing that with a blonde hair baby a couple of months before (Tommy’s mother y’all).

The owners seem fine. Cornelius had watched them laughing and eating all together next to the fireplace a couple of times. He is sure they could give Toby the love and the warmth he can't provide him. He'll be safe there.

He gives the compass to Toby, just in case he'll need it one day to find him. It's hard, but it's the only choice. They can't be together.

As soon as his brother walks away, Toby starts crying louder. Cornelius does the same. For a moment he even thinks about turning around and take him back. He doesn't want to leave him: he is the only family he has left. But he is doing the right thing, he tells himself. He needs to be strong. For Toby's sake.

The first one to notice the screams is Wilbur, who jumps out of the door worried and scared. He looks at the baby on the top of the stairs and then looks directly at the tree Cornelius is hidden behind.

Philza exits a few moments later. He grabs the baby softly and he looks up to the sky where is crawls are flying. "There's someone" Wilbur whispers, pointing at the tree. Philza stops him and gives him the card. "Whoever left this baby here has a reason, Will".

Cornelius keeps crying. He wishes he could be there too. But the thing that is growing inside him... he is not sure he can handle it.

Techno is out in the forest eventually. He sees Cornelius. "Have some food, nerd", he says, before leaving him with a potato.

***

Cornelius stays close to that house anyway. At least he can keep an eye on Toby from there. He has found a nice spot, next to a cage. It's not that much, but he can't complain.

Toby is growing fast, even if his horns haven't shown up yet. Cornelius likes to watch him play outside with the other blonde kid, Tommy. They seem to get along well. He is as happy and carefree as a child his age should be.

Cornelius instead is sicker than ever. The white stain is growing on his skin day by day. His left arm, part of the chest and even his eye, now red, are surrounded by that. He doesn't know what to do. The voices keep him awake almost every night. They whisper something about "Dream".

Sometimes he wishes he could think about his mother, but the voices are louder than his thoughts. He can't remember her, nor his past life.

The stain is slowly erasing his memory. He is afraid one day he'll even forget Toby.

***

He meets Sapnap when he most needs a friend.

He hasn't talked with someone for ages (except for Techno who sometimes leave him food), so he is not sure he can remember how to do it, but with Sapnap is easy and comfortable.

He saves him from a spider.

Sapnap is scared and lost in the forest. Cornelius happens to be right next to him when the monster comes out. He grabs his sword and kills it.

"Woah, dude you saved me!" Sapnap says, jumping around. "What's your name?" Cornelius hesitates. It's been so long since someone called with his name. He can't really remember it. Was it something with a C? Maybe. Why can't he remember?

"I think it's Dream" he lies, feeling his skin burning. The other one however doesn't seem to notice it. "That's nice, mine is Sapnap! Do you live here? All alone?"

Dream nods, still unsure he should trust or not this new guy. He stays in the shadow. Sapnap smiles. "Dope! I wish I could have an house just for myself" then the smiles runs away from his face "I actually came here to do that... I got into a fight with my dad. Do you have parents?"

"I don't"

Sapnap laughs a bit. "Me neither actually.. Bad is my guardian to be honest. But he is a great guy, really. It's just... I needed space, you know?" Dream is sure he hasn't understood a word of what this kid has said. Bad? Guardian? Space?

"Not really" he answers, lighting a fire. Sapnap immediately steps back, and Dream realises he has finally seen his face. Now he'll go away too, he reckons. I'll be alone forever.

However Sapnap's smile grows bigger then ever. "Whoa that's sick" he screams "I mean in a cool way, dude. Loving your style".

Dream blushes. "I... don't really like it"

Sapnap raises his eyebrows, sighing. "Maybe my dad could fix it"

***

Bad has never been so worried in his entire life - which is a looooong life.

Sapnap wasn't in his bed this morning. He really thought he lost him for good after their last fight, but he luckily came back safe and sound.

He even made a friend.

Bad was so angry, but the happiness of holding his child again was bigger then every other feeling.

"Does it grow?" he asks, touching Dream's face. The kid nods uncomfortably. "Your left eye.. was it green before?" He nods again. "Do you have memory loss?" Dream hesitates. Bad writes something down.

"Well, Dream, I can't erase the stain. What I can do is preventing it from growing bigger. Your memory is damaged, so I can't fix it, but form now on you should remember things more clearly"

"What does that mean?"

"It means I can't give you back your memories, but you can make new ones"

Dream stares at his feet. He is sure there was someone important in his life before worth to remember.

"It'll hurt a bit"

***

"You can stay here if you want" Bad says.

The "operation" went pretty well. Bad and Sapnap offered him to stay with them as long as he wants. Dream is glad. He likes it here. It feels like... family. The voices are gone. Is he really free?

Sapnap enters the room with a big smile. "Dream, I made you something! I know you have to wear bandages everyday, because the mark is still there – Dream touches is face - so my dad and I came up with this little idea" Sapnap hands him a mask.

"It's easier to take off. I drew the smile"

Dream feels his eyes burning. No one has ever done something like that for him. A gift! "I like it. Thank you Sapnap"

“Don’t worry! That’s what friends do”

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silverhart-makes-art · 3 years ago

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I just finished reading What Once Was Mine! Gotta say, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was a wild, fun little romp. I ended up having a lot to say about it, so prepare for some rambling thoughts. I’ve tried to avoid any major spoilers, but if you’d rather read the story completely blind, you’ll want to skip over this.

I’ve never read one of the Twisted Tales books before, so I’m not sure what my expectations were going in. The story is basically that Rapunzel’s hair has death powers instead of healing powers, which is the reason she’s hidden away. As a premise for a story it’s definitely a good one. She escapes her tower, meeting Gina and Flynn and the three of them (four with Pascal) try to avoid capture by all the people who are after Rapunzel to use her as a weapon. Along the way she learns more about her powers, falls in love with Eugene, gets into scrapes, makes friends with some goats. Standard fantasy novel stuff. Mother Gothel is there, as vain and manipulative as ever, but we also have a new bigger baddie thrown into the mix. It was fun to see Rapunzel go up against a more outright villain. The Captain gets an expanded role too, which warmed my Cap-lovin’ old heart. He’s a mix of the film’s Captain of the Guard and Maximus, and I love how the author blended their two roles, but also made Captain Tregsburg his own unique person (he’s also obsessed with horses, which makes him the best character by default).

One thing I really loved was seeing Rapunzel have a little more independence and agency over her own story. Arguably the film Tangled is more centered on Eugene –his actions have the most effect on the plot - so it’s nice to see Rapunzel be the one in the driver’s seat this time. She is just lovely. She keeps messing up different animals’ names, because all she knows of them are stylized drawing in her books. There’s a moment where she gets distracted by the desire to hug a random horse – it’s adorable. She gets a lot of great moments to assert herself as well. She very much feels like her own person.

I found the treatment of the violence and dark themes interesting – there’s a lot of death, and blood, mentions of torture –grisly stuff. But it isn’t treated with the gravitas I’m used to from young adult books, so it felt like it was geared for a younger audience. I guess I was expecting something more Disneyfied, where the violence is either toned down, or made into these big emotionally wrought moments. It’s not a bad thing, it just stuck out to me. How we treat violence in media has just been on my mind a lot lately. I’m interested in checking out more Twisted Tales books to see how they handle the darker elements as well. I’m usually not a fan of remaking children’s content into something more serious and 'mature’, but that’s because it’s done for no reason other than shock value. I didn’t feel that was the case here; the story is different enough and the concept dark enough that it warrants a darker atmosphere. And despite this there’s still an element of lightheartedness to it – the situations are serious, but the characters are still fun. Seeing them, especially Rapunzel, still find brightness and humor and hope in a dark, scary world is really endearing.

My only critique would be that a lot of story threads and themes get introduced and then dropped. Tangled is a very close-knit movie – it knows what it wants to say, and the themes it wants to explore, and those themes are fully planted early on, and wrapped up nicely by the end. This book just throws ideas at you left and right, at any given moment, and not all of them are given the time to really feel impactful. A lot of them felt like they were shoehorned in because they’re part of the franchise, so you have to have them in some form, but other elements just seem to be thrown in for extra flavor. No one theme stands out, and it’s just sort of this wild medley of ideas, especially where the magic is concerned. The result is that some things don’t feel fully fleshed out, like there was no setup to certain elements, and no payoff for others. I don’t think that’s such a bad thing in a story though. This is obviously a story that is meant purely to entertain.

One thing you can’t say though, is that it’s a boring book. There is just way too much being thrown at you, and some of it is wild. The writing is super snappy and everything moves very fast, so you hardly have time to worry about any dropped story threads. It feels totally different from the world of the film, but it’s got the same flavor of a wacky, fun adventure - just with a lot more death and bloodshed.

And I mention all that preamble, because I really just want to gush about Captain Tregsburg. Like the man’s love of horses, or the fact that Eugene calls him Treggsy, and I think that’s adorable. He’s not quite the Captain of the Guard we all know and love, but he feels like his own character. I love him, love his weird yet somehow perfect character arc, love that he just gives a random old lady a spoon, love that he stares out the window looking at horses and thinking about them all day when he’s not riding (like me, everyday). There is somewhat of an attempt to have Eugene and Captain have a father-son bonding moment. It doesn’t really have enough of a setup to really work, but it was very sweet, and I applaud the effort. Cap and Eugene and Maximus all coming to respect and care for each other is really all I ever want. Where is my Tangled buddy-cop spin-off of the three of them solving equine-related crimes already?

Apparently, the Captain also just knows the owner of the Snuggly Duckling. One of the guards questions this, and he never answers. Like does he moonlight at the pub as a jazz singer on the weekends? Are they star-crossed lovers? Father and son? What are your secrets,Tregsburg?! I must know.

Again, so many story threads that seem to be setting something up are just never brought up again. That’s a relatively minor one, but there are bigger ones too, such as Arianna being set up as a character but then never dipping into the story, or the Sundrop flower being mentioned repeatedly, but never really coming into the story at all.

I can’t say it really bothered me too much though. Overall it was just a very fun read. I had a great time. Strongest part was definitely the characters - it was delightful to read about old favorites in a much darker and strange world, and the new characters were lovely too. I love that extra time was taken to just let Rapunzel explore and learn on her own. It felt like the author was having a lot of fun just playing around with the world and the characters, and I couldn’t help but have fun too.

#What Once Was Mine #disney twisted tales #liz braswell #tangled ramblings

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ariel-seagull-wings · 3 years ago

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TOP 12 BEAUTIES (FROM BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)

@princesssarisa @sunlit-music @mademoiselle-princesse @the-blue-fairie

@amalthea9 @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @astrangechoiceoffavourites @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @superkingofpriderock @draculashaxanbride @lioness--hart @anne-white-star @gravedangerahead @grafedelweiss @lord-antihero

Growing up, Beauty and The Beast has always been one of the fairy tales wich i have a deep emotional connection. I love how it combines elements of adventure, mystery, horror, comedy, drama and romance to form a beautifull narrative about external versus internal beauty, coming of age, self-discovery, familial love, friendship, building of a romantic love and redemption. And connecting me to this emotional rollercoaster of a story, is the heroine, the curious and sensitive Beauty, who faces her fear of the unknown to save the life of her father, and trough this act of sacrifice discovers eternal happiness in the most unlikely of places.

And tonight, i make this humble ranking in tribute to her.

12º Mitsuko Horie as Maria in Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (1989)

In this anime episode based on the german variant The Summer and Winter Garden, we are presented to Maria, a simple and hardworking peasant girl who is kidnapped by the Beast away from her family home. Maria lives a long period of silent sadness in the Beasts palace, until he starts to show a more sensitive and considered side, and she forgives him. When he lets her go visiting her family, Maria has to say goodbye to her father, who dies, and due to her grief, forgets for a moment of Beast’s castle. And after finally remembering, she rushes in despair hoping to save Beasts’s life...

Maria is the most vulnerable encarnation of Beauty, and one cannot help but constantly want to hug her in protection.

11º Léa Seydoux as Belle in Christophe Gans’s La Belle et La Bête (2014)

A young woman who tries to act always calm and serious, but inside herself hides deep sadness and melancholy, born from the feeling that she is considered guilty for the death of her mother at her childbirth. So she treats her journey to the Beast’s castle as a way to make amends, because she feels that if her father went to die at the Beast’s hands for picking a rose that she asked for, it would be another death that would be her guilt. And in the castle, exploring the mirrors that reveal the Beast’s past, she learns that someone shares her desire of becoming cleaned from any feeling of guilt, and take its right to happiness.

10º Trish Van Devere as Belle Beaumont in Beauty and The Beast (1976)

An older, more grounded and no nonsense, but still sensitive portrayal. Coming from a family formed by a well-intentioned but misguided father, two materialistic and mean spirited older sisters, a vulnerable younger brother and a cruel brother-in-law, Van Devere’s Belle has great pressure over her shoulders to be the voice of reason to people around her, wich makes us empathize with the state of tiredness she gets in. She is always tough and honest when necessary, and kind and gentle when she also needs to be.

09º Nina Krachkovskaya/Amy Irving as Anastasia/Nastenka in Soyuzmultifilm’s Alenkiy Tsvetochek (1952)

In this animated short adaptation of the russian variant The Scarlet/Crimson Flower, writen by Sergey Aksakov, our Beauty is Nastenka, the youngest daughter of a brave captain of a merchant ship. Nastenka is a dreamer, shy, and prone to philosophical melancholy, even tough she doesn’t necessarily knows the reason of her sadness, what makes her self-discovery all the more relatable to audiences, specially young ones.

08º Marina Ilichyova as Aljona in Irina Povolotskaya’s Alenkiy Tsvetochek (1977)

Besides also sharing the shiness, sadness and melancholy of her animated counterpart, the peasant-girl-next-door Aljona is also a deeply frightened young woman, whose narrative arc involves learning to let herself loose a bit more, and not let her fears dominate her. This arc is highlighted in the moments where she gives a subtle smile when she talks to and plays along the Beast of the Forest.

07º Joyce Taylor as Lady Althea in Edward L. Kahn’s Beauty and The Beast (1962)

An elegant and confident noble lady, Lady Althea is the fiancée of the wise, brave and humble Duke Eduardo. She arrives at the dukedom excited with the wedding, but makes a discovery: since assuming power as a ruler, Eduardo is under a curse that turns him into a Beast every night. Now Althea has to deal with the dillema of staying to support her fiancée with her love, or leaving, in fear of his Beast side, and Joyce Taylor’s performance in the role engages us into this dilema till the end.

06º Dima Bawab as Zémire in Zémire et Azor (2014)

This comic ópera composed by the belgian André Grétry transports the story to a fairy tale land combination between France and Persia, presenting us to the adorable Zémire, a merry, romantic and idealistic young lady, who enjoys letting herself get loose in a world of dreams, reading books of fantastical stories. She also is curious and inquisitive, insistently questioning the servant Ali until he thells what concers so much her father, so she gets to take the journey to the palace of Azor, the Prince turned into a Beast. There, at first she is scared, but then, showing a sense of wonder, starts playing with the wolves that guard the palace and have merry conversations with Azor, with whom she eventually falls in love.

05º Josette Day as Belle in Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête (1946)

At the same time a relatable audience surrogate, and an individual character in her own right. Day’s Belle starts as a mysteryous woman, with a stoic, resilient face, and elegant, if rigid, gait. As the film rolls, we slowly get to piece her passions, her vulnerabilities and her fears. Specially her fear of leaving the comfort of her family home life, adventuring to the unknown, and falling in love.

04º Vanessa Williams as Beauty in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child (1995)

The sister of a tall and strong, tough lazy man, named Tree, and a pretty, tough vain lady, named Precious, William’s Beauty is brave, truthfull, altruístic, and also has a light hearted sense of humour and an introspective sensibility. The highlight of this encarnation is when she is at her home room’s window, she sings a song pondering her doubts between staying at her family home, or returning to the Beast’s palace.

03º Beauty from Megan Kearney’s Beauty and The Beast Webcomic (2012-17)

Made as a tribute to other Beauties that camed previously, while being her own version. An emotionally repressed young woman, who lost her mother at childbirth, and suffered bullying during childhood, being called ‘ugly duckling’ by other kids, Kearney’s Beauty grows burying her emotions in the hard work on her family’s farm, and is in search of an identity and a place in the world. One day she asks for a rose that grows in winter that appeared in her dreams, and this is the exciting incident that catapults her journey to the Beast’s enchanted castle, where she blossoms into a lady who is brave, witty and confident.

02º Paige O’Hara as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and The Beast (1991)

The first encarnation i ever saw when i was a child. The young lady who newly arrived at a small village, with an introspective bookworm behaviour that is the target of her neighbours. She doesn’t pay attention to the gossip, but laments her loneliness, and longs for a friend who understands her sensitivity and shares her desire for adventure in the great wild somewhere. When she first meets the Beast, she resists coming closer to him, who provokes fear and anger in her. But after the Beast saves her from wolves, Belle’s reaction, while still energic, becomes of compassion, empathy and zeal. As she spends more time with the Beast, learning to see him as her friend, Belle finally notices that her beautfiull discontentment was rewarded, because she finally found someone to understand her.

And now the moment that everyone was whaiting: My Number One Beauty is...

01º Zdena Studenková as Julie in Juraj Herz’s Panna a Netvor (1978)

Julie is the youngest of the merchant’s three daughters, and also the daughter born of his second wife and greatest love. This makes her the merchant’s favorite daughter, while in turn that favoritism makes her life very sheltered, since her father fears loosing her like he lost her mother. When she takes her father’s place and rides a horse to the ruins that the Beast calls his palace, you get the feel that is not only out of filial duty, but also a desire for freedom that motivates her decision. Arriving at her destiny, she is fascinated by the ruins and the magic that they contain, and gets even more fascinated by the voice of the mysteryous Beast, who unbknowns to Julie, is containing a violent desire to devour her. Slowly, Julie learns that it wasn’t just out of curiosity that she inquired and playfully talked to her host: even without seeing the Beast, Julie is falling in love with Beast, and must decide wheter she accepts this feeling or rejects it and returns to the safety of her family home.

Starting out as passive, but slowly revealing herself to be braver than she ever expected, showing strenght in her vulnerability when learning to find the sublime in the grotesque, Zdena Studenková’s Julie is both an easy to follow audience surrogate and a unique individual character, beautifull in her complexities, and that is why she is my Number One portrayal of Beauty.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Susan Sarandon as Beauty in Faerie Tale Theatre (1984)

#beauty and the beast #fairy tales #one of my favorite franchises #pop culture #feminism #literature #fantasy #folklore #mithology #genre fiction

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