#TCY

[liketwoswansinbalance]

How do you think the twins (like all of them in SGE) would act in real life?

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting your question correctly, so you can correct me if I'm wrong! I will take the ask to mean that you'd like to know how I think they would they adjust to our modern world, not necessarily them in a Modern AU. (Also, would you like me to include Castor and Pollux? I'm not sure if I'd have an immediate response for them, but I'll try to think of something, if you'd like me to.)

Sophie and Rise Rhian would probably embrace modern conveniences, and Rhian would likely exhibit more fear than Sophie would, in response to them, or he'd conceptualize things like electricity, for instance, as a just another form of sorcery. They would both appreciate modern cosmetics and technology, and Sophie would probably never want to return to old, backward ways when the future is so pristine and sanitary. Rhian, however, would mourn the great architectural feats of our past and our obsession with pragmatism and designs purely focused on utility. Unfortunately, I could see them being prone to believing absurd, medical/political conspiracy theories, and their germophobia becoming worse.

Agatha, Rafal, TCY Rhian, and Japeth would be more skeptical about modernity, at first, I think. Agatha would probably grow used to it, but continue to live by her old ways and values, in many cases. She might get into environmentalism, humanitarian causes, or antiwar efforts, etc. If either Rafal, Rhian, or Japeth saw a use or benefit to modern technology and ways of life, they would likely adapt, especially if it could get them something they desperately wanted. Rhian would probably use some form of broadcasting or social media frequently—and eventually get cancelled. I could also see Rafal or Japeth trying to radically change or impact the modern world if it provoked them. Japeth could go down the activism route (if it's in regards to his being gay), but I can't see him being that selfless about others' rights, others who have nothing to do with him, and I can't come up with any modern objects or activities that might appeal to him. Maybe, he'd even disavow modern technology, if it proved it weren't a means to getting Aric back. In addition, I could also see Rafal being incredibly rude in commanding voice-operated devices, and refusing to entertain the trivial, human-like gestures machines are programmed to recite, like greetings, and he would rarely use "please" and "thank you" in his commands. He'd have no patience for small talk or manufactured, repetitive, pleasantness because it's just a machine, and he'd be damned if a machine expected more respect from him than any human subordinate ever would! And, he'd get irrationally offended by certain output before he realized why things did what they were preprogrammed to do, such as give simple-minded answers that could appear to be an insult to his intelligence and common sense, as, a machine couldn't know his identity. After all, machines aren't capable of being hostile like Adela Sader was. So, eventually, he'd learn. Also, getting automated or human directions from the bodiless voices of intercom systems, at self-checkout lines, or on public transportation would probably infuriate him because he's so used to being the greatest authority at all times. Why abide the law when you can keep above it?

[yumeyleo]

the first thing i thought of when i saw that is honkai tmnt crossover

HELPvwvheir!?3$4685?493 duorhroeudhehrifhr/7)()84),83$;&373737474$4$

[vetiverriver]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Paper Girls (Comics), Paper Girls (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: KJ Brandman & Mac Coyle Characters: KJ Brandman, Mac Coyle, Tiffany Quilkin, Erin Tieng Additional Tags: College AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, mac doesnt die, Period-Typical Homophobia Summary:

An AU following KJ and Mac's time together after high school.

[secretly-a-catamount]

@liketwoswansinbalance I made a little chart (?) of what I think the universes of the SGE franchise looks like, and I was wondering if you had any thoughts on it.

The topmost circle is the real world / our world (which we know exists due to the Peter Pan story, the Alice in Wonderland story, the Wizard of Oz story, and the one character from the Camelot Years who speaks Spanish and says that her family has lived in the Woods for generations) the blue line intersecting this circle and the largest circle on the chart is meant to represent the “portals”, or the various means of travel that characters from the real world took to get to the the Endless Woods, that have existed throughout history.

The largest circle on the chart is meant represent the Endless Woods. As mentioned above, the blue lines represent the portals to the real world.

The smallest circle, and the one inside the circle that represents the Endless Woods, is meant to represent Gavaldon. The green line represents the barrier between Gavaldon and the Endless Woods.

[discjude]

it is literally 4 in the morning and I can't fully articulate this but like. I spent a whole lot of time trying to work out who the "third" in Rise + Fall is (given the 'two works well, three complicates things' rule in Fall) mostly because its the sort of thing that works really well for parallels (example: my insane Hook theory). Obviously there has to be a Third for the Prequels twins (since Soman wouldn't've made it that big of a deal if there wasn't), just as there is a third for the TSY and TCY twins: Tedros is the Third in TSY, and the Complicator Of Things himself - Aric - is the Third in TCY, but there's a lot more candidates for Prequels: you could make cases for Hook, the Pirate Captain, Pan, and Vulcan, from my memory. But none of them really stay around long enough for them to be the third, so I was struggling to pick one out that worked well.

Based on how the Rule Of Three is described, the Third has to be someone that gets in the way of two others, who are going to be the twins, and needs to do a significant amount of Complication. Aric is literally the blueprint for this (potentially also Evelyn, but also not Evelyn, for Reasons). So anyway looking back on it the Third in Rise and Fall is SO OBVIOUSLY the Storian itself and im mad I didn't clock this earlier

It's present through both prequels, where most of the other candidates aren't. It DEFINITELY gets in the way and DEFINITELY does some significant Complication, looking at the end of Fall. If I were to reach slightly, the first image we see in Rise and Fall is of the Storian physically between the brothers, mirroring how it ends up coming between them emotionally, and I like to think that's intentional (Book 2's cover does this as well).

More importantly, there's another part to the Rule Of Three pattern with the sets of twins that isn't explicitly stated, but is consistent between all three: the Third always replaces one twin to form the Two with the other. in TSY, this happens with Tedros and Agatha (predominantly). In TCY, this happens with Aric and Japeth - this is why Evelyn can't be the TCY third in my opinion, since she doesn't replace either twin, and breaks this pattern. in Rise and Fall, this happens with the Storian and Rafal. There isn't really a pattern to whether the Good/Evil twin gets replaced, unless you want to go into some very very very bit leaps ive thought about regarding the whole "was Rhian II evil or good before becoming Rafal, and does that also affect Japeth doing the same thing" thingy but I could not fully explain that stuff ever. There is probably so much more nuance I could add to this if only I reread TSY but that will happen Some Other Time

[quilleily]

My missing school for good and evil hours mostly consist of just being so angry at how bad the whole tcy series is, and that the live action adaptation wouldve been revolutionary if its a series, not a movie

And the occasional thinking about agatha, you know, the usual

[finalgirlagatha]

in your interpretation, how do you think rhian actually feels about kei, underneath all the deception and facades?

ahhh man anon this is such a good ask. in MY interpretation (and thank you for asking) i do think that rhian has genuine need and affection for kei based on one fundamental action: he took him back.

he didn't have to take him back. he had his brother, and he had support in his plot. sure, having an inside link would make things easier, but Camelot was so corrupted he could have paid off any old guard to get the inside details on camelot. but kei came back, and kei believed in him first, (bar like. His mom) and I think a lot of rhians sentimentality needed that person who believed in his first. because kei represents the faith Camelot could have in him.

Rhian values loyalty, a trait Kei betrayed, and he also has an ego to go hand in hand with that. he feels like he's owed any allegiance and loyalty.

so when Kei betrays him it's the biggest betrayal of all because isn't he worthy enough to warrant his total loyalty? He's the heir to Camelot, the throne at they both believe in so adamantly, after all. but he took him back!! Because kei's not just a traitor to him, he's the first one who believed in him. i think a part of that motivates rhian to be a better King, the leader he wants kei to believe in. so in my opinion I think kei really does matter to rhian. i can't say their relationship is healthy (Sophie went off with the dog kei comparison 😔) but they really do need and want each other. their relationship is founded on shared dreams which makes me so 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

[authoraudreyg]

"Snow White: The Cursed Years" Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Funeral

Snow White was 5 years-old when she saw her aunt Lily placed in her coffin. This would not have been too unusual for a young child to attend the funeral of a family member providing her aunt was actually dead in the first place. No, her aunt Lily was in a glass coffin, trapped in a deathless slumber.

“But why?” Snow asked her mother as flowers were laid upon the coffin. 

“Because it is her time,” her mother cooed. “All women in our family go through it. Aunt Lily will sleep until she meets her one true love.”

“Then she’ll wake up?”

“Then she’ll wake up,” her mother confirmed, placing a small kiss upon Snow’s forehead. 

Snow White had no reason to doubt her mother’s words or her family’s history. She was, after all, a descendant of the original Snow White. She carried the same lips that were as red as the rose, hair as dark as ebony, and skin as white as snow. Everyone knew the tale well. The young maid deemed the fairest of them all by a magic mirror, exiled into the forest out of fear of her wicked stepmother’s intentions. She was cursed, but saved through True Love’s Kiss and lived happily ever after. There was always a happily ever after around the corner for women of the White family. 

Or so Snow White was led to believe. 

Five years to the day her aunt was placed in her coffin, awaiting for her true love to free her, Snow White once more attended to her aunt’s grave. There was not a prince on a white horse placing his lips upon her or the entire family cheering and welcoming her back. Aunt Lily stayed in her grave and was placed in the crematorium. Snow White was treated to a front-row view of her aunt’s coffin slowly sliding into the burning inferno.

“But why?!” Snow White practically shrieked. “She’s not dead! She’s still alive! Someone could-”

“Because no one loves her,” her father responded as her mother held her still.

“Because her time has passed. It’s our family tradition, my darling,” her mother cooed. “All women go through it. If we do not receive our true love’s kiss before our 30th birthday, we are placed in our graves.”

“But why?” Young Snow asked, as the coffin was devoured by the flames 

“For dignity, dear,” her father replied. “Her curse has not been broken. It’s better to be burned than to be gawked at for the rest of eternity or worse.”

“It’s our curse, darling. All women go through this. It started with the original Snow White and her daughter went through it, and her daughter laid in her own coffin. My mother had her coffin, I had mine, and one day, you’ll have yours. Someone will kiss you and all will be well.”

Snow White watched as the coffin disappeared into the fire. In that moment, she was forever changed. Aunt Lily was, in her opinion, the pinnacle of a good person. She dedicated her time to charity, never spoke a cross word to anyone, always tended to her family, and whenever Snow felt sad or lonely, she would spend time with her. If someone as good and as kind as Aunt Lily could be cursed and then never receive her own happily ever after, what chance did Snow White have? If this was the fate that awaited her as a noble princess of the White family, then she did not want it.

[mangoisms]

violet sky masterlist ━ daiya no ace (takigawa chris yuu)

━ intros

violet sky / amara / chris

━ tags

violet sky / amara / chris / amara x chris

━ playlists

spotify: general, act i, act ii, act iii

━ links

ao3 / wattpad

[fourleafclovxr]

things i forgot happened:

[funblaater]

Watch

[liketwoswansinbalance]

What is your favorite thing about SGE series and why?

I have multiple favorite things, so you can expect me to elaborate for a while.

One of my favorite things from the series is Soman’s novel concept of "psyche travel," and for christening it with an actual name.

I’ve only seen this concept in a few other, more science-fiction or speculative type of stories, like the Divergent series, The Giver quartet, "The Veldt," a fascinating short story by Ray Bradbury (which TOTSMOV41 is very much inspired by) and the Artemis Fowl series, which involves time manipulation that wasn't strictly time travel (which is far more commonly seen in fiction). And I love Soman's more fantastical spin on psyche travel! To me, the concept was previously called "mental landscapes" or simply "simulations" of reality. "Psyche travel" as a term is just far broader and more versatile, and I feel like you could do more with it, experimentally.

In fact, I would've loved it if Soman could've left more room in his tight plots to explore human consciousness and "the cauldron of the unconscious" more in TCY, so I will be doing exactly that with the themes in my longfic TOTSMOV41. If anyone wants to know more about TOTSMOV41, I'll redirect you to this table of contents/introductory post.

My fic's entire premise reflects how much I loved that one scene in ACOT. It was absolutely brilliant, especially with the edited views of what reality once was, how subjective memory could be. Plus, in that moment, ACOT managed to combine a few of my major interests: psychology and how generally error-prone the human mind and memory are, surreal imagery in literature, and delving further into SGE’s soft, irrational/nebulous, thematically-relevant magic system. (The way I see it, problems are more often unintentionally created than intentionally solved with magic, and we understand little of it, what goes on magically, really, and can't logically extrapolate what the characters could possibly do said magic. So, the magic is framed as unstable and flexible, even while it does reflect the state of the world and the important relationships in the tales. Thus, that's how I might classify the SGE system. You're welcome to disagree on which type of magic system it is though!)

The following points are probably more obvious:

First, Soman’s prose and images overall are enthralling, and his use of VERBS, especially, rivals few authors that write for a younger demographic, at least in my opinion. It’s often just so well done. It's the little things, like using "scalded" or "pinked" instead of "blushed" that I love. Soman's use of language is so inventive at times, and I love trying to imitate it. Verbs can make or break a piece of writing in my mind.

Also, I love the extravagance and length and readability of this particular book one sentence that I think is underrated for the sheer exasperation embedded in it:

“After chastising her for slipping in the Ever ranks, explaining every assignment thrice, and berating her to cover her mouth when she coughed, Pollux finally left in a circus of hops and falls.”

It’s fabulously sweeping and exhaustive.

In addition, the third person omniscient pov is less common nowadays, I think. So much of middle grade and YA is in first person these days, so it may be a trend, for its immediacy. Though, I tend to prefer third person, even if my preference also generally depends on how well the work was executed.

I love SGE for its basis in fairy tales since I loved reading the classic Grimms' fairy tales before I discovered SGE—they were probably my favorites for a while (and still sort of are, alongside SGE). And they inhabited my storytelling before I ever discovered more subversive things existed. Thus, it's the overall darkness and the dramatics I find compelling about Soman's work.

The cleverness in the writing, when it’s well-executed, is phenomenal. And this applies to two aspects: first, Rafal, obviously, and second, the plot structure itself.

When I say Rafal, I mean specifically during the moments in which he shows off his conniving craftiness, his prowess at outfoxing others. And I love any instances of scenes in which he tricks or outwits people and systems.

Someday, I’ll have to remember to discuss the Fala-shoe-fairy-kiss scene from Fall, one of my favorites ever, in a future post. Those particular thoughts must be somewhere in my scads of drafts... I’ll have to look for them. For now, I will give you any thoughts I have now:

I'm referring to the scene in which Fala lures a fairy with a golden kiss and traps it in his shoe without a single word of verbal explanation, and he expects everyone to intuitively follow his genius thought process, the solution to their dilemma. Then, everyone, except Aladdin, manages to catch on, when they watch his demonstration.

Here's an (exaggerated?) approximation of how I'd imagine his internal monologue could've gone:

Watch and learn, youths. I’m better than you. In innumerable ways, and this is one. But fear not! I will lead you to success. No one else is capable of doing it. Yes, I will take on this burden myself. Give me all the credit. But don’t even bask in my cleverness, even if it deserves your attention. My actions speak for themselves. Just get the task done. Now. We don’t have all day to dilly-dally like inane cowards.

I will redirect you to this post, if you would like to read more about how I happen to interpret Rafal's "trickery," or rather, absence of trickery, perhaps.

And for my second spiel on the series' cleverness, elaborating on its predictable unpredictability, on a structural level, even if I only saw it in hindsight:

I love any kind of legerdemain or sleights of hand, or twisting of plots, except the devastating Fall one, I suppose. And there is something very characteristic of SGE I've observed: there are often, very, exceedingly late third act turning-points. These points are likely hallmarks of the series, to the extent that I've come to expect them by now, especially after Rise, and sometimes, I'm probably actively on the lookout for them when I read other books. Besides, Soman likes to lull readers into a false sense of security, that much we can probably confirm.

Furthermore, these turning-points seem to take two forms and you can literally only expect one of two things to happen.

It's either: 1) the characters reach a point of what should be a settled peaceable resolution, that is then rapidly negated, or 2) the characters reach a darkest-night-of-the-soul moment, the prospect of temptation in the story, often for an individual, and wishes are granted (often in subversive, unfulfilling ways to almost everyone's dismay).

Examples:

1) In Rise and TLEA: you think you are safe, that you're out of the dark Woods (which often represent the darkness of the soul or the human psyche as a symbol) but you're not. There is no built-in "warmth" to the narration, as Soman puts it in one of his interviews. This all is literally the narrative's "liar's tell" or "slip" in the third act, a revisiting of conflict, the reopening of the tale. You know there is more disaster to come. The ride is not over yet, however much you may think or desire it to be so.

In AWWP, characters say and believe the wrong things, are misled, and narrowly miss a possible "happy" ending because Sophie felt alienated enough to choose Rafal, who chose her.

In TLEA, we think everything is resolved, but all of a sudden, we get one more little impact, a jolt, that not all is well or completely restored, the moment Aric kills Lady Lesso.

In Rise, when Rafal is revived and reclaims the Schools from Vulcan, setting everything back into their original, proper forms, back to order, we think we've averted all crises, and have reverted back to the status quo. But, that resolution, again, is only momentary. Supposedly, Rhian's Evil, his rot, was awakened, and the moment Rafal considers leaving again and does, to seek out a new replacement student, is when the plot begins to race downhill again. When Rafal leaves, he leaves a gap for Rhian's poor judgement to bleed through, and Rhian hires Hook, effectively setting off the second wave of awful plot events in Fall. Rhian sort of resurrected old conflicts, and breathed new life into them.

2) Before the Great War in TLEA and the climax, we get tonal signposting that nearly "all is lost," that we're approaching, marching towards our imminent demise. There's an ever-present fog of "Abandon all hope, ye who enter" because if there's anything Rafal's good at, it's cultivating an air of stifling oppression. Hence, we have the narrow aversion of the darkest moment:

Agatha (unlike prequel Rafal with Evil Rhian) doesn't use the wrong emotional appeal. She gets through to Sophie, she and Tedros aren't executed, and Sophie destroys the ring, killing Rafal. Despite everything that said otherwise, that said Good would lose.

Lastly, a few other bits I appreciate are the roles the Seers play in the series, the meta aspects of the Storian (or Lionsmane) and the tales in general, and the names of a lot of the proper nouns such as the kingdoms—I don't know why I love some of them. The alliteration is oftentimes fun, and the names feel right and plausible.

[bunnycuns]

[secretly-a-catamount]

Rhian is the righteous hand of God.

Japeth is the devil that you forgot.

[discjude]

Yeah this is about right (as always my thoughts are in the tags so there's actually kei content there lmao)