#Tales of Two Worlds

[nordlichtkunst]

Not a pokemon for a change! Wow!!

His name's Lune (pronounced Loo-neh), main character of my current NaNo project, a theros (kinda like beastkin but a bit more humanoid than they tend to be), and the closest thing that world has to a zoologist! :3 Fella travels the world looking for critters.

[nordlichtgeschichten]

Around 2k words on day one, nice start for NaNo :D

I skipped last year and lost in '21 so I was a bit apprehensive but I am gonna try!! With a bunch of short stories rather than one big story, but, still. Set in the 'verse of Tales of Two Worlds, following what would be a zoologist in our world as he just kinda, looks at critters, one or maybe two critters per story. Simply because I like critters, it's a fun way for me to worldbuild a bit more, and it's less daunting than having to do One Big Long Story :3

[yujateaandpi]

Hey you guys ever think about how rough and tumble little Stanley Pines tried his hardest to absorb all the ugly meanness of the world to protect his brother— how he became blustery and loud because it was the only way he received attention but also because it shielded his abnormal twin from scrutiny— how he stood in front of Ford with his gap tooth bared and scrawny arms outstretched taking in all the gawking and hurt by being the slip up, the rascal, the troublemaker— and how this ultimately led to Stanford Pines, the dreamy-eyed idealist who couldn’t tell the difference between friend and enemy, and Stanley Pines, the man who became so desensitized to pain that his life became one big bruise. Anyone ever think about that?

[suis0u]

Inspired by @not-poignant 's character The Raven Prince and their wonderful Fae Tales stories ❤️. I had to draw him with Jareth, because in my head they were just such a thing once upon a time, he he. (For a better view and for the details: click on the images and then right click to open it in a new window.)

[nordlichtgeschichten]

I straight up reuse names occasionally between stories, so I don't worry so much as Know xD (I have like 3 different characters named Jack, and 2-3 named Alice).

Within one story though, kinda. I got a unicorn named Falfain, after a goddess of unicorns, and Runa named her dog Fana, after her language's word for "unicorn". And because I don't plan, they ended up spending some time with said goddess, who aside from Falfain is also called Faffaana in other languages. So I have Falfain, Falfain/Faffaana, and Fana, in the same scene. The goddess offers the others to just call her Fain to get out of the same names, but that's still Falfain, Fain, and Fana.

Sorry, Readers.

Do ya'll ever worry that you'd characters will start sounding the same as each other?

[ninjadudettekira]

Doubt this is new info but thinking about this as I'm seeing Gravity Falls trending.

Y'all Ford was barely back a month before Weirdmageddon happened.

Like that entire time he was, in hindsight, understandably pissed at Stan.

Then after Weirdmageddon Stan lost his memory and I'm sure Ford felt like shit for how he treated Stan the entire time he was back.

Started with Stan accidentally causing Ford to be pushed into the portal, ended with Ford erasing Stan's memories.

Including when Stan was kicked out, they had 40 years of them not in each other's lives, and then it almost ended up with them "losing each other" again.

The angst of these two, like damn.

Idk where I was going with this, I just felt angsty. 😭

[angelunderheaven]

I can't understand how life goes on the way it does

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

My favourite character type: Metaphorically Tortured and Literally Covered in Blood

Jang Uk from Alchemy of Souls counts, even though I don't think he's ever simultaneously tortured and covered in blood, but that is only because that series doesn't use a lot of blood. Dude was mentally tortured and literally killed 86 people in one go, there should be blood.

In order: Jang Uk & Naksu/Mu-deok/Cho Yeong Alchemy of Souls, Han Ri-ta & Kim Do-ha Moon in the Day, Kang Cheol W: Two Worlds, Myul Mang/Kim Sa-ram Doom at Your Service, Lee Chang & Seo-bi Kingdom, Lee In Captivating the King, Lee Rang Tale of the Nine Tailed/1938, Jang Man-wol Hotel Del Luna, Moo-yeon/Yoon Seok-ha 100 Days My Prince, Duke Su The Double, Do Hyun-soo Flower of Evil

Each time I asked myself, "Are they actually covered in blood or did they just get a little on them? Are they sufficiently tortured or do they only have minor mental turmoil?" These are very strict, scientific criteria.

[volvolts]

honestly i just wanna ramble about the wittebane brother legends in the human world (also tw: brief mention of suicide during the theories)

the brothers' disappearances was the talk of the town for years during their time. it became embellished gossip to a cautionary tale about doing what you're told to a scary folk tale that was kept alive through word of mouth in gravesfield

no one even knew they were real people until someone found documents found in the old courthouse that mentions a philip wittebane and his brother caleb. these were found in the 1960s

years later someone also found a diary owned by philip hidden in the floorboards of the old house during a renovation

from what the people could decipher from the old writing, this diary details his life after caleb's disappearance as well as some drawings of the brothers and evelyn

this sparked the brothers' legend anew now that they can put names to faces

philip's diary is in the gravesfield historical society but kept in the archives until halloween time since that was when the brothers' legend was most popular

to honor the legend, the town erected a statue of the brothers in the 70s. they also added tombstones of caleb and philip in the old cemetery with their estimated birthdates but not death dates

there are two theories about what "really" happened to brothers (mention of suicide in next two bullet points)

theory one: philip killed caleb over a girl and lied that he was taken by a witch to cover his tracks. years later, he walked into the river after the guilt became too much (often debunked as in philip's diary, he speaks fondly of his brother and is clearly grief stricken about caleb's disappearance. after all why would someone who loves his brother so much kill him in cold blood?)

theory two: caleb eloped with a girl and left his brother and the settlement behind to start a new life. philip, after years of denial, drowned himself in the river once he realized his only family abandoned him

people often assumed philip died by drowning because his last written words were about checking the waters "one last time."

however the "spooky" aspect of the tale is that philip's and caleb's bodies were never found and so their disappearance remains unsolved

[laurapetrie]

A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1935)

[nordlichtgeschichten]

NaNo 2023

Oh I did mention this year's NaNo project, but not like, in depth. Not like this is going to be more in depth.

listen i tried being professional on this blog for a bit and it didn't do me any favors so now I'm on to "fuck it we ball"

anyway

I'm doing a collection of short stories - The two I've finished so far are 4.5k and 2.6k, and the one I'm currently writing is 2.9k and I'm expecting another 1-3k in there.

Main character is a Theros guy named Lune (pronounced Loo-neh) who just, really, really likes critters! The first story has him when he's 15, which is the age of majority for Theroi - they age faster than humans do, 15 is when they're fully grown, and they usually live to be around 50 - with other stories being later. Not sure when exactly I'll put the last one, but probably when Lune's in his 40s, grey-streaked fur but damn there are still critters for him to see!!

Short stories are easier on me than full on novels, I can get by with less planning (it's mostly just "This is the critter!"), and it lets me worldbuild a bit. Mostly the fauna, of course, but a few tidbits of different countries in the fantasy world etc.

The two stories I've finished feature Flying Cats (not wings, think of flying squirrels, with a membrane between front and hind legs) and so-called "Feydragons", who have no relation to dragons but are in fact insects that are just one step up from mosquitoes. A critter's a critter...

Started one has an arctic fire dragon, and others I've planned feature pegasi, unicorns, probably a griffin type of two (there's lion griffins and wolf griffins and mouse griffins...), little critters that would've reminded me so much of tribbles had I known tribbles when my friend made the design and I came up with lore, venomous donkeys, werebeasts... Dunno if all will happen during NaNo, but hey, I can keep writing stories after it, too :D Need more dragons in there, anyway, I just want to space them out a bit because dragons will mostly have a recurring character, Luthail, who is supposed to be recurring and not "Is in like every other story". Though I'm looking forward to him, too, since he's got a minor role in Finding Magic, too :3c

I still need a better name than "Tales of Two Worlds Zoology Project" but that can come uhhhhhhh later xD

[not-poignant]

Tradewinds Launch - A Fae Tales Novel - Jan 31st

FULL NOVEL RELEASE on JANUARY 31st - EXCLUSIVE to REAM & PATREON ONLY

In the dangerous, ethereal realm of the fae, alliances between the Seelie and Unseelie fae merchants are few. Some say impossible. Matan, a Seelie fae and peacock pheasant shifter with a talent for trade, must keep his Seelie alignment a secret as he embarks on a perilous journey to gather wealth and save a loved one from a terrible curse. He joins an Unseelie merchant caravan of fae who would surely eat him if they learned of his alignment. The enigmatic Udir, a paranoid Unseelie master of poisons and bearded vulture shifter, discovers Matan’s secret and threatens to blackmail him in exchange for vile favours. But Udir’s bravado and bluster hides a painful past and Matan isn’t as innocent or as naïve as he seems. Amid bustling markets, savvy clients, and travelling to new lands Matan has never seen before, Tradewinds is a story of love, found family, trust, betrayal, and the healing that can grow in the shadows of the vibrant, perilous southern fae lands.

Foxhall @ Ream (available on the Gary+Efnisien tiers or higher) Foxhall @ Patreon (available on the Gary+Efnisien tiers of higher)

[anarchycox]

All reading is good reading. Any type of work. Any level. Any style. If you spent some time today with fictional or non fictional worlds - you spent your time well.

[ellsieee]

Oh just kiss already.

[captainkurosolaire]

Mother of Light

Raging snow petered from a tundra's onslaught, becoming soft bright a sight that'd encapsulated memories and nurtured them. Those flake droplet's fell upon a traversing shadow whose garb stained with old crimson. His cut's and wounds of shrapnel only felt relief when those of snow brought cooling reprieve. Determination carried him. Coming near destination, his mind blurred to multiple distortions, his leg's staggered, attempting to shake a concussion but wasn't able to ignore he collapsed aside a tree. Shortly by moment's a woman appeared crossing a bridge. She gasped, scolding. "Honestly!" With brisk entering his proximity, "You know most women when they've a date their partner tries to appear presentable! You've done the opposite, bloody rebel!" She teased, with life. The injured assailant coldly quipped, "I only came to inform you, I can't see you." She began salving wounds with old medicinal herbs crushed into ointment and surveying his wounds. Crossing over region's by feet just to say this? His dedication to attend, for certain was a silent flatter. "Is that because the blindfold, or because you think it's far too dangerous? Why must... why must, you go to these extents?" Compassion felt bared under his behalf her voice shook briefly. Within her shamanism she felt duty-bound to see the peace of damaged souls, aiding them in finding closures, to pass on and prevent them from being tortured and malevolent. He overpowered a wince as she created a tourniquet around his worst injury, scrapping, tear her own skirt's quilt. "I must, for the outcome larger. Think what you'd like, but I fight for an Age of Peace." Undoubtedly his cause laid noble, yet he fought alone in solitude. Were these his words? She disputed with simple words, that struck. "What of your peace?" Those word's held danger, reason... power. First-threat conceived ever recorded in any reality. Was not of murderous design. Threat was born in love's visage. Many interpret in their ways. Yet, Love encountered can change an entire existence, it's frightening... Invisible even striking the mightiest down. Misused, brought wars. Concern, feelings, he was trained against... He shot it down from his exercises... "I'm just a weapon." Wasn't idea to allow those root's to touch him, allowing an identity beyond his purpose. A tool as used by those who furthered him to exist. They claimed their hand's from the dark and gave him "life". Least, what it'd become believed... He attempted to stand but his body-declined. She shook a head baffled at the display of stubbornness. Her soft-tending hands aided him by wrists, "Come to my cabin, I'll finish ridding these injuries, then you can take off. You aren't off the case, Mister. See... Would someone classified as a weapon, decisively show to meet lowly ole' me? Were you wielded to do as such...? Or did you, act." Countering him. Was she a hidden sorceress? She slew him with mistakes. Why with her presence, did he falter? Invisible assaults, indescribable reigned. He didn't even recognize his body had taken a seat within her temporarily home. His nose took a whiff of a poured tea. "Drink this, it'll mend. You'll be out once again, slicing and dicing." Under those condition's he drank with no hesitation. Sure enough that scrumptious tea worked throughout his system, with renewal, all his symptom's subsided. Magical, delightful, exquisite. Emotion's were attempting to claim victory. He rejected and sat up, gathering his weapon fastening it across his waist. "You've my thanks... Farewell, what I said still, applies." Pushing against it all. He needed to retreat, now! As callous digit's touched the door, she intercepted at his stature. "I'm hiring you. Assassin!" Laughing warmly. Curious came to his brow, movement's paused. Yet he never declined... "Who do you want dead, or brought?" He spoke as a Black Miracle.

She let out a enthusiastic, pretend-serious voice. "Yes... Well..." Clearly she was clutching something behind, it smelled of beauty. "Protect this Flower!" He was handed a soft-fragile, flower.... Was she, serious? Known as the Sakurasou, It'd follow this duo throughout destiny. "Seven Sun's... It cannot know harm and you've to keep on you! Do this and you'll never see me again." An easy task, he thought. "Very well... I'll see you when the mission is done. Then our known connection, is void." Accepting these terms.

She moved satisfied, watching him depart and continue that unyielding march... into death. Unbeknownst a fellow predatory stare of another shadow watched this exchange, through the lens of a bird as ghost recon...

[Prev:Chapter]: Father of Shadow ~ ♪"Heart of Gold"♪

[princesssarisa]

The next section of Cinderella Tales from Around the World is devoted to a lesser-known Cinderella subtype: One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes.

*The most famous tale of this type is the German version from the Brothers Grimm. To summarize:

**A woman has three daughters, each with a different number of eyes: One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes. The middle sister, Two-Eyes, is hated and abused by her mother and sisters because she's beautiful and normal-looking. (There's no mention of how many eyes the mother has.) Every day she's sent out to pasture the goat, starving because her family only feeds her scraps. But one day she meets a "wise woman" (i.e. a fairy) who instructs her to recite a rhyme, and then her goat will bring her a table covered with food. She does this every day, until her mother notices that she's not eating her scraps anymore. One-Eye goes out to spy on her, but Two-Eyes sings her to sleep. Then Three-Eyes goes out, and again Two-Eyes sings, but in her lullaby she mistakenly sings "Two-Eyes" instead of "Three-Eyes," so only two of her sisters' eyes fall asleep while the third stays awake and sees how she feeds herself. She reports it to the mother, who kills the goat. But the wise woman instructs Two-Eyes to bury the goat's entrails, and when she does, a tree with silver leaves and golden apples grows from the spot. Whenever the mother or sisters try to pick the apples, the branches move out of their reach, but Two-Eyes is allowed to pick them. One day, a handsome young knight rides by, and the mother and sisters hide Two-Eyes under a barrel. But the knight admires the tree and asks for a branch from it, yet neither One-Eye nor Three-Eyes can break one off. Then Two-Eyes rolls some golden apples out from under the barrel, revealing her presence, and gives the knight his branch. The knight wants to reward her, so she asks him to take her away from her cruel family. He takes her to his castle, where the tree magically follows them, and soon afterward they marry. Some time later, One-Eye and Three-Eyes appear at the castle door, now reduced to beggars. Two-Eyes forgives them and takes them in, and her kindness makes them repent their former treatment of her.

*The other tales of this type that Heiner's book features come from France, Scotland, Denmark, Russia, the Czech Republic, India, and the United States.

**There are three French versions: Little Annette, The Golden Pear-Tree, and The Golden Bells.

*** All three include the heroine's ineffectual father, in contrast to the all-female household in the Grimms' version, and in the first and third tales, the wicked women are the heroine's stepmother and stepsisters instead of her birth family.

***In The Golden Bells, the heroine, Florine, is a princess, and her father and wicked stepmother are the king and queen. In Little Annette, the girl's eventual husband is a prince, while in the other two, he's a king.

***None of these versions include the "one-eye, two-eyes, three-eyes" motif either: in Little Annette, the stepmother magically adds an eye to the back of her youngest daughter's head, which stays open while her own eyes sleep, while in the other two the (step)sister just pretends to sleep.

***In all three, the heroine receives her food by tapping a sheep with a magic wand. In Little Annette, the wand is given to her by the Virgin Mary, in The Golden Pear-Tree by a man, and in The Golden Bells by her dying mother at the beginning. Also, rather than personally killing the sheep, the (step)mother pretends to be sick and insists that only eating the sheep's meat will cure her, so the father kills it.

***In Little Annette, the magic tree that grows from the sheep's remains just bears "the most tempting fruit," while in the other two tales, as their titles imply, it respectively bears golden pears and constantly-ringing golden bells.

***The Golden Pear-Tree and The Golden Bells both continue after the heroine's marriage with a plot against her while her husband is away at war. In The Golden Pear-Tree, the heroine gives birth to twins, and her wicked mother-in-law replaces them with two puppies, which causes the king to order his wife executed. Unfortunately, this story only survives as a fragment with no ending, but presumably the heroine escapes somehow and reunites with her husband and children after the truth is revealed. In The Golden Bells, the stepmother throws Florine into a river. But when she does so, the bells on the tree stop ringing, and the king hears this, realizes something is wrong, hurries home, and rescues Florine.

**In the odd Scottish tale of The Sheep's Daughter, the heroine is the king's secret illegitimate daughter, whose mother is a sheep. (Apparently an anthropomorphic one who lives in a house, although the queen is able to order her slaughtered like any other sheep.) The wicked women are the king's wife and legitimate daughters. The king secretly pays regular visits to the sheep and her child, bringing them gifts, until the queen has her two daughters spy on him. The sheep magically sings the first princess to sleep, but accidentally leaves one of the second princess's eyes awake, so the queen learn's what's happening, and has the sheep killed. The heroine buries her mother's bones, then lives alone in their cottage for five years, at which point a prince gives a three-day feast. The heroine's mother rises from her grave, transformed from a sheep into a beautiful princess: she dresses her daughter in finery, and from there on the story becomes Cinderella, with the heroine attending the festival and losing a slipper on the third night, which the prince uses to find her.

**In the Danish Mette Wooden-Hood, the wicked women are again the heroine's stepmother and stepsisters: the stepmother starts out as Mette's seemingly-kind schoolteacher, who of course manipulates her into convincing her father to marry her. Mette's helper is her mother's spirit, who comforts her at her gravesite and summons doves to feed her. But eventually the younger stepsister, who has an extra eye in her neck, learns this, and Mette is locked up so she can't visit the grave anymore. Mette finally manages to run away, however, and her mother's spirit gives her a wooden dress to wear and a box that will grant her wishes when she taps it. From this point on, the story becomes like Donkeyskin or All-Kinds-of-Fur, as Mette becomes a scullery maid at a palace, attends church in magic finery three times, and on the third Sunday loses a shoe.

**In one of the two Russian versions, Little Havroshecka, the heroine is an orphan while the wicked mother and daughters are her foster family, and in other, Burenushka, they're her stepmother and stepsisters: they're also a queen and princesses in the latter. In both of these versions, "One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes" are the heroine's three wicked stepsisters, in contrast to the Grimms' version where Two-Eyes is the heroine. The animal helper is a cow, who magically spins flax for the heroine in Little Havroshecka, magically feeds her in Burenushka. In the former story, after the cow is killed, a silver tree grows from her remains with golden leaves and crystal apples, which only Havroshecka can pick, while in the latter tale, a berry bush grows on which birds sing, and the birds chase away anyone who tries to pick the berries except for the heroine. Little Havroshecka ends with Havroshecka's marriage, while Burenushka continues with the heroine giving birth to a son, her stepmother turning her into a goose, and her coming back each day to briefly resume human form and suckle her baby, until her husband finds out and breaks the spell by burning the goose skin.

**In the Czech tale of The Girl Who Had a Witch for a Stepmother, "One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes" are again the heroine's three wicked stepsisters, and the animal helper is again a cow, who spins the heroine's flax for her, as promised by her mother's spirit. After the cow is killed, her remains produce an apple tree and a well full of wine, both of which only the heroine can access. A prince proposes marriage to her as a result, but on their wedding day the stepmother locks her up and sends one of her own daughters disguised in the bridal clothes, cutting her feet to make the shoes fit. But the heroine turns herself into a bird and flies after her prince and stepsister, calling out the truth. Thus she gets her happy ending.

**The Iranian tale of The Story of How Fatima Killed Her Mother and What Came of It, is obviously related closely to the Iranian Cinderella tale shared earlier in the book, The Story of Little Fatima. Once again, we have a heroine named Fatima whom a wicked woman persuades to kill her own mother, and then persuade her father to marry the woman who urged it. But after the stepmother turns abusive and starves her, the mother's forgiving spirit instructs Fatima in a dream to buy a yellow calf, which produces food from its ears. Meanwhile, the stepmother gives birth to two daughters of her own, Four-Eyes and Four-Stumps, who spy on their half-sister when they're old enough and discover her secret. After the calf is killed, the story has various twists and turns that include a "kind and unkind girls" episode, a Cinderella-style lost shoe leading a prince to Fatima, and Four-Stumps murdering and replacing Fatima after she gives birth to a son, only for Fatima to miraculously come back in the end.

**The Indian tale of Lal Badshah, the Red King, or The Two Little Princesses revolves around two sister princesses who are abused by their stepmother. They secretly find food each day on their mother's grave, until their stepmother's cat spies on them and reports it, and the wicked queen manipulates the king first into desecrating the grave, and then into abandoning his daughters in the forest, Hansel and Gretel-style. After many more twists and turns, the two finally live happily ever after, with one princess married to a king and the mother of a son, and her devoted sister by her side.

**Last of all is a Latin American tale called One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes, where as in the Grimms' tale, Two-Eyes is the heroine abused by her cruel mother and sisters. But otherwise, this is a Cinderella story. A prince gives three balls, and Two-Eyes is forbidden to go; but before the first ball, the prince meets and falls in love with Two-Eyes, so he secretly sends her a coach and finery each night. On the night of the third ball, the mother has Three-Eyes stay home to spy on Two-Eyes, and though two of her eyes fall asleep, her third eye discovers Two-Eyes' secret. The next day, when the prince comes to the house to ask for Two-Eyes' hand in marriage, the mother locks her away and tries to offer him first One-Eye, then Three-Eyes. But of course he rejects them both and finds Two-Eyes in the end.

*It's strange that the Grimms, who normally bowdlerized wicked mothers into stepmothers in their tales, offer one of the very few versions of this tale where the heroine's abusers are her own mother and sisters instead of a stepmother and stepsisters. That said, in their footnotes they do allude to other variants where the heroine is a stepdaughter and her helper is her mother's spirit.

I'm almost finished reading this enormous anthology. After this brief section comes the last set of tales: Cinderella tales that don't fit into any of the usual categories.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @adarkrainbow, @themousefromfantasyland