#evie (and maybe mal) are the only big changes so far

[tiredflowercrown]

So in the making of a western au (modern just like vauge time vibes) I'm finding that I'm not having to change all that much

Just some vk origins but even then not by much

[thebluestbluewords]

cinderellaverse?? In my 2024??

it’s more likely than you think!

(for context: the rotten ot4 are wildly codependent, Ben is possibly seducing them all via unreciprocated acts of kindness, and this takes place directly after the iconic Good Boy scene, only with some AU changes that aren’t ready to post yet).

(why am i posting this if no other context is finished yet??? Because I’m needy and crave validation. Next question, please).

+

“Ugh,” Mal agrees. She looks mostly asleep still, which is understandable. “Weird. Did you eat yet?” 

Carlos lifts the napkin-wrapped bundle in his hands. “I brought food. To share. If you want.” 

This, predictably, gets Mal up. They’re far enough away from the isle that Carlos can almost believe that their parents aren’t lurking behind every dark corner of the castle, but not so far that they’ll turn down fresh food, even at stupid early hours.

“Berries?” 

“Yeah. Brought berries for you. And muffins.” 

“Evie wants chocolate,” Mal says immediately, stretching out both hands for the napkin-wrapped bundle. “And weird that Ben made you meet someone new. I thought we’d already been subjected to every princess-type in the school by now.” 

“Not a person. He made me meet a— a dog.” 

Mal stops with the muffins in her hands still outstretched. “Oh,” she says carefully, which is nice of her. Their Auradon education must be kicking in, or some shit. “And you’re not halfway home?” 

“I was. But Ben sort of—put the dog away and tracked me down? He was cool about it. We went over afterwards to check out the stables, cause he thought maybe it was like, just animals I don’t like, and they’ve got cats and stuff there. And the dog was on a leash, and he’s actually super tiny and not murderous.” Carlos shrugs, telegraphing the motion as much as he can. Which isn’t much. He’s supposed to be working on the whole expressing emotions thing. Even though it’s so much easier to shut down entirely whenever he feels an emotion. “So yeah. Still alive, still here! And Ben’s being weird.” 

“Weird how?” 

“Just weird. He was being all nice and stuff. D’you think he’s been bribed by Fairy Godmother to get info on us?” 

“Might be,” Mal agrees, tearing into her muffin. She’s unwrapped the whole bundle, and laid them out in an order that’s got to make sense in her head. (it shouldn’t make sense. They can’t afford to be predictable. Predictable is how you get your lunch stolen, or poisoned, or eaten by pirates who think it’s funny to take a perfectly rotten sandwich and swap it out for seaweed slime). “You should eat though. You didn’t tell him anything, right?” 

Carlos pulls a scrap off the cinnamon sugar muffin. It’s the one Mal’s put in his assigned spot, which is directly across from her own, with Evie’s double chocolate on the left and Jay’s lemon poppyseed on the right. He’s not really hungry, but it’s still too much to turn down food, so he rolls it between his fingers until half of the sugar falls off into the napkin, and the rest of it is compressed into the smallest possible ball of muffin flesh. He can eat a little piece of it, and then Mal will stop asking, and he can eat for real later. Once he’s alone. 

He pops the ball of muffin into his mouth. “No. Not really.” 

Mal shoves another mouthful of muffin into her mouth. She picked the blueberry one, and it turns the whole mess of it vividly purple as she chews. “Cool. He’s probably just being a royal brat then, trying to get some new intel for the gossip mill. But hey, it’s cool that he showed you the stables. Maybe next time we need to get to town you can steal us a horse, yeah?” 

Carlos snorts. He’s seen a horse now, and there’s no way they can get away with stealing something that big and ornery. Cars might be bigger, but they don’t bite and they don’t poop and they don’t have teeth the size of his fingers and a desire to bite through anything that looks even remotely like a carrot. “Yeah, no. Horses are fucking giant.” 

“I wouldn’t know,” Mal says casually. She throws one of her loose berries up so she can catch it in her teeth. Sometimes, when it’s just the four of them, Mal forgets to act human and does things like this. Things where she snatches treats out of the air with her teeth, when her neck bends in ways that a human’s shouldn’t, like she’s forgotten that she only has seven bones in her neck and not seventeen like a standard dragon. “Nobody ever wakes me up at the crack of dawn to show me cool shit.” 

Carlos wants to laugh and make this whole thing normal, but he’s fucking exhausted and the cinnamon sugar from the muffin is sticky on his fingers. He’s been trying to pull it apart carefully so that his whole hands don’t get covered in the crumbly topping, but that’s been working about as well as their escape plan so far, which is to say not at fucking all. “Yeah, yeah. He also made us run laps first, don’t be jealous.” 

Mal snaps her teeth. “I’ll be whatever I want. He didn’t do anything else?“ 

“Nope.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes, mom. He just wanted to talk a bunch about how we’re settling in. And how we’re doing emotionally.” 

[descendantofthesparrow]

Commission - Harry Hook x Reader- do I love her? Do I love her not? - part 5

thank you to @musicarose​ for commissioning me to write this!! 

=

It had been a long two and a half years for Harry Hook, two and a half years since his arrival to Auradon, two and a half years since he had met you, two and a half years since his biggest regret.

Hurting you was his biggest regret, he only wished he had told you the truth before you had ended up finding out through his arrest.

Then maybe you wouldn't hate him, then maybe he would still be with you in Auradon.

He sighed, laying his head on his window, staring out into the smog, the lights of Auradon glinting in the distance.

His heart ached for you, every time he closed his eyes, he saw your pain-filled eyes, your tear-stained face, staring back at him with such hate and sadness.

He would do anything to get that look off your face.

Harry sighed, sitting up from his windowsill and standing, beginning to change into his nightclothes.

He pulled back his sheets and curled onto his bed, closing his eyes.

Hoping to wake up to a world with you.

=

You sighed, putting your hair into a fishtail braid, letting it drape over your shoulder. It was Janes's birthday today, so you had to at least tidy up a little bit. You sighed, fingers drifting over the purple bags under your eyes, it had been hard for you to get a good night's sleep for the past couple years.

Ever since….nevermind.

You slapped some makeup on, shoving on your shoes and jacket and making your way to the enchanted lake.

You didn’t expect Audrey to be there, setting a sleeping spell onto those around her. You were far enough away for her not to notice you, so you dived into the lake, waiting till the pink smoke settled.

You gasped as you popped up form the lake, smiling in relief as you saw jane lift herself from the water.

“Jane!” she gave a soft jump, turning to see you, a smile blooming on her face.

“(y/n)!”

=

   =

He was exhausted, the silver knight pressing onto him with a strength of Audrey's magic. He was losing his grip, losing his footing.

Harry yelped, his right foot sliding from underneath him as another knight swiped a dull blade under him.

He grunted in pain as he landed on his back, eyes widening as the vision of a sharp blade rose, aiming at his chest. He rolled onto his side, narrowly missing the blade, he hooked his hook around the hilt, and pulled it towards him, the knight lost its grip.

Harry quickly flipped the sword into his hand, rushing to stand and yelling as he swung the broadsword at the knight's neck.

It sliced clean through, the knight collapsing as its head tumbled to the ground.

He panted heavily, whipping around as he heard another knight step behind him.

He leaped away, avoiding a heavy slam of a mace. He let out a wince as he landed on his ankle oddly, his legs trembled, failing him and he collapsed to the ground.

“Harry to your left!” Harry couldn’t react, he was completely out of breath and his legs were jelly. He glanced to his left, seeing a knight about to bring a heavy hammer down on him.

Jay and Gil leaped in front of him, Gil blocking the knight's hammer and jay barreling into the knight's torso.

It stumbled back, crashing into the ground. Gil sighed, giving harry his hand and heaving him up to his feet. “are you oaky harry?”

Harry let out a low grunt of pain, nursing his ankle and leaning heavily on Gil.

Jay sighed, moving to Harry's other side, he didn’t like the pirate (after what he did to (y/n), but he couldn't just let him limp around and slow the rest of them down.

Jay and Gil helped move harry over to the entrance, setting him down behind the door. Harry winced, trying to move his ankle around, but yelped lowly as a sharp pain shot up his leg.

“shit” he muttered, leaning back on his hands, “I think I sprained it” Celia hummed, kneeling next to him, waving her hands over his ankle

“yeap” she chided, digging into her pocket and withdrawing soft purple powder. “sprained it, here ya go” the powder glowed as Celia dusted it over his ankle, disappearing as it touched him.

“witch doctor” harry muttered, wiggling his ankle once more “forgot ‘bout tha’” he stood, smirking as no pain came from his ankle.

“Thanks, runt” Celia glared, scrunching her nose, reeling her fist back and punching his shoulder.

“don’t call me that” harry sniggered, patting her head, raising his brows to see the knights defeated.

“tha’ was fast” he muttered, sighing as once again, Mal and Uma began to argue.

It was going to be a while before he was going to be able to apologize to (y/n).

=

He stared, unable to breathe, there she was, (y/n), standing only a few feet away from him.

Though she was focused on beast ben, that didn’t matter, he was finally in her presence once more.

He felt his heartbeat too fast for its good, anxiety tightening his chest and making it hard to breathe.

You turned, your form freezing as you connected your eyes with Harry's.

You frowned, turning back around and stomping over to jane, leaning onto her shoulder and pouting, she glanced at you concerned, catching sight of Harry and glaring, grabbing your hand and leading you away.

“she hates me” harry whimpered, Gil patting his back “she fuckin’ hates me”

“Why do you care” Jay snarled from behind him, Harry turned seeing jay with a set scowl on his face “you’re the one who used her for the wand”

Gil shook his head “he didn’t want to, he was going to tell her before uma made a rash decision and doomed their relationship”

Jay raised his brows, “are-what a minute so that big show of tears the day you left wasn’t fake” harry scoffed, brushing off Gil's hand.

“none of my feelings fer (y/n) were and are no’t fake, nor will they ever be, I love ‘er”

=

Your jaw dropped, the end of Harry's sentence catching your ears, jane seemed to hear him, though with her fae ears she heard him crystal clear and she turned to you with a beaming smile.

“hes not lying” you turned slightly, seeing Jay glare at Harry, obviously not trusting him. You felt tears burn at your eyes, but you force them away.

You would talk about this to him later, but for now, defeating Audrey took priority.

=

“(Y/N)!” Harry screamed, tears burning at his eyes as thunder resounded around him, he sprinted back to the cottage gasping as he entered the clearing. seeing Mal on her knees, sobbing her heart out, grasping Ben and Evie’s hands…that were made of stone.

“no….i didn’t have a choice! I didn’t want to! Please!” Harry staggered forward, eyes locked on you.

There you stood, encased in stone, eyes up towards the sky, fear still on your face. You had seen the bolt of magic heading toward you.

Harry sniffed, stepping in front of you, reaching up to brush his fingers on your cold stone cheek “oh love” he muttered, “im sorry, im so sorry”

He saw Mal stand from her spot on the ground, stumbling as she did. She turned to him, her eyes glowing a soft green.

“if your feelings are true for (y/n), will you help me kick audreys ass?” harry stayed silent for a moment, chest tight staring into your fear laced eyes.

“aye” he growled, stepping back and nodding to mal “ill help yeh but I won't forgive yeh for plannin’ on closin’ the barrier fer good”

Mal nodded, turning and making her way out of the forest. “understood" Mal started to run, Harry taking one look back at you and sighing, sprinting off after Mal.

=

Harry grunted as light pierced his eyelids, muffled voices surrounding him.

“hes waking up!”

“Harry please, come on”

“come on harry dude, you gotta wake up”

“Harry!”

He jolted up, the burry faces of Uma and Gil hovering above him.

“Harry!” Uma laughed breathlessly, collapsing on his chest “thank hades! I thought we lost you!”

“where are we?” Harry mumbled, sitting up with the help of gil, uma froze, shoulders slumping

“on the isle” she muttered, glancing around Harry's room “when ben sent his security to get hades, adam sent us back with them”

“jackass” Gil muttered, “I know we tried to steal the wand, but we still helped with stopping Audrey, shouldn’t we get some sort of quarter!?”

“ben tried, but he couldn’t get the council on his side to keep us in auradon” Uma interrupted, a slight growl to her voice.

Harry shuffled in his bed, hesitating before he spoke up.

“what about (y/n)?” Uma smiled, chuckling.

“she also tried to keep us there, even after all we did to her. I think if I had tried, the two of us could have been good friends”

Harry smiled, so (y/n) had tried to keep him in auradon, that’s good, it meant that maybe one day he could gain her trust back.

A knock sounded at the door, Gil stood from his seat, walking over to the door and opening it, gasping as he did so.

“Gil?” Uma started, slightly weary as she stood to get closer to him “who is it?”

Gil stepped back, turning with a smile “(y/n)!” Harry's breath stopped as you stepped through the door, slipping your hood off your head.

You were dressed in black head to toe, dark makeup, and messy hair. Ripped jeans and scuffed boots.

Fingerless gloves and dark purple painted nails.

And…and an opal necklace resting on your collarbone.

“(y/n)?” Harry whispered, standing from his bed and walking over to you, going to rest his hands on your cheeks, stopping just short.

“yer, yer here” he laughed softly, brushing a stray hair behind your ear “yer really here!” you smiled, setting Harry's heart to beat 1000 miles a minute.

“yeah, I had to” you giggled, reaching up to run your hand through his hair, spotting Uma and Gil sneaking out of the room behind you.

“I love you” Harry's breath stuttered, tears brimming in his eye.

“i-yeh do?” his voice cracked “but after all I did?”

You nodded, leaning up and pressing your lips to Harry's. Harry wrapped his arms around you, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

You tossed your arms around his neck, smiling into the kiss.

As you separated, harry picked you up, spinning you around.

“I love yeh too my bonny lass” he whispered, burying his face in your neck.

“I love yeh too”

---the end---

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[newtshairdryer]

Thoughts on Descendants 3 as I watch it for the 8th time and pause to look at everybody all the time

- When Ben and Mal are walking out before the proposal, Audrey is slow clapping and it’s hilarious

-Chad seems genuinely happy to see them together but Audrey rains on his parade

-Please look at Chad’s face to the side after Ben gets on his knee his overdramatic gaping mouth is SENDING ME

-Why do they make Belle and the Beast kiss beside each other’s cheeks like a french greeting? For real though they’re Belle and the Beast...they should be kissing in celebration .-.

-Right after the Carlos/Beast chest bump there’s an extra in the background of Bal just having a blast popping bubbles

-Speaking of the bubbles I have no clue where they’re coming from

- Dude in the background when Audrey says ”What is wrong with you people?” bein shady AF to her

-That one girl in the wheelchair that has been in every single movie needs a name cause we all just refer to her as that one girl in the wheelchair lol

-Mal has her own purple fucking limo and she’s not even royalty yet

-Their money is so vibrantly coloured

-Those cards Celia fan out are definitely, well, a fan. They’re all attached- she’s not even holding onto some of them lol

-Mal resting her chin on Ben’s shoulder to watch him and Celia in the limo. soft

-The scenes in the limo make Ben look really big and awkward because they’re all shoved into a small space and he’s in the middle where the smallest person usually goes...but he’s the biggest person XD

-The barrier takes forever to close and there are a ton of people right there, why has no one attempted to just jump through it yet lol

-What if Hades put his hand through the barrier and it just like...cut it off LMFAO now THAT would have been entertaining 

-Hades literally makes himself roll one more time as he’s pushed back. Like there’s no more momentum and you can see he should stop but he makes himself do another somersault and it’s so obvious lol

-I know it’s been said before but the lack of security in the museum is just lazy AF writing. They didn’t even try to make it realistic it’s way too easy to just waltz in and take anything. Apparently the wand is the only thing worthy of an alarm

-Also why is there not even glass around the scepter to even attempt to discourage people from taking it? Even when the museum is OPEN someone could yank it out and start spelling shit up.

-Ben’s phone rings and he hangs it up less than a second after he picked it up- it doesn’t even show him barely looking at it. How on earth did he have time to see a message about the stolen items- let alone the fact it was a phone call ring...not a text ping

- OK WAIT IF UMA IS ON THE LOOSE AND HE TALKED ABOUT BETTER SECURITY SERIOUSLY WHY ON EARTH IS THE MUSEUM SECURITY SO NON EXISTENT??? IN BOTH THE FIRST MOVIE AND THIS ONE THEIR LACK OF SECURITY IS SUCH A GLARINGLY OBVIOUS THING WHY IS IT NON EXISTENT IT MAKES NO SENSE

-Why are the former King and Queen of Auradon and the current reigning King turning to the not yet Queen for all the advice about evil like it’s her responsibility. They don’t even attempt to brainstorm the vast amount of other ideas. And why on earth can’t she just suggest uh...literal guards by the barrier when it opens for them? Like if they paid people on the isle to guard the barrier so other isle people didn’t try to get out it would help a ton. There are so many other solutions other than closing the barrier completely (and then getting rid of it completely??)

-Does anyone else notice that like...50% of Ben’s screen time is him staring in shock/disbelief at things with literally no other expression for entire scenes? Cause I noticed it the first time around

-My favourite outfit in this whole movie for Mal is this light purple dress she has on when talking about closing the barrier for the first time with Ben’s parents and Evie. She is SO GORGEOUS in it. I’m actually not a fan of the leather suit she wears for the rest of the movie cause I don’t feel it fits with her hairstyle- mainly once it starts to go blue

-I just realized Mal’s hair literally goes from pretty much just purple to lots of blue mixed in. I guess it’s cool cause it’s like she gets power from the ember but I honestly prefer her brighter purple hair. My favourite hairstyle was her bangs she looked like an actual goddess in the 2nd movie

-I think everyone was thinking Dude got into Jane’s cake (despite the very neatly cut corner)

-I honestly love Mal’s face when Audrey shows up with the crown and scepter and her whole new gettup like “What on earth is this chick doing”

-I reiterate “what on earth is this chick doing” as Audrey goes to...sniff? the scepter?

-I wAnT tO bE dAnGeRoUS

-Audrey through a cupcake on the ground. So evil

-Honestly I’m sorry but Audrey talking all angsty to the people at Jane’s party is really cringey. Her lines are just...hhhhhhhhh (you mindless little drones in particular just seems weird the way she says it)

-How on earth does Audrey not see Jane get in the lake...she’s literally right there in full view

-OK so not ALL magic doesn’t work on the Isle, according to Celia only evil magic doesn’t work- so yes Maleficent is still a lizard cause Mal’s spell wasn’t an evil one

-Even with her massive platform shoes Mal is so much shorter than Hades she is yelling at him but having to look way up she’s adorable

- Hades “LET’S DANCE” - proceeds to shake a tambourine, slap his butt with it and stick his tongue out. ok then

-Why did I never notice Mal shake the tambourine at him angrily and then throw it lmao

-WHERE IS THE WIND COMING FROM IN THIS SONG (I will touch back on random wind that shouldn’t be there later on too)

-Mal should say thank you for the ember...imo

-”If it gets wet it’s game over” thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat’s what she said

-Mal’s walking away from Haes up those stairs? That booty thicc (only thing I really like about that outfit) 

-Girl has a zipper down her butt. She can unzip her ass cheeks

-I’m glad the jewelry in this movie is no longer plastic like Ben’s ring and his burger king crown

-“You’ll what? Marry them?” OK I am not a big fan of the plot or Audrey’s temper tantrum but  if that isn’t the best fucking burn in this whole franchise then idk what is

-gUYS CELIA IS NOT THE ACTRESS SHE IS SUPPOSE TO BE IN AN ENTIRE MAIN SHOT??? WTF? HOW HAS NO ONE POINTED THIS OUT?? SHE’S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON WHEN THEY’RE WALKING OUT OF THE GATE TOWARDS THE BARRIER ON THE ISLE AND THEN THE NEXT SHOT IT’S BACK TO THE PROPER ACTRESS. BUT IT’S VERY OBVIOUS

-I AM GAY AS SHIT FOR UMA OK SHE IS ABSOLUTE PEAK AESTHETIC AND I WOULD LET HER CHOKE ME WITH HER BRAIDS 

-I deserve some compensation for my muscles...what does that even mean???

-Are we suppose to know who Hannah is?

-”Says you and that’s suppose to mean someth’n to me?” Ok maybe I’m just a flaming bisexual for Uma but why was that line delivery so smooth

-Audrey is abusing Chad. She threw a glass bowl at him and is literally shoving him around and yelling at him while accusing him of knowing things and not telling her. And it’s played for laughs. Descendants you have a lot of good things that are socially woke but this ain’t it man. Chad may have been a douche but he doesn’t deserve abuse. (rhyme oof)

- Why is Dude advertising that he gives great cuddles? Who is that directed at? Why is that line in there? Alright then

-How is Uma the only one that noticed the massive scratches on the wall and the literal painting slashed in half

-Mkay we get it Audrey you’re evil thanks for the random laugh

-The knight in front of them literally clanged as it moved and it’s RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM how did nobody but Harry see it move. This entire movie is me asking why something happened because honestly so much of it just doesn’t make sense but I still love the movie lmao

-Out numbered 1 to 50? How did this girl graduate lol

-I still say What The Fuck Is Happening every time Mal makes the Knights dance. It’s just the most random, out of the blue thing to do

-Mal literally licks her lip and gives Evie the most sultry look as Evie dips down and is singing the end of Night Falls. I’m not a Mevie shipper but it’s the most bedroom eyes I’ve ever seen

-Evie is an absolute ray of sunshine and deserves all the things

-Harry is genuinely flattered at Evie’s compliment about his accent he starts to smile. Dude acts like a complete player and then gets happy when someone gives him a genuine compliment lol

-Jay and Gil are adorable

-Gil is just adorable on his own

-Doug is in way too comfortable of a position to not have already been on the ground sleeping/resting. Which begs the question of why he was just on the ground sleeping like that

-Doug’s long hair and ponytail and complete lack of style are some of my biggest pet peeves in this movie. He doesn’t just look out of place next to Evie, but next to literally everyone else. He looked pretty good in the last two, why such a drastic change that literally nobody asked for or wanted lol

-I seriously can’t take Evie and Doug seriously in this movie just because of his hair. It’s just so unattractive I’m sorry not sorry

- I do enjoy the sense of urgency and time that the movie has as Mal tries to keep moving. Uma and her being like “just kiss him already” is fun

-They could have shot Audrey looking at them through the scepter in a different way...the way it’s just the same close up shot every time she’s looking at it with her hair blowing in the non-existent wind just adds to how cheesy her whole performance is (not her fault, director and writers fault)

-Mal should have kissed Ben when they reunited. 0 reason not to. She was super worried about him and finally reunited with him and she also LOOKED like she wanted to kiss him. Girl was super into that beard. 

-Leave some room for Jesus lmao 

-I’m just bitter cause the only kiss we get this whole movie is from kinda far away and is short. We’ve also never seen them share a sweet kiss in private- they’re always on display....maybe it’s a kink lol

-Ben and Mal holding hands while trying to sneak around <3

-Sophia’s acting when Evie is upset is on point. This whole scene is one of the only really good ones where everyone is rightfully upset with Mal. 

-Mal has had to sing about her feelings in every movie lmao

-Why...does the dragon look like it has a low frame rate? It looks choppy

-Audrey just, once again, doesn’t look menacing. She’s just like...waving a stick around and making mean faces

-”I owe you an apology” says everyone but...no one actually says “I’m sorry” lol

- Ben is just “aw yiss speak human rights to me baby” at Mal during the engagement party

- Beast: “We can’t do that.” I AGREE

-Taking the barrier down with no screening for the villains is a bad bad bad bad idea but it’s a happy disney universe so everything is fine - ugh

-UNSAFE BRIDGE!!1!!1 I’m waiting for someone to fall off- just once, please

-Mal and Uma jumping up and down when they kmeetis the cutest fucking thing on earth

-Ben needs a different thing to dance in, his suit is so stiff

-Harry and Audrey? Hmmmm I’m not opposed but I’m also not feelin it

-Were those people just...waiting there with an already built dragon?

-Ben likes to hip thrust in every movie, no lie

[wezzaner]

Evie’s and Doug’s relationship develops the best, Pt. 1

Why do people hate Doug and his relationship with Evie so much?

I honestly don’t get it. Out of all the relationships, that one, hands down, actually develops the best.

Let’s start with the very first Descendants (Please confirm with me, however, that the events of the first movie span ONE month only), the introduction to both as characters and their start as a couple.

Take Evie first…

A vain, flirty, one-track mind wannabe-princess who was bred by her mother to be a spineless trophy wife to a prince. ANY prince. So spineless to the point where she tries to act dumb and highlights her cooking, sewing and cleaning abilities, thinking that this is what a prince could ever want. That there is no other reason anybody would ever want her.

Now Doug...

Insecure, somewhat (but not painfully) shy, scrawny and nerdy sidekick offspring. A commoner that is not even considered “good looking” by Disney’s princes standards. Son of a side kick, and not the smartest one at that, living with the kids of kings, queens, fairies and powerful magic-wielding beings. That must have added to his insecurities, being viewed as “less”. Even if he was friends with them, because he was.

He seemed to be the most welcoming and the least afraid (and reluctant) of all the AKs, except for Ben. But let’s take Ben out of the equation, its his proclamation, his decision and his passion project. But hey, Ben trusted and assigned Doug to be their guide to the school, that counts for them being friends and Doug being trusted by the future king. Friendship points right here.

And Evie… Well, he had his eyes on her from the start, blown away, admittedly, by her beauty and only her beauty at first. And that didn’t change when she introduced herself to be the Evil Queen’s daughter.

Out of all the different couples that Descendants have included (Mal/Ben, Carlos/Jane, Audrey/Jay, Lonnie/Jay), Doug and Evie are the only ones who can be considered direct enemies. He overlooked that, it didn’t even register to him, I guess. Which makes for a lot of very great hypothetical reactions from his parents/family to him possibly having feelings for their enemy’s daughter.

But as shallow as that was in the beginning, it wasn’t her beauty that kept Doug under Evie’s spell. But more about that later on.

Now, one thing I always respect about Doug is his protectiveness over her. He had her back a few times throughout the first movie alone. On introducing Chad jerkface Charming to her, he made a point to point out that while Chad inherited the charm, he didn’t inherit a lot of their there. Which could mean a lot of different things, I’ll give you that. But I’ll narrow it down to two traits, the first is Chad not being… bright. The second, I’d reckon, is Chad not being the nicest guy around, far away from Auradon’s straight and narrow norms.

Then the very next Evie-related scene, Chad is blatantly attempting to take advantage of her and she’s ignorantly letting him. While her ignorance is excused by the upbringing, Chad’s behavior is not. So, technically, Doug was looking out for her.

In correlation with the same two scenes, Doug saw the note Evie received from Chad, asking her to meet him under the bleachers. That visibly left Doug in a sour mood.

His next action was showing up to their meeting point to ask her out. After admitting he was technically stalking her. Sidekick offspring got balls; I’ll give him that. 

While his advances were not exactly rejected, they were not welcomed either. Skipping game day, their next interaction takes places at the next Chemistry exam (BTW, what kind of school has an exam the day right after a big game? The announcer said the Auradon Knights were winning back the trophy, this is a final game of some sort.).

So any way, the next two scenes are basically what establish Evie and Doug as a couple, making her see him in a new light, if you will. Sappy as hell, but I loved it.

Yeah, so, Doug stands up for Evie after Chad jerkface Charming steals her magic mirror and turns it in because she was using it to cheat (which she totally was, but that’s not the point).

I hope you are seeing what I am seeing.

Yeah, I do mean Evie’s complete confusion over anyone standing up to defend her. Particularly, an AK, the supposed enemy. Especially Doug, the person she just blew off two days ago. She obviously isn’t used to people sticking up for her, seeing the good in her that she wasn’t even sure was there, acknowledging her intelligence and gambling her entire stay in Auradon on it.

He believed in her so much, so completely, so BLINDLY and in so little time. He believed in her smarts before she, herself, recognized she was all that. When she said that maybe for the first time, she felt she was more than a pretty face, he replied “A shocker, huh?”. He knew. Then she started to trust him and be somewhat affectionate towards him, telling him he was great [in there]. He suggested getting together to study and she almost spoke over him, eager to do so and excited for it. She was genuinely happy and for, maybe, the first time; her happiness was caused by someone outside of her inner circle.

Presumably a few days (weeks? I mean it’s the day right before the coronation) later, the crisis that was family day occurred. Now, let’s break that down.

In the Be Our Guest number, Doug is included. Ben flicks something off his shoulders, Chad grins at them both in idiotic happiness and… Jane is not included in the number. So, Doug is actually in the AKs’ inner circle with the royals while Jane isn’t, opposing several theories that Jane and the rest of the AKs were friends before the VKs came along.

Anyway, the fact that Doug is supposedly close with Chad is important for the very next Evie/Doug interactions.

Now after Queen Leah freaked out, Chad went OFF. He had a few points of course, and Evie retaliated peacefully (well, as peacefully as it can get after Chad’s outburst) with an insult using the mirror, Chad pushed her hand away because he is a jerkface (as previously established), Jay got involved and Evie sprayed him with the sleeping potion meant for the limo driver.

And Chad fell straight into Doug’s arms.

See where I am going with this? Not yet? Okay, no problem, I’ll get to the point. A while later, when Ben is speaking to the VKs, Doug is seen pacing back and forth, visibly conflicted about the entire situation. And rightly so.

He attempts to apologize to Evie, she apologizes back acknowledging that is was indeed her fault, however Chad jerkface Charming interrupts them and peer-pressures Doug back to his side.

Now while that is questionable behavior by Doug, the earlier events have to be taken into consideration. To the AKs and to Doug, while Chad provoked the VKs, Evie had a SLEEPING POTION in her PURSE at a FAMILY EVENT. So, Doug’s actions are completely justified, there is a valid reason for the seed of doubt now to grow. He sits back at the AKs table, glances at Evie then looks away when she is shown to be visibly upset, pushing away her tray of food that she was only picking at anyway.

BUT they obviously made up somewhere between the coronation and the after party. They danced together and after the number they bowed to the king, then skipped into each other’s arms.

Now with these gifs below I rest my case for the first movie…

Bonus gif from rehearsals and I am legit mad this entire sequence got cut:

I also blame everything on Sofia Carson and her ability to be so lovable...

[descendantswiki]

ok. descendants wings au! i am incredibly passionate about wings aus, so this is really, really long.

mal has dragon wings, obvs, but they change from black to purple when she uses magic. so when her eyes turn green or she casts a spell, her wings turn a vibrant shade of purple.

mal’s wings are always well taken care of by evie. despite having blue, feathered wings, evie learned everything there was to know about how to take care of different wing types, mostly because the other core four do NOT take care of their wings. 

evie doesn’t typically think of her wings as functional, she uses them more for aesthetics and beauty, but she is a formidable flier, second only to mal. she and mal race sometimes after they go to auradon.

jay has bat/dragon-like wings, similar to mal’s. his are tougher though, and have some faint scars. they are red with yellow accents. he doesn’t use a ton of caution when he flies, but his wings are very sturdy and it’s no problem for him to carry others when he flies.

carlos’s wings are probably the smallest of the core four, and were the most fragile. he has fairy/pixie/insect-like wings, but he braced them with metal after coming to auradon. he’s fast while flying, and much prefers flying to running.

audrey has pink feathered wings, just like everyone would expect of her. however, the ends of her wings are a light shade of brown. like evie, she takes meticulous care of her wings, and doesn’t often fly with them.

ben doesn’t have wings, which is pretty rare. he doesn’t mind not having wings either, he feels like it helps him be more understanding. though he does think flying is really awesome.

chad has golden brown feathered wings, and he thinks of them as a mark of his status as a royal, despite the fact that anyone can be born with any type of wing.

jane has fairy wings. they’re a light blue, and not flashy. she wishes she could change them to be more elegant, big, and more beautiful. however, her wings are perfectly functional, and can reflect light into rainbows when she flies.

doug has small, dark brown feathered wings. he doesn’t ever try to match his outfit, color or style wise, with his wings. he doesn’t usually use them either. he doesn’t think much of having wings, and finds much more enjoyment in learning about wings in theory and not in practice.

lonnie has dragon wings, fierce and multi-colored in different light. she is a master of aerial  sword fighting and combat, and spends a lot of time flying and practicing cool flying maneuvers. like jay, she finds it easy to carry someone while she flies.

uma has dark teal fin-like wings that double as fins to help her swim underwater. they have a webbed looking quality, and are waterproof. she rarely flies, mostly using the aquatic properties of her wings. her wings look pristine from far away, but up close you can see faint scarring.

harry has bat/dragon-like wings, with curved metal hooks protruding from the joints. his wings are a dark, almost black red. they are waterproof, but they don’t do him any good in the water. his wings are tough and have some old injuries.

gil, much like ben, is wingless. he couldn’t care less, though. wings are important on the isle, but everyone knows that plenty of people are strong without them, and gil runs with uma’s crew.

dizzy’s wings are small and feathered, and all sorts of crazy colors. she dyes and styles her wings for fun, and sometimes she trims important feathers, so her wings aren’t always functional. when they are though, dizzy likes to fly to high places and look out at auradon.

auradon values wings, but respects those without, especially since king ben came to power. however, royals are expected to have feathered wings, and to take good care of them.

on the isle, wings are just another way for people to be strong. they aren’t taken as a sign of strength on their own, but many powerful villains and villain kids use their wings to gain power.

most wings aren’t related to magic. some wings are more connected to being able to use magic than other’s, like those from peter pan’s stories. on the isle, those people tend to find it harder to fly, but not impossible. in auradon, those wings, (like jane’s), can often enhance their owners magic, or perform magical tricks of their own.

wing injuries are much more common on the isle. wings infused with magic will heal faster and without assistance, except for on the isle. wing care in general is much better in auradon.

wild wing colors are also more common on the isle, mostly due to dyeing. any wing color is possible anywhere, though.

i know this is super long, i will do the d3 characters after the movie comes out. idk if i’ll ever do the actual villains and heroes? depends ig. and i do want to do the book exclusive characters and the wicked world characters, maybe in a separate post. anyways! this is just what i whipped up on my thoughts about a descendants wings au, feel free to ask for more headcanons, or specific headcanons, or any other questions! i love wings aus so much!!! and literally feel free to draw or write anything about these, it would make me so happy, just please credit my idea! 

[multishipper-omg]

Love of my life (Jareth x Uma)

It was the wedding party between Mal and Ben, Uma had been one of the "Bridesmaids" among the 15 that Mal had chosen for her big day. Among the crisp and strong colors between yellow, violet and green, music, the blows of cups, everything, was unimportant for Uma.

It had been a month that he had left the labyrinth, the goblins, his king, after a great quarrel in which both left saying horrendous things, hurting his heart. He returned to Auradon after the surprise of his friends to believe her dead, and was welcomed with emotion and affection. Harry had ended his relationship with Audrey so he could be next to his captain.

Her full body dress with dark purple and gold frills had her crazy. She hated him, especially that excessive rhinestones with dragon flame in her corset forced her to lean her body forward with how heavy they were. Evie had done a nice but annoying job for her, although for the other ladies it was as if they were wearing a very light silk dress. There was the incredible toast and then the music started playing all over the place, flooding the halls with their melodies. It was beautiful, but the Underground music seemed better because Jareth often sang for her.

He watched the couples dance and remembered those ballroom dances where they balanced her delicately, the small smiles full of meaning, and that phrase that had made his heart loosen like sea foam: “but i be there for you, as the world falls down. ”The memory was killing her next to that last chaotic time when the phrases of affection became sharp daggers and swords:

"I wish I had never accepted you in my life before"

"And I wish you had never stolen my heart"

“Uma are you alright? The thick, worried voice made her look at Harry. A tear slipped from his cheek that quickly cleaned.

“I'm fine, just a little emotional. You know…"

"I doubt it's because of Mal and Ben," he said with a strange smile. The pirate extended his hand to his captain with a wonderful bow "Can you grant me this piece, my lady?"

The pirate witch smiled slightly and accepted her friend's hand. Then they began to dance very close to each other, and their eyes were on par with sincere smiles of love. Uma loved Harry but not in the romantic way, and he would have liked it to be otherwise, maybe his heart hadn't finished breaking as he was at that moment of being him. Harry started a casual talk, telling the details for a new naval acquisition. Uma listened attentively until he felt something. A force that forced him to turn his gaze beyond his friend's shoulder, making her look sideways.

A tall figure, dressed in a dark blue jacket and pants, a white poet t-shirt with frills protruding and a mop of blond hair sticking out in an electric style looked at her at the other end of the room, holding a black mask shaped demon with horns. When Harry turned around he looked in the same direction again but the figure disappeared.

His heart skipped a beat as he continued searching the sides for the figure. Harry was stunned by his captain's behavior.

"Hey what's up?"

“Is that me… Harry have you seen a guest with a mask?

“Mask at a wedding? Not that it was Halloween, ”she said, smiling, taking interest from the matter, but Uma was racing, her heart beating a thousand. I would recognize that suit, that old eighties hair and that bearing on either side. His gaze sought the man with despair, fear and longing. Before another turn in the middle of the room the figure reappeared, just at the exit of the room. The eyes behind the mask stared at the witch until she turned around and left the place.

Uma pushed Harry with all his might, babbling an apology as he held the skirts of his dress in his hands and ran to the exit. He walked away from the living room down the stairs quickly as he searched for that person desperately. I wasn't imagining it, I shouldn't be doing it. He could feel it so close and yet so far from his being.

For a moment he didn't know which way to go, he had gone again. Was it a torture of his mind? A cruel way to remind him of his happy days? He thought he had gone crazy until his necklace shone brightly in the darkness of the garden and saw a trail of glitter spread along a path away from the royal halls. He followed them. He advanced carefully in the middle of the earth because of his high shoes and more than once stumbled until he fell, but in that way he began to approach the surroundings of the enchanted lake. Celtic instrumental music began to play as it drew closer, and upon arrival it found a beautiful royal pavilion in the middle of the lake connected to the ground by a wooden bridge. The pavilion was adorned by branches full of fragrant green leaves, glowing white lights that highlighted their pearl white color, and thousands of fireflies danced around as part of the magical event. But what most captivates Uma's heart, is that upon reaching it and looking amazed at the sides, the masked figure returned, revealing his face.

Uma froze, almost breathless, as Jareth approached her with a serious, but warm look. He held her with his hands on his tight waist.

"I thought ..." said the witch with a lump in her throat. “I thought we would never see each other again”

“Do you think I will let one of my treasures go at the mercy of these mundane rich children? No, Uma, I take care of what belongs to me. You belong to Me."

Jareth's grip became possessive, bringing the brunette closer to her with a big hug. He had missed her too much and there was no eternal minute when he didn't blame himself for what had happened.

"Dance with me" he order, but he also beg.

Uma got carried away by him at every turn and step. Suddenly he felt that he was returning to the hall of his happy days only that this dance was only for them. Only the two in their private bubble.

"How could you ...?"

"Get to you? I have enough power to materialize in this world. While it runs out easily and it takes me a long time to recover this is worth it ”

"When you yelled at me I thought it was worth nothing to you"

“You are worth my life, Uma. The day you left was the day I died, that's why I had to come. For that reason I had to go to your side ”

The dance stopped and suddenly the proud King Goblin was leaning towards his sea witch, his oceanic queen: his queen of Underground. This was his way of asking for his return to his world.

“I was an idiot for shouting at you like that, for telling you those horrible things. When you left immediately I wanted to go looking for you, but my hurt pride prevented me from doing so. Your words tormented me every second "I wish you had never stolen my heart" there I knew you corresponded to my feelings. I also knew that I loved you. ” Jareth held Uma's cheeks and ran his nose over them gently, “How could I have hurt you? I know I can be cruel, but even today I moved the stars for you when not before. Forever and ever. You are the magic that gives life to eternity… You are the love of my life ”

Tears gathered in Uma's eyes wanting to cry, Jareth was confessing his love, Jareth had told him he loves her. Jareth loves her as much as she did and allowed herself to feel happy for the first time in a long time. His lips fused with those of the king in a passionate kiss, loaded with so many feelings that both bodies ran through them in powerful electric shocks. Jareth's hands caressed Uma's thin waist desperately while her hands held on to his neck. Having to take time to breathe, they both separated, staring at each other.

“So, can you forgive me my queen?

"Hmm ..." Uma turned her eyes "Not yet. You were very rude just for not accepting that request to go to that horrendous witch's dance. I thought my opinion was worth it to you ”

“It is worth it, but my sense of duty forced me to please my subjects. But you know that is not why you got angry, but because you think she wants me to. And you're right ... That's why I loved you at that party, so we made it clear that this King already has his Queen ”

Uma opened her eyes wide and her cheeks grew hot.

"Still ... well, it's not enough"

"You want the ring, well you'll have the ring"

Jareth smiling gesturing to appear a ring when Uma took his hands and lowered them "I don't need a ring and less like that!" He shouted in shock as Jareth's funny and sensual smile remained on his face. He hugged her again as he kissed her lips again in a short kiss.

"I know, in addition the ring will come when you least expect it" the older man's face went to the brunette's shoulders, while he dedicated small burning kisses that climbed up to his clavicle and stopped on his neck, making the child shiver that he tried to contain his groans and gave him small blows to his chest to leave him, but the King obviously did not react to them. “What do you think if I do this in front of her while you introduce yourself? That way he will not lack doubts ”

"D-Do not you think it is improper for your hostess?" Replied the child while smiling at the mental scene.

“It could be, or maybe we give up one of his chambers… or he took you to ours and we started to-

"Jareth!" Uma shouted without being able to resist it. The king of the Goblins burst out laughing as he carried Uma and spun her over him. They had returned again. When he looked at Uma's dress, he raised a confused eyebrow, the brunette guessed the thought “Evie. she wanted to see each other according to the style of the bride ”

"I don't like it, let me do you a favor."

He held her again in the air and turned with her. Uma's dark dress changed to a beautiful aquamarine tulle dress with bright motifs of octopus tentacles waving on the skirt of her dress, with long sleeves and a beautiful crown of pearls and seashells. His collar had an additional owl pendant next to the conch and his hair fell like a curtain of beautiful defined green water curlers. It was comfortable and light.

“Do you want to go back? In the castle the goblins do not stop bellowing for your name ”

"Good, but the next day I must return to say goodbye" Jareth frowned "It will be to prevent me from being believed dead again"

“I don't see the need, but if you want that then I must also be present. That way they will know that you will be in good hands ”

"Or for Harry to know that I belong to you, did you think I didn't realize your eyes hammering in his head while dancing with him?"

Jareth held a sigh and clenched his hands, but then relaxed. Her sorceress had hit the spot as usual, but she would maintain all her self-control so as to avoid disgust at Uma. I can even allow the visit of his "friends" to the Underground, but that will be much later.

For now, he would enjoy his queen's return to his castle, and he would make it clear to both her and the others, that her heart has been occupied by a small, brave and sarcastic sea witch.

Love is strange, but it is always wonderful.

[theonceoverthinker]

Descendents 3 Thoughts

-First off, I had so much fucking fun with the movie. There are a couple of story points I’m gonna point out in just a bit, but what I ADORE from this franchise is just how silly it allows itself to be. It KNOWS it’s a goofy fairytale movie and revels in that, creating something so unique! I was laughing all throughout the film.

-Evie needs to be Mal’s top advisor. Her development across these movies has been fantastic and she’s shown herself to be one hell of a true peacekeeper. She’s smart, noble, caring, kind, and really works on solutions that will better the lives of Aurodon and the Isle of the Lost.

-Mal’s motivation in this movie was weak...and that annoys me because it didn’t HAVE to be. Instead of Mal making this decision, why couldn’t it have been the adults coming up with and pressuring her to make the decision. I get that for the climax, Mal is the one that has to have been in the wrong, but that could be accomplished just as much by all the lying she did in the second act and given her passion for helping the VK’s, the choice just seems so weak. The whole time, I was screaming “JUST CHANGE YOUR MIND -- YOU WERE THE ONE TO THINK IT UP AND THERE WERE NO STEPS TAKEN THAT WOULD MAKE WALKING BACK FROM THIS IMPOSSIBLE!” If it had been the adults pressuring her into this one choice, paired with Audrey’s confrontation from earlier in the film, that argument wouldn’t have stood so high as it presently does. I feel like the only reason it was done was to ensure that those very same adults wouldn’t come off as antagonistic, but...they really should’ve if they wanted Mal to come off the way that they were aiming for. Or at the very least maybe a public poll could’ve been held as to what they could do about the dangers. It would’ve been more sensical to Mal’s journey.

-My favorite songs in the movie were “Do What You Gotta Do,” “Knight Falls,” and “One Kiss.” They’re all energetic, fun songs that explore central dynamics in the film.

-Adding onto the list started by OUAT and SvtFoE, uniting lands is now my favorite way to end a series or franchise. It’s so fun, so clever, and makes enough of a status quo change that it feels epic, but gives that sense of finality if it’s done right!

-With all due respect to Ben fans and Mal/Ben shippers, in a movie where Ben freakin’ proposed to Mal, I was seriously more on team Mal/Evie than ever! They have the biggest and the best dynamic in the series! That’s why Mal lying to Evie is such a big deal and why she’s the last person to talk to before the gang is turned to stone. 

-I LOVED Hades in this film! He’s hysterical, charismatic, but enough of a schmuck where we’re with Mal in denying him a redemption until he does something truly good. If there is one character that Disney can be guaranteed to deliver on, it’s him and WOW is that true for this film!

-The second round of reformed VK’s were amazing! I like how the second round involved children of smaller villains and the parents reflect that. Like just how their crimes weren’t...the worst (Relatively speaking), their kids are far more reasonable as are their parents. Smee’s young twins were a good way to not have to pack in too many characters, Dizzy was just as adorable in this film as she was in the second, and what can I even say about Celia that hasn’t already been said! The one thing that makes me the saddest about losing this franchise is that we’re not going to see her again, because with her limited screen time, she utterly DOMINATED. Her character, from her relationship with the other VK’s to her relationship with her father, to her mild bits of badness create this really top notch character!

-Uma and her gang were in top form. Their rivalry, but eventual friendship with Mal’s team were fantastic! It felt slow enough to be authentic, but in-the-moment enough to fit the runtime and that’s not super easy to do (Trust me -- I’m trying with my own works and it is HARD). 

-Now, I’m 99% sure that it was the staff that corrupted Audrey so viciously, by pulling her in, playing on her pain to get her to lift it up, and being...well, an overpowered jerk who bullied an entire kingdom, but I guess I want to hear what you guys think!

Anyways, those are my big thoughts!

[edream93]

To the anon who sent me Escape from the Isle of the Lost Questions:

So I know there’s people who want to read the books themselves or who just don’t want to be spoiled so I copied and pasted your question below the cut because it had some, albeit minor, spoilers:

WARNING!!!! THERE ARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!!! 

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Anon asked: So I had a couple of questions regarding “Descendants: Escape from the Isle of the Lost”:1. What was your overall opinion of the book?2. Were there any other characters that were introduced in the book besides Arianna Rose and Bobby Hood?3. Do you think Arianna Rose is Audrey’s cousin on Aurora’s side or Phillip’s side because I know that Aurora didn’t really have any siblings in the original film?

Hi anon,

So I’m going to answer your questions a little out of order

Okay so you asked if there were any other new characters other than Arianna and Bobby. Yes, there were but they were mostly their coaches or Doug’s cousins. Any new character that either weren’t mentioned in the previous movie tie in books (I’m not including the random other books that I don’t think were written by Melissa) or that weren’t in the “Wicked World” mini series I tried to write down in my original post so have another look at it.

 I think the most surprising was the fact that Fairy Godmother has a sister. Like, why? Also the intro of Audrey’s cousin is weird too. Like what is the purpose? Like if you take out Arianna Rose, it doesn’t change the plot whatsoever, especially because she was mentioned at the very end. This could mean that she’s in D3 and we just don’t know but that would be so weird. 

Also in regards to Audrey’s cousin, I’m not 100% sure but I think she’s a cousin on Audrey’s mom’s side. I only say that because of two things: 1.) Aurora was originally called and thought to be just a regular old maiden named Briar Rose when she was growing up and 2.) I think during the graduation scene they said that the Rose family, including Queen Leah, was there. Since Queen Leah is supposedly Aurora’s mom (right?), I assumed that the Rose family is Audrey’s maternal side. 

I wouldn’t be 100% surprised if Queen Leah had another child as a replacement for the one she lost. I mean, we know that she never really got to see Aurora grow up so maybe she had another child at some point to fill the empty space but Aurora, though she might deny it, was always her favorite child. That may be why Arianna is so jealous of Audrey, because Audrey is weirdly like Queen Leah’s second chance at raising Aurora so it feels like Audrey is Queen Leah’s favorite. 

Again, it would be interesting seeing some of Audrey’s family dynamics on the screen, and we do know that the actress who plays Queen Leah will be back, but it already feels like they’re stuffing so much already into the D3 plot that I really don’t see how they can introduce Arianna’s jealousy of Audrey into it. 

Okay, as for my overall feelings about the book…

(I feel like this will be my go to gif for any new D3 related stuff.)

The book was okay. I think the prequel book for D1 and the one for D2 (”Rise of the Isle of the Lost”) were more interesting. The first one because we learned more about Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and their backstories. “Rise” was good because of…well, Uma, Harry, and Gil. I mean, this book definitely had Uma in it but it was mostly preoccupied with Uma scheming against Mal so we didn’t really get much development for her as we did in “Rise”. Also, not including the weird “Under the Sea” tie in Melissa tried to make (still not sure if Harry and Gil were really there or not), Harry and Gil were only mentioned. 

I think the part that I was most interested in was where everyone was going to go after graduation, specifically Jay. We really don’t get that much character insight to Jay in general outside of teamwork so it was interesting to see his thought process with post-Auradon Prep plans and especially why he didn’t want to necessarily go to Agrabah for college. 

Carlos throughout the book was essentially in two modes: 1.) Thinking about how awesome Jane was or 2.) Scare that he would be stuck on the Isle and run into his mother. Though both are fine, Carlos was kind of just…there either helping with the Isle stuff or as Jane’s boyfriend/assistant for all the graduation related stuff.

Reading Evie in the book is always weird. Does anyone else feel that way? I think it’s partially how Melissa writes Evie compared to how Sofia plays Evie. Like I feel like Melissa writes Evie like a continuation of Evie from D1, super sweet and smart, but mostly a whole lot of sugar princess bubbly. Sofia I feel plays Evie like someone who is still kind but could potentially give Ben a run for his money if she ever decided that she was interested in overthrowing Ben as ruler of Auradon.

Anyway, though Evie was “doing” a lot of things, she didn’t really seem to have that big of a role in terms of deciding what to do with the Isle kids. It felt like a lot of that fell on Mal and I guess a lot of the character development that I was hoping Evie would get was given to Mal.

Speaking of Mal, I also think Melissa writes Mal as if she’s building off of D1 Mal instead of D2 Mal, which for the most part made reading Mal, in my opinion, a little bit more bearable. I think it also helps that we get insight into Mal’s thoughts in the books so even though we may not agree with her, the things that she does doesn’t feel so out of the blue as it does if we’re just watching the movies.

Speaking of movies, let’s talk about VK Day.

Omg…gotta say, Melissa is a gem who really tries to cover the plot holes that are obviously in the movies even though it’s so apparent the movies’ writers don’t care sometimes (like explaining how Freddie magically has a younger sister and also giving a valid, though kind of sucky, reason why Freddie wouldn’t be at Auradon if Celia came over: Freddie graduated and is probably off somewhere traveling). I think I read somewhere that she writes the books once the script for the movie is done and tries to work her magic to fill in the space in between. 

But VK Day…okay, so Melissa definitely stretched it but if D3 actually confirms it, which means that movie’s writers actually thought of this and Melissa merely just expanded on it, it’s not nearly as much of a hot mess as we originally thought. (I mean, VK Day is still a hot mess but maybe it’s not as bad.) 

So in the book at least, what we see as VK Day was intentionally done. Okay not the posters, Mal and the others actually thought that was a good idea, but the whole “Good to Be Bad” thing makes a little more sense because no one was originally applying because they either weren’t interested in anything related to Auradon even if there life would get better. 

Now I know some people would be like, “What? Why would they turn down a chance to be in a better place?” The short answer is long term trauma. For some people who have lived in very bad environments it’s really hard for them to really comprehend their life being any different. Also, it’s a matter of knowing your enemy. On the Isle, though it’s dangers, everyone knows what to expect to a certain extent. Suddenly dragging kids over to Auradon would actually probably being traumatizing in its own respect. (I could go on about that but you’re here for Fanfic/Theory Writer Edream93, not for Professional Therapist Edream93).

Anyway, Melissa made VK Day just barely work with the whole, “We gotta kind of trick the Isle kids into thinking that this is their chance to potentially be known as the baddest villains in Auradon because saying that they’ll get a good education, warm bed, good food, and be in a non abusive environment is not apparently appealing to them.” Which again, makes sense to me because that’s kind of how trauma works.

So yeah, the whole Good To Be Bad thing was intentionally done that way, at least according to Melissa. We’ll have to see if that’s how they actually planned it in D3.

Overall, the book was kind of underwhelming and seemed mostly like a clean up of missed plot holes. Melissa tried to throw in a vague Marry reference (I say vague because I do recognize I could be reading too much into it) but there were more vague Huma references so I’d say Melissa is leaning more towards Huma. Also, and I’m assuming if you’re reading this far you don’t care about spoilers, I think it’s supposed to ease us into the whole, “Hades is Mal’s father” thing which I’m still hoping it’ll be something like “I’m not your dad, Mal, but I knew him and I owe him for something that he did so that’s why I’m helping you.” The likelihood of that is low but a girl can hope. 

Anyway, hope that answered your questions, anon. 

[psychic-refugee]

Author’s Commentary

This entry is to answer BriEva. Sorry I don’t reply to comments, AO3 counts my responses as comments and my non-clinical OCD does not like that at all. I want people to see my comment count and know that it’s JUST comments and not replies. So it’s a true count rather than bulked up. That’s just my neurosis. Normally I respond to reviews/comments for the next chapter, but there are a lot of points you’re making so I wanted to respond. I hope you're able to see this. lol

Jane’s hair.

I think “forcing” is kind of a strong word. Jane has never said she didn’t want her hair dyed. She does, she wants to fit in with her human peers. She was super excited to have her hair done. Remember, for the first three years at Auradon Prep, she has been the only fae student until Mal came. While some humans do have very light platinum blonde hair, we’re talking fae platinum blonde. I use the words “star lit” to convey that it’s kind of an ethereal colour. So while it could be considered human, it certainly isn’t common and would makes them stand out. What Jane resents or doesn’t want is the store bought dye.

So she’s stuck in a hard place. She wants to fit in, she wants to appear innocuous and human. And growing up and living with such anti-magic sentiment, particularly against the fae because of the Fae Wars, it’s not surprising that FGM and Jane would try to assimilate. But with fae hair being difficult to hide, she has to rely on what she can afford which causes undesirable results.

But the fact that while it looks bad they still do it, which I think conveys that it’s still better than the alternative: to appear “too fae.”

So the tension lies in what each thinks is appropriate. FGM doesn’t think it appropriate for Jane to accept such a lavish gift of Iliofáneia hair appointments, Jane doesn’t see it as a big deal.

Part of FGM’s reason might be because of guilt, but I think that FGM is professional enough that she wouldn’t show that kind of leniency. And to force kids to drastically change their hair at an expensive salon on the Crown’s dime seems like it’s not worth the fight.

We also have to remember that FGM is Jane’s mother, not Mal or Evie’s. I think she knows she has no real authority to dictate what their hair looks like unless it’s against school code and that’s only as headmistress. The spirit of the dress code is to stop students from looking ostentatious or outlandish. It stops students from dying their hair say purple or blue. BUT with Mal and Evie that’s their natural hair, and by the rules taken literally they are OK. The administration may define natural to specifically mean natural human colours or give a list that excludes specific colours for the next school year. I’ve seen it happen where the school code book wasn’t specific in some area, a student contested their dress choice (height of the heel of a shoe) and won because they technically were not breaking the dress code. BUT for the next year, the school revised the code to specify heel height and they couldn’t wear the same shoes anymore.

I think that’s common enough, where a parent has a set of rules and expectations for their own children, but for others’ children they do not try to assert that same kind of authority. Basically “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” There are some adults that think they’re everyone’s parent and can therefore give their opinion or orders at will, but FGM isn’t one of them. lol

I would like to think that FGM would allow Jane to have her natural hair if that’s what she really wanted. When raising children in an environment that could be potentially hostile to them if they are seen as outsiders, you try to have them fit in as best they can. Sometimes cultural assimilation is a matter of survival. So FGM having Jane dye her hair as a matter of course when she’s younger, I think is understandable. Does it suck? Yes. Sometimes you have to make that decision, stand firm and potentially face backlash or give in. Maybe if it were just FGM, she would have decided to keep her hair natural. But with a daughter, do you want to make that stand and have her also face that backlash? I think it’s a tough choice that parents go through.

Existence of the Curl & Dye

It does not exist in LOE. This is a creative decision, I just don’t think a modern salon like that would exist as is in an impoverish island. I do mention that brothels do have some hair care devices, such as flat irons, and I would assume hair dryers would be part of that (assuming these are part of the cast off technology the Mainland gives away). But it would really only pertain to brothels, for the most part I don’t see enough of a middle or higher class population on the isle to support an independent salon. And since brothels compete with each other, they wouldn’t want to share this space anyway. So all brothels have in house beauticians/they do it themselves to cater to their needs.

For the other non-brothel citizens, I see more of a do it yourself/family does it deal if they do it at all. Think pre-industrial revolution and a society that struggles with food shortages and no real medical care. Celebrations, if any, are few and far between. So the reasons to have done up hair are pretty rare. And in the rare instances, it would be family members who help groom each other.  

Mal’s Dad

Is not Hades nor is he Chernabog. Both of these characters are actual gods. In LOE, that’s just not a thing. While I get that the franchise wanted to utilize all the bad guys they have copy rights to, it implies that FGM is above godlike powerful and I don’t want her to be. I get that Hades is recognizable and little kids don’t care, but I do so none of the gods reside on the Isle of the Lost.

We are getting closer to finding out who Carlos’ dad is, but no spoilers for that.

Cruella’s sentencing

I will delve more into the exact nature of what happened to get Cruella on the Isle, no spoilers. I want to make the distinction of her “innocence” however. Do not think of Cruella as innocent, as if she did nothing wrong, she did; while it can’t be said she physically stole the puppies she did pay others to do so. That’s still a crime. Her erratic behavior while driving endangered the public, that’s still a crime. These crimes, however, are not in my opinion enough to get her onto the Isle. Even if she had physically taken the puppies and killed them, that would not have (in my opinion) warranted a full banishment to the Isle.

Cecil's exact role in her sentencing will be addressed, no spoilers. But I will say that he is not responsible for her mental state. I just don't see him being able to pull essentially poisoning her for a long period of time to do permanent brain damage.

Cruella having a fae line of clothing

No, that is not the reason she was sent away. I will get into more of King Adam and Cecil’s motivations for getting rid of Cruella, but it has nothing to do with aspirations or plans with her fashion line.

It’s a plausible idea and fun thought, but it’s not for LOE.

Cause of the Fae Wars

Yes, that is quite the question isn’t it? (<.< ) (>.>) tee hee hee. You are touching on a lot of good topics but I won’t say which ones, if any, pertain to this story, no spoilers.

The Isle Four when they hit 18

There will be significant events that happen when the Isle Four reach 18 but that will be revealed in time, no spoilers. Originally I wanted to have the Winter Recital happen in Ch. 11, but fleshing out Jane, Carlos and Mal's relationship, the Isle Four's relationship was longer than I originally thought it would be so I opted to cut it until the next chapter. We will see the effects of Carlos turning 18.

Jane having "fantasies" of Carlos

I honestly do not see Jane doing this. It's not to say women in general wouldn't (Audrey was clearly effected by making out with Ben), but Jane I see as rather innocent and grew up with stories of gallant knights and princes. So she dreams of meeting her “Prince” and getting married and kids. But she doesn’t really think of the path to get said kids, to her they are something that just happens. lol

Jane’s grudge

I wouldn’t akin her grievance with Mal with animated versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The latter two are pretty straight forward villains. Jane I would hope is a little more complex. lol Yes, her desire for Carlos is part of the reason. But we see a more or less ostracized girl no friends just that desperately wanted her own Cinderella moment, but was refused by Mal. Mal does have magic and probably could have helped her, but self-preservation stayed her hand. Jane erroneously sees this as purposefully malicious. With no friends, she has no one to talk this through with; she has no one to give her a different perspective. That seed grows when she thinks of all the times Audrey warned Mal was bad. Audrey blaming Mal for her break up with Ben just cements the idea she was already nurturing. Jane also has this over romanticized version of Carlos in her head, which happens with people you’re infatuated with and convince yourself that you’re in love with them. She thinks he needs saving and that he was just this completely helpless victim in the Isle, but deep down is noble--that he's really just a Prince underneath it all.

Also, when you grow up thinking villains are on the Isle and everyone in Auradon is the hero, it’s hard to see your own behavior (especially when you think you’re “saving” someone) as problematic. Jane sees herself as the hero, just like her mother with Cinderella.

All topics that will be touched on in time, no spoilers:

If Ben finds love and gets over Mal Carlos’ family and money Audrey and Jane’s plans for the love spell Update on the Isle while the Isle Four are gone Mal’s possible allergy to iron

Please feel free to comment as much as you want. I hope I answered all your questions/topics.

[httpwarmth]

girl almighty // chapter four

words: 1804 part one , part two , part three , part four  a/n: we back y'all. school’s a doozy hope you understand :)

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“Sit still!” Gatsby commands to the pirate who squirmed underneath the feel of the needle as she tried to draw an anchor on his beefy upper arm. The pirate howled from the pain, seemingly new to the idea of it. She has a hard grip on his arm, her knuckles turning white as she was no match for the gigantic pirate. Scar’s Tattoo Parlor became a home away from home after her friends ditched her. It was a musty old industrialized building nestled by the dock. Close enough that you could smell the salt that wafted away from the body of water but far enough that she didn’t have scalawags and rascals running through the parlor. She was often times the only one working here. Scar didn’t care enough to hire a bunch of artists and since Gatsby could somewhat draw, he slapped a name tag on her and called it good. She was one of his only employees so unless she was at the parlor, the place was closed. The bell on the door dings loudly as someone slams the door open and she looks away from the intricate anchor she worked on. So much for no scalawags and rascals. She was already working on one pirate and here, shielding the gray meek clouds from entering the shop, was Harry and Uma. “Can I help you?” She asks, her tone of disgust hanging out in the open. She doubted they needed tattoos. Uma and Harry would never set foot in the tattoo shop. Harry would never let a needle come anywhere near his pretty face. She had no idea how the two even knew she was here. Who told them that this was now how she spent her afternoons? Uma takes a few step towards her, her arms crossed over her chest as she peers down at one of her men with tears practically cascading down his face. Her upper lip curling up in disgust as she peered down at him, wondering where she went wrong. Harry on the other hand, fancied himself curious as he peered at all the artwork Gatsby had plastered over the walls to try to make the once cold tattoo parlor seem more interesting. His quietly let some old pirate tune his dad must’ve taught him slip through his lips. The air felt eerie as the only sound emitting was Harry’s song. “Is there anything you can’t do?” Uma wonders, looking up at Gatsby. The girl sits back in her stool, pushing back pieces of dark hair that fell out of her ponytail. As much as she loved her luscious hair, she couldn’t deal with it in her face as she worked. She wanted to smirk, to point out to Uma that even she, noticed how talented the girl was. That Gatsby’s hard work, the work that she’s been chipping away for her whole life was finally coming through. That, she could finally become a Legume because everyone know that Gaston’s children had to be the very best. “What do you want Uma?” She asked before nudging the pirate who she had previously worked on. “Go.” She commands to him. “You’re done for the day. You can’t handle it.” She mutters and he stands up quickly, wanting to leave the shop as quickly as possible to nurse his poor upper arm. Maybe someone should rethink their next big, life changing decision. “It’s showtime, Gats.” Uma spoke, a large sinister smile spreading across her face. Gatsby hate the way that nickname slid off of her tongue. Gats. As if it was some type of disease, some horrible way to die. No one intended for Gats to sound that way. It wasn’t some disgusting food you spit out and then tried  Uncle Lefou gave her that nickname a millennia ago. Her first fondest memory was of the fake villain helping her through her reading and telling her “Gats, it’s not that hard. Just sound out the word. Your dad’s going to be proud of you if you do it. Come on, i’ll help you.” The way that Uncle Lefou called her Gats made her believe that there was still some hope left in this world. That maybe, just maybe, not everyone on this isle was bad. That there was a special winner’s circle, just small enough to let him in because that’s the only person who deserved it. Sure, she had some warmth in her heart for her dad and her brother’s, but Lefou was different. Lefou was her adopted uncle, he was the one who tremendously cared for Gil and Gatsby when her father was too busy with the older twins. Lefou sat with them, on the floor of his makeshift library with the younger set of twins. One dark haired curious little girl with wide eyes that always leaned in too far to look at the books and one blonde boy who cared more about going out and on adventures than sitting there and learning how to read. Lefou was her uncle, he taught her how to be who she was today and he was the creator of that nickname. Sure, Gil called her that every once in a while but that name was reserved for Lefou, and Lefou only. Surely, Uma should never, ever call her that. “Showtime for what?” She asks, trying to ignore the fact that Uma must think they’re closer than they actually were. She stands up, wiping her hands on the raggedy towel that was splashed with more black ink, you couldn’t even tell it was originally a pristine white color. Gatsby had no idea where the rag even came from, she’s sure it came to the parlor an ugly grey color and she just decorated it with the black ink. Harry, who Gatsby had forgotten was there, suddenly stops his song. She had gotten so used to him playing the tune that when it had stopped, the silence was too awkward. She looks over at him and he has that crazy smile he always seemed to sport. Showtime, according to Uma and Harry was showing up to the docks an hour earlier than Mal and the rest of them were supposed to show up. She knew that Harry couldn’t tell an hour apart from a minute but Uma at least had some schooling. She couldn’t believe her brother, who was way smarter than he looked, decided to align himself with these people. “Why am I here again?” She asks, following the two onto the deck. They ignore her. Their heads are bowed together as they walk in front of her, leaving her to fall in step behind her. They were so close, they must’ve been tied together with a red string at birth. The daughter of a sea witch and the son of a pirate. Two peas in a pod, it would’ve been prosperous if they weren’t stuck at the hip. They talk in low tones, so Gatsby wouldn’t hear the plan they had going on. If they needed her to be here, and as a vital part of the plan, then she wanted to know what was going on. What they seemed to be talking about. Gatsby, instead of sticking her nose into the conversation like she know she should’ve and instead focused on how Uma was able to transform her into a pirate. Gatsby wanted to roll her eyes and actually butt her way into the conversation. There’s no reason for Uma and Harry to suddenly play dress up with her, and to find the right outfit to show off to the villain kids they had to negotiate against in order to retrieve the wand. Plus, Gatsby had good enough style that she didn’t need someone to dress her. Especially from Uma or Harry who wore rags on the usual. She was perfectly fine wearing her form fitting maroon shirt that showed off enough of her toned stomach before the band of her ripped jeans. It was hard to find a good pair of jeans in the isle. Everyone there was obsessed with leather and while Gatsby loved a good leather skirt, or jacket that’s where she drew the line. She needed to distance herself from rest of the isle and their fashion choices. Even when she saw the villain kids that came back from auradon, decked out in leather. No doubt about it Evie dressed them up like they were dolls she could just play with. The Jolly Roger was a big ship, still in good condition. Probably in the best condition out of all the boats. There was no where to take your ship sailing, so most pirates left their ships docked. Not caring that it grew old and wilted, and that pirate crews like Uma’s would ransack for their own ship. Captain Hook cared enough for his ship so that when his son was old enough, Harry was able to take over for him. And took over for him Harry did. Harry loved the ship so much, almost as much as he loved the pirate crew he found a home in. It wasn’t an easy home life for the villain kids on the isle, especially for Harry and his sisters. So instead, Harry put all his love and effort into the Jolly Roger, and into Uma’s crew. He gave up this ship and everything he cared for, except for his father’s hook, for Uma. Gatsby wondered just how much love Harry had for Uma and how it felt to have that much love for someone who wasn’t actually family. She guessed that Uma for Harry was like Lefou for her. “You tied him up?” Gatsby forgets all the thoughts swirling around in her crazy mind when she sees the king of Auradon. Tied up. On the Jolly Roger. “What are you trying to do? Show him off?” She asks, taking in the king who was her age. She had seem drawings of him. Most of them portraying him as a villain. As if him and his family should’ve been the ones on this isle, not the actual fun people. Uma scoffs. “Of course I am. I can’t wait until Mal comes and see’s her poor little king all tied up.” This shouldn’t be what it was about. Uma and her had a deal. Gatsby would help Uma with her stupid little plan on this stupid little boat, and in return, Uma would help Gatsby off this island. This was supposed to be Gatsby’s one-way ticket out and she was not going to lose it in some one-up competition. She didn't care about Uma and Mal’s rivalry. She just wanted to get off this isle. She wanted a better life for her. For her brothers. For her dad. But mostly, for her one supporter. Uncle Lefou.

[destressjournal]

DCOM Rankings #98: Descendants

Here it is folks, another big one. I remember seeing the adverts to this on social media (which probably included tumblr) and thinking, aww that’s cute. Maybe. But not something I’d be into. Now that I’m typing this, this movie reminds me of the show Once Upon a Time, I LOVED the show up until season 4…? Whenever they introduced the Frozen characters, I peaced out of there so fast. I think I’ll explore the comparisons between the two medias later in the post.

But let’s talk about how I feel about this movie. Ummmm well it wasn’t bad! There was definitely a lot of potential here! But in my opinion it didn’t all quite come together. I feel like this movie’s story was thrown together in a week, to put it bluntly. Again, it’s still not bad just not thought through all the way. I shall explainnnn!

First off, in order for me to actually watch the movie and tolerate it I had to throw all logic out the window. Basically pretend like this is an alternate dimension where all the fairy tale characters know each other and live together in the same place. Like Storybrook. But for me at least, the difference between this movie and OUAT is, that the characters in OUAT ARE characters from the stories and not people themselves. They transformed into modern people when they entered the real world, but there was at least an explanation for it all. For Desendants, the characters are the real deal, and to me it’s like okay but all these fairy tale/ Disney characters lived in different time periods and in different parts of the world (some places that don’t even exist) and there’s almost no explanation for it. They just all exist at the same time and place and you just accept it. When you’re a kid, it’s easy to do that because this movie is probably something they fantasize about, like that wreck it Ralph cameo with all the princesses. But anyway, i would have LOVED this movie as a kid. Now, i have to apply logic and reason to everything, haha. And yes I know it’s a fictional story and not everything has to make perfect sense all the time, but you gotta have some rules otherwise it’s just lazy writing and you can just make the characters do and say whatever without any real reason (within the story). They just want to get to the next plot point.

Now that THAT is all out of the way. Let’s look at the characters. So they’re all children of the classic Disney heroes/villains. (Again just putting logic aside and trying to have an imagination again haha). And before I continue idk I found it a little bothersome that whenever we meet a new character they had to say right away who their parent was so the audience would know. It just took me out of the story for a bit. I wish we got to see all the characters interact with their parents so that they would show not tell us. But nitpick I guess. Anyway, you have Mal, daughter of malificent, Evie, daughter of the evil queen from Snow White, Carlos, son of Cruella, and Jay, son of Jafar. Again I’m just thinking logically how all this is possible and I just stuff it back in. Haha. But I honestly like all of them as characters in their own right. They each have their own personalities and they all grow throughout the movie. Is it perfect? Not really but it still works for me.

The side characters are okay. Ben is decent enough, I mean I think it would have been better if someone else was for this new program and Ben was against it at first but then opens up to it and falls in love with mal even after the love potion wears off. I think that would have made his character journey a lot better. Sleeping beauty’s daughter, forget her name, is really annoying. For obvious reasons. And yeah they changed some of the characters looks from the original Disney movies which honestly I love. I loved that about OUAT because it felt like it’s own separate thing. There are totally other versions of these fairy tails as they are fictional stories, and you don’t always have to have the characters look exactly like the Disney versions all the time. So I’m glad they took some liberties, although they needed to update fairy god mother’s outfit. That was the only thing that needed a modern touch IMO.

What I thought was surprising was (I’m gonna butcher this name I’m sorry) Kristen chenningworth as malificent. She was amazing! I never thought her to play an evil person because she was the good witch in wicked, all bubbly and stuff. But wow she killed it. And such an amazing voice. I doubt you needed a ton of auto tune for her voice. I guess that leads me to talking about the music and songs next. But yeah alll the acting was good but Kristen knocked it out of the park. I wish she was in it even more.

Okay, songs. I was surprised there weren’t as many songs as I thought there were! And I don’t know how I feel about that. On one hand, too many songs would have been really annoying, but on the other hand, it felt more like a movie with some songs in it instead of a musical. Like I’m just not sure what they were going for is all. If they only wanted to have some songs sprinkled throughout, then they accomplished that, but if they wanted it to be a full musical, I think they needed 1-2 more songs. The songs themselves are decent. I wouldn’t say any of them were bad, except for one. Their rendition of “be our guest” was probably, to put it lightly, one of the worst things I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I’m so sorry for all the folks in the movie who had to listen to that during takes and rehearsals. That version of the songs needs to die, I’ll kill it myself. This is what happens when you keep milking and milking the popularity of the 90’s Disney movies, you go too far with it and it ruins the magic. They could have used an original song instead, but nopeeeeeee, Disneyyyyy.

Sigh, so anyway, the theme of the movie was pretty crystal clear, that anyone can become good. I did like mal’s character development throughout the movie, I mean it’s not Zuko from avatar good, but it’s decent enough for a DCOM. At least there’s evidence of it, like here are things she talks about along the way that makes her realize her mom is an asshole. And I feel like this can be accurate for people who leave home for the first time and realize there’s a whole world out there and that they don’t have to live that life anymore, they can invent themselves. Evie learns that she is actually smart and doesn’t need to rely on her mirror to tell her everything. Carlos probably had the least character development just because his one fear was dogs and he got over that fear. And Jay learns he can use his athletic abilities for sports instead of theiving. But I like that they assumed they wouldn’t be welcomed and would be rejected, so they stuck to the evil plan until they realized they were happier here. I love the 3rd act turning point in the movie where sleeping beauty’s mom was horrified that maleficent’s daughter is at the coronation, and sparks all this conflict, *chefs kiss* that needed to happen in order for the villains to resume their goal and keep the drama going. Not everything can go well for them.

It’s a shame that this movie had so much potential to be more than what it was. I know the series is already popular, but I feel like (at least the first movie) would work better if the world of auradon (or whatever it is) was established a little bit better and the rules of magic were explained more. Oh and also wish the songs were better. My favorite is the one that Kristen chenningworth sings just cuz she’s amazing. But yeah this movie is also cringey in a lot of places and it took me forever to get through it. All in all I wish I liked this more than I do, but at the same time I don’t really care…lol. I’m sure both of the sequels will not be as good, I’m prepared for that. But let’s go ahead and grade this thing shall we?

Hmmmmm I think there was slightly more going for it than against it. Once I put aside logic and reason, the movie wasn’t too bad. But I know that has to be a factor in grading for me. I’m thinking B-level??? Either a B or B+. I think there’s enough wrong with it that it can’t be A level. I’ll decide once I finish all of them and get tomt new ranking system at the end. At this rate it might be another year….oh boiiii

Next is a halloween-related movie that I think stars the girl from girl meets world? Maybe? I could be wrong. Guess I’ll find out. Kinda glad I’ll be watching this as we enter halloween season, I’m getting in a spooky mood!! See y’all then!

[justanoutlawfic]

Confessions: Where Do We Go From Here?

Story Summary: They say first comes love, then comes marriage, followed by the baby. For Regina and Robin, things go backwards.

Chapter Summary: Regina’s failed attempt at stealthy sleuthing brings her face to face with the man who’s been raising her daughter.

Also on AO3

Her name was Bryony Kate Locksley and she was beautiful.

 Regina held the picture Sidney had taken beside one of her when she was around the same age. Bryony had dark brown locks and matching eyes. She was seemingly always smiling, wearing brightly colored, mismatched outfits. Her heart ached as she imagined what she must have looked like as a baby, how much would she have resembled Henry?

 Then there were the parents. The mother, Zelena Greene, had taken off when Bryony was a baby. She was a dancer, clearly someone who couldn’t be bothered to be a parent. She hadn’t seen Bryony since she left and apparently had given full custody to the father.

 Robin Locksley was the owner of Aesop’s Tables, the bar downtown. He had one older child from a previous marriage and was single. From the pictures that Sidney had managed to take from afar, he seemed to be very handsome and Regina bit her lip when she saw bits of him that she recognized in Evie. From the blue eyes to the such fair complexion.

 Born and raised in England, he was a good man. No criminal record, an upstanding citizen. From spying on his Facebook, she realized that his life was devoted to his bar and the kids. If she had to pick a man to raise her daughter…would he be it?

 “You’re being crazy, you don’t even know him,” she muttered to herself.

 Looks could be deceiving, she knew that much from Cora. To everyone, they had an ideal life. Behind closed doors, Regina would dream of being able to escape. Was her daughter living a similar life?

Could she be subjecting the other to the same?

 While Mal watched Evie and Henry was in school one afternoon, she made her way to Robin’s house. It was a comfy cottage far away from pretty much anything. Toys and bikes were scattered across the lawn, a tiny garden planted out front. It looked cozy. Regina’s own home had been purchased several years prior, when her business was booming. She had relaxed a lot since having kids, but she still tried to keep things in order.

 The door opened and two children came running down the steps. Regina felt her heart skip a beat upon seeing Bryony, who was wearing mismatched rain boots (despite no bad weather in sight for weeks) and a bright pink t-shirt. Not far behind her was a little boy who was a few years older, she recognized him as Roland. He was such a cutie and in a way, she could see bits of Robin and Evie in him as well. Though, if she didn’t know any better, she would assume that he was the biological brother of Bryony. Was it possible that his biological mother had looked similar to her?

 The children played outside for a while, fairly contently. Regina stayed parked across the street, slid down in the driver’s seat, trying not to make it obvious she was there. Losing track of time, she didn’t realize just how long her SUV was parked there. Soon, the door opened again and Robin came outside. He smiled down at the kids, but she noticed it didn’t match his eyes. Ruffling his son’s hair, he started walking out of the front yard and straight towards her car.

“Shit,” Regina mumbled. She fumbled for her keys, trying to turn them so she could zoom out of there, but Robin was knocking on her window a moment later. Her stomach sunk and she swallowed, trying to figure out what to say. Slowly, she rolled the window down.

“Can you explain why you’ve been watching my kids for the past hour?”

“I…um…well…”

 Mal would tell her to let her handle things. She had said as soon as Regina was ready, she’d contact Robin for her. Before she could finish, he barreled on.

 “And maybe you know why that town car has been following my family around the past few days? Are you with Zelena? Are you trying to get custody, because she’s been out of her life for three years…”

“I’m your daughter’s mother!”

 Subtly had never been her strong suit. Robin paused, slowly raising an eyebrow.

 “No, her mother is Zelena Greene.”

“There was a mix up, at the hospital. I brought home your biological child and you brought home mine.”

“You really expect me to believe this?”

“Your daughter was born on June 25th, 2014. This…this is her.” She reached into her pocket and removed her cell phone, showing a picture of Evie.

 Robin paused, taking it in. If he could picture what his and Zelena’s child would look like, that would be it. But it wasn’t possible, how could it be?

 “How do you know all this?”

“It’s a really long story.”

 Robin bit his lip and looked behind at his children. Bryony looked up at him with her big eyes and he felt as though he was going to lose his balance. He always knew he wasn’t her biological father, but this didn’t seem possible. How could it be true?

 “Roland!” He called out and his son looked up at him. “Mary Margaret said that you and Bry could drop by to play with Neal, why don’t you run over?”

 He happily agreed, looking for any chance to play with his best friends. Once both kids were walking to the house next door, Robin turned back to the car.

 “Come inside. That should buy us some time.”

 Regina nodded, quickly texting Mal and asking her to pick up Henry from school.

The inside of Robin’s house was just as cozy as the outside. The walls were painted a soft yellow and there were even more toys scattered about. Robin kicked aside a stray stuffed animal on his path to the kitchen. He carefully poured out two glasses of water, trying to stop his hands from shaking.

 “What’s your name?” He asked, softly.

“Regina, Regina Mills.”

Robin slowly nodded. “I suppose you know mine.”

“I hired a private investigator… I just wanted to make sure that she was okay. I needed to know what I was walking into.”

“Walking into?” He handed over her glass and they settled down at the table.

“I knew it could go a number of ways.”

“Just…explain.”

“My mother,” Regina clamped her eyes shut, trying not to get angry all over again. “She could never accept things less than perfect. We had a falling out when I was young, but when I had my first child, we reconnected. I had my daughter and she disappeared, dying not long after. Recently, I got a letter from her estate.”

 She pulled it from her purse, pushing it forward with the polaroid of Bryony’s bracelet. He looked it over, anger creasing his features.

 “How could she do this?”

“I am so sorry. I had nothing to do with it, I swear. I had a complicated labor, I didn’t even get to hold Evie until hours after she was born.”

“Your mother is a psychotic bitch.”

Regina didn’t even flinch. “She was.” Realization washed over her. “So you…believe me?”

He sighed, rubbing his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. “The first time I held Bryony, I knew there was a big possibility that she wasn’t mine. Zelena and I were only together a month, Bryony looked nothing like either of us. I just always assumed that she had a different biological father, but Zelena insisted it was me. I guess…this is the only reasonable solution.”

 Robin moved his hands from his eyes and took Regina in. She looked as awful as he felt, but beneath all the stress, he could see the beauty. Bryony had her eyes and her hair. Even the shape of her nose matched. It was as if all of the questions that he had over the years were answered in under 5 minutes.

 “Your husband,” Robin continued. “Where is he?”

“Oh…I’m not married.” She smiled a bit off his confusion. “I had my children via an anonymous sperm donor. I just always knew I wanted to be a mom, I didn’t want to wait for the right man to come along.”

“That’s very brave of you. Single parenthood just fell upon me, I don’t think I could’ve made the choice.”

“Sometimes I think I’m crazy for it.” Regina couldn’t help but laugh. “But at the end of the day, I love Henry and Evie with everything in me.”

“Evie,” Robin repeated. “Is that her full name?”

“No, it’s Evangeline Faith Mills, Evie came from Henry. He thought her name was too stuffy for a baby.”

Robin smiled for the first time in days. “How old is he?”

“11. And your son?”

“7.”

“If you don’t mind me asking…what happened to his mother?”

“She passed away when he was born.”

“Oh, Robin…”

“We knew it was a possibility, but it was so low, so we continued on with the pregnancy anyway…it was rough.” He cleared his throat, trying to wipe the horrible memory from his mind. “Zelena was the first woman I was with after Marian.”

 They sat there for a moment, sipping their water and staring at one another. Regina knew he needed time to process everything, she had a few days, for him it had just been 10 minutes. She knew no amount of apologies could make up for the mess they were in. 3 years of raising each other’s children and now their worlds were being turned upside down.

 “How many people know?” He asked.

“My friend, Mal, she’s a lawyer. And then, her P.I.”

“So, you haven’t told your children?”

“God, no. I think my son suspects something’s up, but I’ve put on a brave face. I was thinking about consulting a therapist to figure out how to best explain the situation.” Robin nodded and she gnawed her lower lip. “What do you think you want to do?”

“Do?”

“About our situation?”

 Robin’s mind flashed to Bryony, the little girl he had raised for 3 years. He knew that he didn’t share her blood, but that didn’t change the love he carried for her in his heart. He loved her just as much as he loved Roland. He couldn’t bare the thought of losing her, it was one of his fears while searching for her biological daughter so he could legally adopt her. He knew there was a chance that he could lose her and he couldn’t bare it.

 At the same time, he had another daughter out there. A little girl that he had missed 3 years on. All the first steps, first words, every milestone for those years was gone. She had been with a seemingly nice woman, just in town, this entire time. How could he ignore the fact that she existed? That would hurt just as much as giving away Bryony.

 “I need some time,” he whispered.

“Please just tell me what you’re thinking.” Regina’s words came out more desperate than she intended, but she was scared out of her mind. Was he considering taking her?

“I don’t know what to think. What I do know is that I’ve been raising this little girl for 3 years and I can’t imagine my life without her. But…I also have another daughter out there. And I can’t just pretend like this didn’t happen.”

“I feel the same way.”

“So…where do we go from here?”

“Consult a psychologist, see what they say. I’m sure my friend will have some advice, too.”

“And we just don’t tell the girls?”

“Not yet, they’re so young…let’s give it a few days before we turn their lives upside down.”

 Oh, how both wished they had the same luxury.

[farklelucas]

Could you write a jaylos fic where like some people at auradon prep are thinking jay and Carlos might be more than friends because of how they act with each other? Loved your last jaylos fic!

ahhh omg thank you!!!

always taking fic prompts

1. Evie

It was nothing out of the ordinary, really. Nothing popped out at her, no one popped out and pointed anything out to her. It was just casual observation of an, admittedly, small thing.

The four of them have a movie night every other week - Evie, Mal, Carlos, and Jay. Sometimes it’s in Evie and Mal’s dorm, other times it’s Carlos and Jay’s. They see each other throughout the week anyway, but regardless, it’s an established tradition among the four VKs.

It’s Mal’s turn to pick a movie, and she’s selected a documentary on… true crime maybe? Evie isn’t sure. She hasn’t really been paying attention. It’s around the end of the movie (maybe a foreign film?) that she even notices.

Jay and Carlos are sitting… awfully close.

It’s not unusual for the VKs to share some physical affection from time to time. Evie will rest her head on Jay’s shoulder, Mal will run her hand through Carlos’s hair, Jay will hold Mal’s hand while walking down the street. (Sometimes, Evie will hold Mal’s hand too - and it feels like electricity popping through her fingertips. It’s something to examine another time.)

But they’ve been sitting like that the whole movie. Before Evie and Mal got there, even. And it’s in a position that… Evie finds curious.

As the credits roll and Mal gets up to go get the DVD, Evie examines the boys, who both look tired but are talking and laughing. Simply to sate her curiosity, Evie asks, “Jay, will you do me a favor?”

The boys break mid-conversation and look at her, both still smiling. “Yeah?” Jay asks.

“Could I possibly borrow your math homework? I, uh, forgot mine in my locker and need to copy the problems.”

Jay shrugs and stands, unwinding his arm from behind Carlos’s back and going to his bed to get his homework.

… Huh.

After Jay returns and everyone says their goodbyes, Mal and Evie wander into the hallway. As they walk in silence, Evie ponders what to do with this new information. “Hey, Mal?”

“Yeah?”

Evie frowns. “Do you think something’s up with Jay and Carlos?”

Mal hums thoughtfully for a moment. “No clue,” she decides. The rest of the walk is spent in silence.

–

2. Ben

Ben may not be the most observant captain in the world. But if you give him enough pieces, he’ll learn to put together the jigsaw puzzle.

Which is exactly the case with Jay and Carlos.

At first he was a little confused as to why Jay would constantly volunteer to privately help Carlos with tourney. Or as to why Carlos would tutor Jay in math. They don’t have to do everything together, surely?

Even with all of Jay’s extra practicing, though, there are days Carlos doesn’t do the best on the field. Today, particularly, seems to suck. Coach calls him out of the lineup after almost five minutes of scrimmage, and Carlos nearly faints with relief. Ben can see his legs shaking from across almost the entire field, and wonders briefly if he should go check on him.

But then, in only a few seconds, Jay is there, kneeling down to Carlos’s sitting height and talking to him. After a minute or two, Jay reaches out and wraps his arms around Carlos, who immediately reciprocates.

They hug for at least ten minutes, or so it seems to Ben. When Jay finally untangles himself, he runs over to the forward’s starting positions next to Ben. Ben smiles at him. “You’re a really good bro,” he says.

Jay looks at him, startled and confused. “Excuse me?” he asks.

“You know, for Carlos,” he explains. “You’re a great friend.”

There’s a long pause. Then, slowly, Jay raises his eyebrows. “Right,” he says, and then flicks his helmet back on.

Oh. Yeah. Oblivious as he might seem, eventually Ben will begin to get the big picture.

–

3. Fairy Godmother

Teaching Villain Kids isn’t… always easy. They’re a lot like other kids, except they’re less bored by you and more confused by you. Which is fine, sometimes. She’d rather have “why are you teaching this way” than “why are you teaching,” hands down.

But sometimes she doesn’t know what to do with Villain Kids. Like when one has a panic attack in the middle of her class.

Halfway through the lesson on the history of Auradon, Jay looks like he’s about to puke all over Chad Charming, and he gets up and runs from the room. The entire class stops and looks after him, confused and alarmed. “Um,” she says. “Well, that was odd.” She glances around the room and lands on a face she trusts to send out of the classroom. “Ben, will you please -”

“No!”

They all turn their heads. Carlos De Vil is half-standing out of his chair already. He looks at her with big, pleading eyes. “Please? Please let me go instead?”

She looks around the room, and everyone is staring at Carlos with wide eyes and curious expressions. But Carlos is only looking at her, his heart completely on his sleeve. “Um, yes,” she says, blinking. “You may.”

Carlos says ‘thank you’ quietly, and then slips from his chair and into the hallway after Jay in the blink of an eye.

The lesson continues on as normally as it possibly could, and about twelve minutes later, the boys enter quietly through the back door. Carlos has his arm around Jay’s waist as he guides him back to their shared desk.

After class, they come speak to her about Jay’s predicament. It’s the first time she’s ever had to plainly explain to someone what ‘dyslexia’ meant, as if they’d never heard the term before. And judging by the look on Jay’s face, he never has.

–

4. Jane

“So the annual cotillion is coming up,” she says conversationally. But the topic is anything but conversational.

Almost a year ago, she and her then-boyfriend were at the cotillion. Now, they’ve broken up and are trying to be friends and she has no date to the cotillion. So, everything is about 70% worse.

Carlos hums, and continues to type away on his phone. She has no idea who he’s texting half the time, but he’s driven to keep the conversation going with them, at least. He puts the phone down and smiles up at her, continues to eat the salad he ordered for lunch today. “I was just thinking,” she begins. Then the phone buzzes.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, but picks it up and answers it anyway. He puts it back down and looks at her again, and she’s barely opened her mouth to continue her sentence before it buzzes again. “Sorry! I’m sorry, I’ll put it on silent.”

So he picks it up and silences his phone, while taking a moment to answer the texts anyway, and then puts it down on the table and looks up at her. “Okay, what were you saying?”

“I was saying that the cotillion is coming up, and if you don’t…” She trails off, staring at his phone, which keeps unabashedly blinking with new messages. Each new one is from Jay, lighting the screen up every few seconds. Huh. She sighs. “You know what, never mind.”

Carlos looks up from his phone, frowning. “Jane, tell me! I really want to know.”

She shakes her head, smiling. “No, it’s totally fine. It’s not that important. Tell me how you’ve been.”

He smiles gingerly and goes about telling her about his week. Well, that’s that, she supposes. Maybe she’ll ask Lonnie to the cotillion…

–

5. Mal

Mal makes it her business to keep out of other people’s business. You don’t want her to know something? That’s fine. You want her to know something? That’s fine too. You want her to pretend something never existed and never talk about it again? Sounds like her specialty.

But nothing could prepare her for the amount of nosy people telling her about the business of Carlos and Jay.

It starts with Evie. Then it’s Ben. And now Jane, who said even her mother has said something about it? This is far too much.

So she investigates. It is so not her style to go snooping into other people’s lives. But everyone’s got her so curious, she’s got to know. So she does what any teenager in her position would do: sets up a game of truth or dare.

She invites the other three of the rotten four, Ben, Jane, Lonnie, Chad, and Doug. They all hang out, aimlessly talking about everything and nothing, and then she subtly introduces the idea of truth or dare. As any group would do, they immediately take a liking to the idea and begin to play.

The game goes smoothly for a while. Mal gets dared to change Ben’s hair (she thinks it looks better spiky anyway), Evie gets asked when her first kiss was, Lonnie has to text the first person in her contact list the entire Auradon Prep Alma Mater.

And then, finally, it’s Mal’s turn.

She’s had a lot of time to think about this. She could go after Jay, who’s more likely to do anything on a dare. Or she could go after Carlos, who is objectively the more honest and open of the two. She considers carefully and then turns to her prey. “Carlos,” she says.

Carlos grins. “I’ll take dare,” he says. Hm. Interesting.

She feels her smile growing wicked as she says, “I dare you to kiss the prettiest person in the room on the lips.” Carlos’s eyes widen, but he smiles a little all the same.

There’s a vague grumble of dissent among the players. Apparently, no one wants to know that they aren’t the prettiest person in the room. Hey, Mal wouldn’t care. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. “I have an idea,” Doug says. Stupid, diplomatic Doug. “Why don’t we all close our eyes. And then if we’re not picked, we won’t know who was picked?”

There’s a vague grumble of agreement. Carlos shrugs. “Okay,” he says. “Eyes closed.”

Mal sighs dramatically and closes her eyes. She sits quietly and listens for footsteps to indicate Carlos moving, but no. All she gets is silence.

Eventually, Carlos says, “Okay, open.”

Everyone opens their eyes and looks around at each other. Looks like they’ll never know. Except…

Except that Carlos and Jay are sitting right next to each other. They wouldn’t even need to move to kiss. How convenient.

Luckily, they’re the first to leave. They say goodnight and as soon as the door shuts behind them, Mal turns to the group. “There is definitely something going on with those two,” she says. Everyone nods in agreement.

–

+ 1. Carlos

It’s a few days before the annual cotillion. Carlos is seated across from two of his best friends, he has peanut butter and jelly for lunch, and Dude is sitting at his feet in the shade. What a great day.

Mal and Evie are talking about… something. He should probably focus a little more, because he’s gotten in trouble for not listening before. He snaps back to attention.

“… theme this year is atrocious anyway.” They turn to Carlos, almost in unison, and smile. “What about you, Carlos?” Evie asks. “Are you going to the cotillion?”

He looks between them, a little confused, mostly because they look a little bit like the twins from the shining. “Uh… yeah,” he says.

Mal tilts her head. “Oh, really?” she asks. “Anyone special?”

He frowns and considers the answer to this. “I mean, Jay’s special to me, but I don’t know about anyone else,” he says.

There’s a lengthy pause where they both just stare at him and he bites into his PB&J. “You’re… going with Jay?” Mal asks eventually.

“Like, going going? Going together?” Evie presses.

Carlos chews on his sandwich. “Yeah,” he says, swallowing. “I mean, he hasn’t officially asked me, but I assume we’re going together after so long.”

The girls look at each other, looking befuddled. Carlos is befuddled as to their befuddlement. “Wait, you guys are dating?” Evie asks. “For how long?”

He quickly does the math in his head. “Seven months?”

They both nearly fall out of their chairs.

“Seven months?!” Mal yelps. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Carlos snorts and says, “You never asked.” They both stare at him, looking angry and annoyed. “Besides, we thought you knew. You’ve almost walked in on us making out about a million times. Plus, we hold hands and hug and text… constantly.”

Mal throws up her hands. “We all do that!”

“It’s different,” Carlos says, simply because it is different. Sometimes, texting or talking to Mal and Evie and Jane feels like an obligation. With Jay, it feels like a constant.

He finishes up his sandwich in one last bite and grins at them. “Lovely chatting with you ladies,” he says. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go find my boyfriend.” With that, he stands and walks away, Dude hot on his heels.

–

carlosDid you know that the girls didn’t know we were dating?

jaywtf???? we are literally the most affectionate couple i know???

carlosI guess that’s saying something about the other couples we know, because they had no idea.

jayhuh. lol.

jayguess we just gotta dial up the gay.

carlosThat is the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.

jayits an art ;-)

[evieshook]

come back home

pairing: harry/evie rating: g word: ~4200 a/n: for the lovely anon who requested this. it got longer than i expected, even though you asked for something short haha. i hope you do enjoy this! (tbh, there’s quite a bit of malvie in this xD) prompt: Can you do a short fic about harry x evie and how instead of evie being good she goes back to being bad with harry and there like the badass couple on the isle while her friends try to save her but she’s to inlove with harry that she rather stay with him?!!!!!! Sorry there’s barley any harry x evie fics out there:(

//

“Evie! Listen to me,” Mal pleaded, arm reaching out to grab hold of the girl’s arm before she could walk away. “You have to come back, come home with us.”

Evie turned around, lifting her head to stare her straight in the eye. What Mal saw however wasn’t the Evie she remembered. The way she held herself, while more poised, was definitely colder, more arrogant and her eyes lacked the warmth she had had even back when she first grew up in the Isle. She looked like a carbon copy of her mother, and it was only then that she was reminded who Evie really was. Daughter of Snow White’s greatest foe, and notorious for her overwhelming vanity, Evie was truly descended from the Evil Queen.

“Like you said before Mal, this is home,” she said almost spitefully, the girl almost wincing at the familiarity of the words. “You can take the girl out of the Isle, but you can’t take the Isle out of the girl. Just leave Mal, enjoy your life with Ben while I enjoy mine.”

Mal’s bright emerald eyes narrowed. “But—”

She shook her head. “Just go Mal. Please,” she had said the word so softly that for a second she thought that Evie, her Evie, had come back. But it was quickly replaced by that aloof front she had shown earlier, unreadable expression masking her inner tumultuous emotions.

She held her gaze for a second before she finally relented, seeing that though this wasn’t the time, this definitely was not the end. “This isn’t the end Evie. I’ll come back for you again, but next time you’re coming back with me,” she declared firmly, giving her one last look before turning on her heel, straight to where the limo had been waiting.

As she watched the girl depart, Evie felt herself instantly deflate, the clenched fists at her side finally relaxing. She almost slumped forward, until she felt a hard body pressed warmly against her back. Almost immediately, she sunk straight into his chest, allowing him to wrap his comforting arms around her waist and letting his familiar scent of the crisp sea air draw her in. Evie felt him rest his chin on her shoulder as his eyes followed the direction of her gaze.

“Just a little while longer Princess, I promise,” he muttered, Evie saying nothing as she snuggled closer to him. Just a little while longer, and things could go back to the way things were. She just needed a little patience.

//

It was only after a mysterious missive that had arrived three days later that the gang was sent packing, immediately piling into the royal limousine to travel back to the Isle. While Mal wanted to go back as soon after she had left, Ben had told her to give Evie space, noting that the right opportunity would present itself. And it had, in the form of a letter detailing the exploits of a familiar blue haired princess that had been the source of the recent havoc on the island. It had mentioned an accomplice, but they didn’t pay any heed as to who it may have been, too preoccupied with the goal of getting Evie back.

And if it hadn’t been for the urgency of the situation, they would have all been more than impressed at what they had happened in the short time she had been away. Evie may have an Auradon girl, but she was born and raised on an island of evil, and the apple never did fall too far from the tree.

As they drove back over the bridge connecting Auradon with the Isle, they all couldn’t help but wonder the same thing. What exactly was holding Evie back? They knew better than anyone that Evie had always dreaded going to the Isle, and at times hated it. Despite readily acknowledging it as her birthplace, they knew her insecurities of perhaps never having truly fit in. After all, out of the four she had been the one who had taken most quickly to the Auradon way of living, especially after having been raised in a similar fashion as her royal peers, expect with more villain involved. And as much as the girl appeared to love her mother, she had always seen her true family in Mal, Carlos and Jay, gladly choosing them over her any day. Yet with them still on Auradon, and Evie going back to the Isle alone and willingly, they couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else pulling her back.

What that was, neither of them knew.

But they intended to find out. Whatever it was, they hoped that their familial bond would be enough to overcome whatever strings held her back.

When they had finally reached the Isle, it didn’t take too much searching to find out where the source of the commotion was coming from. Walking through the tunnel that led to the docks, the three remained as quiet as possible as they peered from the inside, pausing just before the exit. What they saw however, left them shellshocked.

Standing in the centre of the Lost Revenge was Evie, except she was under not threat and definitely not alone. Rather, she was nestled in the arms of one Harry Hook, both of whom seemed to be enjoying the sight around them as they observed the chaos the pirates had incited upon the citizens nearby.

Mal was almost ready to go charging in to claim back her best friend and skewer the pirate alive, until she felt Carlos’ hand grab her to hold her back, telling her to wait so the could observe some more.

Evie appeared to laugh at something Harry had said as he continued whispering sweet nothing in her ear, almost making the three gag at how affectionate he was being. They all knew he was a big flirt, and tended to get up in your personal space closer than necessary, but they had never seen him so tender. If it hadn’t been for his notoriousness as an established enemy of theirs, they would’ve almost admitted that the two looked rather cute. Almost.

They watched as Evie leaned her head back against chest, twisting her head up before pulling his head down to meet hers, capturing his lips for a kiss.

This time they all had to turn around, truly unable to stomach the sight before them. It made them shudder in disgust.

“This is why she wanted to stay back? Because of him?” Jay exclaimed incredulously, the two sharing his utter disbelief. To think, Evie and Harry? Where did that even come from?

“I wasn’t aware they even knew each other,” Mal said with derision, feelings of betrayal washing over her. She was supposed to be her best friend, and as her best friend, there were no secrets between them, none. And yet Evie had withheld what was perhaps the biggest secret of her life.

“This is all wrong,” Carlos declared. “Evie would never hook up with Harry out of her own free will. He must’ve done something.”

As much as they wanted to believe him, they knew it wasn’t possible. “Like what? Put her under a spell? Harry may be clever, but he’s still a pirate. Evie’s the witch, not Harry, and going by your logic, she would’ve done the spell casting on him.”

“Why would Evie want to charm him?” Jay asked, still repulsed.

Mal shrugged. “Wouldn’t we all like to know.”

“We still have to get her. We’re not leaving her here, especially with him.”

“Of course not. But now that we know the truth, maybe we can finally knock some sense into her.” They all nodded. Sometimes you had to listen to your head over your heart.

Carlos was still skeptical however. “But how are we even gonna pull this off? The ship is practically surrounded. Who knows how many pirates there are, and where Uma could be lurking.”

Jay and Mal shared a look. “Just follow our lead.”

//

It wasn’t easy, but after years of practice in disposing of some annoying little pirates, they had become nothing short of experts. Uma’s crew had been dealt with within minutes, and as the three made their way onto the ship, no more pirates nor Uma in sight, they set to searching for their lost friend. It turned out Evie and Harry had left just shortly after they had spotted them kiss, so neither knew of their presence back on the Isle.

It really hadn’t been that hard to guess where Evie was likely to be, but to find where exactly where that was was a challenge on its own. Being unfamiliar with the layout of the ship, and with no map in sight, it took a while before either one of them stumbled upon the doors of the ship’s first mate.

Quickly gathering around the door, they silently exchanged looks, nodding that on a count of three they would barge in and grab Evie the moment they saw her. When they counted down, Jay took to kicked the door down as the trio stormed in, ready to grab Evie yet what they found sent them almost backtracking. It appeared that Harry and Evie had taken their little activities inside, and while Harry was the only one with skin exposed, they had no doubt that had they waited any longer, it wouldn’t have been that way for long.

Harry almost fell off the hammock in shock at the rude interruption as Evie scrambled to her feet, glaring coldly at the new visitors. Her hands were at her sides, enclosed in fists as Harry took to grabbing his shirt to slip it back on.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded frostily, Jay and Carlos sharing an unimpressed look. Mal wasn’t kidding when she had said that Evie had changed, and not for the better.

“We’re here to get you. I told you that the next time I came, I wouldn’t be going back empty-handed,” Mal told her, stepping forward to match the girl’s glare with a frigid look of her own. If looks could kill, everybody around them would have fallen flat in less than half a minute.

“Looks like you’ll have to break that promise this time. You can’t get everything you want Mal,” she said derisively, spitting out the girl’s name with such repulsion it was as though they were enemies and not best friends.

Mal raised a brow, unfazed. “Oh, is that so? And who’s gonna stop me?”

Evie smirked. “Me.”

Before things could get out of hand, Carlos stepped in, knowing that if they didn’t the girls would most likely get into a physical fight. He glanced at the amused pirate beside warily before returning his gaze back to Evie.

“Okay, enough. Evie, please, whatever you’re doing here, enough’s enough. You need to come back home with us.”

She scowled at him. “I am home.”

Harry nodded beside her, slinging an arm around her shoulder that the three almost winced. “That’s right. Since when was Auradon her home?”

Jay shot him a dirty glare. “Nobody asked you Harry.”

The male only grinned, enjoying the irritation he had evoked from the three.

Mal glanced at him before looking back at Evie accusingly. “Oh, and speaking of Harry, since when Evie? What is this?” She motioned to the couple, who had shared a small look.

“Why do I have to tell you?”

“Oh, I don’t know, because I’m your best friend?”

Evie scoffed. “Not anymore you’re not.”

Harry looked between the two amusedly, before gesturing to the door behind them. “Well, if we’re all done here, ye should all be taking yer leaves. Bye bye,” he said, giving them a little wave.

He felt three pairs of eyes shoot glares at him. “We’re not done here Harry, not by a mile.”

The pirate only raised a brow in annoyance. “What part of ‘bye bye’ did ye not understand? The princess wants you all gone, so ye should do as she says and leave. It’s that simple.”

Mal stepped forward. “It would’ve been simpler if she had come back with us,” she replied, reaching forward to grab her wrist before Harry slapped her hand away.

Evie glowered at her. “I told you, I’m not coming back.”

“But why?”

“Because!”

Mal huffed. “Because what Evie? Because of him? You’d abandon us, your family, who you’ve been with for your whole life, for him? He tried to kill us all last time!”

The girl was clearly miffed but remained composed, Harry tightening his arm around her. “I don’t care.”

“And why not?” The unrelenting look on Mal’s face was enough for her to finally snap.

“Because I love him!”

The room was struck by a deathly silence as they stared at her wide eyed at the admission, including Evie who couldn’t believe she had let that slip. She hadn’t even told him yet, and now she was shouting it to the whole world.

Harry, who was just as shocked as she, was the first to finally react as he pulled her closer to him, kissing her lightly on the temple. It was this action, with Evie sinking into him in relief, that finally broke the three out of their initial shock as they stared at her incredulously.

“Love? I thought you loved Doug!”

Evie shook her head as Harry’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “That was before, but my feelings have changed, I’ve changed. That’s why I’m not going back to Auradon. I’m not leaving him. Not ever.”

Mal blinked. “I—”

Evie couldn’t take it anymore as she looked away from them, not wanting them to see her watery eyes. “Go! Just go.”

Harry, who had seen her tears, tightened his hold at her as he looked at the trio, nodding to the door with a glare. “The princess wants you out so shoo and leave us alone.”

His gaze held no room for question as Carlos and Jay shared a look before nodding in agreement, Jay pulling Mal back. She eyed Evie, who seemed determined not to look back at her before sighing, eyes downcast as she let Jay drag her away.

When they finally left, Evie let out a small sob against Harry’s chest as he led her back to the hammock, both falling into it. She curled up against him as he held her tightly, rubbing circles on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her.

“Don’t worry Princess. They’ll understand,” he muttered softly, feeling his heart break for her.

She looked up at him, eyes red from the tears streaming down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his finger. “But I was so horrible to them. What if they don’t?”

He kissed her on the forehead. “If they’re anything like ye say, they will. Otherwise, I’ll just hook them until they do.”

Evie let out a small giggle as Harry sighed in relief, happy to know that at least he had made her smile. “You’d have way too much fun with that.”

“I know Princess, I know.” He looked down at her as she closed her eyes, head nestled against his neck. I really don’t deserve ye Princess.

//

Several days had passed since their last encounter until it was almost one and a half weeks later without Evie that something very unexpected happened. When the three were called to meet the Fairy Godmother and Ben at her office, they couldn’t help but be mildly suspicious yet also downtrodden, still affected by what had happened back on the Isle. Had it really been that long without seeing her? It had taken Ben having to have security guard his limo and the remote confiscated to stop them from going back again. He knew she would come back eventually, but she needed to do it on her own terms, and the three going back there would only make it worse.

When Mal, Jay and Carlos arrived at the office, there were nothing less than surprised at who they found waiting for them, frozen in their spots and unable to move.

“Evie?”

“Harry?”

“What are you doing here?” They had all said in unison, Carlos having to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. But he certainly wasn’t because they were both still there, as real as they had been when they had last seen them.

Harry still had his arm clasped tightly around Evie’s chest as she leaned into him, the both of them watching them with an unreadable expression. When they had first seen them, Evie looked as though her eyes may have watered again, Harry having to give her a gentle squeeze to assure her that everything would be alright.

Evie did not speak, instead letting the figure from the corner make himself known.

“I brought them here.” Three heads turned sharply to find Ben walking diplomatically toward them, Mal looking at him in a mix of shock, disbelief and slightly betrayal.

“Ben, what?”

Seeing that she was about to yell at him, Evie stepped in, walking in between the two with Harry close behind. “Don’t blame him Mal. This was all me.”

Her eyes narrowed at her angrily. “You’re damn right it was. What is this all about? Why aren’t you back on the Isle? And why now? After everything you did, why now? Did you think we were gonna welcome you back with open arms?”

Noticing Evie flinch, Harry stood in front of her, slightly blocking her from view. “I know yer mad at her, but listen to her. It’s all my fault, so don’t blame her.”

Mal glared at him in ire. “I knew you were a bad influence on her!”

They two were pitted in a heated glaring match, and unable to stay silent anymore, Evie pulled Harry back, stepping front of him. “Harry! Mal! Okay, enough. Let me explain.”

She eyed her in distrust, but couldn’t help the burning curiosity and the need to have her friend back from blindsiding her from hearing a decent explanation. “So explain.”

She went silent, the blue haired girl breathing deeply to collect her thoughts. She felt Harry slip a hand in hers, gently squeezing it before she finally opened her mouth. “The reason I went back to the Isle was because of Harry.”

“We know that.”

She shook her head. “No, you don’t. Truth is, I’ve been seeing him for a while, and before you ask, no I was not dating him the same time I was dating Doug, and no he wasn’t the reason I broke up with him. Anyway, I only went back because he wanted me to meet his dad.”

Mal raised a brow. “Captain Hook?”

“Is there anyone else?” Harry asked sarcastically, irritated by her reaction. Before Mal could say something, Jay interrupted.

“What does Captain Hook have to do with all this?”

Evie looked at him. “He’s the main reason I stayed back for so long. You see, when he found out about Harry and I,” they could hear Harry growl something along the lines of 'Gil’, “he demanded I go see him, so I did. But that meeting fell through and he was left unimpressed.”

“The old fart wanted someone more 'rough 'round the edges’ and 'more evil’, not some 'prissy princess’ as he called E here,” Harry said calmly, barely reigning in his anger. The pirate looked absolutely murderous as he spoke, making the boys almost shiver as they knew what he was like when he was angry. It was not pretty.

Mal scowled in offence. “She’s not prissy.”

“Ye think I don’t know that? But because he didn’t approve of her, he wanted me to dump 'er, which of course I refused to.”

Evie nodded. “So I decided I would stay back in order to impress him.”

Carlos raised a questioning brow. “Why need his approval?” It was true; they didn’t really care about what their parents thought anymore, knowing they were too far gone for any of them to ever really be proud of them. Seeking approval from their parents was not something they lived to do anymore.

“Because I just do. After the falling out I had with my mother, which only grew worse when she heard rumors about me and Harry, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted what everyone else at Auradon had, a supporting family who backed up whoever you loved. See, Ben’s parents love you Mal, as do Lonnie’s with you Jay. And I know that Fairy Godmother warmed up to you already too Carlos, but who do I have? It was either my mother, who refused to accept anyone that wasn’t a prince, or Harry’s father who I thought was less particular about whoever Harry was dating.”

The way she had spoken, they could finally understand why she did it. After lacking the parental support they had wanted their whole, the family their respective lovers gave to them made up for that and more. But with Evie dating another VK, it was unlikely she would ever receive the same support they had. All they wanted now was to engulf her in a hug and never let her go, but they knew Harry wouldn’t allow them to until she finished speaking, or anytime really.

“But why cut us out?”

Evie walked over to Mal, gently grabbing both of her hands as she looked her in the eye. “Because I knew you’d try to talk me out of it. It was the only was to let you guys leave me there, because I knew you’d stay with me back on the Isle but this was something I needed to do on my own.”

She grew teary, but pushed them down until she could hear her finish. “So what happened?”

Harry stepped beside Evie, wrapping an arm around her with a proud smile. “She won him over of course. Impressed the fart until he started eating his words.”

Mal looked to Evie in confirmation, who nodded with the happiest smile on her face. “CJ wasn’t too happy when Captain Hook gave us his blessings.”

This time, everyone started grinning in pride, wishing to have seen the look on the girl’s face when she found out. “And Ben knew all this?”

They all looked to Ben, who looked slightly guilty. “Sort of. Evie told me she was leaving but I didn’t know specifics. She told me not to tell you anything and to keep you here until she was done, but know that I wanted to tell you so badly. I just couldn’t betray her trust. Besides, I wanted to invite Harry, Uma and Gil to Auradon Prep but Evie told me Harry wouldn’t come unless she was here.”

Mal went silent at his explanation as she glanced between the three contemplatively. Her silence obviously went for a little too long when Evie walked up to her, slightly unsure. “Please forgive me?”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Harry backed up.

Her gaze flickered between them before she shook her head, Evie deflating and Harry almost ready to pounce when Mal suddenly engulfed the girl in a tight hug, shocking them all before Evie returned the hug wholeheartedly. “Of course. Just don’t do that again. Next time, tell me everything. We’re best friends remember?”

Evie smiled. “I never forgot.”

Carlos, seeing that Harry was itching to get Mal away from Evie, decided to distract him as the girls had their moment. “So you’re an Auradon prep boy now?”

Harry bristled. “So are Uma and Gil.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “Great, just great.”

//

“I told ye it would work out,” Harry said, after things had finally winded down. It took a few hours, with him having to endure the presence of both Jay and Carlos as they skilfully kept him away from Evie and leaving the girls alone, arguing that he had 'had her for a week’. If he had it his way, he would have her company forever and without them breathing down his neck every time he tried to grab her attention.

Evie smiled up at him, squeezing his hand tightly. “I should’ve believed you the first time.”

Harry shook his head. “Ye were too scared of what would’ve happened. I don’t blame ye Princess, but I really don’t deserve someone like you.”

She frowned, turning to look at him so their eyes were levelled. “Look at me Harry. I meant what I said earlier, and I do love you. I really do.”

“But ye really shouldn’t Princess. I almost made ye lose yer best friends, for what? To live with me back on the Isle? Ye belong on Auradon.”

“Just as much as I belong on the Isle, with you there too Harry. I don’t care what anyone says okay. And don’t blame yourself for all this, it was all on me.”

He smiled warmly at her, lifting a hand to brush the hair out of her face. “I really don’t deserve ye.”

She opened her mouth, ready to retort when he shushed her with a sweet kiss, pulling away only moments later. Evie was left breathless as she stared up at him, still never getting used to the gravity of his kisses, no matter how chaste they were.

“But I love ye too Princess.”

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Descendants 2 (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: So much like my review for the first Descendants movie and because this isn’t a big cinematic blockbuster I’m only doing the one review which will include spoiler content. I am creating this review two days after the movie hit the small screens of America so if you still haven’t seen it overseas or haven’t been able to find it online anywhere else then don’t read on.

Initial Reaction:

I have been waiting all weekend to see this movie, it is slightly sad that I am a 24 year old guy and still get a kick out of Disney particularly for something that is aimed at this generation’s High School Musical fans I’d say but considering both properties are captained masterfully by Kenny Ortega I guess there’s no surprise. Also he’s done amazing work not just for Disney over the years and with this movie he’s becoming a director I look out for rather than just the property, if it’s directed by him I may be interested going forward because he really knows how to direct a fun movie even if it is just for the small screen.

All the while watching behind the scenes interviews I’ve been hearing how much more this movie pluses what the first movie brought. and I’ll get to amount of exposure this movie had prior its release further down because that is a negative for this movie, but I do feel there are elements done better than the first movie and then some that expose problems in the first movie. One thing this movie does do is make me want a third installment and that is always the sign not just of a good movie but a good franchise.

Story:

This movie doesn’t seem as formulaic as the first movie. Our favourite four kids of famous Disney Villains have settled into their new lives in Auradon; while Evie, Carlos & Jay all seem happy with their new lot in life, Mal finds herself longing for her old life on the Isle of the Lost as her current life is struggling with the high expectations of being the king’s girlfriend. When she finally breaks down she decides to return to her former life and leaves Auradon for the Isle.

Meanwhile over on the Isle, the movie’s antagonists Uma and her crew rage against the fact that Mal and her friends got a chance at a better life in Auradon while they were left behind. When Mal returns to the Isle she squares off against her former friend who insists on being given the Fairy Godmother’s wand in exchange for Ben who she has captured while he and our other heroes tried to bring Mal back.

What follows is one of the best sword-fights I’ve seen since 1991′s Hook, followed by a rather clever twist that I did not see coming. I won’t go into the ending here as I’ll talk about it in relation to the characters but it wasn’t as predictable a climax as the first movie however it does pave the way for a rather exciting third movie.

Characters:

So I’m going to handle this differently here and talk about the characters in categories of good, bad and uncertain.

Good

Carlos De Vil:

Carlos is by far my favourite character once again, I like the fact that again he had rather a real-world story of being in high school and not knowing how to ask out someone he fancies, in this case Jane. This was coupled with the characteristic created in the first book of Carlos being a tech genius being able to hack his 3D printer,

Something I also liked was the fact that again Carlos was the voice of reason and the one to speak up when he felt it was right to. The fact he initiated that “girl talk” sit-down between the four of them yet didn’t know how to start it up was rather funny and classic Carlos.

Carlos’ outfits were very much plussed here as well. It wasn’t the sleeveless vest look he had going on in the first movie but he still had the black, white and red theme running through all of them. I liked the new hair which had a fringed style going on as opposed to the spiked up style of the first movie and even the slicked back style in the opening scene worked for the character.

Overall I do think Cameron Boyce is one of the strongest elements in this movie, Carlos is my favourite character which I am slightly biased about because of my love of One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Cruella De Vil but to be fair I never felt as if I was fanboying over the character and rather just enjoying his story.

Mal:

It is quite obvious Mal is the star of this franchise, she again has a very real-world arc in this movie of a conflict in identity because Mal is torn between her feelings for Ben and her life in Auradon with her old life where she was happy being rebellious and an anarchist.

The very fact that Mal felt the need to hide using magic from Ben was a recipe for disaster from its inception. She was always going to be caught and there was going to be a fallout from it. What made me laugh was how Ben and Evie were shocked by the fact she was still using magic whereas it was and is magic that makes Mal who she is.

I still haven’t read the Rise of the Isle of the Lost novel so don’t know that much about Uma and Mal’s rivalry however I did like both the conflict and similarities between the two shown throughout the movie. Even their looks complimented each other both in their villain attire and princess gowns. I also like the idea of Maleficent vs. Ursula, just a funny concept I had throughout the movie.

When Mal was adamant about staying on the Isle, I did sigh slightly thinking that there was going to be something happening to change her mind and sure enough it was the fact that had she stayed she’d have Uma and her crew after her. Also the reveal that it was her conflicting feelings for Ben that was creating a barrier between her and everyone else was another real-world conflict that we all have at some point suffered from.

The climax of the movie when Uma had enthralled Ben into loving her rather than Mal, I am surprised Mal didn’t tear her apart there and then. The fact she instead tried to make her see the good in herself after her spell was broken was a little too soppy for me. I did like the fact Ben’s present to Mal showing that he loves her for her was a nice touch albeit something we knew throughout the movie.

Mal’s hair in this movie was surprisingly a big talking point, her new lighter hair links with the vibrancy of the movie rather well as this is a very vibrant and bright movie. I’m not entirely sure why she needed Dizzy’s styling skills to give her a new looks as she is very capable of changing hairstyles using her spell book but it made for a fun scene so I give it a pass.

Overall Dove Cameron is another strong aspect of this movie; she’s a great singer, actress and a very compelling female lead. Also the fact they’ve developed the character to the point where she can turn into a dragon like her mother makes me excited to see where else they take the character.

Uma:

I was so excited to see Uma revel in villainy throughout this movie and I wasn’t disappointed. All scenes she was in while on the Isle showed her as a villain should be in this franchise. That opening number was one of the best introductions for a character I’ve seen and the level of sass China put into her performance was brilliant.

As I said with Mal, I did like the similarities shown between the two. This was a given as when they were kids apparently they were best friends but also because they are very similar in character. Had Uma been one of the chosen V.K’s to go to Auradon then maybe she would have turned good but I am so glad she didn’t, even that twist in the final act wasn’t her turning good it was her being exactly like her mother.

I am impressed they utilized Ursula’s necklace in this movie much like how they used Maleficent’s staff and spinning wheel in the first as well as Fairy Godmother’s wand in both. That twist where Uma bewitched Ben off-screen to make him be in love with her was very good; although in The Little Mermaid Ursula enthralled Eric using Ariel’s stolen voice so how Uma bewitched Ben is slightly a gray area for me.

Much like how Ursula was portrayed on Once Upon a Time I am not surprised they didn’t have Uma have tentacles all the way through the movie, both because of budget and realism. I did however like in the climax after her spell over Ben is broken that she turns into a giant Cecaelia at the end and we have what is basically a Dragon vs. Octopus fight.

I am curious as to why Uma who is a sea witch is also a pirate captain but I guess if she needs a crew the best way to command them is to be a captain so again I give that a pass. Also the respect her crew gives her shows the type of leader she is.

Overall China Anne McClain is a brilliant fit to this movie, I think she’s actually my second favourite character but I had to rank Mal higher as it’s her movie. I’ve seen China in other Disney properties before and always found her funny but this is the first time I see longevity in her career as an actress and singer.

Evie:

I enjoyed Evie more in this movie than the first movie. I really like how entrepreneurial she’s become with her small styling boutique, whether or not it’s just for the cotillion is unknown but it’s a great aspect of her character. Te fact she’s still with Dough is neither a plus nor a minus for me because Doug doesn’t really further her as a character in this movie, in the first yes but not here.

Her friendship with Mal was played on again in this movie not only being the reason why Evie decided to return to the Isle to look for Mal but also in that “Space Between” number with the flashbacks of the first movie.

Again I do think Evie’s want to be good blinded her to seeing Mal being unhappy in this movie as she felt that all her friends were happier in Auradon but after returning from the Isle and making modifications to Mal’s cotillion dress to show a more V.K. inspired look was the right move and the right way for Evie to show her acceptance of her best friend.

Evie’s looks haven’t really changed from the first movie, they are more dresses and skirts than before but the color pallet of blue make them they similar. The hairstyles she has are better in my opinion and the wig department for everyone in this movie is plussed from the first movie.

Overall Sofia Carson is a great example of plussing the first movie as not only did Evie grow as a character but also she got a chance for an almost solo number to show off her singing ability.

Harry Hook:

I was very excited when they announced the son of Captain Hook would be a villain in this movie but also the way they characterized him and the way Thomas Doherty gave the character a certain swagger was a lot of fun to see. Also the behind the scenes clip introducing him has Thomas describing the character as insane and I definitely saw elements of that but I think he always stopped himself from going too crazy.

I think the closeness between him and Uma was well established in the opening scene let alone anything else, the fact that he commanded such fear in the other inhabitants of the Isle as Uma’s right hand even to the supposed third main antagonist Gil...I’ll get to him.

I don’t think they went far enough to give him a character outside what I’ve already established. The movie ends I’m guessing with him in command of Uma’s crew considering she’s lost at sea in Auradon, so if they do bring him back for a third movie I’ll be interested to see if he is as good a captain as his father.

Overall I think Harry was a good character but not as good as I had hoped, I had him pegged as him being on the level of Carlos in terms of character but he ranks just higher than Jay for me. Also Thomas Doherty’s portrayal here reminded me slightly of Jai Courtney’s portrayal of Captain Boomerang over on Suicide Squad and I liked that character also.

Lonnie:

Lonnie ranks so much higher for me here than in the first movie, I love how they gave her her own arc which mirrored Mulan’s arc throughout her movie. I like how she started off wanting to be an equal to the boys at school and besting all of them when they were fencing and then she invited herself to go back and save Ben with the others and was a great asset to their fight.

The fact Jay made her captain of the fencing team was a nice touch and speaks more to his character than hers but it does sort of give the Lonnie character a story similar to her mother’s which was a great touch.

Dizzy Tremaine:

Wow this girl impressed me, Anna Cathcart I expect big things from after this because while she had a minor role being basically a superfan who got a part in this movie and wasn’t a villain like the other newbies, she was so likable and so cute. I actually never thought the ugly stepsisters were evil by trade it was more of them being common mean girls and the fact that she is the daughter of Drucilla who wasn’t the one who turned good in the movies I think shows that. Also her friendship with both Evie and Mal was very sweet and the fact Evie said she was like a little sister showed an even kinder side to her...also that makeover scene was impressive for a young teen.

Jay:

Yes Jay had to come at some point and the reason why he’s below the likes of Lonnie and Dizzy is simply because he’s in the mediocre section but high mediocre. I still think he’s the weakest out of the original four V.Ks both in terms of characterization and acting, even singing here wasn’t as strong as Carlos who isn’t a singer also.

Like I said with Lonnie I did like how he had that progressive story arc of wanting to be a team leader who played by the rules as opposed to where he was apparently 6 months ago where he was a rebellious hot-headed loner. So I give the movie props for that and for making it noted that Jay wanted Lonnie on the team as he was impressed by her but because of Chad and peer pressure he buckled however still found a way around it. I kind of wanted him to tear up that rulebook in the end but the fact he found a loophole was still good.

Also considering he and Carlos are supposed to be close, when Carlos came to him for advice on women especially considering Jay I think is the eldest in the group maybe with the exception of Evie and Carlos is credited as the youngest that advice other than “Be me” wouldn’t send Carlos talking to his dog.

Jay’s styling was the least evolved as it basically stayed the same. I do like how he added more layers than just the sleeveless vest look and his leather aesthetic is still there but I wanted more of an evolution, I really dislike the beanies and quite like his cotillion look with his man-bun.

So yeah Booboo Stewart may be the outsider of the main four when it comes to Disney heritage having not starred in a Disney Channel show but he still holds his own and was a lot better in the sequel than the first movie.

Jane:

Jane was an interesting character as she had less to do in this movie while also being part of the real-world teenage relationship arc. I thought Brenna D’Amico’s delivery of being the oblivious love interest was they realistic and that scene when Carlos finally makes it clear to Jane of his intentions was very sweet. I’m happy her style has gone back to being the more stylish version Mal gave her in the first movie and the fact she is now friends with Mal even though she’s still slightly scared of her is very funny.

King Ben:

I am so torn on this character it’s ridiculous. There are definitely moments where I feel he is both necessary and important to the story yet there are then moments when I feel I just want this guy to be gone. I do not think the movie correctly showcased his struggle with royal kingly duties whereas in the first book they spent almost an entire chapter on it and did it rather well.

When he went to the Isle Mitchell Hope did a great job at being the fish out of water and not knowing how to fit in, something I didn’t was when he sang purely because two out of three of the songs he was in he just ruined the songs for me.

When he became bewitched by Uma I thought he just became a tool, the fact that he was so cruel to Mal without actually meaning to be cruel was very out of character and I know he was under Uma’s spell but all Ursula’s bewitchment did was turn Eric into a zombie. Also when Uma turned giant and Mal turned into a dragon I did think at one point he was going to turn into a beast but that pointless roar he does was just that. I hated the fact he stopped the fight and tried to find the peaceful approach because I wanted to see an epic sea battle.

Overall I don’t think Mitchell Hope is as bad as I think he is, I just think they’re trying to make him too similar to Zac Efron’s portrayal of Troy Bolton from High School Musical and that was as bad as I thought. Also I’ll get into this point further down but either Mitchell needs singing lessons or the character shouldn’t sing because having a singing double is too distracting.

Doug:

Oh my god this boy is whipped, I think the fact his role in this movie was just to be Evie’s boyfriend would have been slightly worse for the character if not for the fact his role in the first movie was basically to be Evie’s love interest while also showing how Evie can accept her intellect. Here he is the guy left out the loop, even Lonnie and Chad knew about what the guys were doing in going to the Isle and saving Ben yet Doug was lied to and worse-yet believed it. I don’t really see a need for the character but I guess in terms of Evie he’s good to have around.

Chad Charming:

Chad has gone from being an outright tool in the first movie to being someone who I feel was just there for comedic purposes and what actually resulted was turning Chad into a comedic tool. This is set in modern day despite still being in the fantasy genre yet the sexism shown by him towards Lonnie was ridiculous. Forgetting about who’s daughter he was insulting, numerous Disney movies have showcased women doing what men do and sometimes better; Tiana, Belle, Moana, Jasmine. All these women have sometimes shown up the men in their lives and yet Chad has the nerve to say that Lonnie can’t be on the team because she’s a girl.

Also that gag about him breaking into Carlos’ room to use his printer in order to create a 3D toy of himself was just stupid. Then the elephant in the room of Audrey not being in the sequel was somewhat handled well with her being off on a retreat with the three good fairies after dumping Chad in the Rise of the Isle of the Lost novel which he still isn’t over to the point where she rang and he came running was funny.

Dude:

Surprisingly Dude gets his own section on this list because the movie decided he needed to talk for some reason. I thought when Cameron Boyce mentioned Dude talks in this movie he was genuinely joking but nope, about 15-20 minutes in Dude eats a “truth gummy” created by Mal for Carlos to make him more honest about his feelings for Jane and for some reason it starts him talking. I have never seen Bobby Moynihan act before and all I know is he’s an SNL comedian which makes me think the only reason Dude started talking in this movie is for comic relief. Now I grant you the human comic relief in this movie wasn’t the best but did they really need to revert to Disney’s old trope of talking animals? And if so why wasn’t it a takling famous Disney animal like Pongo.

Like I said with Carlos I did like that he had Dude to talk to about the problems he was having with Jane and had Jay been a better friend he wouldn’t have had to but I digress, I just hope the spell wears off by Descendants 3 because I got almost zero funny from this character.

Gil:

So yes Gil is at the bottom of my list and even surpasses Chad and the talking dog for the pure and simple reason that I did not see a point to him in this movie. When the “Rebels” trailer came out and showcased the three new villains I did think he was going to be interesting. But particularly when the music video for “What’s My Name” came out I started to think he was going to be a background character yet has all this publicity behind him showcasing him as an equal to at least Harry Hook when in actuality even Dizzy outshines him in the movie.

I don’t understand why the son of Gaston is in a pirate crew, I swear he was only there for comic relief but wasn’t even funny more awkward and I have a feeling that maybe he had a bigger part in the books but again I haven’t read them yet.

My favourite scene of Gil’s is at the end of the “What’s My Name” scene where he is used as transport for Uma, I found that surprisingly funny.

Classic Disney Characters:

Then as for the characters we know from years of films, aside from Belle, Beast and Fairy Godmother there wasn’t really anyone there. A great voiceover cameo by Whoopi Goldberg as Ursula for I think 10 seconds and all we see is a tentacle and an unknown actress voicing over Lady Tremaine but aside from that and the briefest cameo from Aladdin and Jasmine which only made me angrier at the upcoming live-action version of their movie we didn’t get anyone. For those of you who thought Kristin Chenoweth would return as Maleficent that doesn’t happen; she’s still a lizard and I did like her mini home but once Mal returned to the Isle we do not see her again. A better sting for the end credits would have been Maleficent someone being turned back into a human leading onto a third movie but sadly we didn’t get that.

Negatives:

So as I said before this movie isn’t perfect and does come with some negatives which I want to highlight here because they are so minor that I cannot believe Kenny Ortega or someone behind the scenes didn’t think to either quickly reshoot or change them.

Wicked World Irrelevance:

For avid Descendants fans there was a series of 3D animated shorts that aired on numerous platforms both online and on TV. In this series we see a focus mainly on Mal and Evie as they interact with various characters both introduced in the first movie and original to those shorts. There are a couple of continuity issues raised with this sequel that makes me feel as if because the show is animated that it’s not in canon with the films. For example, China McClain voiced new character Freddie Facilier on the show who is the daughter of Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, yet obviously here she portrays Uma the daughter of Ursula. Freddie, along with Jordan the daughter of the Genie, Ally the daughter of Alice and CJ Hook the daughter of Captain Hook all ended up in the series in Auradon yet none of them were even mentioned in this movie...although Jordan did get a mention and a kind of cameo in the music video of Dove Cameron’s Genie in a Bottle. Harry doesn’t even mention here that he has a sister and Gil doesn’t mention having two brothers yet in the books we know Gaston has three sons.

It does just seem slightly non-sensical to me that they would spend all that time, because despite being a series of shorts for TV an entirely computer-generated series takes a lot of time and money to create, then not even mention anything from it. Ben even went to the Isle in that series which is how we first met Freddie yet when they’re escaping the Isle in this movie Ben makes it seem like it’s his first time there. Also on a side-note I’ve just realized in that series Freddie and CJ were friends which makes me think China has it in her contract that her character needs to be friends with the Hook family given that Uma and Harry are so close here.

A Lack of Familial Villains:

In the first movie we had portrayals of Maleficent, Cruella, the Evil Queen and Jafar to go with their kids. Like I said before we had a voice cameo of Whoopi Goldberg as Ursula but we never saw her face and didn’t have any portrayals of Captain Hook or Gaston. Now granted we have just had a live-action Beauty and the Beast movie which showed a live-action Gaston but we have Belle, the Beast and Fairy Godmother here having had a live-action Cinderella so why not treat us to even a cameo of them? Also the aforementioned four Disney Villains do not make an appearance, Maleficent does in lizard form but none of the actors return even when the kids go to the Isle so I am a little bit disappointed because of that.

Mitchell Hope Singing:

I highlighted on this when talking about Ben as a character and to his credit I give Mitchell credit for actually singing in this movie rather than hiding behind a singing double as he did in the first movie but good god this guy needs singing lessons for the third movie. Both Booboo and Cameron are not professional singers yet they, mostly, hold their own with the girls who actually can sing...Cameron does more than Booboo but he at least tries. Mitchell for me was the worst singer in this movie, “Chillin’ Like a Villain” and “It’s Going Down” were two very good songs until he started singing because the problem with Mitchell is he will start sing-speaking then break out into song for about five seconds before pulling it back in. Him singing in “You and Me” was his best in this movie but still not great. I just don’t think he should sing, there’s nothing wrong with him not singing and I think for the sake of not making this franchise cheesier than it has to be he should stop trying.

Songs:

Alright so I’ve talked about characters and the negative aspects I found from this movie so all that’s left is to rate the songs. In this instance I’ll be talking about them in good, bad an grower categories.

Good:

Always start on a positive and my favourite song in this movie is definitely “What’s My Name” which was Uma’s introduction as well as underlining just who the villains were in this movie. This is the first time I’ve heard China Anne McClain sing and my god this girl can sing, I thought her main song would be Poor Unfortunate Souls but no she gets this fantastic original number and it’s so catchy and her mini reprise she did at the end of It’s Going Down added to my love of the song. Also Thomas Doherty’s mini rap that he does is something I lip-sync along to every time I hear it.

“Space Between” reminds me so much of “For Good” from Wicked! which was the penultimate song there between Glinda and Elphaba. Like I said when talking about their friendship earlier I really liked how the movie played on their connection from the first movie and even called back to that both in the references Mal made before the song and the flashbacks they used throughout the number. This and “What’s My Name” really showed that the leading three women here stole the show in terms of vocals.

“Ways to Be Wicked” is a very good opening number however I do still think “Rotten to the Core” has it beat. I did like how it all took place in a sort of dream sequence and that it was just plain anarchy all around and how much of a theme apples seemed to play because the four had cursed them at the start of the number. I like how all four main characters had equal solos and that they reminded us of their personalities from the first movie just in this opening number.

On a side-note when talking about “Rotten to the Core”, I did love when Mal returned to the Isle and saw that poster of her and Ben, that the track of “Rotten to the Core” played in the background, I really love that song from the first time I heard it.

“Poor Unfortunate Souls” is, for me, on the same level of the “Be Our Guest” rendition from the first Descendants movie. There’s a definite similarity to how they reworked both songs and of course the fact it’s sung by the child of a character from the original movie is very cool. My only knitpick with the song is they leave in the lyrics “Crying “Spells Ursula please!”” and I do think they could have tweaked that from Ursula to Uma. Regardless much like “What’s My Name” China Anne McClain works it with this number and even though it’s not actually in the movie like “Be Our Guest” was it’s still a great track.

Bad:

“You and Me” is a song I will probably make enemies over for talking about but I didn’t like the song as a song. It’s not a number I’d listen to willingly however the production of it in the movie was very good. I liked how it all took place on basically a flooded stage and was definitely a step up from “Set It Off” in front of the castle at the end of the last movie but again unlike that song I wouldn’t choose to listen to it.

“Kiss the Girl” was not needed in this movie, and I know it wasn’t actually in the movie and more over the end credits but again it was not a necessary addition, especially when you have seven vocalists on a track that originally only had one main vocalist. I did like the use of the track when Ben and Uma were dancing and did think someone would start actually singing it to Ben maybe Evie but alas.

Growers:

“Chillin’ Like a Villain” is one of those songs I may eventually come around to loving because not only is it Sofia Carson’s chance at a solo which she nails but the feel and production of the number has a very similar feel to a Michael Jackson production, which fits as Kenny Ortega has worked with the legend. My issue with the song is when Mitchell Hope starts sing-speaking and it is sing-speaking not actual singing because when he does attempt to sing it’s like someone behind the scenes is going “No reign it in reign it in!”. I can’t love the song because of his vocals on the track as it does make the song slightly too cheesy for my taste however I will say that Mitchell does sell Ben’s naivety at fitting in to the attitude of the Isle.

Then with “It’s Goin’ Down”, there are so many pluses to the number that it almost makes the good list but towards the end of the number it does sort of peter out for me. Again Mitchell Hope’s vocals, I do not mean to keep bashing this guy I apologize, but also as much as I liked him in this movie Thomas Doherty’s Harry had a couple of verses in the song that do work both for the song and for the character but I feel as if Thomas was rushing to keep up with the track. Still a great song though and the production in the actual movie is a freakin’ sword fight so who doesn’t love that.

Recommendation:

If you’re a Disney fan or a fan of the first Descendants movie then you’ll love this movie, if you like the style of film that Hook was back in the day you’ll definitely like the 3/4 of this movie. I would say other than that you should watch this movie if you’re just interested in a feel-good movie.

Overall I rate this movie a 9/10, it has definitely 1-upped itself from the first movie and the fact I watched this movie twice in one day and didn’t get bored speaks for itself.

So that’s my review of Descendants 2, sorry it’s been posted later than originally planned but what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.