#fairyland spoilers

[francoisl-artblog]

Okay, the synopsis for the last volume is out — ‘I Hate Fairyland: Happy End Game’ — “Gert saved Fairyland from a monster infestation and is being celebrated by one and all. Okay, well…maybe not all. Deep below the Inferno, in the bowels of Hell, an old rival is gathering an army of the dead to put an end to Gert. No one in Fairyland will be safe.”

We thinking this is Original Gert?

Not opposed to Cloudia’s story being over now, her just as miserable in the real world as Gert was in Fairyland.

Well ! I don't know if can say too much about my opinions about it, because the comic is known to be quite anti-climatic with its big reveal, buuut....

Let's simply say that i think the name of the main "returning character" is right on the title.

(And... we need to move on for now, Adult/Classic Gert isn't going to come back any time soon.)

[losingitdotsquyds]

⭐️SPOILERS⭐️

They became winds together. 🥺🥹

[groupwest]

i’m caught up on yellowjackets……………

[chernabogs]

Styx, Fae, and Malleus—Oh my!

Okay I'm writing this more as a marker for myself because I keep breaking my brain with connecting C6 to C7, but I've included my notes down below to kind of trail through how things might go with the next C7 update. Since the Shroud brothers are back in business, we'll be seeing a lot more of Styx's hand too, so I also wanted to collect as much information (canon) as I can on them too. Because I just think they're neat, and combining all the information makes them that much neater!

Warning for a long-ish post.

All About Styx (Up to C7, April 2024)

Styx, originally serving as just the Watchman before the Age of Gods (which Malleus discusses in C6 part 18),

is an independently operating institution (non-government affiliated) that specifically focuses on research pertaining to blot. According to the welcome video narrated by Idia’s mother and father, Styx covers the following:

Safe use of technomantic technology

Magical power analysis

Preservation of ruins and mage stones

Blot emission reduction

Post OB treatment

Magical disaster prediction systems

Maintaining phantom databases

Styx operates off of the Isle of Woe, an area mostly inaccessible to outsiders due to its status as being below the ocean and only accessible via the Oceanus Gate. Styx is seemingly composed of multiple units and teams, including the Hex Team, with most of the employees living in the residential block of Oceanus and using chariots (technomantic vehicles) to get to the tower. Another unit that Styx controls are the Charon members. These appear to be the equivalent of armed forces under Styx’s command. They specifically act as retrievers of over blotted mages, or more specifically the phantoms involved in the overblot. Magic Marshals and the Arcane Response Unit often handle overblot cases, but in extreme incidents, Charon members step in.

It’s mentioned that they also arrive regardless of if they have authorization from the government of the location the overblot is occurring. 

Regarding the technomantic equipment mentioned, this is what Styx seems to mainly use for all operations, likely due to the nature of its research. Technomantic technology has an ability to almost entirely nullify magic. Although not 100% effective, it was enough to even make Rooks UM limited, forcing him to only track the kidnapped students when there were second breaks in the tech. This tech was also used on the overblot students, with Riddle stating that it’s equivalent to his UM (C6 part 26). 

The tower that Styx operates out of is a large structure located in the centre of the ancient city that was originally attached to the Kingdom of Heroes. Within this tower, Styx keeps phantoms preserved frozen in the lower layers. This area is referred to as Tartarus and hosts approximately 10,000 subjects split into 12 levels. A-class are considered exceedingly dangerous phantoms, according to Ortho. Sector 12 is where the original Phantoms are housed, known as the ‘Titans’. These are three phantoms that have been sealed in Tartarus by the original Jupiter family members since the Age of Gods. 

The system designed to preserve these phantoms is known as the Cerberus System. This encapsulates the entire Isle, not just Styx. According to Idia, mages are taken and housed for testing in this region before being wiped by Lethe, another system operated by Styx that re-wires memories and implants false ones. Interestingly, Lethe works differently on fae than humans due to fae’s long lifespans. Idia states that it’s hard to adjust what information to remove and rewrite without making it obvious that there was an erasure. He does mention Malleus by name when discussing this, but not Lilia. 

All About The Fae in Briar Valley (Up to April 2024, JP Spoilers)

Fae appear to live broadly across Twisted Wonderland, but a large majority do reside in Briar Valley (other additions such as Fairyland/Land of Fairy have been mentioned and seem to host diurnal fae. More of this can be found in the fairy gala events. Diurnal fae are considered to herald the coming of spring with this gala, which ties in with later discussions about fae and nature). Various species were also noted to exist, including:

Dragon fae (note: Dragons are mentioned to have arrived for Meleanor during her youth, however after her passing a decade later it appears that Dragons have either gone underground or extinct across the broader Twisted Wonderland area)

Raven fae

Bat fae

Crocodile fae

Subcategories of crafter fae and the likes exist too, but don’t quite count as species 

There appears to be a hierarchy of value among fae. In one conversation by a Senate member (in Chapter 7, release 6), Lilia is referred to in derogatory terms due to his status as a bat fae. It is unknown if this bias is strictly the Senate member, Briar Valley, or if it spreads across broader fae populations. Fae also appear to have monarchies, although the only two known so far are the Queen of Fairyland and the Draconia Family. Fae also appear to age at different rates (Malleus states infant fae often take 30 years to walk, and it took him 20 years alone to gain his 2-legged form). 

Due to Briar Valley being the major focus of C7, we’ll look at fae in this region specifically. 

For context, constant conflict has arisen between fae and humans, specifically within Briar Valley. A major conflict and large plot point in C7 so far is the conflict between Briar Nation (former name of Briar Valley) and the Silver owls. The Silver Owls, run by Henrik, carried out mining operations throughout Briar Nation without permission from the royal family. Despite the name Silver Owls, it should be noted that they are also called Iron Ones due to their iron weapons and armor. According to Briar Nation soldiers, Silver Owls recklessly endangered fae by driving wildlife into villages in addition to colonizing the region. The Silver Owls (Henrik in particular) are aiming to attain Princess Glow. Henrik stated that he wanted it for his father (unlikely, lbr). Princess Glow appeared to be a gem associated with the Draconia Family that was capable of performing miracles like healing incurable ailments. It’s unknown if this is factual or not, but Meleanor does appear to put value on the gem when discussing it with Lilia. 

Conflict with the Silver Owls extended across several regions in Briar Nation, including:

Verdant Moors (outside the present day borders—confirmed by Sebek in C7)

Canyon of Howling Winds (also called Valley of Howling winds in some translations)

Mystical Mountain/Forbidden Mountain

Thunderclap Mountains

Cape Sunrise 

Tenebrae Forest/Dark Night Forest

Crimson plain

Dragon’s Tail Mountains 

Wild Rose Palace 

Black Scale Palace 

Dragon Capital City (surrounding Black Scale Palace)

Cradle Tower

Note: present day Briar Valley is situated farther up north and is said to have a cold climate for the most part, including particularly harsh winters (confirmed by Silver in release 4 of C7). Double note: Names may be susceptible to change with EN release. 

The conflict ended with Meleanor and Levan (Malleus’ parents) allegedly dead. Fae ceased intermingling with humans likely after this conflict according to Lilia in C6 part 18, leaving to heavy deficits in the validity of history surrounding the fae. This also means that a lot of human history books miss history that fae may have personally experienced or have to share (as spoken by Trein and Lilia). 

In terms of powers, fae in Twisted Wonderland seem to rely on nature a great deal for their magical abilities. Idia’s father discusses the extent of what some fae can do due to their connection with ancient magic, including mentioning how fae have had control over climate change and diastrophism since the Age of Myths (presumably predating the Age of Gods). Malleus’ ability to alter the world in a designated area falls under this category. He is stated to have magic tied to the earth itself. Idia’s mother also mentions that fae can also draw magical energy from nature itself, building on Idia’s fathers statement about how fae’s magic directly connects to the earth. Generally, fae with elemental connections can do this, which proposes the idea that Malleus has such an ability. 

It also appears that fae can lend this magic to humans. The Knight of Dawn frequently calls upon the blessings of diurnal fae to aid him in his fights throughout C7 (note: he says 'fairy guardians', so this could be just this specific instance). 

So… what’s up with chapter 7, as of April 2024? (JP Spoilers)

Well… Malleus over blotted. Inconvenient, absolutely. Fortunately, his grandmother snitched and gave all of his information over to Styx, allowing them to formulate somewhat of a plan to use.

We know specifically that the Arcane Response Unit is unable to get access to Malleus through the thorns because, should the thorn wall be penetrated or collapse, it will kill whoever is caught inside of it. At the moment, ARU is likely on the borders of Malleus’ thorn wall while Ortho (acting as a stand-in Charon member, in this case) deals with the issue. Anyone who gets too close to the thorns (fae or human) are also being sucked into the barrier. 

Silver, Sebek, Yuu and Grim are currently travelling through various dreams. This allowed some insight on fae (see Fae in Briar Valley for more) as well as the abilities that they possess. Ortho has pulled the group into Idia’s dream, stating that Malleus is using all resources to keep Lilia asleep. Ortho was able to penetrate into the barrier using a counter-spell barrier and ethereal slicers, in addition to a magical cannon honed by Styx. 

We also know it’s confirmed that Malleus needs to either voluntarily end his spell or die in order to actually cause the barriers to drop. 

What might happen, then? (JP Spoilers)

Who knows! Yana likes to keep us on our toes. That being said, one of the biggest takeaways that came from this is the technology (technomantic) that Styx has access to, as well as what fae seem to rely on to continually use their magic. Styx’s access to technology that can almost entirely nullify magic in combination with their isolation from ‘nature’ (based on the brutalism architecture their facility had) could be two avenues of mitigating Malleus enough to at least let the students get an upper hand. 

However, Styx also did confirm that their technomantic equipment was not having as good of an effect on Malleus’ barrier as they anticipated. If technomantic equipment were to be used on Malleus, it would need to be something advanced, like Ortho’s Cerberus gear, but on a larger scale. Ortho has already shown that Malleus’ magic is ineffective when faced with the type of tech that Ortho is equipped with, positing the idea that this can be an avenue to take. In the battle with Ortho, Malleus does appear to freeze up and misses a hit. 

The comment about Malleus needing to break the spell himself was emphasized a lot in this section. Styx confirmed they’ll reach out to Queen Maleficia to see if she can persuade Malleus to drop the spell, but they’re also convincing the dreamers to persuade Malleus as well. 

So… it seems like a triple whammy of tech, Maleficia, and guilt tripping as a way to take Malleus down. Exciting!!

[jadelotusflower]

And Kansas, she says, is the name of the star

So, Wicked. I actually saw it two weeks ago but have been letting my thoughts marinate a bit. As with anything currently dominating the cultural zeitgeist, the film has received both overwhelming praise and unmitigated hate - although the latter seems to be directed more towards its stars than the film itself, where the line between playful meme-ification and genuine unkindness has been crossed.

Like many, I've been a fan of the world of Oz since I was a child, not only the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, but the quasi-sequels Return to Oz (check out my rewatch/analysis here) and the animated Journey Back to Oz (yes, the one with Liza Minelli). I read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at some point in my childhood (and have been making my way through the rest this year) but it was the films that really captured my imagination. Also a long time fan of musicals, I was first exposed to Wicked through the documentary Broadway: The American Musical, and was able to see the show in London in 2007 with Kerry Ellis and Helen Dallimore (+ Miriam Margolyes), and subsequently in Australia with Lucy Durack and Jemma Rix (interestingly, Glinda and Elphaba billing swapped for this production). I also read Gregory Maguire's novel shortly after first seeing the show, although have yet to read the sequels.

I very much enjoyed the film, even if for me it isn't really the definitive version, but simply another interpretation of a classic story, a different telling of the same fairy tale. Oz is particularly malleable in this way, the story very much of its time and yet also timeless. As Gregory points out in his preamble of the Wicked musical program: "Tolkein's Middle-Earth reinvigorated readers' interest in older narrative conceits of the hero in battle just as Europe was tumbling towards its mid-century paroxysms of genocide and war. Lewis Carroll, three quarters of a century earlier, had gently mocked Victorian certainties and niceties by portraying Wonderland as an anarchic dreamscape...While Oz was being invented and charted by Baum at the turn of the twentieth century, the American experiment in democracy was coming to resemble, in ways both bad and good, a great and powerful empire."

Maguire wrote his own revisionist tale in 1990, at the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the Gulf War, the musical adaptation premiered on Broadway just after the invasion of Iraq, and now the film is released in times that are no less turbulent, and in which the threat of fascism and the power of propaganda are more acute than ever. It's a story that was resonant in 1900, and is resonant now - albeit in different ways and through different perspectives.

It's all a parable - whether it be Baum's fairyland of childhood adventure, MGM's loving devotional to "the young at heart", Disney's dark fantasy of a splintered mind (and later, their own take on the villain/anti-hero origin story), Maguire's exploration on the nature of evil, the musical's bittersweet ode to the power of friendship, and the film's empowering of the other - a folk tale, a dream, a prophecy, a cautionary tale, a tick of the Time Dragon Clock.

But my thoughts! Here they are. Needless to say, spoilers for the film, stage musical, and all other Oz-related media.

Oz has always been a story that centered its heroines - in the books the arrival of the Wizard disrupts the natural order of the world by usurping Ozma, his power an illusion compared that of the women who surround him - good in Glinda the witch of the South and the unnamed witch of the North, and the wicked in the witches of the East and West. The Wizard and his successor the Scarecrow must both be deposed - the former by Dorothy (albeit unintentionally), and the latter by Jinjur and her girl army, until finally harmony is restored when Ozma returns to her throne.

Wicked of course plays with this notion, where good and evil are not so linear, where Elphaba (in the musical) is the only witch with actual magic - other than Madame Morrible, the true power behind the Wizard’s throne. It's not so simple as restoring a queen to the throne to benevolently reside over a utopia - Elphaba's activism either ends with her death (in the novel) or her escape from Oz (in the musical), Glinda replaces the Wizard as figurehead with the Grimmerie she doesn't know how to read, and the intention to deploy her other skills and popularity this time "for good" - whether she succeeds is unknowable. But I'm getting ahead of myself, because the film is only Part I, aka Act I of the stage musical.

On that point, it was absolutely the right decision to split into two films, even if Part I is almost double the runtime of Act I and seems to add very little (although I enjoyed what it did add). It’s Part II that will benefit from breathing room to pack in a lot of plot (and hopefully flesh out some of the holes). Although from the audible groans in my theatre when the “to be continued” title came up the marketing did its job hiding the split.

But back to my point, it's so gratifying to see not only a big-budget musical that's unashamed and unapologetic to actually be a musical, but one that so unequivocally is a story about women, not only their own struggles, but embracing their own power and exercising their own agency. Elphaba's faith in the Wizard as the cure for all her problems, both internal and external, is viciously shattered and she must take responsibility for her own destiny, Glinda as the epitome of privilege must learn to look beyond the superficial of both herself and others.

It's almost reflective of the classic golden age musicals that were often driven by women and their stories - Maria in The Sound of Music, Eliza in My Fair Lady, Anna in The King and I, Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly!, Fanny in Funny Girl, Mama Rose in Gypsy, and of course the (literal) mother of them all, Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. And I think Wicked in some ways does hearken back to that classic style of movie musical in the setpieces and choreography, though not as much as I would like (more on that later). I don't think its a coincidence that Wicked's audience is skewed 70% female and it's been enormously successful, and much like last year's Barbie, has shown that women will show up an support a film about women when the story and characters are captivating rather than just lazy girlboss faux-empowerment sludge.

The casting is across the board good - I admit I had my reservations about Ariana Grande and while I don’t think she quite hits the rich vocal heights of Chenoweth, she certainly sells the comedy moments, even if there is more calculation and less ditz to her Galinda - there’s very little Billie Burke in her. Which is not a criticism, it's a valid take and her reverence for the musical is clear so of course that's her guiding light, while also making the role her own.

But the emotional core of Part I is Cynthia Ervio’s Elphaba, her isolation and otherness powerful astride her vulnerability and immense inner strength. I’ve always felt in the musical Glinda is the meatier role just because she has a more dramatic character arc, but splitting the film into two has really allowed the first part to centre Elphaba, and Ervio brings the emotional moments - her faith in the Wizard and subsequent loss of it in particular, as well as her humiliation at the Ozdust Ballroom which is just heart-shattering and so relatable. Ervio brings a fragility to the role where on stage there was hostility, and I actually think she is my favourite interpretation.

Michelle Yeoh brings steely manipulation to Madame Morrible, it was a good change to siphon off the comedic elements to new character Miss Coddle (heh) and lean into Yeoh’s natural gravitas. Yes, she talks on pitch rather than sings but who cares. There’s a menace to this Morrible, and yet we see her manipulation of Elphaba so very deftly (setting up Elphaba to need to prove her powers to the Wizard by reading the Grimmerie for example). I'll watch Yeoh in anything, although I do wish we'd seen her actually deliver "this wicked witch" line rather than Elphaba both times.

Jonathan Bailey is appropriately handsome and charming as Fiyero, with enough fluidity of movement to foreshadow his transformation into the Scarecrow (although not to the extent of my favourite Fiyero Adam Garcia, whose limbs were practically liquid).

Jeff Goldblum is doing Jeff Goldblum things, although leans into the sinister - the Wizard is genuinely wicked and fascistic in this version even moreso than the musical. It is kind of amusing that there is absolutely no hiding his distinctive voice in No One Mourns the Wicked so it's blatantly obvious he's Elphaba's father even for those who haven't seen the musical. I do wonder if they are going to make him well aware rather than being told by Glinda at the end - the way he plays A Sentimental Man it's certainly possible.

On that point, the screenplay is actually very faithful to the musical's book, which makes sense since Winnie Holtzman wrote the former and contributed to the latter. There’s some great changes that tweak and tighten the narrative - the relationship between Nessarose and Boq is given greater foundation, as is Elphaba’s connection with Dr Dillamond and her meet-cute with Fiyero. Making Glinda's minions Bowen Yang (Pfannee) and Brownwyn James (Shenshen) comic relief was also a great addition - "Elphaba, love you and your shoulderpads" made me cackle and I kind of wish there was more of them.

However I do feel there were some opportunities missed - I had thought with Act I being it’s own film we may get a bit more meat to Elphie and Glinda after they become friends - we do see that they form a group with Fiyero, Boq, and Nessa but more would have been nice (there were evidently scenes filmed we may see in flashback in Part II). I did appreciate the setup of the Wizard and his diorama (a nice way to visualise Oz) but could have done without Glinda naming the Yellow Brick Road. Not everything needs a reference!

I wish there were some references to Ozma, but it makes sense that the Wizard’s propaganda would erase her from history in favour of the “wise ones” (perfect cameos for Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth). It's interesting that, like in Oz the Great and Powerful, they invoke a prophesy the Wizard co-opts - this really is a mashup of all the Oz lore than came before it.

It also seems they cut "I got what I wanted" from the Ozdust scene (unless I missed it?) which is one of my favourite Glinda moments, so that was a shame.

I did find John M. Chu’s direction oft-times too frenetic. While this is effective and dynamic in numbers such as What is this Feeling? cross-cutting between Elphaba and Galinda and their early rivalry across various school activities, in many others I was desperate for the camera to slow down (or stop!) already and let me see what was on screen. There were so many beautiful things to see! But I missed half of them because the dolly was seemingly fixed to a rollercoaster. The set piece in the library and rotating bookshelves for Dancing Through Life was fantastic, but most of the choreography is muddled by frenzied camera motion, as is the cacophony of the Emerald City. Coming back to classic musicals, I wish he'd taken more a lead from them in locking a wide shot and letting us see the dancing.

Perhaps this is just my sensibility, but although a movie musical must justify its existence and rise above simply becoming a filmed version of the stage performance, there’s power in keeping the camera still and letting the performance speak for itself. In The Wizard and I Elphaba speeds through Shiz passing lakes and hallways and people - now there’s coloured glass! now there’s a cave! now she’s running through a field! now she’s looking over the Deadly Impassable Desert! (a change I'm assuming was made to allow Elphaba and Fiyero to leave Oz through it at the end of Part II). Even I’m not that Girl has luminescent flowers blooming in the background as Elphaba wanders yet again, this time in the dark. It’s almost as if Chu doesn’t trust the audience not to be bored unless there are Things to look at every moment.

I also think it was a mistake to set so many scenes at night rather than leaving that for the narrative turn with the Wizard. The Ozdust Ballroom re-imagined as undeneath the lake at Shiz is inspired, but ultimately is gloomy and dull because of the way it's lit (or rather, not lit). The sets however, particularly Shiz, are genuinely beautiful so I give Chu a great deal of credit for not going full cgi.

There’s also been a lot of criticism of the colour grading and I don’t disagree with it, “muddy” effects and muted palette seems par for the course these days and the camera movement was much more distracting for me. I can appreciate that Chu wanted this to be a less colourful Oz to contrast to '39 visually as well as thematically, but I still would have preferred a bit more vibrancy, especially in Shiz and the Emerald City.

I also didn’t care for Defying Gravity to be so broken up - it’s like that on stage, but still feels like it’s all building to towards that incredible climax. But the film inexplicably breaks up the final verse which absolutely halts the momentum, rather than the build of So if you care the find me/Look to the western sky to And nobody in all of Oz/No wizard that there is or was, we get an interlude of the Unlimited motif which prevents the final lines from soaring as they should. I get what they were going for, but it seems that Elphaba delivers the lines about the West, then flies out and sees it, and comes back to deliver her denouncement when it should have been the other way around. For all the papering over of possible holes in the musical’s book, it’s odd that there wasn’t some foundation to Elphaba’s reason for choosing to go West. For example, if that’s where the Animals said they were going, or if she and Fiyero had discussed his homeland.

However these are minor quibbles! I enjoyed the film enormously, and is a worthy contributor to the Oz canon.

On that point, I've been interested to see fandom discussions around the film, and have noticed that quite a few viewers now see Wicked as "the true story" to the Wizard of Oz's "propaganda". While it's certainly a valid interpretation, if the goal is to interrogate narratives, who is telling the story, and why, to replace one version wholesale with another and declare it "the truth” seems simplistic. This is storytelling, it is both truth in its purest form and propaganda, as all art is on some level. There is not, and cannot be, a "true" version of the story - just different perspectives, and different retellings.

It’s easy to forget that while 1939 has defined so many iconic aspects of the story (ruby slippers, green skin), it was made after forty years of books and staged productions exploring the world of Oz - which the '39 film acknowledges in its opening text. This has always been a story that has grown and changed, been added to and subtracted from, each version taking what they want and discarding the rest, building upon what came before.

And perhaps this is an unpopular opinion - but Wicked (be it book, musical, or film) does not work as a strict prequel to either Baum's novels or the 1939 film - Elphaba is clearly not the Wicked Witch we see in ‘39 (there’s no way this Elphaba would ever try to straight up murder a child to get her hands on shoes), similarly Fiyero and Boq becoming the Scarecrow and Tin Man respectively is fine as a throwaway on stage but just doesn’t line up with the film characters. It's a different version of the same fairy tale - much like Barrie's Peter Pan is different to Disney's, which is different to Hook, which is different to Once Upon a Time etc etc.

If Dorothy’s Oz in is a dream where she needed to find the strength within herself, Maguire’s Oz is gritty nightmare where fate is inescapable. Wicked the musical finds balance between the two, although I am interested to see how they incorporate Dorothy in Part II, as she is very much a bridge between all adaptations as her character changes very little between them (I've yet to see Dorothy as the villain, and honestly hope I never do).

Baum’s vision was an American folk tale, the ‘39 film framing of “it was all a dream”, the stage musical takes place inside the Time Dragon Clock, a mechanical propaganda machine inside which book!Elphaba is literally born. Even this film opens with the haunting voiceover of Glinda’s announcement of witch’s death, purporting to tell the "true story" but even that can only be from her own perspective, coloured by her own guilt. Maguire’s novel bills itself as the “Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” - it’s the telling of a story, the employing of a literary device.

I love thematic mirror, and the Oz of Wicked is in many ways a mirror-verse of the Oz of Baum/MGM - flipping the narrative to re-examine good and evil, to see familiar characters from the other side of the glass. Mrs Gultch takes Toto away on her bicycle to be destroyed, Elphaba take the Lion away on her bicycle to save him from captivity. Ruby slippers return to being silver shoes, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion are not just happenstance companions of Dorothy but the result of Elphaba's magic - even Elphaba's "i want" song in The Wizard and I can be mirrored to Dorothy's Somewhere Over the Rainbow, their respective unmasking of the Wizard as a fraud can be contrasted, and in the end the Wizard abandons Dorothy, but pursues Elphaba.

Glinda is perhaps one of the most fascinating mirrors from previous works - where she is the ultimate deus ex machina, stepping in at just the right time to save the day. But she is removed from the action, the hand of god, arguably the most powerful being in all of Oz. Wicked seems to both tear down this goddess figure and feed into it - in Part I Glinda wants to be seen as benevolent and perfect and kind when she starts as anything but, and ultimately Glinda the Good is a persona she adopts, like the Wizard she has no real power herself, only the power of myth-making.

Each of the character arcs in Wicked revolves around the stories they tell themselves/others juxtaposed against who they really are. This is a further mirror to the archetypes in Oz - the good witch, the bad witch, the powerful wizard. Elphaba's wickedness is confected, her otherness amplified to make an enemy of the people, but even before this she was using her exclusion as a shield, as Glinda observes, she cares deeply what others think of her, she just pretends she doesn't - and by the end of the film she throws off those shackles, willing to be cast as a wicked witch rather than betray her cause. Fiyero pretends to be "deeply shallow" while Elphaba sees through to his unhappiness, Morrible presents herself as wise mentor but is revealed as cruel puppetmaster, etc etc.

However, even Baum plays with this notion of artifice - the Emerald City is not in fact made out of emeralds, instead visitors don green-tinted glasses on entry, even his Wizard proclaims himself “a good man, just a very bad wizard” but the narrative condemns him as the man behind the curtain - although the subsequent books can never really quite decide if he a lovable rogue with pockets of enchanted piglets, or is he a sly trickster who deposed Ozma. Ultimately, he is both. He is a man from our world transplanted into a fantasy world, and cannot help but corrupt it.

I really have so much more to say! I love Oz in all its various incarnations but have probably rambled long enough.

[nox-in-a-box]

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I'm Nox. I have a lot of interests, but here I mostly just post/reblog fandom or art stuff. OH, and I post about my OCs too. Maybe too much at times.

(all art under the tag #nox draws)

Media I like:

Sofia the First (the only show which I consider myself truly knowledgeable about)

anything Riordanverse-related (although I am of course partial to the og PJO series, of course. Have not read all the books in the other series (except HOO).)

How to Train Your Dragon (I've watched most of the stuff in the franchise except for Homecoming and Defenders of Berk. I have also read I think, the first two of the og books?)

The 2017 Ducktales reboot (mid-watch, currently on Season 2)

The Bad Guys (watched the movie, read some of the books)

Hamilton

Tangled (both the movie and the series, although it's been a while since I watched the series so I don't remember much of it. Currently mid-rewatch.)

Charlie & Lola (one of my favourite shows as a kid, I do wanna watch it through just for fun)

Good Omens (fuck Neil).

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland (I have only read the first book of this series)

Enid Blyton's works (partial to the Famous Five series thanks to my guy George)

Gravity Falls (been almost a year and still haven't watched Season 2)...

The Owl House (need to rewatch this one cuz memories are a bit fuzzy)

Jackson's Diary (I am not caught up on this so please, no spoilers thank you!)

Lady Liar

Not media but FOREVER A RICKY FAN BABYYYY

[longsightmyth]

WoT spoilers I really mean it

INTERESTINGLY Moiraine and Siuan move in ETERNAL lockstep??? Even outside of New Spring, where the entire THESIS STATEMENT is that they are forever together ne'er to be sundered yea verily though even distance separates them or whatever????

Like technically Moiraine does not get stilled but she does get stuck in fairyland for lord knows how long, time doesn't work the same way, and when she gets out again she is ALSO able to channel considerably less just like Siuan is after being Healed from stilling

Both are replaced in their worldsaving ambitions and never QUITE get it back (Moiraine by Cadsuane as Rand's biggest Aes Sedai influence, Siuan by Elaida) but are truly SUCCEEDED by Egwene and Nynaeve, the women they both trained and mentored (also why I don't think Egwene was supposed to or SHOULD have died).

Which really makes me feel like Siuan wasn't SUPPOSED to die in the original outline, because these characters have such similar/mirrored experiences and fates right down to banging two different former lovers of Morgase that it is TRULY difficult for me to accept that one would die so long before the other honestly to paraphrase Circle of Magic these women are the same people in a way no one else will ever truly understand in this neverending essay I will -

[elevant39]

Ace combat zero and Avalon

So.... I have decided to get into the myth of Arthur (just to get some references in ACZ). And while I am still not that far in I already see some nice connections. So I choose to look more at the AWWNB part, mostly because I feel like it´s sometimes overlooked do to the fact it was kinda rushed (and also because I found them really interesting). But even then there are some things that I think are worth posting here. But (for now) I choose to look at the irony that is the Avalon dam. So the most obvious reason why Avalon was chosen is because it´s the place where Arthur dies/falls into endless sleep (sorry for spoilers bro). But that is not where the connections end.

Nice adaptation detail in the game is the fact that in the original myth you need to set an a long voyage across the sea because Avalon is an island. This was adapted in the form of river that you need to "sail" accros in you jet (+ they could get a canyon run out of it).

Also the fact that in the myth Avalon is an island (one of the few places that have natural borders).... The irony that a AWWNB has it´s base of operation in Avalon is honestly kinda funny. It's almost like their ideas (and AWWNB as a whole) are build on contradictions. Which if you do look into the motives of the members they kinda are, Wizard 1, Gault 1 and Sorcerer 1 but even Pixy and Espada 2 all have different reasons for why they created/joined AWWNB. There is also the fact (on wiki) that ironically Gault 1 was really patriotic (that being said I was not able to find the source of this info so take it with a sight of salt). But I won´t get into this topic here. Speaking of Gault 1. He was a researcher in Avalon for something called Project Pendragon (V2). However there is also some implication in the Perfect guide that he might have worked on Excalibur (it´s mentioned that he worked on “chemical laser cannon”(this could be talking about both Morgan and Excalibur) and a “mass retaliation weapon” (this is about V2) among other things). If this is true this can also tie back into the myth. Since Excalibur (or Caledfwlch) was created in Avalon. (Speaking of perfect guide there are some interesting informations about aces in interviews, they do help with understanding some characters more + some more lore. Here is a translated link if you didn´t know about them: https://www.skywardfm.com/aczpg-ace-pilot-profiles) Now I will get into the more speculative side of my thought here. From what I could find Avalon is seen as a fairyland that is later in myth run by non other that Morgan le Fey (I might get to our fairy king some day, becuase the connections this guy has to fairies are pretty funny...). However and I do think this was a coincidence. But you could say that Avalon was a fairyland of AWWNB. A place where they (for the max of 6 months, before the attack on Lumin) were able to live together with other pilots no matter their place of origin or nationality (kinda fulfilling their goal in this one dam,it was basically an echo chamber for them)... A place without war that can´t exist in Stangereal, hence why it´s just a fairyland. And this is probably everything that I can think of now. So I hope you liked my thoughts (and that I don´t look insane from sharing them).

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

In two minds as to whether to post this because I HOPE I'm going to do a comic arc of it.

But since I'm currently incredibly slow to do comics and also because I spent the last three days solid on it... Here it is.

But I guess if you'd rather see it in comic form and care about spoilers then don't read it?

EDIT: I wrote a follow up scene and then I wrote a follow up scene to the follow up scene and... Long story short, or rather, short story long, it's a book manuscript now. I've got 18k words so far

No book spoilers though! (The current book is coming along very well but isn't quite ready). << EDIT: this refers to a different book that is close to a final draft

----

“Um... I d-don’t have a l-lot, but...” Victor held out the canvas bag. The three of them had agreed to do a book swap, or rather, a manga swap. Lucinda had been bringing books to Fairyland for Will, as books were somewhat hard to come by, and she had offered to bring him books too. Victor, having no idea what books he wanted, not being savvy on the selection of Earth books available, and not daring to do such a bold, daring thing as taking a friend up on an offer, hadn’t asked for any yet. Hettie was positively itching to get her hands on Lucinda’s manga – “As the Otherworlds’ first magical girl, it is positively my duty!” – and Victor had some manga too. Only a few volumes... The yokai peddlers only had a small selection that passed inspection by his mother.

Lucinda sat cross-legged on the floor after taking the bag, and had plonked two of her own on the rug. They were in one of the guest parlours, little drawing rooms that were previously for nobles to sit and relax in, but were in the process of being turned into bedrooms and common rooms for the expected magical school students. This one needed very little doing at it, and had become their hangout area. There were comfy couches and a little table and trolley for drinks and snacks. Victor had brought them some tea – books weren’t the only thing he’d picked up from his brief visit home – and it was rapidly cooling as the girls were far too excited by the manga to worry about little things like staying hydrated.

“Oooh this is really rare!” Lucinda picked up one of the more battered copies with a pair of girls on the cover; one with bright pink hair, the other with an equally striking shade of purple. “It never came out in the UK at all, and in the US it was this limited run tied in to the anime they decided to air at like, 5am on a Saturday morning, so it never got a big following and never got reprinted in English. I swear sometimes they WANT shows to fail.”

“I... didn’t understand most of what you said. Sorry, it’s what?” Hettie looked up from where she was already a good chunk into volume 1 of something called Sailor Moon. “I understood ‘rare’ and then you might as well have said ‘and the hoop-de-doo sqoodled the squaddle’.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Lucinda stayed quiet for a minute before rephrasing. “They only printed a small number of these in English because the television show version of it wasn’t popular. And it was never printed in my country at all.”

“Ah.” Hettie sighed wistfully. “Oh to have print runs available. We just get whatever the yokai peddlers have with them. It’s pretty erratic. You’re lucky if you can get more than four or five volumes of a set. Sometimes they have really big sets of one thing, but they’re so expensive.”

“I guess I am pretty lucky to be able to find as much as I can,” Lucinda reflected. “They even have manga in the library.”

“You have to stop, you’re making me far too jealous!” Hettie held a hand out dramatically.

“Um,” Victor interjected. “They have m-manga in the library here, too.”

“They do?!” both girls chorused.

“A lot of it is um... e-embarrassing...” Victor had a very low tolerance for what Hettie had informed him was called ‘fanservice’ but some of the stuff he’d seen must be the sort of service where someone takes a bullet for you and then takes your would-be assassin out with them while apologising that they won’t be able to get your supper ready on time for once as they are unfortunately dying, rather inconsiderately, without two weeks’ notice.

Hettie and Lucinda looked at each other.

“I’m not about to be put off by a bit of embarrassment, are you?” Hettie asked.

“Not a chance.” Lucinda hesitated. “Well, okay. Some chance. But.” They both turned to Victor.

“Lead the way?” Hettie suggested. “Or you can just give us rough directions if you prefer.”

“I’ll c-come with you.” Victor was not about to lose out on time with Lucinda over a few drawings, no matter how embarrassing they were.

“H-here it is...” Victor waved vaguely at the two aisles.

After a few minutes of pulling out volumes at random – and hastily putting some of them back – the girls were a little deflated.

“Are they all in Japanese?” Lucinda asked. “I’m trying to learn but I can just about say what my name is, greet people and count to one hundred. I can read maybe five kanji and some katakana.”

Victor frowned. “Yes? I think. B-but...”

Hettie sighed. “That’s really too bad. Perhaps we could ask your snow woman friend to translate?”

“I don’t want to ask her to do her job for free...” Lucinda replied.

“Um.” Victor pulled the nearest volume out a little, checked it, and pulled it all the way out. He flipped to what in a Western comic would be the back. “Did you check the front? There’s a lot of translation notes and things.”

Lucinda held up a finger. “I did not.” She pulled out another manga and instead of turning to the middle she checked front and back. “Oh. It’s not the type of translation I’m used to, but this’ll work.” She put the random volume back and started searching for the first one of the series.

“It’s silly, really. I should have realised the large yokai population here would have donated something to the library,” Hettie chided herself. “I can’t believe I never looked before. There must be several doors to Japan here.”

Lucinda looked up suddenly. “I. Wow. I never thought of that. Do you think so?”

“It stands to reason?” Hettie theorised. “The queen must know a door, at least.”

“I can’t believe all this time and I never... Do you want to go to Japan?”

“What, now?” Hettie asked. “Right now?”

“It should be possible, right?” Lucinda said, eyes shining. “Although...” Her face fell. She bit the end of her thumb as she thought. “I guess it will take a long time to get into the map room, and I’m kinda broke still...” She glanced over at Victor making him jump. “It’s kinda crowded in the cities, from what I know... That wouldn’t be good... But I don’t know if it would be harder in a small place, we’d be too conspicuous...” She slouched. “I guess we can’t after all... I got myself worked up for nothing.”

“You should go to Okazaki!” came a voice from the other side of the bookcase. There were footsteps, and Will leaned into view around the end of the aisle. “It’s a city, so it’s got all the stuff you’re probably looking for, but it’s really quiet. As long as you don’t go during commuter times, you’ll practically have the pavements to yourself.”

“Okazaki?” Lucinda repeated. “Where’s that?”

“It’s near Nagoya. Aichi Prefecture.”

“I’m sorry to say that doesn't mean anything to me,” Lucinda admitted, rubbing the back of her head. “We’d still need a door map though, and, well, a bunch of stuff. I don’t have any yen, for a start.”

Will waved a hand . “You don’t need to worry about any of that,” he said. “Wait here.”

The three of them exchanged a look. Lucinda and Hettie browsed the manga while they waited, pulling out the odd volume and looking back and forth between the translations and the pages. It was pretty difficult. They weren’t intended to be read in the aisle. Victor had borrowed a few of them and you needed a desk to spread them out on.

It wasn’t long before Will returned, holding an envelope and a piece of white paper, with a much folded look about it. Paper, not parchment.

“Here you go!” He beamed. “Just make sure you go when it’s not right before or after school, and you should be fine.” Lucinda unfolded the paper and all three of them peered at it.

“Door locations?” Hettie asked.

“I came via Okazaki to Fairyland,” Will explained. “I needed to make sure I had an escape route if something went wrong, but the doors you want are this one and this one.” He pointed at the one in the top right and the middle bottom. “Oh, and here.” He presented Lucinda with the envelope, holding the shortest end with a thumb on each corner.

Lucinda opened it. She gasped. “Does that say... ten thousand? Ten thousand yen?! And what’s this?” A large feather slid out with the bank note.

“It’s a feather. You’ll need it to get back here, so don’t lose it.” He pulled out a pencil from a pocket. “I’ll just make you some notes. You need to write the kanji for ‘gate’ in the air to open the return door.” He wrote the kanji next to the door. “It’s pretty easy. Oh and if you do lose the feather or something, THIS door here leads back to Stratford-upon-Avon. It’s quite a walk, to the door and from the door, like, maybe a full day of walking, but if you can’t get back here it’s the best option. I’ll give you my parents’ address. My mom is an Otherworlder, she can help you get home.” He scribbled the address on the back. “Oh and if things are bad in Okazaki for some reason... You can’t get the door to work or any other trouble, you go here.” He drew a star on the map. “Ask for Asakura Miho. She's the local Otherworlder concierge.”

“This... This is a lot of money isn’t it?” Lucinda asked.

“Not loads.” Will shook his head. “Only about £40.”

“Only?” Lucinda spluttered. “I can’t take this!”

“Sure you can!” Will grinned. “Look, you’ve brought me at least that amount in retail value of books, if not in second hand value. I was wondering how best to repay you for it.”

“But... ... I mean...” Lucinda hesitated. She stared long and hard at the note. Finally she said, “If it’s really okay... You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Positive.”

“Okay... Uh...” She looked round at the other two. “Who’s ready to go to Japan, I guess?”

The three of them made their way to the entry door. It was in the Northern Quarter of the capital; a gathering place for yokai.

“It should be... here!” Lucinda pushed on a patch of air and a slit appeared; a slice of blue sky and a rice paddy hung in the air, contrasting heavily with the brown walls of the tavern behind it. Lucinda let it close. Then she checked her phone. “It’s... about 9:10 in the morning. Will said avoid commuter times.” She bit her lip. “I think we should wait a bit longer to be safe.” She drummed her fingers on her arm. “I feel like I’ve forgotten something...”

“You waiting for the Okazaki door, kids?” a voice addressed them from above.

They looked up to see a yokai woman leaning out of the second story window. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips pouting.

“Yes?” Lucinda replied. “We were told to wait until the morning commute was over. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. It’s just... You’re going... like that?”

The parental tone and question was familiar to Victor as of late - his mother did not appreciate his change in wardrobe from the expected vampire evening dress to the everyday fairy tunics. The three of them looked down at themselves then at each other.

“Oh. Oh, I see what you mean,” Lucinda admitted. “We look like we’re going to a convention.” Lucinda had come straight from work and was in her prince outfit, Hettie was wearing one of her tea gowns and Victor was in a blue tunic and pants, tied at the ankle. “Not good for blending in.”

“L-let’s go change?” Victor suggested. “There’s p-plenty of time.”

“I’m not sure I have anything suitable...” Hettie said.

“D-don’t worry, Molly showed me where the clothes a-are for the f-fools, w-we can find something in there.”

“I think I still have some stuff from when I stayed here before,” Lucinda said. “I’ll check my old room while you do that.”

There were a few trunks of spare clothes in the servants’ quarters, mainly intended for fools but really for anyone who wanted them. Fairyland worked on a bartering system, so labour in the palace was exchanged for food, accommodation or occasionally other goods.

“Does this suit me? I think it’s a little big but beggars can’t be choosers...” She had found a wine red jumper; it was a solid colour with long sleeves that hung over the edge of her fingers. She pulled them back over her wrists, using a ribbon on the edges to tighten them.

Victor nodded. “I-it looks very nice. W-will these trousers fit you, d-do you think?” Hettie had also found a blue skirt, but it was a glaring mismatch, in both style and colour.

“Trousers?” Hettie took them uncertainly. “I, I really don’t know, I’ve never worn any before.”

“M-Miss Lucinda is often wearing them, e-even when she isn’t dressed for work,” Victor pointed out.

“Yes, must be nice not to have to worry about changing to come here,” Hettie observed. “Then again, I didn’t have to change when I visited her house. We pretended I worked for Rent-A-Legend too, which come to think of it, I actually did.”

“I’m a l-little jealous that y-you got to see Miss Lucinda’s house,” Victor admitted. He stopped short of asking what her room was like. That felt like spying, somehow.

“It was fun, Earth technology is incredible, a magic of its own... though it was incredibly nerve wracking... I had to keep Lucinda’s identity secret from her parents.” Hettie took the trousers and he turned away so she could change. “I doubt it will be as difficult out and about in a town setting.”

“W-were her parents nice?” Victor asked.

“I only spoke briefly to her mother to introduce myself, but she seemed nice,” Hettie replied. “You can turn around now. How do I look?”

“L-like you’re from Earth,” Victor replied. There were less options for him. Most of the clothing was dresses, or way too big for him. Maybe he would have to make do with his old clothes. He understood they were very old fashioned on Earth, but without his cravat and cape, he would at least look like an Earthling, if a slightly overdressed one.

“Any luck?” Hettie asked.

“No. I’ll h-have to wear my old clothes.” Victor pouted. “I sh-should get some Earth clothes s-sometime. B-but I d-don’t know how I’m going to. They’re s-so expensive a-and the peddlers never h-have anything my size.”

“Perhaps you can ask Lucinda for help?” Hettie suggested.

Victor shook his head. “I c-couldn’t do that.”

Hettie tilted her head to one side. “Whyever not?”

“I j-just... H-help how?”

“So you just automatically answered ‘I can’t’ without even thinking about it?”

“W-well, it j-just seems too imposing t-to ask for help,” Victor tried. “... What do you mean?”

“She literally lives there?” Hettie pointed out. “She offered to bring you books? It shouldn’t be that big a step up to help find some clothes. Maybe she knows some place you can get some cheap? Or she can ask Sara? You really won’t know unless you ask her.”

“B-but clothes are s-so c-complicated!” he protested.

“I don’t think they’re as complicated on Earth,” Hettie said. “Like I say, you won’t know if you don’t ask. Besides, Lucinda is your friend. I wish I could prove it to you that asking her for help isn’t a big deal.”

“N-no, i-it seems like t-too much...” He shook his head.

“Victor...” Her brow furrowed slightly, and Victor steeled himself for a lecture. She stared at him for a long moment before giving a short sigh. “Well, I for one plan to ask Sara where she gets her Earth clothes, so if find out anything useful I shall pass it along. I’m ready, so shall I wait for you here or at the gate?”

“Th-the gate,” Victor answered, relieved. “Please apologise t-to Miss Lucinda for me.”

When he had changed into his old things, he found one of the glassless windows that lined the upper corridors and launched himself out of it, becoming a bat in mid-air. He didn’t much like being a bat, but it would be faster than walking down and he didn’t want to make Lucinda wait any longer than he already had. He made a mental note to learn a new animal transformation spell as soon as possible. He had learned how to become a bat at about age seven, normally a little early for even a vampire to start learning magic, but the death of his father at the hands of a mob when he was six had made his mother keen to get him learning escape spells as soon as possible. He could also turn into mist. That wasn’t much fun either. The only real upside was that you were pretty much impossible to kill. Stay that way too long though, and you’d find your mind starting to dissipate too. It was like being in a dream. You had to force yourself awake again.

“H-here I am!” Victor said, turning back a little way above the ground and landing on his feet. “S-sorry for making you w-wait.”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Lucinda reassured him. “And it’s definitely not commuting time now.”

“I was just telling Lucinda how difficult it was finding Earthling clothes for you,” Hettie said. “She says you can probably have a look in Okazaki.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what second-hand clothes they have in Japan,” Lucinda remarked, smiling at him. “I’m not expecting to find a shop full of kimonos or anything but there’s got to be some cool stuff, right?”

“O-oh. Um, r-right. Yes.” Victor shot his cousin A Look, but she just made a half shrug and a smirk that said ‘See?’.

It was impossible to be mad that she was correct about just asking, or as it seemed, just mentioning, and he spent the walk back to the Northern Quarter wondering what sort of clothes they would have and how they fit without a tailor. He was aware that they didn’t usually have tailors any more. They bought things ‘off the rack’. Maybe they bought everything a size too big and sewed it to fit themselves?

When they got to the door, they found the yokai woman from the tavern waiting there. She had it open the tiniest possible amount, sticking a fingernail in it to keep it from closing. She looked round as they approached.

“Much better.” She nodded approvingly. “I’m just waiting for my partner Mitsuki to get back with supplies. You go ahead... if you’re ready?”

“I think we are.” Lucinda hesitated. “Um. Do you have any other advice?” she asked as she tentatively put a hand on the door. “It’s our first time in Japan.”

“Don’t talk loudly in public, the doors SLIDE, do NOT cross the street when it’s red, you’re expected to pack your own shopping bags at the supermarket AWAY from the cashier, get a little hand towel each for public bathrooms - I recommend Daiso for that – don’t hand money to anyone directly, it’s bad luck, that’s what the little trays are for, oh and I hope you kids like mayonnaise because we put mayonnaise on everything.” The woman thought for a moment longer. “You know a return door, right? From your lack of luggage, I assume this is a day trip?”

Lucinda nodded. “We have a few options.”

“You got a feather?”

“Yes, we have a feather,” Lucinda reassured her.

“And you know the rules for going to and from Earth? It’s not like the other Otherworlds, you know that, right?”

“I’m from Earth, yes,” Lucinda replied.

“Oh. You’re more prepared than you looked.”

“I was just a bit overexcited and I tend to forget what I’m wearing,” Lucinda admitted.

“Off you go then,” the woman said. “Have fun. Try some dango.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Lucinda had just put her hand flat on the door when Hettie piped up suddenly;

“I completely forgot! I have a thing with Lolotte today!”

“You do?”

“Yes, I shall have to go immediately,” she announced. “Don’t want to be late.”

“Oh.” Lucinda took her hand off the door and turned round. “Oh, that’s too bad. We can go another day, then? Lolotte can always come with us?”

“No, no, I won’t hear of it!” Hettie protested, bodily turning Lucinda back to the door. “You and Victor go ahead! You went to the trouble of getting changed and everything. You can go and find all the fun places and show me next time. You’ll have more money between you, too.”

“I guess but... are you really sure? I do want to go but-“

“Then go.” She gave them both a bright smile. “You’ll be more inconspicuous without me, anyway. Much better for a first visit. Can’t be too careful.”

“But-“

“Must dash! See you later!” She gave them a little wave before turning into a panther and bounding away.

“Well... I guess we’re going then.” Lucinda scratched her head before smiling apologetically at the yokai woman. “If that’s okay? With just me?” She addressed this to Victor. Who almost didn’t hear her over the internal screaming.

“Th-that’s fine,” he replied, a little shocked to find he meant it.

Yes, he reassured himself. Fine. He was alone with Lucinda. Not a problem. It had ended horribly the last time, but fine. So it was his first visit to Earth. And not a ‘Western’ culture like he was used to at home. So he didn’t speak the local language. So what if he couldn’t use magic there. So what if there were humans all over the place?

“Okay. Just stick close to me and if it’s too busy we’ll turn back, all right?” Lucinda offered. “Will said it would be quiet, so I guess we’ll just see. I’m... a little bit scared, but at least I won’t be alone. I mean, I’ll still go alone, if you change your mind. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve been doing this for two years. I’ve been to scarier places than Japan, that’s for sure. The crime rate’s supposed to be really low. And there’s zero dragons.”

Victor considered this. They were stood in what was a foreign country to both of them right now. In Fairyland it was allowed to eat people who didn’t have a resident’s permit and there were at least two species of flower that killed you if you looked at them funny. And while he’d managed to shake off most of what he’d realised were his mother’s prejudices about humans, he was still nervous around strangers. To be fair, he was also nervous around any type of people, most animals, quite a lot of plants and the occasional rock. But objectively Japan was not scary.

“I-I’ll tell you i-if it’s too much,” he said. Oddly, it helped to know Lucinda was also a little scared. And that he was helping. He’d never helped someone else to not be scared before.

“Let’s go then.”

The yokai woman opened the door, looked around quickly, and tilted her head to indicate that they should indeed go. As they stepped through, a tanuki slipped past them the other way. They turned in surprise to see the tanuki take a human form, peering at them curiously as the door closed.

“Just some otaku kids-” they heard before the sound was cut off.

Victor looked around. He’d thought they were in the countryside but the rice paddy they’d seen through the door was next to a building... A few buildings. There was a row of houses behind them. A narrow, concrete road was painted with white stripes to serve as the pavement edge and some letters he couldn’t read.

“Oh. Uh. Wow. We’re actually really here.” Lucinda looked around at the scenery, shading her eyes from the sun. Though, the sun was nothing compared to her smile. She beamed at the scenery like it was a long lost treasure. She bounced on her heels with her hands clenched. “What should we do first? Oof, it is warm.” It really was very warm, much like Fairyland. His shirt probably wasn’t the most appropriate for the heat, but at least it would protect his skin from the sun. “Glad I put on sun cream already for Fairyland.” Lucinda fanned herself with a hand. “Do you need sun cream?”

“Sun cream?” Victor asked.

“To protect you from sunburn? Do fairies have a potion for that instead, maybe?”

“I d-did... b-but this morning.” It was late afternoon in Fairyland.

“We’d better get some then.” She tutted to herself. “I am not, in fact, well prepared at all.” He expected her to be annoyed, but she laughed. Still with a smile a mile wide she continued, “We need to break this note anyway. What did she say... Mini hand towel...for bathrooms... Ah, where did she say would be good for that?”

“D-Daiso,” Victor said.

“Great. Thanks!” Lucinda pulled out her phone. She’d brought a small bag. It was a croqueted tote; pale green with a white flower. It went well with her outfit; a pink frilly top and long white skirt. “Let’s see... Daiso...” She tapped her foot for a minute while she waited for something. Her smile finally turned to a frown. “Data is HOW MUCH per megabyte?! Someone’s having a laugh. All the way to the bank.” She shrugged and her smile returned. “Ah well. Not like I use my data for much since I’ve no signal half the time. Ooh, there’s a Daiso really close! Basically straight up this road! This way.”

“A m-map on your phone?” Victor queried.

“Yeah, it connects to a thingy in space or something,” Lucinda explained. “Oh, if you need to translate something, it can do that too. Not WELL, but enough that we should get by.”

“H-how is your phone N-NOT magic, again?” Victor asked, staring at it. It could show pictures, moving images, play music, he’d seen her use it to do maths and he knew there was a library in there too. Multiple libraries, from what he could gather. And yet Earthlings would be amazed he could turn into a bat.

“Honestly can’t argue,” Lucinda admitted.

As they walked, he thought again about the bat thing. “Um, M-Miss Lucinda, if you could turn into a-any animal, what w-would you choose?”

“Good question.” Lucinda stopped as she thought. Someone on a bike rode past them. Victor didn’t have time to react. They were already long gone even as he registered the intrusion. As he looked behind him to see where they went, he realised the jester had been right; the street was deserted. It was a tiny side road, that he could see, but this was much better than he had hoped. “I don’t know.” Lucinda’s reply startled him out of his observations.

“You don’t?”

“I’m not sure I’d want to turn into an animal at all,” she said. As he drew breath to question her further, she gasped, “Oh look, it’s right there! Right across the road!”

“O-oh. Th-that’s what she meant by ‘d-don’t cross when it’s red’,” Victor observed.

“Yeah. We call that the ‘green man’ in the UK. Interesting cultural difference,”-she held up a finger-“here they say ‘it’s blue’ instead of green.”

“The G-Green Man?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “L-like the forest spirit?”

“Oh. Oh yeah. I... think I’ve heard of that. Not the same guy, from what I know. Incidentally... It’s blue.” As they crossed she added, “And where I’d say ‘your face has gone white’ they say ‘your face is dark blue’.”

“Interesting... Wh-where did you l-learn that?”

“I’m not sure.” Lucinda cupped her chin. “Probably from manga translation notes or possibly from a research rabbit hole on the internet.”

They stopped at the edge of a large concrete area in front of the store. It had a few cars on it, with lines indicating where they should stop. He’d never seen a car before, but was vaguely aware they could kill you or explode. Luckily there were only two, and both were on the same side of the car area. They could see quite well into the store via the glass panelling all along the front. It wasn’t busy. There were four or five people in there he could see, all spread out.

“Do you want to come in with me or wait here?” Lucinda asked.

“I’ll... I’ll c-come in,” he decided, steeling himself. Even though they were at a BIG crossroads, bigger than any he’d ever seen, it was still almost devoid of people. Despite the size, it was still quieter than the Dark Capital’s streets. Logically, it was silly not to go in.

“Okay.” Lucinda led the way. He froze momentarily when the doors opened BY THEMSELVES at which Lucinda didn’t so much as blink. More Earthling ‘science’. “Oh no,” she almost whispered. He stopped again. “Everything. Is so. CUTE.”

“I-is that bad?” Victor’s voice quavered. Cute was not a quality he had hitherto associated with the phrase “oh no”.

“It is bad,” Lucinda replied solemnly, “because I want to buy it all.”

He relaxed somewhat. “What were we l-looking for again? H-hand towels?”

“Oh. Yes.” Lucinda snapped her fingers. “And sun cream. I’ll look up the word for sun cream while I remember.”

Heart pounding, Victor followed her along the shelves. He barely noticed the goods at first, instead keeping a surreptitious eye on the other customers and the shopkeepers. But he gradually came to the realisation... they weren’t paying him any attention at all. The shopkeepers would glance in his direction, smile and say a greeting. But then carry on with their work. He was completely unremarkable, apparently. It was liberating.

After a little while of browsing around the shelves which contained the wildest assortment of goods Victor could never have imagined existed, Lucinda stopped and took a very deliberate breath.

“Okay I have to make a rule for myself here,” she said. “This is the first shop we’ve been in and there is already so much cool stuff. I have to wait until we’ve had a proper look around. Comic Con rules.” She thought for a moment. “Um. Not that I’ll stop you from buying stuff you want.” She paused again. “I know Hettie said to spend the money on ourselves but I think we should save her some of it anyway. Let’s say... 2000 yen each? And we’ll try to save the rest. I know Will said we can just spend it but... I just wouldn’t feel right.”

“Y-you really d-don’t need to worry about me,” Victor protested.

“Don’t be silly,” she chided. “At the very least you need some food and drink. Speaking of, I know I said I’d wait to buy things but I have spotted some sweets I DEFINITELY want. They’re technically food. And is that an ice cream freezer I can see?”

“Ice cream w-would be nice,” he admitted. It was far too hot to say no to something as nice, luxurious and above all cold, as ice cream.

“Lemme just...” Lucinda checked something on her phone again and made a low whistle. “Wow, okay that is cheap. Is this a Japanese pound store??” They couldn’t read everything but the flavours were obvious enough and some were also written in English.

“I-I’ll have the earl g-grey one,” he said. “I-if you’re really sure.”

“Good choice. I’m super tempted by that one too but I think I’ll try the ice cream mochi.” She took one of each out of the cold box and looked around. “Oh. Self-checkout. I have never been so glad to see one before. I was working myself up about having to talk to the cashier for nothing.” She approached some boxes with words displayed on a screen. It was almost like a big version of her phone, he noticed. “Oh and there’s an English option, even.”

“Wh-what does ‘w-working yourself up’ mean?” he asked.

“That I was making myself really stressed,” Lucinda replied.

“You w-were stressed??” He hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah, to be honest I was dawdling a bit because I was stressing about having to talk to the cashier,” she admitted. “Sorry. I’ll try not to. I’m going to have to talk to at least one cashier today I’m sure.”

“D-don’t apologise...”

They took their ice creams just outside and ate them right away. There were a couple of big boxes out here too, that also looked like the cold boxes he’d seen inside. They had rows and rows of... something?

“Oh right, I forgot to get a drink.” Lucinda eyed the nearest one. “Is that... tea? COLD milk tea? That’s ... different. Though I suppose you get iced tea without milk AND iced coffee however. I’m gonna try it. We have change now.” She selected an option. Something clanged in a compartment below the rows of drinks and she reached through a flap and took out a can. “Hey, this is hot?! What the heck??” She studied the rows again. “Oh. OH. This one with the red must be hot and... the blue ones are cold? How the heck do they do that??” So there WAS some Earthling science she was baffled by. She turned from the machine and wiggled the can at him. “Want one? They’re pretty cheap.”

“Y-yes please.” While he still felt he was imposing, she was right that he couldn’t go all day without anything to eat or drink. Technically he had had lunch... back in Fairyland, some hours ago. And he was thirsty.

“This is very sweet,” Lucinda remarked, after taking a swig. “I think I like it.”

Victor tried his. “Y-yes, very.” He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not. Sweet things were a luxury at home, and carefully rationed, as he mustn’t damage his teeth. Come to think of it... she had said drinks were okay, and it WAS important. “C-can I also um, g-get some water?”

“Sure.” She double-checked something on her phone before making a selection. “Yep. Should be water.”

“Th-thank you.” Once he’d finished the tea and ice cream, he took a good few mouthfuls of water, swishing it around a bit. Seeing Lucinda looking at him curiously he said. “U-um. For-” He opened his mouth a little and pointed to his fangs.

“Oh. Yeah. Too much sugar would really mess you up, huh?” She tapped her own teeth thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind. Want me to carry that?” She indicated the water bottle.

“Um. Please. Th-thank you.” Was Hettie right? Was it really this easy?

“We should look for where we can buy clothes next, I guess. Oh and sun cream. Here’s the sun cream.” She handed over a small bottle. “Uh-”-she lunged forward and grabbed his arm-“-you don’t drink it. You rub it on your skin. Just where the skin is showing.”

He lowered the bottle, feeling his face colour and wordlessly opened the top, looking down to avoid her gaze. He squeezed some out and rubbed it on his face.

“You need a mirror?” Lucinda tapped her phone and turned it to face him. He jumped, seeing his face on the screen. “There’s a camera on it,” she explained. “Two cameras, actually.”

“Is there anything it doesn’t do?” he said, mystified, forgetting his embarrassment.

“Lots of things but admittedly none I can think of right now,” Lucinda replied. “Right. Clothes,” she said when he’d finished. “There’s a place right up the street. Book-Off? Sounds like a weird name to pick if you sell clothes.”

It was a straight walk up the very big street. It was so big there were trees and sculpted bushes between the pavement and the road, as well as a line specifically for the bicycles. Yet there were still hardly any pedestrians. The occasional bike whizzed past. They still made him jump, but he was finding himself less bothered about any of the humans around. It helped that this place was like nothing he’d ever seen. Some of the buildings were huge. Not just big, like his grandmother’s mansion, but wide AND tall. Incredibly tall. Fairyland trees tall. Maybe taller.

“This is... a supermarket?” Lucinda frowned. “Where is the clothing place?”

“I-is it up there?” Victor pointed to a strange, moving metal stairway.

“Well spotted.” She moved towards it and looked up. “Looks like there’s more floors too. Shall we go up?”

Victor nodded. He watched her as she stepped onto the moving stairs, then copied her. There was a handrail to hold; it moved at the same rate as the stairs. Earthlings had thought of everything. His fingers stiffened on the rail as they neared the top – how did you get off? What if he didn’t do it right? Lucinda merely stepped off at the top. He wobbled a little and half-jumped off, as his toe bumped the metal barrier at the top. He straightened up immediately and spun around, backing away. When they didn’t explode, stop or otherwise herald disaster, he turned away and looked around. The floor below had been filled with food from what little he saw, but this one was full of clothes, tableware and a lot of stuff he could only categorise as ‘Earth things’. There was a floor above them that seemed to be full of books. Lucinda noticed it too.

“First we’ll look on this floor, then we’ll go up and look at the manga and DVDs and stuff then we’ll go get some dinner from the supermarket,” Lucinda suggested. “Sound good?”

Victor gave a nod. “I d-don’t r-really mind what we do.” He really didn’t. This was a good place for his first ever Earth visit, he realised; everything was as fascinating to Lucinda as it was to him.

“Wow, there really are kimonos here!” she pointed to a section full of robes and wraps. “Or maybe they’re yukata. I’m not confident I can tell. Ooh and are those bowls and things? I am definitely getting a bowl or a cup or something.”

They browsed for a while. Victor tried to keep Lucinda in his eye line, but it was difficult as the clothes were organised by type. He didn’t want to bother her, but became quickly apparent that he needed some help.

“U-um... H-how do I know i-if the clothes will fit?” he asked.

She put a finger to her lips for a minute. “I never thought of that. Clothing sizes are different in different countries, so I guess I’m not sure what size fits me, either. Um... If I can figure out what size you are in UK sizes, I can probably convert it to a Japanese size.” She got out her phone again. “You’re roughly my size, and I’m a size twelve, sometimes a ten, probably need to go with a twelve or maybe even a fourteen to be safe. It’s easier to make a garment smaller than it is to make it bigger.” She tapped on her phone for another minute, her face a mask of concentration. “We’re looking for size 11 or 13, or just M for medium. You find it on the clothing tag, here.” She pulled up a little white label on the neckline of a nearby shirt. “Do you want me to help you look, or...?”

“N-no,” he said quickly. “I-I should be able t-to look by myself now.” He didn’t want to take up more of Lucinda’s time than necessary.

“Okay.” She gave him a thumbs up. “You want me to give you your share of the money or you want us to go to the counter together when you’re done on this floor? I wouldn’t say I speak Japanese, but I can at least count and I have my phone if it gets more complicated.”

“T-together, please,” he said, cursing inwardly that he’d be holding her up after all.

He browsed the clothing as quickly as he could manage. He had no idea what he was looking for, exactly. He stiffened up every time someone else appeared in the aisle, far more on edge now Lucinda wasn’t with him. He tried to focus. Think. What did he actually need. The plain, black trousers he was wearing were fine apparently, but his white shirt was too formal. A shirt, then. He should try to find a casual shirt.

He was absorbed in the task when he noticed a boy a little further down the aisle, about his own age. He hadn’t seen him approach.

‘Don’t panic,’ he thought to himself. ‘He won’t even look at you.’

The boy looked at him. And Victor had been looking at the boy. He’d seen him looking! Victor seized up. The boy’s eyes flicked to Victor’s hair. He’d forgotten about his hair. It was short and black, but with a thick, white streak in his fringe and around the nape of his neck up to his ears. In the Otherworlds, it was now a known sign of vampirism.

The boy gave him a smile. “It’s very cool!” he said in a thick accent, fingers brushing his own bangs.

“Th-thank you?” Victor replied.

The boy smiled a little wider. Then he looked away, and continued browsing.

Victor hurriedly looked away too, feeling his face redden. It would probably look bad to run away. He fought his every instinct, forcing each and every nerve to stay rooted to the spot. After a few heart pounding minutes that felt like hours, the boy left the aisle. Victor sagged in relief before nearly launching himself into the air when he felt someone come up behind him.

“I found this super cute dress, but there’s no way it’ll fit me,” Lucinda lamented. “It’s so unfair. I think I’ll get it for Erlina, though. Think Hettie would like this cup?”

Getting his breathing back under control, Victor nodded mutely. It was a pretty cup. It was pale blue with pink flowers. Lucinda was also carrying a bowl with a similar design, a spoon shaped like a mermaid and two pieces of clothing. One was the aforementioned dress, the other was a mauve and beige shirt with some writing on it.

“I'm shamelessly breaking my 'look around first' rule. How's it going?" She lowered her voice. “Hey, did you see that guy who was just here? He looked so cool!”

Victor tried hard to remember what the boy had actually looked like. Black, short hair, but with blond tips, and he was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and ripped jeans. He’d been wearing studded bracelets, a mixture of black and bright neon colours. “H-he spoke to me,” Victor said. “H-he said my hair w-was cool.”

“I just realised that in an Earth context, your hair looks like a fashion statement,” Lucinda observed. “I bet it would dye bright colours really easily, too.”

“Y-you can dye h-hair bright colours?” Victor asked.

“Yeah. Or pastel. Blonde. Whatever, really.” Lucinda took in his empty hands. “No luck?”

“N-not really,” he admitted.

“Do you want some help?” she asked. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can look too.”

“I’d l-like a shirt,” he said. “D-do you think m-maybe... s-something like that boy was wearing? But, n-not black. A-and with sleeves?”

“Gotcha.”

In the end they left with a n orangey-brown hoody-like shirt with colourful gashes in the sleeves, and some soundtrack CDs from the third floor, which Lucinda nearly fainted at, and which she’d talked about at length in a squeaky, high pitched voice that he’d probably have been able to hear better as a bat. Then they’d walked around the huge food market on the ground floor, picked out some dinner – technically supper – and now they were sat on some benches a street or two away eating some dango. It was sweet rice paste formed into balls, covered in a sweet, brown syrup. He had opted for a colourful version with no syrup; the balls were white, pink and green.

“These are so good,” Lucinda waved an empty skewer in the air. “Why don’t they make these in England? I wonder if I can make them myself...”

“These a-are also very nice,” Victor said. He yawned. It was getting pretty late in Fairyland.

“You know, I realised I only gave you half an answer before, and then I never heard your answer,” she said suddenly. “You asked me what animal I’d want to be,” she clarified, seeing his confusion.

“I-I asked because I d-don’t know,” he said.

Now it was her turn to look baffled. “What do you mean?”

“I d-don’t like being a bat,” he admitted, wrinkling his nose. “I w-want to learn a d-different spell, but I d-don’t have any ideas.”

“I imagine it is kind of a pain,” she sympathised. “Especially in the day. But I don’t know that much about bats. They’re cute and misunderstood, they have echo location, and that’s it, that’s all I know.”

“I l-like bats,” he pointed out, “I j-just don’t want to b-be one.”

“An owl, maybe?” Lucinda suggested. “Wait, no, same problem, nocturnal... Umm... Flying squirrel? Though, I guess you’d prefer something that can actually fly, not just glide... Hmm.”

“Wh-what about you, though?”

“Me? I’m happy staying the shape I am.” She leaned a hand on her cheek. “I wish I was a bit prettier... I guess who doesn’t...”

“Y-you’re pretty!” he protested.

“O-oh? Thanks.” She hunched her shoulders and smiled awkwardly. “I mean, it’s not like I think I’m ugly it’s just...” She dropped her shoulders again and looked away. “I don’t get to feel pretty a lot? I’m a prince for my job and my school uniform isn’t exactly flattering... So that’s at least 90% of the time I’m not dressed how I want. I suppose I’m done with high school really soon so that’s goodbye to the uniform at least.”

“D-do you not l-like working as a prince?” Victor asked.

“It’s not that,” Lucinda replied. “It’s just... tiring to pretend you’re a gender you’re not? I mean I don’t have to do a lot - Otherworlders just see the outfit and think ‘That’s a boy’. It’s both really useful and incredibly irritating at the same time. I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”

“I th-think I understand,” Victor replied. “I-I w-want new c-clothes because I d-don’t want people to l-look at me and just s-see ‘vampire’.”

“Do you... is it hard on you, being a vampire?” she asked.

“I d-don’t know, i-it’s inconvenient,” he replied, “b-but i-it’s n-not that I’m a vampire, i-it’s that I didn’t kn-know I was allowed to be a-anything else.”

“Yeah, it’s ... a whole thing, finding out something like that.” She flung a hand out in front of her. “It’s like, ‘You mean THIS was an option this whole time?!’ and it’s both annoying and great.” She laughed. “It’s better late than never though, right?”

He smiled to himself. “Y-yes...”

Lucinda rubbed her eyes. “Speaking of late... it’s something like 4am back home, and it's pretty late in Fairyland too.” She yawned. “I know we’ve only really been to two shops and a supermarket, but maybe we should head back? It’s up to you though. I can easily stay up longer.”

“W-we should head back,” Victor agreed. He was tired, and he was starting to suspect it wasn’t just the time since he’d last slept.

They got up, put their rubbish in the correct bin – there were several – and starting walking back. They’d been walking for just a few minutes when they were blindsided by a car. Lucinda jumped back. She hadn’t seen the crossing light - which was red - or the vehicle. There was a tiny side road with a wall blocking the view of anything but the main street. You couldn’t see the side street until you were practically on it.

“G-gomen nasai!” she said, bowing an apology. The driver didn’t look impressed; they were frowning hard. Lucinda shuffled back a good way from the road edge.

Victor, who had taken off as a bat in his panic, clung to the wall. It took Lucinda a minute to understand what had happened and spot him. She held a hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?” she asked. They were now on opposite sides of the little road, but she didn’t try to cross.

“I-I think so,” he replied. “Th-that w-was close.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see that road AT ALL.” Lucinda made a face at the crossing light. She looked all around them and down the offending side street again. “It’s clear. No-one’s looking.”

“R-right.” He climbed around the corner anyway, just in case. And then...

“Do you want me to help block you from view?” she offered.

“Um.” He hung there for a minute. “Um... M-Miss Lucinda...”

“Yeah?”

“I c-can’t change back.” His voice sounded as small as he was.

She frowned and finally crossed the road, standing on the corner of the main street. “What was that?”

“I... I c-can’t change back.”

“Has that ever happened before?”

“N-no. N-not... to me.”

Her expression changed to match his own growing horror. “Lamprey...” Eyes wide, she bit her knuckles while she thought. “Did they ever... Couldn’t the fairies fix it? Or a witch?”

“It d-doesn’t w-work,” he answered, struggling to keep a grip on the stone as his whole body was trembling. “Th-they t-tried, b-but you end up w-with a regular h-human who still n-needs blood. B-but with a body th-that c-can’t handle it. I-it w-was worse a-and he w-would have died f-from n-no blood.” His grip slipped and he slid a few inches down the wall.

“Um. Do you want to...?” Lucinda held out a hand. He hesitated, before climbing on. She held her arms together a little away from her torso. “You know, one of the reasons I couldn’t answer you before about the animal thing... When I was turned into a raven that one time, it was really freaky how everyone else was suddenly a giant. So um, let me know if I’m being scary.”

“I-I’m u-used to it...” He glanced up at her before looking quickly back down. Her face was a mask of concentration.

“Didn’t Lamprey fall asleep as a bat or stay too long as a bat or something?” she asked. “I don’t remember the details but I know that he couldn’t turn back because he didn’t have enough magic. And he couldn’t drink enough blood to get enough magic to ever turn back because bats are too small.”

“Y-yes, that’s wh-what happened,” Victor confirmed.

“So... Um, so...” she began hesitantly, “since you only just turned into a bat, wouldn’t it work if you... drank blood, like, right now?”

“M-maybe, b-but... I c-can’t j-just... Who would...” Realisation dawned and he glanced up again.

“You could... drink... mine?” her voice cracked. “Wow, those words really just came out of my mouth. But there’s not a lot of options.”

“B-but-” Oh good. Now he had two different kinds of nightmare scenario to deal with at once, AND memories of The Incident were flooding back. His claws reflexively tensed, and he remembered that was flesh he was gripping, and forced himself to just flop. “B-but-” he tried again.

“I don’t think we’ve got time to argue,” Lucinda pointed out. “It’s at least thirty minutes walk to the return door, then a few hours from the return door to the palace.” She made sure no-one was looking, then ducked into the narrow side road, heading uphill. “Just need to find somewhere less exposed...”

“B-but-” He had absolutely no arguments to counter with.

“Look,” she continued as she powerwalked up the street, “I know I said don’t ask me for blood, and you didn’t, I offered. And, yeah, I’m uncomfortable and slightly terrified but you were literally just talking about how you don’t like being a bat and if I don’t do something you might be stuck as a bat forever and I’m a prince and rescuing people is my job and it doesn’t matter if I’m on Earth or I’m not getting paid, because you don’t get to choose who needs rescuing-”

“I d-don’t-”

“-so we’re both just going to have to speedrun facing our demons. Here should do.” She stopped in another side street, and leaned against a wall breathing hard. “Look, it’s not like that time with the potion. Just. Just go ahead? I promise it’s fine.” She hesitated. “Well all right, not fine, but as fine as I’m going to get. And we might have taken too long already.”

Unable to answer with any suitable words, Victor turned his attention to Lucinda’s arm. This was going to be a lot harder as a bat. And it was going to hurt. Human skin offered zero resistance to vampire fangs, but bat teeth weren’t anywhere near as sharp. He wasn’t even a vampire bat. Still, they weren’t herbivore teeth. He tentatively nipped near a vein. He felt Lucinda wince; she didn’t say anything, but she gave him a thumbs up with her other hand. He tried again, hearing a hiss from Lucinda, but he’d drawn blood. And still the inconvenience of being a bat wasn’t over, because he couldn’t cover the wound and suck. Bats lapped. He tried to avoid the actual cut, merely licking at the trickle of blood. He’d have to try and drink as much as he could stand; constantly stopping and failing to transform would only drain even more magic and draw this ordeal out. Determined not to look at Lucinda until he was done and frankly, possibly never again, ever, he focused on the blood. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t drink any more – he was a pretty small bat – and without thinking, tried to transform. The two of them toppled over, the sudden weight of a human on the girl’s arms not being conducive to good balance, and they ended up in a heap on the floor.

“It worked!” Lucinda beamed at him before extracting her arms from under him and pushing herself away.

Victor’s body was screaming at him. He was bruised and aching from the fall, he’d been up for nearly twenty four hours now and above all, he was thirsty. “C-can I-” He bit the question back.

Lucinda rubbed her wrist near the cut. “Do you... n-need more...?”

He gave a single nod.

Lucinda held out the still dripping arm shakily. “Well, I’m... already bleeding s-so...”

Victor shook his head furiously.

Lucinda started laughing.

He looked up in alarm.

She pushed herself up off her knees and into a sitting position, still laughing. “We are the worst two people for this activity.”

“Wh-why are you laughing?”

“I dunno, just, there couldn’t be any two worse people to have been put into this situation,” she remarked. “Well... maybe Sara,” she admitted after a moment’s thought. “Probably, no, definitely Sara.”

“A-are you okay...?”

“Doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Erlina fainted from not having enough magic in Bad Schwartz and that’s an area that actually has magic. Earth has barely any. I wouldn’t be able to carry you back to the door if you collapse, and if we tried and failed, you’d collapse in public, in a country where I don’t speak the language, and neither of us has a passport. Pretty sure that’s illegal, now that I think about it. So.” She held out her arm again, steadily this time.

“I c-can’t argue...” he whined, slumping back against the wall. Eventually he dragged himself back up and to where she was sat. He gingerly took her arm and put his mouth to the cut. It was inadequate, so he used his fangs. At least this way wasn’t painful.

“You know, this isn’t anything like any of the nightmare scenarios I had in my head,” she said. “I thought it would hurt, for one thing.” She rifled in her bag one handed and pulled out her phone. “Still okay for time.”

Despite what she said, he could feel she was tense through her arm. She held it rigid, while she kept a lookout for people and cars.

Eventually he let go and just let himself breathe.

“I should probably get a plaster or a bandage for this,” she began, looking at her arm. “Oh... It’s actually not bleeding that much. It’s stopped already?”

“Vampire bites h-heal v-very fast.”

“I’m gonna get some cute plasters anyway,” she said, standing up a little shakily and dusting herself off. “I’m always getting scrapes from my prince work and um, I... don’t want people to see the bite mark. But mainly I want to buy cute stuff. Is that okay? It’s on the way back. That Daiso place.”

“Y-you could tell me y-you want t-to tour the whole city by foot a-and I’d agree.”

“Is there anything you want?”

“I w-want to s-sleep for s-seven hundred y-years,” he replied. “A-and some more of th-that tea.”

They returned to the store and got more sweets and drinks, and a few interesting gizmos. It was now the wee hours of the morning in Fairyland, and it was disheartening to know that they had a few hours to walk before they got to the palace and more importantly, their bedrooms.

When they stepped through the door to Fairyland, they found a carriage waiting there.

“There you are!” Tyrian exclaimed with relief. “I thought something might have happened, so I came to wait for you. Will told me this was the return door he gave you.”

“We weren’t gone that long, were we?” Lucinda asked.

“I... suppose not, but it was getting dark and you weren’t back, and I know its not dark there yet, but I don’t know, it’s Victor’s first trip to Earth and everything,” he rambled. “Not that I don’t trust you Lucy!” he backpedalled. “So ah, was everything all right? No emergencies?”

“N-none at all,” replied Victor.

“Completely uneventful,” Lucinda reported.

“Very good then,” Tyrian said, opening the carriage door. “Get in.”

“You have no idea how glad we are that we don’t have to walk back,” Lucinda told him as she climbed inside. She settled herself into the opposite corner, on the same side as Tyrian.

Victor lay full length on the other seat, facing the ceiling.

“So, what did you get up to?” Tyrian asked brightly.

“N-no questions, please,” Victor protested.

“Agreed. No questions, only sleep,” Lucinda added, closing her eyes and getting as comfortable as possible.

“Hmm.” He peered at them both in turn before settling back himself. “Very well, as you wish,” he acquiesced.

They were asleep before they even reached the edge of the forest.

----

I have so much stuff to do right now but this INSISTED on being written.

Oh and... Lucinda is wrong about there being zero dragons. Just fyi.

[comicaurora]

Wait, so if (spoilers for urban fantasy thing i guess) Fairyland is really Tir Na nOg, does that mean it has the same Tir Na nOg time weirdness where after leaving it you'll probably age a few centuries? Or was that all lost when the realm became illusory?

Time is still wonky in Fairyland, and is in fact wonky across several Realms - considering how many folktales involve wacky time distortion it'd be a waste to leave it out of the urban fantasy version.

[minnichan]

nine people I’d like to get to know better

Got tagged by @dual-domination! :D

🎶 Last song I listened to: WINK by Chuuohku Party of Words (Hypmic) - I'm still so happy the ladies got songs and now a stage play even though it started as a male only project.

📺 Currently watching: I just finished rewatching Scumbag System yesterday (crying over how we will never get that second season). I'm technically still watching Parallel World (last episode left) and Fairyland Lovers (last 15 min left) but I've not touched either in weeks... Also I'm in the middle of rewatching Guardian and my first watch of Star Trek with my house mates but we're only making slow progress.

🌶️ Sweet/Savory/Spicy?: Savory > Spicy > Sweet - but I like them all. I can't handle much spice but I do like a little bit of it.

❤️ Relationship status: Single and no plans to change that (except for if anyone wants to be my glucose guardian without expecting anything in return).

🤩 Current obsession: Sha Po Lang/Stars of Chaos by Priest, especially Gu Yun lol. Though I'm waiting for the official translation so I'm only up to date with volume 3. Can't read many fics that don't include spoilers but I'm so focused on SPL currently that I can't read other fandoms... Also I've been playing a lot of minesweeper.online

Tagging @jeaniechibi @polar-explorer @asoftspotforangels @programmedradly

@tehfanglyfish @miss-ingno @thatsnotbeautiful @baiyubai @mcvices

Feel free to ignore me if you don't want to do/have done this already.

[maplesamurai]

Some Fan Theories Before Wizard School Mysteries Vol. 3 Drops Tomorrow*

Wizard School Mysteries is a series of indie fantasy novels written by Will Cope (a.k.a. Tumblr's very own @tyrantisterror) and currently one of my favourite book series I've ever read. Set in TT's medieval fantasy setting of Midgaheim, the series follows the adventures of young wizard James Chaucer and his group of friends attending the Academy of Advanced Arcana and Magic as they investigate the various misdeeds that go on in their school under the ostensible watch of a faculty that frankly should not be in charge of running an ordinary school, much less one that teaches people how to summon fireballs. If you're the kind of person that may have grown up reading a certain other wizard school series but would like to read a version of that written by an actually decent human being and who presents the unjust institutions they've written into their world as something that should be challenged, then I cannot recommend this series highly enough. Especially since the latest instalment drops tomorrow on Amazon (okay, today since the clock struck midnight while I was still writing, but it was still the previous day when I wrote that sentence), so there is no better time to start reading!

But this is not a post about me recommending the series for newcomers. Instead, I'm here to take advantage of this topical timeframe to infodump about my personal theories that will be completely incomprehensible, not to mention spoiler-y, for anyone not as hopelessly lost in the sauce as I am. So if you haven't read them yet, books good go read, but if you're one of the two and a half people also in this criminally small fandom, jump under the cut for some basesless guesswork that may or may not be proven wrong by tomorrow!

Future Books and Their Central Characters

While James Chaucer has remained the primary POV character throughout the series thus far, Will has stated that each instalment of this planned to be eight book series will focus on the personal journey of one of the eight Meddlesome Youths. Book One was focused on James's story, showing him finding people who truly care about him after escaping his abusive home life and culminating with him finally being able to leave his pre-transition identity behind him, while Book Two centred around the tournament that Margot d'Francane competed in and eventually won, making her a school celebrity after a lifetime of being shunned and feared for her uncontrollable magic, and saw her deliver some well-deserved comeuppance to the abusive teacher who made her life hell during the first book. And Will has long established that Book Three will focus on Gretchen's apprenticeship under the Letharg Coven of witches, but how am I going to guess the central characters of the rest of the series, you might ask? Why, I'm going to look at the titles and just guess which ones suit which characters, of course?

...Look, I never said these theories had that much evidence to go on, alright?

While I haven't been able to find the post in question recently, a while ago Will shared his full list of every book, Midgaheim related or otherwise, that he plans to write, and at the time I copy and pasted the list of Wizard School Mysteries titles into a friend and I's Discord server to discuss just this topic, so without further ado, here's my guesses for...

Wizard School Mysteries Book 4: Creative Spellcrafting

More than any other member of the Meddlesome Youths, Ivan has been the one most inclined to put a creative spin on his magic or straight up invent his own spells, namely creating a flying carpet, and even turning the spell's more ravenous than intended side effects to his advantage in the gang's escape to Fairyland, and inventing a new form of illusion magic in the form of his "sillylusions," essentially inventing magical cartoons, which ultimately saved the day in the second book. And if one were to look at another definition of "creative," Will has confirmed that Ivan will eventually make a whole team of homunculi as the series goes on, i.e. creating life.

Wizard School Mysteries Book 5: Besties and Bestiaries

This is one of the easier ones to guess, as Serena calls people her "besties" a whole lot, which admittedly isn't as well-argued a guess as above, but it's the only title here to employ of of the Youths' own speech patterns, so I'm going with it.

Wizard School Mysteries Book 6: Amour of the Rings

First of all, "amour" means love, and Rodrigo's literally represents the Lovers of the Major Arcana, so right out of the gate we have that going for this theory. Expanding on that, rings in medieval times were given by monarchs to the vassals who swore fealty to them (that was even the symbolism behind Sauron's One Ring ploy in Tolkien, so we can also guess Will isn't naming his fantasy novel like that just to be cute), giving us a connection to Rodrigo as our only main cast member confirmed to be of noble birth as of this writing, and his knowledge of noble court politics has helped the gang out before. The mention of both love and rings also hints as a Rodrigo-focused story, since as the only noble born member of the Meddlesome Youths, he is more likely than any to become embroiled in an arranged marriage, which considering he and Ivan have become an official couple as of Book Two, could lead to a lot of complications among the cast.

Wizard School Mysteries Book 7: Mysteries Abroad

Okay, these last two titles don't hint at as many explicit connections to any of our heroes, but being a fairy studying among humans, Charlotte is the cast member best suited for the kind of "fish out of water" story that a semester abroad might bring. However, the inverse might even be true as Will has said that a semester abroad instalment would be a crossover with Maude & Mordi and Monster Detectives, two of his other planned Midgaheim series, and with both series having more monster heavy main casts from what I remember Will having shared of them, this could be a rare opportunity where Charlotte is the one who is more at home and has to guide the others through what is to them unfamiliar territory.

Wizard School Mysteries Book 8: The Final Arcana

Okay, this is where I'd have to admit I placed Polybeus here by process of elimination, but I can bullshit an actual reason for why he's the focus of the final instalment, I swear! First of all, the title might be a meta hint to the fact that Polybeus was the last of the Youths to join the team and thus the last whose Major Arcana was revealed, while also referring to some more literal in-story, whether that be the actual last Major Arcana character to be revealed, or some last great spell for the character to learn or last magical mishap for them to investigate. More substantially, it will probably take until late in the series for Polybeus to get his spotlight instalment in any case, since to but it bluntly, out of all the Meddlesome Youths, he's the one with the most to learn. Polybeus starts out the series as a jerk and a bully, who demands a rivalry with the protagonist just because it suits the ideal of heroism he was brought up to aspire to. And even as he's received a wake-up call in regards to his earlier behaviour as as Book Two, it's clear he still has a bit of toxicly masculine preconceptions yet to unlearn (to poor boy hasn't even figured out pickup artistry is bullshit, for Aphrodite's sake!). He's certainly made some strides towwards becoming a better person in his introduction, don't get me wrong, but he's definitely still got a ways to go. Also, it bookends the series quite nicely for the first book to focus on the hero while the last book spotlights the rival.

But enough of these more esoteric theories, and move on to one with more meat on it, and also the one most likely to be proven wrong or right by Book Three's release...

Helseng is the Angel of Death

Okay, this one might need more explaining, sop for those not in the know, Will's Midgaheim stories take place in the same universe as his earlier novel, No Sympathies, a comedic take on Biblical angels and demons (and also his alt history 1950s kaiju series Atomic Time of Monsters, sort of, it's complicated). This connection has become more apparent as the series has gone on, with demons and their pacts with mortal witches becoming important to solving the mystery of Book Two, and Book Three focusing on the "occult" side of Will's universe that demons are among the biggest players of.

So, how does that connect with Helseng specifically? Well, Helseng's been hinted to be far more powerful than one might suspect at first. After all, prophecy has been stated throughout the series to be one of the most dangerous forms of magic that only fools should treat lightly, and yet one of the most frequent sources of wisdom in the series offers James a look into his destiny from a roadside stand, and she always leaves when one's back is turned with no trace, without any of the obvious telltale bursts of smoke or sound that not even the most powerful wizards' use of Evocation can avoid. And angels and demons in Will's world are on par with literal gods, so that fits the power requirement. And while demons tend to keep a low profile when dealing with mortals in Midgaheim, angels seem virtually unheard of, having not even been mentioned by any characters either in this series, whereas demons seem to be at least known, if obscure.

But what really got me on this track was the very element Helseng herself introduced: the Major Arcana of tarot. Each of the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck represents one of the major characters of this series, who embody both the literal meaning of the card's name in some way as well as its meanings in tarot reading. for instance, Ivan represents the Magician card. Magician in Midgaheim specifically refers to a town wizard, wizards in live among everyday people acting as the magical equivalents of local handymen, one of which Ivan was apprenticed to before attending the AAAM, and the vocation Ivan wishes to return to upon graduating. The Magician card itself, meanwhile, represents resourcefulness and inspired action, which Ivan repeatedly demonstrates through his creative applications of spellcasting and how he can use that to help his friends out of a bind on many occasions. Helseng's Arcana, which is to be revealed in story in Book Three, is Death, which as she states in her reading, refers not to literal death, but to change and transition, demonstrated by how telling James's fortune sets him on the path to forming the Meddlesome Youths and solving the various wrongdoings that plague the school. Which is all well and good, so how might she represent death literally? Well, the actual angel of death is character in No Sympathies.

This is Azrael. In No Sympathies, she first appears to deliver to Hell the first mortal soul to be tempted into sin, and it is stated that when it comes into question whether a soul should go to Heaven or Hell, it is she who litigates the matter with Hell's Chief Tempter Mephistopheles. And it is the latter that I believe shall become relevant to Wicked Witchcraft, as in the lead up to the book's release, Will posted a compilation of YouTube clips as out of context spoilers for the book's plot points, and in particular it is the three clips for Chapter 13 that I believe pertain to Helseng/Azrael. First is The Trial from Pink Floyd's The Wall, where the artist is put on, well, trial by the monstrous manifestations by the various factors and events in his life that inspired the other songs in the album. Second is an animatic for Epic the Musical's God Games, where Athena argues to Aphrodite and Ares to allow Odysseus to leave Calypso's island. And third is a clip from Netflix's Castlevania anime where the vampire Varney reveals himself to be the show's version of recurring franchise antagonist Death as he explains he needed a mortal's help to open a hellish gate.

Confused? Okay, maybe not, since the clock struck midnight as I was writing this, so if I'm right you might even be reading the relevant chapter by now. But either way, I believe that because of whatever demonic pact for apprenticeship under the Letharg Coven entailed, Gretchen's soul will be considered up for grabs by Hell and Helseng will have to reveal her true identity and intercede on her behalf. Depending on whether the Castlevania clip is meant to refer to a character revealed to be Death or a mortal needed to open some kind of gate or both, the demons might be even more inclined to prosecute their case than usual if Gretchen is vital to increasing their influence over Midgaheim. And for what it's worth, one of Will's Midgaheim based TTRPG campaigns involved the main antagonist making a pact with Hell as a gambit to rule Engelsex, the very kingdom where Wizard School Mysteries is primarily set, so perhaps the climax of the book involves the demons trying to finish what that campaign's villains started?

In any case, it became the day of Book Three's release in the time it took to type up this post (I'm a slow typer, so sue me), so you can go buy the book right now to see whether you should hail me as a prophet or point and laugh at what a big wrong dumb dumb I am.

[sylvia-forest]

[CN] Shaw's 2024 Birthday Event - Prologue

⚡Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a content which hasn’t been released in EN yet!⚡

[Released Date: 17 June 2024]

MC: The train is about to arrive. Let's meet at the exit in a bit.

Shaw's text message: 1 MC: Why did you only reply with "1"? That's way too sloppy...

I muttered a bit unhappily as I picked up my luggage.

Shaw had been visiting an old acquaintance of his master here recently, who was said to be researching ancient Chinese magic tricks. Shaw had been collecting academic materials along with him.

If it weren't for his upcoming birthday, I would have suspected he had completely forgotten about going home.

MC: But if his birthday is going to be celebrated in this town, I have to make good arrangements…

As I pondered Shaw's birthday plans, I moved slowly towards the exit along with the crowd. Soon, I noticed something conspicuous at the exit...

Two giant candied haws?!

MC: Hahahaha!!

I finally understand why Shaw could only reply "1" just now.

Shaw held up these two bunches of exaggeratedly large candied haws, and his eyes wandered among the crowd. Soon, his eyes locked on mine, and he smiled at me and raised his chin.

The joy of meeting reached its peak at this moment, I couldn't help but quicken my pace and jump to his side.

MC: Which one of the candied haws is mine?

Shaw: ...Tsk, why is that your opening line? MC: So what should I say? Shaw: Shouldn't you express your thoughts first? MC: I've already shown it through my actions~

Shaw raised an eyebrow, acknowledging my statement. He handed me one of the candied haws and took my luggage.

As the candied haw melted in my mouth, I savored the sweetness and playfully tugged at his arm.

MC: Then shouldn't you also express your thoughts?

Shaw: Isn't a candied haw enough of an expression? MC: That's not enough. On the way here, I felt that you were very happy and in a special mood these days.

I hummed thoughtfully and bit into a strawberry.

MC: Seems like you don't need me anymore. Shaw: What nonsense are you guessing now? Shaw glanced at me, then turned his head and thought for a while.

Shaw: But I'm definitely in a good mood lately. MC: Is it because your birthday is coming soon? Shaw: No.

Shaw tilted his head slightly, the silver stud on his ear reflecting the sunlight, his voice tinged with a faint smile.

Shaw: Hard to say, hard to explain. MC: What's so hard to explain about having a good reason to be in a good mood?

Shaw shrugged his shoulders and made an expression of "Who knows?”

MC: All right…

After all, it was just casual conversation as we walked along, so I didn't push for details. Instead, I started chatting with Shaw about recent events in each other's lives.

He and I turned a corner and suddenly ran into several children wearing cartoon masks.

I didn't think much of it and was about to continue saying something to Shaw when suddenly, these few kids exclaimed in surprise.

They rushed in front of us like a small whirlwind, and one of the children pointed at me.

Child: Great King, who is this enchantress! MC: ??!

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

MC: Although it was customized hastily, the quality is still pretty good.

Although the birthday venue was temporarily moved from Loveland City to this town, I found that the effect was better than planned.

After all, this kind of dreamy setting is my specialty~

These quaint pavilions and towers, adorned with charming decorations, and then when the dry ice machine starts...

Hiss——a misty white fog billows up, instantly transforming the scene before my eyes into a fairyland from Yaochi.

MC: Humph, I don’t believe that this time, everything I did was within his expectations.

I checked the lights and gifts one last time, ticked off everything in the plan, and finally only…

MC: I hope this gift is what I guessed it to be.

Although Shaw hasn't told me, I think this should be a small dream hidden in his heart.

—

R&S

Date

[tippenfunkaport]

Glimbow kid that can teleport through time as well a space

For Inspired By A Book

There's this part in the book, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (so, spoilers for that book obviously) where the two main characters (who are kids) are arguing and, because of magic time travel nonsense, their future child shows up right then and greets them as mommy and daddy before disappearing and they are both like ????. And I kept thinking about that with Glimbow because what if the magic is stronger after the war, and Glimmer and Bow have a child that can travel through time as well as space so they end up meeting her before they are even together.

And then I kept thinking about on how much it would mess with Bow's head if their future child showed up right at the start of Prime's invasion, when he was at his MOST mad at Glimmer and still hadn't sorted out his own feelings for her.

[francoisl-artblog]

What do you think of the new ‘I Hate Fairyland’ run as compared to the old, out of curiosity? And your own ideas on what would have happened versus what ended up happening?

Well !

It's kind of... all over the place. I really liked the initial idea of Gert having to go back, only to ends up in a different yet similar place, with a new group of friends (Virgil and Rotwald). And, so far, it was entertaining for the 1st arc.

And after that arc... let's simply said I'm not fond of the direction. We got good things, and things that are less good, sometimes in the same issue. (like, Duncan return for a minute, it's good, but he's already gone... too much anti-climax too, even compared to the original run, and don't start me on the two Gertrude situation...)

And it's a bit sad, because, for the most part, I want to like this sequel, but it really has many flaws...

That said, I'm one of the guy that literally made Fan Fiction of this comic, so, yeah, maybe i had too much expectation. IHF, as its core, is mainly just meta joke and nice art-style with funny characters and gory situation (Issue 13, for instance, is one of my favorite of all IHF). Story wasn't the important part.

The only thing I would change for real, (spoiler)...

...is not replacing Adult Gert with Classic/Past/Kid Gert for "fan-service". Since it's not the Gert that start the 1st arc of this sequel and the one from the original run, I kinda got less involved, it automatically erased character developement, and makes the reunion with other characters less interesting. (Just makes her a kid again directly for magic reason or something if it's really a design matter at the very least...)

That, and maybe more... focusing on the new characters ? What even happened to King Cloudeus, Rotwald or that rich human guy from the 1st arc ? Judd is canonically introduced for instance, and left the comic already... I want more of these concept !

The story is still going on, sure, so I cannot have a full strong opinion yet, but I'm afraid at least half of the question will remain unsolved...

Short answer : I kinda prefer the original one. It's messy, but more focused on one arc at the time and it has a better pacing.

That said, the art-style is still awesome, and when the jokes are fun, it's super fun. And nitpicking aside, I'm actually really eager to see what comes next from that comic.

...Okay, we got robbed of that Gert & Duncan reunion. That sucks a bit.

[cyberneticlagomorph]

is there something you've got that you've worked really hard on and loved, but not really been able to share extensively, in Jack's world? yes this is an invitation to talk about it.

god theres so fuckin much

the second version of the lore doc is 104 pages long at present and this 3rd edition is gonna be AT LEAST that and some change

i have pages upon pages of weird stuff i've written down and mulled over and will never ever use bc i have no idea how to incorporate it into anything yet

like the-end-of-everything

ok so i gotta put this under the cut due to length and religious stuff and Theseus Hare spoilers

so the-end-of-everything is

a lot?

She's almost As Much as Jack

She's the personified Ending of Jack's Narrative, the Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland, the angel Lucifer, The Green Sun from Homestuck, Nidhogg from Norse mythology, Mr Eaten from Fallen London and a million billion other things

She exists currently as a weird dream ghost that has attached Herself to Jack to the point where he dreams about Her every night no matter what.

The same dream, every single night for as long as he can remember

In one of his earlier iterations on this blog, he had his ability to dream SURGICALLY REMOVED (don't ask me how he did it, he just did it, it was hard) and She still showed up every night like normal

You see, their fates are tied together. Jack is the Protagonist, and She the Antagonist, as well as the Ending to his story.

Her in universe lore is fucking WILD and i'm probably not gonna do much of anything with it on the blog for Reasons.

In universe She was made to be Fairyland's original captive star, but She was Too Much on many levels to the point where Her creators had Her lobotomized in hopes that would calm Her down. It did not, She eventually escaped and fucked off into deep space, where She met God (yes that God) and fell in love.

He made Her his favorite angel and named Her Lucifer. And then the shit in Eden happened and She got kicked out of heaven

She swore revenge against God for abandoning Her and when She tried to take that revenge She was torn apart and devoured by... something.

In older drafts it with other deities, im not sure about now tho, but Her leftovers were shoved into a well/hole/pit at the bottom of the universe where nobody could ever find them, Her True Name erased from all history and record. (Hence why we know Her as the Nameless Thing)

She wasn't dead though, not completely anyway. She found Her way into the world of dreams and spoke to people through them, She amassed followers and made plans.

And then a child was Born

Alice was born, many Alices in fact. Each born and grown and groomed for war and lost and lost and lost because they were not the right Alice to slay the Jabberwocky

Jack is supposed to be the Right Alice, Alice is actually his deadname and why his VTM alt is Named That. Jack is supposed to slay the Jabberwocky for good with the Vorpal sword and lock Her away inside of himself forever and always

See, Lucifer does not want that at all, She wants to find Her Name and pull Herself back together so She can kill God for what he did and then devour the multiverse bc everyone let God Do That to Her so they very much should all die about it.

THE THING IS

Outside of the in universe lore, She doesn't HAVE a fucking Name to find. The Writer never gave Her one, She was never supposed to win or leave or anything, and even if She was the Narrative is unfinished and abandoned so She's stuck in here with the rest of those virgins until She figures out a way to Fix That.

Also Lucifer and the elder god thing inside of Vorpal have major beef, they had beef before Vorpal died and became a bone sword. I'm 90% certain Luci is why Vorpal fuckin died but i might change that later. Vorpal was made exclusively to kill the Jabberwocky and other divine entities so if they didn't have beef before they sure do now???

ANYWAY

I wanna do so much with Her but i can't cuz writer's block has hands, I'm a coward, and vivzieverse made characters based on biblical figures Weird and Kinda Uncomfortable but The-End-Of_Everything is my fucking BABY and i can't wait for you to meet Her, also she looks like this in jack's nightmares:

art by @/pencilbrony my befriended