#im finally finishing neverafter

[pcktknife]

emily axfords characters are so fucking....oooooooo

[voxmilia]

So the question is:

[quodekash]

I finally got dropout!! I’m up to date on fantasy high, but I need help making a decision

I’m gonna get through all of them eventually, it’s just that there’s so many shows, and these are the ones I’m currently most interested in watching :)

(also mentopolis isn’t on here bc im already on my way through it, I watched the first episode free on YouTube months ago and got hooked but could never finish it so now I finally am)

[lishenkaaa]

finished the neverafter finale and having sooooo many thoughts about the character interactions while the spell was taking effect, so here are some things that made me incredibly emotional:

pib and the baba yaga made me laugh she's so me fr (loves cute lil cats) but PIB STEALING EVERYTHING BACK???? SOOOOOOO CRAZY SMART i love that little guy

timothy and scheherazade's planning to help everyone write their own story and hoping to see each other soon :')

RED LEAVING THE LITTLE GIRL BEHIND....... her picking up gerard and elody brought so many tears to my eyes, her journey from the girl whose family acted as if she had died and shunned her to lovingly carrying her friends and going with them as an agent of death......

AND THEN ROSAMUND REACHING OUT TO HELP THE LITTLE GIRL AND CONNECT WITH CINDERELLA... here's how glassbriars can still win--

gerard gifting elody the sword of truth to help her in telling her own story (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

conversation between pinocchio and minerva (!!!) was really sweet in a way?? nothing near forgiving her which im happy about but pinocchio sort of thanking her for setting him on the path that allowed him to meet the party was so sweet, and his decision to kinda sit by himself for a moment knowing he'll never be alone again made me sob so hard

so glad they all got to live the lives they wanted :] ❤️

but also tbh the evil timothy figure looked soooo cool will definitely be pondering my orb about that...

[thepringlesofblood]

Dimension 20′s Neverafter FPE (Fairytales Per Episode)

im going out of my fuckin gourd on this neverafter shit, and i have decided to make a list of what and how many fairytales/nursery rhymes are introduced in each episode. will update as time goes on but i make no promises as to how frequently. theories are not included in totals. allusions/references are.

disclaimer: i am coming at this from a primarily american, english-speaking, culturally christian background, though I have studied a lot of ancient mediterranean myth and religion, a little bit of norse myth and religion, and a little bit of arthurian legend.

please let me know if there’s a reference to something I missed or if you know shit I don’t. i’ve decided that for our purposes, whether a reference/allusion is intentional or not doesn’t factor into our final count - unintentional/ambiguously intentional allusions/references count too, not just obvious ones.

(especially about mythical middle eastern spiders. I only know anansi & arachne, and have a passing familiarity with jorogumo & ye xian, and none of those are middle eastern or fit the situation.)

update: the show is finished! I won’t be taking my various theories off, i think it adds flavor. just remember as you’re going down that I was updating this weekly-ish. I’m going to do another post in the future that is Just The Numbers, but for now, enjoy my rambling! [updatier update: here’s the Just The Numbers post]

Ep. 1

The PCs (and their backstories)

 Mother Goose (+1)

Hubbard (old mother Hubbard who lived in a cupboard) (+1)

Jack

jumped over the Candlestick (+1)

(implied) and the Beanstalk (bc of the giants everywhere) (+1)

theory: Sprat? (the rhyme goes “Jack sprat could eat no fat his wife could eat no lean/and so between them both, you see they licked the platter clean.” not directly mentioned but that was my first thought upon the whole turning to bones thing that like all the fat was removed from his body or smthin)

Ylfa (Little Red Riding Hood) (+1)

there are 2 wolves inside you. you are 12.

the big bad wolf is mentioned in the context of 2 stories, the 3 little pigs and little red riding hood, so (+1) for the pigs

Pib (Puss in Boots) (+1)

Pinocchio (+1)

Cinderella (stepmother’s official art says “Cinderella...” at the bottom) (+1)

theory: “The second fairy you have met in your life” so also a character in smthin else probably since cindy’s stepmom isnt usually magical

update: maybe the whole cannibalism thing made her magical? who’s to say

updatier update (post ep 7): so it turns out that the evil fairy =/= the stepmother, but is the evil fairy from sleeping beauty. i was right about the stepmother being in multiple different stories but boy howdy do i wish I wasn’t. 

Rosamund (sleeping beauty/briar rose) (+1)

Gerard (the princess and the frog) (+1)

Snow queen (mentioned by Elody) (+1)

the rest of the episode

the little red hen (+1)

i fuckin love this one.

the story’s basic but good - she’s makin some bread and at every step asks for help from the other barnyard creatures and they’re all like hmm nahhhhh and then when it comes time to eat the bread they’re all like yes please lemme help w that and she’s like uh no, where was this energy when i was making the damn thing? and eats it ‘without any help at all’

so brennan doing her as like ‘u gotta help or you don’t eat’ is fantastic. 10/10

Ol king Cole (+1)

The little old lady who lived in a shoe (+1)

(alluded to) Alice n Wonderland (rabbit and teapot) (+1)

theory: “the chandling caravan” sounds like it should be something, but I don’t know what it is, and google has not been helpful. same w boffit, lord bandlebridge, and cressida lumley.

total tale count: 16

Ep. 2

The nutcracker (+1) (herr drosselmeyer is the weird uncle who gives clara the nutcracker. also in every ballet his drip is consistently immaculate)

Snow White (+1) (mirror mirror…..leaned up against the wall)

(alluded to) Beauty n the beast (furniture coming alive) (+1)

theory: Eidelgrin means something, but I don’t know what it is.

total tale count: 3

Ep. 3

.........nothing new to report

Ep 4

the fairy with the turquoise hair (aka the blue fairy) is actually not exclusive to Pinocchio - she has her own book n everything. (+1)

(alluded to) the little mermaid (+1)

“a dancing princess who either cannot or will not speak near a beach.”

the little mermaid trades her voice for legs and in the OG grimm story it feels like stepping on swords whenever she walks so she kind of “dances” (rip)

there’s. So many rabbit and fox tricksters. And other clever cats. I don’t think any were directly mentioned (except that Pinocchio has some in his many adventures, which isn’t a new tale) so I’m gonna say (+1) for rabbit and (+1) for fox.

Update: a reply to this post mentioned a character named Reynard the Fox from medieval French literature that might be the reason that the Fox speaks with a French accent. I found more support for this theory below!

“Isengrim”

this is the name of the daggers Pib gets. Rabbit mentions that it’s a name that Fox called the Wolf.

In fact, there’s a tale called Ysengrimus from 1152 CE where Reynard the Fox tricks the titular character, a wolf! So, there’s one Fox story confirmed. No additional points since Fox already had 1 point, this is more confirming the specific story he was inspired by.

theory: also, if we know the accents Mean Something, then Rabbit having a British accent might point to Peter Rabbit.

update: i have noticed several posts calling Rabbit’s accent Australian. it can be hard for me to tell the difference and idk if the general European bent of these tales means that brennan’s British just sounds kind of Australian or if it Means Something. I’m sure there’s Australian trickster rabbits too i just don’t know them

no fuckin clue where the ring came from tho :/

the golden goose (another Jack/Mother Goose tale not specifically mentioned before) (+1)

plus the beanstalk thing is talked about more (not new info though)

total tale count: 5

Ep. 5

hey diddle diddle (+1) (the dish ran away with the spoon + the cow jumping over the moon are from this same rhyme)

also anyone catch brennan mentioning fiddle music as tim was healing pib? ik it was king cole related music, but also...hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle.

itsy bitsy spider (+1)

(alluded to) little miss muffet (+1) (tuffeton)

(alluded to) goldilocks (+1) (”just enough” oats)

1001 nights (+1) (scheherazade is the author of these tales, as well as a myth in her own right. I have not read 1001 nights. please tell me things if you know them)

“spider queen” (+1) idk what it is but its fuckin something

identifying information: guardian of a cave/maze. supposedly has a throne. 1001 nights-adjacent.

theories:

“the spider and the wind” tale 909 of 1001, spider isn’t in this one that much actually

not all folktales in the neverafter are in mother goose’ book, so it stands to reason that not all folktales in the Endless Nights are in 1001 nights.

however, all the folktales in the neverafter are European in origin (mostly medieval), so it would make sense that the folktales in the endless nights would be middle eastern or adjacent

ye xian - chinese folktale where there’s a spider queen

“that’s east asia not arabia” fair but consider: in the older translations, aladdin is a chinese peasant. the world of 1001 nights is already bigger than arabia, and stories travel much more easily than the goods being traded across asia and the mediterranean on the silk road at the time the stories were written.

jorogumo - japanese yokai. a spider that turns into a woman. again, extremely far away from arabia, but girl i am looking.

cave of thawr - islamic oral tradition of muhammed hiding in a cave and a spider protects him. there’s a similar jewish tale w david hiding in a cave.

unlikely, but if there’s beautiful tapestries and the mother of all spiders i have to mention my girl Arachne (greek myth)

all time famous mythical spider anansi (west africa) still doesn’t really fit the bill, and is farther away from arabia than arachne (greece, which had colonies in the middle east (along the mediterranean shore but still. water = trade = exchange of goods = exchange of ideas/stories)) but still possible

yes i got a degree in ancient mediterranean studies and am using it to ruthlessly analyze a comedy show instead of sleeping, what about it?

sinbad (+1) “Sinbad the Sailor” (the roc is part of this as far as i can tell)

magical palace w the tapestries of starlight (+1) there’s a fuckload of magic palaces in 1001 nights. idk which one this refers to but it’s Something. am currently combing the stories more closely to specify at least one.

theories

the bartender with the icy wound is definitely someone. my gut says someone from the snow queen - people get icy mirrors in their eyes n shit in there and oftentimes straight up don’t get better

the peddler of wares in the corner has to be someone

the name of the tavern being “the cock and toad” has to mean something. i did some googling. there’s lots of fairytales w toads and lots of fairytales w cocks (lol) but none I could find where it’s just the two of them together. it’s weird, w a lot of fairytales/fables/nursery rhymes its like rolling 2d8 on a table of 8 animals and then just making the title out of the two animals you get. statistically its likely that there’s a story out there called that but I can’t find it.

the fucking spidersilk ring. i will solve this riddle one day.

they say the name “Aesop” as in “Aesop’s fables” (like the tortoise and the hare) but no tales mentioned yet. worth looking into if you’re the curious sort tho. Pib is going to fuck this guy up, his stories are very animal-centric and definitely have some trickster cats.

total tale count: 8

Ep. 6

No new tales - expands on ones already mentioned.

It’s just Muffet and whoever Scheherazade’s spider is

at least we find out that the “spider queen” referred to the monstrous form of muffet and Scheherazade’s spider combined, and not some new wholly separate myth.

Scheherazade’s spider seemed a little...riddly? for lack of a better term? like the whole “something that does not breathe” thing was weird, and if it’s supposed to be a guardian or guide of some sort, riddles make sense.

honorable mention: In the adventuring party episode, brennan tells the fable of the scorpion and the frog.

total tale count: 0

Ep 7

many theories with little knowledge.

In the adventuring party, brennan straight up says that the sword of truth is a general archetype, not from any specific tale. didn’t know that was an option! so no points for the sword of truth, dope as it is.

p.s. anyone else get flashbacks to fhsy with the whole truth mirror thing? it’s a good concept I’m glad brennan’s bringing it back

I am assuming each artifact found in the spider’s lair either comes from a separate tale, or is an archetype. I’m only counting it if I can pin down a specific tale that it is from.

the gillesuit/haystack cloak (+1)

update: As of Ep. 9, we now know that this is called “the cloak of rushes” and grants advantage on stealth checks. it is almost certainly from the English fairy tale “Cap-o’-Rushes” which, confusingly, features not just a cap but a whole outfit made of rushes!

my first thought was little boy blue, which does come from the tales of mother goose. this makes more sense tho lol

the golden bridle (+1)

some cursory googling indicates that this is from the celtic tale of Guleesh. one night, upon hearing the Fair Folk partying in some ruins (had to look up what a “rath” was lol) and saying “My horse, my bridle, my saddle!”, he repeats what they’re saying and is suddenly on a horse with a golden bridle. the story isn’t about the bridle itself, but the horses feature prominently, and can fly and stuff. When Guleesh kind of breaks the magic, the horse turns into a wooden beam, so maybe putting the bridle on a wooden beam summons a horse?

update: in ep 13 & 14 (& the adventuring parties) they mention that a. it does not summon a steed - you need to already have a steed there, and b. it would only work on a beast, not a monstrosity.

so.......maybe it’s not the one from the tale of Guleesh. I remain optimistic.

the golden chair (+1)

an obscure one, to be sure. from a grimm fairytale with a weirdly christian bent, where a tailor convinces st peter to let him into heaven but then sits in a big golden chair which as it turns out is the chair god sits in, and fucks up by throwing the footstool at some lady on earth washing veils (?) and gets kicked out again.

it is very possible that this was not an intentional allusion, but rather meant to evoke a fairytale-like atmosphere. either way, mission accomplished!

honorable mention: mayor harold hopps, while not a fairytale character himself, looks exactly like and was apparently inspired by the guy on the Pringles can, who is 100% a modern-day folkloric character.

theories:

the black velvet cloak with stars on it

idk where this is from. the only story I could find w a cursory google that had star clothing was Allerleirauh aka Thousandfurs, about a princess whose dad who wants to marry her (gross) so she asks for a bunch of impossible stuff to be made before the wedding can happen to try and stop it, including a dress made of stars (and one made of every kind of fur in the world hence the title). but it’s not a cloak so no points.

i s2g i have heard of something called ‘the cloak of stars’ before but I can’t fucking find it. pls lmk if you can think of something

update: ep 9 - they ALMOST told us what it was fuck, they mentioned wearing it to escape from the stepmother but we have no name. also the ‘cap-o’-rushes’ tale is extremely similar to thousandfurs minus the incest, so I don’t think it’s from that.

the stick skeletons w/ flesh on them were minions of the evil fairy from sleeping beauty - not a new tale

total tale count: 3

Ep 8

correction: brennan mentioned in the adventuring party for this one that aesop himself may also be fictional, and that many fables contain him telling the fable as part of it, so we’ll officially count him as his own fable like we did with Scheherazade (+1)

the lion and the mouse (+1)

the boy who cried wolf (+1)

they did finally mention the scorpion and the frog (+1)

alphonse is there but “the mule” isn’t actually referenced as being part of any of aesop’s fables in the show (like, there’s plenty of mules in aesop’s fables but no specific one was referenced in the show)

total tale count: 4

Ep 9

BABA YAGA BABA YAGA BABA YAGA BABAYAGABABAYAGA!!!!!! (+1)

i love her so much. i truly understood emily’s excitement this episode. 

(alluded to) the princess and the pea (+1)

first time around I didn’t hear siobhan ask if anyone sees any stacks of mattresses without peas under them to sleep on lol

(alluded to) this little piggy went to market (+1)

idk if that’s the name of the rhyme or not, or if it has a name

it’s not in the captions but emily axford saying ‘well there has to be a market, right? cause this little piggy went to market’ is iconic

some sources say this rhyme is from Mother Goose lol

total tale count: 3

Ep 10

(alluded to) peter and the wolf (+1)

the baron’s named peter and there’s a wolf. that cant be a coincidence, the 3 little pigs don’t have set names

mostly retreading 3 little pigs territory. awesome battle set!

theories:

the soup could be an allusion to something but i think its just playing into this season’s theme of consumption and the end of the 3 little pigs

the council of kings might be from something

total tale count: 1

Ep 11

we get 5 kings from 5 tales on the Council of Kings (which seems diegetic and not a reference to anything), 3 of which we already knew, 2 which are new.

the little mermaid (the mer-king)

the snow queen (the tsar of snowhold)

the nutcracker (the mouse king)

the emperor’s new clothes (the naked emperor) (+1)

rumpelstiltskin (FINALLY) (the king of apogee) (+1)

Koschei the deathless (+1)

i had no fucking clue who this guy was until emily axford recognized him, thank you emily

at first I was scared the sealskin would be a selkie thing. it may still be, but that doesn’t appear to be the case in this specific situation

(alluded to) the binding of Fenrir, the wolf at the end of the world (+1)

there’s a norse myth where tyr (a god) puts his hand in fenrir’s mouth to show good faith. the gods want to put this magical leash/collar on fenrir, and since he’s not an idiot he says that he’ll consent to it only if tyr puts a hand in his mouth while they do it, to show that what they’re doing will not hurt or bind him in any way. the gods agree, but oops they lied, the chains are very much to bind him, and tyr loses his hand but the wolf is still bound.

but ylfa and mother goose are telling the truth! happy ending (for once lol) ^v^

I didn’t catch this one at first - thank you to the many posts about it in the #neverafter tag!

honorable mention

sheldon from ‘garfield and friends’

theories

the tavern-keeper (Natalia) doesn’t stand out to me as anyone specific so far, though her daughter is the second “snow-touched” person we’ve met (the bartender at the cock and toad had an icy wound over one eye) so im thinkin snow queen

there’s dwarves in other stories than snow white I’m sure, but these ones specifically say “snow white” on their intro card.

also, their names, Mürrisch, Schläfrig, & Arzt, mean grumpy, sleepy, and doctor in German. Grumpy, Sleepy, and Doc are all disney snow white dwarf names. nice.

another infuriating mention of the cloak of stars without any indication of what it does. I’m going to spontaneously combust.

one thing i do appreciate is the amount of taverns they run into. this is the third and i am very pro

total tale count: 4

Ep. 12

so many princesses!!!!! most of them already counted but still!!!

Rapunzel!!!!! (+1)

The North Wind (+1)

my classics major ass immediately assumed they were talking about Boreas, the Greek god of the northern wind lol

from what I can tell, this is from "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"

i’m sure The North Wind is from other things too, everybody loves personifying the wind

honorable mentions

Beast!!!!! i already counted the tale early on as a reference but it’s here fr now!!!!

Finally meeting the little mermaid!!! Also counted early on but this is her first appearance!

“the beast beyond no name” that Mira mentions in combination w the taut string that Pinocchio feels that means part of his story is happening soon whether he likes it or not makes me think it’s Terrible Dogfish time. But. I also think that it could be the literal Kraken.

there’s so many monsters in folklore that are just “really big scary fish thing that lives at the bottom of the ocean yet somehow also wrecks ships on the surface” i just don’t know which one brennan’s going for. my money’s on either Pinocchio’s Dogfish or The Kraken

Candlewick! jesus fucking christ! every time a bit of Pinocchio lore shows up, it’s already horrifying just from the whole story of Pinocchio being horrifying, but then Brennan leans into it in just the right way for it to be so much worse!

in the adventuring party, they mention several other tales, including the tortoise and the hare and the little matchgirl. they also (rightfully) dunk on Hans Christian Andersen for writing ludicrously depressing children’s stories.

total tale count: 2

Ep. 13

no new tales, dogfish, mer-king, & sea witch are from existing tales, but

CLOAK OF STARS LORE CONFIRMED

WE NOW KNOW THE CLOAK OF STARS IS CAPABLE OF CASTING 5TH LEVEL MAGIC MISSILE

THIS DOES NOTHING TO NARROW THINGS DOWN! BUT IT’S SOMETHING!!!!

also MANY tantalizing mentions of the golden bridle with 0 hints as to its capabilities.

total tale count: 0

Ep. 14

the sea witch is named Alba Mac Lír

several allusions here!

thank you @twoeelsforsupper for this observation!

“there is a legend called "the children of Lír" where a witch/stepmother turns King Lír's children into swans but does not take their voices, which ends up getting her found out. like the threads about voices and witches and stepmothers and transformations???”

“Alba” can mean several things

it’s the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland (this is probably what was being referenced)

in Latin, it’s the feminine nominative singular of the adjective albus, meaning “white”

in Spanish and Italian, it means “sunrise”

In Scottish Gaelic, “Mac” means “son of” so we have “Scotland, son of Lír”

good for her

also, if she’s one of the children of Lír, does that mean she’s one of the ones that got turned into swans?? much to consider.

so, plus one for the legend of the children of Lír! (+1)

FINALLY (finally) we get full cloak of stars lore.

its a fucking dnd 5e item. all this time and it’s legit just a reskin of Robe of Stars

it can take them to the lines between and shoot magic missile

i don’t know why i’m mad

total: 1

Ep. 15

yikes

no new tales, unless you count Clara The Horse Princess (she is not from anything as far as I can tell but I love her. also like Clara is the name of the nutcracker main character but we already counted the nutcracker so it wouldn’t be anything either)

total: 0

Ep. 16

thumbelina! (+1)

tom thumb! (+1)

I thought they were from the same thing but it turns out they have different origins, though there was a 2002 movie that had them be in the same movie.

tom thumb - English folklore, there was a 1621 book called The History of Tom Thumb

thumbelina - hans christian anderson tale from 1835, in the second volume of his Fairy Tales Told For Children series.

turns out he was actually inspired by Tom Thumb a bit, so it’s not convergent evolution or anything.

ngl - I mostly know the story of thumbelina from hearing julia from drawfee rant about how shitty of a movie it is in various streams/videos lol

all the jack stuff is stuff we’ve seen before - golden goose, giantslayer, nimble

UPDATE: in ep 17 adventuring party, brennan talks a bit about the multiplicity of jacks, and clarifies that there are TWO separate giantslayer myths.

Jack the Giant Killer - a Welsh fairytale about a warrior named Jack who fights a bunch of giants with a huge club and wins

Jack and the Beanstalk - an English fairytale about a young boy who accidentally grows a beanstalk to the Giant World and only “kills” the giant at the end by cutting the beanstalk down, leaving the giant to fall to his (their?) death.

So, while we’ve already counted Jack and the Beanstalk, this episode does introduce a new variation on Jack - Jack the Giant Killer. (+1)

henry hubbard is BACK!!!!! yes!!!!!

and tomás!!! and A L P H O N S E

I am v psyched for what comes next.

honorable mentions:

these aren’t explicitly Liliputians, but they do talk about gulliver in the adventuring party. I don’t think they talk about him in the actual show though.

total: 3

Ep. 17

holy shit. so many right off the bat, with brennan and siobhan going through a list of c-list folktales!

Fear Not (+1)

another grimm fairytale - not their finest work i see why this guy would be c-list lol

the brave little tailor (+1)

aka “the guy who kills a bunch of flies with his belt”

this is a for-real grimm fairytale about a guy who kills 7 flies at once, is very proud of it, makes a belt that says “Seven at One Blow” on it, and then goes out into the world and has his shit wrecked from various people misinterpreting what “Seven at One Blow” means

it’s hilarious

another jack tale!! Jack and Jill! (+1)

three blind mice (+1)

honorable mentions:

Henry talks about reuniting a clockwork man with a man in an eyepatch

this is all consistent with the Herr Drosselmeyer lore from all the way back in the first episodes of the show! We already counted him, so no new points, but still very cool!

also cool how brennan combined shoeberg w giant-slaying bc i mean how did they get all those ludicrously big shoes?

the golden goose shows Timothy all the versions of his story where they are one and the same. I’m not counting this as her showing him a new, separate fairytale, since it just overlaps two tales that we already have counted. also, I cried, that was a really intense part of the episode.

in the adventuring party they talk a lot about Narnia and “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”

ik those aren’t exactly ye olde english fairytales, since they came out in 1950, but if Aslan wandered into the neverafter I’d count him for sure

we learn what the harp does!

the harp’s power is consistent with the jack and the beanstalk myth, but it also reminded me of several other myths about lulling beasts to sleep

e.g. Hermes of Greek mythology fame (and supposedly the inventor of the lyre) also killed the giant Argus after lulling half of his eyes to sleep with the lyre and boring the other half to sleep with various tales of his exploits. (Argus’ big thing was having a bunch of eyes all over his body)

lulling a beast to sleep is a common theme across cultures, makes sense that it’s the kind of archetype useful for the gang.

it’s very possible that some aspect of how baba yaga’s cottage was described alludes to some other Slavic folklore that I didn’t pick up on

total: 4

Ep 18

“The Wishing Star” (+1)

fuck disney for making it impossible to find real fairytales about wishing stars on google

there are many tales/nursery rhymes about wishing on stars. “star light, star bright” is the first that comes to mind, but I’m sure there’s others. we’ll count this as a multi-tale figure and give it +1

honorable mentions

so. The Trials of Baba Yaga could refer to several things.

The Tale about Baba-Yaga is a 18th c. folk story where Baba Yaga has one normal human son (???) who marries a normal human woman, who then has to prove herself by doing seemingly normal chores (milk the cows, shear the sheep) that she then finds out from her husband are secretly meant to kill her (the cows are bears, the sheep are wolves).

(aka a fucked up slavic version of the tale of eros and psyche.)

(not that eros and psyche isn’t fucked up, just in a different way)

There is a 2017 book called “Winston and Baum and the Trials of the Baba Yaga” I do not think this is what was being referenced, and as it is modern and not a folk story, I’m not counting it.

other stuff I can find about Baba Yaga also includes stepdaughters having to do chores with secret meanings - it’s a part of her Thing

I’m including this under the general Baba Yaga mythos, not as its own thing, but still cool stuff to know about.

Prince Johnathan of Apogee (that’s how the subtitles spell it)

so. wayyyy back in episode 11 we find out that the kingdom of apogee is where Rumplestiltskin happened.

I think that’s all the Apogee info we have, and with a name as vague as Johnathan I don’t think we can call it a reference to anything.

We got Mother Goose’s OG rhyme!!!

not a new story but very cool!!!

there’s more but I think they stopped at a good place

fun fact: I found an extra verse that isn’t in the one linked above

“Then old Mother Goose/that instant came in/and turned her son Jack/into famed Harlequin/She then with her wand/touched the lady so fine/and turned her at once/into sweet Columbine”

and then they go on with the rest of the book like that bit never happened

other fun mother goose shit

i thought that littlefinger and “chaos is a ladder” were fairytale quotes but they’re from game of thrones it turns out. ._.

total: 1

Ep 19

no new tales (it’s the finale pt 1) but several honorable mentions

“As you wish”

cinderella girl you are KILLING ME

for those not in the know, this is an allusion to The Princess Bride

in the context of the book & movie, it means “I love you”

could be unintentional but i highly doubt it.

the book is too recent to count as fairytale for our purposes (1973) but it is very much in that genre. god damn.

la bête saying “be our guest” alludes to the disney beauty and the beast movie obvs

“Something wicked this way comes”

quote from Macbeth, by Shakespeare

I don’t think Shakespeare counts as fairytales. idk the vibes are just off. ik it’s an Old Story but it isn’t a fairytale.

total: 0

Ep 20

this is it gang!

The Fairies

so in the 1880s, Andrew Lang wrote a series of fairytale books named after fairies of various colors. I’m counting each fairy who has a book named after them as a new tale.

EXCEPT: the Blue Fairy

ok look i fucked up yall. The Fairy With Turquoise Hair is re-named “The Blue Fairy” in a lot of adaptations, so when I previously counted her separately from Pinocchio bc she had her own book, I was referring to “The Blue Fairy Book”

so we’re not counting it here bc that would be counting it twice. apologies to the actual Blue Fairy.

The Red Fairy Book (+1)

The Green Fairy Book (+1)

The Orange Fairy Book (+1)

The Yellow Fairy Book (+1)

this is by no means all of Lang’s color fairy books. he’s got crimson, violet, grey, pink, you name it.

honorable mentions

Calvin & Hobbes is modern day folklore

I looked up to see if there’s any actual Aesop fables with a shark in em, closest I could find was a dolphin. Rip.

Beaky’s stint in the TAA lines up with Pinocchio’s story, so not a new tale. thank you for your service beaky o7

total: 4

total series tale count: 62

alas, the only mystery remaining is Scheherazade’s spider. someday I may come back to this post with new information about her, but today is not that day. If you know any middle eastern myths/fairytales/folklore/nursery rhymes that prominently feature a spider that guards a maze or guides people through caves, please feel free to reply/reblog with your knowledge.

this show has been a fun and wild ride. Here’s a shortened version of this post with just the numbers

thank you for coming on this journey with me - see you in the stories!

[peachie-bun]

i officially finished the neverafter finale (and the adventuring party) !!!

i absolutely loved it. this season was so good and watching it as it was coming out made it a lot more fun !!! i always will love binge watching things but having something to look forward to every week was rlly nice :33

i went into this season thinking rosamund and pib would be my favorites, and they were for most of the season !! but gerard rlly climbed in the list and i think the season ended with him and rosamund as my top two characters. obviously everyone was amazing and i loved them all but if i had to pick a favorite, i think the royals are tied as my pick.

i cried three times during the finale. gerard's death triggered the first time, then it was rosamund talking to ylfa after they got the spell to work (thinking abt this one too much still makes my eyes misty-), and then the last time was tim saying that he kinda stays around hapley to help everyone when they have writers block.

this season was absolutely amazing and im sad to see it end !! but also the ending was amazing and im glad i got to see the story through to the end <33

[nagdabbit]

What season of Dimension 20 should a noob start with I want to understand what the FUCK you're talking about

oooooooo yes, welcome, come on in, were all fucking weird here!

get ready to have Extreme Feelings about one (1) loud, white man

but also, you can kinda start wherever you want? i haven't even watch every single season, anyway. here's the seasons, out of airing order, probably

fantasy high - the original, the og. teens in fantasy high school, having hijinks and saving the world. honestly, if there's like an established place to start, this is it. there's a second season, and a couple of live shows that are so fucking fun. griffin mcelroy's live ep is fucking WILD, i love ficus

pirates of leviathan - fantasy high adjacent, post fh season 2. i didn't actually finish this one. i dont remember why. i dont super have a strong attachment to fh season 2, so the setting for this one just didn't interest me, but it's pirates having hijinks on a floating pirate city

unsleeping city 1 & 2 - urban fantasy weirdness, urban fantasy fun times. the magical world that lives beneath and alongside the new york we all know. like fables, maybe, but more fantasy archetypes than folklore. really fun, really enjoyable, i have no memory of season two but i know i watched it

the seven - another fh spinoff, but a little more tied into the first season. a fantasy party of all the people they spent season one trying to save. it is SO FUCKING FUNNY, and SO FUCKING GAMEPLAY CRUNCHY, and I CRIED SO FUCKING HARD. need some emotional healing? exquisite. i miiiight suggest watching fh first, just to understand who they are, but also you don't *need* to

tiny heist - borrowers and fairies and thug bugs and living toys, trying to run a heist. so goddamn fun. highly, highly recommend. i love a fuckin heist. its the mcelroy family season, so if you like them you can look forward to that. just mcelroy is just. he's fucking batshit.

a crown of candy - game of thrones ass campaign, but the characters and kingdoms are all based on the different food groups. for real and honest, this season didn't hit me and i didn't finish it. but i do enjoy compilations of it on youtube

the ravening war - crown of candy spin off. i also didn't watch this at all, but it has cr's matt mercer as the guest gm, and im sure he's a great guy and all, but i just don't vibe with his dm style. deffo the least amount of levity of all the seasons, i think

mice & murder - a sherlock holmes, agatha christie ass murder mystery where everyone is in the house trying to solve the murder. also everyone is woodland creatures. another highly recommend if you're into murder mysteries like that

escape from the bloodkeep - what if lotr was told from the baddies pov. it's so stupid, so silly, so much fun. highly recommend

shriek week - monsters on their final week of college. despite my love of guest gm, gabe hicks, this season just Did Not Hit Me. not even ify nwadiwe could hold me

misfits and magic - hogwarts ass magic school for little wizards, but without the transphobia and racism. need some kids upsetting an unjust society based on classism? this for you. so, so good! guest gm aabria iyengar, she fucking knocks it out of the park. there's also a christmas episodes and a live show with a different cast

a starstruck odyssey - did you know that brennan lee mulligans mom elaine wrote the comic starstruck? this season is based on the comic and its very fucking fun! scifi shenanigans out the ass

neverafter - horror themed season, about macabre fairytale characters and the enduring nature of stories. it took me a bit to get into this season, but it's so good! you gotta like horror, tho. that's important to remember. it's a dark season

coffin run - draculas followers try to get an injured dracula back to the castle before his enemies catch up. sooooooo so so fucking funny, one of my favorite seasons. guest gm jasmine bhullar kills it. absolutely unfuckinghinged season

a court of fey and flowers - EASILY my favorite, second favorite season. aabria is back, the fey are having a party, someone is trying to do something terrible, they need to navigate jane austen era ass court politics to figure it out. so, so fucking stupid and fun

dungeons & drag queens - i havent finished this season, cuz i got Depressed As Shit earlier this year and just couldn't, but im about to jump back in. honestly, the plot doesn't matter, it's monet x change, alaska thunderfuck, jujubee and bob the drag queen. do you need to know anything else? no, you don't

mentopolis - the current season. a good place to start it you don't want to binge anything, as only one episode is out. it's a noir detective mystery taking place within the brain of a scientist and is already climbing the ranks of my favorite seasons

godspeed, you little nerd. go forth and have fun

[captain-kraken]

just finished the neverafter finale and im SO SAD its over. i think this was my favourite season so far <3

[youngmasterwisdomperson]

@cosmermaid tagged me with a 6 question ask thing, I don’t know what to call it, but the rules are I answer the questions and tag some friends afterwards to do the same so here we go.

1. Last song I listened to

From Past To Present from the Skyrim soundtrack, mainly because I needed background music while I read a book for school-related reasons and it was in a playlist I found for such a purpose.

2. Last TV show

Uhhhh, I’m not entirely sure tbh. I know I was trying to catch up on Critical Role campaign 3 recently, does that count?

3. Currently watching

I don’t understand how this question is distinct from the previous one, but I’ve also been following along with Dimension 20 Neverafter pretty consistently.

4. Currently Reading

Im going to assume this means for pleasure and not mandatorily for school reasons. I’ve just recently dipped my toe into the Earthsea books for the first time. Still on the first one, liking it well enough to keep reading when I have time for it.

5. Current obsession

The book I’ve been writing since I was 16. Getting back into the groove of pumping out a new chapter every week so I can finally have a finished first draft.

6. Unrelated obsession

Unrelated to what? My book? Uhhhh, dungeons and dragons…? Does that count as unrelated? I’ve drawn up a full world map collaboratively with my friends in anticipation of a coming campaign I plan to run, and I’ve been making increasingly specific maps of increasingly smaller areas ever since. So yeah.

Now to tag friends. Uhh, @malice-and-meat, @cassphodel, and @budoodly. Have fun, guys.

[rainedroptalks]

hhhh im gonna finish tuc to cope with the neverafter finale

[ananxiousgenz]

FULL REVIEW TIME LETS GO

my apologies today was a wee bit busy

hooo baby this opening has gotta be a teenage buddy she's starting to get that sass we know and love

"at the heart of it all" JAY I AM RATTLING YOU BY THE SHOULDERS SHAKING YOU LIKE A COCKTAIL SHAKER

if buddy's mom had hope.......why did she leave???

so buddy is a story collector!! idk if you know dimension 20, but she reminds me of mother tim goose from neverafter

ODYSSEUS MENTION

awww so the carte blanche was inherited from a regular at the bar that's sweet

UGHHHHHH the whole fact that she came her to continue being captain of her own destiny but now she isn't anymore......... ouchies

she always dreamed of wrangling together a crew of misfits like her and vespa....... the tpp canon is looking away.......

m'tendere is getting a cough!!!! oh no!!!!!

“'I didn’t ask because I was waiting for you to mention it. M’tendere said that you would when you were in enough pain.'” OOOOO SHIT THEY'VE GOT HER NUMBER!!!! BUDDY AURINKO, QUEEN OF THE WORLD, WONT ASK FOR HELP UNTIL SHES ON DEATHS DOOR!!!!!

ohhhh so now she's like the keeper of hell's fire

"It strikes her at some point that while it’s a game to her, it’s a dance to them." that explains like. literally everything about their mentalities and attitudes towards life. buddy is always calculating her chances of winning and m'tendere is always going where the music of life takes them!! (ALSO throwback to man in glass- peter treats thieving like a dance)

AWWWWW JET SMILED!!! buddy loves him. like that description?? she would die for this man she loves him

m'tendere played a final song. they've finished their dance of life. they're taking a bow before the curtain falls. I will bite you.

GOSH buddy I wonder WHY you're thinking about psychopomps when you look at jet??

ODYSSEUS GOT TO GO HOME AND BUDDY DIDNT. BABE THATS BC YOU HAVENT COMPLETED YOUR EPICALLY SHITTY, GOD MANDATED QUEST YET.

she lost her dream. she lost her dream. she lost her dream. sHE LOST HER DREAM-

AND NOW SHES LOSING EVEN THE MEMORY OF VESPA TOO AS SHES LOSING M'TENDERE THATS IT IM OUT OF HERE

oh miss girl you are so delulu and so desperate im so sorry babe they're already gone

"'I have one last one for the road.'" NOO PLEASE. IM CRYING HERE LEAVE ME BEEEEEEEEE

so the key is still getting passed down to jet. what is its purpose in the story?? is it like the song of spring??? OOOOOO OR is it a song that unlocks the gates to the underworld????

OUGHOUGHHOUGHHHHH IM SOBBING IM SOBBING WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE WOULD DO ANYTHING TO HAVE M'TENDERE SEE HER CRY ANOTHER DAY

NOOOOOOO FUCK THEYRE GONE. THEYRE GONE. I KNEW IT WAS GONNA HAPPEN BUT IT STILL HURTS!!!!

yeahhhhhh so buddy is the keeper of the key and the fire now!!!! that's a fuckin banger title to have ngl

there was so much here to dissect I definitely missed something but everything I caught was SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD

Out in the Cold Field, pt. iv

I always finish these it seems at 2am. Huh. Now go fetch! @ananxiousgenz @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @urjover @demonic-panini @one-joe-spoopy @waters-and-the-wilde @the-private-eye

“What do you know about Pandora?”

“Wife to Epimetheus, beautiful, sculpted by the Gods, the perfect lady, had a vase she was told to never shatter, super curious, so she unleashed all the evil in the world… I sense a lesson coming.”

“Pandora did a lot more than just bring evils into the world. Do you know why the Gods made her?”

“Punishment I presume? Everything always harkens back to punishment.”

“She was a punishment from the Gods to man. A God who made humans stole for us fire. They chained him to a rock, and every day a vulture would come and pick at his liver, and every day he would suffer immense pain and regenerate. The Gods made Pandora then to punish humanity.”

“Why would they do that? They knew the culprit, they sorted them out, so why continue and drag it out onto the rest of us? Isn't that some sort of war crime?”

“Today, yes. Back then, there was no such thing.”

“Mmm… I guess that explains a lot of things. Wasn’t there also one good thing left behind? Hope?”

“In some retellings, yes.”

“Mom’s books say there was hope. She circled and underlined it a bunch.”

“And why do you think that is?”

“If the evils were a punishment, and hope was trapped inside the jar with them… the evil things were a message. There is no way to escape, outsmart, outtrick, or outlive the Gods. There is no escape. And hope… can always be there. At the heart of it all. Hope is also a will of the Gods. Just like everything else that was in the vase.”

“Smarter than me, as bright as your mother. Well done, солнышко моё.”

Growing up, Buddy had very few friends her age. The ones she did have were either scared off by Palomine, or scared off by Buddy. It left her an awful lot of time alone. Time that she spent reading and studying. Time that she spent hanging around the countertop of Palomine’s bar, asking the other patrons to share with her one of their stories. And oftentimes he would find her and shoo her upstairs, handing out complimentary drinks as apologies. Occasionally he wouldn't find her and occasionally she got to hear stories beyond her comprehension. 

That was how she heard about the Carte Blanche. A regular of her father's came in and sat down at the bar. A younger Buddy Aurinko slid up next to them and talked about Odysseus. She knew the epic as well as the back of her hand but never wrapped her head around it quite right. The regular she sat with however was good conversation and explained it very easily. Their patience for her temper proved something wrong about Palomine.

The regular listened to her like always and laughed in her face when she said that she would have never returned home if she were Odysseus. They asked if she had ever stepped foot on a ship before and offered to show her theirs. Buddy readily agreed. 

It was a week-long trek to reach the port they had docked in. And, at the time, the Carte Blanche went by a different name. Its sails were a drab cream color and the bow had a half naked siren strapped to the front. She was hideous. Buddy fell in love instantly. 

That regular died suddenly four years later. Their wife found Buddy at the bar and slid to her a will. They wanted you to travel the seas. They hoped that someday you would find your Penelope. 

She spent months scraping barnacles off the haul and removing that damn siren from the bow. The sails were the easiest to replace. The days of cream colored past were behind them now. Navy blue sails brought her all around Hellas Basin. The end of an era. The winds were changing and the seasons were rolling into each other as Buddy finished painting her ship's new name, Carte Blanche. 

Now she was Captain of her own ship. She left Palomine to take control of her future, to reign in her own destiny, and now here she was. Captain of her own ship, of her own life, her own destiny. Finally out from her father’s reach– except she wasn’t allowed to die. And her life wasn’t hers alone to dictate anymore, not so long as Jet and M’tendere were with her… And Palomine had tried to bargain for his life with hers… And she’s going back to the bar where she left him four months ago. 

The voyage to the Cerberus Province was lonely and cold. Buddy had always dreamed of wrangling together a crew of misfits like her and Vespa to sail Hellas Basin with. She dreamed of someday retiring and growing old with Vespa. Getting to sit under their own vine and fig tree. Relaxing in the shade together, at home with the knowledge that they had put their best foot forward. That they had tried to better the lives of people like them, and given their best efforts for someone else’s chance of survival. 

On the third night aboard the Blanche, M’tendere sings Buddy and Jet part of a song. They call it their Key.

“It sounds lovely darling.” 

“Thank you,” M’tendere strums their guitar a bit more. “If there’s a song you’d like me to play, I will happily play it for you, Captain.”

“Please, call me Buddy.”

“No can do, Captain. Jet and I are guests on your ship. You invited us on board and you’re helping me smuggle fire away from Hadestown. The least I can do is show you a bit of respect.”

On the fifth night, Jet stands at the helm of the ship. One hand planted on the wheel, the other holding the lamp. The fire inside has been burning now for almost two weeks straight. Possibly longer. M’tendere never answers her when she asks how and when they stole the fire. 

Speak of the devil, they’re turning out to be pretty bad at the whole sailing thing. Jet is a natural. M’tendere… would have probably faired better taking a month to skirt around Hellas Basin avoiding the road and tracks to Hadestown than ever stepping foot on the Blanche. For now M’tendere has kept to the lower deck. Much darker and damper, they’re starting to develop a cough. Jet doesn’t seem worried, so until he is neither will Buddy. 

Buddy slides up next to Jet, two of M’tendere’s scarves wrapped around her throat. 

“Your fingers are white.” She glances at Jet and back down at her hands. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

“Why didn’t you ask me sooner? If you knew this whole time, why hold off? If you care so deeply about my health–”

“I didn’t ask because I was waiting for you to mention it. M’tendere said that you would when you were in enough pain.” He pauses, and if it were locked into other season and Buddy any other person, she might have turned a beautiful shade of pink. “I care for your health, Buddy, because you are alone. You are walking a dark path, one that I have beared witness others walk before, and it never ends the way you or they hope.”

She scoffs, “Oh don’t be ridiculous, I’m not like other people. You don’t know the first thing about me. We hardly know each other.”

Jet nods passing off the lamp to her. Buddy accepts it without a second thought and for a brief moment, she thinks she might have caught hint of a smile. 

“You’re right, we don’t.” 

A long stretch of silence wraps around them. Eventually the pain in Buddy’s joints makes itself known. She bids Jet a fair night and descends to the lower deck to join M’tendere. They greet her with a cough and refuse to accept the lamp. For the rest of the night Buddy keeps it close to warm her hands.

On the ninth day, the seas are rough tossing the Blanche around. Buddy steers, while Jet stands on the bow keeping an eye out for rocks. 

That night it’s calm enough that M’tendere joins them above deck. They play a few songs intermittently asking Buddy questions in between. It strikes her at some point that while it’s a game to her, it’s a dance to them. 

“How long have you been sailing?”

“Only a few years. How long have you and Jet been traveling together?”

“We travel separately most of the time. You got found at a very lucky and rare time when we’re stuck together.”

“M’tendere asked me to help them fulfill their dream.”

“Oh really? And what is your dream?”

M’tendere sighs and leans back against the mast. Their head tilts at an awkward angle searching for constellations in the sky. “I wanted to help people. Balance out all the bad things that I’ve done in the name of Hades.” 

So you stole fire goes unsaid. Just like Promethus.

“What is your dream, Buddy?” She looks up at Jet, who again has claimed his spot at the helm. Her damn ship that half the time she doesn’t even get to man anymore. 

“My dream?” She chuckles, “I wanted to help people. Give back, uplift, and empower. But that time has come to pass now. What’s done is done they say… What is your dream, Jet? Don’t suppose it’s also to help people?”

“How disappointed would you be if I said it is?” This time, she does get to watch him smile. It’s bright and glorious and could fill up a whole room. And when Buddy laughs, M’tendere does too. They break into a coughing fit that lasts longer than usual. Again, Jet does not seem concerned. Despite this, Buddy tries not to either. M’tendere plays a final song that night, Their Key, and heads down to rest. 

In the morning there is a thick sheet of ice that formed on the bow. Buddy takes a crack at it using part of an old rusted anchor. She instructed Jet to search for an ice pick in the cargo hold. M’tendere hasn’t moved a muscle. It’s fine. Just four more days. They can rest. 

Jet emerges from the belly of the beast. Buddy steps aside to allow him to take over. 

The voyage to the Cerberus Province was lonely and cold. Had she not died somehow without Jet or M’tendere’s aid, the return trip back would’ve been no different. It would have been harder. It would have been colder. She might have actually died. 

“Jet,” he stops mid-swing to look back at her, “ask me again. Ask me again why I want to die.”

He turns towards her, rolling his shoulders back, standing at full height. Grimly, she is reminded of depictions of psychopomps in her mother’s old texts. Shadowy figures that slip on billowing robes. Some with animal heads. Others so handsome and flawless that they had to be immortal. But when she blinks the winter sun bathes Jet in cool light. Chasing away the shadows on Jet’s face, bringing into focus his heavy leather winter coat. Scars his hands remind her that he bleeds too. 

“Buddy Aurinko.” She takes a deep breath. The voyage was to the Cerberus Province was cold and lonely… “What happened to make you want to die?” 

They say it took Odysseus 20 years to journey home. 10 years fighting the Trojans, and 10 years lost at sea. When he returned home, he returned in disguise to win his wife’s hand in marriage and scare off the competition. He accomplished a little more than that, but he had his wife. He got back his Penelope.

The voyage to the Cerberus Province was cold because it shouldn’t have been made alone. Odysseus fought and won the war. Odysseus got to go home to be with the one he loved. Buddy Aurinko, wouldn’t even get so much as a final goodbye.

“I lost someone. I lost– I lost Vespa. I lost her and my dream and I can’t bear a life without her.” She wipes the stinging tears from here eyes. She turns her back and walks away. Not once did she let Palomine see her cry, Vespa only saw her cry in joy, and she wasn’t about to start sobbing a second time in front of Jet. 

Buddy plants herself at the helm and watches Jet resume chipping away at the ice. Just four more days. Just four more days.

That night she sits with M’tendere on the lowest deck. The scarves they loaned to her are rolled up tight to support their neck. They wheeze with each breath. In the relative quiet, she tries to think back to what Vespa would do. What Vespa would say. 

“Goddess hands, guide me.” She mutters under her breath as she clasps M’tendere’s thin wrist to count their heartbeat. There has to be something. Anything. If Vespa were here she would know what to do and how to treat them. She would probably say something like… like…

Vespa’s voice is slipping from her mind. Goddess forgive her. What would go next? Her face? Her touch? Rough lips on soft skin. Green has never been her color but it always belonged to Vespa.  

"Captain," Buddy does not flinch as M'tendere's body seizes into a coughing fit. The end is near. Death approaches. She has always hated goodbyes, and loathed letting go. How could she when all the people she lets herself love die in the end? She refuses to believe it, wants to object like Jet did. You can’t be dying yet, we have four more days until we dock.

She swallows a lump forming in her throat and nods. "Keep your strength. I'll fetch Jet." She pats M'tendere's cheek and heads up to the main deck of the Carte Blanche. They have at most four more days until they can dock at the harbor. And another week maybe before a doctor can come. Just four more. Four more and one week… They don't have a week though. Or four more days.

"Jet," Buddy finds him again chipping ice off the bow. He looks up. It's hard to read his expression buried underneath all his layers. "It's M’tendere." He nods and goes to her office to retrieve M'tendere's precious instrument.

When he makes it to their bedside, Buddy has them propped up by every linen blanket and wool stuffed pillow they have on board. Jet offers the instrument but they shake their head. M'tendere has never refused to play them a song. They promised they always would. I’ll happily play it for you, Captain. Nothing would make her happier now than to hear their strong voice. 

"I have one last one for the road." They suppress a cough and wipe blood from the corner of their mouth. "My Key."

Once upon a time M'tendere's voice used to lull Buddy to sleep. The voice of an angel. And now, wrecked by pneumonia, it's little more than a frogs croak. She surprises herself still able to recall what that sounds like.

M'tendere sings and hums a quiet peaceful tune. Tears roll freely down Buddy's cheeks. She never allowed her father to see her cry. She would move mountains though to allow M'tendere to see her cry another day.

A second voice picks up the tune. Quieter, deeper. She glances at Jet and finds him plucking the strings of M'tendere's guitar. Finding the right chords. They point and smile when he gets it right.

Four days later, Jet and Buddy Aurinko dock on the other side of Hellas Basin. A snowstorm picks up keeping them cooped on board the Carte Blanche for another week with a decaying corpse. Neither of them speaks much, not even a whistled tune. 

The town they docked in is on the outskirts of Hyperion City. A couple of days worth of travel through the snow and they’ll reach Palomine’s bar soon enough. For now, Buddy takes down her navy blue sails and sells them for a quick cred. With that money, she rents them a small room on land to stay in. The whole time she keeps M’tendere’s little fire clutched close to her chest. Humming their key.

[dausy]

Its a new month which means I’m going to talk about books again for a minute! This is the biggest list of books I have ever read in a month in my entire life...willingly..like on purpose..I also bought 2 art books that were on sale and I got through the Audible Original Heads Will Roll which I thought was hilarious and I needed it in my life.

mostly the books I read are what I can get for free via libby and my audible subscription and...through youtube....audiobooks are easier for me to get through because I can listen when I’m at the gym or walking the dog or paining. And as much as I like shiny new pages, I cant justify spending money on physical books when I can get them for free thru libby. I usually have an audiobook and a digital book going at the same time. I read the digital one on the treadmill and before I go to sleep at night. So audio goes a lot faster.

Anywho, Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson I started a couple months ago but couldnt finish it in the 12 some odd days libby gives me so I finished it at the beginning of this month. They’re just so long they take up all my energy. I’m finding I dont think Im a fan of complicated magics and probably won’t be able to do high fantasy. I get bored with all the explanation of how things work and why. Which was what my problem was with Legendborn. Technically neither of these books were super difficult to read its just that they require so much explanation from the characters on why things are the way they are that I frankly dont care. I just need to know somebody has boomboompow powers..I don’t want to read the explanation of why. I really thought I’d like fantasy so much more than I do which is just a shocking revelation to me. As much as I’d like to get through more Stormlight archives itll have to be months from now to recharge..which is why I usually go with a kids book for a while after.

malamander was free and kinda dark for a kids book and fun. NeverAfter had a cute premise but honestly sucked even if I wasn’t the target audience. Middlegrade doesn’t have to treat kids like they’re stupid to be a kids book. Dont judge me for Ickabog. I was more curious than I was afraid of the internet and again it was free. This book went from extremely goofy to super DARK to ridiculous and wasn’t worth it. 

Before I get to my favorite books I want to mention Queen of Geek. Which I figure’d Id read one day when I had a moment of nothing immediately available. I identify with online nerd culture and so I did identify with the book to an extent. Except this book is a complete written daydream of a nerd who marysue’d herself into a situation she really wishes would happen. Second hand embarrassment and I honestly think insulting to fandoms. Essentially a fan is recognized by a celebrity in the middle of a convention from their nerdy tumblr posts and the celebrity falls in love with them. Followed by a good ol “and then everybody claps” speech. No. I cant. 

Chain of Gold had nothing probably technically wrong with it (other than a tightlacing trope..are you friggen kidding me?) its just that I’m not familiar with this series and I was told it was a mistake to read this one first.

So favorite books. The Inheritance Games, Good Girl Bad Blood and Winterborne Home2. Loved them. Will read the next sequels that come out.

Shadow and Bone, read purely because the tv show is about to come out. I read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom when those came out but wasn’t a huge enough fan to read the older books. Well I finally started it. I’ve got Seige and Storm too and I plan to start it when I  paint next..probably.

so yes. wewt

so this next month I’m not sure if I have anything particular to read other than S&S. I’ve got another middle grade book going right now. So we will see.

[peachie-bun]

I FINISHED ACOFAF :DD

i binged the last like six episodes or so today bc the hyperfixation grabbed me by the throat and refused to release me from its grasp-

ANYWAYS it was SO GOOD and i am having MANY THOUGHTS abt it.

i love love love love seeing brennan as a player. i also love him as the dm, he is a fantastic dm, but him as a player is so fun. (i am just majorly comphet crushing on him and we don't have to talk abt it rn-)

i cried a total of two times during this season (a very small amount compared to other seasons) the first time was in the finale when hob was confessing to rue. i cried like a little baby bc it was SO SWEET AND I LOVE HOB AND RUE SO MUCH. the second time was when binx was talking abt how her court isn't a court, it's a home.

my favorite character is either binx or hob, but i really loved everyone this season (as with all seasons-) and its rlly hard to pick a favorite,,

anyways, i ADORED this season and am so glad i finally watched it !!! i have not decided if i'm going to watch another campaign or just wait til neverafter comes out and watch that, but i will probably start a new campaign tomorrow if im being honest with myself LMAO

i shall be done with this ramble, but i have many thoughts abt acofaf now <3

[edwardpinestar]

oop im here now Last Song: uh this fucking thing its great for what I'm writing right now

Last Show: Dimension 20: Neverafter (cannot remember the last time I watched like an actually TV show)

Currently Reading: Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, plus just so much fanfiction

Current Obssesion: Like so many others above me, Puss in Boots and his drop-dead gorgeous wolf (they are dating in my heart), plus D20: Neverafter (expect fanfiction once I finally finish it)

I shall tag: @twilightna @musekicker @keyorden @royallydivinelesbian

Ive never been tagfed before wow. ty @paperbagbat

last song; children of the damned by iron maiden I thibk or maybe it was mother fucking. A.I.D.S. by M.O.D. Because that was in my spotify weekly discover

last show; mob psycho 100. Forbthe 4th time

currently watching; one piece. Ive been watching it since *checks hand* 2021? And im still not caught up. also started jjk

currently reading; rob halfords autobiography and hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. And a Calvin and hobbes book I found recently after I thought I lost it years ago. I hardly read anymore tbh and I've been reading all rhese books for like the past 4 months💀

current obsession; uh uh the uh fuck me uh errrr mewhen the uh erm uh when the ah uh. Fuck its playing guitar gdagshdjjd. im still a major amateur and Icant afford lessons yet but I can definitely tell Im improving . im learning police truck and tornado of souls rn and probably some other shir i cant remember

tagging; @baconfyre @marsandhades @eggaddict @emo-and-dumb fuck idk who to tag