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adarkrainbow · 2 years

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Fairytales talk: Swans and ravens

So, I was asked to go a quick go on the fairytale “The Seven Swans”. I agree but I like to point out that this tale actually does not exist. It is a mashup of two different fairytales, The Six Swans and The Seven Ravens. But this mix-up is very interesting! Because you see, those two different tales are actually two variations of one same archetypal fairytale. It is what the ATU lists as a “type 451”, the story of the brothers turned into birds. This archetypal story has variations all around the world: in Russia it is “The Magic Swan Geese”, but in Norway it is “The Twelve Wild Ducks”, in Italy “The Seven Doves” and Andersen wrote his own version of the tale called “The Wild Swans”.

So… Both of those tales are actually German variations of the type 451, and both were published by the Brothers Grimm in their folklore anthology.

To recap briefly The Six Swans:

One day a king gets lost in a forest (cause of course a king will just randomly go all alone in the woods to take a stroll). He is helped by an old woman, but she only helps him to get out of the forest in exchange for him marrying her daughter. The king doesn’t mind because he is a widow, and the daughter of the old woman is an incredibly beautiful lady. Except that the old woman and her daughter are actually both witches. The king had seven children from his previous marriage, six sons and a daughter. Wishing to protect them from their evil step-mother, he sends them away to a secret manor where he visits them from time to time – in some versions he does that even before knowing his wife is a witch, simply because he feels she will try to hurt them. But the witch wife quickly understands what is going on, and finds out the secret hiding of the king’s children. (In some tales she bribes the servants of the king; in others, the king uses a magic thread to find his children and the witch-queen steals it away from him). She saws six magic shirts and then tosses them over the six boys – turning them into swans. Satisfied, she returns home.

The sister is horrified to see her brothers are all now birds, but hopefully the brothers can take a human form for fifteen minutes each evening. As humans, they tell their sister of the only way to break the curse: she must saw for them six shirts out of nettles, and not make a sound for six full years, else she will also turn into a swan and nothing will ever be able to break the curse. The girl agrees to do so, and goes deep in the wood. She lives in an abandoned hut and spends her time sewing in silence. Unfortunately, years later a young king discovers the girl, falls madly in love with her, and takes her to his court to make her his queen. But the mother of the king hates the young girl – officially it is because she doesn’t speak, cry or laugh, merely saws and knits all day long, implying she has no emotion or soul; but in truth it is because she cannot stand having someone not of noble birth be Queen. The young girl quickly falls pregnant (since she married the King and is now Queen), but at the birth of her child, the wicked mother-in-law steals it away and claims the Queen killed and devoured her own baby. The King does not believe her, and still doesn’t when the same thing happens to their second child ; but when the third goes missing, he has to believe his mother (especially since in some versions the mother smeared the girl’s mouth with blood). She is condemned to be burned at the stake, but the day of her execution she finishes all six shirts. As she is brought to the stake, the six swans arrive and she throws the shirts at them, giving them back a human shape – the now human brothers quickly rescue their sister from the flames. The six years also end, and the young Queen denounces the mother-in-law, who is the one ending up at the stake. The babies are fine and found back – the evil mother had simply hidden them away. And everything is happy everafter.

A very common variation in the story says that actually the young girl did not finish fully the six shirts – one was missing a sleeve. And so, while the six brothers regain their human shape, one stays with a swan wing instead of a left arm.

This specific version of the tale has also a lot more variations, common to the type 451: the number of brothers will vary from two to twelve, passing by all numbers in between; and the type of bird can change (as we will see underneath) : ducks, ravens, eagles, geese, peacocks, cranes, rooks and many others were used… The years of silence also tend to change, being six or seven; or sometimes the silence vow simply being tied to the making of the shirts (hence why she can speak as soon as the shirts are worn by her brothers). The materials of the shirts also tend to vary – in the Grimm version it is nettles because it implies a form of suffering as an extra-trial; other versions rather use other plants such as asters or starflowers.

It is also fascinating to see that this is actually a two-part tale, very similar to the one of Sleeping Beauty, and with villains who respond to each other: the witch stepmother and the wicked mother-in-law, both queens and perversions of the mother figure (modern versions even make them related, or the same person – the same way the witch and the stepmother in Hansel and Gretel are tied together somehow).

That being said, we have on the other side The Seven Ravens, which is a very different version of the type 451 tale, and :

A peasant had seven sons but no daughters – and he actually wished to have one. After a long time, his wife finally had a baby daughter, but she was sick, so the father asked his sons to go fetch water for her with a jug – in Germany, it is to baptize her so that she won’t die unbaptized; in Greece it is water from a healing spring to cure her. But in their haste, the brothers drop the jug of water and have to fetch it all back (in other variations, he gave them a bottle which they break). The father, seeing it is getting very late, believes his sons have gone away, probably to play, forgetting their duty, and so he curses them – the curse turns them into ravens and they fly away.

The sister survives and grows up, but she is unaware of the existence of her own brothers – until she somehow discovers it (usually by hearing people gossip about the missing seven boys). Determined to find them back, she goes into the world, but not before taking a ring belonging to her parents, to prove her identity. She wants at first to go ask the Sun if he knows where they are, but the Sun is too hot and too bright and threatens to burn her, so she flees in terror. She decides to go ask the Moon, but the Moon actually smells her flesh and wants to devour her – because in this story, the Moon loves to eat children. So she flees once more. Finally she finds help with the benevolent Stars (sometimes the Morning Star, other times the North Star) – they give her an element which will help her access the place her brothers dwell in, the Glass Mountain (a mountain made of glass). In Germany, the element is a chicken bone, in Greece it is the foot of a bat. The girl reaches Glass Mountain and sees a door with a lock which allows to enter it. In the “kinder” versions, she opens it up with the thing the Star(s) gave her. In the Brothers Grimm version, the girl lost the bone and so, to replace it, chops off one of her fingers to act as the key to the door. Once inside, she sees rooms fit for the living, with a table covered by seven plates of food. In some versions she meets a dwarf inside who tells her that the inhabitants of the rooms, the ravens, will soon return; other times the dwarf is absent. All in all, the girl, who is hungry, eats a bit from every plate and drinks a bit from every glass – though her ring falls into the last cup. No time to retrieve it: the ravens are just entered the mountain!

The girl quickly hides. The seven raven examine the mess the girl made with their feast (or, in other versions, they turn back into humans to start eating). The youngest of the seven finds the ring in his cup and recognizes it as the one belonging to their parents. And hopes that it belongs to their sister (in one version, it is because if the sister finds them their curse will be broken ; in another it is because he struck a bargain with God, that if their sister is inside the mountain their curse should be undone). Anyway, the siblings embrace each other and all return home. The end.

[Interestingly, the Brothers Grimm used an oral German story which had three, not seven ravens. But as you can see mentioned, there is another prominent variation that comes from Greece. Other variants are found in Poland and Slovakia.]

A very interesting point to make in this tale is that, while the ravens were cursed as boys, they grew up normally, and when their sister finds them back, they are now adults. It is also notable that there is a parallel between the beginning and the ending: the curse of the ravens begins with a father making an imprudent wish, wishing out of anger and rage that his sons would turn into ravens ; but the raven curse ends when one of the brothers wishes for his sister to be in the mountain.

As you can see, two very different tales, with different social context, different adventures and different kinds of birds, but always the same structure typical of the type 451: numerous brothers are turned into birds by the action of a parental figure; their young sister has to rescue them and to do so has to perform strange tasks and sacrifice herself in a way or another ; at the end she saves them and everyone is happy.

- - - - -

If you are wondering about the "ATU Index", it is the Aarne-Thompson Index ; nowadays the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index. It is an international classification of folktales (which include fairytales, among other things). It was started by Antti Aarne, a Finland folklorist who finished it in 1925. Stith Thompson, an American, completed it in 1927 then in 1961 ; and finally the final touch was given by the German Hans-Jörg Uther in 2004. This index is now widely used and recognized by scholar, considered a useful tool of fairytales classification - though it has some flaws (for example a huge focus on the European tales ; some conflicts and incoherences due to the enormous amount of tales treated ; a choice by Thompson to remove from the corpus tales that included "perversities" such as homosexuality... Each number in the index corresponds to an archetypal tale whose variations can be found across different cultures and countries. The broad categories (the biggest subtypes) are Animal tales ; Tales of magic (also called Wonder tales) ; Religious tales ; Realistic tales ; Tales of the stupid ogre ; Anecdotes and Jokes ; as well as Formula tales. For exemple, a subtype of the Animal tales are the "Clever Fox" tales, tales where the hero is a clever fox or any other clever animal ; while subtypes of the Tales of magic include the "Supernatural task" and the "Supernatural Helpers". Sleeping Beauty is an tale belong to the archetypal tale ATU 410 (The Sleeping Beauty), part of the "Enchanted Wife" tales. While the Frog King is the archetypal tale of the type ATU 440, part of the "Supernatural or Enchanted Husband". The story we just told about is of the type "451", The Maiden who Seeks her Brothers - usually where the brothers are turned into birds.

#fairytale talk #fairytales #fairy tales #brothers grimm #german fairytales #the six swans #the seven ravens

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mixedbagofships · 1 year

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Yay! The bridegroom and his buddies were condemned to death! Justice is served! The Grimm brothers actually wrote awesome endings.

#elise reads at midnight

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fairy-tale-writer · 2 years

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Rained In

Malleus Draconia x Fem! MC! Reader

Prompt: MC and Grim get caught in a storm and have to find shelter in Diasomnia…

Note: If you see Grim spelled as "Grimm" please send a reply on the fic and let me know! I'm used to spelling it as the Grimm brothers or Billy & Mandy Grimm so it's second nature to add the extra "m" in.

Cheers!

A harsh storm was hovering over the Night Raven College. Intense, downpouring rain and tornado-level winds made it impossible for any brave soul to dare venture outside or risk being attacked by mother nature.

Both you and Grim were of the poor unfortunate souls that got caught in the storm on your way back to the Ramshackle Dorm. It really didn't help much that your dorm was farthest away from the main school than the other dorms.

You had no choice but to run inside the Diasomnia dorm or risk getting struck by lightning. You whined as you looked down at your clothes and hair that was soaking wet.

Poor Grim's blue flames were meer smoke.

"This sucks!" He shook and you shrieked as he sent water droplets flying.

"I'm already wet!" You snapped.

Grim paid no heed and tried to spark his ear fires again but they only continued to sizzle.

"What are we going to do now?" He grumbled crossing his arms.

"Now, we need to talk to Malleus about staying the night," You sighed.

"Malleus?!" Grim yelped.

You ignored his evident fear and headed into the main lodge. Your shoes squished under your toes and you so desperately just wanted to peel your uniform off.

When you arrived in the lounge area you were surprised to see many of the dorm students had blankets and sleeping bags laying on the ground.

"What's going on here?" You said out loud.

Lila popped over with a small pout, "A portion of the dorm has flooded so we decided to have a slumber party. Thankfully Malleus decided to allow a few of his friends to hang out in his room."

"Oh, that sucks."

"So what are you here for darling? Did the storm blow you in?"

"Unfortunately," You nodded slowly.

He reached out and gently touched your hair frowning at how it was dripping. In fact, as you looked down you felt horrible for leaving puddles trailing behind you and Grimm.

"Come to Malleus's room, I'm sure he'll let you get cleaned up!" Lila grinned.

You followed him through the halls and noticed in one of the condemned halls there were many buckets and plastic totes collecting leaks of water.

"I can only imagine my dorm..." You mumbled sadly.

You were just renovating your dorm too but it still had cracks and holes. Would you even have a dorm to return to?

At last, Lila arrived at a door and gave you a charming smile before knocking. The door swung open revealing Malleus.

"Greetings!" Lila blurted, "I found this drowned rat-"

"Hey!" Grim barked.

"—and this poor young lady wandering in the Diasomnia halls in desperate need of shelter."

Malleus hummed and turned to you scanning your absolutely drenched, shivering figure.

"Can I please stay here? And maybe use your shower?" You made your best attempt at puppy dog eyes and it seemed to work.

With a smirk, Malleus nodded and allowed you to step in. Lilia made himself right at home hopping onto the dorm leader's bed.

"Lord Malleus can she please spend the night here? I would love a cuddle buddy," The smaller man snickered well you rolled your eyes at his flirt.

"Cuddle with Grim." You spat.

"Aye!" Said cat spat.

"The bathroom is over there. Use it as you need well I set up a sleeping arrangement for you."

"Thank you so much Malleus." You sighed, "I hate being a bother."

"No need (Name), I can't find a reason to throw you back out into the rain."

With that, you hurried to the bathroom and quickly peeled off your damp clothing. Not even your bra was safe from the cold dampness of rain.

Hopefully, they would dry properly in the morning. Once you were naked you slipped into the stall and started the hot water.

God did it feel good to have a nice warm shower. Your poor fingers and toes were bright red with frostbite. Once you were plenty warm you slid out of the shower and dried yourself off.

That was when you quickly realized...you didn't have a spare change of clothes.

Fuck.

You would have to ask Malleus for some but that would be embarrassing. Especially considering you were...EHHH! You should've thought of it ahead of time but you were impatient with the promise of a hot shower.

You swallowed and wrapped a towel around you tucking the end into your cleavage.

You cracked the door open the slightest and peeked your head out.

"Umm...Malleus...I apologize but I...I don't have any spare clothing and um..." If your skin wasn't flushed from cold it was flushed from embarrassment now.

You avoided eye contact as Lilia held a smirk behind his hand.

"Of course." Malleus coughed and hurried to his dresser pulling out a shirt and lounge pants.

"Here. This should be adequate." He held it out and you thanked him, cracking the door open just a little more to get the clothing.

"Thanks!" You slithered your arm back in and slapped the door shut.

You could hear Lilia's laughter behind the door and you groaned at how awkward that interaction was. Thankfully your underwear was the sole surviving clothing and slipped them on before you slid on his shirt.

It smelled just like him which was rather...nice. It was also more of a dress than a shirt on you which was super comfy. When you tried to slide on his lounge pants they were far too big and they kept slumping to the ground.

You finally settled for just wearing his shirt as a nightgown. You hung up your clothing onto the shower rack to let them dry and stepped out. To your horror Sebek and Silver had also joined in the "bedroom sleepover" and you were not exactly in covering clothing.

"(Name) is here?" Silver questioned.

"Did the pants not fit?" Malleus asked, ignoring the boy's comment.

You silently nodded not trusting your voice with how much embarrassment you were feeling. You stood there awkwardly before joining Grimm on his bed carefully pushing your hands down over the shirt to keep from flashing.

Underneath the quiet atmosphere, the rain pelted and lashed at the roof well thunder rumbled and growled causing the ground to tremble.

"This storm is horrible..." Grim grumbled.

It was evident he didn't like storms by how he was practically hiding under the fae's covers.

"It's alright. It's like background noise." You shrugged.

"So what do magical boys do during a sleepover?" You questioned.

"Play games, drink tea, watch a movie, talk." Lilia shrugged.

"Hm. What movies?"...

Sure enough, Malleus had quite a collection of movies—many in the horror genre. However, you settled on a comedy and soon your mood eased.

You were laying on your stomach on his bed with Malleus sitting beside you. The others were in the sleeping bags on the floor. Snacks were scattered around the room but you were the sole protector of the popcorn bowl. Sometime during the middle of the 3rd movie, you started feeling your eyelids get heavy.

It was early morning and thankfully it was the weekend so you didn't have to worry about school tomorrow. When Malleus dared to glance over you were on your side passed out cold cuddling his body pillow.

Your arms clutched it tight well your legs draped around it. Grim was laying on your side snoring softly. Malleus smiled and allowed you to rest as the others finally submitted to sleep...

#twisted wonderland x reader #twist imagines #twisted wonderland #wishingstar #twist #twist x reader #malleus draconia #malleus draconia x reader #malleus x reader #reader

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kibbits · 2 years

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Finishing up some characters for Art Fight

This is Tün'acan, a water genasi and Oath of Vengeance paladin! (She/They)

She made a terrible deal when she was young and naive, but when she had an opportunity to save herself from the consequences, she refused to condemn innocent bystanders to save her skin.

They've sworn to get their revenge on that dealmaker, and to protect the innocent from those who would take advantage of them

You ever sit down to flat-color something and then end up learning how to paint armor? No? It was fun though!

Instead of picking a water genasi or a fire one, I thought it'd be fun to combine the two and make a lava lamp character

The campaign I'm going to play them is feywild/fairy tales themed, so her story is based on the Grimm Brothers' version of the little mermaid, where her sisters make a deal in turn to give her a knife to kill the prince and his lover so she can return home, but she refuses to kill them and dissolves into the sea as foam come morning. (Or, in this case, into a water genasi)

#my art #dnd #paladin #water genasi #genasi #oath of vengeance #tunacan

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ariel-seagull-wings · 2 years

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FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: THE PRINCESS FROM THE SIX SWANS/THE WILD SWANS

Tagged by no one.

@princesssarisa @softlytowardthesun @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @amalthea9 @parxsisburning

Favorite Thing About Them: She is clearly the point of view character and the proactive part in saving the day, trough the vow of sewing the nettle shirts in complete silence to break the curse that turned her brothers into swans. And as she does this, she still enjoys romance and marriage. This shows one doesn't need to choose between romance and relationships with other friends and family, you can enjoy both. And her marriage is an event that happens in the middle of the narrative, but is not necessarily the ending of it, there are still trouble for the princess to solve.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Neither the Grimm and Andersen version mention a forbidding of the written word. Only of the spoken one. So the fact that she doesn't try to use this alternative feels a bit arbitrary, specially in the Andersen version because since it mentions she reads a hymn-book, the story is clearly set in a time when european nobility already was literate, compared to early Middle Ages when literacy was reserved mainly to the clergy.

Also i agree with @princesssarisa that the fact she ends the story still married to the king who sentenced her to burn at the stake in Andersen's version is still troubling. At least in the Grimms’ version, her apparent crime justifies the sentence more: she’s framed for killing and eating her own three children, with all the evidence pointing straight at her. In Andersen’s version, she’s condemned just for behaving strangely and for picking nettles from a ghoul-filled graveyard, without having apparently harmed anyone.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

*I love my family

*Like in the Andersen version, as a lonely child, I had to resource to my imagination for playthings

*I have sometimes felt forced to be kept silent

Three Things I Don't Have In Common With Them:

*I am not royalty

*I don't do textile work

*I’ll never be so beautiful that roses will say I’m more beautiful than they are, or so pious that a hymn-book would say I’m more pious than itself.

Favorite Line:

This line she says to her husband

"Dearest husband, now I may speak and reveal to you that I am innocent, and falsely accused."

From the Grimms version

This line she says to her siblings

"Heaven grant that I may dream how to save you"

From the Andersen version

brOTP: Her enchanted swan siblings

OTP: Her husband the Young King, as long as he apologizes profusely for her near-execution.

nOTP: The Archbishop from the Andersen version.

Random Headcanon: The youngest sibling who kept a swan wing was the one to continue living with her, her husband and their children, while the eldest sibling returned to their home kingdom to assume the throne and the other middle siblings went to travel to live their own adventures. She is very protective of that young sibling because she considers him fragile, but he lets clear that he still can be strong and independent with just one arm.

Unpopular Opinion: I think both the Grimm's Six Swans and Andersen's Wild Swans are intriguing yet flawed stories and I think the best version would combine aspects of both.

Song I Associate With Them:

The japanese opening song from the anime Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, wich adapted the tale into one episode

youtube

Favorite Picture of Them:

This illustration from the collection Fiabe Sonore for Andersen's Wild Swans, wich was my introduction to the tale

These illustrations by Paul Hey for the Grimm's Six Swans

This still from Toei Animation's 1977 anime film adaptation, wich combines the Grimm's Six Swans with Andersen's Wild Swans

This still from the Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics anime adaptation of The Six Swans

#character ask meme #fictional character ask #the six swans #the wild swans #fairy tales #fantasy #folklore #literature #brothers grimm #hans christian andersen #Youtube

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zafirosreverie · 3 years

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Which fairytale would them be (KH’s characters)

for @roseclear hope you like it!

Agatha Harkness:

The red queen

When you read the classic tales as a child, you always imagined yourself with the prince or the hero, and as you grew up and those stories were gradually being forgotten, you never believed that you would end up rediscovering magic, or falling in love with the evil witch.

But that was your life now, and you didn't regret it in the least.

Among all the forgotten stories in your mind, there was one that made its way to be present again in your memory. The one with the red queen.

A woman of strong character, who in her own way was guiding Alice home, helping the girl to grow and learn more about herself. And all for what? So that the inconsiderate girl would end up shaking her strongly, breaking her crown, condemning her to exile and causing her to be mistakenly remembered as a villain.

She reminded you of Agatha.

Yes, your girlfriend, unlike the red queen, did have ulterior motives regarding Wanda's powers, but that didn't change the fact that, in her own twisted way, she had helped the redhead understand her powers a bit more and her own history.

It also didn't seem fair to you that, after having tortured an entire town (unintentionally, of course, but still), the woman simply cursed Agatha and got out of there. Just like Alice, after wreaking havoc all over the chessboard, she simply walked away, leaving behind a broken queen.

But there was something that the red queen did not have and Agatha did: you. And you swore that no matter how many times you had to tour wonderland, you would recover her crown.

Olivia Octavius:

The princess and the frog

Listen, you weren't naive enough to believe Liv would listen to a children's story before bed. You weren't even sure she liked them. But at least she was kind enough not to make a comment every time she found you reading your copy of Brothers Grimm tales.

You loved those stories, they had been part of your life for as long as you could remember. You could remember almost every word in the stories, but that didn't stop you from rereading them from time to time.

You wouldn't tell Liv, but your relationship with her had a name on your mind. The Princess and the Frog...or The Princess and the Octopus? It worked for you.

It was an almost accidental irony that your girlfriend's favorite color (and her signature as a villain) was green, but it only added one more point to your fantasy. In your mind, the relationship between the two love stories was obvious.

You had been at a horrible point in your life, heartbroken and almost broken. Liv had shown up to offer you help (well, more like she had blackmailed you into working at Alchemax. They needed new staff if they wanted to rebuild the labs). At first, you had agreed, intending to leave as soon as you achieved some financial stability, but Liv had made clear her intention to have you by her side.

Yes, you had fought a lot, but at some point, you found common ground, and what was your surprise? It turned out that the octopus was a beautiful queen with whom you had fallen deeply in love.

Ursula Gernsback:

Little mermaid

Telling stories to Ursula was one of your favorite activities. The robot woman had trouble understanding your world, but those stories were a nice escape for the two of you.

Her favorite was The Little Mermaid.

You tried not to laugh, but the similarities were pretty obvious. Fortunately, it was she who admitted that that was precisely why it was her favorite.

She, like Ariel, was fascinated by a world to which she knew she didn’t belong. She'd done whatever it took to get to know that strange world, even face Hugo, she gave up a lot of things, including her security (thank goodness you were able to hack her server and make her independent from Tomorrowland before they could permanently disable her) and all for a human, with which she fell madly in love.

Unlike the original story where the prince falls in love with another woman and the little mermaid dies in foam, you knew that you could never love anyone the way you loved Sulie. She was your everything, and you were deeply grateful for sharing two worlds with her.

When you saw the Disney adaptation, you couldn't help but record your girlfriend's reaction to seeing that the villain shared a name with her. She was adorable and soon became her favorite character.

"I'm going to steal your voice" she told you

"oh come on" you smiled at her "You already stole my heart! What more do you want from me, woman?!"

"Everything"

Carla Dunkler:

The dragon princess

It was Jackson's favorite story. Since you moved into Carla's house, the sweet boy had become quite attached to you. Carla usually didn't have the time or patience for stories, so that task, childish as it might sound, was done by you.

It wasn't unusual for you and Jackson to search for new books at least once a month, usually immediately after finishing one. Neither of you really paid attention to the synopsis, letting yourself be carried away by the dragon on the cover. What a surprise you got when, as you turned the pages, you could imagine the princess's face perfectly well.

A princess cursed to be a fearsome beast, a dragon. Locked up in an old castle, condemned to a life of loneliness and sadness. Every so often, some brave knight tried to go rescue the maiden guarded by a dragon, not knowing that the beast he was fighting was the princess herself.

It was not difficult for you to imagine Carla.

A strong and independent woman, a single mother, who from time to time had suitors who in the long run only sought her out for a fun time, leaving her alone again once they got bored of her. You knew your girlfriend could be intimidating, but hardly anyone dared stay long enough to get to know her well.

Many knights weren't enough to break the spell.

You wouldn't tell your girlfriend, but you liked to think about her as you reread the story with Jackson almost every night.

In the story, time passed for the princess and she was condemned to live like a fire-breathing beast for the rest of her days. But, as you felt your girlfriend slide up behind you in the bed and hug you, you promised this princess would have a different ending. A happy one.

Eve Fletcher:

The tin soldier

Maybe it's not the story that many think of when they think of you and Eve. And that's perfectly fine because it makes your little tale more special, shared only between you two.

Eve loved everything about you and the wonderful contrast you brought into her life. It seemed that you were perfect opposites, but with subtle and beautiful similarities, complementing each other. While Eve worked in a nursing home, you were a kindergarten teacher, she was older, you were younger, she had been through so much, you were just beginning to live.

One of her favorite things was that you seemed to find a story in everything around you. So Eve knew it was a matter of time before you named your love story, she just didn't expect it to be the tin soldier.

"But it's perfect!" you had said to her "think about it, Eve! The soldier went through as many adversities as you, but that only made him return to his real house, with the dancer!"

Eve didn't comment on the fact that you had recently injured your leg, and therefore were on crutches.

"Standing on one foot, but so strong and confident" she thought

"Besides," you continued, "doesn't it seem romantic to you that they preferred to die together?"

"Are you saying that you would jump into the fire for me?" the brunette smiled

"I'd burn the world for you, Eve Mackie"

Jennifer Barkley:

Beauty and the beast

When you jokingly suggested that the two of you were like The Beauty and the Beast, Jen was...let's just say a little offended, not to say tremendously upset. It took you a while to get her to listen to you to explain your point of view.

It was no secret to anyone that you and Jen...didn’t start with the right foot. You had been designated as her assistant and she had no say in it, so she always made sure to make it clear that if it were up to her you would not be there (which later, when you two were already married, she would deny).

Your father was ill at the time, and none of your siblings seemed to want to help, so you would have taken any job. Besides, it wasn't like it was a bad job, quite the contrary. It was a huge opportunity to meet and work with extremely important people, and the pay was far (quite far) from bad. A grumpy boss wouldn't make you quit.

So, essentially you had met Jen because of your desire to help your father, you had endured her first fits with the idea of helping him and somewhere along the way, you had fallen in love, which had impressed the older woman's colleagues, since she had never wanted anything really serious with anyone before. Yup, a story you knew pretty well.

Your wife simply rolled her eyes at the explanation, muttering something about how she had been the beauty anyway and you the beast, but you could see the deep blush on her cheeks. The truth was that you had really changed her for the better, surprising her with your simplicity and humility.

And if on your anniversary she gave you a necklace with a rose...well, it was a coincidence, okay?

Delta Simmons:

Little red riding hood

Delta always laughed when you called her Little Red Riding Hood, especially in front of the kids. You were quite respectful to them, that's why you never told them the real reason behind her nickname, choosing to say that it was because she liked to walk in nature.

But you two knew better. It was a shared secret and a silent agreement never to mention in front of them the very close presence of the wolf.

If she was honest, the first time you referred to Arnold as the wolf, Delta had felt guilty for laughing. After all, he was still the father of her children, no matter what he did to her. But the more she thought about it, the more she liked the analogy you made, so she decided to allow the little joke between you.

You told her that, as Little Red Riding Hood, she had trusted the wolf, completely ignoring the red flags. Delta knew you were right, there was always something about Arnold that anticipated the kind of man he truly was. She had been fooled and ended up right where the big bad wolf wanted her, helpless and small and broken.

Fortunately, as her woodcutter, you had come to her rescue, to remove what was left of her from within the wolf. You had given her the strength to get up again and you had made sure that the wolf didn’t bother her again.

Yes, he was still hovering, too close, lurking at the edge of the forest (and Delta really made an effort not to laugh when Arnold came to pick up the kids), but she knew he was just a sad dog now. Little Red Riding Hood had defeated the wolf and now, she couldn't wait to write another fairy tale with you.

Milly Campbell:

Rapunzel

Locked in a tower, guarded by an evil sorceress. No doors or stairs. A prince enters through a window and shows her something beyond those cold walls. You knew that story.

Milly had laughed a bit when you mentioned that she reminded you of Rapunzel, especially because of the huge difference between the length of the hair, but when you explained your reasoning, she couldn't help but blush.

Shep was the sorceress (er...sorcerer), her own house was the tower in which she was slowly withering away. Since April's death, Milly hadn't really had any close friends, so she didn't count on the escape she once had with the blonde. The older woman didn't need you to continue to know the rest of the story.

You had arrived when she needed you most, your presence had opened a window of hope for her. You were her prince, er...princess. And like the maiden in the story, Milly had been scared when you did it because she had never known the tenderness and love you possessed and the idea of loving another woman terrified her. But you never gave up.

Unsurprisingly, Shep eventually found out about the friendship (neither of you had dared to put a real name to your feelings for the other) that you had and he threatened you, forbidding you to see his wife again. He condemned Milly to live through tears and pain.

You two spent a long time not knowing about each other, but missing each other more and more each day. It took a few years for Milly to gather enough courage to leave Shep and worry about being truly happy with you.

About the same time it took for the prince to find Rapunzel again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

KH’s tags: @mochiadria @academiagaymess @annie-mit-ie @natalia-helena-alianova-romanov

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carryonthroughtheages · 3 years

Text

Hello everyone!

Another year of Carry On Through The Ages is over and done! We have emotions and exhaustion, but we're so happy that this year had the hype and excitement that it did.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to all of the AMAZING creators who spent the last several months working away at their historical content!

Thank you also to the hard-working mods: @bazzybelle, @giishu, @palimpsessed, and @xivz . This fest would not have been as successful as it has been without you!

We encourage everyone to look under the page break for all the fics and art. They're all fantastic!

Here is the link to the AO3 Collection: Carry On Through The Ages 2021!

Thank you all, and until next year! 🧡🧡🧡

MONDAY:

1) sun on the sea (T) - @trenchcoat-moth : AO3 // Tumblr

Tensions run high in England, and Malcolm decides it's for the best he sends Baz to live with Fiona, where he'll be safer.

That is, until Baz's ship is attacked.

2) The Words I Long To Say (M) - @bazzybelle : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon Snow was dead.

Baz Pitch was sure of it. Simon had gone away seven years ago to fight a war in the jungle and he hadn't come home.

So, when Simon shows up in Baz's club, investigating a string of brutal murders, all Baz wants to do is hold him close and never let him go.

But these aren't the same boys from 1960 and Baz has a lot of processing to do before he's ready to believe in Simon again.

3) we are slaves to gods, whatever gods are (M) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 // Tumblr

I don’t fully understand what plagues him, but I know it’s bad, and I know it goes deeper than guilt. He didn’t want to kill his father, not really, but we were instructed to do so by Apollo. Cleanse the house of its sins, dispose of a murderer to set things right. It was only right that I join him; he was avenging my mother as much as his. Clearly, Apollo didn’t seem to consider that such an act would make Simon a murderer in his father’s place. It seems I got off fine, but as far as Simon is concerned, the vengeful spirits that once spun and danced on the roof of the palace now hunt him down, determined not to stop until he rids the world of himself.

4) World War II Era Art - @stardustasincocaine : Tumblr

TUESDAY:

1) the art of loving you (E) - @one-more-offbeat-anthem : AO3 // Tumblr

1955. London. Young love.

Forbidden love.

A year ago, starving artist Simon Snow met Baz Pitch, son of a wealthy art patron, at a party, and their days (and nights) together have been a wonderful secret.

But Simon is tired of being a secret and knows it's time for things to end.

(Baz has other ideas.)

2) Reliquary of an Arsonist (T) - @tea-brigade : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon Snow grew up a ward of Watford Abbey, but when his magic manifested in an explosive accident as a child, he became the Abbey’s anchorite—never to leave Watford’s walls, for his own protection. That is, until Abbot David sends him on an important errand…

Basilton Pitch paints portraits for his patron, Lord Grimm. But he’s never forgotten the magic he learned from his mother—nor the men who condemned her to death as a heretic. When Simon arrives and offers Baz a commission from Watford Abbey, he sees his chance to avenge his mother once and for all...and he’s willing to burn down everything in his path to that end.

But it was no coincidence that pulled these two unlikely souls together. Something more sinister is underway at Watford Abbey, and only Simon and Baz can uncover the truth before everything goes up in flames.

3) Westward Son (E) - @aristocratic-otter : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon and Baz have found each other again, but there's nowhere in Brooklyn or Virginia where they can safely be together. So now, they venture the hazards and struggles of the Oregon trail, to perhaps find a little homestead in Oregon of their own.

4) A Way Out (T) - @lying-on-the-sofa : AO3

I frown at him..“You don’t know me.”

He offers his hand. “Simon.”

Simon. I feel the name around in my mind and assign it to his face. Simon. I don’t shake his hand. They’ve still got my arms pinned. “Basilton.”

Simon nods at me. “Now we know each other. Let him go.” Very casually, he takes his other hand from behind his back. A sword, flashing. He leans on it and smiles invitingly. “Let him go.”

This time, they listen.

Simon Snow has been trained for years to become a tribute—one of the fighters Athens sends every ninth year into the Minotaur’s labyrinth. He wants to know the way out, if only for Penny’s sake. Luckily for him, Prince Basilton of Crete also wants a way out—off the island, where no one will know he’s the half-brother of the Minotaur.

Unluckily for both of them, they don’t exactly form the most agreeable pair.

WEDNESDAY

1) long is the road the leads me home (G) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 (Version 1) (Version 2) // Tumblr

Baz has a rather unremarkable life, and he's fine with that. Running his late mother's beloved inn with his temperamental aunt, estranged from his father and step-siblings, he's successfully convinced himself that he's better off without attachments.

Then Simon barrels into his life, guns blazing and rapier drawn, and Baz is swept up in dramatic plot he never bargained for.

Worse still, he finds he quite likes the thrill.

2) New Romantics (T) - @ninemagicks : AO3 // Tumblr

Basilton Pitch, twenty-two years old and a famed poet of the Romantic era, has fled to the countryside. In Mummers House, the fabled haunt of literary greats, he sulks himself into oblivion and awaits a sad, disappointing end to his brief years of brilliance. The cause of his downfall? None other than Simon Snow, the so-called “bad boy of English poetry”, breaker of rules and eternal thorn in his side. Baz hopes that Mummers House might mean an escape from London, from Snow and his increasingly virulent popularity... but the rain that comes has other ideas.

3) thnétos (T) - @snowybank : AO3 // Tumblr

thnétos: subject to death, mortal

a retelling of Apollo and Hyacinthus

4) A Medieval AU art piece - @thewriterxj : Tumblr

THURSDAY

1) From Eden (E) - @orange-peony : AO3 // Tumblr

I wonder if his skin is warm or cold to the touch. I tell myself it’s simple curiosity, that I’m an artist and capturing things on paper or canvas is my way to make sense of the world. That drawing him feels so natural, so I should just follow my instincts. Ebb used to say it all the time. Follow your heart. It knows where you’re supposed to go.

I wish I could. I wish I had enough money and freedom to just draw what I want. To paint him in his unattainable beauty. To draw him the way I want to. Naked and vulnerable, raw. Without frills and expensive suits.

Just Baz on paper, my fingers tracing his delicate and beautiful lines with simple charcoal.

2) Slings and Eros (M) - @palimpsessed : AO3 // Tumblr

Young god of love Simonides is tasked by his father, the god of war, to bring about the ruin of a mortal prince to punish his blasphemy. However, once Simonides sees his intended victim, he begins to have misgivings. Prince Tyrannus might have offended the gods with his very existence, but all Simonides can see is how beautiful and lonely he is.

Or, a very loose interpretation of the Eros and Psyche myth.

3) I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire (M) - @knitbelove : AO3 // Tumblr

September 1940: Going back to Watford feels different this year, and not just because England is at the brink of war with Germany and Italy. Penelope seems unsettled by everything, and Agatha is distant, and Baz is … simply not here.

What if Carry On but during the Blitz?? Yeah.

4) A Fool's Oath (M) - @thewriterxj : AO3 // Tumblr

A simple soldier is invited to join the ranks of the royal guard. He and his appointed mage arrive at the royal city to find themselves at the mercy of an unmerciful court. As he struggles to find his place in this foreign environment, he also finds himself entranced by music that only he seems to hear that floats out about the city. He makes an oath to wed whoever makes such beautiful music.

Too bad that person is the crown prince.

FRIDAY

1) Stranger Tides (T) - @tea-brigade & @xivz : AO3 // Tumblr

“If some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will endure…” Captain Simon Snow of the Chosen One is many things—cunning, handsome, ruthless. Greedy. It’s no surprise that Snow finds a way to piss off the God of the Sea, he always manages to get himself into some type of trouble. This time, however, he’s not the only one who will suffer the consequences. Poseidon promises to not stop his pursuit until Snow and all of his men are dead.

Enter Basilton Pitch—rich, beautiful, mysterious. Suspicious. He offers the crew of the Chosen One a hefty sum to take him back to Europe from the Caribbean. And who is Captain Snow to refuse so much coin? After all, Greek gods aren’t real.

Right?

2) The wayward heir [comic] (M) - @letraspal : AO3 // Tumblr

Like a folk song, our love will be passed on. Simon Snow wants to be an artist. He used to live in Fiesole where he worked in the wool shop of his good friend Ebeneza Petty. He has now chosen to return to his native Florence in order to participate in an art contest hosted by the Pitch family, the most important bankers in all the three continents and Simon’s last chance for an art patronage. No matter how much he hates them.

But being back in Florence also brings back the memories Simon wanted to leave behind : his days as an orphan, the mystery about his mother, and once more being under the inquisitive eyes of his godfather, the new archbishop Davy. The archbishop is very same man who would never forgive him for dropping out the priesthood and ruining his secret plans against the Pitches.

The last thing Simon needed was an unbearably handsome jerk getting him into trouble on his very first day in Florence. How can focus when this man is the most annoying person he has ever met and yet his major source of inspiration.

3) Prohibition Blues (T) - @heyyyandrea : AO3

Simon Snow is a baker and aspiring playwright in Prohibition Era New York City. When he meets a handsome man at Shepherd's speakeasy who is interested in his work, he can't help but think it feels too good to be true.

4) Earth Below & Sky Above (M) - @phoxphyre : AO3 // Tumblr

In the depth of the palace of King Minos of Crete lurks a creature known as the Minotaur.

Baz, prince of Athens and chosen of the god Poseidon, has heard the stories. And now he’s volunteered to come to Crete as one of the annual tributes—to dance with the king’s bulls and fulfill his destiny. He just wants to survive the bulls, protect his people, and go home.

But what if the Minotaur isn’t a monster—but just a boy? And what if instead of slaying him, Baz fell in love with him?

A Carry On retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, set in Bronze Age Crete.

5) A 1980s AU Art piece by @stardustasincocaine : Tumblr // Instagram (Slightly NSFW)

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schnees-and-schnugs · 3 years

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V9 Vacuo arc: Winter and Whitley reconcile (Winter apologises) and both hug,, I would forgive a lot of things the show did

Your optimism and hope is commendable anon but I genuinely think the writers would rather just have the rest of the schnee family ""hilariously""" abuse Whitley rather than have any of them acknowledge how they failed their youngest family member. I'm just glad that they're not that tone deaf to have willow girlboss him too.

I mean this is the same writers who *heavily* implied that Jacques repeatedly threatened his children with various punishments as a way to control them but thought it was so fucking funny to have Weiss do the same thing to whitley. Because, yes, when your little brother hates you because in his eyes you abandoned him to your shitty father, the obvious solution is to do the exact same thing your shitty father would have done.

The worst thing is that I was willing to come up with 100 ways to justify it (and I have) but the writers straight up explained their reasoning as "yeah Whitley is a shitty spoiled brat and deserves it lol isn't is so funny??" and that completely destroyed whatever hope I have for the schnees in v9. Why should I expect anything? They dangled the hope of an actually nuanced subplot between Weiss and whitley in v7 and then just completely ran runshot over it in v8.

What did "don't forget about your brother" even mean? Because I can tell you what I thought it meant. I thought I meant that willow knew whitley had nobody else around for him. She knew she had just given Weiss incriminating evidence that would land Jacques straight into jail and whitley would be completely physically and emotionally abandoned by everyone in his life. She was asking Weiss to be there for him emotionally, and not to forget him like everyone else had.

What impact did that amazing line have in v8? Nothing. Weiss learns nothing. She references the line after not letting Whitley get mauled by a Grimm. That's it. All the raw depth of that scene completely fucking dashed into the dirt. You can say, well she hugged Whitley right? Only after he did something for her. What would have Weiss done if Whitney hadn't? The implication here is that she would have just abandoned him again, because she sure as hell didn't seem to want him around at all up until that point. "You left him here alone with us?" What did Weiss even take from that? Nothing, apparently. Because she didn't act like she learned a single lesson from that scene. She never talked about it with Whitley, they never spoke about their hurt with each other. One hug cured literally years of narcissistic abuse.

It's all just really funny, in a angering way. We have weiss threatening a minor with a dangerous weapon and willow criminally neglecting that same minor and neither of those universally condemned crimes is at all acknowledged or apologized for in-show. And it's never going to be. Whitley just forgives both of them. The writers used the idea that whitley may be an abuse victim too as just a crutch for the protagonists when they need Whitley to do all their fucking work for them in the future.

They never had any intention of actually approaching it in a meaningful, sensitive, or nuanced way- their thought process was just "well if we acknowledge Whitley is being abused too then he will be sympathetic enough for us to redeem in v8 and then he can prove himself by giving the heroes some of what they need to save the day!" Of courses disregarding literally everything that has to do with whitley's healing process because plot. I know this because the writers themselves all but say Whitley should just get over it in the commentary.

So I really wouldn't be surprised if winter and whitley's reconciliation turns out to be a complete joke. I wouldn't be surprised if it was gross and genuinely insulting. I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow made this 20-something grown ass woman a victim of her mean little 14 year old brother because he's refusing to be her emotional support replacement little sibling. Winter apologizing? Willow hasn't even apologized to whitley.

I would be surprised if it was actually good, though. But it won't make me forgive anything, and given their track record (with not just Whitley) I don't really think it will be.

#sorry for the negativity i just cant bring myself to care at all anymore #bc i know if i care about anything in this show it will find way to sorely disappoint me #rwde #whitley schnee

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bestworstcase · 5 months

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So I know you've posited before that you don't think Salem or Cinder (or Summer, for that matter) are going to be 'purified' by Ruby's Silver Eyes or anything like that, unlike what seems to be the common theory or prediction around the FNDM. I'm curious as to what you feel then is going to be the narrative payoff for Ruby's Silver Eyes? Like what would she ultimately use them for if not for Grimm purification?

well, anon, let me ask you this:

where in the text does it say that silver eyes are for purifying things that have been corrupted or tainted or otherwise made impure? 😐

it doesn’t. that’s fanon. it’s an assumption that because the light destroys the grimm, and grimm evil light good, it must therefore also be able to cleanse the grimm out of people who are bad because being grimm makes them bad. which is a pretty uncomfortable reading when you stop to think for five seconds about how grimmness is actually handled thematically.

salem is hated and feared for being grimm long before she does anything bad. raven observes that cinder can’t protect her grimm arm with aura and that is her reason for calling cinder a monster. anti-faunus bigotry is informed by a long history of faunus being scapegoats blamed for grimm attacks, as per ‘the judgment of faunus.’ see the pattern?

salem is a person. she hasn’t been “corrupted.” the divine pools gave her… infinite creation and infinite destruction in equal measure, and she has free will. that’s the literal definition of what a human being IS in this world. for all intents and purposes she’s a faunus with grimm traits.

she doesn’t need to be “purified.” she needs to be treated like a person, because that is what she is.

so, what ARE silver eyes for?

their textually-stated purpose is to preserve life, because life is precious and must be protected, and they’re empowered by love—both loving someone and the feeling of being loved. they also have a hitherto unremarked upon but very obvious connection to death, e.g. ruby hearing pyrrha’s last words in her dreams months after the fact.

all of remnant has a divine writ of execution hanging over its head. if the brothers return and find humanity unchanged from what they are now and have always been, they will be found “irredeemable” and the whole world will be wiped from existence.

the god of light is not reasonable and the whole point of this ultimatum is to punish salem for recreating humanity by recombining the brothers’ power in the pool of grimm not groveling for forgiveness like she was supposed to. he will not adjudicate fairly. his judgment is a foregone conclusion; he’s going to condemn everybody to death.

what do you think ruby’s magical eyes that only work if you believe life is precious and must be protected are FOR, if not stopping the divine judgment against humankind? the light isn’t a weapon—it spreads out around ruby as a dome. it’s a shield.

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onewomancitadel · 3 years

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You know how some fans think that Jaune is a descendant of Salem because of similarities between their inherited emblems? We agree that that isn't a very solid theory, but I do think interrogating the seemingly deliberate parallel is worthwhile, and I just had the thought: Maybe the reason for it is to symbolically connect Jaune and Salem as foils on the fulcrum of Cinder's alignment, where Salem is the corrupting malefactor and Jaune is the helping hand. Idk how much this idea makes sense but I think maybe there is something to it.

Here is a post where we have discussed it before. (For others' perusal).

No, I definitely agree and it's a worthwhile parallel to consider, the only reason I wouldn't (on my own and I'm glad you sent this ask) is because I subscribe to the idea now the more I've thought about it is that Cinder/Jaune is the most 1:1 Salem/Ozma couple, whereas I do think Ruby/Oscar, for instance, is sort of 50/50.

Maybe the reason for it is to symbolically connect Jaune and Salem as foils on the fulcrum of Cinder's alignment where Salem is the corrupting malefactor and Jaune is the helping hand.

I like this a lot and I know exactly what you mean, they are alignment foils and that's a good point. I hate to go really literal, but I also sort of think that what Salem has done to Cinder is outwardly projected self-destruction - I mean I've made a post or two about how Cinder represents weaponised grief in Salem's hand - and so in a way there are some knotted elements when it comes to the alignment chart, because Cinder's state is also sort of self-condemnation.

If anything I sort of think the idea going on here is that, 'Yes Salem and Oz are better together', but they're better together in the sense that they are a) symbolically and holistically unified (which they were not in the reunion post-Grimm pool and the God of Light pitting Ozma against Salem) b) totally honest with each other c) challenging the very fabric that pitted them against each other. I'm still not one hundred percent on how hard they intend to go against the brothers, I have one crackpot theory I won't go into, but yeah. I mean, on the third point, there is that idea with Jaune and Cinder that like, there is a thing greater than them pitting them against each other, but it's possible to stop.

So, with that sort of established, in a way the alignment works in the sense of 'Salem's isolation' versus 'Salem not being alone', which is also that ongoing and perpetual theme in the show lol.

I do think Jaune fits Ozma in this sort of alignment scale. I do really like it though. I like it a lot. Also I have to ask did you start thinking of it because of these screenshots from that 'What if I were hired by RT' post?

Cuz even if you didn't, I think that you're very correct Jaune and Salem would by virtue be foiling each other in some way. Though with that being said, I think he's foiling every structure that let Cinder down, which to me is powerful on a lot of thematic fronts:

1. Huntsman academies and Salem/Ozma let Pyrrha down (ironic balm/resolution with Cinder)

2. Salem/Ozma lol, and the brother gods, particularly on that front of going against what they've been told they have to do (fight each other)

3. Jaune's Semblance/his actual self is his own self-evolved Aura answer to Ruby's matrilineal silver eyes, and I think it's very harmonious that Ruby and Jaune would come together to help Cinder (and again, I think thematically links his and Ruby's powers)

4. One ancient, immortal, all-seeing, all-powerful witch with ancient enmity against the world, her ex-husband, and the shit gods vs. one beautiful boy

who will win

Thank you for this ask, I think you made a great point and I think if I am incorrect (which I am willing to be) about Jaune/Cinder Salem/Ozma, you are still very correct about the foiling alignments.

And to insert a really important point at the end of the post: Salem and Jaune are actually foiled in every way, as I sort of said in that other post, that his, whatever offer he would make to her would be completely unconditional, let's fix everything, let me help you free yourself type of stuff, not Salem 'giving' Cinder everything and offering her to be a vessel. It's not even the same sort of evil offer, or enslaving her, or anything. It's there if she wants to take it.

It's sort like, Cinder thinks she's nothing, but because of Salem and Madame (her suffering, what little she's been given, her enslavement) she's everything. She's not anything without that, and she can't even see what the Fall Maiden power is for herself.

So you have to get her to a point where she doesn't need to rely on her suffering, but she should also embrace joy and feeling, and then also like, how do you make her see what she already is, what she can't see, you need somebody who's capable of seeing her as she is, and then she needs emotional nourishment to reflect on that. Then she's in a position to make a decision like, say, take Jaune's hand, that's unconditional and not contingent on her self-worth or lack thereof.

#seraphina's asks #i want you to join me and have babies with me #etc.#reverse ozlem #user: anomalous-fox

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princesssarisa · 3 years

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Fictional Character Ask: Princess Elisa, from Brothers Grimm's Six Swans/Andersen's Wild Swans?

Favorite thing about them: Her sheer perseverance and inner strength as she weaves the magic shirts out of stinging nettles and never speaks even when faced with death by fire.

Least favorite thing about them: That she ends the story still married to the king who sentenced her to burn at the stake. Even though he was reluctant, the fact that he was persuaded to believe she was a witch and condemn her is still troubling. At least in the Grimms’ version, her apparent crime justifies the sentence more: she’s framed for killing and eating her own three children, with all the evidence pointing straight at her. In Andersen’s version, she’s condemned just for behaving strangely and for picking nettles from a ghoul-filled graveyard, without having apparently harmed anyone.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I love my family.

*I like swans.

*I’m good at keeping promises if I think failing to do so would hurt someone.

Three things I don’t have in common with them:

*I have trouble knowing when to stop talking.

*I have low tolerance for physical pain.

*I’ll never be so beautiful that roses will say I’m more beautiful than they are, or so pious that a hymn-book would say I’m more pious than itself.

Favorite line: From the 1940s Let’s Pretend radio version, when the Voice of the Wind tells her the ordeal she’ll have to go through to free her brothers:

“Try me, Voice of the Wind! I shall not fail!”

brOTP: Her brothers.

OTP: Her husband, as long as he apologizes profusely for her near-execution.

nOTP: Any of her brothers.

Random headcanon: When she and her brothers were growing up, her brothers were fairly prone to mischief and fighting with each other, and she felt the need to be the family conscience and peacemaker, so she never let herself misbehave at all. This ties into Andersen’s conceit that the success of evil spells or lack thereof depends on the virtue of the victims. Elisa he describes as too good and innocent for her stepmother’s magic to have any effect on her, so when the stepmother sends magic toads to hop on her and turn her evil and ugly, the toads turn to flowers. Likewise, when the stepmother tries to turn the brothers into ugly birds, their goodness makes them turn into beautiful swans instead. But the fact that the brothers are transformed at all implies that they’re not quite as saintly as their sister.

Unpopular opinion: This is about the story as a whole. Even though Andersen’s version is more famous and richer with literary detail, I prefer the Grimms’ version. For one thing, the father-king is forced to marry the wicked stepmother against his will and tries his best to protect his children from her. Even though he fails, he’s still a much better father than Andersen’s king, who marries the stepmother by choice and then turns against his own sons when he believes her lies about them and lets her send his daughter to live with peasants too. Later, when we reach the part where the heroine’s own husband condemns her to death, at least in the Grimms’ version she’s apparently guilty of a crime that deserves capital punishment, not just of vaguely acting like a witch. Although I give Andersen credit for the creative and daring choice to have an Archbishop be the villain who urges the king to execute her, instead of the Grimms’ stock figure of a jealous mother-in-law.

Song I associate with them: None at the moment.

Favorite picture of them:

#the six swans #the wild swans #the brothers grimm #hans christian andersen #fairytales #character ask #ask game

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kitkatopinions · 4 years

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While thinking about the flaws of the main four protagonists in RWBY, I realized something. You can pretty clearly trace the flaws of three of the four main characters back to their early roots, whether or not the show addresses them as flaws currently. But with Blake, you can’t really do that.

TL;DR at the bottom

Ruby started the show being over-confident and reckless. She was a combat school student with only two years of learning under her belt when she took on Torchwick (although she may not have known who he was.) She easily assumes her team can handle Torchwick and the White Fang, wanders off alone in Mountain Glenn, charges after Torchwick again in the Fall of Beacon, travels to Haven to fight against Cinder without understanding any of the particulars and seemingly with no plan, and unnecessarily leads her team into stealing an Atlas plane while literally telling Qrow that she doesn’t care what he thinks and basically tells him to go along with it or leave. Any of those events could’ve resulted in her death, and it was often - not always, but often - due to outside forces that she survived (Glynda rescuing her, Oobleck realizing about the underground city, tons of fellow Beacon students + Atlas military taking out Grimm after the train crash, a Grimm eating Torchwick, Qrow taking out Grimm on the path to Haven, Qrow saving them from Tyrian, Cordovin aiding them after their unnecessary actions result in a massive Grimm attack.) So when she refuses to accept a no-win situation, traps a city in the direct line of Salem’s fire, sends out a message to everyone that might cause mass panic directly condemning Ironwood for trying to save as many as he can, and then doesn’t have a plan to actually save anyone in Mantle or Atlas, it’s very frustrating, but it’s not surprising or hugely out of character. It’s easy to track this. Ruby’s over-confidence, recklessness, and stubbornness started small and with her only striving to be a hero whether she was ready or not. And left unchecked, it just continued to grow. Weiss started the show being judgmental, rude, and prone to pettiness. Although she seemed to open up quickly to her team and these flaws seemed to die down considerably in volumes 4-5, it’s not exactly out of left field for her to act the way she does towards Whitley in volumes 7 and 8. In V1 Weiss judged Ruby as a child who didn’t know what she was talking about that had taken something from Weiss (the leader role,) and therefore Weiss acted like Ruby was a nuisance and treated her coldly and aggressively. She was hugely judgmental towards Sun, and Blake as well the minute she learned Blake was a Faunus and a former White Fang member, and even after she decided Blake was fine anyway (so badly handled) she made it clear that she wasn’t accepting Sun just yet. Despite any growth she might’ve had with her team, we never see her change outside of that. It becomes clear it’s still a problem, when Weiss is confronted by her considerably younger brother in volumes 7 and 8. Weiss judged him as a child who didn’t know what he was talking about that had taken something from her (her position as CEO of the company) and therefore, Weiss acted like he was a nuisance and treated him coldly and aggressively. Weiss showed no sympathy to him despite knowing his home life. It’s easy to track this. Her pettiness, judgmental tendencies, and aggressiveness never went away, they just stopped being directed at Ruby, Jaune, or the rest of her friends. Yang’s flaws are always easily tracked. She’s got a big temper, charges into things without thinking, and she’s pushy. We see this from the start as she pushes Ruby to make friends despite her clear discomfort and explodes at Grimm for damaging her hair. This continues on pretty clearly in the first couple of seasons, including Yang refusing to give Blake space, and yelling at her with red eyes and pushing her when she wasn’t listening. The funny thing about Yang is that most of this gets addressed and started getting worked through. Yang charging into battle and over-relying on her semblance are combat driven problems that are pointed out to her by her father and worked on to overcome. Yang is much calmer and patient than she had to be with Raven, continues to be patient and understanding with Qrow and Oz when she finds out they’ve been keeping things from the group in volume five, she listens to and accepts Weiss’s advice, and doesn’t lash out at Blake at all when she returns. Although she was still clearly the same person, she was also clearly working on her flaws and trying to be better. However, this seems to backslide in the latest three seasons, with her acting aggressive and not even trying to understand Oz, acting aggressive and not even trying to understand the Ace Ops, pushing Ren to talk about his feelings and then getting angry at him for expressing ones she doesn’t think he should feel, launching into battle without thinking repeatedly and seeming to not really take the situation seriously sometimes. This is frustrating to me, but it’s easy to track, too. Yang was working on her flaws, but has recently backslid into old habits.

But Blake? Blake’s early flaws were things like taking too much responsibility on her shoulders, being unable to let things go, running from her trauma, and lashing out at her friends. Many of her stronger traits were connected to her flaws, and were things like standing up for herself and others, having a strong moral code, and being responsible. (NOTE: Her arc and the allegories to real world racism were absolutely mishandled, making things like her strong moral code - like ‘stealing is always wrong’ - problematic in context. However, for the sake of this argument, I’m referring to her strong moral code as a strong trait as in it was something distinct about her character that we were meant to see as a good trait.) Blake had firm standards, like ‘stealing is wrong,’ and ‘I can’t wait for others to handle things for me, I have to handle it myself.’ During the course of seasons 4 and 5, her character arc was centered around learning to embrace her strong traits without falling into her bad ones. Like Yang, many of her flaws were directly addressed during these seasons, Sun and her parents helping her see that she can rely on and trust others, Blake expressing herself without lashing out, Blake confronting her past head-on in the forms of Adam and Ilia rather than running from it, and finally letting go of much of her own guilt and self-deprecation at the same time. The funny thing about Blake now is that she’s still showing flaws, they just aren’t the flaws she used to have that all pretty much got tied up in a bow, pun unintended. Instead, many of the flaws Blake seems to be showing now are in direct contrast to her former strong traits. She doesn’t stand up for herself, leaving it to Weiss or Yang to speak up for her. She doesn’t take responsibility, putting it on Ruby’s shoulder and begging her to help her in fights. She doesn’t have the extreme moral code, being one hundred percent fine with stealing, beating up law enforcement officers, fighting against the government, etc. Like, not to say that those things are always bad, just that Blake thought they were always bad, not that long ago. This is why, out of all the main characters, Blake is the most upsetting to me. I can hate what Ruby, Yang, or Weiss do, but Blake doesn’t even feel like the same character anymore. Adding onto that, she doesn’t seem like a powerful or interesting fighter anymore either when she used to be very good and very interesting to watch. This makes her just... Feel like a chess piece that CRWBY has say things every now and again to sound good. She feels like another weapon that Yang can just use sometimes. It’s honestly hard to see, because Blake could’ve been a really great character, and now she doesn’t feel like a character at all.

TL;DR It’s easy to track the flaws of Ruby, Yang, and Weiss all throughout the show, but Blake’s recently displayed flaws directly go against her early characteristics. This makes it feel like her whole character is different.

#rwde #rwby criticism #rwby hate #anti-rwby #anti blake belladonna #WARNING Discussion of flaws of both RWBY the team and RWBY the show #if you don't want to see it kindly move on please :)#This is my opinion #long post #anti rwby

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kuipernebula · 3 years

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90% of the time I have no idea what to ask, often bc I have little to no context about the subject, but I really like to see you brainstorming away! Though I s'pose... You mentioned JULP in an earlier post but I'm fuzzy on the details. Who are they? I'm curious about their signature colors too -- Jet's is obvious, but the rest are less so. These are the tricksters you have, right?

JULP used to be known as JLEP, and were as you've guessed, all based on trickster figures. I used to have Loki but I wanted to avoid dealing with the Nora Problem, so recently I traded them for Anansi.

The whole team actually uses black as a main color, with Jet using it slightly more than the others.

Jet Seddik (Jet as in the gemstone) is Set the Egyptian god of chaos, using both black and green interchangeably. His weapons are paired khopesh named Dexter and Sinister, which combine into a compound bow he fires Dust Arrows from. His semblance, Omen, lets him see up to 10 seconds into the future if he concentrates; he usually uses it to read his opponent's movements. He is a Fennec Fox faunus (with fennec fox ears) with dark skin and short hair, wears glasses and is reasonably muscular. He's a kyoya/joker-type manipulator who likes everyone to think he's planned everything.

As the third son of Heliodor Seddick (CEO of Rising Horizon Transport, who make vehicles such as Atlas's ships), the result of an infamous affair with his secretary and lead to a very public divorce with his second wife. He has several siblings all very famous; they are infamously rivals of the Schnee family.

Usilika Manzini (Usilika means Silk in Zulu) is our Anansi, and her primary color is Blue. She's a spider faunus (can shoot webs from her hands, like the spider faunus we met in Menagerie), has dark skin and hair, and wears her hair in dreadlocks. Her weapon is a yo-yo named Be Sweet which she can propel Dust out of the sides while in mid-flight, and can even do this to control its trajectory. Her semblance is still under construction, but it'll be some sort of trap. She's a crafty, clever girl with a "work smarter not harder" philosophy, which is sometimes mistaken as laziness.

She grew up mostly on her own in Vacuo after her parents died to a disease. Her mentor was a (currently unnamed) man who used to be an atlesian inventor, but went missing after some time, leaving his inventions behind for her. She since used them to take care of orphans and runaways in vacuo, their little group becoming infamous as con artists in parts of the country. (The kids haven't been decided but they'll be based on Anansi's kids, with the man being based on the Sky God Anansi bought all the world's stories from)

Lucas Wormwood (Lucas comes from Lux which is Latin for Light) is Lucifer/Satan/The Devil and his primary color is Red. He has pale skin and dark curly hair, and is chubby. His weapon is (at first) a standard trident with no frills named Perdition; while at school (with some help) he builds a dust-shooting trident called Paradise Lost. His semblance is also under construction, but he doesn't have it unlocked as of the start. He's nervous and scatter-brained but has a wealth of knowledge about how Dust and Grimm work.

He was born to members of the Church of Light, a cult with good publicity in Vacuo known for worshipping "The God of Light, Mirth." His familly has been members for at least 2 generations, so he was raised in the church. His parents, Adam and Eve, really wanted him to become a member of the clergy, as his brother, Albus, was. Instead, he was fascinated with dust and Grimm - and already turned off by the church's condemnation of Huntsmen (they incite violence and negative feelings! It's better to live in harmony with God to ward off Grimm) and of homosexuality. So he ran away to join Beacon and picked up a weapon on his way there. (He only barely passed the entrance exam)

Prima Bellona is Eris and her primary color is Pink. She has tanned skin and blond hair that's tied into a ponytail, and she's got a classic hourglass figure. Her weapon is a broadsword-chainsaw called Fairest. Her semblance is called Discord, and allows her to manipulate the emotions of people around her.

Her backstory is... still undecided, but I think she's got beef with her mother (Hera?) and may or may not have played a part (accidentally!) in the stalking/murder of a young girl (Helen of Troy?)

Their plot involves magic bullshit that has nothing to do with Ozpin, specifically with the Goodwitch family, who we learn have magic secrets that while Ozpin knows about, he isn't involved with. Glynda's sister Cereza shows up to discuss the discovery of a magic gemstone called The Heart of Darkness, and this meeting is overheard by JULP who - having been disqualified from the Vytal festival - find it an opportunity to prove themselves. Glynda knew they were gonna go so she gives Cereza instructions on how to deal with them and to come back after checking out the lead. Unfortunately they don't get back before the Fall of Beacon so it's significantly harder to work out with her how to proceed, especially since their ship falls.

Cereza is their Qrow equivalent, and... is basically Bayonetta with trappings of the Wicked Witch of the East. She's got a portal semblance called No Place and her weapons are boot-mounted pistols called Rubrum and Argentum. (A ruby and silver pistol, yes.)

#that's all i can reveal right now but i've been working on them off and on for a while #i stole a lot of concepts from my RKDE team because i just couldn't get a team for the video game thing i liked #or at least liked as much as these delinquents

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vecnawrites · 4 years

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ArcAngel, Chapter 1

Eons ago, when the Brothers of Light and Dark created life, the Grimm, and Humanity, the Light Brother accidentally infused humanity with his positive energy, giving them abilities beyond humans, making them the true antithesis of the Grimm. But it has been hundreds of years since an Angel has graced Remnant. Would the world be prepared for the newest one?

In the very beginning, two brothers existed on Remnant, filling it with both creation, and destruction. The older brother, God of Light, golden and muscular, with horns of a deer on his head, created water, plants, and wildlife during the day, while the younger brother, God of Darkness, lean, purple and slender, head adorned with horns of the ram, saw his brothers creations and became disgusted.

In retaliation, he created drought, fire, and famine in an attempt to rid Remnant of its life. However, life was persistent and resilient, having a strong ability to endure even the worst hardships. This made the younger, more angry, God of Darkness to create the Creatures of Grimm, twisted versions of his older brother’s wildlife, designing them so they would have an innate desire to destroy anything and everything.

Weary of feuding, and rightfully upset at his brother’s creation, the older God of Light proposed they make one final creation together; a masterpiece, something that both could be proud of making. The younger brother agreed, and working together, they created a creature capable of creation and destruction, of knowledge and of choice. These creatures were to become known as Humanity.

However, what neither brother knew was that part of the Brother of Light’s power clung to them, allowing a very rare child to be born as the antithesis of the Grimm, a protector of Light and Life, wielding the Brother of Light’s powers, hovering with Wings of White and Gold. These rare beings would become known as Angels.

While the “Tale of Two Brothers” is widely seen as a myth, history has many accounts of Angels being seen and using their powers for the good of all, however sparingly they show up. -Bartholomew Oobleck, History Professor, Beacon Academy

The sun slowly rose over the hill, its warm light bathing the walled settlement of Doremy, lighting the many homes up in a warm orange glow. Birds began to sing as the air warmed lightly, the sun glinting off the snow, reflecting the first sunrise of the new year.

Inside the largest home, in the middle of the settlement, a family of nine began to rise for their morning, filling the house with chatter, laughter, and the smell of home cooking as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky.

The sounds of stomping feet and a chorus of voices filled the morning air, laughter, chatter, and movement as seven girls moved into the dining room, where their parents were setting breakfast on the table.

The seven girls were very similar, yet entirely different. The eldest daughter was dressed in a bright red top and white shorts, showing off her well curved body. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail that flowed down to her mid back. Her name was Crimson Arc.

Following her was a younger girl, clad in an orange pajama set. She was just reaching her teens, her body beginning to go through the change from girl to young woman, her curves beginning to form. Her blonde hair was wild and free, but there was an order to the chaos. Her name was Saphron Arc.

Behind her was a slim ten year old, wearing a green top and shorts, a mischievous smile on her face. Her hair was flyaway and wild, unbrushed. This was Verde Arc, future adventurer, as she so often put it.

Next to her was a smaller girl with soft features, her bright blue eyes shadowed by large round glasses. Her long straight blonde hair fell to her shoulders, held in place by a light blue headband. Her name was Bleu Arc.

Following were two small blonde, identical to the last freckle, wearing dark purple tops and white shorts. The only way to tell them apart was the fact that they had side ponytails tied on opposite sides of their heads. These were Indaco and Injigo Arc.

Finally, the smallest of them, not older than five, walked in wearing a small violet nightgown, her wide blue eyes taking in her mother’s swollen belly with a look of wonder. Her name was Violette Arc.

“Mommy, when is our little sister going to be able to come out and play?” a small blonde girl wearing a light purple sleeping gown asked, looking at her mother’s bulging belly. She pouted hard as her mother laughed lightly, reaching out and stroking her hair.

“She’s due to come out any day now, Violette...but unfortunately, she’ll be too small to play with for a while.” The older woman chuckled at her daughter’s pout. “Oh, I’m not laughing at you, sweetie! It’s just...Indaco and Injigo asked me the exact same thing when you were days away from joining us!” She began to pile the smallest girl’s plate with a few pancakes and some bacon.

As the girls tucked into their breakfasts, the tallest woman, Juniper Arc, was blonde haired, blue eyed, fair skinned, surveyed her eating daughters with a smile on her face. Feeling a hand over her swollen belly, she turned to her husband and smiled softly at him.

Vermilion Arc was a bear of a man, over seven feet tall and solid muscle, but was the epitome of a ‘gentle giant’. He was one of Doremy’s best Huntsmen, and his family had been living there for three generations...and in fact been one of the founding families of the settlement and the reason that the walls had stood strong over a hundred years. He too had blonde hair and blue eyes, and the occasional scar on his body from fighting Grimm.

Her family had only been there since she was a child, but she had quickly fallen for the tall boy and it...well, one could call it a whirlwind romance, but the pair of them just...well, clicked, like how you heard in those cheesy, smutty romances, like Ninjas of Love. It had led to them being wed by the age of seventeen, and their first daughter, the now sixteen year old Crimson, was born less than a year later.

And despite what older couples said, their sexual life hadn’t waned a bit, as shown by the seven wonderful children that they had, soon to be either. Feeling her unborn child kick inside her and against her father’s hand, she smiled softly, feeling almost overwhelmed. She didn’t know why. She had felt deeply with each of her babies as she carried them, but for some reason, she felt so much more with their newest child. Not like she loved them more than the others...but like she could feel the emotions of her baby. But that was crazy talk, right? She had never heard of that happening before…she was pulled out of her thoughts as her husband of seventeen years spoke.

“Come love, you and the little one need to eat, too…” Vermilion led his wife to the table and helped her sit down. She smiled, but as she sat down, she felt a sharp feeling and felt liquid gush into her pants, soaking through.

Hearing her, Vermilion turned from filling her plate up, only to see the crotch of her stretchy pajama pants darkly stained. “Oh...didn’t make it?” he asked, no condemnation in his voice. After all, the bladder was the baby’s first squeeze toy.

Licking her lips, Juniper slowly shook her head as she felt the familiar pangs and tension forming in her belly. “No, I think little Joan wants to come and see us all.” Crimson and Saphron’s eyes widened, as did her husband’s. The younger girls were just confused.

Vermilion was swift. “Crimson, Saphron, watch over your sisters; I’m going to lay your mother down and call the midwife.” leaning over, he gently scooped his wife up and tucked her against his chest, heading to their bedroom on the first floor.

Watching their dad carry their mom away, Violette looked at her oldest sisters in confusion. “What’s going on? Why did daddy take mommy away?”

Crimson fixed a smile on her face as she turned towards the youngest. “You know how you asked earlier when Joan was coming out to play? Well, Joan apparently heard you and decided it was time to come into the world to see us...granted, like mom said, she won’t be able to play yet.”

Verde, Bleu, Indaco, Injigo, and Violette gasped, each of them beginning to get animated. “Now, calm down girls! Mom is currently bringing her into the world. We have to keep calm for her because its stressful. So eat your breakfasts, girls, we don’t know how long it will take for Joan to join us. This trip to come to us is on her terms, not on ours.”

Juniper groaned as another contraction hit, a rough internal squeezing that came unexpectedly, rubbing her belly as her husband spoke on his scroll. “-have been about seven minutes apart for now. When can you be here?” she couldn’t help but smile at the worry on her husband’s face. He looked more frightened than she felt!

She paused, rubbing her belly. It was slightly odd, usually she felt much more unnerved about childbirth, the twins’ birth being a difficult one, and almost losing Violette. But she...she had a feeling about Joan’s birth. That everything would be okay.

“...okay, thanks, Adrianne.” Vermilion closed his scroll and turned. “She’ll be here within fifteen minutes, love.” he sighed, rubbing a hand through his short blonde hair, worry creasing his brow, remembering how difficult the last two pregnancies and births were on his wife.

Smiling softly, Juniper reached out and gently patted her massive bear of a husband on the arm, before slipping her hand into his and squeezing it, lacing her fingers through his loosely afterwards. “It will be okay, Vermilion…” seeing her husband’s look, she smiled, squeezing his hand again. “It will be okay...something is telling me so...and don’t give me that look! You have your ‘Huntsman’s Instinct’, so let me have my ‘Mother’s Instinct’.” she chided lightly, giving her husband a smile.

Vermilion sighed, before smiling softly at his wife. “Okay, June...I’ll trust you.” he wouldn’t admit it, but he was somewhat soothed by how calm his wife felt about this. With Violette she had been terrified that they would lose her. He had been terrified that he would lose both. For her to be this calm was reassuring. “Do you need anything?” he asked, for lack of anything but waiting to do.

Juniper smiled at her husband, even as another contraction hit, her stomach and lower regions cramping, “It’s going to be okay, Vermilion...just watch. In a few hours, we’re going to have our eighth daughter to love and raise…” she knew that he hated feeling useless, and always did during labor and childbirth.

Vermilion could only nod, trusting his wife’s words, and settled down next to her, knowing he could do nothing but wait until Adrianne Nox, the settlement’s head midwife, and the one who had delivered all of his daughters, arrived. Settling down in the chair next to the bed, he held his wife’s hand and allowed her to use it as a stress toy for when contractions hit.

Adrianne Nox liked to think herself a calm, sensible woman, but when hearing that an old friend’s wife was going into labor, when she had been warned that this birth could be worse than the last ones, and the last birth was complicated enough that it almost cost the life of mother and newborn, you could be forgiven for running through town as fast as possible carrying her medical bag.

“Fuck, shit, damn…” she growled out, her temper flaring. She knew, she knew that this pregnancy was a bad idea, considering how traumatic the last two were on Juniper, but she knew better than to suggest abortion, even if she didn’t personally believe in it.

At least...in the beginning. It had been odd. Juniper’s pregnancy with the twins and Violette had been brutal, almost to the point of miscarriage a few times, but this one had been rather...calm? And she had noticed that Juniper had been getting healthier during it. As she rushed through the streets to the Arc home, something niggled at the back of her mind, she just couldn’t remember what it was. ‘Ah, well.’ she thought as she rushed down the street, seeing the Arc home not too far ahead, ‘Can’t be helped. It’ll come back to me if its that important.’ she thought.

Shaking her head to clear it as she reached the Arc home, she opened the gate and entered, preparing to help an old friend bring new life into the world once more.

Vermilion looked up as he heard his second daughter call out. “Dad! Doctor Nox is here!” he felt relief flood through him. He patted his wife’s hand and stood up, heading to the bedroom door and opening it to see the dark haired woman with eyes that matched her hair carrying a large medical bag with her. She looked frazzled. “How is Juniper?” she asked, forgoing the normal greetings and getting right to the point.

Far from being annoyed, Vermilion nodded, happy that her first thoughts were of his wife. “She’s doing surprisingly well, considering. Please come back. Thank you, Saphron, go back to your sisters for a bit. This is...going to be intense.” the blonde haired man winced as he remembered how painful it had been for Juniper during the birth of the twins and Violette. She had nearly broken his aura from squeezing so hard. But he never faulted her for it.

The pair entered the bedroom, to see Juniper leaning back and stroking her belly. Adrianne looked at her in slight shock, as she seemed to be in no apparent discomfort. Shaking herself, she moved forwards and set her bag on the bed. “How are you feeling, Juniper? On a scale of one through ten, how bad is the pain?” she asked, removing tools from her bag and placing them on a tray that she brought.

Rubbing her belly, feeling her baby moving inside it, gently kicking, Juniper hummed. “Very mild, actually. Two at the worst. It feels like my period, honestly.” she blinked, knowing that wasn’t normal. But she knew Joan was alright, after all, her baby girl was practically dancing in there! “Nothing’s wrong...she’s very eager to come out it seems!” she laughed a bit, before wincing as another powerful contraction hit her.

Adrianne’s brow furrowed. That...was odd. Again, that feeling from earlier, like she was forgetting something extremely important, hit her. Shaking her head, she smiled at her old friend (after taking care of six births and being the primary care doctor for seven girls, it only made sense to be an ‘Aunt’ to the kids) and held up her speculum, warming it on her palm. “You know the routine, June...I need to see how far you’re dilated.”

Juniper nodded, pulling her blanket off, revealing her naked lower half, having taken off her soaked panties and pajama bottoms. Raising her legs up, she spread them wide, revealing her core to her husband and midwife.

She couldn’t help but giggle as her husband glanced away. Really, he had been there and done practically everything there was to do with her womanly core, but he still blushed when she did things like these!

Ignoring the moment between husband and wife, Adrianne pulled on some gloves and gently spread apart Juniper’s lips, inserting the speculum and twisting it, using a small light to peer in at her cervix. Her eyes widened. “That can’t be right…you’re already nine centimeters...” she looked up at the pair. “How long again have you said its been since labor started?”

Juniper blinked, while Vermilion answered automatically. “Less than a half hour. I carried her here and immediately called you.” he replied, before both froze, realizing how odd that was. Adrianne nodded, her dark hair fluttering. “This...is an exceptionally odd birth, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth over how easy it’s being, considering the last two pregnancies you have experienced.”

Both winced, but understood where their friend was coming from. “But she’s already nine centimeters? So this should hopefully be over for her soon?” Vermilion asked. Adrianne shrugged. “Honestly? It’s mainly up to the little one. If she wants to work with us, it will be quick. If she’s like the twins...let’s not think about how long we could be here.”

Juniper shuddered at the sixteen hour labor she had endured with the twins. It had been one of the most uncomfortable experiences she had ever had. She worried her lip as she felt some more kicks in her belly, before gasping as another, harder contraction hit.

Adrianne immediately sprung into action, readying to help bring new life into the world.

Outside in the living room, Crimson and Saphron were quietly talking, seeing as all their sisters were kept amused by the television (Verde), a book (Bleu), scroll games (Indaco and Injigo), or napping (Violette).

“Do you think mom is going to be okay? I...I remember Violette’s birth…” Saphron murmured, glancing at her younger sisters out of the corner of her eyes, shivering as she remembered how close they had come to losing not only their mom, but Violette, before they even knew her. She didn’t want to go through that fear again.

Crimson pat her younger sister on the shoulder. “I know, Saphron. Believe me, I know.” she had been the one to keep the house in running order when their father spent most of his time at the hospital with mom and Violette when he wasn’t working. She didn’t blame him, he made sure to call every couple hours and make sure they were checked up on by neighbors.

“But, mom didn’t seem to be in much pain this time...in fact, besides the water breaking, she didn’t really show symptoms?” Crimson was confused, but she had a feeling that things would be okay in the end. “So I think she and Joan will be okay. We’ll have another sister soon enough.”

Saphron pulled her legs up and tucked them into her chest. “I hope so...I don’t want to see mom or our new sister hurt…”

Crimson hugged her younger sister, unable to say anything since she didn’t want to make an empty promise.

“Okay, on three I want you to push, Juniper! One...Two...Three!” Adrianne could see the baby’s head crowing, almost ready to pop out.

“Hmmphhhnnnnneaaaahhhhgghhhh!” Juniper groaned, face flushed as her husband cradled her in his arms, allowing her to squeeze his hands tightly as she arched, eyes rolling back as she felt more than heard a loud ‘POP’ as her newest baby’s head exited the birth canal.

Loud cries, healthy cries, filled the air as she felt her baby squirm further inside her body (and wasn’t that the most peculiar feeling…), working their way out, making her sob with relief, remembering how Violette hadn’t been breathing when she had come out. Thankfully they had been able to get her breathing, but it had taken almost a month before the doctors felt safe enough to let her come home.

Her eyes squeezed shut as she pushed one final time with a cry, gasping and collapsing into her husband’s grasp, sobbing happily as her newborn’s cries filled the room. “You were right, love...she’s perfectly healthy…” Vermilion murmured, glancing at Adrianne for confirmation. His heart sunk when he saw her starting, wide-eyed and open mouthed at their newborn. “What’s wrong?”

Adrianne shook herself, mentally kicking herself for not recognizing the signs and symptoms, ones every healer was taught during their training. ‘How did I forget this?! What kind of healer am I??’ she asked herself, furious that she had forgotten something so basic.

The baby she held in her hands was something that hadn’t been seen in several hundred years. She looked like a perfectly normal baby, bar the golden wings attached to her back and wrapped around her body.

The newest member of the Arc family was an Angel. The first in at least three hundred years, going back to the war between human and faunus. But, panic filled her. This girl was as good as her niece, likely another goddaughter, but they would have to hide her, hide what she was.

After all, Angels were symbols of greatness, but also of immense change and upcoming strife. And once it was known that a new Angel was born...people would come to seek her out. Some friendly and willing to help, but most wanting to take the precious little Angel while it was vulnerable and twist her, bend her, break her until she used her powers for their benefit and no one else. It had happened before, after all.

Hearing Vermilion’s worried voice, she shook her head. “No, nothing’s wrong, Vermilion...as a matter of fact, there’s quite a bit wonderful...look.” carefully cleaning the squalling newborn off, she quickly cut and tied the umbilical cord, before raising the baby up to the parent’s sight levels.

Both Vermilion and Juniper stared in awe as Adrianne handed them their winged baby. Juniper wept as she cradled her sniffling newborn in her arms. She knew the legends. She knew that Angels were powerful, that their magic (the one being known to have it naturally, all others were just legends) was highly valued and sought after...they could change the world, and everyone wanted that ability. And they would stop at nothing to get it. She swore, there and then, that no one would hurt this precious angel she and her husband had brought into the world.

Vermilion knew. His family had had stories passed down generation to generation. Of Angels, and how one had been born in the family centuries prior. It seemed that history repeated itself, as she was the second to be born into the Arc family. Seeing the bright innocent blue eyes staring up at him and his wife, those tiny little wings flapping, he knew he would do anything to protect her, just like his other daughters. He would see to it that she could protect herself in this cruel world.

The seven daughters of the Arc family all looked up as they heard footsteps coming their way, each standing as one as they saw their doctor walking out with a smile on her face. “You’re able to see your parents and new little sister now.”

Indaco, Injigo, and Violette jumped up, bouncing on their heels, eager to meet their new little sister. “Now, girls, be calm...Mom needs her rest after that ordeal...and if our new little sister is asleep, we don’t want to wake her, either!” Crimson said with an indulgent smile, although she too was very eager to see her newest sibling, and see how her mother was feeling after that.

Carefully, the sisters filed into the bedroom to see their mother looking up at them sleepily, while holding a gold blanket holding a small baby. “Hey, girls...meet your baby sister, Joan Arc.”

As the family circled the bed, or climbed on, in the cases of the twins and Violette, and stared in awe at their newest member of the family, Juniper, Adrianne, and Vermilion shared looks. They knew that this was the start of a new chapter-not only for the Arc family, but a new chapter in history itself. Only time would tell if it was a good or bad chapter.

#ArcAngel #Arc Family #Juniper Arc #Vermilion Arc #Crimson Arc #Saphron Arc #Verde Arc #Bleu Arc #Indaco and Injigo Arc #Violette Arc #Joan Arc

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