#life's a fairytale | self shipping

[keesespuffs]

do not separate them

[keepingeahalive]

Miss Rosabella Beauty: The Queen of Wasted Potential

Okay, I'll admit it. I do ship her and Daring. I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast, and I couldn't help myself. That said, objectively, this ship and Rosabella's character.... yeah, it kinda sucks.

Maybe I didn't want to admit it because Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale. But the more I look into her character, the more I realize she embodies virtues that contradict her own story. Epic Winter was more about "fixing" Daring's supposed selfishness than addressing the real elephant in the room, and Rosabella was a plot device to push that narrative. I think she could have been an interesting character with flaws and a lot of depth. But she wasn't, and I am very very disappointed.

Her Character

The first time I saw her, I was really rooting for her. She's an animal rights and monster activist. She could have been great friends with Cerise for that reason. She could have even had interactions with Ramona in the past. But she comes off as self-righteous and preachy.

I get she's an activist and that's the joke; activists are inherently self-righteous. But this is Ever After High. Where's the nuance? She could be an animal and monster activist because she's experienced prejudice herself. She's the daughter of Beauty and The Beast. Look me in the eye and tell me she doesn't have any Beast genes. I dare you!

It's canon that Beauty and the Beast is considered a bad destiny story, with the stigma of the heroine falling in love with a creature most fairytales would pin as the villain, and a handsome prince carrying the stigma of being of being a beast even after the curse is gone. She should understand that better than anyone. And yet, this kindness and compassion she tries to convey comes off as condescending. She inserts herself into situations because she feels she's needed when nobody has asked for her help.

2. DARABELLA

Rosabella was only introduced in one minisode and suddenly gets a big role in Epic Winter? She and Daring hadn't had a meaningful conversation up until that point. Really, she barely knows Daring.

For the daughter of Beauty and the Beast, she's so .... judgmental. She's supposed to have the ability to see people's true intentions, but why does she get it so wrong? She immediately assumes Daring is self-centered and narcissistic. On the surface, I can see where she's coming from. But, that's only on the surface.

Daring is more complex than she made him out to be, and Epic Winter wanted the audience to think she was in the right. We know this isn't true. Daring loves being a hero and saving people. He loves his siblings and does what he thinks is best for them. He certainly cared about Lizzie enough to respect her wishes. He's chivalrous to a fault!

Daring is clearly going through some things, and it doesn't seem like anyone's paying attention to what's really bothering him: He has no purpose anymore. He's been brought up his whole life thinking he would be King of Ever After, and now his world is shattered. He's not coping well. And Rosabella thinks he's full of himself when she's barely met this guy.

Having him become the Beast from Beauty and the Beast felt natural to me in the story progression, but Rosabella's inclusion felt forced. She gives him the same old advice from her original story when she should be hinting at something greater. This should be the turning point in Daring that destiny is malarky, and he can break away from the expectations his family and peers put on him. But she doesn't understand that. She only sees that he's obsessed with his looks because his main form of coping is gone.

He's not really upset about his looks. He's upset that his destiny is gone, and either that's not as important to her as him getting over his looks or she doesn't know him well enough to know what's been put on him. Assuming it's the latter, why wouldn't she try to find the root of the problem instead of fixing what she thinks needs fixing?

Daring is the victim here, even if he has issues to work out. And it doesn't seem like she's really listening to him.

3. The Cousins No One Talks About

Yeah. Rosabella and Briar are cousins. And there is very. little. BACKSTORY!!

We know their dads don't get along. Briar's is a monster hunter. Rosa's is The Beast. Their moms are sisters. That's all we know. What's her relationship with Briar? Is it a tragic sisterly bond? Or did the two drift apart/fall out because of their family conflict? Rosa's mom is likely the black sheep of the family, so do she and Sleeping Beauty still talk anymore?

How does Briar feel about all this? Does she have time to feel anything about it at all? She has her own family and her own destiny to worry about. What kind of influence did Briar's parents have on her views on beasts? She hadn't even been to Rosa's home until they were both well into high school. How much do they even know about each other?

We know so little about their dynamic. Family conflict shapes a child, and both of them probably have some deep-seated trauma relating to their families. But did the writers forget that they're cousins?

4. How I Would Write Rosabella (and maybe Daring)

First, give her the ability to transform into a beast. It's not hard.

She's advocating for people like her to exist. She wants people to see both sides of her and those like her to be seen as more than monsters. But she's had her fair share of prejudice, even within her own family. Her uncle is a monster hunter, so a half-beast niece would be considered an abomination. Because of this, she suppresses her anger to better the image of beasts. She doesn't want to, but she feels like she has to, for her own safety and to make herself more palatable in society. However, the more anger she holds in, the less control she has over herself. Her judgment becomes clouded, and this makes her jump to conclusions about people's behavior. She wants things to be fair so much that she gets in trouble for it. She wants to be understanding and patient, but having a hair-trigger temper gets in the way of her goals.

Give her a backstory with Cerise and the Hood-Badwolf family. Her family would know more than anyone the hardships that a human-beast family goes through, and they should be very good friends because of that. Her growing up around Cerise and Ramona would give her more of a reason to protect the beast population.

If any sort of relationship with Daring were to work, they would both have to learn from each other. Daring would learn to let go of people's expectations of him, and Rosabella would learn to let her anger out in a healthy way and pick her battles. Daring can't be the only one learning from her, and Rosa shouldn't see anything to fix in him. She needs to accept him for who he really is, not just preaching about appearances.

She should be embodying both Beauty and the Beast, all the kindness and grief that comes with it. She's not meant to be a paragon, and the writers should not have portrayed her as such. She needed to be a character with her own development. She needed to be portrayed just as in the wrong as Daring was when they met, not about appearance but about each other. She needs to admit her mistakes and acknowledge she is not always right about everyone. Or, at the very least, have her see right through Daring's facade about looks and realize there's something deeper going on.

The writer's dropped the ball on this ship, and they did Daring so dirty here. But they also did Rosabella a disservice by making her so two-dimensional and preachy, almost not even her own character. There are so many routes they could have taken with her. She could have been great, but she wasn't.

[s-aint-elmo]

digging out the eah content i created in a frenzy during last year’s summer of obsession part 1: my personal sapphic multishipping guide (created to explain to my friends which of these dolls i think should hold hands)

(more in-depth discussion of the ships below the cut)

the polycule that will take over ever after

kitty/lizzie; kitty/maddie; maddie/lizzie

self-explanatory. frequently purchased together do not separate. bonus shoutout to maddie canonically giving kitty a little kissie on the cheek and getting off scot-free in the books though. a wonderlandiful world was a banquet to me

cedar protection squad

once again a wonderlandiful world and once upon a time i owe you my life. kitty ESP being so adamant abt not giving a shit then turning around and fucking up those boys who were mean to cedar...... i love friendship

kitty/cerise

also self-explanatory. she was a catgirl she was a wolfgirl can i make it anymore obvious. also doribuki’s phenomenal fake dating fanfic....... transformative foundational transcendental

cerise/raven

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND. i entered eah a rapple shipper and exited the book series ready to burn at the stake for cerise/raven. book two was SO MUCH. it had everything. raven befriending cerise despite her attempts to isolate herself. texting in class. winking at each other. raven meeting the parents and hearing embarrassing baby cerise stories. cerise putting it all on the line to save raven. i’m ambivalent about shadow high but cerise gets literally one (1) mention and it’s in raven’s internal monologue wherein she equates cerise’s hood w feelings of warmth and safety. like how was that in any way necessary. i rest my case 

raven & maddie

self-explanatory as well. dabesties. the ride or dies. it means so much to me that raven always has a friend in maddie no matter how many clowns and jokers (derogatory) treat her like the antichrist. maddie the character ever

raven/apple

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. the gelphie dynamic is a classic and i am EXTREMELY vulnerable to it. they are THE ship and i will pay my respects to the end of time. i am a big fan of how they trade their roles throughout the franchise and how rich the drama and history are between them. it’s pure fucking poetry.

raven/darling

TBH. a serve. the only thing juicier than evil queen/damsel in distress is evil queen/princess charming. big big fan of darling giving raven the five star princess treatment after a lifetime of being feared and shunned and vilified. equally big fan of raven’s momentous act of rebellion giving darling the courage to be true to herself. ALSO. the absolute archetype-subversion slay of the Pure-Hearted Hero(TM) confronting the Mistress of Evil(TM) and dropping their sword. looking through the smoke and mirrors and the will of Fate itself to see the girl who has wanted nothing but to be kind beneath. swearing their heart and soul and sword to the one true good they have found. picture it. i can almost see the 100-word drabble

raven/apple/darling

now THIS is just THE fairytale couple. the evil queen, the damsel in distress and the princess charming ALL holding hands and riding off into the sunset together. dappling on its own doesn’t do it for me but raven in the mix just makes everything gel perfectly. she’s the tomato in the ratatouille the cornstarch in the spring roll water, etc etc

darling/holly

this is one of those ships where i read a really convincing fic and the more i thought of it the more it just made sense. like they'd read swashbucklers and tales of courtly love together. holly would 100% write a darling placeholder in her self-insert romance fanfic pre-relationship as a way to express her feelings. darling would 100% find out and gently pull her out of the pit of sheer mortification she drilled into the ground to escape. also the height difference is a thing of beauty

safe from the polycule

duchess/poppy

they have one singular episode to their name and it was enough. it was Everything. the dynamic you can extrapolate from that one single interaction is so incredibly appealing to me. duchess’s bitchiness belied by her palpable air of vulnerability coming up against poppy’s spine of steel tempered by her skill in gaining perspective. poppy can challenge duchess into being a better person and duchess can be poppy’s character flaw like idk she just has shit taste in women that was the price she had to pay to be moisturized and unbothered by destiny. i just think they have the potential to be the unexpected, inexplicable power couple of eah

briar/faybelle

do i even need to say anything they had a whole movie to make their case. they’re rapple if rapple got their shit together before armageddon, with the bonus of a potential curse-breaking true love’s kiss for the fanfic authors to thrash between their teeth. truly unlimited. also unlike rapple where raven is 100% against being a villain and therefore it’s apple who has to do the mental gymnastics to open herself to the possibility of a relationship w raven, faybelle is just chomping at the bit to make her momma proud and presents a compelling perspective for the whole “falling in love w your fated nemesis” thing

blondie/cupid

they are icons, they are legends, and they ARE the moment. these two are so chaotic individually, what with blondie’s criminal skillset and habit of menacing innocent woodland creatures and cupid’s matchmaking powers combined w her shitty aim, that putting them together can only mean good things. there’s this whole element of their shared passion as public figures who at their best seek the truth and guide others through matters of the heart respectively that’s always interesting as a point of irony/obstacle when they start catching feelings and have to decide what to do with them. their joint youtuber/podcaster slay can level nations

[luna-rainbow]

Some of the other things that annoy me about that episode:

I really hate that they brought in the Red Room arc at the end. I know there’s a lot of criticism of that movie, but I still think it’s an important arc in Nat’s character. This, and Steve’s destruction of the ship, takes away Nat and Yelena’s agency in confronting the horrors of their childhood and regaining the Widows’ self-determination. Notably, neither Peggy nor this Nat was interested in helping the Widows. Why would they, Peggy didn’t want to help Bucky/Winter Soldier in episode 2, and she only wants to help Steve here cos he’s her toy and she gotta have him.

It doesn’t really make sense to me that Nat would be best buddies with her but I’ll put that down to things happening off screen. I’m still jaded about Sam’s utter omission but I think overall it’s better that his character isn’t ruined for this 🙈

One thing about that last exchange though. I can’t be bothered pulling it back up again but basically instead of the “end of the line” vow she gives a sobbing monologue about how she’s tired of all the fighting.

Now I think about it…this is so iconic, isn’t it? Steve wakes Bucky up from his brainwashing using Bucky’s promise of loyalty and self-sacrifice. His whole speech was telling Bucky who Bucky is — you’ve known me your whole life, you’re James Buchanan Barnes, you’re my friend. Steve knew this moment was about Bucky finding himself, and he knew once he did, Bucky would never hurt him.

And Saint Margaret takes the moment and makes it all about herself. I’m so sad and suffering 🥺 I’m so tired of fighting 🥺 Oh you fought Nazis for an extra 8 years after I left you and then got brainwashed and made to fight another 50 years? Sorry can’t hear you over the sound of my sobbing. She doesn’t respect him, the way Steve can look Bucky in the eye and call him a friend and equal. She doesn’t care about who Steve is or his suffering, what was most important in that moment was her own suffering. Because she was “finally supposed to have her fairytale ending” (was that in What If season 1 or is my brain making things up). It is so typical for her character but also exactly why this relationship, in any of its iterations, has been unfair to Steve.

[starwrighter]

I am not a baby!!(Yes you are)

(Prompt)  (Masterpost) (Previous) (next) (Ao3 link)

( Part three bby! Come get ya’ll juice) @unknownthreat @avelnfear @adeniumdream @meira-3919 @thought-u-said-dragon-queen @hugsandchaos @blep-23  @ashoutinthedarkness 

“Zero human life signs detected" A terrifying string of words to hear after crawling out a lifepod. It didn’t sound plausible, there were dozens of life pods on that ship! Dozens of pods that should have launched with him in the crash, that means dozens of people who should be more alive than him were wandering around this planet. They had too be!

Alterra tech wasn’t as advanced as the corporation wanted him to believe. A thorough scan of the entire planet couldn’t be performed in a matter of seconds. The tablet was impressive sure, but it couldn’t replace the complex tech and the brilliant minds from the brightest of space programs. Living people were unpredictable, especially in times of disaster like this. It would’ve been easy for them to accidentally walk out of range or be skipped over by whatever scan was sent out. All he knew about this planet was that there was water as far as the eye could see. There had to be people somewhere on the planet. The area he landed in was safe from what he could tell, he could only hope the same for the others.

Shallow water surrounded him a tropical warmth to it. The ground was a mix between soft sand he could dig his feet and stone. Giant coral tubes were scattered throughout the area and Danny found himself giggling as he darted through them as fast as he could manage.

“Vital signs abnormal. Self scan recommended,” Danny frowned glaring down at the PDA, a flashing light dutifully reminding him to head up for air. Scrunching his nose Danny dismissed the notifications. Notifications and reminders that would be lifesaving for a normal human would be inaccurate and possibly harmful if you applied it to him. His body needed less oxygen so his heart was slower. It made perfect sense to him but it was very difficult to explain to a trained medical professional that he was just built different without exposing the existence of halfa. Explaining his existence to the Ai was a task he wasn’t looking forward to. Maybe he should play along and pretend to be a dumb baby so he didn’t have to. Explaining how he’s still alive when his heart wasn’t pumping anywhere close to the speed needed for his circulatory system to function.  

Maybe if he scanned himself like his PDA suggested he’d get accurate medical information for once in his half-life. His semi normal life was over the moment he melted into goo and his grave was dug the moment the PDA noticed the irregularities, no harm in digging himself a deeper grave right? Better to be comfy in your grave than fight to be tossed in a ditch. 

Swimming up to the surface Danny allowed himself to think deeply about his situation for the first time since landing on this rock. Alterra drew it’s information from building off confirmed databases, creating new ones and synthesizing theories when they lacked information. For all the GIW’s and his parent’s hard work their research on ectoplasm and ecto entities didn’t exist in any official database outside of fairytales and myths. To his PDA ectoplasm was something they’ve never seen before; something that they’d study without the bias of his parents or the GIW skewing the results. 

Jazz and his friends would still accept him no matter what conclusion the PDA drew on his existence. If worse came to worst he could always pull a couple strings with Technus or ask tucker to wipe it’s memory for him when he got home.

With a small gasp for air Danny dove back down into the shallow waters. Brightly colored fish roamed, nibbling at plants and flitting away in terror when he drew near. Only one of the fish didn’t seem to mind his presence. A slim yellow fish with purple fins, goldish stripes and stalked eyes that gave it resemblance to that of a crab or a snail. It glided slowly through the water, ignoring Danny in favor of munching on bits of greenery growing out of the sand. Danny took to ignoring it right back, it was boring, and not as fun to spook while he scrounged for materials.

A creature that was 60% eye was the most entertaining to startle. Despite the little blue fish being bigger than his head it was still terrified of him, darting away at a sped Danny could just barely keep up with. They dodged and weaved leading him in circles until he either got dizzy and lost sight of them or got bored of spinning.

He plucked mushrooms out of the ground, the purple ring surrounding pink insides left a chalky residue that stung his finger tips. Danny didn’t even want to chance eating these, they felt compressed like all it would take was one wrong cut for them to explode into a million pieces. According to his PDA they could be used to make batteries . Rumor has it, battery acid doesn’t taste that good. A high pitched whistling similar to a dog whistle played from his PDA getting louder and higher in pitch the closer he brought the mushroom to his mouth. It was funny how the PDA thought it could stop him if he really wanted to eat poison. Though, if it would stop the PDA from screaming Danny would graciously hold the battery mushrooms in his backpack not his mouth.

Danny used Wilson to bash up stone outcrops, praying the fire extinguisher wouldn’t break against the stone. Shoving chunk after chunk of titanium into his backpack he prayed Alterra had something in their storage modules separating the possibly explosive thing away from each other. Copper was what he needed yet it seemed like it was as rare as gold here. All he needed was one piece, one single piece to make the battery needed for a scanner. Did copper even exist on this planet? It was the main component to most things technological so if it didn’t exist here he was screwed. Hoarding massive amounts of titanium wouldn’t make up for it’s lack in conductivity. Powering tools took electricity, and he didn’t exactly want to risk using a faulty battery in the middle of the ocean. Copper was a must have for the machinery he needed, the fabricator wouldn’t let him substitute materials nor did he have the materials to substitute. For now, he was forced to continue his search, smacking away at the limestone in hopes of the ancients deciding to show mercy and give him what he needed.

 Breaks for  air were few and far between, the PDA catching on to the difference in biology quicker than he thought it would. Who knew not drowning when all data says you should leaves one eager to reevaluate their data. Oxygen alerts popped up after a minute and a half instead of the normal thirty second warnings. It wasn’t anywhere near his breath holding record before the crash but it was enough to make the PDA slightly less annoying so he considered that a win. When copper finally dropped from an outcrop, he almost cried from relief; not that his tears would mean anything in the ocean. Relief soon morphed into annoyance as every single one of the outcrops he broke afterwards dropped copper. Of course the moment he didn’t need it anymore was the moment it became the only thing that would ever drop! Why wouldn’t it work that way? Clockwork was laughing at him right now he could feel it. Swimming into the nearest cave to drown out of spite didn’t seem that bad of an idea anymore.

“Detecting sulfur deposits in the local cave systems. Sulfur is an essential component of the repair tool.” A colorful, yet morbid animation played on the screen. It depicted a small child putting sulfur into their mouth before being stamped by the image of a skull. It covered the child’s entire body and as the skull faded off screen so did the child, a small grave stone replacing them. This warning was unnecessary but an accurate assumption of his survival skills. Jazz always said he was like a toddler, putting anything and everything he could in his mouth. While not exactly true, she’d seen him eat a plastic spork and watched him drink ectoplasm so he couldn't plead his case without proving her point. Eating random objects was one of his favorite ways to freak people out! 

A piercing shriek broke through his thoughts. It sounded like someone taking a wheezing breath when they had the flu and it was rapidly approaching him. A flash red entered his his vison and Danny only had time to make brief eye contact with an alien that vaguely resembled a pufferfish before it exploded sending a cloud of loose sand into the water. 

What the hell was that thing!? It just self destructed for no reason! There wasn’t even time for him to get a good look at it before it exploded! It was like the fish took one look at Danny and decided a violent death by self-destruction was the only answer. Why the hell would the PDA warn him about sulfur deposits when their were living tracking missiles swimming around? Did he swim into their territory? Was it protecting something? Ancients he hoped he hadn’t stressed a parent into killing itself to protect it’s babies.

 Heading deeper into the caves, he swam towards where he saw Bomberfish emerge. A plant, with a dark beige base almost blended in with the sand. If not for the vibrant red petals with yellow lining bloomed around what looked like pollen but smelled like rotten eggs he might’ve missed it. The pollen was brittle crumpling into a powder like state that sifted though his closed fist. It didn’t take long for him to realize this “Pollen was actually one of the sulfur deposits he was warned about. A gurgle was heard and he twirled around to face the noise. An eye was peeking out through a plant the familiar red petals hiding the boom fish from sight. These things were ultra territorial, or maybe they were guarding the sulfur for some reason? There weren’t any eggs nearby for them to protect. “Living grenades nearby” would’ve been a more fitting warning than “hey you probably shouldn’t eat this” Then again if you told him directly that there were grenade fish in the caves, he would be rushing in there to see it with his own two eyes. The whole point of a warning would be null if it unintentionally encouraged people to rush towards danger with the promise of seeing something cool. He kicked the sand, hiding himself behind the open sulfur plant and waited for the agitated fish to go back into hiding. A cluster of mushrooms nearby illuminated his face as he carefully pocketed the sulfur. Fleeing the cave, he ignored the bomber fishes warning cry as he swam away fast enough to avoid triggering it.

Now all he needed was to craft a battery for the scanner and silicone rubber for the repair tool. Silicone rubber could be made with something called a creepvine seed cluster. Creepvine sounded like a plant your camp counselor would warn you about before going on nature hike. Something that would give you ugly rashes when you inevitably stumbled into a patch of it. The PDA showed him what the materials he needed looked like but not where they were found. Creepvine seed clusters were bulbous yellow seeds that like the name suggested grew in clusters.

It was just his luck that the thing he needed wasn’t in the shallows. In fact, it was located in one of the places he’d been avoiding. Bordering the shallows, tall stalks of kelp grew so tall it almost breached the surface and dense enough that to classify as a forest or at least the ocean equivalent of a forest. The seed clusters were bioluminescent, growing off certain kelp stalks while others remained seedless. The glowing bulbs illuminated chunks of what he could only assume were pieces of the Aroura. A creature long and sleek with jagged teeth lurked in the green tinted waters. Watching, waiting, and ready to strike the moment it’s pray wandered from the safety of the shallows. Often it snatched up pieces of metal, thrashing around with it like an alligator with it’s prey. Sometimes it wandered to the shallows, drawn in by the metallic sheen of scrap and scattered storage crates or lured by dozen of vibrantly colored fish that flourished in the shallows. They never stayed for long, perhaps an instinctual knowledge that scaring prey into migrating elsewhere wouldn’t be good for it’s survival. Picking off stragglers and hunting occasionally was much easier than having to hunt down your preys new breeding ground whenever you wanted to eat. 

While their trips to the shallows were short, he didn’t trust a particularly tasty looking prey wouldn’t give them the confidence to venture farther into the shallows. There was no way of knowing a metal muncher wouldn’t stalk him back to the shallows if they saw him on his little errand. No way of telling if their interest in metal was limited to just scraps. The fabricator was his only lifeline right now, his only hope for tools and drinkable water. A fabricator that was built into the wall of a lifepod made primarily of metal that would look oh so tasty to a jagged toothed alligator with a craving for titanium. 

There were a lot of things he wanted to do on an alien planet but he didn't want to swim into the home of the metal munching monsters! It was safer to just stay here where the only real threat was a living grenade with territorial issues and the gasmask manatee. The Metal muncher was gigantic and Danny was the perfect bite sized snack! Most of the tastier looking fish were smaller than he was and all Danny had to defend himself was a fire extinguisher and ice powers with the effectiveness of a slushy machine. He’d be the appetizer to tide them over before the main course of a life pod slightly charred! 

Impulsiveness and an apparent lack of self preservation was what he was known for by his community but contrary to popular belief Danny didn’t want to die. Back home, he had the strength to hold his own against the attacking ghosts and the friends to back him up when brute force and bullshittery failed. Now he had neither. Hours after the crash and he still couldn’t go ghost; trying to access his powers was as helpful as it’d been during the crash. Worst of all, his friends were lightyears away with no way of reaching him or even knowing what happened. The situation was dire and rescue couldn’t save him or the other potential survivors if he acted stupid and got himself killed. Believe it or not impulsiveness isn’t the same as stupidity; the two could come hand and hand but that didn’t make them the same when they’re separate. No matter what his grades said about him he wasn’t stupid. 

Daniel James Fenton, that’s who he is and Fenton’s aren’t stupid.

 Common sense ran scarce in their family but intelligence was plentiful. Jazz might be hoarding all the common sense but Danny had just enough to make his own rational decisions every once in a while. Provoking something that big without at least the foundations of a plan would cross the line of impulsiveness and land him with a dunce cap sitting in the corner of his lifepod. That is if he wasn’t torn to shreds first

He couldn’t beat a metal muncher in face to face fight, better to avoid it as much as possible. Out maneuvering  one of them wasn’t even an option. His swimming was slow and uncoordinated like the rest of his tiny body. At least stealth would be easier for him like this. The kelp twirled into itself an easy place to hide. Hiding wouldn’t help if they smelt him, the gators snout was long enough to snatch him out of any hiding spot he found. What he needed was something to defend himself but unfortunately, the only weapon he was allowed to fabricate required silicone rubber to make. So unless he wanted to blunt force one of them to death with a fire extinguisher his wit was his only other weapon. Metal munchers seemed to get distracted easily, diverting their attention from him would be an easy task. If he could spare some titanium or catch some of the smaller slower fish he could sneak through the kelp forests mostly unbothered.

Offering food was the safer bet. Carrying around a chunk of metal would slow him down and give the overgrown gators a chance to eat him and his peace offering. Danny chased down fish, snatching up the slower ones in his little hands. They slipped out of his grasp often, his dull nails did nothing to keep  the fish from squirming out of his grasp. Sharpened canines although small did great work to puncture and kill whatever unfortunate creature he caught in his maw. It they tasted terrible but what more could you expect of holding a raw fish in your mouth? With a dead fish in his hand, he surfaced for one long gasp of air before delving into the kelp forests. Hope the metal muncher didn’t prefer live feedings.  

“Life on this planet grows in distinct and diverse ecological biomes. Further study recommended.” The PDA piped up, playing another short animation of a child using a scanner. The child had three extra fingers sprouting on their wrist and there was an eerie emptiness in the eyes that screamed AI generated. Dismissing the notification Danny began to stalk around the biome. Chunks of sandstone dropped silver, lead and, sometimes gold. A notification popped up for two of the three. Blue lights flashed in his face and Danny had to duck away, hiding inside the curling vines of kelp. The PDA instructed him on handling lead including the usual warning of “Don’t eat it,” given whenever he picked up anything that wasn’t a fish. 

It wasn’t his fault that rocks looked so tasty! The only rock he actually put in his mouth turned out to be salt give him a break! A pain in his gums made the concept of chewing on things he wasn’t supposed to more appealing then it was. 

A loud shriek erupted, so loud it made his ears ring. Gnashing teeth and dilated pupils stared back at him through the creepvine. With a scream Danny chucked a fish at the creatures face hitting it square in the jaw. Shoving as many seed clusters into his backpack, Danny swam as fast as he could towards the shallows. An indignant shriek of a gator no longer distracted by its snack rang out behind him motivating him to swim faster. 

His life pod was in sight, so close yet so far away. With a monster chasing him the short distance felt like miles. Fish scattered in all directions at the sight of his pursuer distracting the gator just long enough for him climb the latter to the top of his lifepod. Air burned his lungs adrenaline rushing through his veins as he stared intently at the retreating form of the metal muncher. The PDA was talking to him. Words that sounded vaguely comforting were drowned out by his rapid breaths and the ringing in his ears.

“Scary,” His voice came out hoarse way too young to belong to him. A string of certain words didn’t make it past his lips. He didn’t know what he was calling scary specifically, everything that’d happened in the past twenty four hours was terrifying. From the crash to the feeling of helplessness he got from being shrunk and hunted. The sky was darkening, soon, the only light he’d have would be from the flames ravaging the Aroura. Another terrifying thought, the Aroura was a tough ship, what could’ve possibly caused that much damage. When Danny was recruited the ship was hyped up as unbreakable, a perfect example of mankind’s brilliance. It wasn’t negligence or a maintenance error, the ship was fine before entering this solar system. With his duel obsession he should have been at his strongest. It couldn’t be a coincidence that his powers went kaput the exact moment the aroura crashes. Something was fishy here and it wasn’t just the living grenades.

The top hatch was heavy and difficult to open. An air tight seal just like the bottom hatch doing more to keep him out than it could with any water. It’d be a lie to say the hiss of air that escaped when it opened wasn’t satisfying If he wanted to investigate further, he needed to repair his life pod. He watched in awe as the fabricator took things from his backpack and turned into something else. Creepvine seeds to silicon rubber, copper and mushrooms to a battery. Silicone rubber, sulfur and titanium to an O2 tank, fins, the survival knife, and the repair tool. A battery and a single piece of titanium built up into a functional biometrical scanner. It was incredible, in just a few minutes Danny went from having nothing to having a knife and other less important tools. If things stayed this easy he’d be ready to fight a minor deity in a matter of days! 

A barrage of PDA messages hit him, all somewhat snarky congratulations for crafting but Danny couldn’t care less. His focus was fixated on repairing all the sparking bits and bobs of the lifepod. It was like magic the lights flickered to life as if they’d never been broken in the first place

“Lifepod secondary systems online. Running full environmental diagnostic and outputting results to databank.” The PDA pinged as Danny stepped over the puddle of goop to get to the radio. 

“Radio online. Broadcasting emergency distress signal, ”Just like the lights the radio was fixed in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t push down the giddy hopefulness at the sight of blinking red light, a message already was a good sign.

“This is Aurora. Distress signal received. Rescue operation will be dispatched to your location in 9...9...9...9...9.. hours. Continue to monitor for emergency transmissions from other life pods,”

That... That did not sound good.

[mobius-m-mobius]

ok that beauty and the beast au has got me thinking: what other fairytale aus could fit lokius? I was thinking maybe sleeping beauty but if u have other ideas I’d really wanna hear them :)))

Yoooooooo Sleeping Beauty is an unreal fit!! 😍

I mean you know I instantly think of everything in context of Mobius lol, therefore my first thought was Loki "waking" him up to the truth of the TVA but honestly Loki's interest initially hinges on Mobius surprising him at every turn while Mobius was smitten from the start so instead I LOVE the thought of Mobius hearing rumors of a prince cursed in eternal slumber that everyone's given up on and most almost seem happy to be rid of??

Then when he starts studying up on the situation (analyzing Asgardian lore or something) he's swept up in awe over Loki's power and depths of their magic, notices details others overlooked about their wit, motivation, sense of humor, etc, and ends up telling Loki's prone self all about how amazing he really is when he finally finds him! Ofc being Mobius, he's happy sitting there being good company for a while until Loki wakes up, cleaning up the place a little while recounting some of his favorite stories from Loki's life, wishing he could've been there to see them in person while Loki started off being insanely annoyed at this commoner who dared barge in making assumptions about their life and is now captivated by such genuine kindness that's seen right through them in a way no one ever has before 😭

Not only that, but in spending so much time there Mobius has inadvertently let slip details of his own life as well and it paints for such a lonely and self-deprecating picture that the desire to tell him how incredible he is and lucky anyone would be to have him in their life might just be enough of a pull to wake up 🥺💖

Sorry for rambling there but I genuinely can't get enough of how well EVERY story or trope works for Lokius, their power as a ship will forever be unmatched! As for other fairy tales this is just off the top of my head but maybe a Cinderella AU where Mobius is meant to infiltrate a ball at the palace to get info on Odin and ends up meeting Loki who can instantly tell he isn't meant to be there but curious enough about his motivations and relived to be spending time with someone new that he shadows him for the night under the guise of using whatever dirt there is on Odin for his own benefit when really it's just nice to finally enjoy spending time with someone until he becomes desperate to figure out who Mobius is once all that's left of an unexpectedly perfect night is the fading glow of a time door 👀👀

[weaselbeaselpants]

cw: gross shipping weirdo nonsense.

VivziePop stans trying to say Chaifootsteps is a literal irl zoophile for writing an AUToothlessxHiccup fic where Toothless could talk is ridiculous...and that's coming from someone where ToothlessxHiccup is one of my personal absolute NOTPs. Sorry Chai.

tbf I think people are fair to find talking-ToothlessxHiccup stuff creepy in the same way they do HorsexRider from Centaurworld icky- not because there's any irl connotations with animals but because in canon that's just a very nonsexual relationship because it's a pet and it's owner. It crosses that same barrier as incestshipping for me even w all parties are adult and consenting- my aroace spectrum legit can't get over how this particular thing designed to be unsexy by the writers is made by someone watching it to be sexy in different contexts; but, I'll manage. ((also yes I'm implying that if a feral characterxhuman bodied character's canon relationship is portrayed smexual I don't care. mf this has been in fairytales since the dawn of time. Hardmode monsterfucking when the feral can talk and percieve =/= zoophilia, and especially not irl zoophilia. Me and everyone else just prefers anthro for the same reason we wish Lore Olympus Persephone wasn't portrayed so tiny- it just reminds us way too much of the people we've seen with...specific 'interests'))

I hate ToothlessxHiccup and Elsanna but I'm sorry I'll take a person who knows they're being a weirdo and can dial it back once in awhile for the sake of others vs Lily Orchard saying that Elsa and Anna isn't just implied because she legit wanted their relationship* for her and her sister; or the zoos I've met who legit want Ash and Pikachu to bang because "that's the purest expression of love between animal and trainer". If Chai was using anything along the lines of those responses, it'd be different.

And, of course, I can't not point out that the whole reason anyone's going after Chai at all is because he's a critical-person meanwhile prominent Helluvaverse stans have proudly made incest and rape art unapologetically with 0 self awareness. They're doing this as a smear campaign and yes they're also being massively transphobic and abusing an sa survivor while they do it.

my biggest thing with proshippers will always be: 1, do you have boundaries and know how to dial the disturbing shit you've thought up back for the sake of people who can't handle it? and 2, do you know the fictional scenarios are really not okay in real life circumstances, especially when it's sexual shit? Chai respects both of these things. Lay off him. Poppy from ZenaandPoppy has 0 boundaries and calls people who don't like her exposing incest survivors to incest porn "puritans". That's disgusting. That's evil. That's the kind of person that makes sane people throw fits because you should w you hear that.

[bestworstcase]

Do you think Weiss will get a romantic relationship?

i don’t think so, and i’m skeptical as to whether she is even really interested in romance at all; notably her core relationships are all with her family, winter and klein and whitley and (to a lesser extent) her mother. her interest in neptune in v2 is superficial and evaporates over his flirting with other girls in v3, and then in v9… lmao well

i know v9 was widely perceived as ship-teasing and the going assumption in the fandom these days is weiss/jaune endgame, but aside from the fractal ozlem problem there (both salems) what strikes me is that weiss specifically expresses physical attraction to jaune at the lowest point in his life; he looks like that because he’s been miserable and not taking care of himself for years. and then when he acts like someone who’s miserable and isolated and not taking care of himself weiss is like oh he’s crazy, we can’t depend on him, which he hears and gets understandably upset about. that fissure is repaired but that it happens at all speaks to a fundamental emotional disconnect.

like imagine the bees in an equivalent situation, if yang was stranded in time and aged several decades before blake found her again in such a haggard state—lank hair, prosthetic arm covered in rust, visibly exhausted. can you imagine blake’s first/only reaction being “yang looks hot!” in that moment? with weiss and jaune it’s played as a joke and the humor comes from weiss leapfrogging over “holy shit is jaune okay?” to “jaune’s hot!” and blurting out something completely insensitive. it’s very sun referring to blake’s avoidant self-destructive behavior in v2 as blake being “all… blake-y.”

and then

in terms of the fractal ozlem narrative—like, weiss is the girl in the tower who creates her own knight in shining armor. that’s the conceit. i think the point of her with respect to ozlem is to interrogate the idea that the girl “saves herself” by asking for help; weiss summons her knight but it isn’t the knight who rescues her, it’s klein—her father-figure—who helps her get out, which makes a pretty straightforward implication about salem. the girl who is her own knight leaves her tower through the genuine love of her father-in-all-but-blood; the only way for the girl to leave the tower without being saved is if her father is kind, and salem’s was not.

(<- which is all wrapped up in ozma’s self-hatred; he writes the fairytale as if the hero was merely the inconsequential tool the girl used to free herself because he feels inadequate—he died and left her behind, he couldn’t save her in the end, he was too cowardly to take her hand, therefore he never saved her at all and really she was the one who saved herself.)

anyway the point being, there’s a strong thematic incentive against giving weiss a romantic partner because her character poses this counterfactual question—what if salem didn’t need ozma?—which reifies that salem did need ozma, because her father was cruel and would not let her go. a salem who did not need ozma is necessarily matched by an ozma who did not need salem—they must be equals, always—and the question then is what would bind salem and ozma together if he is not her freedom and she is not his sanctuary. do they fall in love at all? probably not.

and it does look to me as though that’s where weiss’ character arc is headed, with how hard she’s taking the fall of atlas and the open question of what reclaiming the legacy of the schnee name from her father’s wrongdoing looks like now that the whole kingdom is gone

[whataboutsimple]

What songs do you associate with your ships (if you associate songs with ships)?

I really like “Everybody Seems to Love You” (by Addison Grace) for Jesskas and “The Other Side” (from the Greatest Showman) for Magnugaard.

Hadn't expect question like this.

But it's not unpleasant! Quiet the opposite, actually.

So, I have a lot of ships.. and most of them are with Gabriel! So it'll be quiet interesting.

Poly Old Order Of The Stone

I've actually thought about them, while listening to russian song "Можно я с тобой" (Can I go with you) by AP$ENT, but to considering not everyone will understand the lyrics, I'll also put here "Happier" by Marshmello.

Gabrigaard (Gabriel X Ellegaard)

Definitely "I love you like an alcoholic" by The Taxpayers. They have this vibe of couple from 60's, who dance listening to gramophone and being very, very sweet. Though the tragic of the story is that Ellegaard will be the one to die from the WitherStorm.

Ivorren (Ivor X Soren)

"House of memories" by P!ATD. From Ivor's point of view. Nothing more to say.

Magnabriel (Magnus X Gabriel)

"Heather" by Conan Gray. Here Magnus is in love with Ellegaard, so Gabriel wishes to be her.

Jetra (Jesse X Petra)

"Knees" by Bebe Rexha. Probably from Petra's point of view, where she can't stand being in a relationship, where she's forced to stay at one place, instead of having the freedom she wants.

Gavror (Gabriel X Ivor)

"Let me down slowly" by Alec Benjamin. From Gabriel's point of few, basically him begging Ivor not to ruin his life in a matter of second, firstly when Ivor decides to leave him, secondly when he creates WitherStorm.

Aidkas (Aiden X Lukas)

I've talked about them with Captian, but basically it's "I Bet My Life" be Imagine Dragons, where Aiden redeems himself and comes back to Lukas. The song itself shows his way to redemption and how he obviously regrets what he has done to Lukas.

Sorabriel (Soren X Gabriel)

"Hurts like hell" by Fleurie. Aftermath of Soren's run away from WitherStorm, Gabriel is now left all alone to deal with his feelings, unable even to talk to someone about it, since "Hoee can you love a lair?" And it raises a while new storm in him.

VioletCrystals (Romeo X Gabriel)

"Nightmare" by Poylow. The manipulative version of the ship, where it's going from Romeo's point of view, he's very proud of himself trapping The Warrior so easily, using his kind nature and bad taste in men against him.

OceanLove (Fred X Gabriel)

"Someone you loved" by Lewis Capaldi. Do I need to say it? Fred is dead, so Gabriel is sad.

Reggilo (Reginald X Milo)

"Bad dream" by Sarah De Warren. I think it suits pretty well, especially from Reginald point of view, where he can't fully let go of his "guard" self, but at the same time he's trying so hard to do it just to let Milo in. To let him and himself be happy.

Aidill (Aiden X Gill)

"IDFC" by Blackbear. Toxic version, where Aiden kind of a.. cheater, yeah. And since Gill always acts like "the silly one", I see him pretending to not know about this for the sakes of their relationship, because who he is without Aiden?

Sorengaard (Soren X Ellegaard)

"Fairytale" by Александр Рыбак. It's actually really sweet from Soren's point of view, nothing more. Speaking about how they fell apart, but promising to find her anyway.

DeepGlass (Gabriel X Vos)

Couldn't miss the opportunity to add "Faded" by Alan Walker here. Since it's kind about how the other is lost, and it mentions the water a lot, so.. connect the dots.

Ottrian (Otto X Hadrian)

"All I want is you now" by Rebzyyx in a very twisted way from Hadrian's point of view.

Olivetra (Olivia X Petra)

"She likes a boy" by Nxdia. Here's Petra is in love with Jason, so Olivia is left alone to deal with her feelings. Maybe it's something wrong with her?

BIG BANG THEORY

Aka that one Gabriel shipping star. The "Infinity" by Jaymes Young is represents Gabriel's feelings towards any partner quiet well.

The funniest part is that now I'm left with the only three happy love songs I have, but I have no ships to attach them to LMAO

[keesespuffs]

behold: a lil guy

[andreal831]

What do you think the Mikaelsons would be like if the Aurora fallout didn't happen?

TW: Mental Health/Mental Illness, bipolar disorder

I'm assuming you mean the Aurora fallout when she was human and not when she took the serum. I personally don't think it would be the fairytale a lot of Klaurora shippers want it to be. Don't get me wrong, I like Aurora's character and she did not deserve being compelled to be Rebekah for a hundred years and I also think she is one of Klaus' better ships. I also think we need more (and better than TVDU gives us) representation of mental illness in media. But I personally think people romanticize their relationship a lot. I do think Aurora is Klaus' first love and he loved her deeply, as she did him. But they were both in very bad mental places when they were together. This was only exacerbated by the vampirism. They likely would have led each other down a dark path rather than help each other out of it.

When Aurora is first turned, the vampirism makes her slightly out of control, which is not good considering the Mikaelsons had not mastered their control yet. This meant that shortly after she turns, Mikael tracks them down because of the carnage they were causing. If Elijah hadn't compelled Aurora, she would have run with them. She likely also would have wedged herself between Klaus and his siblings. This is especially true because Elijah would have likely still remembered that Klaus killed their mother and lied to them about it all of that time. The memory was behind the red door because of what Elijah did to Aurora, not because of what he discovered.

This would have created a huge rift between Finn and Klaus, likely causing Finn to do what he claimed to want to do and leave his siblings behind, potentially even seeking Mikael out to help avenge his mother. With Finn leaving, Kol would also part ways shortly after. We know this happens anyway as Kol is already on his own when the Mikaelsons encounter the Hunters.

Tristan would also have sent an army after the Mikaelsons to retrieve his sister, likely with the help of Lucien as I think he partly always believed Klaus manipulated Aurora. I personally was never a fan of how Lucien interacted with Aurora. He always acted like she was unable to think for herself so it would be easy for him to believe Klaus had manipulated Aurora and not that she rejected him. It also would give him an excuse to go after the Mikaelsons and make Klaus pay for "stealing" Aurora.

It would have been Mikael and whatever army he mustered up and Tristan/Lucien and their army chasing after the trio and Aurora. I think it would be a fascinating story and if anyone wants to write it, I would definitely read it. However, it wouldn't be positive for either Klaus or Aurora's mental health. We are told Aurora battles bipolar disorder. This mental illness, unfortunately, for the vast majority of the time cannot be handled effectively without medication. Bipolar disorder was not even diagnosed until the 1800s and it wasn't effectively treated until the mid-1900s. Because vampirism already exaggerates emotions, Aurora's battle with bipolar disorder was extreme. The symptoms of bipolar disorder are also exacerbated by stressful life events, like being on the run from your brother and your homicidal father-in-law.

Stans, and even Klaus himself, changed their tune after finding out about Klaus' first heartbreak and, instead of blaming his parents, shifted blame to Elijah for why Klaus behaves the way he does. But we have to realize that Klaus is Klaus. Vampirism and his werewolf side only heighten who he is. We see Klaus as a human get in angry, heated fights, he is still fairly self-centered (kissing Tatia without even considering her feelings), he kills his mother for lying to him before his heartbreak, he goes on a killing spree before this heartbreak. He wasn't some innocent, good-tempered person before all of the heartbreak and betrayal. He was also in a fragile mental state and it would have been easy for Aurora to convince him to leave Rebekah and Elijah behind. Klaus was clearly suffering some level of depression and likely PTSD from his childhood trauma. Aurora already thought Elijah was too obsessed with family and didn't have a positive association with family in general. To me, she would have wanted her and Klaus to be a family on their own. She even seemed to cast Rebekah aside as her friend when Klaus showed her romantic interest. She was so quick to tell Elijah she knew something about Klaus that even he didn't know. Whether intentionally or not, she would have caused a separation between the siblings. I personally think this would have been for the best for Elijah and Rebekah. They could have gone off and lived a happy life, finding love.

But Klaus and Aurora likely would have gone down a dark path. We already see them begin to right after she is turned. She, like Klaus, reveled in the gore of vampirism early on. Without Elijah or Rebekah there to even him out, Klaus may have gone off the deep end, making it easy for Mikael to find him. If Mikael had an army, it likely would not have ended well for Aurora and Klaus.

I've seen two people who were struggling with their mental illness try to make it work in real life and it unfortunately usually does not work. When you are struggling, you need someone who can support you, but if your partner is also struggling, that is too much pressure. They created a beautiful relationship in the comfort and safety of the castle but they would have struggled to support each other once life got hard on their own.

It is really sad because so many people in history suffered unnecessarily because of mental illnesses before treatments or understanding was available. Aurora's conversation with Cami gives us just a small insight on what people in her position were often forced to undergo in an attempt to "fix" them. If Aurora and Klaus had met in modern setting where treatment was available for both of them, I think they would have a beautiful relationship. It just was unfortunately the right person, wrong time.

Thanks for the ask! This was really interesting to think about. Sorry, it took so long to respond, but I wanted to make sure I really thought this one through. I try to be delicate any time I discuss mental illness.

As always, if you disagree or have a different perspective, feel free to share. All I ask, is that you keep it respectful, especially when discussing mental health.

**EDITED: To correct the improper use of BPD for bipolar disorder.***

[thestarsloth]

Cool stuff to learn or study when you are bored that might come in handy pt II:

The London Shirtwaist Factory Fire it is a tragic story or really just any other fires

Ships that sank (ex. Titanic!! or Mayflower) seriously those are so tragic

Huge Natural disasters like tsunamis (ex the Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004) we shouldnt forget about those or the previous things i said

Any history facts we dont get taught in school (!!!!^^^^^!!!!!!)

First Aid!!!! I cant emphasize this enough it can actually save someones life!!!

Medical uses of plants similar with the last part, they might be really useful

EDIBLE PLANTS!!!!!!!! this could save you if you ever have to survive alone or smth like that

Self defence do i need to clarify why? you dont even have to take lessons there are books for that

Sign language or any language you find interesting and also study the culture

Study the evolution of fairytales oh my goodnessss

Your culture's folklore

I hope you all have a great dayyyy

[rayfishandchips]

Random sad thoughts on rodrift

may be unpopular opinion. Ok so I think Rodrift has more angst potential than happy ending potential. I came for best friends to lovers fluff, but after I got into it I know it's angst material. The fix-it's just don't hit as hard as the angst.

I'm feeling complicated feelings for this bc I really liked their dynamics when I started mtmte. Deep down my selfish desires want to see a happy friends-to-lovers ending for them. Now after finishing mtmte and a bunch of other idw drift stuff, it's clear the narrative prescribes angst to them.

Early mtmte Drift is lost. His ultimate need throughout his life is a faith, and religion/Rodimus is not good enough a solution, not in the long term and not for him. Rodimus in that era is not much better, he is insecure behind his bluff, and launched the grand crusade for the knights because he (and the tfs that followed him) cannot face the post-war world. Drift supports him which makes him feel better, but Drift is not the long-term solution too.

While these two can have happy moments with each other, ultimately it can't be healthy endgame because deep down, neither are suitable for helping out the other. In the case of a true end, best they can really do is besties.

The Lost Light is a ship that seek a purpose it will never find, and the meaning of the voyage is not the end but the process of going far away. In the end JR gave us the alternative to finding salvation in ideals, which is the salvation of the present. The adventure is meant to end and it's meant to make our hearts sore. Thanks JR it's beautiful and sad and happy at the same time, it's so well written I can't even find comfort in fix-its.

To be honest no one on the Lost Light is mentally sane enough for sappy romantic stuff. Everyone has baggage, no one walks away unscathed, they just find ways to cope and walk on. This is (personal opinion) the best message to end a non-fairytale story with.

May post later on why I support dratchet endgame out of the 4 important figures in Drift's life (and why wingdrift is still somewhat possible). The ending of Rodimus hurts a bit too much I don't think I can face it yet, but maybe sometime later.

Still I love seeing them as friends. While not endgame, they still provided each other with much needed remedy during lost times, and that deserves appreciation too. Thanks to fanfics sometimes we can just imagine the jouney never ends and they are just happy silly besties sharing the most epic adventure. Sometimes I betray canon for self-indulgent reasons haha

Also, for those who reached this point, thanks for reading all of this :)

[fourteentrout]

Surprise self-rec time! Pick 3 of your favorite things you’ve written and share them here, then put this in the inbox (anonymously or not) of your fellow writers to spread the positivity and help celebrate already written fics

(Added side quest from @achaotichuman, tell me what inspired your fics, why you love them so much etc etc, tell me EVERYTHING)

Ooh! Thank you for sending this! Alright I'd say right now my favorites are

Colors in a Dead Garden

My longest ACOTAR fic. I put so much time and effort and thought into it, and it almost has a plot which is unusual for me, and I just really really liked how it turned out. I feel like it's a good marker for like my progress as a writer thus far if that makes sense. It's a sleeping beauty au, so I was obviously inspired by the fairytale and occasionally the Disney movie specifically, but I also just wanted something where I could like play with the magic of the series and see how I could introduce a Classic Romance situation to characters who would absolutely not be able to function in a romance. I also loved just like. Giving them a doomed relationship and still being like "now kith." That was like one of my main motivators like I just wanted them to kiss, despite not having any kind of chance at having a relationship. I really wanted to unearth their characters and force them to sort of like talk things out while still having the aforementioned magic of it all be like a big driving presence.

The Beholder

My most recent ACOTAR fic. Azris is my second favorite ship in this fandom but it is still arguably one of my favorite ships of all time, and I had such a blast delving into their characters and how they interact with beauty, hate, and attraction. I wanted to really get into like how Azriel views himself and what his standards for aesthetic would be, but mainly I just wanted to have a gratuitous amount of Azriel and Eris being unbearably horny for each other. I also, kinda like with Colors in a Dead Garden, wanted to force them to talk things out and have like deep conversations that went beyond surface level attraction, just cause I love doing that sort of emotionally heavy character dynamic stuff. I kind of actually didn't even get all I wanted to across, but it was just so long that I was like alright I gotta cut this off now if I want it to still be a one shot. But there's definitely sort of more I may want to dive into in the future regarding like Azriel's relationship with himself, his scars, his shadows, and his Illyrian heritage, that sort of thing. But I feel like this fic was a really great start and the progression of him and Eris' relationship ended up being like exactly what I wanted it to be like I just loved how the two of them turned out individually and together in my writing, if that makes sense.

and, in a completely different direction, Cellar Door

One of my Social Network fics. It's not even my most popular, and it's more crack treated seriously than anything else (I mean, a multiverse au for the Facebook movie? C'mon.) but I had a lot of fun writing it and I really liked the end result. I appreciate it for it's silliness, yk? I have two other Social Network fics that got a little more reception than this one, but I just had so much fun writing this that whenever I think of my writing and me as a writer, I think of this fic. I really wanted to write a scenario that would be impossible in real life but would still sort of "fit" the characters if that makes sense. Like oh yeah that WOULD be the type of guy to accidentally jump into other universes spontaneously, quite possibly as a side effect of his own emotional constipation. It's just so goofy and I loved writing it. It in itself was inspirational too, cause I got to think of all these different AUs without necessarily having to commit a full fic to them, it was like an all in one special.

Sorry that got so lengthy, but thank you so much for including me in this, I feel so honored!

[schafpudel]

The thing is that when you're a kid, the part of Princess Tutu's ending that is most disappointing is Duck turning back into a duck. Like Uzura points out, it's sad that Duck won't be able to talk to people ever again or interact with them like a person can. Furthermore, if you like the romance aspect of shoujo, it’s... a pretty big obstacle to not just Fakiru, but literally any other ship imaginable.

But as I get older, the part that frustrates me the most is Mytho and Rue.

(Dead Dove, Do Not Eat if you don’t wanna read criticism of the ending of Princess Tutu. I’m placing this in the main tag for my own blog’s organizational purposes; if you have tips for how to prevent it from showing up in tag search, let me know.)

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Rue... has been told all her life that Mytho is the only person capable of loving her, and we are SHOWN that's not true. Duck loves her. Malen was attracted to her, even if the intensity of that feeling was exacerbated by a heart shard. But she struggles to accept this. The failure to take Femio’s heart, after all, was used by the Raven to prove that ”you will never be loved by anyone but me and the prince in the story” was an ironclad rule of her existence.

Autor being able to love her at all, enough to die for her, even if it was infatuation brought about by raven-blood magic and the machinations of The Story, was yet another slap in the face after learning she was human, and not a deformed crow. Confronted with another fact of her existence being a lie, she laughed at the absurdity and horror of it all, and told him to go home.

Rue is a deeply traumatized and abused young woman, who has been told she’s unlovable her entire life. She’s deeply afraid of losing even the facsimile of love, and without anyone to turn to, she acted on those fears in ways that were harmful to both herself and others. She has difficulty trusting that other people, such as Duck, genuinely care about her, even when they go out of her way to talk to her.

She needs space and time to grow emotionally healthy. She needs a support network, a multiplicity of relationships to fall back on when she struggles, more than she needs to rely entirely on the love on a single romantic partner. Who will she turn to, if their relationship ever struggles? Even the happiest couples argue sometimes, and her and Mytho’s relationship has a lot of baggage attached to it.

Everyone else goes back to their "true selves", but Rue becomes a fairytale princess, and retreats deeper into The Story. On one level, it’s wish fulfillment and escapism for a girl who's known nothing but misery - her very own Cinderella story. Thematically, next to everyone else, it's just a little strange. She was born a normal girl, before the Raven stole her. She was *happiest* when she was a normal girl. Could she not also be happy in “reality,” with the petty stakes and mundane pleasures of a commoner's existence?

I wonder if her birth parents are alive. I wonder what it would be like, for her to meet them. Not even to necessarily move in with them, just... getting to know where she really came from. Her ties to humanity.

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Mytho, unlike everyone else, isn't allowed to question his role by the anime. He is not a "real person" thrust into a role, but rather a being created from the role, and that sets him apart. But the entire inciting incident of The Prince and The Raven is that Mytho's selfless love causes others to fight over him, and that his attempts to rescue them simply escalate the conflict and the raven's predation.

Mytho was born to be selfless to the point of self-destruction, because he was created by Drosselmyer to suffer and die. When heartless, he sacrifices his own wellbeing for the sake of the innocent with the same thoughtless, primal instinct as  a salmon returning to its river, a moth flying towards a flame. His entire concept of love, when he regains it, revolves around sacrificing himself for others' sake.

(When the raven's blood corrupts him it simply inverts this. Demanding that other people sacrifice themselves for him, that they love only him. Is this not, in a way, a reflection of what the people inside in the story demanded of him?)

Mr. Cat tells Mytho that you can't marry on the feeling of wanting to die for someone alone, but we have no evidence he ever learns this, really. To the very end, he was going to do something very dramatic, passionate, romantic, self destructive, and utterly pointless -- shatter his heart again (in the hopes that maybe he would regain it), kill the Raven (and Rue with him), and then kill himself. Thankfully, Duck stopped him.

Princess Tutu is less inherently critical of the idea of princes and princesses than Utena, but here’s something that feels relevant to Mytho. In RGU.... the life of a prince, lived up to its hypothetical chivalrous ideals, is not sustainable. Dios ran himself ragged, until he became ill, and the world was enraged that he did not continue his princely duties. Anthy "sealed him away", to protect him, and took the brunt of their hatred. Now, as Akio, he lives freely... by letting her suffer the swords of humanity's hatred in his place, every single day, and attempts to cheat his way back to princehood by the most manipulative, abusive means possible.

(I don’t think Mytho is doomed to become an abusive monster like Akio, even taking account how he conducted himself under Raven’s blood. But I wonder if he can maintain the lifestyle forever. He was created to subject himself to a Sisyphean task, where his own attempts to stop it merely exacerbated the disaster he was fighting. He was created to suffer, and die.)

I don’t know if he can ever be free of his... “programming,“ his “instincts,“ his pre-written nature. But I would like him to be free of the responsibility to always follow them. To not have the world on his shoulders. To be able to be a little selfish, without going full heart-eating corvid.

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I can't help but feel, sometimes, like Rue and Mytho simply retreated deeper into the coffin that Drosselmyer created, thinking it to be freedom.

I’d kind of like a season 3, whether to change this ending... or to reassure me of the ending we have.

[devoutjunk]

there are my ever present obsessions: myth & folklore, fairytales, antigone, the gothic, retellings, ghosts/hauntings, Places that are Alive and Want something, the sea, the mountains etc.

and then there are my Current Weird New Things, the obsessions/interests that come into my life like lightning strikes and light everything up. Right now, for some reason, it’s fiction set in medieval Europe, particularly stories that deal w/ shifting currents of faith and allegiance, and paired w/ that, oddly stories set in space, usually futuristic, often dystopian. The two seem superficially so different, and often can be when it comes to genre and style, but I keep finding so many common or mirrored resonances there as well: the sense of living on the limits of “civilization,” always aware of how that natural world could, if it wished, swallow you whole; the interrogation of what it means to be human & who gets to be human & what happens when you’re forced to confront the interiority and complexity of someone you’d designated as “alien;” crises of faith, of language, of definition; an obsession with the apocalyptic: a constant preparing or mourning for/resurrecting from the end; the beauty and terror of the things humans make: spaceships, cathedrals, the written word, the science to save or take a life. The way we think we own what we make. That it’s stable, unchanging, ours. But we don’t. The things we make take on lives of their own. A man preaches earthly poverty and self-denial and several decades later another man burns at the stake for echoing his words. Everyone is alien & heretic to someone, somewhere; the kings and commanders do not have our best interests at heart, they want more land, more stars, flags planted in palaces and on planets. In historical fiction, like in sci-fi, the world is often changing too fast for people to keep up.

A girl in an England-before-it-is-England climbs over Roman ruins, wonders what other wonders those long-gone strangers built. People tell her the world was greater then. The countryside recovers from their greatness; new growth creeps over the old roads. In her lifetime the girl will worship one god, then another. Speak several languages, and never be sure, not entirely, which one she thinks of as hers. They say there was an Eden once. Maybe there was, but she doesn’t mourn it. She’s only ever know the world as it is—

An astronaut hovers high above a ruined earth, examines a sunken city through a telescope. Algae slicks the crumbled skyscrapers, and slowly stunted trees begin to grow, splitting up through dirt and concrete. The astronaut has never climbed a tree. Once, whole swathes of country were swallowed in forest. People tell her the world was greater then. But she has only ever known ship & station; brief trips planetside for yearly vaccinations. She’s not sure the old world was greater, or better, or pure. She thinks maybe it was only ever the world, torn up by the bitter feuds of kings, ending and beginning over and over, one after the other, an endless orbit she cannot help but love, even as its gravity grinds down her bones. Death not now or soon but one day & sure. But oh, she thinks, what cities, what forests will grow from her grave—