#playing into the expectation of a Big Special Connection between the ‘prince’ and the ‘princess’ just to subvert it

[daylighteclipsed]

[raeynbowboi]

Building an Embodiment of the Fairytale Princess (2.0)

This is nothing new. I’ve done this build before, which I’ll link right [here]. The post did really well, and people seemed to love the concept. However, since then, Mythic Odysseys of Theros and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything have both come out, bringing with them not only new subclasses, but new features, spells, mechanics, and elements that I couldn’t take into consideration the first time around. So, I decided that rather than just adding a tag on post like I did before, I’d just remake the build with the new features being taken into consideration. Like before, the focus of the build is to create an embodiment of the generic fairytale princess and not any one particular character. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Like before, we’ll be choosing Variant Human for our race of choice. We’ll channel Sleeping Beauty to be gifted by the fey with blessings of Beauty, Grace, and Song for +1 CHA, +1 DEX, and Performance proficiency. We also get a bonus feat, and thanks to Tasha’s, we can now take Fey Blessed for +1 CHA. However, if she doesn’t cast with Charisma, then substitute those CHA bonuses with Wisdom instead.

The generic fairytale princess is a maid of purest heart, so we’re Lawful Good. But for your more rebellious princesses, Neutral Good or Chaotic Good are also valid.

Background is obviously Noble for proficiency with History and Persuasion.

CLASSES & SUBCLASSES

BARD

This one seems pretty obvious. Bards love to sing and dance, like your stereotypical princess. Because Charisma is their top stat, and they have expertise, it can make them great negotiators, and allow them to excel in dialogue interactions.

GLAMOUR

This college is very fitting for a fairytale princess, as it is focused on making oneself as beautiful and charming as the Fairest of Them All.

LORE 

Lore bards share information, whether they tell stories, recite plays, share philosophy, or spread juicy gossip, the Lore Bard gets more magical secrets, and added expertise to make your princess an even bigger Mary Sue. In actual medieval history, princesses often learned to play instruments and sing, recite prayers or poems, or tell stories to visiting guests, and it was considered a part of her education and duty to do so.

CLERIC

While not every princess is a devout religious girl, their stories tend to be set in the medieval period when a good princess would have been expected to be chaste and pious. So on that front, worshiping a good deity would be befitting of such a character.

LIFE

The fairytale princess raises up those they care about, and nothing is more supportive and helpful than keeping your friends on their feet. The Life Cleric turns your princess into a kind soul who weeps for her friends and patches them up after the battle, turning your princess into a useful ally against the wicked witches and dangerous dragons.

LIGHT

Not all Fairytale Princesses are passive or support players. Those who lean toward Light are the princesses who stand as the Big Good of their story and battle the forces of Darkness with the power of the Light. Of the three Cleric options that fit the archetype, this is the best option for being a powerhouse in combat.

PEACE

Don’t get me wrong, I still hate this domain for wearing the skin of the Love Domain we were supposed to get, and you can absolutely still play it that way. How this domain went from Love to Togetherness to Pacifism is beyond me, but it’s a fairly strong subclass. The classic princess archetype is supposed to be gentle and kind, fitting for one who worships a god of mercy and forgiveness. It’s a value often toted as the strongest characterization of the early Disney princesses.

DRUID

My first time building the fairytale princess, I ignored Druid as an option because the wildshaping didn’t really make sense for a fairytale princess, but a lot of the Bardic Magical Secrets were used to steal Druid spells. However, thanks to the optional rules from Tasha’s, Druids can now use their Wildshape to summon fey that take on the shapes of animals instead of turning into the animals themselves, which makes Druid far more viable, as summoning animals is very in-character for a fairytale princess.

DREAMS 

The Circle of Dreams has heavy Fey associations with references to the Summer Court ruled by Titania. It also is strongly focused on healing, and has a very Fairy Tale flavor to it. It’s an especially great option if you want to invoke Sleeping Beauty, as you can cloak your party while you sleep and send messages to people through your dreams.

SHEPHERD

The fairytale princess is strongly associated with animal buddies, and nothing makes better use of that than the Shepherd Druid, which focuses on amassing an army of critters. What’s more, the Unicorn Totem is very fitting, not only because Unicorns only approach maidens with pure hearts, but Shepherds of the Unicorn Totem get empowered healing.

SORCERER

The sorcerer is born with a spark of something special in them, and a lot of fantasy royalty have magical powers that other people in their world lack.

DIVINE SOUL

The princess doesn’t literally have to be the descendant of the gods, as the original name for the subclass was more about being favored by the gods. Still, if you want to lean into the idea of the princess as the Big Good against the Big Bad, then having her be born with the spark of the gods inside her makes for a neat characterization.

WILD MAGIC 

With the new Sorcerer Shards as I’ve come to call them, we were introduced to the Feywild Shard, which was heavily geared toward Wild Magic Sorcerers, which seems to be WoTC’s way of saying that Wild Magic Sorcerers are the fey-linked sorcerous origin, so I’m including it because of our fey connection. 

WARLOCK

This is the only class where there’s exactly one good option, but it’s one that works surprisingly well.

ARCHFEY 

As a Warlock with a Pact of the Chain, your fairytale princess can choose to Find Familiar any cute little animal companion, or a Sprite to be your Fairy Godmother. Or rather, you can sign a pact with your Fairy Godmother, and use your Chain Pact to summon one of her emissaries to help you. The Archfey patron themselves can act as your Fairygodther, granting you and your party boons and aid where they need it.

WARLOCK INVOCATIONS

Agonizing Blast Armor of Shadows Beast Speech Eldritch Mind Eldritch Sight Gift of the Ever-Living Ones Shroud of Shadow Voice of the Chain Master

CHARISMA vs WISDOM

The big split in how you build your princess falls down the line between these two camps. The wise princess works better as a Druid/Cleric, while a charming princess is more of a Bardlock. For me personally, as much as the Cleruid fits the fairytale princess, the stereotype of the princess is usually that she is gullible, naïve, and overly trusting. Insight is a wisdom check, and something the classic princess archetype is usually bad at. Granted, Animal Handling is also Wisdom, but the Bard’s expertise can overrule a low Wisdom score. Think of it like a clash between Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda vs Princess Peach from Mario. Princess Zelda is wise and is much more focused on leadership and protecting her kingdom. Peach is more about the pretty dresses and having servants help her. They’re two very different camps on the princess archetype. Ultimately, which one you choose will depend on the type of princess you wish to invoke. The Classic Damsel or the Wise Matriarch.

SIDEKICKS

A new feature added in Tasha’s, sidekicks are secondary characters that can help the party and are basically simplified character builds with fewer bells and whistles. There are three main camps:

Expert. Experts are clever and knowledgeable, be they minstrels, librarians, pickpockets, merchants, or assassins. They can pick proficiency with DEX, INT, or CHA saving throws, and can be proficient or an expert with any five skills of your choice, and humanoids also gain proficiency with light armor, simple weapons, and two tools of your choice.

Spellcaster. Trained in the secrets of the Arcane, be they a priest, a fortuneteller, or a magical creature. They can choose proficiency with INT, WIS, or CHA checks, and can be proficient in Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Performance, Persuasion, or Religion. They choose a roll to determine their spell list: Mage (Wizard), Healer (Cleric, Druid) or Prodigy (Bard, Warlock). The sidekick has access to the spell list of the classes their role aligns with, as well as casting with that stat.

Warrior. trained fighters, be they a soldier, a city guard, a trained animal, or a hired sword. They can pick proficiency with STR, DEX, or CON saving throws, and their skill options are Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival. Warriors can pick a fighting style: either Offensive to add +2 to attack and damage rolls, or Defender to impose disadvantage on hitting creatures other than them while within 5 feet of the princess.

Generic Princess Sidekicks

Humanoid Guard Warrior (bodyguard) Humanoid Commoner Expert (handmaiden, governess, etc.) Humanoid Magewright Spellcaster (court mage, or advisor) Any Beast-type Warrior (animal companion)

Fairytale Inspired Sidekicks

Seven Dwarves - Dwarf Warrior Fairy Godmother - Sprite or Pixie Spellcaster Prince Charming - Humanoid Noble Warrior Wicked Witch - Barovian Witch Spellcaster Beast - Gnoll, Jackalwere, Orc, or Troglodyte Warrior Puss in Boots - Awakened Cat or Tabaxi Warrior The Frog Prince - Awakened Frog or Grung Warrior Three Little Pigs - Awakened Pig Expert, Spellcaster, & Warrior Big Bad Wolf - Wolf Warrior or Awakened Wolf Expert Robin Hood - Redbrand Ruffian or Bandit Expert Djinn of the Lamp - Dust, Ice, or Magma Mephit Spellcaster Pinocchio - Giant Stone Statue Warrior White Rabbit - Awakened Rabbit Expert Cheshire Cat - Awakened Cat Expert or Spellcaster

There is no actual limit to the number of sidekicks your character can have, so in theory, your fairytale princess could have an entire posse of talking animals hanging out and helping her.

Skills, Spells, and Features

As a Variant Human, we got Performance proficiency alongside our Fey Touched feat, and as a Noble, we have proficiency with Persuasion and History. For everything else, we’re just looking to be a standard Fairytale Princess. So we should look to be proficient with: Animal Handling, Arcana, Religion, Nature, or Medicine.

BASIC FAIRIES

Dancing Lights Faerie Fire Healing Spirits Spirit Guardians Summon Fey Conjure Woodland Beings Conjure Fey

BASIC PRINCESS THINGS

Animal Friendship Command Heroism Speak With Animals Animal Messenger Calm Emotions Find Steed Warding Bond Zone of Truth Conjure Animals Mord’s Magnificent Mansion

SNOW WHITE

Armor of Agathys Mirror Image Beacon of Hope Aura of Purity Heroes’ Feast

CINDERELLA

Fabricate Creation True Polymorph Wish

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Sleep Phantasmal Killer Dream Wall of Thorns Dream of the Blue Veil

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Charm Person Shatter Suggestion Tidal Wave Compulsion Control Water Dominate Person Maelstrom Control Weather Tsunami Storm of Vengeance

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Charm Monster Unseen Servant Tiny Servant Animate Objects Awaken Hold Monster Summon Fiend

Last time I built the fairytale princess, I gave her exactly 1 build. 18 levels of glamour bard and 2 levels of Archfey Warlock. But recently I’ve begun to instead put more stock in leaving builds open, showing instead the options that a player has to choose from. So, for this update, I’m not pushing for a specific build. I’ve laid out the appropriate spells, and the types of princesses that a player can strive to emulate with their spell lists. Consider this more of a guide to help you decide how you want to play your fairytale princess.

[silenceofthecookies]

HI!💕 I just find your blog and OMG I LOVE IT, I really enjoy how you write, it's incredible 😍 So, I hope this request it's ok to put in here (so sorry it's my first time in life requesting) I was wondering if you could make a second part of the scenario "I DO" for Kouen from Magi. Hope you have a good journey, thanks in advance 💕

Aaaaaaa thank you for your kind words anon 😭❤ I’m so glad you like it.  I was actually already considering writing a sequel to this, so I’m glad you requested it! I headcanon Kouen to sip his respect woman juice, and that will really be shining through in this chapter, enjoy~! ❤

Word count: 1234 (this made me happier than I’d like to admit)

Warnings: mention of suggestive themes, just like in the first chapter

Part one of this scenario can be found here. 

It had been quite some time since Kouen and you started playing chess together, and it felt like you’ve been completely accepted into the royal family since that moment. Koumei would warmly greet you whenever you passed by, and sometimes give you tips on chess strategies, hoping that you could tone his brothers ego down a bit. Kouha and you sometimes had tea together while having a casual conversation. He was a bit of an odd one, but his heart was in the right place. Hakuryuu didn’t change that much, he was still the polite but slightly silent guy you got to know him as.

And Kougyoku? She was now your best friend. The princess was thrilled to have another princess in the palace who didn’t think she was trash for being a warrior, or for being the daughter of a courtesan. She was overly honest in everything she told you, like everyone’s behaviour towards you before you and Kouen started getting along.

Apparently, they all assumed Kouen and you simply didn’t get along, or actually got into a fight. Husband and wife not sharing a bed, only interacting at all during meals, and overall giving each other the cold shoulder was not a good impression, after all. They decided to leave the two of you to fight it out without interfering, but because of that they didn’t get the chance to actually get to know you. You also had to admit that at first, due to being forced into this, you didn’t even want to get to know the other princes and princesses.

Kouen and you had spent many more nights playing chess, mostly in the library or in his study, but sometimes also in the garden. Apart from chess, the two of you started interacting more outside of the dining room as well. Reading books together was not uncommon, nor was just talking a walk together. Sometimes Kouen would have you called to a secluded part of the gardens, where he’d have a picnic ready for you under the shade of a big tree. You’d eat together, talk about whatever came to mind and whenever Kouen had to make a though call on something, he’d ask your opinion. Over the time you spent together, he learned you were no princess who could only sit around and be pretty. You were smart, considerate and you had more political insight than he ever could’ve hoped.

Not long after you started playing chess together, you learned that Kouen appreciated brutal honesty above all, in many ways. He appreciated you showing your true colours around him, even if that resulted in him getting teased or made fun of. That way, he said, he knew what kind of person he was dealing with. People who lie about their motives are the dangerous ones, even if their polite personas might be easier to deal with. But when you yelled at him a decision he was about to make was bad, he was slightly shocked. You instantly realised what you had done, thinking you had crossed the line, and apologised. Instead of getting mad, he simply asked you why you thought it was wrong.

Today was another picnic day. You had just finished eating, and were now leaning against the tree you were sitting under, reading a book. Despite the book being really interesting, it’s not what your mind was focussed on. Your thoughts had drifted to the man learning against the tree next to you. It was never said out loud, but you had the feeling he was using these picnics as a way of courting you. He didn’t have to do it, already being married, but you were glad he did nonetheless. It made you feel special.

By now, you were pretty sure you were falling for the prince. You were always happy to see him, excited to do something with him and every time he laughed, your heart skipped a beat. However, before telling him anything like that, you had a burning question that you really wanted an answer to first.

“Kouen?” “Yes?” “Why did you give me my own room?” Kouen kept staring at his book for a bit, before closing it and putting it to the side. “I told you that already, didn’t I? Because you were uncomfortable, and because I won’t take a woman against her will.” “You had full right to do so though. Some might even say it was our obligation.” “Taking a woman against her will is a crime, Y/N. Being married or not does not change that, at least not in my opinion.” “So… your plan is just to let me do my thing?” “Yes. That way you can set a pace you’re comfortable with.” “And what if I’d never be comfortable?” “Then I’d accept that and deal with it.” “But then you’d have no heir, right?” “There are different solutions for that.” “So… you’re really letting me set the pace in this?” “Yes.” “And you’ll just follow along with my pace?” “Yes.”

During the whole conversation, Kouen kept eye contact with you. All you could see in his eyes was honesty, concern and it may be because it’s what you hoped to see, but you thought you could see some affection in there as well? You thanked your lucky stars that out of all the men you could’ve gotten married to, it was Kouen. Though there was no love at first, hearing his answer now made you sure that you had fallen for this man. You smiled at him, took a deep breath and finally made up your mind.

“Then kiss me.” Kouen’s eyes widened briefly, before a smile graced his lips. Taking your chin between his thumb and index finger, he leaned in closer to you. “As you wish.”

After saying that, Kouen leaned in and softly kissed you. It was a short, careful kiss but for you it was perfect. Well, almost. Kouen pulled back but kept his face close to you, checking your face for any sign of discomfort. You grinned, and put both hands on his cheeks. “Allow me” you said as you connected your lips once again, this time longer and a bit more passionate, hoping that your actions would convey your feelings without you actually having to say them out loud. Kouen moved his hand from your chin to the back of your head and returned the kiss with just as much passion.

Breaking the kiss, you let out a shaky breath as you opened your eyes to look at him. Kouen chuckled.

“I see you’ve got your pace set already.” “I do. I hope you like surprises, because there’ll be more to come in the future.” “If they’re going to be like this one, I think I won’t mind them.” “Good.”

You smiled, picked up your book again and moved yourself to sit just as far from him as you did before. Kouen watched you and started laughing. He had expected you to sit down next to him, probably leaning your head on his shoulder, but of course you were special. He wouldn’t want it any other way. You weren’t like other women, you couldn’t be predicted. And that’s exactly why he had fallen for you. He picked up his book as well and continued reading, wondering what your next step would be, and how you would surprise him with it.

[addictedtomanga]

Shoujo manga recommendations - living together/neighbors

1.      Konyakusei 

Sachi Hanaoka has just lost her parents to a traffic accident and her fear of living alone becomes reality. To add on to her troubles, Kouichi Saonji, the young landlord of her apartment, approaches her and requests that she prepare to vacate since she is now be unable to pay rent. Alternatively, Kouichi proposes a solution: he and Sachi will get married and she will act as his caretaker. Not only will her expenses be covered, but it would also serve as a method to quell his family's nagging for him to find a wife. Despite the lack of genuine feelings between them, Sachi finds herself drawn to Kouichi and accepts his offer. But will the newly wed couple be able to fall in love, or will they remain strangers forever?

2.      Sugar Family 

Since Yuuka's mother died at an early age, Yuuka turned out to be the one taking care of her child-like father. Right before high school started, Yuuka's dad announced his remarriage with Satou Masami. Masami-san turned out to be a reliable, responsible person, so Yuuka finally thought she's off the hook. That is, until she finds out about her new older brother...

3.      Kyou mo Uchi de Machi Awase

After a fire, a middle-aged man meets a homeless single mother and her son at the convenience store. He is instantly reminded of someone he used to know over a decade ago. Could it be...?

4.      Kyoudai Gokko 

Growing up, Rio Takara has always wanted siblings. So when her parents decide to move overseas without her and tells her she will be living with two people around her age, she's cautiously optimistic. But they turn out to be brothers who fight like cats and dogs. Is this what having siblings is like?

5.      Kamiki Kyoudai Okotowari

Iroha was raised by her single mother, but when her mother remarries, they move in with her step-father and his 3 sons. To Iroha, this will be the first time she's living with men. What will happen to Iroha's new life!?

6.      Monokuro Shounen Shoujo 

Kureha Mimachi, a 15-year-old girl, has just transferred into Shiritsu Kenhono High School. However, there is something weird about this school, it is actually a school where the Princes and Princesses of the beast-kind go to...?! Even though Kureha is human, she is there as a way to help the students their lives peacefully with humans and has the role as the "rabbit". Will she be able survive without being eaten by the students...?!

7.      Mademoiselle Butterfly 

Our heroine is a girl who lives as a geisha in Japan. She has a male childhood friend who's always been kind to her and is her favorite. He's a painter, only he paints on human body parts, and she loves it when he paints beautiful butterflies on her arms. She goes to visit him one day and finds a naked woman lying in his room. Immediately after, she gets a customer who's rich and very interested in her. The thought of being away from her friend pains her, but is everything really too late?

8.      Mayonaka Lolita 

After she took some medicines, Michiryuu became suddenly a little girl. People used to say that she was really perfect. That's why she wants to came back to normal quickly. But the only condition if she wants that happen is to find "a personn she'll love". But that's completely impossible for her! So what will happen to Michiryuu...?

9.      Mayonaka ni Kiss 

Natori Nono is a very tough school-girl, she lives with her widowed mother Ayame and her younger brother Takumi in a very small apartment, where she does all the chores. Her boyfriend wants money from her, because he's really poor, too. But one day, Nono discovers that her mother remarried! She married Ichijou Hayato, the owner of the 'Ichijou Group'. Now, Nono lives there (in unaccustomed riches) with her mother, her brother, her stepfather AND her new stepbrother: Ichijou Kasuomi (his father calls him Omi-kun)!!! At first, Nono thinks Kasuomi is not nice. But what will happen next?

10.  Harem Lodge 

Midori lost her mother when she was young and now her father's gone too. But her dad left her with a surprise: a fiancé named Tetsuya. So now, Midori has to live in a good-looking men only apartment (Harem Lodge), which is actually filled with weirdos. What is going to happen to her? Well we just have to wait and see...

11.  Hyakujuu no ou ni Tsugu!

This is the liberated area where you listen to girls will, a girls high school! in this class, there's a king. Me, Yuka! My friends are counting on me and boys are afraid of me! But that kind of paradise will suddenly break up by a thirty-year old man!! dates will take place in golf areas and kisses will have the taste of smoke...

12.  Last Notes 

Haru and Aki are the masters of the branch store - an old-looking and very unusual shop. It sells only one thing: a special kind of incense that, when burned, allows the user to see and speak with the spirit of the dead person that appears in the smoke. Every customer has a different reason for calling up the dead, and how they use this unusual opportunity is up to them...

13.  Hapira Hajimaru 

Asai Sachi's luck has always been considered dreadful. After becoming the class president, she meets Kurono Hyougo, a guy with a frightful face who bears various gruesome rumours behind his back. Hyougo had been living alone in an apartment; but when Sachi mistakenly reveals that Hyougo is a minor, he had to be kicked out. Fortunately, Sachi's father is a realtor, and suggested to have Hyougo live in their unused detached house. Would Sachi's bad luck turn upside down upon meeting Hyougo?

14.  Hana o Meshimase

After Shion's mother passed away, she was left with her father who loves to gamble and evade his responsibilities as a father. Due to that continuous pattern, Shion moves in to live as a live-in employee with 25-years-old florist Shun Mamyuuda. As she begins to learn the value of flowers and life, will she also find her place in love?

15.  Good Morning Call 

Nao Yoshikawa stays behind to live by herself when her parents leave to inherit her grandpa's farm in the country. On the day she moves into her new apartment she soon discovers that it was rented also to Hisashi Uehara—a cute, super-cool and popular guy from her school. Not only did their housing agency unexpectedly close down, the landlord of the apartment tells them that they had to pay more for their apartment then they had expected. With both no money and no home to return to, Nao and Hisashi decide to live together as flatmates.

16.  Nanako Robin 

Yoshino Nako has a saying. "If I'm happy, I can do anything!" In her sister's place, Nako-chan steals the groom of an arranged (political) marriage and helps them elope. But when the Hayami group starts failing, she must pay the consequence by housing the delinquent brother...

17.  Momo Raba 

Chieri (Cherry) was living an ordinary life, until her sister Ichigo (Strawberry) suddenly left her child Momo (Peach) on Chieri's doorstep. Momo is an infant; how is Chieri supposed to take care of a baby while still in high school!? To make matters even more frustrating, two guys are fighting for Chieri's love...!

18.  Men’s Life 

Mio's life is changed in a big way due to an encounter with Rin, an upperclassman who is one-year-older, and...!?

19.  Tonari wa Nani o Kuu Hito zo 

Inaba Suzuna is trying her best to make a campus debut and to have many friends in Tokyo. Until she realized that she miserably fails at living alone. Fortunately, her neighbor, Seto, comes and saves her from dying of starvation. Bright campus life is still far away for Suzuna, but at least, she has a very dependable neighbor!

20.  Yumemiru Taiyou

While loitering in the park, Shimana Kameko, who intended to run away from home and skip school, meets a suspicious man in a kimono. This man, who had been locked out of his house, offers Shimana a place to stay. However, he requests she fulfill three conditions in exchange for her tenancy!?

21.  Taiyou no Ie 

After her mother abandoned her and her father remarried, high schooler Mao Motomiya is left feeling like she doesn't have a place where she belongs. One night, her childhood friend Hiro Nakamura finds her in a shrine eating cheap convenience store food and offers to take her to a restaurant. Their subsequent heart to heart leads to Hiro suggesting that Mao move in with him. To Hiro who has lived apart from his younger siblings all these years after their parents passed away, bringing his family back together in the once-lively Nakamura home begins with the first step of giving Mao a loving place to belong. When Mao reluctantly accepts his invitation, she is surprised at how easy it is to settle in with her longtime friend. Now she must deal not only with mending her relationship with her father and helping the oldest Nakamura brother attain his goal, but also her growing feelings for Hiro.

22.  Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet 

Oono Fumi is a poor second year high school student. Because of her father's debts, she's kicked out of her own home and has to rely on her own connections to survive. Thus begins her life as a live-in housekeeper for a reclusive writer...

23.  Faster than a kiss

Losing their parents, Fumino and her brother hop from one relative to another. Getting tired of all those movings, she finally decides to quit school and work to support her brother on her own. As they sat on a park bench, her teacher appears in front of her and agrees to her demanding of marrying and supporting both her and her brother!! Is he serious or just playing around...!?

24.  Kiss/Hug 

Ryuu, a super-business-like transfer student from England with black hair and blue eyes just arrived! During the night of the Tanabata festival, Ryuu and Yukino became attracted to each other at first sight. He then declares, "You will be mine!" This brought confusion to Yukino, who has zero experience in love. But could she actually be falling in love?

25.  Kanna to Decchi 

Our heroine Kanna is the daughter of the famous builder in town. One day a boy with a hammer appears to train under Kanna's father?! The heart pounding love story of a handsome apprentice carpenter.

26.  Sabaku no Harem 

Mishe a strong willed girl raised from poverty has caught Prince Kallum's attention. Attention as in, "you will become one of my concubines," thus begins Mishe's adventures into Prince Kallum's world.

[sincerelyella]

Always Remember Us This Way Part 1

Book: The Royal Romance/Heir (AU)

Pairings: Liam x Ella (MC)

Song Inspiration: Always Remember Us This Way by Lady Gaga

Characters belong to Pixelberry; MC Queen Ella Rys and Malia Rys belong to me.

A/N: In celebration of King Liam and Queen Ella’s baby girl being born in TRH2 I wanted to write something to celebrate (kinda). Some things are canon, but don’t expect it to follow the book much.

A/N2: Please note I am not an L&D nurse, I have never stepped foot onto this unit so I asked my nurse friends that do work this speciality. Please excuse any errors on my part.

Big thank you to @burnsoslow for looking over this and making sure I don’t sound like a crazy person.

Warnings: TW: angst; TW: blood; TW: childbirth complications; TW: possible major character death. Read at your own risk. 

Words: 1035

Labor and delivery unit, Cordonia Memorial Hospital

“Your Majesty, PUSH! You’re almost there, I promise.” Dr. Ramirez coached the young queen through her contraction while Liam sat behind her on the delivery table, whispering in her ear.

“Come on, love, you can do this.”

Ella’s small body slammed back into Liam as she panted. “This is … I can’t … do this …”

“I know, my Queen, but you’re almost there,” Liam’s voice was calm, but inside he was panicked at seeing Ella in so much pain.

“Your Majesty, the baby is crowning,” Dr. Ramirez smiled up at the couple, trying to keep their spirits up. “You’ll soon get to see if you have a prince or princess. Are you ready?” The doctor looked at the monitor connected to Ella, then turned and made eye contact with her on the table.

Ella nodded, then looked back at Liam. “You remember ... what I told you ... right baby?”

Liam’s heart started to beat rapidly. “Now is not the time-”

“Liam!” Ella started to cry. “Please. Just … remember what I … said … you promised.”

2 weeks ago

Liam walked into the quarters he shares with his queen and stops when he hears singing. He smiled and walked in the direction of the melody, trying to be quiet so as not to alert Ella he was there.

But all I really know, You’re where I wanna go

The part of me that’s you will never die

So when I’m all choked up, But I can’t find the words

Every time we say goodbye, Baby, it hurts

When the sun goes down, And the band won’t play

I’ll always remember us this way

Liam leaned against the door frame, watching and listening to his wife sing, rubbing her belly and putting away some baby clothes.

Ella turned, saw Liam at the door and stifled a yell. “Oh my God, what’re you doing over there? You scared me!”

He chuckled and walked towards her, “Just watching the most beautiful woman in the world sing to our baby.” He wrapped his arms around her and attempted to pull her close, but her stomach was filling the gap between them.

“I love you, Liam,” he looked down at her, her face looking somber. “Promise me, that if something happens … and you have to choose between me and the baby … you save our baby.”

Liam furrowed his brows in confusion. “Why would you want me to-”

“Liam,” she placed two hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes. “Promise me.”

Still confused but not wanting to argue, he relented. “I promise, my queen. I love you too,” he leaned in to softly kiss her.

**

The memory of what she said to him, what she made him promise, made his stomach turn and his chest ache. All he could do in that moment was nod and kiss Ella’s temple.

“Alright, Your Majesty, I know you feel that contraction … now PUSH!”

Ella pushed as hard as she could, sweat coming down her forehead, her teeth grinding together. She could feel Liam squeeze her hand and murmur in her ear but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“The shoulders are out!” Dr. Ramirez looked up at Ella. “One more, Your Majesty. One more and your baby will be here. Ready?”

“Just ... one more … “ Ella cried out and waited until she felt her next contraction.

“Okay, push!”

Ella pushed until she let out a scream, then leaned back into Liam’s chest, breathless. Both of them suddenly heard a baby’s shrill cry, then Dr. Ramirez’s chuckled and they looked down at her.

“Congratulations, Your Majesties. You have a little princess.”

Liam kissed Ella on her cheek. “My love, I’m so proud of you … we have a princess …” he trailed off as his voice hitched in his throat. Dr. Ramirez placed the now bundled baby girl on Ella’s chest. The new parents cooed down at her, both of them crying tears of joy.

“What’s her name?” Dr. Ramirez quietly asked as she positioned herself back to await the afterbirth to be born.

Ella looked up at Liam and smiled softly. “Her name is Malia Ann Rys,” Liam leaned down to kiss her, as he pulled away, she whispered, “I love you, my King.”

“I love you too,” he said breathlessly as he sniffled.

“Absolutely beautiful,” the doctor murmured. Liam crawled out from behind Ella and moved to sit beside her on the bed, as Ella handed him Malia.

Liam stared down at his newborn daughter, tears still spilling down his cheeks. “You and your mother are the two most important things in this world to me,” he whispered, as he trailed a finger down Malia’s cheek. “I love you both … so much … I would die before I let anything happen to either of you.”

Loud noises of the monitor snapped Liam out of his daze. “What’s going on?” He looked at Ella, who was now laying on the pillows behind her, unconscious. “ELLA!”

“She’s hemorrhaging, BP is 80/34!” Dr. Ramirez yelled to the nurses behind her, one of them pressing the emergency blue button on the wall.

“ELLA!” Liam screamed her name, over and over and over. All he could hear was her last words to him.

“I love you, my King.”

He barely noticed a small nurse next to him, tugging on his arm. “Your Majesty, I apologize, but they need to stabilize her and control the bleeding,” Liam snapped his head down to look at her. “Please, come with me, we need to bring the baby to get looked at.”

Liam turned his head back towards his wife, struggling to see her, but with all the people in the room he couldn’t.

“Promise me, that if something happens … and you have to choose between me and the baby … you save our baby.”

His tears fell harder as he allowed the nurse to pull him out of the room. He watched helplessly as the doors shut with a loud bang. Liam looked down at Malia, who was still perfectly bundled and asleep in his arms.

When you look at me, And the whole world fades

I’ll always remember us this way

[ladyandtheghost]

How “The Dany-Show” ruined GoT at the core: 3-point system

1. Sansa vs. Cersei: 

How is it possible that we had a million reunions - many of them involving secondary characters for fluff and fan service with zero impact on the plot - but these two women who had so much drama, so much unresolved business, never saw each other again? This is where you would have found the good story to tell and a major plot strand to resolve: the conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters. This is what started it all, this is where it should have ended. This is the story they should have focused on. 

So why didn’t they? 

Because Game of Thrones was already dead and gone and the series had become The Dany-Show and nothing but The Dany-Show. 

Every character, every story arc, everything had to be directed towards Dragon Barbie and her drama. So of course there was no time or space for anything that was not related to the The Dany-Show. Basically a black hole that sucked all the great storylines and characters into its dark void. 

Massive loose plot strands like the Stark-Lannister showdown were left to rot, because it was far more important to show off that CGI budget for gratuitous dragon shots and inane conversations between secondary character including sex jokes on the main. 

There was literally more screen time allotted to the dragons than to Cersei...

After four seasons of Sansa and Cersei constantly referring to each other and the day they would meet again (willingly or not), it’s scandalous that they shoved so many characters back together for pointless reunions that were more or less blatant fan service (Bronn and the Lannister boys, really?!) but the big conflict, the personal drama that was playing out between Sansa and Cersei - that had actually taken on political dimensions now - did not even get a single scene? 

Wrong choice. 

I mean can you even imagine how Lena and Sophie would have acted the shit out of their reunion, because I can and it makes me furious that we were robbed of it. When two characters have so much unfinished business, so much foreshadowing and so much history that still isn’t resolved, the least you can expect is to give them at least a half-assed resolution - but we did not even get that, because it had nothing to do with The Dany-Show. Because all the characters have to only think about Dany and relate to Dany and if there is to be a conflict between female characters, it has to involve Dany and no one else. 

Poor Lena deserved better than to be reduced to playing a two-dimensional shadow of Cersei Lannister who was little more than a prompt giver to The Euron Greyjoy Side-Show (because sex jokes!) 

Also Bonus fuck-up: the prophecy of the YMBQ? Cersei died in the arms of Jaime, if anything Dany’s attack had given her back the one person/thing she cares about. So how exactly did Dany rob her of “all you hold dear” when Dany’s attack caused Jaime to literally drop Brienne like a hot potato, declare his undying love for Cersei and run back into her arms for his final moment? 

Before that, Sansa had already “taken” Jaime into her services together with Brienne. He’d actually switched sides to serve “another queen” (just not Dany) and at least this prophecy made sense for two seconds but of course the YMBQ had to be Dany because it’s The Dany Show, whether it makes sense or not...

They just didn’t care anymore, did they? 

2. Little...who?: 

So we have half a dozen characters rolling up to Winterfell who knew Littlefinger and his dirty business, and Arya, Sansa and Bran are about to go: 

Only for some reason: NO ONE asks. 

There is not a single reference to the fact that the Stark kids found out that Littlefinger is the mastermind behind 90% of everything that has happened since S1 and that he was executed for this. It’s like it never happened and he never existed and neither did all the important plot points before S8. 

Did Jon ever find out that Littlefinger betrayed Ned and conspired with the Lannisters to bring down the Starks? 

Did Tyrion ever find out that Littlefinger framed him at the Purple Wedding?

Did Varys ever find out that his nemesis was outsmarted and defeated by three teenagers?

Nope. Nope. And nope.  

Ain’t we all?

A character who’s been hailed as MVP by a huge part of the fandom because he knew how to network and play the game™ that is advertised in the title like no other, isn’t even mentioned again. One of the most popular theories re: S8 was (ridiculous as I found it myself) “Littlefinger isn’t dead” because many people felt he was still important to the story and there was also a lot of unfinished business with other characters he was connected to...Jon, Varys, Tyrion, Cersei, Sansa...

Instead, Littlefinger himself, his death and every plot point he was ever involved in was simply erased -  because Littlefinger and his relation to these characters had nothing to do with, i.e. did not contribute to...you guessed it...The Dany-Show and therefore POUF, he never existed...

3. R+L = who gives a f***

But you know, these are minor grievances compared to the fact that Jon’s character was not only dumbled down and turned into a complicit in genocide...

Jon’s parentage story arc - you know, THE big revelation and PLOT TWIST  - was turned into a side note, a five-minute mini drama that was more about how this will affect poor little Dany and her feelings. 

They gave us scenes of Dany waxing on about how Jon’s being the one true king stresses her out because she wants the throne and what she expects him to do about it - but they ROBBED us of the moment Jon tells the Stark siblings that he is not truly their brother, but their cousin. 

Because who cares about how Jon feels about this and his “siblings” coming to terms with the fact that:

their father Ned Stark had kept Jon a secret from everyone 

that he had not fathered a bastard and betrayed their mother

but saved the one true heir, at cost of his honour, 

they lived with the Targaryen crown prince and raised him under everyone’s nose...

No, no, the important thing is how Dany feels about it all and how it affects her. 

After the huge build-up, the theories, the overt foreshadowing,  even more infuriating - after throwing poor Elia and her children under the bus and making Jon legitimate...

After literally EVERYTHING in this series leading up to the moment when everyone would know who Jon Snow truly is...it had no effect on the story whatsoever, besides contributing to Dany finally revealing the full extent of her insanity (which was only a matter of time anyways)

Heir to the Iron Throne? Targaryen Prince? Rhaegar’s son? PTWP?

The point is: Drama for poor little Dany because her nephew doesn’t want to fuck her anymore is the actual heir. 

You can’t even say that it led to her advisors finding out and betraying her because that is something they should have done ages ago, at the latest when she burned the Tarlys. It gave them a legitimate alternative option, yes, but it was not the first time they thought she needs to go...

At least R+L=J served one good purpose: it rubbed Dany’s nose in it that she is not special at all. She is NOT the last Targ, nor the “princess that was promised” - and it was never her destiny to rule, she was only ever the “aunt” of the prince. 

Sadly, this is again ALL about Dany and her feelings and how everyone else reacts to her in light of the news that Jon is Aegon. 

So R+L=J is not even about Jon in the end, it’s just another element of The Dany-Show. And once Dany is gone, it’s like R+L=J also got erased (just like Littlefinger and the Stark-Lannister-conflict) 

...because let’s just send the Head of House Targaryen and last of his line beyond the wall again just because the murderous army of the mad tyrant, whom he heroically freed us from, demands it...and of course we have to wrap up the last five minutes of this shitty episode. 

Conclusion: 

D&D just REALLY didn’t care anymore once The Dany-Show was over and it’s painfully obvious to see. The good news is that all of these plot points that got erased/dumbled down/ignored^^ are things that are important to GRRM, which gives me hope for the last books at least...

[offtopicoverload]

Howdy there!! Who are the li’s you fancy the most from LITG??

hi! thanks for the ask!

i honestly dunno who’s my top answer, cuz they’re all interesting in their own way

I’m only going to talk about female LIs cuz the only male routes I’ve finished are Bobby and Jake, and I tapped through most of Jake and only ended with Bobby on my first run cuz I never unlocked Marisol, so I’m not the best source lol

Talia:

She’s just so chill but has no problem standing up for MC, she has her back no matter what

Which, like, what a queen

She’s the original and only one of 4 LIs, which maybe it’s just me, but for a game based on an incredibly heteronormative reality show, allowing representation for queer audiences from launch is such a big deal and so cool to me, so Talia’s kind of special in my mind

She was also my first LI so nostalgia points

And she’s such an easy LI, not much drama on her route outside of Lucy, just her having MC’s back as the boys make themselves look like idiots

And she has so much potential, like I know some people think her only personality trait is fancying MC, which I mean, is a little fair, but there’s so many opportunities for her in fics and headcanons to develop the good amount of information we got on her in 13 days

I absolutely love how self-aware and confident she is

She just went for what she wanted, struggled a bit with commitment at first, because who wouldn’t, but after that it was smooth sailing

Like obviously what she said in the Beach Hut at the beginning of the season wasn’t great for MC, but she knew exactly what she wanted out of her time on the show

She was confident in herself and her sexuality so much so that she was just down to have a fling with a girl and not worry about how it would effect the show

And then she *coupled up* with that same girl, not even giving a shit about the rules or anything

A queen

Allegra:

I know she’s not an official LI, but her arc is what got me into writing so she gets a million points for that

I love what could have been done with her progression if she was given an actual route, I’m a sucker for some good enemies to lovers, but alas, she’s canonically a bad bitch with a lot of internalised homophobia yet enough confidence to ask MC out

I still love her

Marisol:

I know so many people hate her, and I get it, but I do really like her growth

Maybe it’s cuz I’m pretty analytical too, but her analyses never bothered me or anything, and now that I’ve played her route so many times, it’s pretty obvious that that’s a defense mechanism, and I understand that

She very much so has a “figure their weaknesses out before they have a chance to figure mine out” attitude, and I’m 99% positive it’s because of the ex that Elisa reminded her of

So not only has she been burned in the past, I’m willing to bet it was by the only woman she’s been in a serious relationship with

I really have no problem with her commitment issues, it’s understandable, and I can really empathise with her fear of coming out, it’s absolutely terrifying even if you’ve accepted it and bought a flag, saying the words can be really difficult

My biggest issue is her entitlement and immaturity, I guess?

Like her using Graham to make MC jealous just feels like an excuse to crack on with him and still have MC available for when she’s ready

I understand her being scared to couple up, but playing games to distract herself just made things with MC worse

And unless youre on her route, and sometimes even when you are, it’s clear to me that she expects things and has no problem saying what they are, but going after them is a problem?

Like her going after Lurik even though they don’t have a connection, or Gary even when he’s with Hannah

But then it never works and she gets sad and I melt because I’m weak

ALSO, can I just say how awful it is that Lucas and Henrik don’t pick her unless they have to???

Like cmon she deserves MC after that

And when they finally couple up? And she’s all soft? The GROWTH ohmygod

Anyway I love who Marisol became, maybe not everything she started out as, but definitely the person she ended the season as, more confident and self assured and willing to be vulnerable

It’s precious

Elisa:

I still haven’t done an Elisa route

I tried to a couple months ago, but dumping Marisol felt so cruel, what the hell was Fusebox thinking with that?? 

I do really like that they learned from their mistake though, even if they went in the opposite direction

From what I’ve seen of Elisa, she can be pretty sweet, I’ve seen her described as a Lucas-Bobby hybrid, and while that’s not the most interesting personality to me, I will say that she’s a really cool character that FB messed up on

Why did they make her a straight up villain???

And why ONLY her???

None of the other female LIs have been villains or had such a complete 180

Like her going from shouting at Chelsea, who is literally meant to be MC’s ride or die and the person outside of your LI that youre supposed to want to defend and avenge, to ��i cant even sleep because im pining so hard”

I know the treatment of black women has been discussed before, specifically in regards to Hope and Erikah, and it is by no means my place to speak on it, but I definitely think something’s going on with Elisa

Anywayyyy, I love her archetype

The celebrity and influencer has so much potential, to the point that I wrote a one shot without even knowing her lmao 

And she’s so confident in a way that’s so different from Marisol

She doesn’t even care if MC’s happily coupled up, she WILL get in her pants and I respect that

In conclusion, Fusebox did her dirty and I’m probably going to try and retcon some canon for her in the future

Lottie:

Ohmygod

Lottie

A goth babe

Lottie

Yeah, anyway, so I love her

Her growth is just unbeatable in my opinion

Yeah, she still has her flaws by the end of the season, but she went from ready to rip everyone’s throat out to biting her tongue around Hannah

And her and MC???

And the development between them??? 

Ugh

No matter what way you swing it, you’ve either got best friends to lovers or enemies to lovers and I adore both

And her aesthetic is one of my favourites, I’m alt myself and having a character like that is just so cool

My Runaways MC is a ball of sunshine with some hidden darkness specifically because Lottie’s such a dark cloud but can start shining with the right person, and that’s my absolute favourite trope

But man were the wedding episodes a cop out

Why couldn’t they give her the Noah treatment? Or the single treatment? Where they just get together after the show? Same with Hannah, why are they giving such an intense confession after who knows how long of literally nothing, like no communication even????

Don’t get me wrong, I kinda simultaneously love it for the angst and yearning, but it just… makes no sense?

So yeah, amazing bat lady that I seriously vibe with and wish my MC could have wifed up

Hannah:

I know this is a little controversial buuuut

I fucking love Hannah

But only OGHannah, Returning Hannah was butchered and I will never let that go

And it was such a toxic message too, that she needed to change herself and her appearance just to get a guy to like her?

Fuck that, Original Hannah was amazing and perfect exactly as she was

I love her trope, too, the naivety and how obvious and clear it was that she’s still learning about the world and relationships, to the point that it’s going to get her in trouble

And her obsession with fairy tales? 

Fucking adorable ohmygod

I started a fic a while ago that I think I’m gonna scrap, that just indulged in the fairy tale metaphors and stuff because I just love how cute it is lmao

If she wasn’t dumped, I think she could have had amazing growth alongside Lottie, and their friendship/kinda, probably, most-definitely-if-MC’s-not-there-more-than-a-friendship growing together would have been so good

In an alternate reality Hope was dumped instead, and that helps me sleep at night

I firmly stand by the fact that Noah should have been the deciding factor between Hope and Hannah/MC, where Lottie said something that screwed with his head earlier in the day to make sure her friends were safe

Noah should have saved Hannah/MC and Hope should have returned with Rocco, hellbent on revenge and proving herself

That would have been so good for Noah stans and such good drama, that actually made perfect sense

Hope was fully expecting that she’d get picked by Noah because they’d spent three days attached at the hip and then to just… not have that happen. It would have driven her insane and if there was then a scene with MC where she just like, gives up

Like she’s spent the past two days grafting Noah but he won’t make up his mind and she’s just done and MC can comfort her or fight with her and you just get to humanize her make her vulnerable and hurting and I fucking WISH they did something like that, even for RHannah

And Hannah’s growth in the Villa would have been so amazing

I think her idea of a perfect guy is definitely too much, and I’m not advocating that she settles by any means, just that she could have learned that there are things more important than money

That conversation on day 1 where you choose between money, kindness, and intelligence still baffles me

Like why are you a gold digger Hannah?!?!

Why don’t you just want a Prince/ss Charming???

Her and Hope should have swapped and I don’t understand why they weren’t

I mean, I do really like Hope, but Hannah’s just so cute and has so much to learn and her struggling in the Villa just to have a lightbulb moment with MC would have been precious and now I want to write it dammit

Anyway, Hannah is adorable and had so much potential and she never should have returned if they were just going to scrap everything that made her Hannah, except for snooty literature

I wanna listen to her rattle on about Belle and Mulan and every other Disney Princess and what they meant for representation and progress in media and then compare them to their original stories like a dweeb and I would have melted on the spot

Like yes, please tell me more about how gruesome Cinderella is

She should have shown up at the finale and hugged MC and been innocent and sweet so I could have just lost my shit for like a half hour

But stan OGHannah, burn RHannah

AJ:

Adorable, precious, denied an arc outside of coming out

I am not exaggerating when I say that I cried at 4:30 in the morning at her blushing face when playing the first two days

It’s just so fucking cute and I’m a sap and I don’t know why it made me cry, but it did okay?!

And her coming out was such good representation!!! By far the best thing in Boat Party, and I’m so proud of the progress FB’s made in queer representation at the very least

I know she’s pretty one dimensional, but most of S3 is unfortunately

Her being available right off the bat was also such a win, I’m positive it’s the reason she had so many stans

If her and Yasmin had switched or her and Lily, they would have been the ones that were dominating Reddit polls and stuff

And I know she’s written as masc but I just can’t really see it? Like I can’t see her in a dress, but outside of a few clothing items, I guess I just can’t see it? Maybe androgynous is more the word for my image of her, like definitely a mix

She’ll wear a skirt under the right circumstances, but never a dress, a crop top with a flannel, her prom outfit that’s like a frilly jumpsuit, stuff like that? idk im not a lesbian

Her route for me was so glitchy, but I know that if MC’s stolen from her by Yasmin, Tai, or Ciaran, she has some really cute scenes and I wish I could have seen them

And I know some people were ragging on her for the eyelash at the end of the scene but I thought that was just a perfect callback - maybe it’s the writer in me

Basically, AJ’s adorable and why did Ciaran have to split her and MC up, not cool dude

Yasmin:

I forgot I was doing a Yasmin route a while ago, but from what I’ve seen and played, she’s really sweet 

I hate that she’s almost nonexistent outside of her route

Give us a mysterious musician friend, you cowards!

I saw that she sings to MC on the final date and damn is that cute

Her eyeshadow kinda throws me off, but her stuffed animal makes up for it

And I’m salty that Yasmin the Lamb disappeared too, that was such a nice detail that made me start a Yasmin route

She’s distant and self-assured, but has a soft, gooey, nostalgic center and I wish we saw more of that, even if we weren’t on her route

My final thoughts on Yasmin: An artsy indie icon that I really need to stop getting distracted from and finish her route

Lily:

Again, don’t know much about her, but she seems really cool

Her shaving her head between the finale and Boat Party is such a flex and I wish she did it right before Boat Party so we could see her in all her bald glory

She’s into cars, right? And… architecture?

Idk, I barely remember my own name, let alone a 10 minute date from months ago

But I’ll definitely get around to doing her route at some point, maybe just to write for her, we’ll see

Elladine:

I know she’s not an LI, but MC so should have been able to run away with her

I missed that option in S3

I kinda get why they didn’t do that, but Boat Party’s just so messy in general

And I would include Genevieve here, but she’s so cute with Seb that I’d feel bad splitting them up

But Elladine had actual problems with Nicky!!!

Why did they mention it for it to never pay off??

And I’m so mad that the hype around her died when it was revealed she wasn’t an LI or the badass of the season, because I still adore how sweet she is

I also want to brag that before we got a name I was calling her Emma and that’s just on example of my almost psychic-ness

But yeah I wanted Ell to be a run away option and I’m salty that she wasn’t

Know what, fuck it, Viv too, she’s smart and cool as hell, let us love these awesome women FB, you cowards!!!

I have no idea who would be my number 1 based on canon, but if we’re talking hypotheticals, I think my answer, as strange as it is, is Hannah.

I just love what she could have been, but by no means what she is. 

It’s so awkward to know her for three days, not see her for three weeks, then spend a couple more days with, a couple weeks at most, just for her to write a whole ass book about MC?? And tell her about it with that hair????

No thanks, I’ll stick with closeted sapphic horse girl nerd Hannah because I guess that’s somehow my type??? Oh god what the fuck I swear I’m not a total weirdo

[miracalicethebookgirl]

The Phony and the Famous Pt. 4

AO3

Pt 1. Pt 2. Pt 3. 

Summary: Lila spreads lies about being famous with worldwide connections to increase her local popularity. She’s confident that Marinette will never be able to prove otherwise. What she, and even Marinette herself, don’t realize is that Marinette won’t have to do any of that to come out on top. - A story in which everything Lila lies about, Marinette turns into reality for herself, usually unknowingly (our girl is quite the lucky one, after all).

“During our world travels, my diplomat parents have helped me convince the leaders of several nations to agree to reduce world pollution. And I’m very optimistic that the prince will jump on board.”  

Season 2, “Catalyst (Heroes’ Day - Part 1)”

... 

“So,” Otis Césaire began, “let me get this straight.” He steepled his fingers together and pointed them to the teens before him. “Le Parc des Félins, the zoological park for wild cats, reached out to the two of you about hosting a fundraiser.”

“Actually, they reached out to just me. Y’know, being the cat hero and all. But then I reached out to Marinette because I thought it’d be great publicity since she saved Jagged Stone’s crocodile last week. She was trending for several days!”

Otis stared at Chat Noir, who kept grinning expectantly.

Marinette awkwardly smiled from beside him.

“Does Alya know you’re here?” he asked.

Her smile turned into a grimace. “Not yet. I figured we’d get official approval from you—since you work at the Parc Zoologique de Paris—and the zoologists from the Parc des Félins first. Alya gets a bit excitable when it comes to the heroes and I didn’t want her to make any false announcements on her blog by accident.”

Otis chuckled. “That sounds like my daughter alright. Okay, I’ll bite. Sounds like an interesting endeavor for both parks but why are the two of you planning this instead of an actual marketing person from Parc des Félins? Or any sort of event planner?”

“Hey now, Mari’s done event planning before!” Chat Noir admonished the man. “Besides, you're never too young to become a philanthropist.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “What he means to say is, the fundraiser is going to be our own little project even though the Park des Félins reached out to him first. They were reaching out to see if Chat would want to do something like this. But he’s being overzealous about it and wanted to organize something right away. He came to me saying he wanted my input since I’m such an ‘animal lover sensation’ right now but I know he just needed someone who actually knew how to put an event together.”

“Give your partner some credit, Mari. You wound me.”

Before Marinette could reply and probably send the teens off on a tangent, Otis cleared his throat to bring their attention back.

“I’m all for it. But,” he added before the two could thank him, “where will the funds for hosting this event come from? This zoo has no budget set aside for something as spontaneous as this.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I was talking about philanthropy,” Chat quipped. He pulled out a sleek black, gold-engraved checkbook from the pocket of his suit. “Gimme the numbers and I’ll jot them down.”

Otis gave a scandalized look while Marinette gawked at him.

“What are you doing?!” She snatched the checkbook out of his hands and attempted to cram it back into his pocket. “You’ll go revealing your identity that way, you stupid cat!”

Chat burst out laughing.

“Relax, relax! This is just a little pocket notebook.” He took the “checkbook” back and flipped through the pages to show them that it was merely filled with blank white paper. “I’m not that careless. You seem a little stressed these days, Marinette. I thought a prank would cheer you up.”

Rather than laugh, Marinette just put her face in her hands and groaned. “Not. Funny.”

Otis just shook his head at their antics and nudged them back on track with a smile.

By the end of the hour, agreements were made, plans were tweaked and contact info was exchanged. It amused Otis how serious the teens looked when they each shook his hand, trying to come across as formal and businesslike.

“Come by for dinner tonight,” Otis offered to Marinette. “I’m sure Alya and the twins would love to hear about this straight from the person planning it. Ah, and you’re invited as well, Chat Noir, if you’re free.” He added the last part hastily when the hero had a badly hidden hopeful look on his face. Otis wasn’t sure what Ladybug and Chat Noir did outside of akuma-fighting hours but he should have extended the invitation regardless.

From the way those artificial(?) ears perked up, it was the right choice.

“I’d love to!”

Marinette rolled her eyes fondly and accepted as well.

…

“Marinette! Marinette! Hide us or we’ll turn into Sapotis!”

Otis looked up from his issue of National Geographic to see Ella and Etta run behind Marinette as soon as the girl entered the apartment. Alya came running out of the twins’ room with an evil laugh.

“Bwahaha! You won’t be able to become Sapotis because Lady Wifi will freeze naughty little children first!”

“Nooooo!” the little girls laughed. They ran to the living room and over to the couch where they leaped onto Otis.

“Save us, Daddy!” Ella cried, giggling all the while.

“We need Animan’s powers to defeat Lady Wifi!” Etta added.

“I’ll do my best. After all, panthers are super fast!” Otis ensued in a game of keep-away with Alya and the twins while Marinette walked to the kitchen to greet Marlena. Nora also emerged from her room at all the voices, knowing that it meant dinnertime was near.

Once all the girls calmed down, Otis took his place at the dining table and turned to Marinette once everyone was seated. “Is our other guest not coming over after all?”

Alya looked to her friend. “Huh? You didn’t tell me you were bringing someone.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise. He’s coming separately but I guess he’s a little late.” Marinette shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

As if waiting for that cue, there was a rapping on the balcony’s glass door. They all turned to see—  

“Chat Noir?!”

Alya practically tripped over herself trying to run to the door and open it hastily. “What are you doing here?” She reached into her pocket for her phone in what Otis recognized by now to be her reaction when either hero was even mentioned.

Chat stood in the doorway and lifted a hand to the back of his head. “Well, your dad invited me to dinner and I hope I’m still welcome?” he answered sheepishly, an odd thing to see coming from the normally boisterous and confident boy.

Alya just gaped at him, so Marinette walked over and grabbed his arm, pulling him inside and seating him right next to her. “Of course you are! C’mon, Al, let’s introduce him to everyone.”

That shook the other girl out of her daze. “I can’t believe I’m about to have dinner with Chat Noir. The only thing that could make this better is if Ladybug were here!”

Otis thought Marinette looked rather uncomfortable when she laughed at that. He brushed that thought away however so he could calm Alya down.

Everyone managed to settle down again, so he began to explain the fundraiser proposal that Chat Noir and Marinette had presented to him and how he received approval from the Parc Zoologique’s director. The teens chimed in every so often between their hearty bites of food to add little details or answer the dozens of questions Ella and Etta kept throwing at them.

“Alya, what did I say about phones at the table?” Marlena scolded.

Alya pouted but put her phone away. “Sorry, Mom. But you can’t blame me for wanting to get video proof of Chat Noir at my dinner table.”

Swallowing down some food, Chat Noir piped up. “You can take all the videos or photos you want later. I’ll be happy to tell you more about the fundraiser with my princess here.”

Alya raised an eyebrow at Marinette, who looked like she was trying to melt into her chair. “‘Princess,’ huh?”

“Don’t spoil my dinner with your gross flirting, Mr. Whiskers.”

“Nora,” Marlena lightly admonished.

“It’s Anansi, Mom. Anansi. ”

“If Nora is Anansi then we’re Sapotis!”

“Sapotis!”

The table talk quickly devolved into several side conversations happening over each other, something Otis came to expect every evening. From the way Marinette argued with Alya about something, it seemed the girl had become used to it as well despite coming from a much smaller household.

When he looked beside him to the cat hero however, he was surprised to see the boy looking rapidly at everyone else at the table, as if wondering which conversation to follow.

“Not used to big family dinners, eh?” Otis asked him.

Chat Noir looked a bit relieved to finally have his attention focused somewhere. “Uh, no, not really. I usually eat my meals alone.”

Hearing that, Otis felt sad for the boy. He put a hand on his shoulder, hoping he could say something to cheer him up. “I bet dinners like this with your friends are quite special then.”

Chat Noir managed a small smile. “Yeah,” he whispered. Otis didn’t miss the glance towards the girl sitting beside the hero. “They really are.”

Hiding a knowing smile, Otis left it at that and joined in on the different conversations. He and Marinette managed to coax Chat Noir into talking more as well, and dinner ended on a high note.

After everyone grabbed a plate of mille-feuille that Marinette brought over from the bakery, Nora, the twins and Marlena all left to do their own things so Otis and the rest of the teens could talk more about the fundraiser.

Alya brought her phone out triumphantly, now that they all sat on the living room couches, and faced the camera to the other three.

“Let’s just get right to it. I can edit an intro into the video later.”

And so Alya asked her questions and Chat Noir and Marinette took turns answering, much of which was already said during dinner but Alya continued to play up her surprise every now and then. Otis only spoke when prompted since he wasn’t really used to being formal on camera.

“So whose idea was the fundraiser anyway?” Alya asked, winding down the interview and putting her phone away. She had enough content to satisfy her audience and expressed that she wanted to continue chatting more casually.  

“Everything is Chat’s idea,” Marinette quickly responded.

Chat Noir tutted. “True, but I put you in charge, Mari. Honestly, I don’t think I could do any of this without you.”

While Marinette spluttered and a blush crept on her face, Otis jokingly said, “Oh, so I guess the actual zoologists are just chopped liver, eh Chat Noir?” Which just got the hero falling over himself as well trying to correct himself. Alya just cackled loudly at the other two making a mess of themselves.

Shaking his head fondly at all of them, Otis stood up and assured Chat Noir that it was all in jest. Otis then bid them all a good night as he had to wake up early for work the next day, and told Marinette and Chat Noir that he looked forward to working with them.

They were good kids. And Otis would do his best to make this fundraiser the greatest event the zoos have ever put together.

…

Otis wasn’t sure where everything went wrong.

For the past few weeks, Marinette, Chat Noir and the small teams from the Parc Zoologique and the Parc des Félins worked tirelessly but flawlessly together to make sure this fundraiser was a success.

Grants were approved by the city and the director of the Parc Zoologique signed off on the necessary documents to give them permission to host the event on zoo grounds. Caterers were hired, including Marinette’s own parents, so delicious food was guaranteed. Invitations went out to zoo patrons through written letters and emails and promoted through the news and all forms of social media. Marinette had gotten hold of a band—Kitty Section—to provide some ambience or to take song requests from guests. Even Chat Noir got Ladybug to agree to make a brief appearance and photo op, which was sure to rouse much interest from the greater population of Paris. (Apparently it was difficult to persuade Ladybug to attend any sort of public event for any length of time.)

Within a week, the tickets were sold out and the waitlist was a mile long.

Marinette had acted quickly and requested to speak with the zoo director. Next Otis heard, the director announced that the fundraiser location would expand to encompass the entire zoo from what was initially just their biggest pavilion. Temporary barriers would be erected between the walkways and the habitats so the animals’ evening routines were not interrupted. Mobile food carts from all over Paris were invited to sign up for a spot in the zoo to run their businesses in addition to the zoo’s permanent food carts and restaurants so the massive influx of guests wouldn’t go hungry.

One after another, issues were resolved with a swiftness that Otis never thought he would see coming from a young teenager. And with such ingenious solutions too.

By the day of the fundraiser, everyone was talking about it. Adrien Agreste, a local celebrity—and his daughter’s classmate—had been signal boosting the event through Instagram, even committing to his own attendance. According to Alya, this apparently drove his fans crazy about getting tickets themselves. Add them to fans of Chat Noir and fans of wildlife conservation, and suddenly you were a loser if you were going to be one of the few in Paris who wouldn’t even tune in to the live streaming of the event if you couldn’t be there personally (Alya’s words, not his).

With such a large scale event, Otis expected there to be some hiccups along the way and steeled himself for when those problems arose.

And yet.

He couldn’t help but feel more and more disheartened when the problems kept piling up one after another.

It started with the live stream. When the time came for the stream to begin, it was discovered that some cameras weren’t working even though they had double checked them earlier in the day during the zoo’s hours of operation. The several camera feeds with technical difficulties were spread to the far corners of the zoo and with only two IT people, the issue would not be resolved for quite some time.

Thankfully, Marinette found a solution almost immediately by calling over a classmate of hers—Max, who was a technological genius. With Chat Noir’s superhuman capabilities, Max and the IT people were able to swiftly examine all the troublesome cameras and fix them within minutes.

Next, a handful of volunteers that were supposed to check in with a zoo employee failed to show. The employee had come running to Marinette and Otis in a panic because some of their planned events were suddenly understaffed. Everything was already scheduled to start, so Marinette rounded up many of her classmates and delegated them equally to each portion of the zoo that needed help. They obeyed with no fuss so Marinette was able to speak to the frazzled employee one on one. Together they determined that the volunteers had all confirmed their time a week before and had been emailed the directions on how to find the zoo employee.

Marinette suggested the employee check his phone to see if any of the volunteers contacted him and he was surprised to find that many people had gotten lost on their way into the zoo. Otis followed as they backtracked the directions from the email and discovered that some signs specifically made for the volunteers had gone missing. Chat Noir had joined them by then and was able to raise himself up above the zoo with his staff and easily spot the gaggle of lost volunteers.

Of course the problems didn’t end there. An item from the auction had been knocked into a pot of chili. The rhinos began rampaging in their habitat. Kitty Section had somehow misplaced half of their wires and cords.

Otis was surprised an akuma hadn’t also appeared yet. He had to hand it to the amazing team they had. If a problem didn’t have an immediate and obvious solution, Marinette was quick to produce a plan of action and no one argued with her.

But he could see how the stress was beginning to weigh her down, how her reassuring smile became more strained by the minute. One look at Chat Noir showed that he was no different but not once did he hesitate to follow Marinette’s commands.

It shamed Otis to see that the hero had to treat the fundraiser like a draining battle than the fun event that it was supposed to be.

At some point, Alya took her father aside.

“I think I know who’s behind all of this.”

“Behind…? Surely these problems are just really bad coincidences. Who would want to sabotage a fundraiser?”

Alya’s eyes were spitting fire. “Lila.”

“Who is Lila?”

Crossing her arms, Alya tried to explain as fast as she could.

“She’s a girl in our class who has this habit of lying to make others look bad and make herself look amazing. She has it out for Marinette because she was the first one to call her out. She managed to get Marinette temporarily expelled a while back!”

Alya ran a hand down her face aggravatedly.

“I never even realized what a lying snake she was until recently, when she tried to claim that this fundraiser was all her idea and that Marinette had been stealing all the credit. Anyway, I’ve spotted her around some suspicious spots today and I’d bet five of my blogs that she’s the one causing this mess.”

Otis frowned and rubbed his beard. “What a nasty person. Well, the best we can really do about her now is to catch her trying something else and then escorting her off the premises. After all, this is merely conjecture right now. I’m not outright dismissing your claims,” he quickly added when he saw his daughter about to argue. “But we have to go about this sensibly and right now, our priority is to keep the fundraiser going as smoothly as we can. If we run into this Lila girl, we can keep an eye on her to try and prevent other mishaps.”

Alya begrudgingly agreed to do as her father said. Though she eagerly accepted the task of spreading a warning about Lila to the rest of the zoo’s employees and volunteers.

After that, there were suspiciously no more incidents. In fact, they managed to reach their $500,000 goal through in-person donations alone, thanks in large part to Adrien Agreste’s generous $250,000 donation on behalf of his father. Many fans followed the model’s lead and nearly matched it. Then when Ladybug finally showed up, online donations skyrocketed.

Leaving Ladybug and Chat Noir to the masses, Otis took the opportunity to look for Marinette so he could personally share the good news with her. She had gone above and beyond for a month straight and deserved to know ASAP that her hard work paid off, especially with how rocky the day started.

On his way to the main pavilion however, Otis heard strange metallic clanking coming from the other side of one of the barriers. He noted that the sound was coming from the panther enclosure, which was a great cause for concern.

Rounding the barrier, Otis was shocked to see a teenage girl—who matched the description his daughter had given him—attempting to unlatch the gate that separated the enclosure to the main walkways where visitors usually stood.

“Hey!” he yelled sharply, causing the girl to jolt. “What are you doing?”

He ran over and slammed a hand on the gate, doing a quick examination to ensure that it would remain shut.

Otis spun back to face the girl. Lila, he recalled, was her name.

“Well? Are you going to explain yourself?” he demanded. “You could have endangered not just yourself, but everyone else in this zoo. Not even from the panther itself, but from the massive panic this could have caused.”

He didn’t expect the girl to collapse to her knees and begin bawling her eyes out.

“It was all Marinette’s idea!” she cried, covering her face with her hands. “She’s blackmailing me and she said she’d expose all of my secrets if I didn’t let the animals out! Please, I didn’t know what else to do!”

This made Otis furious. How dare this—this unrepentant liar accuse such a genuine and hard-working girl of such nonsense?

“Come with me,” he said, though it was without any compassion. “If Marinette is really blackmailing you, then you can tell the whole story to the police.”

Lila’s eyes widened and she stuttered something out about Marinette corrupting the law before she got up and ran for it.

“Hey!”

Otis gave chase but as soon as they rounded the barrier, he lost her in the crowd.

Just great.

By then, Otis’s stress levels had reached an all-time high, he thought he was going to have an aneurysm.

But all of that faded away and only anger remained when a certain voice echoed in his head.

“Animan, too many humans are ignorant to the majestic power of the wild and try to use it for their own selfish gains. I’m going to give you a little extra power this time around to show people what it’s like to be a mere animal and how it feels to be so low on the food chain. In return, you will capture me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous!”

“Yes, Hawkmoth.”

…

When Otis was back to full awareness, he found himself sitting on the ground in the middle of the pavilion and being hugged by his daughter.

Meters away, he saw Marinette being scooped up in her own embrace by…not exactly Chat Noir…uh, what was his name again? Oh! Mister Bug!

Mister Bug set Marinette back down on the ground but he didn’t let her go.

“When I saw a hawk dive in and pick a hamster up off the ground I thought it was you! I couldn’t be sure but now you’re here and you’re okay…” he trailed off into quiet muttering. Marinette simply hugged him back.

“Dad, are you okay?”

Otis blinked and looked down at Alya, who had pulled back and looked at him in concern.

“Oh, yes, I’m quite fine. Thanks to Ladybu—er, Mister Bug and I’m guessing Lady Noire? I just hope people weren’t too badly hurt.”

Alya patted her dad’s shoulder. “Lady Noire never showed up but everyone’s as fine as they can be. Animan had the same powers from last time but also turned half of the fundraiser guests into tiny mammals. Thankfully no one got eaten.”

Otis breathed a sigh of relief.

Turning into a small animal was bad enough. No one needed the trauma of being eaten alive.

“Are you alright?”

Otis and Alya looked up at the red hero. Marinette stood beside him. Seeing them like that, Otis felt a little deja vu and thought the image wasn’t very strange at all. Like they fit together. He shook his head. Maybe Tom was getting in his head. He vaguely remembered one time when the man ranted to him about how Chat Noir broke his daughter’s heart but that they would have made an adorable couple if it had worked out.

When Otis realized the teens were waiting for an answer, he stood and responded, “Never been better. This old man’s still got a lotta kick in him. How else will I keep up with the monkeys and lions?”

Marinette and Mister Bug sighed in relief while Alya chuckled.

“Well, now that that’s over with, we can get back to the fundraiser if people still want to be here.” Marinette looked around at all the guests who were wandering around finding family and friends—a typical post-akuma sight.

“Why don’t you check what people are saying online?” Mister Bug suggested. He stepped away. “Meanwhile, I’ve gotta find Ladybug and give her Miraculous back.”

As soon as he left, Marinette shuffled her feet. “Oh, phew! That was a wild battle!” she exclaimed. “I suddenly really have to pee!” And off she ran.

“Does she act like that often?”

Alya pulled out her phone and did as Mister Bug said. “Run off while shouting some weird excuse? Yeah, it’s like a daily ritual.”

Thinking it best to ignore it, Otis looked around at the milling guests while Alya relayed online reactions to him. Apparently, more people had tuned in to the live stream during the akuma attack to watch the action in real time and had begun donating again after the defeat. Many expressed the hope that the fundraiser continued, and by the look of things at the zoo, Otis believed that it wouldn’t be much trouble to continue where everything left off.

Minutes later, Marinette and Chat Noir both came running back and Otis shared his thoughts.

“Are you sure?” Marinette asked. “Something made you upset enough to get akumatized and we don’t want you to be forced to feel that way again. We’ve far surpassed our fundraising goal so we can end the night here.”

Otis shook his head. “I’m positive. There’s no reason to shut everything down now when everyone is still eager to see what else we have in store. Besides, the event should run smoothly all the way to the end as long as we find that lying brat and keep her off the premises.”

The other three looked surprised.

“Lila? You ran into her?” Alya asked, looking ready to run off and find the girl herself.

“Heh.”

They all looked to Chat Noir and he gave them a mischievous grin.

“I don’t think we’ll be having any more problems with her today.”

“What do you mean, Chat?”

“Well, Princess, near the end of the battle I spotted a certain opossum getting flung into the penguin habitat. Perhaps we should check there for suspicious characters and get en-closure.”

The girls eyed each other for a moment before they sped off in the direction of the penguins.

Otis chuckled and followed at a more leisure pace, checking in with employees along the way with Chat Noir.

Fifteen minutes later and a soaking wet Lila Rossi was being escorted to a medical tent to change into dry clothes and then warm up for the rest of the evening under the watchful eye of a nurse. Meanwhile the fundraiser festivities continued.

…

The next day, it was announced to all of Paris that Marinette and Chat Noir’s joint zoo fundraiser raised over $5 million because the majority of the city’s population had donated. The most notable donors were the Agreste family, the Tsurugi family, Jagged Stone and the Bourgeois family, with their donations totalling just a little over $2 million alone.

#MariNature trended for a whole week.

To Marinette’s (and Adrien’s) embarrassment, #marichat and #maribug were still being used a month later.

[haveamagicalday]

My 2019 reads

My top ten reads can be found here

4 Stars

All the Bad Apples by Moria Fowley-Doyle

Deena’s family is cursed. Any “rotten apple” in the family is doomed for a a tragic end. When Deena’s sister Mandy goes in search of the cause of the curse, Deena and friends go after her. This book alternates with stories from the past and present dealing with strong feminist themes throughout.

House of Salt and Sorrow by Eria A. Craig

A darker more horror story retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses. Personally, I felt that connection to the original fairy tale was kinda weak and this could have been pitched as its own fairy tale. It was definitely creepy and kept you on your toes throughout.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Riley Sager is becoming one of my favorite thriller authors but this one was probably my least favorite of his 3 books so far. Don’t get me wrong, it was still really good but while the twist was good, I figured it out fairly early on. I kept waiting for another twist that would blow me away but it never happened. Still, this was fun to read and I still stand by the 4 star rating.

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

After Cinderella leaves with her prince, her stepsisters are left in shame. This story covers the stepsisters lives after happily ever after, and maybe they will get their happily ever after too. This book was sweet and creative. Isabelle, are evil stepsister, was a flawed character but still deeply likable. There was some magic and greek mythology woven in that really made this story stand out for me.

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen does it again in this heartfelt tale of a teenager trying to find her place in the world. Emma Saylor’s mother was an addict and now that she’s gone, Emma only has her stories to remember her by. So where does Emma’s life fit in to these stories and how does the story end?

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

A non witch detective is called in to a high school for the magically gifted to solve a gruesome murder. This was a fun and unique read. It plays out like a typical mystery but the added element of a modern day world with mages and a magic boarding school made it it's own thing. I would actually love to read a series in this world as it was well built and intriguing. A big strength of this novel was I actually was interested in the main character's storyline as I was with the mystery. Sometimes with mysteries, the main character is just there to solve the mystery and nothing more. This was not the case for this book.

The Window by Amelia Brunskill

Jess’s twin sister is dead. She fell out their window one tragic night. But what was Anna doing sneaking out of their window? In this thrilling and emotional book, Jess discovers some of her twin’s secrets and sets out to learn what really happened that fateful night.

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini 

A fun short read that brought me back to my middle school years. Eragon holds a special place in my heart and this was a welcome return to the world. It hints at more in the future and I'm excited to see were this story will continue to go. I will admit though that I preferred the in between chapters with Eragon than the short stories themselves. The Urgal story was probably the best but it seems like Paolini is setting up for another full sized novel in the series and it really had nothing to do with the story at all. Still, it was enjoyable!

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman

A satisfying ending to the Lady Helen trilogy. There was a twist about the main villain that I honestly would have hated in any other book but it worked so well in this one. I’m going to miss this fun series.

3.5 Stars

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Echo North is a retelling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. This one had its deviations but was more of straight retelling of the fairytale. There are two parts to this book. The first one is about 280 pages and the last part is the last 120 pages. I think I would have preferred if they were an equal length. The first part could have been shorter and the second part could have been longer. There was a lot of interesting content in the second part that I would have loved to explore more. Still, this was a lovely read and a good retelling of the popular fairytale

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Berube

Skye is our main character. A high school girl that moved to a new town and just wants to be normal, maybe even date her cute neighbor? What stands in her way is her 13 year old sister Dierdre. Deirdre is weird, she’s creepy and she refuses to grow up. And now she is missing. All in all, I thought this was a worthwhile and exciting read. While I was personally left a tad disappointed in the direction it took, I know there are a lot of others that will absolutely love it. And the strength of the first half and the themes it deals with, is enough for me to recommend it! Read my full review here.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Based on Russian mythology and lore. This is a perfect fairy tale to read on a cold winter night. The characters are well developed and the conflict is subtle. It's a slow build up but never felt boring at all.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book! It was quick paced and kept you guessing. However, while I didn't think the ending was predictable, I did think it was a bit cliched. I was surprised by the twist but but it still felt cheesy. The rest of the book was really solid though. There were plenty of red herrings that kept you guessing and it was an enjoyable read with good characters. I liked that this one only had two main characters as opposed to One of Us Is Lying had the four but if I had to pick one though I would say One of Us Is Lying is the stronger book.

3 Stars

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

A retelling of the fairytale of the same name. It was such a sweet story! I thought that Ani/Isi's transformation and growth throughout the story was very well done. The romance was put on the back burner but I didn't mind. It was cute but a little rushed too. It was also very obvious who Geric really was but I don't think it was suppose to be this amazing twist or anything so I didn't mind. I liked the added elements that Hale put into the fairytale. Ani's wind talking ability was a great addition whereas in the fairy tale, she just talks to the wind and it’s never explained why. It stuck to the fairy tale very closely and I really enjoyed reading it.

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Chloe lives with her older sister Ruby, the girl everybody wants to be. But when a night of fun with Ruby goes wrong, Chloe is taken to live with her father, leaving Ruby behind. But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back and make things right for her. This was a strange book. I read it quickly because I wanted to know what was going on but the ending just left me more confused. I don't understand what the point of any of this was? However, the writing was beautiful and I loved the creepy and hazy atmosphere.

Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich

This was pitched as a Faust retelling but I found little connection between it? I loved the Dead House by Kurtagich but her next book was a disappointment for me. While this one was better, I was still left wanting more. It’s strange that the story in the past is the main one, whereas the one in the present is done through transcribed video recordings and journal entries. Honestly, she probably could have done away with the story set in the present. I think many would like this book but it just wasn’t for me.

Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal

Naya lives in a world where necromancy is common, but the wraiths they come back are treated as second class citizens. When a solo trading mission goes wrong, Naya awakens to find herself the very thing she always found disgust in. Wholly creative with lots of twists, this was a strong debut novel.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I read Bardugo’s series of short stories A Language of Thorns last year and absolutely loved it. I was...surprised this was written by the same person. It was a very basic YA novel with a love triangle and super special main character. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I had read it as a younger teen.

Truly Devious/The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

I went into this book expecting a lot of murder and creepy riddles left behind. That's not exactly what I got though. This book was just a tad bit too slowly paced. The murder doesn't happen until a little after the half way mark so the first half of the book felt unnecessary. I feel like 100 pages or so could have been chopped. What I really liked was the mystery behind the school that happened in the 1930s. For me that was the strongest part and I'm more interested in that than the modern day mystery. Which was sort of solved by the end anyway? I think there's more to it but if not it's rather underwhelming. Overall though, I enjoyed the book and the sequel was enjoyable too. Oh, and I need to set the record straight, there's a line in the sequel where someone mentions that the country bear jamboree doesn't have a movie based on it... but it does!!!

Hidden Pieces by Paula Stokes

Embry is the town hero for saving a homeless guy from a fire at an abandoned hotel late one night. But what would the town think if they knew she was the one who started the fire in the first place? Now Embry is receiving notes from someone who knows what she did. Now she must choose between letting the truth get out or given in to her mysterious tormentor’s demands. Hidden Pieces was a fairly solid mystery but it bordered on unrealistic at most times. Still, it was definitely a page turner.

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

This is one of those rare cases where I found that the movie was better than the book. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a good book but the movie fine tuned it a lot. The book was surprisingly long and the movie cut out some unnecessary stuff. I was surprised that there was two love interests in the book and I honestly preferred the one that was cut from the film. He was a much better fit for Willowdean and Bo in the book was much more of a jerk who was initially put off by being seen with Willowdean. The fight that Willowdean and her best friend have was much bigger and more dramatic and Ellen was actually pretty nasty throughout it. The movie definitely fleshed out these characters in a much softer light. The relationship with her mother was also much sweeter in the movie than in the book. It felt kind of emotionless and less inspirational here.

Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy 

Popular girls are turning up dead and our main character, Penelope, fears she may be next. I went into this expecting more serious take on Scream Queens. I read this back in September and I honestly don’t remember much other than the characters barely reacted to their classmates/friends deaths and the murderer was impossible to guess and was utterly lame. If the killer has to explain their motives with brand new information that was not found anywhere else in the book, it’s not a good twist. 

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

This had a lot of potential and I know a lot of people have loved it but it fell flat for me in some places. The book is based on and sort of a sequel to the short story The White People. You definitely need to have read the short story first or this will make zero sense to you. Our main character, Mouse, spends much of the first third of the book cleaning out a hoarder’s house. It gets very tedious but picks up pace when the Twisted Ones are introduced. There are some good moments of tension but Mouse tends to ruin these moments attempting to be funny (which she’s not). The White People works best as a type of horror that is never truly explained but this book does just that. It’s at this point that the book lost me again. I think it’s mostly a matter of taste but I just wasn’t in to it. 

Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

I loved this series as a whole but I did not like the ending. Mostly because my least favorite characters ended up as the “winners”. That’s all I’ll say about that.

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

Helen and Nate decide to leave their cozy life behind to build (literally build) their own little house in a small superstitious town. Problem is, the land they’ve bought is where Hattie Breckenridge a women accused and murdered for witchcraft, lived a hundred years ago. This reads more like a murder thriller that just happens to have ghosts in it than a true ghost story. There were some great twists but it was slow in some places. Like learning about all the ins and outs of what goes into constructing your own house from scratch. Helen and Nate also suffer some martial problems, brought on by the ghost, that just made me anxious and probably wasn’t necessary. I know it adds to the drama and suspense but ugh.

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu

There’s a murder. There’s a mystery. But that’s not really what this book is about. Remy’s boyfriend is dead and her best friend Elise is the one who killed him. But it was self defense. Probably. The majority of the book takes place in flashbacks starting with Remy and Elise meeting and becoming friends. What starts as a normal friendship slowly turns into a toxic and emotionally abusive codependent relationship. Ultimately, that’s what the book is about. It’s honestly a fantastic portrayal. It’s toxic on both sides but you understand why they care about each other and stay friends. Not all toxic relationships end with a death though and perhaps this would have packed more of a punch had our main character came to some conclusions about her best friend in another way.

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Nora is a Walker and Walkers are witches. How do I know this? Because she mentions it every other page. For the most part this book was enjoyable but extremely predictable. I would still pick up the next book this author writes though.

2 Stars

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

A modern day retelling about Henry and his 6 wives but this time they are high schoolers. The story is narrated by Annie “Cleaves” Marek, Henry’s fourth wife girlfriend.  I'm pretty much assuming everybody knows about Henry and his 6 wives at this point. So where the book really lost me was at the half way point where it turns into a murder mystery type book. If you know your history, you know who did the murder in this book. So the murder mystery angle doesn't work here, The characters don't know for sure, but we the readers do. It becomes somewhat tedious honestly. Our main character also sucked. Cleves was your typical quirky girl. She says witty things that really aren't witty. She claims to be a hardcore feminist but demonstrates this by kind scolding Henry when he says something sexist...and that's about it. This book was entertaining enough to keep me reading but I had my problems with it. Especially the second half. I think there are some people that will really like this spoofy tongue in check retelling but it just wasn't for me. You can read my full review here.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Let me just start by saying that I don't get the hype for this book. It’s an interesting concept but this book just did not work for me. It's somehow not long enough but nothing really happens throughout. The girls were not very "wild" and I don't know what the point of any of this was. This book has been called "feminist horror" and I don't understand that at all. The tox didn't empower them in any way and there wasn't any feminist themes throughout. The gore/body horror was minimal and not very creepy or disgusting at all. Overall, this book was not for me.

The Missing Season by Gillian French

Our lead character moves to a small town where kids go missing every year. The adults find logical reasons for these disappearances but the children of the town believe it is a monster named The Mumbler taking them. Interesting concept that wasn't fully realized. Nothing happens in this book until the last 20 pages. there's no build up or clues that led up to the big twist in the end. When the climax finally happens, it's over within ten pages and then the book ends another ten pages later. Minor plot points lead to nothing and the mumbler was barely played up to make this book suspenseful.

The Babysitter’s Coven by Kate Williams

Adventures in babysitting meets Buffy. Sorta. I went into this super excited and was hoping for something akin to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I did not get that. This reads more like a middle school book and was overly cheesy. I think younger teens would enjoy but I wasn’t a fan.

How She Died, How I Lived by Mary Crockett 

Kyle texted five girls one night. Only one responded and met up with him. He killed her that night. Our unnamed narrator was one of the girls who didn’t answer his text and now she’s dealing with the aftermath of knowing it could have been her. f this book had ended differently, I would have rated it higher. I had major issues with the romance. The narrator starts a relationship with the slain girl’s boyfriend and it was so insanely toxic though it was written to be romantic.

Rereads

Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen (5 stars)

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (5 Stars)

Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray (5 Stars)

Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (5 Stars)

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (4 Stars)

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (5 Stars)

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente (5 Stars)

Short Stories

The White People by Arthur Machen (2 stars)

I like the story itself but the way it was written was horrendous and hard to follow. It was a huge rambling block of text.

Bridal Boot Camp by Meg Cabot (4 Stars)

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn (5 Stars)

[espieviolet99]

Hero Hill Garth x Reader

So, now you were all at Hero Hill. The blue light to get back in the guild is a little bit gone, and Theresa is telling you all where to stand. Except you, you just have to look pretty. Admittedly, your own interpretation of just stand here. You decided to stand between Garth and Reaver. Partially to be all like "Skill Dudes", and also to be near Garth. You admit that. You feel like you might have a lil soft spot for him.

You mostly listened for the most part. You were mildly surprised when the lights lit. And then you was quite worried when all the heroes lifted into the air and seemed to be in pain. But before you could do aaaaaanything. The most conspicuous light engulfed the area, and you could not see shit. It was almost like saying, "Lucien. Hey, bro. Over here!". Then it went.

"Fuck me, that was bright." You said.

"Language." Garth chastised.

"Mate, I am a grown woman. I will say what I damn well like." You groaned, rubbing my eyes.

"As much as I enjoyed making that pretty light with you-" Reaver began.

"Wait. Where's Theresa?" Hammer spoke. You looked over to where she had stood.

Then you saw those bloody white special circles form on the ground, and you turned round to see two big fucking shards.

"I knew that light was asking for trouble." You sighed. Then Lucien appeared.

Hip.

Hip.

Hooray...

"What have you done with Theresa?" Hammer demanded.

"Your fortune telling friend. I merely listened." He replied.

"And, yet, she has vanished?" You theatrically said.

"My goodness. I knew Sparrow was still alive, but I didn't quite expect you. You must have been that brat that caused trouble in the Spire with your sister."

"Well, if you call doing the right thing and helping innocent people being a brat. Yes." You bowed.

"Briar, now may not be the time. Lucien, look around you. Old parts of the kingdom still exist." Garth interjected.

Some more conversation passed that you barely listened to. Before Reaver piped up and decided he wanted to try and sell the lot of you.

"Fuck you, Reaver. Let's not be putting the entire fucking world at risk." You seethed.

"You will be coming to." Lucien said, before circles engulfed the others, leaving you and Sparrow alone.

"Oh, fuck." You simply stated.

"Indeed." Lucien concurred, pulling out a gun. You immediately stood by your sister, pulling out yours.

"Don't you dare." You warned. Sparrow's dog drew near, growling.

"I can't allow either of you to live." He spoke, pulling the trigger. As he did so, the dog jumped between you.

"No!" You both shouted. Distracted, you did not see him reload, and a shot rang out again, as pain pierced through you. And you collapsed.

You awoke at the Spire, next to your sister. And she had a music box? Oh, THE music box. She beckoned you as you both ran through the Spire. All you could think of was, "Bright Light, Bright Light, Bright Light" as you heard him monologuing through the halls. Soon enough you reached him as he was telling them how he shot you both, and Garth's strangled cry of no.

"Funny you should say that whilst we rock up, eh?" You smirked, sauntering in.

"My word. Twice you have cheated death." And blah blah blah, he did try to make you sleep but it weren't happening. Nope.

Sparrow did her thing. Using the music box to disconnect each hero from Lucien. Hammer dropped. Then Garth. And then Reaver. And of course, Lucien started talking. Again. So, you raised your gun and shot him through his open mouth. And as he dropped;

"Nice talking to ya." You sighed, holstering your gun.

"Thank goodness for that, I thought he'd never shut up." Reaver groaned. You seem across the way to Garth.

"You okay, Garth?" You asked. He took a hold of your arms.

"You're alright." He smiled.

"Well, and left." You grinned, wiggling your left side.

"He told us he shot you."

"Well, yes. And it hurt. But no one will be rid of me that easy."

"Oh, just kiss already. The tension is ridiculous." Reaver huffed.

"He does have a point. It's obvious you guys have a connection." Hammer shrugged.

A soft hand came into contact with your cheek, and the hand guided your face back to look at Garth. He leaned sweetly forward to put a gentle peck on your lips. And, just as you were about to return it, bloody Theresa showed up. However, neither of you payed an enormous amount of attention until Sparrow restored the lives lost and you were being sent places. And, of course, you accompanied Garth to Samarkand.

(Admittedly, I forgot some dialogue, and stuff. But, on my next replay - because I play the shit out of this game, I plan on writing a proper fic based around my one true love of fable 2. Reaver. As infuriating as he is. Briar will be making a proper, fully fledged Adela hybrid appearance in that. I got the idea because Briar Rose in the first one, and with the older sister being the Rose. Not massively a great plan, but I'll commit to it.

I will also, after my next play through of Fable 3, write a fanfic based around another true love of mine, Ben Finn. In which I will write my Adela hybrid self as a descendent of Briar or a cousin of the Prince of Princess. Be committed to that Skill again, yo. The name isn't entirely decided upon. I'm thinking either Patience, Amethyst (because purple 💜 or something. I am welcome to suggestions.)

[emperorren]

would you be ok with talking about the golden age of the reylo fandom? i’m a new shipper so i wasn’t here for it. i’ve heard a few people mention big events but I’m very curious what it was like in the beginning!

aaaaahhhhh the golden age when reylo was just a baby ship and there were like, 56 of us on this site and all busy defending ourselves from random accusations of being *anne’s voice whose name wasn’t anne yet* ABuSe apoLogISTs!!

The initial discourse around reylo was really intimidating, because even the most innocuous mutuals on your dash were reblogging smug untagged anti posts (I remember one in particular that was like “stop shipping female characters with their abusers!!!1111!!!” with something like 50K notes). The first few weeks after TFA’s release were all about heated debates on whether you’re actually allowed to ship problematic things and ~how can you deny that the interrogation scene was a rape analogy~, and for me personally, a LOT of juggling between reylo (which was quickly becoming my main focus, even though back then I was almost certain they were related) and f/nnr/ey (which I had mostly lukewarm feelings for, but showing open indifference seemed like a good way to be bullied for *internalized racism*, so I had to strike a balance).

BUT when actual fan content for the ship started surfacing, and we simultaneously started growing in numbers and closing our ranks against fandom bullies, it was amazing. 

There was Ohtze’s Death and the Maiden meta, which for me sealed the transition from “intriguing enemies to lovers ship” to “ASGFHSJKSGAGSKKS OTP OF OTPS” because I freaking love subtext and ships built on subtext.Creatively there was a lot of freedom, since the reylo dynamic was hinted at in canon but nothing was set in stone yet, and imagination ran wild. There was lots of dark and angsty, lots of proper enemies to lovers tropes, lots of dark!Kylo, lots of scenarios where Rey has to kill him in the end and they’re both in tears and he thanks her for that, the first attempts at depicting the yin/yang dynamic. A popular headcanon was that Ben fell when he was fifteen-something (around the time Rey was abandoned on Jakku), so in many fics the Kylo/Snoke relationship was even more disturbing than it is in canon. Another popular theory was that Rey was a little student at Luke’s academy, and Ben was the one who dropped Rey on Jakku, perhaps to spare her from the jedi temple massacre, so you had lots of fics based on that. And of course the stranded/trapped together tropes proliferated.

You kids are so spoiled now, but back then we were really in the dark. We didn’t have Rian Johnson backing up your reading, or the story group chatting excitedly over Rey and Kylo’s interactions. For all we knew, we were seeing things that weren’t there, as the majority of tumblr kindly reminded us every 5 seconds. (there was a well researched meta theorizing how the actual *trio*—in the sense of the three most important characters—was actually F/nn, Rey and Kylo Ren, and oh, the outrage it attracted. In hindsight it’s hilarious.) Popular reylo shippers tended to be extremely cautious re: canon reylo, if not downright skeptical. Thinking that Rey and Kylo could actually have a romance, rather than a “special antagonism” with very veiled romantic subtext, was considered incredibly optimistic. Most people said they would gladly settle for Rey no longer hating Kylo by the end of IX. Consequently, most fics were excruciatingly slow burn (which is why they were amazing), because it was considered a titanic effort to make these two characters stop wanting to kill each other, especially Rey, something that needed thousand of pages of subtle character evolution to be remotely plausible. It wasn’t even about tempering our expectations—we barely had any. we simply thought we were shipping little more than a crackship.

So when the databank dropped, calling Rey and Kylo’s “destinies intertwined”, and JJ’s TFA commentary described them as “the story we’re really interested in”, and called Rey a princess and Kylo a prince, it was MINDBLOWING. It was the first hint that we were, in fact, reading this story correctly.

There was also a lot of obsessing over Pablo Hidalgo’s tweets and desperately searching for clues. Pablo’s confirmation that Rey “downloaded” Kylo’s force skills by entering his mind was probably the first canon confirmation of the existence of the force bond, but it was again Ohtze who had first introduced most of us to that concept in her meta on the parallels between Reylo and Revan/B*astila, and we latched on it enthusiastically (though back then the force bond was conceived as a merely telepathic connection—TLJ went above and beyond that).

Other touchstones were when John said the romance in this trilogy wasn’t /going the way you think/ and that he and Daisy essentially played their characters as friends (the fandom consensus back then was that the central romance was f*nnrey, so that interview was a turning point in the fandom and bolstered our confidence). And Daisy’s throwaway comment about Rey “feeling the force” with Kylo during the duel (another hint at the force bond).

There was occasionally some big intra-fandom drama (I remember a person called ysbaddadenthebrave, who wrote a lot of VERY popular fics back in the day but it turned out she was lying about personal stuff and some novel she was writing (though I didn’t follow that wank closely) and also the mess with msqualia (a shipper who became a bully to other shippers). 

There were many #gates, too, starting with #ashgate. It happened when a pic of Kylo putting his helmet on a sort of altar covered in ashes, with the commentary by JJ that those ashes were the remains of his dead enemies. People went NUTS over this. People UNSTANNED Kylo for this, I shit you not, others took it as bad writing, lack of coherent characterization, a hint that he was never going to be redeemed, it caused SO MUCH PANIC, lol. 

I also remember very vividly when the first HD version of TFA was leaked, and tumblr was suddenly flooded with a deluge of quality gifs of the duel, the interrogation, unmasked Kylo looking at Snoke with his big puppy eyes, etc. It was CRAZY and it sparked a new wave of meta and commentary, this time MUCH more confident that what we were seeing was real to some extent.

Oh and when filming for TLJ began and we learned that Adam was filming on Skellig Island with Daisy and Mark… that… that was the beginning of a new wave of fanfics, as you can imagine. And the leak of the exploding hut, which most of us thought was BS because it sounded too much like a reylo dream.

2016 was really a crazy year for Reylo shippers.

[centaurrential]

1-2-3-Yes!

My, I’ve been very productive over the last few days. I’ve experienced an upwelling of inspiration, and I find it in the oddest of places. In my last post I went on a mini rant about cleanliness, and how the people we rely on to bring us to that state have had the tables turned on them. Make no mistake though, I do like to tidy the bedroom before I sit down to write. We’re always trying to create order in our lives because we’re just reflecting the need for security, and clarity. I give credit to my own happiness for my ability to write again, and in a more focused way than ever before. I’m a natural thinker, a conceptual problem solver, and I do get this ‘high’ from being able to sort out my thoughts, and to put them in a form where they can find themselves in the world.

I consider myself a late bloomer in the sense that during the years I spent in university, when you’re supposed to be reaching your peak, my point of view on my own thinking was cracked. I felt like my thoughts were muddled, there was no clear direction, and that led me to doubt my capabilities. I can’t even count the number of times I’d decided I’d be switching majors. I’m sure my parents were anxious about that. I’d be told I was smart, and my private response would be “what the fuck?”. I felt inauthentic, like a bloody fraud. That I got there by pure luck. There was a thick fog in my mind. But over the last little while I feel the cohesion of my thinking, and the way I see myself, cementing incredibly rapidly. Again, I owe this to My Own Happiness, generously holding a mirror up to me wherever I go, so that I may see myself more accurately.

In a way, language--its mechanics, its malleability, the mind-blowing and surprising connections contained within it--has followed me through life. For many years it wasn’t a thing I thought the core of me--it was more like people telling me I had a talent for it. But where to apply such an idiosyncrasy? Reflecting on my years in university, I think that the trouble I had settling on one major was just an indication that this essential thing in me refused to be bound by the constraints of a certain ‘discipline’. And ‘discipline’ is the right word for it. I tried organic chemistry, for instance, and while I found it fascinating I felt like being in a lab was suffocating too, because it didn’t answer the questions I had in me that were begging to be answered. Screaming, really. I am expansive and I wanted to find what responded in kind, with encouragement. The closest companion I found was the body of Philosophy, but ‘thinking critically’ had its limits too.

I never got my degree. The courses I took never amounted to anything considered ‘viable’, but I was hopelessly obsessed with ‘the big picture’. And in my mind, I could never achieve that understanding by specializing.

No matter how other people viewed me, there was a wall between me as an agent, and me as people perceive me. I felt like this lost soul wandering the earth, not grounded in anything, no roots, no ability to explain what and who I am. Now seeing how vital Language is to my entire being, I finally have found my identity. It moves me; it is meaningful to me.

Anyway...

I suppose the theme of this post is ‘measurement’, but the two major things I want to comment about greatly diverge in terms of the meaning they give to that word. This post consists of a bit of cultural commentary, but there is also a deeply metaphysical component to it.  I feel that, only for now, I might exhaust those ideas that are clamouring to be let out and to dance in the air. Like I said though, more will come.

So lately I’ve been addicted to watching “The Crown” on Netflix. I never really cared about the Royal Family--the gravity of their divinity never struck a chord with me. To me, they were always just these stuffy, uber aristocrats with a solid, unmistakeable and long and celebrated genealogy. Their “direct” connection to God, above any other humans, seemed rather arbitrary. Lucky, maybe. There wasn’t anything in me that the publicity surrounding them yanked at. Until “The Crown”.

It’s obvious there is no way the depiction is totally accurate--there are a lot of secrets. But the show as a whole really gets you thinking about the way they view themselves. It’s clear that while they live a privileged life in terms of their financial reserves, their status in the eyes of the public, and a thick protective entity swaddling them, there is also this agony they feel, bearing the prison-like responsibilities that come with being who they are. Of course, the agony is underplayed because they are British and they are the Royal Family. Poise, measured expression, is king. One particular conversation the Queen Mother had with Queen Elizabeth II made me think, damn, these people are like the X-Men!! Along with this divine power they have, they think of themselves as endangered, as super-humans, precious and vulnerable. During the period depicted--from roughly the late forties to the late sixties--they seemed to spend more time making sure this mysticism surrounding them was intact, rather than doing anything else.

It’s pretty astonishing, the internal conflicts depicted, the contradictory nature of their roles. Every single damn move they make, which might penetrate the barrier between them and the British public, requires careful thought and a weighing of all the options. Elizabeth and her sister Margaret are often played up as foils of one another, and in one episode Prince Phillip remarks that this has always been the case throughout the family’s lineage. One is reserved, the other is a free spirit. I know absolutely nothing about the real Princess Margaret but the way she is depicted in the show is never something I would have expected from a royal other than Prince Harry. She drinks like a fish, smokes in every scene, is vulgar and impulsive. So the royal family isn’t a mere pillar of tradition, stuffiness, tight rules and manners. That’s not what sets them apart from everyone else. It’s the feeling of their own institutional, legitimized divineness, the sacredness they carry deep inside of them, that makes them different.

In the first season, John Lithgow’s Winston Churchill gets a lot of screen time. Again, I don’t know much about Churchill but I vaguely recall learning that he had quite the way with words. It’s really impressive, the art he could create, speaking, ad-libbing, on the spot, using such obscure vocabulary. It’s like he’s creating the verbal equivalent of an Impressionistic painting. And he does it with such defiance, such exasperation, that it’s quite a thing to see.

But, we enter an entirely different linguistic world when we watch films like Save the Last Dance. I re-watched it recently, because I love dancing, I love hip-hop, and every now and then I feel like immersing myself in a deep well of nostalgia. I particularly appreciate Kerry Washington’s character--Chenille, a high school-aged black, inner-city single mother--because of her ability to communicate an incredible intelligence and character where everything she says is sharp, austere, emotionally meaningful, and deeply insightful. The use of metaphor abounds here too. Able to sympathize with an antagonist, she knows the political is personal.

A while ago I started reading “The Language Instinct” by Steven Pinker. I never finished the book, because the honest truth is that I rarely ever finish books. It’s a dense volume, but I did glean some important things from the limited amount that I did read. The crucial thing is, if you can derive meaning from something spoken, then the grammar is right. Churchill’s use of language is long, flowery and drawn out, and by contrast Chenille’s is short and economical, but they impact with equivalence. Both characters use language artfully, but the colour, the diction, the wit, the grammatical structures, the cadence, it’s all evolved according to their respective cultures, which are vastly different. Both styles are things of beauty to me.

I so appreciate hip-hop as an art form. Not just beats, melodies, though those are important too... But imagine Winston Churchill trying to stuff everything evocative, in a song, with as much efficiency and skilled wordplay as the great hip-hop artists. I’m not sure people would be rushing to award him a Grammy...

Now on to the more common type of measurement: the mathematical kind.

In a metaphysics class I came across the question, “are numbers real?” Well, yeah! Of course they are, if you think of the sense in which we use them. But outside of their practical utility, are they pure in the sense that they tell you something on their own? If you think of the sequence of Arabic numerals from 1 to 9, you think of the corresponding numbers as ordinal. 1 is first, 2 is second, 3 is third, etc. In terms of quantity, however, it might be more transparent to think of seven apples as a group of apples where the number 7 is transformed from having an ordinal quality into quantitative one. Don’t let multiplication fool you; what we are doing essentially is adding 1, the simplest integer, to every group of apples we have. One apple added to one apple is two; one apple added to two apples is three, one apple added to three apples is four, and so on. In this context the multiplication sign is mere notation; it doesn’t capture the reality of the counting process. And ordinally speaking, numbers are like stairs. Every 1 added to the previous ordinal digit gets us from one ordinal spot to the next, in a linear fashion. And there aren’t really any ‘decimals’ because it is helpful to think in these terms via ‘wholeness’. After all, our psychological tendencies are to organize and make sense of things using the innate concept of wholeness.

I can think of a way in which the numbers 1 to 9 and beyond might be real, but you’d have to think of them as ‘geometrically stable’, or in terms of the relationships between each “one”, rather than as “groups of things that don’t know each other and don’t interact”. For example, three would be thought of as an equilateral triangle, four would be thought of as a perfect square, five a pentagon, six a hexagon, and so forth. If the angles are all equal, I wouldn’t be surprised if this geometry was sacred in its own right. (Astrologers use geometry a lot, to determine whether what is called an “aspect” is beneficial or not. Example: trines (triangles) are much easier to deal with than squares, which signal tension.)

You could continue increasing the number of apexes as long as you like, but as the number of apexes you add to your geometric shape (which MUST contain equal angles) approaches infinity, you approach a perfect circle. It just occurred to me that the numeral for zero also looks like a perfect circle. Not really sure what that means, but it is interesting because zero is thought to be very different from infinity, indeed.

I should mention here that it’s entirely possible someone’s already figured this out, but I want to take it one step further and remind you of the implications this has for what we think of as the stuff of reality.

I think of the above process as a calculus of sorts. But the hard thing to wrap one’s mind around is the notion of infinity. Essentially what I am doing is a thought experiment, extrapolating from the series of geometric shapes that are related to one another because of the ordinal addition of 1 to each sequential quantity of apexes (corners, angles). You could think of ordinal numbers as “slots”, with quantities being the total summation of the things that occupy those slots. In fact that might actually have been the third component to my first-year calculus class, which I was totally unable to comprehend.

What I was describing above was 3 and up. But what about 1 and 2? Well, one is just a point; we’ll get to that in a second. 2 would be a line segment: a line drawn from point A to point B. I should note here that 0 and 1 have special status as binary numbers (like the kind that are used in computer science, but that also have other meanings... which is where we get into the REALLY New Age stuff! not yet though). But two is special on its own because there is a relationship between points, but no angles, and therefore no apexes. The utility we get from its own analysis shows us how to reach infinity in the so-called “opposite” direction (maybe ‘complementary’ is a better word) from the one I talked about above.

If the number 1 represents a point, how small can we get that point? Any point you can form, either on paper or in your mind, will take up some sort of space in terms of the Cartesian plane. If it takes up space, its size can be reduced. Usually people think of halving things, so we’ll go with that. Off you go, dividing your point into smaller and smaller constituents. We’re approaching infinity again, because theoretically there is an infinite number of times you can divide this point. But wait, don’t points make up line segments, which are finite? That must mean your line segment is made up of infinity points. That must mean there is infinity in the finite! What a concept.

Over the years I’ve thought about changes, and what it takes to make a significant change in something. (In mathematical notation, change is represented by a triangle, known as the Greek letter ‘delta’.) An interesting study was once done to examine how newborns count. They don’t do it ordinally like 1, 2, 3, 4... They do it in non-linear ways. Some tribes in the Amazon count that way too: there is no need to have a concept for large quantities of things, probably because there is no utility if you’re not measuring something like the distance from the Earth to the Sun, or even building cathedrals for that matter. Anyway, babies “count” by noting differences in quantities of things, not absolute values.

Here are some examples: there is a huge difference between one apple and two apples. Visually, you can tell. You don’t need to go, “okay! one, two...” You just know. As the number of apples in the original set increases, the quantity of apples added to generate the new set must increase too, in order for there to be a sensible difference between the two sets. The production of difference is dependent on what your origin (set A) is, and how the value of the addition relates to your origin, not just the mere fact that there is an addition.

I’m trying to break down the process of change-making. So the other day I was at the train station getting some tea. I like having my tea with my cigarette. I was pouring sugar into my tea when I thought, would a single grain of sugar make a difference in the taste of my tea? What about 2? 3? 100? At what point will I be able to tell the difference between the plain tea and the sweetened tea? Depending on how fine your units are (in the tea example, it was a grain of sugar), the leap from one ordinal step to the next ordinal step may bring about no change at all. It’s like observing 167 black apples, not arranged in any strict fashion, and then having one more black apple added to that group. Unless you’re a savant, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell.

Let’s think ordinally for a moment. It’s theoretically feasible to add granules of sugar, one by one, to your tea. Let’s forget for a second that concentration is an issue; after every granule added we taste the tea, or find some other way to measure its sweetness. We know there is a threshold between non-sweet and sweet, we can taste it! But what is the point at which we cross that threshold? We’ve already established that one granule of sugar plus another singular granule of sugar (so two granules of sugar in the entire cup of tea) doesn’t make a difference in the taste; the quantities are too minuscule to produce anything. After all, all the sugar anyone has ever added to their tea has ALWAYS been significantly more than just two granules. Somewhere along the way, a shift happens. But how can this be the case if sugar granules come in discrete “quanta”? So even though the difference in sweetness is undetectable between granule number 1 and granule number 2, the change can be detected further along the temporal axis of my pour...? The only explanation is that the power of the single granule of sugar beyond that threshold is dependent on what’s already in the cup. That’s not a linear progression. You know what that sounds like to me? Fractals.

Another example I can think of is the increase in sonic volume. Depending, again, on the unit of volume change decided by the manufacturer of a stereo system, if your volume is at a certain level, one step up may not be significant in terms of the volume of music you sense with your ear.

I mentioned Wittgenstein in my last posting. Along with language games, another thing that stuck with me was the conceptual problem with standard units of measurement. The problem was that we don’t really have an absolute, hierarchical source that gives us the absolute dimensions of a standard unit. The closest thing we have to that is the new definition of a ‘meter’, which is the distance light travels in one second. But how long is a second? Anyway, when we try to grasp what a “pound” is, we may use other units of measurement like grams and ounces, and then we attach a numerical figure to that. An interesting thing to note is that often these conversions aren’t tidy numbers made of integers. They often contain a number of decimal places, things that are not pleasing to the human eye. Why wouldn’t someone just arbitrarily set the value of a pound at 250 grams? That would make things easy for us.

So, not knowing too much about the background of this area of study, I wonder if the real definition of measurement, with numbers not being easy, nor arbitrary at all, is “the quantity of something that is required to induce a significant change in something.” But now we must think of the subjectivity of a thing like sweetness level, because biologies can differ widely from person to person. Some people are sensitive to sugar, others less so.

Measurement as we currently think of it is supposed to be objective, but it may be the case that for many areas of life, it is not objective at all. Also, things are easier to digest, to handle, when everything is rounded nicely. You see that in itineraries: there aren’t too many times you’ll see a lecture scheduled on paper to start at 3:27. In our grocery store, 6 boxes of granola bars for ten dollars, flat! You get my meaning.  

I thought a while ago about what gives words, seemingly random compilations of letters, meaning. One thing I came up with was that meaning emanates from boundedness. Take homonyms, for example. If we are aware of only one meaning for a word, then that’s that. That’s boundedness. But if we are aware of two or more, we need at least a clause, a sentence, effectively surrounding that word, cushioning and giving it its actual meaning. That’s another type of boundedness. Numbers may be elemental, but when we use them in daily life, in politics and whatnot, we’re always using them in context, to deliver something, to get from point A to point B. Take 38591. We can see the structure of the number, but what is it telling us? 38591 dollars? Miles? Kilograms? Years? 38591 isn’t part of the set of numbers that I would say is sacred. It doesn’t tower on its own. It is in need of something. Most things are in need of something to give them the quality of meaning, of truth. That something is “relationships”, interactions with things thought to be on the outside. Once you initiate analysis into this chain of relationships, you start to see that there are very few things that can exist, in a stable state, on their own.

I finish by saying it’s these little peculiarities, the mysteries, the counterintuitive (the world is chock-full) that I love to think about. The world is so much more, so different from what the Enlightenment told us it is. There is still room for wonder and awe. Once you stop experiencing awe, the world is a little less bright.

[so-langelo]

You should write a lil somethin from the dialogue prompt "you make me want things I can't have" (ps. I love your writing !!

This is longer than I expected it to be so it’s going under a cut

one word guys: angst (you’ve been warned)

Few things in this world hurt more than a forbidden love.

William Solace, crown prince of the kingdom of Apollo, can confirm; for he was desperately in love with the son of the head of the guard, Nico di Angelo.

The two had been friends for as long as they can remember.

Will remembers that he would always sneak away with Nico to the kitchens to get out a break away from his studies. Nico would always teach him how to spar correctly, but after all these years Will was only slightly mediocre.

It was inevitable. Two best friends falling in love. What could go wrong?

Their first kiss was an accident.

Nico had been laughing at a joke Will told; a joke that was so horrid that you coulldn’t not laugh.

Nico threw his head back, his laugh was a melody to Will’s ears. His eyes glistening with joy. Ebony hair shining in the afternoon sun in the empty courtyard.

Will didn’t even realize he was staring until Nico questioned what he was looking at.

Will’s eyes drifted to Nico’s pink lips, which looked so soft and kissable.

He doesn’t know what came over him as he closed the distance between them.

His heart raced faster than his father’s horses, because he was kissing his best friend, Nico di Angelo.

It took Will a second to register that Nico was kissing him back.

Will pulled away, and drank in the gorgeoues sight of Nico, blushing up to his cheeks and lips bruised fromt heir kiss.

Will brushed his lips to Nico’s forehead, a ghost of a kiss. “I think I like you.”

He didn’t need to see Nico’s smiel to know it was there.

“Oh thank Apollo. It took you long enough, you idiot.”, Nico playfully pushed him. “I think I like you, too.”

Will couldn’t keep the smile off of his face for days.

Sneaking around with Nico wasn’t the hardest thing about their relationship.

It was a piece of cake; they have been escaping with each other since they could walk.

No, the most difficult thing was keeping their relationship a secret.

Will wanted nothing more than to kiss NIco and hold his hand and court him with flowers and music.

It hurt that they could only be seen as friends. That he couldn’t show that world that Nico di Angelo was his boyfriend and that he loved him more than anything.

When Will was with Nico, he wasn’t the prince. He wasn’t royalty and there was no special treatment.

With Nico, he was just Will. A boy that was hopelessly in love with his best friend.

Two months into their relationship, Nico was acting strange.

It all started after the princes and princesses of Venus visited the palace, and Will doesn’t know what he did wrong. Nico’s been avoiding him; everytime Will was in a room, Nico found an exucse to leave.

It kept Will awake at night, wondering why Nico suddenly doesn’t acknowledge his existance.

It went on for four days, until Will had enough. He entered the knights’ training arena, knowing Nico was there around this time of day.

He was right; there sparring with a dummy was his boyfriend, who was currently shirtless. Will tried not to think about that fact, knowing he can’t get distracted from his mission.

It took a few seconds for Nico to notice his presence, but when he did, his eyes widened, like a prey catching sight of its predator and he suddenly dropped his sword.

He looked around, probably searching for an exit.

But Will was advancing on him quickly, until Will had him backed up on a wall.

Will had his hands on wither side of Nico’s head, preventing any attempt to escape.

Will took a deep breath. “Why are you avoiding me?” He hated how pathetic his voice sounded.

Nico looked up at him with round eyes, but Nico replaced it with a passive mask. The only thing hinting at his nervousness was his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.  “I’m not.”

“Bullshit.” Will said, sounding harsher than he meant it to.

“Will, let me go.”, Nico looked down, not metting his eyes.

“What’s wrong? What did I do? Nico, please.” Will’s vision blurred.

“I can’t. Now let me go, William. We can’t be seen with each other.”, Nico’s voice was cold as steel.

Will felt his insides harden. A burning anger filled his veins.

“As your crown prince, I order you to tell me what’s wrong.”, Will’s voice was low with anger.

Nico’s head shot up, his facewas filled with shock. Will never used his power to get something he wanted.

But the disbelief wore off and Nico’s had an expression of rage.

“That’s exactly the problem. You’re crown prince, Will. Me, I’m nothing. We can’t be together Will. For the love of the gods above, Will, you make me want things I can’t have. I don’t deserve you. I’ve never had. You deserve someone better than me; giving you the life I never could. I’m just the son of the head guard, destined to be protect you, not love you.”, Nico looked at him, eyes overflowing with too many emotions Will could read.

Will’s voice felt stuck in his throat.

Nico began walking away before Will caught his wrist.

“I don’t need anyone else. I need you.”

Nico’s eyes softened, but a sad smile grew on his face, tears were freefalling down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry.”

Nico’s fingers slid out of Will’s grasp and all Will could do was stare at Nico’s figure as he walked farther an farther away.

His legs gave up from under him and he crumpled on the floor, a mess of broken parts, broken by the only person who could fix it.

The Summer Solstice Ball has always been Will’s favorite time of year.

He always loved the ay the palace seemed to glow from the laughter and the fun. How Will could feel how alive the castle seemed.

But this year, Will didn’t feel like dancing and partying with the hundreds of his father’s subjects.

Even after three weeks, he was still nursing his broken heart.

He faked being ill for the first few days. He holed himself up in his room, not having any human contact, except for the occasional maid coming with a tray of food.

After being dragged out of his room by his father, he avoided Nico like the plague. Oh how the tables have turned.

He was only at the ball because of his father’s request. Will stood in the sidelines, watching people have the night of their lives. Carefully sipping his drink, as he watched people laugh and dance.

His eyes skimmed the room, when he found a familar, heartwrenching figure. Nico stood on the other side of the ball, in his formal clothes next to his father.

He looked dashing, with his hair neat and his clothes, looking quite regal. His sword hung at his hip.  

His heart felt like a dead weight in his chest as he met Nico’s eyes.

He watched as Nico was suddenly making his way through the crowd. Will felt panic quicken his heartbeat.

Nico was close now, it was a matter of seconds until he reached Will, and Will didn’t need that. He didn’t want to cry in front of his father and his guests.

Nico was a couple of feet away from him, when the sound of the doors being smashed open interupted Will’s dilemma.

Screams filled the grand hall. The only word Will understood was intruders.

No. Will’s vision tunneled. His hands shook from panic.

He heard metal clashing on metal. Bloodcurling screams. He stepped in what he hoped was red wine.

He knew where the intruders came from before anyone had to tell. He knew his father’s grey hairs weren’t just caused by old age, but the lands of Kronos threatening to invade them. The ball was the perfect time.

A dark figure was suddenly in front of him. A black mask covering their features.  A long sword in his hands, ready to strike Will down.

Will closed his eyes, steeling himself for the blow… that never came.

He opened his eyes and saw Nico standing over the dark figure, who was now on the ground with a depp gash on his chest.

“You need to get out of here.” Nico said, eyes glinting dangerously with determination.

Will was in too much shock to argue as Nico pulled him. Nico shielded him from any harm. He playing the hero he was born to be.

Will’s breath was heavy when they finally got out of the ballroom.

They turned a few corners beofre arriving at an empty wall; Nico tapped at a small pad in the corner in a synchronized pattern. The pad was small and unnoticeable. You would only see it if you knew where to look. A door opened from the wall, a secret hiding spot in case of any emrgency like this one.

Will’s heart seized as he realized that it was only big enough for one person.

“No. Nico, no. I’m not letting you stay out here with them.” Will shook his head as the tears welled up inside his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but it’s my duty, Will.” Nico’s soft hand grazed his cheek.

“You could die, Nico. I can’t let you die. No. Don’t leave me. Please.” The tears felt hot on his skin. His voice was desperate, pleading.

“Will.”, Nico smiled fondly at him, with a melancholy look in his eyes. “I’m sorry for ever hurting you. I love you. I love you more than anything. Never forget that.”

Nico leaned in and connected their lips in a swift kiss.

“Promise me you’ll come back.” Will whispered against Nico’s lips.

Nico didn’t reply; all Will to was that tender smile.

Footsteps interupted their moment, and Nico, in a hurried fashion, pushed Will in the secret room.

Before the door closed, their eyes met for the last time. A silent message passing between them.

Goodbye.

Will didn’t know how long he was alone in the dark small room.

He couldn’t sleep; his thoughts kept running around in his mind.

Was Nico alive?

Was Father alive?

How many did they kill?

How many did he fail to protect?

He was supposed to be out there. He was supposed to be helping. He was useless. What kind of king was he supposed to be, if right now he couldn’t even protect his subjects?

He knew it was hopeless to try to open the door from the inside. It could be only opened by the pad outside.

It was eating him alive that he wasn’t out there, with his people.

It could have been four hours or four days, but the door finally opened.

Outside stood the tall figure of his father’s advisor, Chiron. Usually, he was wise and unmoving. Right now, his expression ws grim.

“Your Highness. The intruders have been defeated, but with great cost.”

Will’s heart felt like it was about to burst. “My father?”

“ He was injured, but has already been healed. All he needs is rest.”, Chiron said.

A weight lifted off of his chest.

“That’s good news to hear. Chiron, do you know where NIco is?” Will asked impatiently.

The color seemed to drain from Chiron’s face. His pursed his lips in a thin line.

Will’s heart dropped.

“He’s in the infirmary. You should hurry, Your Majesty.”

Before Chiron even finished, Will was already sprinting towards the infirmary.

His heart beat erratically.

When he got to the infirmary, he quickly opened the doors. Inside were beds with injured knights and guards.

The injuries ranged from broken and missing limbs to deep slices. Some bodies ere covered with a thin white sheet. Will approached a medic, and asked where Nico was.

She cast her eyes downward and silently led him to a bed.

There lay Nico, with cuts and brusies over his formal clothes. But the worst wound was a bleeding gash over Nico’s abdomen. A white bandage was steadily frowing red by the second.

Will felt his heart and hope shatter at the sight; Nico looked bad.

Will crouched down next to the bed, grabbing a hold of Nico’s hand. He swallowed down the tears. “Hey, Neeks.”

Nico’s eyes weakly opened. “Hey. You’re a sight for the sore… everything.”

Will let out a wet laugh. “You’re gonna get through this, alright. You’re going to keep fighting.”

“I’m tired, Will. Too much fighting.” Nico’s eyes began to close.

“No, stay awake. Neeks, stay with me.” Will pleaded with Nico, kissing his knuckles to help him stay awake. He didn’t care that people saw them; all that mattered was for Nico to stay awake.

“Will, I love you.” Nico weakly squeezed his hand.

“I love you so much, Neeks. Please don’t leave me.” The tears, once again, streamed down his face.

“Don’t cry. Smile for me. So I can see it one last time. I’ve always loved your smile.” Nico’s voice was hardly a whisper.

“Don’t say that.” Will sobbed, chest heaving.

“Please, Will. Promise me you’ll take care of my dad. Take care of yourself. Promise?” Nico said, his grip loosened around Will’s fingers.

“I promise, but that doesn’t mean you can die, di Angelo.”

A small smile appeared on Nico’s face. “Sometimes Will, we just have to let go.”

Nico’s breath slowly came to a stop. His hand went limp in Will’s. His eyes never opened again. His lips never spoke another word.

Will stoped sobbing, only the quiet tears escaped and ran down his cheeks.

He was gone. The boy he loved, grew up with, was gone.

Will was right.

Few things did hurt more in the world than a forbidden love.

One of those things was watching the love of your life die in your arms.

Because nothing, absolutely nothing, could break you more than that.

are ya’ll okay?

AVery Angsty IK

I cried writing this bc NOTHINGHURTS MORE READING/WRITING ½ OF YOUR OTP DYING IN THE OTHER ARMS

HOPE YALL LIKE IT

Comments are so so so amazing Ty to those who leave them below you guys are lovely people :3

btw requests are still open

Ari xxx

[polis-fandom]

The Last Jedi thoughts

It’s been a week and I’m still on the fence with this movie. Everytime I think I’m getting over the disappointment and starting to enjoy what was good there, I come across some review that’s like “THIS IS THE GREATEST STAR WARS MOVIE EVERRRR!!! ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING!” and it flares up again. I feel like I’m in the Gombrowicz’s tale, “how is it breathtaking, when it’s not breathtaking?! how is it beautiful, when it’s not beautiful? how is Rian Johnson a great director, when he’s the worst one since George Lucas?”. I need to get away from any discourse about this movie, or I’ll end up hating it. And it doesn’t deserve my hatred, because it’s not really a bad movie.

Bitter Me: *whispers* Luke Skywalker.

Me:

So I’ll just put my feelings here and move on. Under the cut, ‘cause lots of spoilers and overhelming bitterness, tho nothing new, others said all that already, so ignore as you wish.

“Star Wars: A New Hope” was the first movie I watched in cinema. No, I mean the remastered version from 1997, I’m not that old. But, yeah, Star Wars were the movies of my childhood, and are still among my favourite stories ever. After surviving the rocky Prequel Trilogy during my teenage years, I was excited to be brought back to the universe, and while The Force Awakens was redundant as far as the storyline goes, it won me over with the visuals. I made a conscious decision not to get attached to any of the new characters, because I felt there wasn’t enough to know about them. Besides, in the past Luke Skywalker didn’t became my favourite character until the second movie, so I figured I had the time to fall in love with them until I saw more.

Nice Me: Look at this one, he’s played by your favourite actor.

Bitter Me: That one is garbage.

Bitter Me: I’ll just wait to see the whole story. Maybe others will do something extra.

Nice Me: Like what? Blow up the Starkiller Base? Risk their life to save friends? Talk to Darth Vader’s helmet?

Bitter Me: Lose a limb.

(Btw, did you notice the advancement of the medical treatment in Last Jedi? The guy gets slashed through the back and wakes up mere days later just fine, other barely gets a scar…

Bitter Me: at least they are consistent with that.)

So, going in to see the Last Jedi, I had open mind, no expectations for the story, because Star Wars - aka the series that always makes it to the top of the lists of biggest plot twists ever - and I knew nothing besides what was shown in the trailer. And yet, I made one mistake. I saw someone’s tweet about how it’s the best Star Wars movie since the Empire…

Bitter Me: …and then I spent first hour trying to understand, where did this guy saw that greatness, because it just wasn’t there.

I’ve got the biggest gripes with the editing, cinematography, and directing in general. You see, this series, however bad the movies were, they at least were visually stunning. They had certain style and flow - despite all the action, there were always slower scenes, a bit more nostalgic, giving you time to soak up the visuals and feel the emotion. Johnson fails at that repeatedly. The edit at the beging is very rushed, the scenes chopped, and set-up of some could’ve been better. Even Ahch-too, which was amazingly shot in previous film, here becomes a more of clustered and claustrophobic set.

Nice Me: But there are some magnificient shots. The admiral Holdo launching into hyperspace - absolutely beautiful. The pretorian guards fight - one of the best lightsabers fights. The Crait scenes with crystals and everything.  

Bitter Me: which just angers me more, because if he’s capable of pulling of shots like that, why the whole movie isn’t equally beautiful???

Nice Me: But the Leia in vacuum scene starts beautiful too. I’m ecstatic that we finally have an undisputed proof that Leia is not only force sensitive, but she actually mastered the use of it. It would have been really interesting to see more of her in the next movie, might she have become a teacher Rey needs...

Nice Me:…but then the latter half of that scene is shot in such a way, it comes of as silly and utterly dumb. The guy is just bad at showing visions.

Nice Me: Breath. Just breath.

Bitter Me: …that one was horribly edited.

Nice Me: But the scene at dark place at AhchToo was impressive…

Bitter Me: …as a trick shot with no substance that leads to nowhere. He could have used some of that creative visuals for the Force Skype scenes, they were edited in such bland manner…

Nice Me: …you’re complaining about that because it reminded you of Alina and Darkling having identical force bond in Grisha, down to the shirtless scene…

Bitter Me:… as bad as that was, Bardugo at least gave a good explanation of how it was possible.

Nice Me: Snoke did it.

Bitter Me: I recognize the narrative need to create such connection between them, I just think it could have been done in a more artistic way visually.

Bitter Me: Rian is praised for the daring and innovative writing of this movie. And yet the main plot can be summed as: they are evacuating the rebel resistance base, escape - but not far, cause they can’t enter hyperspace, so they sneak into evil ship and try to turn off tracking beam, and then seek hidding on a nearby planet. Yep, I’ve never seen a star wars movie with a plot like that.

Bitter Me: So what’s so daring here? destroying all the symbols of the star wars franchise? Making Luke grumpy and acting against his very core?

Bitter Me: Look, I’m not so much against making Luke a space hobo hermit, who no longer wants to train Jedi, it‘s possible to have such turn after you tried and failed. But I have everything against Luke trying to murder Ben, because he’s too powerful and tempted to the dark side. Luke did everything he could to save his father, who was far deeper on the Dark side. Luke was himself tempted by it, and resisted it. Luke would have done everything to save Ben, but he would not draw a lightsaber on him…

Nice Me: But he says it was a flitting feeling, just a moment of weakness, he regrets deeply…

Bitter Me: What exactly young Ben Solo had done to lead Luke to even consider such an act? We are only told the dark side was rising in him, and that’s sounds vague as hell.

Look, The Star Wars at it’s core were a story about hope - that there’s good even in a bad person, about redemption, and unwavering familial love. Luke was the embodiment of that, and that scene goes directly against it.

If he so insist on having such a drastic turn for Luke, he should’ve made us understand, how did it happen. We should’ve seen more of young Ben Solo, and their dynamic prior to the break. It would serve both their characters and story overall better than this cheap shot for the shock value, so we, like Rey, would cry: You have created Kylo Ren???

But, honestly, if Rian is oh-so-clever and daring writer, he could’ve come up with a better, more complex backstory for Luke and Ben’s breakdown.

Bitter Me: and besides Luke’s arc here? The big lesson he learns? „the real great master let’s his students grow beyond him.” That’s such a simple one, so obvious, it’s dumb and annoying, not worthy to be Luke’s final arc. He was wiser than that. Luke was never about being great and powerful, he rejected offers to became such through dark side, he left his jedi training because his friends were more important to him. Why would he be afraid of his student becoming more powerful than him?

Nice Me: But Luke is great. Like when he says „what do you expect me to do? show up and wave my lightsaber, and they will all run off scared?”, he might be mocking the heroic ways and everyone’s expectations, but if you look back, he achieved his biggest win in the Original Trilogy by tossing asside the lightsaber and refusing to fight.

Bitter Me: …and then he goes and does excatly, what he mocked: shows up, wave the lightsaber and scare off the pesky First Order.

Nice Me: And it was EPIC! And the shoulder brush! hilarious!

Bitter Me: yeah, yeah. Btw, was that their first meeting since Luke tried to murder Ben? so he just like that, shows up, mocks Kylo’s powerlessness, fights him and then promises to forceghost hunt him for eternity?

Nice Me: What do you want him to do?

Bitter Me: …I don’t know, APOLOGIZE for trying to murder him?

Nice Me: fine, but this is still about redemption and love and hope. Rose says: That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love. It’s a great quote.

Bitter Me: Then who is saving Kylo? whose there left to love him? Rey, walking off on him, closing door on him? Leia, giving up on him, saying we need to kill him? What mother would say something like that? Leia would say something like that? The princess who was always compassionate, and hugging everyone around? Who spent all the previous film insisting on bringing Ben back?

Nice Me: She says it in a tone that suggests she’s not believing it herself. like she’s trying to convince herself, because others expect that of her, because he’s a threat to them all. And Luke counters it immedietly.

Bitter Me: …It’s still there.

Nice Me: …and there’s still third movie. The story is in progress.

Nice Me: At least Snoke is dead. That was GREAT. He always felt like this unnecessary ouside evil force, that people can conveniently blame for all the bad things done, just kill him and everythings gonna be bright and shiny again. By removing him so early, they made way and time to explore more complex evil inside us, err, characters, or harder to spot like the riches benefiting from the ongoing war. That’s a nice storytelling turn.

Nice Me: And Rey as a random nobody is a joy for my heart, because I’m a bit done with Chosen One trope, where hero’s been destinated for heroics on the qualms of being born a prince or noble or someone powerful. I’ve had hard times connecting with such characters, because I myself never felt born special.

(Bitter Me: Then how did you end up liking Luke, the very icon of Chosen One trope?

Nice Me: Loss of the limb.)

Bitter Me: okay, but that was only told to us, just like Rey’s vision of Kylo’s future. Told, not shown. I mean, given how bad Rian is at visions, it would be cringey, but still it’s a movie, use the visuals to convey the information. Not everything needs to be telegraphed, did we really need that guy liking the rocks on Crait to know it’s salt? Who cares it’s salt? That was distracting.

Nice Me: …that was to bring the attention to the footprint…

Bitter Me: …the big zoom on it did that just fine. The joke was unnecesary.

Bitter Me: Actually half the jokes were unnecessary. The humour was crude, often misplaced and under cutting the drama of the scenes. They say it was needed to balance out the dark themes this movie deals with, but in my opinion the previous movies dealt with the same dark drama, and yet used humour in a less forced nor cynical way. Some say it felt more like a Marvel movie, and true, that’s how it felt.

Nice Me:…but you loved Thor Ragnarok - for it’s humour exactly.

Bitter Me: one, Thor used humour with better placement and sense of purpose, didn’t try to undercut the emotional impact of the scenes with it. Two, it was a Marvel movie - you expect such humour, because that’s their style. Going to the Star Wars you expect Star Wars - great visuals, action scenes, emotions, feelings, not disgusting alien cow. It’s anti-climatic.

Besides, why are we so ashemed of pure emotions and drama, that we need to undercut it with gags and jokes? why there must be a wink, „yeah, we did this serious scene, but we’re not sure we got it good enough, people might mock us for it, better mock ourselves first.” For gods sake, dare to be honest. If it’s serious, heroic, epic, let it be such!

Nice Me: The latter half of the movie was great, tho. Rey using force in non-combat way to move rocks and save friends, nice way to turn joke around into something beautiful. All of them coming together on Millenium Falcon board. Luke’s death with the suns setting, making nice parallel to the sunset at Tatooine long ago at the begining of his journey. That last scene about the power of storytelling, I cried a little, it was so moving…

Bitter Me: … the storytelling about what? Self-righteous jedi deciding who is worthy of forgivness or chance for redemption, and who to finish off while they’re still a kid and asleep? About mothers giving up on their sons? About destroying everything that once was sacred, stripping it of the value? It’s all clever writting, but without understanding the soul of the Star Wars, without keeping it’s core sacred, it came of shallow.

Nice Me: shhh, calm down. It’s just a movie.

Bitter Me: How did we come to the Star Wars being just a movie? just a story? quite ironic, in the context of that ending scene.

Magic is gone.

Nice Me: Come on, Let’s watch it again, maybe you’ll like it better. There’s a cute orange murderball...

Bitter Me: …and my fave actor gets trashed around. Fine, let’s watch it again.

[auradonuniversity]

Meet The Halcyon. They’re the child of Anna and Kristoff, a sophomore at Auradon University and hails from Auradon. Some say they look like MAXENCE DANET-FAUVEL and they’re TAKEN.

Name: Fjord Bjorman

Age: 20 years old

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: tbd

Occupation:  Food Delivery Driver

Extra Curricular and Clubs: Acapella, Band and AU F.M

Major: Major in Archaeological Studies and Minor in Music

Biography

From the moment Fjord Bjorman opened his eyes to the world, there was definitely something special about him. Youngest child of Anna and Kristoff, there was no doubt in the world that the boy would grow up surrounded by love and warmth. It was basically guaranteed - with loving parents, two siblings to run after, and an aunt and cousin nearby to spend countless hours with; Fjord would never be alone and never want for anything. The only thing that nobody was counting on was how boisterous the boy could be. Jovial and with an infectious warmth, Fjord was that kid that radiated happiness and light. It was said throughout Arendelle that it was very hard to be anything but cheerful around the boy.

He had always been a ray of sunshine - happy-go-lucky, carefree and rather spirited. His mother had often commented on how Fjord’s smile could light up a room, and pretty soon the comment was attached to his voice. Ever since he’d found his father’s lute something had clicked within him. Music, it would become one of his great loves in life. It wasn’t uncommon to hear the gentle plucking of the lute from his bedroom window, where the boy would sit with his legs draping over the sill, not a care in the world, as he plucked away at the shabby old instrument.

The older he got, the more his personality quirks caused a bit of trouble. While his boisterous attitude had been cute when he was a child, there were times when it became a bit of a nuisance when he was older. Fjord had a particular dislike of rules and a lack of the ability to behave himself. You set boundaries, he would break them; and his parents had a hard time reining the wild child in. He spent more time out in the woods, running with the reindeer and exploring every nook and cranny of the surrounding areas, than within close range of the town’s limits. He’d once made an attempt to climb the North Mountain, wanting to have an adventure like his parents had, until they forbid him from going that far. Didn’t stop him from pushing the limits to these restrictions and going as far as he was physically able to go.

His adventures outside of Arendelle proper lead him to be so close to the trolls who had adopted his father and Sven years ago - Bulda declaring that she was going to keep Fjord just as she had Kristoff when he was young. The trolls taught Fjord many things - about life, about people, some things about love. But they also told him stories of magic, and of the world beyond, stories of ancient times and civilizations and their grand feats. These stories in particular intrigued the young boy, who had grown a deep love and appreciation for the secret histories only the trolls knew. He’d spend hours among them, listening to Grand Pabbie and learning from his wise words. As the years went by, it seemed that Fjord was more at home with the trolls than he was with his own family back home.

Never one to have trouble fitting in, the choice to go to Auradon University after four years ‘slaving away’ at Auradon Prep seemed like a logical step. Where he had boasted throughout all of high school that his garage band, Ragnar Rock, was going to become the next big thing in all of the kingdoms, Fjord instead followed the encouragement of his troll relatives and decided to study ancient civilizations. He is minoring in music, but his ultimate goal is to become an archaeologist - to unearth the secrets of the past and shed light on the ancient heritage from long before he and his peers’ famous parents’ days. There are more fairy tales hidden in the past, he knows this, and he wants to uncover all of these things. Of course that’s in the future - if he can manage to focus on studies. It’s kind of hard when AU is teeming with an active social scene where wild parties and fun is to be had at every corner. He’s just a sophomore, and intends to get the most of the college scene during his first couple years before he has to settle down and focus on those dreams of his.

Character Traits

positive: affable, care free, spontaneous  negative: inconsiderate, oblivious, boisterous

Headcanons

As a son of Kristoff, Fjord is a fan of ice. Ice Skating. Ice Sculpting. Ice Harvesting. Ice was just kind of part of the package. When he was really little, he used to say he would become an Ice Harvester like his dad, and would go with him on ice cutting trips. It wasn’t until he found his father’s lute, and then eventually spent more time with the trolls, that he would change his mind about following in his father’s footsteps. But his opinion on ice in general changed drastically when he’d fallen and injured himself while ice skating with his family. A fractured wrist wasn’t a big deal, but it was almost the end of the world to the self-proclaimed “greatest lute player of all time”. He thought his life was over. Since recovering, he’s stayed very far from ice and has officially dropped any plans to take on the ice harvesting gig with his dad.

As the youngest of three - and to a princess who had not ascended any throne - Fjord isn’t really pent up to be the prince of anything. He doesn’t care to date princesses, or for royal matchmaking. He wants to find true love and he doesn’t care who that’s with. Just like his mom, who found true love with a socially inept ice harvester whose best friend is a reindeer - Fjord is all about real human connection. That being said, he’s incredibly non-committal and doesn’t get to know people very far beyond the surface level. He also doesn’t want to fall in love with the first person to come by and give him attention; he’s heard one too many times how that ended up for his mom and he’s not about to get his heart frozen for some self-centered royal with double motives.

Fjord had decided to take on a lot of odd jobs when he was a teenager, saving up every penny he earned. His adventurous side matched with the growing archaeologist in him meant he wanted to explore every inch of the kingdom. When he was old enough to afford a vehicle, he went out and got the shabbiest thing he could and fixed it up. And then he started saving up again, putting every scrap away for his adventures. Summer after senior year at Auradon Prep, he set off on his first road trip, passing through as many kingdoms as he could and seeking out the best historical spots within. It’s becoming a thing for him - he works several jobs while juggling school and saves all his earnings so that during every break he can take a trip somewhere. It’s only pushed the distance between him and some of his family members, because Fjord is out there trying to learn all he can. He longs for the day he’s free to travel all over the place, to learn about all the cultures and their unique histories. Currently he’s got a bucket list of places to visit, including Olympus, Egypt, India and Machu Picchu.

On his eighteenth birthday he gifted himself with his very first tattoo, and become a little addicted. He’s amassing tattoos at the speed of light, with the goal to eventually be covered in them. Most of his tattoos are reference to the stories the trolls have told him, or based on doodles some of his friends had drawn on his arms during classes or hang outs. His favorite tattoo is a set of runic letters over his heart. Ever the mama’s boy, they spell out Anna, because at this rate the only girl who will ever truly have his heart completely is his mother.

Connections

The Icarian: Freshmen gotta stick together, right? Everyone needs a pal to get through the wild ride that is freshmen year and The Icarian found a best friend in The Halcyon. The two have a lot in common and their shared interests left them with a brotherly bond that freshmen only hope for during their first year. And especially during rush week.

The Academic: The Academic and The Halcyon have never been close. It’s not that they dislike each other or anything, they just don’t have much in common. The Academic might hold up in the library all day to read a thrilling murder mystery, whereas The Halcyon might spend 12 hours playing video games. There’s just nothing they have in common to bond over, at least none that the two have found.

The Reticent: Everyone has been wondering how the royal’s and villain’s were going to coexist under this new rules, and when The Halcyon and The Reticent literally bumped into each other on the first day of orientation week, no one knew what to expect. But The Halcyon has no interest in digging up old issues, especially their parent’s issues, so they apologized and kept walking, much to The Reticent’s surprise.

[marvelandponder]

Bling-Bling, Darlings

Really, what we’re asking when we pose a question like that is what is Rarity’s character based on. It’s more than fair to say at this point the Elements of Harmony themselves are obsolete, but they undoubtedly helped to form the characters and set a course for their development in the series as a whole. 

And since the real aim of this post is to map Rarity’s character-arc over the course of all 7 seasons and counting, it only made sense to me to start at the beginning.

Or, rather, before the beginning, in the show’s very development!

Once upon a time, when Lauren Faust first dreamed up our main cast, all the Elements were pretty well the same as what they would be in the show. All, except Rarity. Before she was the Element of Generosity, she was the Element of Inspiration.

When I was looking over Rarity’s biggest lessons and teachings, I found that the themes of inspiration and creativity carried over into the show in interesting ways. Not just that she’s a dressmaker, and uses her medium to bring out the beauty in others, but that that creativity may have turned into her biggest character flaw. Her greatest tool and yet her biggest burden.

I think Rarity’s generosity still very much defines the core of who she is, but what I’ve always admired about Rarity is her complexity. Her versatility, her presence. All of these things are owed, in part, to the theme of her development: Expectation Versus Reality.

Of course, this is just my interpretation, but as far as I see it, this over-arching theme usually presents itself in either one of three ways:

How we see Rarity, and how she really is

How others see Rarity, and how she really is

And most importantly, how Rarity's flights of fancy (emphasis on the fancy) conflict with reality

So, this fashion week, I’d like to take some time to appreciate the true beauty that is Rarity. Finally. With this, every member of the main 6 finally has their own editorial (I... clearly didn’t time this out well), and so it seems we saved one of the best for last. Here’s to you, Rarara!

A Tale of Two Rararas

From the beginning, we knew Rarity always dreamed of living in Canterlot. And already, I want to pause in the episode-by-episode run-down to say the fact that Rarity never conflicts with Twilight over this just speaks to her strength of character. 

Sure, there are certainly times when Rarity can be petty, but as Green Isn’t Your Colour proved very early on, even when she does feel envious, her selfless, giving nature wins out, and she won’t hold it against anyone. A far cry from most diva characters, isn’t she?

But to round back to the point, I always found it a tad ironic Twilight lived the life Rarity thought she wanted. Growing up in Canterlot, rubbing elbows with nobles and royalty, and even becoming a princess. The glamour! The intrigue! The... socially awkward bookworm who saw none of these things as opportunities to be taken advantage of.

A part of me thinks that if Rarity were to grow up in Canterlot instead of Twilight, that Rarity wouldn’t be nearly as down-to-earth as ours is. And whether she’s self-aware enough to realize that or not, Rarity’s never once begrudged Twilight for living out some of her dreams. Instead, she’s just dying to hear about it and support her.

Which leads us to the first major Rarity storyline, in Ticketmaster: wanting to marry a Prince she hasn’t met. This is, of course the set-up for an example of what I was talking about early, the whole expectation versus reality thing with Rarity’s fantasy of a perfect love life coming into conflict with the reality of the jerk she was fantasizing about.

So, we next move onto Look Before You Sleep, and it’s here where we give props to the Rarijack shippers: they’re not wrong that this relationship is cute and important. 

This touches on the second part of the theme that I mentioned, how other characters continually learn that Rarity is more than meets the eye. Applejack and Rarity getting to know each other on a deeper and deeper level throughout the series is one of the bigger demonstrations of Rarity’s true depth.She’s not just about frilly dresses and all things frou-frou, as AJ initially believed.

In fact, to skip ahead by one, she’s not your damsel in distress or the frightened princess, either. A Dog and Pony Show is among the classics of season 1 in my book because it’s one of the first times they just straight up tell you Rarity’s resourceful and capable without mincing words. Because hell yeah.

That’s one of the episodes that really play with audience expectation for Rarity, and having it relatively early on was an excellent way to establish Rarity has more character depth than most other fashionista characters in shows for little girls.

Going back to the one we missed, you’ll find another true classic: Suited for Success. I could argue this has a connection to both of the Elements Rarity was initially thought to embody. Her generosity is on full display, not only making these dresses out of the goodness of her heart, but tailoring them to each of her friends’ tastes despite being a fashion expert herself. Then of course there’s the inspiration or creative aspect of it, how Rarity’s struggles perfectly emulate the struggles of real-life professional creatives trying to please all kinds of picky customers.

To add on, I just want to say this episode made me admire Rarity quite a bit. Both her determination to make her friends feel beautiful and her savvy business tactics combined with her creative passion are wonderful traits to have at her core. As entertaining as her dramatics can be (a special thanks goes to Tabitha St. Germain, who never once makes Rarity’s explosions of emotion anything but endearing), have not one but two deeper layers to Rarity makes for an excellent main character.

As we would come to see, both of those core traits have their pitfalls. Green Isn’t You Colour is a fun example, though, because it plays on the negative side to Rarity’s Inspiration Element and yet the positive side of her Generosity. Rarity’s always dreamed of living the glamorous life of a famed seamstress, which leads to her being envious of Fluttershy when she gets to live that out (by the way, if you hadn’t guessed by now, Rarity’s extremely relatable to all creative types). And yet, it’s her giving nature that stops her from being selfish and greedy. 

Next in chronological order is the Cutie Mark Chronicles, and this is one of my bigger arguments for the theme I’ve been talking about so far.

So, Rarity’s horn leads her to a rock, and I think with that long build-up of being dragged all over, there’s that expectation being built up in little Rarity’s mind that this must be important. Again, her tendency to dramatize things gets the better of her. Which is why she freaks out when she gets there and it’s just a big dumb rock---but we all know the rock itself breaks her expectations even further when it’s broken, revealing the true beauty deep within the layers.

Expectation, meet reality.

Speaking of, the Best Night Ever is all about that theme, and I think it goes without saying how Rarity experiences it firsthand like the rest of the girls.

Next up is Sisterhooves Social, and I could make the argument that Rarity’s expectations for her little sister not accounting for her well-meaning intent is what causes the conflict. As well as the fact that the reality is, as a little filly, Sweetie Belle isn’t yet capable of garnishing a breakfast the “proper” way, or doing laundry without shrinking the clothes. Rarity’s an adult with adult responsibilities, so really the lesson becomes about appreciating that inner-beauty/good intent that her little sister has while forgiving the lack of ability.

Then, Sweet and Elite happens, which is probably my favourite Rarity episode to date, in part because it reminds me of an excellent Simpsons episode, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield. Rarity’s had dreams of living in Canterlot since before the first episode, expertly demonstrated by the song The Type of Pony Everypony Should Know.

But even though there are wonderful elites like Fancy Pants in Canterlot, Rarity finds the bullshit of devaluing ponies like her friends is in fact pretty damn toxic, and that the social hierarchy that she’s admired for so long would put ponies she loves at the bottom. Again, awesome episode, really demonstrates what you might think would be a simple story about Snooty Rich People v.s. Humble Country Bumpkins into a story about a character’s changing worldview on class systems.

After that, we move onto Rarity Takes Manehatten and--- wait, that can’t be right... What do you mean there wasn’t a Rarity episode for almost two seasons?!

I seriously had to have this pointed out to me by the ever insightful @digikate813 because as much as I love Rarity, I didn’t even notice until I really looked.

In part, you could argue because Rarity got so many episodes and starring roles in season 1, that might’ve been the reason they held off on developing her in season 3 (that, and obviously the shortened 13 episode run), but still, not a fun time to be a Rarity fan.

Anyway, Rarity Takes Manehatten. Season 4 was all about showing how the characters could either betray their Element, like Rainbow Dash and Applejack, or be betrayed by it, like Pinkie, Fluttershy, and of course Rarity. Twilight ended up literally having to choose between magic and friendship (which, by the way, still shocks me that her fatal flaw is that, to quote my favourite book series from my childhood, she “would give up the world to save a friend”...). 

And for Rarity, her episode ends up being the antithesis to Green Isn’t Your Colour, where she’s at her best creatively, but her giving nature ends up biting her in the ass. And yet, it’s still the same overarching theme: with the blind trust she places in Suri Polomare with her fabric, Rarity fully expects that Suri is well-meaning. She doesn’t even for a moment hesitate until it’s too late, and the reality of, as Suri puts it, being in the big city.

After that, it’s time for more Rarijack, as we take a look at Simple Ways. Essentially my take away from the episode in terms of Rarity’s overall arc is that she and Applejack, at this point, know each other better than they know themselves, which continues the theme of looking below the surface to find the true beauty within.

Speaking of true beauty, next we have Inspiration Manifestation, which is the episode I first thought of when thinking about the theme of this post: that in some ways, they ended up using Rarity’s old Element of Inspiration as her biggest flaw.

Yes, you can argue that the greedy Rarity we see in Return of Harmony is the literal antithesis of our beloved fashionista, but you can’t deny that the delve into the dark side of Rarity’s dramatic imagination and expectations for how things should/will be much more, this episode being the prime example.

Under the dark magic’s influence, Rarity’s version of Ponyville is... really gaudy. Gold paved streets gaudy. What’s interesting about that is that it becomes more about glory than it is about making it aesthetically pleasing, because when she comes out of it, she seems really taken aback by it. This wouldn’t be Normal Rarity’s ideal Ponyville, it’s just a way of showing herself as the most creative, most beloved pony there is.

And honestly, again, Rarity is extremely relatable to creative types. How many of us have wished we could just manifest our creative thoughts instantly, no work required (but would probably end up abusing that power if it were real)?

Continuing on, we have Canterlot Boutique next, and as Rarity’s very own Magical Mystery Cure or Crusaders of the Lost Mark, it really does emphasize the theme I’ve been talking about. Rarity’s expectations for owning her own boutique in Canterlot and creating a dress known all across Equestria comes into direct conflict with the reality of the business aspects of it all. 

To the point that her business manager is made to seem to the audience like a villain for a while there, until Rarity finds the solution and we realize Sassy Saddles isn’t evil, and can in fact help Rarity’s dream. Even the solution itself is to make her business (manager) work by her rules, and cultivate her creative expression. An excellent episode for an excellent end-cap to Rarity’s goal.

Now, here’s a question: did Rarity’s character arc end when her goal was reached?

Drama Horse Sans Drama?

Because up until this point, that whole expectation V. reality thing has mostly been centered around Rarity learning how to be more grounded, appreciate intentions as opposed to results, and realize her dreams of living the high life often don’t take into account what that might actually entail.

But in Canterlot Boutique, well, she did learn the harsh reality of that situation, but I don’t know that she applied it universally, realizing that she herself didn’t account for how difficult it might truly be.

I think it was a huge step in her development, but she’s far from done growing, and far from done being overdramatic about things. But there is a shift after this to Rarity teaching others.

Rarity Investigates! is an easy example. Rainbow Dash doesn’t have faith in Rarity’s deduction skills because she assumes(/expects) that Rarity’s focus on details is only frivolous.

In Made in Manehatten, Rarity’s main role is to reassure Applejack that even if she’s out of her element, she’s still useful and contributing. On the flip-side, Applejack’s “Day” Off demonstrates how close they are by having Rarity make Applejack relax for once.

The Cart Before the Ponies is an exception to many things, though. Here, Rarity’s once again the one in need of a lesson, as she gets lost in her pursuit of righting a past wrong to the point that she’s blind to the reality of her sister currently wanting to try making her own cart.

P.P.O.V. might seem to buck the trend of Rarity and Applejack understanding each other, but I think that’s due in part to how each character was trying to get out of their element, and thus, totally confused the ones who know them so well. So, yes, Rarity doesn’t understand the “sea madness” Applejack has.

Moving on up to season 7, Forever Filly has Rarity again in the student role, learning the opposite of what she did in Sisterhooves Social. There, it was that Sweetie was too young to be as capable as Rarity expected of her, but here, it’s that Sweetie Belle can’t stay young forever. I see what you did there, writers.

Honest Apple shows Rarity helping Applejack not be a dick about her opinions, and giving young, up-and-coming fashion designers a platform she would’ve killed for at their age. What a good horse.

And then we have Fame and Misfortune, an episode that showcases, among many other things, Rarity’s response to harsh criticism. The episode sets out to prove the mane 6 still have flaws, and it certainly does, proving that even though Rarity’s learned quite a few lessons, that Element of Inspiration in her/her creative side still wants to be loved and valued for her work.

But I’ll leave us off on her part in Campfire Tales, because while it may be a small role, it proves, in essence, what Rarity truly values is a blend of both the Elements I’ve been rambling about. Rarity admires Mistmane not for her popularity or status, but for the way she gives to others by spreading beauty. Generosity and Inspiration combined.

Just like Rarity herself whose proved herself more entertaining, more heartfelt, and more beautiful than meets the eye. I wouldn’t say she’s done growing, but whether it’s the knowledge she’s gained through personal growth or fashion advice, Rarity will always share beauty.

I do MLP editorials like this and MLP episode reviews for all your MLP needs! and here’s the last three things I did, featured:

Triple Threat Review, Campfire Tales Review, and Top 10 Lost MLP Content

Also to celebrate finally finishing all members of the mane 6, take a look here to see me go through the other girls’ character arcs and other mane cast related topics:

Sunset, Pinkie, Rarity, Spike, Twilight, Starlight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack editorials

Year of the Pony

Header Image Wouldn’t be Possible Without...

Rarity by Flizzick Fancy Rarity by RegolithX

Go check out those talented artists!

Yours Ever, R