#the mother gothel references go hard

[phantom-0-writer]

second chances don’t come for free

cw/tw: child death and child abuse and related traumas

7652 words (!?) ao3

Everyone in the family had secrets, and everyone knew that everyone in the family had secrets. It was a promise that came with the crest they all wore on their chest. Some were more open than others, like the way that Richard always avoided tight ropes despite his impeccable balance, and how Father never enters the 4th room on the west wing of the 3rd floor.

Damian had secrets too. 

After a relatively calm night by Gotham’s standards they returned to a briefing for their next big mission. Damian was one of the last to return, busy settling a mugging attempt on his return. 

“Good, looks like everyone’s here.” Father announced, gathering the attention of the rest of the occupants of the room. 

“Looks like a full house.” Richard commented lightly looking around as everyone gathered around the computer. Todd leaned casually on the railway to the changing room away from the crowd but close enough to be included, Drake was clicking away at the keyboard as usual. Brown and Cain stuffing in their last cookie before butting the container away. Thomas stood idly by waiting for Father to explain what their next operation was. Barabra likely was listening from a separate location as usual. 

“We’ve received a tip from a trusted source that the League is up to suspicious activity.” Father began, as Drake pulled up a few schematics on the screen. 

“When are they not?” Brown scoffed, lightly jabbing Richard in the arm. He chuckled lightly. 

“Naturally,” Father continued, “It would be irresponsible for us to all go and leave Gotham unprotected so Spoiler, Orphan, and Signal will stay to cover the city while the rest of us are gone. I’ve informed Batwoman as well, and she’s available to assist you if the situation demands.” Father paused to give the rest an opening to speak, when no one did so, he continued. “We’ve discovered that they’ve found a rare washup of some form of solidified Lazarus Waters. We don’t have much information on the substance itself apart from what's essentially speculation. Regardless if the League found a way to solidify the Waters, there is no telling what they would find themselves in possession of, weapons, tech, humans at a level we’ve never seen.” Damian knew all too well what the League was capable of. After all, he had been the League. Father continued explaining the details of the plan and the positions each of them were meant to play. 

It would be the first time Damian returned to a League of Assassins base since he had first left them 7 years ago and he had met his Father at his own doorstep for the very first time at the age of 10. It had only been the lifetime's worth of rigorous training that kept Damian from curling into his gut at the sight of those eyes. 

The eyes that haunted Damian the last days he had stayed in the league when Mother had ordered him to pack anything he wished to take with him. The look of terror in the eyes that look just like the one that calls him Champ while he ruffles his hair and tells him to go sleep early since it was a school night. 

Damian found himself freshly showered and comfortably under his duvet, then a moment later he was pulling them off to go through the motions of his day. Next thing Damian knew he was in his Robin uniform in a jet that would be taking him to the sight of his biggest mistake. 

The League had always kept a close record of Damian’s activities since he had been taken out of his test tube. Every daily schedule, no matter how mundane, every mission report, no matter how simple, was expertly stored in the League’s database. 

That was with the exception of the final test. The League had taken extensive measures to scrub away any traces of the final test before Damian had gone to live with Father. 

When Father and Drake had meticulously gone through every file about Damian on his arrival to the manor, Damian was told his first kill had been at the age of 4, a politician in his house in the capital city not far from the League’s Nanda Parbat base. 

Though Damian had only understood what it meant to kill - to watch death - only 3 days before he had met his father. 

“Damian.” Richard called, Damian hadn’t noticed that he had been approached, “Are you sure you're clear for this mission.” He sounded concerned. 

“Yes.” Damian responded with a frown. He had his own mission, he could not afford to be benched. 

“You seem kind of out of it. I know you don’t have the best memories with the League and none of us are going to force you to go if you're not ready,” Richard was trying to seem approachable and understanding, and perhaps Damian should be more reciprocative of his efforts. But he ‘knew’? What exactly did Richard Grayson ‘know’ about the League? About what happened to Damian in the League? 

Damian bit his tongue, there was no point in lashing out before a mission only for it to impede needlessly on their cohesiveness “Would you prefer for me to bounce off the walls in excitement?” Damian allowed the snark to roll off his tongue, and raised a brow at the older boy. 

Grayson let himself laugh at that, “No, I suppose not.” And with that Damian was alone again. 

When Damian was 3, Mother had taken him to watch the older kids train. Damian had noticed someone else there, another boy around his age. They looked similar even, but not identical. Damian remembered the jealousy he felt when he started noticing the similarities the boy shared with Mother’s features, the audacity that he looked more like Damian’s mother than Damian himself. When he told Mother, she had found it humorous and praised Damian for looking more like his father insead.

While Damian sat on the bench with mother, their escorts behind them, the boy sat alone at a bench further away. “Damian, do you know who that boy is?” Mother had leaned in to ask him.

“No, Mother.” He answered honestly.

“That is Danyal al-Ghul, your twin brother by 76 seconds.”

“What is a brother, Mother?”

“Your opponent in all that you do, Damian, he is your enemy. You must always remember that.” Damian made his best efforts to remember that, because of course Mother was always right.

Damian and Danyal had been assigned rooms across the hall from each other but they never met outside of coincidental encounters. And whenever they had, someone had always been there to remind Damian that Danyal was not to be trusted, that he would get under Damian’s skin, find ways to exploit Damian, a cheat and a smear on the al-Ghul bloodline. One of his teachers at the time had told him Mother would’ve done well to leave that one in the tube he was born from. The people of the League would not dare lie to an heir of the Demon’s Head, so Damian believed them.

 One night, after a particularly tiring day of training, Damian found he couldn’t sleep and decided to sneak out onto the roof. Damian had not been expecting anyone to be there but he was surprised to see the boy there. He considered his options, assessing his opponent like he had been taught to do. The enemy, Danyal, seemed to act purposefully unaware of Damian’s presence there. There were no weapons stored on him, and his posture was incredibly lax and he simply stared at the stars in the night sky. 

With a sigh, Damian sat silently at his side of the building, and looked into the far expenses of the League's base and the mountains that surrounded it. Though Damian had intended to be alone, he found an unfamiliar sense of comfort from the un-accosting presence of the other, unlike the others of the League who always seemed to need to say something to him. But Damian knew, regardless, the boy was not to be trusted. 

The next night Damain found himself climbing out of his window again, and found Danyal already there. For the next three months, every night Damian would sneak out of his window onto the rooftop and find Danyal already there, and the both of them would sit there in a comfortable silence, back turned to the other. 

One day Damian had been sent out for a mission, nothing he wasn’t used to. Except the location was quite far so he had to leave early in the morning and would be returning much later in the day. He had managed to complete his mission much earlier than anticipated, and so with this newly earned time, Damian snuck off to explore instead of heading straight to the rendezvous point. Easily pickpocketing a handful of cash unnoticed from a preoccupied group of wealthy looking men, Damian pursued the options. 

Perhaps he could buy a toy, a train set the other kids were ogling at. Except that would be much too difficult to hide, and needless to say Mother would not approve of such distractions. Damian overheard some others talking about the deliciousness of the sweets in one store, and he made up his mind. He bought 4 different types, not sure which would be the best, handing over his money to the clerk and heading out of the store. 

Damian found himself anticipating the rooftop of his room, and wondering how Danyal would react to Damian’s new found treasure. Slipping the chocolates out of their hiding spot, Damian snuck all 4 bars onto his usual spot on the roof. Letting the wrapper crinkle loudly as he purposely fiddled with it unnecessarily, Damian successfully earned a curious glance from his roofmate. Damian took the first bite of the bar labeled ‘Dark Chocolate’ and let himself enjoy the bitter sweetness of it, as Danyal looked at the candy bars spread haphazardly across the rooftop. 

Not liking that he was beginning to lose Danyal’s attention, and not receiving the eager response he was expecting, Damian found himself sticking a piece of chocolate towards the other boy, offering it to him. Danyal hesitantly took it, eyed it cautiously. Some of the chocolate had already melted on Damian’s fingers. “What is this?” Danyal asked him. 

“It’s chocolate.” Damian explained to the other six-year old, not that he had really known what chocolate was either. 

“Chocolate.” Danyal repeated, before carefully nibbling on the side of it. His eyes went wide in surprise at the sweetness, and he looked up at Damian in disbelief. “Woah.” He breathed, taking a much bigger bite. 

Damian, having been the one to discover this, smiled pridefully at the other boy, “There's different ones too.” He proclaimed. 

“Really?” Danyal asked wide-eyed crawling closer to Damian who turned around to face him. 

At the end of that night, they were short 4 candy bars as they tried to keep their whispers hushed and the melted chocolate on their fingers left stains on the floor of the roof. Damian wondered how Danyal was supposed to be the villainous enemy everyone told him he was, but Damian was not so easy to trust, after all he was an assassin of the League, the heir to the Demon’s Head. 

Every night they would meet on the rooftops, exchanging souvenirs, sharing snacks, telling each other stories of the stars and mountain demons. After a while Damian had forgotten what he had been warned of for his whole life, and would look forward to meeting with Danyal every night. Maybe Danyal wasn’t his brother, like Mother had said. 

Perhaps Mother was mistaken.  

One night, Danyal didn’t show. Damian waited for him for an hour, but the other’s side of the roof remained unattended. Finally, having had enough, Damian skillfully snuck over to the other side of the roof and peeked through his neighbor’s window to see if he had fallen asleep, but there was no sign of Danyal in his room, either.

Feelings Damian didn’t understand swirled in his gut, the ones he got when the mission unexpectedly goes off script, or the sharp end of a weapon comes closer than he would’ve liked. Hurriedly, he slipped down, letting himself stay hidden in the shadows, as he searched for the boy that wasn’t his brother. The kitchen, the hall, the training room, the weapons room, the barracks, the field, the river in the back, Danyal was nowhere. 

Tired, and out of breath, Damian tried to formulate a plan. Where could Danyal have gone?

“Young Master Damian.” At the voice Damian instinctively reached for his sword only to find it not there. Had he forgotten to bring it with him? Damian assessed who had caught him, and easily recognized by the uniform that it was one of the servants. 

“What are you doing here?” Damian demanded, frustration at his futile efforts at finding his… -at finding Danyal.  

“I am cleaning the walkways, as we are to do every 10 days, Young Master. It is more convenient to do it at night, since there are less people around.” The servant explained, bowing his head. They seemed scared of what Damian may do to them. But when Damian did not respond, the servant hesitated before speaking again, “If I may ask, Young Master, what are you doing here at this late hour?” 

Damian turned to the servant again, if they had been out cleaning as they said for the previous hours past curfew then perhaps they had seen or heard where Danyal had gone. “Do you know of Danyal al-Ghul?” Damian made sure his tone was void of emotions, it would not do either of them well for it to spread that Damian had found himself fond of Danyal. 

The servant’s face paled slightly at the name, there was a small stutter before they finally spoke, “Young Master Danyal should be in his room at this hour.” The servant began fiddling, with the handle of the broomstick.

Why was he lying? “Where is he?” Damian kept his voice even, demanding respect. 

“I- I do not know where the Young Master is.” The servant pleaded, but Damian didn’t believe him. 

Anger growing at the situation, “Tell me.” He demanded. 

“The Demon’s Head, and The Lady Talia were to speak with him.” The servant spluttered out, caving under the pressure. 

Why would Mother and Grandfather seek out Danyal at this hour of the night? The feeling from before only strengthened as Damian rushed to find him.

“Damian.” Mother asked surprised, catching him easily at the door, “What are you doing here?” Damain tried to get a look inside the room, but Mother had positioned her body to block his view. 

“Mother, shouldn’t you be asleep by now.” Damian asked, trying to find the casualness in his voice despite feeling like every vein in his body was being controlled to squeeze his chest. 

Mother looked down at him in amusement, “I should say that to you.” Damian tried to force his way through the door, but he was no match for Mother, “Why are you here Damian?” She repeated. 

“I would like to speak with Grandfather.” He tried, lies slipping easily out of his mouth. 

“I’m sure it can wait till the morning, your Grandfather is tired from a hard day's work.” When Mother pushed her hair behind her shoulder, Damian wondered why there were splotches of fresh blood on her hand. 

Damian stood there in defiance, and Mother seemed to consider him for a while. “Perhaps since you're merely a child you wouldn’t understand.” Mother thought aloud. 

“I am seven, Mother, nearly eight. I am hardly a child, and have far surpassed the many of the teachers you’ve assigned me. I can understand.” Damian demanded. He needed to find Danyal. 

Mother straightened, and with a nod, moved from the entrance allowing Damian to enter. There on the floor was a trail of blood, that led to one of the darker corners of the room, and Damian couldn’t tell what the heap on the floor was. 

“Damian, you should be in your room.” Grandfather chided, sitting in his chair by the fireplace. The darkness of the room finally became accustomed to Damian, as he began making out the details of the room. Grandfather didn’t have his cane, instead it was left closer to the heap in the corner. The heap had its hair cut messily just like Danyal’s always was, and its hands were smaller than an adults, as it tried to bundle itself together. The heap moved slightly, it’s head turning to look at Damian. Damian drew in his breath, at the sight of Danyal’s fluttering consciousness on the floor. 

Mother was right, Damian didn’t understand. 

Grandfather followed his gaze, and nodded understandingly, placing a lit pipe between his lips. “Danyal is simply being punished.” Grandfather explained. Damian couldn't find the word to ask what for, but Grandfather explained anyway. “He seems to think he is your equal, in the way he speaks and acts. As if he is one of the respectable heirs of the Demon’s Head.” Damian didn’t understand what that meant either. If Danyal was meant to be his brother, would he not have equal claim as heir as Damian did. 

“He is my equal. Mother said so herself.” Damian stated, not sure the source of his deep rage at his Grandfather and Mother at that moment. 

Grandfather turned a questioning look at Mother. Mother turned to Damian. “What are you talking about, my son?” 

“You said that Danyal was my brother.” Damian said, it was true that Mother had said this, regardless of whether Danyal should be considered Damian’s brother, “A brother is an opponent, someone waiting to strike me down at any moment. My enemy in all that I do.” Damian recited Mother’s own words, though he could not put his faith in them. Danyal had always listened to Damian, understood Damian, laughed at his jokes and added with his own, always the first one to comfort Damain. They weren’t brothers. “If he is to be my enemy, should he not be on the same grounds as I, as a true equal in skill?” 

Grandfather considered what he said, and shared another look with Mother. “I suppose I see the reason in your words.” Grandfather turned to him again, “Why have you come Damian?” 

“I simply was taking a late night walk since I couldn’t sleep, and I thought I would perhaps feel better if I came to visit you. I did not expect to see Mother here.” Damian was surprised how easily it was to lie to the only people he had trusted for the previous year of his life.

Grandfather let his hand rest on Damian’s shoulder “Take him back and dress his wounds.” He ordered Damian, “And do not trust his words, he simply wishes to get under your skin. Manipulate you.” The doors to the room shut behind them as Damian carried the body of his battered enemy back to his room, and patched up his wounds. 

Danyal was sitting on Damian’s bed, fluttering on the line of consciousness. “What you said before,” his voice was barely above a whisper and he spoke slowly as his words meshed together. Damian listened raptly, “to Grandfather, do you-” Danyal seemed to be having a hard time forming the question, but Damian understood. 

“It was the truth.” Damain said easily, Danyal's face fell at the admission, but Damian was quick to explain, “It was true that Mother told me what ‘brother’ meant, and that was the true meaning of brother. But I do not think of you as my brother.” Danyal examined him for a moment, trying to determine if he was being honest. 

“I trust you.” Danyal said with more conviction than Damian thought he could possess in that moment. He trusted Damian’s words and actions when not even Mother or Grandfather did. 

Finishing with the last bandaid, Damian looked at Danyal. “I trust you, too.” Trust seemed to light a word for Danyal, but Damian was not sure what word he should have used instead. 

That was because Damian did not know what love was, and because Damian al-Ghul loved his brother.

“Mother you called for me?” Damian sat in the chair opposite of Mother’s study. 

“Damain, you’re here.” She greeted, not looking up from her screens. Damain waited for her to finish what she was working on, arms crossed impatiently. “You do remember who your father is?” Mother started, turning the screen with two of Father’s well-known persona on display. One of billionaire Bruce Wayne greeting guests at a function, and the other of the Batman perched near the head of a gargoyle. 

“Of course, I remember, Mother.” Damian sighed in resignation. “Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman.” He recited. 

“Good. You are a decade old now, and there is not much the League has left to teach you. So, in one week's time you will be going to stay with your Father.” Mother said bluntly. 

Damian’s brows creased together, “For how long?” 

Mother looked at him with authority as the next in line for the Demon’s Head, “For the foreseeable future.” 

“What!” Damian stood in indignation, “Mother that's unreasonable, how could you make me-” 

“It is an order Damain.” Mother said with finality. 

Damian frowned, “And what of Danyal then? He is Father’s child as well, I doubt he would sit by knowing he has another child here.”

“An intelligent conclusion.” Mother praised, “That is why you and Danyal will have a final test, the victor will be the one who is sent to your Father.” Damian’s eyes lit up at the concept, Danyal never talked about how he trained or what skills he best utilized, other than once slipping that he prefers to use katanas too, Damian did not know much of Danyal skills. This was finally Damian’s chance to see how capable of a fighter Danyal is. Despite whoever won, Damian was sure, even without knowing his father yet, that he would come back to retrieve the other.

“When will the spar be a mother?” Damian asked. 

“In 4 days, you will be expected in the main courtyard by noon.” Mother said dismissively. 

The day came both faster and slower than Damian would’ve liked. Wearing his usual gear, and his swords by his side he headed towards the field mother had instructed him to be at. Damian had waited in anticipation for this day, making sure all his swords were properly cleaned and sharpened. Of course they always were, but he had taken extra care that they would be in their best condition. His attire had been carefully selected by himself, a measure he usually wouldn’t take. 

Danyal and Damian stood facing each other, waiting for the signal to begin. Mother and Grandfather watched them closely from their spots in the audience, as the two exchanged blows, swords slidinging across each other, dodges and blocks, evasive flips, feint attacks, Danyal punched him in the gut once when Damian hadn’t been prepared. Damian let the battle engulf his senses, body moving in flow with his weapon, switching seamlessly between offense and defense until Damian found the perfect opening for an attack and he took it, knowing he would be named victorious. 

Damian’s katana sunk into Danyal’s chest, a gasp of pain escaping the other boy, as he looked down at the point of impact. Confusion filtered across his face for only a moment, and before Damian could question it, Danyal’s expression slowly morphed into fear as Mother and Grandfather approached them. 

“Damian, congratulations are in order.” His Mother praised him, stepping in between him and Danyal. “I knew from the beginning you would come out victorious.” 

“Thank you, Mother.” Damian tried to look at Danyal. “What now?” 

“We will be taking your brother to the Lazarus Pits, and let Fate decree any value to his life.” Mother explained, turning to Danyal and pulling Damian’s sword out of his chest, Danyal yelped in pain. 

Damian wondered if Danyal had been hurt during their fight. 

Damian bent down to load Danyal onto his back and carry him to the mystic waters and let him heal so he could join him at Father’s later. Perhaps Father would not be as keen as Mother on fostering their brotherhood, and they could train and fight together like they always talked about. 

“Damian.” Danyal croaked out lowly, if his face wasn’t already positioned near Damian’s ear he likely wouldn’t have heard. 

“Shh.” Damian chided, “Mother will notice.” 

“Damian.” Danyal called again, “Promise, you won’t forget about me.” 

Checking to see that Mother was still occupied in a conversation with one of the servants, “Don’t worry, I'm going to take you with me. Or I’ll come back to get you.” 

 “Promise.” Danyal asked again. 

Damian sighed, Danyal could be so stubborn sometimes, even with strange requests “Fine, I promise.” he rolled his eyes. Danyal didn’t say anything after that, instead resting his head on Damian’s shoulder. 

“Place him in the waters, Damian.” Mother instructed. 

Danyal’s body floated in the waters lifelessly for a bit, and Damian wondered why nothing was happening. And then suddenly, as if it were the mouth of some vicious beast, a gaping vortex circled around Danyal swallowing his body whole. Just as suddenly as it had erupted, the vortex disappeared and the waters returned to a deathly still seconds later. Everyone surrounding the waters watched in anticipation, but when nothing happened and enough time had passed, everyone headed back to their tasks. 

Mother stayed for a moment longer, “It seems even Fate, too, was eager to be rid of you.” she muttered, before heading off. 

Damian was the only one left there, waiting for Danyal to walk out and tease Damian for getting worried that it was taking so long. But the sun was beginning to set, and the waters had not moved at all, and there was no sign of Danyal. 

“Young Master, Lady Talia says that you should return to your chambers.” A servant stood by the gates holding a plate of food for him. Or was it for Danyal? There was only one serving.  

Damian turned to the servant, and he asked in a voice shakier than he had been expecting of himself, “Why hasn’t Danyal come out yet?” 

The servant seemed taken aback by the question, before their face morphed into something sadder that Damian didn’t understand. “Young Master Danyal will not be returning to us.” They explained softly. 

“Why not?” Damian demanded, confused and angry. His eyes were beginning to burn. 

The servant hesitated before answering him, “Because Young Master Danyal is dead.” 

“What difference should that make, people die all the time?” 

“It is as easy for the dead to return as your grandfather may make it seem, Young Master.” The servant spoke again, their voice gentle and tone careful. “Usually when people die they are gone for good, and they don’t get to come back. Not even with the Lazarus Waters. Second chances do not come for free, after all.” 

Damian let the words sink in. Danyal- Danyal wasn’t coming back? 

It was dark out now, almost the time the two of them usually met on the rooftop. Danyal would be waiting for him there, like he was every night. 

“You're lying.” He accused the servant, as he ran to his room, food left forgotten as Damian quickly made his way onto the familiar rooftops. 

Damian waited there, the servant’s words echoing in his ears at every second Danyal didn’t show up. An hour passed, and then two. And Damian considered for the first time that the servant had been telling him the truth. 

For the first time since he made his first visit to the roof of his room, Damian al-Ghul sat unaccompanied. 

After six years of carrying out various missions as an assassin, Damian al-Ghul cried when he learned what death meant. 

For the first time in his life, Damian al-Ghul cried when he realized he was alone.  

“We’re here.” Red Robin announced, as the plane landed silently about 15 miles away from base like they had planned the night before. 

“Oracle, testing comms and visuals,” Nightwing spoke into his earpiece. 

“All good on my end.” Her voice echoed in all of their ears. 

“Okay, just like we discussed, Robin and Red Hood will head to the surveillance room and get a location for where the experimentation is taking place. Nightwing and I will be on standby until the information is provided, Red Robin collects samples and information in the time that we have.” Father went over the plan again. 

Robin stealthy led the two of them through the LoA’s familiar layout, and the mission went smoothly. Within the next two hours they had the location of the experimentation site. It was on base, but a further location, so Nightwing and Batman headed there, ready to collect whatever information they could. Downloading the files for the surveillance and sending the access over to Oracle, their job should be done, and they were set to wait at the rendezvous point until further orders, or back up was requested. 

“Where are you going, Brat? We’re supposed to head that way.” Red Hood chastised as Damian took them off course. 

“Then go that way, if you wanna be such a goody-goody.” Damian shot back easily. Knowing the route to his destination easily. Damian kept to the least used route. 

“What’s with you, today? Pissy about not getting to see your Mommy?” Red Hood snarked, still following behind him. 

Damian wasn’t going to justify that with a response. The green of the Lazarus Waters came into view. A shiver went up his spine but he ignored it.

“Robin. What the hell are we doing here?” Red Hood demanded, eyeing the familiar green with contempt. Damian bent down to pick a handful of stay dandelions from the corner of the unused ally, and easily jumped over the gates surrounding the water. “Damian.” Jason hissed, “What are you doing?” 

“Relax.” Damian sighed, bending down near the waters, “I just came to give my greetings to… someone.” To his brother. Danyal was is his brother. Despite the mask hiding his face, Damian could see Jason’s posture soften. 

“Make it quick.” Jason huffed, letting Damian have some pseudo-privacy by turning his back to him. Damian set the flowers he had picked near the edge of the water, only noticing that the temperature had dropped when the wind blew a slight chill at the exposed skin of his face. It wasn’t temperatures Damian couldn’t handle, Gotham was often dreary and chilly even in her summers. But they weren’t in Gotham. They were in the Middle East, where they would consider themselves unlucky when the winters got this cold. 

“Hood, do you-” Damian was cut off by the loud acidic bubbling of the previously calm green waters. 

“What the-” Red Hood balked, turning around alarmed. 

Damian backed away in alarm, the edge of the waters expanding to swallowing the flowers he had laid down. The two brothers could do nothing but watch in suspense as the waters started swirling into a vortex garnering attention they had been trying to avoid. Just as suddenly as it had started the waters returned to their previously calm state, only for the surface to be broken by what looked like a young child, trying desperately to keep himself afloat and get to land. 

Damian and Red Hood were too busy holding off the assault from the small force the assassins had managed to form together to help the child. The second either of them turned their back to the assaulters, the assassins would take the opening to finish them. By the time they had dealt with their attackers the boy had already brought himself to shore, hacking up water. 

Familiar choppy black hair, and blue eyes Damian could never forget. “Danyal.” Damian found himself gasping, body frozen not from the cold. 

“Don’t mean to ruin your meet cute, but look like they brought their friends.” Red Hood warned as more assassins surrounded them. 

“We need to leave. Now.” Damian told him decisively. 

“Wow I never would’ve guessed.” Red Hood snarked back. 

“Call for an extraction.” Damian huffed annoyed, blocking an attack from the left. There weren’t many well trained members currently aware of them, but they knew better than to wait for backup to show up. 

“Red Robin, what’s your eta to the jet? Team 1 needs an emergency extraction.” Oracle spoke through the main line of comms. 

“I can be there in 10 minutes.” Red Robin responded easily, “What’s the situation?”

“We’ve been made.” Red Hood reported back disarming his attacker and knocking them out. 

“Will likely need medical attention.” Damian added, looking back at Danyal, who only now seemed to be registering his surroundings. 

“What happened?” Nightwing asked, concerned at Damian’s statement. 

“Not for us, for our new little stowaway.” Red Hood explained finishing off the last of the assassin, before turning around to face Danyal.

“Explain.” Batman demanded

“Perhaps now is not the best time or place for that, Father.” Damian snapped back. 

Danyal stood scarily still from the bay of the Lazarus Waters, wet and dripping, and despite the chilly temperature and his wet clothes he didn’t seem cold. If Jason had not tried to approach Danyal as well, Damian would’ve thought he was simply a figment of his imagination. 

“Hey, kid.” Red Hood put his arms out to show he meant no threat. “Do you know how you got here?” He tried to make his voice soft and approachable but the voice modulator of his helmet was not doing him any favors.  

Danyal didn’t respond, eyeing the both of them carefully. They let him, not making any movements that may scare him. The world seems to go still around Damian. Go colder. 

“I’m in the jet, heading your way.” Red Robin reported over the comms.

“We’re coming to find you too.” Nightwing added, Father presumably with him. 

Neither Jason or Damian made any moves. 

“Team 1, do you copy?” Oracle asked when neither of them sent a signal for receiving the message. 

Damian wondered what he should do? How was he supposed to approach Danyal, and begin to explain what was happening? Damian wasn’t even sure what was happening. 

“Team 1?” Father repeated. 

Do something, Damian.

“Copy.” Red Hood clicked into the comms and everything rushed into motion. 

At Red Hood’s response and the rapid movements of the wind at the approaching jet approaching overhead, Danyal dashed away alarmed. 

“Wait-” Damian called, running after him. But Danyal only seemed more distressed at being chased. He ran through small crevices Damian was too large to fit through, trying to deter him. But Damian followed regardless. Finally catching up to him where he knew that alleyway to come to an end, Damian caught sight of him, reaching out to grab his arm. Only for it to fall through as if nothing was there. 

As if Danyal wasn’t really there. 

After the failed attempt at contact from Damian, Danyal was only able to get so far before he seemed to trip, his foot catching on something that Damian couldn’t see. 

Why had Damian’s hand just gone through him like that?

Damian began to question whether Danyal truly was in front of him or if it was just some sort of illusion. Damian was quickly reassured of the validity of his vision when a sharp rock Danyal launched let blood drip on his skin. The hiss of pain was real. And so was Danyal.

Damian didn’t stop his domino from falling off his face, from the rock’s impact. Danyal stared at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me?” Damian tried to laugh, but it sounded pathetic. 

Danyal analyzed Damian’s features, confusion washing over him. It made sense, the Damian Danyal had known was a 10 years old assassin, not a 17 year old Robin. Danyal was smart, smarter than Damian had been. Damian waited for him to figure it out.

But the world did not wait. Red Hood, Nightwing, and Batman dropped in from various rooftops, as the jet hovered loudly above them. Spooked by the sudden appearances, Danyal quickly started backing away. 

“Excretion ready. Preparing Medbay.” Red Robin reported. 

“I was wondering when the news would reach you, Beloved.” Another familiar voice grabbed their attention. Damian looked to the sound to see Mother with at least 10 of her personal guards staring them down. Although Damian couldn’t see the others, he knew they had been surrounded. 

“Talia.” Father hissed, a cold anger in his voice. 

Damian's eyes shot back to Danyal who looked like he was trying to find a way to make an escape, exhaustion seeping through him. Deciding to take his chance, Damian approached him while Mother was occupied with Father. 

“Who are you?” Danyal asked him, hesitantly, trying to keep the distance between him and Damian. 

“I promised I would come back for you, didn’t I?” Damian said in lieu of an answer.

Danyal’s eyes widened in recognition but before he had the chance to respond, an arrow was launched landing between them. Looking at the source, it was Mother. At the signal attack, all the other guards swarmed in from their positions and started attacking. Damian, blocking a sword, aimed to slash his side, before another sword came for his shoulder. 

Occupied with his two attackers, Damian didn’t notice Danyal trying to escape by climbing the side of the brick building. Fortunately, Mother still hadn’t noticed him yet thanks to their surroundings, and Danyal’s insistence to stay in the shadows. Danyal’s progression was decelerating, the weight of his still wet clothes and exhaustion slowing him down. 

Damian tried to keep an eye on him so he could follow after, once he dealt with his attackers. Disarming both of them and knocking them unconscious, Damian was able to turn around just in time to notice Danyal on the brink of unconsciousness, and losing his grip on the stones he was using to climb. Damian moved quickly, just in time to catch Danyal as he fell and his eyes rolled back. With Danyal in his arms, Damian only registered the on coming projectile without enough time to dodge or block. Damian braced himself for the hit, using his body to shield Danyal as much as he could. 

Only for a familiar black cape to flutter in front of him, blocking the attack before it hit either of them. “Go,” Father ordered, tipping his head towards the jet, “We’ll follow.” 

-

“So basically, correct me if I’m wrong,” Steph started incredulously, “Damian had a twin brother that died, they dunked him in the pit waters but then he didn’t come back. So, they were like ‘welp, lets tell no one about this, ever’. Except the water ends up literally throwing him out when Damian goes back and does this huge water show grand entrance thing. And now we have another 10 year old Wayne child.” Steph summarized arms moving wildly. If there wasn’t a kid that looked a lot like Damian lying unconscious in the bed two feet away from her, and the body cam footage from both Damian and Jason, Steph would’ve thought they were pranking her. Though, she hadn’t entrily ruled that out yet either. 

Tim nodded in conformation, leaning back causally on his chair.

“You were gone for 36 hours.” Cass added exasperatedly. 

Damian still hadn’t said anything other than explain who exactly Danyal was. They were twins, apparently, and they had been forced into a battle to the death a few days before Damian had been brought to the manor. He hadn’t told them why, but Steph suspected it was for some stupid successor business. Some of the other’s had tried to get more information out of Damian, demanding answers for why he never said anything before, never told any of them, why there weren’t any files of Danyal in the League’s databases. But Damian hadn’t answered any of them, so they had been forced to give it a rest- for now. Looking back, Steph could see the signs that Damian was dealing with grief when he had first come to the manor, but no one had been looking for that, and it had gotten swept under ‘weird assassin cult child’ behavior. 

It had been about an hour and a half since the jet had landed in the cave, and Steph, as a certified medical practitioner, had been called in for an emergency. She had thought it was strange that Oracle hadn’t specified who, and now Steph understood why. 

Danyal didn’t seem injured, other than a lower than average body temperature and a slightly slower heart rate, which was likely due to the body temperature, he seemed in relatively normal health. That was if he hadn’t been a 10 year old who had been marinating in Lazarus Water for seven years. Most of the bats had experience with Lazarus Water, and it had never been pleasant. But they hadn’t been in the prime years of their physical and mental development, and at most had been in the pits for an hour. 

Steph, Cass, Tim and Damian were in the medical room with Danyal. Jason had gone to his apartment, and said he would be back later, and to let him know if anything happened. Bruce had changed and gone straight up stairs, not taking the news of having a second kid who Talia had hidden from him and a second kid who had died very well. Dick had stayed for a while but he had an emergency work call and had to leave. Duke was still patrolling, since it was earlier in the day, but was being kept up to date on all news thanks to Oracle.  

Danyal was due to wake up any moment, and none of them knew how to feel about it. Not liking the morbid atmosphere of the whole manor, Steph decided to change topics. “Did Cassie tell you about what Conner and Bart did last week?”

Tim turned to face her happy for the distraction, Cass humored her with an intrigued look. “What?”

“Okay so basically- it was so cringe-” Steph let herself laugh “They were at the mall right. The one near Mount Justice, y’know-”

“-yeah it’s the same one they go to all the time.” Tim interjected, rolling his eyes. 

“Right, so-” The door opened, as Alfred walked in, cutting off her story but not unwelcome. 

“You’ve all been in here for quite some time, so I brought you some snacks. Sandwiches, fresh cookies, and water, juice and milk to drink. All your favorites, do indulge.” The old butler explained, rolling the cart through the door. 

“Thanks, Alfie.” Tim went to grab a glass of water, and a sandwich. 

“And anything for our newest addition?” Alfred questioned. 

“He’s not awake yet.” Damian said quietly, sipping at a glass of warm milk. Like a weirdo. 

“Is that so?” Alfred said with a thoughtful drawl to his voice, as he walked closer to the kid. “Hm…” He stroked his chin animatedly, slowly bringing himself closer to examine the boy’s face, but still keeping a comfortable distance. Steph was about to question what he was doing, only to see the boy’s eyes shoot open, and stare back at Alfred like a deer caught in headlights. Alfred straightened, as Danyal seemed to realize that he had been discovered. 

“What? How long was he faking being asleep?” Tim asked, baffled. 

“56 minutes.” Cass answered, easily. 

“Wait- you knew this whole time?” Steph asked betrayed, only for Cass to smile back cheekily. 

Damian didn’t say anything as Danyal sat up in his bed slowly, examining every one in the room. Steph tried to make herself seem non threatening but stayed ready in case the kid lashed out, not knowing how he would react. If it was anything like how Damian had been during his early days, it would pay to be ready. 

After a long moment of no one saying anything, Tim decided to prompt, “So, how’re you feeling, kid?” 

Danyal didn’t respond right away, instead watching Tim, Steph and Cass from his spot on the bed. Steph was beginning to wonder if this was another case, like Cass, where the kid had never been taught how to speak. Danyal opened his mouth hesitantly, looking over at Steph hesitantly, then Damian before answering. 

“Cringe.” There was a flat blunt honestness to his tone that added to the sudden comedy of the situation. Damian choked on his milk, and the room burst into laughter at the unexpected response. Danyal looked a little embarrassed at the reaction, but there was still a small smile on his face. 

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad afterall. 

“Do you want some?” Damian asked, breaking a cookie in half and offering Danyal a piece. 

The younger boy took it, curiously, “What is it?” 

Damian took a bite, chewing it before responding, “A cookie.”

“Cookie.” Danyal repeated thoughtfully, before taking a little nibble of it. His eyes widened at the taste, “Woah.” 

“There’s plenty more of those, Young Master Danyal, I’m glad to see you enjoy them.” Alfred smiled happily at the reaction. 

“Really?” He asked hopefully. Steph tried to remember if Damian had been this cute when he had first come to the Manor. “Who are you?” Danyal asked again after a moment. 

“I’m Alfred Pennyworth, you can call me Alfred. I'm the butler at Wayne Manor, your father’s home where we currently are.” Alfred took a pause before speaking again, “Now, I hope you all will excuse me as I go fetch Master Bruce, he’s been quite excited to meet you, Young Master Danyal.”

-------

guys this was just suppose to be an itty bitty little thing. WHY DID IT TAKE ME 3 WHOLE DAYS??? im sensing a pattern and i'm not liking it.

I was suppose to be studying for physics :/

#danny and damian #character death but its danny #please someone help these poor traumatized kids #the mother gothel references go hard #danny is going thru it #first he gets stabbed/killed by the one person who's ever cared about him #gets dunked in a bunch of nasty green water #wakes up to find people in weird costumes chasing him #tries to get away from them when his powers start kicking in and tripping him and not helping at all #and then his mom find him and hes kinda scared out of his mind #and then more weird costume furries are chasing after him #but apparently its aged up damian and his father??? #he deserved that cookie #yes that was totally parallelism from when damian first offered him chocolate and they started becoming friends #ngl idrk how i feel abt the end #damian ate the cookie first to prove it wasnt posion also y he ate the chocolate first #but also he was eavesdropping on them for almost an hr so he kid a had a vibe check on them #his ghost powers let him pick up on languages faster which is why he said cringe lol #he was trying to assimilate and get them to like him so they wouldn't get mad at him #also kinda explains y damian was so aginst having brothers #becasue he had a rly twisted understanding of what that is #damian the one (1) time he tries to socialize: yah i had a twin once #rando: oh wow thats so cool what r they doing now #damian casually: oh he's dead #rando: oh- oh wow im so sorry #damian: yah anyways have i told u abt my brother damian #also damian: idk y pple think im wierd #i actually want danny to be the older twin #just for the unhindged conversation of a 10 yr old turning to a 17 yr old and being like im older than u #and dami responding completely seriously yah but i lived longer than u

[practically-an-x-man]

Hellfire and Rapunzel, if you would?

Thank you so much!!!

Under the cut for space :D

Hellfire is a Stranger Things fic I want to write, though it's definitely due for a revamp. Originally it was going to be Eddie Munson x OC, but I want to turn it into a polycule and include Steve and Nancy in there too, and on top of that I want to give my OC a bit of a rewrite. I have to be honest, part of this fic was sparked by my perpetual cringing at how people on tumblr and TikTok started treating Eddie, and I wanted as a fellow obnoxious metalhead (lol) to actually write him properly.

I actually posted an old snippet that I wrote a while ago, it's here if you want to read it. I still think the tone of it is fun, and there's some good banter there, but like I said I want to revamp the OC a little - I want Ash to be a closet trans man, and exploring the Upside Down is also how he starts expressing himself freely. A Demobat grabs his hair (long, in a braid), and Eddie has to chop it off with his little switchblade/multitool before he gets scalped, Ash ends up with a shorter haircut than he's ever had and loves it, things like that. His clothes are torn, his nail polish chips, but he's around people who actually refer to him as who he wants to be. I think it would be neat to explore this whole "we went through hell but it tempered us into Ourselves by the time we emerged" thing with it.

(and because I can't help myself we'll get vampire Eddie at some point but that's neither here nor there)

____

Rapunzel is an X-Men fairytale AU I came up with. It'll follow, big surprise, Rapunzel's story, with the tone of it being a sort of blend between Into the Woods, Tangled, and some elements from the X-Men canon. An OC named Aurelia (a mutant with magical hair) takes the place of Rapunzel, my favorite blorbo Warren is the Prince, and the Witch/Mother Gothel is a stand-in for Apocalypse.

Aside from this, it largely follows the fairy tale: Aurelia's mother leaves for some errand or another, Warren hears Aurelia singing and decides to "climb" (fly) up the tower to investigate, Aurelia is initially suspicious but becomes more curious, he takes her to explore the city and they have a gradual romance, he offers to fly her away and take her to his kingdom, Aurelia's mother eventually discovers and confronts them, etc..

It's... kind of hard to describe this one without laying out the entire story, since it's a blend of the fairy tale and some X-Men elements, but I think it'll be cool when I get around to writing it.

#i promise i write for female characters too i just don't have those fics in longform outlines yet. they're just in my ideas doc so far #my friends!!! #answered asks #ask game #my writing

[gayfroggyfernycabbage]

any good obscure musical recs?? ive listened to like almost 400 musicals and i need some new ones

oh boy, oh boy, oh boy *rubbing hands together* i'm so glad you asked

my number 1 go-to rec is always "waitress" cause it's gotta be my favorite; it's my comfort musical, i know it's a little more mainstream but i've met a lot of people who just weren't interested enough to watch it, so if you fit into that category pLEASE DO

i think i'd also have to recommend "avenue q"; it's fucking funny, the whole show is done with puppets and the dude who wrote it purposefully hired people who had worked either on sesame street or the muppets, only on this show they're swearing up and down, talking about porn, racism and whatnot; gold mine.

i also love "35mm-a musical exhibition;" dude wrote a musical that makes you feel like you're walking down an photography exhibition and each song tells the story to a different picture. i've actually got a side blog ( @35mm-a-musical-exhibition ) with the pictures to each song cause they're so frickin hard to find??? i was like, why hasn't anyone just dug deep to find the pictures and compiled them all into one place yet?? meh, somebody's gotta do it so it might as well be me (that was a "spies are forever" reference if you didn't get; another great rec; it's a tin can brothers musical, that's made up of some starkid members, including joey richter)

i'm also a really big fan of "lizzie the musical;" i actually made a post hyping it up a while back; it's a rock horror lesbian musical. need i say any more?

now, this isn't really a new musical rec, cause since you said you've listened to almost 400 musicals i'm pretty sure you've heard of "into the woods," bUT lately i've been obssessed with the central park run they did and i'll talk about it for hours to anyone who gives me the chance. they did this shakespeare in the park kind of thing? in which the show is actually put on in the middle of the woods. the lady who plays the witch? my favorite witch up to date; donna murphy was actually the same person who voiced mother gothel in "tangled," which is basically the same role, right? further proving my point that she was born for this part. its so much creepier than any other production, not only because of visual elements but some details they added into some of the characters' representations and detail on the actual story. i do have to warn you tho, that they did not take the wolf's song to little red as a "subtle" reference to being a sexual predator, it's actually pretty explicit, so watch out if you've got any SA triggers. some other details include that amy adams (yes, giselle from "enchanted") plays the baker's wife, jessie mueller (yes, jenna from "waitress") plays cinderella and chip zien (yes, the baker from the original 1987 production of "into the woods") plays the mysterious man. it's so good. please watch it.

#sorry if non of these recs were new to you :P #i have more if you want >:) #asks

[britishsass]

Fred Bonaparte's Family

Part 2 of my writing for @perish-lolz's worldbuilding challenge. This one has 0 basis outside of "Because I said so" but I still feel like it's important enough to talk about. I've already spoken on them before, so if you've seen that post, feel free to skip this one-- It's mostly just a repost for the sake of being clearer and including a quick picture of them.

Fred strikes me as a middle child, meaning that the Bonaparte family has to have at least 3 kids. Personally, I thought that 3 would be the best number for the kids, and since he's clearly pushed very hard, he has to be either the oldest boy or the only boy.

So let's talk about the family, and hand over a quick sketch of how they'd look in my opinion.

~

Father - Lucien Charles Bonaparte

To say that Lucien is strict is an understatement. He carries himself with the same pride as anyone would expect of a father from the Noble House of Bonaparte.

He's shorter than Fred, but doesn't see that as a problem. He's still the clear patriarch of the household. He reminds me of what little I know of Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), or Gabriel Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug). He's the type to care far too much about "heirs" and bloodlines, and he isn't someone who cares for those he views as below their status. Lucien is the sort of fellow who would be great in management-- Not for the employees below him, but for those above him. He's willing to do anything for status, which is why he pushes his family so hard, trying to get the family to be perfect to the outside.

At the time when Fred is at Thorney Towers, he works as a rather high-up person in an office, probably vice president or the like. He's rarely around his kids, but when he is, he demands perfection from them-- Especially his only son.

Mother - Charlotte Marie Bonaparte

Charlotte is rarely actually present in her kids' lives, preferring to deal with her issues through mixing in with other elites. She's frequently at parties to network, dress up, and catch up on rumors. She's the first to hear if there's something going amiss with their family, and though she does want to make sure the others are living up to her husband's standards, she's more of the Mother Gothel (Tangled) type, where she slips in biting comments that her children don't recognize as backhanded until much later. Another character I could reference for her is Daisy (the Great Gatsby) as she's always ignoring the rumors about her husband and never really cared to tend to her children.

There's been a rumor that she cheated on her husband, but she never actually shows any reaction to such a suggestion. She's uptight, very calculated, but very good at acting.

Older Sister - Josephine Louise Bonaparte

Jo, as she's commonly called, is the closest thing to a mother in the house, since she tends to actually care for her little sister and brother. She still attends the parties her mother used to drag her to, now carrying herself the very same way her mother did, but when she was young, she was a piano player and an artist in her free time. She loved to paint the gardens outside of their house, and would frequently be up early to catch the sunrise.

Jo was a nice person, though she took after her father in appearance. She shares Fred's red eyes, but has cool-toned skin, and shares the dark blue hair that her father has. As such, she does appear rather severe at first glance, and she has a very stern look.

Her reaction to the trauma they faced is commonly referred to as the "Fawn" response. At any sign of conflict, she will immediately attempt to please those in charge, avoiding getting in trouble at all costs. As a person, she could be compared to characters such as Mikan (Danganronpa 2) as someone who will accept any treatment, no matter how horrible, just because she is unable to stand up for herself.

Middle Child - Frederick Bonaparte

Fred's the one I can go on for hours about, heh. I'll keep this part mostly short for that reason alone.

Fred, when he was young, tried to be a good little sister. Eventually, as he grew up, he realized that didn't fit him, and he kept trying to find out who he was until he figured out he was trans. Throughout his life, he kept trying to just figure it all out. Nothing really fit. He tried to be the sporting type his dad wanted, but discovered he wasn't really good at much of it (Though he did like fencing.) He tried board games instead, though it wasn't what was wanted of him, and found he had a talent for them. As well, he enjoyed playing trumpet in the school band, though he quit before graduation due to other priorities.

Fred bounced from interest to interest, trying to figure out how to live up to the expectations placed on him, but from the moment he came out as trans, he could tell that the pressure just got worse. He made sure to go to college (For calligraphy with a psych minor) at a place far from home to avoid his family, trying to run away. That's when he got a job at Thorney Towers, and we know the rest.

Fred has a severe case of middle child syndrome. In other words, he feels overshadowed by both of his siblings, and he's a people-pleaser in the hopes that maybe he'll get noticed.

Younger Daughter - Elisa Julie Bonaparte

Elisa is the youngest of the family, and it shows. She acted out much more, and got away with more because people were busy handling Fred and Jo. She can be very opinionated, but she tries to listen to people.

Elisa is the type you'd expect to be a journalist. Curious, always getting into places she shouldn't be, always borrowing things to investigate them closer. Though she's not what their parents wanted, she's happy to take the gifts they gave her and sell them to get what she wants instead.

Elisa has mostly pushed down her trauma and the memory of Fred with alcohol, trying to act like there's nothing amiss in the Bonaparte family, though she refuses to talk much about Shaky Claim or anything about her family. If she had a choice, she'd change her last name, but she hasn't yet found one that she wants to use. She's a little bit jealous of her siblings, but she does love them, and she's most likely to be able to get back in contact with Fred, though she would panic and likely drink too much beforehand.

~

Anyways. That's just my idea of what the family was like. They're all pretty messed up overall-- They didn't communicate, Fred's parents only really accepted that he was trans because his father wanted an "heir", and there was a whole bunch of neglect and emotional trauma thrown into the mix. The best way to describe them is a masquerade.

#queue #the owl posts #the owl writes #fred bonaparte #sorry to repost but it's easier to do that for this project /gen #psychonauts worldbuilding challenge #bonaparte family trauma tm #fred bonaparte's family #the owl draws

[cindymoon]

Did it ever occur to anyone that Wanda’s Roma background in the comics was BUILT on racist stereotypes? Similarly to M’Baku but also several others. And maybe that’s why the show runners stepped away from that..?

okay, so i think what we have here is someone who skimmed the original post in question (paragraph 2) and likely didn’t ready any of the links attached because that first message has been addressed already... but for anyone else in the same boat:

from gavia baker-whitelaw’s article:

Wanda and Pietro's Romani heritage was canon for decades (including in their non-mutant backstory), although this depiction often had problematic undertones. Wanda is literally a mysterious foreign witch, a damaging stereotype that acquired more nuance in later comics. But instead of updating Wanda and Pietro as modern Jewish/Romani superheroes (much like how Black Panther's charismatic M'Baku started out as a villain named "Man-Ape"), Disney whitewashed them. This casting choice was divisive in 2013, when The Atlantic highlighted the negative connotations of casting a white blonde actress as Scarlet Witch. Roma people are a marginalized ethnic minority, and Disney chose to erase their presence from the MCU.

...This rewrite was rather tone-deaf, because it involved Wanda and Pietro volunteering for neo-Nazi experiments. In the comics, their original parents were Holocaust survivors. Whedon also ignored the most obvious solution to Wanda and Pietro's non-mutant backstory: Django and Marya Maximoff, their Romani parents from the comics.

white washing characters is never the best solution. it doesn’t address the issue in so much as it just sweeps it under the rug. as well as perpetuating the idea that white is some unproblematic neutral that ppl can just default to. like can you imagine if in an attempt to “fix” how m’baku is portrayed in the comics, they just...put a white guy in the role? you can’t just remove a characters racial or ethnic background. no one is saying that her comic background hasn’t been problematic, but this isn’t the way to remedy that.

@scarlet--wiccan has an amazing post about the erasure of this whole family’s ethnic identity in the fox x-men films (x).

@villyns also has a good post outlining some examples of the mcu white washing rather than actually fixing the problem (x).

and here’s a decent article on white washing in media and why it’s a problem (x), quote from this article below:

Making a movie is not an easy feat; there are many things to take into account and even more people that you have to please, but there are also standards and morals to uphold. Whitewashing, blackface, brownface or yellowface is not just about denying jobs to minority actors, appropriating the stories of these groups, perpetuating stereotypes or keeping them invisible, it is about undermining their value as human beings and turning them into stepping stones, props, for white artists.

as for the second part. i think that’s entirely possible, actually. it’s done a lot to characters, where they won’t explicitly state their ethnicity but give them attributes from one (often stereotypes) and make them a caricature without making it, like i said, explicit. take the concept of jewish-coded villains in media. no one from disney has ever said that mother gothel in tangled is jewish, but it’s been pointed out by everyone that she’s jewish coded through stereotypes, ones specifically often used for “evil” witch-type characters, which is no coincidence: large, hooked nose, curly hair, greedy, etc. edit: hollywood uses coding like this often for racial/ethnic groups and the lgbtq+ community.

the maximoffs in the mcu and xmcu have never been explicitly made romani, with disney going so far as to change their parents romani names (django and marya) to oleg and irina. the name changes were unnecessary, except to distance the maximoffs from their original romani identity. the mcu changed their origins stories and cast non-romani actors to portray the maximoffs, and considering they went as far as to remove their jewish heritage as i mentioned before, it’s not a stretch that this is all an attempt to veil their romani background too. while they often joke about stealing and fortune tellers and poverty (the wv halloween episode really put it all in one place, but they’ve been doing it forever in the xmcu and mcu), i wouldn’t say this is an attempt to make them romani as much as it is to use a romani-esque caricature, to use it as a sort of “aesthetic” for the twins without acknowledging that it’s an ethnicity. the aspects they choose to keep are often either negative or painted in a negative light. i think the fact that el*zabeth ols*en continuously uses the g-slur to talk about wanda and costume design, speaks to that. 

and even if the mcu came out and said, “oh, our wanda is romani,” that wouldn’t change the fact that she’s played by a non-romani actress (who continues to use anti-romani slurs, despite knowing she shouldn’t) and that so far, they have not explicitly stated in the mcu that she is.

from gavia baker-whitelaw’s article:

Wanda and Pietro's whitewashing feels like an attempt to "neutralize" them. It frames their ethnicity as a problem to be avoided, rather than an opportunity to celebrate an under-represented group. This also meant that Marvel could cast famous white actors instead of sourcing an unknown Romani actor, during a period when the MCU was visibly uninterested in racial diversity.

But Marvel Studios wanted to have its cake and eat it, too. While Wanda is now white and Sokovian, her role isn't completely divorced from its Romani origins. It can't be, because everything in the MCU is informed by the comics. That's how we end up with El*zabeth Ols*n describing her Age of Ultron costume as "kind of this g*psy, vagabond feel"—terms that usually wouldn't come to mind for a simple black minidress and maroon jacket. Wanda's Romani heritage remains visible through veiled references and superficial costume choices, sidestepping any hint of meaningful representation.

from jessica reidy’s article:

Today, some Roma do call themselves witches, and serve as healers and spell-casters in a community, but make no mistake, being a witch is a job like any other. I was trained by my grandmother, I studied hard, I started a business, and I take bookings in my Google calendar. This is the context that most people miss when creating (or, in this case, adapting) Romani witch characters like Wanda Maximoff, and while the Scarlet Witch has plenty of magic, she does not need to fall into the stereotype, nor have her identity erased.

Representation matters. Wanda’s Romani ethnicity has been well-stated in the comic books, sometimes capturing the discrimination and violence that Roma face, and other times falling flat and stereotypical. Marvel also owes us, as Roma are often rendered as mentally unstable thieves, such as Dr. Doom, Wanda and Pietro’s community, and Wanda herself, and the entertainment giant capitalizes off of these stereotypes, reinforcing them all the while.

Every opportunity we get for accurate and positive representation is essential to us because it shapes the way people understand us.

linking the post i made again, because it has a list of articles and posts i’d recommend really taking the time to look through and engaging with them, as well as following folks like jessica reidy and @scarlet--wiccan​ on social media for more info from romani folks. 

#anon #b.inbox #hope this clears some things up for u #anti wandavision

[hiccanna-tidbits]

So I woke up at 4 am last night and my brain went “What if Jackunzel...but sapphic???”

aND HERE WE ARE

Also look, yes, I know Jackie/Jacquelyn Frost is the go-to when it comes to fem!Jack Frost names, but I just...didn’t think it suited her??? I wanted something a bit more unique, and I liked the sound of Jaina! And then I got very inspired and wrote a ficlet, so ENJOY SOME LESBIAN JACKUNZEL

DON’T TELL ME THEY WOULDN’T BE THE PUREST FUCKING SAPPHICS YOU’VE EVER SEEN IN ALL YOUR LIFE

The first time Rapunzel met Jaina Frost, she asked her if she was a fairy.

She certainly looked like one of the winged creatures from Rapunzel’s storybooks. She floated just off the ground and could flit around the room quicker than a hummingbird. Her hair whipped around her in long white tendrils, thick waves like hills of freshly-fallen snow. It shone like it, too--nearly blindingly when the sun hit it, Rapunzel noticed.

She could ice up the entire floor with one sweep of her staff and would whoop and cheer and laugh so hard she snorted when she slid around on it on her bare feet. All behavior Mother would find very undignified, Rapunzel was sure.

Not that Jaina had ever cared in the least about dignity.

She’d nearly fallen out of the tower window when she first saw Rapunzel poised to hit her with a frying pan. Her next reactions had been even stranger--hooting and doing flips and jumping around because apparently, people didn’t normally see her.

It was nice to have a friend. Mother hadn’t warned Rapunzel off of other girls, although Rapunzel was certain that in practice she wouldn’t approve of them. Not that it mattered. They quickly found that Jaina was as invisible to Gothel as she apparently was to everyone else.

Perhaps it was selfish, but Rapunzel liked that. She had Jaina Frost all to herself.

Jaina gasped in horror when she heard Rapunzel had never touched snow. Her hammy overreaction only got more and more ridiculous as Rapunzel explained she had only ever seen winter from the confines of her tower--and Mother usually shut the window to keep the cold out, anyhow. Jaina clutched her heart at this, pretending to faint in her despair.

“Well, if you won’t just leave and go outside, like I keep telling you you should...” Jaina crossed spindly arms and glared at Rapunzel. “I guess I’ll have to bring the winter to you.”

And bring it she does. When Mother won’t be back until evening, Jaina swirls together soft, cotton clouds and makes it snow in Rapunzel’s room. They make snow angels on the floorboards and toss snowballs at one another from behind dressers and wardrobes and chairs, giggling all the while. Rapunzel’s decided she’s going to blame any water stains left behind on some kind of flooding.

Mother won’t be mad over that sort of thing. She’ll just fuss over her and breathe a sigh of relief when Rapunzel can still sing as beautifully as ever.

When Rapunzel’s birthday rolls around, she confides to Jaina about the floating lights. She’s pushing 18, and she still hasn’t left the tower. Jaina fixes her with a catlike smirk, and turns away.

When she sweeps her hands back, she’s holding some kind of ice-blue cylinder, made of swirling crystals and snow with a crescent moon etched on the side.

“They’re lanterns,” Jaina explains. “The kingdom does a festival with them every summer. I’ve flown over it plenty of times. I could...”

Jaina looks away, and Rapunzel could swear she sees her friend’s cheeks go a little pink.

“I could take you. You know. If you wanted.”

Rapunzel shakes her head. “I can’t. You know Mother would...”

Jaina groans and rolls her eyes. “You’re really way too beholden to that woman, Rae. But if you insist on staying...I might be able to do something almost as good.”

And so they sit on Rapunzel’s windowsill, legs dangling over the side (Jaina can catch Rapunzel if she falls), and Jaina Frost puts on a show. She makes dozens of frozen lanterns and whisks them into the sky, and they float and bobble and catch first the dying rays of the sunset and then the soft silver of moonlight.

Rapunzel’s never seen something so beautiful in all her life.

She glances over at Jaina once, and she’s looking at the blonde girl like she sprinkled all the stars across the night sky the same way she dappled them onto her tower walls. Jaina looks away almost immediately, face reddening.

After a while, Jaina takes to spending the night. It was by accident the first time--the girls were up late having stupid pillowfights and telling each other stories in Rapunzel’s bed, and at some point they both started to yawn.

Before she knew it, Rapunzel was waking up with a faceful of white waves smelling vaguely of wintergreen, cedarwood, and cashmere sweaters. Her arms were curled around a thin, sleek waist, and she felt her heart speed up tenfold.

She had no idea why being so very close to her best friend was making her incredibly nervous, but here she was.

It’s the first of many nights they’ll wake up wrapped up in each other. Always, they claim, by accident--but neither ever seem to mind.

It becomes a routine of sorts. Rapunzel wakes up early and untangles herself before she has to give too much thought to the nervous sweat that nearly breaks out at every point of contact. She tries to get Jaina up too to help with morning chores, and Jaina rolls onto her stomach with her face in the pillow and whines and bitches and moans until Rapunzel relents and lets her sleep for 10 more minutes.

As she sweeps the floor, Rapunzel tries not to think too hard about the placid expression on Jaina’s face as she sleeps. As she mops, she tries not to think too hard about the way Jaina’s face scrunches up when she’s having a nightmare, and the way it makes Rapunzel want to wrap herself around the other girl like a protective shell. As she polishes the staircase banister, she tries not to think too hard about the way Jaina’s eyes shine like sunlight on icicles when her entire face erupts into a grin.

It’s probably peculiar, thinking about your best friend in such excessive detail.

Two years pass, and Rapunzel is pushing 20. When she looks in the mirror, she notices nothing seems to be changing. She doesn’t look any older than when she first met Jaina. Maybe the changes are just too imperceptible for her to notice, but 17-year-old Rapunzel seems to be stuck in a kind of limbo.

She wonders if it has anything to do with her magic glowing hair--the hair that makes her mother’s wrinkles disappear whenever she sings a special song.

She knows it should alarm her, not aging. Instead, she feels a strange kind of relief. There are worse things than being stuck as the same age as Jaina Frost.

There are worse things than not having to grow old and leave Jaina behind.

They’re lying in Rapunzel’s bed one afternoon, the blonde girl sprawled on top of Jaina to carefully brush on eyeshadow. It’s an elaborate picture--a beautiful deep twilight blue sprinkled with intricate snowflakes and rimmed with glittery white snow.

Rapunzel is the only one who will ever see it, but they’re both all right with that.

The eyeshadow is long done by now, Rapunzel getting carried away painting snowflakes and icicles and tiny pine trees on snowbanks dancing across Jaina’s cheeks and forehead. She smiles proudly and holds up a hand mirror. Jaina just snorts.

“You’re going to make me look like a clown, Rae.”

“Hmmmm.” Rapunzel puts the mirror down and continues adding a gleam to a white icicle on Jaina’s temple. “A very pretty clown.”

“You...think I’m pretty?”

Jaina’s gaze turns oddly serious. The timid way she asks it is unlike her.

Rapunzel stops, frowning. “I mean...yes. I always have.”

“Why?” Jaina wrinkles her nose. “I’m a mess. My hair’s always all over the place, and I can’t keep a room clean to save my life. All I can do is make ice, blow cold wind around, and leave a fucking wreck wherever I go. Why would you think I was...?” 

“Jaina! Language!” Jaina just rolls her eyes.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Rapunzel smiles again. “These have been the most fun years of my life, thanks to you. You stuck around here with me, even when you have the whole world to explore, and I can’t even imagine how boring it must seem in this tower. That’s worth more than you know. And for the record, I think you’re gorgeous.”

Jaina’s cheeks turn redder than chrysanthemums, standing out starkly against her pale skin. “Oh, stop it,” she mumbles. “I look like a gremlin next to you. World’s nicest hair, flawless skin, the face of some kind of Greek goddess or something. You’re a knockout. I couldn’t even hope to measure up.”

“You...think I’m a knockout?” Rapunzel feels a blush of her own coming on.

“Well, yeah.” Jaina smirks. “I thought it went without saying.”

“Nothing really ‘goes without saying’ when you’ve only ever met two people,” Rapunzel points out.

“I guess.” Jaina shrugs. “I forget you don’t have a huge frame of reference. But trust me, ask anyone from that kingdom on the other side of the forest and they’d say you’re really attractive. I doubt any passing knight on a steed would be able to resist you, if they saw your hair hanging out the window like some...cascading sunshine waterfall.”

Rapunzel bit her lip, feeling unsettled by the thought of men on horseback finding her tower. She’d never met a member of the male gender before, and she hadn’t exactly heard good things.

“I don’t know if I want that,” she admits.

“I don’t blame you,” Jaina says. “Half of them are stuffy, arrogant pricks, anyways. Or they’re so sappy and poetic it kind of makes you want to throw up.”

Rapunzel bites her lip, feeling nothing but mild discomfort at the thought of a strange man trying to serenade her. Maybe it wasn’t fair to rule out what she didn’t know, but...

“No, I mean. I don’t know if I want men. Like...at all.”

“Oh. Oh.” A hopeful gleam swims into Jaina’s ice-colored eyes. Tiny, almost imperceptible, but there.

“Wise choice, honestly,” she says nonchalantly. “Even being invisible, I haven’t met many I actually cared to know. I think I’d much rather be here with you.”

Rapunzel wonders if Jaina would feel the same if any men could see her. She wonders if Jaina would still choose her company if some free-spirited, energetic boy was able to see the frost sprite, and wrote her beautiful sonnets about her moon-white hair. Some boy not stuck in a tower with an overbearing mother, some boy who couldn’t hold her back.

The thought fills Rapunzel with an unexpectedly bitter wave of jealousy.

She shakes it off, reaching into the makeup kit beside her and feeling around until her fingers curl around a tube of lipstick. She smiles, pulling it out.

Jaina groans in mock annoyance. “Are we still doing this? Aren’t I going to look ridiculous?”

“Not at all.” Rapunzel uncaps the lipstick and gently slides it across Jaina’s mouth.

The blonde girl leans back and admires her handiwork. She holds the mirror up to Jaina again.

Her lips are a bright, icy blue, like the glaciers Rapunzel can only ever hope to know through the pictures in her books. Slowly, Jaina smiles.

“You look like you could deliver the kiss of death,” Rapunzel teases. “Freeze your true love on the spot instead of awakening them from eternal slumber.”

“Want to test that out?”

Jaina smirks, voice surprisingly bold. Rapunzel can’t help but notice the pink rushing to her friend’s cheeks, though, despite her best attempts to sound casual.

“Huh?” Rapunzel frowns down at her, confused.

Jaina’s smirk shrinks a little, the first traces of fear darting into her eyes.

“Only one way to figure out whether I actually carry the kiss of death.” Jaina shrugs, still trying to seen nonchalant but voice not nearly as confident as before.

“Ah.” Rapunzel smiles playfully. “But if it works, you’ll have to find a new best friend, won’t you? Sounds like a lot of trouble for you.”

“That’s okay, Pascal will just be my new best friend if I kiss you to an early grave!” The chameleon squeaks disapprovingly from the dresser nearby.

“Come on, Rae,” Jaina says. “I really have to know. The curiosity’s killing me here.”

Rapunzel can feel Jaina’s breaths against her own chest, quick and shallow. Scared, almost.

Jaina is a lot more nervous than she’s letting on.

Still, looking down at the curve of Jaina’s lips and the unfailingly cheeky gleam in her eyes, everything suddenly feels just right.

Rapunzel slides her arms onto either side of Jaina’s head. She leans down, and captures Jaina’s lips with her own.

She tastes cold and sweet--like frosty vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Her lips aren’t perfect--chapped in places, pricked with tiny ice crystals, moving with a sort of nervous frenzy that comes with disuse.

Nonetheless, they feel like home.

Rapunzel slides her fingers into white hair, and it’s silky like clouds. So soft. So perfect.

The only real thought Rapunzel can process is that she never wants to let go. Perhaps part of her is terrified if she does, Jaina will dissolve into the ghost she is to everyone else.

She feels Jaina wrap her hands around the collar of Rapunzel’s dress, pulling her closer. It’s more comforting than Jaina knows.

Jaina pulls away first, hands loosening and head tilting back. She meets Rapunzel’s eyes for a few moments, processing what just happened before breaking out in an enormous grin and a series of delighted giggles.

“You just--you look so dumb,” Jaina chortles. “Like you tried to eat the sky or something.”

Rapunzel glances into the hand mirror, now long since pushed aside. Her mouth is smeared with bright blue, trailing onto her skin in pale smudges.

She smiles. “I can live with that.”

Rapunzel leans down and kisses Jaina again.

Yes I used that one picture of the girl straddling the other girl while putting her makeup on for inspiration for this, what of it???

Also for whatever reason, I love the idea of Fem!Jack calling Rapunzel Rae? I feel like Fem!Jack’s teasing and pet names would be a tiny bit different than boy Jack’s, idk.

I JUST AKSJCUBWSYD

I KINDA WANNA DO MORE FEM!JACK X RAPUNZEL CONTENT

Pic credits available upon request!

#jackunzel #fem!jack x rapunzel #rapunzel x fem!jack #aesthetic #moodboard #rapunzel #fem!jack frost #female jack frost #genderbent jack frost #rule 63 #fem!jackxrapunzel #rapunzelxfem!jack #drabble #rotbtd #rise of the brave tangled dragons #the big four #rise of the guardians #rotg #tangled #crossover #Disney femslash? Maybe? #Idk if this counts #I mean they're lesbians and one is a Disney character so...maybe?

[lady-fey]

Quick Guidelines for How to Pace a Story

Pacing is an art and that makes it hard to give clear instructions on how to do it because there’s no hard and fast rules for what’s “right”. It’s much easier to look at something and say it's “wrong”. However, there are some general guidelines that you can look to when writing. Following these will improve your story flow if that’s something that you struggle with:

1. Pick a plot and stick to it. One of the main issues I see in poorly paced stories is that the author wants to develop a side character beyond what is needed for the main plot. I completely understand this desire as many of my favorite characters are my side characters. However, doing this will bog your story down and make it hard for the audience to focus on what’s going on. Let’s take Tangled (the Disney movie). Mother Gothel is a fascinating character and there’s all sorts of things that I want to know about her. Where did the tower that she lives in come from? How did she find it? How did she figure out how to use the flower’s magic? All interesting ideas, but Tangled isn’t Mother Gothel’s story. It’s Rapunzel’s story and so the focus needs to stay on her. We only see Gothel in scenes that directly relate to her conflict with Rapunzel and that’s a good thing. If we added all the stuff that I asked about, then the movie would be at least half an hour longer and it would all be intro stuff that wouldn’t have any meaningful impact on the main story.

2. Ask “what does this scene do for the plot or the characters?” In stories, we often skip over slower moments. Stuff that might be cute or interesting, but that doesn’t move the plot forward in any meaningful way. Going back to Tangled, think about the scene where Rapunzel interrogates Flynn. The scene directly before that is fighting with her mother and then deciding that she’s going to have him be her guide. We skip over her setting up the interrogation room. Was that likely a funny scene? Yes, but it wasn’t needed. Especially since we’d already had a scene where she had to get him into her closet. That first scene gave us the humor and showed off Rapunzel’s character, then we moved into the more serious stuff and stayed in that serious frame of reference. Going from serious (fight with Gothel) to silly (setting up interrogation) to serious (interrogation) would have broken the suspense and added a scene that we’d basically already seen. That’s not to say that every scene must further the plot. It’s okay to take moments to breath, which is why the initial silly scene was fine. The trick is keeping those scenes to a minimum and inserting them in between sections of tension when you actively want to break the tension or allow the characters to talk/process things/morn etc. Generally speaking, I’d say about 85% of my stories are plot scenes and 15% are for-fun scenes added to break tension.

3. Keep meaningful character counts low. I know, I know, I love my characters, but the more you add, the more the audience has to keep track of and the more you need to develop and it just ends up messing with things. Continuing with our Tangled theme, look at the gang of Thugs. There are at least a dozen of these guys, but only one of them acts as the leader and gets really developed (the guy with the hook). If we developed each one, then the story would get totally bogged down. This is why story characters tend to have a limited friend group and why there tends to be a genius character to do all the tech stuff. It just keeps the pacing better.

#writing advice #pacing

[codynaomiswire]

TTS/RTA Egyptian Mythology AU

Also known as the Uraeus AU!

Several months ago, I made a post about a developing idea for an Egyptian mythology AU for TTS/RTA. The idea was prompted in large part by the snake-hair Varian (“Snakian”) scene from the series’ finale, and the concept of the uraeus in Egyptian mythology. Since first posting about this AU, Xiel and I have really been developing the idea further on the Discord, and here’s what we’ve come up with so far. Hope you all enjoy it!

Note: As a fan AU, this is of course subject to change and variations, so things may change or develop differently as time goes on and more new ideas spring up. This is just what we have in mind so far!  :D

Champions and Friends:

Varian - The kingdom’s seer and champion of Wadjet (aka “the Uraeus”). In this AU, Varian was born to Quirin and Ulla with his “twin brother” Ka - a living uraeus bestowed upon him by the snake goddess Wadjet. (More on Ka and Wadjet down below.) Having grown up with Ka, Varian is not (usually) bothered with having a snake attached to his head, and sees Ka as being like a brother to him. Varian also grew up being told by Quirin and Ulla to keep Ka a secret, as the family was worried Varian and Ka would be taken away from them if anyone knew about them. So for many years, whenever Varian would go outside, he would wear a head covering so Ka would remain hidden from the world. Once he did try to show Ka to some of the kids in his village, but they all ran away screaming, and he got in trouble with the parents for “pulling a mean prank with a snake.” So he and Ka never tried that again. However, things start to get trickier as Varian enters his early teens, and he starts to get visions about events to come, and has a couple episodes of sleepwalking in the middle of the night. Despite Quirin’s best efforts to keep the two safe, things finally come to a head when some kidnappers (led by Andrew) are hired by Set’s cult to capture Varian and Ka, and bring them back to be dealt with. Out of self-defense, Ka ends up landing a venomous bite on Andrew, who nearly dies from the poison. However, Varian has also taken an interest in alchemy by this time in his life, and learned how to create an antivenom for Ka’s bites. (While Varian himself is immune to snake venom due to his connection with Ka and Wadjet, he learned how to make it in case there was ever an accident involving someone else.) Varian manages to make the antivenom in time and save Andrew’s life, but this incident ended up taking place out in the open, and thus Varian and Ka have their cover blown. Quirin tries to prevent Varian and Ka from being taken away, but the next day the pharaoh’s soldiers come and take Varian and Ka to live in the palace, as the priests of Wadjet are certain that the time has come for the seer to step into his duties for the kingdom. Varian is at first very unhappy with being forced to live at the palace, but is befriended my Rapunzel quite quickly. And when his visions start coming on with even greater intensity, Varian must do what he can to help protect the people from Set’s plans and Apep’s impending return.

Ka - A living uraeus and Wadjet’s other champion. (Note: In this AU, “the Uraeus” refers to Ka, Varian, or the two taken together. The term applies to all three.) His character is inspired by the snake-hair character in the RTA series finale (though Ka has the added feature of a cobra hood), and his name is inspired in large part by the “ka” aspect of the soul in ancient Egyptian philosophy (meaning “double” and known as the protective aspect of the soul). His name is also reminiscent of Kaa from The Jungle Book, though it’s spelled differently. Given to Varian by Wadjet upon his birth, Ka has been with Varian since the beginning. While he and Varian are the same age, Ka grows up faster than Varian mentally, so he tends to be the more mature of the two. However, he isn’t adverse to causing some mischief from time to time. Growing up, Ka was pretty readily accepted by Ulla, but Quirin...was more leery of him. Especially given Quirin’s own past (more on that below), he first saw Ka as an interloper on what was supposed to be a peaceful family life. Despite this attitude, Quirin and Ka did have their moments of reliability from time to time, and Ka grew up seeing Quirin and Ulla as his parents (calling them “Father” and “Mother” respectively). For years Ka had to hide his existence from the outside world, and thus could get very lonely. It seemed that he would have to resign himself to a life of obscurity...until Varian started getting weird visions of things to come, and Ka started getting his own premonitions of things to come in the short term (i.e. waking visions of things close at hand). Ka also learned through his premonitions how to hypnotize people, which he would use mostly for therapeutic purposes, or to compel people to tell the truth if need be (though this function especially can take a lot out of him, so he’s not OP with this ability). Things take the most drastic turn for Ka when he lashes out at would-be kidnappers (as told in Varian’s description above), he becomes known to the wider world, and is then thrust into the champions’ efforts to save the kingdom from ruin. Ka also does that snake thing of prolonging his ‘s’ sounds when he talks, and when he first has the experience of talking to new people he takes to referring to himself in the third person. Just to be fancy I guess.  xP

Quirin - Varian and Ka’s father, member of the Brotherhood, and champion of Khonsu. Quirin spent a good portion of his adult life as a member of the Brotherhood in Karnak who - in this AU - are a warrior guild with allegiance to Khonsu, Egyptian god of the moon and time. While serving under Khonsu, Quirin acquired the ability to manipulate time in certain small ways - i.e. stopping time within a certain radius (usually a few yards), or around a certain person or object. This ability is very risky though, as if it’s used too often or too intensely it can have the side affect of “taking time” from the one wielding it (hence why Quirin appears a bit older than Adira and Hector, who are only a few years younger than he). After a good many years of service in the Brotherhood, Quirin decides to leave his service and settles down with his wife Ulla to start a family. However, upon the birth of their son Varian, Quirin is shocked to find that Varian was born with a living uraeus attached to his head (whom Ulla names Ka). After his dealings with the gods while serving Khonsu, Quirin is afraid of what Ka’s presence means for Varian, and does all he can to keep Ka a secret from the wider world. At first, Quirin is very leery of Ka, which does not go unnoticed by the rest of the family. Quirin is never cruel to Ka, never ignores him, nor dotes upon Varian while leaving Ka out of it, but it is clear that he sees Ka differently from Varian. Things become especially hard when Ulla dies when Varian and Ka are about ten years old, and Quirin has to raise the two on his own. Eventually, Quirin and Ka begin to grow closer, and Quirin does all he can to make sure he and Varian don’t get taken away from him. But after their cover is blown, Quirin is left worrying about his sons after they are taken away to live in the palace. As Quirin prays to Khonsu one night asking what can be done, he is informed that his duty as the Uraeus’s protector is not over, and that he will also be called upon to join in the effort to stop Set and Apep in the days to come.

Rapunzel - The princess of Egypt and the champion of Ra. Rapunzel was kidnapped by Mother Gothel as a baby, and was raised learning how to use her sun powers. However, when the champion of Horus comes to save her, Mother Gothel is defeated by her own evil designs, and Rapunzel loses connection with her healing powers in the ensuing struggle. After returning home, life is happy for the princess, and she quickly befriends many in her kingdom. However, when news comes to the palace that Wadjet’s seer has appeared in the land, Rapunzel begins her real journey to find her destiny, and must use her powers to save the land from its deadliest threat yet.

Eugene - The prince of one of Egypt’s major cities, and the champion of Horus. (Naturally, this was inspired by Eugene’s birth name being Horace in the canon series. xD) The son of King Edmund of Karnak, Eugene actually grew up in his family’s palace in this AU. When he was born, Eugene bore a birthmark on his shoulder blades that resembled wings. After consulting with the local priests, Edmund learned that the birthmark was a sign of the blessing of Horus, and that Eugene would come to wield great powers. Afraid for his son, however, Edmund has a hieroglyph painted onto Eugene’s back every few weeks or so to keep the power of the mark at bay. Eventually though, when Eugene is in his early teens, Horus’s blessing breaks through the barrier induced by the hieroglyph, and after a painful first transformation, Eugene has found that he has sprouted giant hawk’s wings from his back. After the initial shock, Eugene learns how to use and control this ability, and after some of Horus’s guidance, he manages to find the lost princess of Egypt and rescues her (while also falling in love of course ^^). After rescuing Rapunzel, Eugene decides to remain living in the capitol at the palace, though he keeps in contact with his family and home city.

Cassandra - Mother Gothel’s daughter, Rapunzel’s best friend and champion of Sekhmet. After being born to Mother Gothel, Cassandra grew up as a child servant in the cult of Set, and was left entirely on her own after Mother Gothel left her to horde Rapunzel’s sun powers for herself. Being miserable in her life situation, Cassandra eventually called out to the other gods asking for their help (she was probably about six or seven years old at this stage). Sekhmet heard her, and gave Cassandra some of her powers so she could don a lioness form and bust her way out. (Although, this blessing also left its mark on Cassandra, as she now permanently sports cat-like eyes, even when not in her lioness form.) After fleeing the cult of Set, Cassandra wanders around for a while until she is found by the Captain of the Guard, who came after he heard reports of a dangerous feral child wandering the desert near the outer villages. The Captain takes pity on Cassandra when he finds her, and takes her in as his own and teaches her how to fight and how to have discipline so she can control her powers. In addition to transforming into a human-lioness hybrid, Cass can also talk to felines and request favors from them, like spying on enemies and scouting and stuff. After gaining the trust of everyone in the capitol, Cass also came to be known by the revered title, The Lioness.

Lance - Eugene’s best friend and fellow resident of Karnak. While Lance is not a chosen champion, he is still a gifted member of the group, and is invaluable as a supportive friend and skilled wordsmith. When Kiera and Catalina travel to the capitol after Catalina becomes a champion, it’s Lance who is the first in the group to befriend the girls. Lance also has a background in being a treasure hunter, which comes in handy when the group needs to locate legendary artifacts, ancient temples and other things that will be vital to the success of their mission.

Catalina - Sister to Kiera/Angry, and Champion of Anubis. (A quick thank you to the Anon who prompted us to consider Catalina as a fellow champion!) Like Cassandra, Catalina’s blessing from Anubis allows her to don a feral form (this time in the form of a werewolf/werejackal) to help fight against the agents of Set and Apep. However, Catalina was chosen to wield Anubis’s blessing specifically because her heart was the only one judged by the scales of Anubis to be able to balance the powers contained within his blessing. As the son of Set and a god of death, Anubis’s blessing is extremely powerful and volatile, and only a certain kind of heart can learn how to balance it and avoid being destroyed by it. While Catalina still struggles with her power (especially during the first few transformations), she is able to gain great control over it with time. While she is considered an outcast from most of the rest of society, Kiera stays by Catalina’s side, and together they travel to the capitol to join the other champions in their mission to stop Set and Apep from destroying the world.

Kiera/Angry - Catalina’s sister. While Kiera/Angry is not a chosen champion, she is still skilled and is a beloved member of the group. After her sister Catalina receives the blessing of Anubis, Kiera stays by her side and travels with her to the capitol to join the rest of the group to help save Egypt and the world from impending doom.

Adira and Hector - Members of the Brotherhood, Quirin’s honorary siblings, and Varian’s “aunt” and “uncle”. While Hector and Adira were also servants of Khonsu like Quirin, neither were given special powers by the deity. Nevertheless, their work as members of the Brotherhood proves invaluable for the group, and they are more than ready to help with their skills and knowledge for whatever may come their way. When Hector isn’t serving at Khonsu’s temple in Karnak, he is the more adventurous of the two, and spends a good chunk of his time being a sellsword for the caravans traveling across the desert. He also has an affinity for animals, and thus relates to Ka very well upon meeting him for the first time.

King Edmund - Ruler of Karnak, head of the Brotherhood, and father of Eugene. A lot of his role was already laid out in Eugene’s description.

Frederic and Arianna - The pharaoh and queen of Egypt in this AU.

Egyptian Deities:

Wadjet - A snake goddess of protection and healing, Wadjet is the deity who chooses Varian and Ka for the mission to stop Set and Apep. In this AU, Wadjet is also a goddess of farsight, and thus allows Varian and Ka to be her seers on earth. While a powerful and graceful deity, Wadjet also has a “soccer mom” kind of personality to her as well. In this AU she has the form of a naga - i.e. human upper body with her lower body being a long snake’s tail.

Khonsu - The god of the moon and time, and the deity served by the Brotherhood. Khonsu is a rather mysterious figure, and while he can see through time and its various possible outcomes, he does not have direct control over how events play out. However, he does impart the ability to manipulate time in small ways to Quirin, though the ability does comes with a price if used to excessively. Khonsu’s personality is quiet, stern, yet also with a touch of levity here and there.

Ra - The god of the sun, and giver of Rapunzel’s powers. Unlike the other deities in this AU, Ra seems strangely absent, despite his sun constantly moving through the sky overhead, and Rapunzel serving as his emissary. He only speaks to her very sparingly throughout their adventure, but when he does it’s always at key moments.

Horus - The son of Ra, protector of the sun, and arch nemesis of Set. Horus chose Eugene to be his champion on earth, and gifted the prince with his wings and ability to fly. (Haven’t really ironed out more of his personality yet to be honest. More may come later!)

Sekhmet - A lion goddess and protector of Egypt. Like Ra, Sekhmet doesn’t make too many appearances in this AU, but she does give Cassandra her incredible lioness warrior powers.

Anubis - A god of death, judgment and the son of Set. Despite commanding a lot of respect, Anubis is a deity that many Egyptians fear and don’t like to talk about. He has a very serious personality (given his job that only seems natural), and really doesn’t like the idea of Set and Apep wreaking havoc on the world and making his job as psychopomp all the harder. (Basically, one of his motivations for wanting to stop the end of the world is so he doesn’t have a ton of more work to do with all the death and destruction that would result. ...Yeah, not the most altruistic reasoning, but guess the guy’s just being practical. xP) When choosing his champion, he weighed the hearts of all in the kingdom to determine which one could balance his powers best, and the scales determined that it would be Catalina, hence him bestowing her with his blessing.

Villains:

Mother Gothel - A former priestess of Set. After learning about the princess’s sun powers, Mother Gothel kidnaps the princess in order to use her powers so that she may remain young forever and never die. However, her evil plans collapse in on her when the champion of Horus comes to save Rapunzel, and Mother Gothel is destroyed in the process. (This is pretty much the extent of Mother Gothel’s role in the story.)

Zhan Tiri - High priestess of Set, and one of the main antagonists of this AU. For many years, Zhan Tiri ran the cult of Set from the underground, and kept her identity as high priestess hidden while posing as an advisor to the pharaoh’s court. However, after her attempt to eliminate the Uraeus fails, Varian and Ka see through her disguise, and she is forced to flee from the capitol and run the cult of Set from the underground in the temples and caves in the Egyptian wilderness. She’s pretty much a generic villain like in the series, where she just kinda craves revenge and destruction because...evil.

Set - The “big bad” of the AU alongside Apep. Where Apep is the brawn of the evil duo, Set is the brains. Set plans on using his cult to help release him and Apep onto the mortal plane, basically wreak as much havoc as possible, and take over the world.

Apep - The “big bad” of the AU alongside Set. Where Set is the brains of the evil duo, Apep is the brawn. As the giant serpent of chaos, Apep’s one goal in life is to destroy the world and all living things. He’s kind of the antithesis of Ka in this AU. His voice sounds a lot like Smaug from The Hobbit movies, and while big, strong and scary, he isn’t super clever.

Aaaaaand I think I’ll leave this post at that for now. Whew! I’ll probably make another post a bit later concerning a general outline of events, and maybe also some other posts with some dialogue snippets that Xiel and I have come up with if there’s enough interest.

#tts #rta #au #egyptian mythology au #egyptian mythology #uraeus #uraeus au #varian #rapunzel #princess rapunzel #eugene fitzherbert #flynn rider #cass #cassandra #quirin #lance #red and angry #adira #hector #the brotherhood #king edmund tts #king edmund rta #king frederic #queen arianna #mother gothel #zhan tiri #wadjet #khonsu #ra #horus

[bestworstcase]

"[Rapunzel] stops accepting blame for things that aren’t her fault". I've seen this mentioned before on other blogs talking about Rapunzel's character growth over the series, but I don't understand what it's referring to. Sorry if this is too vague/broad an ask, but what are you thinking of in seasons 1 and 2 when you say that Rapunzel has learned to stop taking the blame for things that aren't her fault by season 3? Apart from Rapunzel's Enemy and maybe QFAD, I can't think of anything.

i think this is one of the more understated things about rapunzel’s characterization in that there is never like, a specific moment where rapunzel Verbalizes acceptance of blame for things she clearly isn’t responsible for, but it still imo informs a lot of her behavior?

and it goes all the way back to the film. right out of the gate we see that guilt tripping and blame passing are two of gothel’s chief weapons: when rapunzel’s feelings get hurt by one of gothel’s “jokes,” gothel chides rapunzel to “stop taking everything so seriously,” which is abuser-speak for “nothing i say is wrong, it’s your fault if you’re hurt.” 

then there’s digs like “oh, rapunzel, you know i hate leaving you after a fight—especially when i’ve done absolutely nothing wrong...” 

and the big one, after gothel loses her temper and yells at rapunzel, and then immediately collapses disconsolately into a chair and says “ugh, great—now i’m the bad guy.” overtly blaming rapunzel for “making” gothel snap at her. (this of course gets called back to at the end of the film, though it’s less a guilt trip there than it is a threat.)

aaaand right before “mother knows best (reprise)” when rapunzel asks how gothel found her, gothel says, “oh, it was easy, i just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that.” this one imo is the clearest illustration of how all this impacts rapunzel emotionally, because she goes from scared/alarmed/startled to just. sagging, in obvious guilt. 

but then of course there’s also the scene right after rapunzel leaves the tower, where we see her oscillating wildly from jubilance to despair and guilt as she frets over what her leaving will “do” to gothel, how mad / upset / betrayed gothel will feel, etc. so even when gothel isn’t there, actively reinforcing this behavior, we can see that rapunzel very much feels that gothel’s feelings are her responsibility—and if gothel is upset, that’s rapunzel’s fault. 

anyway!! all this adds up to rapunzel leaving the tower with this subconscious mindset that all problems are her problems, and we see this expressed very early on in s1. i would even argue as early as before ever after... with both frederic and eugene. 

BEA goes really hard right out of the gate with driving home how restless and uncomfortable rapunzel feels in corona; how stifled she is, and how badly she wants to go out and explore the wider world. but it also shows how hard she tries to stuff it down, because her success as a princess is “important to [her] dad.” she tries to bring up her discontent with eugene, but in a roundabout way so as to avoid actually saying she’s unhappy—and then when he says that he’s perfectly happy and content, rapunzel takes a deep breath and agrees with him. it isn’t overt text, but she’s still in “managing other people’s feelings” mode, and there’s a reason the only person she is honest about her own feelings with is cassandra—because cassandra signals very clearly that she is not going to feel hurt, offended, or disappointed if rapunzel is less than happy in corona. quite the opposite, cass is the one who suggests sneaking out in the first place!

now obviously, neither fred’s nor eugene’s feelings are rapunzel’s responsibility and i think both would be horrified to know that rapunzel feels like it’s her job to make them happy... but that doesn’t really matter, because rapunzel has been trained all her life to do this and that’s not a pattern that just goes away overnight. 

and then also in BEA, we see how quick rapunzel is to castigate herself for doing something that upsets someone else... when eugene proposes and she panics and runs away, her reaction is “i feel horrible about eugene” and to feel guilty/upset about not wanting to marry him Right Now.

aaaand of course caine blaming rapunzel for stuff frederic did goes entirely unremarked upon, partly because things like the hair reveal took priority over that but partly also, in my opinion, because rapunzel just kind of Accepted That because she’s so used to being blamed for everything.

this is sort of a recurring theme throughout a lot of s1. you mentioned RE, but for the sake of completeness—i think the most telling thing in that ep is that, when rapunzel finds out what booing really signifies, her first question is what could i have done to this person?, because the concept that this might be a HIM problem doesn’t even cross her mind. she assumes that it’s her fault he doesn’t like her. 

and then there’s stuff like pascal’s story, which i think is an interesting one because like... frankly, it’s not entirely rapunzel’s fault that she stood pascal up. yes, as the princess she could have stood up at six o’clock on the dot to say no more petitions, i am going to dinner. but also she’s the princess, and she’s busy, and pascal’s story is as much an episode about pascal learning that just because rapunzel is busy that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still love him as much as it is about rapunzel learning how to navigate work/life balance—but it’s also very clear that rapunzel’s perspective is “i have been a HORRIBLE friend and i need to put EVERYTHING ELSE on hold until i have FIXED my TERRIBLE BEHAVIOR” when the reality is more like “rapunzel and pascal are both going through a major adjustment period and need to have a realistic talk about expectations now that rapunzel is, like, training to rule a country.” 

in painter’s block, rapunzel feels so traumatized by the (largely correct) decisions she made in QFAD that she can’t make any decisions at all and falls prey to sugracha’s manipulation, and i personally think this is the beginning of the tipping point for her where she begins to see that hey... she’s just a person, she literally cannot be responsible for every bad thing that happens, she can’t be in two places at once, she can’t fix everything for everyone... and sometimes she needs to prioritize one problem over the other. that’s why the emotional climax of that episode is rapunzel saying “difficult choices are what make us who we are.” that’s her letting go of the horrific guilt she felt about choosing corona over varian, and letting eugene and the others put themselves in danger to save her parents. 

that epiphany carries her through SOTS and enables her to make the tough calls she needs to make re: stopping varian, but it also doesn’t mean that her tendency to blame herself for stuff that isn’t her fault goes away altogether. just look at BTCW: while she’s trying to make sense of how/why eugene could be marrying stalyan, her first instinct is to blame herself. to wonder if maybe this is a response to her kind of sort of turning down his kind of sort of second proposal. 

and the rest of the vardaros arc is like... i would say half rapunzel delaying moving on because she’s scared of what waits for her at the end of the black rock trail (as freebird confirms) and half rapunzel making vardaros’s problems her problems and trying to fix them because she feels responsible. 

curses is... not a good episode (canardist, why) but the plot basically hinges on canardist successfully making rapunzel feel guilty / dubious enough about taking back her own telescope that she starts buying into the curse stuff and psyching herself out. 

*as a sidebar here, there are also instances in this same period of rapunzel acknowledging her culpability in stuff she DID do wrong, for example in under raps—but in these cases, it’s interesting to me to note that her apologies actually aren’t very good apologies. in the under raps example, for instance, she also foists off blame on cassandra (saying basically, well i wouldn’t have interfered and put you in danger if you had told me everything, even though i am terrible at keeping secrets and we both know it). and this makes sense, because gothel certainly did not model good, healthy apologizing habits for rapunzel, lol. so she’s in this weird zone where she tends to feel guilty for everything / feels responsible for other people’s feelings but when she DOES mess up for realsies she also doesn’t really have the skills to navigate a true apology. this poor girl

i would say that RATGT is about the point where rapunzel switches gears from accepting blame (both for things that aren’t her fault, like all this stuff, and for things that are, like when she apologized to cass for being a dick in goodbye and goodwill or when she apologized to pascal for belittling him in king pascal) to sort of... overcorrecting and entering her “i’m right, you’re wrong” phase. RATGT is when she starts overtly shutting cass down, and RATGT is when cass’s injury happens—something so horrific and scary that i tend to think rapunzel just cannot process the guilt. it’s too much, too painful, and not something she is emotionally equipped to hold onto or work through in a healthy way...

...so she shoves it away and blames cass instead, very openly. she transmutes her guilt into anger, lessening the pain she feels. and she sticks to that throughout RDO, throughout the rest of s2, and evidently through the rest of the series given she literally never apologizes for it. which is outside of the scope of what you asked alksdfjklsfd but i tend to think basically, rapunzel is not very good at distinguishing between “i feel guilty, but it isn’t my fault” and “i feel guilty, because it is my fault” so in the process of unlearning the former behavior she also forces away the latter, and at the end of s3 she’s in a place where she needs to re-learn how to feel guilt in a healthy, reasonable way. because guilt isn’t always a bad emotion, sometimes it’s just your brain’s way of saying “i did something bad, and i want to make up for it” and That’s Good. 

#rta #im just rambling but bhjhjfhjdfs #i guess in the broader sense anon #'blame' here doesn't exclusively mean 'feeling guilty' #it also means 'feeling responsible' #anyway this is a bit of a mess but these are my thoughts #Anonymous

[stina-is-a-punk-rocker]

disney’s ‘the hunchback of notre dame’, early 2000s kid nostalgia, and other midnight musings

“What the fuck, Stina? I thought this was a blog for book reviews!” you say.

“Books, amongst other things. Hence the -ish suffix,” I say. “And all my mediocre ‘reviews’ are hit-or-miss in terms of engagement, so I’m pretty much free to post whatever the fuck I want.”

I toss my head. My hair whacks me in the face.

The first time I watched Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was been circa 2006, in the ‘movie room’ of my preschool, huddled around a CRT TV with the rest of my five-year-old classmates. Not much about the film particularly stood out to me at the age.

Fast-forward fifteen years later; I’m cooped up in quarantine, hundreds of thousands of miles away from that first viewing. I’m living my best life, rejoicing in my introverted tendencies and having a laugh at the expense of all the suffering extroverts. I haven’t moved from my bed all day, except for the bare necessities, and I’m bingeing YouTube videos. All is well.

I discovered Lindsay Ellis’s channel quite recently- embarrassingly enough, through her videos on Omegaverse and the whole Addison Cain fiasco. I stumbled down the rabbit-hole of her channel, and here I am, a few dozen videos later, and I find her one on this film.

Which, of course, led me to want to re-watch the film, with the eyes and mind (supposedly) of an adult. And it went far beyond and above my expectations.

The film is dark, much darker than the average Disney film of today- not just thematically, but the graphics too. Except for the first parts with the Festival of Fools and the last scene, the rest seems to have a dark filter put over it all. Obviously, given its themes (I’m pulling these out of my arse; I’m a STEM major and I have zero to no knowledge about film) of freedom and equality, acceptance of those different from us, corruption and lust- all that good shit, in other words- you can’t exactly have sunshine and rainbows. But it’s such a stark contrast from what I’ve been accustomed to from Disney; Frozen has Hans about to decapitate Elsa, but the background remains bright and light; Simba sobbing next to Mufasa’s body in The Lion King is heart-wrenching, but a few scenes later, we have an anthropomorphic meerkat-boar duo singing about eating bugs and farting and all that classy stuff, so it’s not as traumatizing.

The themes are a lot more on-the-nose than a lot of other kids’ movies (forgive me if I err, I am aged and forgetful)- cue la Esmeralda saying, “What do they have against people who are different, anyway?”- you get what’s essentially the same ‘accept others regardless of their differences’, ‘prejudice is bad’ morals from, say, Zootopia, but having given the main characters fursuits makes it less obvious than in this movie.

(Or maybe I’m just a dumbass. I have no elaborate notes for this; I’m high on sugar and deprived of sleep so I might be spewing bullshit.)

Admittedly, the resolution is a bit… unrealistic. The citizens of Paris = sheep, essentially; they go from throwing fruit in Quasimodo’s face because the guards started it, to helping defeat them. Maybe there’s something about mob mentality in there, but I find it hard to believe that people who showed up to watch Esmeralda burn to death were suddenly totally cool with not getting what they didn’t pay for. But then again, this is a Disney movie, and you can’t make kids too cynical too early on. Let them have their innocence and ‘people will be with the heroes in times of peril because humanity is inherently good!’ before they realize that humanity kinda fuckin’ sucks.

The characters are some of the most human from those I’ve seen in Disney (other honorable mentions: the main characters of The Emperor’s New Groove, Moana, Tangled, Anna from Frozen). Quasimodo’s the main character (lol DUH, will I ever say anything not obvious?), and he’s so lovable, but not without flaws- he’s biased against gypsies in the beginning because Frollo’s the literal scum of the earth. To borrow from the K-pop fans’ dictionary: UwU he’s so pure!

Esmeralda sparks a bit of controversy because she’s another POC leading lady from a Disney film of the 90’s (a list including Jasmine, and, sigh- Pocahontas) who’s markedly more sexualized than the white Disney princesses. It’s not something I particularly noticed nor cared about until I saw it being brought up- I mean, the woman shows a bit of cleavage and then dances for a couple of seconds- but. I’m just putting that out there.

She’s an empowering heroine without having to belt in in your face (not me making a dig at Naomi Scott’s Jasmine from the Aladdin live action film), and I also love how her role in taking down the Big Bad doesn’t have to do with her ‘power of seduction’ (the scene in the animated Aladdin film where Jasmine kissed Jafar truly traumatized me as a kid).

Phoebus is… well, he exists. Kind of a Regulus Black archetype, but not exactly. The guy on the bad side who turns good and all is forgiven. Well, at least it’s not the ‘her love made him a better man’ trope. And he is a good guy. Even if he did spend a considerable amount of his adult years on the side of the bad guys.

Systemic oppression? Nah, it’s one or two corrupt baddies. But again, it’s a Disney film, we need everything to work out for the good guys in the end.

Let’s get the gargoyles out of the way. To reference Lindsay Ellis’s video (she’s a lot smarter than I am and breaks this down better than I ever could): yes, the comedy’s oft ill-timed and inappropriate… for an adult audience. And the primary demographic of Disney films, especially princess ones (obviously Esmeralda isn’t a princess, nor does she marry into royalty, nor is she included in the group of princesses in the dumpster fire that is Ralph Breaks the Internet, but I had a book imaginatively titled ‘Disney Princess Stories’ as a kid that included Esmeralda’s story alongside Belle’s and Ariel’s, so I’m calling her a princess), are kids. And kids love fart jokes.

Additionally, I have a theory-that-is-not-really-a-theory-but-a-pretty-obvious-thing-that-happens that the gargoyles are figments of Quasimodo’s imagination, and the, at times crass and ridiculous things they say are just the voices in Quasimodo’s head (THIS IS OBVIOUS, STINA, YOU HAVEN’T STUMBLED ACROSS A STARTLING NEW REVELATION); maybe what he imagines normal townspeople to act like.

And then we have Judge Judy Chrissy Teigen Frollo. This dude is the embodiment of pure evil. He’s bigoted and rapey and abusive and one of Disney’s most successful villains- even better than Mother Gothel, who previously held the crown. It’s rare that a villain genuinely terrifies me, especially a cartoon one. Frollo, unlike your typical fairytale antagonist who wants power/fame/fortune/to overthrow Olympus, is far more sinister; driven from deep-rooted hatred instead of plain greed. He’s so much closer to people in positions of power and authority even in the modern world, and that element of reality makes him so much better as an antagonist instead of a literal sheep who hates carnivores (seriously, Disney, enough with the twist villains- they’re not working out).

Also, Hellfire slaps. In fact, the entire soundtrack does.

Speaking about Hellfire, I love the contrast between that and Heaven’s Light; how Esmeralda is viewed by Frollo (an object to possess, “Destroy Esmeralda, and let her taste the fires of hell; or else, let her be mine and mine alone”) as opposed to Quasimodo (someone with free will, “I dare to dream that she might even care for me”).

Another argument brought up, and admittedly one I had as a child was, ‘but if the whole point of the movie is acceptance and love as opposed to lust, why didn’t Quasimodo get the girl?’ Which, years later, I realize is an extremely misogynistic way to look at it. As Princess Jasmine said four years before The Hunchback was released, she is not a prize to be won. Quasimodo is Frollo’s antithesis; he lets Esmeralda choose, and she chose Phoebus. And Quasimodo accepted that, because he is good and kind and sweet and loving. Severus Snape, take note.

On a sidenote, I’m always kind of caught out of left field when the plot in films moves really fast- I’m really not a movie-watching type; I prefer to read, and books usually indicate how much time passes from one main plot point to another, and there are little slice-of-life, filler parts that tie in to character development and moving the plot forward, but at a snail’s pace. So, whenever I’m watching a movie and it’s one important event after another, I usually haven’t had enough of a refractory period to process it.

Let’s pretend that I segued smoothly into the next part of this (already tedious and long drawn out) review.

The Hunchback is the darkest film I’ve ever seen come out from Disney. Re-watching it as an adult made me pause every so often and wonder why the hell I wasn’t traumatized by it as a kid. I mean, the whole movie kicks off with Frollo about to throw an infant down a well. And then there’s that horrifying shot of the stone renditions of the Israelite kings on the church walls. Frollo falls to his death into fire. I mean, good riddance, but still. I guess it’s because the kids’ shows of today are awfully censored and polished so kids don’t have nightmares forevermore.

Update: tried to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2. Exited just as fast as I clicked on it. Disney sequels really ain’t shit (yes, I’m looking at you, Frozen 2).

#the hunchback of notre dame #disney #disney princess #victor hugo #disney movies #esmeralda #quasimodo #phoebus #frollo #frozen #frozen 2 #lion king #movie review #aladdin #lindsey ellis #zootopia #emperors new groove #moana movie #moana #tangled #2000s kids #90s movies #90s kids #90s cartoons #disney renaissance

[audiodramatist]

alright Tangled Wooden Overcoats time @labelleofbelfastcity

- the story starts the same, magic flower, sick queen, etc. 

- the man who’s been using the flower’s magic to stay young for ehh, 500 years? shows up to try and steal it back, but finds twin babies with long blue-black hair that fades to a dull, human shade of brown-black when cut.

- he doesn’t know which baby is magical, so he goes “fuck it” and takes both

- Antigone and Rudyard grow up in the tower with Father Gothel (get it because he’s goth) (the twins seem more scared of their father than mother in canon so im swapping it so he’s the big bad) 

- i don’t want them to be stuck there for 35 years because that’s hella sad, so maybe we’ll bump all characters down to like, early 20-somethings. older than rapunzel but not canon age.

- their daily activities are quite a bit more... grim. Father Gothel is a quasi-immortal mortician and he’s like “hey kids do you want to play with taxidermy?”

- Madeline has Pascal’s role, she’s closer friends with Rudyard than Antigone (likely because of his Disney Princess Animal Communication) and rides on his shoulder or head for most of the adventure.

- Eric is a gentleman thief on the run from the palace guards

- his “a long long time ago...” moments are references to the storybook that inspired his life of crime

- the entire smolder scene but with Eric Chapman, Mr. Sunshine Man. the charm actually works on Antigone, but the twins are tag-teaming the interrogation and Rudyard is immune. 

- upon breaking the twins out, Eric quickly realizes that they’re uncomfortable with sunshine and fluffy animals and general cuteness, and is like “my god do i have a place for you”

- he takes them to the Ugly Duckling, full of smiling, social townsfolk! they hate it! success! however, everyone fawns over Chapman so much that he’s pulled away from them, and the twins (mostly Antigone) start up the I’ve Got A Dream sequence

- except that they’ve convinced everyone to embrace their dark side. the lovely old confectioner wants to hunt down murderers! the baker wants to blow up a mine! the sweet, patient secretary wants to kill!

- uh oh here come the guards looking for Chapman. and one of them has a particular grudge.

- Eric Chapman has charmed his way out of capture one too many times, and Georgie Crusoe isn’t having it. she’s strong, determined, and multi-talented, and she’ll catch that thief by any means necessary. 

- unfortunately, the Funns have their own strange charms, and she’s willing to reach a truce with Chapman in order to make them happy.

- i actually think Antigone would be the one who wants to see the lanterns, and Rudyard is on the adventure just because he doesn’t want to be left alone. Antigone is the one who forces Chapman to help them, Antigone stands up to Father in the woods, Antigone realizes that they’re the Lost Princesses.

- oh yeah rudyard trans but like,, rudyard always trans amirite (although tbh i’m usually also an “antigone trans” person and im sacrificing it for some au details here)

- See the Light is in a hot air balloon. u can pick ur flavor, antman or chapyard but i have more Thoughts on the chapyard version so here it is (also i relegated rudyard to comic relief for this whole plot so far & i think he should have a nice moment)

- Antigone’s “See the Light” verse is about how she can finally see herself in a world that isn’t her tower-mortuary and how she wants to be in control of her life, while Rudyard and Chapman get the more romantic part :P

- when Eric “betrays” the twins, Antigone is hurt but determined to stay out in the kingdom, and Father knocks her out to get her back. Rudyard doesn’t believe that Chapman would leave, and suspects fowl play, but Father threatens to hurt Antigone if he doesn’t come with them, and so he follows.

- Madeline stows away in the boat when Chapman’s tied up and sent to shore. He gets captured immediately, but Madeline finds Georgie, and they go to gather the Piffling residents from the Ugly Duckling for a jailbreak.

- oh those two guys who Eric did crime with are also Father’s assistants. they dont go to jail yet because i want Georgie to fight them later lol

- so its a tower confrontation! the twins are chained in the tower with Father. Madeline sneaks through a window and picks the lock on Antigone’s chains quickly, but Rudyard’s are stuck, and she still can’t get them undone as Chapman shows up & promptly gets stabbed but he’s still standing so it can’t be that bad, right?

- Georgie is facing off against Thing 1 and Thing 2 down in the field below, and she’s tough as hell but half the size of one of them and it’s not sounding good.

- Antigone sees Madeline still hard at work on his gives Rudyard a “you got this?” look & he nods (even though he totally don’t got this) and she disappears into the shadows

- Father starts looking for her but can’t find anything until he & Rudyard hear a decisive “snip” from the rafters

- and Antigone swings down on a rope of dark brown hair and out the window, the last bits of magical blue fading from her now shoulder-length hair

- hey Eric is looking decidedly worse now. so is Father, to be honest. but as long as he still has Rudyard, he’ll survive.

- and Madeline finally gets through the lock

- Rudyard jumps to try and heal Eric, but broken mirror, surprise haircut, you know the drill. Madeline trips the rapidly-aging Father & he falls out a window! yay!

- Rudyard’s like Excuse Me We Just Watched Antigone Cut Her Hair How Could You Do This??? but obvs Eric doesn’t die because it’s a disney princess movie

- they all go back to the castle, antigone is an incredibly competent princess and rudyard is the kingdom’s beloved prince for all of 2 days before everyone is like “oh wait he’s an asshole lmao”

and then everyone lives happily ever after

#squirrelspeak #wooden overcoats #tangled #rudyard funn #antigone funn #eric chapman #georgie crusoe #thanks will for making me watch tangled lol #yeah i'll probably write this at some point but its really just beat-for-beat the plot of the movie #just got two protagonists

[kingreywrites]

Make my messes matter - Chapter 3 - Learning

Fandom: Tangled

Word Count: 1670

Summary: A series of seven ficlets focused on Rapunzel learning to navigate life in different ways after living eighteen years in a tower, with Gothel as a mother.

1. Touching - 2. Arguing - 3. Learning

Read on ao3

The discovery that probably surprised Rapunzel most when she left her tower, was that she was smart - smarter than the average person, in any case. Not that she thought herself especially slow but, without any other frame of reference than what Gothel had told her, she thought that she was nothing much, compared to her mother.

Despite the years, Rapunzel still remembered learning to read as a young child - mostly because she had been so bad at it. Mother had explained every letter painstakingly and yet, Rapunzel hadn't memorised them enough and messed up the next day. Mother had been upset, and that made her tired, and really Rapunzel, you'll be the death of me, don't you love me-

Rapunzel preferred books, anyway. Because she could read any information again and again, until she understood. And again, because she had nothing else to read. And again, and again, until she knew it by heart. She was also good at recognising patterns, and at creating new games and contraptions to spend the time. She hadn't thought much of it, really, until one of her tutors had noticed her skills and decided to go to her parents about it.

Apparently, not everyone had studied the movement of the stars like she did. And not everyone was as good as she was at adapting her knowledge to real life. Her parents had been exastic, and her tutors were happy to give her tougher subjects to study - which she was also happy to discover! Though, to her opinion, they were blowing this way out of proportion.

"I don't get what's the problem," Eugene said when she complained about it, "you're amazing! Of course they noticed that!" His sentence was punctuated by Pascal's loud squeak of affirmation.

Rapunzel smiled and rolled her eyes but, since she had her head in Eugene's lap, he didn't notice. She might have come straight from her lessons to the library, where she knew she would find him, before laying down on him and blurting out what was bothering her. She didn't regret it, though, because being with him helped her calm down a little. Honestly she was flattered that her tutors thought her to be a quick learner - she only wished they hadn't gone directly to her parents.

"I just had a lot of time on my hands," she finally answered as Eugene slowly stroked her hair, "but really, I'm-"

Slow, lazy, naive, a failure, a voice whispered in her mind, that sounded like a mixture of her own and Gothel's. She clamped her mouth shut and breathed deeply - she knew, now, that Gothel was a liar. She knew it upset a lot of people when she repeated those lies, so she was working hard not to do it.

She wasn't fooling Eugene, however, but he said nothing, waiting for her to be ready to talk. She sat up and he let her go easily, but she only did it to reposition herself in his arms, hiding her head in the crook of his neck. She felt his chest rising and falling with his breathing and, slowly, her tongue untied.

"I don't feel like I'm special, but everyone keeps saying I am," she murmured, and Eugene tightened his arms around her. She had a feeling he was trying hard not to assure her that she was indeed special, and she appreciated it. "There's so much I still don't know, and I'm worried- I'm worried that they'll be disappointed once they see me struggle if they expect too much of me."

"I think I get that," Eugene answered when it was obvious she wouldn't say more, "but I also think that the one putting the most pressure on you is yourself, Sunshine. Everyone is happy that you're adapting way faster than could be expected, but you're already worried about a failure you didn't make yet."

His words rang true, but she wasn't sure what to make of them. So she stayed silent, and he kept hugging her as long as she needed it, Pascal's weight on the top of her head another source of comfort.

For Rapunzel, failure had never been a possibility, but a certitude. No matter how hard she tried, how meek she was, how much she listened, she would always -always- do something to displease her mother. The only control she had over that was over the size of the actual failure, but her mother's constant disappointment still bit harshly at her confidence in her learning abilities. And now that she had seemingly everything to learn, everyone's confidence ironically put more pressure on her shoulders - it was all confusing.

It all came to a head when Arianna - her mom - proposed to teach her how to swim. The topic had come up at breakfast, when her mom had proposed that they could go to a nearby lake, and Rapunzel had stumbled over her words. Her parents immediately backtracked, as they always did when they worried about upsetting her, but Eugene had suggested that she would need to learn to swim at one point and, one thing leading to the other…

"Oh, cold," Rapunzel chuckled as she joined her mom in the water. Pascal, who wanted to come with her, put one little paw in the lake and decided that he'd be better off on dry land, which made Arianna laugh.

"Don't worry, your body will adapt to the temperature quickly. You know, I used to come here a lot when I was a kid," Arianna smiled softly.

This is the fourth time I am touching a body of water in my entire life, Rapunzel thought, but didn't say. She hadn't know her mom for a long time, but she already hated the sad glint that appeared in her eyes whenever Rapunzel mentioned her life in the tower. Arianna obviously loved her a lot - they just didn't know how to deal with each other quite yet.

"So, swimming!" Arianna exclaimed awkwardly. "What do you know about it?"

"I've seen Eugene do it," Rapunzel answered eagerly, mimicking the movement of his arms, "and I managed to swim for a little while, but it wasn't much."

She didn't add the part about the flooding cave, or the near death experience, or the feeling of being swept away by the current until Eugene grabbed her hand and pushed her toward the river bank. She didn't think her mom would appreciate it.

Arianna spent the next hour helping her find her footing in the water, teaching her the different ways she could float and move around. By the end of it, any hint of awkwardness had disappeared between them both, and they were sharing little anecdotes while laughing. They were in deeper water now, but Rapunzel felt confident that she wasn't going to drown - the most important thing Arianna had taught her was that staying calm was the key to swimming.

And of course that, in her new found confidence, she wasn't careful enough with her footing and fell right into the water - and of course, as she went down, she panicked and kicked her mother accidentally.

She barely breathed as she surfaced. "I'm so, so sorry," she babbled, helping her mom get up again and cringing at her now dishevelled state.

"Sweetheart it's-"

"I know you told me the ground was slippery, I really should have been more careful but I won't do it again-"

"Honey-"

"-and, I mean, you taught me so much already, and I listened to you, I swear, but-"

"Rapunzel," Arianna exclaimed, putting both of her hands on her shoulders, "it's fine, I'm not angry. You simply slipped, it happens."

Rapunzel laughed, her voice a little too high as her heart was still beating too quickly in her chest. It was a simple mistake, nothing big, but her body reacted as if her mothe- her mom was going to hate her for it. Which was frankly ridiculous, she told herself firmly, trying to wrangle her emotions back under her control.

"I- Rapunzel, even if you made a mistake because you didn't listen to me, I wouldn't be mad," Arianna continued softly, "god knows I didn't listen to anyone's advice when I was your age."

Here it was, that sad glint her mom always got in her eyes when she was thinking about Rapunzel's life in the tower - exactly what she had wished to avoid. Rapunzel sighed, feeling her shoulders slump, the gentle movement of the water around her a strangely soothing sensation. She knew Eugene and her mom were right - knew that she was too hard on herself, too competitive also, wanting to prove to everyone that they didn't need to explain themselves multiple times. But when she kept pushing these feelings away, hoping for them to disappear, she wasn't fixing anything.

"I'm sorry," she finally sighed, feeling like being honest was the only solution. "I'm not used to people explaining things to me. Gothel- she wasn't the most patient and, as soon as I could read, I learnt most things by myself. This," she smiled, vaguely gesturing to the situation, "is pretty new to me."

Arianna's eyes had softened as she talked, and she looked relieved that Rapunzel was trusting her enough to tell her this.

"This is pretty new to me too. I mean, I did help my sister learn how to ride a bike, but it involved a lot more bickering," she joked, trying to lighten the conversation. "You're a much better student than she ever was!"

"I guess I am," Rapunzel accepted, and the afternoon finished on a nicer tone.

It was hard for her, to relearn how to learn. It was hard for her to not underestimate or overestimate her capacities, to be able to accept help when the only one she had before was herself. But after that day at the lake, she understood that, no matter what, she now had a family to support her, and friends, and Eugene.

She didn't need to be perfect - she just had to remember that.

#Tangled #Rapunzel #Eugene Fitzherbert #Queen Arianna #Mother Gothel #Tangled the series

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Winner’s Curse Ch. 24

“This looks good, djinn,” Antiquam smiled, looking almost human if the man hadn’t had a arrogant smirk accompanying his words. Or the demeaning way he never referred to her by name. He was like all the rest of the mortal world viewing her as a wish ATM.

Worst, his wishes no doubt would not be selfish but he would also use them to bring pain to others. A more vile kind of master than the average greedy mortal.

“That’s not going to happen. He is not your master.” Jordan reminded herself even as she felt his eyes boring into the back of her head as she heated up his beakers.

Yeah, as if having to be referred to her by what she was, wasn’t humiliating enough. He was asking her to use her phenomenal cosmic powers to heat up his magic objects and potion beakers.

Actually all the villain heads were using her for menial tasks. She was officially Jade’s property but Jade still had to show her loyalty to the Coven and lend her out. Not for actual wishes but just her powers.

So she had to turn ashes to gold for Zevon, conjure up multiple mirrors for Mother Gothel and Queen Grimhilde, and conjure up the rare elemental material needed for Maleficent to recreate her staff.

Each task filled her with disgust, for fulfilling the slave-like labor that genies were known for, what she had always feared she’d end up. It also filled her with dread because each item was further helping the Coven with their spells needed for the invasion.

Except Zevon’s gold, the guy just really wanted to roll around ontop a pile of coins.

But all of that was bearable compared to working under Antiquam’s eyes.

The others had allowed Jade to be in the room, acknowledging that she was the owner. But Antiquam didn;t trust his aunt one bit, and ordered out of the room since he was a “master sorcerer” and didn’t need oversight by a “petty thief.”

Jade had fought with him but eventually relented to going back to her room. Jordan couldn’t fault her exactly. They all had a cover to maintain and with Antiquam already questioning Jade’s rottenness and loyalty, she had to bow out.

At least Jade had full possession of her lamp and was loitering in the hallway in case of emergency. Small comfort that was. Antiquam wouldn’t be able to force her to do something she didn’t want to, but she’d rather avoid an incident entirely.

And while Jade was amiable enough, Jordan just didn’t trust her as much as she would trust say.. Calix or Aziz.

Aziz.

The thought of him pressed down on her like a fist against her spine.

It had been only two days but she missed him.

Not that she wasn’t still angry at him. She was. She was still very very angry at him. Allah whenever she thought of how he said he only tolerated her presence for her mgic, she wanted to burn down a wall. Damnit, hwo dare he lie to her all their lives and make her think he cared about her!

That’s what hurt the most. That even though she frankly distrusted everyone else, and believed no one was to be trusted to love her for herself until after five years of vetting, Aziz was proof that there was one person who was friends with her on her own merits. They just clicked and that was something wish greed or mortal selfishness couldn’t hide.

But he was just like the rest of them.

She was all alone now. The only one who wouldn’t lie to her would be her parents because they had jno ulterior motive for wishes being genies themselves.

And probably Aladdin and Jasmine, but they were like her parents. She couldn’t hang out with them like she did with Aziz, that’d be awkward.

There was Calix, but he didn’t have the same history with her as Aziz did. They couldn’t talk behind people’s backs in Arabic and he know about family pranks and the trials of Auradon Prep.

Aziz filled such a vital and specific place in her life… she could never replace it.

She was going to feel alone forever.

And she wasn’t even trapped inside her lamp like her parents were.

But she would be if the Coven had their way.

Even though Uma said her plan was fool proof, Jordan had doubts. But it wasn’t like she could voice them. She had given up her leadership willingly, she couldn’t change her mind. Especially since she had no plans or suggestions of how to succeed on her own.

She just had to trust Uma and play the powerful sidekick.

The weight on her spine pressed down even more and she paused from heating the beakers to put her head in her hands. Already a migraine was coming on from how much her life sucked.

She knew it was for the best, but Allah it sucked. She had taken this mission because she had thought it would be her chance to become a hero saving all of Auradon, and no one would ever refer to her as just wish fulfilment. She would have substance, she would be seen as brave and heroic, admired for her, not her magic.

And when she had given up her leadership to Uma, playing into the trope of being a bigger person and accepting that Uma would be the one to save them all, Jordan had thought that if she embraced her role asma genie. Be like her parents as everyone expected, be zany and upbeat.

She gave up after five minutes. Well thirty minutes. But a good portion of it, she was drunk. Being sober and upbeat did not come naturally to her, and the thought of fake smiling for the rest of her life made the rest of her hangover nasua come up.

Forever was a long time, and though she knew she was going to experience the unfathomable longness of forever, she still couldn’t wrap her mind around it. And the thought of being upbeat and wacky for vile masters--She actually wished a muktar would come slithering around the corner to kill her.

But here she was, playing her worst imaginable future. A genie. A slave to a villain. Nothing more than a toy for Antiquam to exploit and…

Jordan paused in her internal monologue to realize that her nightmarish imagining of being Antiquam’s plaything felt vivid. Too vivid as she felt a finger play with her breasts, caressing despite the clothing that layed between her bare skin and his hands.

The weight on her spine was not only heavy but was taking on a piercing sensation, crawling up each vertebrae and her legs felt numb. A sensation she heard described but never felt as a genie she just didn’t get cramps like mortals do.

“Wha-” she croaked, her throat constricted, and like a needle sewing two threads together, her lips sealed.

“You think I need a lamp to control you, djinn? Sure, getting your lamp would have made things easier. However, since you insist on doing things the hard way, I had to look up muhktar geniee-killing manual. The cream I put on you is supposed to paralyze you for a few minutes, since a few minutes is all one needs to kill. Lucky you, I need you for other things,” Antiquam purred, running his hands under her shirt.

Jordan tried to speak again, but a gasp was all she managed. The rest of her body was becoming numb, filled with the acute pins and needles.

She didn’t want to embrace this. She didn’t want to follow the path of her parents. Not like this. Her mind screamed but her body wouldn’t obey. She couldn’t move beyond sliding down to the ground because her legs weren’t holding her up.

“I won’t kill you,’ Antiquam straddled, locking his legs by her hips, and loomed over her so the chandelier’s light gave her a view of his silhouette but none of his mocking features.

His fingers creeped up to her throat with the same, uneasily sensual caress before tightening, “I won’t kill you, but I can.”

He tightened, pressing on her larynx, another gasp was the only thing audible though she could feel the gurgle.

“I can kill you. When you’re my genie, if disobey me or try to swindle me in any way, you better remember this moment. Remember how this hurts,” he pressed down harder, squeezing her throat. Inch by inch, losing space for air to come through. She saw blurred edges and more gurgles and panic bubbled up her throat but wouldn’t be heard.

So this is what it is like to almost die?

Antiquam leaned closer, his features still indistinguishable beyond his gleaming amber eyes and too white smile, but Jordan wouldn’t have gotten any clear view anyway for the rest of the world was growing fuzzier, “Remember how this hurts, because I will make torture a thousand times worse, and you’ll wish I had-”

Whatever Antiquam was about to threaten next was cut off by a thud. Antiquam’s body was suddenly removed from ontop of her, his weight gone though Jordan was still too numb to notice the difference.

She sluggish turned her head to the side like a drunk, her vision clearing to see Jay wrestling Antiquam in a flurry of long hair and robes and pounding his head against the cold stone ground until the man stopped moving.

Jordan stared, wondering if the stillness was another sign of death or if he was unconscious. A new numbness crowded her head. She was in shock a vague rational point of her mind suggested. But all she could do was stare at the unmoving tan fingers that moments ago were squeezing the breath out of her.

“Jordan, you ok?” Jay leaned over her, breathless and slightly blood-splattered but in this moment with the chandelier lights iver him, he looked like a divine hero.

“De-” Jordan croaked, a little feeling creeping into her fingers.

“He’s not dead, just unconscious,” Jay said stiffly, his concern replaced by a poker face, “I’ve never killed.”

Jordan ignored Jay’s defensiveness, trying to roll her wrist and slowly the rest of her limbs from its temporary paralysis.

The door creaked and Jade, Uma and Aziz peeked in with Jade triumphantly whispering, “I knew I heard voices.”

“Are you okay?” Jay asked again.

Jordan sat up, hesitantly touching her arms, savoring the fact that she could feel herself and not just  the numbness. She can feel her fingers touching her bicep, Jay straddling her.

Straddling her so similar to Antiquam.

How can she be in this situation again? Why was this her destiny?

To be used and used. To have the possibility of free will and an independent personality like a human but never actually have that choice. To always be the sidekick or enslaved prize in the story while Vks like Jay get to be the hero!

No, no way. Even though she couldn’t stop him from being the hero if Auradon once again, she wasn’t going to give him thanks for it. She hadn’t asked for him to save her.

No, no she hadn’t. Jordan thought as her mind began to rationalize and justify her anger towards Jay. If he hadn’t interrupted, she would have saved herself. She would have broken the cycle of being a used thing.

But no, it was people like Antiquam and Jay that kept her in the position of a sidekick and a genie toy.

“Yeah right I’m fine. I just saw you viciously attack Antiquam like an animal!” Jordan scooted away from him, with a wobbly attempt to stand.

“Hey, I just saved your life!” Jay yelled, “You hate me and I still saved you from Antiquam. What does that make me? Oh, right the hero!” “You’re a VK!” “You’re the asshole who can’t give me a second chance!”

“You stole my lamp!” Jordan yelled. She knew the truth. He was still the son of Jafar after all. He didn’t want to change, and he wasn’t going to, no matter how many people he saved. “That was two years ago, get over it!” “You still steal. You still want-” “Oh Allah, Jordan, get over yourself and apologize to him.” Aziz interrupted.

“You stay out of this,” Jordan hissed, refusing to look at Aziz. She knew if she did, the unwanted lump in her throat would well up with the betrayal she felt that Aziz was only agreeing with Jay because he hated her now.

“See, even he agrees with me,” Jay pointed out victorious, though his face was incredulous at the support, “And he hates me as much as you.” “I don’t hate you,” Aziz protested.

“Don’t act like the good guy. You do! You two are against me all the time for no reason. I’m good now but nothing I do will ever change your mind.” “Oh please. You haven’t been trying to change this whole time. The first time I saw you, you were in FG’s office for stealing. Sorry but it takes a little more than a few months to make someone trust a person who bragged about being the princes of lies.” Aziz scoffed

“I saved Auradon from Maleficent and Uma! That proves enough!” Jay defended

“You only did it because you lived in Auradon too.” Jordan rolled her eyes.

“I. Saved. You. Now.” Jay cried with frustration.

“Jordan, he’s right, thank him,” Aziz repeated to her though Jordan chanced a look to see he was seething too.

“I don’t need you to defend me,” Jay snarled.

“Tajeal min Alsaeb 'an Takun Bijanibik,” (You make it hard to be on your side) Aziz said to himself.

A glimpse of agreement and familiarity returned, and Jordan added in Arabic, “la yumkinuk 'iijra' taghyir ghyr shareiin,” (You can’t make a bastard change).

They shared a knowing smile, something akin to their old rapport returning when Jay, of course, ruined things as usual.

“See this is exactly what I mean. You literally are talking about me to my face.” Jay said.

“Sorry, your dear old Dad didn’t teach you anything but to lie and steal,” Jordan said sarcastically while Aziz chimed, “We invited you to come to Agrabah. You could learn about your heritage if you really wanted to.” “I’d rather stay here than go to Agrabah with you,” Jay shot back

“Wow, nice comeback. The feeling’s mutual.” Aziz shot back

“Like you’re the king of comebacks,” Jordan switched targets, a new rush of irritation from the intrusion of Aziz’s comments in what was supposed to be a fight between her and Jay. After all, if he didn’t want her meddling around in his life, he should give her the same courtesy.

“Just like you’re the goddess of congeniality,” Aziz retorted.

“Why, why am I the one cursed with being shoved with you too. Mal thinks Audrey is the worst. No, you two are the worst!” Jay pulled at his hair as if he wanted to tear it out. Jordan shared the feeling which made Jordan even more furious. She didn’t want to share anything with Jay.

“Nadhil,” She spat.

“Alqawl aleahira” Aziz glared at her.

And Jay let loose the little arabic he did know. All curses.

“Guys, people,” Uma came into the fold between Jordan barely noticed the blue dreads in her view. All she saw was red, and imagined her tongue like burning cat o’ nine tails whipping Aziz and Jay with her worlds. Adding literal heat to their explosive argument.

Steam began to rise from the cement blocks, and Jordan rationally knew they were blowing their cover by being so loud but she didn’t care. These two annoyances had been the source of so much unease and anger and sadness the past month, she wanted them to hurt just as badly.

These foolish stupid mortals who neber had real problems. Never were a slave to a lamp. Just a slave to their greed and selfish desires, using her however they want.They were never the victim of someone like Antiquam. Their pain was barely comparable to hers. She was the one who deserved to be angry.

Uma shoved Jordan and Jay apart, her back toward Aziz, but they all continued yelling. “I’ll handle this,” Calix’s voice whispered, gently pulling Uma away and a cloud of blue mist swirled around them all.

Picking them up and spinning faster and faster like a tornado until they dropped down against the gold walls.

The gold walls of her lamp.

#winner’s curse #chapter twenty four #disney descendants #my fanfic #my fanfiction #antiquam #aziz #jay #jordan #uma #calix #jade #tw: attempted assault

[britishsass]

Let's do Fred's family trauma!

Heck yeah, let's go run with it!

I'd like to preface this with a blanket trigger warning for emotional child abuse. I will be talking a lot about that and parental issues. There will also be discussion of alcoholism, cheating, and neglect.

This is also mainly based on my own headcanon, and therefore, feel free to take it with a grain of salt.

The Bonaparte Family is a bit of a mess, but let's go through the explanation of what I see the family being like

There are 5 members: The father, the mother, an older sister, Fred, and a younger sister. I'm not 100% sure on what their names are yet, since I'm still working on that part a lot. However, I'll pull a few names from the family tree for this, so just know that they're all up for editing if something else fits better.

Father - Lucien Charles Bonaparte

To say that Lucien is strict is an understatement. He carries himself with the same pride as anyone would expect of a father from the Noble House of Bonaparte.

He's shorter than Fred, but doesn't see that as a problem. He's still the clear patriarch of the household. He reminds me of what little I know of Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), or Gabriel Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug). He's the type to care far too much about "heirs" and bloodlines, and he isn't someone who cares for those he views as below their status. Lucien is the sort of fellow who would be great in management-- Not for the employees below him, but for those above him. He's willing to do anything for status, which is why he pushes his family so hard, trying to get the family to be perfect to the outside.

At the time of most of the story, he works as a rather high-up person in an office, probably vice president or the like. He's rarely around his kids, but when he is, he demands perfection from them-- Especially his only son.

Mother - Charlotte Marie Bonaparte

Charlotte is rarely actually present in her kids' lives, preferring to deal with her issues through mixing in with other elites. She's frequently at parties to network, dress up, and catch up on rumors. She's the first to hear if there's something going amiss with their family, and though she does want to make sure the others are living up to her husband's standards, she's more of the Mother Gothel (Tangled) type, where she slips in biting comments that her children don't recognize as backhanded until much later. Another character I could reference for her is Daisy (the Great Gatsby) as she's always ignoring the rumors about her husband and never really cared to tend to her children.

There's been a rumor that she cheated on her husband, but she never actually shows any reaction to such a suggestion. She's uptight, very calculated, but very good at acting.

Older Sister - Josephine Louise Bonaparte

Jo, as she's commonly called, is the closest thing to a mother in the house, since she tends to actually care for her little sister and brother. She still attends the parties her mother used to drag her to, now carrying herself the very same way her mother did, but when she was young, she was a piano player and an artist in her free time. She loved to paint the gardens outside of their house, and would frequently be up early to catch the sunrise.

Jo was a nice person, though she took after her father in appearance. She shares Fred's red eyes, but has cool-toned skin, and shares the dark blue hair that her father has. As such, she does appear rather severe at first glance, and she has a very stern look.

Her reaction to the trauma they faced is commonly referred to as the "Fawn" response. At any sign of conflict, she will immediately attempt to please those in charge, avoiding getting in trouble at all costs. As a person, she could be compared to characters such as Mikan (Danganronpa 2) as someone who will accept any treatment, no matter how horrible, just because she is unable to stand up for herself.

Middle Child - Frederick Bonaparte

Fred's the one I can go on for hours about, heh. I'll keep this part mostly short for that reason alone.

Fred, when he was young, tried to be a good little sister. Eventually, as he grew up, he realized that didn't fit him, and he kept trying to find out who he was until he figured out he was trans. Throughout his life, he kept trying to just figure it all out. Nothing really fit. He tried to be the sporting type his dad wanted, but discovered he wasn't really good at much of it (Though he did like fencing.) He tried board games instead, though it wasn't what was wanted of him, and found he had a talent for them. As well, he enjoyed playing trumpet in the school band, though he quit before graduation due to other priorities.

Fred bounced from interest to interest, trying to figure out how to live up to the expectations placed on him, but from the moment he came out as trans, he could tell that the pressure just got worse. He made sure to go to college (For calligraphy with a psych minor) at a place far from home to avoid his family, trying to run away. That's when he got a job at Thorney Towers, and we know the rest.

Fred has a severe case of middle child syndrome. In other words, he feels overshadowed by both of his siblings, and he's a people-pleaser in the hopes that maybe he'll get noticed.

Younger Daughter - Elisa Julie Bonaparte

Elisa is the youngest of the family, and it shows. She acted out much more, and got away with more because people were busy handling Fred and Jo. She can be very opinionated, but she tries to listen to people.

Elisa is the type you'd expect to be a journalist. Curious, always getting into places she shouldn't be, always borrowing things to investigate them closer. Though she's not what their parents wanted, she's happy to take the gifts they gave her and sell them to get what she wants instead.

Elisa has mostly pushed down her trauma and the memory of Fred with alcohol, trying to act like there's nothing amiss in the Bonaparte family, though she refuses to talk much about Shaky Claim or anything about her family. If she had a choice, she'd change her last name, but she hasn't yet found one that she wants to use. She's a little bit jealous of her siblings, but she does love them, and she's most likely to be able to get back in contact with Fred, though she would panic and likely drink too much beforehand.

~

Anyways. That's just my idea of what the family was like. They're all pretty messed up overall-- They didn't communicate, Fred's parents only really accepted that he was trans because his father wanted an "heir", and there was a whole bunch of neglect and emotional trauma thrown into the mix. The best way to describe them is a masquerade.

Thanks for the question-- I really did want to talk about this a lot! ^_^ Sorry it took me a while to get it all down.

#anon #ask response #bonaparte family trauma tm #fred bonaparte #the owl writes #child abuse tw. #abuse tw. #neglect tw. #cheating tw. #alcohol tw.

[tangledaddict]

Ranking Tangled the Series Season 3 Episodes

1. Cassandra’s Revenge: Episode 12

I loved every single moment of this episode. Of course, I was angry with Cassandra. But, it was still REALLY GOOD. I was not expecting Rapunzel to get Eugene a ring and when I saw it, I was like AHHH. Eugene’s birthday party, Eugene seeing the ring, Rapunzel saying LET HIM GO. This episode WAS AMAZING!!!

2. Plus Est en Vous: Episode 17

The finale felt like it flew by so fast for it to actually be an hour and a half! I wish there was more songs, the episode answered all of our questions (answered most, but not all), and it would be longer (maybe just another half an hour). I like the overall feel of the finale, but I wish they added more to it. My favorite moment in this episode was the proposal. When I first watched this episode, I was REALLY scared for a moment it wasn’t going to happen. But, when it did, I was like YAY!!!!!!! I loved every moment of that proposal. Except, I was

3. Rapunzel’s Return: Episode 1

This was another shocking episode. We thought it was enough that Cassandra betrayed Rapunzel. But, Cassandra’s mother was mother gothel??!?!?! Crossing the Line and Stronger than Ever Before are a BOP. Eugene was so cute being so encouraging for Rapunzel. It was hard when Rapunzel gave a fake smile after what Cassandra did.  I love the ending of the episode because that’s when Rapunzel started opening up to Eugene about the whole and I loved that he said “I’m all ears Sunshine”. This was overall a really good episode. Definitely one I look back at.

4. The King and Queen of Hearts: Episode 7

SO.MANY.NEW DREAM MOMENTS!!! AHHH!!! When they finally signed the book and the kiss AHH!!! Also, Frederic’s obsession with eggs lol.

5. Flynnposter: Episode 15

Eugene as captain was something I didn’t know I needed. First of all, he looks really good in that outfit. Second of all, it makes sense, he did a lot for Rapunzel and her parents. Anyway, I heard Brock Thunderstrike…I’m not going to lie, I LAUGHED! Also, when Brock named his crab. Also, SO MANY MOVIE REFERENCES IN THIS EPISODE…I LOVED IT!!!

6. Once a Handmaiden: Episode 16

Why can’t Cassandra just calm down for ONE MINUTE! They were so CLOSE to being friends again. Freaking Zhan Tiri has to ruin it! Also, Eugene and Rapunzel talking about places not to get married at, LOL. This was a great transition into the season finale/the final episode.  

7. No Time Like the Past: Episode 5

Eugene and Lance as kids?!?!?! YESSS!!! And Rapunzel meeting Eugene and Lance as kids?!?!? YESSS!!! Also, Eugene telling Rapunzel he doesn’t want to see her hurt anymore OMG. I LOVE.

8. Islands Apart: Episode 11

So. Many. CASSANDRA’S! AH! But, it was funny. Eugene complaining about Lance opening his moisturizer, Rapunzel and her father looking through her journal. I honestly thought for a moment that the moonstone Cassandra was real. I’m glad to know she wasn’t real.

9. Beginnings: Episode 6

When Eugene said “Hey, Hey, it’s okay” THAT BROKE MY HEART OKAY. Also, I feel like we got to know the reason why Rapunzel never gave up on Cass. It’s because of that event, Rapunzel knew that Cass gave up her dream to stay with Rapunzel.

10. Return of the King: Episode 2

I love we got to see more interactions between Edmund and Eugene. It was amazing to see how much they have in common. If Rapunzel wasn’t there encouraging Eugene to interact with his Dad, their relationship wouldn’t have soared in this episode. I really Stan New Dream in this episode. :)

11. Race to the Spire: Episode 13

TWIRL ATTACK! Eugene getting scared, New Dream holding each other, Eugene loving Rapunzel’s compassion were my favorite moments in this episode.

12. Be Very Afraid: Episode 9

Not more rocks! Ah! It was good to see the last moments of Cassandra not wanting to harm Rapunzel. Lances fear and song was really funny! I’m not surprised of Eugene’s fear and Rapunzel not having a fear. And poor Varian.

13. Pascal’s Dragon: Episode 10

The dragon was so cute!!! I’m sad that Pascal and the Dragon were separated. But, I’m glad to see that created such a great friendship. Also, when little big guy rolled over Eugene and later licked his face LOL!

14. The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne: Episode 4

It was awesome to see most of the Corona characters and all the animals all together on a mission. I liked how Lance and Eugene were just sipping tea and eating food while everyone left.

15. Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad, Wolf: Episode 3

I’m glad we got we see Red and Angry this season. I’m really glad we got to see a true side of red. But, these characters are not my favorite, that’s why this episode is not highly ranked. I feel like this episode should’ve been released a little later in the season.

16. A Tale of Two Sisters: Episode 14

I was really mad at Cassandra in this one because Rapunzel was stating the OBVIOUS of how horrible Gothel was. I can’t believe how gullible Cassandra was to fall for the mirror and Zhan Tiri, of course.

17. Day of the Animals: Episode 8

It was great to see more relationships. But, this is a episode I skip. It’s because the animals are not my favorite characters in the series. I really liked Dwayne though, I wish we got to see more of him in the series overall.  

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzels tangled adventure #season 3 #disney #disney channel #rapunzel #cassandra #Eugene Fitzherbert

[self-shipper-snowdrop]

Monroe Goth????? Lucian Fiotyn???? ARETE IOS????? FREAKIN MARINA RIPLEY???? HOMEGIRL WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR NAMING POWERS THESE ARE GOD TIER I WANT THEM

FGHFHGFHGFHGVHGVVHVVHGG YOU ARE TOO KIND TO ME ANON;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Honestly I just look around for stuff, but I can tell you how those nanes were made!

Monroe was picked because of Marylin Monroe, as Mother Gothel was an actress intially and is incredible at acting. Goth was a product of me being very lazy and just going “hey… Gothel… Goth… sounds cool” lmao

Lucian was just. kinda. A name I saw and thought sounds very nice!!!! I liked the way it sounded and flowed. Fiotyn I have a hard time remembering, I know the notes are around here somewhere but I can’t find them. I’m like 90% sure though ‘Fio’ came from another language’s word for flower, while ‘tyn’ came from another language’s word for ‘light’ or ‘sun’. So it’s like ‘light flower’ or ‘sun flower’ lol.

Arete is a Greek name meaning ‘virtue’ and in greek mythology Arete was the personification of virtue and excellence (if my memory serves). Meanwhile, Ios I nabbed from a Greek dictionary and means ‘virus’. The thinking there was that Arete does her best to be good and kind- to be virtuous- but her talents lie in infection, as she puts it. Computer viruses, malware, poisons, curses… so she sees herself as a ‘virus seeking virtue’.

Marina was one I was being a bit lazy, imo. Marina is a name I like, and has ocean ties to it. Ripley I also like the sound of and one of my favourite movies is Alien with a favourite horror game of mine being Alien: Isolation, where the protagonists are Ellen Ripley and Amanda Ripley respectively. Like I said in the tags of that post, as a smol bean I thought that the aliens in the movie (the xenomorphs) looked like weird anglerfish that like. Have legs. So it’s a reference for myself more than anything XD

It’s honestly not naming powers, it’s just me screwing around until I find what I’m looking for, lmao. Also 40% of the time I just think of a name and attach an OC to it later Tsubame Gogol I’m looking DIRECTLY at you

#from daydreams to text #snowdrop’s ocs #snowdrop’s ocs; monroe goth #snowdrop’s ocs; lucian fiotyn #snowdrop’s ocs; marina ripley #snowdrop’s ocs; arete ios