Ode to 11010201 drabble (2015-06-08)

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They’re in the middle of a video call, R teaching him some quick and easy weaving spells that can be done with three elastics, when he finally breaks.

“I got accepted into Berkeley!” He blurts out, fingers tangled in the silly bandz bracelets he’s been trying and failing to turn into a temporary protection spell. The one R is showing him as an example can withstand a car collision, his would be lucky to ward off a very determined paper airplane.

Surprised by the non sequitur, R pauses mid explanation, and pulls apart her own protection spell made out of hair ties. Better not to leave any magic, even a weaving as minor and benign as that, active without supervision.

“Congratulations,” R says honestly, unable to pick up his signals of distress through the video call, “That was your number one, right?”

“Yeah!” He responds, bright and happy at his own success, before remembering that, no, this is not a good thing, “I mean… yeah,” He repeats, a little more solemn, “I didn’t really think I’d get in. And I’m glad I got accepted, you know? But I know we talked about me moving to New York; and I’d be happy to go to NYU, too. I just–”

“Oh, darling,” She sighs, a mix of fond and sad.

It hits him, suddenly, thrusts him a decade into the past. It reminds him viscerally of his mom, that same inflection when he told her he was going to study harder in school so that he could be a doctor and make her feel better and she could come home soon because it was his birthday next month and he was going to be eight years old.

But it’s not identical, not really. The same way R isn’t his mom, no matter the similarity between sisters.

“You shouldn’t feel obligated to go to a different school just because I live over here. You shouldn’t sacrifice what you want for me,” R says, soft expression at odds with firm words.

“It’s not a sacrifice. And I do want to live with you in New York. It’d be a good experience, you know? Live in a different state, and all. Not be less than an hour away from my childhood home,” He protests, reflexively playing devil’s advocate.

She raises an eyebrow–which is something he’s been trying to learn from her, but is somehow more difficult than the magic lessons–and lets the silence sit. Then lets it sprawl rudely with its feet up on the coffee table and everything.

“NYU is my second choice,” he tacks on feebly, unsure if its an argument for or against whichever side he wants.

“And if you really want to attend NYU instead of Berkeley, then I will be here to help you with everything. That option is open to you, but don’t just because of me. I’ll be available to you regardless of if you stay in California or come to New York. Okay?” She stares steadily at him, an almost physical sensation despite the thousands of miles and electronic medium.

“Okay,” He parrots back, relieved. He doesn’t know why he was so worried.

“Now bring your hands closer to the camera, so I can tell you what you’re doing wrong with the weaving.”

~

A/N: Uh… tentative future drabble of Ode to 11010201, featuring long lost aunt/nephew relatives R and Zim.

Adventures of Jack and Ness drabble (2015-06-07)

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“Oh, you dumb baby,” Ness tries not to laugh, comfortingly petting her oblivious partner’s hair.

“I didn’t know!” Jack protests into her knees where his head lays–him curled up awkwardly on his side, a stiff throw pillow clutched in his arms; her in her reserved corner of the sofa, feet shoved between the seat cushion and the armrest.

“The dumbest baby,” she murmurs, soothingly. She props her tablet up on the arm of the sofa to read her emails, but she doesn’t stop stroking his hair.

Jack spends the next ten minutes wailing his frustration into the fuchsia throw pillow. He doesn’t even care about the wrinkles in his suit.

–

They are eight years old when they meet. Eight and young and a little naive when they decide they are going to be best friends forever. Naivety doesn’t mean they’re wrong, but it’s a lot more work than they thought it would be to maintain their best friendship status throughout the years.

What with all the murder and espionage and fake identities and accidental marriages.

That being said, they stay best friends because at the heart of it all, they are still the same people they were when they were eight years old. He’s still the too eager idiot who thought he could make wings out of construction paper, and she the precocious fiend who suggested testing them from the school roof.

Nowadays there’s more experimental parachutes and hijacked helicopters, but it’s practically the same.

–

Depending on the country and which identities used, Ness and Jack are either siblings, cousins, married, or–one time, when they forgot to double check with each other beforehand–married cousins. That particular set of identities ended up needing to be burned anyway, so that awkward cloud of incest didn’t hang over their heads for long.

In actuality, they are both less and more than all of that. They chose each other, sure, which is more than can be said for family; but they also chose each other when they were inarguably stupidly young, and there has been more than one occasion in which sheer stubbornness is what saw their relationship through more than anything else. And they love each other, of course, but while their friendship edges into codependency, it always skirts widely around romance.

Likely because he’s gay and she’s aro, but also due to the simple fact that they just aren’t into each other that way. He knows way too much about her, and she of him, that they know it’s a bad idea.

–

A/N: Some Jack and Ness stuff, just got to let it out.

Externality drabble (2015-06-06)

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“It’s fine,” she says, eyes steadily looking everywhere but at him. “Whatever,” she adds, nails edging into the meat of her palm. “You can go now,” she concludes, mouth flattening into an irritated line.

She has always looked monochrome before, but in the hospital room it takes a turn towards sharp. Black, gray, white. No space for colors, no time for regrets.

He doesn’t know how to apologize. She doesn’t expect him to.

He leaves.

…

“I took the liberty of filling out the rest of her file while the rest of you flocked around her cousin like sheep,” Tsunade says snidely from her seat beside the bed. For some reason, after treating her patient, she refused to leave. Going so far as to send Shizune out to speak on her behalf with Jiraiya.

In comparison to Kakashi-sensei’s room, it really is rather empty, even with the potential future Godaime Hokage inside.

“What?” Komadori asks blankly.

“What kind of piss poor shinobi doesn’t know their teammate’s next of kin? Or even their last name, for god’s sake?” Tsunade adds scathingly. “I suppose I can understand not knowing that brat Kakashi is her next of kin–he’s got the Hatake look to him more than anything–but leaving her surname blank? That’s just appalling.”

“What?” Komadori repeats, before reminding himself that he’s making himself look like a total moron in front of the future Hokage, “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tetsuki’s an orphan.” Nameless, therefore, clanless.

But from the hints the Sannin is throwing around, that may not be true. Tetsuki related to Kakashi-sensei?

“You didn’t know,” Tsunade concludes, less caustic more concerned, “She doesn’t know.”

Komadori shakes his head–in confusion, in agreement.

…

“… and I’ve definitely been training a lot, believe it! I just kind of miss you, you know? Kakashi-sensei pretty much woke up immediately and baa-chan said that she fixed you, so I don’t know why you’re still asleep, okay…” Naruto rambles, feet kicking lightly at the bed, a steady one two one two. He’s a little dusty, a little scratched up, but he didn’t think Tetsuki would mind a little dirt when he visited. Even if she were awake, she was never one to care about that stuff.

“… you missed baa-chan’s ceremony by the way. She’s a great Hokage. Not as great as I’m going to be, but she can have the hat for now until I get stronger…” And he does, need to get stronger, that is. Tetsuki was the first one to believe in him, in a way was his first teacher. Even when her skills led her to a promotion first, she never held that against him, had always tried to keep pushing him forward.

“… Sasuke-teme’s been acting weird–ever since that rotten brother of his showed up–which means Komadori’s been pretty annoyed. He keeps making that face, you know, the one like he made during that one mission with the fruit merchants…” Kakashi-sensei had been acting pretty weird, too, ever since baa-chan spoke to him. Something about inheritance and guardians.

“… that creepy scar guy and Kiba’s sensei and Ino’s dad have been by a few times. And your creepy senpai. They think you’re not waking up because it’s something like what you did during the Chuunin Exams. They said you might have hypnotized yourself, to protect your mind from teme’s brother’s jutsu…” They weren’t sure, though, because Tetsuki hadn’t conveniently left behind a clone who knew how to reverse it. Draining her of chakra might break her self-hypnosis… or it might kill her.

“… I just wish you’d wake up already…”

…

She wakes up.

She doesn’t know what to make of the new name. Doesn’t know what to make of the new Hokage who looks at her with nostalgic fondness. Of the suspicious and even fearful gazes from her superior officers.

At the very least, she’s comforted in the knowledge that her relationship with Kakashi-sensei has always been total and utter bullshit, regardless of if it’s teacher-student or only surviving blood relative.

She had always thought genin teams were supposed to be like family. It was one of those romanticized ideals whispered around the orphanage late at night. Like getting adopted.

She had been proven wrong, time and time again. She should have known better. She should know better.

So what if her jounin sensei was literally her only family. If it didn’t matter then–if she didn’t matter then; running after Kakashi-sensei’s heels, coming up with new techniques, always pushing herself to get his attention–it shouldn’t matter now.

His offer to teach her Chidori–now, after having already gift-wrapped it for his prized Uchiha student–tastes like ashes in her mouth.

As if she hasn’t already moved on from his table scraps.

“It’s fine,” she says, not looking at him in hopes to quell the surge of indignation.

“Whatever,” she adds, curling her hands into fists to ward off her rage.

“You can go now,” she concludes, pressing her lips together so she can’t spit out all the things she wants to scream at him.

Kakashi doesn’t hesitate to leave.

~

A/N: So… I’m toying with the idea of Tetsuki being related to Kakashi via his mother. Which makes his lack of engagement with his first genin team all the more galling when they later realize that Tetsuki is actually his cousin and technically his heir/next-of-kin. Especially since he up and gave his signature jutsu to Sasuke after denying the actually-lightning-natured Tetsuki.

Sooort of ties in with my other SI!OC!Naruto idea, (In)Difference, in which Kiyoshi Utsugi, Kakashi’s mother, is best friends with Tsunade.

Anyway. Yeah. Just wanted to get that out of my system.

Just follow the Externality tag for Tetsuki–orphan of Konoha and reborn SI!OC!KHR character from Trailblazers (sorry, I know it’s convoluted).

Word Prompts (S6): Sanctuary

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It’s a little nauseating, if he’s going to be honest. Everything is just that slightest bit off from what he remembers, that tiny margin for error between identical twins. Like the image of his mother is the horizon, and all the differences between her and his aunt are vestibular disruptions. A rounder face, darker skin and hair, a missing mole, an additional scar.

Her voice. Her age.

And that’s what really trips him up. Because he remembers his mother as a mother. She had been an adult, in her thirties when she died. He remembers going to the hospital after elementary school, listening to the beeps of her heart monitor, wondering if today was the last…

But this woman… this girl… his aunt. She could pass for his classmate with a different haircut and clothes. She looks twenty at most.

The same age as his mother when his parents met.

With the way his father keeps staring, he must be thinking that too. He must be feeling the same nausea of almost-not-quite-right.

“Sanctuary,” she says again, in that voice a little too high, a little too soft; inflections all wrong even within that single word.

She is sitting in the interrogation room, alone and un-cuffed but still. So still. She has blood spattered all along her right side, her sweater beginning to dry, tackily stuck to her ribs. Her khakis are a loss.

She knows they are watching. How could they not?

“Please,” she adds, as if manners were the issue here.

“What do we do?” His father asks, still new to the idea of magic. Of monsters and hunters and permutations therein. Of impossibilities clashing with determination, of the miracles or catastrophes that result.

Of his wife’s twin sister appearing almost two decades out of her time, drenched in blood, and the center of a decades-long supernatural war.

“I don’t know,” he responds, the mentality of first High Magister to appear in centuries utterly lost behind a child too reminded of a mother long passed. “I don’t know,” he repeats.

~

A/N: Lalalala… who knows what I’m doing.

Word Prompts (C8): Cannon

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With every air-shaking boom, it’s hard not to laugh along. As it is, her smile couldn’t get any wider nor her mood any lighter.

“Welcome to the family!” She shouts, slapping the shoulder of the frankly bewildered looking man hunched over in front of her, before leaping over the low wall they had been using for cover with an excited cheer.

In the chaos that is the Michalis family reunion, it is the last of his sister-in-law he will see until dinner time–eight hours away and a maelstrom in and of itself, if the stories of competitive eating and food fights are to be believed.

“Don’t worry, you’re doing just fine!” His… cousin-in-law? (Second cousin?) reassures him between occasional war cries and water balloon tosses.

Great-aunt Delphina, who is a retired auctioneer, and one of the nephews named Theodore, who differentiates himself by being a fairly decent deejay, are commentating rapid-fire. By dint of being on-stage and next to expensive sound equipment, they are the only part of the sprawling backyard that are dry. Every time they spot a participant get drenched–usually accompanied by an over-the-top death scene–uncle Aleon will set off a firework.

There have been seventeen fireworks so far; there were fifty participants at the beginning.

So far, he’s been the cause of “death” for three of the Michalis family members. Though one of them was an eight year old who was starting to look over-heated and had delightedly grabbed the water balloon in his hand to smash over her own head.

He has no idea where his wife is.

~

A/N: Hm… I don’t know… Also, random POV shift right at the beginning? Who knows…

Word Prompts (W17): Wedding

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They first meet each other in a wedding dress boutique. It’s not too strange, really, considering Laura owns the store–meaning, by default, Derek works there. Despite his responsibilities being primarily in inventory, Derek does occasionally interact with the clients. Generally against his will, considering he’s been hit on by far too many bridesmaids and mothers of the brides, but he does meet people at the store.

No, what’s strange is that they meet each other while Stiles is trying on wedding dresses.

It’s one of the livelier appointments for sure, Derek can hear the cheers and laughter all the way in the stock room. And wedding dresses are excellent insulation.

Six impressively tall and broad women– “Amazons,” Peter remarks, before Cora swats his shoulder and shoos him toward a different group of frankly predatory looking septuagenarians (a fiftieth anniversary renewal of the vows sort of thing, which makes the bridal party eager to relive their youth)– have appropriated two of the store’s couches and three ottomans. Malia, squeezed between two of the brightly colored and sequin-adorned ladies, looks especially out of place with her day-off casual clothes.

But Derek doesn’t see any of this in person until fifty minutes into the appointment, when Laura sends him for the fifth time to the stock room for yet another batch of options. Each trip he’s brought back at least two dresses, so he’s getting pretty annoyed with this particular bride. On top of that is Peter’s flock of distinguished hens and Cora’s excitable group of sorority bridesmaids, so that’s almost ten trips with over twenty dresses. Sure he’s strong, but wedding dresses are heavy, okay?

“Derek!” And there’s Laura’s voice again.

“What is it this time?” Derek mutters behind a pile of white chiffon and lace. Laura will hear him anyway.

“Are those the Lazaro and Maggie Sottero A-lines?” She asks, spots the labels on the hangers, then begins to drag him to the front room.

He hates the front room, so he lets his heels dig in a little, but Laura is the epitome of an older sister who always gets her way.

“Ladies!” She calls out cheerfully, perhaps a little maniacally. This group, while not as melodramatic as appointments in the past, is certainly on the more rambunctious side. Malia’s shameless heckling does not help in the slightest, “Look at what my baby brother Derek has brought us!”

The women give a raucous cheer, appreciation in equal parts for the dresses and for the ‘fine specimen of rugged handsomeness’. His scowl does nothing to deter the blush or the catcalls that follow.

It’s at that point that he turns–if it weren’t for the fact that each of the dresses in his arms were worth over ten grand each and that Laura would possibly, literally kill him, he would have dropped them in shock.

They first meet each other in a wedding dress boutique; Derek, bullied into being a gopher and a distraction simultaneously, and Stiles standing on the raised platform, resplendent in white.

~

A/N: I don’t actually have any idea as to what happens next? Probably some kind of rom-com misunderstanding wherein Derek, understandably, thinks Stiles is going to get married (and thus is unavailable for dating) while Stiles thinks Derek is straight (and thus un-attracted to actual Stiles, a decidedly male drag princess who for reasons unknown to me at this point, has to try on various wedding dresses for the Jungle drag queens’ amusement).

Lalalalala…

Also… I only now realize that Peter’s “Amazons” comment might actually be on point considering that the club the drag queens frequent is called the Jungle. Like, they may actually call themselves Amazons? I dunno. And well, obviously if his daughter is friends with Stiles, she’s probably friends with them as well. So Peter would know…

Cross-Post: Little Bunny

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original here. dated 2013-09-04.

~

[[because when I saw the summary/snippet of mgnemesi’s Bunny – “Her,” Young Mr. Wayne blurts, pointing a finger at the girl. “I want her.” – I kind of pictured something different.]]

Jason is nine years old, not stupid. For all that Bruce Wayne says he doesn’t have to change, Jason knows that if he doesn’t want to go back to the orphanage (and the streets, because, let’s be honest the streets of Gotham are sadly a lot better than the orphanage Bruce Wayne found him in) he has to be perfect. It would help if high society behavior were less… convoluted, because Jason does not care for these plastic-face, plastic-personality people trying to pretty much sell their daughters to him.

For all that he’s only nine, being the newest Young Mr. Wayne makes him some sort of prize to be bought through marriage. Jason knows that these same people would have seen him as little more than the dirt under their feet when he was still a street rat. But he’s still confused why they’re trying to make him dance with their daughters–some of them are teenagers, closer to Dickie’s age than his, so he doesn’t know why they don’t bother him instead (except how Dick’s “secret” crush on the Commissioner’s daughter is obvious even to the air-heads)– when it’s a Halloween party. Sure, high society is different, but he’s pretty sure that dancing isn’t really a Halloween thing.

But they’re still pressuring him, and there’s only so many excuses he can make to get out of it without outrightly saying no, before he has to give in sometime. Alfred, all-knowing and all-seeing being that he is, though too busy supervising the wait staff to interfere himself, has thankfully alerted Brucie about his increasingly panicked ward.

Except Brucie is a moron.

“So tiger,” and Jason doesn’t understand these stupid nicknames. They make even less sense when it’s obvious that Jason is dressed as a pirate, “It’s getting pretty late, Alfy says you’ve only got time for one dance before you have to go back upstairs. Who are you going to choose?”

Like he said, Brucie is a moron.

But, well, okay. He only has to choose one girl. But does that mean it’s the equivalent of a proposal? He doesn’t want to accidentally get engaged because of a stupid Halloween dance. As Jason scans the hopeful debutantes and their even more desperate parents crowding around him, he spots a bunny. Well, obviously it’s a kid in a bunny costume, puffball tail and all, over near a small group of adults. She’s tugging on one of the talking men’s trouser legs, trying to get her father’s attention, but the man dismisses her with a brief pat on the head–between the pair of ears– and pushes her towards the candy buffet table. Which obviously Jason has been orbiting around, because it’s pretty much the only good thing about this party.

And the thing is, the girl in the bunny costume is pretty much the only one who hasn’t been thrown in his direction tonight. And she’s got the saddest expression on her face, even though she’s headed towards unlimited free candy (and him), because it’s obvious that she just wants her dad’s attention. And her ears (he knows they’re fake but still) are drooping a little. And seriously, it’s just one dance. They’ll probably never interact after this, right?

So it’s only a little bit of a surprise when he just – “Her,” Young Mr. Wayne blurts, pointing a finger at the girl. “I want her.” – and the crowd around him follows his finger and swivel their heads like a group of predators catching the hint of prey, and even Bruce (not Brucie, actual less-of-a-moron Bruce) looks surprised, and the girl freezes just like a real bunny would with all of this unexpected attention.

But luckily Alfred (seriously, Alfred is great) appears at her side and sort of shields her from their glares and kind of guides her to Jason and Bruce while making it seem like he’s doing nothing of the sort. When they get closer, Jason can see that her blue blue eyes are watery–like, she’s trying really hard not to cry–and wow, doesn’t he feel like a jerk?

Then Alfred does his throat clearing noise which means that he’s not actually clearing his throat, but that he’s going to say something important so you better pay attention. “Would you care for some sweets, Mister Drake?”

“No thank you, Mr. Pennyworth,” The, apparently, boy in a bunny costume answers, voice soft. “And… you can call me Tim.”

“Only if you call me Alfred, Mister Timothy. You are free to change your mind and take advantage of the candy buffet, Master Jason certainly has been. Now if you will pardon me, I wish you a Happy Halloween.”

Then Alfred disappears to wherever he goes, usually, but only after bunny-boy… Tim, replies with a still soft “You too, Mr Alfred.”

Then it’s just the three of them looking at each other, then away, then back. Except the society vultures are still watching, so does this mean he still has to dance?

And because Brucie is still a moron, he says “Well, sport, you going to dance with Timbo here? He’s a boy, you know.”

And then Tim flushes a bright bright red, and Brucie is a jerk as well as a moron for that. And Jason really can’t not make it up to the other boy, so he grabs Tim’s hand (because honestly he’s kind of concerned that the crowd is seriously considering eating him) and declares, “You didn’t say I had to dance with a girl. And what’s wrong with two boys dancing? Of course I’m going to dance with Tim… I mean, if he wants to,”

Because Jason is a jerk, too, and hasn’t asked Tim yet. But, even though Tim’s face is still red, Jason knows it’s the good kind of blush because he nods and says “I’d like that.” So they go to the dance floor (even though Jason still thinks ballroom dancing on Halloween is stupid) and he’s been taking lessons and Tim must be, too, because they don’t fall over themselves, and it’s not exactly terrible.

There is one thing that Jason’s been curious about, though, so he asks, “Why are you dressed as a bunny?”

And Tim smiles, wide enough to show the set of plastic fangs in his mouth, “I’m Bunnicula, legendary terror of the garden,”

And so maybe the candy buffet table isn’t the only good thing about this party.

[[Obviously this is an AU where Jason was adopted earlier, but beyond that I don’t know what else is different in this universe.]]

Cross-Post: Duelist (Prologue)

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original here. dated 2013-06-04.

[A/N: The original post has some outlining/brainstorming/ranting related to the below drabble, but it was mostly the drabble that I wanted to cross-post. The brainstorming was a little too stream of consciousness and I’d have to edit it and… ugh. But to summarize: Duelist is a Harry Potter x Yu-Gi-Oh crossover where YGO canon happens after basically all of HP (minus epilogue, of course) and Harry ends up being the kind of exasperated older wielder of the Millennium Scales. There’s some details that would change in HP canon (like, Harry would be close to Flitwick who is both a magical and card duelist) but overall it’s the same.]

~

Oddly enough, the first encounter happens several months before he discovers magic is real.

As February draws to a close, 4 Privet Drive is ready to begin spring cleaning–though it would be more accurate to say that the Dursleys of 4 Privet Drive are ready to make Harry begin spring cleaning. This is nothing new; spring cleaning has been part of Harry’s numerous duties since he grew big enough to be physically capable of doing so.

Like many of his other chores, he has mixed feelings about the annual spring cleaning. On the one hand, with the weather taking a turn for the better, his relatives usually go out or at the very least avoid being in the house with him, allowing him a small amount of freedom as long as he progresses enough to meet Aunt Petunia’s expectations (though for the past several years, he’s lowered her standards by unnoticeably and steadily slowing his pace). On the other hand, it never fails to bring up his buried feelings of bitter resentment regarding the Dursleys’ material wealth and his severe lack.

Particularly Dudley’s second bedroom. It never made any sense why Dudley has two bedrooms while Harry slept in the cupboard under the stairs, but he knows better than to voice this injustice. Regardless, why Dudley’s second bedroom is used as a storage space for broken toys instead of something useful (it didn’t even need to be Harry’s first bedroom, it could be Uncle Vernon’s study) has always been especially frustrating during spring cleaning.

He finds them the first day–it usually takes three days to go through the one room, due to having the most stuff, so he usually starts on it first–but he does nothing beyond remembering what they are and when Dudley got them. Them being, of course, five starter and at least twenty booster packs of Duel Monsters cards.

Dudley had been easily sucked into the craze at school, so much so that it consisted of one of his many Christmas gifts, though the complexity of the game meant that he unsurprisingly got bored of it soon enough–leading to the cards being fairly untouched, except for their hasty opening and repacking. Probably for the best, considering that if Aunt Petunia ever found out that Duel Monsters was about magic she’d have quickly thrown them away. Uncle Vernon probably would have burned them.

As it is, the colourful and shiny graphics are little more than yet another reason to be quietly jealous of Dudley. At first.

He finishes cleaning the room on the second day (though he takes care to leave seemingly disorganised piles to ensure the next day’s light load) which leaves him more free time than even he expected. He can’t leave the room, though, since Aunt Petunia is having tea with some of the other ladies from the neighbourhood in the sitting room, which is too close to his cupboard, and she’s expressly ordered that he not make his presence known. He’s already read the few books in Dudley’s second bedroom and everything else is either too loud or too broken to do anything with.

Except that’s not true. He quietly fishes the cards out from a toy chest and places them on the floor in front of where he’s sat. As he arranges them in front of him by card type, monster, spell, and trap, occasionally reading the descriptions on some of the more interesting cards, he can see the appeal of the game. It’s like a whole other world where a player–duelist, he’ll learn later that night from the rulebook he sneaks into the cupboard–can use magic and have magical creatures and it’s amazing! Some of the cards are even called magicians! He discovers, having skimmed enough of the rulebook to get a gist of it, that he really likes Duel Monsters; the game just as much as the cards.

It’s on the third day that Harry realises there are a two problems. One is easily fixed, the other is not. The first: there’s no way he can hide all four hundred or so of the abandoned cards in his cupboard without getting caught–either in the smuggling (it would take multiple trips even with how oversized the pockets are on Dudley’s castoffs) or during Uncle Vernon’s periodic checks for contraband. The solution for that is simple, and even a little fun: gather his favourites into a single deck which he can easily hide and keep with him.

The second is more troubling: Duel Monsters is a multiplayer game. For all that he’s been having fun learning about Duel Monsters and creating his very own deck, he can’t do anything without having another person to duel against. He can’t duel Dudley (for obvious reasons), not that he would want to, and due to the terrible reputation Aunt Petunia has spread and Dudley’s campaign to make Harry’s life miserable and lonely, the other kids at school wouldn’t duel him even if they knew he had his own deck.

Despite that, he still makes a deck (he actually makes several decks, since there are certainly enough cards to do so, but he only takes one with him). And even though he can’t really do much with it, he can still imagine using it to duel with friends he might someday have and dream that the monsters and magic of the cards are real. The former happens several months later. He doesn’t discover the latter is true until after he graduates from Hogwarts.

Cross-Post: Idea for a Believable “Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons” Crossover (Part Three and a Half)

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original here. dated 2013-01-28.

[A/N: Continuation of yesterday’s post– Idea for a Believable “Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons” Crossover (Part Three). Which is combining the protagonists of Rise of the Guardians (Jack Frost), Brave (Merida Dunbroch), Tangled (Rapunzel… does she have a last name?), and How To Train Your Dragon (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock… the third?)

The Romantic Relationships part at the bottom I edited in later and which I was kind of… reluctant about. Also–obviously this was before How to Train Your Dragon Two so I hadn’t fully embraced the HiccupxAstrid ship. I totally do now. I mean, a part of me also still ships HiccupxMerida, but ships are completely peripheral to this whole endeavor anyway.

Also, lostiel was a major inspiration for me to get into this crossover fandom… which considering how many of their posts I link and have reblogged is not surprising.]

~

[[since the characterizations were longer than I expected, I’ve split Part Three into two posts. So this one is character interactions feels/peeves]]

Part Three and a Half: Character Interactions (I mean it this time)

Last post, we were only to get through the first four of a list of 16 things we need to consider. Hopefully, each of these parts won’t take as long since these are all hypothetical character interactions. Here’s the remaining items on the list:
5) Merida and Hiccup’s relationship
6) Merida and Jack’s relationship
7) Merida and Rapunzel’s relationship
8) Hiccup and Jack’s relationship
9) Hiccup and Rapunzel’s relationship
10) Jack and Rapunzel’s relationship
11) Merida, Hiccup, and Jack’s relationship
12) Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel’s relationship
13) Merida, Jack, and Rapunzel’s relationship
14) Hiccup, Jack, and Rapunzel’s relationship
15) The Four’s interactions alone
16) The Four’s interactions around others

We’ll make Toothles and Pascal extensions of their humans and address them when relevant. Something else to consider: we have only seen Hiccup interact with people his own age (and while they do respect/listen to him in times of crises, they generally still look down on him). Jack and Rapunzel’s reasons are obvious, but Brave shows us that Merida’s hobbies are all solitary ones. Why is this? Maybe there simply aren’t any kids her own age (excepting her suitors who are from regions far away) or maybe because she’s a princess the commoners don’t interact with her or something else entirely (it’s my personal theory that she’s actually introverted). Additionally: how do each of The Four’s varying family circumstances affect their interactions? For example Merida’s mother troubles versus Rapunzel’s.

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5) Merida and Hiccup’s relationship

As stated in Part Two, a lot of Merida and Hiccup’s relationship will be influenced on what we do with the Viking raids. Regardless what we choose, there will always be some degree of mistrust on Merida’s side if not also on Hiccup’s. Eventually, though, his helpfulness and dependability–especially I’ve decided to have her be fostered in Berk for a season–in opposition to the other dragon riders will make her friendlier.

Truthfully, I think she’ll get along with Toothless before accepting Hiccup’s kindness at face value; she’s better with animals than with people, and would probably enjoy catching him fish, whereas Toothless is probably extremely curious of her and follows her when she’s wandering and whenever Hiccup is unavailable. As for Hiccup, he’s used to dealing with and overcoming animosity from others (though Merida’s is reasonable) and he’d understand best what it’s like to be alone and dismissed by the Berk villagers.

Also, I think they’d bond well over archery and the mechanics of it, because Night Furies are all about speed and precision which isn’t exactly the Viking way, and if Merida has been practicing her archery for want of other activities, she’d go through her arrows pretty quickly and go to the armoury/blacksmith to see if they have more (which they don’t). But Hiccup would make some for her (somewhat secretly, he doesn’t want to show her until they’re perfected, but perhaps during the crisis she’s run out of arrows and he’s like no, wait, go to the blacksmith, and there’s like a hundred practice/test arrows or something).

Together, though, I think they are very goal oriented or, rather, problem solving–when faced with a crisis they’d probably sync up perfectly in order to save the day, though outside of a crises they’re on less steady terms. Especially because they don’t really understand each other and the vastly different confidence levels.

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6) Merida and Jack’s relationship

I’ve seen a lot of posts that assume Jack and Merida would just be constantly yelling/needling each other. I actually think they’d get along pretty well, though, since Merida does have three trickster brothers and she’s also all about pushing the limits of what she’s allowed to do. Jack probably appreciates that, and her ambition for autonomy, though he might annoy her occasionally because he doesn’t like being alone and we’ve seen that Merida’s hobbies are rather solitary. They may eventually figure out a rhythm for this and figure out how to make her activities not solitary, maybe create a friendly competition (and of The Four of them it seems more likely for Merida and Jack to compete than with, say Hiccup or Rapunzel) with races or archery vs ice bolt accuracy sort of thing.

Further, after a few initial find-and-therefore-avoid-sore-points, they may fall into a gentle needling of each other more focused on lighter things such as hair (Merida’s hair is hilarious, okay, but she could easily respond that he looks like a wee old man with his). Since I am having Merida be afraid of flying (but not of heights–she’s cool with that, but she likes having her feet on the ground) this may be a point of actual contention between them and the whole… family issue. So when they do get into fights (which I personally think would not be often enough to define their interactions) they’d be very good at picking at each other’s sore points–his lack of family, her obligations trapping her, etc.

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7) Merida and Rapunzel’s relationship

The foundation for Merida and Rapunzel’s interaction would be their differences more than their similarities simply because they have so many. It’s not necessarily a matter of Merida becoming more feminine and Rapunzel becoming more physical, but there’s an underlying drive to learn. Rapunzel would be curious about basically everything and I think Merida would enjoy teaching someone who is interested. As for Merida, she does crazy shit (like climbing Crown’s Tooth and high speed archery) for the sake of pushing her limits; I’m sure she’d want to excel at different tasks as long as she’s not being pressured into it. I can easily imagine Rapunzel encouraging Merida who is a terrible baker, but will not back down from this challenge she’s given herself. Their relationships with their mothers will be a key point between them, though I’m not entirely sure how it would play out.

Since this crossover is after Brave and, at the very least, after Mother Gothel has outrightly made Rapunzel aware of how much a prison the tower is (and possibly tried to kill Rapunzel’s first humanoid friend), while they do both have very controlling mothers they are at different points in resolving that. Further, I think I’d want them to play chess. How Merida acts with Pascal is somewhat influential (though not to the same extent as with Toothless) to her relationship with Rapunzel, but it’s somewhat difficult to extrapolate. At first I think Merida would be freaked out/constantly shocked whenever he shows up (especially since he’s very small and a chameleon) which would lead to some annoyance on both sides, but eventually may evolve into grudging acceptance and respect due to their mutual care for Rapunzel and surprisingly helpful skills.

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8) Hiccup and Jack’s relationship

Hiccup and Jack’s relationship would be fun–both in universe and to write since we’re mixing Jack’s mischief with Hiccup’s sarcasm. Further, Jack would pull more pranks on Hiccup than the other two not because they’re girls, but because Hiccup has a self-deprecating humour which works best with pranks (Merida would get angry when pushed too far, which is why Jack wouldn’t go too far with her since the whole point is to make people happy; Rapunzel is still naive and may not fully understand the difference between friendly pranks and bullying and Jack would simply be gentler around her due to her own gentle nature).

Similar to the girls, though, I think Hiccup and Jack have a lot to learn from each other–their main difference being Jack’s confidence and Hiccup’s experience with socializing; Jack tries to figure out why Hiccup is down on himself all the time and helps him boost his self-confidence (decreasing, though not entirely stopping the pranks as to not get him suspicious) while Hiccup functions as not quite a moral compass, but a check whenever Jack is unsure how he should react to some social circumstance.

I think Jack and Toothless are similar enough that they’d maintain this really odd mixture of affinity and constant one-upmanship, they don’t really need to go easy on each other as much as they do with the more fragile humans (and chameleon).

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9) Hiccup and Rapunzel’s relationship

Rapunzel would bring out Hiccup’s more Ravenclaw-ish tendencies in something that would create really cool or crazy things like most combinations of art and science do. They would click so easily because they both know what it’s like to obsess over a project (she charted the stars for years just to fact check the floating lamps and then there’s the montage of dragon training) though there may often be misunderstandings considering her naivety, his cynicism, and the fact that he is least magical of all of them and she’d be the one more willing/able to explain but kind of fail because how does one explain magic? And even then, their easy rapport may cause issues such as them being too caught up in a project that they lose track of something important.

Also, sadly, they both have self-esteem issues which, happily, they may be able to help each other with better than advice coming from either of the two more confident members of the group. Toothless and Rapunzel would like each other in the same way that Max and Rapunzel liked each other in Tangled–immediately, obvious, and lightly–though that does mean their interactions are rather more boring than others.

I see Hiccup and Pascal’s relationship going in different directions, though this is set on the condition that they interact (considering how possessive Toothless is of Hiccup, it’s very likely he’d jealously block the smaller reptile). Hiccup and Pascal are both intelligent skeptics which is why they would at first be confused at each other (that skinny guy trained dragons? this wingless dragon can change colours?) but eventually they’d drift into a mutual appreciation.

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10) Jack and Rapunzel’s relationship

Jack and Rapunzel’s relationship is probably the least substantive since, as I’ve set up this crossover, we’re only using a minimum amount of Jack’s movie as well as altering Rapunzel’s significantly. However, it has to be the most developed for this same reason: the reason why Jack goes to Corona so soon after his revival is because he wants to meet the girl born from the sun, while Rapunzel’s movie is shifted because he’s the one that helps her out of the tower and the kingdom.

The strength of their bond is mostly due to their extreme loneliness, they are each other’s first friend (which cements in a sibling-like bond when Rapunzel chooses Jack over Mother Gothel and over the mystery of her birth parents) and they are desperate to stay together and protect each other. Beyond that, Jack and Rapunzel are almost opposite of each other–she’s naive, he’s sly, she worries, he rebels, she wants to see the world, he wants someone to see him, and then there’s the more literal opposites of moon boy vs sun girl. It should work out for the best, though.

Say they get to Iceland via road trip and end up spending weeks in constant proximity with each other–they’re different enough that they’ll have most of the necessary skills covered between the two of them, they won’t get bored of each other, and even if they do get angry at each other they’ll make up easily and quickly. Not only will the underlying loneliness encourage reconciliation, it’ll be easier for them because they will understand that the other is extremely different and thus they’re more likely to consider the other person’s opinion as valid.

The relationship between Jack and Pascal is similarly more developed than Pascal’s relationships with the other two–they are both Rapunzel’s guides and guardians in this new outside world, though Jack and Pascal disagree, occasionally, on what is best for her because they do have different personalities and priorities (obviously Pascal is more trusting of Jack than of Eugene).

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11-14) When it comes to three person interaction, there is a tendency to write two people interacting while one just observes or rather disjointed A and B then B and C then A and C. Though these really do depend immensely on what is happening with the plot because that tells you who has the power, who’s in (dis)agreement, who acts as mediator and other cues. Further, the reason why the fourth person isn’t there may influence the dynamic–for example, is the fourth person mad at one of them and are the other two trying to convince the third to apologise? We’ll look at situation normal (assuming there’s no danger and there are no ongoing arguments/grudges happening) vs crises in general and where the crisis is/includes the missing fourth.

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11) Merida, Hiccup (and Toothless), and Jack

In situation normal, Jack (and Toothless) minimize the awkward tension between Merida and Hiccup, mostly by keeping the interaction fun and light and their focus away from each other, either by keeping the attention on Jack or at most light pranks and mild snarking with either of them–completely safe territory.

Jack will occasionally challenge Hiccup (and therefore Toothless) to a flying competition, which would make Merida feel slightly left out, though they may take the opportunity to keep curing/figuring out her fear of flying/motion sickness (though I think she will keep this dislike, simply because some things can’t/shouldn’t be solved through persistence). Though in times of crisis Merida will suck it up and hitch a ride with either, she will be (at least temporarily) less efficient.

During general crises, because Hiccup has the most experience/skill in leadership, he will be the one in charge even though I’m pretty sure he’s the youngest. As previously concluded, Merida and Hiccup are more compatible in times of crisis than situation normal, to the point where she’ll immediately act on his plan before he has to fully articulate it.

Merida functions as Hiccup’s second in command (in a similar, if more in sync, role as Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon) mostly because she doesn’t have the experience in leading. Further, he’s better at making more cohesive plans while she’s better at improvising or quick instinctual actions–which while good for a solitary hero, doesn’t work so well with others unless they have perfect communication skills. So while Merida will understand and follow Hiccup’s plan, in the middle of action she will abandon it if necessary most often to the plan’s benefit.

If Rapunzel is not in immediate trouble (for example she’s being used primarily as a healer during the crisis), Jack will follow Hiccup’s orders unless there’s an extreme reason such as he’s noticed something the other two haven’t. If Rapunzel is in trouble (because in this crossover Jack values his relationship with her more than the others) it’s more a matter of Hiccup racing to make a rescue plan before Jack takes off.

Merida would go with Jack if it’s just Rapunzel in trouble, where Jack will then defer to her for the most part, but if there’s a reason why Rapunzel’s rescue is a lower priority (perhaps she’s been kidnapped but not harmed, while there are others in danger elsewhere) Merida will stick with Hiccup until the higher priority is solved before they both go after Jack and Rapunzel.

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12) Merida, Hiccup (and Toothless), and Rapunzel (and Pascal)

In situation normal, Rapunzel’s curiosity is actually more likely to make Merida and Hiccup confront the awkward tension (despite Pascal and Toothless’ nonverbal warnings to steer clear of possibly triggering questions)–which leads to extremely passive-aggressive, somewhat racist arguing in the short term but, if they manage to hash out all of their issues, will be good in the long run.

The problem is, though, that it takes them several sessions to get to the end of the argument because either something will interrupt them (considering the amount of issues they would have to go over, that is likely) such as Rapunzel trying to change the topic, or they’ll reach a critical point of anger where they can’t really articulate what they want to say and just implode into huffy silence, or either of them will bow out to avoid the conflict and possibly cool off.

As Rapunzel learns to avoid triggering such arguments, though, the three of them would probably engage in productive activities (because Jack’s not there to distract them away from such sensible pursuits) such as making armor.

In times of crisis, Rapunzel and Hiccup will generally both be riding Toothless as they would create a fairly balanced offensive-rescue force (with Rapunzel’s hair for mid-range grabbing, hitting, and healing while Toothless provides long-range plasma bursts, short-range grabbing, and the ability to transport more weight quickly). This configuration is also best because Hiccup can easily communicate (changes in) the plan with Rapunzel literally right behind him. If necessary, Merida (and Pascal) can do more stealthy manoeuvres of the plan especially as the other two (three plus Toothless) would provide a distraction since neither a dragon nor glowing semi-prehensile hair is subtle.

If Jack’s absence is part of the crisis, Rapunzel’s priorities will be different from Hiccup and Merida’s, though not as obvious as with Jack’s. She will wait for Hiccup’s rescue plan, and if Jack is unharmed she will help with the more dangerous crisis, but if Jack is being hurt she will insist he is rescued at the same time if not before the other people (she does not necessarily have to be the one to save him, she would be willing to have Merida go rescue Jack while she stays with Hiccup and Toothless to save the masses). Further, once reunited, she will heal Jack before continuing with the plan.

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13) Merida, Jack, and Rapunzel (and Pascal)

In situation normal, this is the best and easiest trio interaction. Possibly because in this iteration of a crossover, Merida saves Rapunzel from the hypothermia (thereby earning Jack’s eternal gratitude, which is probably not an exaggeration) and by the time it is the three of them, Rapunzel and Jack have bonded to such an extent that they’ve already gotten most of their disagreements out of the way. Further, Rapunzel’s presence ensures Jack makes his teasing and pranks kinder which means they’re less likely to hit one of Merida’s sore spots (and send her into a rage like many of the gifsets on tumblr suggest).

For the most part, Jack and Rapunzel try to draw Merida out of her solitary habits (possibly not understanding why someone would choose to be alone when they didn’t have to) and Jack’s similarly bad attempts at the more feminine activities which Rapunzel has been teaching them would make Merida feel less frustrated about them (both the activities she doesn’t excel at and the fact that the two of them may have interrupted her preferred alone time).

During crises, Merida will take charge somewhat by default, though during the planning phase Jack and Rapunzel are more likely to contribute. For the most part, though, their plans usually shake out to Merida giving the two of them a general shared goal (with the implicit, unnecessary order that they work together and look out for each other) while she covers the rest of what they don’t. Also, it’s this configuration that makes her weapon choice somewhat important–if she’s the one directly battling antagonists, she’ll likely be using a sword versus if she’s doing the sneaking around or support actions, she’ll be using her bow (and Pascal).

For clarification, general crises could happen as such: Merida tells Jack and Rapunzel to handle minions while she goes after the big bad with her sword; or, she has them distract (but not necessarily fight) the antagonists while she and Pascal do some sneaking.

The matter of Hiccup’s absence being the crisis makes is complicated by Toothless–is he also a prisoner alongside his rider, or is he part of the rescue party? Or is Toothless missing the reason why Hiccup is gone? In the very unlikely scenario where Toothless is with the trio, he’d act a lot like how Jack does with Rapunzel missing, and go off on his own to rescue Hiccup if he can. 

However, there’s probably a reason why Toothless and Hiccup were separated so he would herd the trio into saving him first; because they can’t exactly reason with him, they will launch a rescue plan with at least one of them (probably Merida) if not all of them, depending on if there is further crisis elsewhere.

This situation is the least ideal because it would probably involve the girls riding Toothless while Jack provides cover (and we know how Merida is about that), unless there is further crisis elsewhere which makes it even less ideal because Rapunzel would be riding with Toothless (and Pascal) to rescue Hiccup (because there’s a chance he’d need healing) while Jack and Merida deal with the other issue (and Jack would be distracted by his concern for Rapunzel and thus less efficient).

If Hiccup and Toothless are missing together, then it would be like the previously stated general crisis situations where either Jack and Rapunzel distract the bad guy while Merida (and Pascal) sneak to free Hiccup and Toothless, or Merida stalls until Jack or Rapunzel find Hiccup and Toothless.

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14) Hiccup (and Toothless), Jack, and Rapunzel (and Pascal)

In situation normal, Jack’s desire for attention will dominate this trio’s interaction. It will, at the same time, make things more difficult to write because of the conflicting methods he uses to get attention. He ramps up his pranking with Hiccup but tamps it down around Rapunzel–this could be solved by having him compete with Toothless, though it would have to incorporate the other two as well since that would just make it Jack and Toothless interaction plus Hiccup and Rapunzel interaction. Perhaps an epic game of tag? Or some kind of Pass the Rapunzel from one flier to another? Or, if Hiccup and Rapunzel are working on a large-scale project, they’ll enlist Jack to help them…

There’s not much overlap in the three different two-person interactions so it’s difficult trying to turn dialogues into a trialogue, because Jack and Rapunzel are bonded through loneliness and magic (which Hiccup is not involved in), Rapunzel and Hiccup are essentially nerds together (which would probably not interest Jack), and Hiccup and Jack snark at each other (which Rapunzel wouldn’t understand or enjoy too much).

In a crisis, though, it would be pretty clear–Rapunzel and Hiccup on Toothless as main offence-rescue force with Jack fulfilling secondary roles like providing cover, distraction, or sneaking. (It would take a while for Jack to get used to this configuration, mostly because he would prefer to be paired with Rapunzel, but he knows she’s probably safest with Hiccup and Toothless). This means that if Merida missing is part of the crisis, but not the major part, Jack (and Pascal) will be the ones to find, free, and bring her to Rapunzel for healing if necessary.

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15) The Four’s interactions alone

Merida and Hiccup (and Toothless) actually get along best when all of The Four are together, mostly because with Jack and Rapunzel instinctively forming into a magical, fun-loving pair of unrestrained semi-orphan sort-of-siblings the other two are more likely to realize and bond over their own similarities.

Beyond that, though, it does depend in more detail on what is happening and how far along in the crossover (and thus bonding) we are. During crises, though, the standard formation would still be Hiccup and Rapunzel on Toothless with Merida taking a secondary/subtler role and Jack helping whoever needs it more.

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16) The Four’s interactions around others

We’re excluding crises, since those imply other people anyway, but depending on where they are (and further, if they are around someone’s family) that affects much. If in Berk, Hiccup will be conflicted between the other Berk dragon riders and Merida, Jack, and Rapunzel–so early in the crossover, he will be leaning toward the other dragon riders by default but as they maintain their distance from the outsiders he’ll be more inclined to be part of The Four. In Berk, The Four are unsurprisingly most comfortable around Gobber–while Merida actually likes Stoic (he reminds her of her own father, and I think he’d be diplomatic yet awkward to her) since he is, understandably, suspicious but helpful to the other two The Four are very careful what they do/say around him.

In Scotland, Merida’s family is rather welcoming to The Four and they get along well for the most part–I have a feeling that Hiccup will still bear the brunt of some culturally induced antipathy. When it’s just the family and The Four, all is well: Jack and the triplets get along astonishingly well which entertains Merida’s father. Rapunzel and Merida’s mother also get along partially because Rapunzel’s presence calms the triplets. While Hiccup does at first get the cold shoulder, they do see his good qualities and the triplets agree with Jack on how good of a target he is. Merida is pleased with all of this.

However, when the other clans come to castle DunBroch–thus reminding Merida of her duties as princess–she uses The Four as an escape, and they side with her as she continues to carve out a more fitting place for herself. Jack and Rapunzel understand the idea that she wants more freedom, but Hiccup gets that it’s more about being accepted for her true self–Merida as a warrior princess makes sense to all of them, but while Brave concluded with her being allowed to choose her husband (out of three suitors) it seems like her path is still stuck as a more traditional lady.

I’m unsure what other “others” we should consider… but for we’ll consider how The Four may interact when around strangers. Strangers are probably more interested in where this odd group came from and what their intentions are. Merida and Hiccup will probably try to hide their statuses as well as they can, unless it is strategically advantageous, while Jack and Rapunzel hide her origin as best as possible (her being paranoid at people wanting her hair). They’d have to scramble for an excuse, and it’s mostly whoever is the fastest and loudest with their newest excuse that determines what they pass as, ranging from merchants with no wares to circus performers perhaps. For strangers who specifically are not okay with magic and/or cannot see Jack they’ll have to be especially careful, Rapunzel especially, though Jack’s invisibility/intangibility may prove useful in such situations.

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Romantic Relationships between or including The Four (even though I don’t actually want any):

Canonically, Rapunzel has Eugene, Hiccup has Astrid (though in the books there’s Camicazi), while Merida is (subtly) leaning towards Young MacGuffin. Following that, here are some matters that should be considered in a four way crossover.

I] Astrid will be the main reason why Berk is against Merida, possibly because of jealousy, but mostly because she is actually really suspicious in general and very hostile when suspicious.

II] Rapunzel and Eugene’s romance, if it ever did happen, would be extremely different than movie canon. this may depend on whether or not he got away with stealing the crown. if his timeline were pushed back far enough that Jack and Rapunzel have already vacated the tower when he goes to hide in it, it’s possible that he could have gotten away with stealing the crown, but what will he do with it afterwards? I think it would be cool if he also travelled around, trying to find a buyer or other jobs (because he lost the crown?), and occasionally ran into Rapunzel and Jack (who does not like him at all). This could be part of Rapunzel’s main storyline, where he helps her figure out her past/identity.

III] Merida and Young MacGuffin’s romance probably wouldn’t be significant overall, though that could make the Scotland-set part of the story pretty interesting. Also, I think Young MacGuffin (of the three suitors) would get along best with The Four so they’d be supportive/understanding of the romance if somewhat concerned that the relationship would detract from The Four’s.

IV] The tense and rocky beginnings between Hiccup and Merida would be the most likely (and preferable) romance and could contribute to the plot. There’s the whole enemy nations but also (from here) “she’s everything he wants to be and he’s everything she wished she could be.” In theory, this could be the accidental but fortunate conclusion of the peace treaty.

V] I personally don’t want Rapunzel and Jack due to their co-dependent sibling-like relationship (it’s probably hypocritical, but I always feel like co-dependent platonic is okay while co-dependent romantic is not). But in another crossover I feel like it could work but it would be very… “A Whole New World”.

VI] Jack with either Hiccup or Merida could also be interesting. But then, I don’t know how that would work with the whole firstborn political obligations and the zombie-ghost issues. Also, I usually prefer when romance adds to the plot as opposed to the romance being influenced by what is happening–otherwise it just becomes weird, somewhat unnecessary, baggage. And then that means you have to figure out the impact of Hiccup’s sexuality

VII] It’s somewhat difficult for me to imagine Rapunzel in a romantic relationship with either Hiccup or Merida. Or at least a deep enough romance to bother with the details necessary to transform it from friendship. With Hiccup, it’d be cute and sweet; fluffy but with not enough foundation to do much. With Merida there would be that interesting Merida-is-supposed-to-get-married much less the matter of sexuality, I think it could be very interesting, but I don’t know what direction it would go in nor can I see it helping the plot much–as in, it would significantly alter the plot, but I don’t how?

[[Yeah, you can tell how not keen I am on romance subplots.]]

Cross-Post: Idea for a Believable “Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons” Crossover (Part Three)

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original here. dated 2013-01-26.

[A/N: Continuation of yesterday’s post– Idea for a Believable “Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons” Crossover (Part Two). Which is combining the protagonists of Rise of the Guardians (Jack Frost), Brave (Merida Dunbroch), Tangled (Rapunzel… does she have a last name?), and How To Train Your Dragon (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock… the third?).

Basically, this is me analyzing the four protagonists via Hogwarts Houses and AtLA Elements. Actually… a lot of this was a consolidated cross-post from two separate tumblr posts I made earlier… uh. You can find one of them here, and there’s a link to the other one in that (it’s basically a Matroyshka doll of links and cross-posting… unintentional Rise of the Guardians reference, go me).

Also, I should reiterate that this was before I actually watched Rise of the Guardians though after I watched it I went back and reread this and was surprised by how well I did on Jack’s characterization… So… yeah.]

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[[okay, this should be the last part. mostly it’s about my feels/peeves on characterizations and character interactions]]

Part Three: Characterizations and Character Interactions

Since we love The Four because of their collective awesomeness and the potential transcendent friendship, we have to make sure to understand each personality fully and to make the relationships complex and deep. Increasing the number of characters makes writing exponentially harder, especially if we want each character to be realistically three dimensional: Not only do we have to worry about each individual’s personal development we have to consider each character’s relationship with the others and we would have to map out how characters interact with each other when other characters are present. To expound, that means we need to understand/outline the following:

1) Merida’s character
2) Hiccup’s character
3) Jack’s character
4) Rapunzel’s character
5) Merida and Hiccup’s relationship
6) Merida and Jack’s relationship
7) Merida and Rapunzel’s relationship
8) Hiccup and Jack’s relationship
9) Hiccup and Rapunzel’s relationship
10) Jack and Rapunzel’s relationship
11) Merida, Hiccup, and Jack’s interactions
12) Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel’s interactions
13) Merida, Jack, and Rapunzel’s interactions
14) Hiccup, Jack, and Rapunzel’s interactions
15) The Four’s interactions alone
16) The Four’s interactions around others

All in all that’s quite a lot to consider, even though we’ve bunched everyone who isn’t The Four into “others” and have Toothless and Pascal (and Angus) be extensions of their humans.

Below I’ve briefly written out my own thoughts–in agreement or disagreement to others’ theories I’ve seen– which is not to say I hold mine to be true (I’m actually quite easy to convince one way or another) since this is really the most subjective aspect of writing. Also, most of my thoughts below are just things that particularly stand out to me or, were I skilled enough to write it, things that I would use as a guiding light but not necessarily the map of a specific scene.

1-4) The Four’s individual characters–this is the foundation which the rest are built on. It may seem like the easiest part, since we have entire movies of proof (as opposed to the crossover interactions which are just theories) but often times we are misled. We are only shown limited examples of how our characters act in certain situations, we’re only given small snatches of their life, and so we must either extrapolate what the rest of their life must be like or fall back on the more obvious aspects of their personality.

For the sake of simplicity (and because I’ve seen several similar posts on tumblr), I’m going to use Hogwarts Houses and Avatar Elements to analyze the characters. I know these aren’t traditionally accepted character building/analyzing methods, but they both encompass other nuances of characterization that, for example, the Myers-Briggs test seems too binary and rigid to fully explore.

Most theories usually put each character in different Houses/Elements, which I think is actually true–though characters do share traits, it’s actually their differences which make the dynamic interesting–we want them to get along because of (or despite) their differences. However, I disagree with the some of the more popular assignments:

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1) Merida Dunbroch

According to most posts, Merida is Gryffindor and Fire. I actually disagree with both of these. Yes, the title of her movie is Brave (which is a synonym for courage which is the main feature of Gryffindor) and in it she does take risky, almost reckless, actions. But I actually think she is more suited to Slytherin than Gryffindor–the Harry Potter novels don’t show the full depth of Slytherins because it is seen through Harry’s eyes (and he’s considerably biased against them) but they’re not all Draco and Snape and they can be the heroes as opposed to the villains or antiheroes at best.

Slytherin is defined by ambition and cunning; it’s not necessarily the ambition to be strong or in charge (Merida already is both) and cunning is not outrightly lying, political back-stabbing and double-agent nonsense. Literally the entire movie is about her wanting autonomy and doing whatever she can to achieve it–first she finds the loophole in the clans’ firstborn competition, then she persuades the reluctant witch into selling her a spell by buying all the woodcarvings, then she tricks her mother into eating a magical pastry to change, and finally she negotiates peace (and her right to choose her husband) amongst the clans by using their pride against them.

Further she’s considered Fire primarily because of her temper (and secondarily because her hair is such a lovely red, it’s difficult to not make her Fire), but the only reason why she’s angry in most of the movie is because she’s being forced to be a literal trophy wife. Even if I were to consider her Fire, I’d argue it should be because of her vitality and joy for life, but anyway Merida’s temper is a result of her stubbornness and much more in line with Earth than Fire.

If anything, Merida’s personality is an exact match for Toph who is basically Earth personified according to the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode Bitter Work. Further, her movie does have recurring themes and images of Earth–the first line is “our destiny is tied to the land,” bears, forests, the stone circle where the showdown is, and while will-o’-the-wisps look like blue fireballs they are more likely to be found in bogs, marshes, and graveyards and are considered earth spirits/fairies.

tldr: Merida is Slytherin and Earth.

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2) Hiccup Horrendous Haddock

Hiccup is apparently more difficult to pin down, since different posts assign him different things. He’s usually a toss up between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and then generally Earth. From what I can tell, he’s usually Earth because it’s the one that’s left after the other three, though some is due to his (comparatively) steady nature and perhaps, shallowly, because his colours are green and brown.

However the key descriptions of Air benders–they’re pacifistic, non-confrontational, and open-minded, they go with the flow and only use their abilities in defence–sounds an awful lot like Hiccup. It also doesn’t hurt that if there were bending, Air would help an awful lot with being a dragon rider, and that his designs for Toothless’ prosthetic fin is similar to the Avatar: The Last Airbender’s air-gliders (though these are just fun things to point out, not actual reasons).

As for Hogwarts House, I can see why there is such an inconclusive draw between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff because Hiccup does have several qualities from both: Ravenclaws are intelligent, curious, and creative while Hufflepuffs are hard-working, just, and devoted. Further, these are the two Houses which are less known in the novels (again due to “Harry vision” and he hardly interacted with people from either of these Houses), so it isn’t as clear where the divide is. While Gryffindor and Slytherin’s differences are often, and loudly, made clear, the traits of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are not necessarily opposites of each other. Because of this, we should then use which traits are more prevalent in Hiccup and which are more influential to his movie.

I argue that Hiccup is more Hufflepuff than Ravenclaw; a more elaborate list of traits says that Hufflepuffs are also determined, tenacious, loyal, genuine, well-rounded, fair, open-minded, giving, generous, accepting, compassionate, practical, patient, and dependable. Though his inventions are an important part of his movie and character, most of the movie explores Hiccup’s more Hufflepuff qualities–his loyalty to a village that is disappointed in him, his willingness to see the dragons as sentient beings and not just monsters to be destroyed, the trial-and-error (a lot of error) montage to get Toothless’ fin to work, and his dedication to ending the war between dragons and Vikings even when it costs him his chance to make his father proud. Also we can contrast him to Fishlegs who is a more obvious Ravenclaw.

tldr: Hiccup is Hufflepuff and Air.

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3) Jack Frost

I must confess that I know the least about Jack. Luckily, the crossover happens before most of the events in Rise of the Guardians which means his personality in the movie is not necessarily the same as it was when he first was revived by the Man in the Moon. I’m not saying his entire character can be rewritten, because no–writing one of our major protagonists out of character would be foolish–but Jack’s personality analysis will be based on significantly less material than the others’ because we’re using his brief living memory and what we know of him directly after his revival.

Jack is generally classified as Slytherin and Water. Water is obvious considering he was revived by moon magic and he’s pretty much an actual Water bender with all the snow and ice powers, but while those are true it doesn’t give us insight into his character. Water is the element of change, generosity, adaptability, emotions, and turning defence into offence. Jack is the guardian of fun–it is literally his purpose in life (or… non-life) to bring joy to people, which he does by changing boring or dangerous situations into fun ones–the snow days to get kids out of school and when he was alive, saving his sister from the icy lake by turning it into a game. Jack’s generosity is also displayed in that scene, as he risks (and ultimately gives) his life for hers.

As for Slytherin? I don’t understand that one at all. I mean, yes, Jack is sarcastic, sneaky, and somewhat antisocial which the Slytherins from the Harry Potter novels also were, but those aren’t core values of Slytherins. If anything those are manifestations of his mischievous and rebellious nature–and which house had the largest population of pranksters? Gryffindor. Doesn’t Jack seem eerily similar to a young Sirius Black? Besides courage, which Jack has in spades, Gryffindor is defined by passion, playfulness, spontaneity, living in the moment, bluntness, confidence, commitment, recklessness, and self-sacrifice… which Jack also has in spades.

tldr: Jack is Gryffindor and Water.

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4) Rapunzel

I usually see Rapunzel assigned to Air because Air is the element of freedom and the movie is ultimately about her gaining her freedom from Mother Gothel. However, she didn’t really want to be free of Mother Gothel (though, yes, that’s probably because of Stockholm’s Syndrome and thus her feelings are rather skewed) she just wanted to see the lanterns. It is entirely possible that, had Mother Gothel brought her to see the lanterns, Rapunzel would have been satisfied and gone back to the tower with little complaint. Even when she was negotiating with Eugene, Rapunzel added the condition of him escorting her back to the tower.

While freedom was a very nice bonus in achieving her actual goal, it’s still ultimately just a byproduct of defying Mother Gothel to see the lanterns. Furthermore, if she really wanted freedom, Rapunzel would not have been so quick to reunite with her biological parents or get married to Eugene (which, essentially, anchors her to Corona).

I argue that Rapunzel is Fire. For the most part, the Fire benders we see in Avatar: The Last Airbender, are the results of decades of using rage and hate as the source of their power, so angry aggression has become the stereotype of Fire. However in the episode The Firebending Masters, we learn that when “properly controlled, Fire is life and industry, comfort and creativity;” just look at Uncle Iroh and his priorities. Even trapped in her tower, Rapunzel embodies all of these aspects in her opening montage. Her daily activities are productive and artistic, and, as I’ve stated earlier, if I were to have Merida be Fire it would be because of her vitality and joy for life which Rapunzel shows more of.

Furthermore, what figuratively fuels Fire bending is one’s drive–the overall motivation in life, or, in other words, one’s dream. Tangled is about Rapunzel flourishing as a person because she finally decides to follow her dream, and the ending of her reuniting with her biological parents and marrying Eugene is more about the comfort of family which and directly opposes the freedom of exploring the wider world beyond the Kingdom of Corona. Fire also works quite neatly with the fact that Rapunzel’s magical abilities are from the sun.

As for Hogwarts House, Rapunzel is Ravenclaw and not just because it was the only one left. Ravenclaws are intelligent, logical, absent-minded, curious, creative, self-entertaining, and interested in understanding and learning about things. While she does also fit the bookish stereotype of Ravenclaws, she is a daydreamer just like Luna Lovegood, the most important Ravenclaw of the novels.

tldr: Rapunzel is Ravenclaw and Fire.

[[Okay, so… the characterizations were a lot longer than I thought, but that means it creates a much sturdier foundation for the actual relationships and interactions. So, yay! I’ll just… put character interactions in another post and call it Part Three and a Half]]