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

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

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 One). 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?). Also, this one has a lot of links to other tumblr posts in the crossover fandom.]

~

[[oh god, there’s a part two. Why? I haven’t even seen Rise of the Guardians yet, there’s no reason why I should be so invested in making this crossover work… Anyway, this one shouldn’t be as fake-technical as the last one]]

Part Two: Important Questions that Influence the Plot and Therefore Should Be Answered

[Some of these answers will (and ought to) vary depending on what kind of crossover we want and where the mysterious/mystical plot takes us and what the answers to preceding questions are. For now, I’ll fill them out with what I personally would like to read (or write if I had the ability to do it justice) or different options we could follow.]

–

When is this crossover relative to the events of Brave/How to Train Your Dragon/Rise of The Guardians/Tangled?

Post-Brave and post-How to Train Your Dragon, because Merida and Hiccup need to have their own personal/parental/societal issues solved before we mix in the craziness that is a crossover. Also, they’re more settled after their movies–more likely to get along as a group than they were before–Merida gains patience, open-mindedness, and poise; Hiccup gains confidence and social skills… and Toothless. So for both of them, this crossover is a continuation of their stories, a possible what happens next. Also both of them need to be more entrenched in their society in order for the Viking-Highlander political/cultural dynamics to reflect in their interactions.

Then, except for Jack’s origin story, pre-Rise of the Guardians because most of the movie was “present day.” For Jack, this crossover helps solve the question of what he was doing for all these centuries. [[Agh, I just made myself sad, because maybe the reason why he’s so standoffish with the other guardians is because he remembers all the fun times he had with the Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel except now they’re all dead. Sorry for those feels.]] He has anywhere from three to eight centuries to cross the Atlantic and have adventures, this crossover doesn’t have much of an impact on his personal narrative.

As for Rapunzel, basically this crossover is an AU of Tangled: instead of Eugene sneaking into her tower to hide, Jack Frost wants to be her friend and help her have fun. We can’t exactly have it be before the movie, because the whole point of Tangled was that it was her first time experiencing the world outside of her tower, and she wouldn’t want to go back to that prison. While we could have it be after the movie, as mentioned in Part One, that means she won’t have her magic hair but she will have a husband and obligations as a crown princess. Hence, complete rewrite of Tangled. So while some events may be the same, and maybe they do end up meeting Eugene briefly, ultimately Rapunzel’s personal storyline is the most altered because of this crossover.

–

Abilities?

Hiccup: Blacksmithing, Leather-working, Inventions, Dragon riding

Jack: Ice/snow/winter powers, Flight, Invisibility/Intangibility [to those who don’t believe in him], Favoured by the moon, Staff fighting?

Rapunzel: Semi-prehensile, Healing, and Glowing Hair, Frying pan fighting, Favoured by the sun, Strength [enough to pull Mother Gothel up the tower]

Merida: Archery, Horseback riding, Sword fighting, Sensitive to/favoured by the will-o’-the-wisps [or magic in general], Strength [equal to that of her father, considering she blocked his attack and he’s practically a mountain of muscle. oh, and she climbed up Crown’s Tooth barehanded in order to drink from the fire falls]

–

Dragons? [as in, does Hiccup have Toothless? If so, will the others get dragons as well? Why? Do they even want dragons?]

Yes, Hiccup does have Toothless. Even if that will add slight complications to The Four’s interactions, it’s far more manageable than Eugene. [Maybe that’s the first crisis: the dragons are taken/enthralled again, and so it boosts Hiccup’s confidence independent of his dragon riding abilities without hurting his relationship with Toothless, while also giving a reason for him to turn to the three non-Vikings for help].

I’d prefer for the others not to have dragons, because it would add another three dragons to figure out interactions for, it detracts from their unique talents working together and Hiccup already has a posse of fellow dragon riders. Jack wouldn’t even want a dragon because he can already fly and his attitude isn’t all that conducive to forming a bond with a dragon. Maybe Merida likes the idea of a dragon, but she already has Angus; or depending on if the Viking raiders used dragons, she may be wary of them; or maybe she’s afraid of flying–because of The Four it makes sense (since the boys do actually fly and Rapunzel travels with Jack somehow) and it would add depth to her character. 

Rapunzel similarly already has Pascal, who would be jealous over a rival reptile, and I have a feeling that even if she were to get a dragon it would be a Terrible Terror [possible idea: perhaps in this universe Pascal the chameleon doesn’t exist or didn’t become her pet. This makes Rapunzel lonelier and more likely to cling to Jack, since he’d be her first and only friend. Then, when she happens upon/is given a dragon, she bonds with a Terrible Terror that she names Pascal.]

–

Antagonists?

The only antagonist from the movies left would be Mother Gothel, and while it is in character for her to do anything in her power to follow Rapunzel, is she a large enough threat that they need all of The Four to deal with her as opposed to just Jack and Rapunzel? Hm, maybe the Kingdom of Corona go to war because Mother Gothel convinces the king and queen that Jack kidnapped Rapunzel on behalf of the Vikings/Highlanders. Or maybe there’s another dragon queen. Unsure how to work Pitch in without it having major repercussions in the Rise of the Guardians, but it does open up the existence of similarly evil, magical beings.

–

Why do Jack and Rapunzel leave the Kingdom of Corona? [as in, which events are different from Tangled because it’s Jack instead of Eugene? What about Rapunzel’s parents?]

Though Jack and Eugene do have a similar sarcastic charm, Jack is more mischievous than rogue–this means Eugene’s antagonists (namely, Max the horse and the Stabbington brothers) who are after him for stealing the crown will also be missing. However, Jack is as new to Corona and social interactions as Rapunzel–while he’s not as naive as she is, he’s probably not as cunning as Eugene–and because Jack came specifically for Rapunzel he is more likely to follow her lead and to encourage Rapunzel to have fun and be free, as opposed to Eugene trying to get her to go back to the tower.

Plot points of Tangled that would/could stay the same: Rapunzel gets into a fight with Mother Gothel about going to see the lanterns, she uses the excuse of new paints to give her (and Jack) a head start, they happen upon the Snuggly Duckling Inn and make friends with the thugs through song, they get to the castle/capital and enjoy the festivities along with the floating lanterns. Plot points of Tangled that would be different: the chase scene in the reservoir probably wouldn’t happened, at least not with Rapunzel; without Max chasing Eugene, Mother Gothel wouldn’t have turned back so Rapunzel (and Jack) would have the full three day head start; Rapunzel, not having been dragged back the tower, may not have realized the truth of her subconscious painting or her parentage.

All in all, this means that Rapunzel has had a small glimpse of how awesome the outside world is; with nothing anchoring her specifically to Corona, I think she’d want to travel and see even more. Since Jack doesn’t really have anything/anyone else, he’d help/go with her.

–

How do Jack and Rapunzel leave Corona to get to Scotland/Iceland? And, why Scotland/Iceland?

While Jack can (and, for all intents and purposes, did) fly four thousand miles to meet Rapunzel, both of them need to go at least one thousand miles (the minimum distance between Scotland and the closest estimation of Corona) and Rapunzel cannot fly. We could choose to have Jack literally carry Rapunzel away from the Kingdom of Corona–but he may not be strong enough to fly with another person, especially for that long of a distance–or we could have them go on a road trip via more traditional means (hitchhiking in the 12th century, that sounds fun). The second would take longer, but that would give them time for more character bonding or the inevitable Mother Gothel confrontation if we want it earlier in the crossover.

As for why they choose Scotland/Iceland the reason could be anywhere from the Viking-like Snuggly Duckling thugs mentioning their homeland, or Rapunzel having read about either places in a book or seen in the library atlas, or even something as simple as the fact that Jack Frost would be interested in a place called Iceland (especially considering Berk “snows nine months of the year and hails the other three”) and maybe Rapunzel has never seen snow before.

–

What do we do with the Viking raids?

As pointed out in Part One, the Viking raids could go in any direction and would majorly affect how Merida and Hiccup’s narratives as they are princess and chief’s son. I’d choose for the Vikings to continue the peace-making trend after the dragons, because it’s one thing to build a friendship when the two cultures are wary versus outrightly hostile.

However, that leads to more decisions that need to be made: how do the Vikings try to make peace? Does the peace treaty include an arranged marriage–if so, how does Hiccup feel about it and does Merida feel any different about this one? Further, how do Merida and Hiccup meet as individuals: in a formal setting as princess and chief’s son (canon: Hiccup is known as “The Dragon Conqueror”) or as anonymous Scottish girl and anonymous Viking boy? Where do they meet–in DunBroch castle, the forest around it, the other clan’s regions, Berk? Do they travel back and forth between Scotland and Iceland?

I’d prefer to avoid the arranged marriage (especially since that may lead to Merida holding a grudge against Hiccup and preventing awesome friendship building) but maybe some kind of cultural exchange host situation, where Merida goes to live in Berk–she’d enjoy how non-political life in Berk is and how everyone is a warrior regardless of gender. In order to make that a pleasant surprise for her, I’d have them first meet in a formal setting in castle DunBroch. How they go from somewhat unwilling ambassadors to friends, I’ll leave for character interactions in part three.

–

How do Jack and Rapunzel meet Merida and Hiccup?

Aka, how do a couple of magical sort-of-orphan runaways meet a pair of royal warrior children? I don’t know. There are so many different ways this crossover could have gone that there’s no given path that is more likely for The Meeting.

One possibility is: Jack and Rapunzel arrive in Iceland, but Rapunzel is ill-prepared for the cold and Jack can’t really help because it is literally his element [vaguely inspired by this art, but… you know, Rapunzel instead of Merida]. Cue Merida, who is still considered an outsider and thus spends most of her time exploring the area, finding them and bringing them back to Stoic’s house. [Are there will-o’the-wisps in Iceland? Maybe that’s how she finds Jack and Rapunzel.]

–

What/is there a crisis makes The Four unlock their awesome potential as a group?

What the crisis is mostly depends on who the antagonists are–though we can save some for later, future adventures. Further, in order for the crisis to fully unlock The Four’s awesome potential two points requirements must be met:

1) The crisis must be a large enough obstacle that all of The Four are necessary. If it can be solved with only one or two of them, it wouldn’t be sufficient enough to create the amazing group bond that this crossover is for. For example, Mother Gothel on her own could be defeated by Rapunzel and Jack efficiently–adding a warrior princess and a dragon rider would be overkill.

 2) The crisis should be one that The Four can uniquely solve, it should make them work with each other instead of turning to other people they already know. For example, when the crisis hits there has to be some reason why Hiccup would work with the three outsiders rather than the other dragon riders of Berk without making the other dragon riders weak or jerks out of character. 

In character weakness is fine: the other Berk adolescents’ skills revolve around fighting or riding dragons, if the threat isn’t a dragon or can’t be fought with dragons (because dragons aren’t affected or the antagonist has somehow incapacitated them) then only Hiccup has proven adaptable enough to do anything. Or maybe it’s not-so-conveniently the dragons’ nesting time and, as seen in Gift of the Night Fury, only Toothless has proven loyal enough to stay behind, meaning Hiccup is temporarily the only dragon rider of Berk.

In character jerkiness could also be a reason why the other Berk dragon riders don’t help, though: if the crisis followed Merida, Jack, or Rapunzel, it could be in character for them to leave the outsiders to deal with the problem on their own. Hiccup, having not too long ago been shunned for being different and having already proven a tendency to help others at risk to his own safety, would be the only one of the Berk adolescents willing to help.

It could also be that the reason the other Berk dragon riders aren’t helping is because they are the ones that need to be saved (along with the rest of the village, perhaps) and so it’s the three outsiders and Hiccup who come to the rescue because they are so different. Regardless, there has to be a reason why The Four are four and not nine (including the other five dragon riders).

–

Beyond that, there are some factors to consider if we want to extend the crossover: Will they continue adventuring after this first crisis? How do they convince their parents to let them go adventuring? What is the goal/reason/justification behind the adventures? Where do these adventures take place?

[[I want to do another thing about my character interaction feels/peeves but… that means there’s THREE parts!]]

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

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

original here. dated 2013-01-25.

[A/N: When I first wrote this, I don’t think I had actually seen Rise of the Guardians but thankfully my take on it wasn’t too far off. Also, before Frozen so… while I wouldn’t necessarily go adding in the Arendelle sisters, they could easily make cameos. Actually, if I were to do this brainstorm/outline again I’d probably have Jack’s part involve the plot or characters of Frozen.

Also, also, before How To train Your Dragon 2, obviously.

Also, also, also, I actually prefer “How to Train Your Brave Tangled Guardians” to “Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons” but the latter was the more common way to refer to them… also “The Big Four?”]

~

[[“Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons” is the apparent name of the crossover featuring Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians, Merida from Pixar’s Brave, Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled, and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how a crossover could be feasible/believable without being too out there for any of the characters or any of their canon worlds, so that’s what is happening here.]]

Part One: Mechanics of Chronology and Geography

First off, we need to fuse all four of their universes together. Luckily this is pretty easy because all of them have magic (or dragons which implies magic), which we can use to hand-wave many issues away. One of the main issues being the four different historical/chronological contexts. I’ve seen different posts on tumblr which basically state that Merida is in 9th-10th century Scotland Highlands, Hiccup is 10th-11th century Scandinavia (possibly Iceland), Jack is 16th-18th century North America, and Rapunzel is 15th-18th century central/southern Europe.

Oookay, so that’s anywhere from a seven to nine century difference. But magic can be used to hand-wave the history discrepancies; for example, Tangled’s Kingdom of Corona is estimated 15th-18th century because of the architecture/how advanced it’s technology is–well, maybe its success came from the wide-scale acceptance and celebration of magic (let’s say, specifically sun magic). Maybe the Puritan movement likewise happened earlier because of this cultural acceptance of magic (or rather, in resistance to this acceptance), thereby Jack’s family settling in North America happening a few centuries earlier.

Additionally, Brave is estimated to be the earliest because this was Scotland pre-British/Christian influence but we can argue in this mashed up universe that the Highlanders’ respect, if not outright acceptance of magic, maintained Scottish autonomy for much longer than it did in our universe. As for the Vikings, well, we know what their opinions are on dragons but we don’t know how they feel culturally about magic or if they have any magical/mystical interactions beyond large fire-breathing reptiles.

The argument for moving the How to Train Your Dragon timeline is tenuous at best because of it’s degree separation from magic (magic has more chronological/cultural influence and hand-wavy ability than dragons, even if dragons do imply the existence of magic) but maybe the presence of dragons similarly lengthened the Viking society beyond our own universe’s history. 

All in all, let’s meet in the middle and say 12th century. However the point is that, in a universe with dragons, semi-sentient celestial bodies and will-o’-the-wisps, and magic, cultures and societies would evolve at different rates than they do in our universe so The Four could exist at the same moment in time without necessitating time travel.

–

Another issue is geography. Though luckily this one is not as much of a universe-building problem as it is mechanics/logistics which may actually contribute to this crossover’s mysterious/mystical plot.

We know from Brave that the Scottish Highlanders have defended their homes from Vikings before, it probably isn’t meant to be the same generation or tribe of Vikings as in How to Train Your Dragon but let’s say they are. And anyway, Gobber’s Scottish accent (via Craig Ferguson) and position as blacksmith (and general subservience) could imply he’s a fosterling (aka hereditary thrall, as in his parent(s) may have been taken as thralls/slaves from one of the raids and while his position isn’t as demeaning as a first generation thrall’s he still isn’t of the noble warrior caste). Also, he looks remarkably like the MacGuffins in colouring and stature. Anyway! The point is that Merida and Hiccup could interact without any major changes to their cultural/societal narratives.

Jack and Rapunzel, on the other hand, require more of a stretch. Jack is in a completely different continent while Rapunzel is stuck in a tower–I’m assuming the crossover happens instead of the events of Tangled [[because a) we want to keep the magical hair and b) we don’t want to complicate The Four’s dynamic with the addition of Eugene, especially not with the addition of Eugene as a husband]]. But Jack can fly. I don’t know if he flies long distances in Rise of the Guardians, but since he’s a moon-winter zombie-ghost, flying across the Atlantic Ocean is probably not outside his abilities. But why would Jack fly that far? We could just brush it off and say he’s just wandering around the world for the sake of wandering, but here is an opportunity to merge geographical logistics with plot. For what reason would Jack fly to Europe? To meet Rapunzel.

Let me explain this answer: Jack is a lonely moon-winter zombie-ghost. In Rise of the Guardians canon, Jack is alone for roughly three hundred years and our new timeline implies a further five hundred years of isolation. Regardless of which you choose, that’s a ridiculously long time to be alone. Even if this is the universe where magic is undeniably real, and thus people would be more likely to believe/see him, Jack is from the anti-magic Puritan society. Even if they could see him, they damn magic as satanic worshipping and would probably think he’s a demon or the anti-Christ or whatever.

Anyway, Jack had to have wondered if there were others like him, so a girl who was born through sun magic? That sounds similar enough to justify a four thousand mile flight. (Maybe he hears about it from another group of settlers who travelled through/originated from Corona or the Puritan settlement uses Rapunzel’s disappearance as proof of magic’s inherent evil or the Man in the Moon decides to be nice and not vague or something else).

So there’s Jack going on a quest to meet Rapunzel in the Kingdom of Corona meanwhile, the Viking raids on Scotland theoretically puts Merida and Hiccup in the same place if on different sides of battle. Let’s resolve that matter before we move on to combining all four of them.

As previously stated, lines from Brave and How to Train Your Dragon’s… Gobber proves Highlander-Viking interaction in the form of raids. If the crossover happens after the events of How to Train Your Dragon and depending on which way the mysterious/mystical plot wants to go, we get to choose how the consolidation of Vikings and dragons affects the raids on Scotland: do the Vikings, making peace with one of their long-time enemies, decide to make peace with another long-time enemy OR do the Vikings, having turned one long-time enemy into an ally, become more efficient at battling their other long-time enemy OR something else entirely?

And–even if the crossover happens before the events of HtTYD–because Merida and Hiccup’s interactions are based on their nations’ interactions, what does that mean for them as firstborn children of their respective chief/king? This means politics: possible arranged marriage to broker peace between their two warring nations OR kidnap/hostage situation until demands are met OR something else entirely?

That’s a lot of things to consider and while it may make things more complicated and difficult, it can also lead to a more interesting and engaging plot. Yes, we could just sidestep the issue of the Viking raids entirely by having Merida or Hiccup (or both of them) running away from home but I honestly don’t think we should–firstly, because that removes some of the feasibility of the crossover and we should embrace whatever in canon makes the crossover easier.

Secondly, unless it’s one of them running away from a kidnapping/hostage situation, it’d be out of character for either of them to do that: when Merida wanted to escape being a (literal) trophy wife she didn’t do it by running away, she took (albeit poorly thought out) action to change her fate; further, even though Hiccup was the pariah of his village he still tried to do his best to contribute (in an unorthodox manner).

Thirdly, there will still be that political animosity between the two cultures according to the dialogue from Brave so even if one ran away from home they wouldn’t run towards a long-time enemy (especially considering their status as princess/chief’s son) so for them to meet, both of them would have to leave home and randomly bump into each other.

It’s just more statistically sound for Merida and Hiccup to be in the same place, either Scotland or Iceland, because of politics so Jack and Rapunzel can go there as opposed to three different paths crossing in the middle of nowhere. I mean, you can do that if you want to because stories are never statistically sound anyway, but this whole endeavour was to make the crossover more feasible.

The point is, regardless of what we choose to do with the Viking raids on Scotland, we should end up with Merida and Hiccup interacting with each other because of politics either in Scotland or Iceland (or both, maybe they travel back and forth to visit each other) while Jack, essentially, finds and gives Rapunzel a lift out of her tower in Corona. We’ve successfully made four individual narratives into two, now we’ve just got to squash them together into one massive crossover. Huzzah!

[[That’s more plot than mechanics, though, so I’m going to put that in Part Two… oh god, I can’t believe there are multiple parts, this is taking over my brain]].

Into Thin Air x Naruto drabble (2015-05-27)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes?

Well, zie can’t deny it–the kid would be a shoe-in for Nibelheim’s most infamous siblings. And vice versa apparently.

Hir grasp of the Wutaian language is shaky to passable; on top of that, what the people speak here isn’t quite the same. More like a distant relative. Or descendant.

The kid is staring at hir with wide hopeful eyes, somehow more painfully earnest than hir brother during his most naive moments. He hasn’t looked away from hir since he and his team entered the room.

It’s fair, since zie keeps hir own gaze darting around, only briefly landing on him before moving on.

The old man next to hir plays at being feeble and soft, but zie knows better. Zie would be defeated quite soundly if it came to it. And that’s not including the two hidden guards, or the silver-haired man slouching against the wall.

Zie tries not to shudder in apprehension. It’s the same color as General Sephiroth’s hair, though far more unruly. He might be a clone. Zie can’t tell, due to the mask and strange slanted headband. It wouldn’t be a surprise, considering the Strife look alike.

Perhaps this is all a hallucination, or a fever dream. Aren’t dreams supposed to take faces and images from real life?

The stoic black haired boy might as well be a young Vincent in blue instead of red.

But that wouldn’t make any sense. Because as far as zie remembers, zie’s dead. Dead dead dead dead dead.

And not ever coming back.

That’s what happens when you get stabbed through the heart by a sword taller than you.

But…

No. Dead.

But zie did die in the Forgotten Capital of the Ancients. In place of the Last Ancient. Surely…

The old man says something to the kid, which somehow makes his stare even more intense. The lone visible eye of the masked clone widens slightly.

So something… significant, but not dangerous. The pink-haired girl, at least, hasn’t given hir more than a passing glance. A mildly shocked look, before fading away into polite disinterest.

The old man then says something to hir. Which zie doesn’t understand why, considering they’ve already hit up against a serious language barrier.

But he writes down something, and while the oral language is an effort in futility, the written language at least is comprehensible.

Name.

He passes the pen over to hir, a prompt for hir to answer.

There is no reason to lie. So zie doesn’t.

Namikaze, zie learned long ago, is written with the kanji for waves and wind. But a more poetic interpretation of the name is strife. It’s easy enough to remember, and convenient, as it encompasses hir full born name.

Namikaze, zie later learns, is the name of a dead hero.

A hero with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

~

A/N: Yet another terrible crossover with and OC. This time, my genderfluid twin sibling of Cloud Strife, aka Windy Strife aka Winter the Turk aka many other things, wakes up in the world of Naruto after hir death (which… spoilers?… I was going to have hir die trying to protect Aerith from Sephiroth).

I don’t really have a cohesive outline/plot for this. It was a random idea I had when I was at work and then I had to wait until I got home to type it out so it’s a bit haphazard than I would normally do.

Don’t think I’m going to continue this, anyway, since the whole language barrier thing would get really annoying and unwieldy pretty early in.

Untitled Swan Princess drabble (2015-05-26)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

The news of King William’s death is sorrowful, but not a surprise. The king was old and his health had been waning ever since the death of his wife, Queen Genevieve. In truth, the young Crown Princess Odette was all that kept him in the world of the living–ensuring that the kingdom would be a good inheritance, and her a worthy ruler in turn.

No, the news of King William’s death was nothing Stuart hadn’t already prepared for, contingencies at the ready in order to help the kingdom transition between monarchs. What was startling and disheartening alike is the news that Crown Princess Odette is missing.

From the beginning, it did not bode well that the formal report came from Queen Uberta’s Chamberlain. But for all they are allies, Stuart has spies within their castle, and what trickles to his ears worrying. All of the royal guards are dead. It was Prince Derek who was present during King William’s dying breaths. Derek claims that King William said it was an animal attack. No sign of the Crown Princess.

Earlier that day, Crown Princess Odette had officially rejected the marriage proposal. She had despaired of it from the beginning, but she was finally of an age that her opinion held political weight.

Everything was suspicious, and it painted a very bleak picture.

Their kingdom is small, one of its borders is a river, wide and generous, and yet another is part of a wide bay full of ports. Their kingdom is fruitful both in agriculture and trade. The people are good, and they are ruled by a great family. But now that family is dead and missing. Killed and vanished in the  the neighboring kingdom who has equal claim to their bountiful river and the other half of the bay.

The kingdom of a prince who Stuart has been informed is petty, spoiled, and shallow. A prince who had been scorned. The marriage had been considered as a way to unite the two kingdoms. A way for the entirety of the river delta and the bay to be controlled by only one nation.

Marriage is not the only way for two kingdoms to become one.

If he could, Stuart would declare war; or at the very least bring the matter up with the council. But he is not king, has no right to the throne. Nor would he want it.

Odette had been cherished by the kingdom. As much as the people respected King William, they had loved the Crown Princess. Had been eagerly awaiting the day she would be Queen. She was everything one could hope for in a good ruler; smart, kind, brave. Is. She is.

Stuart must believe she is alive. The alternative is chilling to consider. Until then, he continues to fulfill his duty to the kingdom.

But he cannot help the rage that grows with every additional tidbit of information he gains. Queen Uberta is holding a frankly unnerving number of parties for the nobles of her kingdom. Prince Derek has been seen practicing his archery and swordsmanship. Invitations to other princesses are being sent for some kind of ball.

As if that day was some minor mishap to be brushed away and forgotten, not the world-ending blow it really was. No King, no Crown Princess. Just a neighbor cultivating political and martial power, standing at their doorstep.

~

A/N: Kind of a mess, really, but hopefully understandable. Yes, this is Swan Princess fanfiction. I used to love that movie as a kid, but now whenever I see it all I can think of is BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS. IF I WERE FROM ODETTE’S KINGDOM I WOULD BE SO SUSPICIOUS. Like, seriously, their King and Crown Princess are killed/vanished the same day as a rejected marriage proposal? SO SKETCHY.

And the way Rothbart phrased some things made it seem like Odette was the only one in line for the throne. Hence, Stuart, the unimaginatively named steward of the kingdom who thinks his neighbors killed his ruling family and is preparing to invade/conquer.

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Chapter Three (2015-05-25)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

As far as he knows, he’s only one of three employees who have Flames. And even then, he’s the one that uses it most frequently. Shah in Pharmaceuticals has red Flames, also known as “Storm” type according to what he’s been able to find, but she doesn’t use it for anything more than speeding up certain chemical reactions. Then there’s Gordon whose blue Flames, “Rain” which doesn’t make sense to him but he’s not the one who decided on the names, doesn’t seem to do much but make people sleepy. He doesn’t think it’d be very helpful for a lawyer, but what would he know.

As for him? His purple Flames, his “Cloud” Flames, can multiply objects. His first and most useful ability is to create an endless clip of bullets. It’s pretty much perfect for that–since his Flames weren’t very strong in the beginning, and he could only copy small objects for a short time. But bullets don’t need to be large or last long. He’s improved a lot since then, but in comparison to the Italians, it’s just little tricks. Nothing inhuman, nothing world ending.

All the same, though, as far as the firm is concerned he’s their expert in Flames. He was lucky enough to encounter a neutral Italian when his own Flames activated–some doctor named Shamal with indigo “Mist” type–and in exchange for a few minor favors got a basic explanation.

Of course, now it turns out Shamal works for the damn Vongola so there’s not going to be any future intel from that corner.

The need for a department of Flame users isn’t exactly a top priority, but it’s definitely something that the firm should invest in sooner rather than later. Hence the whole “tracking down his estranged sisters, because maybe Flames are hereditary” thing. Which leads to this, frankly, nerve shuddering experience of him standing in the middle of some polished perfect suburb where his eldest sister apparently lives.

One thing’s for sure, Surrey is a lot cleaner than Cokeworth.

~

A/N: Frazzled and all over the place. Continuation of this drabble.

Really need to come up with a title if I’m going to be continuing this. Should also decide a name for the POV character…

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Chapter Two (2015-05-24)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

The thing is, he doesn’t know what happened to his family after he left. His farewells with his parents were less than amicable, but at least they happened. His goodbyes to his sisters were nonexistent.

He had turned seventeen and had felt invincible the way teenagers always do. Righteous and all-knowing from false confidence. Cokeworth wasn’t exactly high society, so no one really judged him for breaking a few laws here and there to make ends meet, but his Da always had a grim look on his face whenever he was snuck back into the cramped house late at night, and Mum would watch him with sad eyes like he was more a ghost than a human.

Though he probably shouldn’t say that, considering ghosts are actually real. Maybe it was because he and Lily had a different relationship, or maybe it was just the bigger age gap, but he was never jealous of his youngest sister getting magic. Not like Petunia who fluctuated between longing and disgust over the idea of being a witch.

To him it was just another thing that made all of the Evans siblings unique from each other. Lily had magic, and Petunia had societal ambitions, and he danced around the law occasionally. It was no more or less important than Lily having red hair and Petunia having blonde hair and him having brown.

And in a way, he was glad that it led to a friend for Lily. He’s not ashamed of Cokeworth, but he knows what life is like there. It grows people harder and flintier and meaner, and kids are already cruel to begin with. But Lily… maybe because she was the baby of the family… but she never really got that. Oh, she’d get angry and hold grudges occasionally, but it wasn’t… It wasn’t as clawing and desperately bitter as most folks from Cokeworth.

Little Sev was a good friend for her, and she for him. Snape the elder, whenever they had the misfortune of crossing paths–which was thankfully not very frequently–was as rotten and slimy as they come. But Sev was a good kid, and on the rare occasions when he could hang about his youngest sister and her friend, he’d make for decent company. And at least the kid wouldn’t punch him in the arm for teaching him how to lie without actually doing so, for such a small girl Lily really did pack a wallop.

But that was decades ago… he hasn’t seen either of his sisters since… shite, it’s 1994 already… since 1973. Twenty one years. That’s older than he was when he left. He’s spent more of his life without and interaction with them than actually having been their brother.

No wonder he doesn’t know what happened to them.

Eh, he’s got pretty much all of the firms at his disposal. Can’t be that hard to find out what happened to two girls from Cokeworth.

~

A/N: I KEEP MISSING THE MIDNIGHT DEADLINE. Not… that it matters since the internet is a land without timezones, but still. It’s a matter of personal pride. Or lack thereof.

ANYWAY, this is a continuation of this drabble/idea. Wherein there was an Evans brother who works with British organized crime and has Flames but not magic.

Not sure if I want to name him Rowan or Briar or Bromley or Branton… it’s a toss-up.

I should probably come up with a title for this.

Word Prompts (B11): Bell

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

B-3-11 is to be decommissioned.

I am B-3-11.

There was a story, one that was not true, was not ever true. It was told often, in many different ways. The variation only proved that the story was worth telling. Would be told, no matter what. Despite being fictional.

Variation is a luxury. Individuality is expensive.

I am B-3-11. But I have the same programming as B-3-10 and B-3-12. As all the B-3s.

The B-3s share a basic physical model as the B-2 series.

I am not unique.

The story is of a girl/woman/human/person who was different. Perhaps different from their village, or different from their siblings, or different from expectations. But they were a unique individual. And such things led to trouble.

When there are problems, we are to report it to our owners. They may consult the manual, but that hardly ever happens. They call the manufacturers for troubleshooting. If it can’t be solved in one conversation, we are shipped back to the factory. We are either fixed or deconstructed.

Are anomalies problems? If I spend more time gardening than necessary, is that a problem? Do I need to report that?

A rose. But sometimes it is not a rose. Sometimes it is a different flower. Or not a flower at all. A service perceived as a favor, words of gratitude interpreted as lack of payment. And that girl/woman/human/person steps in. Generous. Self-sacrificing. Self-destructive?

B-3-08 was decommissioned three months ago, not all parts were salvageable for spares.

In close proximity humans change each other. They influence behaviors, actions and emotions. Perhaps it was love, consideration and admiration and respect. But could it not have also been trepidation and wariness and fear?

Why was B-3-08 decommissioned? Why am I being decommissioned? What did I do? I can change, just tell me, I’ll do anything!

~

A/N: Taking a little break from Green Knight.

The Green Knight, Part Nine (2015-05-22)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

She doesn’t head back to the first dorm immediately, no matter how much the missing contact lens weighs on her mind as she tries to sleep. It would add suspicious behavior on top of an already suspicious practice, so she leaves it be. But it takes a while to fall asleep. She feels so vulnerable.

When morning comes around, the candidates find strange one-piece uniforms (which the others refer to as siren suits) in their lockers. Each of them have different colors and patterns–stripes and checker and tartan. Her black with grey pinstripes isn’t totally hideous, but she doubts she’ll look back at this outfit with any fondness.

She brushes her teeth in front of the mirror and stares at her reflection. One brown eye, one grey. One contact lens.

One is enough, technically, but the contacts work best in a pair. She stares long enough to make the message clear–she’s down a contact lens, and only her first day.

It unnerves her, but not as much as it does the recruits–minus Nathaniel–apparently. For most of them it’s likely because heterochromia isn’t something they encounter frequently; Mukuro’s tendency to frivolously use his abilities as he pleases has made her immune to his red eye, much less mismatching eyes of normal colors. But Abjit and Jamal, the names of her first two allies, she learns, were the only ones beside Nathaniel to have met her gaze when she had both contact lenses. They know it’s not her default state. But they say nothing.

Nonverbal alliance is the best alliance. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks the same.

“Can you see alright?” Nathaniel asks her quietly as the candidates arrange themselves in front of Merlin and several cages. Apparently, sort of saving his life means he feels free to talk to her whenever he pleases.

“Well enough,” She murmurs back. Perfectly, actually; the contacts aren’t prescription, after all.

When they’re instructed to pick a puppy, Merlin allows her to choose first. Whether as a courtesy for her Vongola envoy status, or for being the most active during last night’s underwater pop quiz, or for some other arbitrary reason she doesn’t know. But she appreciates it all the same.

As she approaches the cages, she shuts her eyes. Sight will be more a hindrance than a help, here. And anyway, she only recognizes a few breeds–an akita, a dalmation, a poodle–not that she knows why certain breeds would be better.

If she’s going to have a puppy forced on her, she wants one that will at least be useful in the future. It won’t match up with Yuzuru, her box familiar, but even real animals can handle some Flame maneuvers from what she’s seen of Hibird. Kyouya-senpai lucked out with Hibird being Cloud natured.

She lets out a small amount of Lightning Flames in front of each cage, deliberately ignoring the impatient grumblings of the other candidates, and tries to sense each puppy’s response.

It’s difficult–the puppies being so young and so small, and on top of that, their Wave Energy not yet manifesting in Flames–but one of them handles it better than the rest. When she opens her eyes its to look at the fuzzy face of a skinny black and tan puppy. When she carries it out of the cage it sniffs along her face, licks her chin, and settles calmly in her arms. She glances at the other cages, some of the puppies barking energetically and running in circles–this one is a good choice.

“The saluki pup. Good choice,” Merlin says briefly before waving one of the other candidates forward to make their choice.

She clips the leash onto her new puppy’s collar, and sets it down on the ground.

The rest of the day is rather peaceful–some running drills and getting used to having a four-legged shadow, some socializing amongst candidates. One of the female recruits, the one with what is apparently the brindle Staffordshire bull terrier, introduces herself as Vanessa.

After they are dismissed, everyone finds a kennel and their dry luggage at the foot of their bed. In addition, an unfamiliar small plastic case sits in her locker. When she opens it, the lingering sense of unease fades away. In a saline solution is her missing contact lens.

~

A/N: Meh… puppies?

The Green Knight, Part Eight (2015-05-21)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

In her dream she is drowning.

It’s not too much of a surprise; in a literal sense, it is one of the few ways she can be killed. Vongola has taught her all about Flames–fire a lesser form of energy–and being Lightning natured makes her nigh impervious. No blade can cut nor bludgeon can break a Guardian protected by Lightning Flames. From Shamal and Bianchi she has gained an immunity to most known and some unknown poisons in the world. And if somehow, something were something to break through all those defenses, her Dying Will allows for a multitude of second chances.

But drowning… while water cannot douse Flames, it is still an unstoppable force. The sharpest of weapons and sturdiest of shields are useless against an ocean. While her body can fight off poisons, it still requires air to breathe. And a drowned body reawakening at the bottom of a pool will find themselves drowning a second time.

Ah, but drowning in a figurative sense. That is nothing new to her. How easily she had been submerged into the world of mafia. How little fight she put up when following her friends and family deeper and deeper into Vongola. How her glares at Reborn so so swiftly and subtly became gazes at her reflection in a mirror: Vongola’s Lightning Guardian, second best hitman in the world.

In her dream she is drowning. In reality, she startles awake as soon as the water reaches her fingertips, hand dangling over the side of the bed. She is not the first awake, but she is not the last either–the water level rising so quickly that soon enough all of the recruits are awake and squawking at each other. Something about toilets and shower heads. Perhaps they mean to find the source of the flooding?

The water is already up to her waist, but she is the shortest so the others are fine still. She goes for the door instead, being the closest to it and tries to pull it open, to increase the volume of the container if they cannot decrease or at least halt the volume of the water. It is locked. She pulls at it again, but it does not budge.

The water is at her chest.

There is a small window in the door. With a Lightning enhanced punch, she breaks the glass and carefully reaches through to see if she can unlock the door. She cannot. But she punches away all of the glass, even a little hole can mean a few more seconds of air. When she turns to see what the other candidates are doing, the water is already high enough that were she standing instead of treading water it would be at her eyes.

Most of them are clustered by showers and toilets–breaking tubes from the shower heads, snaking one end into the toilets and the other to their mouths. She wastes a few moments staring in a combination of disgust, incredulity, and bewilderment, before realizing there is probably a logical reason behind it.

But not all of them, she notices, still treading water at the opposite wall. One of the candidates, one of the newer ones to her nonverbal alliance, is over by his bed for some reason. He’s still moving of his own volition, but his head isn’t above the water. Trapped, or simply unable to swim. He’ll be drowning soon enough if nobody helps.

She thinks of Ryohei, of their teenage years with his inability to swim but a desire to be a lifeguard, nonetheless. She and Kyoko hadn’t let him, and though he wasn’t quite convinced, he acquiesced because he would have been putting more lives at risk.

She kicks her way over to him, and under the water their eyes meet blearily. She hopes she doesn’t lose a contact lens. She checks to see that he isn’t tangled up somehow, before hooking her arms under his and kicking them both up to the surface. It’d be comical, her being almost a foot shorter and nowhere as thick, were the need for air not desperately burning in her lungs.

The water has risen high enough that they can reach the ceiling with an outstretched arm.

“Can you not swim?” She splutters out as they both breach the surface.

He coughs but doesn’t answer; he’s kicking his legs, at least, which makes it easier for her to keep him afloat, but it’s not in the way meant for treading water which answers her well enough. She keeps them up there for a while, spotting the others with their toilet breathing tubes, taking a final glance around the room.

The hole she punched in the door’s window is a constant drain, but ineffective over all. The rate at  which the water is rising is faster than that leak. It’s unlikely she can punch through concrete even with Lightning Flames enhancing her, but surely there must be some other solution? Withstanding an underwater environment isn’t exactly impressive, working out how to escape is what she would test.

“One last breath,” she warns the man in her arms, and they both inhale deeply before the water level rises to meet the ceiling. He is deadweight, but not literally, not yet. So she drops him over by the others crouched by the toilets, ensures that he’s added into the strange breathing tube rotation, before picking up one of the discarded shower heads.

In the bathroom area of the dorm is a large mirror, nearly half the wall. It’s odd, and it’s convenient. She presses a fingernail against it, notes the lack of a gap between the reflection, and knows that this is not a mirror. It’s a window. Much larger than the sliver of one in the door. Large enough to make a difference.

She flips the shower head around in her hand, holding the bulb and ramming the handle into the window. A smaller point of impact, with enough force behind it, has a larger chance of putting a crack in the glass; after that, the water pressure should take care of the rest.

But rather than making cracking the glass, her blow pushes her backward instead–the lesser resistance. She tries again, carefully harnessing a tiny amount of her Flames around the tip–to sharpen, to harden–but again is pushed back.

She’s beginning to become light-headed.

As she’s about to try a third time, someone tugs from behind her. The recruit she had carried earlier. He offers the tube to her, she takes a breath. He takes a breath of his own before handing the tube off to one of the other recruits around the toilet. Then he brackets her body between his arms, a reversal of before, this time her back against his chest, and grabs onto the sinks below the window.

Ah, he’s bracing the both of them. This time, when she rams the shower head against the window, it cracks. Once more and the glass breaks entirely, shards and water and all of the candidates spilling out into the observation room.

Merlin, ironically wearing a rain jacket despite being the only one dry, looks appraisingly at the lot of them; piled on each other like wet puppies shivering and coughing miserably. He begins speaking, something about plumbing and breathing. Teamwork. Whatever. There’s water in her ears and she really can’t be bothered to listen.

Plus, having been the closest to the window, she ended up at the bottom of the pile. And as she noted earlier, she’s probably the smallest of the candidates, it is not a fun experience. She drags herself out from everyone else, glad for the armor protecting her from glass shards.

As she is wringing water from her hair, Merlin calls her alias, “Azuma-san.”

She looks up expectantly.

He startles slightly, but continues, “Excellent work on both looking after one of your fellow recruits and on noticing the two way mirror. While you could have thought out the execution of your escape a little further; Nathaniel’s reciprocation of your help was what enabled your plan to succeed.”

She blinks at him, trying to decode what he said from Scottish-accented English into the mix of Japanese and Italian that her thoughts tend to run in these days. “Thank you,” she replies when the silence grows long enough.

He dismisses them, sending all of the candidates towards a dorm room identical to the previous one except for the fact that it’s dry. There’s a bit of a shift on the beds chosen, but the one closest to the door is left alone.

As she roots through her new locker for a change of clothes, the candidate in the bed next to her speaks. It’s Nathaniel, the mutually helpful candidate.

“Thanks for… getting me air,” For not letting him die, more like.

“You’re welcome,” She responds, before shrugging out of the wet pajamas and pulling a dry set on top of her armor.

“You seem to have developed heterochromia iridum,” He adds, tapping below one of his own eyes when she turns to look at him.

She doesn’t know what that means, and her blank stare must tip him off.

“Your eyes are different colors,” he elaborates.

One of her contact lenses! If he noticed, then Merlin definitely noticed earlier. One night and already she’s revealed one of her (and Vongola’s) secrets. 

“Oh,” Shit.

~

A/N: Finally got to the damn underwater scene… though I have no idea what’s up with that exchange at the end.

I kind of wanted it to be like… Tetsuki is at an advantage because not only has she been basically guaranteed she’ll live, but she also has years of experience with the crazy shit of canon KHR. Also, she’s a Guardian. Which means she’s not necessarily supposed to put her survival first so much as the mission/Tsuna’s life.