Something About Adaine Saying "Is This Justice?" To Ankarna And Crystal Saying "What About Them? Where's

Emily Axford <3

And the little flower in Brennan’s hair!!

(I started A Court of Frey and Flowers)

It’s kinda crazy that the events at the last few episodes of FHSY were glossed over (this is a very badly written ramble about how The Bad Kids are probably incredibly traumatised after sophomore year and it isn’t addressed much, or kind of at all)

—

Thinking about how The Bad Kids walked into the Forest of The Nightmare King after weeks of travelling, the constant threat that came with sleeping, being vulnerable in foreign lands and people, and that one of their best friends was kidnapped and only just retrieved with her months-of-tortured and previously evil sister a day or two ago.

And then they get to a skeleton-scattered temple of a forgotten god, their friend is violently murdered by a unicorn in front of their eyes, they do a whole bunch of drugs and after, on top of all of that, are tortured by their worst fears come to life?

Then The Bad Kids go on to face a colossal king— no, a god, AFTER having to shake off and give into their deepest fears with their war torn friends and family by their side, all for a school project worth 60% of their grade.

If Kristen Applebees had not hit that Nat 20 (tbf it had to have happened exactly that way but still), the fight would have spun out a very different way

The finale of FHSY fails narratively to address just the insane amount of emotional, mental and physical torture these children went through and because of the amount of real life time between seasons sophomore and junior year, I think we skipped over addressing that these kids are probably very traumatised

I don’t care what story it is, if there’s a small talking fox with infinite wisdom, never ending trust and a love of trickery, I will love them.

The Wizard, The Witch and The Wild One’s Fox

The Little Prince’s Fox

D20 Neverafter’s Fox

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’s Fox

All very beloved by me and I’m sure I’m missing a few of them

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When Aesop told the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf to Pinocchio, it really got to me how everyone immediately became protective of him and started snapping at Aesop, defending this abused little boy's right to lie and make mistakes. Those things that are so universally punished in the morals of stories like that. Those things that any person should have a right to do, especially a kid, and especially a kid in a really bad situation.

It really brought home for me how much of Neverafter is about kids misbehaving or disobeying their elders, as kids tend to do, and getting disproportionately punished for it with cruelty. Pinocchio, Red, and even Gerard and Rosamund. Jack, in Timothy's story. And I think it's really heartwarming to see those ideas rejected. No, actually, sometimes you need to lie in order to save someone. No, sometimes, your elders don't know what the hell they're talking about. Sometimes they don't have your best interest at heart. And really, you should be given grace and allowed to make mistakes and learn and grow either way, without being horrifically punished and traumatized for it. Especially as a child.

Idk, something about how viscerally angry it made everyone at the table to see this story preached to a little boy who has suffered more than enough for things that he should've had the right to do in the first place. It felt very beautiful and comforting. What a loving and kind story that is

ive been thinking about this today and just feel the need to sing praises to it

the last stand fight is literally one of my favourites if not the favourite from D20

and, you know, its probably not the hardest or the most story important one, but god its just so good

like the fact that non of them dropped??? that they didnt even get that injured and yeah on some part it obviously was the dice as it often tends to be in dnd but it was also them showing how well they work together

i feel like they all play into their strengths very well it this fight and they even talk about it in the adventuring party like if it werent for spell casters with area of effect spell the fighters would stand no chance, but also noone else could probably tank all that shit from the purple worm like gorgug

and like the decision from emily axford to disguise herself as the proctor was so good and yeah again luck also played into that but if she didnt do it, there would be no chance at even having that luck

and also her spirit guardians (love that spell) delt so much damage, and adaine coming in with the scatter to move the proctor away, which leads to kristin coming closer to there, which allows her to see kipper whats her face and stop whatever she was about to do

and then theres the exams part which they fully blow out of the park, like im pretty sure there was at least one question from like freshman year like prompts to you for remembering, also them actually attempting the math and essay and the essay actually kind of making sense and being about something that the characters genuinely care about

even if we go back to the dice, fig is struggling it that fight (and honestly the whole season) but because of so many good strategical decisions that emily makes, the impact of the dice is not as big as it could have been, if she had done things differently

also everyones vibe is so good the entire fight, like this fight was not made to be easy, they were probably met to at least drop maybe even multiple times, but they are having fun with it, joking around about the rats and the jellies and honestly its a very on brand fight for the bad kids

i also just remember the amount of nat 20 zac rolled in that fight, like that was insane

the horrors persist but so does brennan lee mulligan and guess what he's got even more horrors for you

do you ever think about how the bad kids were only just children during s1?

Gorgug was 14 years old when he first died and had ended up in that dark forest, and when he was resurrected had to live through the terror that followed him to the waking world with the thought that he ended up in hell, because he was only 14, just a child, what had he done to end up in such a place? was it a result of his rage, the rage he was constantly trying to tamper down, was his simple nature fundamentally horrible enough to automatically buy him a seat in hell?

Kristen was only 14 when she had her entire existence turned upside down, everything she'd known and believed in unraveled in just one day. She had died, she'd met god(!), the god that had spoken to her, guided her, given her reason and given her purpose, and yet the meeting was disappointing, and it left Kristen confused and scared and wondering what to do next, what path to take if the one with Helio, the path she'd been walking her whole life, turned out to be leading to a destination she didn't want.

And isn't it scary, isn't it terrifying to end up in the place you've heard so many horrible rumors about, and for all those violent tales to turn out to be true? The moment Adaine walked into her new school all her fears were confirmed, and in just a few hours she went from bitterly mourning not being at Hudol to stealing an important book from the library, from sitting in detention to holding a broken out of shape ladle, sleeves of her uniform ripped and blood smearing her clothes and face, a body at her feet of a women who surely did not deserve anything that Adaine had just done to her.

Isn't it scary when everything suddenly goes so awfully, horribly wrong, and now you're stuck in a party with a group of people you don't know at all, who you didn't choose, and you're all just kids having to witness all these things you didn't sign up for and yet everything is only just beginning, and now you can't go back

A right hand man. A trusty sword. A friend.

Deli finds comfort in his new acquaintance. Colin Provolone is a sturdy and simple man— quick and skilled in battle, a loyal and reliable in service, and also a good friend. Deli, with boyhood now smudged against the edges of his face, grows into his position of The Meat Lands.

Colin keeps the promise he made years ago to a disgruntled mother in the corner of an expansive hall in Comida. He listens and enacts the advises and discussions made for the benefit of this land far from home. He keeps guard and wrestles the yawns that strangle his throat and eyes as politics are discussed. All standing, never leaving, the right hand of Deli.

Colin watches Deli through the days, this leader guided with a willpower of steel, the love and dedication to the unification of his home watering his quick growth and maturation. Two years and Deli had become a fearsome, confident and ambitious young man.

Then Deli lies a gift upon his shoulders— Skald Colin Provolone, meaning poet (sing the songs of heroes, be my witness, carve my name into history, approve of my works).

And when Deli uses this title, Colin doesn’t question. He only grips his sword tighter, stands straighter, observes steadier. Deli’s sword and shield. His skald, his poet.

And at night he meets a softer, kinder Deli. They sit on the edge of Deli’s bed, talking and laughing about smaller matters. Sweeter things, like childhood and gossip that whisper down the hallways. He watched Deli’s expressions pour out, an innocence that splays across his face. He finds delight in those times, a remedy for a past he tries to forget. Light laughter, “simple is always how we’ve kept things”, and drunkenness fills the air between the two.

Two quiet years. Then comes blood.

And blood and blood pours from a carriage and drips, viscous, hot and real from hands and blades.

A quiet shatter in friendship. A trusty sword clanks at the feet of Deli and the familiar, light scent of cheese drifts far away from the house.

For the first time in two years, Deli is alone. A void renders behind him where his skald, his poet, would be standing.

And then five years pass and Colin sees Deli again. Scars rip at his face and he explains in whispers the ambush which landed him with it. Colin examines Deli’s face and finds little. A hardened and rough man. Colin thinks Deli resembles his mother.

Colin thinks about how he might’ve been able to prevent it, how he would’ve kept his promise, how he would have been able to protect him or die trying. Deli’s sword and shield, his skald, his poet.

There, Colin watches Karna die and the light leave Deli’s eyes. He watches the replaced Skald (and he thinks about the way Deli reached out to her with this title that fit her so effortlessly) shredded into a million pieces and he hears something in Deli die along with it.

This time Colin saves him. He nurses his old friend to stability and yet the “yeah, we’ll talk later” never comes as he watches Deli walk off into the sunset, now a man that would never be the boy, the friend Colin knew five years ago. A man with a cold and lifeless portrait, his soft edges ragged and a heart half rotten.

A sword. A shield. A skald, a poet. Colin keeps a promise to a mother and son made seven years ago. A protector, dedicated and loyal. He swings his sword quietly, precisely, dangerously against the ones who killed all his friends, dead or alive. Colin Provolone, sole survivor of the Saprophus, the poet of dead heroes.

The Rook’s exchange.

You bury your child. Distant land, unfamiliar territory within your own homeland, and yet so far from home. You stand at the crown of this insignificant hill, unfit for a princess, your heir, your twin, your friend, your child. And the last time you saw her war-stricken face, you didn't even know it would be your last, and the determination lining the ferocity of revenge and exhaustion in the creases of her eyes, her brilliant intelligence and curiosity lighting a torch down the broad and dark path called Death.

You lay her down in the sickeningly sweet earth, your dwindling people by your side, your queen by your side, your now singular daughter by your side.

“You continue to teach me“ —and the Bulb’s light casts dancing shadows through the trees on a gravestone upon a hill too humble for a King and his family.

And then they sail away from that nameless place, their dearly loved one now lying still, and cold, and so so quiet beneath this land of churning blood and gore and the stink of war in which no tears or love can save her anymore.