Do you have any favourite headcanons you have about the fairies?
First things first: thank you for being my first official ask! (I think…) Also sorry for the REALLY big word splat.
To answer your question, yes! Granted I’ve only really thought of illness and health headcanons though. I think I’ve posted a less detailed version of some before…but I don’t know.
My first headcanon is: canonically, we know dust-keepers don’t sneeze. They would blow away the precious pixie dust if they did. But, I think that’s only partially true. They can’t sneeze when healthy or on the job…but they gain the ability to sneeze when sick. It not only gives them that sinking feeling of realization, but it lets the other fairies around them (if there are any) know EXACTLY what’s happening.
This next part is my health ledger. I’m going to be honest…I did use AI to organize/develop my ideas. But most of the ideas there are mine. Some I got inspired from elsewhere (like real life science or another fanfiction) But ngl the AI actually did help because it forced me to personally think about aspects that I’ve never thought about before. Moving on though:
Pixie Hollow Medical Ledger (Definitive Edition)
Maintained by the Healing Talents of Pixie Hollow
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I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Any fairy may become ill or injured regardless of age or talent
Talent does not grant immunity
Illness and injury often interfere with talent function
Proper treatment and rest are essential
Neglect worsens all conditions
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II. ILLNESSES
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Fairy Flu
Type: Systemic illness
Prevalence: Common
Severity: Moderate to severe
Symptoms
Fever
Coughing & sneezing
Congestion
Sore throat
Headache & dizziness
Muscle aches
Severe fatigue
Nausea
Talent Effects
(Author’s Note: I’m aware some talents are missing, I’m just not sure how they would be affected by the flu.)
Frost: sloppy, uneven patterns
Water: unstable or sluggish flow
Garden: wilted or weak growth
Light: light slips through fingers
Tinker: mild brain fog, reduced problem solving.
Dust-keepers/alchemists: pixie dust repels away (magnet-like behavior)
Animal (warm and winter)
May forget specific animal languages
May hear normal sounds instead of meaning
Severe Cases
Talent may temporarily disappear
Treatment
Strict rest
3 dried and ground rosehips in hot sassafras tea three times a day
Outcome
Full recovery expected
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Fairy Colds
Type: Mild respiratory illness
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Warm Fairy Colds
Symptoms
Sore throat
Runny/stuffy nose
Headache
Sneezing/coughing
Mild fatigue
Notes
Fever rare
Minimal talent impact
Care
Rest and warmth
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Winter Fairy Colds
(Author’s Note: I personally believe winter fairies don’t get sick with colds that often due to them being hardy and living in a harsh environment. But because of that…when they DO get colds, they’re REALLY bad and mess with their talent.)
Symptoms
Fever (always present)
Severe sore throat
Heavy congestion
Intense coughing and sneezing
Moderate to severe fatigue
Headache
Possible voice loss
Talent Effects (Triggered by coughing & sneezing for the first three)
Frost: large uncontrolled bursts of frost (A.N. I got the idea from @ranibell’s ideas for when Periwinkle gets sick)
Glacier: medium ice block formation
Snowflake: miniature blizzards
Winter animal: auditory confusion (fairy vs animal voices)
Care
Rest
Limit speaking
Outcome
Full recovery
Fluttering Flight
Type: Wing coordination illness
Symptoms
Wing tremors
Irregular wingbeats
Difficulty hovering
Inability to fly straight
Treatment
Added to daily pixie dust ration:
1 scoop dandelion fluff
5 ground hawkweed hairs
3 minced speedwell petals
(A.N. I personally believe each aspect of the remedy deals with a specific flight aspect: dandelion fluff for altitude, hawkweed hairs for agility, and speedwell petals for speed)
Recovery
With treatment: up to 3 days
Without treatment: 10-14 days
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Hazy Glows (A.N. Obviously it deals with a fairy’s glow…but the name also made me think of “hazy thoughts”)
Type: Exhaustion-induced illness
Cause
Prolonged overwork
Multiple nights without proper reset
Symptoms
Cognitive
Mental fog
Slowed thinking
Difficulty concentrating
Impaired memory retrieval (knowledge intact, access difficult)
Physical
Moderate fatigue
Reduced stamina
Glow
Faded, cloudy-looking and flickering (stable)
Talent Effects
Talents weakened, not lost
Physical talents: sluggish, imprecise
Cognitive talents: unsafe due to impaired clarity
Treatment
Strict rest
Cure scrub (3 days)
1 crushed sunflower seed, 3 grated fireweed petals, sprinkling of goldenseal pollen
Outcome
Full recovery
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Fairy Pox
Type: Contagious illness
Prevalence: Outbreaks every few years
Severity: Moderate
Notes
Any fairy can contract it
No immunity
First infection is worst
Symptoms (A.N. Granted we do know about the multicolored spots and the dangerous sleepiness parts, courtesy of Prilla and the Butterfly Lie. But I personally believe it can also be pretty itchy and also manifest other symptoms like our own chicken pox)
Multicolored spots across body
Itching
Fever
Moderate to severe fatigue
Headache
Sore throat
Stomach ache
Muted but stable glow
Treatment
Mandatory hospitalization
Daily oral remedy: (A.N. Again, we do know about the daisy pollen remedy, but as pollen is powdery, I thought of a way to actually administer it )
Test tube with 2/4 water, 1/4 daisy pollen, and 1/4 air to allow mixture by shaking.
Rest
Topical itch relief
Duration
7–10 days with outcome as full recovery
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Fairy Distemper
Type: Rare, highly contagious severe illness
Prevalence: Extremely rare
Symptoms (A.N. Again, we know some symptoms courtesy of The Trouble with Tink. Decided to develop it a bit more)
Insomnia
Persistent coughing
Glow discoloration (any color)
Skin discoloration (any color) (A.N. Actually got that idea from one of @ask-the-fairies’s answers)
Complete loss of talent
Treatment
No established cure
Supportive care
Mandatory hospitalization
Duration
Approximately one month (A.N. Part of what makes it so detrimental is the long duration…the other is there’s no known cure)
Outcome
May resolve naturally
Talent returns after recovery
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Disbelief
Type: Acute fatal condition
Cause: Loss of human belief in fairies
Symptoms
Severe fatigue
Glow destabilization
Weakness
Cognition intact (A.N. Which differentiates it from Hazy Glows)
Treatment
Intervention by Prilla
Outcome
Fatal within 24 hours if untreated (Taken in part from Peter Pan 2: Return to Neverland and the very very rare English book Prilla and the Fading Fairies. I do want to read it myself one day…)
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III. WING ANATOMY
Two translucent membranes attached to the back
No blood vessels; nerves present (A.N. Taken from the Secret of the Wings movie and subsequent fanfiction. Tink definitely seemed to be in pain when she first broke her wing after flying to winter. Also I believe wings get their oxygen from the surrounding air)
Extremely sturdy under normal conditions (A.N. While they can be wrinkled, they don’t seem to be able to rip easily.)
Moisture
Contain microscopic internal moisture (A.N. I know, I know, this goes against everything the franchise tells us about wings…but I personally believe that that moisture is precisely why wings are so sturdy and is also part of the reason why warm fairy wings break in winter.)
Absorb external water
Water Effects
Wet wings prevent flight
Drying takes several hours
Flight Mechanics
Wings provide control and balance
Pixie dust provides lift and endurance
Individuality
All wings unique
Identical only in same-laugh siblings
Sibling wings glow pink and blue when near
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IV. BROKEN WINGS
General Rules
No cure (except sibling restoration)
Permanent loss of flight
Lifelong pain (A.N. Again, all the fanfictions involving Milori…)
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Warm Fairy Wings (Cold Exposure)
(A.N. I got the idea from the real science involving water seeping into rock cracks. When it freezes it expands and splinters the rock apart)
Internal moisture freezes and expands
Membrane fractures internally
Wings break even when dry
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Winter Fairy Wings (Heat Exposure)
Wings wither and become brittle
Nerves temporarily shut down (numbness) (A.N. Courtesy of Periwinkle saying she couldn’t feel her wings in SOTW)
If Returned to Winter in Time
Wings reform
Nerves reactivate
Must not fly immediately (A.N. Important: got the idea from Ao3. Author is emrys (living shitpost), fanfiction is “we’ll take it all in stride”, Basically Periwinkle returns to winter, her wings reform, she tries flying under Milori’s guidance…and one of her wings subsequently snaps from the strain. Link below)
http://archiveofourown.org/works/37879060
If Warmth Exposure Continues
Wings melt
Refreeze incorrectly
Nerve reactivation causes extremely severe pain
Partial amputation required (A.N. Idea courtesy of a WoS fanfiction featuring Milori returning to Winter after his wings start melting)
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Partial Breaks (All Fairies)
(A.N. This entire section is also based on emrys’s “we’ll take it all in stride”.)
Treated with sap and splints
Immobilization required
Less than 10% success rate
Failure:
Sap detaches
Additional wing loss occurs
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Sibling Restoration (Exception)
Only same-laugh siblings
Identical wings placed together
Glow intensifies
Broken wing rebuilds using sibling pattern
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V. LIFE WITH BROKEN WINGS
Walking unaffected
No flight
Pixie Dust (A.N. Hey, they may not be able to use it to fly…but they can at least use it to add a little more sparkle to their talent. I consider it a bit of kindness that they’re still allowed dust.)
Reduced to ¼ teacup ration
Used for:
talent enhancement
Lifting objects or animals
Support
Animal companions assist mobility
Pain relief remedies available
Physical therapy prevents muscle atrophy
Mental health support available
Glow
Unchanged
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VI. SEASONAL CROSSING (A.N. Granted, I do believe Zarina eventually makes protection dusts for both Winter and Warm fairies. Courtesy of this author’s Tinkerbell fics:
https://archiveofourown.org/users/october1/pseuds/dmrobb
Until she does however, these are the regulations)
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Warm Fairies → Winter
Requirements
Wings must be frosted by a frost fairy (protocol)
Frost:
does not wear off in Winter
acts as insulation
Additional Requirement
Warm clothing required to prevent hypothermia
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Winter Fairies → Warm Seasons
Protection
Must remain within snowmaker range
Critical Rule
Must return before snowmaker ice is depleted (A.N. Granted I know there’s a huge plot hole with Clank and the snowmaker in the Pirate Fairy. But to make it more believable: I believe the Stadium is in the Spring Area, plus it was nighttime, so it melted slower than it would in Summer. That’s the best I can come up with right now…)
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Heat Exposure (Winter Fairies)
Outside snowmaker protection:
Heat stress and wing damage occur simultaneously
Symptoms
Flushed face
Sweating
Dizziness
Nausea
Fatigue
Wing withering and degradation
…yeah like I said it’s a word splat. But thoughts?