#wanders talks

[wandersoffdoodling]

I've been thinking about how I have no real idea what a normal, stable life looks like in the ice kingdom, sky kingdom, etc. we're given so few examples of locations and background characters that feel like they're part of a society and not just there as background props for continent-spanning quests.

I'm talking about arcs 1 and 2 in particular- the pantala tribes actually do have very persuasive societies because I know what a normal dragon does for work, for school, for fun, what getting a little treat looks like and what's out of the price range. I know about all of the preparations and guarding that the poisonwings need to do to keep themselves safe, and how their camp operates.

But I don't remember any non-criminals in the scorpion den, or anyone anywhere near any of the palaces who isn't related to or employed, somewhere up the line, by the queen. where are the artists? the breadmakers? where are the stores and what do they sell? is EVERYONE expected to hunt for themselves? clearly not the queen. what do people get out of working for the queen? I can't recall any mention of currency in pyrrhia, but there are still stores (in possibility, at least) and still people working (who caught all the food for queen coral's banquet?).

the nightwing and rainwing ways of life are explained pretty well, but I'd also be surprised if there are more than a couple hundred of each kind of dragon. we honestly only know about one village's worth of dragons from any given tribe, which feels extremely weird when the skywings and sandwings and icewings are clearly meant to be so much more numerous but I have no idea how people who aren't Nobles live. I barely know how the icewing nobles live, besides them being obsessed with prestige and such.

[wandersoffdoodling]

music in the ice kingdom

I've been thinking about the various musical instruments that the tribes would use. Mainly icewings. From what I recall, they live mainly on the tundra and the ice sheets. wood is going to be a scarcity, and the subzero temperatures probably wouldn't be kind to the fine-tuned wood of something like a violin, leaving aside the complex processes needed to bend the wood into that shape.

however, they do have ice as a highly available, renewable material, and I've heard of at least a couple art installations where musicians play instruments made primarily of ice. the other primary resource they have is animal components, and strings for instruments are traditionally made of animal gut, so that wouldn't be an issue. metal is likely to be scarce due to icewings' aversion to high temperatures and lack of fire, especially during the war, when tribes that have fire would be unlikely to trade metal to them.

bone flutes are probably the most common instrument among the icewings, or things that are combinations of leather/pelt/bone/sinew/etc.

however, this led me into a tangent about how easy it is for them to source, carve, and refreeze/shape ice, and I think that what icewings would be most notable for is sculpture, acoustic design, and performance art. smooth, polished ice would reflect sound very well, and I can see stuff like opera perhaps being a big thing for them.

[wandersoffdoodling]

to start: I know very little about this set of movies beyond what my friend has told me, and I am full stop refusing to watch them for research because they are bad and I do not like live action. I will instead be making up my own lore.

To whoever may be in the disney's descendants tag who does not want to hear my assorted thoughts on a what-it-could-have-been disney's descendants: go ahead and block me- no harm done! the chances you'll encounter me in the wild are incredibly slim. it's fine if I'm not your jazz and you don't want me cluttering the tag.

that said:

I have instead been watching clips from the old disney animated movies. nobody told me that sleeping beauty slaps, actually. I also rewatched clips from hercules.

"mal" (short for malady? that's a plausible name for maleficent to give her kid, honestly. suitably dramatic.) is the child of hades and maleficent. possibly the only villain kid we know the full parentage of. and I think they were wrong to make her hades'.

hades is not cool enough for maleficent. she'd get bored and kill him.

no. if maleficent is going to fall in love with anyone on that island, it is yzma. like, watch these videos and tell me I'm wrong:

maleficent is SO dramatic. she's evil and she's thrilled to be here. she's living to ruin your life- not because she hates you personally, but because she's just like that. she needs someone who is down for casual murder and who can match her energy.

now consider yzma:

she checks all these boxes.

as my friend said: they'd tear each other apart (positive)

they'd start a crazy old ladies club on the isle of the lost. if maleficent were going to pick anyone to have a kid with, it would be yzma. how? idk. maybe one is trans. one is literally a fairy that can turn into a dragon. I know magic is limited on the island but like... you have a sea witch, a god, a genie, and a fairy at your disposal. I'm sure you can figure something out.

[wandersoffdoodling]

consider: aasimar dream and tiefling nightmare

[wandersoffdoodling]

me: thinking emojii

if i’m right, according to this...

... i should put the legs here. 

yeah, that looks about right.

[wandersoffdoodling]

alternate apple incident

an au where there is no evil nightmare that tells him to eat the apples, and the apples have no actual effect on one’s morality when eaten. in this au the tree/ apples are the source of the twins’ magic, meaning that without the presence of either the twins have no powers.

nightmare, finally fed up of getting his butt handed to him, picks one of the apples while dream is in town like he always is. he’d been thinking about it for a while and maybe he was extra grouchy from a fight earlier, so he tests his theory that he can cast magic without being near the tree if he brings an apple with him.

he was right. the next time some people decide he looks like a good target they find a nasty surprise, and nightmare teaches them a lesson they won’t forget. 

nightmare becomes more confident, and feels safer in town than he’s felt in a long time. he’s eventually pushed to eat the apple, probably by a close call related to losing it or almost getting caught by his brother. he starts pushing the other teenagers around (particularly the ones that used to bully him), and eventually starts discouraging them from spending time with dream. if dream has no friends in the village, why would he go so often or stay as long?

dream is understandably upset when everybody suddenly seems too busy to hang out with him and all his friends won’t talk to him. he confronts one of his closest friends about abandoning him, finding out that nightmare has been scaring people away from dream.

dream has a fight with nightmare and his brother finally admits that he’s jealous of dream and his friends, albeit while shouting at dream. dream makes a point of avoiding nightmare for the rest of the week (not hard, since nightmare is basically chained to the tree if dream won’t stay behind to keep an eye on it) and tries to figure out what’s been going on by talking to the villagers. meanwhile, the villagers clue in to the fact that dream is at  odds with nightmare and decide that now is the time to get rid of nightmare for good and drive him away from the village. a mob forms. things escalate from there.

dream notices something’s up and shows up just in time to see the first punch thrown. nightmare, who had gradually been eating more apples since the first time he used magic to defend himself, eats the remaining negative apples because while he’s a lot stronger than he used to be, he can’t face down half a village single handed.

he kills someone.

things go south.

[wandersoffdoodling]

me: starts to crank out a paragraph or two on a couple backstory characters’ backstories me: stops me: wait me: why am i putting this much character building into two people whose deaths are basically the inciting incident

[wandersoffdoodling]

i have more confidence in my ability to draw feet than to draw shoes. what does this say about tme