Two Oceans
I won't say what date this ask if from... But finally got around to this one at least...
(AO3)
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"What's love?" Iceland enquires with a curious gaze up at his brother.
The question seems to take Norway by surprise.
The previous 30-50 questions Iceland had asked today had been more about why grass was green and the sky blue. Norway wasn't prepared for this sort of stuff.
He'd gotten away with blaming the gods for a lot of stuff too, but he didn't think that would work now.
"I'm..." he started then trailed off. Their walk through the fields came to a halt as well as Norway just could not think of an easy way to explain. "That's a very big question," he finally managed to say as he sat down in the grass.
Iceland happily sat next to him, tiny hand still clinging to Norway's tunic.
"I heard one of the men tell a poem to a lady, and she said she loved it," Iceland smiled.
"Yeah... Love comes in many shapes and forms," Norway nodded. He felt about 3000 years too young to explain this to a child, even if said child was as immortal as him.
"Is love nice?"
"It should be,"
"Is it warm?"
"Usually..."
"So love is like a warm stew?"
Norway laughed and ruffled Iceland's pale hair affectionately.
"Yeah, love is absolutely like a warm stew. Made by someone who really cares about you and want you to grow big and strong," he smiled warmly.
"But sometimes love is hot and scary and almost painful. Like a volcano bubbling up from the ground,"
Iceland nodded wordlessly. He seemed to be grasping the concept.
"Love is wanting to hug someone super close. But also maybe wanting to be left alone a little bit,"
"Like you do with Denmark?"
"Exactly."
"Is love sweet?"
"Sweet as mead and honey,"
"Love sounds nice," Iceland smiled.
"Yeah it is..." Norway nodded. "But it's complicated. You'll probably feel many different version of love as you grow older. We both will..."
"Sounds exciting!" Iceland hummed with a sence of glee that Norway could only describe as childlike.
"Love is absolutely exciting. And a little scary. Imagine wanting to do anything for the person you love! Some people even lose their minds to love,"
"Oh..."
"Love is a strong bond that can be impossible to break, like the fetters of Fenris. However, if done wrong then love can also dissappear as quickly as snow on water," Norway pointed toward the the ocean.
"Love can be as big as the ocean and as small as a raindrop. You can't really run out of love, but you can divide it in unequal parts..."
"So I can love someone a little and someone else a lot?"
"Yeah," Norway nodded, satisfied to some extent with his own wisdom he had now imparted on his brother.
"Well, then I think I love you as much as the ocean allows," Iceland smiled brightly.
"The whole ocean?" Norway grinned. "That's a lot of love..."
"Yes. But you said I couldn't run out of love,"
"And neither can I," Norway's grin turned into a warm smile as he pulled Iceland into a warm hug. "But I think I'm going to need two oceans to show you how much I love you."
Iceland giggled and hugged Norway tightly in return.
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"What's this?" Norway points to a giant white plastic bag on Iceland's floor that contained what seems to be a whole lot of fabric, smiling ever so slightly as he does so.
"Nothing," Iceland replies a little too hastily, and shoves the bag behind his sofa.
"Ah, so you're hiding nothing?" Norway chuckles and takes a step closer to the sofa. "Mind if I look at this 'nothing' then?"
Iceland's cheeks redden and he appears to be contemplating what to do before he sighs in defeat and retrieves the bag, throwing it a little too violently at Norway.
"Whoa!" Norway laughs as he catches the bag, nearly toppling over at the sheer weigh . "Good thing I wasn't holding coffee! This thing could take even Denmark out. "
"Would have served you right," Iceland grumbles and averts his gaze to the floor.
"Your words wound me so," Norway replies flatly, as he peers into the bag.
His face contorting into a confused expression.
"What is this?" He asks as he slowly starts to pull out a quilted blanket.
"A quilt," Iceland replies coldly. "You've got eyes,"
"Yeah, I can see that but-" Norway's words trail off as he spots some familiar embroidery on one of the patches.
"Is this all your old clothes? The ones I made you?"
"Yeah," Iceland's gaze is still locked to the floor. "Felt wrong to just throw them away," he shrugs. "I've out grown them... But they're still, you know... Memories..."
Norway doesn't say anything else as he starts to unfold the quilt.
A beautiful and intricate image of the ocean lays in front of him, made up of lots of tiny bits of old clothes Iceland has worn though the ages.
Norway runs his hands over the waves in the image.
"Wow," he finally utters.
"Remember when I asked what love is?" Iceland asks softly, cheeks still red.
"Yeah, I do..." Norway smiles softly in return.
"Well... You're still my brother, and the ocean hasn't gotten smaller..." Iceland shifts his weigh from one leg to the other in a slow but nervous manner.
"Think it's gotten even bigger actually," Norway adds, hand still tracing the quilt pattern.
"It's really well made. Made with lots of love..."
"A whole ocean worth," Iceland mumbles.
"I think it might even be two,"
"Yeah," Iceland nods ever so slightly. "Definitely two whole oceans."
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Hi, can i ask you why in your opinion some people consider the moors a proper character in wuthering heights? Do you think the story would have been so different if it had been set in a different location?
I've wanted to sit on this for a bit to see if I changed my opinion/reaction, because I thought of an answer instantly. I'm going to be sincere, what I thought was "because people have not read enough (good) books".
I'm not entirely sure why people consider the moors a proper character because I don't think it works as one at all. I imagine a big part of the reason why is the appeal of the aesthetic and how powerful an impact it has had culturally and even in general in the collective imaginary, but I don't think that's exclusively due to Wuthering Heights. Trying to dig more, I'd say it's because of the importance it has for the characters, emotionally, narratively and symbolically. And, digging even more, I imagine it's due to the metaphysical bond and even ontological identification between moors and characters some people read into it.
Most if not all of these characteristics are typical of significant settings in books, though. They don't necessarily confer the settings the title of "character". And, as much abstract personality as they may have, in my opinion the moors are lacking something to be comfortable calling them so. In Wuthering Heights I'd say the house itself, Wuthering Heights, feels more like a character to me than the moors. Still, I'd say even then there's a certain something missing.
As much character or importance in ambience setting Bly Manor has in The turn of the screw, I don't think one could freely say it's a character on itself; that's sort of the situation with the moors in Wuthering Heights, I think. In comparison, Comala in Pedro Páramo, Hill House in The haunting of Hill House, Macondo in One hundred years of solitude or Vetusta in La Regenta, to name a few, feel a lot more like characters. They are books in which the settings themselves feel fleshed out with care, thoroughly developed like a character, and they even read as having a certain will of their own, as actively participating in the narrative at times. The moors in Wuthering Heights don't work that way. And it's not a bad thing. They don't have to, that's not their role.
Now, on the question about whether I think the story would be so different if set in some other location... I think the answer is both yes and no? Of course the book would never have been exactly the same had it taken place somewhere else, and the heather and in general the description of wildlife and vegetation are symbolically meaningful. But also, I didn't have a clear image of what the moors were when I first read the book. I imagined something infertile, isolated and cold, but that's it, and it worked. I didn't know how the English moors were at all.
I do think the isolation aspect is necessary to make Wuthering Heights, and I'd say perhaps even the cold and generally bad weather, but it's also true in a similarish way Pedro Páramo works with a place that is very hot. Ultimately it's up to the writer, and it will work if it's well written and well waved alongside the other parts forming the book. Wuthering Heights was waved with the moors in mind specifically, and it works. Would the story in abstract be much different if set somewhere else? Not necessarily, probably not, but it wouldn't be exactly Wuthering Heights, just as it wouldn't be if one were to change any other of its characteristics.
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PLEASEEEE tell me about the symbolism in your drawing Oh i am dying to know
HII why thank you for asking!! I'll try my best to answer concisely but Tl;dr I'm not normal about either cwilbur or flower symbolism :) it also must be noted that a lot of my decisions are entirely based on my personal cultural experience so I hope if anything you find it interesting.
For an overview, The peice is inspired by art nouveau, namely alphonse mucha and henri privat livemont, and is mostly based on this hamlet production poster by the former. The composition however is not based on said illustration, and is slightly inspired in part by stained glass and fences of the movement. The clothing cwilbur is wearing is from the edwardian period, if I've got my references correct it's earlier in the period, though not any year in particular. It differs drastically in the fact that the colors are very vibrant (I can't help putting cwil in shades of red, ho16 permanently changed my brain chemistry), and that the Cape part of the inverness cape is entirely too short. Otherwise I've attempted to keep the general silhouette accurate.
Now the plant symbolism:
First: Arabian jasmine (which fun fact are not actually the same as the 4 petal vine yasmine, has a different name, Full (فل), and they grow on shrubs) and the Damascus rose go together because of two reasons: 1) i didn't know other flowers to put there and 2) they're very closely tied in my brain. If you try to find their symbolism you'll find a lot of things about beauty and purity, as is common with any white flower or rose, but my reasoning differs. Without going into too much detail, I intended for them to symbolise community and belonging.
Daffodils (the ones depicted are the ones most common in my region, they may not resemble the expectations but they are indeed daffodils) mean death rebirth and hope, its a flower i generally associate with cwil. Same meaning goes for the white lilies. And poppies have a heavy association with war and generally symbolise remeberance and hope for peace, and thus, l'manberg association.
The next five are flowers that represnt certain characters strictly based on cwilbur's preception of them, but they can be applied to others as well, i just thought these were most important:
Freesia: especially when yellow, usually means thoughtfulness, trust and friendship. represents cranboo.
Orange/tiger lilly: pride, hatred, status, tenacity. Cquackity
Lilly of the valley: cmon we all know this one, ctommy
Boat orchid: virtue and morality, a gesture of respect and friendship. Ctubbo
Gladiolus: diminutive of gladius(sword); strength of character, moral integrity and rememberance. ctechno
pomegranate tree and fruit: pomegranates have a very different connotation in Western media, from what I can glean, as opposed to what I'm used to them being perceived as (I won't derail this but I can elaborate if needed). In short, I've chosen to take advantage of this double meaning and so its here to represent life death and resurrection while the tree is for family and home.
On a side note, I was originally going to do night blooming jasmine (مسك الليل) but it wasn't working, the symbolism of it however still stand: its a flower many love and think smells amazing, but rarely do they actually want the burden of having it in their own yards because of how deathly strong it smells. I was intending on using it to symbolise the complicated nature of cwilbur's relationship with the important people in his life.
And finally, the olive tree: aside from its meanings of peace and friendship, olive trees also mean olive oil which is a product with many healing properties that is not too easy to make and requires a lot of work. i chose it to mean healing and the process thereof.
So yeah that's it, hope it's up to expectation and thanks for the interest means a lot to me <33
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i think im in love with amadeus! can you tell us more about them?
amadeus is a little weird, they're an oc with a (vaguely written) self-contained story, and also a fan character whenever i feel the devil take me over, so the details about them are almost intentionally open-ended because they adapt as necessary to whatever situation i put them in. That all being said, when Amadeus is just floating around there untethered inside my imagination, they still have some consistent details I could probably stitch together for you.
Amadeus is based on being a personified wishing star, so are just space themed in general with other concepts mixed in for fun, like a lot of alien lifeform tropes and having some android traits, most to do with their microphone (they’re 100% deaf without it, in practical function its a magical and convoluted hearing aid that their voice also comes out, all of that only when it’s connected. They are narrated by Jack Black.), but I wouldn’t call them inhuman. I also bounce between gender-neutral and masculine pronouns for them, I don’t think either are incorrect.
In any given situation, I always imagine Amadeus as "not from wherever they are currently located". Generally speaking, they're always from space, somewhere within our galaxy, though not anywhere in specific. Literally just not from here.
They also change colors based on YOUR mood if its intense enough, you know like a mood ring. Positive energy really gasses them up so they try to be the guy that makes you smile and feel your best.
When they aren't being adapted to fit another narrative, I imagine Amadeus was once in a band as the lead vocalist until it broke up, and now they're a solo rock star who tours around the milky way performing for other extraterrestrial societies. They love being a performer and making music for other people, because music is what makes people daydream, it's a motivator in the pursuit of your goals, and it's universal. The feeling of people wanting to achieve and reaching for their goals is essential energy to Amadeus as a sort of wishing star, so they don't want to stop making their art despite knowing full well that they, themselves, work best as part of a group and wanting to be in a band again. They're going through MASSIVE burnout as a result of overworking themselves, but aren't ready or willing to admit that yet.
They get forced into a situation that makes them take a break after getting stranded on an earthish planet and end up meeting their mutual pining interest at the same time. their name is informally Glendale, the concept of time and function of Death in a Terry Pratchett kind of way. They’ve also got their own shit going on too, but the two of them are healing together.
thank u for asking u )< u
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okay I have organized my thoughts a little so I can talk about this
hex fic spoilers/discussion under the cut
1. In real life, you were adopted by a villain family when you were around the same age as Touya when he died (there’s gonna be a lot of implied discussions about how you were loved and cherished but were raised as a villain and how he was neglected and unwanted but was raised to be a hero, but more on that at a later date)
2. You are from the States and only moved overseas because you left your family’s villain life and have been trying to start over as a civilian. You don’t like to talk about the reason why, which leaves Touya to project his own reasonings based on the literal TWO random encounters he’s had with some of your family and WILDLY misinterprets the situation
3. On top of all your disabilities, you are quirkless. It is very clear Touya thinks this is the worse condition of the two.
Your villain parents set you up with everything they can to make sure you can live as independently and safely as possible on your own. You have numerous adaptive items, equipment, an assist pet with a quirk, etc that you would not have otherwise. You mention more than once that your life got a lot better after they took you in.
And the first thing Touya does in this little fantasy of his is erase all of them from your life, keeps you with your abusive biological family, and gives you a relatively powerful quirk but you get extremely bullied for it, so he is literally your only comfort and protection from everyone else.
He very much believes this is the better option. He pretty much sums up your life as ‘If you had a quirk of your own and could’ve made something of yourself on your own, you wouldn’t have been stuck with villains’. Y’know, just like him!!!!!!!!!!!!
So in this last chapter, there’s this moment, when he’s isolated you from every one you love and inadvertently made it so you have less independence and agency in your life, leaving only him for you to rely on, and you somehow start getting worse than you are in real life even with a powerful quirk that the two of you get to train together with, he can’t comprehend why. He’s literally the Eric Andre meme.
-literally snipes your entire character- Wait why are you getting worse? What could I possibly be doing wrong?
He refuses to believe a good quirk won’t make everything better and is sacrificing your character because of it.
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