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"What about Duck?"

Krahe paused brushing her hair.

"What about Duck?"

Her Prince hummed, eyes nearly glowing in the faint light of the room.

"I've been thinking about the next sacrifice. She checks all the boxes. She's innocent enough to be pure of heart. She's isolated, so she wouldn't be hard to approach. Not while Fakir is suspended."

He smiled, and the dying light caught on each of his perfect teeth. "And to top it off, she has the biggest, sweetest, most pathetic crush on me. It'd be child's play, I wouldn't even have to try. What do you think Krahe, does the Raven like poultry?"

Krahe considered it, briefly. Letting Mytho trick poor, stupid Tutu. Watching Father gorge himself on her soft and tender heart before ripping his way into reality. It would get Tutu out of the way, certainly. The remaining pieces of Mytho's heart would be lost, but Krahe already had her Prince in hand. She didn't need anything more.

("Because we're friends now!")

"No." Rue replied.

They didn't speak of it again.

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Psych AU where Gus's car has one of those speed monitoring GPS's

Shawn: Gus, buddy, I'm gonna need you to put the pedal to the metal and drive like you mean it

Gus: This is a company car 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘯. They are monitoring my speed and I am 𝘯𝘰𝘵 getting dinged for going over 55.

Lassie: THIS IS A CAR CHASE GUSTER

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Tutu: When Mytho regains his heart he'll go back into the story... And I'll go back to being a bird

Friend: *Scoff* Like that's ever going to happen

Me:

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God every time I watch Princess Tutu I forget what a little 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 Duck is

Despite all her clumsiness, Duck gets 80% of information by pressing her ear to doors and peeking into windows. I love her so much

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Friend (we're just hitting the Fakir Redemption Arc): I think if Fakir had a small animal to cuddle it would fix him. Maybe a dog or a cat or a duck-

Me:

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Duck and Mytho, A Relationship Analysis

BY POPULAR DEMAND (10 notes and 1 prompt by a blog I follow and admire)

Duck and Mytho are obviously so very important to each others stories. Without Duck, Mytho would have remained a heartless doll forever. And without Mytho, Duck would have remained a simple bird. The story cannot exist without Duck, and up until the last few episodes, Mytho remains her primary motivation.

Which is why is was so surprising to me that the way their relationship resolved was so..... Unsatisfying.

Now when I say that, I am not talking about Siegfried and Tutu's resolution, which remains one of the most touching scenes of the show. I am specifically talking about the relationship between Mytho and Duck.

For the first 14 episodes, Duck and Mytho's friendship was a slow but steady burn. Duck is an anomaly in Mytho's small world. Even heartless, he doesn't quite know what to make of her. "Fakir and Rue don't say things like that" he says in episode 3, when Duck reacts to his hurt hand.

Duck, as a person, represents something Mytho never encountered even when he was Siegfried. Her simple, straightforward kindness is so different from Rue's desperate, grasping love. Fakir's poisonous protection, and even the blushing, tittering classmates that never dare to speak to him.

And even though Mytho can't express it, I think it's really valuable to him. Early on, Duck is the only person capable of making his loneliness disappear. Not Rue or Fakir, who he's known for years (which he says to their faces oh my GOD) but Duck. The first request he makes is that she stays a little longer.

The entire first arc Duck continually proves herself to be trustworthy. Once Mytho returned to school after receiving the feeling of fear, Duck tackle hugs him, saying she looked for him everywhere. She knows about Princess Tutu, and is the only one who listens to him. Who doesn't talk over him. She brought him an umbrella when he was waiting for Tutu. He values her opinion enough that he asked her opinion on gifts to get someone. And yeah maybe he could have asked anyone, but we never see him seek someone out until the Raven's Blood kicks in.

In episode 14, Mytho says to Duck, straight out "You're the only friend whom I can tell everything." And then? They never interact again? Huh???

Well. That's not entirely true. There is one more scene where Duck and Mytho interact, if you believe that Mytho was lucid enough to truly count it. Episode 24, where Mytho has fully succumbed to the Raven's blood, and as a result has turned into a raven himself. He runs outside, after being hidden away by Rue, and finds Duck. And what does he do? He asks her to dance, just as he did on the day of the fire festival. But this time, Duck doesn't answer. She backs away from the monster he's become, just like everyone else.

To its credit, that is a resolution, but it still doesn't sit right with me. It feels too bleak in a story where hope overcomes everything else. A spot where Drosselmeyer's tragedy wins.

The thing is, I understand why they did it this way. One thing I have always appreciated about Princess Tutu is that there is no wasted time. Even at the beginning of the show, when it seemed lighter and sillier, every episode contained important information. From the very beginning, they were building to the finale.

The second arc of the show is even more this way, there is no wasted space. Where would they even put Duck and Mytho interactions? Duck is reckless but she knows better then to approach Mytho when he's actively trying to rip out the hearts of their classmates. If anything, trying to shoehorn interactions would come across as forced, and could even cheapen their interactions in the finale.

But as much as I love the scene where Mytho realizes that Princess Tutu was a duck. I also wish he had a moment to realize that the duck was Duck.

Because Princess Tutu performed magic and returned heart shards with her beautiful dancing.

But Duck did the hard work of being human. Of living and loving and trying and failing and getting back up.

It was Duck who saved the town in the end.

And it was Duck, who was ultimately forgotten.

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I have so many thoughts on a Duck/Mytho friendship but every time I try to explain it it just ends with me raving like a madman like "DO YOU SEE IT? DO YOU SEE THE VISION???"

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the dichotomy between an attack dog vs a guard dog is like. an attack dog is sent out to carry out violence. it's starved and abused to ensure aggression. it has no other purpose outside of Attacking at the whim of its master. it's constantly on guard because a threat can come from any direction at any time. it's the dog chained up in a basement that's only set loose when there's something to kill.

but a guard dog is protecting instead of attacking. instead of being sent out to fight, it comes home to defend the house. it may be constantly on watch for an external threat, but it is content to lay with the sheep until a wolf comes to the door. the guard dog has a warm place to sleep, and is well fed and treated like a member of the household. it's free to leave at any time but it stays to protect the house anyway. do u get it. do u understand.

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*UNHOLY SCREAMS OF THE DAMNED*

<- Just read Secret Lady ch. 90

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No you don't understand an ASM sickfic would be so good.

Picture this. We have:

1) The Neuchwansteins, who have genuine, canonical trauma relating to illness.

2) Nora von Nuremberg, whose mother is chronically ill, and even with the servants likely has some experience taking care of her.

3) Shuri von Neuchwanstein, who has built her entire concept of self worth based on how useful she is to others. Shuri, who is terrified of being abandoned should people no longer have need of her. Who, also canonically, never had anyone to look after her when she was sick. Shuri, who has only ever truly been able to rely on herself .

It's the perfect storm.

Imagine the shenanigans, the humor, the angst.

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Shuri is afraid of carriages.

She tries to hide it, to make it unnoticeable. But her breath catches with every bump in the road.

One day their carriage lurched to a halt after a particularly bad storm- a wheel stuck in the mud- and Shuri's hands shook, and shook, and shook. Her face white as a sheet.

Jeremy notices these things now, but he didn't always. He doesn't know whether this fear is new, or if he never looked.

He never will know. When he asks Shuli, she just smiles with eyes far too old for someone their age. It makes him uneasy for reasons he can't explain.

It doesn't matter in the end. It's just another oddity to watch for, one of several. Honestly, compared to everything else it's the least concerning. There are dozens of reasons why someone might dislike carriage rides.

It's probably nothing.

Jeremy keeps watching anyway.

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Have you ever been in a position where you had no choice but to sacrifice? Shuli has been suffering this whole time -Jeremy, chapter 100

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Some thoughts about Jeremy and his relationship with Shuli, because I didn't feel like typing it out again

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honestly the boundaries between friendship and romance don’t really matter that much like at all if everyone involved is ok with it