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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Excuse me, I hope Im not bothering you, but I have a couple questions on some of the things you would prefer when it comes to the fandom.
When it comes to dark or twisted au's that other writers create, would you prefer something more just a real 'what if' like 'An Interesting Arrangement' from @ribbondee ? Or would you dig deeper into something that would show more of a dark side to the characters like the 'Amnesia' segment from @cartooncadet666 ?
And of course the only other question I have right now (hence why I said a couple questions) When it comes to the art style diversity, what kinds of art have you seen the fandom make and if you have any favorites, which ones do you love the most?
Not bothering at all 💙
Interesting questions. I have to start off with saying that, ultimately, what I "prefer and not prefer" about the fandom should not be an indication of whether someone's work is good or not, nor should it bar the fandom from creating whatever they want. I have my own tastes and preferences just as much as the next person, and naturally we're all drawn to work that mostly aligns with our tastes/preferences.
Your first question is whether or not I would be more drawn towards an au exploring a character's dark side, or towards one with a 'what-if' scenario. My answer to that is that it depends on the content.
I like both dark au's and what-if au's, it just depends on how well they are written, and sometimes it also depends on the characters. I know this is going to break a lot of hearts, but since Betrayus is not my favourite character, I'd feel less inclined to check out a work centred completely around him in favour of checking out a work that features my favourite characters. This is not the be-all-end-all though, sometimes a work can pleasantly surprise me even if it doesn't have my favourite characters. It really all comes down to writing.
And as for your second question, hmm. A tricky one. I'd say that most of the fandom's art styles are generally cartoonish/2D stylised, but there's a wide swath of diversity within that category. If you show me a list of artworks in the fandom then I can easily point them out and name the artists behind them (at least on Tumblr), which is great because it shows that each artist has a recognisable style. I really don't like choosing favourites though, so I'd rather show you a list of pmatga artists whose styles I really enjoy, if that's okay!
@anti-cosmofangirl
@inkteresting-art
@ninjastar107
@pacgacha
@breezoreceiver
@toad-in-a-trenchcoat
@xelys-xlys
@ghostbunnyarts
@famitendo
@polina-quail
@ask-nova-valentine
@slumbergoblin
There are others, but these are the ones I can name on top of my head and who are generally still active (or actively posting pmatga art). I'm sure there are also a bunch of hidden gems out there that I've yet to stumble upon!
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