"Everyone Is The Other, And No One Is Himself." Martin Heidegger

"Everyone is the other, and no one is himself." ― Martin Heidegger

@rosellemoon Yes! I remember reading this some long while ago. I don't remember all the details, but it was very funny! I went to take a look at it again, and I love this line:

"The humans have long since finished their latest scuffle..."

Something about the pov here is just so great! In so few words it shows how the Pen views Man, how it's so out of touch that a Woods-ending succession crisis is reduced to a mere "scuffle."

Also, about the "The Storian is homophobic" claim, true.

So far, I've come up with two possible explanations (assuming you meant the "problem" is Rhian directly when you mentioned Fall):

1. The Storian has a narrow range of what it writes, only love stories about princes and princesses, because without an Ever After attached to a relationship, it probably doesn't consider other types of romantic love as worthy of a traditional fairy tale. Then again, did it ever write briefly about Aladdin and Hephaestus in the brothers' tale? (Nevertheless, that tale probably doesn't count because their love was false.) And third, can we pin this development on Rhian? Could he have been the cause of the Pen's apparent prejudice, or was it always homophobic since the start?

2. Every time Rhian pursued True Love in a man, it always ended in disaster, and if the Pen is fixated on self-preservation, it must consider that it would be safer if Rhian stopped consorting with and chasing after strange men because the Storian ended up in danger, in first Vulcan's hands, and then, in the Pirate Captain's. So, maybe the Pen decided to cut off the Rhian-is-dangerously-gay problem at its root. I suspect that it could have turned Rhian Evil artificially for this exact reason: so Rhian would stop seeking out love entirely, and so he'd be destined to be alone forever now that he's a villain because the Pen can trust Evil Rhian over unstable Good Rhian, purely because Evil Rhian wouldn't naively invite anyone into his life (and into the School) whenever he's besotted. Thus, yet again, the Pen's primary goal is and always will be self-preservation, and it cares naught for humanity.

Also, I'd read that oneshot, if you ever decided to write it!

what if the storian was homophobic

It's a well-known fact by this point that Rafal is often the more mature of the brothers, but actually, something interesting I took note of is how this characterization can also be observed symbolically.

Vulcan calls Rhian "duckling." Rhian also wears a swan feather doublet when he attempts to stand up to Vulcan, yet fails, flounders in his role, and doesn't live up to the image of "swan."

And what sort of creature emerges from Rafal's chest as Fala? What at first appears to be a dark, furry duckling, but actually, it matures, and it turns out Rafal's soul has borne a swan.

Then again, Rafal is also somewhat emotionally immature, so it evens out.

Texting in a Modern AU:

Rhian: My arm is killing me, Rafal! I got shot at the pharmacy today.

Rafal: WHAT

Rafal: hang on rhian im getting my car keys/

Rhian: *a shot

Rhian: Sorry! Made a typo! :)

Rafal: You almost gave me a heart attack, you BASTARD.

Rhian: ily too

A simple, pink-toned sketch of Sophie. 💃 🖤 🥀