Twins and more
So it looks like we somehow committed to Swan Lake. Okay. I can do this. There is no reason in the world why I shouldn't be able to do this.
The boys.
Ferdinand I want to think of as Loki a bit, but not canon Loki, more like how the fandom seems to have decided he is. That means he's the quiet sort, with a great sense of humor that is sarcastic at its heart, using laughter and dry wit to make up for the hurt that comes of constantly living in his brother's shadow. The fact that they are identical twins I think would make it even worse, because as far as Ferdi is concerned, there is literally no difference between the two brothers except for that three minutes in the birth canal. I think they stopped the switching game when they were very young, and Sigfried was informed that he would be king one day. After that there was no mistaking the one for the other, because Siggy got special treatment and training while Ferdi also got special training that was completely different, more diplomatic than leadership-oriented.
In spite of all that, they are still quite close. There is still a twin bond after all, but the identical thing doesn't come up--that is, they don't talk about it. They behave more like fraternal twins, and the older they get the less time they have to just relax and be brothers, to both of their shame and slight regret. In Ferdi's perfect world, they would have been allowed to be identical twins because then he would not feel second best at everything. In Siggy's perfect world, they would have been fraternal, because then it would not hurt so much when people treated him differently than his twin.
The girls.
The Royal house of Cynus (oh god please don't end up calling them that) is really only royalty because they are to a man the most powerful enchanters in the area, and their rule in uncontested because nobody has the guts to do it. They have been embroiled in heavy magic right from the start, every one of them: the King was youngest of twelve brothers, and spent ten years cursed in the form of a swan, which his younger sister eventually broke but left him with a wing in place of his left arm. The Queen was pretty ordinary in her own realm but a singular person when she was brought into this one, purely by virtue of having been born under different dimensional laws. Something in that transfer between worlds caused proportions to become purely subjective for her; when she felt triumphant she literally grew twenty feet tall, and when she lost her youngest daughter, she wept an entire lake of tears. (Yes, her name is Alice. This is not really part of the story, just saying where the girls came from).
So identical twins isn't really that unusual when compared to all the other weird stuff that happens on a regular basis in this kingdom.
Odette and Odile may have started life as friends, or at least polite to one another, but they never really got close. When they were twelve however, Odette started becoming fascinated with the really nasty end of the magical world, so their father took them to meet their step-grandmother, the woman responsible for his wing, in a sort of scared-straight move. It worked too well on Odile; she became terrified of magic, and only learned enough of her own to manage the outlet of it, but refused to learn any more. Odette it backfired; she started pretty strongly down the evil sorceress path.
In short the girls' twin relationship is pretty much the "I AM NOT MY TWIN I'M DIFFERENT DAMMIT" variety.
I think it must have been more of a relief than a nightmare when Odette crossed the line by killing their young sister in her crib. Not because of the death obviously, but because when the king transformed her, not only was the scary magic lady gone, she was also no longer a twin. Odile reminds me a bit of Fluttershy, in that she's very kind and shy and quiet, but there's a hidden strength that will get her through the hings that have to be done, even when she's scared.
omg this entire project is pretty much an elaborate excuse to ship Fluttershy and Loki. what the hell.
Still doing it though.
The boys.
Ferdinand I want to think of as Loki a bit, but not canon Loki, more like how the fandom seems to have decided he is. That means he's the quiet sort, with a great sense of humor that is sarcastic at its heart, using laughter and dry wit to make up for the hurt that comes of constantly living in his brother's shadow. The fact that they are identical twins I think would make it even worse, because as far as Ferdi is concerned, there is literally no difference between the two brothers except for that three minutes in the birth canal. I think they stopped the switching game when they were very young, and Sigfried was informed that he would be king one day. After that there was no mistaking the one for the other, because Siggy got special treatment and training while Ferdi also got special training that was completely different, more diplomatic than leadership-oriented.
In spite of all that, they are still quite close. There is still a twin bond after all, but the identical thing doesn't come up--that is, they don't talk about it. They behave more like fraternal twins, and the older they get the less time they have to just relax and be brothers, to both of their shame and slight regret. In Ferdi's perfect world, they would have been allowed to be identical twins because then he would not feel second best at everything. In Siggy's perfect world, they would have been fraternal, because then it would not hurt so much when people treated him differently than his twin.
The girls.
The Royal house of Cynus (oh god please don't end up calling them that) is really only royalty because they are to a man the most powerful enchanters in the area, and their rule in uncontested because nobody has the guts to do it. They have been embroiled in heavy magic right from the start, every one of them: the King was youngest of twelve brothers, and spent ten years cursed in the form of a swan, which his younger sister eventually broke but left him with a wing in place of his left arm. The Queen was pretty ordinary in her own realm but a singular person when she was brought into this one, purely by virtue of having been born under different dimensional laws. Something in that transfer between worlds caused proportions to become purely subjective for her; when she felt triumphant she literally grew twenty feet tall, and when she lost her youngest daughter, she wept an entire lake of tears. (Yes, her name is Alice. This is not really part of the story, just saying where the girls came from).
So identical twins isn't really that unusual when compared to all the other weird stuff that happens on a regular basis in this kingdom.
Odette and Odile may have started life as friends, or at least polite to one another, but they never really got close. When they were twelve however, Odette started becoming fascinated with the really nasty end of the magical world, so their father took them to meet their step-grandmother, the woman responsible for his wing, in a sort of scared-straight move. It worked too well on Odile; she became terrified of magic, and only learned enough of her own to manage the outlet of it, but refused to learn any more. Odette it backfired; she started pretty strongly down the evil sorceress path.
In short the girls' twin relationship is pretty much the "I AM NOT MY TWIN I'M DIFFERENT DAMMIT" variety.
I think it must have been more of a relief than a nightmare when Odette crossed the line by killing their young sister in her crib. Not because of the death obviously, but because when the king transformed her, not only was the scary magic lady gone, she was also no longer a twin. Odile reminds me a bit of Fluttershy, in that she's very kind and shy and quiet, but there's a hidden strength that will get her through the hings that have to be done, even when she's scared.
omg this entire project is pretty much an elaborate excuse to ship Fluttershy and Loki. what the hell.
Still doing it though.