What Do You Think Would Have Happened Immediately After Rhian Stabbed Rafal If Rhian Had Missed, Or Rafal

What do you think would have happened immediately after Rhian stabbed Rafal if Rhian had missed, or Rafal was able to somehow see it coming and move out of the way? How would have both brothers reacted?

I think both brothers were too far gone to back down by that point, and I doubt that either could or would come to their senses. Rafal was still prideful and unwilling to compromise on what he wanted or let go of potential power, and Rhian was already off into the deep end of practically being possessed by the rot and the Evil within him, meaning, short of a miracle, he probably would've been unswayable.

So, perhaps, if anything deviated from canon, the fratricide scene could've been drawn out into a longer seemingly inevitable, final struggle. Thus, whoever would've won would've won—unless they arrived at a stalemate, but I don't believe they were evenly matched by Fall's climax. Plus, if we reference August Sader's words to Agatha about how villains are often the people closest to the protagonist, I have a theory that Rhian literally became Rafal's fairy tale nemesis, even if it was never directly stated in the text, since we've seen a progression of Rafal gaining a limp, losing his flight, and becoming weaker in Fall while Rhian grew into his Evil and power (the blue dragonfire) and became stronger, suggesting that the same outcome could've occurred, even if it could have been delayed.

Favorite character meme

*I have other favorites from SGE, but I wanted to list ones from other fandoms.

How would you describe yourself Academically?

I have a 4.0, procrastinate more than I should, and still find it hard to curb the habit because it hasn't failed me yet. The bottom line is that while I would like to sleep more, I haven't learnt from the error of my ways.

Rafal headcanons (not all have a basis in canon):

He doesn't and will never get hype culture much to Rhian's chagrin.

He probably has some item, like an article of clothing, such as socks, that he buys duplicates of, so he doesn't have to waste thought and energy on them everyday.

He likes olives, especially the sour ones, in some of his sandwiches.

He suffers from "irony poisoning" by a certain stage in life.

One of the worst things in the world to him is writing Thank You cards, usually to people like alumni who send generous donations. He always foists the task off on Rhian because he can’t bring himself to sound sincere or fawn over anything. Also, it irrationally humiliates him to have to thank someone for something in person, even if it's something small. He doesn't know why he feels that way, and doesn’t care enough to find out. It’s an unplaceable, inexplicable feeling, and it’s just there.

On the converse, Rhian lets him respond to the letters of complaint and petitions for reform. He vetoes almost everything.

He likes to manipulate the sky and weather patterns, particularly lightning, to look more foreboding, as if nature were his personal backdrop. He secretly lives for drama as long as it stays a spectator sport for him. (This one might be canon going by the Snow Ball edict scene in Rise, but it's sort of unconfirmed.)

If he ever appreciated sentimental elements in the tales (unlikely), he’d never tell anyone. And he would only play those things out in his head where there would be no record of them.

In his own thoughts, or if he were a writer, of course he’d write about taboo subjects, but the one obvious thing he intentionally wouldn’t write about would be love (or specifically romantic love). He’d probably write around love. He’d write the negative space that makes love’s presence known, but somehow not engage with it directly, eye to eye, and instead define it by what’s not present in his work.

He’d avoid thinking or writing about the human condition, even if all writers, by default, end up writing about human condition in some shape or form, by hazard of being a human. He’s immortal and he’d view himself as above human and above humanity as a sympathetic trait. Simple as that. (He’d be in denial, essentially.)

And yet, he’d write about it. Incidentally. The same way he’d write around love—somehow managing to snare everything he’d circumvent into his works while he circumvents it.

His critics and fans would have a field day, trying to parse out what might have been intentional or not on his part.

For his part, he’d never give interviews, and would let his works stand for themselves, alone, as art, as they’re meant to be read: gone into blind. He hates it when educators flatten his works, so they can be consumed by a broader, apathetic (in his eyes) audience. He hates abridged versions.

He even hates abridged versions of the tales the Storian writes, and he unconsciously spurns the laymen of the Woods.

Even if he wouldn't write about love, a subtle, recurring theme of his would be sacrifice. Sacrifice for personal gain and ambition, or whatever else there is that he’d value, that wasn’t always in his hands, that didn’t always drop into his hands immediately, if he couldn’t orchestrate it.

He wouldn’t admit to valuing Rhian, but well… that’s one other “thing” he keeps like an object to be owned. It’s a form of "love." And to him, sacrifice is a form of "love" or devotion, because you let go of everything else for the one gain, in pursuit of it.

He often thinks along the lines of “all-or-nothing," "the thought doesn't count," and “actions, not thought, not words.”

If he wrote, lectured, or thought around love, he'd also leave a gap for his students or readers to fill in for themselves.

And it's just as well that he probably would only ever write the povs of hard-boiled figures like detectives, or the solvers and perpetrators of crime that would never fall prey to emotional appeals. He can’t stand putting himself in the shoes of the “fool” or the duped, even in an imaginary world, even in the safety of his head—because what if it bled into his real life? He's not superstitious, but what if, one day, he were played for a fool? Never. He would never allow that.

And it makes sense really, as, ironically, writing these figures, the least emotionally vulnerable characters for an audience or outlining them on the blackboard for his students when discussing a tale is probably at once the most impersonal route and also the most revealing. To his students, those behind-the-scenes decisions are themselves telling in some way.

It’s all just up for interpretation—because, what would he be if he didn’t leave gaps and holes in his character? The chinks in his armor are left there for others to do the work for him because he’s impressively lazy and apathetic about "introducing” himself, and has the good fortune of having a job that doesn’t require introductions to new faces, aside from the students he doesn’t truly need to know by heart in order to teach. They can just fill in the gaps however much they want, ideally or relationally and so on.

And he’s content to leave them with a false image of himself because even that’s less unnerving and disconcerting as people being too close for comfort, and knowing too much of what he can no longer moderate in the privacy of their own minds. You can’t unknow something or someone after all.

He’s afraid of the "mortifying ordeal of being known" in a less conventional way. To an extent, humanity is fear-driven deep down. Thus, he doesn’t want to give anyone a window into his psyche—lest he be taken advantage of, so he contents himself with not being known at all, feeding into his paranoia that the world is out to get him.

Why give it more ammo? He should deprive the world of anything it could use against him. Maybe he has a fear of being mocked for however he really is? Though, if there is a facade (I mean, he is a public figure), it's not actually that far removed from whatever he doesn't reveal anyway.

Perhaps, he would respond to mockery internally the way he did at his own Nevers expressing their hatred of him with a brief, sharp, jabbing twinge of hurt, at the disapproval he largely never cares about, but that under the right conditions, he may indeed care about.

Now, he's no longer in a position to be mocked, but perhaps, before becoming School Master, he used to tell others harshly: "Do. Not. MOCK. Me." whenever they would mirror him because he did not think as far as to realize that emotional reciprocation was two-sided, especially with Evers and their behaviors. Yet, he mocks Rhian, Evers, pirates, and everything else in sight. Nothing is immune from being subject to his irreverence, and he is both hypocritical and hyper-critical.

the wrong stars are out tonight

Hey, how would Rafal react to Rhian hugging him or Rhian react to Rafal hugging him since Rafal doesn't show emotions or be affectionate?

If Rhian actually managed to hug Rafal quickly enough, blindsiding him, assuming it was a surprise or if it were done from behind, so as to not give Rafal the opportunity to shove him away, I think Rafal would probably stiffen on instinct and (possibly) tolerate the contact while standing upright and dead still, assuming he clocked that it was indeed Rhian and not someone else. If he managed to override the instinct, he might be able to find it in himself to relax, but that seems a little unlikely to me, given that he abhors overly cutesy, touchy-feely things.

I think only something drastic could cause Rafal to initiate a hug with Rhian. Even then, I'm not sure it would ever happen. If it did, I'm sure it would shock Rhian to his core, but that he would relax and reciprocate it. (Evil Fall Rhian, however, wouldn't take it in stride and could be more reactive.)

Oh, and it occurred to me that I did write the first scenario in a fic: