Oh, you’re gonna rip hearts out early in this chapter I see. Poor little Nibs. Interesting that it seems like he was abandoned on the beach, but he still likes the beach. Wonder if he’ll ever not think he might see his parents there. I mean, I assume that’s the deep underlying thing.

Missing a word. ‘slammed the empty beer bottle onto the coaster with a dull (missing word) and….’

Geeze how many has he had to be missing his mouth with the cig? What a good friend Cubs is.

‘Leaned back in his seat is awful close to the word backrest’ you know that’s my thing. Maybe, reclined in his seat. Then another ‘seat’ in the next sentence. There’s other words to use to vary the sounds of the sentence. You’ve actually got the word ‘seat’ in this little section a butt ton of times.

You do it again in the next little bit with ‘fine’ but it works there. Isn’t that funny how that happens?

Hmm a Darling shows up. Seems like Wendy was still a thing in this AU, I see. When do we get to see Peter?

Do we always HAVE to know what Marge is up to? Can’t we just skip her world for a chapter or twelve?

Ha, told you to throw it all up before. Now you’ve got to process it, and that sucks. Ohhh, she’s 16, I forgot about that. I assume now that the bribes from last chapter was for drink service then. Makes more sense now. Well, all that serves her right. Dummy.

Heh, Nibs isn’t a French lover, eh? IIRC I’ve always picked up French pretty well. Probs from so many years of ballet.

Heh, OK Margie can be alright sometimes I guess. Sort of. Looool, the swim captain is of course the little mermaid kid. So, if Margie’s mom is snow white, please tell me the dwarves show up at some point.

Daisy von Duck? Stop. Too much to love here. I wonder if there are still the McDucks as well. He had those nephews and all. Come to think of it, weren’t they Donald’s nephews too? Who did those three actually belong too?

‘she’d have Devani (with) her.

Of course Nick Frost skates. I’ve still not seen this guy sparkle. Sparkle him, damnit.

Coach. Flounder. The swim coach. All the yes in the world. Lady, and a tramp. Double yes. Ginger Poseidon? Dead. I’m dead. Who taught you how to tie your shoes like a whore? Bwhahaha.

Is Tekken still a thing? I actually used to be not half bad at it. Probs because no matter how you mash the buttons, something happens.

Whhhhaaaaat just happened at the end there? You can’t shoot Prince Charming. Everyone likes prince charming. it’s there in his name! Pfft cliffhanger endings :P

OK, I went and found that cheatsheet of characters you sent me so I can confirm everyone as I meet them. I think this will help me get into the story more since I won’t be guessing who is who. Although, that was a lot of fun in the first chapter, not gonna lie.

Chubs and the gang need a signal for the room. The ole’ necktie on the doorknob, but like, with a bag of marbles instead because I always think marbles for the lost boys. It’s probably from that old Hook movie with Robin Williams as Peter Pan. I like that we’re getting some description of the lost boys here, helps to connect more.

The Snuggly? You’re good at this using fairy tale names for disturbing places, while the names are normal but also kinda dirty.

Interesting switch between the kind of bleakness of Neverland to Marge’s plush world. Oh the poor thing, having to go out for mimosas earlier than she’d like.

I hope one of these fairy tale bitches has birds that dress her. I mean, what princess doesn’t, right? I feel like it was… maybe Snow White that had the animal dressing army.

Think you need a comma in ‘For my own good, my ass.’

Wow, she is just having such a hard day, isn’t she? Has to drive herself. The very idea!

Nice bit with the boy’s being boys at the beach. You guys just can’t not dunk and race, can you? “I’m all virginal, and you’re all whorelike.” Oh boys, boys, boys. I’m getting the vibe that the next part of this scene is going to be very Top Gun, ‘playin’ with the boys’ kind of eye candy.

Whoa, what are the girls all hushing here? That can’t be all to get good service. Ugg I want so badly to think there aren’t actually people like this in the world.

Missing a word I think. “why leaving her house at such an early ‘hour’ on a Saturday...”

Heh, I just got reminded of the show Archer, where bitchface is talking about keeping her mimosas coming. Something like “if this glass is empty again, I’ll be very unhappy. - throws glass in fireplace, butler already has new glass on a tray – Oh good, I thought I was about to be unhappy.”

Aww, poor Nibs with basically a complex. Someone needs to tell him that the family you choose is sometimes stronger than the family you’re born to. He also just needs to learn to use that kind of stuff. Rides, support, whatever. In the end, people think what they think no matter what your background, squeeze ‘em for all they’ve got if that’s how they’re going to be.

Jesus how can this girl be somehow alright and a total jackass at the same time?

Explaining- explain.

Bwhahaha emojis just work so much better sometimes. Oh don’t hold it in. Let it out if it wants to come out before you absorb it.

Lol a deVil. Love when someone new shows up. Is he wearing a Dalmatian puppy tie?

Nibs and gang to the rescue.

This was a good character fleshing chapter. Only those few things I mentioned jumped out for SpaG. Everyone seems pretty established at this point, so I’m expecting some kind of inciting incident fairly soon. Although, seeing as ole’ Marge has a truly pointless existence, maybe not. But hopefully yes. Lol

While the two resident chefs butt heads in their cooking class, the OG gang plus guests discuss the party of the year, which I'm sure will not be the setting for hormonal hijinks later on, nope. We do learn their ages roughly, and that Morgan and Cornelius are seniors while the others are juniors or below. A small spat erupts over dates, and Nibs tries to play innocent, which fools exactly no one.

On the other end of the fence, we hear Dev's side of the argument, and aw she searched option for the desserts, that's so cute. But, much more importantly, Margaret gets some supporting characters! Natsumi, who is an Asian tech nerd (okay) and Val, who is a conceited mean girl. An... interesting choice for a (past) demi character's love interest. It becomes kind of clear she tends to exaggerate the truth, so maybe she just lied to him a lot? I gotta say though, it is *extremely* easy to spill nail polish of all things on your laptop XD I've spilled it on many a surface, though I would not be so brave as to place it near a keyboard. Margaret is once again paranoid that if she appears too smart she would be labelled a geek, which is of course ruinous.

Moving on from that, we enter the build up for the study session, which will last until the end of the chapter. Not a lot happens in this one, to be honest, it's a chapter's worth of build up, ultimately. But anyways, Dev freaks out about the quality Nibs time that is to come, and Nibs is intimidated by how rich actually Margaret is. They're both a little nervous, with both admitting to themselves they aren't really just friends, and that thing may just cross some lines. Though aw, Nibs is getting the 'not good enough' thoughts again.

They meet Chris for a hot second, talk a little about the pool, and move on to le boudoir. Like I said above there's not too much happening in this one, so this review is a little on the short side as there's not that much to comment on. Perhaps next time we may witness the Smash game and see Zelda kick Link's butt for stealing her spotlight as the rightful hero of the franchise.

Dev has apparently decided to start looking for new pray, and decided to do so in true drama queen fashion, complete with the all black get up. A short discussion on boys follows, and apparently Devani only considers Jeremy taken because he's dating Aurelia. Hm, wonder why Caspian is also in that category since the other taken boys are not dropped due to this. In either case, the list is amusing, and I like her orderliness and the Cosmo advice thing. We also get a bit of a glimpse of the Bitchscateers missing each other, which is kind of sweet, but even if Aurelia apologised, Margaret doesn't accept just the words anyways.

When we switch over to Nibs, we learn it's been a month, which means there was a timeskip somewhere that I've missed. Chris got shot around 4 chapters ago I think, and that was a few days after school started, and the last few chapters have taken place over a couple days. I don't know what he's complaining about though, since even if the school is kinda clique-y, he's got a clique already - he was accepted into the OG crew his first day. Just a chapter or two he was sitting alone somewhere and people gathered around him. And here comes another one now - Carter from the swim team. He makes a brief mention of his ex, and we proceed to chocolate, which is never a bad thing.

- defeated by a shower - that joke was damn funny XD

Then we get a nice Margaret/Nibs scene. What would their ship name be? Mibs? Bleh that sounds lame. Nibgaret?

Anyways, they have a little heart-to-heart about the most recent of car breakdowns, and Nibs presents her with a drawing because he has already learned that words cannot satisfy her. Daww and it's Princess Zelda, how cute. He tells her his tragic backstory, and she gives him another hug, which is quite sweet. There's not really much to say about that scene, it's pretty good and I really like it. :)

Afterwards we move on to Margaret catching Chris doing the devil's tango, and she absolutely loses her goddamn mind. It might be different with opposite sex siblings, but she really has a very severe reaction to anything relating to Chris in that light, even if it's something mild like her friends crushing on him. I'm surprised her brain didn't outright explode at seeing him almost naked. After her little freak out, she comes down and meets Jessica, and it's a nice through line between her and Nibs's plots. There's this character that is connected to both of them, albeit on a proxy bases, and neither is aware. The B plot thickens. Chis expands a little on their relationship and it being all hush hush, and to Margaret's credit, she does act civilly towards Jessica and starts a clean slate.

Back on the Nibs side, he failed the test, though that just opens the door for tutoring shenanigans to happen. On his end we get some study time with Tootles, who is just a tiny tyke in this universe, and the twins are even younger. Once he's out of sight though, the talk turns to girls, and we get another pretty funny line with "slightly harder". We do also get some reveals on their real names, and some more development on the Cubby/Jane front. At least he admits that he has feelings for her, and his position in hiding it is understandable. And poor Slightly, he's just the booty call, never the boyfriend. Looks like Nibs will end up having the most progress during those "French lessons". Though I probably shouldn't throw stones there, glass houses and all that.

And awww she calls him Noah. That's a really cute way to end it.

Greetings.

It's Theodore Hawkwood once again, to kick off this review exchange. Just so you know I'll review this fanfic every other time we exchange reviews as I'm also eager to continue reviewing Ever After. That aside I believe I owe a review. And it has been a while since I've read and reviewed any of uyour work

The first three paragraphs were pretty interesting with Christopher and Margaret discussing the situation. As an author who does mostly dialogue chapters, I found things started rather nicely here. The opinion of Margaret about Christopher and the Yale ratty sweats thing is certainly a nice contrast between the two characters. It seems like a small and trivial sort of thing but it is a nicely revealing thing about their characters.

Had to grin at Ali being called a gargoyle. I am curious how you're going to treat Ali in this story. Indeed I'm curious how you're going to present multiple universes of fairytales in a modern setting. I get an inkling here with Margaret's exclusive public school and her attitudes towards the 'plebs' of society. Within the first five paragraphs, I get the sense of a very classist individual in Margaret versus a somewhat more egalitarian vibe with Christopher. I can already get the feeling that this is going to ramp up the tension between them as time wears on.

Margaret's irritation with Christopher's learned behaviors from Ali further serve to illustrate the tension between the three characters and we haven't even seen Ali come onto the scene yet. Makes me wonder just how this is going to turn out.

When Margaret and Aurelia get to speaking, the decidedly racist dialogue they have concerning a classmate is still more troubling but certainly reveals a lot about both characters.

I had to chuckle about Maleficent being a narcotrafficker in this world. What with Margaret's anti-Latin racism I for some reason imagined a Queen of the South episode with Maleficent as the main lady for some bizarre reason. This sounds like it could be a quite fascinating viewing experience. Either way the world you present in this story is quite an interesting tale.

All in all, I find this a very interesting take on a multiple fairytale/Disney/Pixar films sort of touch. Great work there.

Regards,

Theodore Hawkwood

And now it's time for the gang war. Zelena's lackeys aren't hired for their smarts apparently. which is fitting as one of them is confirmed brainless. We get some more hints dropped about the B plot, which involves squabbles with the Regina side of the mafia. This town ain't big enough for two crime ladies. Mr Glass gets decapitated witch is pretty gruesome, damn.

Over to the leads, Nibs is having a bad time. He's been working all weekend doing his illegal deeds, and the Friday movie marathon probably didn't help. Oof and a French quiz. Not good to take on no sleep. We do get some more details on the swim team and hoe Devani just won't quit it with Caspian, even though the man told her point-blank it's a no. Between her and Val, girls be very thirsty in Avalon XD That's cute of Canter to not want his friends to insult her, though Caspian is just trying to be supportive. He is implying that she outright crossed a boundary instead of respecting it, which case yes, she can very much get fucked with a rusty poker, and Canter shouldn't defend her for sexually assaulting him.

Meanwhile on the Margaret end, we meet my favourite character so far! I love Jaq in this, he's great. He's as casually great the same way Margaret is casually horrible, and he obliviously shatters Devani's dreams. I do like that Margaret does try to gently remind Devani (in a previous chapter) that Caspian IS in a relationship, and he's saying sweet things to HIS GIRLFRIEND. Dev is seriously lying to herself that he isn't serous about her. Interestingly, she thinks that he'd leave Lucille for her, not that she can get him to cheat. That's sweet in a way? Maybe she isn't only lusting after him, could be a genuine crush since she clearly wants more than a hook up.

Back to Nibs, he's gonna miss the bus. Not that teachers ever care about that, because school is horrible. Oof, but after his clean up duty is done, he overhears Morgan and Nick in the showers, and Nibs proceeds to justify things to himself. Some of the stuff he's saying is true though, inhaling detergent could freaking kill Nick. I mean, so can cocaine, but he's not the only drug dealer in town, either. Just justifications make logical sense, but they're not erasing the fact he's enabling Nick. Morgan isn't even mad, but what is he supposed to do if Nick won't listen?

Nibs shifts to more practical concerns thinking about how he'll swindle his adoptive parents so they'll take his crime money, and tbh the Olly plot is actually pretty good. Could've also said they're past inspiration date and they were gonna throw the stuff out, at least for certain things. Restaurants throw out a LOT of perfectly good food. Doesn't look like his family are above charity, let's hope. Of course he did miss the buss, but Margaret comes though to save the day! Looks like she got over the no driving thing and is not getting her own self to school. Guess they couldn't spare a driver for her.

Aaaand then stuff gets heavy. Overall I think this is the darkest chapter so far? We got decapitations and now suicide talk, though this was mentioned before too. Nibs has a full on mental breakdown in the car, but it was pretty well done, I especially like how he couldn't stop everything pouring out and how she just hugged him and it was enough. Super sweet, and very sad, and there at the end when she says they're friends it feels earned now, they have crossed that line. Now they have both cried in front of each other, and Nibs definitely had a pretty horrible day, all things considered, he just didn't have the mental fortitude to keep it all bottled up while barely keeping his eyes open. Margaret doesn't have a clue what he's on about, but she does the right thing by just hugging him and letting him vent. And she tells him he's good enough, which is really the thing he needed to hear, because even though she doesn't know what he's insecure about, she knows that he's been good to her, and that's enough.

This chapter opens with Margaret getting blown off, and I laugh and laugh. It's about time for a wakeup call for miss "I'm a good friend, no really". Surprised Devani took this much of her shit before snapping.

Snow makes an appearance, once more as way less psychotic than her EEA iteration, and gives some motherly advice. We get more hints here that Margaret's parents are lowkey neglectful, and this is probably where she got that weird idea that you need to prove you're sorry with gifts. Still not sure why she's so triggered by charts though, did her parents give her a chart for family time and then couldn't make it? I also get a feeling Margaret never had a lot of friends outside those two. She has a real issue with setting aside a specific day/time to hang out, but like... that's how it works? She even says earlier that FridayNights are for getting drunk and going out on the town, so she was already scheduling friendship time (also she needs to see someone about this whole drinking issue she's got going on XD).

Anyways, her irrational chart hatred aside, Snow gets to the bottom of the issue real fast and it's because Margaret just wanted Devani to take her side and gang up against Aurelia. That is pretty shitty and selfish, but at least she does recognise that, so progress. What follows is Margaret's best scene so far, bar none. She and Devani show a genuine connection here, and Devani is fleshed out a little outside her role as 'the thirsty one'. It's cute how they're both super inexperienced with boys, despite being sixteen and pretty/popular. Getting their love advice from Cosmo XD Sweet baby jesus. I'm sensing that neither of them has had a boyfriend before. Or really any male attention around them, now that I think about it, not even a designated guy they copy homework from. Maybe their bitchiness repels even the thirsty/desperate guys? I do really like that they're thinking of colleges though (I don't know what year they are, but can't hurt to start early) and the feeling Margaret has of "wtf I don't know what I want how is everyone so ahead of me!" Most people spiral into that abyss sooner or later. Also I want a spin off of Devani in Culinary School. The cut-throat world of would-be chefs, the perfecting of recipes, the panic of will they like my meal, maybe some culinary sabotage... Yes, please. She also gets softened up a little around the edges with the whole Caspian thing being presented in a more human way, though obviously she has no chance with him.

[And it's Noah] - Um... she didn't call him anything else? You might have meant to slip in something in Dev's previous line.

Speaking of Noah, he's on the West Side, plundering a store. I like how they've been doing this stunt for years, and they have multiple ways of stealing snacks, memorised routines and everything. Very dramatic ones, too XD Nibs has a future in the drama department. The Lost Boys and Jane have a very cute friendship, Margaret needs to take away some tips. Slightly's list of ex-girlfriends made me chuckle, though, and it looks like evil is totally genetic as each one of them is crazy. Even Frollo reproduced, dear god XD And Tootles is a tattletale that sells his soul for sweets. Honestly it's a pretty fun scene.

And we end on a little bit of midnight texting. It's cute that they're not on texting terms and since Margaret's lunch times are now free, they can do the lunch dates and I completely approve. OMG and the Zelda emoji! I love it.

Overall probably my favourite chapter so far. Fun times with friends, Margaret apologising and some couple cuteness to finish it off, with character fleshing out/development sprinkled throughout. What more can you want?

We open with a group shot of the gang who naturally gravitate towards Nibs as he just sits and minds his own business. The highlight for me was Cornelius being goofy just for the fun of it, though sadly he is too big to investigate the ventilation systems in their school, so we will never know if there truly was a skeleton or someone's secret chocolate stash in there. Leon makes a brief appearance to share something exciting, which may or may not have to do with the more serious B plot in the background. Alyssa is suspiciously missing from this little boy's club, and so the only source of estrogen is absent for feedback. The bit about Cornelius being Jewish is pretty funny, if unexpected, and is listed as one of the reasons the Reveres don't want their son to hang out with their woke group of gay and Jewish people.

Moving on to the Bitchskateers, who are now broken up, Devani continues her climb to be my favourite out of the lot. Look at that, she made colour-coded charts, how cute is this? Margaret though continues her streak of being a bad friend because... because she don't like charts? She's being really unfair to Devani here, who is trying her best to not get in the fight of her two besties and in fact took time and effort out of her day to sit down and actually figure out what works best for everyone, MAKE this complicated chart and everything, and Margaret treats it like some sort of insult that Devani still wants to be friends with both of them.

#DevaniNeedsBetterFriends

Anyways, after rudely ditching her friend for actually trying to keep her friendships, Margaret instead zeroes in on Nibs. I like that the first thing he does is ask about Christopher, especially since it builds that nice contrast with Devani. I also like that she's pretty much the only person to call him by his real name, that's cute. They have a bit of back and forth about gratitude, and it makes me question how Margaret was brought up that she needs actions to prove genuine intent. I'm with Nibs on this one that it's unnecessary, but I think there's probably something that made her think like that to begin with, so I wouldn't call it stupid. Regardless, we get a lunch date out of all of this, and between this and your Clara comment, I'm starting to think you have something against basic bitches. Which I of course take as a personal offence, as I am the most basic of them all XD (ps: unicorn frapuccinos are amazing)

Margaret is revealed to have a bit of a "tough girl" taste for her favourite characters, which tbh I am not a fan of. A girl doesn't have to necessarily kick buttocks to be strong or even inspiring. Nor is there something wrong with unicorns and mermaids, as his tone seems to imply. It's nice that they can connect over rejecting femininity I guess, but my dislike for them grows (and with Margaret it was already pretty high to begin with). I do not stan. Margaret is also revealed to be a gamer, which is an odd choice for her character, but I do like some gamer representation. And her friends seem to be stuck in the 80s with their sensibilities as well, since apparently they'd make fun of her for playing.

Overall it's a good, cute bonding scene, which advances their courtship nicely, but the attitudes they display irk me and make me dislike them as characters. Tearing down teen girls and femininity in general is in no way, shape or form female empowerment, and it does not win girls 'cool points'. They do open up to each other a little though, and I do hope this lunch thing becomes a regular occurrence.

But from this normalcy we must move on, as Nibs' illegal activities take front stage. He seems a little traumatised from the brothel, I wonder if he's seen a little more of it than he lets on. It certainly is unnerving though, and I do wonder how he would explain this sudden income to his foster parents when he hands over the cash. There is a tense moment while they inspect the drugs, but overall the drop itself goes without incident. But before Nibs can skedaddle, Jessica walks in, guns blazing, and shoots up the place. This whole scene could have ended very differently if they'd inhaled the 'coke clouds' and just gotten high XD In general though it's all just noise, because for all her bolstering Jessica comes across as a four year old having a tantrum, which I assume is exactly what Zelena is thinking. She breaks some stuff, yells some, and I realise that I have no idea who her dad actually is. I don't think she ever mentioned in EEA. Oh, but we do get the interesting tidbit about the shooting, which is that Zelena denies being involved. Interesting. Hopefully this is connected to the background B plot that had Morgan and Leon whispering, and Chris so angry the day Margaret got drunk. For now though Nibs is not interested in this drama, so he just bolts.

Interestingly, he bolts to the beach, which predictably drums up bad memories, and contemplates his dangerous double life. Adding to the possibility of getting arrested, now there's the possibility of getting killed by some crazy college girls, but the money is just too good to turn down. He feels a responsibility towards his found family, which is really sweet, and he wants them to have better lives than what they can afford. It is sadly how a lot of young kids end up sucked into this, and there is also the guilt he feels about dealing to Nick. Hopefully by the end he'll manage to leave the life, though I get the feeling he's going to be embroiled in some sort of underworld gang war before this is over.

Following up on last chapter's shooting, this one picks up at the hospital, with Chis' whole family on edge. They have a nice little scene here, and even Jasmine and Ali make an appearance, and I really like Margaret's inner monologue there, the actual reason she dislikes Ali being that he took her brother away in her head. It's nice too that here she decides she'll never be mean to him again, when something happens to Chris, not when it happened to her. It shows that she can have a bit of a selfless streak. She's clearly very rattled by the incident, understandably so.

Next day at school, Aurelia is soaking up all the attention, and I do wonder why *wasn't* she at the hospital? Or even called/bothered to find out the details? Margaret seriously needs better friends. At least she doesn't stand there and take it, she Teds the whole thing and storms off. I like that Aurelia shows hints of regret here, I'm assuming that she thought Margaret wouldn't be there to hear it though she went a little on the cartoony side XD A full clip in the chest indeed.

On the Nibs side of things, he's hinted to have attempted suicide a year ago, and grappling with some PTSD, which is... dark. And Neverland is having money problems, which of course it is. I wonder what it is that Tink and Peter work to bring in money. Whatever it is, it's not enough and Nibs is tempted by the white-haired devil, who is a coke addict. Did I say this got dark? I meant it went full-on Stygian.

It puts him in a tough spot. On one hand, he and his family really really need the money. On the other, he's getting himself into a huge risk AND he's enabling a friend to do hard drugs. If Nick overdoses one day from these little deliveries, it would be partly on Nibs. However nice the Avalon crew are to him now, I don't think they'd be too happy to learn it came from Nibs.

But seeing an opportunity to keep the lights on in his house, Nibs agrees. If reluctantly. This will backfire, and badly.

And in the culmination of the chapter, he finds Margaret sobbing in her car. Poor girl really hasn't had it easy in this one, kudos to Nibs for catching himself and reminding himself it's not about him. He does the right thing by offering support and not giving her meaningless platitudes, and she just talks and gets it all off her chest. In general it's a very nice scene, the only nitpicks I would have is that the inner monologue was a little too much in places, and became a tad repetitive, and at the end when she said they were friends it didn't feel entirely earned, like she said it's their first real conversation and he barely said anything. Jumping the gun a bit there, maybe something along the lines of 'I had someone listen to me' or 'I'm not alone in this car' might have worked better. I do like the general idea behind that though, that he brought her the one good thing out of all of this. And I liked the framing of it, he's not thinking some awful stupid things like 'she looks pretty even when she cries' or something along those lines, he's not doing it for some ulterior motive, he genuinely relates to her and wants to comfort her, not because she's a girl who's sad, if that makes sense.

Overall a good beginning to their relationship, the first real step they're making towards each other. He's been there for her twice now, hopefully she gets to return the gesture soon, and also gets some better friends. Things are more than likely gonna get darker though, so I'm gonna need to stock up on candles for my next foray into this.

OK. so late. So sorry. But I’m here, let’s do this. This seems like a monster of a chapter.

Ugg fake lashes. I had to wear those when I used to compete. Never again. I feel like this is the first time I’ve seen Ababwa spelled out and it’s making me laugh for some reason. Did you know like 3 out of 5 trump supporters think Agraba is a real place? Annnnyway….

I think it’s more proper to say ‘there ‘were’ very little in the way of familiar faces’ because faces is plural.

Haha Prince Charming. Awesome. I was just thinking that I hadn’t been able to place who these two were yet. Nice description of the posh hoyty toyty school ground. Aaaand we’ve found the school bitch already, I see. Ugg. Good characterization, because I hate her.

Lol Frosts busted for coke? Nice. Subtle.

Bitchy McBitchface is being a bit more than ‘frank’, I’d say. OK not going to lie, glad to leave high school with the line break there. Couldn’t pay me to do that part of teenhood over again.

Aww crap, still in school. Pfft fine. I’m sensing one of the lost boys here. The clues are there, nice and subtle. Oh no, does that mean this poor kid is high school age forever? Oh and the mean girls are back. didn’t miss them.

Lol this whole meeting could have been an email. Hmm I’m seeing a robin hood spawn, I think. Cute. I’m liking Nibbs here. Haha classic prank. Love it. I mean, still harsh, but, ha. Poor Nibs.

A chem teacher that let’s you eat in class? Guess he wants to see if chemical residue really will kill you, or make you stupid. Nice visual on Nick Frost. If something on him doesn’t already sparkle somehow, it should.

Haha nice, ohhhhh, moment. You get us into Nibs head well. Loooool, tinks makes fairy cakes. I just recently learned that not everyone calls them cupcakes. How American of me, I know. Liking the evil witch drug dealer. Nice modern characterization. Same with Neverland being an orphanage. I’m getting a very Shameless west side vibe from Nibs and Morgan.

I’m loving all the real world swap outs for the fairy tale stuff. This kind of reminds me what Gregory McGuire does with his books. If you haven’t read Wicked yet, you’d like it. As per usual, nicely written. Good grammar and punctuation and all that.

Dan, Nibs' segments in this are so sad. Interwoven with his getting sloshed are flashbacks of him getting abandoned (I assume, since no one came to take him back after he was found). He and Cubby get wasted waiting for Slightly's hook up to end, and he laments having gotten so rattled by others finding out his orphan status. In the morning, the focus shifts to extracurriculars, which it's time to sign up for. Alyssa gives us a helpful run down of who does what, and some background of Morgan and Leon and their connection. I like her little moment with Nibs, and the support that she shows him, especially at the end there. He also has a scene with Margaret, who gives him a gag gift, which I guess could be taken both ways. Kind of hard to tell if you don't know the particular person's sense of humour. In this case I would say it's all in the presentation, and Margaret did smirk but Nibs didn't seem to think it's a mocking smirk. Margaret hasn't exactly been cracking jokes these past few chapters, but I'd give it a pass as not intending insult.

Meanwhile, in Margaret Land, she's still recovering from her own binging session, and Chris is livid after learning that Damon was there. And I reeeeally like Ali's input here, he's a lot more level-headed and mature here, which I suppose comes as a result of him getting his behaviour checked by befriending Chris earlier in life. Oooh, I wonder if that's why Margaret doesn't like him? He used to bully Chris previously, iirc. Anyways, he's great here, after watching Aquaria and Caspian fight so much, and he gives some sage advice. Thanks to him Chris opts to be a supportive brother (for now at least) instead of getting mad, and it works out for the best, it's a really sweet brother-sister scene.

The next day Aurelia surprises us all by acting like a real human being, I'm genuinely shocked she's this animated and excited. It's nice though, and she even got her besties tickets to watch her strut her stuff. I'm assuming Aurora is a model, since there was mention of her own contract getting in the way of her doing it. Auradon is I think the setting of Disney's Descendants? That... opens a lot of questions which I will ignore for now or we'll be here all day. More importantly, it's the place where the fashion show is happening, and Damon will be there. Margaret has a tiny bit of PTSD it seems, because she seems scared to be next to him. If it was anyone else I would say she's overreacting, but with Damon yes, even if the car park incident hadn't happened, do not go near Damon.

And next on the agenda is oogling boys, so away to swim try outs we go. Another trio is formed - sensing a pattern here - as Caspian tries to escape Devani. The worst part about the shoelace bit is that I've literally SEEN this happen, real life people I know have done this, and it's so so so so cringy, I'm dying. Unlike Margaret my reaction was always second-hand embarrassment; I would laugh at a friend who did this but I would definitely have words with them afterwards. On the boys end... at least they're nice(ish) to Margaret? Called her a lady and everything. I feel bad for Devani though, and I can't stand her. I get that she's a bit annoying, but did that really warrant the way they talk to
and treat her? The bit cut off right before we could see her reaction, but being laughed at by the boys AND Margaret must have been rough. So Margaret thinks of herself as a good friend but has no problem laughing when her friends are being humiliated? Cool.

And we end the whole affair with Chris getting shot. Apparently Zelena is some sort of mobster, or at least has contacts that can get her a hired gun. He manages to get an SOS out though, so hopefully he'll be rushed to a hospital in time. Only next chapter will tell.

We start of with the Neverland boys messing around over smokes. Slightly and Cubby are established as the slut and the virgin respectively, leaving Nibs to be somewhere in the middle. He also ruminates a bit that though his new rich friends are nice and all, there's no replacing his BFFs. When they get to the beach we get some more snippets about him, and he's apparently on the swim team. Some more names are dropped here, but I don't recognise anyone. Oh but what's this? Some faces I *do* recognise, and the Lost Boys are dragged into playing volleyball.

I like how easygoing Cornelius is, and he sounds very British here, it's kind of funny. The whole gang (plus Olly) is there, being couple-y, so singles must off-set this. I also really like the Lost Boys dynamic, they have a really cute friendship, or maybe they're more step-brothers? Same difference. Now Tink being referred to as their mother is really weird, not gonna lie. It's just that that has always been Wendy's job, and since Nobs referred to Wendy in a motherly context earlier, him thinking of someone else as his mother figure is very out of left-field.

Ah, and the secret's out. I do wonder what the rich kids think of when they hear 'orphanage', I somehow doubt they've been to one. It's all seriously bumming out Nibs though, looks like he'd had a bad experience with this kind of thing.

The mini flashback when he spaces out is a little jarring, because when you see italics in this type of narrative it's usually literally what the character is thinking, so it made me do a double take. Could have been done a bit smoother, off the top of my head something like 'A long time ago, on this very beach, a soft hand..' Just a thought.

Now rewinding a bit to talk about the Margaret segments. She starts off the morning with an unexpected meet up, and I totally feel her there. I really hate snap 'let's hang out today' offers out of nowhere, because no I can't just run a brush through my hair and go. A girl needs to decide what to wear, how to do her hair, actually do her hair, do her make up, it's time-consuming, people. Unless it's literally to hang out in our sweats in the park, it needs to be arranged like a day in advance. Margaret in this case settles on wearing a swim suit... even though she never goes to the actual beach? At first I thought the place they were going to was like a beachside open air thing, but it's a building, and they're up on the second floor. I'm confused as to why she didn't put on a dress, even if she was planning on going to the beach later.

Downstairs there's a short back and forth about who will drive her, Chris get scandalised, and Snow is unrecognisable from what she was in EEA. Apparently it's just the fact that she's a Queen there that made her an abusive mother, because she doesn't put the same amount of pressure on her son when he's about to inherit a company that she does when he's about to inherit a kingdom. They seems a lot more functional as a family, even if we didn't really see how they were in EEA since they never had a scene together. I was wondering at this point why Margaret doesn't seem to have her own car, but later it's elaborated that she just hates driving herself. I guess that's for peasants? XD And so are Ubers, I suppose.

Regardless, she makes it for her pre-lunch drinking session for another meeting of the Three Bitchskateers. Looks like Anthony is doing well for himself, seducing Countesses abroad. The main subject of this particular bitch fest is Elena, and of course more racism ensues. Aurelia mentions bagging an English prince, and that makes me wonder where this takes place. I kind of want to say New York, because of the mentions of East/West side (what a Romeo/Juliet story). And if this takes place in 2020, I'm afraid we're all out of princes here XD

Oh but here is where we get her interesting bits. She's sloshed and asks her brother for help, which good on her, do not drive drunk, kids. He sounds mad, but I agree with Margaret, that's not very much like him. I suspect something's happening on his end and he doesn't have time to babysit rn. And man, I think Devani is the most sober there, but the other two are seriously drunk if they can't even walk straight. And all that before lunch? Yeah, their livers are dead if that's a normal Saturday. Christopher, talk to your sister.

And here we have a slight twist on the drunken girl stumbling to her car trope, as it's midday. Of course she runs into Damon because that's what happens when you make bad decisions, and of course she's wearing a bathing suit because that's what she put on in the morning to go to a restaurant in. She is promptly rescued by the knights in shining t-shirts, and tries not to throw up before her ride gets there. Of course she has to throw out some more racism at her saviour (or at least that's how it comes off) though I like the part where Ali gives Nibs his card. Possible set up for some future appearances of his? Looks like his parents don't give the staff Saturday off, though, which is hilarious, so everyone doesn't have to stuff themselves like sardines in the same car.

Well hopefully this brings forth more revelations in the future now that Nibs and Margaret have started to mend fences. There are slight hints of plot appearing in the distance, and Nibs gets to call in a favour from a powerful man, should he need one. One or two things raised an eyebrow, but overall it was a fun read. Onwards to the future!

Here we are, at the modern AU of a sprawling fantasy epic. Let's see where the wind will blow us...

I feel lied to, as I was told Margret would be tolerable. And here I come with my hopes high to find her just as insufferable. I demand a refund.

We do get a short glimpse of Chris, which is nice, and Aurelia being a cartoon villain. They both display casual racism, how lovely. Yes Margaret stops her, but not because it's a shitty thing to say but because they might get caught. And we get a third Bitchskateer, and I think I vaguely remember Margaret having two friends in EEA? Hm, could be misremembering, it was very early on. Jaq has been aged up to fifteen, thank the gods, that makes Aurelia just slightly less gross. But them OMG ALYSSA SAVE ME FROM THIS BITCHPOCALYPSE! Aw, she walked away. Dammit, I almost got excited there.

Ugh, I don't want to sympathise with them, but yes French early in the morning is murder. Kill it with fire.

Nibs is a welcome change of pace tbh, a bit more of a regular person. His commentary is both funny and sad (sad because it's a reality of life). Some kids in low-end schools don't even have computers in the school, and I never understood those exchange programs - why rub it in? At least he manged to make a friend (always important on the first day of school) but I do question his decision to ask the snooty girl he just met for help. Dude, she wears a beret. What in the world made you think she'd help you?

One predictable disaster later, and we get a mention of Wendy! Oh, interesting. Later on we also hear about Peter and Tink, in addition to the Lost Boys. I wonder what's going on in this world, Nibs mentions a Neverland and that Tink and Peter look after them. Is it a foster home thing? An orphanage seems unlikely. And, Wendy isn't mentioned as looking after them later, which is odd given her mention here.

We also get some more Disney characters as teachers, Milo teaching geography raised an eyebrow though, I'd have pegged him for a language guy, him being a linguist and all. Coco teaching Spanish must be a class you sleep through, Bonfamille teaching French fits well enough, though I had to google her to remember who she was.

More to the point - lunch time! We see the OG gang there, still not at each other's throats, bless them. Maleficent being a drug dealer is... okay? Little out of left field, but it works. Nick and Morgan are already together here, and Cornelius and Alyssa are still together. This Olly person is an unknown element, since he wasn't present in EEA, so idk how close he is with them. I totally feel Nibs though, the guy's just some ordinary bloke, and here he is, listening to these people with private chefs talk about which one makes the best food. XD Even funnier when they ask him to name his favourite - though he could have saved it by saying Wendy or something. Oh actually, he does name Tink and fairy cakes, which is pretty cute.

In terms of being Team Nibs or Team Margaret, I think that's obvious, given that I can't stand her XD I still don't know who the rest of Nibs' team is, is it the OG gang? That's a little odd since they don't ever hang out together in EEA, but this is a fresh universe, maybe he'll fit in? I more expected the Lost Boys to be his team, though they have yet to be established as a concept at all. Nibs goes to school, so he's definitely got a home, regardless if it's a foster home or an orphanage. The next chapter will elaborate on his home situation, hopefully