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31_days2007-02-03 11:56 pm
sodzilla.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-02-03 11:56 pm
[February 3rd][Pumpkin Scissors] Being Bad
Title: Being Bad
Day/Theme: February 3 / the wicked daughter
Series: Pumpkin Scissors
Characters: Alice
Rating: G
Alice L. Malvin is a third daughter who wants to be a third son.
It's not that she doesn't like being a girl, in some ways. She doesn't like all the frills that come with it, the big poofy dresses and high-heeled shoes and the expectation that she can't do all the things that boys can, but she's used to the way her face looks in the mirror and to the way her body moves, and she wouldn't change it.
It's just that in stories, third sons have all the fun. They're the ones who succeed in the quest after their older brothers have failed. Alice can't remember the last time she did better than Clarice and Elice at anything, except for those kinds of things that don't count because girls shouldn't be good at them. Third sons get to marry princesses. Third daughters get stuck with princes they're not sure if they like that much, and they're in real trouble if they find themselves wanting to kiss a frog. Third sons get half the kingdom. Alice supposes she's got half the Empire on her plate, but most of the time that translates to misery and paperwork and Captain Hunks getting yelled at.
Most of all, third sons are supposed to venture out and seek their fortune. They're not scolded for doing useless things (sometimes Alice imagines some storybook hero's father sourly holding forth on why dragon-slaying is a pointless and undignified pursuit) or told to keep a distance from their boon companions and for God's sake to only let them in through the kitchen entrance.
The worst part is that Alice knows she's being childish. A woman in her position should know fairy tales aren't real, and that obligations to family are sacred. Even if obligations to friends are much easier to bear, and that frog is looking better by the minute...
Day/Theme: February 3 / the wicked daughter
Series: Pumpkin Scissors
Characters: Alice
Rating: G
Alice L. Malvin is a third daughter who wants to be a third son.
It's not that she doesn't like being a girl, in some ways. She doesn't like all the frills that come with it, the big poofy dresses and high-heeled shoes and the expectation that she can't do all the things that boys can, but she's used to the way her face looks in the mirror and to the way her body moves, and she wouldn't change it.
It's just that in stories, third sons have all the fun. They're the ones who succeed in the quest after their older brothers have failed. Alice can't remember the last time she did better than Clarice and Elice at anything, except for those kinds of things that don't count because girls shouldn't be good at them. Third sons get to marry princesses. Third daughters get stuck with princes they're not sure if they like that much, and they're in real trouble if they find themselves wanting to kiss a frog. Third sons get half the kingdom. Alice supposes she's got half the Empire on her plate, but most of the time that translates to misery and paperwork and Captain Hunks getting yelled at.
Most of all, third sons are supposed to venture out and seek their fortune. They're not scolded for doing useless things (sometimes Alice imagines some storybook hero's father sourly holding forth on why dragon-slaying is a pointless and undignified pursuit) or told to keep a distance from their boon companions and for God's sake to only let them in through the kitchen entrance.
The worst part is that Alice knows she's being childish. A woman in her position should know fairy tales aren't real, and that obligations to family are sacred. Even if obligations to friends are much easier to bear, and that frog is looking better by the minute...