The Little Merman That Couldn't
Jul. 11th, 2012 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rallamajoopAnyone remember that very silly Cable/Deadpool Little Mermaid AU crack fic I posted last year? Well, some people apparently do, because every now and then (meaning three times in the last six months but the most recent was very recent so it's on my mind again) I get a new comment on it from someone who loved it and wants to let me know how much they'd love to see more of it. This has left me with something of a conundrum.
Let the record show that, like so many others in the habit of publishing their creative output online for free, compliments are my greatest weakness. Standalone pieces authored under my name have an established history of sprouting sequels or even growing into elaborate multi-parters for little more reason than because someone told me they liked it so much they wanted more OMG :DDDDD. Few things in the world get my creative juices flowing more freely. Moreover, that mermaid story has everything going for it. It's cute, it's fun, it's in a fandom I'm still very much active in. It works on so many levels it's ridiculous, and I have a solid idea where the story wants to go. One innocent comment showing up in my inbox is literally all it takes to get me back in the mindset of trying to figure out what ought to happen next. But every time this happens I eventually end up stuck on some variant on the same problem, and that problem goes by the name of Nate.
See, taken from Wade's angle alone, the Little Mermaid is a perfect fit. Switch out the mermaid tail for Deadpool's unfortunate skin condition and the rest writes itself. The alienation, the fear of rejection, the quest to change oneself to become more acceptable to the world you desperately want to be a part of - it's all there. Even losing his voice as 'the ultimate price' fits Wade down to a T. The part where the hero falls for the handsome prince at first sight andstalked watched him from afar is more or less exactly how Wade fell for Siryn in comic canon. All you have to tweak is the details.
It's just Nate who has to go and be all uncooperative.
It's not purely for the sake of gratuitous snuggling that the rescue scene in the first part of The Medium-sized Merman went on so long. Prince Nate, quite unlike his new friend, does not believe in love at first sight. He's fascinated by Deadpool. He's grateful to him, he feels sorry for him, and he very much wants to get to know him better if you know what I mean, which is that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open up interspecial diplomatic relations. When he finds out that Deadpool is honest-to-god in love with him, his reaction is going to be to explain that he's flattered but that they've only known each other for a few days and hardly have anything in common, and while falling for the first attractive person who's been nice to you in a long time is a perfectly natural response, it's not much of a basis for a successful long-term relationship, and with all that in mind it's his responsibility to let him down gently. Thus far, the only argument in Deadpool's arsenal which stands any chance of making a dent in all that good will goes but I'm REALLY good in bed, and even for crackfic purposes that possibly leaves a little something to be desired.
In short, I'm being held up because one of my protagonists insists on being too responsible for fairy tale logic.
If anyone else out there has a solution to this one, I am so many kinds of all ears.
ETA: Realised I should really have added some extra details here that fit in between the scenes I've posted so far. Deadpool, being completely smitten with Nate after their night on the beach, has gone to beg the Sea Witch to make him human so he can be with his true love. The Sea Witch, being this universe's version of Blind Al, told him to stop being such a sissy girl and go ask Prince Handsome out like a man already. They reached an impass, Wade convinced that he could get Nate into the sack with him in no time flat if only he didn't have his ugly merman face killing their buzz, while Blind Al maintained that any prince charming who couldn't love Deadpool for who he was wasn't worth the effort to begin with. In the name of getting him to shut up and go away she eventually made a bet with him: if Deadpool could get his prince to fall for him in human form within three days, she'd let him stay like that. Otherwise, the spell will wear off and he goes back to normal. Losing his voice for those three days is less about paying the price than about giving him a handicap to keep things interesting. Not to mention giving Blind Al some amusement.
She wasn't at all impressed by Wade taking the inititive to snog Nate the moment the latter pulls him out of the water, but either way it wouldn't have won him anything. Blind Al is expects a lot more than first base if Wade is going to win this bet, if you know what I mean, and this time I'm pretty sure you do. If that doesn't give you the shape of where this story wants to end up then I don't know how much clearer I can make it without spelling the whole thing out (which I wouldn't really mind doing, if anyone is interested, but that might be spoiling a little too much to share in public). In order to work, however, it requires a sort of Superman love triangle where Wade wants Nate but (unbenownst to Wade) Nate wants Deadpool, little realising the two are one and the same. Unfortunately, by being so damnably sensible about it all, Nate is letting his side of the triangle down. Hence my problem.
I did consider throwing in some sort of prophesy that Nate would fall for the one who pulled him from the sea - Cable does have a bit of a canonical thing with prophesies - which would give him plenty of reason to look at his rescuer differently. But even for fairy tale purposes I prefer to look at anything so contrived as resorting to prophesy as a very last resort.
Let the record show that, like so many others in the habit of publishing their creative output online for free, compliments are my greatest weakness. Standalone pieces authored under my name have an established history of sprouting sequels or even growing into elaborate multi-parters for little more reason than because someone told me they liked it so much they wanted more OMG :DDDDD. Few things in the world get my creative juices flowing more freely. Moreover, that mermaid story has everything going for it. It's cute, it's fun, it's in a fandom I'm still very much active in. It works on so many levels it's ridiculous, and I have a solid idea where the story wants to go. One innocent comment showing up in my inbox is literally all it takes to get me back in the mindset of trying to figure out what ought to happen next. But every time this happens I eventually end up stuck on some variant on the same problem, and that problem goes by the name of Nate.
See, taken from Wade's angle alone, the Little Mermaid is a perfect fit. Switch out the mermaid tail for Deadpool's unfortunate skin condition and the rest writes itself. The alienation, the fear of rejection, the quest to change oneself to become more acceptable to the world you desperately want to be a part of - it's all there. Even losing his voice as 'the ultimate price' fits Wade down to a T. The part where the hero falls for the handsome prince at first sight and
It's just Nate who has to go and be all uncooperative.
It's not purely for the sake of gratuitous snuggling that the rescue scene in the first part of The Medium-sized Merman went on so long. Prince Nate, quite unlike his new friend, does not believe in love at first sight. He's fascinated by Deadpool. He's grateful to him, he feels sorry for him, and he very much wants to get to know him better if you know what I mean, which is that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open up interspecial diplomatic relations. When he finds out that Deadpool is honest-to-god in love with him, his reaction is going to be to explain that he's flattered but that they've only known each other for a few days and hardly have anything in common, and while falling for the first attractive person who's been nice to you in a long time is a perfectly natural response, it's not much of a basis for a successful long-term relationship, and with all that in mind it's his responsibility to let him down gently. Thus far, the only argument in Deadpool's arsenal which stands any chance of making a dent in all that good will goes but I'm REALLY good in bed, and even for crackfic purposes that possibly leaves a little something to be desired.
In short, I'm being held up because one of my protagonists insists on being too responsible for fairy tale logic.
If anyone else out there has a solution to this one, I am so many kinds of all ears.
ETA: Realised I should really have added some extra details here that fit in between the scenes I've posted so far. Deadpool, being completely smitten with Nate after their night on the beach, has gone to beg the Sea Witch to make him human so he can be with his true love. The Sea Witch, being this universe's version of Blind Al, told him to stop being such a sissy girl and go ask Prince Handsome out like a man already. They reached an impass, Wade convinced that he could get Nate into the sack with him in no time flat if only he didn't have his ugly merman face killing their buzz, while Blind Al maintained that any prince charming who couldn't love Deadpool for who he was wasn't worth the effort to begin with. In the name of getting him to shut up and go away she eventually made a bet with him: if Deadpool could get his prince to fall for him in human form within three days, she'd let him stay like that. Otherwise, the spell will wear off and he goes back to normal. Losing his voice for those three days is less about paying the price than about giving him a handicap to keep things interesting. Not to mention giving Blind Al some amusement.
She wasn't at all impressed by Wade taking the inititive to snog Nate the moment the latter pulls him out of the water, but either way it wouldn't have won him anything. Blind Al is expects a lot more than first base if Wade is going to win this bet, if you know what I mean, and this time I'm pretty sure you do. If that doesn't give you the shape of where this story wants to end up then I don't know how much clearer I can make it without spelling the whole thing out (which I wouldn't really mind doing, if anyone is interested, but that might be spoiling a little too much to share in public). In order to work, however, it requires a sort of Superman love triangle where Wade wants Nate but (unbenownst to Wade) Nate wants Deadpool, little realising the two are one and the same. Unfortunately, by being so damnably sensible about it all, Nate is letting his side of the triangle down. Hence my problem.
I did consider throwing in some sort of prophesy that Nate would fall for the one who pulled him from the sea - Cable does have a bit of a canonical thing with prophesies - which would give him plenty of reason to look at his rescuer differently. But even for fairy tale purposes I prefer to look at anything so contrived as resorting to prophesy as a very last resort.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 04:28 pm (UTC)LOLOLOLOL Oh God Wade that's so you LOLOLOL
Nate would definitely have diplomacy in mid, being royal rookie and all. I think it maybe you can make him little oblivious (he is kinda oblivious when he can't use his telepathy, after all) and let him assume that Wade's just acting like a baby duckling who's following the first person like it's his mother, or that it's merman's default culture to be very very friendly..
Or...or...I don't know...maybe you can put more crisis from the witch or Nate's evil twin brother who's also a prince who likes to break/take his older brother's toy, that he is too distracted to notice or give enough attention to Wade's crush...?
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 07:02 am (UTC)The witch has nothing but Deadpool's best interests at heart (see ETA above) and I feel the evil twin angle has been done to death in this fandom already, so I don't think I could get much out of that. Hrm...
no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 04:59 pm (UTC)I guess my mindset is that Nate can think of it as kind of a marriage of convenience, (with someone he likes and feels grateful too, as well) and since he doesn't believe in love at first sight, he can very much believe that the love can come later and it isn't vital to be there from the off. And he wouldn't even need to mention any of that because he's very in to telling people what he thinks they need to know rather than what's actually true.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 06:33 am (UTC)BTW, I added a little more detail to the post above about my ideas for this story, which may or may not help any.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 08:30 pm (UTC)if you know what I meanHey, you could have plot and/or angst by having Nate say he only likes Wade as a friend and find out about the time limit *after* it passes. Making Nate have to go after Wade in hopes of getting him back.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 12:14 am (UTC)Long Comment 1/2
Date: 2012-07-13 01:54 am (UTC)Leave it to Disney to really drive home a happy ending, eh? While the whole love at first sight thing is a very sweet notion - one that certainly applies to Deadpool - the original Danish fairytale was a fair bit darker. In a nutshell, the mer-maiden in question falls for a handsome prince, goes to a Sea Witch, and trades her tongue in exchange for a shiny new pair of legs (as well as excruciating pain, but let's just gloss over that). The Prince is immediately attracted to the mer-maiden's beauty, but he's been promised to a princess of a neighboring kingdom. While the prince does go on to say that he won't marry said princess because he does not love her...none of that actually matters because he ends up marrying her anyway.
The meat of the original fairytale then becomes the mer-maiden's despair. According to the Wikipedia page: "She thinks of all that she has given up and of all the pain she has suffered... If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end and she will live out her full life. The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his bride and as dawn breaks she throws herself into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air.
Errrrr...right. All that aside (I promise I'm coming to my point in the next paragraph...or two) is that I think Blind Al has a real point, and the point she's trying to make could make for a story that I would be thrilled to read. o 3o Deadpool wants love, he wants acceptance, he wants to be normal, and he may even be legitimately in love with Nathan, but the fact is he doesn't actually know Nathan well enough to know if his sacrifice was even worth it. As intense as his infatuation is, it's still an infatuation based in no part on the reality of his and Nathan's situations. Nathan is far too pragmatic to buy into the whole fairytale romance, for all the reasons you listed above. And the only reason why Deadpool did any of this in the first place was because he honestly believed that Nathan would never accept him as a freakish monster, which brings us back to what Blind Al said from the beginning: any prince charming who couldn't love Deadpool for who he was wasn't worth the effort to begin with.
Nathan is too responsible for fairy tale logic (I applaud him for that by the way) but it's obvious from that opening chapter you posted that he's not impervious to sheer physical attraction, and you've already established that Deadpool is working under a timeline. Deadpool+Timeline+Sex-to-have-everything-you-want = Pretty damn persuasive. ;)
Re: Long Comment 2/2
Date: 2012-07-13 01:54 am (UTC)Sex =/= Love. So while he's human now, and has his voice back enough to have what I imagine to be an extremely awkward conversation with a partly shocked and partly mournful Nate, sex =/= love, and Nathan knows that, and besides he has royal responsibilities, he doesn't actually know Deadpool for all that they had a really amazing snog, his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open up interspecial diplomatic relations have just gone right out the door, they hardly have anything in common, and while giving in and having a one night stand with an attractive stranger who made it VERY clear they were willing is a perfectly natural response, it's not much of a basis for a successful long-term relationship. ;)
Meanwhile, Deadpool is having a very hard time trying to figure out how all his perfect plans could have all gone so terribly, terribly wrong. Blind Al cheated him, that's the only possible explanation (hahahaha).
Maybe Deadpool (much like the mer-maiden of the original Danish fairytale) comes to bitterly regret his decision. Perhaps he even decides to go back to the sea, disillusioned and heartbroken. And, perhaps, Nate finally gets over himself and is given enough time to realize what a good thing he had with Deadpool - impulsive one-night stand notwithstanding.
ETA: Totally appropriate hahaha: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m72y2tpi1z1rse4eao1_500.jpg
Anyhooo, I've blathered on long enough! I hope this helped, even just a little. ;)