Fic Update: "That Cute Child," aka "How to Raise Your Dragon Loli"

[mark_asphodel]

The backyard is such a nice place on a winter's day. Woodpeckers on the suet block, red squirrels in the pine tree, fox squirrels begging on the deck, a pair of mourning doves shuffling along the path...

A hawk on the fence.

Whoops. That does not belong there. The Neighborhood Enforcement Force, aka the local blue jay population, caught up with said hawk and spread the alarm, though. Blue jays are awesome.

-x-

So, a while back, I started toying with the idea of a Tiki-centric story from Caeda's perspective. That dynamic is a question that the FE3 script basically sets before the player during the "grand ending," the one where Tiki is squealing and glomping Marth, Melissa is bawling at Tiki to get her hands off, and Caeda's just going, "No, I'm fine with this." And Marth, of course, has nothing whatsoever to say for himself.

Tiki herself, after all, is a question that the script poses and doesn't even attempt to answer. The script doesn't even spell out precisely what becomes of her, other than that she lived in happily in Pales, embraced by its citizens. Maybe she gets her own Tiki Palace, maybe she bounces from household to household (Pales is where Elice, Merric, and Linde reside, not to mention Samson'n'Sheema and Jeorge's pack of Free Knights). Given her attachment to Marth, the most likely answer is that he's the one taking care of her; his various promises to her certainly have that bent.

Well. No other FE protagonist brings a lolisaurus home to their long-suffering wife. Dragon lolis, and dragon shotas, go back wherever it is they belong-- Nils passes through the Dragon's Gate, Fa returns to Nabata and disappears into myth, and Myrrh only leaves the Darkling Woods if Saleh is the one to bond with her. Ephraim can have Tana/L'Arachel or an enduring friendship with Myrrh, but not both, and in any event Myrrh never follows him home.

What becomes of a divine being that looks, acts, and talks like hyperactive ten-year-old? A permanent ten-year-old, perhaps; though Tiki ages in the brief gap between the War of Darkness and the War of Heroes, Xane's apparent youth at the age of 1600 years or more makes me think that even if age progression in manakete children starts out "normal" by human standards, the rate slows dramatically around puberty. Also, I don't want to write about a sexualized Tiki. No thanks.

Ten or eleven is an interesting time, as it's about when children start grasping abstract logic and sarcasm (these two milestones are related, IMO). Even the kids that age who can talk like miniature adults aren't thinking like adults. Some of Tiki's quirks can be chalked up to horrible treatment and only being conscious for a handful of years, but if Fa provides us any evidence to work with, baby-talk and baby-thinking last a long, long time for little dragons.

Anyway, here is "That Cute Child," a look at the, er, unique issues experienced by a couple who attempt to "raise" a child who never grows up. I will not pretend that this doesn't tread on territory addressed by my earlier Tiki 'fics-- the POV and the generational "family" framework are the defining attributes of this one-- but that doesn't stop me from turning things over in my head, and sometimes they turn into stories.

ETA: Looking over Ephraim's A-support with Myrrh, he DOES invite her home!  She just doesn't accept the offer.  Ephraim does balk at both the brain-breaking "Big Brother" title and he refuses to watch over Myrrh while she sleeps, though.

It was intended as an FE100 fill. I guess that's the second one I've completed.

Comments

[kyusil]

I can see that kind of thing happening with Tiki just based on some of her OA, which is... yeah, questionable. But I've seen those terms get thrown around in general reference to like, any character who's under 16 (or appears to be) without additional context. I mean, doesn't it kind of go without saying that a certain segment of any fandom will produce really creepy fanwork regardless? It shouldn't color anyone else's portrayal/perception of those characters.

[raphiael]

It is also a general, nonsexual term for "underage" characters, as well. Loli and shota don't always, in my experience, imply lolicon or shotacon.

It's just a weird fandom "thing" to describe a certain kind of character, I guess. Seems to imply a certain type, too. I'd go so far as to say I'd call Lugh a "shota", but not Lleu. Even though they're, you know, identical twins.

[mark_asphodel]

What Raphi said. It's a bit like "moe" and all the other fandom archetypes/stereotypes/cliches. "We know one when we see one."

I personally don't use the terms in serious meta.

[kyusil]

Hmm, I see. I sort of recall reading TVTropes for these as well, which sort of delineated the typing and all that. But considering the etymology of "loli" in particular I was a bit, uhm... skeptical. But word meanings change and all that, of course.

[raphiael]

Japan's definition of "lolita" is a bit different than what we think of, especially. Somewhere along the line it got emphasized as just the "little girl" aspect - hence why at least for the most part lolita fashion is not meant to be sexual, for example.

Not that there aren't fetishists for it, but it's not always what the term's meant to evoke.

[mark_asphodel]

Not that there aren't fetishists for it, but it's not always what the term's meant to evoke.

Though Tiki's fanbase in particular focuses on the sexual side of it. I swear, there must be more NSFW pictures of her on Pixiv than of any other individual FE character.