The What If? . . . Fantasy Tag!

Hey'a, everyone! So, I didn't end up doing as much stuff with February is Fantasy Month as I hoped— though, all my posts so far have been fantasy-RELATED, so I've got that going for me). Today, however, I'm actually officially participating with this super-fun fantasy tag that Jenelle created! Admittedly, I wasn't officially tagged with it . . . but one of my friends said she was going to tag me, so that counts, right? Riiiight. Anyway, let's get started!

1. Your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. The cast of the most recent fantasy book you read comes to your assistance… who are they? Will they be helpful?
The last fantasy book I read was Court of Fives (pretty cool world, exciting storyline, but cliche main character and love interest, FYI), so coming to my rescue are Jessamy, Kalliarkos, and . . . I guess we're going to say Thynos, Inarsis, Coriander, Jessamy's family, and one other spoiler-y character, if we go with the majority of the good guys. Unfortunately, none of this group knows how to fix a car, and neither athletic prowess nor political savviness is going to be much use here. I guess they can keep me company and protect me from sketchy people while I wait for more useful help? Good thing I've got a cell phone . . .


2. You go to bed one evening and wake up in the lair of the villain of the last fairy tale you read, where are you and how do you plan to get out?
Are we counting fairy tale retellings in this? I'm going to assume that we're counting fairy tale retellings here, in which case the last fairy tale I read was Cinderella, specifically Allison Tebo's The Reluctant Godfather. So . . . I'm in de Ghent Hall, or more generally, the home of Cinderella's stepmother? That's not too bad. Worst-case scenario, I'm either locked in an attic or closet or something or being forced to do housework. In the latter case, it shouldn't be too hard to just slip out; in the former, well, I'd probably chill and/or panic for a bit, figure out if anyone knew I was there and why I was there, and then decide on a plan.

3. You are transported into a fantasy realm and given a mythical creature as a companion and best friend… which mythical creature do you get?
A dragon! Preferably one of the dragons from my Berstru Tales, which are as intelligent as humans (if not more so), a managable-but-still-intimidating-to-foes size (unless it's a miniature dragon, in which case the size is definitely not intimidating, but the dragon as a whole still might be), and able to bond to people. As a bonus, a human bonded to a dragon gets some pretty useful powers, which I'll need if I'm going to survive a fantasy adventure.


4. In a strange series of coincidences, you end up needing to take the place of your favorite fantasy hero or heroine. Who are you? 
So, my favorite fantasy heroine shifts around a bit depending on which books I've read most recently, which ones I'm itching to read, my mood, and a few other factors. At the moment, I'd say that I'm probably taking the place of either Shallan Davar from The Stormlight Archive or Marasi Colms from Mistborn. Admittedly, neither of them live in the safest storyworlds . . . and Shallan's life is kinda sorta a complete mess . . . but I'd manage. I think. 

5. To go along with question #4, now that you are that character, is there anything you would do differently than that character, now that you are running the show?
For Shallan— yes, enough that it's not going to be convenient to list them all here, but that's mostly because I'm of a rather different personality than she is and so I wouldn't react to events or deal with personal struggles in the same way— storms, half of her personal struggles, I don't know if I'd have at all, given the differences between my personality and hers. How that would affect events in the books, I'm not sure.

For Marasi-— no. Marasi's fabulous and sensible and makes excellent choices. I probably wouldn't manage half as well as she does, honestly. Hopefully I wouldn't cause anyone to die by accident. Though . . . I guess I might be slightly more suspicious of a particular character who shall remain unnamed because spoilers.

6. If you were yourself in a fantasy novel, what role do you think you would play in the story?
I'd rather like to be the heroine . . . but honestly, I'd probably be a side character, one who serves as impulse control to the protagonist and has random useful knowledge of lore, legends, magical creatures, and so on and generally keeps everyone from making stupid decisions and getting killed . . . at least when they listen to me. I could get behind that role.

7. One morning, as you are going about your daily business, you pick up an everyday item and a voice booms in your head with prophetic words about your future. What object is it, and what is your prophecy?

The object I pick up is one of my pencils, and the prophecy which I receive is as follows:

Besiegéd! Besiegéd thou shalt be

With more ideas than thou can ev'r use!

Yet none shall come when most thou desires,

But only as int'ruption of another story's muse.

8. You are transported into a magical realm and turned into a mythical beast… what beast/fantasy creature do you want to be?
My first thought was dragon . . . but, as Jenelle pointed out, being a dragon means that people are potentially hunting you, plus dragons aren't really built for either reading or writing things. So, let's go with . . . hmm. The faeries of Rudiobus are technically fantasy creatures, aren't they? Can I be one of them? I'd be super down with that. I'd be immortal, able to turn into some kind of woodland creature (I'd prefer an otter, if that's possible), and in prime position to explore the Wood and meet a lot of favorite characters.

9. If you could read your way into any fantasy realm, but the catch is that you can never leave, would you? Which realm would you choose?
I think my last answer pretty much answers that question: if I could read my way into the world of Goldstone Wood, I'd do so in a heartbeat. I'd find my way straight to Dame Imraldera's Haven and convince her that she definitely needs me as an assistant. From there, I'd learn how to navigate the Wood and the Paths and go exploring throughout the Near and Far Worlds.

10.  As you are going about your normal day, you discover that you have a magical power. What is it?         
The power is control over time- speeding it up, slowing it down, and stopping it altogether around me. I discover this power in one of two ways. 

Possibility one: I'm in the middle of doing schoolwork and stressed because I have so much to do and so little time to do it in. I go on the internet to look something up, but . . . that's odd. Why is the internet loading so slowly? I look at the on my dresser and realize that I've been working for an hour, but only fifteen minutes have passed . . . what do you know, I've been speeding up time in a bubble around myself, giving myself more time in which to work! Bolstered by this knowledge, I figure out how to temporarily make time normal again so I can look up what I need to know, then get back to work and finish with plenty of time to read a good book and catch up on Fairy Tail.

Possibility two: it's Sunday night and my hallmates and I are going to dinner. The dining hall is packed full of people; the lines are back all the way to the grill; there are hardly any seats left. For an introvert, it's utterly overwhelming, and I wish that everything would stop- and then it does. Everyone and everything around me and my friends just freezes. We're all quite confused, but decide to take advantage of the moment to find a place to sit. After we've done that, time goes back to normal. Later, I do some experimenting and figure out that I'm the one who caused it. 

I'm not going to tag anyone, since I wasn't officially tagged myself . . . but if you're reading this, feel free to steal the tag to answer on your own blog! I'd love to see how you respond!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)