Where the Bad Kids Go

before all else, we need to be on the same page about the little mermaid and that it is an inherently queer story with a queer author: Hans Christian Anderson was bisexual, and wrote the original story as a sort of lament about being in love with another man and never being able to be together but we’re not talking about the original version — we’re talking about the disney version, which was ALSO heavily influenced by out gay man and lyricist Howard Ashman a queer man in the 80s adapting a fairytale specifically about the queer experience and making sure the ending was happier where the mermaid lives and marries her true love was a revolutionary choice, considering what was going on in the queer community in the 1980s and early 90s (if you’re a young’un, i’m talking about AIDS, a disease that would also claim Howard Ashman later on), which is why it lowkey bothers me SO DANG MUCH when people gripe about the ending being changed — we needed this, y’all, let queer people dream of a happy ending

but anyway, this train of thought came about due to the little shadows arc in CB where they go into little mermaid and, despite the sea witch not having much to do in the original tale after the mermaid gets some sweet gams, Buddy gets quite a lot of focus, specifically on his backstory and then, of course, at the end of the arc, Buddy does the thing that everyone homages from disney’s version, and i remember saying to myself ‘oh, yeah, Buddy is Ariel haha that makes a lot of sense actually’

my impression was only strengthened by subsequent re-readings and here is the fruits of that

so, the first scene were we see Ariel in the little mermaid is her robbing a grave — it’s a fun scene, and we don’t register her actions as grave-robbing because we don’t see any bodies, but Ariel is looting through a shipwreck in the middle of the ocean and shipwrecks back then were almost always fatal, so this is in fact a grave. our girl loves other peoples’ things.

that aside, Ariel is a character defined by her desire to be more than what she is at the beginning of the movie, she has the desire to be ‘where the people are’; she yearns for humanity in a nebulous, unfocused way Buddy also desires a return to his own humanity, which is manifest in Violet’s plan to turn back time to before her brother fused with the villain key — it was a plan i remember questioning, like ‘okay he’s back to human and he assumedly takes the keys with him and… then what? bro was homeless, stealing for a living… what is the plan after that?’ though Buddy might be seen as having more of a reason than Ariel for his desire, the future should he get what he wants is still just as up in the air as hers

the consequences of this desire taking over their good sense and seeking the help of someone without their best interests at heart also eventually lead to a family member being imperiled

eventually, though, they meet someone who gives their desire for humanity some more focus

disguising their true nature with the help of a villainess, they follow around their chosen human and romance blooms, all with the knowledge that this situation is tentative at best

(there is also some severe rebuke on this kind of trust being bestowed to a human from a family member who means well but comes off harsh)

and then we do get to lean into the original tale a bit — in the fairytale, the mermaid is presented the opportunity to kill the prince and restore her status quo… and she refuses. she doesn’t want to hurt her love, even if it will hurt her in the end

silver: was owned by a theatre owner who died and was inherited (both silver and the theatre) by his son, who had no interest whatsoever in keeping up the theatre. silver, who had grown close to the actors who worked there, volunteered to run it in his stead, spinning it that he didn't need to do anything but sit back and collect profits, which he agreed to. she's highly beloved by the whole staff.

nox: is basically the dewey decimal system, but ran away from the library who commissioned him due to... interpersonal differences. currently wandering the countryside with a hobbit, robbing whoever he comes across in the hopes of saving up enough money to build his own personal library, but with blackjack no patrons and hookers chase, if he wants to come.

chase is a decent cook actually (he's had to learn due to celiac), though baking is still giving him a bit of trouble

deacon is a trans man; not for any interesting reason he just looks too much like me and i need to fight back somehow

incidentally chase was the first to ever clock him when they were kids, and likewise deacon was the first to know chase is gay

i sign off on the violet liking mint theory but esp the violet mints — they have her name on them and she would absolutely vibe with that

buddy actually does really enjoy reading books and it bothers him a bit to be forced to know the plot of books automatically by entering them after becoming a key; however, this is informing a drive in him to get chase to actually read books more FOR COMPLETELY NORMAL REASONS like maybe starting a book club or something (this would be his definition of an exciting date idea)

goldie ABSOLUTELY views himself as a big brother figure to prunella and the feeling is mutual, while silver sees chase as one of her best friends and bronze sees deacon much like your average cat sees it's human

meanwhile violet 100% sees nox specifically as that annoying little brother you lock out of your room to get some time alone but would also throw down life and limb for

nox considers buddy to be chase's pet name for him at this point and is just barely forcing himself to put up with other people calling him that at this point (it's for his cover, he keeps telling himself) — when chase calls him buddy, though, he does feel a little bit more like a human and it sets him back on his heels a bit

chase fell first but because he has had crushes before he's able to deal, but buddy hasn't and he hit that pit so hard it shattered all his bones

buddy is a luddite if you asked him to make a spreadsheet he'd prob just ask you to kill him

deacon is painfully aware he and buddy have a lot in common personality wise and it drains him to think about — buddy, however, doesn't consider them similar at all because he's kind of an idiot

prunella has shown the keys the lady lovealorn cartoon; silver and goldie love it and bronze fell asleep half way through

chase and buddy very much have the ADHD vs autism dynamic working for them; chase is diagnosed and unmedicated, buddy is not diagnosed and tbh probably doesn't even consider he might be neurodivergent ('doesn't everyone do it this way?' ect)

in the same vein, buddy would Never go to a therapist, not cus he inherently doesn't believe in the efficacy of therapy but because he simply doesn't believe anything wrong with his mental health is fixable in any way

in the time between being with and escaping ex libris (however long that could be), the grand library didn't stock much contemporary lit, so buddy is pretty behind in regards to pop culture trends and has been trying to fill in gaps via books he snatches from the library shelves after closing — he's been mostly unsuccessful and chase would be personally scandalized he missed the twilight craze

though not deciding your thoughts an feelings based on any certain archetype, being a key of any specific role does reflect back on gut feelings and instinctual reactions to things, such as silver and goldie generally wanting to focus on the good in people while nox and violet are more likely to distrust everyone automatically — all this to say buddy, though personally finding swearing vulgar and avoids doing it at all costs, is overcome with the mischievous need to see if he can get prunella to say bad words because he thinks it would be the height of humour

in any possible stargoth endgame future (sweats in novaverse), deacon and nox still call each other 'freckles' and 'buddy' — their tumultuous relationship just becomes an inside joke and neither of them will admit openly to being friends

ALSO IN REGARDS TO ANY STARGOTH ENDGAME GOD NOVAVERSE OWNS MY SOUL buddy 100% is into designing and upcycling clothes and has an interest in modeling