The alhaven ask game thing:
ohhhhh epiphanyyyyy thats a hard one simply becuase there is so much i could talk about . warning this is long
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there's individual character epiphanies - like the fact that Fate doesnt truely dictate your actions, and that horrible events in your past don't dictate what the rest of your life will be like (mordred , morgana respectively) {this theme i think is most prevalent in We Were Villains (Weep for me)}.
on a lighter note - there's ari's epiphany that she hadn't told zach yes to the whole platonic marriage thing in first snow. i always found that funny like she's just WE HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT THIS????
(these are are all on my ao3 btw my username is writetype but you have to be logged in to see them)
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in terms of plot points i think my favourite one (and probably the best fit for this prompt) is the camping trip, set during the main cast's teen years (zoe's 19/20 , zach's like 17 , will's also 17 and aimee is 15) - for context before this point the family is fractured - aimee and zoe's mother {morgana} died around two years previous and aimee really hates zoe for not being there for her (zoe's was struggling before this but now is trying her best to reconnect with her sister , aimee is.. resentful) zach hates his cousin , will , seeing him as an intrusion bc they are FINE GODDAMIT WE DON'T NEED YOUR HELP. the adults are trying but they are spread thin (especially with inflation and grief and such). tensions are starting to thaw though a bit but still threatening to yknow explode
and so when they finally get that one week off around christmas - what better way to spend it than CAMPING WOO.
and its that traditional thing of everything is going to shit but along the way , through broken shopping carts and getting lost in ditches and climbing trees and the lack of mosquito repellent , they bond a bit . and the breathing space becomes wider and gazes are cooler. it kinda feels remincent of those nights where they used to bring out sparklers and write their names in air , its looking at the remains of them smoking , orange bright , but instead of feeling the brand of when you couldn't stop stepping on leftovers , searing your barefoot in a grisly crevice - its just feeling content. being quenched by the outside tap. its not all gone , the water still makes you itch all over funny but - its better.
its not quite a massive epiphany, more a realisation but is one of my favourite moments still
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i think the most important epiphany for me in terms of alhaven - is my own . i used to (and still do in some moments) feel bad for the unrealisticness of alhaven and the fact it was all fluffy and very badly worldbuilt. it didn't feel like a serious story like the ones that my friends would write about , the ones you see in novels . the dead come back to life , some ocs become famous ish , there's swords and historical costumes readily accessible and cheap. alhaven as a town has a kebab shop even tho its technically in the middle of nowhere, dragons , aimee grows up to host a bookish gameshow thing . murder most unladylike the netlifx adaptation exists - and alot of the story is just about the mundane . (also coupled with the fact alhaven is also the paracosm amplified things - like its my daydream world for goddam sakes)
but like the biggest epiphany for me that even if it didn't feel serious - this story was serious, to me. fluff content and the mundane wasn't a lesser form of writing - it wasn't cringe. it made me feel happy and thats all it really needed to be for it to be important. for it to matter. for it to be worthy.
alhaven has been with me for almost more than 6 years now , and to feel ashamed of it feels like a disservice to that younger me , happily writing harry potter , bbc merlin and percy jackson cross over fic with a green pen at 11pm at night.
its probably one of the epiphanies im most grateful for actually.
