Part 1 Of The Reverse Lsekai Disney Villains X Modern Reader AU

I remembered u have free will again

A nobody who won a golden glove for her first movie? An entitled girl who spoke up against a genocide and a terrible Man being president? A 20 year old who said that a movie that is almost 100 years old is outdated? Oh yes SHE was the one who destroyed Snow White

Since you mentioned this in an earlier ask, what is your take on feminist Leona? I see people saying things like "consent king" "he drinks his respect women juice" and "leona kingscholar says men ain't shit" but I think those are mainly jokes but I've also seen a lot of for example Leona x reader fanfics where he's a lot nicer to femme Yuus than masc ones. I don't play the game so I don't know how much of a feminist he really is, could you clarify and give your own insights? Ty Miss Raven!!!!!!!

[Referencing this post!]

Admittedly, I am guilty of having made “consent king” jokes but that’s mainly because I think consent + respecting others’ autonomy is very sexy important and it’s slightly funny to have a 185 cm muscular anime cat boy championing the concept. However, I try to avoid making jokes which would imply Leona puts down his own gender or thinks lesser of them because 1) canon doesn't indicate this and 2) it can be hurtful to non-femme Twst fans. Yes, most of the fandom is women--but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make this fandom space welcoming for masculine or nonbinary Twst fans.

Let's delve into a brief history of where feminist!Leona comes from! After that, I'll discuss my own thoughts and feelings about it.

The idea first came into prominence because of an exchange that occurs in Cater's School Uniform vignette. In it, Cater is trying to convince Leona to join him for a party that he's throwing for Rosaria, one of the talking paintings at NRC. At first, Leona refuses--but he quickly changes his tune once Cater mentions Rosaria is a "she/her". Leona states, "Portrait or not, I respect ladies and Rosaria is a lady." Cater then whispers to Kalim (who is shocked that Leona suddenly agreed to come along), "Leona's kingdom is all about being respectful to ladies."

It should be noted that Leona says something slightly different in JP: “Even if it’s a portrait, a woman is a woman.” JP does not have the “I respect ladies” portion; “I respect ladies” was added to EN, which may have further amplified the interpretation that he is a feminist.

Now, as we learn from that vignette, the Sunset Savanna has a culture of "respecting women". In Leona's Ceremonial Robes vignette, he elaborates that, “[Beastwomen are] already way stronger than [beastmen]." Furthermore, Ruggie states in one of his Chats that “Girls have both the grit and the camaraderie to triumph when the goin’ gets tough.” Then, in events like Tamashina Mina and late in book 7, we are told that many of the royal guards are women who volunteer for the positions and it's common for them to have learned martial arts from a young age. From this dialogue, we can glean that the women of Leona's home country are physically strong, strong-willed, and honorable.

With that being said, I think certain interpretations of Leona's "feminism" (a term not actually used by official materials; this is a fandom take) definitely take it a step too far by either assuming Leona treats woman as a special class and/or he dislikes men. Both of those interpretations (if serious and not said as a joke) are owed to a fundamental misunderstanding of what "feminism" is. Feminism is "the belief in full social, economic, and political equality for women." Feminism is NOT misandry (a hatred of men), and nor is it female chauvinism (the belief that women are superior to men)... unless, of course, you're talking about very radicalized forms of thinking. The basic concept of feminism doesn't involve man hate or putting women on a pedestal.

Twst itself appears to go with the basic definition of feminism. As Leona himself states, he doesn't treat anyone special. "I ain't extra nothin' to nobody. As if [women] even need men fawning all over'em."

Leona, whom we know to be arrogant and unwilling to obey others' orders, appears to be more willing to listen to and carry out tasks if there's a woman involved. I already mentioned the case with Rosaria the painting (which proves that his "respecting women" thing extends beyond just beastwomen from his home country). In his Ceremonial Robes, he also grumpily puts on the aforementioned robes and takes a picture of himself in it upon the request of his sister-in-law. But--and this should be stressed--he's not exactly jumping for joy or eager to do so. Instead, Leona cites that "Goin’ against [beastwomen] only brings more trouble.” This indicates annoyance at having to carry out this chore, and gives the impression that Leona's only complying because not doing so would only overcomplicate things for him. He's not an idiot--he knows when to make a strategic retreat if it's going to save him time and effort in the long run. (For example, he immediately surrenders to the Ferrymen in book 6 rather than continue to put up a fight.)

I should note that, like in the earlier definition of feminism I shared, Leona does not simply bend the knee to every single woman. In the first Halloween event, he was still capable of scaring off the Magicam Monsters (some of which have distinctly female voices) without any qualms. He was still fully able to express anger and upset when Eliza, the Ghost Bride, smacked him. "You've got a lot of nerve turnin' me down over some nonsense!" He's also not above tricking the Fairy Queen and her entourage to steal back the special magestone from NRC.

This shows us that Leona doesn't just... "respect women" indiscriminately. If someone is going to be rude and selfish to him, he's going to respond as is appropriate. He's not going to turn a blind eye because of the offending party's gender.

In terms of Yuu interactions (assuming Yuu can be any gender), Leona acts pretty aggressive towards them in their first meeting. Even though it's clearly an accident and Yuu didn't realize they stepped on his tail, Leona is annoyed by the act and them walking away without apologizing or stopping to acknowledge him. He also makes it known that Yuu is magicless, and thus has no way of defending themselves from him. And you know what this man does? He says, "Well, can't say it'd be much fun to hurt someone so helpless. Still gonna do it, though." AND HE THREATENS TO TAKE A TOOTH. His wording, "No one gets to stomp on my tail and just walk away without payin' the price" + him still deciding to attack Yuu desite knowing they are weak/cannot fight back, implies to me that he may have still reacted this way regardless of Yuu's gender. (Key word: MAY. We don't know if this is the truth or not, I am leaving this up to your interpretation.)

Notably, there is a light change between EN and JP versions for Yuu's dialogue choices in response to Leona's threat. The EN dialogue options are far more humorous, but the JP options clearly convey fear (ie Leona is being serious about his threat of bodily harm). The top option is like noises of surprise, like "Eh, eh, eh!!"; the bottom option is along the lines of, "What, I'm going to be hit/beaten!"

There are, in fact, multiple instances where Leona acts callous towards Yuu. He refuses to let Yuu stay in Savanaclaw unless they earn their keep by beating up some mobs. He constantly degrades them by calling them and others he considers weak "herbivore". He has to be goaded into helping us or taking us along on trips instead of automatically caving. It could be argued that he would be more agreeable or polite if fem!Yuu was in these scenarios. And who knows, that might be the case--but again, I don't think he would be egregiously kind. I would like to point out a more direct example of a Leona-fem!Yuu interaction. Leona has interacted with a female Yuu before: Yuuka Hirasaka, our main character for the Episode of Savanaclaw manga. There's some debate over whether or not the NRC students know that Yuuka is a girl since the topic is never mentioned once, but I assume that they are aware because: 1) Yuuka makes no effort to hide her figure or chest; she even wears her blazer open, and 2) she has no motivation to hide her gender; she is capable of defending herself if needed and has a nonchalant personality. Proceeding with the assumption that Yuuka being a girl is a known fact, Leona does not treat her any differently than any other student.

Yuuka seems to experience the same tail-stepping scene as is depicted in game, although we don't see the aftermath of it/if Leona gives her the same threat.

The more telling scene for Yuuka, however, comes when she and her friends arrive in Savanaclaw to investigate. They are confronted by a bunch of mobs that start to pick a fight with them. Like in the game, Leona intervenes (ie he doesn't stop the fight just because Yuuka is a woman) and has them duke it out in a game of spelldrive/magift instead.

And you know what? Leona doesn't hold back just because he's playing against a woman. In fact, he kicks Yuuka's ass and then some. Then he stands over her and tells her to get back up, to keep playing. Leona isn't cutting Yuuka any slack whatsoever. He treats Yuuka the same as the boys she's playing with.

This brings me to my final prominent example of Leona interacting with a woman, which I think best exemplifies what my interpretation of Leona's "feminism" is. In the JP server's 2024 Halloween event Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally indicates that she plans on making a meal using the plants from around the cemetery. Leona is at first displeased by this, but then agrees to help her catch snakes, rats, lizards, etc. as meat for the meal. This leads into a conversation about how sad Sally's home life is, which earns her sympathy from the other NRC students. Jade, Riddle, and Epel are shocked at the cruelty that Sally faces. Jade volunteers to take the doctor out for Sally, and Epel even tries to convince Leona to help him rough up Dr. Finkelstein. But Leona just smirks and tells them Sally's not in any need of their "help"; isn't she the one who slipped the doctor a "drink"? Riddle scolds him for this "ungentlemanly" behavior and Epel refuses to believe that the "kind Sally" would do something like use poison. Leona was able to smell the deadly nightshade on her and deduce that Sally slipped some to her guardian and then slipped out on her own. She's not a damsel in distress--she's resourceful. Sally used her brains and not brute force to rescue herself from a bad situation. (We know that this would deeply resonate with Leona because he has been struggling his entire life to have his own merits recognized.) Leona praises Sally for her cunning and goes so far as to offer her his arm and tell her that he's looking forward to this evening's dinner.

In this situation, could it not be said that Jade, Riddle, and Epel were the ones assuming Sally is weak that Leona was the one who saw her true worth? I'm of course not accusing anyone here of being sexist. Society socializes us to see women as the "fairer sex" in need of protection and aid--but isn't Leona being more equitable by not underestimating Sally because of her gender?

That brings me to my conclusion. Leona respects women, no doubt about that. However, that's NOT a blanket statement. He clearly knows how to separate who is worthy of his respect and who isn't, and then he acts accordingly. Yes, he is polite, slightly softer, and more willing to listen to women he knows (his sister-in-law), women who haven't offended him/are just existing (Rosaria), and woman who have demonstrated their own strengths to him (Sally). He doesn’t become a completely different character just to bend to the whims of women. Those who have acted in ways to earn his ire, woman or not, will be treated as such (Magicam Monsters, Eliza, even Yuu when they/she enters his territory and/or steps on his tail). At the same time, I don't believe he thinks that women are delicate flowers that need special treatment (as we see with how he handles Sally + the Yuus and, more specifically, Yuuka). If anything, the women from his home country have demonstrated that they can be strong and self-sufficient. Why would he feel the need to go out of his way to be extremely lenient with the women he is around?

Lastly, nothing in official materials implies Leona treats men significantly worse than women. If he seems exceedingly rude to men, it’s most likely the result of the main cast (the characters Leona most often interacts with) being guys. If we were to compare how he treats his peers and how he treats women who have irritated him, I would say the behavior isn’t that different.

I know that was a long post but 😅 Hopefully I was able to articulate my thoughts well enough… May you find it helpful in forming your own opinion, Anon!

My thoughts on the line up for Jade’s hometown event:

Why would they add in Rook and Riddle when they’ve already been in a wedding event? I guess Riddle is connected to Floyd (who might I remind is NOT the focus of the event) and Rook constantly romanticizes things so weddings are kinda in his wheelhouse, but, they don’t need this!

So, after going over the characters, here’s my thoughts on who would stand in for Rook and Riddle instead!

First off, I immediately got rid of Ortho. Nothing against Ortho, ofc! I just don’t want Twst to disappoint me. I personally headcanon Ortho to be both transfem and physically 16 post book 6 (or more accurately, post Fairy Gala, but the events aren’t entirely canon) so if she were to be there, I would just be unhappy and so I think I’ll save wedding event gear Ortho for my own mind

Second, obviously Azul and Floyd aren’t coming. I understand wanting both twins to be there, but hometown events only really focus on ONE person from that area, so even if multiple characters are from the same town, then only one of them gets the focus. This is scene most clearly in Jamil’s hometown event, where even though the whole reason why everyone is there in the first place is Kalim, Kalim has barely any focus in the event at all, not even getting his own costume change and staying in his dorm uniform

(Side tangent, I remember when we first saw the Tangled event cards and everyone thought it would be a Riddle hometown event, and if it was, then it would have been SUCH a clever way of finding a solution to the problem of multiple characters having the same hometown. We could have actually gone somewhere new, fleshed out the world a bit, met one of Riddle’s parents etc. without actually going to his hometown, so later down the line Trey could have a focus event and we could probably meet one of his siblings (since the manga gives us designs for his parents) It could have been so clever!! But nope! NRC lore and role playing Tangled during the shortest event instead! I don’t accept it as canon, even more so than events usually are, because a hometown styled event would have been the much better option!)

Onto my actual picks! Vil! The main reason I chose him was because 2/3 of Pomefiore already have a wedding themed outfit, so I thought it would be fun to complete the trio lol. Also, he could fill a similar role to Riddle being more on the reluctant and stricter side of things. I could see Jade doing something similar to Vil as he did to Riddle to convince him to come, too. Also, like I mentioned, Riddle is closer connected to Floyd out of twins most often. Though I guess Riddle is connected to the entire octatrio, being classmates with Jade, going through book 6 with Azul, and Floyd always teasing Riddle. But yeah, Riddle’s already been used in a wedding event so get the other queen to go instead. Plus Jade’s dorm vignette is a thing, even if I haven’t read it myself so idk what actually goes on besides Jade getting Vil new shoes so that Vil can sponsor the Mostro Lounge

Now, if part of the reason that I chose Vil was because he was a good stand in for Riddle, then I thought that the fourth character should be someone comparable to Rook. My first thought was Cater, as a wedding seems like something both of them would enjoy being apart of/barring witness to, but then I thought, this is Jade’s event, and Cater and Jade aren’t all that connected. Even if that’s not really an issue with hometown events, I thought that Kalim might make a better fit instead. And, okay, Jade and Kalim aren’t that connected either, but they’re both second years so that counts? Admittedly I just want to put Kalim and Jade in the same room and have them interact. Kalim would also be pretty easy to convince I think and he’d probably really enjoy the party of it all and seeing two people in love with each other be happy

So yeah, that’s my thought process! I think a team of Jade, Malleus, Vil and Kalim could be really fun! Though, putting any of these guys in a room together would be fun lol. Maybe I’ll design outfits for Vil and Kalim later, but I want to know what other people think too. If anyone has any characters they’d want to see in the event, then tell me why them specifically!

While I’m here, I also want to say: I think Azul’s hometown event should be in the actual Coral Sea and not just on the coast of it and we get to meet his mom, and Floyd’s can also be on land and we get to meet Papa Leech. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk

sometimes we (i) forgot

Communion

The little guy 😍

(Also I don’t know how to do anon request so I’ll just ask here, do you mind posting your head canons with Kalim ships?)

Kalim should have ten million ships. He deserves it. He deserves to be loved so many times over. He deserves the world and more. Alternate universes upon universes where he’s so happy and in love guys you don’t get it like he’s so happy. This guy has so many love in his soul

Welcome back to “Leona being bitter on the web”

You cannot get me to stop making fun of that Cater sprite it’s so funny YOU CAN SEE THE RED IN HIS SCALP. Also I didn’t expect Riddle as a DJ and the mental image of Riddle turning up to a rave playing Mozart is funny to me. Also I’m a firm believer Idia can jojo pose and nooooo this is definitely not a new hyperfixation no wayyyy (I say as I physically can’t stop thinking about it and making references to it)

Also the ninth one is a reference to the event that came to Eng today

[Daily Click Reminder!]

[Lmk if anything is ooc!]

High-res Assets for Kalim al-Asim - Lantern of Wishes

Dialogue, animations, and extra assets can be found on Drive: Link

If you ate the mushroom ravioli dinner special last night and experienced vivid hallucinations afterward, you are entitled to 10% off your next meal. In unrelated news, Jade is no longer allowed within fifteen feet of the kitchen. Thank you for your continued patronage!