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* ButterflyOfDoom: The AlternateTimeline is deemed to start at the moment where a dog attacks Belinda, according to the wedding present. It mauls her cheek badly and leaves a scar, as well as nerve damage. Gordon in that timeline can't bear to look her in the eye after, and starts having an affair with his boss. [[spoiler:Belinda thinks that the scar on her cheek will bloom and activate the timeline after she burns the wedding present]].
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* ForWantOfANail: The AlternateTimeline is deemed to start at the moment where a dog attacks Belinda, according to the wedding present. It mauls her cheek badly and leaves a scar, as well as nerve damage. Gordon in that timeline can't bear to look her in the eye after, and starts having an affair with his boss. [[spoiler:Belinda thinks that the scar on her cheek will bloom and activate the timeline after she burns the wedding present]].
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* AmbiguousSituation: If the wedding present is actually a gift or a curse. It shows Belinda and Gordon a timeline where their marriage broke down, to the point where they loathe each other. While Belinda and Gordon feel lucky that their life is good, Belinda starts worrying about the present. What's more, [[spoiler:Gordon still dies, implying that the magic if there was any ran out]].
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* AmbiguousSituation: If the wedding present is actually a gift or a curse. It shows Belinda and Gordon a timeline where their marriage broke down, to the point where they loathe each other. While Belinda and Gordon feel lucky that their life is good, Belinda starts worrying about the present. What's more, [[spoiler:Gordon still dies, implying that the magic magic, if there was any any, ran out]].
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* AdultFear: Both timelines eventually end this way:
** What if your charmed life ends with a tragedy that you lose [[spoiler:the man that you love. It was an unpreventable heart attack]]. Belinda tries to remain strong for her kids but breaks down in private.
** The alternate timeline is rife with this: Belinda gets a permanent scar and nerve damage, she miscarries her second baby, and Gordon cheats on her. They're basically staying together for their daughter's sake but loath each other.
** What if your charmed life ends with a tragedy that you lose [[spoiler:the man that you love. It was an unpreventable heart attack]]. Belinda tries to remain strong for her kids but breaks down in private.
** The alternate timeline is rife with this: Belinda gets a permanent scar and nerve damage, she miscarries her second baby, and Gordon cheats on her. They're basically staying together for their daughter's sake but loath each other.
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* AdultFear: Both timelines eventually end this way:
** What if your charmed life ends with a tragedy that you lose [[spoiler:the man that you love. It was an unpreventable heart attack]]. Belinda tries to remain strong for her kids but breaks down in private.
** The alternate timeline is rife with this: Belinda gets a permanent scar and nerve damage, she miscarries her second baby, and Gordon cheats on her. They're basically staying together for their daughter's sake but loath each other.
** What if your charmed life ends with a tragedy that you lose [[spoiler:the man that you love. It was an unpreventable heart attack]]. Belinda tries to remain strong for her kids but breaks down in private.
** The alternate timeline is rife with this: Belinda gets a permanent scar and nerve damage, she miscarries her second baby, and Gordon cheats on her. They're basically staying together for their daughter's sake but loath each other.
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* DrowningMySorrows: Alternate Belinda develops a drinking problem to deal with the nerve damage from her scar. She suspects Gordon of cheating on her and is eventually proven right.
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* AmbiguousSituation: If the wedding present is actually a gift or a curse. It shows Belinda and Gordon a timeline where their marriage broke down, to the point where they loathe each other. While Belinda and Gordon feel lucky that their life is good, Belinda starts worrying about the present. What's more, [[spoiler:Gordon still dies, implying that the magic if there was any ran out]].
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* ForWantOfANail: The AlternateTimeline is deemed to start at the moment where a dog attacks Belinda, according to the wedding present. It mauls her cheek badly and leaves a scar, as well as nerve damage. Gordon in that timeline can't bear to look her in the eye after, and starts having an affair with his boss. [[spoiler:Belinda thinks that the scar on her cheek will bloom and activate the timeline after she burns it]].
to:
* ForWantOfANail: The AlternateTimeline is deemed to start at the moment where a dog attacks Belinda, according to the wedding present. It mauls her cheek badly and leaves a scar, as well as nerve damage. Gordon in that timeline can't bear to look her in the eye after, and starts having an affair with his boss. [[spoiler:Belinda thinks that the scar on her cheek will bloom and activate the timeline after she burns it]].the wedding present]].
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* MindScrew: Belinda floats the notion that the charmed life that she and Gordon have isn't real, and they are actually living the bad life in the AlternateTimeline. Gordon points out that if that were true, he also wouldn't be real as the perfect husband. [[spoiler:Then he dies, and it's not confirmed one way or the other]].
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* DespairEventHorizon: The real Belinda crosses it [[spoiler:after Gordon dies. She ponders bitterly that in the AlternateTimeline he is still alive, but they hate each other. Belinda wonders if it's worse to love someone and lose them, or to fall out of love and have that someone still in your life.
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* DespairEventHorizon: The real Belinda crosses it [[spoiler:after Gordon dies. She ponders bitterly that in the AlternateTimeline he is still alive, but they hate each other. Belinda wonders if it's worse to love someone and lose them, or to fall out of love and have that someone still in your life. ]]
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"The Wedding Present" is a short story by Creator/NeilGaiman. It is collected in the introduction of ''Smoke and Mirrors'' as an example of a story he wrote as a wedding present but never sent.
Belinda and Gordon have recently gotten married. They find a wedding present: a one-sheet description of their marriage. As the years pass, however, the description changes: to describe a marriage where Belinda and Gordon grow apart and start to despise each other. Belinda doesn't know who could have changed it, and Gordon wonders if someone in the family has a bad sense of humor.
!! Tropes for this short story include:
* AmbiguousEnding: While [[spoiler:Belinda burns the wedding present]], it's unclear if it will activate the AlternateTimeline mentioned in the present itself. It could simply be that [[spoiler:she and her kids will no longer be protected by the present and suffer bad luck]].
* AlternateTimeline: The timeline described in the wedding present is bleak: Belinda develops bad nerve damage from a bad dog bite and starts drinking heavily, Gordon has an affair with his boss and gets fired as a result, Belinda miscarries their second child, and their daughter becomes a thief.
* DespairEventHorizon: The real Belinda crosses it [[spoiler:after Gordon dies. She ponders bitterly that in the AlternateTimeline he is still alive, but they hate each other. Belinda wonders if it's worse to love someone and lose them, or to fall out of love and have that someone still in your life.
* ForWantOfANail: The AlternateTimeline is deemed to start at the moment where a dog attacks Belinda, according to the wedding present. It mauls her cheek badly and leaves a scar, as well as nerve damage. Gordon in that timeline can't bear to look her in the eye after, and starts having an affair with his boss. [[spoiler:Belinda thinks that the scar on her cheek will bloom and activate the timeline after she burns it]].
* HollywoodHeartAttack: Subverted. [[spoiler:Gordon simply collapses one day at work and never wakes up. They find out that he had a preexisting heart condition that no doctors had found]].
* RiddleForTheAges: Belinda and Gordon never find out who sent them the one-page description of the wedding present. They don't know if it's a sick joke, or someone trying to protect them from a worse life.
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Belinda and Gordon have recently gotten married. They find a wedding present: a one-sheet description of their marriage. As the years pass, however, the description changes: to describe a marriage where Belinda and Gordon grow apart and start to despise each other. Belinda doesn't know who could have changed it, and Gordon wonders if someone in the family has a bad sense of humor.
!! Tropes for this short story include:
* AmbiguousEnding: While [[spoiler:Belinda burns the wedding present]], it's unclear if it will activate the AlternateTimeline mentioned in the present itself. It could simply be that [[spoiler:she and her kids will no longer be protected by the present and suffer bad luck]].
* AlternateTimeline: The timeline described in the wedding present is bleak: Belinda develops bad nerve damage from a bad dog bite and starts drinking heavily, Gordon has an affair with his boss and gets fired as a result, Belinda miscarries their second child, and their daughter becomes a thief.
* DespairEventHorizon: The real Belinda crosses it [[spoiler:after Gordon dies. She ponders bitterly that in the AlternateTimeline he is still alive, but they hate each other. Belinda wonders if it's worse to love someone and lose them, or to fall out of love and have that someone still in your life.
* ForWantOfANail: The AlternateTimeline is deemed to start at the moment where a dog attacks Belinda, according to the wedding present. It mauls her cheek badly and leaves a scar, as well as nerve damage. Gordon in that timeline can't bear to look her in the eye after, and starts having an affair with his boss. [[spoiler:Belinda thinks that the scar on her cheek will bloom and activate the timeline after she burns it]].
* HollywoodHeartAttack: Subverted. [[spoiler:Gordon simply collapses one day at work and never wakes up. They find out that he had a preexisting heart condition that no doctors had found]].
* RiddleForTheAges: Belinda and Gordon never find out who sent them the one-page description of the wedding present. They don't know if it's a sick joke, or someone trying to protect them from a worse life.
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