#'research project with your bestie who you share a body with so you have to take turns being conscious and need constant updates

[tiffanyachings]

nona the ninth but as a podcast consisting solely of cam and pal’s tape recordings

[faeriekit]

So, in the spirit of causing problems on purpose, I wanted to share a new idea with you that I just had:

Young/“warm” ghosts have very large cores. As they get more settled into their Obsession, their core condenses. The smaller the core, the older the ghost, etc.

One day, Danny gets really hurt, and he runs off to heal. Pick your favorite headache victim to find him, and boom! Suddenly they have a goddamn ostrich egg to watch over!

Got that? Great!

Now imagine all of Danny’s frenemies turning the world upside down, trying to find a fucking marble.

This reminds me of the flour bag episode ouhdsfohsdoih poor Valerie 😂

Just—

Sam and Tuck find the baby sling they used for their flour bag assignment and reluctantly put themselves on BabyWatch, babysitting a giant pearlescent-blue glass blob of a bestie, who weighs a ton when he's asleep by the way. They look absolutely bizarre doing it ("Hasn't that assignment been over? ...Since, like, Freshman year?") but they're reallyreallyreally hoping no one's paying too much attention at, uh, how cold the room gets, his weird spherical shape, the emf readings from the classroom ghost sensors...

Meanwhile. Val, who poofed him, is losing her shit. Where the fuck is he?!?!! Research says he should be like the size of her thumbnail but he can't be that small that she can't find him?? Hello?? Did she— Did she lose him in the grass??? Cut to a montage of Red Huntress furiously tidying up the grassy knoll she had just been fighting Phantom in because he has to be somewhere!! Right?!

Meanwhile:

Vlad hears that Valerie has his little Badger poofed, and is old enough to have no idea how large a warm newdead ghost would be— Wait, he should be able to find the boy first and keep him captive! Obviously now is the time to get a jump on the boy— Why can't he find Phantom, this shouldn't be so hard—

And the vultures hear it from Vlad, and hey! If they find that little marble, free lunch! Now all they have to do is find the thing...why can't they find the little sucker...

And Skulker hears it from the vultures. It would be so easy to skin the half-ghost. As soon as he finds it.

...Where is it.

Skulker leaks the news to Ember who gossips with Kitty who reports to Johnny, and suddenly there's a hunt for a baby-blue glass bead both in the Infinite Realms and in the human world (because not everyone got all of the memo, exactly.) And someone should have found it by now. Someone ought to have found Phantom by now.

Is he...is he actually gone?

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker are incorporating the equivalent of Danny's comatose body into their art project so that they can have him on them at all times at school without anyone thinking of it. Or. Well. Have anyone thinking too much of it. He makes a very pretty centerpiece. They might even get a B on it! High five!

👻*time skip* 👻

Danny wakes up two weeks later dazed, confused, nauseous, and covered in hot glue and craft stickers.

[tobiasdrake]

Moving along, let's see what other recorded secrets we can find in the House of Backstory.

Well, if my Makoto theory is correct, he might have been previously bonded to Shinigami. In which case, he may not have a high opinion of the new Shinigami host. Or he could be projecting his own experiences with Shinigami.

Hey, it's Zilch! What's up, buddy? Are you still a bad pupper? Or, no, I suppose you'd be a hungry pupper, right?

What, we don't want to say hi to our old buddy-pal Zilch? I want to see if he still has his pupper hat. It's hard to make out from this distance and I never did get to scritch his ears.

HINT HINT. Yuma learned his lesson from his first altercation with a "zombie" and wasn't about to take the bait, so Makoto had to nudge him.

He DOES. He does have the pupper hat. Hey, buddy. How's it going? Murdered anyone interesting lately? 'Cause I have. I killed my boss earlier today, in fact! It was heartbreaking.

That checks out. So it wasn't just Master Detectives. Anyone trying to enter Homunculus City had to be put down. That was Fake Zilch's job. He was pretty good at it too.

Interesting but not surprising that Yomi specifically was his client. That makes sense. The WDO made arrangements with Amaterasu to bring Detectives in, but Yomi wanted to keep them out. Bet you Makoto was the one who signed off on bringing us here to begin with.

Which would then make sense. Makoto's repeatedly said he has a lot of faith in detectives and believes they're the key to "saving" this city. That. Would follow. As something he believes in, if he previously worked for WDO to begin with.

...

...

YES. Yes, I am. Let's talk company secrets.

So help me, Yuma, do not correct him.

Goddammit Yuma, your overwhelming honesty and integrity makes me want to throw you down a flight of stairs sometimes!

At least he's too delirious to listen. That's good. Let's see if we can get him talking about things we don't know.

Wow, that lines up with when Huesca began doing corporate espionage. Yomi stepped into his office, took a big whiff, and went, "Mm, smells like corruption dough ready to be baked. And I am a hungry boy!"

Be funny if they sold homunculus secrets to WDO, allowing Makoto to get ahead and then come back and take over Amaterasu. Whole-ass self-made karmic comeuppance for Yomi.

Aww, this guy was one of Yomi's besties until we out-of-nowhere wrenched his soul from his body and fed it to a howling abyss. I hope he and Yomi were having a nice debriefing lunch when he suddenly dropped dead for no explicable reason.

Huh. That's. Fascinating, actually. So he wasn't selling corporate secrets for profit; He was. Like. Doing espionage mercantilism. Info-sharing between companies to build a stronger information base from which to carry out Amaterasu's research.

But still a fucking fascist, just in case anyone starts getting ideas about Yomi being the better alternative to Makoto.

Oh, he's an attack pupper. Suddenly, the dog imagery makes a lot of sense. He's Yomi's hound.

So he was directly involved. Makoto was confident he wouldn't tell us shit when he was setting us up to talk to the crotchety old bastard.

There it is. The three-year point, when Makoto and Forever Rain came to the city.

They'd been doing homunculus research for seven years at that point, but their big new homunculus research project for the ongoing homunculus endeavor was Project: Homunculus? The hell were they calling it before? Project: Immortal Abomination? Project Alchemic Puppetry? Project Fuck Happened To Your Eyes?

Yomi holds that same belief. These two hate Makoto for what he's done to their city and company. Making me buy in more and more into my "Everyone in Kanai Ward is homunculi" theory. I think Makoto did that on purpose because he sees it as some brilliant new wave in human evolution or some shit. Yomi resented him for it.

I said before that Makoto's talking a lot about what he's against but only offers platitudes for what he's for. "Making and maintaining homunculi" is probably what he's for.

Was that when everyone became homunculi? Maybe the entire city was killed in the toxic gas leak from the mine, and Makoto then had homunculi made to replace them? Or something?

Must be easy to seize control of a corporation after everyone dies and gets remade by you. Makoto's sudden takeover seemed sketchy, but now it seems even moreso. The Blank Week is probably a week of time that the entire city collectively blipped out on, because that was the period of time during which the originals were dead and the homunculi were in production.

Having no way to know what happened, they'd have little recourse but to eventually write it off as a collective WTF.

...well, that's a curve ball. So. Maybe Makoto was anti-homunculi from the start after all? Or he already made his masterpiece and didn't want Amaterasu's trash science to intervene. Or something. I don't know. I wasn't prepared for this.

[justagalwhowrites]

Hi bestie!

For the ask game:

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them.

Kthanksbyeeeeeeee!

OMG Hi Bestie!

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings: I was just talking about this BUT I feel like Joel - even QZ era Joel - is just hungry for physical contact and any form of affection and would be whatever spoon his partner wanted him to be. In the show, we see him be small spoon for Tess and I think that's less that Joel is inherently small spoon and more that Tess has big spoon energy and Joel will be whatever his partner needs.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?: I'm not sure if it's WEIRD but I've definitely done a lot of research on blood loss and physical injury to see what people can survive. This is true across like... all my fics as well as my book series lol. For my book series, I did a fair bit on body decomposition and I swear every time they let me on a plane I'm pleasantly surprised like... I have to be on a watch list at this point, right? Also researched: Training military dogs, shoeing horses, trick riding, various medical procedures and conditions, traps.

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them.: I do have a pet! I have a dog, his name is Yondu and he is turning 9 this summer! We've had him for 5 years in June and he's a giant, sweet baby. He's also dumb as a box of hammers. But he's a so gentle and just a big love bug! He's a lab/pit mix who doesn't understand the meaning of personal space and he's my whole child. My favorite one of the pictures below might be the one where he's just gazing up at my husband while he GMs our D&D game lol He's so obsessed with Daddy it's adorable.

Thank you for the questions, bestie!! Love you!!!

[courtpheasent]

uhm hey so this for the ask game you reblogged 2 days ago? ik this is a lot of questions i just find your writing mesmerizing

A: How did you come up with the title to Hagelochus’s Weasel?

C: What member do you identify with most?

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

OKAY FIRST OFF THANK YOU BESTIE THIS IS SO SWEET OMG 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Anyway!!! Question time!!! I hope you guys are ready for a doozy cuz I love the sound of my voice and do not know how much info is to much info!!! :D

How did you come up for the title to Hegelochus’s Weasel?

I’m sure it’s obvious to anyone who’s scrolled through my Ao3 that I LIVE for obscure references and obnoxiously long titles. When deciding a title for a fic, there’s a lot of research involved. I have a tendency to root through the internet in an attempt to find historical events or people or famous body of works in order to make a proper Allusion.

However, Hegelochus came easier to me than that.

I was watching a YouTube video, and it mentioned this Guy named Hegelochus. He was an Athenian Actor in Ancient Greece who is only remembered today because of how badly he messed up.

He was is the play Orestes and he was supposed to say this one line “After the storm I see again a calm sea” (Euripides 1.1.279.) But he got the pronunciation wrong and instead said, and I quote, “After the storm I see again a weasel.” After that stunt he was so ridiculed that he never acted again.

So after doing a little research, I concluded that this was indeed a true story and also perfect for the fic that I was writing at the time. I mean after all, the fic is about a man who says the wrong thing and the wrong time and it p much wrecks his life 🤷

What member do you identify the most with?

This is. A very hard question to answer actually. I’m assuming this is asking what creator I identify most with??? I think @squarefriend would have to be the answer to that, because we’ve shared a lot of similar experiences!!! Though honestly, I would also have to say that I identify a lot with you to my dude!!! I’ve never really met someone who also uses it/its pronouns before, so I can real identify with that UwU

If we’re talking about character tho, That’s gonna have to be Alphys or Papyrus from Undertale. I project a little to much onto those two :P

Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out in order?

PREP WORKS FOR PUSSIES.

Jkjk. I tend to just pick a starting place and just. Go. Not the best way because I usually don’t even have the ending planned out before I dive in, but oh well. Some of my most popular fics were only written in like. Thirty minutes. Not exactly something I’m proud of, but what else can you do :/

Also like all of my fics are based off mini comics I doodle in the margins of my notes, so there’s that :D

What Fandom troops can you just not resist?

OHHOHI BOY THAT IS A LONG LIST.

I ADORE hurt/comfort more than life itself. Also when someone is hurt and they try and hide it??? That shit is the bomb. I have never loved anything more in my life.

OH. And when someone is holding a glass or something like that, and it shatters as their grip closes around it. No spoilers, but I injected that into Alexander full heartedly. You’ll see what I mean later ;)

What Fandom tropes can you not stand?

My god, whenever a character messes something up and the entire group is mad at them, it just. Gets my goat. Like not the big group break up (that’s fine!) but like when everybody’s mad at somebody for something stupid they did. I can’t think of any examples right now, but you guys know what I’m talking about, right? I have really bad second hand embarrassment so it really wigs me out lmaooo

If you like this trope tho, then more power to you!!! It’s not bad by any means, just not something I really enjoy ^^

Major character death- something you would read/write? Any character that is off limits?

To be completely honest, it kinda depends??? Like, it it’s well written, I’ll read it. Heck. I’ve even considered WRITTING stuff that involves major character death. So yeah. Case by case 🤷

No characters are really off limits. I don’t really like reading about bad stuff happening to little kids, but when it comes to consuming as much Toriel angst as I possibly can, it just kinda becomes unavoidable.

Woof this got long!!! Sorry about that my dudes, just got a little carried away. Anyway, Imma include some sources for the whole Hegelochus thing and also the link to my Ao3 account. Thanks for reading, and Have a nice night!!! ^^

@applygenderonchild

https://archiveofourown.org/users/TownFowl

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannyrion

[hecohansen31]

Hi,darling!! Can i request modern Floki with the prompts:“I missed being with you like this,” “I’ll keep you warm. Hold me closer.” from the Smut + Fluff Prompts. And from the smut list prompts: 106“Did you just look me up and down and then bite your lip? ‘Cause if you did we’re having sex. Right now.” 97“Stop distracting me.” I hope you have fun writing these!!!🧡🧡🧡

WARNINGS: Mention of Sex, Long-Distance Relationship, Maybe a Floki being a bit OOC.

You shivered loudly as coldness seeped through your bones, due to the cold you had found as soon you had arrived to Floki’s cabin.

‘Let’s go to the cabin in the woods’ had suggested your boyfriend Floki ‘… we’ll have fun and we can fuck as loudly as we want’.

And once you had arrived to it, you had immediately discovered that it was damnably cold and that the wood logs he had thought would be already there, weren’t, because Ragnar has used all of them, when he had visited the cabin.

Hence your ‘relaxing vacation’ had started in the ‘best way’, but being the girlfriend of an engineer came in quite handy, even more when your boyfriend started cutting wood as if it was the easiest thing ever, eventually having the chimney fuming in a matter of a few minutes.

Although, you had to admit, it was still too cold for you, hidden under various layers of clothing and blankets, still shivering.

And as soon as your boyfriend turned around to look at you, he noticed it and rushed to the sofa where you were trying to warm yourself up, setting up beside you, in barely his sweater and his pants.

“Come here, shivering ghost of mine” he joked “I’ll keep you warm. Hold me closer”.

“You haven’t been doing a great job with it, honestly” you mumbled, grumpy because you disliked cold weather.

You had honestly wanted to pass a bit of time together with Floki, all alone, since he had been pretty busy helping Ragnar with his own projects and as much as you were glad he was having fun with his besties (and true love), you missed him.

Even more when he’d be on work journey far away from you.

“Stop being grumpy, little one” he mumbled, with a stern tone, but it was all lost when he giggled with typical laugh, making also your mouth open, although you closed it immediately since your teeth started clacking loudly, as Floki, brought you closer to him, warm not only for the close proximity to the fire, but also the physical activity “… I promise it’ll be warmer, soon”.

“I hope it for you, because I don’t want to do this the ‘Twilight’ way” you replied, as you snuggled closer to his chest, almost, researching his warmth in the earnest, and he smiled lightly, his lips falling down onto your frozen forehead.

His big hands moved to gently brush soothing circles to warm up your insides.

“… explain to me again, the reason behind you watching that awful shit” he teased you, and you couldn’t help but laugh lightly at Floki’s scarce knowledge of pop-culture.

That man could dash out every knowledge existing about boats, trains and airplanes, but on your first date you had mentioned the ‘Looney Tunes’ and he had looked at you like you were crazy.

You found it adorable.

Even more when you’d make him sit down through a rewatch of your favorite TV series.

(He had had told you to get a female friend at a certain point, but he still teared up a bit when his OTP became canon).

And maybe that was why he had brought you in a place where technologies didn’t work so well.

Although you were struggling to accept Floki’s faith as your own alongside his way of immersing himself in nature, you still tried to support him and see his way.

Even through bonding experience like this one.

(And many more, you hoped, if you didn’t end up frozen).

Soon, still the room warmed up, and you couldn’t help but purr against Floki’s ministration, more than happy to simply lull yourself in a conscious nap, as Floki, mumbled a few errands you had to do for the cabin, mostly to keep it running.

“I hadn’t realized that I had to take care of so many things” he mumbled “… remember me to never lend the cabin again to Ragnar, that savage raided it basically”.

“I’d add ‘change the sheets’ to the list” you added as you sent Floki a worried look and he assumed a dreading one.

“… I’d be also worried of the couch”.

You almost puked back there, glad that your various layers weren’t allowing your ass to touch the fabric of the couch.

“I am sanitizing this entire house” you blurted out, offended as Floki erupted in laughter.

“You’d have less trouble in burning the cabin, if he seriously brought somebody in here”.

“I’ll have a conversation with him about boundaries” you commented, remembering that Floki’s colleague had been rather impressed to find you and Floki together, since you were the polar opposite of the man, but he hadn’t dared saying anything.

Even more after you had shushed him from complimenting with Floki with an harsh look.

“Please do… I’ll ask somebody to record it” he smirked, as he delved a light kiss to your nose “… mostly because I can’t wait to see you rip Ragnar a new one”.

“I’ll also ask him to share custody of you, since these last months I haven’t seen you in the slightest!” you protested lightly, more against Ragnar than Floki, but the poor man still couldn’t help but feel guilty.

It was also hard on him not to see you for entire months, except through the phone, which wasn’t in the slightest as satisfying as holding you in his arms.

“I also missed being with you like this” he commented, as he lightly moved his warm nose, against your frozen one, in a soft eskimo kiss, before his hands lightly tangled in yours, bringing out your face from your hiding corner on his chest to look at you in the eyes, and reassure you that he had also missed you.

And who were you to deny your beloved boat-builder, when he looked so so truthful in his words.

And so handsome.

You bit softly your lips, as you took in the intensity of his gaze, and then those soft lips, and beautiful face structure…

Gosh, it had been such a long time since when you had last been able to watch him so so peacefully that it made you appreciate again all over the untypical beauty of your beloved genius.

“Did you just look me up and down and then bite your lip?” he asked, making you shook you away from the admiring moment you had been having over him, seeing an intense and playful glimmer appear in his eyes, as you indeed bit your lips again “Cause if you did we’re having sex”.

“It would certainly help with the entire warmth situation” you mumbled softly, as you loosely brought him closer “… but I am not fucking you on this couch”.

And like that, you got up with your various layers and strolled away from a preying Floki, who observed you as you moved around the room, examining every surface, in search of somewhere that hadn’t been touched previously by Ragnar.

And your gaze found the kitchen table.

“Want to get back to your buddy, sweetheart?” you asked as you lovingly moved the blankets away from your body and discarded your jacket.

“Oh, if I didn’t love you already so much, I am sure that my heart would burst out of my chest, now” he muttered as he came to you, gently helping you to move across the table as he discarded easily his sweater, making you lust after the lean muscles he owned.

“I am sure it isn’t your chest bursting out of something, right now” you replied jokingly, gaining a quick serious look from him as he grabbed you tightly to hold you against the table, making you grind against his length, already aroused.

“Stop distracting me” he chastised you as a sudden glimmer of dominance appeared in his eyes “… just relax and let me warm you up!”.

[emsartwork]

If you’re comfortable with sharing, it would be cool to hear more about your winx next gen, if that’s okay with you?

Yes of course!!!! below the cut cus i get rambley

the story so far: Daphne and Thoren are king and queen of domino. Ashia and Nex are king and queen of Andros. Sky and Bloom are king and queen of Eraklyon. Stella and Brandon are queen and king of Solaria. Tecna was queen of Zenith for a while but got bored and decided to do something else, now she and Timmy run an exploration research company that explores the outer reaches of the magix dimension. Flora is the potions teacher at Alfea, Helia runs a small art gallery in Magix city. Musa started her own record company, and Riven became the assistant combat instructor at Red Fountain. Icy broke Tritannus out of mer-prison and transformed his tail into legs, the two are now in hiding along with Darcy. Stormy left the Trix after an issue with Icy. 

THE CHILDREN:

alrighty lets start off with Sky and Bloom, or Skoom as I like to call them. This is Aidan.  He attends Novatan University, a new school now on Magix. He’s a classically trained necromancer but will use magic in just about any way he can. He uses the tile of Necromancer of Ash.  Aidan does not posses the dragon flame, and boy is he angry about that. Though he gets along with his cousin Ophelia pretty well, he is intensely jealous of her destiny as bearer of the dragon flame, and to compensate he seeks power above his own and some times other’s safety. Aiden is loud, prickly, and easy to rile up, but cools down quickly and forgets about whatever made him angry. Bloom, in true Bloom fashion, generally avoids her son because she doesn’t know how to deal with his attitude (he also occasionally reminds her of Valtor and that scares the hell out of her). Sky does his best to spend time with and curb Aidan’s more destructive impulses but he also has to rule his kingdom. Aidan basically only gets along with Ophelia, he can hang out with Selene and Jack occasionally but they tend to annoy him. He and Thorn do NOT get along. 

Daphne and Thoren!!! Daphen? Thorphne? idk their names don’t mesh that well lol. any ways this is Ophelia. Ophelia attends Alfea and is known far and wide as fairy of the dragon flame. After Daphne became pregnant, she had to ask bloom to return the dragon flame to the royal line of Domino since its always been passed down from one heir to the next. Bloom(after a few emotional breakdowns) eventually transferred the dragon flame to tiny fetus Ophelia. Ophelia doesn’t want it. She doesn’t really tell any one, but she hates being the bearer of the dragon flame. She hate the attention, the pressure, the legacy, the kidnapping attempts, the random attacks, the fact that she’s always the target. Ophelia isn’t even sure she wants to be queen of Domino in the future. in her free time Ophelia writes stories. Ophelia shoves her feelings down, holds grudges, and she can be VERY passive aggressive. When she finally explodes she can very destructive and cruel. Ophelia loves her cousin Aidan but can’t spend a lot of time with him because she can eventually feel the jealousy streaming off of him. She gets along really well with Anemone, but when they do fight its Armageddon. She also gets along really well with Thorn, as they’re both level headed older sibling types.  

Timmy and Tecna!!!(Tecmy?) I know. She looks nothing like either of them.This is Ruth, Timmy and Tecna’s adopted daughter(they have actually adopted several other children but Ruth is the oldest and most important to the plot). When Ruth was about 10, her family’s ship crashed on a tiny desert planet in an uninhabited solar system. Her parents didn’t make it, and Ruth herself was severely injured. She managed to stem the flow of blood from the gashes in her shoulder and thigh, and cobbled together a radio system from the pieces of the ship. Timmy and Tecna were out on an scientific exploration mission when they picked up her distress signal. Infection had already set into her deeper wounds and her arm and leg had to be amputated. Ruth uses a prosthetic leg in day to day life, but prefers not to have a regular prosthetic for her arm. Ruth attended and graduated from Cloud Tower, and is the Witch of Metals, she manipulates metal into a movable prosthetic arm when she needs to, but doesn’t maintain it as its a drain of her magic. Ruth is Koyuvian(a fake planet/race thats in my version of winx club) and wears the tinted glasses to filter light. Ruth is a mechanic, and loves to build different contraptions. She’s hopeless at coding, but builds a lot of prototypes for her adoptive parents. She gets along Selene the best. 

Flora and Helia! Floria!!! (Helora?) This is Thorn. Thorn is Silva Lynphean and a quarter Vaonaaj. He attends Red Fountain and is a team lead in his class and possibly the strongest. Thorn is quiet and sarcastic, generally preferring a books to spending time around people. He’s a little awkward when not in a “specialist” situation. he kind of wishes he was really good with people, but also doesn’t bother practicing socializing because he’s scared lmao he’s basically Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. to compensate for his social ineptitude, Thorn hangs out with Jack a lot. He is very observant though and can pin point people’s weaknesses in a snap, and he’s not shy about using those weakness if he needs to.  He and Ophelia get along well, but he thinks Aidan is a spoiled brat who throws too many temper tantrums. 

Musa and Riven = Riva. So this is Jack. Jack attends Red Fountain. Jack loves to be the center of attention, and hides all of his insecurities behind an over the top inflated ego. He isn’t terribly interested in his dad’s career (fighting) or his mom’s career (music) but he is decently talented at both. Jack true passion is design. He isn’t totally sure the type of design he wants to do yet, but fashion and architecture are both interesting to him. He’s the best or the worst dressed guy at Red Fountain depending on who you ask, considering he usually throws together items that don’t seem like they should be on the same body at the same time. His mom and dad don’t really get either of his interests, but are trying very hard to be supportive. Jack is the easiest going out of these characters (except maybe Ramiel) and gets along with just about anybody. He’s Thorn’s “wing man”(for both platonic and romantic interests because Thorn just doesn’t frickin talk to people) and the two are kind of a funny pair to look at since Thorn is so so tall, and Jack is….. not. He also gets along well with Anemone. Jack is very intuitive, and doesn’t feel comfortable around Eirlys, usually actively trying to avoid any contact with her. 

Stella and Brandon have Selene. Selene attends Alfea and is the Fairy of the Sun and Moon. Selene is kind of a screw up. She’s clumsy, forgetful, chronically late, messy, and awkward af. Selene doesn’t really think she suits the role of “princess of Solaria”, one of the most televised planets of the Magix Dimension(kind of like Los Angeles is the celebrity center of the US), but is constantly trying to be better at her role. Unfortunately she’s trying to force herself to be like her mom instead of trying it her own way. The one thing Selene is really good at is sculpting, and can usually be found hidden away in her studio with clay in her hands. and in her hair. and on her clothing. basically everywhere she is not neat. She’s pretty quiet in general but get her started on a project and she’ll rattle ideas off one after the other. She and Ruth are crafting besties, and trade creations frequently. She’s horribly intimidated by Thorn, though its mostly their mutual awkwardness clashing. She doesn’t like to be around Aidan much at all. 

This is Anemone! The unlikely product of Aisha and Nex! Anemone is the Fairy of Coral, and is attending Alfea. Anemone is the girly-est girly girl to ever girl. She likes the pink she likes the ruffles she likes the make up and the fashion and the pastels. But the thing Anemone REALLY likes about being a girly girl is that it means stupid people underestimate her, giving her the upper hand and allowing her to reign terror down upon her enemies. Anemone is a girly girl and also a stone cold bitch. She’s not the nicest girl, but that’s mostly because she has the highest self esteem of any of these characters and does not bother with things that are not worth her time. She’ll be respectful and polite as long as you are. She does confide in Ophelia and considers her a good friend, but also thinks Ophelia needs to get her shit together and stop moping lol. She also gets along well with Jack, as they both enjoy fashion and whatever trend is happening at the moment. She dislikes Eirlys, but doesn’t have a solid reason for why lol. 

Ramiel! Ramiel is Stormy’s son, his father isn’t in the picture. So basically after the news broke that some of the winx were pregnant (because lets face it they would be celebrity news) Icy processed it as “shit. they have reinforcements. we need reinforcements.” and proceeded to have herself, darcy, and stormy try to have kids. Icy had already broken Tritannus out of prison, and it was now just a matter of getting their human merfolk mix to actually work. Darcy has always been a romantic at heart so she promised to have a kid with the next man she was actually interested in. Stormy on the other hand has never really given a damn about romance, so she bore the brunt of Icy’s new obsession with continuing the ancestral witches blood line. Stormy didn’t necessarily mind the actual sex part(wasn’t enthusiastic about it either tho so :/ ), but HATED being pregnant. After a rough pregnancy, Stormy gave birth to a son who Stormy immediately became attached to, which was NOT was Icy was looking for, the ancestral and the trix power is passed down through the female line, meaning a son was functionally worthless to her. After Icy basically told her she would have to try again, Stormy took her son and noped out of there asap. She went to Ms. Griffin for help as a last effort, and after agreeing to be stripped of her magic she and Ramiel were relocated to a hidden, sparsely populated village deep in one of Lynphea’s forests. Ramiel knows nothing of his mother’s past, and, against her express wishes, decided to enroll in the Paladin program at Lynphea College. He thinks of Cymmeri as an annoying younger sister, and doesn’t know Eirlys or Arcturus. He vaguely knows of Thorn and Jack due to Red Fountain and the Order doing group training together occasionally. 

This is Darcy’s daughter Cymmeri, usually just called Cymi. She’s kind of a know-it-all, sassy child, who has only just started to display signs of her magic. She and Ramiel form coincidental friends after a random encounter, and she’ll occasionally go to him when she has a problem she can’t talk to her mom or other cousins about. She, like my version of Darcy, is at least part Koyuvian(my own personal made up planet not from the winx) which gives her the solid eye color. She wears enchanted glasses to make her eyes appear more ordinary, and to filter light that would otherwise hurt her eyes. Cymmeri also really likes to lean into the creepy goth child role just for kicks.

Eirlys and Arcturus are Icy and Tritannus’ twins. Eirlys attends Alfea and is the Fairy/Witch of Snow, Arcticus will eventually attend Red Fountain, though right now he’s learning magic from Tritannus, and acting as a support to his sister. The twins are actually too young to be attending either school, but their height and forged documents take care of that. both of them usually have spells in place to hide their more fishy traits but i wanted to draw them lol. Eirlys is a fitness nut and spends most of her free time exercising or playing sports. This also gives her an excuse to go on long solo runs so she can relay info to Arcturus who then takes it to their mom. Eirlys is kind of arrogant and can do no wrong in Icy’s eyes, where as Arcturus lacks self esteem and is constantly trying to prove his worth to their mom. Arcturus has an affinity for water, and most of his spells use it. Eirlys tries to force her relationship with most of the winx’s kids, but does genuinely get along with Ophelia.   

this isnt totally accurate for their heights but i did some of these really fast and the proportions are off lol. 

[cliquestitsandicks]

Tracking Kat

Episode 1: Kat is mourning the end of her relationship with Adena. It has been 5 weeks since the breakup in Paris. She's still looking at old pictures of them and posted one. She still hasn't sent Adena's equipment to her, even though Adena has been texting her asking for it. By the end of the episode, she's admitted to (in order) Alex, Patrick, and Jane & Sutton that she is not okay. She is still sad about the end of her relationship. Alex tells her "you're so hard on yourself. You got your heart broken. There's no expiration date on heartbreak. You move on when you're ready to move on and when you *are* ready, you will find someone amazing. Someone who will never leave." Then Patrick is an entitled, invasive dick. She told her girls she wasn't ready for it to be real yet and that's why she hadn't told them... but she broke down in front of them. She'd finally accepted it was over. End of the episode, she makes an instagram post exposing her vulnerability to the world and packs up Adena's things for good.

Episode 2: Kat injects Jane for fertility treatment. She is very familiar with Jane's reproductive system at this point - best friends. She learns the Wild Susan, a club Adena took her to that became a safe space she frequents and which happens to be 1 of only TWO lesbian bars in the city, is closing. She learns the only reason it's happening is because developers want to gentrify the neighborhood. We learn Kat has a lawyer (not sure how that may come up later) that she met through the #BeReal campaign. Anyway, Kat throws a queer prom as a fundraiser to help save the Wild Susan. It ultimately fails because $42,000 in one night from poor people is a bit much. But it was a valiant effort and, as Kat learns, the gentrifiers were well aware of its impossibility. This episode is leading up to her political career. "I've been so into my feelings lately, it feels really good to challenge my energy into something that really matters". I am so proud of Kat. In Season 1, I would have worried she was avoiding her feelings, but the writers made a big deal of showing she's done the exact opposite of that in the prior episode.

Episode 3: Kat has been researching councilman Reynolds and he's a total piece of shit - helping gentrifiers, cutting funding to parks, and voting against paid maternity leave. She's fired up. Our girl is P A S S I O N A T E & informed! We meet the councilwoman for whom she plans to volunteer and her campaign manager, Tia. Tia's a tiny, bubbly boss with natural hair and a bright smile and we see Kat brighten up. We later learn she and Kat have more in common, both being NYU grads (actually overlapping while there) and both brilliant. Tia, however, is not from a wealthy and connected background. In their initial meeting, Kat tells Tia "I'm just looking for something to channel my rage and depression". Kat enlists her besties to help get the councilwoman to unseat problematic Reynolds. Sutton clearly sees something between Kat and Tia because she does a friend's background check (checking the social media) and tells Kat she looks very single to which Kat responds "it really doesn't matter because I'm still getting over Adena" and Jane seems skeptical of Kat's protestations with her silent smirk. We learn Kat has really soft lips. Kat is the voice of reason for Alex, being the first one to acknowledge the hypersexual "dangerous" Black man depiction that will likely be projected onto him if he admits he is the man in his friend's story. Then we see her naturally command the crowd at the rally. Again, I am so proud of Kat. She isn't holding back when she knows she should speak up. She's taking control of her narrative. She's fighting for what's right in a constructive manner. And now Tia, who has way more experience with this than Kat, is recommending she run for office.

Episode 4: We start the episode with Kat describing what would be her district and job description to her best friends. She's looking excited about the potential to do something that matters and really help people. In her conversation with the Toby (?. don't know, don't care), we get to see more of Tia being supportive of Kat and Kat being confronted with whether she's motivated to actually run or just wants someone to beat Reynolds. We learn Kat had an abortion in 2013 when she was 20 AS IS HER GOTDAMN RIGHT BECAUSE IT'S HER BODY, but it's something she's felt some sort of shame/concern over seeing as nobody close to her knew about it. Then, and this is so great, after telling her friends she has the conversation with Tia. Tia shares that she's had one as well and completely understands not wanting it to be public knowledge, but in sharing her experience educates Kat on yet another way vulnerable people are having their rights stripped, this time through manipulation and "crisis centers" that shouldn't exist. Tia remains supportive and doesn't pressure Kat at all with her decision. "I am by your side if they come for you, but you gotta do what's right for you". When we get that great speech from Jacqueline we see Kat being moved my the statement that you'll never know what you're capable of if you don't take a leap faith to face challenges that frighten you, then you'll never know what you're capable of. [i'd like to pause right now to say Jacqueline is fucking wonderful and i love her like my white auntie. also Sutton needed to hear that again just as much as Kat and i really appreciate this entire moment.] When Kat leaves Jacqueline's celebration, she passes by one of those "crisis centers" Tia told her about and decides to use her voice to help others. "I like to think of myself as a pretty strong, empowered, forward-thinking, open-minded woman. But, up until now, I haven't been able to talk about my abortion. If me putting myself out there helps even one woman to feel less alone, less ashamed, and less guilty then it's worth it." And just like us, dear Tia is blown away. She actually exhales a breath she didn't know she was holding and biiiiiiiitch (!!!! excitedly). and then they're dancing! This is the episode, upon rewatch, when i recognize how often Tia touches Kat unnecessarily.

Episode 5: Kat's entire recap includes Tia, ending with Sutton saying "she seems to be very single". Her very first scene, Tia is complimenting her walking out of some campaigning event we later learn was a Town Hall. Can we just talk about Kat's blazer for a second? First of all, i want it. Second, how did they find something so perfectly her? It's colorful but still semi-professional, fun, but still about her business. Heart-eye inducing. ok. So the next time we see Kat, she and Tia (whose last name they finally mention as Clayton) are reviewing campaign platform and doing debate prep at Kat's apartment. Tia's complimenting Kat almost continuously at this point. Clearly she's impressed, borderline gushing. and Kat tries to brush it off. Tia's not letting her. And there's this moment when Tia forces herself to break eye contact with her (around 5:40 of the episode). The show tells us Kat still hasn't dated since Adena, but Sutton brings up the "stupid smile" she gets whenever Tia's mentioned. She's making better decisions than Patrick and her being compared to Patrick is lowkey happening a lot. I'm starting to wonder if they're setting up Kat taking over digital if she doesn't win the campaign. Ok, the song choice as they pan to Kat and Tia... "I never normally check my phone 10 times in a minute. I'm not the girl to be kept on hold 10 miles from the finish." Again, Tia is very touchy with Kat, never anything inappropriate of course, but the hand is always on the back or the arm. and their interaction is just.. lovely. I squeal. it's so cute. they're so comfortable. Kat invites Tia to the dinner BEFORE (i got the timing on that mixed up before) Tia says she's "a boring straight girl" [the test determined that was a LIE... nah, my good sis Tia is dealing with some internalized homophobia which is no joking matter, but we don't learn that until the next episode]. Apparently, Kat can cook now? So she just liked Adena's food better i guess? idk... anyway. I get why some of the things Tia said can be taken as flirting, but i still believe that you accept what someone says is their sexuality until they say otherwise. yes, that's even when they're saying things like "when i see what i want, i go for it" and "Annndd she can cook. it's hot" and looking at you like that. Kat telling Jane to apologize because he's her boss and she got suuuper disrespectful and would absolutely deserve getting fired makes me proud. She's the mature friend now. She's the one with a level head on her shoulders. Kat finally makes her feelings known to Tia, but this is after Tia has already stated she's straight. Tia reiterates that this is a professional relationship and apologizes for Kat getting the wrong idea. I'm reminded of when Alex Danvers told Maggie Sawyer she was into her and she was rejected... but in that example i was floored and heartbroken for Alex because ugh, i just didn't see that coming. With this, however, it felt like Tia was clear in her words even if it shocked the hell out of me what the words were. So i didn't feel heartbroken for Kat. I thought... tbh... she brought it on herself for refusing to respect Tia's "no", however soft it was. But the writers did let us know it wasn't over with the music selection... Kat looking at "You and Tia make a great team :)" as "I'll go to war for you" plays.

Episode 6: All the emails have been released and Kat has no worries at all about that because she's a professional. And we get to see her be a boss addressing the entire group. Patrick isn't there this episode (YAY for our sanity!) and i think Kat being a boss so often when Patrick isn't around is intentional. When we see Tia, she says last night is forgotten but she thinks it's a bad idea to remain Kat's campaign manager... which is clearly a hard rejection. One can argue that it's too harsh for someone merely admitting they were into you. But it's just as easy to argue that it's appropriate after telling someone, very clearly, that you are not into them romantically and them ignoring that and saying that you were flirting with them on this date they never called a date before you were already there?? so i'm not mad at it. At the end of the episode, we find out that Tia was rejecting herself, not Kat. Turns out, Ms. Tia Clayton has known she's attracted to women since she was in high school, but she "didn't want to want it". Tia is so TINY AND ANXIOUS ABOUT HER SEXUALITY AND MANY OF US HAVE BEEN THERE. But... and i say this in jest... for someone who is really trying not to be out in the open with her gay, she sure was comfortable kissing Kat all outdoors for anyone to see. My good sis is smitten. I'm excited for the story. Again with the music during their scenes though... "I cannot fallll in love with youuuuu. I cannot feeeeel this way so soon, so soon." Also, my girlfriend and I have watched the gifset of the kiss over the phone and swooned (we live in different states for now). This episode, we also got the flashbacks (i missed Lauren so much). Kat's got red streaks in her hair, is a friend to strangers, has regrettable sex with men who taste like pickles, and is cute as a button. She also called Jacqueline "Mama Jackie" and that's it; that's her name now.

[ritebeforeyoureyes]

Confessions

Sorry this took me so long to write, I’ve been busy and have had major writer’s block with this chapter but it’s finally here!

Masterlist – Plot: Tom tries his hand at romance.

Confessions (Chapter Twenty Six)

Carelessness – it’s the only way to describe Tom and Zendaya after they got back together. They very quickly became that couple, the couple who started to make everybody cringe. At first it was the hand holding and a kiss here and then. But this then resulted in an excessive amount of public displays of attention. The shameless flirting and the full-fledged make out sessions soon became a common occurrence, so much so that their friends were forced between eye rolling at them or eye rolling at Ryan Reynold’s role as Green Lantern. It was customary movie night at Zendaya’s house and they weren’t even ten minutes in before Zendaya was already on Tom’s lap.

“Ya’ll need to get a room.” Jacob – who was equally as disturbed by the sight of Tom’s tongue in Zendaya’s mouth and Blake Lively’s noticeably bad wig in the movie – was the first to comment on the couple’s avid PDA. His remark caused the room to erupt into a bout of laughter and innuendos and Zendaya pulled away with a furious blush to her cheeks, her head falling into the crook of Tom’s neck in an attempt to hide herself.

“They’re just jealous.” Tom simply trailed his fingers through the soft tendrils of her dishevelled hair, his eyes narrowing at Jacob mockingly.  

Zendaya peered up at Tom between the curtain she’d made with her hair, her heart still swarming at the sight of him. Sometimes it amazed her, how gorgeous he was. Him, casual and laughing with their friends, was the most beautiful thing Zendaya had seen. They had told her, a countless amount of times that being in love was blinding and she’d foolishly believed that it was impossible. She didn’t think her judgement could be clouded by a person - not even by Trevor, and they’d been together for years!  And yet here she was, staring at Tom as if he was a puppy that she’d received on Christmas morning; her heart telling her to show him off to the world like he deserved. Despite Trevor persisting for years, Zendaya had never considered changing their ‘friend-zoned’ title in the eyes of the public world and now, that was everything she wanted with Tom. She suddenly wanted the world to know he was hers and that thought was both exhilarating and frightening. Of course, Zendaya wasn’t immune to reason, she knew the moment her and Tom went public, their lives would change.

But with a little encouragement from the likes of their parents and their closest friends, Zendaya and Tom eased back in front of paparazzi. They didn’t openly come out and say that they were dating but, their openness was evidently visible. They would get spotted shopping or hanging out and every time that a question about them dating came into the spotlight, Zendaya mocked it with a few snapchats or tweets. She never denied or confirmed anything, her mind happy with spending time with Tom whilst simultaneously fulfilling the need to express how deeply she cared about him. And frankly, Tom wasn’t complaining. He was no longer ducking behind cars or calling them ‘a couple of besties.’  They were just being themselves and it was more then he could have hoped for.

In fact, it seemed like Val and the whole stalker ordeal had, inadvertently, helped Tom and Zendaya’s relationship ­progress. They were being honest with each other and relaxing more in front of the media.

They were truly happy.

“Given what’s been happening over the past few weeks, I have to tell you something.” The two were currently in bed, their bodies entangled as Tom spoke. Zendaya pressed her nose along his chin whilst he swept his lips over the small frown between her eyebrows. “The right way.”

Tom combed his fingers through the wispy short strands of her hair, his free hand skimming along like silky texture of her curved hips before he pulled away.

“Tell me what??” Tom chuckled heartily as a soft note of curiousness became visible on her lips. He pecked her quickly, as if to placate her, before pulling back once again.

“I want to tell you when it all changed.” Zendaya’s lips were parted and bright with hues with pink and red from having kissed Tom earlier. As he stared down at her, she felt her skin grow taut and her heart beat aggressively.

“When what changed?”

“When I realised I loved you.” Tom slipped his lips down to the tip of her nose, her body shivering under his touch. His prideful smile grew wider as he felt her breathing hitch in her throat. “I told you I loved you because for hours, I knew I might never seen you again and then, there you were-“

“Do you regret it?” Zendaya asked suddenly, her hands falling from his shoulders.

“Do I regret loving you? Never.” Tom scoffed, his head falling so that their foreheads were resting against one another. “Do I regret how I told you? Always.”

Tom was a pretty romantic guy and he’d never really done anything monumental for Zendaya, not in the conventional cliché type of way. His declaration of feelings for her had ended with sex and he’d asked her on their first date when she was slipping out of the shower. Tom had hoped that their first ‘I love you’ would have been different. He wanted the rose petals and candles, he wanted teddy bears and a gourmet meal. He hadn’t expected to blurt it out in a dark corner of their premiere after-party and that had been nagging at his mind for weeks now. He wanted the world for Zendaya, especially after everything that she’d been through recently and he felt that now, was the perfect time. She had returned to her fun, loving self and she had been trying for his sake, to combat the whole let’s-go-public-issue and he appreciated that. He appreciated her and he was finally showing it.

“Tom-“

“No, Z, you deserved more than that.” And as perfectly as he’d timed, Tom pressed a button on Zendaya’s remote so that the TV adjacent to her bed illuminated with a slideshow of pictures. As an embodiment of their goofy selves, most of these pictures consisted of Tom and Zendaya pulling silly faces. But, there were the odd few of them smiling at each other or with their close friends and co-stars. It was like staring at the transition of their relationship and Zendaya felt her heartbeat profoundly.

“Tom, this is-“ Zendaya couldn’t even find the word to describe it, the tears in hers eyes seemingly saying enough.

“Nothing.” Tom slid his hand under bed before pulling out a bouquet of flowers. He knew red roses were a bit of a no-go for Zendaya following Val’s break in and so, he’d stayed clear of the stereotypical flowers, instead deciding on a bouquet of exotic, spring colours. The colours seemingly symbolised Zendaya’s boisterous personality and he thought they were perfect.

“You got me flowers?” Zendaya chuckled seizing the bouquet in her hands dramatically, the flowers now hugged closely to her chest. “You shouldn’t have-“

“Shut up, you loser.” Tom nudged her side playfully. “I’m trying to be romantic.” After a light pause, the slideshow ended and Tom turned towards his teary eyed girlfriend. “I love you, Zendaya Maree Coleman … with all my heart.”

“I love you too.” There was no hesitation, Zendaya was quickly responding, the flowers forgotten and her body in Tom’s tight embrace. She hugged him like her life depended on it, her nose trying to mesmerise his addictive scent. She knew he was scheduled to leave to shoot his latest project and as selfish as it was, she didn’t want him to leave, especially after the moment they had just shared.

“That was the moment you deserved.”

If you enjoyed this piece and would like to help further me and my work, please support me whilst I try to raise money to do a ‘walk for charity.’ The money you donate will help create awareness for cancer research and will allow me to have added support throughout my journey. It is one hundred per cent a voluntary pursuit and greatly appreciated, however, your lovely comments and votes are always welcomed too. Thank you for being the greatest: https://ko-fi.com/D1D072V0

[helloletstrythis]

Tuesday Thoughts-- The Female Voice

a fun fact before I get to my Tuesday Thought: Tuesday nights are trash nights, and now I equate making sure I write my blog with making sure I take out the trash. Fun insights into my brain! 

Onto Tuesday Thoughts:

I was inspired by Lauren’s love for Dirty Computer (brb downloading to my phone) and wanted to share some love for lady musicians too. 

Set the mood with this chill beautiful song by Lana De Rey- Love

I’ve been doing research for a new play that I’m writing. I’m not exactly sure where the play is going right now--but I’m really enjoying this part of the research process because it’s all about listening to ladies making music. 

I started with girl bands. I’m listening to a lot of The Supremes and Destiny’s Child. The dynamics in girl bands are strong and powerful. 

I’m listening to some singer-songwriters from Joni Mitchell to Jewel.

 I’m listening to some pop singers like Madonna and Kesha. 

And first of all let me give all the ladies a round of applause. 

Life is hard out there for a lady musician. And I give all the girls a lot of credit for those fighting to share their voice in a man’s game. 

When I was younger and first getting into music, I actually remember talking to my bestie and telling her--I don’t really like listening to female voices. 

I think there’s a couple of reasons why I think I felt that way: 

1) Even more than loving music, I wanted to be accepted by a group of music lovers. I wanted to be known as a girl who knows about music. I wanted to be taken seriously. So I picked my favorite Beatles album, listened to a lot of Radio Head and Wilco and projected my confidence. Aside from the occasional nod to joni mitchell--you don’t get a lot of “music people”  (aka. mostly dudes) praising the female voice and I wanted desperately to fit in. 

2) I am a singer myself--not a great musician, but a good vocalist. If you don’t know the difference I would compare it to-- it’s like saying I’m not a great writer but i have great handwriting. But being a vocalist, and an insecure one, makes me competitive. Often listening to female vocalists I find myself judging them harshly, and trying to decide if I can sing better than they can. It’s your typical pitting woman against woman toxicity. Except instead of bodies--it’s your voice. 

I feel sad that I spent a lot of my young life feeling this way. But I blame the patriarchy. 

lol. 

I blame the patriarchy for a lot--so I guess I should take some responsibility too.

I wasn’t strong enough yet to see that the more we lift up each others’ voices the more room there is for all of us. I wasn’t strong enough to appreciate something I wasn’t great at yet. I wasn’t secure enough to see there’s room for all of us. 

But I’m getting better. 

Here are some lady singers/musicians that I’m getting really into these days. A lot of these musicians are telling some really innately female stories with their voices-- some it’s a strong confident female alto voice that doesn’t feel the need to compete with the belt your face off craze of the early aughts. Some are the lyrics of women and stories that are sharing our view of the world. 

Yay for femininity and yay for these ladies. 

YA WELCOME! 

The Shirelles- “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” - I can’t get ENOUGH of this song. It’s like a perfectly written song perfect chord structure, perfect vocals front and back ground, and these lyrics that stab you in the heart. (Carole King wrote the song with her 1st husband BTW) 

Lake Street Dive- “ Good Kisser “ - perfect for when you’re feeling femininely self righteous  

 Margo Price - “Hands of Time” - basically a nicholas sparks novel in a song but with less cheese and more beautiful chords and it’s her life story-- she brave. 

Ella Fitzgerald- “Mack the Knife”- Ella has so many amazing songs, but in this particular version she forgets the words and it’s so endearing. It’s one of my favorite recordings ever.  The beauty of live art. 

Paramore - “Hard Times” - like a millennial had and 80s LSD trip and it’s mesmerizing 

Brandi Carlisle- “ The Joke” - I’ve been a Brandi fan for years now but her voice and her lyrics have matured into something so strong, I would trust her to speak for me anytime. 

Please send me yer lady heroes and I’ll plug them into my cranium too. 

Hopefully I’ll get around to actually writing the play-- but for now I’m loving this part. 

xoxoxo, 

Em  

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: MOVIE REVIEW: Cuties (Migonnes)

(Image courtesy of Netflix)

CUTIES (MIGONNES)— 3 STARS

For this critic, there are two telling scenes among many that stand out in Migonnes, now better known as Cuties, that typify its challenge and its caution. They are not among the headlining, fire-branded clips of its maligned Netflix marketing. Nevertheless, the jarring tension is ever-present.

In a scene in the first half of the award-winning French film, one of the central 11-year-old girls finds an open and very likely used condom in a public park. She doesn’t know what it is and inflates it to create a pretend boob to impress her friends for laughs. One of her peers immediately stops her and explains in quick fashion the disgustingness of what she’s touching. The puffed-up confidence in the initial girl is quickly erased with mortification. In a reply of shock and embarrassment, all she could muster to say was “How was I supposed to know that. It’s not my fault I didn’t know what it was.”

No, young lady, it sure wasn’t your fault. Scenes like that one and many others completely devoid of adult supervision, positive influences, and honest coming-of-age education typify in a dramatized fashion the challenges and dangers of gender definitions, self-image, sexual freedom, and dozens more that often engulf teenagers. Cuties is a movie that 

The second scene comes later. Moving like a moth to deadly fire all movie long, our main character Amy, a Senegalese Muslim immigrant to France played with bracing emotion by Fathia Youssouf, has fully embraced the devil-may-care lifestyle of a local clique of fellow girls that call themselves “The Cuties.” In trying to earn attention and prove her presumed worth for their shared dance competition goals, Amy has lashed out and committed acts that even the hardcore original Cuties define as wrong and too far. They kick Amy out of the group and it enrages her further.

That was a telling turning point. For the wildest girls that throw caution to the wind, even they had their limits and lines in the sand. It is very likely that their collective limits will exceed those of the domestic audiences watching this film at far earlier moments than this late collapse. If even reading those two scenes is too much, welcome again to challenge and caution. That is the honest reality examined by Maïmouna Doucouré’s film. 

To rewind, Amy comes from a transitioning household of poverty and tradition. Her mother Mariam (Maïmouna Gueye) is raising three children alone while hurt internally by the move of her children’s father to take another wife and exit the parental picture. Mariam’s anger creates a wavering seesaw between despondency and strictness where the differing religious and cultural implications loom large in Cuties. 

LESSON #1: HOW TO BECOME A WOMAN— Amy’s familial elders insist on teaching her how to be a woman, which on some level entails preparing food, remaining clothed and pius from external evils, and maintaining a demure personality of complete obedience. Who deems that to be the right or wrong way to that adulthood? Is that fair and free femininity? How often does that forced ideal create oppression and objectification instead of true freedom and, most of all, choice. Where is that correct benchmark? Welcome again to challenge and caution.

LESSON #2: THE WRONG FRIENDS ARE THE WRONG INFLUENCE— Compared to the rigidity at home, The Cuties, led by an accommodating apartment neighbor named Angelica (Médina El Aidi-Azouni), look attractive and fascinating to Amy. The truth is they are plastic bullies who are ruthless and rule-less with little to no social boundaries. Initial silliness quickly turns more deviant. Their peer pressure first against Amy and then to later include her is sexualized with taboo mischief and attention-seeking thirst for male crushes. Those aren’t good friend choices, but a lonely and jaded newcomer like Amy doesn’t see that or know better.

LESSON #3: THE ACT OF EMULATION— What these girls are superficially pretending to be with their fashion choices, body image, language, and behavior is a warped theory of what their unguided and uninformed selves think a superior woman needs to be. The ease of digital access to adult content shows these youths that the more a woman is sexualized, the more successful they are. The rest is emulation not all that far removed from girls in the 1980s channeling an attitude and practicing Madonna’s bold dance moves as a chance for self-expression. Content choices and ratings notwithstanding, dancing counts as engagement and skill-building practice with choreographic detail. Could dancers use that skill for better things? Of course, but in Cuties who or what is there to offer alternatives?

LESSON #4: THE INVASIVE DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA— Back then, the audience for your little MTV concert was yourself in a mirror or, at most, a slumber party group of your besties. Today, it’s the wide-open and unfiltered outlets of social media like TikTok or Instagram on an internet crawling with privacy-invading eyes and predatory presences. The risks are exponentially worse. You are watching, but who else is? How secure is your privacy and, for that matter, your dignity or innocence? Welcome again to challenge and caution. 

The film does not discount such dangers in the slightest, quite the opposite in fact. For a film that rarely leaves the shell-shocked and world-absorbing face of Youssouf, the increasing and desperate failures from her difficult situations and culture clash confusion flesh out a valuable and compelling tale of staunch social warnings. There are lines between provocation and expression. Cuties is far more the latter than the former.

If your ruffled feathers ask what kind of monster could make what the rumors say this movie is, pause that fear-mongering to watch and listen to the filmmaker herself. Maïmouna Doucouré, winner of the directing award for World Cinema at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, researched this for a year-and-a-half. She is your essential perspective and necessary context. This is not my lifestyle to judge nor yours. Projecting your ideal here of what is explicit or exploitative is out of place in allowing her to tell her story. It’s pure and rank bias when you do that.

LESSON #5: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO DO ABOUT IT— When it comes to Cuties, if you don’t like what you see of these errant kids left to their own wiles and devices, your gut is accurate and working. If its imagery bothers you, it’s supposed to. Check your gaze and your privilege. Now, look past the fictional take and target the very valid and present potential problem in our own settings and lives off the Netflix couch. If you don’t want that, prevent it with education. If you don’t want those sexualized elements to be goals, don’t make them so appealing and desirable to the uninformed. Adjust those expectations or create better ones. Shake your head, change your stance to empathy and honesty, and act accordingly to our daughters and children. Get there and you have made it precisely to the point that is being hammered home.

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[freedom-shamrock]

A Little Secret - Chapter 2

Also on AO3

Chp 1   Chp 2   Chp 3   Chp 4   Chp 5   Chp 6   Chp 7   Chp 8   Chp 9 Chp 10   Chp 11

Amazing art created by @soundofez​  pg 1  pg 2  pg 3

Giving Your Tongue to the Chat

By the time Marinette reached the library, Adrien and Alya had already laid claim to one end of a table, but they hadn't started work on the project.  She slipped her things into the place next to Adrien.  "Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

"Where have you been all morning?" Alya asked.  "Do you have any idea how hard it is being on a project with you and Adrien?  Between model shoots and extracurriculars, his schedule's insane, and you're the amazing vanishing bestie."

"Oh, you know me," Marinette said, smiling weakly.  "I overslept."  It was a lie, of course.  She'd spent most of her morning combatting an akuma on the other side of town.

"You know you're gonna need to fix that habit of yours before you pick up an internship, right?" Alya asked.  "Most designers aren't going to be as forgiving as us."  She planted her hands on her hips to deliver a stern look.

"Yes maman," Marinette promised.  She sure hoped she and Chat could find and neutralize Hawkmoth before Final Bac.  She suspected Master Fu had chosen teenagers for the ladybug and black cat simply because their absences would be difficult but not career shattering.  She couldn't imagine either of her parents fitting this into their schedules.

"She's just cross because she missed this morning's akuma," Adrien whispered.

"There was an attack this morning?"  She'd gotten much better at feigning ignorance and coming up with believable excuses.  She'd had plenty of practice, after all.

Adrien nodded, the small polite smile she hated firmly in place.  It wasn't quite his model mask, but it usually meant he was subduing himself to stick to the image his father had crafted for him.  It showed up a lot at school and in other public places.  Fortunately, it tended to be thoroughly tucked away when he was at her house.  "I was also out for an emergency shoot."  He snorted.  It had become a joke that his father's unexpected random photoshoots to capture one last thing, or replace something he found subpar constituted emergencies in Gabriel Agreste's mind.

"Oh dear," Marinette said dramatically.  "What was it this time?  Did you have a hair out of place?"

Adrien bit his lip and shook his head, clearly trying to restrain his mirth.  "Please, I was perfect."  He let out a sniff, tipping his nose into the air.  "But my jacket looked too snug across my shoulders while managing to look like a frumpy sack around my waist."  He rolled his eyes.

"I can't help but feel like neither of you are taking this very seriously," Alya criticized.  "This project is a quarter of our final grade."

"I'm so sorry Al," Marinette insisted, throwing babydoll eyes at her best friend.  "I'll do better."

"Ugh," Alya said, waving both hands in Marinette's face.  "Stop it.  You're crazy good at that.  And it should not be that effective on a seventeen year old."

She'd developed the skill to combat Chat's devastating kitten eyes, but no one in her civilian life knew that.  Grinning, Marinette patted her tablet.  "Well I'm here now, and I'm ready to be a focused and productive member of the team."  She straightened up proudly.  "I even did research last night in preparation."

"Was that during the time you were supposed to be sleeping?" Adrien teased, bumping her shoulder with his.

"The nerve," Marinette shot back with gasp.  Playful Adrien didn't come out nearly often enough, and she was always keen to encourage it.  She still liked him, possibly more than she had that first year, but it was the real him this time.  She'd been shocked to discover the true Adrien hidden under that image of calm perfection.  He was the second silliest person in her life, sometimes running neck and neck with Chat Noir, and probably the most approachable person she knew.  He got downright giddy when he could actually do a favor for a friend, and he tended to go over the top on such things.  She'd caught a persistent sadness lurking in the background, concealed by fake smiles and finger-guns.

His teasing demanded a response, so she stuck out her tongue at him.  

Grinning mischievously, he reached out and caught her tongue between two fingers.  "Gotchya."

"Llllll," Marinette objected, squirming out of his gentle hold.

"Could you two stop flirting and focus," Alya demanded, not bothering to cover her smile.

Marinette made a great show of assessing her tongue for damage.  "I'll get you back for that," she said, delighted by his lightheartedness this morning.  That usually meant things at home were going as well as they could.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" he asked slyly, leaning toward her.

"Dude, we do not use the smoulder at school," Nino said, tossing his things down across from his best friend.  "We've talked about this."  His tone spoke of long-suffering, but his knowing grin told a different story.

"Awww," Adrien whined, slouching in his chair like a chastised child.  "But it works so well."

"True," Nino agreed.  "But we are not raising a manipulative jerk here."  He gestured with one open hand at Adrien.  "You are so much better than some people you're related to. Let's embrace that, shall we."  Nino reached into one of the front pockets of his jeans.  "Oh, before I forget.  I got you a new workout mix."

Adrien's face brightened up, shattering the polite mask he usually wore.  "Really?"  He cradled the pen-drive as though it were precious.

"Yes really," Nino insisted.  "If your father is going to make you continue with the personal trainer and heavy duty workout program, despite the fact that you're already perfect, you deserve to enjoy the time as much as possible."

Adrien hugged the drive before carefully tucking it into his bag, beaming the whole time.  It didn't matter that Nino regularly gave his friends music, Adrien always considered it a special treat.

Adrien burst into history class after lunch with an excess of enthusiasm.  He was grinning and bouncing as he made his way to his seat.

"What did you have for lunch, and where can I get some?" Alya asked, leaning forward on the desk she and Marinette shared.  They'd returned to their original seating arrangement this year after trying all other configurations in previous years.

"My afternoon shoot was canceled," Adrien said.  "I have a whole afternoon off."  He collapsed into his chair in a move that looked remarkably like a certain boneless cat-boy.  "And father's gone this week, so Nathalie conveniently didn't plug anything else in."

"Aw dude," Nino said, disappointment coloring his voice.  "There's nothing I'd like to do more than hang out with you, but I've got a shadowing thing at the radio station today."

"No problem," Adrien insisted.  "I can't expect you to drop everything for me."

Nino frowned.  "You know I would though, right?  If you needed me to."

Adrien's eyes widened and he looked down, the edges of his ears going pink.  "Oh.  Um.  Today isn't a need, but thanks."  He glanced at the table behind him.  "Alya, Marinette, are either of you available?"  His voice sounded oddly strained, hopeful.

Alya sighed.  "I'm watching my sisters today, but we could probably join you for a bit at the park."

"I'm free," Marinette said.  "We could do the park first, and then go back to my place for gaming and dinner."

The goofy smile was back on his face.  "Really?  It's been ages since I had dinner with your family.  That'd be really cool.  Thanks."

At the park, Marinette watched Adrien chase Alya's nine year old twin sisters around the playground equipment.  He'd left his bag with her on the bench when he went in pursuit of "the little monkeys."  She hadn't asked him out, and had put that whole idea on hold for now.  It had less to do with nerves and freaking out, and more to do with reality.  The last thing Adrien needed was a girlfriend who ditched him regularly with crappy excuses for her absences.  He had more than enough abandonment in his life, and she couldn't bear the thought of adding to it.  Until she could be sure she wouldn't have to vanish all the time to deal with Paris' miraculous psychopath, she'd have to settle for being the best friend she could to him.  Her resolve didn't prevent her from enjoying watching him move.

"That personal trainer must have him doing some crazy shit to be in this kind of shape," Alya said.  "How does he even have time for that?"

Marinette shook her head, critically assessing everything he was doing.  The girls were chasing him now, and he turned and dodged far faster than seemed possible.  He could have run circles around Kim.  He darted under the swingset, leaping up to catch the support bar.  In a move that belonged in an action film or akuma battle, he swung his legs up and over the bar, holding himself fully upside down on extended arms for a moment before dropping down the other side and landing behind Alya's sisters, effectively swapping roles with them again.

"Holy shit Agreste!" Alya shouted.  "Don't you be teaching my sisters impossible stuff."

He glanced toward the bench, a wide devilish smile on his lips.  "Not impossible," he insisted.  "It just requires a working knowledge of physics."

"And a jacked body," she retorted.

"Hey!"  The girls swarmed him then.  Laughing, he scooped one up in each arm, spinning a bit as he walked back to the bench.  "I'll have you know that this body is the result of a lot of hard work."  He winked.  "And a pretty good hit from the genetic lottery."  He set the girls down in front of their sister, where they promptly flopped into the grass laughing.  "No artificial colors or preservatives."  He poked at his belly.

Alya made a little motion with her index finger.  "Let us have a look at that."

"Alya!" Marinette gasped.  "Do you want his father to see a photo of him flashing his abs at us on the front of some tabloid?"

"You're not curious?" Alya demanded in disbelief.

Marinette snorted.  "I've already seen it."  She grinned up at Adrien.  "I mean he had that recent swimsuit campaign, and it was quite flattering."

"I bet he was airbrushed," Alya taunted.

Adrien feigned shock, one hand going to his chest in mock horror.  "Airbrushed?  Me?!"

"The runway photos supported the evidence in the advertisements," Marinette pointed out.  "Don't worry, Adrien.  I've got your back.  I, personally, believe in your abs."

Adrien sat down beside Marinette, and oh, he was deliciously warm.  The air had just enough of a bite to chill her.  "I guess that settles that."  He stuck his tongue out at Alya and Marinette reached up and pinched it.  "Hey!"

Marinette burst into giggles.  "Told you I'd get you back."

"That was like two weeks ago," he objected.

"I can be patient."

Alya snorted.  "She can be ridiculously patient."  She sighed.  "Fun though this has been, I've gotta get my monkeys home, and you ," she paused to poke Adrien in the shoulder, "need to get our Maricicle warmed up."

Adrien looked down at Marinette, frowning slightly.  "Geeze, Mari.  I didn't realize you were so cold.  I'm sorry."  He stood up and pulled off his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Though she probably should have refused, her fingers held the jacket closed.  "Ooooh," she moaned.  "Soooo warm."  She tucked her face into the neck as well, subtly catching his scent from it.  She unzipped the little pouch she'd taken to wearing on her hip.  Scooping Tikki out, she settled the little being into the snuggly inner pocket of his jacket, feeling the little kwami shiver before relaxing into the added warmth.

"Time to get you home," he said firmly.  "I recommend tea and Mecha Strike."

Chapter title - "Giving your tongue to the cat" is a French idiom that means being unable to guess. Sometimes people use it in place of the American idiom "the cat has your tongue" but it's not an exact parallel. 

Chapter art by @soundofez, posted with express permission, can be found here.

 Huge thanks to my betas: Karnival and @chatbug-jk​

[verdadminha]

3 Ways Your BFFs Can Improve Your Health

[brightcove:5211200939001 default]

We give ourselves credit for plenty of things: nailing a project at work, making killer overnight oats, shaving our legs regularly (well, at least in warm weather). But there's one thing women ought to take pride in more often, and that's how much we rock at friendship. Whether single or married, 22 or 78, we know just how to cultivate, appreciate, and enjoy connections with our girls.

While the sexes may equally value friendship, we experience the bond on different levels. “Women tend to have more intimate friendships than men do,” says Irene S. Levine, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and author of Best Friends Forever. A 2015 study of social media profile photos published in Plos One confirmed what many of us have noticed: Guys gravitate toward larger, looser groups of casual buddies, while women prefer fewer besties, forming deeper and more time-consuming friendships. The researchers noted that this pattern is also evident in chimpanzees, suggesting that our pal style “may long predate the evolution of our species.”

But make no mistake-nurture plays a role, says Shasta Nelson, CEO of the friendship-matching site GirlFriendCircles.com and author of Frientimacy. Girls are taught to be masters of positivity (think giving pep talks), consistency (making plans), and vulnerability (sharing emotions). “We live in a society that expects these skills of women,” points out Nelson, “so we're more practiced at them.”

Not only are we amazing at friendship, but according to science, it's good for us-both now and as we age. So next time you ditch your family for girls' night out, tell them it's medicinal. (Even though, sadly, insurance won't reimburse you for the round of margaritas.)

RELATED: 21 Reasons You'll Live Longer Than Your Friends

1. Friends are preventive medicine

It's more than just your pal bringing over soup when you're sick: Having good friends can help protect your body from stress. In a series of studies conducted at the University of Virginia, people were faced with the threat of getting an electric shock either while solo or while holding a friend's hand. MRI scans revealed that in those clinging to a pal, the brain regions that sense danger were significantly less active.

Our besties may even provide a buffer against cancer. In an assessment of 2,835 women with breast cancer in the Nurses' Health Study, those with no close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as the women with 10 or more close friends. Other research has shown that the more socially connected people are, the lower their blood pressure when they get older.

That well-being boost may translate to the ultimate payoff: a longer life. A meta-analysis of studies from Brigham Young University found that people with strong social relationships had a 50 percent greater chance of living longer than those with weaker ties. The researchers concluded that a lack of social interaction can pose as much of an early-death risk as smoking and alcoholism, and a higher risk than obesity and physical inactivity. There you go: yet more motivation to quit playing text tag and schedule that catch-up dinner.

RELATED: 10 Things to Say (and 10 Not to Say) to Someone With Depression

2. They protect your mood

Pals not only provide support, they can have Prozac-like powers, too. An English study revealed that people with depression doubled their chances of bouncing back if they had enough friends with “healthy mood.” Data from 4,739 people followed for 20 years in the renowned Framingham Heart Study demonstrated that those with positive peers were likely to become happy in the future. It pays to get out and have fun with a bunch of them, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health: Women who have 10 or more friends to socialize with experience better psychological well-being in midlife than those who have fewer. There's a reason Nelson refers to close friendships as “gyms for our souls.”

RELATED: Is There a Nice Way to Break Up With a Self-Involved Friend?

3. The right mates make you strong 

Not feeling your workout lately? Rope in a friend, ideally a really fit one. Doing physical activity with a companion who's in top shape makes you go at it harder than if you exercised with a less in-shape one, per a study from Santa Clara University's department of psychology. (Although your super-buff pal won't reap added fitness benefits by working out with you, she will be racking up some serious karma points.)

It's no wonder, then, that buddies are one another's best weight watchers. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that when overweight people were grouped with friends or family as part of a weight-loss program, they lost 6 1⁄2 more pounds and shaved an extra 1 1⁄4 inches off their waists than those who just received info on diet and exercise. Why's that? The study authors quote an African proverb: “If you wish to go fast, go alone. But if you wish to go far, go together.”

[valterbecks]

3 Ways Your BFFs Can Improve Your Health

[brightcove:5211200939001 default]

We give ourselves credit for plenty of things: nailing a project at work, making killer overnight oats, shaving our legs regularly (well, at least in warm weather). But there's one thing women ought to take pride in more often, and that's how much we rock at friendship. Whether single or married, 22 or 78, we know just how to cultivate, appreciate, and enjoy connections with our girls.

While the sexes may equally value friendship, we experience the bond on different levels. “Women tend to have more intimate friendships than men do,” says Irene S. Levine, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and author of Best Friends Forever. A 2015 study of social media profile photos published in Plos One confirmed what many of us have noticed: Guys gravitate toward larger, looser groups of casual buddies, while women prefer fewer besties, forming deeper and more time-consuming friendships. The researchers noted that this pattern is also evident in chimpanzees, suggesting that our pal style “may long predate the evolution of our species.”

But make no mistake-nurture plays a role, says Shasta Nelson, CEO of the friendship-matching site GirlFriendCircles.com and author of Frientimacy. Girls are taught to be masters of positivity (think giving pep talks), consistency (making plans), and vulnerability (sharing emotions). “We live in a society that expects these skills of women,” points out Nelson, “so we're more practiced at them.”

Not only are we amazing at friendship, but according to science, it's good for us-both now and as we age. So next time you ditch your family for girls' night out, tell them it's medicinal. (Even though, sadly, insurance won't reimburse you for the round of margaritas.)

RELATED: 21 Reasons You'll Live Longer Than Your Friends

1. Friends are preventive medicine

It's more than just your pal bringing over soup when you're sick: Having good friends can help protect your body from stress. In a series of studies conducted at the University of Virginia, people were faced with the threat of getting an electric shock either while solo or while holding a friend's hand. MRI scans revealed that in those clinging to a pal, the brain regions that sense danger were significantly less active.

Our besties may even provide a buffer against cancer. In an assessment of 2,835 women with breast cancer in the Nurses' Health Study, those with no close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as the women with 10 or more close friends. Other research has shown that the more socially connected people are, the lower their blood pressure when they get older.

That well-being boost may translate to the ultimate payoff: a longer life. A meta-analysis of studies from Brigham Young University found that people with strong social relationships had a 50 percent greater chance of living longer than those with weaker ties. The researchers concluded that a lack of social interaction can pose as much of an early-death risk as smoking and alcoholism, and a higher risk than obesity and physical inactivity. There you go: yet more motivation to quit playing text tag and schedule that catch-up dinner.

RELATED: 10 Things to Say (and 10 Not to Say) to Someone With Depression

2. They protect your mood

Pals not only provide support, they can have Prozac-like powers, too. An English study revealed that people with depression doubled their chances of bouncing back if they had enough friends with “healthy mood.” Data from 4,739 people followed for 20 years in the renowned Framingham Heart Study demonstrated that those with positive peers were likely to become happy in the future. It pays to get out and have fun with a bunch of them, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health: Women who have 10 or more friends to socialize with experience better psychological well-being in midlife than those who have fewer. There's a reason Nelson refers to close friendships as “gyms for our souls.”

RELATED: Is There a Nice Way to Break Up With a Self-Involved Friend?

3. The right mates make you strong 

Not feeling your workout lately? Rope in a friend, ideally a really fit one. Doing physical activity with a companion who's in top shape makes you go at it harder than if you exercised with a less in-shape one, per a study from Santa Clara University's department of psychology. (Although your super-buff pal won't reap added fitness benefits by working out with you, she will be racking up some serious karma points.)

It's no wonder, then, that buddies are one another's best weight watchers. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that when overweight people were grouped with friends or family as part of a weight-loss program, they lost 6 1⁄2 more pounds and shaved an extra 1 1⁄4 inches off their waists than those who just received info on diet and exercise. Why's that? The study authors quote an African proverb: “If you wish to go fast, go alone. But if you wish to go far, go together.”

[theredladyofsenntisten]

3 Ways Your BFFs Can Improve Your Health

[brightcove:5211200939001 default]

We give ourselves credit for plenty of things: nailing a project at work, making killer overnight oats, shaving our legs regularly (well, at least in warm weather). But there's one thing women ought to take pride in more often, and that's how much we rock at friendship. Whether single or married, 22 or 78, we know just how to cultivate, appreciate, and enjoy connections with our girls.

While the sexes may equally value friendship, we experience the bond on different levels. “Women tend to have more intimate friendships than men do,” says Irene S. Levine, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and author of Best Friends Forever. A 2015 study of social media profile photos published in Plos One confirmed what many of us have noticed: Guys gravitate toward larger, looser groups of casual buddies, while women prefer fewer besties, forming deeper and more time-consuming friendships. The researchers noted that this pattern is also evident in chimpanzees, suggesting that our pal style “may long predate the evolution of our species.”

But make no mistake-nurture plays a role, says Shasta Nelson, CEO of the friendship-matching site GirlFriendCircles.com and author of Frientimacy. Girls are taught to be masters of positivity (think giving pep talks), consistency (making plans), and vulnerability (sharing emotions). “We live in a society that expects these skills of women,” points out Nelson, “so we're more practiced at them.”

Not only are we amazing at friendship, but according to science, it's good for us-both now and as we age. So next time you ditch your family for girls' night out, tell them it's medicinal. (Even though, sadly, insurance won't reimburse you for the round of margaritas.)

RELATED: 21 Reasons You'll Live Longer Than Your Friends

1. Friends are preventive medicine

It's more than just your pal bringing over soup when you're sick: Having good friends can help protect your body from stress. In a series of studies conducted at the University of Virginia, people were faced with the threat of getting an electric shock either while solo or while holding a friend's hand. MRI scans revealed that in those clinging to a pal, the brain regions that sense danger were significantly less active.

Our besties may even provide a buffer against cancer. In an assessment of 2,835 women with breast cancer in the Nurses' Health Study, those with no close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as the women with 10 or more close friends. Other research has shown that the more socially connected people are, the lower their blood pressure when they get older.

That well-being boost may translate to the ultimate payoff: a longer life. A meta-analysis of studies from Brigham Young University found that people with strong social relationships had a 50 percent greater chance of living longer than those with weaker ties. The researchers concluded that a lack of social interaction can pose as much of an early-death risk as smoking and alcoholism, and a higher risk than obesity and physical inactivity. There you go: yet more motivation to quit playing text tag and schedule that catch-up dinner.

RELATED: 10 Things to Say (and 10 Not to Say) to Someone With Depression

2. They protect your mood

Pals not only provide support, they can have Prozac-like powers, too. An English study revealed that people with depression doubled their chances of bouncing back if they had enough friends with “healthy mood.” Data from 4,739 people followed for 20 years in the renowned Framingham Heart Study demonstrated that those with positive peers were likely to become happy in the future. It pays to get out and have fun with a bunch of them, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health: Women who have 10 or more friends to socialize with experience better psychological well-being in midlife than those who have fewer. There's a reason Nelson refers to close friendships as “gyms for our souls.”

RELATED: Is There a Nice Way to Break Up With a Self-Involved Friend?

3. The right mates make you strong 

Not feeling your workout lately? Rope in a friend, ideally a really fit one. Doing physical activity with a companion who's in top shape makes you go at it harder than if you exercised with a less in-shape one, per a study from Santa Clara University's department of psychology. (Although your super-buff pal won't reap added fitness benefits by working out with you, she will be racking up some serious karma points.)

It's no wonder, then, that buddies are one another's best weight watchers. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that when overweight people were grouped with friends or family as part of a weight-loss program, they lost 6 1⁄2 more pounds and shaved an extra 1 1⁄4 inches off their waists than those who just received info on diet and exercise. Why's that? The study authors quote an African proverb: “If you wish to go fast, go alone. But if you wish to go far, go together.”

[stormdamneron]

3 Ways Your BFFs Can Improve Your Health

[brightcove:5211200939001 default]

We give ourselves credit for plenty of things: nailing a project at work, making killer overnight oats, shaving our legs regularly (well, at least in warm weather). But there's one thing women ought to take pride in more often, and that's how much we rock at friendship. Whether single or married, 22 or 78, we know just how to cultivate, appreciate, and enjoy connections with our girls.

While the sexes may equally value friendship, we experience the bond on different levels. “Women tend to have more intimate friendships than men do,” says Irene S. Levine, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and author of Best Friends Forever. A 2015 study of social media profile photos published in Plos One confirmed what many of us have noticed: Guys gravitate toward larger, looser groups of casual buddies, while women prefer fewer besties, forming deeper and more time-consuming friendships. The researchers noted that this pattern is also evident in chimpanzees, suggesting that our pal style “may long predate the evolution of our species.”

But make no mistake-nurture plays a role, says Shasta Nelson, CEO of the friendship-matching site GirlFriendCircles.com and author of Frientimacy. Girls are taught to be masters of positivity (think giving pep talks), consistency (making plans), and vulnerability (sharing emotions). “We live in a society that expects these skills of women,” points out Nelson, “so we're more practiced at them.”

Not only are we amazing at friendship, but according to science, it's good for us-both now and as we age. So next time you ditch your family for girls' night out, tell them it's medicinal. (Even though, sadly, insurance won't reimburse you for the round of margaritas.)

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1. Friends are preventive medicine

It's more than just your pal bringing over soup when you're sick: Having good friends can help protect your body from stress. In a series of studies conducted at the University of Virginia, people were faced with the threat of getting an electric shock either while solo or while holding a friend's hand. MRI scans revealed that in those clinging to a pal, the brain regions that sense danger were significantly less active.

Our besties may even provide a buffer against cancer. In an assessment of 2,835 women with breast cancer in the Nurses' Health Study, those with no close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as the women with 10 or more close friends. Other research has shown that the more socially connected people are, the lower their blood pressure when they get older.

That well-being boost may translate to the ultimate payoff: a longer life. A meta-analysis of studies from Brigham Young University found that people with strong social relationships had a 50 percent greater chance of living longer than those with weaker ties. The researchers concluded that a lack of social interaction can pose as much of an early-death risk as smoking and alcoholism, and a higher risk than obesity and physical inactivity. There you go: yet more motivation to quit playing text tag and schedule that catch-up dinner.

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2. They protect your mood

Pals not only provide support, they can have Prozac-like powers, too. An English study revealed that people with depression doubled their chances of bouncing back if they had enough friends with “healthy mood.” Data from 4,739 people followed for 20 years in the renowned Framingham Heart Study demonstrated that those with positive peers were likely to become happy in the future. It pays to get out and have fun with a bunch of them, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health: Women who have 10 or more friends to socialize with experience better psychological well-being in midlife than those who have fewer. There's a reason Nelson refers to close friendships as “gyms for our souls.”

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3. The right mates make you strong 

Not feeling your workout lately? Rope in a friend, ideally a really fit one. Doing physical activity with a companion who's in top shape makes you go at it harder than if you exercised with a less in-shape one, per a study from Santa Clara University's department of psychology. (Although your super-buff pal won't reap added fitness benefits by working out with you, she will be racking up some serious karma points.)

It's no wonder, then, that buddies are one another's best weight watchers. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that when overweight people were grouped with friends or family as part of a weight-loss program, they lost 6 1⁄2 more pounds and shaved an extra 1 1⁄4 inches off their waists than those who just received info on diet and exercise. Why's that? The study authors quote an African proverb: “If you wish to go fast, go alone. But if you wish to go far, go together.”