#BUMBLEBEE BATS MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[duketectivecomics]

What do you think about Cass and duke as a duo?

I can’t believe that I’ve been SLACKING SO BAD THAT THJS IS EVEN A QUESTION IM SKDJKAJDKS SO MAD AT MYSELF NOW

Let’s put it this way, anon, they’re the ONLY relationship duo on this blog that I have a separate platonic tag for MAKE OF THAT WHAT YOU WILL

[devourable]

the lovers · yandere ocs x terms of endearment

† the church boy :

love, faith, darling, angel. sweet, romantic nicknames are abraham's favorite ways to address his darling aside from their name, especially ones with religious connotations. hell, he'll even refer to you as his god/dess if you even imply that you want him to.

✘ the delinquents :

individually they all have their own little nickname for you; mattias calls you babe, dominic calls you hotstuff, aaron calls you lover (loverboy or lovergirl if you prefer), and judas simply calls you a shorter form of your name.

✎ the prodigy :

he'd have a hard time referring to you as anything other than your name. but whatever he does call you, he makes sure to add 'my' in front of it, no matter what. my darling. my treasure. my beloved. you belong to him and he will make it known, even in the smallest of ways.

☾ the monster :

mykolas almost exclusively refers to you as his mate. but he occasionally likes to refer to you as any pretty thing he's seen recently (rose, bumblebee, waterfall, etc). anything that gives him a nice feeling will nake him think of you.

⚡︎ the gym bunny :

little prince/princess/monarch. particularly when shes trying to encourage you for one reason or another, she'll dial up the nicknames to ten to try and motivate you to work harder. you're her little ruler, you'll do as she says, right?

༄ the mermaids :

together, they all almost exclusively refer to you as their human. lyonesse especially — when she addresses you directly, she calls you 'little human' rather than your name. tomila refers to you as 'pearl' or 'starfish', and kallisto will mimic the names she's heard humans use for one another like 'baby' or 'honey'.

➶ the butcher :

rhodes likens you to baby animals. little lamb, cub, and calf are particular favorites of theirs, but they'll playfully refer to you as sillier baby animal names when they think of them (fry, joey, ✨pangopup✨). they like gently reminding you how small you are compared to them; reminding you how safe you are with them as well.

☹ the alt kids :

like the delinquents, they all have their own nickname for you. faust calls you dollface or just 'doll', delta will call you 'sugar' (and/or spice if you have a more firey attitude), and anton refers to you as 'dove' or 'baby bat'.

[blueikeproductions]

So a new EarthSpark product was shown to me.

A water gun toy with Bumblebee (notice how most of these ancillary products DON’T use the Terrans…).

And then it hit me.

Another failure of the toy line.

The whole idea Terrans use water to refuel over Energon would be perfect for Color Changer toys!

It’s literally built right in!

Quintus’ water easily could’ve been a toy gimmick! What is wrong with you, Hasbro?? What is wrong with you, show runners?! Stop being so anal about toy gimmicks in a show fragging DESIGNED to sell toys to children and kids at heart! It’s not even that hard to implement! You could even tie it into the Bumblebee water squirter by making it one of Alex’s collectibles!

Make it a power up like the Autobot Brothers!

They even experimented with Color Changers back in G2!

I’m in a bit of a raw mood due to a beloved pet dying, but my god, ES writers, stop making us, the fans, do your job for you! None of this is hard! Why are you doing it hard. This is a children’s toy property! It thrives on wacky robot gimmicks, stop being embarrassed by it. This is a property that involved a robot bat trying to steal gasoline with a car wash, and he got beat up by a human teenager for his troubles!

Stop trying to avoid it and embrace it! This schlock is perfect for EarthSpark for that matter, but nooooo, you gotta make some James Roberts slag about the Decepticons having their feelings hurt and you can’t even do that right!

Where’s the toy gimmick about Nightshade building a Hydro-Cog to activate Color Change power ups? Oh that’s right, it’s in the garbage bin with their much cooler gargoyle beast mode and Doc Brown personality. You could’ve had Doc Greene as a teenage Transformer, but you had to make it about gender and not cool, goofy inventor Wheeljack but an Owl. The Energon Universe deserves all the accolades and I hope the Void Rivals toyline outsells ES. Not like it’s hard.

[littleplantfreak]

Mari my sweet angel!!!! I used my echolocation to find you!!!!

(meaning that I nearly typed your name into the search bar again 🤦🏻‍♀️) 🎃

Anyway, given that it's nearly Halloween .... kind of .... I have some Halloween and fall related questions for you and Ume!! 🎃

What fall activities are you doing together? Are you picking your own pumpkins or buying them from a store? What designs are you carving into the pumpkins? Are you going to a corn maze? Maybe a haunted house? 🎃

What does fall look like for you and your beloved Ume? 🎃

Love you, have a wonderful day <3

Roxy my beautiful bumblebee bat i felt you trying to echolocate me!!

I started internally running around and freaking out because although i love summer most, I’m absolutely wild about doing fall/halloween stuff!

We’re totally picking our own pumpkins. We do the pumpkin head photoshoots that were a trend for a while? I did one with my sister last year and aaa it’s so fun. We carve and choose each other's designs but they vary every year! Also we make flavored pumpkin seeds after carving them (it'd be a waste not to)

Corn mazes and haunted houses for sure. I'm used to going first in haunted houses, but I'll hold his hand the whole way through! For corn mazes, I like to race through them and see who finds the way out faster!

I make a lot of pies in the fall for people so he'd be helping me slice the apples for them and rolling out my pie crusts (I'm making sure he puts those arm and hand muscles to good use) or helping me bake pumpkins so i can mush them up if I go hard and get the actual pie pumpkins instead of using pumpkin puree

For him I think he enjoys going hiking and catching the trees when they're at their most colorful. Where I live everything ends up bursting with reds, yellows, and oranges so once everything is at their peak, we hop in the car and go climb a mountain about it!

Ah one more thing! Horror movies are necessary. We have a list of them to go through that we make ahead of time. Sometimes actual horror and other times horror comedy. I'm surprisingly jumpy during the horror horror movies and end up half on top of him squeezing his arm like no tomorrow especially with jumpscares

[moraygrotto]

how do you think the freshmen would react to a half bumblebee s/o who has antenna, wings and can make their own honey

👀👀👀 i'll do my best under the cut!

Ace: He WILL touch your sensitive antennae just to piss you off lol. Teasing aside, he'll be surprisingly gallant with you in public; assuming beefolk are rare, you'll never have to explain your insectoid features to strangers when he's around to tell them it's none of their business. Watch out though, because if your lips taste like honey, he will steal kisses all the more often~

Deuce: You'd have to explain to him in detail how your body works at times, but after that he'd be extra careful to make sure you never overfilled with honey, helping to clean your wings, even saving up to buy your favorite sweets + juices sometimes. Like Ace, he will go to bat for you in public lol, but very much tries to keep his support on the more kind + domestic side.

Jack: As your partner, he's very protective of you, and that includes your delicate insect features. Honestly, he's a little overly careful around you, since he considers himself very strong & intense, and is terrified of damaging your beautiful wings. He's too proud to ask to consume your honey, but you can easily slip him a mouthful via kiss, which will leave him very flustered and secretly yearning for more~

Epel: He loves your honey. He thinks it's fantastic that your body can make something so sweet, and is a little bit jealous himself. Once he's fully comfortable around you, he'll ask for a taste often, and he's also the most likely to overfill himself on the stuff, if you're willing to provide. He also admires your natural flight abilities, and dreams of taking you home to work in the orchards together.

Sebek: As a mixed species himself, he's fascinated by your biology, but won't admit it. You have to initiate anything vaguely kinky with him, including taking a sip of your honey, but after the first time, he will come back and very stiffly ask for a second taste from his beloved. (It gets to a point where he'll eat it from you so desperately that you'll eventually have to stop him and tell him you're all out for the day😭)

[weirdlookingsnakewithlegs]

Earthspark Analysis

S1 Ep1 - Secret Legacy Pt1 & Pt2

- Immediately my eyes lay onto the prettiest little spider bot.

- Not even thirty seconds in and the writers already threw in a pun!

- Oh Swindle my beloved.

- The use of parts, like wheels, being used in a fight is making me so giddy. Also I adore how Elita is just throwing them around.

- SWINDLE’S HEAD WENT FOR A SPIN HAHA

- Hardtop pushing Swindle out of the way from the falling container.

- THE LITTLE SPIDERS, also I love Swindle’s little scream of terror.

- Okay so Decepticons are getting kidnapped, that’s an interesting focus point.

- Okay human children, I like that they’ve gone ahead and introduced them as little inventors.

- Dad joke.

- Okay moving struggle, that’s a bit cliché but I can let it slide because of the producers.

- Sneaking off to Philly.

- Ah yes, children in crossfire.

- Okay so how are these kids not terribly hurt.

- The screaming match after a fight, I love that, great way to work big feelings actually.

- Why are we checking out a mysterious cave also John Henry mention! Good use of comparison with folk heroes.

- “*smacks hand* That’s how scary movies start.” I love Mo.

- Okay as this goes on I LOVE Mo, she’s giving me younger Miko vibes and I am living for it.

- Well, the rock thingy falling was very anticlimactic.

- “oooo you broke it” I FRAGGING LOVE THIS KID

- THE ROCK SPEAKS????

- There’s no way it just spawned some bots.

- Damn, me too lil bots, me too. I’d also hide after coming into existence.

- Wait this actually adorable, I love Twitch and Thrash.

- “My sister and I won’t hurt you” GLITCH THE SPIDER MIGHT.

- Mo calling their happiness ‘warm fuzzies’ makes my heart melt, I swear if anything happens to these angels I’ll kill a man.

- Also just realized these kids already know what Transformers are, sus.

- Hardtop is back! And uh being disassembled… don’t you do it

- “We can’t adopt, we’re children.” Boi you JUST tried to run away to Philly, don’t be worried about what you can and can’t do now.

- Cold forged, the development aspect of Thrash and Twitch is going to be interesting.

- SOUNDWAVE.

- I wonder if the cardinal is being used as symbolism.

- Oh how I love Thrash and Twitch.

- “These transformers guys are bananas.” “Strange, they were vehicles in the issues I read.” STOP BEING FUNNY

- Nice beats.

- These two are so goofy.

- “Style points for pain” this is feeding my awful sense of humor.

- “I feel so minivan!” I’M CACKLING

- Twitch beefing with the minivan about secrets.

- Food is the way to my heart too.

- THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS! LASERBEAK!

- Ofc Bumblebee is the favorite.

- Okay so Bee is like dead, like I’m going to believe that after Rise of Beast.

- The mom has come across the carnage.

- CONES

- Optimus’ heavy aft knocking over the cones >^>

- “You messed up my cones.” YOU TELL HIM QUEEN THE CONES DESERVE JUSTICE!

- Optimus failing miserably with the cones redemption arc.

- Wow okay, so Dot has a right to be angry. Juicy.

- MEGATRON! Why is he so fine?

- “Megs”

- Okay wait why is he a sweetheart? Also why is Dot lowkey flirting, honey you’re married. But same tho me too.

- The little drone designs are cute!

- Okay interesting that the lasers are something instinctual, this likely implies a form a base coding rather than just knowing things right off the bat. I wonder if this works the same for transformations? Or is it because they haven’t done a vehicle scan?

- Thrash rock to the face.

- Okay interesting take on the connection between DoubleT and the kids, I like that they can feel the deeper emotions. This hopefully plays a bigger role in the future or maybe helps with subtle actions.

- TWITCH ALT MODE ACTIVATED! IT WAS A SCAN! Though I do wonder if the transformation was instinctual or intentional, I’m going with instinctual.

- Thrash squirrel alt would be hilarious.

- WHEELJACK MENTION! And of course his tech explodes.

- Megatron’s little nod and expression when Dot mentioned Optimus always sees the bright side.

- Megatron defending Optimus earnestly, interesting.

- Poor Hardtop, this feels like a traumatic experience, I mean would you want to see someone wearing your arm?

- So the spiders are called Arachnamechs.

- Again I love Mo.

- Thrash getting his aft beat.

- TWITCH LOOKS AWESOME IN THOSE NEW COLORS!

- Victory dance!

- OPTIMUS USING HIS WINDSHIELD WIPERS!!!! This makes me so happy.

- Robby stepping up and wanting Twitch and Thrash to stay with the family.

- OH MY PIT NO THEY DIDN’T JUST HAND OFF TWITCH AND THRASH TO THE BAD GUY???

- Okay so Robby does have a good point, a lot of parents do things without their childrens’ permission. (We’ll hop into this later in footnotes)

- Mo calling Thrash and Twitch their brother and sister oh my heart! ALSO YOU BEST FRAGGING FIND THEM OPTIMUS, I’M ATTACHED!

- That arm is way to big for him.

- I love the little arachnamechs so much, I don’t care that they’re evil.

- Cybertonus Cybertronii, base cybertronian species. They have classifications, that’s very intriguing.

- Cybertronus Terrans! Very interesting!

- Mandroid is a kinda sick name.

- Someone tell Optimus to stop using emojis also Megatron needs to not use the @ sign, that’s foul and they both need to have their internet access taken.

- “Mr. Mandroid.” Look at Optimus being polite <3

- Megatron’s inner Decepticon coming out a little I see.

- I love the bot designs, they’re so cool looking.

- Battle of Burbank, y’all think you’re sneaky.

- Yay!

- “Your hearts not in this, is it? Brain either.” Elita be nice to my boy T^T

- SKULLCRUNCHER!!!!!!

- THRASH ALT MODE LETS GET IT!! Oh he’s so lanky!

- BEE!

- You tell them Dot, keep them kids!

Characters:

Swindle: Swindle appears to be a very strong willed bot and he does seem a bit more focused on himself as a Decepticon rather than his peers(considering his lack of concern for Hardtop). Hoping to see him again.

Hardtop: Hardtop didn’t get much screen time but he seems like a very loyal con. His comment to Megatron and his jump in for Swindle certainly gives that impression. Would LOVE to see him again.

Optimus: This man is a sweetheart, not much to it yet though he does show obvious care towards each individual character. I’ve been trying to focus on his micro expressions more than just his words and so far he hasn’t had enough screen time for me to take in anything drastic.

Elita: She is certainly a ball of fire, clever and a good show of energy. Not just that but she certainly voices herself, especially when it comes to Wheeljack it seems.

Robby: The initial struggle with the move certainly set me off, I knew he was going to be a bit of a rebellious character the moment that discussion at the dinner table began. He seems to be struggling with the want to please and the want to be his own person, average teenage dilemma, me too.

Mo: This poor kid has so much on her shoulders, she’s exceptionally heavy hearted. Thrash even said it himself that she can make people happy by being happy. She is a worrier, she cares and I can tell she’s going to have the problem of putting others before herself even in poor situations.

Twitch: Head in the clouds at times but I’ll excuse it since Twitch is like two days old. She appears as though she’s going to be similar to Elita, a sort of pumped up figure. As time goes on I’m sure I’ll get more of her personality. Definitely protective.

Thrash: He’s very thoughtful and it seems he wants to make careful decisions. His open heart discussion with Mo definitely tells me he’s going to be a more solid figure. He’s clumsy though and very curious, I’m excited to see the development.

Dot: Her character is interesting, a mother driven to protect her family and others. She seems confident and sassy but I feel she may have some underlying struggles with how her situation is progressing.

Megatron: It is obvious that he has welcomed the Autobot life but a few comments do tell me he does fairly well with Decepticons still. His mention of not knowing whether Optimus is referring to him when he says “Autobots roll out” really set that in stone for me. I wonder if he’ll be sympathetic towards his former faction.

Bumblebee: I was hoping to see him come in with more style but I am glad nonetheless! He does appear to be a bit begrudged when it comes to living with the humans and his “new experience” comment somewhat implies to me that he may not be all happy on Earth?

Footnotes:

First of all! Robby had a point. Many parents don’t consider their children’s thoughts before moving, nor do they even give them any information half the time. Robby and Mo should have been shown pictures or given information about the area they were moving, not to mention some form of familiarity. While it is the parent’s decision, children should be given something to work with. Moving is stressful for everyone.

I noticed that Robby and Mo have a very emotional connection, they’re rather willing to work things out through explosive means. Ie, the yelling match. All in all I think is was a great way to show how it’s okay to just let those pent up and harsh emotions out as long as others aren’t being hurt.

There are many references! The most notable being John Henry, I love the use of folk heroes in comparisons, especially ones others may not be so well versed on. Considering the target audience I do enjoy it. The Battle of Burbank though was just silly.

Earthspark Analysis

How this will work:

- Starting from this post there will be a series of reblogs.

- Each will begin with the episode number/title.

- Important characters will be given an analysis based on their behavior/decisions/choice of words.

- I may also focus on background characters at times should I see anything interesting.

- I will also focus on other things, for example, if there are fights scenes I will likely make comments.

What you should expect:

I am by no means an expert and this is solely for fun! If you don’t like/agree with what I think that’s okay! In the end we’re all just having fun and this is just for the silly!

Things to watch out for:

I can be oblivious at times! Tell me if I missed something you think is important and I’ll try to round back and take a gander!

🩵 Now let’s get this show on the road! 🩵

[daedalusdavinci]

bonus round!! one dc character of your choosing (if you have decision paralysis it must now be about manbat)

as much as i love kirk i do not think i know enough about him for all that. so heres duke, because i love him

send me a character and ill answer:

1: sexuality headcanon

i think if you look very closely at the bat manual it states that in order to be a bat you must be queer. also duke just gives me vibes like he mostly winds up dating women but its not for lack of interest in men. hes bi xir

2: otp

duke x more comics, dc x the gun im holding to their head

3: brotp

duke and damian the way they just INSTANTLY click,,, crying. but also duke and CASS???? them in outsiders?????? sobbing. crying. beating my fists on the floor. i love my bumblebee bats

4: notp

batcst bad we already know go be yucky somewhere else

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

i think puzzles have just become like, stress relief now. like its a way to clear his mind and relax after a long day. ALSO, i think hes adhd, because 1) i said so and 2) i love him and all beloved characters MUST be adhd

6: favorite line from this character

i dont feel like writing up an id but in all star he talks about how his favorite band is a bunch of ex cons who play metal and their band name is like some really explicit shit about batman idr exactlya nymore but thats so fucking iconic what the fuck. i love him. no ones doing it like him

7: one way in which I relate to this character

i too would jump out of a moving car and off a bridge without ever pausing to think it through for even a second. adhd king

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

hitting on cass's mom crimes. the flashbacks to johns hot mom hit me like a truck

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

cinnamon roll too good for this world too pure i am squishing his little robin cheeks

[myenterpriseisparked]

I JUST SAW YOUR POST ABOUT BATS OF INDIANA AND I AM SCREAMING BECAUSE I DID NOT REALIZE BATS WERE THAT TINY I THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL AT LEAST THE SIZE OF MY PALM

Honestly, I though the same thing until I started studying bats a couple years ago! That's the neat thing about bats, they have such a variable size range! The biggest bats have a wingspan of 6 feet, and the smallest are, well, let me show you so you have a frame of reference:

This is the Bumblebee Bat! Also known as Kitti's Hog-Nose Bat. It's the world's smallest mammal, weighing less than 2 grams (about the same weight as a dime, for reference). Truly, a little bloke. Absolutely amazing. I want to combust every time I see a picture of these guys because the fact that there's a mammal so small that can still fly and lives for as long as it does warms my little, animal science heart. Truly a work of art. Absolutely a physiological and anatomical masterpiece. I wanna write poetry about these guys, and I hate writing poetry so that's really saying something.

[dadas-lil-babi-boi]

💗🎀 long list of nicknames for regressors + syskids!🎀

(may be some repeats bc i thought of these off the top of my head!)

angel

baby

baby boy

baby girl

bunny

child

cub

cutie

cuteness

darling

doll

dove

dreamy

flower

gumdrop

kitten

lamb

honey

little one

love

little love

lovely

muffin

snuggles

cuddles

wuggles

peach

precious

sweetie

sweetness

prince

princess

princette

pumpkin

pup

puppy / puppi

woofers

sunshine

bumblebee

kiddo

kid

small one

cubby

pubby

cutie pie

cutie patootie

little tot

baby bear

bug

buggy

ducky

duckling

dumpling

button

honeybun

bud

buddy

little pup

little kit

little woof

sweetheart

sweet pea

dolly

babydoll

angel cake

teddy

kitten

fawn

cinnabon

bon bon

little bun

peaches

cupcake

hun

peanut

little bird

birdie

baby bee

love bug

cuddle bug

snuggle bug

jellybean

sprout

little deer

little dolly

little bear

berry

buttercup

nugs

biscut

dearest

smiley

guppie

bubbles

baby boo

handsome

tadpol

froggie

bun

little hop

hops

hoppie

little rawr

little man

softie

bitsy

sunshine

dandelion

beloved

tot

blossom

flower

daisy

dewdrop

bub

bubs

baby bat

batty

bats

munchkin

buggaboo

little hops

tiny

pebble

baby shark

baby bird

little duck

honey bee

love bug

cherry

tinie

snuggly

fairy

star

dollface

tulip

brat (used in a cute + non mean + joking way)

piglet

doggo

kitty

lil pup

dino

[mandareeboo]

I dont have anything exact for a prompt for dc superhero girls but like... any of them that you want to write abt... simply they are girlfriends ur honor <3

"So," says Babs, conversationally. "Are you a 'one and done' kinda gal, or a 'take it slow, let it go' kind?"

Karen bit her lip. Her fingers were shaking as they dug into the wood of her desk. They'd decided it was best to do this in the Gordon home, seeing how the faintest trace of what was sticking out of her arm could send their friend into serious agony. "Um. Both sound terrible. But I guess I'd rather just be done with the pain."

"Mm-hmm." The redhead adjusted her grip on the shard of kryptonite sticking out of her arm blaster. "Gonna be honest with you, Bee. This went in at an angle. It cut you going in, it's probably gonna cut you coming out. Is there anything I can get you to make this less stressing?"

"A stuffy?" she asked. "Preferably not bat-shaped. Not that bats aren't cool. But you usually stuff explosives into the bat ones."

Babs deems that fair and retrieves what Karen can only assume is the least beloved teddy bear she's ever seen. It's fur is bright brown- or it would be, without the dust. This was clearly an ancient Christmas or birthday present, tossed around but never truly used, with just enough sentimentality to avoid being thrown out or donated. Karen stuffs the teddy into the crook of her elbow and squeezes. Hard.

"Are you going to count to three?" she asked.

Babs shook her head. "You'd tense on three. Flexing the muscles is a bad idea."

"Okay. Then wh-"

She tightened her grip and yanked. Hard. 

Karen let out a yip and buried her face into the bear. She didn't want to imagine the disaster it'd be if the Commissioner heard.

"I got it!" Babs exclaimed, holding the rock up into the fluorescent light. "Man, I wish I could study this stuff. But I don't want to risk Kara getting sick having it close by."

"Yeah," she answered, trying not to get sick herself over the faintest bit of blood. Karen tapped a few buttons on her panel and the limbs popped off one by one, falling to the floor with a clatter. Karen yanked up her sleeve. "Oh, that's not so bad."

Babs, wetting a cotton ball, agreed with her. "Won't even need stitches. This time I'm definitely gonna count, okay?"

"Yes, please."

It doesn't take long to do the medical end of things. It was, all things considered, a surprisingly small gash. That said, getting cut with a rock was a great way to make yourself hate antiseptic. The crisp white bandage was probably a bit too much, but Babs is thorough.

The damage to her armor, however, is pretty damning. Karen felt her stomach squirm as she opened the hull, revealing ripped circuits, damaged data boards, and a couple of melted discs. Not cheap to purchase. She was going to have to run on bubblegum and duct tape for a while. (Not that that was out of the ordinary)

"Back to the drawing board?" Babs hummed, hefting a truly breathtaking toolbox out of thin air. "I'll go to the lair tomorrow and see if I can't scavenge you a few parts from first-drafts bat weapons."

"Thank you." Karen pulled out a wrench, feeling it in her hands. Her grip wasn't too affected. Good. "Back to the drawing board."

There was a clatter on the stairwell, too fast and too heavy to be Commissioner Gordon's, and there was Diana, flinging open the door in her full Wonder Woman garb. "KAREN ARE YOU-" She caught sight of Karen and seemed to lose an entire inch as she sighed with relief. "Oh, thank Zeus."

Babs let out a shriek. "Diana, did you walk to my house dressed in full uniform? What is somebody saw?"

"I did not walk; I ran. I told the your father I was doing a 'costume play'." Diana seemed to struggle to regain her poise at the sight of the bandage on Karen's arm, jaw tightening. "I was told you jumped in front of Supergirl, little Bumblebee."

Karen let out an awkward chuckle, rubbing her arm. "I think that's a bit of a stretch. Y'see, Babs and I have been prepping ourselves for cases like these, and-"

"Cases like these?" Diana echoed. Her voice was flat. "Cases like what, exactly?"

"Kryptonite weapons!" Babs chirped, holding up the stone. She'd had the sense of mind to wipe it off, at least. "Just being near the stuff can weaken Kara. We didn't even want to consider what might happen if she got poked by it. So we've made work-arounds; thicker armor around our limbs, metal designed to avoid skin-contact with sharp objects, etc. The next step is if they find a way to make it into a ray gun or something, but that's mostly if it's somehow too quick for Kara to dodge, and, let's be real, that probably won't-"

"Barbara." The girl stopped instantly. "Leave me and Bumblebee alone for a moment, please. We need to talk."

Karen gulped.

Babs shot her an apologetic look, then gave the Amazonian some finger guns. "Righty-o, boss. I'll go make us some snacks." She paused at the door, looking over her shoulder. "Just gimme a ring when you're ready, alright?"

Diana jerked her head in a nod. She watched with frightening intensity as the knob clicked closed.

"Diana-"

She whirled around. "Why was I not made aware of this? You and Barbara have been plotting to- to collect shards in your limbs like cufflinks! And you never-"

"It's not our first choice!" Karen held up our hands. "It's not even our last choice, Diana. We're also making shields, and inhibiters. It's an extreme emergency, last resort thing. And we've not even fixed the bugs!"

"It was faulty and you did it anyway?" She shrunk down as Diana slammed her hands on the table. "You could have been seriously injured! Or worse!"

"Diana," she said, showing off the bandage. "I'm mortal, not a water balloon. Trust me, I would have never done this if I thought it would be lethal."

Diana, for her part, did look a bit chastised. Her shoulders fell. "I am... sorry, little Bumblebee. I did not mean to doubt your abilities. It's just- I was out of the loop for one mission, and I came home to find my strongest warrior hardly able to move as she told me you were taken elsewhere for serious wounds."

"Kara talked to you?"

"She tried. She was crying."

Karen winced. She knew Kara would hate this idea. That's why they'd been so quiet about it. "I'm sorry I worried you all, but I wasn't in any real danger."

"This time. What of next time?"

"Now that we know they're onto our weaknesses, there won't be a next time."

"There shouldn't have been a first time!" Diana got down on one knee to hold her arm with great respect. This was one of the few positions she was actually taller than the Amazonian, and it made Karen nervous. She knew how bad it felt to be small. She never wanted other people to feel that way. "Is it bad, αγάπη μου?"

And Karen, smart and strong and absolutely weak to puppy dog eyes, couldn't stop herself. "I was in front of her."

Diana sucked in a breath.

"When it went off. I was in front of Supergirl." Karen forced herself to go on. It felt horrible to say out loud. A betrayal. But she had already betrayed Kara, hadn't she? She needed to own up to it. Reassure them all that she deserved the little scratch on her arm. "I dodged. I dodged out of the way. How horrible is that, Diana?"

"Darling-"

"I dodged," she repeated, voice wobbly with unshed tears. "I knew it could kill her, and I dodged." Fingers dug into her skirt. Her own fingers. The cut burned. "I'm a terrible person."

Diana's fingers cupped her chin, bringing her gaze back to her. "No. Never. You are human, Karen. You were scared."

Karen wished it was that easy. But, to her, it wasn't. She wasn't enough. "Heroes are supposed to take risks."

"Heroes must be alive to take those risks." Diana's fingers tightened their grip- not enough to hurt, but holding her in place. "Please, αγάπη μου. No more secret extreme emergency, last resort things. We are warriors, not blockades to toss in front of each other."

"Promise," she said, and it was the easiest promise she ever made. "...Can we call Babs back in, now? I'm gonna need her help un-soldering some things."

Wonder Woman swooped up for a kiss. Karen was someone who got electrocuted a lot, but nothing so simple had even a bit of life compared to being held and loved by the strongest woman in Metropolis, especially when she smiled like that. "In a moment. Allow me some time with you alone. It’s selfish, but it’s... human.”

[petitelepus]

Bond Over Sparks

This is a commission requested by @fyrestrike, my most dedicated follower. I’m honestly sorry if this story doesn’t match your requirement but I tried my best darling! This story is a continuation from the earlier story!

"Ah!" Fyrestrike gasped feeling Megatron thurst into her multiple times. The femme was over her sensors, feeling the extra charge in her frame that made it at a similar time so sensitive. The warlord kept pounding into her like he was trying to put a sparkling into her that he might have just done that during their last period.

The idea crossed Fyrestrike's mind. Having Megatron's sparkling. The one and only feared warlord's baby sparkling...! It would be magnificent...! Better than any other sparkling ever born after AllSpark...!

With the thought of carrying Megatron's child was almost enough to send her over to the overload. But no, they were the Megatron's words that made her overload all over that spike, "Overload for me my Queen...!" And she did.

And she overloaded and so hard she saw stars behind her optics. Fyrestrike panted hard against Megatron's chassis as she tried to recover from her string of overloads. Round two had turned into a round three and she was beyond exhausted while Megatron had barely broken a sweat. That's a warlord for you.

Warlord. Her warlord. It took a moment to settle in her mind that she was sparkmated now for the rest of her life to Megatron until one or another would die. Megatron reached over her back for something and when his hand returned to her sight he was holding a goblet filled with oil.

"Drink my Queen. You will need strength if you're going to fetch me those pieces." He ordered and Fyrestike nodded and moved to take the goblet but her lover moved the goblet out of her reach. She was confused and attempted to try again, but Megatron wouldn't give it to her.

"Umm...?" She started uncertainly. "Should I fetch them, myself my own?"

"Nonsense, you're not going anywhere just yet," Megatron said and moved the goblet towards her. She raised her hands, ready to take it, but instead of giving it to her the warlord pushed the edge of the goblet between her lips and tilted forward. He was making her drink it. Something in it was awfully submitting to Fyrestrike and she moaned slightly as the delicious oil run down her intake into her tank.

Once the goblet was empty Megatron pulled it away and put it down. He smiled down at his beloved and graced her servos against her cheek. "My Queen, I saw in your memories as you did mine. Tell me, what did the Autobots do to you?"

Fyrestrike went silent as she turned to look at the ground and Megatron let her. This was a show of trust and wanted Fyrestrike to trust him. So when she frowned and looked at him in a mixture of sadness and rage he knew it would be good.

"They tested it on me...!"

"What did they test?"

"The Flier-code, they tested it on me but they deemed me as a failure and ordered me to be offlined so I wouldn't even in an accident end up in enemy's hands..." She grew quiet, understanding probably that it had just happened like the Autobots have feared might happen. Megatron saw through her and with a hand under her chin made her look at him.

"You are not a failure, my Queen. You're a success, but they didn't count on it that you had your own will and you wouldn't just blindly follow them like rest of their soldiers do. A success that they wanted to destroy..."

Fyrestrike frowned sadly, but Megatron smiled at her and gently held her helm in his hands. One move and he could easily crush her helm...! But he didn't want that.

"So, you were their mistake, but you are our success. The Decepticon cause will get to its rightful glory with you by my side as my rightfully bonded Queen...!" Megatron made clear that he wasn't having any insecurities in his Queen. Fyrestrike looked baffled but was also amazed at how Megatron spoke about her. Like she mattered and his speech felt overpowering and encouraging in her audios. She found herself quickly pumped up and Megatron saw this.

"Now... My little Decepticon Queen... Will you fetch me the pieces?"

"Yes... Yes, my King." Fyrestrike agreed and jumped on her pedes. Megatron grinned harder and took her outside. As they walked they passed by Blitzwing and Lugnut who knew to stay away. Megatron's orders were in action until he said otherwise. The warlord leads the peach-colored femme outside the mines, trusting in it that he had her full loyalty.

He told her which way the city of Detroit was and Fyrestrike nodded before transforming and taking off. Megatron smirked with success and returned to the mines. Little did Fyrestrike know, he had plans.

On her way to Autobot's headquarters, the femme pondered if she was really going to do this. Was he really going to betray Optimus and others? The only good Autobots who had taken her under their wing when she had barely managed to escape from the Elite Guards? The more she thought about it the sicker feeling she got in her fuel tank and she almost felt like purging the rich oil Megatron had fed to her.

Megatron. Her bonded and partner for life. If she did was he told her to do now Megatron would no doubt win the war. Then, there would be a place where she could be without fear and feel accepted. But what about Optimus and others? What would happen to them if the Decepticons won the war?

Megatron did promise her that her friends would be safe, that they would have their own places in their Decepticon kingdom. That encouraged her to actually betray them. It would be for their own good. The war was ruthless and if the Decepticons won without her by their side who knows what would happen to Optimus and others?

That in mind, she continued forward. She made it into the center of the city to the factory that Autobots had claimed as their own. One she was outside she transformed and entered the building.

The surprise was very evident on Autobots' faces. Like they thought she was a goner. But when they saw her she felt sickly. Like what she was doing was wrong, but she pushed herself forward. It was her new mission after all.

"Fyrestrike, are you alright?!" Bumblebee asked as she walked by him and followed behind her. Ratchet, Prowl, Optimus and rest of the team were close by.

"What happened? Did you manage to escape?" Bulkhead asked and Fyrestrike snapped, "Everything is fine!" She yelled and mechs stared in shock. Fyrestrike never snapped at anyone, never at Bulkhead out of all the bots. When she put in the code to open the chamber where they held the pieces of AllSpark, Optimus spoke out. "Fyrestrike, what's wrong, you're acting out of your character....!"

Little did he know when she pulled out her guns on everyone. "Stand back and don't move unless you want holes in you!" She screamed and backed away with the shards. The Autobots held their hands and servos to themselves, but when Ratchet made a move to lift his servos Fyrestrike shot a warning shot at his pedes. "None of that Ratchet!" She warned him, very familiar with the Autobot doctor's gun-power.

The medic grumbled but lifted his arms in the air in surrender and everyone else followed him. Fyrestrike backed away until she was at the edge of the factory area and was just about to transform and take off when Optimus shouted at her, "Why Fyrestrike!? I thought you were one of us!"

"But I'm not! I never truly was!" She shouted back and became mournful and she cast her optics down in a mixture of fury and sadness. Ratchet made his move and attempted to cast Firestryke into the air where she would be useless but the femme saw past this and shot the medic in the leg. Ratchet cried out in pain and fell on his knees.

"Ratchet!" Everybody called out, but Firestryke's order halted them all from approaching their fallen comrade, "Stay away from him or I shoot!"

The bots did as they were told and reluctantly lifted their arms in the air, but they never stepped away from their medic, shielding him from any more harm. Fyrestrike began to panic. Her former friend was hurt by her. "I never wanted this...! This was supposed to go with ease...!"

"What was supposed to be an easy job!? Betraying us!?" Bumblebee shouted and yelped as the guns were pointed at him. "To repay for my sparkmate!" Fyrestrike shouted and they were baffled. That was obvious from their looks, but Prowl was the first one to realize it. "Megatron sparkmated you...!"

Firestryke didn't even bat an optic. "So what about it?!"

Ratchet groaned, but the mechs didn't make anyway for him to speak, determined to protect their friend. "Kid... It can be canceled...!" Ratchet groaned out but Firetrike shook her helm, "No, I don't want it canceled!"

Everybody looked at her in shock. "What?!"

"You heard me!" She cried out, coolant dripping from her optics, "Megatron gave me a chance to be what I am and I am fairly certain that I'm not an Autobot anymore!"

"B- but we took you in with us! You got our symbol!" Bumblebee yelled and Firestryke shouted, "Don't you think I know that!?" Silencing the smaller Autobot.

Firestryke huffed and continued. "I was deemed as a failure by Ultra Magnus...! Too much of my self-esteem and worth...! So he commanded me to be offlined, but no, I escaped! And now I have a place amongst the Decepticons!"

"They will offline you once you get the pieces to them, you know that right!?" Optimus called out and Firestryke holds in tears as she backed away from the factory. "Everything is better than betraying my sparkmate...!" Fyrestrike cast a sad look at her former partners and muttered single words out of her mouth. "Once the Decepticons win you know I was just thinking what was best of you."

She transformed and took off. The Autobots, expect from Ratchet, were quick to transform and follow her and they were doing a good job keeping up with her even though the city's streets were busy with life and traffic. But then there were lasers shot and Fyrestrike almost stopped midair in her confusion.

Little did she know, Megatron had sent Blitzwing and Lugnut to follow her and trail after her as she retrieved the pieces of AllSpark. The Decepticon duo shot lasers and flames at the Autobots and she felt distressed. She felt like begging them to stop, but what would that have looked before her new leader. So she kept going. Towards her sparkmate.

[spinedog]

I’ve been refraining from too many shipping posts just because I don’t like discourse and while I certainly ship the hell out of those two girls, I didn’t think I had much to add. But, I haven’t seen any posts about this and I thought I’d add it in.

So, weeks back, I saw lots of posts about how Yang’s ‘code’ to lock Bumblebee into its storage locker was numeric code for ILU. I 100% beleive that that ‘i love you’ is for the bike, mind you, but think about that. The CRWBY went through the trouble of animating her punching in that code. They wanted us to see it.

(Note- my MO with theories is in looking for details that don’t really need to be there, but are. It’s not nessesarily a foolproof strategy, obviously, I’ve been wrong plenty of times. But let’s face it, in a show with the budget and staff size of RWBY, if something small and seemingly meaningless takes up even a second of screentime, you can bet there’s a reason for it.)

Now, to episode 11. Yang threw that bike at Adam without even batting an eye. No wincing, no ‘I’m sorry’, not even an attempt to save it. Now, obviously, we can all agree that a human life is worth more than a machine. I’d probably wreck my car to save the life of one of my coworkers. (probably. Might depend on the coworker. My dearest Meg is my one true mechanical love, after all.) But I’m trying to think about it from Yang’s perspective. She’s absolutely had that bike a longass time. She went through the trouble of bringing it all the way to Argus with her, through the train crash, the snow, and the Apathy. If she’s anything like me, that machine is a symbol of her freedom and her power. I’m willing to bet that the CRWBY went through pains to remind us of that with the ‘ILU’ code.

And yet she was immediately willing to sacrifice it to knock Adam over. Not even to kill him - just knock him down. The man who’s already taken her arm, and tbh does not deserve to take anything else away from her, much less her beloved Bumblebee.

Why?

Because Blake is far more important to her. She can replace an arm. She can replace a bike.

She can’t replace Blake Belladonna.

That’s why I ship these two. I don’t really care about romance, or dating, or all of those adorable drawings of them snuggling or smooching.

What wrenches my guts is the thought of two broken teenage girls, clinging to each other because the bond between them is stronger than the past trauma they’ve both endured. And them rebuilding that bond after trust was broken, because they beleive in each other and they want to be together.

That’s canon. That’s real. Romantic or platonic, friendship or love, that kind of bond is something many people will never experience and many stories will not properly replicate.

Of course, I think it is/will go to romantic territory. As it should - God knows these two girls deserve it.

But that’s my bumbleby post. I love these two girls, and I’m wildly happy to see their relationship grow back and become stronger than ever. And I hope poor Yang gets another bike sometime in the future.

[suzie-guru]

Zodiac, poison, lightning, microscope, parachute!

microscope: zoom in – describe the little, insignificant details about an OC.

Here’s a collection of little details about Rose!  

Rose is both a mirror image and a negative of her mother - she has her complexion and big eyes and long cascading waterfall of hair and delicate features and overall beauty, but with completely different coloring. 

When she frowns, she looks just like her father. Having his thick eyebrows doesn’t help. 

No one knows how she came by her red hair. Her freckles can be explained because she basically lives outside, but her hair? There are theories, some kind and some not, but no one knows for sure…

Also, when (and how) the hell did she get so TALL? 

She tells stories to anyone and anything, including herself.  

When she was a wee thing she would try to pet bumblebees all the time. 

She does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the work in the woods. Girl is strong, and it shows. 

Any and all animals instantly adopt her, and she them. Her mother and father have long made peace with her drifting off to sleep with all sorts of beasties tucked into her shift and bedding. 

She LOVES her honorary aunts.  

She couldn’t choose just one favorite color, but she favors blue in pretty much any and all articles of clothing. 

She can turn anything into a bookmark - a leaf, a deck of cards, a piece of toast…

No one is more surprised than she when she turns out to be a natural at fighting. 

She is the biggest homebody ever. 

Her patronus would be a bear. 

lightning: who’s the most impulsive character? and who is their impulse control?

TATTER. The whole crew has to act as her impulse control, basically. And Greg and Ash have learned to curb their impulses, but they both watch out for each other as well. 

poison: vices/bad habits? what are they? how do they affect your OC?

Let’s focus on Tatter for this one! 

Tatter…she’s an odd duck. She doesn’t consider the vices she has as actual vices, because she doesn’t see how they hurt anyone. The fact that they might end up hurting her or mess up her life is neither here nor there in her opinion, because she lives in the moment and she enjoys her drinks and her food and her drugs and her sex and her fights when she’s doing them. To worry about them before or regret them afterwards is time wasted, and Tatter refuses to waste her life. 

And because she’s so cheerful and upbeat and gusty and bold and brash and confident and over the top, no one really thinks to question her behavior? “Yeah, she’s outrageous, but she doesn’t seem to messed up by whatever she chooses to do.” 

But the fact is, Tatter is very hedonistic and impulsive. She likes to have fun and she likes her adventures and she always wants to be the one at the pub telling a ripping good tale, so she makes sure she has loads to tell. I haven’t nailed all the facts down, but she self-medicates and represses a lot. People see her as the Outrageous Fun Wild One, and she’s almost convinced herself she needs to be that. 

Tatter is a complicated character, and I’m still exploring her, but for someone who takes a lot of pride in how free spirited she is, she’s definitely carrying some major fucking baggage. 

parachute: who does your OC(s) trust the most? who makes them feel safe? who would they do absolutely anything for?

Let’s focus on Ash for this one! 

Given her life and line of work and certain events in her past, Ash makes Trust No One pretty much her credo. At least, that’s what she says. But what Ash says and what Ash does are often very different things indeed…

No matter how much they bicker and tease and tell each other they would sell the other out for a pint of warm beer, Greg and Ash are pretty damn ride or die for each other. It took a while for them to get there, but there’s no going back now for the either of them. 

Meredith is also one of the few people she trusts, mainly because Meredith took her utterly by surprise by almost immediately trusting her. Meredith also happens to be one of the strongest and selfless people Ash has ever known, if not THE strongest and most selfless person she’s known, and Ash fucking values that. 

Rose, in time, becomes another one of the few people that Ash truly does trust, but that’s because Ash is more concerned with protecting her and caring for her. It’s rather like a parent realizing they genuinely trust their child with/on something. And then said child goes on to become your general/ruler…

On the other hand, Sander has a lot of fucking work ahead of him before Ash doesn’t sleep with one hand on her sword when she’s with him…

Tatter…she likes Tatter an awful lot. But liking someone ain’t the same as trusting them. Both of them know that, and they’re fine with that for now…

Ash knows that safety is an illusion - she’s always going to court danger, never know peace. But Greg and Meredith keep that illusion alive, and she can recognize it’s a dream but still appreciate it at the same time. 

As for those she would do anything for, there’s obviously Greg and Meredith and Rose, she would lay down her life for any and all of them. 

Of course, the character that truly captures all three of these aspects is Pumpkin. God Almighty, Ash would do ANYTHING for Pumpkin, her partner in crime, her best beloved, her Ol’ Bastard. And that horse knows it. 

zodiac: what’s their sign? does it influence their personality? do they care about astrology?

Oh my God, I just realized that as much as I love astrology and head-canoeing the signs of characters, I have never sat down and legit planned out the actual birthdays and signs for the Fire Frost & Fable crew! Shame on me, I must get to this! 

That being said, right off the bat I feel it’s pretty safe to say that Meredith is a Pisces, Greg is either an Aries or a Leo, and Rose is a Scorpio. But don’t quote me on that, that’s very very very likely to change! Seeing as I haven’t even thought of sitting down and planning out their signs, I won’t say that their signs influence their personalities - it’s more like they tie into the personalities. 

I can see Rose and Meredith being intrigued by astrology and giving it some thoughtful consideration, Greg and Ash not giving a rat’s rump about it, Aurora completely believing in it, and Zelle flip-flopping on it, depending how it serves her at the moment. 

[krupnick]

A lady as kind and classy as Jessica deserves only the best of the best. So the first wrapped box that Bill offers to her is filled to the brim with unique spa treatments and mellow scented candles from all over the multiverse, appropriately labeled as "Treat Yo Self". And the second, smaller box contains a glittering ruby ring, enchanted with Bill's power. When she snaps her fingers, it will activate, silencing cat-callers or freezing anyone making unwanted advances on her.

For anyone else in the Ink and Paint, Jessica’s a cold dame with frost practically emanating from her shoulders in a frothing mist. For Bill, there’s a growing smile basked in warm, ruby lips melting that visage away like sunshine on ice. Bill packed a presence wherever he went — you had no choice but to acknowledge the ancient God when he walked into a room, and your feelings on it are you own. Jessica’s, meanwhile, were feelings of a jovial connection found among folk who were attracted to their own gender.. and the chaotic side of the sundial. 

& Perhaps it was silly for her to feel this way, but it was relieving to look at this enormous man and not feel an ounce of terror for her life, or a dire need to throw up certain defenses, and instead see a face she was growing to adore. There are so many instances where the situation was the opposite, but Bill, as ironic as it may be, was nothing but a gentleman to the songstress. A hearty, wholesome and undeniably powerful beast before a small beauty. Besides, the man offered to beat down some of her more .. invasive ‘’fans’’ for making her feel uneasy. It was hard not to adore Cipher.

“Billy boy blue, come here you!” Jessica bubbles, heels quickly clicking around the way with arms extended and wrapping around the much taller gentleman. It is STRANGE the way she has to accept how someone Is Taller Than She, But You Know Life Happens And Eventually Someone’s Gonna One-Up You. Ah, but the songstress plants a little kiss to the man Cipher’s cheek, beaming up at him when she draws back. “I was hoping to run into you before the year ticked its last tock. It’s good to see you, sweetheart.” She gushed, pinching his cheek gently and giving it a little wag. “And still growing more handsome by the day, I see.”

—- but lo and behold, he comes bearing gifts!

“And what have we here?” Jessica piques, having little hesitation in lifting the spa package present and deeply inhaling its scent, soon after giving a contented sigh when detecting the candles and other perfumes. Call it the woman’s freakish sixth sense, or just the side effect of a hardworking actor, but the toon has a knack for honing in on anything containing R&R assortments - going right for its throat before all else. Although unlike any of the other pampers, she can’t place some of these aromas. They were delightful, and that was exciting. These had to be new! Just when she thought she tried just about everything under the sun, Bill goes bringing something brand new to the table and bringing a wider spread to that grin of hers, cheeks plump and rosy. 

Neatly peeling back the paper, the actress soon dips her hands into the box and eagerly analyzes each item, softly cooing in awe. She was right, she hasn’t seen a good chunk of these luxuries — and she figures not many people on Earth have. Red locks pour over her shoulder with her canting head, purple thumb rubbing one of the alien labels. “You know your way to an actress’s heart.” She jokes with eye flickering back up to him. “Thank you so much. I can almost promise you this is not going to last the year out.” She’s putting them to work ASAP! But in reality, she’s going to be saving the multiverse brands as much as she possibly can, use them only when the day’s gone either really bad or really good.

—- and then came the ring,

“…” The stunned silence isn’t a bad one, it’s simple shock. Glancing back and forth between glittering ring and Bill, the star is lost for words and it shows. A moment or two is taken for her to catch her vocal cords back in her throat, and she finally speaks. “Oh, Bill..”

Delicately taking the ring from its bo and slipping it on her middle finger, opposite digits touching her clavicle in aback wonderment. Little does Bill realize just how much action this ring is going to get, and just how deep Jessica’s love is going to grow for it. An accessory that you will scarcely find her without in the foreseeable future, twinkling and stealing the tongues of plenty-a catcaller with just a nimble flick of her thin wrist.

Slender arms again throw themselves around the burly man-bound God, hugging him tightly. “You absolute angel,” She spoke gently, cordially. “I don’t even know how to thank you for this. You have no idea the trouble this going to save me.” and the days he’s going to save from being ruined. “Thank you so much, sweetheart. I love it. I love it all.” And that was the honest truth. She doesn’t take off the ring when she carefully tucks her gifts into her purse, already deciding this is where it will remain for some time.

“ —- And don’t think you’re leaving here without getting something in return, mister.” Jessica quickly states while fishing around still in her purse. She pulls out three gifts ; two large boxed presents and a much smaller one, all wrapped in glittering red wrapping paper and topped with white bows.

For Bill, it’s actually a family package. Two black leather jackets for himself and his beloved, with studded shoulders and pockets! But the most notable feature is printed on the back of them in red: “If lost, return to Rick” for one & “I’m Rick” for the other. For Bee, there’s a yellow & black candy-striped baseball bat with a comfortable rubber grip and a large twinkling transparent bag printed with little bumblebees on it; to its cute little bow brim, it’s stuffed with Christmas candy and glitter-infused paint tied with new paint brushes, and rolled up galaxy-themed paper. For Bill separately, there is a neon rainbow bracelet fit for any wrist — and the moment it’s put on, it will start to glow, float and leisurely rotate around its owners wrist. This was a souvenier she’s longed to give him since her and Rick’s Mysterious Pride Month Adventure. Finally, she has the chance to deliver it.

… and among these things is a giant, animated wicker basket that smells of fresh-baked Holiday madness in dessert form, coming in the shapes of Gingerbread Monsters, sprinkled cookies, three chocolate pies and two frilly red velvet cakes. If you thought the Cipher family was being skipped out on Jessica’s manic baking spree, You Thought Wrong. Enjoy The Bombshelter Supply Of Sweets.

“Come on, meet me at my car. I actually bought something else for your little girl, but I couldn’t bring it in.”

Whenever they went out into the night and popped open the trunk to Jessica’s crimson corvette, there was a multi-colored star with ribbons waiting inside with a small “For Bee - Happy Holidays! ♥” note attached. A piñata! It was chilly to the touch, hinting at the fact it’s been waiting for quite a while. A week, at least. “I took the chance to fill it up so you wouldn’t need to worry about that. I figured she could have a little extra fun on Christmas morning, put the bat to work for the first time. Is that alright?”

If Bill accepted it, Bee’d find a lot of Christmas sweets, chocolate coins and wrapped, homemade cake pops waiting for her one merry morning —- or whenever they decided to pop the papier-mâchétoy. It didn’t matter!

@wildgcd​

[feliciohno]

🦇💕

BATS BATS BATS BATS BATS BATS MY BELOVED BATS BATS BATS BATS VAMPIRE BATS PAINTED BATS PIG NOSED BATS HONDURAN WHITE BATS BUMBLEBEE BATS SO SO SO MANY BATS

[owlsfreedom]

Hedgerows are the living boundaries of our landscape. They create an invaluable habitat, rich in pollen, nectar, fruit, leaves, and berries, and provide essential resources for a range of bird, mammal, insect, and invertebrate species. Hazel dormice (one of our rarest small mammals), shrews, bank voles, hedgehogs, stoats, badgers, bees, butterflies, spiders, bats, and a range of birds such as tits, yellow hammers, wrens, robins, chaffinches, and whitethroats, find food and shelter in their green embrace. They also act as windbreaks, help prevent soil erosion, and form 'wildlife corridors', which species can use to move from one isolated habitat to another. The more diverse a hedgerow, the more species it can support and so our ancient native hedgerows, containing green and growing hedge plants such as blackthorn, hazel, hawthorn, dogwood, oak, ash, wych elm, wild cherry, elder, birch, crabapple, blackberry, honeysuckle, rowan, traveller's joy, and field maple, are to be treasured ~ although they have suffered a marked decline as field sizes and monoculture farms have increased. It is telling that, in a recent study, it was found that bumblebees foraging in hedgerows would rather stay on the side of a busy road than on the side of a field farmed using modern methods. There are around 28,000 miles of hedgerow in the UK, many of which are considered to be ancient or 'species-rich'. Aside from their trees and creatures, they also support a rich diversity of wild flowers; common mallow, dog rose, red campion, hedge bedstraw. bluebells, bugle, common vetch, henbit deadnettle, common woundwort, cow parsley, cowslip, foxglove, dog violet, garlic mustard, dandelion, meadow crane's-bill, ragged robin, meadowsweet, nettle, dog daisy, self-heal, teasel, meadow buttercup, yarrow, yellow rattle ~ even their names are a meditation and a prayer. Hedgerows hold many echoes of our far-away history. The first hedgerows were created in the Neolithic Age, 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, some still date from the Bronze and Iron Ages, and many more were created during the enclosures of the 18th and 19th centuries. It has been estimated that many of the hedgerows thriving in our countryside today are more than seven hundred years old, having been planted in the medieval period. Many are built on older banks, ditches and earthworks. Not all of that history is kind and the Enclosure Acts led to the ending of many traditional rights to mow hay & graze livestock and to open fields and commons being divided up by hedgerows and fences and taken from the people to be held in ownership by the few. It is a deep grief to me that we have been divided from the land in this way and that our wild, anarchic hawthorn, so deeply connected with the otherworld and faery lore, has been one of the most common trees used in hedgelaying and therefore used against us to keep us from our beloved earth. But all of that history matters if we are to understand where we have come from and are truly to be the 'people of the land'. And I like to believe that the hedgerows, rather than taking the land away from us, have retained just a little bit of wild that we might otherwise have lost. Boundaries, whether physical or psychological, are difficult and tricksterish things and these wild edge places are never going to do what they are told or be what they were intended to be. Which brings me very beautifully into my second 'B', the Welsh goddess Blodeuwedd, who certainly carries that shapeshifting trickster energy within her, and if I was asked to choose a 'Goddess of the Hedge' it would most certainly be her. When I first heard the Wild Feminine calling to me it was through her story and she has been a constant companion and deep teacher since. Like the history of the hedgerow, her story as it is presented to us is not an easy one and, just as the hedgerow has been used against the people of the commons, she has been used against women. The story of Blodeuwedd, whose name in English means 'Flower-Face' (also an ancient Welsh name for an owl), can be found in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi, a collection of Welsh mythological tales written down by monks in the 13th and 14th centuries but which carry within them a much older oral tradition. In the tale she is created out of nine flowers; the oak, broom, meadowsweet, bean, burdock, nettle, chestnut and, my favourite anarchist, the hawthorn, as a wife for Llew Llaw Gyffes, who has been cursed by his mother to never marry a human woman. In order to gain kingship over the land, Llew must marry a woman as representative of the sovereignty of the land. However, like a hedgerow, Blodeuwedd, with her dual nature of flower and owl, is not so easily tamed. Although she marries Llew she falls in love with another man, Gronw Pebyr, and they plot to kill her husband leading to a train of events in which Gronw himself dies and Blodeuwedd is turned into an owl as a 'punishment'; “You will not dare to show your face ever again in the light of day, and that will be because of enmity between you and all other birds. It will be in their nature to harass you and despise you wherever they find you. And you will not lose your name - that will always be "Bloddeuwedd (Flower-face)." ('The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, Will Parker). A fuller version of her story can be read on the Welsh & Celtic Myths and Legends page here.   It is possible to write a whole book about the layers and depths of meaning contained within Blodeuwedd's story. However, for now, I am mostly interested in her role as a 'boundary keeper' and in how we have so often made attempts to tame her. When I first mentioned my new devotion to Blodeuwedd to a Pagan friend her immediate reaction was to say, “Oh, well she is a warning to women about our unfaithful nature”! Even then I found it hard to believe that this was all that the wildly spinning vortex of petals and owl feathers that was the Blodeuwedd I had come to know was about. In our culture we are very used to thinking in a fixed and dualistic way, with everything being either/or, good/bad, dark/light and this is how we create our boundaries of mind. A healthy and living boundary must be permeable, allowing new ideas in and allowing old ones to fade. This is the same whether we are talking about the boundaries that we use in our own lives to keep ourselves safe or a boundary in a field, which would be a poor one indeed if it didn't allow a dormouse or two through! In our dualistic way of thinking we find it very easy to label Blodeuwedd's 'flower self' gentle, sweet, non-threatening, and 'good', whilst her owl self is considered dark, murderous, frightening, and 'bad'. Like the domestic apple we have tried to tame Blodeuwedd and make her manageable but this interpretation shows little understanding of the nature of flowers or owls. If we are truly people of the hedge/edge, then we will certainly not leave it at that. First, let's consider the nature of flowers. Of course, we humans find them very beautiful and, as they bloom throughout the year, they carry us along on an enchanting tide of smell and colour. And the enchantment that we feel is a clue to the purpose of a flower, which is to 'enchant' or to lure pollinators. Blodeuwedd is indeed 'the honey to the bee' and flowers, just like the goddess created from them, are not there just to be pretty. Flowers are the sexual organs of plants, employing any means at their disposal to ensure that the egg is united with the sperm. Indeed the blossom of the hawthorn, one of the primary beings of the hedge and also one of the flowers used to create Blodeuwedd, are said to have the smell of a sexually aroused woman and have the reputation of being an aphrodisiac in Arabic erotic literature. We have only to look at the art of Georgia O'Keefe or Judy Chicago, both of whom used flowers to represent female genitalia, to see a different aspect of what a flower might be. Perhaps, in exploring the deeper nature of flowers, we are beginning to break down the dualism that has controlled Blodeuwedd's story and see through some tiny gaps in our richly fertile hedge? So to the owl, Blodeuwedd's second nature. In the story her transformation into an owl is explained to us as a punishment for her betrayal of her husband and certainly owls have a challenging reputation in many cultures. In some African tribes, owls are linked with death, bad luck, and evil. These same associations exist through Native American, Mesoamerican, and Arabic mythology. However, in the West, the owl is more often seen as a bird of wisdom, whilst retaining some associations with death and bad luck. Many of these 'darker' aspects are also associated with femininity and with women, as is wisdom which in Christianity is given the feminine name of 'Sophia'. Maria Gimbutas traces the veneration of the owl as a goddess to the culture of Old Europe, which refers to a time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods from roughly 7,000 BCE to 1,700 BCE. My own fondness for owls was increased when it was pointed out to me how low they fly when they are hunting and I have come to think of them as our own 'hedge-riders'. And so we see that, if we are hedge-conscious, it is impossible to pin anything down to one meaning. In the hedgerow, which was once devised to control nature and the people of the commons, there is also a song of such chaotic, joyously disordered, and wilful wildness that it, and the people who love it, can never be controlled. And in the goddess, who was conceived of by monks to give us dire warnings about the treacherous nature of women, is a being of wanton beauty shining with nectar and looking at us with the wise, deep eyes of an owl (and maybe with a sharp talon digging into our flesh). Both teach us of the edge, in ourselves and in our society, between what is domesticated and tamed and what is wild and unbound. I pray that we will all ride that hedge with our wild wisdom intact and that our thoughts will always allow through a dormouse or two.