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alternativewinxcontinuity · 6 years ago

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Princess Solaria: Fairy Lost

This was supposed to be crack, it didn't turn out that way and I am so, so sorry.

'Clean' Edit - the other version of this post is only a few lines different, nothing plot related, but some characters made assumptions that I felt warranted a trigger warning.

Princess Solaria: Fairy Lost (part 01)

Winx Pilot Episode AU

Bloom turns a corner and heads to the beach, Stella deals with the fall out.

If you go down to the woods today

Gardenia : Earth

Bloom fought back tears as she rode away from Mitzi, trying not to let the bully know she'd gotten under Bloom's skin. From the basket of her bike, Kiko made a worried, inquiring noise.

“I'm okay Kiko,” dashing away a tear that escaped her eye, Bloom checked the traffic and turned the corner, heading to the beach.

Deep in the wooded area of Gardenia's largest park, a magical battle was taking place. Or it had been.

As a young blonde woman struggled against the hold of several ghouls, a large yellow ogre picked a glowing staff off the ground, holding it aloft triumphantly. The young woman screamed at him, her voice muffled by a ghouls hand, her attempts weakened as she finally reached her limit.

Tears slipped from her eyes as the ogre opened a portal, summoning the ghouls to him as he stepped through, her staff clutched in his hands.

Freed at last, the young woman scrambled to her feet, on her back small wings fluttered, her feet left the ground and she flew across the small distance, crashing into a tree as the portal closed just before she reached it. With a weak cough, she fell to the ground, her form glowing as she lost consciousness, her clothes changing, her hair spilling loose from its ties.

Alone in the park, the injured fairy sleeps.

Stella woke to cold and pain, shivering at the base of a tree. Her eyes darted around the clearing, looking for any sign of... anything. Foot prints from the ogre had left shallow indents in the ground hidden by the grass. Not that she could see much of anything in the post dusk gloom.

Using the tree to get to her feet she staggered. Across her skin small scratches from the ghouls claws stung, bruising was beginning to spread from where she'd been hit, and from where she'd hit the tree.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she winced as her ribs protested, then refocused, calling to her magic.

“No,” she'd drained herself nearly dry trying to fight off her assailants, she barely had any energy left to burn. “Okay, okay,” she said to herself to try and focus her thoughts, “I just, need to figure out where I am.” Stella slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

Her very broken phone. In the dark of the woods, the Princess of Solaria swore. She knew next to nothing about electronics, past how to find the 'on' switch. She'd need help to repair her device.

Which meant finding people.

She tilted her head back and eyed the stars which were beginning to litter the night sky. She shivered again as a cool night breeze rustled through the trees, its cold fingers caressing her bare midriff and arms.

The stars above were unfamiliar to her, not a single constellation rang a bell. Stella swore again.

'It's fine,' she told herself, 'I can... I... it's fine, I'll be fine, just... find some people.' Calming herself as best she could, Stella opened her mind to the Voice of Nature. She was no plant fairy, but the Fairy of the Sun and Moon was more than capable of hearing the Voice.

She just hadn't practised in several months, since the last time she'd had to for class before her... expulsion. She'd certainly never done it with such low magic reserves.

The Voice in the woods was sluggish, sleepy, as though it wasn't used to whispering in the ears of fairies. 'People?' it said, 'yes, there are people, this way. And this way, and that way as well.'

“Great,” Stella hissed, annoyed at the Voice of Nature's unhelpfulness. 'Well,' she thought, 'at least I know it doesn't matter which way I go, as long as I go, there will be people.'

Steeling herself, Stella took a few steps forwards, stumbling and falling as her ankle gave way. With a cry she hit the ground, knees and hands stinging at the impact. Whimpering she rolled to her side, turning to sit on her behind so she could check her hands and knees, barely visible in the dark. Her ankle throbbed, and Stella recalled the too tight grip of a ghoul in the same spot.

Stella swore for a third time, then a fourth and fifth, and kept swearing for a long, long minute.

She should have been at Alfea by now, enjoying her school bed in her nice, warm, well lit dorm, not injured in some dark, cool, back of nowhere woods.

Her next breath was shaking, like the kind that came with tears. 'Crying solves nothing!' she berated herself, untying her wedge sandals. She could either stumble around in the wedges, or she could risk going bare foot, and given the state of her ankle, she decided bare feet would be the lesser of two evils.

If she'd had more magic, she might have conjured one of her suitcases from its carry space and pulled on some flats, and put on a jacket, but the way she was feeling, even that would dry up her barely there reserves, and she'd be worse off than before.

Standing again, Stella began to walk, her limp far less noticeable without the sandals now dangling from her fingers. As she moved through the trees she mentally berated herself.

Why hadn't she just accepted the royal escort, why had she'd decided to go alone?

But she knew why, she'd chosen to teleport herself with the Staff of Solaria. A near instant transportation which had been hijack mid- transit. Something which should have been impossible.

After a long few minutes, Stella spotted lights through the trees, golden glowing lamps which, as she drew closer, she could see lined a walk way. People walked here and there, though only a few. Judging by their manner of dress, Stella thought they might not feel as cold as she did. As she walked further from the tree line, the people turned to stare at her, a few making aborted motions as if they wanted to approach her but decided against it. Self conscious, Stella wrapped her arms around herself and kept walking.

A woman made her way over to her, a man trailing a fair way behind.

“kbem, nladjb anvu ksadbvlw?” Stella stopped, looking at the woman with confusion and mounting dread. The woman looked standard, but the language she spoke wasn't translating. The possible reasons for that were few, and Stella could only think of two: she didn't have enough magic to operate the Universal Translation Spell (which was the magical equivalent of land-dwellers breathing), or she was on a world that had been cut of from the rest of the Magical Dimension for so long, the UTS didn't have an up-to-date vocabulary for it.

Both scenarios were terrifying.

“I'm sorry, I don- I don't understand,” Stella's voice cracked slightly as she was struck by just how lost she was. The woman didn't seem to understand Stella's language either, but she smiled kindly and held out a jacket, Stella wasn't sure what the woman was doing, and just stared at the coat. The woman frowned when Stella didn't move, Stella worried she'd committed a serious mis-step, but a look of realisation passed across the woman's face, and she pulled the jacket back, point to Stella and made an exaggerated shivering motion, rubbing her arms, and held the jacket out again.

Stella realised she herself was shivering heavily, and that the woman was offering the coat to keep warm. With a grateful “thank you,” Stella took the coat and slipped it around her shoulders like a cape, holding it closed with one hand.

The woman pointed to Stella again, speaking as she did, then pointed to herself and a bench nearby.

She began repeating the series of motions when Stella got it. 'You and me, let's go sit.' With a hesitant nod, Stella began moving towards the bench. As the two women went, Stella noticed the man who'd been trailing the other woman, standing nearby and talking quietly into a mobile phone.

'Well, at least I'm not in a no-tech world,' Stella mused, clutching the jacket a little tighter around herself.

The bench they sat down on was just to the side a pair of lamps, the area well lit. Stella took the chance to check her hands, which were smeared with green from the grass, though the skin didn't seem broken. Sweeping the side of her long skirt to the side, she grimaced, the hand print of the ghoul was clear and dark on her skin.

The woman spoke again, indicating between them, but Stella had no idea what the woman wanted now. The woman tried again, the words sounded... different. Not just different words but... something about them didn't sound like the words the woman had been using thus far. It happened several times as the woman tried to communicate, and finally Stella got it.

“I'm from Solaria, do you speak Solan? How about Dimensional Standard? No chance you know Arcane Royal? Oh, what about Old Fae? No? Urgh, I don't no any other languages well enough to matter!”

The duo ran out of languages to try, and Stella felt like crying. How could she be this far from anything familiar?!

The call of a male voice made her look up. The man on the phone was waving people in their direction.

Stella almost laughed. It seemed at least one thing was familiar, even here on this strange world, she could tell some of the people coming over were medical professionals. The rest she thought might be some kind of guard, though civilian, royal or military she couldn't say. But all of them were women.

Sitting in the sterile room in a white gown, Stella was mortified. When the medical and security personnel had arrived at the park, she'd been happy, because she was in pain and cold and lost and had thought they'd be able to help her.

And they had, for the most part. With some of the most non-magical tech she had ever seen. Everyone had spoken to her in low gentle tones, several people had been brought in to try new languages, and some of the law enforcement agents had taken photos of her.

Stella was sore, and tired and so low on magic that it made her feel gross, and she was sick and tired of being poked and prodded.

Her clothes had been taken away, from her wedges to her headdress, and the medical staff had begun giving her strange looks, whispering in harsh tones to each other, almost excited.

Stella was beginning to get a bad feeling about everything.

She'd finally begun picking up a few words here and there, the UTS took far longer to work on new languages when people were talking at her rather than with her or, more commonly over the last few hours, around her and moving in and out of the room so often she couldn't get a decent conversation to happen in range.

When the men in suits showed up though, she didn't need to understand their words. Greed leaked from them with terrifying intensity. They looked at her like a thing rather than a person.

One of the nurses, the kind one who'd brought Stella a second serving of bland food despite the doctor's disproving frown, stepped between the men and Stella, waving a clipboard full of paper work in their faces and speaking over them as loud as she could.

One of the law officers stepped forward, demanding I.D., and one of the men in suits pushed back his fancy jacket to reach a wallet. Stella froze, her stomach plummeting.

Stella wasn't stupid, she'd seen plasma blasters and laser rifles and slug throwers before. She wasn't stupid, and the design might have been completely alien to her, but she knew a gun when she saw it. While the man handed over his I.D. Stella tugged on the sleeve of the nearby nurse and made a squirming motion, pretending like she had to pee really badly. With a beckoning motion, the nurse directed her to a door just down the hall. One of the men moved to stop her, but the nurse held up her hands and planted herself firmly in his way, say something firmly.

Stella could only make out a few words, something about 'peeing in the car'?

Letting out a slightly hysterical snort, she slipped into the restroom and away from the men in suits. The restroom had several stalls, which would work in Stella's favour, as long as she didn't over do it. Taking care of business first, because she kind of really did need to go, Stella summoned one of her suitcases from its carry space and opened it open on a closed toilet lid. It wasn't the one she'd thought it was, but it would have to do.

Quickly, she dressed in long pants and a long sleeved top, finding her pair of emergency flats at the bottom. Going commando was not ideal, but for now she needed to conserve as much magic as she could and she still had a cosmetic spell to cast. Snagging her pair of light reactive glasses before shoving her case away, she peeked out of her stall to check for witnesses. Seeing no one, she stepped across to the sinks, rinsing her hands a final time and patting them dry before focusing on her hair.

Changing hair colour was one of the first transformation spells Wizgiz taught students at Alfea. Stella was a pro at cosmetic magic, but even so, there were ways to lessen the magical requirements of the spell. Rather than change her hair completely, Stella let the natural echo of her father's genes take over, the deep ginger of his hair spilling through her own golden locks.

With quick hand motions, Stella twisted her hair into a stylishly messy braid, performing the little hair twist she'd learnt to lock the plait in place without a hair band, and slipped her glasses on. Technically they were sun glasses, but with their light reactive properties, the lenses only darkened in the sun.

Stepping back Stella smiled, she looked different enough from herself that she should be able to walk right past every one with out being stopped.

Staring her reflection in the eye Stella said “you've got this.”

As much as she'd like to stay and receive medical assistance, every fibre of her being was screaming at her to run, that the men in suits were Bad News.

Straightening her back, Stella left the restroom, walking calmly down the hall, barely sparing a glance at the men in suits who were still waiting for the blonde in the hospital gown to come back. No one spared Stella a second glance.

Cloud Tower : Magix

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” Glass shattered as a white haired witch let loose a blast of energy, rage contorted her face as she glared at the ring before her. Nearby by, two other witches were watching her with a hint of fear, more afraid of her rage, than they were angry at the ring.

“NOTHING!????? HOW!? This trinket is useless to us!”

“Icy-”

“WHAT!” The brunette flinched back slightly.

“The Ring of Solaria is still really powerful-”

“But it's not the Dragon Fire!”

The witch in red leaned forward, “but maybe we can use its power to find the Dragon Fire?”

Icy eyed her thoughtfully, a malicious grin forming on her face.

AO3 Part 02

#Winx #Winx Club #Winx AU #Winx Club AU #Pilot episode AU #Princess Solaria AU #Princess Solaria: Fairy Lost #clean edit #Winx Alt Con #Winx Alt Alt Con #Stella #Winx Club Stella #Stella-centric

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thegroovethief · 7 years ago

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#TGTfeature 006: Dr. StrangeDub [Echo Chamber (KFAI), Around The World In Dub: Minnesota, USA] Hopefully you’ve had ample time to appreciate the diverse creativity of emcee and singer MAS1A, as #TGTfeature 006 switches frequencies to speak with veteran reggae radio host Dr. StrangeDub! He’s been a personal inspiration to me since I’ve gotten involved with KGNU community radio here in Colorado, so it’s a real honor to interview him. This and forthcoming #TGTfeature articles will highlight dedicated musical talents by featuring their recent work as well as an in-depth interview. Known for his passionate support of dub, reggae, and all related genres on the Echo Chamber show, Dr. StrangeDub (Michael Rose) has been a DJ at KFAI-FM (Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA) since 1996. Pictured above with Lee "Scratch" Perry, the good doctor has plenty of knowledge to share on the joys and importance of non-commercial radio, on how digital music has affected his role, and on the challenges of compiling for his ongoing Around The World In Dub series. A bit about Dr. StrangeDub: - Host of the famed Echo Chamber – which pounds and soothes the brain with the heaviest dubs, the most conscious roots, and funkiest club beats on the planet - Has released eight full-length and free-to-download Paris Around The World In Dub compilations on Dan Dada Records. He’s currently at work on volumes 9 & 10, producers take note! - In addition to radio and dubwise music, passions include home-brewing beer, cooking, gardening, the Green Bay Packers... and of course his children and family. Besides 20+ years of radio, the doctor has been a software engineer for over 30 years

TGT: How did you first get into reggae-related music, and why has it become such an important part of your life? DS: Well, unlike any kid growing up today in most parts of the world, I had no exposure to reggae music whatsoever – other than Eric Clapton’s cover of “I Shot the Sheriff” – until the age of 17 or 18. I was a senior in high school I believe when Peter Tosh was on tour with the Rolling Stones and one of the concerts was broadcast on the King Biscuit Flour Hour. I was hanging out getting high at a friend’s apartment and we awaited hearing the Stones live. Then, this music came on, this firebrand of Rastafari came on and started singing… and I was like – what the heck is this music? I put down the bong and said ‘I got to run home and get a cassette recording this!’ Or something on that order… so I did, and I was hooked. At least on Peter Tosh. So I went off to college having heard a bit of Peter Tosh live, Tosh & Mick on SNL performing “Walk and Don’t Look Back,” and old Eric C. doing “I Shot the Sheriff” on 461 Ocean Boulevard. And for a while, my reggae exposure didn’t expand much. But a couple things changed that in short order: first one was meeting my great friend Craig Krueger who turned me on to Bob Marley & the Wailers, Burning Spear, and a couple others… maybe Third World? Craig might remember. But it was his Wailers collection that made me a reggae fan. The second big thing in the college years was discovering dub! I started a bit of a reggae collection shopping at this store Flat, Black, & Circular (where I bought Black Uhuru since the lead singer had MY name), and one day with just a couple dollars in my pocket I bought this album in a very cheap sleeve titled King Tubby meets the Upsetter – at the Grassroots of Dub. This one here:

I put this slab of heavy vinyl on the turntable and this weird inside-out music came on. This seemed to sound nothing at all like the Wailers, or Black Uhuru, or Spear, or any reggae I had heard. Was there something really messed up in the recording of this? And who’s this guy King Tubby? Not the singer, probably, as there’s not much in the way of vocals on here. Is he the bandleader? Remember no Google at this time. I started asking around. And reading the zines. Not sure exactly when or where I was told that he was an engineer. What he did was to take existing music – or the separate recorded tracks that compose a song – and mess with it. What he created was called “dub”, which was short for dubplate. His one-off mixes were being used as the b-sides of vinyl “dubplates” where the original song was the a-side. It would be many years later that I came to see how riddims can be infinitely recycled in Jamaica! Can’t forget the other big exposure that came from my college years. And that would be discovering or being turned on to artists like The Clash (thanks again to Craig), and Jah Wobble, and Holger Czukay & Can, and Kraftwerk, Eno, and Joy Division. You know what I’m saying – those artists that came from a Rock & Punk background who experimented with electronics, and recording techniques, found sounds, and dub. Jah Wobble’s “Bedroom” album was big! Of course side six of “Sandinista”! TGT: Having just celebrated 20 years on air, the Echo Chamber radio show continually covers the whole dub/reggae spectrum. How do you and Baby Swiss collaborate to maintain such a diverse mix of music week in and week out?

DS: Right now, and for the past 10 years, I have and receive more music than I can possibly digest. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if things hadn’t gone so much digital and web based. Sure, I’d still have a ton of vinyl, but I would have Terabytes of music! But, back in ’96 when I jumped into radio broadcasting, I was a record/CD store hound. I searched the bins like all DJs, and made my annual spring trip to Chicago to visit my pal (and Echo Chamber co-founder) Terry C. and buy music. Of course I also started emailing record labels and distributors… and artists direct. Nowadays, I am on a member of a number of music promotion companies/sites like Distiller, and Fatdrop, RDX (RadioDirectX), Riddimstream, and many more. Also, many artists or their management contact me directly in email, or Facebook, and send me music in email or through DropBox, WeTransfer, or whatever. As for collaboration, it’s mostly just word of mouth while we are on the air. Sometimes we share stuff through email. Of course, we both burn many CD-R copies of music we want to share with each other. The only time we talk about an upcoming playlist for a show is when we do a special theme program. Like when we do our “Fistful of Dub – Dread Western” special. Or the late July “Lunar Lunatics” outer space special. Or the “Magic Dub Carpet Ride” dubwise journey to the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. I’ve run into Swiss (Elmar Romain) a few times at record shops (not sure the last time, as it’s been years), but we’ve never gone record shopping together once! TGT: What do you enjoy about live radio work, especially compared to performing as a DJ? DS: Well, first off, I’ve only done the live DJ thing a handful of times. I want to move in that direction, especially as I begin to wind down the 9-to-5 employment thing, but I am a seasoned radio DJ, and a newbie club DJ! One of the things I love about radio is that there is no face-to-face audience, so I can drag my ass into the station no matter what I look like or feel like. Then, I can play whatever I like. I am not doing what a club DJ does at all – at least not as far as the aim of the endeavor. He or she is aiming to get a club dancing! Or, if it’s a really late-night chill club scene, the aim may be to have a lot of guys and ladies enjoying each other’s company… And you know what that means. They don’t have those darkened VIP corners with the bottle service in clubs for nothing… Broadcasting radio out over the airwaves, and especially the internet has a different aim entirely. Sure… some of that dancing and lovemaking may be going on with the radio blaring out some choice Dub. But it’s not that face-to-face aim for the radio DJ as it is for the club DJ. Or at least the good club DJs! The overlap between the club and the radio is of course the toys and techniques… and the selection of music. And some nights on the radio I am more of the old school “selector,” whereas on other nights I’m a wannabe King Tubby or Lee Perry, messing with the controls, overlapping the tunes, and dropping in the found sounds and other sound bites. So I can learn a new mixing board, or come up to speed on some mixing software without too much trouble. And I am pretty comfortable in a small club on a small stage mixing things up much like I do on the radio. Would like to more of this as I said earlier. But, I have no plans to become one of these live mixing wizards like so many club DJs. Of course they usually deal with high BPM levels…whereas I’m much more into downbeat, chilled out music. I think of myself as a selector first, and messing with the mix as a secondary bit. And on the radio, some artists actually get offended if the DJ “messes with” their recording very much. TGT: You’ve obviously had a long-running relationship with KFAI. How did you initially get involved in non-commercial radio, and why is it still so important and relevant? DS: This one all goes back to my friendship with Terry C. (aka TurnTableTerrorist at WLUW-FM) and our long-running home-brewing hobby. We began home-brewing back in 1991 after we became friends at work. And, each time we brewed, we inevitably talked about “how much fun it would be to have our own radio show.” Terry told me about a neighbor of his who volunteered on Saturday mornings at a public station (KBEM-FM) doing a bluegrass program. The neighbor suggested we just show up sometime when a station has an open-house and volunteer. So… finally, after talking about it for four to five years, we volunteered at KFAI-FM community station. We signed on to work two hours per week sorting and cataloguing new CDs in the music library. After just a couple months the station offered a free “become a DJ” class. So, over a six-week span we learned all about radio board programming and running the equipment. Given it was 1996, we even had a class on splicing reel-to-reel tape! Of course, we also learned about the seven dirty words and other FCC regulations. For the exam, each of us had to do our own mock radio show (something like 10 minutes) to show we were competent. When the class was over we each got our FCC radio-programming license. TGT: The Echo Chamber has also released the 8-volume (so far) Around The World In Dub series, all on Dan Dada Records. Featuring dozens of artists, including dub heavyweights like Dubmatix and Vibronics, the entire series is free-to-download. How did this project come about?

Echo Chamber - Around The World In Dub Vol 7 & 8 by Dan Dada Records

DS: This came about through flattery… That is, the DJ and producer from Portugal known as Bandulu Dub knew about my show for some time and had sent me some of the releases on his netlabel Dan Dada. Then back in 2010 or 2011 he asked me if I’d like to release an “Echo Chamber presents…” type of compilation on his label as a free download – something that reflected the sound of the radio show. Of course I was flattered… and agreed. The next step was asking a bunch of artists to contribute a track – for free, and for a free release. Surprisingly – or maybe not – so many artists were happy to contribute something. It took a bunch of emails, and keeping track of a bunch of music files, but over a few months it came together. So, we have returned to the same formula and pulled in artists from around the planet for each of the 4 two-volume releases. The only problem, as with so many things, is finding the time in our busy lives. Heck, 2017 is now over half done and I have done nothing yet as far as recruiting a bunch of new dubwise music for a Volume 9 & 10 of the Around The World In Dub series. But, I am hoping to get on it soon! TGT: Somehow you also manage to see plenty of live music! What are your thoughts on the current scene in Minneapolis, and which local acts are you particularly enjoying? (I recently discovered Black Market Brass myself!) DS: Although I do not play a single instrument myself, I eat, sleep, and breathe music! As you pointed out, I do try to get out to as many live music shows as I can. Of course, for me then, one of the best benefits of being a radio DJ, is seeing so many great artists live (for free) and meeting and getting to know them. I live for the green room! I also live for the dancefloor and consider dancing as my “going to the gym.” Some time I’ll tell you about my theory – that every possible thing in life can be tied to dancing and the dancefloor. The title of my thesis is simple: Life = Dance. But that’s a subject I could write a book on… As far as the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) music scene, there are a number of artists and groups I really enjoy. Every Tuesday night for the past several years (why not many more years, I’m not sure) I have been going out to see and dance to the International Reggae All Stars (IRAS). As their name implies, the group members come from a number of countries – including Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, and somewhere in Africa. The local band Dred I Dread is another excellent band who, unlike IRAS, have recorded and released original music – their new album Listen to the Evolution is quite good. Another great local band (which overlaps IRAS in personnel) is the soca-heavy Socaholix! A couple of great artists that have migrated to the Twin Cities are Rass Kwame and the man known simply as Innocent. As you mentioned, another local band that I love to see live, and DANCE to, is the afrobeat-centered Black Market Brass. They also have an excellent recent album release titled Cheat and Start a Fight! Across the border in Wisconsin, there are the excellent bands Natty Nation and Dub Foundation… STAY LOCKED IN WITH Dr. StrangeDub: Echo Chamber on KFAI Mixcloud Internet Archive Facebook Soundcloud Twitter

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