#adora's too important to have a family

[thestargayzingetherian]

She-Ra In He-Man Revelations/Revolution

So it's been a few days and I wanted to put this post out there to basically publicly give my thoughts on some... recent developments concerning He-Man Revolution. Before I go into this, MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING FOR THE SHOW!

And also, and this is probably MORE important than the spoiler warning. Do not, and I repeat, do not take whatever speculation I put in this post as gospel or something that is GOING to happen. I may be a bit more knowledgeable than a lot of people about this stuff, but I don't wanna consider myself an expert. This is just me speculating and giving my thoughts and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up because there's a good chance, that what I'm saying turns out to be completely wrong and I don't wanna be responsible for that, so please, take all of this with the smallest grain of salt possible.

With that out of the way...

So the new season of He-Man ends with the reveal of this lady, Despara. For those who don't know... she is Adora. As in She-Ra Adora. In the DC He-man comics, Despara was the name Adora was known as when she was raised as Hordak's daughter. Her name is often used by Catradora fan artists and fic writers who really wanna just make Adora a hot evil lesbian, usually with a hot butch hairdo. It is likely that if/when another season of this show comes, Despara will be the main focus.

Now this raises the obvious question... how are they going to handle the She-Ra stuff. As I have made posts about before, the She-Ra rights and He-Man rights have been separate for a very long time and apparently, the last thing I heard, Mattel themselves can't use any of the She-Ra characters in animated form due to Dreamworks owning them now.

So naturally, you might be thinking that Despara here is just a placeholder because they can't use She-Ra. Except... there are a LOT of She-Ra references in this season that are way too numerous to be just references.

For example:

They recreate the exact scene from the 80s She-Ra movie where Adora is taken as a baby by Hordak in a flashback scene. They also mention Horde Prime existing as well and they EVEN imply that Shadow Weaver exists in this universe as well and Hordak's new robot second-in-command, Motherboard is a replacement for her.

So yeah, all signs SEEMINGLY point to some sort of She-Ra-inspired adaption being the next part of this show. Now, considering the very complex rights issues... I can see this going one of two ways.

Mattel and Dreamworks did a deal like the one Sony and Marvel did with Spiderman to temporarily get the She-Ra rights back for JUST this next season. Despara is revealed to be Adora and her arc will be her learning her true family AND eventually becoming She-Ra to fight Horde Prime with her brother and possibly all the other She-Ra cast are there too. This I feel like it would be the ideal solution to all of this.

2. Despara is revealed to be someone else OTHER than Adora under her helmet because her face is obviously not seen in her brief scene when she takes her helmet off. Technically, Mattel would own Despara outright and not Dreamworks and they could easily make Despara her own character. This was also how they planned to include her in the second season of CGI He-Man. HOWEVER, considering all the foreshadowing and knowing how many people working on these shows loved SPOP... I feel like it'd be really unsatisfying if it wasn't Adora under the mask, both as a fan and from a creative standpoint.

As for my personal theory of what Despara's whole deal is, I think she's ruling Etheria on the other side of the galaxy with Catra and serving personally under Horde Prime. Basically SPOP but a bad ending. The plot will be He-Man and his friends finding out about Etheria and going there to free the planet and Despara will redeem herself and she and Catra and whoever will join team good guy.

But that's just my personal theory. I really don't know what the hell is going to happen here or even IF more episodes will even be coming and I don't want to get people's hopes up. There's a reason I myself have been working on my own She-Ra and He-Man crossover extended universe stuff for the last while so, at the very least, there'd be a fanfic that would satisfy my hopes. I am prepared to be very wrong here.

But even if none of this speculation pans out, I still highly recommend this show to She-Ra fans. The second season definitely fixed the few issues I had with the first one and I hope more comes out of this version of He-Man... then again, it wouldn't be the first time a He-Man series was cancelled.

Hope you find this post informative!

[spopsalt]

This was a longer post than I expected, spoilers for Bojack Horseman under the cut but for the TLDR: Bojack Horseman is a much better show than spop since it shows trauma realistically, has better humor, better story, know Bojack is a bad person and he gets called out on it.

On the last season of Bojack and it astonishes me on how much better it is when compared to spop, it's great on it's own and when compared to spop, it's a masterpiece! First of all, it actually shows trauma realistically! One example I would like to use is Penny, she was 17 and saw Bojack like a father figure of sorts, she lived with her family for months and trusted Bojack. Everything seemed fine until she propositioned Bojack, Bojack first does the responsible thing and shuts her down. But then he gets rejected by Charlotte, the girl's mother and Bojack's old friend. He doesn't tell her about what Penny tried to do for some reason, long story short they kiss but Charlotte rejects Bojack due to her having a family and Bojack trying to get her to run away with him. He was in a low place and saw Penny on the boat, she asked him again and he said "Go to bed Penny." it seemed like he rejected her again but we came to a horrifying realization. We hear stuff falling and then see Bojack lying down while Penny is undoing his bowtie. This is one of Bojack's lowest moments and it shows Penny's trauma. One example is when Bojack thought she looked fine, and she was, she healed from the trauma, then Bojack showed up again and all the old wounds opened up again. Another example is with Gina, one of Bojack's girlfriends whom he strangled. She is now traumatized whenever someone touches her neck due to that experience. Another one is Hollyhock, Bojack actually wasn't a shitty person here. His mother laced the coffee she drank with drugs and so she overdosed and got sent to the hospital. Later when she visits Bojack and sees medicine in his house she assumes he is trying to drug her, freaks out, and sends them to the trash disposal. I could go on and on but you get my point. We actually get time to see their trauma. Their trauma isn't just ignored or swept to the side for Bojack. And his trauma was shown realistically too! It's amazing how much better Bojack is compared to spop, I understand they are two very different shows, one being an adult cartoon with 6 seasons and another being a kid cartoon with 5 seasons. Now I will give spop some credit. It showed trauma accurately with Adora and Catra but everyone else's trauma gets ignored. That's why I'm so glad we have Bojack. It can be hard to watch at times but it shows it accurately and it is so important. Second of all, it knows Bojack is a bad person and people call him out on it. Many of Bojack's old friends, Diane, Princess Caroline, and Todd have called him out on his behavior. It also shows that abuse is no excuse for being a horrible person when Todd says "It's not your childhood or the shitty things that happen to you in your career it's you." This may seem small but with spop it tries to make everything Catra did okay because she had trauma when that's not the case. Third of all the humor. Now the humor is...ehhh it's ok. It's not the best thing in the world buttt I did laugh more times than I laughed while watching spop so that's good! Last of all. The story, now the story is really good, many of the bad things Bojack did in his past were brought up, and we see him multiple times try to improve himself but it seems like every time he takes one step foward he takes multiple steps back. This is very realistic to how it is. You can try and try but sometimes you end up spiraling by to where you were before. Bojack Horseman is really important and though it can be hard to watch at times, I'm glad it exists.

[caseydoesart]

Hey! I have the most important announcement to make! (Not really, I'm just dumb and I need a fuck load of help..)

So, I rewatched She-Ra's season four. (Catra is just too hot, my bad guys) Then I was very upset when I watched season five. Catradora decided to creep up on me without much more done to it. I mean, there is chemistry. But like, they just became friends again. I also realized S4 Catra never really did much with Adora. (That pisses me off because Adora should be flustered. I mean, c'mon. A sexy Magicat + Dumb jock lesbian?) So I went over to my brother and bitched him out about it. And he was like: Casey. Just make a damn fanfiction about S4. But redone. And where there is more chemistry (He means sexual tension..) between Catra and Adora.

Then it hit me.

Holy shit I should make a complicated and possibly bigger than the whole damn Bible fanfiction about season four but the relationship between Catra and Adora actually works and isn't forced. I should also totally make it sexual.

Guys I am so damn smart.

But uh. I need ideas! I'm rewatching season four again to learn each and every line the characters speak, every single action they make, every fucking thing they do,, just so that it's actually good. So, I need a shitload of ideas! Reblog this if you can (I won't steal your body pillow or nude Catra. I'm joking, I know you people don't have those... I think.) Please help me. It will be on ao3 because uh, Wattpad hates me,,

Fuck. Guys. Wait.

I've never made a fanfiction before. At least, not online. And not on ao3. Guys I just got invited. HELP ME. I would like to figure out how to fucking write the fanfiction. I should have done research... Anyway, help me out guys. It's pride month. And I'm a damn Gay. Please. (I won't tell your family about the smut you guys have been doing. I'm a nice person.)

Get off my lawn.

Thank you for wasting your time on my profile or on the She-Ra side of Tumblr. I love you guys with all of my gay heart. Happy pride.

Ps.

Please actually help me. Give me tips on wording, amazing things that happen in s4, quotes, uhm, Headcanons. Blah blah blah. Just help me guys.

[bloodyshadow1]

I thought I would be more disappointed with the amount of Lumity in the finale.  There’s some, but not as much as I wanted, but I’m not really, I would have always wanted more but it’s actually fine.  Because at it’s core, the owl house is about Luz, Eda, and King, they are the heart of the show.  Luz and Amity’s relationships, and Luz’s relationship with her other friends are important, big parts of the show, but the Owl House is at it’s core about the people inside of it. 

It didn’t feel like she-ra’s finale where everything hinged on Adora and Catra getting together romantically to save the world with lesbian power.  It didn’t feel like the finale of Korra where Korra and Asami getting together felt like a blessing of a long shot that no one actually saw coming when it first aired.  To be clear, no shade to those shows and any other show that gets their main character paired up in the last episodes, it’s just different. 

With Lumity, Luz and Amity have been together since the middle of season 2, there’s a lot of content about them before and in a relationship.  I want more canon content of them, because I’m a fan, but I’m not starved for it because there is a lot of canon content with them.  So it’s okay that they’re not the key focus of the finale. 

The owl house is about more than anything three weirdos and their found family together. Yes, their found family grows bigger and there’s blood among them too, but it’s about the three of them.  Because it’s the key theme of the first episode of the three weirdos sticking together and it’s the key theme of the finale. 

[swearyshera]

I want to say I really respect how you're handling Glimmer's arc, her interactions with Bow in particular. Them dealing with the emotional fallout of this in a harsh and awkward but earnest way is really gratifying. I feels like pulling teeth in the best way possible. Glimmer's arc still rings amazingly to me and somehow hasn't diminished since the apology bit.

Is it weird that I "respect" Glimmer's redemption more than Catra's? I guess I always thought Glimmer's heart was in the right place despite like... everything she had going on. I never once felt Glimmer couldn't be redeemed and frankly my opinion on if Catra really "deserved" redemption still flips every time I think about it. If i thought I had a way to annihilate the people who took my family away, I don't know if I'd hesitate to top-rope elbow drop the Big Red Button even as much as Glimmer did. I guess that was Catra's rationale too on a deeper level, but at least Glimmer wasn't fine with the world dying once confronted with that reality, as sad a step up as that is. I feel like the fact I don't feel much sorrier for Catra reflects very poorly on me.

The series had a bad habit of Catra's choices having their more catastrophic potential consequences avoided so her redemption could go down smoother, my most prominent example being the corrupt shera virus. I'd pay damn good money to see how the story could even begin to salvage Adora and Catra's relationship if Adora killed someone like Glimmer or Bow under the effects of that. (not to mention the portal only kills one, albeit very important, person, Adora just happening to survive falling a pit, the story conspicuously forgetting about Angella etc) This sort of thing makes me think the author is cheating or working backwards from the ending they already want. Other characters were involved in some of those choices but that only expands the problem imo.

Glimmer's doesn't kill the universe either, but there's still disastrous consequences for Etheria and people she cares about, pretty much all of s5, and her story is all about understanding what she brought on them, and becoming a more responsible person to her friends/people. I really liked that. The only person Catra is really held accountable to is Adora, and maybe Perfuma on Scorpia's behalf. There's Entrapta but I dont think she operates in terms of blame/forgiveness, at least in canon. I know she literally forgave Catra explicitly, I guess I'm too mean to believe people could let go of stuff that "easily' and write it off like it doesnt count.

I know Catra's arc wanted a more intimate scale and they didn't have time to litigate all this, but my deep gut reaction is "tough shit, you shouldn't have had Catra do all that if you weren't gonna make her face what she'd done", especially since Adora makes a point that Catra is afraid to face people she hurt, then Mermista, Micah and Scorpia are conveniently chipped until the last minutes of the damn show. HP really did Catra a solid there. Glimmer's arc felt more willing to make her culpable in dire shit and not pull punches about it, even less so here, so sincere gratitude from me there. Not that Adora and Catra weren't put through hell but their s5 relationship seems to happen in its own little bubble safe from outside responsibility apart from Adora's martyrdom pathology.

Anyway, very excited to see how the Catra reunion will be handled given everything so far, and for Glimmer and Bow stuff. You've never done wrong by us yet. Sorry for this fucking thesis. Please feel free to point all the ways I'm being a myopic dumbass.

I always see Catra and Glimmer as two sides of the same coin - the same person but treated very differently by those around them. Glimmer had love and forgiveness from the people she grew up with, particularly her mother, whereas Catra had none of that outside of Adora.

But I think the end of season 4, start of season 5, we see a little bit of a flipside of that, and that's what starts making both of them wiser, more mature, etc. Up until then, Glimmer had never really had to deal with consequences for her actions - her mother, outside of grounding her, didn't appear to really punish her when she did things wrong. Even Bow, at least until Fractures, felt he always had to support and agree with her (and his own arc played into that). But when Glimmer decided to plough ahead with her plan to activate the Heart and ignore her friends, she actually had serious consequences for once. She had to deal with losing friendships, attracting Prime. And that wasn't something she'd really had to deal with.

Catra, by contrast, always had negative consequences to even the slightest of actions. Usually by Shadow Weaver, and then by Hordak, she was punished for her mistakes. But in season 5, she gets shown kindness and forgiveness despite her actions, and it too, becomes a turning point for her.

I also don't really see the story as 'redemption'. It's not about Catra or Glimmer redeeming themselves, it's about accepting you've done wrong and making the choice to be better. Yes, they do have apologies to make, wrongs to right, and we don't see a lot of that in the show. But we don't need to. What we see is Glimmer becoming more levelheaded and choosing to use that in place of recklessness. We see Catra choosing to return to Adora in Heart not for herself, but for Etheria. Both these young women have done things that have had a huge negative impact on other people, but they both end up trying to do better, to be better.

Redemption is based on how other people treat you. This is a story about how you treat yourself. Both are important.

[son-neko-art]

In which Teela finally learns the secret identity of He-Man (and Catra mercilessly teases her about it)

Teela and Catra don’t get off to a great start mostly because Catra is a brat and Teela is too protective and uptight. Prince Adam has no choice but to reveal his secret to all in the group… mostly because Adora’s lack of a secret identity makes it ridiculously impossible to keep up the ruse. Teela is probably more embarrassed than anything else. You think the guy you have a crush on you’d recognize no matter what. Adora would love to just hide until the drama passes over, but she is a little worried that Catra might find herself in real trouble soon. It would be nice if the two most important people in her and her new brother’s lives could get along better.

Teela: I warn you, Catra. I may be obligated to protect Princess Adora, but that need not extend to you!

Catra: All I’m saying is it's kinda oblivious to not recognize your childhood best friend just because he's a little taller and wearing a fur speedo. I always recognized Adora transformed.

Adam: Please, dear Teela! She is all but family!

Teela: You’re on thin ice as it is, Prince.

[Teela is trying to draw her sword to threaten Catra with. Catra teases her. Adam hangs off the taller woman’s arm trying to stop her from drawing her sword as the two women exchange words. Adora stands off to the side wishing to be anywhere else.]

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

okay. so voltron’s second season (”seasons” 3-6) were. well.

i have to say that i sort of vastly preferred the first production block. i definitely think the show was more in its element with the episodic “defeat zarcon” stuff than with... to be honest, i have no idea what’s happening.

i mean it started off pretty good. could have gone in a lot of directions. i was interested in the idea of lotor, whose ideology seemed to be a very good contrast to zarcon’s but still seemed to be a good villain. a darker side to the alteans, the fact that the lions can bond to multiple paladins, etc etc etc.

like idk, i know there are people that would take issue with it but it would have been kinda cool if various characters could bond to the different lions sometimes, and the relationship with each one could reveal something about the character. like maybe it would have been a contrast to zarcon, who was hyperfixated on the black lion and thought that because it was the leader, it was the Important One or whatever.

anyways this is called “inflammatoryfandomblog” and it’s time for the griping.

-> the plot is about quintessence, which... the galra empire depends on for some reason, even though it was really the druids we’ve seen use it before, and they were destroying whole planets for the stuff and using it to power zarcon’s little ego “i’m going to get the lions trip.” it’s kind of unclear what else uses it. and i think that’s like my main issue with this season/production block? aside from the S1-like episodes, it feels very muddled and hard to really get into.

i just. am trying to make sense of lotor’s plan. or haggar’s plan. or what they each wanted. or what even what quintessence does. quintessence seems to be like, a... theme-thing... for being too entrenched in the past and what you’ve lost, and so being poisoned by it is losing sight of the present by trying to recreate it. at least that’s what makes the most sense. it’s not, uh, subtle--but it’s not used well enough to relieve it of the Magical Bullshit feeling. 

(this is something she-ra has over voltron; whatever plot magic BS happens is generally woven in better, thematically, with adora and glimmer and catra--but this just might be because there’s a lot less characters and she-ra very early on drops the pretense of being political in any way; it’s the type of series that’s very transparent with that--it says “yeah lmao our world doesn’t matter this is basically a basic family story with princess/scifantasy icing”, while voltron is very different in this regard, and so this approach does it no favors, because how it developed its world was a very good selling point for me in the first production block)

like “oh we just offer them more quintessence and they’ll listen to me” seems like a really bad justification for......... anything......... and idk if they even needed that plotline, i feel like lotor wanting to create an “inclusive/fair empire” is a pretty interesting oxymoron without the weird altean magic stuff. that haggar also unlocked. somehow. i wasn’t very invested in it i suppose; it failed to sort of convince me at any point of being true to the setting, which was a real strength of the first season.

-> i remember being miffed at the lack of shiro/lotor interactions (i mean, the lack of interactions sort of gave it away that this shiro was not worth investing into, especially since it was so telegraphed that druidlady was controlling him, but i was annoyed at the time) because i dunno, real!shiro and lotor could have built up an understanding re: being forced by zarcon to do bad stuff. generally the shiro clone plot is very meh, i feel it would have been better if a) the “real” shiro was actually taken to be some sort of trojan or he’s dead and the clone has to reckon with what it means and be an actual character or b) shiro’s spirit guided them and he was a mentor figure the entire way through, only getting back into a body at some point or another.

generally the entire clone plotline was just kind of worse than most possible alternatives to it, including having both shiros be alive and kicking. as it is now shiro is basically the same as the one from the first production block and can’t have changed.

-> for a second, since most of my predictions panned out in some way, that shiro *was* actually going to be zarcon all along. that would have been wild. similarly a very funny alternate universe is one where the gang splits the comet, gives half of it to the evil alteans and half of it to the galra and simply lets them fight.

-> i liked that the characters went off and had lives/missions outside of voltron (or at least, pidge/keith) and had a few episodes dedicated to those. those, aside from the early “season 3″ episodes and the fun one-shot ones were very enjoyable breaks from the mostly incoherent main plot. i had fun watching them instead of being like “hmm. so this is a Thing now” in the Main Story 

i really feel that ultra-dramatic storytelling is not these writers’ strong suit. which, fair, i mean, i’m not a writer, but i don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they’re a lot better with episodes with some implications as opposed to long, serialized, dramatic structures as a group. i think it might just be a matter of experience; most cartoons until the 2010s were very episodic, and longer stories just have more production/meddling complications which are non-trivial, whereas with episodes, if something doesn’t work... you can just dump it. but episode-episodes also don’t play well with streaming. just kind of an unfortunate media-landscape conundrum there.

(note that japanese animation for example, while it’s very serialized, most of the time has the benefit of having source material already laid out for it. really the equivalent of something like that are like, comic book shows i guess.)

-> animation is really stellar and action is very good. studio mir is great. they always stick the landing.

-> i guess i like that they tried to do something with the idea of “the evil emperor is dead/gone, now what?” which is kind of a difficult plot to write honestly, especially when the main cast are transformer-power-rangers, it’s not obvious how to make them relevant enough to have the focus on them. (and in classic fashion, i don’t really like making suggestions.)

-> lance is going to get with allura nooooooo. i was really invested in the idea that he defects because of a hot girl. instead he just gets jealous of lotor. the sad thing is i really think they could have been at least good friends (lance/allura). the scene where allura replicates trying to flirt with the blue lion is really funny, and lance bringing out everyone’s goofballness would have been a good variant on his general archetype. instead lance is mostly Annoying and gets a few disconnected Scenes. i can’t even really think of a good lance episode this season.

-> pidge baby though. she’s obviously flawed (esp with the prisoner exchange stuff like wth lady) and like. the main plot is dead to me at this point. but i really liked her side episodes. same with keith etc etc.

-> predictions for next season (if i get around to watching it):

-> 1. sendak (zendak?) invades earth. “YOU EARTHLINGS DEFEATED ME LIKE A CHUMP... LOOK WHO’S THE CHUMP NOW???” -> 2. allura and coran start a cow extermination policy -> 3. everyone gets sent to a mental institution and they have to break out -> 4. haggar does some quintessence bullshit and tries to revive lotor or whatever. zombie lotor is horribly mangled and rips a hole through reality again! -> 5. shiro binge-watches all the series he’s missed in the time he’s been dead. he likes kdramas or wuxia. not anime though. -> 6. ?????? lance becomes embroiled in cuban politics. just randomly. (he’s the one who likes anime.)

[etheria-posting]

I've seen a lot of analysis about Glimmer and Catra's parallels, but not enough about Adora and Bow. Their character arcs mirrored each other so well.

They both spent so much of their lives living the life/role that was expected of them that they never really learned to think of their own feelings. They both started the series as people driven by their need to protect others so much that they neglect to consider themselves. Adora throws herself into dangerous situations without any concern about her own safety because she feels it's her duty as She-ra to always take the burden of most things on her own, but with Bow it's a little subtler; he ignores his own feelings to keep the peace, and prefers to ignore interpersonal conflict because he feels it's his duty to keep others happy. Adora consistently tries to take down ridiculous amounts of enemies all on her own, and Bow goes so far as to hide the truth from his family and ignore the conflict brewing within the best friends squad in season 4 because he doesn't know how to fix it, so he is uncomfortable with the growing tension between Adora and Glimmer.

They were both having a renaissance in season 5, Adora with learning that it's okay to be "selfish" and taking what she wants for herself and Bow with learning it's okay not to immediately forgive someone when they've hurt you because his own feelings are important too.

Their journeys of learning to understand and honor their own feelings were wholly necessary for them to find their way to their respective happy endings.

We see in the earlier seasons both of them blaming themselves for things (for example both of them trying to take responsibility for losing Entrapta). Adora is much worse about this than Bow, but his tendency to shoulder the blame in situations is detrimental to his growth.

Adora has a huge turning point at the end of season 3, where she stops blaming herself for the way things end up during her "I didn't break the world" speech, and after this point she sticks to it. We don't see her volunteering an "it's my fault" to things, at least not nearly as often. Bow takes a little longer, with making excuses for Glimmer's actions in season 4 and feeling guilt over doing what is necessary to protect Etheria from the Heart when it means going against her orders and wishes. But on Beast Island he begins to let himself hold Glimmer accountable, and he lets himself stay angry instead of letting it go before he's ready to to keep the peace.

It takes a real show of willingness to change (Catra's "stay" and Glimmer's "you get to be mad for as long as you need to") for either of them to be willing to let things go, showing both Bow and Adora's growth into people who can hold others accountable rather than try to place the burden of fixing things onto their own shoulders.

Catradora and Glimbow also has a ton of parallels, but that's a post for another day!

I love Adora and Bow, I love their friendship and their interactions and the parallels in their arcs. I want to make a more detailed essay comparing their arcs and the growth they experience and the way it mirrors each other because I really feel like it's something I'd like to see explored more.

[acephysicskarkat]

So much of the disappointment of S5 came down to its refusal to actually do anything with the good elements of SP0P. It feels like we traded final seasons with the Berenstein universe, or it was based on Stevenson’s original drafts instead of the actual episodes, or they meant to go back and flesh it out with payoffs for the planting but never got around to it. (Or, in keeping with my conspiracy theory about this, that the permission/order to do c/a came a noticeable chunk into the allotted writing period and forced them to rewrite everything in a wild rush.)

Adora and C*tra had a promise to look after each other. We learn this in a big episode named after it, written by the showrunner! Is that going to go anywhere? Nope, never mentioned again. But hey, it was inadvertently recontextualised by the flashback that paints their entire friendship as a toxic, controlling mess; that’s not nothing! It’s less than nothing!

Adora punches C*tra in the face and refuses to put up with her guilt-tripping any more. How does S5 handle this? Well, it has C*tra pull out the Blame Game several times, and Adora meekly accepts every shitty bit of victim blaming the writers dole out in their frantic attempt to both-sides this argument four seasons after they would have had to start to make it work. (Which is a failure confined solely to S5, as a note; whoever had the idea to build C*tra’s redemption around an apology hopefully did not anticipate that it would later be whittled down from “I’m sorry for everything” to “I’m sorry you were offended”.)

Meanwhile, on C*tra’s end, there was that whole Thing in S3 about how her obsession with Adora was only hurting them both and the best thing for her would be to move on. That was gutsy. Acknowledging that even if two characters did care for each other, trying to commit to it would only hurt them? That’s the kind of complex, difficult thing you’d see from Steven Universe at its best. So, naturally, season 5 opts to completely drop that because doing anything to expand on it would contradict the Shipping Grid of Destiny, which is more important than any of your lowly mortal concerns like plot, characterisation, or theme.

Or hey, how about Adora’s desire to find her family, which is given a wildly unsatisfying resolution (”they’re dead so stop asking”) and then dropped entirely? They don’t even take the low-hanging fruit option of having C*tra console Adora over it (that would be too much like treating Adora like a person with her own needs for S5 to even consider it), they just forget it was there, and even the found family option is given one dream sequence that is never actually connected to it. Bonus points because taking this option both abandons the power-of-friendship stuff from the much better written season 1 and 4 finales and sidelines the best candidates for her found family, the Princesses of Power, who you’d think would have been important because they’re literally in the title but apparently not.

This is a pattern that becomes much clearer in the wake of S5 and its attempt to make a clean break with seasons 1-4 but was already there before it, from the C*tra/Shadow Weaver parallels that end up going exactly fucking nowhere to the crowd of princess outlines that Light Hope shows Adora for no coherent reason because we later learn that the only one who actually matters is Scorpia.

The show always seems to be planned out until the end of the season and then just wings it from there. And that’s not an inherently bad thing, many great stories have been the product of just winging it, but it does make it weird when people ignore that and act like it’s not this thing it’s hard not to notice that it in fact is.

If this whole thing was a Glorious Cohesive Narrative That Was Planned In Advance, that means they intentionally had C*tra do something borderline unforgivable with the explicit intent of having it be hastily forgiven. They deliberately yelled in the audience’s face that this relationship is not healthy and the best thing for them both would be to move on as an intentional way of making people want them to hook up. That’s...kinda not a good look.

[baggebythesea]

Hey, Bagge, how are ya? I wanted to share my current obsession in the context of She-Ra AUs with you. Said obsession being detective and thief stories.

I wanted to share this 'cause I got thinking about how this dynamic would work in a She-Ra AU. I think most would think of having Catra play the thief role with Adora and Glimmer being the detectives, but then I realized that even more interesting dynamic would Glimmer playing the thief role with Adora, Bow and Catra as the detectives chasing her.

I think it be interesting 'cause the BBFs members would have a different dynamic with Glim in the context of a detective vs thief story. Adora as the strictly by the books professional investigator. Catra as the wild card who uses unconventional, and sometimes dangerous, methods to catch her target. And Bow as the complete outlier in a genre full of characters defined by arrogance by how he be the nicest detective ever.

And of course, Glimmer as a master thief would be unmatched. There's so much you could do with her character and dynamic with the detectives. Go in depth into why a possibly rich heiress would steal for the thrill of it, how it maybe ties into her family. And her dynamic with these three investigators who decided to rise to the challenge of capturing her, how it starts as her thinking she has easy targets to play with, only to slowly realize their getting too close to comfort, both in their investigations and their shared feelings, but also, there be an irresistible magnetism that keeps making her go back to them. Something that pulls her to them somehow.

This has just been ping ponging in my brain and I had to put it out there.

I love it so much! There is an image floating around of Glimmer as a victorian cat burgler (I'll see if I can find it) that absolutely captures the spirit of it. She would be flirty, she would be fun, she would have a code of ethics and be the darling of the newspapers.

At the same time, the detectives would be so interesting. Adora might be easy to circumvent, but she'd be relentless. She might be by the book, but she never skips a step. And no matter how well you hide, you can never be certain that Catra doesn't lurk in a deeper shadow. Bow would bring both honesty and friendliness to the table - but also tech. There would absolutely be a scene when they consult the forensic detectives Entrapta and Hordak.

My most important question is: Do the gang know Gilmmer? Does she know that they are on her case? Is this a multi level game of cat and mouse?

Lovely AU!

[bisexualbumblebee-writes]

Harry Potter Masterlist

Updated: 12/16/2022

OC Guide- Marauders Era

OC Guide- Golden Trio Era

OC Guide- Others

Marauders Era

Remus x Violetta 

Makes Everything Better

Only Beats For You

Rough Fights and Long Nights

Date Night

Full Moon

Angel From France

Things They Love

Alone Time

New Professor

Pleasant Prongs

Sirius x Gaia 

Pink Poppies

Gryffindor Wins

Close Calls

Ravenclaw Parties

Reunited Part 1

Reunited Part 2

Just For the Night

What Do You Say?

Prince Caspian

Can’t Be Serious

Take Flight

Symbolic

Resignation

Xenophilius x Madeline

Call Me Xenophilius

Doesn’t Come Easy (Or Does It?)

Wedding Bells

Regulus x Cecelia

The Ones Never Forgotten

Trick of the Mind

Perfect Handwriting

Brings People Together

Courage or Cowardice

Boggart

Absent

He’s With Me

Family

James x Ella

Seeker

Study Help

Barty x Adina

Redemption

Weddings and Funerals

Trial

Henry x Ella

Choices

Ruined

Golden Trio Era

Fred x Mallorie

You’re Here

The Most Wonderful Mistake

All the Stars

Can’t Separate Us

Dance Lessons

Try Again

Passing By

Informal

Squeak

George x Corinne

Truly Fake

Sweet Revenge

Finally Free

Disapparate Alia Re

Tear Stained

Two Too Many

Working at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes

Ron x Rayna

Here Comes the Bride

Nicknames

Like a New Penny

Wedding Crashers

No Coming Back

Different Career

Through the Years

Harry Anastasia

Time Heals All Wounds

Touch Starved

May I Have This Dance?

Mr. Potter

New Rules

Bill x Sophia 

With All My Heart

New School, New Friends, New Love

French or Dutch?

Same Old Bill

Family Reunion

Out of My Sight

Weasleys’ Love 

Roles Reversed

Motherhood

Percy x Cassandra

Nothing to Be Afraid Of

Tortured

Me Too?

Draco x Cecily

Little Helper

Little Adventures

Runaways

5 Things That Made Draco Fall in Love

Bully

Cover Up

Charlie x Adora

Parseltongue

Sick

Logic It Out

Luna x Calypsa

Premonition

Fortunes and Misfortunes

Cedric x Dinah

Survivor

The Attack

Gauche

Forks, WA

Sharing the Attention Part 1

Sharing the Attention Part 2

Oliver x Jessica

More Important

Amortentia

Best of the Night

Neville x Charlotte

Lullabies

Professors

Viktor x Holly

Translator

World Cup

The Third Task

Tonks x Ophelia

Storyteller

Ginny x Chloe

Transcriber

Dean x Giselle

Potions

Tom x Julia

Treasure Hunt

Series/Miniseries

Summer Camping Miniseries

The Werewolf and the Angel

[vivaciouscynner]

Divinity's Forgotten Birthday

Heads-up: The following takes place in my Divinity and Her Flaws universe because that's all I can think about. This occurs on some timeline after chapter 13 which is still being written. Do also note that I am writing this on a whim - time does not permit me to write well or proper at the moment. I'm so tired and busy BUT WITHOUT FURTHER ADO

---

Catra came back from visiting Mara who found Adora by her window. She held a little flower in her hand. It only had three petals with sharp points like a star. Adora loved any flower that changed color depending how the light hit it and this was no different. It reflected six colors if looked closely and more if you had Catra's eyes. It went from blue to purple to red to yellow and if you angled it just right, there was a bit of transparency and then finally a dark black. Each petal tipped with gold, the only part that wouldn't change.

"And what's this?" Adora asked.

"Oh nothing really, Mara sending you another invitation to see you again. I think she likes you more than me." Adora laughed at that. Catra then pointed to the window, "How's the fam?"

Adora smiled, trying to hide secrets the best she could. "Good," she said simply, "Actually, we wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" Catra tried to glimpse into Adora's mind but could only see spotty blips of love for her. She raised a brow.

"Yep!" she said quickly, "I know you told me once that you must have had a 'beginning' and I wanted to share one of our traditions where we celebrate such begin-"

"You've given me a birthday?"

"If you want?" she opened her hands into a shrug. "I- we wanted to show you how much we care and are so thankful that you exist. So...," Adora held on to her amulet and thought of her family and in a moment the pools in the window revealed her family awkwardly holding a few poster signs. Adam let his rest on his foot. Marlena and Randor held theirs close to their chest.

Adora sank her fingers into the portal window and said, "She's looking now. Hold them up." Her family startled to the surprise voice in their heads and then held their signs up to the sky. They said in unison, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATRA!"

Adora retracted her hand and told Catra, "Happy Birthday, C'yra." She drew Catra, who seemed to be in awe, into a hug. When she didn't return the hug, she brought herself back, "Was this a bad idea?"

She blinked, "You gave me a birthday?"

Adora shrugged, "More like a day where we appreciate you and remind you that you're important to us. I may be a billion trillion eons too late, but you know what they say, better late than never?" Catra seemed expressionless. Adora was unsure if she was processing or hated the idea. "Erm, I'm getting never vibes...," she looked a little sorry and then realized her family was still holding the signs up. "Oh, right," she stuck her hands into the window again, "You're good guys, you can put the signs down. I'll uh... keep you updated." She turned back to Catra. "Um, Catra? Are you okay? I'm sorry if-"

Catra embraced her. The warmth enveloped Adora and there was a brief wave of euphoria that went down Adora's shoulders and back. "You give me little surprises?" Adora went, Mmhm. "You planned this without me knowing?" Adora went, Mmhm. A little smile rose to Catra's tail swishing back and forth. "And do you have any more surprises?"

Adora pulled back and kissed her. Then she said, "Maybe. if you're up for it?" Catra narrowed her eyes. "Please stop trying to read my thoughts, it is SO hard to block this." The both snickered.

"Show me."

Adora held her amulet and thought of her town center. As before, her fingers reached in. "She's watching now."

And a huge crowd suddenly gathered at the town square. Ten of them, at least, began to unravel a statue. It was Catra sitting cross-legged on the ground with several cats climbing over her. And Catra, a giant smile across her face. They looked to the sky, the view that Adora told them she'd be viewing and all shouted out on a count of 3, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATRA!" and cheered.

"I was going to do this last year but the statue wasn't ready and they didn't have a whole lot of references so..., it took a while. But hey, it sorta looks like you! And I gave them pictures of the guardians, er well, Mom did, I just sorta said hey can you give-"

"Adora." Adora went hm? Catra gently brushed back Adora's hair. A fingertip traced the edge of her ear as she Catra looked sweetly into her eyes. "How do I repay you? Hm?" She mocked the hm. "How do I treasure you like you deserve?"

Adora laughed, "That's just it, C'yra, you don't. Today is all about you. And getting reminders that we appreciate you and love you. So, how 'bout we head down there and hear what they all have to say? Hm?"

Divine finger raised and placed upon Adora's forehead. Then a smirk. Then she tilted her head at Adora to hear a bit more truth of how she was able to keep a secret from her so well.

With a roll of her eyes, "Okay fine. Scorpia, Perfuma, and Mermista did most of the work. It was my idea like 2 years ago. They set it up, didn't tell me, and then surprised me with it only a couple days ago. But I still did it, even if it was a couple days. You should be impressed!"

She was. "I am, actually." She gave Adora another kiss and off they went to meet the people who celebrated her.

[adora-bd]

Episode 1: Attention

The girls begin to come together as a group and try to bond ahead of debut.

You gotta earn the people's attention. You gotta give them something to look at and give all of their attention to. If you don't, they'll look over you and give their attention to someone else.

-MonJin, CEO of Bad Dream Entertainment

[ Bad Dreams Entertainment vocal room]

A girl is sitting on the wooden vocal room floor, reading over her lines over and over again. She is trying to find her pitch as she sings, biting her bottom lip as she messed up. "I'm a bit worried about my pitch on this part. I hope I can hit this note well for the group."

Chohee straightened up in her chair, fixing her hair as she tried to calm her nerves. When she was first told about the company hosting the Netflix Documentary on them, she was excited. Now that she was in front of the camera, she was full of nerves. She took a deep breath before introducing herself, hoping she didn't come across as too nervous.

" I was raised in Jeju with my father and older brother Heochan. My father owns a small restaurant that I used to help out at every day; I used to buss the tables and be a server." When asked if she thought it was stressful, she nodded. "It was so stressful as I did it every day. Then on weekends, I used to work at the little farmer's markets my area hosted and sell fish. I used to always hate weekends because I came home smelling like fish."

Chohee's father's restaurant was small and right next to the river with blue picnic tables outside, near the start of the alleyway that was used for the market. Above the restaurant was a small apartment where the family lived. Chohee smiled softly at the memory of her old room and her small cat named "Bonnie." "Bonnie used to be waiting for me when I came home from school. She would wag her small tail and kiss my face while I worked on homework or studied. I would just relax with her before going to work downstairs. It was the most relaxing part of my day."

When asked about her time being a trainee and how she came to be in Adora, she took out a picture of her sitting on a plane.

"I really liked NCT. I thought they were so cool and they had so many good songs. They didn't have very many concerts in Jeju, so my brother for my birthday took me to their Seoul concert so I could see them. They were so cool and it was exciting to see them live. While we were leaving, I was approached by this lady who said she was from some entertainment company and wanted to ask me to come to the next audition they had. I thought it was really strange back then: they just saw some random girl and thought she could really be an idol? I took her card and told her I'd think about it, but, I really went back to Jeju. I didn't have the money to fly back, but now the dream was stuck in my head. I used to dream about being able to be on the same stage as groups like NCT and perform like that." Chohee paused to wipe her eyes, not realizing that she was tearing up.

"Every night after studying, I would take out the card that lady had given me and I would stare at the stars and wish for another opportunity to try again. I hoped the stars would answer me with a chance, and they did. One night while I was cleaning the restaurant, I heard some song and the radio and started singing and rapping to it. I didn't think anything of it as I do it all the time, but I didn't realize who was there and watching me."

Yun Monji smiled as she bowed, her leg moving to cross over the other one. "As the CEO, it is important that I am always open to new talent. In order to find new talent, you have to be willing to travel anywhere and while traveling, I found Chohee."

"My first impression of her was that she was adorable and could rap well. Even though she was just cleaning the tables, she had such a great voice and flow that I knew with some proper training could be something so unique and cool. When I approached her about the idea of joining the company, she was so nervous and said 'oh I can't afford that, oh I can't.' While we were talking, her brother came over and said 'take her to live her dream. I'll cover for her while she's gone here."

At the mention of her brother, Chohee wipes her eyes as they filled up with tears once more. "My brother told me before I left with Monjin unnie that in return, I could buy him a house by the sea once I made it big. I felt so bad for leaving him all alone to help dad but this was the opportunity I had been wishing for; my second chance."

[ Bad Dreams Entertainment dance training room]

"Do you wanna run this dance again?" The trainer asks the girl, who nods. As Arianna Grande's "God is a Women" plays on the speakers, the girl dances, finishing with sitting by the mirror. She takes a few deep breaths before mentioning how hungry she was, making everyone laugh.

Jesun cracks a smile as she sits down, clasping her hands together. After introducing herself she smiles again, then asks if she is smiling too much. She wasn't as nervous as Chohee, but had an inkling of it.

"I was raised in Seoul by my mom and dad, but you could also say I raised myself in a way. " She paused, trying to keep her composure, not wanting to cry as the interview had just started. "My parents got divorced when I was around 10, then moved about an hour away from one another. I remember walking about an hour to see one parent, then an hour back to see the other because they refused to drive me to see them. They would say 'well, if you want to spend time with them, then you have to take yourself.'"

Jesun's old apartment was a small rooftop one, showing the beautiful view of her neighborhood. It was a small one-bedroom, one-bath studio.

"When I was in middle school, I used to work long hours to avoid being home. I made enough money to move out and live in a small studio on top of the convenience store I worked at. This happened at the same time I was entering High School, so it was stressful. I used to go to school, come straight to work, study and work at the store until around 1 or 2 am, then go to my apartment and sleep until I had to do it all over again the next day. I used to get bullied a lot because I didn't have very many friends and didn't go out a lot because I had to save money to pay rent and buy food. I was also bullied because my parents never came to any sort of event. I was called the an orphan."

"I used to sing a lot while I was doing homework. Lots of ballads. I used it as an outlet to sing out my feelings that I had at the time. My landlord said I was a great singer one day and told me about CUBE hosting an audition and that I should go for it. I thought 'wah, this old woman is crazy,' but I went anyways I surprisingly made it. Young me was so excited and was like 'I can be like 4minitue and make lots of money.' I was a trainee for a year, though. I made a YouTube channel to post my covers and other things because many other trainees had some too and I wanted to fit in with them. After a year at CUBE, I was kicked out and I was once again back to where I started. I began working two jobs and was thinking about withdrawing from school and just working from now on."

Choi Minho smiled as he sat down, introducing himself before taking a sip of water. "Our company can sometimes look for talent via social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Youtube. One day while just scrolling, Jesun's channel came up as recommended. The video I saw had about 3 million views so I thought I'd give it a chance. After hearing her voice, I knew she was made for being a singer. I contacted her school because I have a niece who attends the same school as her and met with her during her lunch break to discuss coming to an audition."

"When I was brought into the room and saw Minho oppa, I remember being in shock. I had recognized him as I was a fan of some of his ballads, so seeing him in person was crazy. It also confused me as to why he wanted to speak with me as I was just a nobody in the school. He then mentioned how he saw my YouTube cover and how he wanted to personally invite me to an audition they were having later that day. "

"Jesun at first rejected the idea. She said she had work and that she wouldn't have time to find someone to cover for her, plus she couldn't afford to be a trainee as it was too much money and she barely had enough for herself. When I asked about her parents, she said they had cut contact with her when she became emancipated. I could see how deflated she got as she was explaining all the reasons she couldn't, which hurt my heart. I just wanted to help her and give her the opportunity to not worry about it and to at least try. I knew she had a talent and I was confident that she would make it big."

"Minho oppa leaned forward to fold his hands and said, 'well, what if I took care of it all for you? You don't have to worry about money at all while training. You can train and hone your skills and be a normal teen.' I was shocked and began to cry, which I never do. I of course accepted his offer and went to the audition later. I think it was very fitting that he was the one who told me I passed. I cried again and hugged him, thanking him for the opportunity. I don't think I've cried that much or as hard since."

[ Bad Dreams Entertainment photoshoot studio]

"Perfect. Now turn to your right and smile," the girl nods before doing as she was instructed, the room clapping as she continued to pose. ''You look so pretty."

"Hello, I'm Naeun," she smiled, waving to the camera before laughing, mentioning how awkward this felt for her, but that she was excited.

"I was born in Daegu with my mom. She was a really good painter and she was very caring. She, however, was very sick so I ended up living with my grandparents as she got sicker." She paused to wipe her eyes, sniffling softly as she remembered how sick her mom was. "She was sad to let me go, but, she had too and I am forever grateful."

"My grandmother was a famous opera singer. She used to perform in large beautiful auditoriums worldwide and in front of sold-out shows. I used to travel with her during school breaks and was very interested in singing and performing. After a show, I asked her about it and she then put me into programs to help me sing and become an opera singer. It was really hard but I loved it."

Her grandmother smiled, leaning back in her chair as she spoke. "Naeun was gifted in everything arts- piano, guitar, singing, she had it all. I do admit, I was hoping to pass down my opera career to her as I wished to pass it down to my daughter, then her children, and so on. But, that didn't happen."

"One day during freshman year, my best friend at the time wanted to audition for the company and wanted me to come with her. I at first refused but she was able to convince me." Naeun smiled, a slight sadness coming from her. "We performed Gfriend's me gustas tu and I thought we both did pretty well. She had mentioned to me before we went in that she hoped that we could debut together in a group or as a duo and be successful together. I hoped for it too."

"At the end of of the audition, I was called back to the room for a talk. When I tried to bring her with me, they stopped me and told me they only wanted me. I remember feeling guilty as I turned to face her, looking at her sad face before following the staff member. I told myself that they were going to reject me and only take her; I was, at the time, hoping for it so as to not lose her. I was notified during the talk that I was picked and not her. It made me sad, but I thought about how great this opportunity was and how I could go on to succeed for both of us. It may have seemed selfish at the time, but I signed up with the company that day. When I came out to tell her, she had already been told by a different staff member that she rejected and that I was accepted. I tried to talk to her but she left and stopped responding to my messages. That was the end of our friendship."

Naeun's grandma sighed before opening her fan dramatically, fanning her face. "When Naeun told me she was an idol trainee, I was shocked. Again, I had the intention to pass my career to her so for her to randomly join a company without talking to me did make me a bit angry. I and my husband didn't help her move into her trainee dorm and didn't send her money or funds while she was there. I said ' this dream or me'. She ended up picking wanting to be an idol so I was a bit upset, but, after she told me she was in Adora and was going to debut, I did come around. I knew she was going to succeed and to now hear the confirmation about it, I was more on board than ever."

Minho crossed his arms, shrugging as the interviewer asked why he helped Naeun like how he helped Jesun. "Just like Jesun, she needed help too. I wasn't going to let her struggle. She had the same fire that Jesun had, along with the talent, so I knew she'd make it."

[ Bad Dreams Entertainment meeting room]

"So we need you to come up with the group's introduction and we need to record it to send it to the CEO's" The girl nods at her instructions, thinking about an introduction as she remembers something. "Ah, I also have some lightstick designs, group merch, and logo stuff to send as well. I'll email those with this voice recording." The staff all nod, coming up with ideas as the girl either shoot them down or says them into the mic, laughing after her voice cracks. "I'll try it again"

A video from 2009 video comes onto the screen, showing a nine-year-old running around her mom as the commentators talk about how cute she is. "Ah, one of the cutest kids we've had on this show!" The girl smiles into the camera before kissing it, then running to jump into her mom's arms, laughing loudly.

Amber smiles as she laughed softly at the video, mentioning how cute she looked when she was young. "Hello, I am Amber, formally known as the cutest kid in Busan."

"My mom was an Olympic figure skater while my father was a hockey player. They met during filming for a variety show and now I'm here." she laughed. "On one of the variety shows she was on, was based in our home and showed our daily life. Until then, no one had seen my face as my mom didn't want me to be seen too early by the public. When I came on camera, everyone fell in love with me and I was later nicknamed the cutest kid in Busan. I'm not so cute anymore, but yeah."

Her parents smiled, holding a tablet that played a YoutYouTube video of young Amber (around the age of 13) and a boy reviewing toys. "She loved to be on the camera. She later made a YouTube channel with her best friend called "Busannies TV" and that was her way to get out there. She wasn't known as our daughter after the channel blew up; she was known as just Kim Bora."

At the mention of the YouTube channel, Amber lets out a sigh of embarrassment, covering her face. "I can't believe you guys found that. I did it until I was like 15 because I started to get bullied because of it." She tossed her head back, sighing once more. ''I thought after that was over that I would never be in front of the camera like that ever again, and yet, here I am. Hopefully, I won't regret this one as much."

"I was scouted while out with some friends by JYP. I was shocked an thought it was pretty cool. They didn't know about my background and only scouted me because I was pretty, which was a confidence booster, to say the least."

"When she told us about how she was invited to an audition by JYP, we were shocked. " Her father said, his wife nodding. "We didn't know she wanted to be an idol but, after we saw how excited she was, we chose to support her."

Amber tossed her head back as she let out a heavy breath before returning to sit up straight, a look of slight annoyance on her face. "I was a trainee for three years before I transferred here. It was like the company was holding the idea of debuting over my head and when I jumped up to catch it, they would move it away. I was close to debuting in three groups and I would either be removed or the group would fizzle out." She nodded. "It was tiring."

MonJin nodded, clasping her hands together as she thought about Amber. "I am always open to collecting trainees as they have worked so hard to debut, so, they should see the fruits of their labor. I'll sometimes have other companies contact me about taking their trainees. They'll send me a video of them from their most recent evaluation and I'll either have them transfer to my company or not. So, when JYP contacted me about taking a trainee of his that they knew had some star power, but didn't fit the JYP image, I watched her recent evaluation... and knew she was a star."

[Outside of Bad Dream Entertainment]

A girl is seen running back and forth to her camera, making sure that it was set before setting a timer, doing different poses before rushing to grab her phone, cursing softly in Chinese before laughing. "It's time for a team meeting," she says. "I usually gather the members" she led the camera crew around the building gathering her members.

April smiles, smoothing out her skirt. "Hi, I'm April; Adora's sunshine."

"I was raised in Wuhan, China with my mom and dad. My earliest memory with them is my dad recording me with a handheld camera while I entertained some random guests we had by singing some nursery rhyme, then charging them each 1 dollar." she laughed.

Her father showed the video to the staff, laughing as a small April showed her parents the money she earned. "She loved performing in front of people. Every time we had guests, they were always told to bring a dollar as she would always sing some random song for them, then charge money." Her father chuckled. "She was a bright ball of sunshine."

"I used to perform wherever I could, growing up. I used to perform during school shows and during the community shows we had. I used to beg for at least one of my parents to take off of work to come to record me." she laughed, remembering all of the videos her parents have of her singing. "I knew from a young age I wanted to be on stage performing, I just needed the opportunity."

Her mom wiped her tears, speaking about how hard she worked for her. "She watched Twice on TV one day and said 'mommy, I wanna do that.' So, I picked up a second job to afford all of her lessons. All of the funds going towards her dream." She sniffled. "I went with her to Korea so she could audition for the company. I was so happy when she made it. I knew she was finally going to live her dream."

April wiped her own tears, smiling through them. "CEO Minho talked about how brave I was at the audition, as I was the only Chinese person who traveled all the way to debut. I remember I cried at the end when he told me I made it, thanking him over and over again before I told my mom" she sniffled. "We just sat in the hallway holding one another and just cried. We cried because I was going to live my dream; that all of her suffering wasn't for nothing."

As the girls ran down the hall laughing, heading to the staff room, a voiceover of CEO Monjin started.

"The girls are all talented. They have worked hard to debut and are now going to. They deserve to experience the dreams they all worked towards. The company is backing them, but, they have to put in the work."

EPISODE 1: OVER

[anotherwvba]

An Origin Story pt. 6

The infirmary was a marvel of modern medicine, a state-of-the-art facility that could handle everything from fight-related injuries to basic surgical procedures. Gabby Jay led the group of new and prospective fighters into the infirmary.

"Mes amis, welcome to the infirmary," Gabby announced, his French accent lending a touch of elegance to the sterile environment. "Here, you will find everything you need to keep you in fighting shape and ready for the ring."

Gabby then gestured to a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, “Please allow me to introduce Doctor Genkoto Wakada. Doctor Wakada is our chief physician on staff.”

Doctor Wakada stepped forward, a warm expression on his face. "Thank you, Gabby. Welcome everyone. Today, we'll be conducting your physicals. This will include blood work, EKG, the works. We want to make sure you're all fit to fight. The health and safety of our fighters is of the utmost importance to us here and we will put your health ahead of your fight."

“They are médecins fantastiques,” Gabby spoke up. “Doctor Wakada and his staff have kept me in fighting trim through one hundred bouts.”

“Thank you for the kind words, Gabby.” Doctor Wakada looked to his clipboard, “Let’s get started. Reina Adora, you’re up first.”

“About time,” Reina stood, radiating arrogance. She shot a disdainful look at the rest of the group before disappearing behind the curtain.

Star Mika took a seat in the waiting room, her eyes falling on the teal boxing gloves in her bag. I’m here, Mac, she thought. I'm finally here, in the WVBA. I can't wait for you and everyone to see how much I’ve grown.

"Umm, sorry, is this seat taken?" A voice broke through Mika's reverie.

Mika looked up to see a young blonde woman dressed in jeans and a Chicago Cubs tank top. "No, go ahead," Mika replied, smiling.

The blonde sat down and introduced herself, a midwestern accent tinged her voice. "I'm Kinsley, but you can call me Skye."

"Nice to meet ya’, Skye. I'm Mika. Star Mika," she introduced herself, extending a hand.

Skye shook it. "Star Mika, huh? That's pretty cool. I saw how you stood up to lucha chick earlier. That was badass."

Mika chuckled. "Thanks. I just don't like it when people act like they're above everyone else. We're all boxers, right? We’re all the same when we lace up the gloves."

Skye nodded. "Exactly. I hope I get signed just so I can fight her. I’d love to take her down a notch. Can't stand bullies."

"Me neither," Mika agreed. "So, you're from Chicago?"

"Born and raised! Chi-Town tough, that's what my daddy says. How about you?"

"I'm from the Philippines, but my family moved to New York when I started middle school."

“New York? So you’re a talker,” Skye smiles, giving the last word an exaggerated New York drawl.

Mika chuckles and puts up her dukes jokingly, “Oh, I talk alright.”

Both girls share a laugh, then Skye says, "That's awesome. What got you into boxing?"

"I was a gymnast, but I couldn’t find a place when we moved to New York.” Mika absently reached for her gloves in her bag, “One of my best friends was in the boxing club and got me hooked."

Skye grinned. "Really? I’m a gymnast, too! Gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, but I saw at a WVBA show at the UIC. That was when I knew this was where I wanted to be."

"Petmalu! Lots of skills translate to the ring,” Mika said excitedly.

"It's all about that footwork, baby," Skye winked. "So, you know anyone here?"

"Not really. I mean, I know of some fighters, but I don't really know anyone here personally."

"Then, wanna be my study buddy? We can help each other out."

Mika's eyes lit up. "Absolutely! We should totally see if we can room together too!"

Skye's eyes widened. "That would be awesome! Let’s check out the gym together tonight."

"I'm all in for it," Mika agreed, her excitement palpable. “So let me tell you about the cafeteria they’ve got…”

Just then, Doctor Wakada called out the next name, some guy named Tim or Tom—they didn't catch it. Mika and Skye were too engrossed in their newfound friendship and the exciting plans that lay ahead. They were here, in the WVBA, and the future looked brighter than ever.

[karlachgale95]

Hearts of the Multiverse-Chapter Three: The Phoenix

          Adding all of Rei’s friends to the conversation was easier done than said. Once everyone got back, they decided to have a conversation about this witch. Luz still looked a bit dazed. Whatever the monster that had attacked her and Hunter had done, must’ve been bad.

              The group sat in the living quarters of the shrine. Miles noted that Baldur’s Gate was still loaded on the TV. Hopefully he wouldn’t burn out the gaming system. But now, all of them were trying to talk about what they had just experienced. Apparently Usagi and her friends were superheroes around Tokyo. They’d been protecting people for a while now—maybe as long as Miles had been protecting Harlem.

              “So, you guys are superheroes, too?” Miles asked Rei.

              Rei nodded. “It’s a secret. We try not to go around broadcasting it.”

              “Understood.”

              “How are you feeling?” Katara asked. She’d been searching for her boyfriend earlier and had arrived later than Sokka and Zuko. But she seemed just as concerned.

              “I’m fine,” Rei assured her. Her face softened. “Thank you for asking.”

              Usagi held her cracked compact in her hands. She looked ready to cry.

              “Hey, sorry about your compact,” Miles spoke up. He paused. “It’s important, isn’t it?”

              Usagi nodded. “Without it, I can’t transform into Sailor Moon.”

              “And that’s the superhero identity, right?” Josuke confirmed. Usagi nodded. “Damn. That sucks.”

              “Don’t be so glum!” Nemona said. “We’ll help you for now!”

              “Absolutely,” Adora agreed. “Most of us are probably heroes, anyways.”

              Sure. Totally not a multiversal anomaly. None of that here. But what could it hurt to help? Well, Miguel or any of the other spiders could catch him out in the open. Unless he ran into, maybe, Hobie, he’d be kind of screwed. Still, leaving someone to fight without powers seemed like a jerk move.

              “I’ll help,” Miles offered. “Gotta study whatever power that lady had. Wasn’t electricity. I would’ve been able to shoot it back.”

              “You can bend electricity?” Zuko asked, almost wearily.

              “Yeah. I just learned how to take down forcefields, too,” Miles bragged a little. “I wouldn’t use it to be evil or whatever, so don’t worry.”

              “And we’re just supposed to trust each other? Just like that?” Anne asked. “Seems sketch.”

              “What other choice do we have?” Arven asked. He handed out a few sandwiches he made. “I can sort of vouch for some people here, especially Miles and Luz. They’ve been really nice to me.”

              “And Zuko and Sokka literally saved Rei and Hunter back there,” Josuke added.

              “In other words, now’s not the time for petty mistrust,” Giorno said. “There could be a bunch of monsters out there, and we don’t even know what those girls in the tree wanted. Could also be dangerous. We don’t know, and I hate not-knowing. We should probably do as much research as possible. That might involve fighting more of those things.”

              “I’m sorry,” Lillie spoke up, her voice small and quiet. “You want us to go out and look for a fight with those monsters?”

              “Not necessarily,” Giorno said. “But if we can learn more about them, they could be easier to stop.”

              “It might not be a bad idea,” Luz chimed in. She stood up. “I mean, our friends are out there. If we sit back and do nothing, they could be in danger.”

              She looked over at Hunter. “I’m not going to let any of my friends or family down.”

              Hunter gave her a half-hearted smile and murmured a ‘thanks.’

              “And we’ll make sure no one gets hurt, either,” Makoto said. She winked at Miles. “It’s good to know there’s more than one person who can manipulate electricity.”

              “I can’t sit back and do nothing,” Usagi said so quietly it was almost as if she never said anything.

              “I’d prefer if you stayed back for a while, until we can fix your compact. The girls and I have got it,” her boyfriend, the masked guy, Mamoru said.

              “Because roses are so effective,” Sokka said flippantly. This earned him a glare from the boyfriend. “What? It’s true. You could at least use a boomerang. I mean, I used to have a space sword. It’s something!”

              “He’s got a point,” Josuke agreed. “Who in the hell uses roses to be intimidating?”

              “Please friends, let us not fight,” Starfire said. “We should do as our friend, Giorno, suggested. We should stay on track and try and find these monsters—perhaps even locate a centralized area where they have come from.”

              “Great idea,” Giorno said with a nod. “At least someone is being rational.”

              “Harsh,” Anne said.

              “But not wrong,” Miles said reluctantly. “Look, we’ve got to try and get entire scope of our situation. I mean, it seems like we’ve found a few of our friends here, but it’s like Luz said: our friends are probably out there.”

              Well, their friends, anyways. And he was Spiderman.

              “Those monsters could be anywhere, and it doesn’t sound like that lady is going to give up so easily. Who even knows where they’ll pop up next? But I can tell you one thing: I’m not going to sit back and just let them hurt people. I’m going to figure out how to beat them, and everyone here will be safe.”

              He was his universe’s Spiderman. He wouldn’t let anyone else get hurt. No matter what. That, despite Miguel O’Hara’s opinion on the matter, was what he signed up for.

              …

              In an office building some distance from the shrine, Phoenix Wright’s left eye twitched as Gideon Graves melodramatically shifted through the list of accusations carried to him by Seto Kaiba’s legal team. The most prominent of that legal team being Phoenix’s old friend-to rival-to friend again, Miles Edgeworth.

              “I didn’t steal his stupid plans for whatever-the-fuck graphics!” Gideon complained. “And he’s coming at me with the best prosecutor in the country? I didn’t even ask to be here! I was just drinking mocha with my girlfriend, plotting the demise of that dramatic idiot Patel, and inventing better technology than that kid could ever dream of! It’s absurd, Wright!”

              Phoenix wasn’t sure what exactly to make of Gideon Graves. It was rumored he’d made a league of evil exes and put himself at the top just to win back a certain Ramona Flowers. Toxic dedication? Maybe. The only reason Phoenix had agreed to this case in the first place was since Graves had seemed so sincere in his innocence, and the magnatama had pretty much proved he hadn’t taken anything.

              But the whole crux of the issue was someone who looked very much like Graves had been seen sneaking files out of the building.

              “Mr. Graves,” Phoenix spoke up. “Have you tried reaching out to Kaiba Corp in any way, shape, or form? I mean, they have to acknowledge with all the weird stuff going on lately, there could be foul play.”

              Graves blinked. “No. Why would I do that?”

              “Monsters that can shapeshift might be able to prove your innocence, you know?”

              Gideon snorted. “Maybe. But who’s to say that kid will believe that?”

              Phoenix had been doing a bit of late AM research. Apparently, Seto Kaiba was a CEO and only sixteen. He’d been through a lot of staff due to his temperament. Or people just straight up quit. Edgeworth could probably handle him. Probably.

              “It’s worth a shot.”

              “And you think they’ll let me on the premises?” Graves asked sarcastically. “You’re supposed to be the best defense attorney here. That Edgeworth guy recommended you. No, I need a better plan than that. If you think it’ll do any good, YOU do it.”

              Edgeworth recommended him? Phoenix could almost hear him say, “And don’t make a fool of yourself, and by extension, myself, Wright.”

              “I might be able to, but I can’t make any promises.”

              “Oh, that’s fine,” Graves said in a sickly-sweet, definitely over-the-top tone. “It’s just my livelihood is all.”

              He leaned in closer, “If you screw this up, I will make sure both you and that prosecutor pay dearly.”

              With that, Graves pressed a button on his desk; almost immediately an older man came to the table.

              “See Mr. Wright out. Make sure he gets to where he needs to be.”

              The old man nodded and gestured toward the elevator. Phoenix internally groaned. It was enough that he had this high-profile client, but now both his and Edgeworth’s reputations were on the line.

              …

              “So, Nick, how’d it go?” Maya asked.

              “It went,” Phoenix said with a sigh. “That Graves guy is…something.”

              “Sounds like. I’ve heard he’s helped a lot of musicians get their start.”

              But at what cost? What did those poor people go through every day?

              “Oh Nick! One of our guests helped me make an authentic Italian dish! Isn’t that cool? You gotta try it!”

              Maya Fey, spirit-medium, little sister to his late mentor, Mia Fey, had been sticking around to help Phoenix with the influx of people staying with him. To be fair, Maya kind of suckered him into helping them in the first place, but it wasn’t so bad. At least they helped with the money situation.

              Maya dragged him into the kitchen, where one of the aforementioned guests, was helping another divvy up food onto plates.

              “Ah, hello Mr. Wright,” the man in the strange, white with black polka dots and gold trim suit said. His name was Bruno Bucciarati. He’d kind of just appeared in their apartment one day, pretty beat up. But somehow that wasn’t too bizarre for Phoenix. Plus, he was a perfectly polite house (apartment) guest.

              “We were about to eat without you,” the older woman beside him joked. Eda Clawthorne. She had people out there she cared about. If she found any of them, she had sworn she’d go with them, instead. For now, Phoenix guessed this was home base to her. She was…not as tidy or polite as Bruno.

              “You guys didn’t have to do that,” Phoenix said.

              “Well, Maya was curious,” Bruno said. “It served two purposes.”

              “Literally,” Eda said with a laugh.

              The door swung open, and the gaggle poured in: Hop, Hau, Shana, Wally, Toph, BB, and Gus. All of them were kids—BB being the oldest at fourteen. Toph and Wally were probably the youngest. Hop, Hau, Wally, and Shana had come from a place where those marketable creatures that fought each other actually existed. Toph came from a place where people could bend elements (she could, too). BB was a part of superhero group and could morph into any animal of his choosing, despite all animals being as green as he was. And Gus came from the same place Eda came from; a place where magic freely flowed. It was like having a large family. Phoenix had never really had one. His parents had died pretty early on in his teenage years, so he knew how to take care of himself.

              Eda, who knew Gus beforehand, looked to him. “Hey! Did you—?”

              Gus shook his head. “Nope. None of them. I’m gonna go back out tomorrow.”

              Eda sighed and sat down at the small table. “Thanks, kid. I’ll probably join you again. Just thought it’d be nice to help out around here.”

              A green dog walked through the living room, leaving Phoenix only a little perturbed this time. BB, or Beast Boy, was a unique kid. He could transform into different animals—and he liked dogs. A lot.

              He waddled over to Eda and then changed back; he gave her a goofy grin. “Don’t worry, Eda, we’ll find them and the titans!”

              “I’m sure we will,” Eda said. “Probably in some trouble, but they can handle it.”

              “And I’m sure they’ll find their way to us,” Shana said. “There’s no way they can’t!”

              The radio crackled in the background. The speaker was like someone from the 1920’s. “And now time for short stories with your delightful host! Now, our story begins in England, along a jagged mountainside. A man, his wife, and child crashed and were badly wounded. The mother perished, but the son and father were awoken by a mugger in the disguise of a savior. From that moment began a promise, a legacy, and a legend. Stay tuned to catch the rest of the story!”

              “That guy’s creepy,” Toph said with a slight grimace.

              “I want to know what happens next, though,” Maya argued.

              “What if the ending’s lame?” Eda asked. “Human stories always end weird.”

              “Are you kidding?” Gus asked. “Human stories are the best!”

              “The best kind of stories are the ones you make yourself, cousin,” Hau stated.

              “Agreed!” Eda said with a grin.

              Phoenix sat down and rubbed his temples. He’d go and try to speak with Kaiba Corp tomorrow. With any luck, Edgeworth wouldn’t be there. If he did, Edgeworth might perceive this as meddling or tempering with the case.

              “Oi, Mr. Wright, you don’t look so good. What’s up?” Hop asked.

              “It’s nothing, Hop. Just go ahead and eat your dinner,” Phoenix said dismissively.

              “Is that so?” Bruno asked. “Hate for the effort to go to waste.”

              There was a bit of guilt there. “I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to…”

              “So, you’re gonna starve yourself? Bright idea, Wright,” Eda said with a snort.

              “Well, I need to try to get into Kaiba Corp tomorrow, but I’ve heard the CEO isn’t very…cooperative.”

              “Oh, is that the sixteen-year-old that runs that gaming business?” Maya asked.

              Phoenix nodded.

              “You’re worried about some kid?” Eda asked. “Just tell his mom if he’s that much trouble.”

              “He’s an orphan.”

              “Oh…well, could’ve said that before I stuck my talon in my mouth.”

              “I might be able to help you,” Bruno offered. “I have special clearances for occasions such as this. I might have a contact within the company. You never know.”

              “Really?” Phoenix’s face brightened. “That would be extremely helpful! Thank you.”

              “Not a problem. Now, please, don’t let the food go to waste.”

              …

              Somewhere, in another reality, perhaps, stood a dark and morose laboratory. The red witch, Kaolinite frowned as she looked at the recent reports she’d just written. The webslinger, the invisible attacks, the boomerang boy, and the fire-bender were all a big imposition on her plans.

              Ever since whatever force had decided to tear open a new window through space and time, a new, powerful, and most promising crop of pure hearts had been scattered all around Tokyo.

              The only problem would be actually getting a hold of them. She’d need to corner most of these targets, make sure none of the pests stood in her way.

              Then—and only then—she would bring Dr. Tomoe what he needed to destroy this world and begin the next.

[determination-has-left-sys]

Ig we outa do this like introducing thing . So we don't know what kinda system we are, but we are undiagnosed cause, apperently to the USA, everything costs $$$$ and you can't even get Healthcare sooo fuck off . But we are bodily 22 plus size and have disabilitie like adhd,dyslexia probably an eating disorder now- and severe depression we are diagnosed with those things we put that cause apperently it's important. But we do have a huge hyperfixation on undetale for the past 7years thats how we got swap papyrus to be our host he started off as a caretaker . So he's our host he's kinda lazy but very understanding you'll probably get along with him and I'm angel I'm the co host but since papyrus dosent always have the energy I'm a bit more flirty and probably more energetic? I started as an alter but apperently the body must've really liked me our orginal host was chara and undine but undine is no longer around yes undine not undyne even tho we have an undyne alter our main Fronters are me , papyrus, chara moxxie and nightmare. But we have othera like Valery she's a brainmade alter and she's very quite and sweet and we have rick who's a realists and a Jack ass he looks on the more scientific side of things then there's handplates gaster who dosent really know how to socialize or nightmare who's extremely negative he's a protector and ya know goes from there like tori she's super nice and probably a caretaker or alter Sorry couldn't finish this but I have husk who's likr a anger alter and he's kinda who I'm with also gabriel he's super sweet he was originally a lust sans alter but changed their name and goes by he/them other stuff and husk is just kinda grumpy all the time but sweet to me and he's likes his alcohol 🍸 so there's that warning and grillby normally gives it to him he's another protector so he knows how much to.jeez there's so many new ones to like morty doubtle troubleThere's also adora alphys aliza Ane ballora I may just post our whole list but everyone here is amazing I just don't say so enough and youll probably like them too if u got the chance we have Littles like patience or integrity, sally Ben patients is a people pleaser and integrity is out going Ben likes his video games but scared of water sally dosent like adult men so much cause they scare her but likes her stuffed animals . There's Elizabeth she's super nice and likesLike robots just like alphys but feels safer around ballora there just to much to put here sorry-angelAlso, there's a good chara their pretty cool there, really into demonology and attached to Fizz and Asmodeus, and thatd how we got the clone of fizz and stuff and their but kinda confused on wether or mot they like God cause after all he's still something good and they wanna impress both , but they really care about asriel and flowey(which we don't have) and family not always nice-angelStories with happy endings and strong characters she's basically the closest to a Christian you will get here there's still more but guess you gotta fine out for yourself huh?-angel