#butterfly life cycle

[suprsaturatd]

slowtember #2: bugs :)

Did a butterfly that lives in my area!

Prompts under the cut:

[kylieswift31]

Benjamin Button

“Sometimes growing up precious means not growing up at all” -but daddy I love him

Benjamin Button’s journey through life is unlike anyone else’s and Taylor’s journey to reclaim her music has occurred in much the same way. But perhaps Taylor’s not the only one on that journey?

Benjamin Button meets Daisy Fuller at a point in his life where they are the same age on the inside but he looks much older on the outside. They share a magnetic connection that is hindered by their differences, but over time fate brings them back together over and over again. And just like the moon eclipses the sun, Benjamin and Daisy share a small portion of their life together as a couple at the peak of their adulthood. As they both approach the end of their lives Daisy comforts and cares for Benjamin until he finally passes away. The passage of time is an overarching theme in Benjamin's story because every time he began to gain footing in any particular chapter of his life, those around him entered into the same chapter of their lives that Benjamin had just left behind. In turn his connection to those his own age is fleeting in contrast to his ongoing bond with Daisy.

The concept of time is something we've seen repeated throughout Taylor's discography and music videos too. There have been so many theories on how to interpret the clocks Taylor has used throughout the years, but what if we were supposed to compare it to the lifecycle of the butterfly? After all, butterflies were included on the cover for Taylor's debut album. If so, her discography can be broken down into two halves with debut - reputation representing the life cycle of the caterpillar and lover - TTPD representing the lifecycle of the butterfly as it emerges from the cocoon and enters into adulthood. Many see the lover era as the failed coming out period of her life, but I can't help but wonder if it was intended to be a soft launch for those who could pick up on her queer flagging. Even if this wasn't her original plan, taking her time has made this current phase of her career all the more impactful. And just like the caterpillar goes through a process of metamorphosis to become a butterfly, Taylor had to learn how to walk before she could learn how to fly.

There are a few quotes from the director of the Miss Americana documentary in Taylor's variety interview from 2020 discussing the political themes as "a portrait of the birth of an activist". It makes sense that testing the waters by coming out in a political sense was a necessary step towards coming out as queer after Taylor had spent her career staying silent on political issues. When looking back at old interviews it became evident that keeping her opinions to herself prompted the interviewer to fill in the blank space of their unanswered questions by sharing who they wanted Taylor to be instead. Many ended up reaffirming the expectation for her to set a good example for young girls with her Christian values, to not follow in the footsteps of 'going off the rails' like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan and the hopes they had for her to settle down by becoming a stay at home mother and wife in the future. Interviews like this were common in the red era when Taylor was beginning to be seen as a young woman for the first time. Staying silent allowed others to assume that she was on their side, but deep down it was also a survival instinct to protect her burgeoning career.

“I saw how one comment ended such a powerful reign, and it terrified me,” says Swift. “These days, with social media, people can be so mad about something one day and then forget what they were mad about a couple weeks later. That’s fake outrage. But what happened to the Dixie Chicks was real outrage. I registered it — that you’re always one comment away from being done being able to make music.” -Taylor Swift

And now that the eras tour is about to come to a close it feels like we're on the precipice of change. It's been difficult to articulate what's been occurring lately because it's evident that many overlapping narratives that had coexisted at once are now fighting for dominance. When Taylor adopted her third cat she named him Benjamin Button to represent going back in time to reclaim her past albums, but it also feels like she was referencing the contrasting life and death cycles between Benjamin and Daisy. When we compare Benjamin with Taylor's other cats Olivia and Meredith it becomes clear that he completes the characters in the fictional love triangle. There's Olivia as Taylor, Meredith as her muse (either her real muse, another version of Taylor or the pronouns of the muse in her lyrics) and Benjamin as Taylor™. Just like Benjamin Button's character, Taylor™ is growing younger as the rerecords are released and this journey will be complete once Taylor owns all of her music. In contrast Taylor and her muse are following Daisy's lifecycle combined with the metamorphosis of the butterfly life cycle. Once the death of Taylor™ occurs, Taylor and her muse will complete the rebirth cycle of the caterpillar by reemerging as butterflies by revealing their true selves to the public.

The divide between the swifties and gaylors has solidified over the last couple of months as everyone has essentially picked sides between Taylor and Taylor™. Just like a labyrinth differs from a maze because there is only one path of travel, Taylor is on a journey that only has one destination: coming out once and for all and creating positive change for others while she’s at it. The swifties believe that they're right and we're wrong because they've seen Taylor™ as the butterfly without realising that she was aging backwards like Benjamin Button. They haven't picked up on the signs that Taylor™ has emerged from the chrysalis as a caterpillar. On the other hand the gaylors are on the right track because we saw the signs that Taylor was a caterpillar concealing her truth in her lyrics and now we're witnessing the original version of Taylor emerging from the chrysalis as a glorious butterfly.

It feels like this transformation is both an ongoing process and a journey building up to a finale. The queer flagging over the years has been enough for many of us to accept that Taylor has already come out to those who could see it, while understanding that she’s drawing attention to the facade so that others can see it for themselves. This begins with understanding that Taylor has been the unreliable narrator of her own story, and at the same time has played into the role of the “one night or a wife” stereotypes that the public have made assumptions about over the years. So many people cling to this image of Taylor and the fact that she referred to herself as an ally once without considering that there is so much more evidence that suggests that Taylor lied about being an ally to conceal her truth from the majority of the public. And the dichotomy between Taylor and Taylor™ has increased with the new surprise song dresses. This feels like definitive proof that Taylor is queer regardless of which label she identifies with, and that the rainbow aesthetic isn’t just a thing of the past. This is more than enough proof for me, but it also feels like we're now on the precipice of big changes that will lead to undeniable proof in some form so that everyone else can see it. It currently feels like there are four different versions of Taylor, but at the end of the day only one of them is the real Taylor's version.

Lastly I'd like to finish up by comparing Taylor's journey towards midnight (rebirth cycle and butterfly lifecycle reaching completion) with both the mechanisms of a clock and the map of the solar system. When the planets orbit the sun they each take different lengths of time to complete a full loop in the same way the hands of a clock return to 12am or 12pm each time they complete a full loop. There are many measures of time in flux once we begin to add in the three different hands on the clock that all have their own cycles, just like the planets circling the sun.

Hours, minutes, seconds 🪞 days, months, years.

If we replace the planets with these measures of time we begin to see that there are many versions of midnight occurring . Taylor would be on the inner rings leading the way with a trail of Easter eggs and queer flagging. Followed by a mixture of the gaylors who have been around for years and those of us who have become gaylors more recently. We all go through our own personal experience of meeting Taylor at midnight when we begin to pick up on the queer flagging and then continue to loop around as we continue to learn more as time goes on. The next ring would represent those who are just starting to pick up on the queer flagging now that Taylor has become bolder than ever before. This is why Taylor has recreated examples with her current relationship, she wants them to be able to understand her journey in their own way. And finally the outer ring represents the rest who won't accept anything less than a formal coming out. This outer ring represents the finale of the final midnight before the next cycle begins again. And yet the hands of a clock don’t stop when they reach midnight, they continue through the cycle over and over again. It’s possible that Taylor has something big planned for the finale, but at the end of the day she’s still the same person she’s always been.

As a fellow millennial it would be remiss of me to not mention the exiled planet from the 90’s: Pluto. The planet that’s not a planet, but once was a planet, but is not considered a planet anymore... I could go on but my point is that the planet Pluto isn’t the only thing that’s missing, Taylor’s cat Meredith is missing too. “For Meredith, self quarantining is a way of life. Be like Meredith.” -insta caption from 2020. Taylor has recently posted both Benjamin and Olivia on her Instagram page, but Meredith hasn’t been seen since her photo appeared on the tortured poets department bulletin board. This feels like a great reminder that just because we don’t see her (or Taylor’s muse), that doesn’t mean that she’s not there. An unreliable narrator draws your attention away from the truth by focusing on the distraction in the hopes that you won’t notice what’s missing. Taylor has distracted us with the completion of the re-records and the fictional love triangle (Benjamin and Olivia) so that we wouldn’t notice that her muse was hiding in the shadows (Meredith). Just like Taylor is trying to convince the majority that her current relationship is real, she seems to be doing the same thing with Betty in the fictional love triangle. The way she describes Betty and James ending up together sounds an awful lot like “my boyfriend Travis!”. Taylor wants us to focus on Betty so that we won’t look elsewhere. And to tie it back to the curious case of Benjamin Button, Taylor™ (Benjamin) is the third wheel in the fictional love triangle and Taylor and her muse are both Daisy (Olivia and Meredith). In the end revealing which muse Meredith represents will be the finale of the finale. After all it’s not the tortured poet department, it’s the tortured poets department because there’s more than one tortured poet.

There’s two. ✌🏼

“I’m setting off, but not without my muse”

"And sometimes there’s no proof, you just know”

A tortured poet,

Kylie x

[wild-wow-facts]

Monarch Butterflies: Nature's Navigators

Did you know? Monarch butterflies migrate over 3,000 miles! Discover their unique navigation skills and why they are truly remarkable.

Check out my other videos here: Animal Kingdom Animal Facts Animal Education

[peachcitt]

metamorphosis // hum hallelujah

for @anna-scribbles (my best girl, my partner in crime, my tumblr/twitter mutual, my silly rabbit right hand girl man arm hand).

metamorphosis was as much your story as it was mine; thanks for all your love<3

[lichen-soup-scribe]

I've been watching this two-tailed swallowtail caterpillar grow up on my wild cherry and was lucky enough to spot it in its final instar, when it turned brown, left home and started looking for a good place to pupate. It obligingly demonstrated its impressive defense display for me, complete with wafts of stink from its osmeterium (the forked orange glands on its head).

It'll be spending the winter in its pupa in a nice roomy jar in my garage -- I'll make sure to take pics when it finally ecloses and I let it free to make more caterpillars!

Here are some more baby pics, ordered from earliest to most recent. The leaves in the first three pictures are all about the same size. You can see how its early stages mimicked bird poop.

[quotent-potables]

If I could fly away, I would, Build a wall around myself, And dissolve. To be something new, To be something beautiful, To be something else entirely. I would embrace the sun, New colors, new wings, And I would be my own.

— "Cocon", an in-world poem in metamorphosis, a Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir fanfiction by peachcitt.

Read it on AO3

[dent-de-leon]

Caduceus comic gave me one little Mollymauk butterfly and I am still overcome with emotions about it--

[hekateras]

Flower Vision The life of a butterfly dragon...

Another mini Battleship comic trying to hit many prompts :)

[k00293433]

Relief printing: 29/02/24

Today, I also completed my woodblock prints.

I wish I had more time to develop this idea further but I feel that the final product is t too bad.

I also folded paper to make a zine, which I aim to add text to.

Finally I used left over ink to create these patterns on paper.

For this I just rolled the ink roller to create a pattern

And here I moved the damp stamp over the paper to show more movement.

[abutterflyobsession]

I put on a sock

sock has a hole in it

I take off the sock

I drop the sock on the floor because I'm hurry

the next day I see a sock on the floor

I put the sock in the laundry hamper

later I pull socks out of the clean laundry

I put on a sock

sock has a hole in it

I take off the sock

I drop the sock on the floor . . .

[cosmik-homo]

I am starting to think the issue with the second doctor in official short story anthologies is you CANNOT just put Your Whimsiest Writer on the task. correct prose voice is nice and all but if your tone does not remotely account for theme you are LOST.

[espiritogato]

[sttoru]

𝝑𝑒 synopsis. after being married to satoru for two years, you still giggle and (secretly but not so secretly) fangirl about him whenever given the chance. your husband absolutely loves indulging you.

tags. husband!gojo satoru x wife!female reader. fluff, sfw, tiny bits of angst. tooth rotting fluff yeah. reader gets called ‘princess, baby’. inspired by this ask.

“and and and, his smile ‘s just so beautiful,” you sigh dreamily, resting your head on satoru’s lap. you’re both enjoying the cozy night in your shared apartment. with no one bothering you—with no regards for the world that’s continuing its cycle outside.

satoru chuckles as he pats your head slowly, taking his time to appreciate every feature of yours. from your pink-ish lips to your pretty eyes. he’s so in love with the creation god has gifted him. he nods attentively, “yeah? what else?”

you giggle as he indulges you. it’s a habit of yours, to fangirl over your husband like you’re not literally his wife. satoru finds it absolutely adorable. plus, it boosts his ego. in a very good way.

“aaaand, he’s caring. that’s the one thing i love most about him,” you continue to ramble about your little ‘crush’ on that so-called mysterious white-haired sorcerer. satoru wishes he could capture this moment and keep repeating it over and over in his head.

the way you talk about your crush - him - is filling his stomach with butterflies. the tall man can’t deny the faint blush on his cheeks and the fuzzy feeling in his chest. you keep getting cuter and cuter the more time passes.

when he thinks you’ve reached a state of perfection in his eyes, you once again prove him wrong and go beyond that. “caring, hm? he must treat my princess real good then,” satoru hums and continues petting your head. his other hand rubs your stomach—fingers creeping under the material of your nightgown.

“he does,” you nod in agreement, “he treats me so well. i don’t know how i got so lucky to have met him.” you squirm a little as you feel satoru’s slender fingers graze your midriff, going back down to your belly and then back up your chest again. his touch is so intimate and loving. you’re spoiled. spoiled rotten by his affection.

satoru sighs. his white lashes flutter shut for a second. hearing you say such stuff makes him want to check if it’s reality he’s in. if it isn’t another too-good-to-be-true dream of his. no one had loved him as much as you did.

it feels good to know that he’s wanted. needed.

“no, i think he is the lucky one,” satoru continues. his hand petting your head stops and he moves it to rub your cheek tenderly. he leans his head down, the tips of your noses touching. he whispers, “having a pretty girl like you love him so dearly… yeah, he’s won the lottery.”

your heart skips a beat. satoru’s words leave you speechless. you don’t know if you can keep up the little silly act anymore. his flirting, the teasing and the genuineness behind his words—it’s all too much.

you grab the back of his head and push his lips down against yours. satoru’s breath hitches for a second before he gives in to you. he visibly melts, eyes closing and hands tightening their grip around your body.

“mmh,” satoru lets out a content moan. he loves you. he’s glad he’s met you and he’s glad he made you his wife two years back. you’re the only one for him. death won’t do you apart—no—he promised you on your wedding day that it wouldn’t.

you kiss him like it’s your last kiss on earth. the spark between you is still as warm and strong as it was when you met. the people who’ve warned you about the ‘honeymoon phase’ are clearly all wrong. they aren’t aware of the strength your bond with satoru has. you’re inseparable.

“i love you,” you sigh against satoru’s glossy lips and he deepens the kiss after that.

somebody loves him. somebody cares for him. that’s all he needs in life. his life is complete with you in it. he smiles against your lips and says the three words back, with more passion than ever before, “i love you too, my angel.”

nothing will ever separate you. not fate. not anyone.

[quotent-potables]

"You're worried about me," he says, and Marinette raises her eyebrows. "Should I be?" He laughs, looking down at his bowl and tracing his spoon through the melted ice cream and brownie chunks. "You know what one of the things I like best about you is, Marinette?" he asks, and Marinette sighs, pretending to think hard. "My genetic talent for making sweets?" she asks, gesturing to his empty bowl, and he snorts. "Good guess," he says, and he rests the handle of the spoon against the edge of his bowl. He turns his face so that he's looking at her, and she does the same. His smile is easy, unmarred by any heavy emotion. "You never make me feel burdened by your worry." Marinette feels her heart break a little bit, but she just frowns comically down at the last corner of brownie in her own bowl. "Funny, I don't remember putting alcohol in these."

— metamorphosis, a Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir fanfiction by @peachcitt.

Read it on AO3