#fly i do love sparkly stones ok

[avo-kat]

browsing r/engagementrings not because i want to get engaged at any point, but because i like looking at pretty rings and also equally enjoy shaking my head and internally making fun of people with huge and gaudy diamond rings

[meganwasbored]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts Season 2 Episodes 3 and 4

Episode 3

-I SWEAR IF HE NEVER GETS TO OPEN THAT LETTER

-ah yes you finally get the magic mirror to work and the first thing you do is CLEAN

-PROTECTIVE BROTHER SOREN

-Ezran is a literal ray of sunshine and he’s about to get his heart crushed this is awful

-not telling him right now is only gonna make this more painful. For me.

-CRYING

-IS MIRROR GUY THE SPARKLY HANDS IN THE INTRO ARE THE SPARKLY HANDS EVIL

-“I have something to give you, in private” LETTER???

-girl this is not the time for JOKING oh my gosh

-I’ve waited an entire season for him to get that letter back and he’s not even gonna open it yet??? You’re KILLING me

-all I’m hearing is that we get more Soren and Claudia sibling content

-I love how Lujanne isn’t some all-knowing being, just a funny old lady who can do magic tricks, like she gives the same vibes as the grandmother from Moana

-oh my gosh I thought Ellis went back home but she’s still here do her parents even know where she went

-FLY AWAY ZYM FLY AWAY

-NO NOT THE DRAGON

-sparkly hands kinda looks like a Star Wars character, but in a good way

-now that I’m thinking about it all the characters could pass as Star Wars characters, maybe it’s the clothes

-Callum and Ezran aren’t moving either they planned for this betrayal or they’re dead

-I was wondering why Rayla hadn’t annihilated Soren by now

-wait so are Callum and Ezran still back with Lujanne thinking nobody left yet

-bruh if they went through all this just for Claudia to still catch them they deserve to lose

-I FORGOT THIS GUYS NAME BUT HIS TIMING IS IMPECCABLE

-awwww I knew we’d have to leave Ellis at some point but I’ll miss her

-I WONT FORGET ABOUT YOU ELLIS

-I’ve been calling sparkly hands a he but now getting a closer look at him he might be a she so if you’re screaming while reading this I’m sorry but imma keep calling him a he until I hear otherwise

-note to self: the dudes name is Corvus

-“I HATE THE MOON”

-I cannot get over how beautiful Phoe-Phoe is

-DYING DEAD DECEASED

Episode 4

-bruh what the heck just happened

-wait so does every single guard know sign language for Amaya that’s cool

-ok so can sparkly hands hear him too or just see him

-well obviously y’all weren’t gonna have Phoe-Phoe the whole time you can’t just steal Lujanne’s bird

-“let’s go judge and criticize things other humans do, and then do the exact same things ourselves” human Rayla is getting a little too real

-just once I want a show where the magical being is just as scared of the human as the human is of it

-“Welcome to me water home, the Ruthless! Named after me dear wife, Ruth, who sadly… doesn’t enjoy sailing” HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA WHO WROTE THESE JOKES

-“Me left eye was taken by a flock of mutinous seagulls!”

“Wow, and what about your right eye?”

“Don’t know, came at me from me left!”

-“the last thing I remember I was talking about Narcolepsy then falling asleep!”

“Yeah that’s about right”

-stop even the parrot has bangers

-bruh is sparkly hands making him do all these things for a spell or just to test him

-first we have a badass general who’s deaf now we have a talented ship captain who’s blind, The Dragon Prince fighting ableism since 2018

-“did he just say the word squawk?” HAHAHAHA

-even if Amaya wasn’t deaf sign language is actually such a great way to send silent signals to other soldiers

-technically Zym is already the king of the dragons since the former king is dead

-also this screenshot

The perspective makes it look like the lightning is hitting Rayla and I’ve decided that’s either A) romantic metaphor, she’s catching feelings first, or B) she’s gonna get struck by lightning

-“if you die out there I swear I’ll kill you” literally imagine any of your otps saying that to each other and tell me it’s not true love

-idc if he can’t talk Zym is literally my favorite character ever

-respectfully how the heck does that look like a primal stone, you just made a circle with your hands, you could’ve done that to any part of the sky

-literally love the Crow Master dude

-I know you’re not about to touch that lightning rod, Callum, because that would be STUPID

-BRUH YOU CANT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING IF YOURE DEAD

-you CAN risk your life to learn magic just do it LOGICALLY and don’t be an IDIOT about it

-…did Zym just BLOW UP???

-Amaya you can’t just TACKLE someone who’s holding a freaking LIGHTSABER

-why couldn’t she just have been in lava monster form the whole time she probably would’ve won

-so does Zym get superpowers now or something like there had to have been a reason for that

-“I thought I wanted this badly enough but in the end I didn’t have the guts” no you just decided not to be an absolute idiot

-Viren may be evil but he sure isn’t stupid

[muthaz-rapapa]

Rewatch: Mahou Tsukai Precure Ep 3

Hey hey hey~!

I made it to Sunday with another MahoPre post again! Praise me, won’t you?

*bows extravagantly* ( -∀-)シ

ALSO, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU GREAT MOMMIES OUT THERE!! WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT YOU?!  (｡^▽^｡)/ ♡

Yaaaaa, you know the animation quality really went up when not only the new transformation sequence was top notch but the episode it debuted in was as well. Really! Everything was so sparkly and purdy~

Like Mirai and Mofu-chan’s excited faces, kyaaaaa~! xD

Ahem, so we start off with Mirai calling home and let’s just say she’s very lucky it was Grandma who picked up.

I don’t know how long Mirai’s been gone but judging by how Grandma’s first question is about Mirai’s search instead of asking where she is right now, maybe she hasn’t been gone too long to raise any alarms yet.

In any case, the beginning of the phone call was hilarious cuz though Grandma shares Mirai’s belief in witches and magic, I’m pretty sure she never expected for Mirai to be contacting her from another realm, much less hear that she’s become a witch herself.

She’s like “Huh? Wut?” xD;

And then there’s Mirai. Oh god, Mirai.

She really is the type to spill almost every detail out in a jumbled manner and gesture frantically on the other end of the line even though there’s no way her Grandma can actually see her, lol I do the same thing when I talk over the phone

Meanwhile, Headmaster and Riko are just standing awkwardly in the background, watching this girl play charades in front of a crystal ball.

(^ ∀ ^ ;;)

Anyways, despite all the rushed explanations, Mirai wants to attend class here and asks for permission.

Naturally, any normal parent/guardian would say “no” because first of all, what the heck is she going on about? Flying brooms? Magic World? WAT? Did you hit your head while playing or something?

I mean, even the most understanding person would just assume Mirai found a new friend at the playground who introduced her to some secret hangout or whatever and that Mirai just wants to stay out longer to have fun, that’s all.

But nuh-uh! Mirai’s really in the Magic World right now and she really wants to enroll in magic school for the rest of spring break!

Miraculously (and again, she is so lucky it was Grandma who picked up), she does get the okay.

Grandma actually believes Mirai will be alright with these strangers in some foreign place she’s never heard of. She’s never met them, there’s no address or even a phone number she can call to check up on Mirai. For all she knows, her granddaughter could’ve been tricked and kidnapped by some shady hoodlums.

But over the phone, it doesn’t seem that Mirai is any danger...and since she sounds so eager, well then, alright. Grandma chooses to trust Mirai.

Cue joyous, major squee-able hug! <D

But on a serious note, PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THIS IN REAL LIFE, OKAY?!

(O_ O ;;)

It’s somewhat forgivable in an children’s anime where things are more idyllic and even Mirai’s situation is an exception among exceptions because of plox. 

But if your kid is asking to stay out in some vague location with people who don’t have your trust to look out for their well-being, then you get in your car or call the police or do whatever’s necessary to bring them home immediately!

...come to think of it, I wonder how Mirai’s parents reacted when Grandma told them the news. By the time Mirai got back home, they seemed pretty cool with it but Mirai should’ve at least called them every day (off-screen) to ensure she’s alright so that they didn’t have to worry a lot while she was away.

I dunno, please don’t mind me too much on this matter. I'm just very sensitive when it comes to the safety of children, that’s all. The news and living in the city scared me into being cautious.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind becoming an Uber driver as long it’s a magic carpet I’m flying.

But I’m not sure what the insurance policy on that is like and it doesn’t look like there are seat belts either which is a tad bit concerning. Hmm...

Bouncy-wouncy flippy-floppy Mofurun~!

Look at this happy bear~! She’s having the time of her life!

Ugh, my heart~!!! x3333

I believe this is the first time Mirai’s had the chance to tell Riko something about herself and it’s quite nice that Riko was the one who (sorta) initiated the interest this time around.

We all know what Riko’s like. She’s not fond of people being too chummy with her because if they get to know her, they’ll learn how bad she is at magic as well. That’s why she’s always trying to maintain a distance. Trying not to interact with others too much and not volunteer too much info about herself so she can uphold an image she doesn’t really possess and protect where she’s most vulnerable. Tsundere defense mechanism in the works.

For her to reach out to Mirai, even if it’s only out of some courteous small talk and minimal curiosity, maybe it means she’s gradually becoming more comfortable. At least in Mirai’s company, there’s no need to have her guard up that high and she can talk to someone normally for once.

Mirai, on the other hand, is the honest type through and through and is thrilled to share anything about what she loves.

Her bright, sincere personality and close relationship with her grandma shows how well she was raised because no matter how wild or out of this world Mirai’s thoughts can get sometimes, those closest to her never ridiculed or made her think less of herself for that. That’s why she’s almost always able to face anything with open optimism. She’s free to be unapologetically herself because she has that kind of reassurance.

It’s a security that many people would die to have.

And Riko is one of those people.

Listening to Mirai talk warmly about her grandmother brings a slightly lonely expression to her face because Riko doesn’t have anyone like that. No one whom she can talk to about anything and everything, no one whom she can show her true self to without fear of being judged by them.

No one to call a real friend.

Well, guess what, Riko? Ya got right one in front of ya, dont’cha? Hahaha~!

She just doesn’t realize it yet.

Moving along, damn, the whole island is occupied by magic merchants and their shops!

Diagon Alley can’t even begin to compare!

Yep. If there’s any Precure universe I want to live in, it’s definitely this one! 8D

At the center of the giant square, of course there’s a statue and of course there’s a story to go along with it and of course, there’s an old man (by the name of Mr. Hook) just waiting to tell that story to whoever’s new in town.

Nevertheless, this story is a rather interesting one in respect to the Linkle Stone Ruby that’s set to appear later.

The Merchant Alley is where people gather to sell their trades and goods. It’s a place where they can share the work they’re proud of and passionate about.

And Ruby is the Linkle Stone of what? Passion.

So the Passion Flame was pretty much the Linkle Stone Ruby all along and it returned to remind the people of the magic they still have within themselves.

This slightly debunks the idea that the Linkle Stones will only appear when Precure do but it doesn’t change the fact that Ruby’s true form didn’t manifest until Mirai and Riko came to the Alley.

Anyways, on another note, isn’t it an extremely heartwarming thought that even though Mother Rapapa has been gone for centuries, her magic hasn’t disappeared and that it still extends itself to help people when they’re in need? Even now, Mother Rapapa still loves and wants to protect the world she defended with her very life which just goes to prove that the most ancient and most powerful magic of all is indeed, love.

Love never dying means magic never dying.

Aaaaahhhh~, that’s so beautiful! *sniff* <’D

Aww, but I wanted to hear about Pegasus Lane!

( •́ ∧ •̀ )

Ok, ok, maybe some other time.

At least we got Riko taking Mirai’s hand to lead her away instead. Me is a happy gurl~ <3

But then Mofurun says she smells something sweet and duh, it’s clearly Ruby sitting in the statue’s lamp but they don’t know that yet so they all assume it’s just the cotton candy from a street vendor near by.

Well, their reaction was adorbs anyway.

D’aww, omgawd, look at Mirai, trying to tug Riko in the direction of sweets and Riko having none of that. Kekekeke! xD

Ok, before we go in, I just want to say that I adore Francois and all the fabulousness he’s packaged with!

But more than that, I love how he’s always so kind to people who visit his shop, especially the girls. He’s always eager to give them the best fashion he can offer and since he learned his trade in the Mundane World, it’s probably safe to say he isn’t at all prejudiced against anyone from there either.

But also, also...!!

He knows how to recognize CUTE when he sees it!

Oh yea, Francois is my spirit animal.

Poor Mofurun, though. She looks so traumatized. xD;

My daughter is soooooo cute! Don’t you agree?

*pokes you in the back with ten needles* (*°∀°)

Man, if I could do magic......I would probably still go out to buy clothes instead of making them myself. It’s less about not having the talent to design and more about gathering the material that would be a pain for me. I’d rather leave that to the professionals.

That said, since it’s magic we’re talking about, I hope retail prices are a lot lower over there since production requires less manual labor. Or should it be magical labor?

Well, it takes less time if an outfit can be fitted and finished within the hour so that’s a plus at least.

Mmhmm. *nods appreciatively*

I wasn’t lying when I said this uniform is one of my (if not the) top favorite school uniform designs across all Precure seasons.

The colors, the plaid bows, and ugh, the HAT!!

...I wanna be a witch, too. TwT

Honestly, Francois is just one of the best recurring characters. Period.

He’s so thoughtful, going the extra mile even when he doesn’t really have to. He���s not in it for the famous name or money, he just wants to make sure his clients look good and feel good looking good.

What an artisan!

(Btw, Mofurun still uses the same pouch when Mirai grows up and I just find that so awesome because they’re continuing to treat a gift from Francois with such care~ <3)

I mean, fixing a loose button is a small task. Hardly worth mentioning but with Riko falling so often (*discontent Riko noises*), you’d think Francois would be exasperated about her always ruining her clothes.

Nope. 

He just goes and sews it back in place without charge, gently telling Riko in his own special way for her to be more careful.

Riko doesn’t miss the sentiment behind his words and really, you’d have to be blind to not see how all the people Riko knows really care about her.

More locals to meet and this one is Todd and he sells produce!

Not much to say about him other than he’s a nice dude, offering Mirai a sample of what a Frozen Clementine really tastes like.

lol, oh Riko, don’t take it so personally. These things happen. <D;

Also, that’s two strikes for Riko today. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole town was aware of how clumsy she is.

At least, none of them are mean about it or deliberately poking fun at her. Riko’s just a little too sensitive is all.

Again, the shifts through Riko’s many faces when eating clementines are fun to watch.

It’s okay, Riko! You’ll get there eventually!

Wouldn’t put it past an eccentric, old man like him to do something like that.

I mean, I’m positive that the Headmaster’s character is partially inspired by Albus Dumbledore who also fits these kind of descriptions so yea...

YEA.

Meanwhile, I am living for the savageness that Cathy is unrepentantly laying on the Deputy Headmistress concerning her stickler-policy/no-outsider opinions.

Nothing against the Deputy Head since she does come around eventually but hell yea, Miss Sassy Crystal Ball! xD;

Next up is Gustav’s, where Mirai gets her own broom!

God, I love this broom so much. It’s simple but so charming!! Perfect for a young witch!

Nooooooo, Riko-chan~

That’s not what she meant! (^ ∀ ^ ;;)

Ooo, that’s three strikes now!

Riko really can’t catch a break, huh?

I wonder how many times everybody in town has heard this reply, lol

Y’know, these shopkeepers have known Riko since she was little so for them to comment on Mirai accompanying her today just further supports the idea that they’re always watching out for her however they can.

Riko’s an awkward kid who’s trying too hard to act and see through the eyes of an adult and that’s why she blunders so much.

But perhaps, if they were to point that out too directly, it’ll just make Riko feel more ashamed or make her more stubborn than she already is.

If that’s true, then I’d like to think they all agreed to just give Riko her space and let her grow into it in her own time. They’ll still support her every now and then (because she needs it) but they won’t overdo it to the point where she’ll notice and misunderstand it as an remark on her poor skills in magic.

Anyways, at least Gustav seems happy to see Riko’s finally got a friend to spend time with. As much as Riko’s unsure about calling Mirai her friend, no one’s going to deny that Riko not being alone anymore is a good thing for her, hehe~

They got to eat cotton candy, after all! YAY~!

Gotta say, this might just be the best way to eat cotton candy cuz it just levitates a little above your hand and you don’t have to worry about holding onto a stick and then the candy melting onto the stick and your hands getting messy cuz of that and whatnot.

Also, it really makes it look like you’re munchin’ on a cloud. Cute, right? :D

So far, Mirai is having a superb day. She got the whole magic user starter kit and it really feels like she’s become a witch now.

But as Riko says, it takes more than just looking the part to be a genuine practitioner of magic.

I wonder if she realizes how contradictory she sounds here because if she knew that all along, then that would label her search for the Emerald as hypocritical.

Though it’s possible she only realized this after coming back from her recent trip to the Mundane World empty-handed.

Still, there’s no doubt the Emerald’s profound and mythical qualities would be desired by many, including those who are efficient in magic. Nobody is really sure what it’s capable of but since it’s reputed to be the rarest and most powerful of the Linkle Stones, we can at least expect it to live up to its name in some way.

And when Riko overheard the Headmaster talking about it in his office, well, who can really blame her for shooting off to go find it then?

If anything, had she found it, Riko probably would’ve used the Emerald to figure out why her magic seldom worked out the way she wanted it to. Then from there, she’d do whatever she could in her own power to make herself a great witch.

...Maybe.

Mirai, however, is more impressed by how brave and aggressive Riko is on fulfilling her dream. 

In fact, she’s more amazed by Riko than the Emerald itself and doesn’t think her search for the Emerald sounds ridiculous at all.

To her, Riko is a hard worker and she should be acknowledged just for how much effort she puts into becoming a witch worthy of respect.

But when she asks what Riko means by stuff like “excellent” or “splendid”, even Riko’s not sure.

Of course, even if you have a good amount of magical prowess, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re a great magic user.

Rather, it should be how you use your magic that determines whether you are great or not.

I guess that’s why Riko suddenly turned that question back on Mirai. Because as of this moment, she’s only looking for ways to cast her spells without them backfiring on her. She hasn’t given much thought on what she can do with magic once she does have it in her hands.

Riko doesn’t have an answer yet. And because she doesn’t want to appear like she doesn’t, her walls go up again in an attempt to prevent anyone else from realizing how unsure she actually is inside.

But you know what?

Mirai’s not sure about her own dream either. 

She’s never thought of it before now and nothing really comes to mind just because she’s asked out of the blue like this. However, that doesn’t really bother her.

It’d be awesome if one day, she can find something to dedicate herself to like Riko does...but until then, there’s no need to rush or stress it. If she’s meant to find it, then she’ll find it eventually.

Having a dream should be a wonderful thing, after all. It’s not something you must have but something you want, something you choose to pursue. 

I believe that’s what makes Riko so special in Mirai’s eyes. Because despite all the doubts and hardships that come with it, Mirai can tell Riko truly cherishes her desire to become a fine witch some day. 

If she didn’t, Riko wouldn’t have needed to try so hard. But she did and is still trying because she really wants it. That is what earned her Mirai’s admiration.

Not sure if those feelings reached Riko but at least it seems that she knows Mirai respects and understands her to extent in that regard, which then draws out a smile from her as well.

Cuz c’mon, it’s just nice to talk these things out with a friend.

That’s right, they’re definitely friends now.

They’re laughing together and the atmosphere is very light and pleasant and happy.

Just look at Mofurun, the perfect mood indicator. If that’s not enough to show how well our girls are getting along, then I don’t know what is.

Ugh, unfortunately if there’s a good mood going on, a mood ruiner is never too far off.

This time it’s Sparda and she introduces herself by stealing Mirai’s Diamond pendant. *GASP* BAD! >:(

Demands are made for the Emerald’s location, Mirai loudly defies the villain again and villain decide to wreck things as a response. Yada yada yada, same old, same old.

Except with them missing one Diamond and unable to transform into Precure, they really can’t do anything to stop Sparda.

As the situation becomes grimmer, so does the anger start to build within Riko as she surveys the damage of the town.

We even get a mini-montage of a younger Riko (OMG ISN’T SHE THE SWEETEST LIL’ WITCH-IN-TRAINING?!?!? KYAAA~!!! xDD) on her first time visiting all the shops, essentially telling us how many important memories she’s made here and how much the people who helped her mean to her.

This finally, finally makes her blow her top.

How dare this cretin selfishly trample all over the innocent people trying to do their daily jobs peacefully! How dare this insect woman make a mess of their community, a place where everybody works so hard to support each other, without remorse!

That is absolutely unforgivable!!

...but at the same time, Riko releasing her anger is just what they needed. Her feelings are now fully synchronized with Mirai’s...

...which causes the Ruby to awaken and reveal its true form to them.

Hmm, this is really fascinating because we can interpret it to mean that passion, the idea that the Ruby represents, is linked to many emotions and not just a strong sense of love towards something. 

Or you can say even “negative” emotions like anger or sorrow can also be proof of a very strong love.

Considering that rage and passion are often symbolized through flames and fire imagery, I’d say that the connection between those two is really appropriate for these turn of events.

But moving along...

THE BIRTH OF RUBY STYLE~!!!

(⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡

I’ll go into my thoughts on this design another day but ahhh, I do so love this Form Change to death. Have a hard time deciding if this is my top favorite among the MahoPre forms.

As for the battle, well, sad to say this one wasn’t worth writing home about either. And I think the animation quality dropped a little around this part of the ep. Not sure why there’s a sudden inconsistency when there wasn’t that much “fighting” going on.

But again, I’m not here to write about the battle scenes (until maybe post-Felice debut), which are more or less the same anyway so I’d just be repeating myself if I were. I’m here for the chemistry between the girls, the character studies and so on.

Some key highlights, though, because I couldn’t ignore them:

Mofurun catching the Diamond back like one would catch a home run ball.

I’M SO PROUD OF YOU, MY BABY!!!!!

x3

This kick.

This kick is everything.

Miracle and Magical grabbing each other’s hands to help propel their feet at the Yokubaru.

And then the ice thawing immediately upon impact, a call out to the Frozen Clementines they always eat and further demonstration of symbolism of passion through fire because heat melts ice.

Looks like this might’ve been the first time Riko was successful in using this type of magic. Too bad you can’t really eat it. But not that you’d really want to, lol

Then Ruby Passionale and another day saved.

Yay~

And now everybody’s witnessed the legend in the flesh!

lol, Miracle being polite to the crowd while Mofurun is trying to hide her face ("No pictures, please-mofu!”) and Magical is so close to freaking out cuz they gotta get outta here before their transformations become undone and their true identities are found out and ohhh, we don’t want to stick around to find out what that’s gonna be like......

...so they leave by leaping to the rooftops.

Classic.

Later that day, they go to pick up Mirai’s broom and aww, that’s so nice of Gustav to give her a cute ribbon as an extra service!

It comes in both her and Riko’s colors, too! How did he know?!?!?!? 8D

And he even gave one to Riko to match with Mirai!

Ugh, Gustav is so awesome. I want to buy him a steak dinner. 

I’ll buy dinner for any character in story who helps me ship my ship, hahaha! xD

Hehe, my lovely girls~

I love them soooo much. <3

Mmkay, I’m done for the day. I think I can manage to do one more post for next week. Then we’ll see what happens from there cuz I’ll be going back to work soon.

[jennaschererwrites]

Inside the Groundbreaking Queer Reboot of ‘She-Ra’ | Rolling Stone

We’re all shaped by the myths we grow up with, whether it’s the stories we learn from holy books or Saturday morning cartoons. Kids who see themselves as the hero learn to center themselves in their own life stories. Kids who see their experiences relegated to the sidelines, or not represented at all, come away with a very different lesson — one that can take years to unlearn.

Which is exactly what makes a show like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power so vital. Since its premiere in 2018, Noelle Stevenson’s reboot of the cult Eighties cartoon has joined a revolution in the world of children’s animation, combining classic genre storytelling with diverse representation and a progressive worldview (see also: Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and Steven Universe). In its fifth and final season, which dropped on Netflix last month, She-Ra rounded out its 52-episode run by centering a queer romance — specifically, between its hero, Adora, and her best frenemy Catra — and positing that such a love can, quite literally, save the world.

“I knew from the start that it wasn’t going to be easy,” says Stevenson, speaking via phone from Los Angeles. “Because this is She-Ra. To have the culmination of her arc be this lesbian love plot is a big deal! And I understood that. But I also felt that it was really important.”

The original She-Ra: Princess of Power was a 1985 Filmation spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which itself was based on a line of Mattel action figures. Set on the planet of Etheria, She-Ra follows a band of magical princesses in their rebellion against the Evil Horde, a totalitarian sci-fi regime bent on global domination. Adora is an ex-Horde soldier who joins the rebellion after she gains the ability to transform into She-Ra, a superpowered Chosen One with glowing blue eyes, a mystical sword, and a very cool outfit.

In 2015, when Stevenson, then 23, found out that DreamWorks Animation was looking for someone to pitch a new take on She-Ra, she jumped at the chance. She was already an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist and writer who had made a name for herself with works like her web comic-turned-graphic novel Nimona and the Boom! Studios series Lumberjanes.

“The world [of She-Ra] is so incredibly vibrant, and has so many powerful female characters. It’s this world that has all my interests rolled into one: It’s got the flying ponies and superpowers and all of these things that, immediately, I was like, ‘I want to do this. I want to be the one to do this,’” she says.

While Stevenson’s reimagination of the world of Etheria pays tribute to its predecessor, it includes some key differences. The reboot transforms the musclebound, scantily-clad grownups of the original series into awkward teens in much more practical (but still very sparkly) clothing. In addition to embracing a diversity of races, genders, and body types, the She-Ra reboot fleshes out the characters and their backstories, giving them fully-fledged arcs and complicating the good/evil binary of the original. The princesses of the rebellion aren’t simply heroic, and the soldiers of the Horde aren’t simply villains; everyone’s just a human being (or scorpion person or alien clone or flying horse, as the case may be) trying to make their way in a world that doesn’t offer easy solutions. It’s also, incidentally, really funny.

For Stevenson, it was crucial that the characters felt three-dimensional, and that it was their choices that guided the direction of the storytelling. “The characters all began with a deep personal flaw, and the process of making the show was kind of giving them the room to process those flaws. But we wanted it to feel organic. We wanted the characters to feel like real people that we knew,” she explains.

From the start, She-Ra’s most compelling tension was always between Adora (Aimee Carrero) and Catra (AJ Michalka), Adora’s childhood best friend who becomes her bitterest rival after Adora leaves the Horde to join the rebellion. In the show’s first four seasons, the two continually fight and reconcile and break apart again, their obsession with each other marking them as something more than frenemies.

“It’s a dynamic that I find really interesting: the attraction and the tension between the villain and the hero, especially when they know each other better than anyone. They love each other, but there’s something between them that cannot be overcome,” Stevenson says.

Stevenson always knew that she wanted the relationship between Catra and Adora to be a romantic one; but she had to walk a fine line, because she didn’t know if the studio would give her the go-ahead to put an explicitly lesbian love story front and center. At first, as in Steven Universe, Rebecca Sugar’s radically progressive series that aired its final episodes earlier this year, she steeped the world of the She-Ra reboot in queerness. The show features multiple side characters in same-sex relationships, characters who flout traditional gender roles, and even a nonbinary character (Double Trouble, voiced by transgender writer and activist Jacob Tobia).

Still, Stevenson, herself a gay woman, wanted young viewers to be able to see a queer relationship that wasn’t just incidental, but central to the plot of the entire series. “I’ve loved these stories my entire life, you know? I was a huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan as a kid. But there weren’t a lot of characters that I felt personally represented by,” she says. “We love what makes these stories classic, but we’ve seen them all culminate in the same kind of romance so many times: The hero gets the girl, he gets the kiss, and then he saves the world. And it’s not just [swapping] the man and the woman for two women. You have to actually approach it from a standpoint of: How do you make these stories, at their roots, queer?

“So that’s what I was trying to do — for little queer kids to see that this is normal, that these are stories that can happen and that exist, and that can center them and make them feel seen and understood.”

Whether or not Adora and Catra’s romance would become canonical was in the hands of the studio, and it was a risk Stevenson couldn’t be sure it would be willing to take. So the show played a long game — hinting at a romantic dynamic between the two without making it explicit, for fear of disappointing fans in the end if they weren’t able to deliver. Fortunately, a groundswell of viewer support for a potential relationship between the characters — a phenomenon known in the fan community as “shipping” — allowed Stevenson to make a case to the studio for supporting the story she wanted to tell with She-Ra.

“Just as I had hoped, people started picking up on this tension and getting really passionate about it,” she says. “It was immediately one of the strongest fandom ships right out of the gate. And that was when I finally showed my hand and was like, ‘Look. We’ve got a bunch of people who, just off Season One, are really, really excited about the gay representation in this show. I have been planning for this. And here’s how it needs to end, and not just because I want a moment that everyone’s gonna talk about. It’s the logical conclusion of both their character arcs. They need each other.’”

Finally, after years of hedging their bets, Stevenson and her collaborators got the go-ahead from DreamWorks. “I really wanted it to be so central to the plot that if at any point they were like, ‘Oh, we changed our minds, we want to take it out again,’ they wouldn’t be able to, because it would be so baked in,” she explains. “The temperature is not always right, and depending on what’s happening in the world, not everyone wants to be the studio that sticks their neck out and makes a statement like this. You will get a flat ‘no’ sometimes. But if you bide your time, or you come at it from another angle, that can change. You just have to keep pushing.”

Feedback for the conclusion of She-Ra has been overwhelmingly positive both from critics and fans. Viewer support has been pouring out in the form of social media posts, YouTube reaction videos, and fan art and fan fiction. Stevenson, who first made a name for herself online with Lord of the Rings and Avengers fan art, has been blown away by the support from She-Ra lovers. “That’s how you know that you’re successful at what you set out to do — if people are getting inspired by the stories that you’re telling. I think that that’s the beauty of fan work, is that it’s an evolution of the genre. We take that inspiration and create something new all the time.”

Unfettered by restrictions, the final season of She-Ra is a tightly plotted, character-driven masterwork, featuring a slow-burn redemption arc, a harrowing villain, and a timely message about the power of love and unity against the forces of repression and tyranny. It’s a show about becoming kinder and more open in the face of unrelenting darkness, about banding together to prepare for the worst, but always hoping for the best in spite of overwhelming odds.

Stevenson says that she and her team began work on She-Ra in the aftermath of the 2016 election. “The veil was ripped off, and we had to reckon with a world that we hadn’t expected. And that theme of relying on each other and being stronger together became so much more relevant,” she recalls. “I remember writing one script after a particularly bad news day where it just felt like nothing was ever going to be OK again. It’s an episode where Adora realizes that there are supposed to be stars in the sky, and there aren’t any more stars. And as Aimee [Carrero] was recording the lines, she was crying, and we were crying, because we were all experiencing this together — the idea that things were changing in maybe irreparable ways.”

The refrain of She-Ra’s catchy-as-hell power-pop theme song is “We must be strong, and we must be brave.” According to Stevenson, that’s easier said than done; but the whole point of the series is that you have to try anyway. It’s a message that rings especially true at this moment in our world when it seems like everything is spinning out of control, and it’s all too easy to feel helpless.

“It always comes back to this — when you realize that there’s a great evil or a great darkness that won’t just go away from one fight,” Stevenson says. “It boils up, and it can be pushed back down, but it’s something that we’ll probably have to be fighting for the rest of our lives. That’s really hard to do, and it makes you really tired sometimes, and it can be really scary. But when you are surrounded by the people that you love, and when you have that love for the people around you, then that strength is possible.”

[theyoutubedork]

I’m not a wizard: part 4

Check out my masterlist

Lemme know if I should continue this

Tag list: @strangemaximoff

When Bruce snapped his fingers, everyone who was dusted felt the same feeling. Confusion. People reappearing out of thin air, scaring those who remained. You feel yourself reappear on Titan, as with all the other guardians. You feel your legs give out again, but you slowly harness your energy so you can stand back up. You look around. Everything was the same. You see Peter and Dr. Strange as well. Where once stood was now covered in {bill wurtz voice} “space dust”, and you look to Dr. Strange. He gathers you all together.

“We have been gone for fives years since Thanos made us fade into dust. We have to go help Tony and those who were left,” he explains. You go over to Peter, who seemed very confused.

“Peter, you ok?” You ask, placing a hand on his shoulder. He nods.

“Yeah I’m ok.” He stutters, looking at you. Dr. Strange then told you that he has to find the other avengers who were dusted, and bring them to the fight. He looked at you.

“I’ll open a sling ring when I get back, stay here,” He says, jumping through a sling ring to a grassland, with people wandering around. He closes it. You look at the other guardians. You started to formulate what happened in your mind.

“Where’s Nebula?” asks Mantis.

“And Mr. Stark?” Peter adds. You shake your head.

“My guess is that they didn’t get turned into dust, I just hope their ok.” You explain, searching for your quarter staff. Peter walks up to you,

“What are you looking for?”

“My quarter staff, it must be buried under here somewhere.” You say worried, using your hands to scoop through the dust.

“Can’t you summon it to you like Thor?” Says Peter. You snap your fingers.

“You’re right! Thanks for reminding me,” You say. You take a step back, out stretching your hand, you try your best to summon your weapon, you see the end of it slither from under some debris, as it slowly wafts towards you. You see that the weapon has aged slightly. You frown.

“Looks like I’ll need to make another one,” You say, testing to see if the flail still works. It does.

You see golden sparks fly in the distance, two of them opening up. Dr. Strange floats out of one, closing it. He becones you over.

He opens a sling ring to a debris ridden field. You all rush towards it. Peter swing into action, rising from his spider like stance to look at the field. You jump on your rings, landing with a “thump” right next to Peter. You see Thanos, with Golden glad armor, and a humongous army behind him. You see Captain America. He smiles towards Peter. You poke him in his side.

“You know him?” You whisper, too curious to hold in the question. Peter laughs.

“I stole his shield, I’ll tell you about it later,” he says excitedly. You step forward to see plenty more portals opened, with more allies stepping out of it. You recognize King T’Challa of Wakanda. He releases a war cry. His army of Wakandans march out behind him.

You see Wong, along with other Masters of the Mystic Arts emerge, creating their rings around their fists. You do the same, walking towards the front of the line with Peter, holding your staff at the ready.

“Is that everyone?” Says strange.

“You wanted more?” Asks Wong.

You see a giant crash through a pile of rubble setting down what appeared to be Bruce and others. You prepare yourself next to Peter, shaking your wrists in order to calm your nerves. Peter crouches next to you, looking up at you with a determined and also giddy expression, which you return. Captain America begins to yell.

“Avengers!” He shouts summoning Mjolnir which doesn’t surprise you, “Assemble!”

You hear a collective cry from everyone, as you all rush forward. Peter swings ahead of you, as you create step pads out of rings, using your staff to vault you to them. You rush after Peter, too afraid to separate from him. You see him rush towards Tony. You hang back, fighting off a few aliens before being ready to shield them from attack. You see Peter pick up Tony, who looks shocked and relieved to see him. He looked older, with gray hairs.

“Holy Cow! You will not believe what’s been going on. You remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? And I must’ve passed out because I woke up and you were gone, Dr. Strange was there right? And was like, ‘It’s been five years, come on they need us!’ and started doing those yellow sparkly thing he does all the time, what, what are you doing?” Peter blabbers until Tony wrappedd him in a hug.

“Huh this is nice,” Peter says. You feel your chest tighten, yet you refuse to let tears fall. You see the pure emotion in Tony’s face. What has he been through?

Tony flies away, fighting more aliens. Peter stand there. You run up to him,

“Come on, we gotta fight now,” you say, running forwards, launching your self in the air, extending your staff into a fiery flail. You whip ferociously at the oncoming enemies, some of them losing limbs when you strike them hard enough. Suddenly you hear an exchange about the stones. What? You then hear a “la cucaracha” jingle alarm ring throughout the area. You hear Cap speak into the com.

“Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?” He asks.

“Yes, but you’re not gonna like where it’s parked” a female voice answers.

“Scott, how long to get that thing working?”

“Maybe ten minutes.”

“Get it started, we’ll get the stones to you,”

You and Peter jump back into action, keeping an eye out for the stones. You see them glowing as Black Panther struggles.

“Peter! Go grab the stones!” You yell, you latch onto his side.

He flies through the air, and he grabs the glove. He quickly drops you and you land harshly on the ground. You see him clutch onto the glove.

“Activate instant kill!” He yells. Suddenly his spider tendril start stabbing left and right, so you stay back, unleashing the Bolts of Balthakk, sending a horde of enemies surround Peter backwards. More surround him, so you quickly shield yourself as you crouch next to him, afraid of the instant kill. You create a shield of seraphim, making it cascade outwards, protecting the two of you as the aliens are pushed back. You keep it at a wide radius, but you see the aliens clawing at it. You then see lasers shooting, so like your fellow “magicians” you exert more power into your shield, protecting You both from the ballistics. However the shield quickly breaks and the aliens swarm you both you try your best to hold them back.

“We got this, we got this. Ok we don’t got this. HELP SOMEBODY HELP!” Peter cries.

“Hey Queens,” says Cap, “heads up.” You see the hammer fly towards you. Peter gives you the glove, wrapping his arm protectively at your waist as he latches onto the hammer. A laser breaks his web, and you both start to fall.

“Hang on, I got you kid,” you hear pepper say, grabbing Peter, throwing him up to the Pegasus lady, as she quickly flies down to grab you. You see Peter with the glove, riding with the lady. You shield pepper as she flies around, still holding onto you. You see Peter get launched from the horse, struggling to hold onto the glove.

More flames rain down, and you slip from Peppers grasp as she’s almost hit, and you start to fall. It takes all your strength to fight against gravity, and you soften your fall enough that you don’t break anything. You groan, looking up to see a flying figure ripping through the space ships. You stand and watch the figure destroy the ship. You start to walk to Peter when you see the space woman land next to him. He hands her the glove. You walk over as you hear him say.

“I don’t know how your going to get through all that.”

You see other women surround you, igniting your spirit with a feminist power.

“Don’t worry”

“She’s got help.”

The group of women run forward going to clear a path. You wish to join them, but something forces you to stay with Peter. You hold him close to you.

“You ok? You took a hard fall,” you say, but suddenly you see Tony and Those exchanging words. Before you know it, you see him snap his fingers, but nothing happens. You look over to see Tony with the stones. You gasp. Peter clutches onto you, not being able to look away. He snaps his fingers, seeing all of Thanos’s army turn to dust. You watch it unfold. You smile satisfaction. You won. You see Tony stumble to the ground, and Peter immediately springs forward. You rush after him, letting Tony’s loved ones go to him.

“Mr. Stark? Hey! Mr. Stark, can you hear me?” He says, voice trembling, “it’s Peter. Hey. We won. Mr. Stark. We won mr. stark. We won you did it sir, you did it.” He sobs, being held back by pepper. “I’m sorry Tony.” You see him step back. You immediately wrap your arms around him, and he crawls into your embrace. You make Peter turn away as you watch Pepper kiss Tony on his cheek as the light on his chest goes out. You feel your tears slip down your cheeks. You hear everyone sobbing softly, and you see everyone start to kneel on the ground. You force Peter to kneel down with you, who leans into you, still sobbing. He kneels down completely, and you hold him in your chest, letting him empty his sorrow onto you. You stroke his hair soothingly.

“It’s ok Peter, it’s all over. You’re ok Pete,” You whimper.

[silvermuffins]

POkemon Scarlet Liveblog! Part 10ish

bc i am Getting Going even if I'm still scraming about Hades 2

first order of business: breed some ducks for friends. Gets Daya a nice date.

got a nice supply of duck eggs!

accidentally sent someone a gothita egg instead

Okay! I hav now filled in Dreepy, Sprigatito, and Gothita in my dex. Next to evolve is Crabrawler. And also Salandit. Wait how to evolv Crabrawler without Mt. Lanakila? Oh, ice stone. Okay we'll volve Monch and move right along. Phanpy nxt! xcellent, volution already. Nxt will b Cufant.

What's it man if a raid marker on the map is xtra sparkly? Oh ther's on right by a fly point, lt's find out. Shiny four stars??? I faild th raid bcaus th Tyranitar kpt spamming EQ....let's try it again. GOT IT! You'r Adgha.

stops in to say hi to mom rq. MOM TAUGHT ME RECIPES.

reexplores th inlet grotto....o this cave has multipl exits! whre am i!!!

ok i rachd th lighthouse

OKAY god we are Trying with this E key. i have been encouraged to be a curious little thing.

how DID i beat you here, Arven? I dilly dallied so much!

....knew it. He really was raised by the dog.

...The lab looks dusty. Doesn't look like anyone's done anything here in years. The computers come to life, and Sada asks for help. But is this a recording? Or a direct mssage? I stg if she's secretly dead or something....

"the great Professor Sada's glorious research" don't lik the sound of that one bit. Need the scarlet book, huh? We've already been using that. An experience worth treasuring. Tmpting, but lady I am afraid the Great Crater is absolutely off limits for the Treasure Hunt. You got legs, and if you don't you got wheels. Maybe expend half an iota of effort on COMING TO FIND YOUR SON.

cybernetic security systems???

Ohh....Mabostiff got hurt down there....Arven has ben there. Arven I know you treasure Mabostiff but w have more to find. More to see. More to do and feel and love. I'm nto doing this for Sada. I'm using her as an excuse to see it all.

HE CALLED ME HIS FRIEND. yah, that's the spirit! We're gonna go down there and punch your mom in the face! Yeah! Lt's duke it out, but also I need to rifle through your mom's shit for clues.

MOnitors covered in data. Mystrious machine. ...Bed with "Maschiff" written on by a kid. Whiteboard mess of scribbles.

Occulture. Roaring Moon, primeval Salamence. Oh shit it aparently looks similar to what I can only assume is Mega Salamence. Flutter Mane, ghost pterosaur...misdreavus....

A fram with no photo. Picture books for kids, including one about sandwich. Heavy fridge door. Cooktop was used recently! Microwave was not. Sasonings ar expired. Sink hasn't ben usd, mirror is foggy. FUCK went outside I hope I can go back in okay ys good...okay i think I found verything

The cooktop and the empty frame stick out to me as the most important things. Time for a battle! ....PUPPY WANTS TO FIGHT ME I LOVE PUPPY

oh you always lost to nemona yeah she's kind of so much all the time. not a bad person in the least. whatever tho im fight you! not her! no matter how sh acts it's not cheating on her to battle other people

i love Arven so much. Hy! First time I've battled an opponent with a full team! ...th fuck is toedscruel made of??? wham wham wham. Come to see it, Arven also looks like the tera orb is a little hard to control.

you did pretty good Arven. Not good enough to have really stood a chance, but pretty good. And now Linny is evolving! W can switch out.

ohhh we need to recruit Nmona and Penny (who I bet is Cassiopeia) huh

tumblr cool your jets. Honstly I think Nmona would help if w just askd but you're right we probably need to earn Pnny's aid. Also my guy i hav champion rank skills by now. ven if it's not official.

yanks another stak from th earth. yanks anothr. FOUND ANOTHR. ooh Bramblberry th applin will join us.

okay maybe let's gt on with things....like dealing with Cassiopeia. Hi, Clive. I know that's not really your name. But I'm not a snitch. And I am always one for indulging dramatic reveals. Impressive hiding long pants under your shorts.

wait wha??? You're Cassiopeia? I don't buy it. ...No you're angling for a battle bfore the real big boss. You could have just asked, you know. Oh I forgot to swap Linny out. This bgm is far too pleasant to b the finale. Hammer off! Abomasnow's Wood Hammr vs Pebbles's Gigaton Hammer!

Man even Clavell has some trouble controlling the orb. maybe it's just Hard. Anyway Chank is volving, so I'll swap in som new Pokmon after the cutscene. There's no way in hell Clavell is really Cassiopeia.

No shit you're not. Yah....yeah I thought you were trying to spare me some pain. Just. Let me learn the truth.

??? Tyme?

right, so, you'r gonna handle that, right professor? WHile I go battle? Okay it's Gibl and Wingull next. But I gotta wait for nightfall. So, friendship! I have nothing for Riafort and Saguaro right now but ooooh hi Miriam! I look forward to your classes next year~

discovers a whol chunk of msagoza I didn't explore before, somehow...ther's nobody in tsi Every Which Way? Not ven the recip guy?

am on roof!

am also sleepy

okay good morning

i think it's nighttime in game by now, so I have a constellation to fight

yeah that's penny alright. It's okay swetie you hid your identity fine, I'm just genre savvy.

Huh, so you didn't decid to do Operation Starfall until that day...? Mayb the two mmbers talking about quotas and trying so hard to convinc you....mayb the outliers in th tam were what told you it had to nd....strayd too far from what you wanted. Team Star lived long enough to see itself become the villain, that's what you thought, right?

yes penny listn to the part of you that wants Team Star to live on!!! They'v been waiting for you! You could guide them back to what you want to be!

oh hey clive, I se you escapd Ms. Tyme

Penny....is just so scard of being hurt.... Penny they're your friends. You never ven met them in person but they treasure you so much they've waitd for you for eighteen months.

i know from experience that even just a year is a long fucking time to wait. it hurts. physically, it hurts. it tears you up.

Thank god the bosses still had one another, and their squads, because I know how hard that is and I genuinely do not think I would have survived without my important people.

anyway protct Penny protect Team Star

sorry penny don't mind me taking care of this wingull while I dal with you

this music is sick. thanks Giacomo!

she has entirely eeveelutions....but she can't hav all of them, I wonder what will be left out? and what will be her tera?

Her Leafeon is causing me the most problems thus far just because I have no effective counter to grass.

Penny struggles to control the orb too so I guss it's just hard?

somehow I feel like we have arrived at the only outcome nobody wanted.

wll. Humphry is evolving, so we can swap out for somthing....mayb somthing that handles Grass....though most of my options aren't gonna b a viabl lvel by the E4 huh? still I gotta think about my championship team and I know what I need. I need a ground type, dark typ, and something to handle grass. Oh, Gorp is evolving too. Gorp is Ground....might b worthwhil to kep on my team....

anyway tim to hurt

ow

Penny....

the bosses had better turn up right the fuck now to talk som snse into you

Penny.....who hurt you that you feel like you need to hide and scheme and tie everything up in operations? Can't you even trust your friends...?

fuck it I'm sharing my mom with you too

penny why ar you throwing your treasure away

awww clavell got her, at least

OH YES THEY ARE ALL HERE AREN'T THY

FRIENDSHIP, YOU DIPSHIT

jfc

clavell being a Good Adult and acknowldging how fucked up this whole situation is

HUG HER. HUG ALL OF THEM.

babies

i finally understand....Pnny's ben all twisted up with guilt, and has kpt hrself distant and alone all this time. Sh nver got to reallyse that Team Star was the best thing that ever happened to the others. There's a difference between hearing somthing said and knowing it with your heart.

All this time she was trying to carry everything herself whn the whole point was that she didn't need to be alone.

thy're all still in trouble.....community srvice huh. ...Star Training Cntrs!!! Oh my gosh....sir you're dressing a reward up as a punishment

Penny they love you and want you to be with them, why do you need my opinion.

does some tam planning before I continue. I will need to grind a bit.

kay Scoots is back on the team! And w also hav a Sandile.

awww the League is like "you know what Penny, you're a genius, so use your talents for good and we'll waive the problem"

also penny I am kidnapping you to go crater diving

god pnny is being praised that foreign to you...?

Starfall Street....complete!

now tim to grind....I wish autobattling didn't giv so much less exp

oh well grinding grinding grinding. yanks a stake.

huh, i found a cave with the elemental hyper beams. Holy shit, Wild Spiritomb! Nam you Jacks. Some Candy later, I hav a Krookodile and everyon's at least to endgame-ish levels.

Okay! To Msagoza!

We have a league to beat but first, time to see if this cav's any good. Is it a real victory road???

....litrally it's not even a cave, wow. th Pokemon up here are worth no exp. Child why are you attempting the League with just a level 14 Meowth. He has no badges. Literally what the fuck???

okay this cabbi is a bit better

this is probably th most underwhelming league leadup ever

I can probably at last take down on elit as I am and if it's too much of a struggle, I have rare candies and plenty of them

Geeta could honestly kill a man with that hair of hers.

oooh Rika is interviewing me!....this is a wirdass intrview. Oh, memory games.

"You passed the interview on your first try?" "What, like it's hard?" Nobody's done it since Nmona huh...

heeeeere goes. Oooh w're back to a specific order, eh? ha'ent done that with a real elite four since gen 4.

Other than Hassel, I'm not sure of anyn type specialties. Rika's gone with Whiscash, so we're probably looking at watr or ground. ...And it's ground! Gt out hre Daya. oooh water absorb, that's nasty....well all else being equal, I have a bird!

I do wonder if it's going to b actually back to back, or if i'll hav a chance to heal first. Oooh Poppy's nxt, and I think it might lgit be back to back to back?! OH NO i do get to heal up

also this arena is bland as fuck

oooh she deals in steel eh. easy peasy. Jupe sweeps. Oh my god the steel crown is just an axe.

....LARRY???

WHY IS LARRY HERE LET HIM REST

well jupe will sweep again and Daya has whatever Jupe doesn't deal with-- oh he's not pulling a gen 7 on me actually. Oh he's using Flying, so Jupe still sweeps.

oh okay an altaria merits Pebbles. lol okay some swapping shnanigans at the end....

Larry down! I hope I get neat glovs if I win this. Okay, Pebbles is all dressed up and ready to go!

I bet he uses dragon and if not dragon then rock because th rest of the E4 have used the Titans' typs. Either way, Pebbles is the answer. k yah it's dragon.

oh so geeta strong armed you all huh....is Paldea's league some kind of mafia?!

....wait. there was no final rival fight, and it's been a while...am i going to be fighting Nemona??? SOmehow? Like that maks better plot sense but verything seems to be Geeta....

okay yah it's Geeta.

it's fin if you can't hold back I'm a protagonist.

Espathra...and THIS is why I specifically got a dark type! Gogoat? And THAT'S why I grabbed Scoots! Kingambit? King, king...leeeet's stay in for now? Fire's gooooo oh Scoots is down. Un, when in doubt, Jupe? Kingambit down and Scoots back up! Avalugg...I have several things to deal with ice but lt's try Sotero. ...bad moves. Okay, Pebbles! Veluza, that's gonna b Cabrande territory. I hav her backd into a corner and sh has Glimmora... That sounds like th Rock/Poison type I caught earlier? Uhhh what is this thing... Let's use Daya so Daya can appear in this fight, let's Do This! Terastallize, signature move, annnd...oh my god Glimmora's tera hat is just the fucking. Olympus Colisseum.

oh holy shit. Tera STAB crit type advantage, that's uh, that's...every fucking damage modifier basically. No wonder I OHKO'd

Geeta you were mildly troublesome.

THERE'S Nemona! Yeah sure we can be best rivals or whatever now come do a crime with me. We're going crater-diving. Ah, you haven't changed a bit.

awww I'm her treasure. Nemona you realize that's a marriage proposal, right?

oh fuck hr speech there was really cute...Nemona you're actually pretty cool aren't you~ Let's go!

Lycanroc? No biggie, I have a little pink menace with a great big hammer. Orthworm is steel, I think, so get out here Jupe! Dudunsparce is normal, so yeah, Jupe, keep it up! Hee, here comes her own Pawmot, and THIS is why I brought a Ground type onto the team! Goodra? Aighty, let's get Pebbles back in here! Wait, that's five already? Aw well, okay Daya! Just like we did to Geeta!

Nemona didn't change a bit, she just became more of herself.

Now. Nemona. Crimes. Crater. First a little friendship. Thn picking up some fly points I never hit. Now! To Medali! To the Zero Gate!

damn it looks kinda beat up. Oh! New plotline! The Way Home!

Powr saving mode.... eeee Arvn and the girlsquad are going on an adventure~ God I feel so bad for Arven, it must hurtto get treatd like this in front of pople he hasn't trustd with everything...

Nemona, no. We are not going to battle the professor excitingly. We're going to beat her face in.

Oh man...this is SO cool. Are we all gonna ride Koraidon together?

That cutscene. That was everything to me. That was it, that was the essence of everything I seek, everything I long for, everything I dream of. That was the essence of why I always com back to Pokemon.

Koraidon doesn't wanna be here....buddy what happened? ...Oh shit we lost Nmona! How'd she fall off?! She was in the middle!

oh no she's fine

....somthing's off. Arven's reaction here, and his "probably" on identifying his mom earlier...

disable four locks in research stations on the way down. can do!

OH MY GO THEY'RE JUST GONNNA FOLLOW ME AROUND we're really i this together

holy shit the music

holy shit this PLACE. Is this supposd to give me Nier Automata vibes?

lmao my friends trying to compet over who's my bestest frind

i wondr what the fuck even made the crater....like. It's a cratr. Something made it, right?

WOO fighting shit! And Pnny being the straight man to our shenanigans. To the extent that she is either straight or a man, that is.

man vrything here looks so weathred

oh yah rsearch stations man NOTES. Stuff about the origin of the tera phenomenon! Ooh and a telportr.

awww my frinds are bcoming friends!

holy shit so much to explore

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

okay here's the second station

oh that is SO not a jigglypuff. Scram Tail! Jigglypuff, but Screamo!

okay base 2. once again Sada just kind of dropping eaves. Gonna give som plot? oooh ancient pokemon! ...Sada just. Has a time machine. Sh just, has one.

Wait so the ancient pokemon don't liv here naturally, sh just. Brings thm here? Then what the fuck is the cratr?

squints at this convrsation. ...the cost was catastrophic...

It is theoretically possible to travel to the past, but a human can't return to the present. Somehow I get the pictur that's involved with the catastrophic price.

i guess that's reasonable enough. Some conversations are important to have face to face. MOre specifically, within punching range.

Arven....your dialogue here.....

"Paradise will be ours to create" because THAT always ends well....unstable crystals, nrvous financial backers....

i am getting sleepy and also lost

see you in a few line breaks

screams i would like some time to myself. and some focus.

literally like three days later

cheesus christ i have no memory of this place. thre's a big rock with an item on top i can't reach bcause i can't ride koraidon.

something isn't adding up. If the ancint Pokemon were only brought here via time machine, whcih Sada only got working sometime in the last several years....why's there a picture of Great Tusk in the Scarlt Book, and what made the Great Cratr so dangerous?

man the crater goes deep.

...

watches Nemona, Arven, and Penny slowly fall off a cliff and disappear into the abyss?!?!?!?!?!?

found a cave....i have noooo idea how thoroughly i have xplored this bit of the crater...nother research station! eyyyy it's tusky boy. Penny is right that IS kind of a hug problem. Thing is they've been on the prowl for months, if Occulture is to be believed.

oh nemona this is why you're the muscle. Sada just, taking over for Arven.... Koraidon was the first pokemon retrieved from the past, huh...and, yp, confirming that it's the past form of Cyclizar.

...two specimens? why are we assuming they're family. that seems likely to end poorly. i doubt it WILL but like....it COULD. and even if they are family, like??? so were Lusamine and Lillie, look how THAT ended.

'I was expecting one new life to treasure' THAT MEANS ARVEN IT HAS TO

okay that tunnel is clearly the way forward so imma keep exploring here for a bit

hm. Okay. Intrsting history with Koraidon Arven has there, and yeah I see why he felt that way. ...wait. goddammit I ned like, a timeline of Arven's personal history, because who lived where when with whom is not adding up.

Tons of Chansey down here, it'll be great for grinding levels for the dex latr. ...Okay yah I definitely need to explore again when I hav Koraidon. Let's carry on!

WILD SCREAM TAIL I wanna catch it! ...Oh this thing is beefy. Okay just get in the ball, GOT IT alright Pita.

Man...what on earth made this place? "feels like maybe you already died and went somewhere" huh...and yeah Penny im p sure this place is the source of the energy used to terastallize Pokemon.

we must go deeper

...i guess you could say we're gonna get t the bottom of this! ...nmona, no. ...nmona. Nemona, NO. Penny is correct, as ever.

Okay if Sada took Koraidon into th cratr and hasn't com out since, how'd Arven get Koraidon's ball?

Th crystals get biggr the farther down we go...oh what fresh hell is this? What happened in here?

Sada???? U good???

So, I know the game's a bit buggy, but it looks like Sada is too? uhhhh

"That man walked out not long after the boy was born" im sorry? sorry WHOMST? Turo????

....if only. thre were two of me. sada YOU HAVE A TIM MACHINE.

th scond koraidon was broguht later and was aggressive...

"You know what you need to do." All locks released. I feel like I did a bad thing. Like I got tricked into reviving Dracula or instigating the Fall or something.

man do clavll and th othrs even know we're here

WEIRD MISDREAVUS. Flutter Mane....you'r gonna b Yooki. STAY IN TH DAMN BALL. GOT IT, finally, that took like 20 ultra balls.

Metal plate with a wird symbol, and a map of Paldea, and...thre's an enormous crystal here... you know, it would scan if th crystal crashing from space made the crater, I think?

I wonder if I can breed paradox Pokmon or if I'm gonna need to catch som mor the slow way?

what the fuck, ar thos VENTS in th crystal. What the fuck did th crystal absorb the lab?!

This is a much bigger area than thy're gonna let m explore isn't it...oh no wait. WAIT oh my.

Man it's not a Lost Continent plot so much as a Journy to the Center of the Earth plot

where am i

i find it kind of intriguing that Geeta's ace is th pokemon found in abundance all the way down here. Sorry to Arven, Nemona, and Penny, but if thy're gonna let me be the leader they're gonna have to run around, them's the rules.

chews on thoughts and questions and nihilego. glimmora. hmmmm

I am here I hav explord it is time to enter the Zero Lab. I get cell service down here? Sada you're presumably right insid you could come to the door and greet us.

okay the lab really is getting eaten by tera crystals but what is this about them optimizing the performance of machinery? If the tera orbs are made of these crystals why can pokemon centers recharge them?

well. that IS why we brought Nemona.

you dipshits. listen to penny. penny is wise. Oh, you're letting me choose? ...I guess if no is the wrong choice, the game will But Thou Must me. yep it did. but aww, Nmona that's sweet.

guuuuys this is baaaaad....OH SHIT THE OTHER ONE. Oh god it's been lockd outside the lab. Sada said the Pokemon insid would probably make a break for it, but instead, othr Koraidon went in....

they made mine sooooo expressive though like BABY im sorry I brought you here :c

THANK YOU PENNY ugh Nemonaaaaa why.

oh here the other ones come. YES DO IT NEMONA. Oh Scoots is a reliable partner now! Oh no, are Nemona and Penny running off to stop a breach?

oh no is Arvenn staying behind too!?

aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay this is a weirdass doorway. oooh dislike that the exit is a hole in the wall. Sciecne stuff....oooh there's sad....eactivating slep mode....

she keeps th aggro one in a mastrball. and sh is a robot. Not hard to see this coming after the trek down hre but....wow POkemon really making some bold moves here.

the real sada is dead...in the incident....ohhh boy. oh shit she sacrificed herself to protect MY koraidon.

Stop the time machin. Sure. That's a sane thing to ask a GODDAMN TWELVE YEAR OLD to do. We're going farther down but ma'am i have snooping to do.

i am going to sic my tinkaton on this mtal lady

Pokeball lock system to defend the lab. Rocklike thing in the tube. A picture of a young boy with a Maschiff...more rocks in tubes.

down w go.... Robosada can't lav because the crystals make her possible.

primal nergy? tera?

no SHIT they wreak havoc on the modern ecosystem!!! anyone with a basic understanding of ecology could have told you that! these things are invasive species of a magnitude ONLY surpassed by literal fucking aliens!

holy shit the robot copy of the profssor has BETTER thics than the professor maybe i don't need to sic my tinkaton on her

okay this place is gorgeous

oh this is why robosada needed th help of a formidible trainer. because i DO need to sic a tinkaton on hr.

To protect my treasure....to protect the whole of Paldea!

Why yes, AI Sada, I am familiar enough with a great many Pokmon to guess at patterns and detect weaknesses even in unfamiliar Pokemon. And yes, my human brain can overcom your wealth of data using two tools: innovation, and brute. fucking. force.

Had a lot of luck play out in defeating her third POkemon...next is Sandy Shocks so I think I want a ground type? aaaaaaaAAAAAAAA. Roaring Moon...I know that one! Oh, that was it? No terastallization?

okay AI down. Time for Feelings. god she really did love Arven, didn't she? She just loved her insane dream more.

oh damn that interface screw....oh shit. Our Pokeballs are locked, other than the ones rgistered to Sada's ID...which means this is designed to allow Sada and the protocol to brutally maul intruders who cannot fight back.

som intnse M.I.K.E. flashbacks ngl

But, thankfully....I have Koraidon. So does she. It? Koraidon, the guardian of paradise. Yeah...yeah, myKoraidon is!

oh DAMN transformation sequnce! We got this, Koraidon! Let's check out your summary bc this is SO cool. Uh, be great if I had the chance to fix this moveset. Hooboy that was close.

i knew I'd hav to trastallize....and I have a superffective tera type and all, plus this will be the first time I've ever used Tera Blast...

Victory is mine

oh...sh has to slfdestruct doesn't she....oh. No. She's going to disappear into the ancint world she loves so much. To unbind herself...and to stop the machin...

whre is the button to hug arven

arven this is your cheerup crew. FRIENDSHIP. holy fuck im almost taring up.

credits roll

[thefatfeministwitch]

Faerie Magick for Beltane

May 1st, also known as May Day or Beltane, is a time when the veil between worlds is thin. The same is true at Samhain on October 31st, but instead of spirits of the deceased coming to visit we have magickal beings from the land of fae – faeries, elves, gnomes, leprechauns, etc. Music, dancing, revelry and time out in nature are all part of regular Beltane celebrations, and not only is this attractive to the fae – but you are close to their territory! Though finding a pathway or portal into the faerie realm is rare (and quite frankly, inadvisable), there is plenty you can do to welcome the fae into your life, garden, home, and Beltane celebrations.

Why Work with Faeries?

I’ll be honest – I’m terrified of faeries. I mean honest-to-god scared. My mother read me real fairytales right alongside with my disney favourites and I always knew faeries were just like people – good and evil all rolled into one. That said, there is good in there. Many people have faeries as guides, rather than angels or ancestors,  and even more celebrate the faerie realm in their magick.

So why invite faeries into your life an magick?

Well for one thing, faeries are beings of earth. They live on, and are made from, all the same star stuff you are. They are beings that are deeply connected to the planet, and even when they leave our plane of existence they’re still here.

Faeries are literal. This is something that shows up a lot in fairytales – a tendency for humans to misunderstand that faeries are actually being honest. Unfortunately our way of thinking and communicating is very different, but if you can learn to take what they say at face value and read between the lines they can save you a lot of time.

Faeries encourage indulgence in the finer things in life and treating yourself. This is something people can forget – that letting your hair down, laughing, dancing, and celebrating is vital to our survival. Fun is not frivolous, it’s a necessity! No one knows this better than faeries. If you’re struggling to find fun and playfulness in life, faeries can lead you in the right direction. They can also make you laugh your brains out.

Finally, faeries weave magick into every facet of life on earth. That rare bird you saw today, that feather in your path, that field of flowers that wasn’t there before? Faeries. The use all of the tools the earth has to offer to bring you magick and messages.

Of course, if you have trouble viewing faeries as something real and tangible, that’s ok! For many people, the faerie world isn’t something physical, but something subconcious. Something that we all have access to as beings of this planet. You can work with faerie archetypes in meditation or in meditative states, view them through your third eye, or communicate with them as an unseen guide.

Words of Warning!

If you’ve never read an honest-to-goodness fairytale in its original form, your idea of faeries might be a little sugar-coated. You probably imagine gorgeous, tiny, apple-cheeked, butterfly or dragonfly winged humanoid beings with sparkly auras. Or maybe jolly little leprechauns, or even the gorgeous elves from films. In reality, most faerie stories ended in tragedy and gruesome deaths. Though some faeries are elemntals or nature spirits, such as gnomes, salamanders, and wood nymphs – you also have Incubus and Succubus faeries who drained energy from their lovers; Banshees who’s screams fortold an imminent death; Merfolk and Sirens who dragged sailors to their deaths; Red Caps with sharp teeth and nails who could over-power even the largest man; The Bendith Y Mamau who would kidnap healthy babies and replace them with deformed and sickly changelings; and even the spirit of Death himself was said to reside in the land of fae. The Wild Hunt is a faerie hunting party that would lure restless souls from their beds on dreary nights and never allow them to return. In short: faeries aren’t all sweetness and light. They’re powerful magical beings with an endless life, and a very fragile sense of pride. Treat faeries with respect, and don’t demand anything from them. Ask, don’t demand.

The Magic of Flowers

The one thing all of the stories get right is that faeries love flowers! Much like bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, faeries dine on the sweet nectar of flowers. Though any flower, in any colour is able to attract faeries, there are a few they prefer.

Clover

All clover blossoms are in tune with the faery realm. In fact, clovers act as small doorways that allow us to communicate with faeries. Spend time outdoors near clover and allow your mind wander into the dream world and pay attention to what you see – this is a message from the fae. Never use poison to kill wild clover if you’re interested in attracting faeries to your home or garden. If you wish to collect clover blossoms and leaves, leave behind a small silver token as a gift.

Clover would make an excellent flower essence – use it to communicate, and put it in body and room sprays to attract the fae to you.

Buy Red Clover Seeds and Dried Flowers from Richters

Foxglove

Foxglove is a highly protective, slightly wild, mystical flower that faeries absolutely love. Unfortunately, it’s also FATALLY TOXIC if consumed. (DO NOT CONSUME EVER). The best way to connect with faeries using foxglove is simply by caring for it. Plant foxglove in your garden, cultivate from seedlings, and always spend time with Foxglove while it’s blossoming. Be warned that killing a foxglove could be seen as a slight!

If you consume foxglove flower essence (never make this yourself unless you are adept at this craft!) you may find yourself living that faerie life – a little wild, and extra bewitching.

Buy Foxglove Seeds And Plants From Richters

Lupine

Lupine is hearty and whimsical, earthy and magical, and aligned with both the sun and the element of water. These conflicting properties make it a bridge between ours and the realm of the fae. When growing wild, Lupine usually marks the place of a portal to the faerie realm. Try finding the plant and spending time there, with an open mind ready to drift off.

Lupine is the flower of imagination, and would be a welcome addition to faerie games with children – grow it in the garden where they play or mix the essence in with paint, bubbles, and in the bath.

Verbena/Vervain

Verbena, or Vervain, has long been associated with magic, medicine, and faeries. Verbena serves as the ultimate gateway to the faerie realm. Grow a patch of it in your garden, and on a warm day lie on your back in your patch of Verbena and prepare the drift. Hold on to the verbena either in your gaze, your hand, or just your mind and focus on the scent of the flowers and your intention to travel. Pay attention to everything you see and smell, remember everyone you meet, and accept (almost) all gifts with happiness and reverence.

Be careful! Don’t eat any food offered to you! Eating the food of the faerie realm will trap you there indefinitely. Also be wary not to wander back to where you started without first reconnecting to your body. When you return, leave a gift in the patch of Vervain. This could be something shiny like a coin, something you’ve made, or a walnut shell full of champagne or beer. Make sure your offering matches the value of whatever you’ve brought back.

Get Verbena Plants from Richters

Faeries are consistently angry with humans for their treatment of and destruction of the natural world – this may be why they can be hostile at times. In addition to the flowers above, plant flowers that help feed bees, butterflies and hummingbirds such as milkweed, bee balm, daffodils, lavender, butterfly bush, borage, cosmos, cinguefoil, columbine and petunias.

Other Natural Friends To Faeries

The Oak Tree is the ultimate spiritual tree and is considered to be the home of the faerie king – Gwyn Ap Nudd.

Hawthorne trees often act as a physical portal to the faerie realm.

Ash trees are often believed to serve as homes for entire clans of faeries. If you ever come across a grouping of all three of these trees tread carefully, you may have found the entrance to the faerie realm. A cluster of these trees often serves as a meet up point for The Wild Hunt.

Wild mushrooms – especially the (very poisonous!) fly agaric red and white “toadstool”, but any wild mushrooms are said to house faeries. If you find a ring of them in your yard, this is considered a faerie ring and should be protected!

Making Space for Faeries

Planting a faerie garden can be a fun way to attract fairies to your yard, while giving them a place of their own to stick around. Plant the above wild flowers and focus on drawing insects and other flying animals to your garden as well – faeries don’t live alone after all! Try and leave one part of the garden fairly wild – tall grass, natural earth, full of stones and even weeds. This will let the faeries you know you love the earth just the way it is. Try building the following faerie-friendly decorations and structures in your garden to let them know they’re welcome.

🌷 Faery Houses! Make small houses with wood, sticks, pebbles, leave, moss, and flowers. Tuck them under flowers, bushes and in shady spots to give faeries a rest after exploring your garden. These can be as low-key as a small stone cave or as elaborate as you like! Just make sure everything on the house is safe for the garden once it begins to decompose.

🌷 Faery Furniture! What, do you think faeries just like to flap and trudge around all day? Give them someplace to sit! Get tiny chairs, couches, and tables for faeries. Maybe even some small dishes? Paint them spring colours or wrap them in vines and moss to make them comfy.

🌷 Faery watering hole! Make sure you put up a little fountain or wishing well for fairies to drink from, bathe in, and soak their tired feet in. This can be a bird bath, or something small just for them. Always make sure the water is clean, and clear!

🌷 Faery Circle! Collect pretty stones and pebbles and create faery circles. This is especially good if you have wild mushrooms and toadstools around your yard – surround them in a circle of stones. Leave whatever grows within the circle to grow wild.

🌷 Faery Calls! The fae LOVE music! Get bells and wind chimes and hang them from trees and hooks around your garden. Make sure they all feature different, but lovely high tones. Stick with glass or metal. Tiny bells for holiday decorations can be hung from tree branches and on strudy flower stalks to blow in the wind. Leave small instruments out for the fae and listen for music. If you’re a musician, make a space in your garden for you to regularly play your music or dance.

🌷 Faery Hospitality! Making a space to leave out food and treasures for the faeries is always appreciated. Leave out sweet breads and cakes, milk, honey, champagne, beer or a flower wine (like dandelion!), and sparkly objects like coins and jewellery. If you find pretty stones on your travels, consider bring it home for the faeries. Never throw these offerings out the window like you would food for animals, place them in designated places that you keep clean and tidy.

Make sure to keep these things clean, tidy, and in proper working order. Never leave broken toys or bells around your faerie garden – repair them. Try and use natural materials that will biodegrade, or stand up to the weather. As far as the actual garden goes – though a little wild and weedy is good, never neglect your garden. Faeries take neglect of the natural environment very personally. Tend to your garden regularly, talk to your flowers and plants, and sing while you do it. If you see that your garden’s had visitors, try not to pry. That being said, always make time to hang out in your garden and play with the faeries. Sing, dance, make music, blow bubbles, make crafts and be creative – do things that make you smile and laugh.

Appeasing, Apologizing to, and Protecting Yourself from Faeries

If you’ve stopped making good on your promises to the fairies, halted your offerings without notice, or made a bargain you can’t keep – they can get angry. This can cause problems in your yard and home that might be described similarly to a haunting. Children in the home may start having nightmares, jewellery and valuables may disappear, and the natural landscape around your home may begin to wither. The easiest way to correct the situation is to appease and apologize to the faeries. Leave out special offerings in large amounts just for the faeries. Write a song or make music just for them. Get incenses and room sprays with floral scents that they love. Leave bread, milk, and ale out on the back porch every night before you go to bed. Make sure to tend to your garden, repair any broken houses, bells, or other faery things you’ve put out.

If you’ve done something wrong while traveling to their realm, or gone back on a deal the only way to make amends is to pony up – either go back and face the court or try and negotiate with at least one foot firmly in our world. Don’t ever try to re-negotiate or re-deal with faeries – they are smarter than you.

If you’ve had a negative experience and want to make the faeries leave you and your property alone, there are a few talismans you can put around to make your property less appealing.

Peonies are said to protect against faeries and the aroma is toxic to them. Planting these around your garden, bringing them inside, and using a spray or oil of peony essence and aroma is a gentle way to get the faeries to leave. Take down all bells and faery houses and places for them to hang out. If you really need them gone and you’re feeling a bit mean – get iron. Stones with a high iron content, iron pipes and metal pieces, iron infused water, etc. Put it everywhere. Put it in the yard and around the house. Put iron shavings along doorways, windowsills, and any other entrances. Take iron supplements to increase the iron content in your own blood if you feel you’re under personal attack. St John’s Wort flowers can be put in the garden and around the home and yard to make faeries leave and feel unwelcome.

Buy St John’s Wort Seeds and Plants at Richters

Interested in more faerie and flower magick? Get these books from my amazon shop, Blue Moon Magick & Metaphysics and help support the podcast and blog!

Field Guide to the Little People: A Curious Journey Into the Hidden Realm of Elves, Faeries, Hobgoblins & Other Not-So-Mythical Creatures by Nancy Arrowsmith

The Magic of Flowers by Tess Whiethurst

Faeries and Elementals for Beginners by Alexandra Chauran

Goblin-Proofing One’s Chicken Coop: And Other Practical Advice in Our Campaign Against The Fairy Kingdom by Reginald Bakeley

Beltane by Melanie Marquis

Faerie Magick for Beltane May 1st, also known as May Day or Beltane, is a time when the veil between worlds is thin.

[glitchtypes]

crocus, iris, magnolia

crocus: do you believe in magic?

ye… ye i do….. e….

when you clutch a stone, like i have a clear quartz crystal, and focus on clear thoughts, and it helps >wmaybe its just fun/a good grounding thing but i still like it anyway!!!

iris: would you rather be a fairy, a witch, or a mermaid?

i wanna be a fairy!!! i wanna fly!!!! fndkjbn

magnolia: what is your favorite gemstone?

what a!??!?! coincidence?!?!!??!?! fairy aura quartzits so texturey and sparkly and colors…. i cant believe the earth make dat…. and if its artificially done thats ok too i still love it >u

[sophiadevris-blog]

Nicki's Quinceanera

“Wake up, Nicki! It’s your birthday! Come have breakfast!” You open your eyes and see me standing in your bedroom doorway, grinning. “Yes, mama,” you answer sleepily, “I’m coming…” You throw back the pink satin comforter and purple bamboo sheets and roll out of bed. You grab your lavender terrycloth bathrobe and wrap it around you, shivering slightly, needing more warmth than your thin cotton pajama set can provide. A yawn escapes you as you walk slowly toward the kitchen and wafting scent of breakfast.

I am bustling around the kitchen, preparing a light breakfast for us. There is fruit cut up on the table along with your favorite yogurt and muffins. The thick aroma of my coffee warms you as you eat. “Well, sweetheart, are you excited? I know you’ve been looking forward to this for quite a while,” I ask, sipping my rich coffee. “Yes, mama,” you reply, smiling at me thru your hair, “very much! I hope it all goes like we’ve planned.” “It will be fine, darling! Now, eat up and go have a bath, and I’ll set out your things.”

You finish your breakfast, then climb back upstairs to your bathroom. You strip out of your robe and jammies, then spend a few minutes admiring your nubile body in the full-length mirror. Deep purple polish on your toes and fingers, long, shapely legs, narrow hips, just a little bit of plump to your belly, breasts filling in nicely, long brown silky fine hair, straight white smile, and gorgeous deep blue eyes… Satisfied, you step into the shower. Once you are washed throughly and rinsed off, you dry yourself, enjoying the steam from the shower and the feel of the soft towel over your softer skin.

You step out into your room where I have laid out your clothes for the day. There is a purple satin bra and matching panty and garter belt set, with sheer black thigh-high pantyhose. Your gorgeous deep purple dress hangs on the bar in your closet, and your matching ballet flats are at the foot of the bed. The heels that you will wear later wait in their box; I will help you into them at the ceremony. Your jewelry is boxed up as well, waiting for its own proper time.

You remember what I’ve told you, and start with your stockings and garter, fastening the stockings into the garter clips just as I’ve shown you. You step into your panties, pulling them up and smoothing them over your hips and ass, enjoying their texture against your skin. Your bra is next, and you are pleased with yourself for getting it clasped on the first try. You pause again to admire your lingerie, seeing a woman looking back at you from the mirror where so recently a child had been.

I step into your doorway then, and chuckle. You turn and see me, then smile and twirl, your hair flying out around you. “I love it, mama! I look so pretty!” I laugh happily and reply, “Yes, darling child, you do! Let me help you with your hair now, and then we can get you into your dress.”

You obediently sit down on the stool in front of your dresser, and I begin to comb your hair. I am firm but gentle and soon all of the kinks and tangles are worked out. Your hair gleams in the sunlight streaming in thru your window. I braid it neatly into a crown for you, mindful of where your tiara will sit later, then finish the rest of it in a braided coil sitting neatly at the back of your head. Several strands are left loose, curling sweetly at the nape of your neck.

“Now, darling, let’s get your dress on you!” You nod eagerly, and I take the bag off of your gown, letting the ruffles and petticoats flow free. You gasp, having forgotten how full the skirts were, and I grin. I undo the corset laces of the bodice, and arrange the dress so that you can safely step into it. You daintily put in first one foot, then the other, standing in a pool of deep purple satin. I gently bring it up around you and you shudder in pleasure at the feeling of the satin and tulle gliding over your stockings. You slide your arms thru the straps and I adjust the bodice around you, pulling everything into place. We are both giggling a bit now, out of sheer excitement. “Now, sweetie, hold on to your door frame, and I’ll lace you up!” You glide over to the door, and get a good grip. One by one, I pull the laces thru, tightening the corset as it molds to your body, accentuating your breasts. You are secure, fitted firmly and properly into your dress, and you are gorgeous.

I help you into your ballet flats, then grab your matching bolero jacket and help you into that, as well. You sit once more, and I apply light makeup to your eyes, bringing out their color even more. “Alright, little one, I believe you are ready. Do you feel ready, dearest?” You nod, “Yes, mama, but I’m nervous!” “That’s ok, sweetie, it’s completely normal. I’ll be there with you! Now, let’s get ourselves to the car so we won’t be late!” I have already dressed in my silver beaded gown and done my hair, so we head downstairs and grab our things, then head out to my silver Tessa S. I have started it ahead of time, so the seats are warmed and soft jazz is playing on the radio. I open the door for you and help you in, assisting you in arranging your skirts so that nothing gets caught in the door! I stow a bag in the back, then I come around and slip into the driver’s seat, and we are off.

The drive seems familiar to you, and you realize you’ve gone this way before. “Mama, aren’t we headed to the rec hall? I thought that’s where the party was!” I chuckle, “No sweetie, this is part of your birthday present! I have rented out the Manor for your party, the same place you had your last ball!” You squeal in delight, and soon you see the large building around a bend in the road. There are deep purple balloons decorating the wrought iron fences, and many cars parked in the lot already. We pull thru the gate and up the drive, and stop at the marble steps. A valet takes the keys and a footman takes the bag, and we glide up the steps to the front door. An impeccably dressed butler opens the door for us, and we step into the foyer.

Immediately inside the door, you are surrounded by your friends, your court. They are all so excited to see you in your fantastic dress, and wish you a happy birthday. The seven young gentlemen you chose are there, all dressed impeccably in matching green brocade vests and tuxedos. You greet them all by name: “Chris, Jake, Colin, Tobias, Pedro, Felix, and Oliver, thank you all for being here, being my chambelans!” They all smile at you and mutter appropriate words, but Tobias especially has that heat in his eyes when he sees you dressed like this, and you blush under his steady gaze. You turn and greet your ladies, “Lynn, Jen, Jessica, Kaylee, Lisa, Emily, and Barbara, thank you for being my damas. Your dresses are all so wonderful!” Again, giggles and pleasantries, but you notice Kaylee looking at you in much the same way that Tobias just did. You blush again, and file that away for future consideration. I step up then. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, do your best for Nicki today! The dance is just like we practiced, the space is a little larger, but I think you’ll like it. The MC’s name is Luther, and he’ll give you cues. All ready? Great!”

You hear a voice then, a deep bass rumble, calling out, “Please welcome the court of Nicki Joy Devris!” Familiar dance music starts, and two by two your friends file thru the doorway into the ballroom, falling easily into the moves you’ve all practiced for the past several weeks. As the last two dancers leave, we are briefly alone, and I kiss you firmly on the cheek. “Good luck!” The music slows, then pauses, and you hear Luther’s voice again: “Announcing Miss Nicole Joy Devris!”

Your feet carry you they the door and follow the steps of the dance, your mind whirling faster than your body. You dance flawlessly, passed from one friend to another, dancing with all of your court in a spectacular arrangement of choreography. The music crescendos and then ends with you and your court in tableau, all eyes on you. Your cheeks are flushed from the dance and everyone one there is clapping and laughing in excitement. The music fades slightly as everyone finds their seats. You struggle for a moment to regain your breath, as the corset is rather tight and you did not practice dancing in it. I step up behind you and offer you a cool glass of water, which you take gratefully. You hand me the glass back, and I give you one of your favorite dolls. You hold it gently and look at it fondly, but we planned this, too, and you know it’s part of the ceremony.

The music swells, then drops away, and Luther’s voice booms out again: “Miss Sofia Maria Devris and Miss Nicole Joy Devris!” The dance floor clears, and a slow waltz begins. I take your hand and lead you out to the floor, you still holding your doll. We curtsy to each other, then I take you in my arms and we dance close together, one last time as my little child. The waltz ends, and you turn to your younger cousin Daisy, and hand her the doll. She takes it, and curtsies to you. You smile at her, and music begins again, a more upbeat tempo. I lead you back to our table, where your chambelans wait. They have set a chair on the table and as we approach, they lift you up and set you on it like a throne. Everyone claps and there is a round of laughter. You stick out your feet from under your skirt, and I remove your flats. Tobias steps up with a box in his hands, grinning from ear to ear. I open the box and remove your new purple sparkly heels. Oohs and aahs come from the crowd when I hold them up, then slip them on your delicate feet, and buckle the straps around your ankles. Pedro and Oliver help you off the table and set you on your feet, and you wobble just a little for a moment, reaching out to me for support. I take your hand to steady you, and you blush sweetly.

Kaylee steps up beside you with a velvet pillow. On it are a gorgeous silver ring with a deep purple stone, and a stunning silver tiara with amethyst and crystal accents. I lift the tiara onto your head, setting it deftly around your braid and adjusting your hair pins to hold it in place. There is applause and cheers, and I slip the silver ring on your finger and kiss your cheek. I can’t help but cry just a little as I help you on your journey to become a beautiful young woman.

The music picks up again, and Kaylee and Tobias each take one of your arms and swing you out onto the dance floor. They swing you around, passing you back and forth between them. As the music increases in tempo, you lose all thought but that of the dance, so you are surprised when the song ends and you are in Kaylee’s arms. Her face is just inches from yours and her light pink dress mingles with your deep purple. She takes your hands in hers and raises them to her lips, kissing your fingers. A round of cheers and applause follows, and you blush furiously. Tobias steps in behind you and twirls you around, then repeats the kiss to your fingers. Another round of applause washes over you. He smiles at Kaylee and you suddenly realize that they planned this out ahead of time. Back and forth between them you go, while the rest of your court dances around you, weaving graceful patterns together. You are aroused by their obvious desire for you, and just give in to the music and the evening.

You dance with your friends and some relatives, stopping here and there for a bite to eat or something to drink, until it is quite late in the evening. Most of your court has paid their respects and wished you happy birthday before heading out. Things are winding down, and finally only you and I and Tobias and Kaylee are left in the hall. You are exhausted, but thrilled with how the evening has gone. I look knowingly at the three young people in front of me, and I say, “Nicki, it’s time to go.” You smile, relieved I have made the decision for you, and turn to your friends. You all exchange hugs, and they lean in together and each kiss one of your cheeks. You blush furiously, and Tobias bows and Kaylee curtsies, then they both take their leave. We follow them out and our car is waiting. I help you in, arranging your skirts again, and as we drive home you rest your head on my shoulder. “Mama?” “Yes, Nicki?” “That was wonderful. Thank you.” “You’re welcome, Nicki. Happy Birthday!”

[opalmothnightingale]

Climb the Booksteps & Spring Up & Fly.  Go to School So I Can Too.  Give Me Space So I Can Give You Involvement.  Give You Freedom So I Can Give You Guidance.  Thoughts On My Child.  I Can Only Give You What Works For Me (& Walk With You, Or Show You Where To Look)

2- 24- 18 - 

So it’s all this, thoughts on my child and how to raise her...  I like the overlong titles.  They help me feel humble, real, divested of false value or false virtue or false intelligence, when I know I’m smart, I’m good and valuable, but every thing that I can do to injure my expression without injuring the essential dignity and value of the actual message...  I like to find how to do this, when it occurs to me, not that I search for how to do it.  Maybe one day I’ll do that, come up with how to injure my expression but still allow the true good message to get through to those who are open hearted, open minded, and able to pay enough attention.  Some need sparkling, clever sounding people to give messages but they can find them elsewhere.  Usually those who need such sparkly people would take issue with things that I say, because they are at a more basic or short attention span or unmindful, selfish, greedy or judgmental, falsely superior kind of view of things...  Or dogmatic, or rigid, narrow, one size fits all...  I would upset them with my messages, because of our clashing views.  I used to be like them and don’t judge them but I know the difference between teeny bopper fluff bunny level of understanding vs. college level understanding of these things, so to speak.  

So yeah...  Speaking of that, I want to think of how to raise my daughter, teach her what i want her to learn and feel that she needs to be well and happy in life, and a good person, blah blah, etc.  And I want to learn what I can about how to be happy and well and I feel this is like mothering school for me, because she is teaching me this.  She is my teacher.  Even so I feel I have to send her off to get the heck away from me because sometimes I’m so exhausted and overwhelmed that I’m scraping by in her presence, with her noise, intensity, issues, behavioral things, and disciplinary difficulties (part of the behavioral stuff), and yet if I send her away too long I’ll atrophy, I’ll melt like the wicked witch of the west, in a pile of wax, useless and empty and heartless and amorphous.  

I feel I can give her things, that I’m not only a stepping stone, not only a springboard.  She made a staircase of books and climbed it and jumped off, saying she was flying, right after I thought of what am I to her?  A stepping stone or springboard, etc...  She is known for reading my mind...  So whatever it means, but I like the image she made...

I also feel I can give her space and freedom and autonomy so that I can give her guidance.  People try to control and shape their kids’ lives so much they have no space and flow to work with, and it becomes this rigid thing that can’t grow and can’t think for itself and can’t have room to add more new things... I want her to have so much time and freedom that I can easily sneak in new ideas, new ways to teach and share and show her wisdom, experience, beautiful things, meaningful things in life...  But also to bar out the negative and stupid, fearful and annoying, overthinking, etc ways of the modern western world..  

Raise her to be meditative, open, and alive, in the senses, creative, aware, in herself,...  Not distracted with the world and it’s opinions, debates, complaints and arguments...  

Not for her to be led to disagree and debate with me by know it all kids who influence her or the pressures of society.  So...  For those things not to ever enter her mind because she’s just happy to live our beautiful simple life and never was exposed to a reason to question it. Then once she’s grown up she’ll be so filled with wisdom, knowledge,...  And, so very filled with goodness and good habits,...  and firsthand experiences of the good of our lifestyle,... 

And then from there, fully mature mentally, creatively, in heart, and soul, too,... Then and only then, she will go into the world and see what we gave her was good and not want all the fear and confusion they try to push.  I will have raised her well.  

My life may revolve around being a step to further develop her.  

It’s ok.  I feel it is a good message, though... That what I can give to her is knowledge, wisdom, and practices and habits and the learning through experiences too, and maybe the conferring of energy on her too, to give her spiritual energy that will help her to grow along her spiritual path, and teach her how to connect to her own source of love, guidance, bhakti, love of god, trust in god, and accessing and learning the wisdom of god...  the voice of the world, the answers to the many questions and how to find them, as well as how to heal and manage all the physical challenges and social challenges that I too am learning how to traverse and negotiate these badlands (sometimes for the first time ever trying to learn them).

I want to be able to say to her, this is what works or this worked for me, and I hope it can work for you and if you need more help, this is where I would go to look for guidance or help, and information.  I will walk the path with you if I have strength, energy, mental health, emotional health to manage it.  It’s all I can promise but it’s all anyone can promise, to try to do, because most have no idea the weakness that lies in wait, and doesn’t catch most people, but if another set of conditions hunted down and took down their lives, it would be a different story and they wouldn’t judge me any more..  But this is the world and they can’t see that.  Usually, anyway.  They feel better than me.  Or they blind themselves to their own failures and sometimes blame the victim, the kids, who weren’t raised as they needed...  And sometimes it is the parent child and grandparent, generation of the branches of the family tree all have been victims, because they didn’t get what they needed and tried their best but still made terrible mistakes they had no idea were such terrible mistakes or just felt totally out of control.  

This is what human nature is built on.  That is how I see it.  We try our best yet still sometimes make terrible mistakes yet still often do okay enough in the subsistence level of survival, it’s not a bad life, looking for and holding on to the good kind of level and perception of things...  

And so it’s ok...  But as long as I am not put into a position where there’s more than I can chew so I spit it all out, before I choke and die, worthless to my daughter and myself.  If my husband died?  If I was to die soon?  Then what?  If my daughter was to die?  Then what?  I don’t ask these questions with no reason,...  Some of them are somewhat realistic questions to think might come up soon...  Maybe not, hopefully not but I want to think of it before it happens, before my life is completely shipwrecked and I can’t stand up, walk, think straight, function, maybe, and it all shuttles straight to hell, to the whirlpool of down the drain, too late too little, too bad for you,...

Sometimes I feel I get moments of clarity and then months of confusion and or even months of clarity but too exhausted to write and act and remember the clairty longterm.  So I see what to do sometimes, but then it feels it’s often torn from my arms, and I am lost once more.  Help me please, gods.  Help me believe and trust when my simple human mind and my simple weak sense of control over things is so limited that I really need to have immense faith and take action based on that immense faith as well as alignment, but not too aligned...

Sometimes you have to reach for the stars and hope to land in the sky...  You can’t always pluck the fruit easily in your grasp, the path of ease and comfort and obvious success..  Sometimes you need to struggle and fear and leap into the terrifying unknown.  Law of attraction advocates people to ignore dire situations till they feel more promising, but waiting in such cases can spell total failure and disaster.