#listen i am DEVASTATINGLY oblivious when it comes to these things....but even i picked up on it. he was THAT obvious

[aprillikesthings]

I think I finally have the energy for more rewatch

We're on the home stretch now folks

*cries*

s5 ep9 An Ill Wind

Me when I started doing this nearly two months ago: oh my god I can't do this for every episode it'll take me MONTHS to watch them all I want is to refresh my memory of the show enough to write my damn fic

Me now, having done this for Yes, Every Fucking Episode: I'm not ready for the show to be over ;_; Also I am devastatingly obsessed with Catra and learned I have a specific kink I didn't know the name of before and I keep practicing eyeliner like every night so I can cosplay Catra :D

ahahahah oh god

also from here on out I am going to not read the synopses

(I didn't do that for most of the episodes anyway tbh)

Glimmer can teleport relatively far distances with multiple people again but Catra is NOT a fan

also they're toUCHING

Adora, looking into the woods: hey come look at this

Catra: *still suppressing puking from some form of motion sickness caused by teleportation*

oh they find the empty torn up camp

Glimmer: maybe they went to Bright Moon or Mystacor? Catra: dude you know they could all be chipped so maybe we should be careful Glimmer: oh you don't trust princesses? Adora: Catra's right Catra: *grins in satisfaction*

just look at her

the fuckin. lack of subtlety here. as always. *chef's kiss*

("ugh they didn't HAVE to be so obvious don't you think it's Too Much" listen I've literally seen people who've watched Arcane be surprised to find out that people are shipping Vi and Caitlyn. "Really? I didn't think that was romantic." You didn't? Did we watch the same fucking show??? The one where those two have romantic tension so thick you could carve it with a KNIFE? The one where they had an overdramatic breakup scene in the rain even tho they hadn't kissed or anything? The one where they lay on Caitlyn's bed and talked about Vi's past while making significant eye contact and holding hands and Caitlyn pet Vi's face? That scene where they hug on the bridge and Vi does that like, face pet thing before walking off and they're clearly both in AGONY at being separated?! Are you really that fucking oblivious??? Jesus H Christ. Yes She-Ra made it SUPER OBVIOUS because some people are BAD AT PICKING UP THIS SHIT also She-Ra is aimed at kids and they haven't learned subtlety. Arcane was aimed at adults.)

no really I've seen people express surprise that people think they're going to be a couple. when that ^ was after they'd known each other like two hours

(seriously tho, if you can handle violence (there's a LOT ngl, it is not a show for kids) then you should watch Arcane, the people who make it have made it pretty clear that it's gonna be canon, and the next season is out in November; but also leaving shipping aside it's just REALLY, REALLY GOOD)

ANYWAY back to other animated lesbians

lol Glimmer teleports them all again without warning and Catra really does look like she's gonna hurl

And Erelandia ain't looking so good, oops

(but also yes Adora helped Catra up again)

intro is the same as the last episode

AHAHAH a dozen planets are rebelling against Horde Prime he's so pissed. And they apparently all mention She-Ra

yeah I am again surprised at how much of the actual plot I forgot lol (but I remembered that Glimmer liked to sneak into the kitchen to eat cake with her hands. Y'know. Important things.)

given his tiny facial reactions I think that's Hordak-Hordak. Our Hordak. Not the Wrong Hordak. I think.

once again I ask myself: where did y'all get those outfits

Entrapta teaches Wrong Hordak how to wink and it's so cute. I also love that she explains what it means--because I'm sure she had to consciously learn it, too: "It signals unspoken intent behind my words. In this case, our mutual deception of the Horde. Now you try."

awww

but yeah everyone in town is terrified and won't talk to them, and especially doesn't want to talk about any princesses

"should I buy property here?"

"...go team."

C'MON THAT WAS FUNNY, GUYS

Also, note to self, Melog definitely understands human speech--they split up, Catra is told to stick with Entrapta and Melog (and Catra frowns at this, just barely) and Adora tells Melog to keep them safe and it does a little noise of affirmation. (wait is Melog a he or a she or a they?)(fan wiki says it's an it but dang I feel weird using "it")

Okay so the scene where Glimmer, Adora, and Bow hide in a shop and then end up arguing with the shopkeeper is like, fascinating on multiple levels

Because on the one hand: I can't blame the townspeople for just keeping their head down and trying to get out alive. On the other hand, reporting them to the Horde isn't cool; they could just pretend not to be suspicious of these guys; there are in fact lots of places on the spectrum between "actively collaborating with one's oppressors" and "mounting a full-scale armed rebellion."

But on the other other hand I also think it's interesting that Adora's the only one of the three who's like "nah dude just let these people live their lives omg," something about Adora having lived in an oppressive environment for her whole childhood maybe

poor Adora someone get her an ibuprofen

Anyway Spinerella found them ack

Also Melog steals an apple for Catra, just magically takes it from someone's basket and into Catra's hand, which implies they're communicating non-verbally more than just moods, though I suppose "hungry, that apple looks good" is a mood

speaking of things that would make ANYone motion sick--

(Adora is saying it) Catra's right there, dude. You spent the last four seasons fighting her. lol.

Oh I paused it too soon lol Catra says this line:

LOLOL

Back on Horde Prime's ship, Hordak keeps looking at the chip thing Entrapta gave him and gets caught by Prime, whoopsie

oh hey, lore: Horde Prime can't access ALL the memories in his previous bodies without going into them, and he keeps his old bodies around in that green goo, that's fucking weird and gross, anyway he plugs a connection into his old body

Horde Prime: "The First Ones sought a new source of power of ancient worlds. Why? Why bend themselves to the whims of magic and myth?"

Poor Hordak has flashbacks to Entrapta and the Fright Zone. Mostly Entrapta. Including a moment of her looking at him fondly--I think it's the moment when she says "Imperfection is beautiful."

Horde Prime: "The fools took their secrets with them when they died. But I will find another way."

(I've seen a fan discussion suggest that there aren't actually any First Ones left--that when Light Hope made it so Adora came through the portal, the portal itself went back in time. I like that explanation in part because it means in my fic I don't have to figure out why Adora doesn't go looking for her birth family. Which tbh most fic-writers don't worry about anyway lol.)

Back with the rebellion, poor Catra is once again trying not to lose her lunch because they've all teleported.

And Netossa is like WTF IS THAT BITCH DOING HERE

Melog doesn't like that

Adora: "It's a long story, but she's with us now" Netossa: "...really??" (Catra in the background: hisses)

BAHAHA and then Netossa spots Wrong Hordak and they have to explain, no that one's with us, too 😬

But yeah p much the entire rebellion has been chipped except like Netossa and Perfuma

Adora and Bow have a guilt trip about having been gone for so long (...to rescue the queen! and also Catra)

and Catra's remembering what it's like to be chipped :(

Glimmer gives them all a ra-ra little speech

Adora just makes the sword appear in her hand without transforming lol that's cool

but they're doing the "I'm in" "yeah me too!" thing and

like, on dates?

(lol)

yayyy

Anyway the team heads back to Erelandia and starts kicking some ass

there's a great moment when Catra's like "you go deal with Spinnerella we'll take care of the bots" and Adora says "be careful" and Catra grins and says "always am!" like ma'am that is a LIE

Spinnerella is torturing some poor villager, and Netossa is worried her wife isn't still "in there"

Adora would know. From literal, personal experience. ;_;

She transforms into She-Ra and Netossa literally does a whistle of appreciation and says, "New look?" and She-Ra grins back. And somehow that is, like. Super queer. Like literally just one lesbian to another, in a flirty-but-not kinda way. Like I have *had* those interactions, where the underlying meaning is "I know we're each in a relationship, so I'm not actually hitting on you; but as one queer woman to another I want you to know that I see what you're putting out there and I like it." It's one of the best things??????

Netossa gives a little speech to Spinnerella about how she loves her and Spinnerella actually comes back for a few seconds ;_; but then she's gone again, but She-Ra and Netossa convince her to disappear for a while at least? And the locals rejoice.

And Catra would know. ;_; (She rubs the back of her neck after saying this.)

Anyway word gets back to Horde Prime that She-Ra is back on Etheria :D and he's so fucking pissed he's going to go there

...and Hordak spends a long moment looking at that chip from Entrapta again

They go to where the rebellion is actually hiding out, Glimmer and Catra recognize it

and I'M BLANKING ON WHY THEY'RE REACTING THIS WAY HELP seriously I have spent like ten minutes trying to figure it out, I don't think they talked about it while on Horde Prime's ship? Fuck!! IF YOU KNOW PLZ TELL ME

Any Perfuma ties them up and makes sure they're not chipped and then it's Happy Reunion Time with everyone :D

Adora to Catra: it's time for you to meet everyone Catra: are you sure??

I got that one without trying I didn't know it was coming lololol I was trying to get a shot of Catra looking hopeful

poor thing

Adora: long story but she's with us now!!!

Adora (well, as She-Ra) gives them all a little pep talk

ANNND EPISODE OVER

and I don't have time to do another one tonight and I won't have time tomorrow until like after 6:30pm aaaaaaugh

ON THE UPSIDE I only work two days this upcoming week.

Because it's Holy Week. I'm going to be in church like every day starting Wednesday and twice a couple of days ahahaha including an hour in the middle of the night on Thursday.

It is DEEPLY HILARIOUS to me that I'm going to end up watching the last episodes of She-Ra mere days before Easter. Like I literally have four left. Assuming I watch one tomorrow, I could end up watching the next one Tuesday night and watching the last two BEFORE GOING TO CHURCH ON WEDNESDAY how tf am I gonna focus for SHIT lolol

[heonie-ween]

.

[secret-engima]

*snicker* Sorry, I just - had the mental image of the Nox!taur 'verse combined with your soulmates 'verse. And I just - had the mental image of Cor and secret!female!Ardyn switching places on Switch day - long before they actually *meet* in person. So here is Cor, utterly flabbergasted because he's long thought he was one of the few /without/ a soulmate, suddenly blinking awake on Switch day in an entirely different place and body and - are those wings. Are those scales. (cont)

hamelin-born said: (cont) He has a soulmate, and his soulmate is an /unknown dragon-taur?!/ His soulmate is a *Lucis Caelum?!* Meanwhile, Ardyn is - actually flawlessly pretending to be Cor and /getting away with it because 1) She actually learned about Switch Day and the existence of soulmates in time to anticipate this, and 2) Ardyn used to use illusions to assume other's identities for /fun/ (and blackmail purposes), she's /used/ to tricking others into believing she's someone else. (cont)

hamelin-born said: (cont) Ardyn's main worry is for her darling nibling - but they made all the preparations they could, just in case, and she knows that Nox can take care of himself. (Nox is. Currently being fed Good Food by Libertus, who immediately recognized that the person in Nyx's body Was Not Nyx, and is both welcoming him to the family and gently interrogating him. Meanwhile, Nyx is - literally in the middle of the wilderness, miles from everyone else, FREAKING OUT at the dragon-taur body she's in.)

hamelin-born said: Cont: It's later assumed by EVERYONE that a mixture of Lucis Caelum Magic, Niflheimr Magitek Science, and Astral Bleepery are to blame for the soulmates never switching until they were all well over 15.

Me: Can I just say I love this idea with every fiber of my being? Like- hgfdhgf. Not going to make it part of Nox!Taur canon but this is HYSTERICAL. Imma ramble on this because this is great.

Do you know what would make it BETTER? If neither of them had any clue it was going to happen. Ardyn just- woke up in the wrong body, looked around, and decided she had no idea what was going on but she was gonna ROLL WITH IT and is flawlessly pulling it off because she’s he master at addlibing. She picks up from some of the things mentioned as she goes about Cor’s day that 1. Apparently the switching thing is normal? 2. Apparently no one expects Cor to be switched because he never has and people assume that means his “soulmate” is dead or never existed. 3. That soulmates are a thing. Interesting.

Wait how is her darling nephew going to deal with this? Also this means Cor the Immortal is in HER body right now. Oh dear.

Cor meanwhile is Not A Happy Camper. He just- where is he. What’s going on. He SWITCHED? He has A SOULMATE AT HIS AGE (remember, switches only happen when the youngest member turns fifteen so Cor at first thinks his soulmate must be. Devastatingly young). Then he gets a good look at his soulmate’s body and internally Freaks Out. He has a dragon for a soulmate, there is ANOTHER LUCIS CAELUM RUNNING AROUND. Further, the caelum is STARVING TO DEATH. Cor can barely stand to haul this body to Hammerhead from the hunger pangs and dizziness and by the astrals what has his soulmate been doing to get into this state? (Answer: nothing, this is Ardyn’s normal state, she just literally doesn’t notice because compared to sharing a suit with thousands of screaming daemons the pain of hunger doesn’t even register as pain). Cor is further alarmed when he hauls the body to Hammerhead and Cid GREETS what he clearly thinks is the owner of the body, (ARDYN??? HIS SOULMATE IS ARDYN? IT BETTER NOT BE THE ARDYN HE’S THINKING OF) And Cor kinda gives the game away by yelling “YOU KNOW WHO OWNS THIS BODY?” And Cid blinks and goes “You’re her soulmate?” Then he squints because clearly Ardyn’s soulmate knows Cid too, takes in the posture and the scowl and goes “COR?”

In the middle of a private meeting between Regis, Clarus, Titus, and “Cor”, Regis’s phone rings. A quick check proves it to be Cid’s number and he answers because Cid never calls without very good reason. Listens with slowly widening eyes to whatever is being said, then lowers the phone to stare sternly at “Cor”, “I believe,” Regis says slowly as he turns the phone to speaker, “It’s for you.”

Ardyn is highly amused to hear her own voice trying to screech deeply as Cor yells at his soulmate over being half starved and also his soulmate and if you are causing his king any grief, soulmate or NOT he’s going to kill you.

Regis, Clarus, and Titus watch in minor horror as the person they were sure was just a slightly broodier Cor (which is normal considering what day it is) relaxes and smirks, body posture loose and totally different, “Me? My dear Cor,” purrs the person in Cor’s frame, “I’ve been causing no trouble at all! I even filed all your paperwork for you. No one has been inconvenienced in the slightest, have you, Your Majesty?” A bright smile that is eerie on Cor’s face and Regis stiffens. Then Ardyn flicks her soulmate’s lion tail and muses aloud, “I will admit to being confused over all of this however, this has never happened to me before.”

“Ah blame Mors,” Cid says over the line after shushing an irate Cor, “an’ the Nifs. They probably screwed with the soul bond or something.”

“Fair assumption,” muses Cor’s soulmate before smiling and bowing to Regis and Clarus with a dramatic, “Well, since Cor has given the game away, I suppose I should introduce myself. Ardyn Izunia, honored to make your acquantence.”

Dead. Horrified. Silence. Then over the line Cor starts swearing a blue streak.

Titus feels his Doom™ approaching. His boss is not only apparently FEMALE, she is COR’S SOULMATE. HIS SECRET BOSS AND THE MARSHAL ARE SOULMATES. HE’S DOOMED.

Turning to Nyx:

Nyx is … Nyx is not handling this well. She was expecting her Switch day to happen sometime soon, because there’s an average age range for soulmates and she’s creeping toward the longer end but not that badly. She was expecting a switch … she was NOT expecting to wake up alone, in the middle of nowhere, hungry and ACHING in her lower back where her taur half started, like a fire pounding in time to her heartbeat and making it exhausting just to stand up. Six, Six her soulmate must have just turned fifteen, a fifteen year old was out in the wildness, clearly INJURED and hungry-. She twists around to look at the injury, praying that doesn’t make it worse, and comes face to face with WINGS. Twitching, blue-scaled dragon wings.

Her soulmate is a dragontaur. Her soulmate is an injured, fifteen year old dragontaur in the middle of who knows where with no help or guardian in SIGHT-.

Six. Six this was bad. Who did she have to kill for this when she got back-.

“Nox? You okay?” Nyx whirls at the approach of the familiar voice, stumbles then rights herself clumsily (note to self, dragontaurs did NOT move the same way coeurltaurs did) and is both relieved and angry to see Axis cautiously trotting over.

“You KNOW who this is?” Nyx demands angrily, “Curse it, Axis, why didn’t you TELL anyone there was another Lucis Caelum running around?”

Axis freezes, several expressions cross his face, “Oh. I guess Nox turned fifteen recently,” he says aloud slowly, “You are?”

“Nyx. And the moment I’m back I am TELLING Luche and Tredd about this.”

Axis blanches, then sighs, “Yeah, I probably deserve that, come on, let’s get you to a Haven to figure this out.”

Nyx pauses, “I’m not sure I should be walking, he’s hurt.”

Axis whirls around in alarm, but after hearing Nyx’s description of the pain and a quick check under the shirt, Axis just shakes his head and looks … grim, “I knew he was always downplaying it.”

“…Axis?”

“You’re not feeling a wound. Those are just Nox’s scars. He kept saying they didn’t hurt anymore, but I always thought he was just acclimated to the pain.”

Nyx gapes for several seconds, already feeling fury building in her frame, wings mantling out without her control before she hisses, “Axis. Axis I literally feel like I’ve been mauled by a coeurl within the last week, HOW IS ANYONE ACCLIMATED TO THAT?”

Axis’s unhappy, protective look grows deeper, “By being stuck with it since childhood without proper medication or help. Now come on, you can’t fight in that body.”

Nyx follows, and suddenly doesn’t think the sick, twisting feeling in this body’s stomach is just hunger.

Turning to Nox!

Nox doesn’t realize the switch for a WHILE.

Mostly because he is dead to the world asleep.

He got switched to a body that doesn’t have anywhere near the level of aches and pains his has what did you expect but for him to conk out from relief?

It is that prolonged sleep that clues Libertus in that Nyx has finally had her first Switch, because yeah Nyx sleeps in sometimes, who doesn’t, but sleeping in until noon with no signs of stirring? Nyx hasn’t even done that when in the hospital unless she was drugged six ways from Sunday. So Libertus and Crowe carefully unlock Nyx’s apartment and scoot inside to wait anxiously in the living room/kitchenette of the tiny apartment. If Nyx IS just sleeping in somehow, she won’t care, and if it’s the new soulmate … Libertus is protective. He knows soulmates are supposed to be your ultimate match and partner, but he’s seen enough to know that sometimes … things just don’t work out. He isn’t going to let Nyx’s body get hurt because some stranger woke up and reacted badly to being a soulmate to a Kingsglaive.

When Nox finally wakes up, he registers his strange surroundings and FREAKS. Promptly falls over because coeurl legs rather than the dragon limbs he’s finally used to. Crowe and Libertus run in just in time to witness Nox having a panic attack. Libertus thinks that’s … an overreaction until after calming Nox down and listening to his confused, freaked out questions, they realize that whoever this is, he is SOMEHOW totally oblivious to how soulmates work.

Nox gets bundled into the living area with Crowe sitting on not-his-back while Libertus feeds him All the Good Food and explains the soulmate thing.

Soulmate.

This is a soulmate world. A taur soulmate world where soulmates find each other by SWAPPING BODIES for two days of the year.

Bahamut. Bahamut where are you Nox waNtS a ReFUnD-

Libertus asks some gentle questions and yeah it becomes immediately clear that Nyx’s soulmate was … not taken care of as a child. Or possibly ever.

Libertus wants to kill someone.

The soulmate, who’s name is Nox apparently, admits to having an- a relative he calls “Uncle”, and when Libertus and Crowe gently tell Nox that his soulmate is a Kingsglaive named Nyx … Nox bursts into tears. He can’t help it, he’s freaked out and stressed and this isn’t his body so his control is shot and that name is the name of the person who saw his father DIE in the other timeline-.

Crowe and Lib exchange looks, dreading having to tell Nyx her soulmate is an anti-refugee or something, when Nox struggles his tears under control and wobbly asks to borrow a phone. Libertus cautiously hands him one and Nox dials a number, but instead of the mysterious “Uncle”, Nox holds the phone to his ear and when the other end picks up asks with a cracking voice, “Axis? This is … this is Nox. Um … I don’t suppose you found … my body? Because apparently I’m not in it for the day? You did? Oh…. Okay. Okay good. …No. No I’m not … I’m just … this is a shock. No. No one told me about this, Uncle never said a word and it’s not like-. Yeah. Umm… yeah hang on,” Nox holds out the phone to Libertus (who is currently wondering what the odds are that the “Axis” Nox just called isn’t one Axis Arra who is about to be in so much trouble) and Libertus takes it.

On the phone is a teen voice, male, not Axis, “Lib, tell me my soulmate is okay.”

“Nyx. He’s … okay. This entire thing freaked him out pretty bad. You with someone right now?”

“Yeah. Axis Arra. Turns out SOMEONE didn’t feel the need to inform the Clans he’d adopted a DRAGONTAUR last year.”

Libertus rears back, stomping his hooves in shock, “A WHAT.”

“You heard me the first time.”

“By the Six.”

Nyx takes a deep breath on the line and Libertus settles immediately, “What. What else is there. Nyx, talk to me.”

Nyx’s tone, even in a foreign body, is the most fragile and angry he’s heard it in a long time, “I am in … a lot of pain right now Lib. Like-. Would willingly check myself into a hospital for the good painkillers level of pain. And according to Axis? This is NORMAL.”

And Libertus thinks of how his first clue to the Switch was Nox sleeping half the Switch day away. Thinks of how exhausting it is to suddenly not be in pain anymore. Thinks of a lone dragontaur with only a mysterious “Uncle” to care for him yet not tell him about soulmates, of a stray that Axis would feel wasn’t SAFE to be known as an Arra or introduced to the Clans-.

He takes a deep breath to keep from snarling. As it is, his rear hoof stomps with a sharp sound that makes Crowe look worried, “You and Axis haul your tails back here as fast as you can. We can … talk about this when you get back.”

“Right. But for the record? I’m never letting my soulmate out of Little Galahd without an escort again. And I’m going to be cashing in my med insurance BIG time.”

Libertus stares down at the body of his best friend, currently inhabited by one frazzled, shaking, probably abused dragontaur teen, and exhales slowly, “Once this gets out? You’re gonna have the entire Glaive pitching in. And the Ostium Clan.”

“Thanks, Big Guy.” Nyx hangs up and Libertus pockets the phone, only telling a nervous Nox that Nyx and Axis are going to make their way to Insomnia, because the only way to stop the switches is to meet face to face. Nox looks relieved and scared all in one and Libertus shares a look with Crowe.

Yeah. They’re never letting Nyx’s soulmate out of their sight again.