#pick on either the hat or the sleeves not both they clash so bad

[whos-hotter-jjba]

Hottest JJBA Outfit Bracket - Round 1 Match 27

[descendantsramblings]

Style Headcanons

So basically, I’m a big hater to the way the costume team worked on them. The whole “All Isle kids wear Leather” and “Auradon Kids always look like they’re on their first kid and on the way to the country club” thing drives me crazy. It sorta feels like they made costumes before giving them personalities (The leather on Carlos  and Evie feels like it clashes with their personalities. Lonnie’s dresses in the first movie doesn’t fit the personality we see, even though she didn’t have much of a personality until movie two. Audrey dressed like a thirty-four year old mother who just picked up her kid before going to the country club. Ben’s only good outfit was his swim trunks.) So here are some personal headcanons and pictures of what I imagine for them. (I started making them at 1am last night lol)

Villain Kids 

Evie

As someone raised to want to be a princess, she wants to dress like how she imagines a princess would.

She loves pastels and is no stranger to pairing pastel blue with a neutral red or bright white. 

The only pants she really wears are either athletic shorts or those little flowy elastic shorts, otherwise she’s all skirts.

She’s sorta a prep but not in the same way a character like Audrey would be. 

Evie has respect for most aesthetics, even though she doesn’t fully fit just one. However, she hates crocs and those little pastel shorts that white boys wear, she will announce it often.

Wouldn’t be caught dead in neon colors. 

owns a blue fur coat (it’s fake fur, obviously)

Carlos

Baby boy is a total softie

You know that one gay little sweater in movie one, that’s where they went right, more of that.

He’s into the soft boy aesthetic and only strays from it for formal wear

loves layering sweaters over button ups

Cuffed jeans, always because ya know, bisexual 

Owns a floral button up from Jay, normally he hates patterned button ups but it’s his favorite shirt. 

Loves striped sweaters, he owns about 6 variations of them in different colors (all include red, white, or black of course)

Jay 

In theory, Jay doesn’t really have one aesthetic, he’s willing to try on just about anything

Most of his clothing was bought by Evie or Carlos, especially his formal wear

The only clothes that Jay will buy for himself is athletic wear

He doesn’t really see the point of buy clothing that he can’t go straight to practice in. 

Still has the beanie,  but he owns one in just about every color to match it to his outfit.

Listen, we know Jay’s main color is yellow/gold, but why did we always see him with more red/blue in the movie? What type of snow white aesthetic were they trying to give him?

Jay owns a button up that he write on, he refuses to wear it actually buttoned though

Mal

She loves the grunge/alternative aesthetic, she thinks it makes her look more like she belongs to the Isle

She wouldn’t wear skirts until after she and Evie became friends, Evie bought her her first skirt (a purple plaid one) and she fell in love with it

Mal has a whole jewelry box of just chains, both necklaces and ones that attach to clothing 

Owns a pair of Demonia Swing-815 boots (black patent) and a pair of Demonia Camel-203 boots (holographic purple) 

100% owns one of those studded hot topic belts. 

Has a headband with little horns that symbolize her mother’s horns 

Instead of the leather half gloves from the movie, she has those little fishnet gloves and covers her hands in rings.

Uma

Her style is similar to Mal’s because if Mal is going to do something, Uma will do it better.

Uma only wore outfits that were super Fem and had skirts until Mal started doing it

Then it was Uma always wearing pants, because of her love for plaid skirts she owns a whole collection of plaid pants

the only jeans she owns are black or dark wash. 

Her first ever large purchase was a pair of Doc Marten 1460 Zip Tartan Lace up boots (they’re green, black, and blue plaid) 

She and Harry bought matching Doc Marten Jadon platforms (his are more shiny though)

Isn’t as into chains as Mal, more into chockers. 

Harry 

When the E-boy aesthetic came out, Harry was all over it 

Harry definitely has one of those chains with a little lock on it. 

I’d like to imagine he has baby gauges

the before mentioned platform doc martens, he definitely treats them like his baby

Even though Harry dresses like an e-boy,  he always has his pirate hat on

Definitely wears cloth masks as a fashion piece he actually would wear his in the pandemic though, unlike some people who wore them before but not for safety 

Harry is actually really good at graphic liner, he owns a gold, red, and white eyeliner to add color to the outfit if it’s mainly black

gold>silver 

Bought plaid pants because Uma did, he want’s to match with his captain

Gil 

As we know (maybe you don’t) it’s in the canon that Gil’s mother taught him to sew and he enjoys it. 

So Gil doesn't dress in one aesthetic or even close to being in one, he wants to try out everything, both making and wearing them.

He does stick to a monochrome color scheme though, mainly shades of brown with white or black thrown in. Sometimes he adds a little red or yellow though to “honor” Gaston

Most of his clothing is more comfortable than anything

Only owns three pairs of jeans, the rest are different types of pants (he loves corduroys) 

Owns a pants chain that harry bought him but he only really wears it when Harry and Uma are wearing one so he won’t feel left out on it. 

Dizzy 

Baby girl has seen the Isle steal the childhood innocence from people, she dresses in kidcore as a way to keep hers

Her outfits always has at least 4 different colors in it.

No stranger to neon colors, she has a pair of overalls that are neon rainbow and covered in gummy candy and she only wears them with a neon green tee, Evie and Carlos hate this outfits, Jay loves it because of the disappointment it brings to the two fashion fans 

Dizzy’s outfits in the movie were colorful obviously but they should have been just more over the top

She loves patterns and has no fear of pattern mixing

definitely owns some funky earrings, clay rings, and  statement necklaces

puts beads on her shoe laces, especially on her converse (they were white ones, she drew all over them) 

Auradon Kids 

Ben

Okay so Ben’s animated and movie outfits were bad, you can’t convince me of anything else

Why was Ben not dressed in the soft boy aesthetic? You’re trying to tell me that Belle’s son wouldn’t be a soft boy?

He has a jean jacket with his father’s beast symbol painted on the back

Absolutely loves graphic crewnecks, often layers them over collared shirts

He and Carlos go shopping together often in their free time

Lover of funky crew socks,  ones with paintings, patterns, logos, whatever. But his socks always match

After he and Mal started Dating, he bought a white jean jacket and let her paint it, he wears it all the time even though it didn’t match his original clothing, he bought more clothes in her color scheme to match it

He owns like 6 pairs of high top converse (light blue, yellow, white, navy, black, and Purple after getting the jacket back from Mal)

Chad

Listen, out of everyone he was the closest to how I imagined he should be, that being said, he had a little soft boy thing going on in some movies that I don’t think fit his personality

Polos and button ups are basically all he owns, but he does have some of those pastel simply southern esc graphic tees (Southern people probably know what I’m on about, all the guys who act like Chad at my school have like 5 of them each)

Owns 6 pairs of those horrid little southern boy pastel shorts in different shades of blue (plus 1 white pair)

Will not wear jeans, ever, the only pants he owns are khakis

All over the shirts that have logos embroidered into the shirt over the chest. 

Definitely gets asked if he’s on the way to golf/ the country club, the joke is that he is, he has to meet his father there after school

prep.jpg

Audrey 

Listen, I’m not an Audrey stan, but they did her so dirty in the first movie

She should have been the stereotypical mean girl outfit wise, I mean, mini skirts, all pastels

Owns a pink teddy coat, and a white one, she actually cares about if they get dirty though, takes good care of them

definitely has a collection of tennis skirts, pairs them with sweaters/crewnecks or blouses that have a slight puff to the sleeve

The type of girl to wear rufflely rompers on her birthday every year, pink, white, or baby blue obviously

loves those tiny shoulder bags

preppy and looks good in it. 

cropped polos and tube tops

Jane

This account is a Jane should have been cottage core/ fairy core fan page, her outfits were almost there, just not there, she’s literally a fairy but can’t use magic nor did they let her dress like one, I hate it here

Baby girl loves gingham and floral patterns, some of her dresses are a little more to her mother’s taste than hers (her mother bought them) but as long as it’s a pattern she likes she will wear it. 

Cardigans are her best friend, she owns one in multiple shades of pink and blue, plus a white one (all of her clothing fits a pastel pink/blue/white color scheme)

Babydoll dresses her a her favorite style of them (the one I put in the top right corner is what I imagine her birthday dress as) 

People try to mockingly ask if she’s on her way to a tea party/picnic (like they do with Chad and the country club) if the answer isn’t actually yes one of her friends still say yes, no one can be rude to her about it 

She owns a corset (Evie bought it for her, it made her nervous at first but she loves it) 

Owns kitten heels and flats mainly also two pairs of mary janes (in white and blue) 

has one of those little pearl purses that aren’t really useful but they’re cute 

Lonnie

Last but not least, our funky little lesbian (she is, Jay is just her emotional support queer man) Lonnie, she sticks to the teal, blue, and pink color scheme they gave her in movie one

She mainly wears sweats (or athletic clothing) otherwise it’s graphic tees tucked in (many of them are from the men’s section) 

Only wears sneakers, she has places to be but also collects them (also owns 1 pair of pink crocs, Evie tried to burn them)

Carlos and Ben talked her into wearing a collar shirt under a graphic tee once (they bought her a sleeveless button up which she hated at first) and now she does it anytime she wants to look like she put effort into her outfit. 

Wears a lot of necklaces and rings (she loves to layer necklaces, she thinks it makes her sweats look less boring) 

Uses a mini backpack instead of a purse, easier to carry more things.

Has two pairs of custom painted air forces. 

Hates wearing bracelets but always has to have a hair tie on her wrist so they don’t feel empty .

[parkersanders]

I was tagged by @mylasagnaisraw to do this tag to design my own ‘sides’ (thanks!) and this was honestly lots of fun to do. I also have a picture of my sides at the end :D Let’s get started!

(This is a super long post so it’s under a read more!)

Aesthetic/Analise

She/Her

My gay side

She is the embodiment of all of the clothes I want to wear but never can

She is also the embodiment of all the people I think are gorgeous but can never date

She loves to sing soft, pretty songs that makes her voice sound good and loves to sing them in echo-y spaces

While she can pick out good outfits, she has a terrible taste for designing clothes/outfits, do not trust her

She also hates shopping like Me

Loves the cold and loves to wear layers

Description:

She has two outfits: A frilly girly dress that fluffs out when you twirl, or the Hipster Boy look

Her feminine outfit consist of the dress, usually a ribbon or a sun hat, and low heels or sandals

The hipster outfit consists of skinny jeans, beanie, fake glasses, tshirt with an open plaid shirt over it OR a long sleeve with the plaid shirt tied around her waist, and converse

Her hair is short and curled

Her eyes are a bright blue because people claim that that’s the color eyes I have when I Don’t

She loves hats

Confusion/Connor

Any pronouns

The embodiment of my confusion on many subjects

Gender? I don’t know. Sexuality? Clueless. Why I’m better at math than English? Who the heck knows.

Can never give a straight answer for anything even if it’s as simple as “what is your favorite color”

It’s either green or purple btw but teal is also really nice so who knows

He’s the reason I can’t figure out whether I like someone or just wanna be their friend

“Hey you know that person you’ve been fawning over for two weeks? What if you only want to be their friend”

“Hey you know that person you’re marrying tomorrow? What if you only want to be their—”

Can’t decide what movie is their favorite

Is the reason why I hop fandoms every 2 weeks

Description:

Hair is half slicked back and half hangs forward, kind of like Victor from Yuri on Ice

Eyes are heterochromatic blue and green because she can’t even decide what eye color to settle on

Wears Eevee sweatpants and a long sleeved super baggy LGBT sweatshirt

He has fun colorful socks that go up to the knee but you can’t see them because of the sweatpants

Wears a ‘Make America Gay Again’ wristband

Empathy/Emery

They/Them/No pronouns

The sweetest bean you will ever meet

The Soft Gay

Cries at every show/book/movie/whatever, even cries at every TS video

Loves giving big hugs and fantasizes about falling asleep cuddling Emery’s friends

Makes art for other people because Emery loves seeing them happy

Only argues when someone is insisting that they’re awful or don’t deserve kindness and refuses to stop arguing until the person feels better

Loves flowers, especially roses

Listens to musicals all day every day

Can’t understand romantic advances

Would spend $1000 dollars on friends if Emery could

Description:

Wears oversized sweaters in pastel colors

Sides of hair are shaved down while top is longer, slightly curled, and dyed pastel pink.

Darker hazel-ish eyes and sometimes wears Analise’s false glasses to make friends laugh

Fluffy socks all the time

Loves earrings

Pressure/Prescot

He/Him pronouns are preferred, but will take any

He is my equivalent of Logic/Creativity/Anxiety wrapped up into one scary package

Where some people live life out of spite or self care I live mine as a result of pressure

He’s the one that pushes me to learn and do well with studies, get art out consistently, and write on a weekly basis

“You’ve got to finish that book today and also make that picture for the blog and don’t forget you need to write a chapter because you missed posting last week and also a short story for this blog and—”

He only sleeps like 3 hours because he is constantly making lists for the next day

Feelings? What feelings

Somehow believes there are at least 36 hours in a day

Crashes and burns once a month and needs to be comforted by the others before he cracks completely

He is the most anxious bean and hates when there isn’t a straight answer to things because that means lack of productivity which means no new content is being made which means more pressure builds up and oh gOD

Description:

Most masculinely dressed, and goes from Book Nerd to CEO to Boy Next Door

Book Nerd look is long sleeved button up with the top button undone, sweater vest, and glasses

CEO look is a full suit with glasses and a brightly colored tie

Boy Next Door look is a plain tshirt with a plaid open shirt and finally a cool jacket of sorts over it, with messy hair

Usually his hair is slicked back or done in some kind of fancy fashion

Dull green eyes and usually wears glasses that he actually does need

Vision/Vic

Pronouns change, so any

Has 1000 ideas and can never get them all written down

Knows color theory and dream interpretations and can spout them off like nothin

Also knows super obscure facts from researching for stories, primarily a lot of medical knowledge that he really shouldn’t know

Is he a writer or a murderer? His Google history can’t tell. Is that blood or paint on her hands? No one knows.

Afraid of bugs, any kind of bugs

Loves meeting new people and talking about stories/OCs

Will shout really excitedly about art/writing because wow!!!! Look! At! That!! (AKA they’re responsible for my excited tags on everything)

Perfectionist and never satisfied with her work

Loves animals but can’t draw them which makes him sad

Has filled 10 sketchbooks, half filled 20 notebooks

Hoards any and all sketchbooks/notebooks

Description:

Wears a jacket with at least thirty (30) pencils stuffed into the pockets (she likes to make a show of taking one out at a time while looking one of the Sides dead in the eyes, asking “Do you need a pencil?” every time she takes a new one out)

Hair is poofy and messy and dark colored

Eyes are tired and a murky blue

Wears jeans and slippers

Basically he looks like an Art Student with the work load of an English Grad

RELATIONSHIPS:

Analise and Connor

They clash a lot when it comes to clothing tastes and how it relates to gender

Ana always asks Connor for advice about an outfit but he says he doesn’t know

They do like to watch Project Runway together though

Connor likes to listen to Ana sing

They can chill at night and watch TV together but during the day they don’t really get along and start a lot of arguments

Analise/Emery

They get along pretty well and like to gush with one another

They are the Soft Beans and like to be soft together

Similar aesthetics and love cuddling

They’ll watch musicals together and cry at romantic dramas

Emery always tells Ana she looks wonderful no matter what she wears which is frustrating for Ana who wants an honest opinion

Book club buddies

Analise/Prescot

Prescot is the only one to give her honest opinions about her outfits, so she likes him for that

Sometimes he can be overly critical though and they get into fights

“Clothes don’t matter, just wear something” “I WANT TO LOOK CUTE”

Prescot thinks that Analise watching reality TV is a waste of time and always tells her to stop it

Analise gushes to Prescot about sets/costumes/choreography in musicals and Prescot will humor her for about 10 minutes before saying that they should work on something productive again and reflect on it again later

Analise/Vic

These two work best together because Ana helps Vic come up with the ‘look’ in projects

They gush about color theory together all the time

Ideas can get way out of hand while these two are together so it’s up to Prescot to keep them in line

They watch things together all the time and usually fall asleep on the couch together

They share clothes or Ana tries to dress Vic up so he doesn’t look like such a mess

Connor/Emery

Emery always helps Connor when she has an episode and can’t figure anything out

Always lots of hugs and reassuring words

Emery basically takes care of Connor

Emery also tends to shield Connor from Prescot so Connor doesn’t get as overwhelmed

Emery brings Connor blankets when he kind of just stares at things for hours on end in the midst of an existential crisis

Connor/Prescot

They don’t get along well. Prescot provides a lot of pressure to figure out my identity and Connor’s confusion only gets in the way of that, so they clash heads all the time

There are few instances where they can get along because they’re essentially complete opposites

Connor/Vic

Connor frustrates Vic because Vic always needs second opinions for ideas and Connor never knows how to help

Sometimes Connor will also randomly drop a criticism with nothing to back it up

“Don’t you think these colors are wrong?” “Why?” “I don’t know it just looks wrong” “*angry screaming*”

Vic helps Connor vent a lot of his frustrations when he’s confused, though, so that’s nice and Connor always feels better afterwards. They keep notebooks/sketchbooks together to share their work

Emery/Prescot

Prescot makes Emery cry a lot without meaning to and he always feels a little bad because he didn’t think that he would upset Emery

They do depend on one another a lot though

Emery is the one to tell Prescot to take a step back and breathe when he gets overwhelmed with something

Prescot is the one to tell Emery that Emery can’t always focus on others because sometimes focusing on one’s self is important too

Emery only throws that line back at him when he feels overwhelmed to make stuff for recognition from others

Emery also comforts Prescot when he gets overwhelmed and has a lil breakdown

Ultimately, they end up falling asleep together or just chilling together and being unproductive/not openly comforting for a while because it’s good for the both of them to just…be, for a while

Emery/Vic

Vic knows that Emery just kind of likes everything and is always encouraging so that’s nice when they are feeling down about their work but they’ll never go to Emery for actual criticism

They do work off of one another though when Emery wants something to be made for a friend and Vic is there ready to provide it

The two of them talk over art and literature a lot and have fun doodling randomly together

The both of them appreciate music of all sorts and will have jam sessions together

Prescot/Vic

They work off of one another where Prescot never says no to an idea and also gives a lot of encouragement and pressure to Vic to keep creating but this usually results in one or both of them getting burned out or upset

Usually a lot of screaming fights that Emery has to break up and tell them to stop

They haven’t learned to just relax around one another yet so it makes interactions really upsetting for the both of them

They’re just two hostile forces that can’t be in the same room together for longer than an hour

Phew! That took a while :D But that was fun! Now I gotta tag 5 people because I made 5 sides. Soooo...

@slightly-functioningsociopath @bossatronia @pattonpending @sanderships and @finiteframe3!!

[voxwrite-blog]

Maxanda, Cadam, and Elian stood together on the platform of a raised fountain, its flow turned off for the winter. Maxanda had carefully steered them to the higher ground when it became clear they were alone and soon to be overrun, but now, it appeared that their "advantageous" position only let more tigers hammer at their defenses from all angles.

Elian leapt and twisted to intercept a ball of light with his bucklers as it passed through the foggy shield around them. A ball of ash exploded around the metal disk as he neutralized the light, then landed heavily.

"This is the third time!" He roared. The third time they've been the last tigers standing, keeping each other safe while everyone else fell. They'd only fought together three times. It wasn't ideal.

Cadam stood almost-still with his arms hanging, swaying almost imperceptibly as he turned from Elian to Maxanda. The white fog that surrounded them poured from the gems on his shoulders and arms, energizing the other two and soaking the power out of incoming attacks so that they could deal with them. He didn't quite have the energy to talk right now.

Maxanda stood on the opposite side of their formation, covering the arc that Elian couldn't. Instead of his twirling, almost dance-like interception, she stood with her arms crossed and withered magic away with her sight. Until Elian shouted, she had been muttering to herself, explaining away projectiles and rays- A fireball, almost intelligently steering towards Cadam. The spell unraveled and its magnetic core splashed against the fog like dye in water. A roiling mass of light, twitching and bobbing unpredictably. It came undone and fizzled out the same way.

"Reyna might still be out there!" She shot back. Reyna, the one who started this war. A terrifying fighter. But there was no sign of her, and every enemy tiger was either out of the fight or on them right now.

Elian clapped a bolt of ice between his bucklers, then spun back to briefly face Max. Or at least, Max's back.

"We can't keep doing this! We have to fight," he said.

Maxanda froze up. She didn't know how to fight, none of them really knew how to fight. They'd practiced together, but only this, they only knew how to defend. She looked out over the tigers who surrounded them, plotting and calculating, trying to find some way through. But no, they'd be crushed. For the first time she moved, slowly turning back, petrified rather than frosty.

Cadam glanced up, eyes half-closed. He didn't want to push Max, but eventually, had to make the decision for the two- His time and energy were running out. The smaller tiger held his hands together as the fog stopped drifting from his blue gemstones. He stepped towards Maxanda, trying hard to keep from shaking as he reached up to hold her arm. She looked back down, her normally stoic grimace broken up by wide-eyed fear.

"We'll learn to fight." He said.

Cadam and Maxanda pulled close, and Elian squeezed his way between them. Their outer barrier of mist puffed and unraveled as their foes bashed away at it, buying them a few more seconds to prepare. Max straightened her back and refocused her glare, to push away attacks and keep their shields up just a bit longer- But without Cadam's energizing fog flowing around them, she instantly felt the heavy weight of exhaustion in her chest.

While their defenses still stood, Cadam looked back at the others. This wasn't going to be easy for them. As soon as they were vulnerable, the trio would be pulverized, Cadam was determined to make sure he took the first hit. He was already sapped, after all, from minutes of powering Max's and Elian's inefficient magic. Wouldn't be much use.

Elian grinned up at Max, tugging the brim of his feathered hat with a buckler-covered paw.

"You've always got my back," he said with an emphatic half-bow. Maxanda smiled awkwardly, nothing changing aside from her mouth, now that she was comfortably hidden again.

Finally, their shield snapped, filaments of fluff resembling Cadam's mane blasting outward. It didn't do as much as they had hoped, but one of the tigers who had tried to climb up onto the fountain was bowled back.

Cadam hopped down, staggering back to his feet and leaning back against the stone wall. He locked eyes with a bigger, meaner-looking tiger, eager to fight after the long standoff against their defenses. The other tiger raised his fist, conjuring stones and gravel around it, before swinging wildly towards Cadam. He only raised his arms in an almost-shrug, already half-asleep on his feet.

He didn't go down without resistance, though. A ball of rock slammed into his chest, but he held on long enough to puff fog into the bigger tiger's face. It tingled uncomfortably, but more than that, he could feel Cadam's pulse in the mist until it cleared. Few people could bear the sensation aside from Max and Elian.

Cadam didn't have much fight left in him after that. He slid backwards down the stone wall, until he lied with his head propped up against it, uncharacteristically peaceful for a defeated tiger.

Elian, though, was not as peaceful. He leapt up from the edge of the fountain, lifted by a wreathe of ash, before falling down to bring both his bucklers onto the stony tiger's head. Still trying to clear the fog, he was struck at full force, a cloud of hot ash erupting from the impact and staining their clothes and fur.

He stood up on his downed opponent as Maxanda climbed down beside him, the two on either side of their fallen friend. Elian was bouncing on his feet, holding one of the bucklers out like it was a sword, ready to swing at anyone else who approached. The other team was a little more cautious, their uncoordinated attacks were less predictable than the shield was.

It felt like an eternity, two groups of tigers sizing each other up while Elian hurled insults and threats, but it really only took a few seconds for someone to emerge.

Or... Someones? A single small tiger, dressed in an angular black coat, emerged from the enemy line. As soon as she stepped out she seemed to split, two identical tigers emerging from her position, then moving towards Max and Elian in complicated swerving paths that kept the three tigers constantly intersecting and walking through each other.

Elian stopped his constant bobbing and weaving to look up at Maxanda.

"What in the world is *this*?" He demanded. Max had no answer, she couldn't pierce any illusions or projections- It must've been something strong.

She kept her eyes locked, though, watching the tiger(s) move, one of them occasionally lifting the wide-brimmed hat to peek up and change course.

That must've been it, the real tiger steering the images. Her frozen face warmed up with excitement as she solved the riddle, and lifted an arm to point accusingly at the black-jacketed illusionist.

"That one! Get it!" She shouted. Elian jumped back into action, setting his hat again and clapping the crust of ash of his sleeves before charging with bucklers forward. He didn't see whatever Maxanda did, but, her calculating perception had always steered him true.

The three figures stopped their weaving approach when Elian charged, one barely lifting their hat to look out from under it. He caught a smirk between the flaps of the collar, too late to turn away- The two "illusions" he ignored deftly leaned down and caught his ankles as he tried to run past, ripping him off his feet and into the air, upside-down.

From his new vantage point he couldn't see much aside from Maxanda, covering her face with big taloned hands. Elian was furious that he'd been beat, but, couldn't show that... Max would take it out on herself, she'd only tried to provide the best advice she could.

So he went out in style, giving an exaggerated salute and putting his hands on his hips before a heavy boot hit him in the back of the head. The jacketed tigers dropped him in a heap, took a second to look down at him... And turned towards Maxanda, all at once. She had to fight hard to find her composure as they started moving again.

The three *things* didn't even dodge and weave this time, they were unafraid. Maxanda even thought she heard them *giggling* under their pointed hats. She let loose with every spell she knew, but they were barely practiced, little more than light-shows. The black figures reached out of their pockets to snap them up with gloved paws.

Finally, they stood only a few feet away. Maxanda was enormous compared to them, almost twice as tall, she could at least give them a more reliable thrashing- But the one in front looked up, emerging from the raised collar of their jacket, as glowing runes appeared to hide their face. Something made a horrible clashing sound and Max was dazzled by light, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

She blinked away the sparks in her vision, focusing her glare on the three, muttering again. Her dissecting gaze that picked apart spells so effectively before pressed heavily on her chest and stung her eyes, so much harder without the extra energy.

Light magic. She could figure this out. She could solve it, turn their spells back. She-

Was slammed by another pulse of harsh light, then hit in the head by something hard, collapsing on top of Cadam.

Going down together, it didn't feel so bad. They fought as hard as they could, kept each other safe for as long as they could. Better than being picked off one by one as they faltered, like the last two times they fought.

[manussomniator]

So I’m trying to definitely actually do this writing thing. Here’s a story about some Turf Tigers, creatures from floraverse who start “wars” except they mostly do it with the people they love and nobody ever dies. They’re cool and you should check them out.

Maxanda, Cadam, and Elian stood together on the platform of a raised fountain, its flow turned off for the winter. Maxanda had carefully steered them to the higher ground when it became clear they were alone and soon to be overrun, but now, it appeared that their "advantageous" position only let more tigers hammer at their defenses from all angles.

Elian leapt and twisted to intercept a ball of light with his bucklers as it passed through the foggy shield around them. A ball of ash exploded around the metal disk as he neutralized the light, then landed heavily.

"This is the third time!" He roared. The third time they've been the last tigers standing, keeping each other safe while everyone else fell. They'd only fought together three times. It wasn't ideal.

Cadam stood almost-still with his arms hanging, swaying almost imperceptibly as he turned from Elian to Maxanda. The white fog that surrounded them poured from the gems on his shoulders and arms, energizing the other two and soaking the power out of incoming attacks so that they could deal with them. He didn't quite have the energy to talk right now.

Maxanda stood on the opposite side of their formation, covering the arc that Elian couldn't. Instead of his twirling, almost dance-like interception, she stood with her arms crossed and withered magic away with her sight. Until Elian shouted, she had been muttering to herself, explaining away projectiles and rays- A fireball, almost intelligently steering towards Cadam. The spell unraveled and its magnetic core splashed against the fog like dye in water. A roiling mass of light, twitching and bobbing unpredictably. It came undone and fizzled out the same way.

"Reyna might still be out there!" She shot back. Reyna, the one who started this war. A terrifying fighter. But there was no sign of her, and every enemy tiger was either out of the fight or on them right now.

Elian clapped a bolt of ice between his bucklers, then spun back to briefly face Max. Or at least, Max's back.

"We can't keep doing this! We have to fight," he said.

Maxanda froze up. She didn't know how to fight, none of them really knew how to fight. They'd practiced together, but only this, they only knew how to defend. She looked out over the tigers who surrounded them, plotting and calculating, trying to find some way through. But no, they'd be crushed. For the first time she moved, slowly turning back, petrified rather than frosty.

Cadam glanced up, eyes half-closed. He didn't want to push Max, but eventually, had to make the decision for the two- His time and energy were running out. The smaller tiger held his hands together as the fog stopped drifting from his blue gemstones. He stepped towards Maxanda, trying hard to keep from shaking as he reached up to hold her arm. She looked back down, her normally stoic grimace broken up by wide-eyed fear.

"We'll learn to fight." He said.

Cadam and Maxanda pulled close, and Elian squeezed his way between them. Their outer barrier of mist puffed and unraveled as their foes bashed away at it, buying them a few more seconds to prepare. Max straightened her back and refocused her glare, to push away attacks and keep their shields up just a bit longer- But without Cadam's energizing fog flowing around them, she instantly felt the heavy weight of exhaustion in her chest.

While their defenses still stood, Cadam looked back at the others. This wasn't going to be easy for them. As soon as they were vulnerable, the trio would be pulverized, Cadam was determined to make sure he took the first hit. He was already sapped, after all, from minutes of powering Max's and Elian's inefficient magic. Wouldn't be much use.

Elian grinned up at Max, tugging the brim of his feathered hat with a buckler-covered paw.

"You've always got my back," he said with an emphatic half-bow. Maxanda smiled awkwardly, nothing changing aside from her mouth, now that she was comfortably hidden again.

Finally, their shield snapped, filaments of fluff resembling Cadam's mane blasting outward. It didn't do as much as they had hoped, but one of the tigers who had tried to climb up onto the fountain was bowled back.

Cadam hopped down, staggering back to his feet and leaning back against the stone wall. He locked eyes with a bigger, meaner-looking tiger, eager to fight after the long standoff against their defenses. The other tiger raised his fist, conjuring stones and gravel around it, before swinging wildly towards Cadam. He only raised his arms in an almost-shrug, already half-asleep on his feet.

He didn't go down without resistance, though. A ball of rock slammed into his chest, but he held on long enough to puff fog into the bigger tiger's face. It tingled uncomfortably, but more than that, he could feel Cadam's pulse in the mist until it cleared. Few people could bear the sensation aside from Max and Elian.

Cadam didn't have much fight left in him after that. He slid backwards down the stone wall, until he lied with his head propped up against it, uncharacteristically peaceful for a defeated tiger.

Elian, though, was not as peaceful. He leapt up from the edge of the fountain, lifted by a wreathe of ash, before falling down to bring both his bucklers onto the stony tiger's head. Still trying to clear the fog, he was struck at full force, a cloud of hot ash erupting from the impact and staining their clothes and fur.

He stood up on his downed opponent as Maxanda climbed down beside him, the two on either side of their fallen friend. Elian was bouncing on his feet, holding one of the bucklers out like it was a sword, ready to swing at anyone else who approached. The other team was a little more cautious, their uncoordinated attacks were less predictable than the shield was.

It felt like an eternity, two groups of tigers sizing each other up while Elian hurled insults and threats, but it really only took a few seconds for someone to emerge.

Or... Someones? A single small tiger, dressed in an angular black coat, emerged from the enemy line. As soon as she stepped out she seemed to split, two identical tigers emerging from her position, then moving towards Max and Elian in complicated swerving paths that kept the three tigers constantly intersecting and walking through each other.

Elian stopped his constant bobbing and weaving to look up at Maxanda.

"What in the world is *this*?" He demanded. Max had no answer, she couldn't pierce any illusions or projections- It must've been something strong.

She kept her eyes locked, though, watching the tiger(s) move, one of them occasionally lifting the wide-brimmed hat to peek up and change course.

That must've been it, the real tiger steering the images. Her frozen face warmed up with excitement as she solved the riddle, and lifted an arm to point accusingly at the black-jacketed illusionist.

"That one! Get it!" She shouted. Elian jumped back into action, setting his hat again and clapping the crust of ash of his sleeves before charging with bucklers forward. He didn't see whatever Maxanda did, but, her calculating perception had always steered him true.

The three figures stopped their weaving approach when Elian charged, one barely lifting their hat to look out from under it. He caught a smirk between the flaps of the collar, too late to turn away- The two "illusions" he ignored deftly leaned down and caught his ankles as he tried to run past, ripping him off his feet and into the air, upside-down.

From his new vantage point he couldn't see much aside from Maxanda, covering her face with big taloned hands. Elian was furious that he'd been beat, but, couldn't show that... Max would take it out on herself, she'd only tried to provide the best advice she could.

So he went out in style, giving an exaggerated salute and putting his hands on his hips before a heavy boot hit him in the back of the head. The jacketed tigers dropped him in a heap, took a second to look down at him... And turned towards Maxanda, all at once. She had to fight hard to find her composure as they started moving again.

The three *things* didn't even dodge and weave this time, they were unafraid. Maxanda even thought she heard them *giggling* under their pointed hats. She let loose with every spell she knew, but they were barely practiced, little more than light-shows. The black figures reached out of their pockets to snap them up with gloved paws.

Finally, they stood only a few feet away. Maxanda was enormous compared to them, almost twice as tall, she could at least give them a more reliable thrashing- But the one in front looked up, emerging from the raised collar of their jacket, as glowing runes appeared to hide their face. Something made a horrible clashing sound and Max was dazzled by light, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

She blinked away the sparks in her vision, focusing her glare on the three, muttering again. Her dissecting gaze that picked apart spells so effectively before pressed heavily on her chest and stung her eyes, so much harder without the extra energy.

Light magic. She could figure this out. She could solve it, turn their spells back. She-

Was slammed by another pulse of harsh light, then hit in the head by something hard, collapsing on top of Cadam.

Going down together, it didn't feel so bad. They fought as hard as they could, kept each other safe for as long as they could. Better than being picked off one by one as they faltered, like the last two times they fought.