#plot bunnies are dangerous beings of evil

[shirubie]

Thunderbirds are Go: Miraculous AU Master Post

2024-01-02: A little update for the new year! Kayo’s section is now complete, you can find it completely at the bottom. 

I’ve had fun doing research on Alchemy to build up my AU’s lore, since I decided that my Miraculous set would have an origin based on alchemy instead of just using classic elements. I should have a post about my original Bad Guys (a group of Alchemists who want the Miraculous to do the world conquering thing) very soon.

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So, I’ve been working on and off on this AU concept for a while, pushed it aside a few times and almost completely abandonned it, but the concept is just so anchored in my brain that I just keep going back to it and working out more and more details and ideas. No fanfics have been produced yet but I’m hoping a story might happen eventually.

I’ll be using this post to organize my ideas. I want to rework the Miraculous magic system a bit and develop the lore more. My Miraculous items have powers based on concepts like in the show, but I’ve also given each an associated natural element, because I’m lazy to come up with superpowers, and because the elements seemed to fit the Tracy brothers well.

I know that the TAG and Miraculous fandoms don’t overlap much, but I would love to hear your opinions on this.

If my ideas inspire you to write your own fic or do some art, you have my full permission to do so. Just don’t forget to send me a link so I can check them out! ^_^

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AU Related art:

- Kwamis group - Stormhawk and Black Swan (Scayo) - Miraculous logos - Commander Bug (Scott with Ladybug Miraculous) - Sketch: Green Claw (Virgil with Black Cat Miraculous)

AU Related posts:

- Plot bunny about Brains

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Summary:

After the Zero-X tragedy, Colonel Casey has no choice but to shut down International Rescue for good. She simply cannot risk Jeff Tracy's sons suffering a similar fate as their father.

Five years have now passed and the Tracys have all returned to civilian lives and mundane jobs, moving on and slowly drifting away from each other. But helping people has always been the Tracy brothers' true calling. That’s why each are given by a mysterious Guardian a magical artifact called a Miraculous and told to use them for good.

But evil forces want to find the Miraculous and use them to control the world. To prevent this, the Tracys will have to unite and become the heroes they were always meant to be.

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Stormhawk

Civilian name: Scott Tracy Miraculous: Thunderbird Item: necklace Concept: Acceleration Element: Wind Weapon: Grappling Hook Gun

Previous wielders: Windrunner, Captain Thunder Abilities:

- Enhanced physical speed and reflexes - Gliding (wingsuit) - Limited wind manipulation

Attack:

- Tornado: creates a funnel of wind that can blow away objects or slow down someone's fall. This attack will not work under water or in space, as there is no air to manipulate.

Transformation: "Zapp! Updraft!" / "Zapp, Downdraft."

Info:

Stormhawk uses his agility, speed and an occasional boost from his wind control powers to perform incredible acrobatic stunts, swinging or gliding between buildings to reach the danger zone fast and assess the situation.

After a few misunderstandings and frictions with his new teammates, Stormhawk proved himself to be a competent leader, able to strategize and make split second decisions.

Kwami name: Zapp Kwami personality: Zapp is a bossy little drill sergeant who wants to turn Scott into the greatest superhero ever, whether Scott likes it or not. He's impatient and pushy, seemingly more interested in his wielder's superhero exploits than their well-being.

Kwami Favorite Food: Popcorn

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Titan

Civilian name: Virgil Tracy Miraculous: Roc Item: Belt buckle Concept: Demolition Element: Earth Weapon: Shield

Previous wielders: Colossus

Abilities:

- Super strength - Vibration detection - Limited earth manipulation

Attack:

- Tremor: Creates a shockwave that will shatter almost any kind of solid material. Works best against rock like materials like concrete, works the least against wood and other bendable matter. The complete effects of this attack are hard to predict. Transformation: "Bronnz! Move Mountains!"

Info:

The Roc Miraculous grants its wielder incredible physical strength and the power to destroy any obstacle in their way, but the gentle Titan would be the last person who would want to use this power. He is fully aware of the damage his Miraculous could cause and only uses his full power as a last resort.

Titan might seem intimidating at first glance, but he’s a down-to-Earth (hehe) guy with a big heart who just wants to help people.

Kwami name: Bronnz Kwami personality: Bronnz is shy and nerdy and fascinated by modern technology. He likes to take things apart to see how they work but is not very good at putting them back together.

Kwami Favorite Food: Brownies

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Nightwatch

Civilian name: John Tracy Miraculous: Owl Item: Ring Concept: Perception Element: Night/Darkness Weapon: Telescope

Previous wielders: Ghost Owl

Abilities:

- Night vision & enhanced hearing - Camouflage - Limited shadow manipulation

Attack:

-Blackout: creates a sphere of total darkness and silence over a limited area, only the Miraculous user will be able to see and hear inside it.

Transformation: " Nyctti, Nightfall!" / "Nyctti, Daybreak."

Info:

What the owl Miraculous lacks in offensive capabilities, it makes up in stealth. Over the centuries, it was often used by spies but sometimes fell into the hands of criminals.

Nightwatch rarely engages in rescues, gathering information and guiding his teammates from the sidelines, while also trying to unravel the mystery of who chose them to wield the Miraculous and why.  

Kwami name: Nyctti Kwami personality: Nyctti can be an annoying know-it-all who always thinks she’s the smartest person in the room. Fortunately, John is more than smart enough to keep up with her and earn her respect. Nyctti also has a habit of falling asleep randomly during the day, since owls are nocturnal and all.

Kwami Favorite Food: Sesame Bagel

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AntarctiKing

Civilian name: Gordon Tracy Miraculous: Penguin Item: Ankle bracelet Concept: Adaptation Element: water/ice Weapon: Harpoon

Previous wielders: Kororā (maori word for the Little penguin)

Abilities:

- Enhanced swimming ability - Resistance to the cold - Limited water manipulation  

Attack:

- Frostbite: creates ice spikes or similar simple constructs of different sizes according to the user's will.

Transformation: "Tchill, High Tide!" / "Tchill, Low Tide."

Info:

It's hard to take a penguin theme superhero seriously but Antarctiking should not be underestimated. His water and ice powers can be the most versatile of the Miraculous, to be used in many offensive and defensive ways.

Laid back and cheerful, AntarctiKing can give the impression that he doesn't take being a superhero seriously, but nothing could be further from the truth. He will not hesitate to push himself to his limits to help someone in need.

Kwami name: Tchill Kwami personality: Tchill is the go-with-the-flow type who never worries about anything. He also hates heat and likes to sleep in the freezer.

Kwami Favorite Food: Anchovies

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Fireflash

Civilian name: Alan Tracy Miraculous: Phoenix Item: ear cuff Concept: Combustion Element: Fire Weapon: Ax

Previous wielders: Fire Angel

Abilities:

- Fire Immunity - Limited fire Manipulation

Note: Like the Ladybug Miraculous can counteract the Butterfly's powers, it is rumored that the Phoenix has a secret ability that can cancel the Owl's powers (Foreshadowing? Me? Of course not ;).

Attack:

-Blaze: this attack will surround the user's body with fire, turning them into a human torch. The flames can also be manipulated to propel the user in the air and fly for limited distances.

Transformation: "Sparkk! Ignite!" / "Sparkk, Burn Out."

Info:

The Miraculous were never supposed to be used by children, but the guardian took the risk of giving one to the youngest Tracy brother. Had Jeff Tracy been still alive, the Miraculous would have gone to him instead.

Fire is the hardest element to control but Fireflash seems to have natural talent with it and an instinctive understanding of the magic of the Miraculous. He forms a deep bond with his Kwami.

Kwami name: Sparkk Kwami personality: Sparkk is a little cinnamon roll, a real concentrated ray of sunshine who’s always there to cheer Alan up when he feels down. His Miraculous has unfortunately been involved in wars in the past and with each new wielder he is afraid of being used to cause harm.

Kwami Favorite Food: Snickerdoodle cookies

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Black Swan

Civilian name: Tanusha “Kayo” Kyrano Miraculous: Black Swan Item: Brooch Concept: Transmutation Element: Prima Materia Weapon: Whip

Previous wielders: Alchimia

Abilities:

- Boosting other Miraculous powers.

Attack:

-Swan Song: Allows to transmute one element into another.

Transformation: "Oodil, Join the dance!" / “Oodil, Take a bow.”

Info: The Black Swan Miraculous is an anomaly that should not exist. It was the result of an attempt to create the Philosopher’s Stone using the Elemental Miraculous. It has very little power by itself, but combined with the other Miraculous, it can grant almost limitless power to reshape the world.

Kayo was not given the Black Swan by the Guardian (her father Kyrano), but she could not stand by while her brothers were in danger. She took the Miraculous and uses it to help the heroes from the shadows, while trying to find whoever is behind the suspicious events and accidents happening around the city.

Kwami Name: Oodil Kwami personality: Oodil appears to be mute, communicating mostly by body language. She has a calm and childlike personality in general, but will not hesitate to attack if her holder is threatened (careful, she bites). Kayo and her have been friends since Kayo’s childhood, when her father became the Miraculous Guardian.

Kwami Favorite Food: Black Licorice

[shantismurf]

CLICK HERE TO VOTE! Only one day to vote!

We are playing a new game and need your help!

Participants in the game have submitted plot bunnies which will be voted on anonymously. The chosen author will run the development of the story that we will then brainstorm and write as a group. Assigned scenes will be about 300-500 words each, written in their own style but in continuity with the rest of the story and picking up where the previous writer left off. It will hopefully be very fun and informal!

If you'd like to watch, or play with us next time, join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/Gyt2EtSv6. We talk about Bagginshield. A LOT.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Round One Plot Summaries:

PLOT ONE:

The Little Burglar: A Dwarven King frees a city from Goblin rule. After the castle is purged, slaves of all fae races are found, fed, and treated for their wounds. The King stumbles upon one that is smaller and more fragile than the rest. At first, they think it a male child of Man or Elf, but upon further scrutiny it is discovered he is actually a mature Hobbit. He doesn’t speak, and no one knows whether he understands their language, but it is clear he plans to do as he pleases now that he’s free. He seems to vanish at will and steals all kinds of things from under anyone’s nose. The little nuisance also seems to be following the King around, appearing only when the King is alone. Determined to gain the Hobbit's trust, the King tries to find ways to coax the little creature out of hiding.

PLOT TWO:

Western - Settlers are heading West, looking for wide open spaces and a new place to call home. Many are settling in the new town of Erebor and word quickly spreads of the vast number of opportunities there. It is new, it is unique, and it is exciting. The trouble is getting there. Travel by train only goes halfway. The rest must either be by foot or by wagon if one can afford it and aren't afraid of being attacked by natives or bandits. If a family is lucky and survive the trip, they will no doubt prosper and be under the watchful eye of Marshall Thorin Durin and his Deputy Marshall Frerin Durin. They are brothers who have sworn to protect the people in this new community from a band of outlaws led by the gunslinger Azog the Defiler. BIlbo Baggins is a school teacher who is looking for an adventure. He accepts a teaching position in the West and buys a train ticket to Erebor. Bonus pts for death of a minor character (Frerin) and the appearance of Dis and Gandalf.

PLOT THREE:

Tangled AU - Stolen from his family as a baby by the evil wizard Saruman, Bilbo is raised alone in the tower of Elostirion, in the mountains west of the Shire. He is never allowed to cut his hair which glows like "ten thousand sparks of white radiance, shot with glints of the rainbow," possessing strange powers that the wizard guards jealously. With only his books to keep him company, Bilbo dreams of adventure and the outside world, though he's been raised to believe that the world is dangerous and all races would covet his magic hair, to his ruin. One day a Dwarrow Prince scales his tower, and Bilbo promptly knocks him out with a frying pan.

Bonus: Thorin tries to braid Bilbo's ridiculous amount of hair but it's so much that he has to have Fili and Kili help him. The dwarves all lose their mind a little over so much sparkly beautiful hair the color of living mithril, but when it's lost they see it as a battle scar and respect him even more.

PLOT FOUR:

Journalist!Bilbo/Vigilante!Thorin - Bilbo’s major is in investigative journalism and he follows up on a dangerous lead only to land himself in hot water. He is saved by some gun wielding manic in the nick of time, but it is really weird how his savior kind of looks like his new roommate...

PLOT FIVE:

Kidnapping Adventure - While passing through the Shire, Thorin is abducted by orcs. Bilbo was camping nearby and tried to help him, but was taken along. They manage to escape, but they don't know where they are, and given Thorin's sense of direction, and Bilbo's lack of experience out of the Shire, they take a very meandering path trying to find their way home. One of the central themes of the fic would be understanding people who are very different from you, whether it's the cultural differences between dwarves and hobbits, but also between them and the people and creatures they encounter like ents, mushroomlings, and other more fantastical creatures usually not featured in Tolkiens' legendarium.

[duckprintspress]

Fandom Lexicon: P and Q

Tomorrow’s a busy day, so here: have the next two Fandom Lexicon letters a day early!

View the entire Lexicon posted to date!

Spot a mistake or know of an entry we should add? Let us know!

Lexicon Entries Beginning with P: (read more)

P4P: Abbreviation for “pay for production.” A term for a campaign to make merchandise, a zine, or other fandom merch where the original creator(s) will not be making a profit – the amount they are charging is purely enough to cover the cost of producing the thing they are selling. Read more about p4p.

Pedo: Shortened form of “pedophile” or “pedophilia.” Especially among antis, accusing people of being pedos is common if they do not oppose the creation of fiction related to underage characters in sexual circumstances. This runs the risk of diluting the actual meaning of the word and the real danger that child abusers represent.

PF: Abbreviation for “Pillowfort.”

PFP: Abbreviation for “profile picture.” An image chosen by an individual that typically appears next to their posts/at the top of their profile on social media sites, chat platforms, and/or message boards. See also: avatar.

Pillowfort: A blogging/social media website created in response to Tumblr’s porn ban. Visit Pillowfort.

Pinned: Term used to refer to the pinned post on a blog, which – on platforms that including pinning functionality such as Tumblr – is a post that the blog’s owner has chosen to have always appear as the first post on their personal blog feed.

Playthrough: Playing a game from beginning to end.

Plinko Horse: See Horse Plinko.

Plot Bunny: A plot idea that pops into existence but hasn’t been given substantial form yet. Have a tendency to reproduce unchecked. Read more about plot bunnies.

PM: Abbreviation for “private message.” See DM.

Podfic: An audiobook of a fanwork, recorded and published for free by fannish voice talent. Read more about podfic.

Polyshipper: Someone who enjoys polyamorous ships. Not to be confused with multishipper.

Poor Little Meow Meow: An evil (or at best morally gray) character who is also deemed pathetic for one reason or another. Read more about the term “poor little meow meow.”

Prev: Shortened form of “previous.” Generally refers to the previous post or person who posted in a thread or reblog string. On Tumblr, it’s often used to reference the previous poster’s tags on a post without copying them over. Repeating use indicates muliple steps back, so “prev prev” would be the tags on the post before last.

PRICK: Abbreviation for “personal responsibility informed consensual kink.” A term used by the BDSM community, particularly those engaged in more dangerous sexual activities, to emphasize the importance of taking personal responsibility and being educated about the risks involved in that activity.

Pro-ana: Shortened form of “pro-anorexia.” Typically used in profile taglines to indicate the user has an eating disorder or encourages unhealthy eating in an effort to lose weight. Tends to focus on anorexia but is not restricted to it.

Pro-shipper: Original definition: Someone who believes in YKINMKATO and Ship and Let Ship; someone who is pro (supportive) of shipping. Essentially, someone who is anti-censorship. Historically, in fandom, this was considered the default position and didn’t need a specific name; it came to be called “pro” shipping specifically in contrast to “anti” shipping, as pro and anti are opposite positions. Recently, antis have propagated alternate definitions, for example insisting that the term “pro” is short for “problematic,” and that anyone who uses the term pro-shipper is by definition someone who ships “problematic” shipping such as incest, underage, noncon/dubcon, or other objectionable themes. As is the way of cyclical conflicts, as a result some people who ship “problematic” things have embraced this definition. See also: anti-anti. Read more about pro-shipping.

PSA: Abbreviation for “Public Service Announcement.”

Pspspspsps: Referring to the noise made when calling a cat. Used humorously to summon people who might be interested in the topic under discussion.

Purge: 1. A general term for when someone decides they no longer wish to share their works and so they delete everything they’ve made and/or delete their account. 2. Any time a platform either changes their terms of service to exclude previously allowed material (and then deletes that material) or when a platform decides to begin enforcing a previously non-enforced aspect of their terms of service (and therefore deletes material). The best-known example of this is the LJ event called Strikethrough. Read about some examples of purges.

Puriteen: Term coined to reflect the extreme Christian purity views that are most often espoused by young people new to fandom who have not yet unpacked their upbringing. Puriteens are most often anti-porn, anti-kink, anti-sex-work, and otherwise against discussion or “normalization” of sexual matters. A major example of puriteen rhetoric is “no kink at Pride” discourse. See also: anti. Read more about the term “puriteen.”

PWP: Abbreviation for “plot? what plot?” or “porn without plot.” A tag used to indicate a fanwork contains gratuitous smut/porn, often without any plot to structure it or explanation for how the characters ended up in the sexual situation. Read more about PWP.

Lexicon Entries Beginning with Q:

QRT: Abbreviation of “quote retweet.” A feature on Twitter that allows people to share another person’s post while adding content of their own. QRS (“quote reskeet”) is a variation that has arisen on Bluesky, where shared posts are called skeets instead of tweets.

Queerbaiting: An intentional marketing tactic in which the producers of a piece of media suggest, via advertisements, interviews, or other channels that a relationship or character may be queer in order to pull in queer consumers, when the producers do not intend to follow through on that promise. Read more about queerbaiting.

[fancoloredglasses]

The two 90s Sonic the Hedgehog series (like that wouldn’t be confusing)

[All images are owned by Sega and DIC animation. Please don’t sue or Roboticize me]

(Thanks to TheNawaf258)

One cannot understate the importance of the spiny mammal with the freakish blue spines and even more freakish speed that bust onto the scene when Sega introduced the Genesis in the early 90s. Before Sonic, a certain company whose mascot was a certain plumber ruled the home video game market. Now we had a contest!

In fact, Sonic’s popularity was so huge that in 1993 not one, but two animated series were created by DIC Animation! The first, The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, made the weekday syndicated circuit.

(Thanks to Choones The Train Driver)

The series follows Sonic (voiced by Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel in Family Matters) and his best friend (introduced in the second Sonic game) Miles Prower (a play on “Miles per Hour”) AKA “Tails” (so nicknamed due to the fact that he has 2 tails that he can spin like a propeller, enabling him to fly) as they defend the planet Mobius from...

Dr. Robotnik and his primary cybernetic cohorts...

...Grounder (left) and Scratch.

The plots (and gags) are straight out of Looney Toons. The bad guys are complete idiots who are easily thwarted by Sonic and Tails.

This series was definitely designed with the under-10 crowd in mind. As I was easily double that in ‘93, I wasn’t overly impressed with the series. However, if you would like to watch the series, it’s available on Netflix.

If I was less than thrilled at Sonic’s impression of Bugs Bunny, what DIC produced for the Saturday morning crowd was the exact opposite!

(Thanks to 90sCartoonIntros)

Sonic the Hedgehog sets a vastly different tone than Adventures does, making it in my opinion vastly superior to its weekday version.

Jaleel White again voices Sonic (just to add to the confusion), but this time he’s one of the inner circle of a group of freedom fighting animals attempting to free Mobius from...

...Dr. Ivo Robotnik (voiced by Jim Cummings, whose voice credits are too numerous to list but is the voice of Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too!) since the late 90s), who has transformed most of the world’s inhabitants into cyborgs enslaved to him. Alongside his robotic army, Robotnik has transformed Mobius into a dystopian hellscape. Unlike the weekday kiddie fare in which Robotnik was trying to take over Mobius, he has actually succeeded and is the evil overlord of the world! Yes, this version of Robotnik is actually menacing, as opposed to a fat, bald Yosemite Sam in the weekday version.

Assisting Sonic in his fight are...

Princess Sally Acorn (voiced by Kath Soucie, who voiced Phil and Lil in Rugrats), the leader of the Resistance and the closest thing to a love interest Saturday Morning fare could show.

Antoine Depardieu (voiced by Rob Paulsen, who voiced Yakko Warner in Animaniacs and Raphael in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series), the incompetent comic relief who speaks in a stereotypically bad French accent and more than a little jealous of the attention Sonic gets from Sally.

Bunnie Rabbot (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, whose many voice credits include Dexter in Dexter’s Laboratory and Chuckie in Rugrats), who is full of Southern charm and sass. She also had a run-in with Robotnik somewhere in her past, which resulted in her getting bionic legs and a bionic arm.

And of course you can’t have Sonic without Tails (voiced by Bradley Pierce, who voiced Chip in the animated Beauty and the Beast and played Peter in Jumanji) since they shared a video game together.

There is a definite edge, a sense of danger, and a small bit of body horror (when you consider there are living beings trapped within some of those robotic shells) to the series. If it was made with an older audience in mind, things could’ve been taken a bit farther, but it was the early 90s and Gargoyles and X-Men were still a few years away (and Batman: the Animated Series was still a new concept)

If you would like to watch an episode, it’s available on Roku.

As always, if you would like to see a particular episode reviewed, let me know!

[ginger-grimm]

For this ask game: Elisha Applebaum in Once Upon a Time, maybe, please?!?

@dancingsunflowers-ocs 🖤

Okay, sorry for my late reply! I tried finding some kind of story that hadn't been done on the show (and one I hadn't done for other plot bunnies) that could fit in it lol. I think I found one.

Name: Fern Audley (Enchanted Forest), Nina Elliott (Storybrooke)

Occupation: Student (Storybrooke)

Love Interest: TBA

Story: In olden times, there was a poor girl who lived with her mother in a small village. Her mother can no longer afford to feed them, so they are in danger of starving. On a stroll through the woods, Fern meets an old woman who knows of her predicament and bestows her with a magic pot. When she says "Cook, little pot, cook" the pot cooks sweet porridge for her, and when she says "Stop, little pot, stop" it stops. Fern and her mother eat well, and for a while, things seem to be great. That is until Fern is roaming around town and her mother uses the pot to cook. She forgets the magic word to stop it and soon the town is overflowing with porridge. Only one house remains free before Fern returns home and says the magic words. Now, if the townspeople wish to return and find their loved ones once more, they must eat their way inside. Then the Evil Queen's curse hits, and Fern is separated from everyone in her town (including her mother), as the porridge is magical and protects everyone from being taken away too. Now, Nina Elliott is a High School student with no loved ones to speak of. When Emma Swan breezes into town, Nina finds herself waking up in the middle of the night to hear some kind of bubbling sound in her kitchen.

[obsidianpen]

okay so hear me out

I’m not writing this (really !) but IF I were going to… well the obvious plot choice would be to have Voldemort as the evil notorious pirate with his crew of death eaters waging war, and this sounds great, love the visual of the dark mark on a ships flag - but if I were going to write a pirate AU (and I’m not), I would write this:

medieval ish times - complete AU were Voldemort (perhaps middle aged, silver fox voldy?) has recently won a huge war and conquered either what is Britain or some other made up Island country. There is only one last meaningful group of the resistance left, an obnoxious thorn in Voldemorts side. This group calls themselves Dumbledore’s Army, named for the now deceased and fallen King that Voldemort’s forces (or force… is snape like a knight here? hm) killed to bring him fully to power. They mostly travel around the smaller islands off the coast, but from time to time they somehow manage to infiltrate the main land, pillaging from Voldemorts wealthy followers and doing things like destroying the properties they stole (Voldemort would say, rightfully acquired), so on and so on. The ship they travel in is inconceivably fast (known as ‘the firebolt’) and its leader is none other than the scoundrel pirate rebel bastard Harry James Potter. Voldemort is obsessed with catching and killing him, because worse than anything is Harry’s ability to sew seeds of hope wherever he goes (though Voldemort only ever manages to catch whispers of him being in any one place; by the time any reports ever reach him, Harry and his ship are gone. In fact, he has only seen Harry in the flesh twice, and those memories fucking plague him).

Would there be magic? Great question, I think yes, but not like in Harry Potter canon - any magic would be the old school witchcraft, something that is generally viewed as dangerous and dark. There would be those who fancied themselves psychic and diviners, and while most would be peddlers, some would be the real deal. So the weapons of choice would be daggers, swords, perhaps rifles? See this is why I can’t write this, I’d have to do an ungodly amount of research. But it would be super fun. This is my pirate AU plot bunny I’m sure something like it has been done before but that would be my take.

Oh my god, i can't wait for your tomarry 😭 esp with Tom in his 20

Actually can't wait for any of your tom/harry or v/harry, you just sail this ship so well

Great that wording makes me want to write a tomarry pirate AU

[bokettochild]

Link^4 Part 2

Yall liked Part 1, so here's the second part!

This is planned to have four chapters, and three is in the works (I'm writing the show, but it's a bit messy).

Any'ays! Here's Four boys having fun!

_____________________________________________________________

With a little bit of asking, despite what they assumed to be Legend trying to tug Ravio back into the tent (the merchant looked odd without his bunny hood and long purple robes, and was instead wearing a white undershirt and pants, which didn’t really do him any favors, his dark skin looked nearly grey with all the white) they finally managed to get the days schedule from the teen.

The contests weren’t starting for a while yet, and in the meantime, they decided to go wander around for a bit. That was, until they saw the older boys standing around one of the games.

“I have an idea.” Blue was smirking, never a good sign.

Vio cocked a brow. “What evil deed are you planning, Blueberry.” Their brother had no right being that monotone when discussing evil plots, but, then again, he was the most used to doing that sort of thing.

“You know how Wars was pissing us off earlier?”

“Making you mad,” Green corrected. “Yes?”

“We’re returning the favor.” Blue’s grin stretched even wider. “With all these kids around, they won’t even know it’s us, especially now that we’re split. We can kick his ass in every game he tries, making it look like a kid is beating him at everything.” Blue rubbed his hands together. “It would be glorious.”

Vio smirked, cold and thin and nerve-wracking ever since the hero’s betrayal so many years ago. “Excellent. I’m in. One question; we will be treated as a child; can you handle that?”

Their brother considered that for only a moment before shrugging it off. “To get back at Captain Fancy Pants, sure.”

“Can we not?” Red begged. “Wars is nice! And he teases everyone, we don’t need to be humiliating him! Why don’t you play a joke on Sky instead?”

The other three looked at their typically gentler counterpart. Green blinking slowly at the other hero. “Uh, Red, don’t you adore Sky?"

Red nodded as he smiled back. “Of course! But Sky will just laugh off pranks, so he’s fun to mess with. Wars might take it personally, and we don’t want him getting down about not being able to beat a kid.”

“We aren’t a kid.”

Vio sighed. “And that answers that. Blue, if you can’t take Red calling us a kid, how you take Warriors doing it?”

“What if we pranked Time?” Their leader suggested, which of course lead to everyone wanting to choose their own targets until Vio called them to order.

“There are four of us, and four adults in the team. What if we each select one to target? Red can mess with Sky, Green with Time, Blue with Warriors and,” There was a dangerous look in Vio’s snapping purple eyes. “I get to play with Twilight.”

“What are you planning?”

Vio only smirked at Blue’s inquiry. “You’ll see.”

Their leader shook his head with a light chuff. “Okay, we’ll do that, then meet up again when we can and attend the games. Just don' get lost, I don't think any one wants to go looking for each other in a crowd of us." t sounded wrong, but somehow was right, so no one said anything to that and instead scattered to find their respective targets.

The captain's face at losing every game he tried, to a smack-talking kid in blue no less, was hilarious. Sky had laughed, very good naturally, just as predicted, at losing to a little kid, even offering Red a smile and to buy him a treat in return for playing such a good game. Somehow, no one had guessed that would happen, especially since Sky didn’t even know it was them, but Red seemed happy enough to stand and chat with the Skyloftain about all sorts of things, pulling off the fun-loving kid act with greater skill than any of the others could ever attempt. Sure, Vio was a talented actor, but no one could match the level of innocence Red could convince people that he had, even after the other lad had killed his fair share of monsters and scared all of his siblings beyond their wits ends with his own pranks and arsonistic tendencies.

Vio seemed to also be having the time of his life, following Twilight around. The deviant didn’t seem to do much except keep exactly three paces behind the rancher at all times, smiling eerily and watching him, but it worked wonders at making Twilight unnerved until, at last, the rancher was turning around and practically begging Vio to stop following him and go find his parents. Vio didn’t say anything, just continued to smile. Twilight asked if maybe he knew what his parents or guardian looked like, offering to help him find them. Vio just kept smiling. Their poor wolf friend looked at a loss for what to do, and then he ran into Time. Literally.

Green had epically failed to prank Time. Instead, he was pranked so royally awfully by their leader that he refused to own up to what had happened, all that they knew was that Time smiled over at them with a knowing twinkle in his eyes afterwards, letting them know that they were good and fully caught by their leader.

“Our own fault for letting him know about us before.” Blue had muttered once they’d regrouped. Vio had just sniggered, watching Twilight look around in confusion for his little shadow and coming up with nothing, even as Time pulled him back to his feet.

Mischief achieved, the four heroes decided it was time to properly enjoy the carnival, which somehow led to Red and Sky chatting amiably while Time accompanied the rest of them, a smile playing on the lips of the Old Man as they all talked with him. It was nice being able to be around the other heroes while being split, and even when the others all regrouped with Time, they found that their leader was quite willing to give them an excuse to stay around when Warriors asked what they were all doing.

“I replaced you.” Time answered with a smirk. “I've always preferred the company of children.”

“Of course you do.” The captain chuckled, shaking his head.

Twilight seemed to have other things on his mind though. “You! You’re the kid who wouldn’t stop following me!”

At the confused looks from the other heroes, Vio only cocked a single pale brow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Perhaps you have me confused with another person. There are many people dressed as the hero today after all.”

“But it was-”

“Pup, these three have been with me for a while.” Royal blue twinkled knowingly as Time looked down at his protégé. “Perhaps you have him confused.”

The rancher didn’t get much of a chance to say anything to that, instead getting interrupted as Red and Sky rejoined the group. Red waving cheerily and holding Sky’s hand with a bright smile on his face. “There they are, Mr. Sky,” Oh heavens, he was pulling out the ‘Mr.’ card. “Those are my brothers!”

The Skyloftian nodded with an ever-growing smile. “You’re nearly identical to them!”

“I know!” Red skipped in place. “Cool, right?”

“Very.” Came the warm reply.

Impa smiled down at them, but worry clouded her eyes as she counted over their numbers, leaving the four colors out and frowning into the crowd. “Where’s that short hero you all had with you? Has he gotten lost?”

“He’ll be fine.” Time assured her. “Were it anyone else, I might be worried, but of all of my boys, I can always trust that Four will be alright by himself.”

“Ouch.” Warriors pressed a hand to his collar in offense, staggering back as if struck a painful blow, earning laughter from all of them and a roll of the eyes from Twilight. “You wound me, Sap, you really do!”

“Suffer.” Mentor and protégé chorused, as if on cue, only to glance at each other in surprise as Hyrule and Sky giggled and Warriors balked, affronted and maybe slightly unsettled.

It was with this sort of friendly chatter that they followed the other heroes over to the tournament grounds, falling in step with Wild and Hyrule as the duo discussed the possibility of maybe joining the contests and their chances of winning. Wind piped up with the occasional comment, apparently well aware of the fact that he hadn’t the skills for some of the games, but fully willing to try, even though both Warriors and Time had sent disapproving glances back at the trio when the subject of fire dancing came up.

“It’s really quite safe.” Red informed them. “I do it all the time!”

“Really?” Wind beamed, curiosity and glee shining in the sailor’s silver green eyes as he darted a sneaky glance back towards Time, who had been pulled into discussion with Twilight.

“Yup!”

“How? Aren’t you a bit young to be playing with fire?”

The other three colors exchanged a knowing glance as Red began to babble out a response. “Of course not! I’m actually older than I look, and it’s controlled, so if you practice a lot you won’t even set stuff on fire that isn’t supposed to be!”

Blue snorted and rolled his eyes. “Like your brother?”

“I saved your life!” Red huffed, pouting slightly.

Hyrule laughed into his hand, smiling brightly at them. “You know, you guys really do look a lot like the hero of the Four Sword, but you act nothing like him. You’re way more expressive.”

It was very hard for them to respond to that, but they did an admirable job, all things considered. Sure, Red wanted to pout and Blue wanted to complain, Green was seconds away from laughter and Vio desperately wanted to say something, but they held it back until they got to the place cleared for the contests.

The first ‘tournament’ as Impa had called it, was apparently one for craftsmanship, something that Blue in particular prided himself on, and which, based off the choices, seemed to be the one held in his honor. The others offered waves to their brother as he, Sky and Twilight all moved over to the sign-up booth.

Ideally, this would be a contest for smithies, to swing a hammer and craft a tool, but realistically there were only so many people who could participate in such a thing, and that was already the point of contests at the Picori Festival anyways. Briefly, Blue wondered if the Picori were even still celebrated in this time, but then they were being ushered out to their place, Sky two places to their left and Twilight at their right as knives and wood were handed out, and worries flooded away as a plan began to take shape.

As the most detail oriented of the colors, it was Blue’s want to create something fantastic every time, but the contest was timed, and he had to create things with the same supplies as everyone else and make his block of wood into something that would impress the Princess.

Fable being here wasn’t something they had expected, nor the fact that she was dressed up as Dot of all people, but he wasn’t about to question it, especially not when a whistle was being blown and wood chips started falling to the ground.

There’s something about making things to sell that teaches you to see what a person would like best, and unlike most of the others competing, Blue had met Princess Zelda, several of them, and Fable, like their own princess, would be less likely to be impressed by something magnificent and stately. She was like her brother, she liked simple things, she liked the forest and the trees and the birds and even Legend’s awful hives full of bees.

It was that that he was counting on as he set his knife to work, smoothing out the wood with a sanding block as he went. Careful hands guided the knife, not stopping even when it nicked him, and only pausing for a second to wipe away a bit of blood that threatened to smear on his lovely creation. Carving wasn’t his strength, not like metal work, but he knew it well enough from Red’s interest in it and his own adaptations to it in order to make gifts for his brothers. It was hard to forge something for someone when all of you were blacksmiths after all, and getting the forge to yourself was a hassle made worthless because someone was bound to notice what materials had been moved or used, and, with Vio’s inductive abilities, that made gift making a pain in the ass and no fun. Geen had outlawed forged gifts two years ago for that very reason.

This however, this lovely creation of his, made the stern color smile in satisfaction as he ran the sanding block over the smallest details, even as the announcer was counting down the last seconds. Some contestants had dropped their tools ages ago, resting with their work done, but Blue wasn’t wasting a second to make sure that everything was perfectly in place and crafted, even if it wasn’t as smooth and uniform as he would have liked.

There was the toll of a small bell to signal that they must drop their tools, and Blue pulled back carefully as the judges stepped forwards to inspect their works. He glanced quickly over to where Sky had been sitting. A lovely loftwing, wings stretched out in a mirror of the Hylian crest, sat on the work bench, and Twilight’s own prancing mare stood proud and graceful beside his own carving. His work wasn’t graceful or splendid like theirs were, Blue admitted to himself, but it was lovely and simple, but he hoped it would catch the princess’s eye.

Tiny bees trundling over a smooth and hollowed hive sat at his spot, an especially large bee sitting atop it as a handle for the lid he’d carved. It was just the sort of thing he could see Red putting cookies into, or Ravio bringing out full of odd little treats to be eaten with cocoa. It was homey, something Legend liked and Fable would hopefully enjoy as well, and it stood out admit the rolling wooden waves that tossed a crude little wooden boat around, or the rough but loving image of the princess’s own face: Fable didn’t appear to like that one very much, and grimaced oh so slightly at the wooden image before passing on to the one after.

Blue stood firm and proud, catching the cheerful look Sky sent him and ignoring the encouraging hair ruffle bestowed on him by the rancher as the princess and her fellow judges moved down the line. Bright blue eyes twinkled as a sharp little laugh had escaped Fable, hands reaching out to trace the tiny trails left by the bees on his creation, and she’s glanced up at him with a shining smile that looked uncannily out of place on a face so much like the vet’s. But it was welcomed regardless, even when her brows rose and a glimmer appeared in her eyes that was so much like the look in Time’s own blue one when he’d first spotted them.

She’d moved on, but not before taking a peek at the inside of the jar. Blue may have preened the slightest bit at her appreciative hum when running her fingers over the smooth surface inside, but he figured it was justified, after all, most people might have counted on the princess passing that over.

In the end, Sky had won the contest, his loftwing having captured the princess’s imagination with its lifelike spirit, but Blue was the proud winner of second place. All in all, it was no surprise, Sky was the best of the best when it came to being a carver, and he could hardly be upset about losing to the man. The Skyloftain had offered him a friendly handshake once they were away from the field, and no one could complain at how Red cooed and fussed over the jar when it was handed to him.

“For when we get home.” He told the other.

Red pounced on him with a hug. “I love it! Thank you, Blueberry!”

The laughter of the heroes at his name was dismissed in the warmth of Red’s hug, something only beat by Sky’s when Red tried hugging them both at once in congratulations.

After Blue’s go at the first competition, the boys agreed to sit back and watch Vio and Wild compete in the archery tournament. Both boys had knowing looks in their eyes as they stepped out onto the field, and Twilight even followed after, citing experience and curiosity as his reasoning for participating.

“I’m no archer, but fun is fun, and I want a front row seat to the Cub’s humiliation of this era’s archers.”

“Think that little of my world?” The vet’s voice had surprised everyone as he strode over, normal attire cast aside and a green tunic that looked strangely homely on the vet’s willowy frame replacing it.

“Trying out a new look?” Warriors teased gently, reaching over for the vet’s cap only for the shorter hero to doge out of his grasp.

“I’m playing a part here. Fable and I both have something of a duty at stuff like this.” Legend scoffed, tugging at his clothes with a put upon look that was clearly fake.

Wind snapped his fingers, light exploding behind his eyes as he pointed to the resident hero. “Right! Because you’re the prince!”

The vet’s glare made Red giggle slightly. “No. It’s because I’m the hero. Don’t say anything about that again and I won’t blab about last week.”

The sailor immediately clapped his mouth shut, offering a nervous smile as Time frowned. “What happened last week?”

“Nothing!” Wind chuckled.

“Nothing.” Legend dead-panned. “Now excuse me, I’m gonna join Twilight with watching Wild wreak havoc.” The vet tilled his pointed cap at them with a smirk and loped his way over to Twilight’s side, taking the bow the contest aid handed him and plucking the string experimentally

Vio smirked as he tested his own string. It wasn’t in ideal condition, and far from being high quality, but he’d faced most of their adventure with a toy bow, and this was easily an upgrade to that (although, to be fair, Shadow had helped him acquire a better bow during their partnership, and that easily outmatched these ones).

Unlike Blue’s challenge, this one was a straight shot (literally) to win. Contestants only had to hit the bullseye repeatedly until someone else failed to, and as strings plucked with cheerful twangs and arrows zipped past pointed ears, competitor after competitor walked away from the stage with a salute to the Princess, who sat watching on the edge of the field with a bright smile and even brighter red wig

It was a decent costume, he mused, although considering Fable was a royal, it must have been rather easy for her to get something like that made.

“She wanted to be dressed as the Red Hero.” Legend chuckled to him for some reason, tugging the brim of his cap again as the vet shot a glance over at his sister and waited for the contestant aids to move the targets back once more. “But tradition merits that she dress as the Princess of Light.”

“Is that so.” He hummed, selecting another arrow with a casual glance the princess’s way.

Legend nodded, knocking his own arrow with a quick grin. “Best of luck, Vio.”

“Yourself as well, Legend.” Somehow, they missed until the vet was grimacing at his defeat that Legend had never introduced himself to them while they were split, and they’d never said anything either.

Vio didn’t let the thought alter his performance like some people might have. Instead he filed it away in a mental drawer for later review and then wiped it from his mind with the same ease that had earned him the role of mental secretary to his brothers. When it came to remembering little things like maps and sentences and details that Blue didn’t find detailed enough to make stick by himself, he was the one they asked to do as much, a good thing too, or they'd forever be forgetting things, the idiots.

It was a good thing that he had cleared his mind, because the field eventually gave out and the targets were no longer able to move back without the judges being able to not see them, and Wild and he were still going strong, shooting each other matching smirks as their arrows shot off towards the distant targets and the audience waited with baited breath as Champion and Deviant both started preforming trick shots, upping the game and grinning brightly at each other as the competitive spirit washed over them and made them try even harder to outperform the other.

“Kick his ass!” Someone shouted from the crowd, sounding suspiciously like Blue. He wished he knew if that was his brother supporting him or if Blue was cheering on Wild, but with Blue it could go either way, and until he could see his brother’s face, he had no way of knowing which it was. That is, if it even was Blue (He was pretty sure it was though).

At last however, there was a slip, and with a shout from the crowd he watched as the judges descended from their places again to proceed towards the heroes. Fable stayed behind, standing at her seat and gazing expectantly into the crowd until Legend was darting to her side with a scowl and offering his arm, which the princess took with a smirk, tugging her brothers pointy cap with a light laugh.

“The arrow to strike amiss is yours, I am afraid.” Fable offered him an apologetic smile. “But it was a worthy match, unlike any I have ever seen. Well done both.” The princess smiled brightly, and Legend smirked, cap still shading his face too much to be seen and making Wild laugh back at the other teen warmly until he was handed his prize; a fine bow that Vio desperately hoped wouldn’t be destroyed as quickly as the last one was. Fable offered the champion a kidnd word and a bright smile and then turned to him.

“And for you,” Bright blue twinkled warmly. “We offer this new quiver, a prize worthy of one who can handle a bow with such skill.” To the crowd the princess smiled, motioned to the sweaty champion with a flourish. “Our winner, people of Hyrule! Wild of Hateno!”

Cheers rose from the crowd, although none as loud as those of Twilight and Time as the rancher applauded loudly. Wild flushed darkly, rubbing the back of his neck as his mentor and grand-mentor wrapped him up in a hug, bursting with praise that was echoed by the other heroes whenever they could get a word in edgewise.

Green clapped Vio on the back with a grin. “You didn’t stand a chance.”

“Thank you.” Came the deadpanned reply as Vio scowled at his brother. Whether it was in play or serious he would never let on, that was the fun of being the apathetic one after all.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Hello! If this prompt is to your liking - something along the Ladyhawke plot? Basically, during the day LWJ is turned into an animal while WWX is human, and in the night returns to human but then WWX is turned into an animal :) Or, for simplicity’s sake, I‘d just like to see LWJ turned into a bunny XD attempting to communicate with WWX who is oblivious, as you’d expect. Thank you! Your writing is amazing and I’m so pleased to read it always.

The f‎irst thing Wei Wuxian was aware of in his new life, before he ever recalled his name or recovered his cultivation, was the feeling of safety and security that came from being held in the palms of two hands, strong but soft.

Wei Wuxian had been the last and smallest of a too-large litter, causing his mother to bare her teeth at him and chase him away no matter how pitifully he cried. By the laws of nature, he should have died, unloved, but even before he remembered his past deeds he was never one to be bound by those laws. He was lucky: the soft hands came for him then, lifting him high off the ground, letting him shiver against a warm breast and even faithfully feeding him milk from a hollow reed every time he was hungry.

After some time, the haze of infancy cleared from his eyes and, for the first time, the soft hands offered him a leaf instead of milk. It was a good leaf, too. Crunchy and firm, unmarred by any insect bites and still wet from the morning dew.

Wei Wuxian gnawed on it, quite content, and reached up with his left hindleg to lazily scratch at his long floppy ear. For a rabbit, this was the very definition‎ of paradise.

Not bad at all, he thought to himself, quite smug, and not for the first time considered himself rather lucky in comparison to his stronger brothers and sisters, who were probably being taught to forage even now. They might have a mother, but Wei Wuxian has a pair of soft hands framed by long, sweeping white sleeves, and he thought that he did quite well out the bargain.

With such thoughts, he was naturally reluctant to be left behind. He followed those hands on their daily rounds, hopping‎ down dabbled forest pathways made of stone and painstakingly climbing steps to sit in cold rooms that smelt of sandalwood while the soft hands plucked at the strings of a guqin. He wouldn't hold himself back, either: he would nuzzle a kneeling thigh or try to clamber onto the man's belly to sleep, and he was never rejected. Even when he couldn't keep up, he shamelessly cried until the hands came and gathered him up close, letting him rest his sable head against the stark white robes and listen to the comforting sound of a strong heartbeat.

All things considered, Wei Wuxian was quite pleased with his life, a state of affairs that lasted right up until the first time the hands wrapped up the guqin in a white cloth, drew an ice-pale sword from its sheath and took to the air, leaving Wei Wuxian behind, abandoned and bereft.

Obviously, this was absolutely intolerable.

Wei Wuxian settled himself down on the bed and began loudly crying. Other pairs of hands, smaller ones that sometimes brought treats, sought to comfort him‎, but he remained steadfast in his misery, lying prone on his side and weeping until he fell asleep and then waking up and starting all over again.

"He missed you a lot," the white-clad ‎child murmured anxiously to the soft hands when they return a few endless days later. "He wouldn't even eat - I even tried offering him some of the pickled cabbage he's always stealing from your table, but he wouldn't take it. Forgive me, Hanguang-Jun -"

"Forgiven."

Something about that voice echoed in his mind as familiar, but Wei Wuxian was distracted by picking himself up and throwing himself at his pair of soft hands at once, unable to hold a grudge and act indifferent the way he'd schemed he would, taking a mighty leap that did not even begin to trouble his pillar of stability though it did make the child giggle.

"I told you he missed you!"

"En."

The soft hands caressed Wei Wuxian quietly, then - as if familiar with the pain of separation, the torture of longing for what is not there - did not put him down. Instead, they brought close a dish of leaves and grasses for him to eat while still pressed up close to that broad chest, his ears full of that strong heartbeat that showed he was still alive, warmed by the bright golden core within.

Wei Wuxian, as always, forgot his woes, and was happy.

He was full, he was warm, tucked in safely into the collar of long white robes embroidered with clouds‎, and he could think of nothing at all that might disturb his joy.

That state of affairs lasted for about an hour, until another voice, also familiar but less so, said, "I am pleased that you have returned safely, Wangji."

Wei Wuxian opened his eyes, startled out of his planned nap.

Wangji? Lan Wangji - Lan-er-gongzi - Lan Zhan -

White robes, like mourning; clouds, to signify the main family; soft hands, a gentle voice, upright manner, the guqin -

His soft hands were Lan Wangji!

‎Wei Wuxian remembered, suddenly, all of his past life of toil and hardship - his carefree youth at Yunmeng, his brief time at the Cloud Recesses, his wide broad road turning narrow and dark -

He dismissed the latter part as unimportant.

"It seems your pet rabbit had also missed you," Lan Xichen, now recognizable, added, his voice slightly mischievous in a way that was familiar as well.

"En," Lan Wangji replied, calm as ever.

Wei Wuxian began cackling at once, little huffing rabbit sounds.

Who would think, he thought to himself gleefully as he raised up his head to take a look, that Lan Wangji, of all people, would break the rules of his sect to adopt ‎-

To adopt -

A rabbit.

A rabbit!

He was a rabbit! Wei Wuxian, Wei Ying, Yiling Patriarch, demonic cultivator -

He was the rabbit Lan Wangji had broken his sect's rules to adopt!

Wei Wuxian's head lolled back, stunned into a daze that did not abate even when Lan Wangji gently caressed his small head with his soft hands.

Of course Lan Wangji would adopt a demonic cultivator rabbit, he thought. That would just be his luck, breaking his precious rules for me of all people. But what did I do wrong to be reborn as an animal?

Well, actually, he'd done rather a few things wrong, come to think about it. And even if he was a rabbit, he'd had the best possible‎ life as one - he barely had to twitch his nose for a half dozen Lan disciples, not to mention the great Hanguang-jun himself, to scurry over to tend to his every need, so clearly the heavens weren’t intending on punishing him that badly.

Not to mention, he ‎seemed to still have his spiritual awareness - something of a new development, in fact, as he'd only noticed Lan Wangji's golden core for the first time today.

Of course, that didn't really matter. What use was spiritual awareness to a rabbit? All it meant was that he was now a yao, capable of cultivating and, if he turned evil, to be a target for a night hunt led by righteous cultivators.

He'd had quite enough of tha‎t in his last lifetime, thank you.

No, there was no benefit, except maybe the possibility of one day cultivating enough to form a beast core and transform into a human being -

Hm.

"Are you sure you will head out again so soon?" Lan Xichen asked. "You are still barely recovered from your injuries; for you to go out alone could be dangerous -"

Wait, what? Lan Wangji? Injured? Alone?

Absolutely unacceptable!

Clearly Wei Wuxian was going to need to get on that yao cultivation business sooner rather than later. Someone needed to take care of Lan Wangji, if he wasn’t willing to do it himself – and why not him?

After all, Lan Wangji was his pet human.

[honeysuckle-venom]

Id love to hear about any representation of Schizophrenia in media! It doesnt necessarily have to be perfect, just anything you’ve seen that really resonates with you maybe?

Thank you so much for asking Bunny! What a great question!

So unfortunately, I haven't come across a lot of actually decent schizophrenia representation in media. I have a few things to recommend, but not many.

The only piece of fiction that I think actually did an excellent job of portraying schizophrenia that I've encountered is the book I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg (published under the pseudonym Hannah Green). It's a semi-autobiographical novel about the author's experience being treated for schizophrenia as a teenager in the 1940s, and it's absolutely incredible. I've actually never been able to finish it. I've started it several times but it hits way too close to home for me. But from what I've read it's very accurate to my experience in some key ways and gets at the underlying mechanisms and feelings of schizophrenia, especially schizophrenia caused by trauma.

I also recommend the documentary film Take These Broken Wings, which contains interviews with Joanne Greenberg and another woman, Catherine Penney, that do a very good job of describing what schizophrenia is like, as well as interesting interviews with a number of doctors and other people. That's not fiction, though, so I wouldn't exactly call it "representation." And that movie has a VERY strong anti-medication slant, so if that would trigger you or bother you or might make you want to stop taking your meds without appropriate supervision I would NOT recommend watching it.

Besides that, I don't have any Actual Good Representation to recommend. But I do have some things that are objectively bad representation and/or not meant to be representing schizophrenia that still very much resonate with my experience. The rest of this is going to be long and much more personal, so I'm putting it below the cut

There are three movies that for me very much sum up what my psychosis feels like. Watching these movies for me feels like watching something directly pulled from my brain, and when I'm particularly delusional sometimes I think they were actually made for/about me lol. The movies are Coraline, Black Swan, and Pan's Labyrinth.

Coraline does the best job of portraying the specific kind of unreality/reality-but-to-the-left I experience, and the plot basically shows a metaphorical representation of the Capgras Delusion, a delusion in which your loved ones are replaced by evil imposters, which is a delusion I've dealt with frequently my whole life. Plus as a special bonus just for me it has sickly sweet/evil mom and doll themes so...yeah. It's basically the inside of my brain.

Black Swan shows the terror and confusion of psychosis better than anything else I've seen. For me, the underlying emotion of my psychosis is extreme terror, and the underlying mechanism is confusion and a lack of boundaries between fantasy and reality and the self and other, and Black Swan portrays all of that really, really well. And, once again, it has Bonus Personal Trauma Content that really makes it connect on a personal level. It's pretty bad representation, because it's a horror movie, not a sensitive look at mental illness, but honestly it does a much better job than most horror movies at showing how terrifying the symptoms can be for the person experiencing them instead of the people around them.

The last movie, Pan's Labyrinth, I have a harder time talking about. Some of what it does such a good time representing are elements of my psychosis that I don't have language for. But what I can say is that as a child, I always knew I was different. I knew I saw the world very differently from everyone around me, that I was aware of things no one else seemed to be aware of. Dangerous things, powerful things, secret things that couldn't be spoken about. And Pan's Labyrinth shows that experience better than anything else I've encountered. And it too has very intense personal trauma connections for me.

All three of those movies do an excellent job at getting at the emotional core of psychosis, in my opinion, and they all mean a lot to me. But they aren't exactly ideal schizophrenia representation, and if I was trying to educate someone about schizophrenia they aren't what I would recommend. Instead they're what I would recommend if I was trying to show someone what it felt like for me personally.

[robotnik-mun]

awareness-bringer

What’s exactly wrong with it? Yeah, it’s not perfect, but does it deserve so much hate?

I will attempt to keep this brief- 

It’s problem isn’t that it’s ‘not perfect’, but that it’s conceits as a story fall apart immediately due to a very minimal application of logic. To begin with, the premise of Sonic being framed has been used several times by that point- not even ten issues ago we had Sonic clearing his name in the aftermath of Mecha Madness, and before that we had Sonic and his friends being framed by Evil Sonic and company, and before THAT we had Pseudo-Sonic doing the same. Add in the fact that the Freedom Fighters and St. John both know Robotnik can make robot duplicates of people, and it stretches belief that his friends would believe him to have turned traitor. 

Speaking of traitors, the reveal of the traitors’ identity rings hollow because Drago was introduced only recently, and the plot point of him tricking Hershey into killing Sally is utter nonsense due to how overly complicated it is. To say nothing of how the hell Drago was meant to convince Hershey to put on a Sonic costume and head into Robotropolis to begin with. Like, if you really HAD to have Sonic framed yet again, this was literally the most convoluted way to go about it. 

Finally, the ultimate truth is that Sonic... doesn’t really matter to the plot. He doesn’t escape capture because of his own skills, but because Robotnik conveniently shot down his shuttle and somehow he survived. Bunnie and Antoine, even without him, would have escaped Crocbot and sabotaged the UA on their own, and in the end the reveal of Snively reprogramming the UA to only work on Robotnik nullifies any real danger and officially renders Sonic himself utterly useless. And that’s without getting into the glaring plot hole of why Snively would have it only target Robotnik and not do the same for Sonic and co given his hatred for them. 

There’s more I could into, like, a LOT more, but I am attempting to be brief. In short though? It’s poorly written, filled with plotholes, and despite being meant as Sonic’s biggest challenge, Sonic is essentially the least important part of what was meant to be HIS big story. Things proceed almost purely because of authorial fiat, and clumsily applied fiat at that. Even considering the relatively short time they had to do this and build up for it, there is so much here that is just inexcusably shoddy. 

[wordynerdygurl]

Skin Deep - Part 6

Author’s Note:  Honestly, this story is nearing it’s ending.  Hard to believe that a little idea I couldn’t shake has now grown into this mini-series!  For all my die-hard homies, waiting for the next installment, I hope this is worth your while!  If you’re new here, take a look around, see if you like anything and please, let the management know if you have any questions!! As always, writing like this requires the emotional support of people and pets.  My dogs, Murphy and Winston, get me through a lot of plot bunnies just by being stalwart companions.  My husband, graciously, lets me take these flights of fancy when I probably should be paying better attention to him and his day... and some of my besties here on Tumblr make it possible for me to do this for you guys.  @sammy-jo1977​ , my sister from another mister!  Couldn’t/ Wouldn’t do it without you! To all the folks who follow me... My Minxes!  Love you all!  Stay well, be kind, and remember that Love, really does conquer all!  If you want to be a Minx, send me a note, I’ll happily add you to my tag list! Lastly, be sure to like and share anything that you see on Tumblr that catches your eye.  Creative types, we need the constant validation, you see?  Without it, like an unwatered plant, we wither on the vine and perish!  Be kind to those who help you through the day and reblog! Skin Deep Part 5 - click here for the previous chapter! Pairing:  Loki x Reader, Steve, Valkyrie & Thor all make appearances Summary:  Continued from Part 5, You and Loki put your plan into action, returning to Farmhouse.  When you encounter Steve again, you learn there’s more than two sides to this story. Warnings:  Loki’s POV and perspective, including mentions of his time under Thanos.  I’m re-writing MCU history here, but some of the main beats are the same, so look out for SPOILERS for Dark World, Ragnarok, and a touch of Infinity War.  The SNAP never happened because, reasons.  

Empathy used to seem such a human emotion.  Loki had no time for that on Asgard, not when Odin denied anything as frivolous as feeling.  Hiding in plain sight was the means to survival and if that made the young prince sneaky and sly, so be it.  By placing those parts of himself under lock and key; the parts that hurt, the ones that ached, Loki found it was safer to disconnect from others than subject himself to their suffering too.

Operating under the influence of Thanos and his minions when he held the scepter, Loki had purposefully divorced connection of any kind from his mind.  It was dangerous.  Weak.  And moreover, it allowed Loki to do what Thanos commanded without really experiencing the horror, the havoc, of his actions for himself. 

  Who could hear the screams of women when the voice of Ebony Maw subliminally chanted all the ways that one could be dismembered at Thanos’ hands should Loki fail?  What man would shed a tear after the near constant beatings doled out by Black Order members, just for the fun of it?  How could someone care about a house, a car, a city, when they no longer cared about themself? Losing the Battle for New York had consequences far beyond the destruction of property.  With Thanos’ hold over him vanquished, the walls around his heart, constructed in youth, crashed and burned like the dream of ruling Earth.  Suddenly and completely out of reserves, Loki was powerless.  And he felt everything.  The fresh hurts caused by his manipulated ambitions in the hands of Thanos. The furious feelings of his brother, the inadequacies of his character, the feeble needs that drove his wild ambition washed over him unceasingly.  Anger.  Loss.  Lunacy.  Loki learned a hard truth in that moment.  He was a monster.  A freak.  A creature beyond hope and salvation; proving his adoptive father right and his own hopeful heart wrong.  Bitterness soured the fallen prince. Endless hours in isolation on Earth, which continued in his father's house, had Loki believing he had no chance of seeing the world outside again, and it hardened his heart further.  To feel was so painful, so raw, and so humane.  Why bother anyway?  All that emoting, those high spirits, all they really did was expose you to derision.  What was grief to a goblin?  What was horror to a monster?  What was love to a villain like him?  An evil, conspiring demi-god, with a mind bent toward domination.  A damaged, destroyed, deity alone and in pieces.  Who would ever give someone like Loki Odinson a chance?  Why should they?

Turning to his mother, Loki did everything but ask for forgiveness.  In long rambling talks, her projection to his jailed person, the pair talked around ideas of guilt and innocence, of fate and fortune, of destiny versus desire, yet Loki never heard the words he needed in order to truly find peace.   

If Frigga was aware of her son’s need for absolution, Loki would never know, as their last exchange was harsh and full of anger.  Another stroke of loss, crippling now, because there was nothing Loki could do to change any of it from inside his prison cell.  No illusion could conceal the painful ache that consumed him entirely. 

Those days were dark, even for a soul as dusky hued as his own, and Loki’s thoughts followed a similar path.  If there had been a way for him to shake off this immortal coil, free himself of the burden of living, Loki would have done so and been glad.  Death was welcome compared to all this longing and heartache. But life, even a nearly immortal one, was funny. 

When Thor provided a chance at redemption, Loki snatched at it, in his own detached way.  He played hero, rescuing Jane, aiding his brother.  And if he took a bit more in the form of deposing his arrogant, aging father, who would be surprised?  He was Loki, God of Mischief, after all. Ruling the Nine Realms without the oppressive oversight of his father allowed Loki to prove himself in ways he never imagined.  And Loki wasn’t just good at it.  He was great. Of course, it helped that no one knew he was Loki.  Living disguised as Odin was often unpleasant, frequently frustrating, but entirely necessary.  Being Loki was still too difficult and likely to bring unwanted attention in the form of The God of Thunder, a thing that no one truly wanted, Loki least of all. Return Thor did, along with an unknown sister and the end of Asgard.  When confronted with the insanity of Hela’s bloodlust, Loki’s only thought was of his kingdom, now without a ruler.  He had worked too hard, too long, to see the land he cared for in the hands of an enemy, even if she called herself sister.  Opening the Bi-Frost, panicked, his mind was solely on saving those he had recently held dominion over.  They were his people, after all.  But he never reached Asgard. Swallowing his fear, Loki focused all his energy on staying alive in a new and distracting environment, initially.  What Loki found on Sakaar wasn't a new home base under a flamboyant, ineffective leader that he could control, even if that was his first design.  On Sakaar Loki found his loyalty.  

The proud, deep resonance of being Asgardian, of being an Odinson, of being capable and cool under pressure.  Sure, he had to prove himself to Thor, Valkyrie, Banner and honestly, the rest of the kingdom, but actions speak louder than words.  And through his actions on Sakkar, and by extension rescuing the people of Asgard, Loki had shown everybody his true mettle. It was on the deck of a stolen ship headed for Midgard that  Loki had made a commitment of sorts.  One that was not to the people, so recently saved or for his found family.  This time, the promise Loki intended to keep was for himself.  Loki was going to change. The problem is, a task like that takes time.  Patience.  Motivation.  It was something that Loki had to work at and it was exhausting. They say that the best things come to those who wait.  Loki was learning to wait everyday.  Having earned a place at the side of his brother, he worked tirelessly to win over the heroes of his new home planet.  Was it easy?  Hardly, but Loki wasn’t willing to compromise.  Not anymore. A life like Hela’s was not in his runes.  Loki was simply going to be better.  Not perfect.  No one could be as good hearted as Captain America, nor could one be as tech savvy as Stark.  So Loki was planning on being the best Loki he could possibly be, and that’s how he found himself going to meetings at The Avengers Tower, a mostly welcome addition to the team. Meetings weren’t all that exciting and boredom was an awful temptation for a deity devoted to mayhem.  In fact, Loki spent more time doodling in his notebook than listening to whoever was droning on about whatever part of the world needed the attention of this motley crew.  That was, until Pepper Potts hired her new assistant.  That you were polite, pretty and pert wasn’t lost on the young god.  Sitting outside Mrs. Iron Man’s office, typing away with a phone tucked under your ear, moving faster than anyone he had ever seen was certainly impressive.  You were quick witted, clever and most of all, funny. Everyone else seemed to fall under your spell without much effort on your part, something that Loki found frustratingly fascinating.  Here he was, struggling to get people to say his name without having a traumatic flashback, while you simply smiled and smarted off prettily, and had everyone singing your praises.  But Norns, were you adorable. If he thought about it, and while off planet, Loki definitely had, he could remember the moment he realized that you were the woman he wanted.  You were busy, as always, fielding phone calls and flipping through screens yet every moment your flying fingers weren’t hovering over a keyboard or pushing down telephone buttons they curled around a heart shaped charm at your throat.  Clearly, it was a habit and one that you weren’t even aware of, still - it transfixed him all the same.  Watching you from his side eye, your voice never wavering, your tone always so pleasing, and your nimble digits returning again and again to the small sigil around your neck.  “Loki?” “Huh?”  Dumbfounded at your call, those deep sea eyes blinked wildly at the sound of his name on your lips. “Hi!  Yes, Pepper can see you now.  Go ahead, she’s ready!” He rose on stiff legs, adjusting his tie, about to lie to Tony Stark’s woman all for the chance to see you in passing.  Who had he become? It started out innocent like that, but soon, Loki was having to invent excuses for being in the office so frequently.  Missing files, random visits, even going so far as to buy Tony coffee just for the thrill of seeing you.  Something needed to change, and quickly, or Loki was going to blow. On another made up errand, hanging around the executive’s high rise office, Loki was doing a bad job of pretending not to see you.  His mind was on your pouty lips as you sipped lemonade through a straw and not on the stately woman seated behind the desk. 

“Loki, you’re a man of some… style.”  Pepper said it so casually that he almost didn’t hear, his head lost in thoughts that would shame any other person. “I like to think so.”

Shutting her folder with a snap, Pepper smiled, “And you’d love to help your old friend Pepper out, right?” That got his attention, and quickly.  Loki, shoving his hands in his pockets, turned to face Pepper with a widening grin, “I feel like I’m being baited.”

“Baited?  Never!  It’s just, you’re always here and I have a… project that needs the kind of help that you can provide.”  At those words you entered the office, ready for action with a notebook and pen, eager and excited. Suddenly, it was all clear to Loki, “Pepper, no.”  

The noose closed in on the handsome god as Pepper gathered paperwork without looking his way, “Come on, it’s the Stark Homecoming Gala and the two of you will do great!  I have faith in you both.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with!” “Really, Miss Potts, I simply can’t-” Stopping short, the strawberry blonde whipped around, almost nose to nose with Loki.  Shrewd and straightforward, Pepper interrupted, saying, “You’ve been dancing around my office for weeks now.  Clearly you like her and… against all the odds, she likes you too.  I’m doing you a favor and when someone does you a favor, you say “Thank You”.” “Thank you.” Nodding curtly, “You’re welcome.  Now, make yourselves comfortable, order some dinner, my treat.  And do whatever you need to make sure this is one great party!” That’s how Loki found himself sitting at a clear glass table over sweating bottles of iced tea as you discussed color themes and tablecloths.  You were shy, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear as you reviewed notes from previous gatherings both large and small.  His hands itched with wanting to do that job himself. “So, what do you think?”  It was the first time you had addressed him directly since coming through the door and for a moment Loki couldn’t answer.  You were too… not beautiful, that wasn’t the right word, although you were.  No, you were too open, too easy to read, and the earnestness you offered him was downright frightening. Sitting forward in the uncomfortable, yet fashionable, office furniture, Loki cleared his throat and again tugged his tie, “What I think is that you should let me take you dinner.” Dropping your eyes, your cheeks colored slightly as your fingers found that locket charm once more, “Loki, I… I don’t know-” Grabbing for your hand, suddenly afraid that you would take those shining eyes away, Loki lowered his voice and did something he never thought he would.  He begged.  “Please?  I find that you’re all I can think about.” It rushed out of him in a torrent, the way truth so often does, and he found himself unable to look you in the eye.  Loki was afraid to see rejection on your easy to read face, afraid that wanting you had cracked open the lock box holding his heart, afraid that you would see just how weak you made him.  Your fingers twined with his own as you replied, “You didn’t let me finish.  I don’t know what took you so long.” Sighing with relief, his face melting into a genuine smile, “Me either.” Over the next two months the pair of you worked tirelessly to plan and execute a perfect party.  You were inseparable during the day, heads buried together as you discussed linens and table settings, the quality of cocktail glasses, and debating over a band or a dj.  But at night, at night Loki talked about the things that haunted him in the dark.  And you loved him in spite of the awful things he had seen and done and said. Others took notice.  Loki was more lighthearted, more available.  He listened when people spoke and wasn’t constantly doodling during meetings.   Yes, Loki was learning how to love through your loving him.  If empathy had seemed too humane before, then sharing his life, his love with you, was the kind of immortality that earned someone a place in Valhalla.  It was the bravest thing Loki Odinson had ever done and he didn’t mind one bit.

The first time Loki tasted you was burned into his brain, as bright as a flash of lightning.  A firefly in a memory jar that he kept returning to, time and again.  Loki remembered what you were wearing.  He recalled exactly how the light shone in your eyes.  If he concentrated, he could tap out the rhythm of your racing pulse as he held you in his arms. It was the night of the gala.  Inviting everyone under the Stark Industries banner, up to and including the heroes tasked with saving the world, the event was a way to earn money for one of the many charities Tony supported.  The place was full of beautiful people wearing gorgeous clothes under perfect lights set to the hand crafted soundtrack you had created together.

But, Norns, he could still remember the way your eyes sparkled under the lowlights of that hall.  How your dress, simple but sophisticated, clung to the fullness of your bottom.  Low cut but somehow still modest, Loki couldn’t tear his gaze away from the promise of your curves, willing himself to find anything else as interesting as the idea of you.  

You were across the room hanging onto Tony’s every word, eyes bright and cheerfully glowing as you sipped champagne.  It made Loki want to do something grand, something suave, something that would demand your attention for his own.  Moving towards you, his tuxedo perfectly pressed and fitting better than it had any right to, Loki looked long and lean.  Each of his steps seemed to echo, even though the room was full of sound, and you turned your head as if you also heard.  Breaking away from the cluster of acolytes surrounding Iron Man, you bit into your lip as the crowd parted, moving closer together one step at a time.  It was one of the sexiest things Loki had ever witnessed. Lifting your glass in a toast, taking in the room of mingling millionaires, wealthy hangers on and Avengers, “Well, we did it!” “You did it, my dove, I just hung around and judged everyone.” “Oh stop.  I couldn’t have done it without you and you know it.”  Playfully you pushed against his shoulder and Loki took advantage, using your momentum to pull you to his side, your curvy figure flush against his own. Crooning into the shell of your ear, his lips brushing over that sensitive skin, “Somehow, love, I think you would have managed.”  Before you had time to think, Loki had melded his mouth with your own, stealing your breath along with your heart.  Loki’s feet moved in time with the music as he pulled into a dance, laughing in his arms, your cheeks hot and your head swimming. You laughing was, without question, Loki’s favorite sound.  Nothing in this world or any other came close to matching the joyful, childlike glee of that enchanting noise.  Loki memorized its melody, the rise and fall of your giggle.  He had craved it, being away for so long, and now he wanted… no, needed to hear it.  But you were the furthest thing from happy at the moment.   

"Darling, please.  We have to go."  Loki tapped his watch, shaking himself free from the memories of your previous life together and barely suppressing his irritation.

Tears filled your eyes as you whipped your arms around Thor’s mighty shoulders, his deep voice grumbly with emotion, "Take care of him, would you?  He's a jerk, but Loki is the only brother I have."

"Of course… always.  And Valkyrie, your highness, I can’t thank you enough for-"

"No need.  Loki, and by extension yourself, will always have a safe haven here in my palace."

Looking on, Loki and Thor embraced almost tenderly before crashing their heads together.  

"Stay safe, little brother."

"Be good, Thor."

Eyes on the sky, Val ignored the show of masculine emotion, chastising your plan, "You’re going to start a war, Loki."

Straight backed, Loki turned to the king, "Not on the grass of New Asgard.  I will take the fight to them, that is my vow to you."

As Loki offered his hand, Valkyrie shook it, with parting words, "Work on staying alive.  You have a tendency to worry your brother."

Solemnly nodding, "As the king commands.  Shall we?"  With that Loki laced his fingers with yours, leading you a few paces away from the people who loved him most, before summoning the magic that had you both transcending space and time.

This time when your feet touched down it was on the familiar turf of the orchard, surrounded by the scent of apple blossoms and the buzzing of happy bees.  Morning had broken and the world seemed full of promise, with the exception of that knot in your stomach.

"Are you ready?  Darling?"

"Oh… yes.  I mean, I still don't love this plan, but-"

"But it's going to work."  Only it was no longer the baritone voice of your long, lean Loki speaking.  In his place stood Nick Fury, leather duster and eye patch in place.

"If you say so!"  And you clutched your own throat as Natasha’s bored tones came out of your mouth.  The suit, skin tight but flexible, molded to your modified form.  All in all, you were comfortable, "The boots are a bit much."

"Ya think?  This jacket weighs a ton."  Pulling at his collar, "Why does he wear a turtleneck anyway?"

"Loki, this is so weird.  It feels so weird."

"Agreed, but then, why am I so turned on?"

Laughing, you shook your false red hair, hands resting on Natasha’s waist, "God, I've missed you."

"Same, dearest.  Now… let's get your necklace and some answers!"

---

 Convincing Bucky to head home had taken a lot of work, but sometime around 2 am Steve had finally seen his friend off.  The house was empty.  Steve felt the same way.

Turning the black velvet box in his pocket, fingers crushed against the fragile fabric, Steve struggled to feel anger.  When that didn't materialize he shot for sadness but even tears seemed beyond his ability.  

With a sigh, climbing the same stairs he had trudged up a hundred times before, Steve started going through the motions of bedtime.  Only tonight you weren’t there to tease him about the wildly inappropriate amount of toothpaste on his brush.  He didn’t have your light footsteps to follow to the bedside or your help with stacking all of your extra, yet entirely essential, pillows on the chair.

Someone must have changed the sheets, he thought.  There was no evidence of you and Loki’s adventurous afternoon anymore.  Steve made a mental note to thank Buck for that little piece of kindness in the morning.

Shucking his shirt, Steve sat on the mattress, a hand to his forehead.  He had lost.  Captain America had been bested.  Beaten.  And by Loki, no less.

Moonlight in silver slivers shone through the window panes, squares of light in the deep of night.  Steve was alone.  Utterly and totally alone.

And there was no one to blame but himself.

Sighing hard, Steve stood, pacing the floor to work off some of the unspendable anxiety he kept creating.  The room still had your energy, your vibe, as you liked to call it, and the feeling was a prickling itch Steve couldn’t quite satisfy.  Traces of you were everywhere and something about you leaving all of it, and him, behind was just too big to process. “Damn it.”  Even whispering sounded like thunder in the silence of your recently vacated room.  His hands, so big, so strong, smoothed along the fabric of your hanging clothes.  All that power had done nothing to help Steve get the thing he wanted. Sorting through the baubles and trinkets on your dresser, bottles of perfume he had purchased, necklaces and pins, each with a moment of memory it hurt him to recall.  Your watch ticked away the minutes as he stood, stoic and still, surrounded by the shadow of you.  In the orchard the birds were waking, their song filling the air, as morning broke in low golden rays.  Abandoning his plan for sleep, Steve watched as the light chased away the dark, casting rainbows on the floor.  The sun was reflecting off of your Grandmother’s necklace.  A pretty, ancient, carved cameo,  heart shaped locket.  He recalled his own mother owning one just like it, pictures of loved ones pressed inside, holding them as tight as history would allow. Fisting the filigree chain, winding it around his fingers as if it would somehow undo what he had done, Steve slipped it into his pocket before settling back onto the bed.  ----

At the back door to the home you so recently shared with Steve, Loki hung back, “I think this is where we split up.  You go find your treasure and me… I’m going to find some answers.” Nodding, Natasha’s signature red hair swinging, you squeezed the hand holding your own.  It no longer looked like Loki’s long fingered paw, but that was only a skin deep change.  You felt the undeniable essence of him in the press of his fingers against your own. “Be careful.” “That’s no fun, dove.” “Loki-”  You hated the way your voice broke as you said it, but there just seemed to be so much at stake and you had already lost him once. Sensing your unspoken concerns, Loki flashed you Nick Fury’s best smile, “I will.  I promise.”

“Ten minutes.” “Ten minutes.”  You watched the black coated back of your charmed paramour as he opened the shed door, hoping that he’d find something worth knowing in that place out of sight.  Inhaling deeply you twisted the doorknob as quietly as possible, letting yourself into what was once your kitchen, “What a mess.”  It was impossible not to notice the unwrapped leftovers and empty bottles littering the table.  An overturned trash barrel, crumpled beer cans littering the counter, things that Steve, your Steve, would never have tolerated.  All evidence that the grand evening he’d envisioned had been thwarted by Loki’s arrival and your collective escape.  

You started up the stairs, praising Natasha's footwear for its stealth, when you heard the toilet flush and the unmistakable shuffle of Steve’s feet on the carpet.  There was no place to hide on the wide stairwell.  It was time to see if Loki's plan was going to work.

Voice blurry, eyes rubbed red and raw, you couldn't deny that Steve looked like shit, “Bucky?  That you?  You back?”  Steve’s voice bounced around the brightening room as morning sunlight filtered through the soft sheers you had picked out for exactly this reason. Panicked, you backed into the railing with an over loud “Oof!” “Nat?  What are you doing here?  I thought you and Fury were headed to New Asgard?”  Suddenly wide awake and wondering, Steve rushed to your costumed side, eager for information. The man in front of you now bore little resemblance to the angry Avenger you had escaped from hours before.  This man had hair sticking up in odd angles from near constant finger raking.  This man had a hint of a stuffy nose and red rimmed eyes, all indicators that tears had been shed.  Now those blue eyes were scrutinizing you closely, full of concern.

“Uh… We... We got intel.  Yea, intelligence, that Loki was headed back this way.  Turned around… and uh, here we are.” One of those sandy blonde eyebrows lifted, “Natasha?”

Squaring your shoulders, channeling that cool confidence you’d see Black Widow display over and over, “Steve?”  Something about your tone of voice convinced him in a way your words couldn’t.  He visibly relaxed, those broad shoulders going slack as he asked, “Didn’t make it to Norway, then?"

Nodding a negative, you felt the unfamiliar brush of her red hair at your cheek and had to fight the urge to tuck it away, “No.  Loki’s using some sort of transporting power to move them around.  Fury suggested I keep an eye out here, in case they come back this way.” “She won’t be back, Nat.  There’s nothing for her here.”  To you, Steve sounded so sad, so removed, that you had to will yourself not to comfort the giant before you.  “That’s not true!”  It came out of you forcefully, thoughtlessly, and you saw the shock register on the Captain’s face. “That is, Fury and I… we… have reason to believe that she will come back.  They left with nothing, Steve.  She’ll need clothes… maybe some shoes… and-”  Swallowing hard, you didn’t want to give anything away, “-a necklace from her grandmother.” Steve, patting his pocket, felt the weighted chain and it’s heart shaped locket, “I don’t think-” Stepping up to his bulky form, suddenly aggressive, you started, “Never mind what you think, Captain.  We're here for a necklace...  the necklace.  Our intel suggests that your former flame might return for it and… And, I want it, with me, as a means to subdue her when she arrives." Sounding forceful and official was enough to back Steve down.  Just a touch deflated, you watched him shrug, “If that’s what you want, Nat, here-”  From his pants he pulled out the shining bauble, a trinket really, but full of sentiment and memory. Sitting in his palm, the tiny heart that held the picture of your grandmother and mother looked so small, almost unreal.  Reaching for it with wet eyes, you smiled at Steve as you lifted the charm and chain, “Thank you, Steve.  Thank you.” Nodding deeply, that golden head bobbing, “You’re welcome.”  The large grandfather clock could be heard ticking throughout the house.  The sun was gaining on the day and you, dressed as Natasha stood in silence in front of a somber Steve.  For another long beat nothing was said, then, as if sensing a shift in your conversation, Steve flashed your fake Natasha a weak smile, “I could use some breakfast.  How about you?”

“Um… sure.  Yea, ok.  Breakfast.” 

Steve started moving again, downstairs towards the cluttered kitchen when he paused, "So how did you get back so fast?  Cause that's like a 7 hour flight, even with you in the cockpit." “Steve…”  You could hear it, the whining almost pleading tone that signaled the end of Loki’s well planned charade.  That wasn’t enough to stop Steve.  He broke hard, one of those strong arms stopping you in your tracks before you could reach the lower level. “It’s clever, I have to give you guys that.  Almost perfect, really.” Panic rising, you doubled down on the ruse, struggling to keep your voice even, “I don’t know-”  Blocking you in, his body the perfect unmovable buffer, “Loki’s here too, isn’t he?” Pushing against “Steve, I… I don’t…” “Don’t lie.  You don’t have to…” “But… how-?” “You’re not mean enough to play Natasha, doll.  Not by a long shot.”

--- It was strange to be seated at the table and chairs that you and Steve had picked out together one sunny Saturday when you thought that your future was going to be Loki-less.  Your place, the one that you had imagined filling with children that had golden hair and bright blue eyes, felt like a set.  Something false and fake.  A facade, put together simply for show. Steve must have felt it too because his fingers drummed against the white washed table incessantly.  Clearly he had something on his mind.  “Steve-” “No.  No.  Please, let me just get this out, ok?” Raising an eyebrow, you waved at him to continue, nervous but interested in what the super soldier needed to explain. With a shaky inhale, running his constantly moving fingers through his golden locks, Steve caught your eye and didn’t waiver.  “When I saw you… No, that’s not right.  Let me start at the beginning. “When Loki left Earth, you… you were so sad.  It hurt me to see you so… deflated.” “Steve, I-” “You know it’s true.  When he returned to Asgard, something in you, it dimmed, and I just couldn’t allow that… Not when I felt the way I did about you. “I don’t think you realize just how incredible you are… how full of life!  And since I had already missed one chance to be with you, I knew I needed to prove that I could be the man you needed… If you forgot about Loki along the way, even better. “Only… you never did.  I waited years for you, ya know, doll?  Years.  And just when I thought there was no chance with you, Nat gave me a reason to hope. “She was your friend.  An ally.  Someone you could trust… someone I could trust.  I swear it started out that innocently, at least for me.  I just wanted to make you smile again.  But she had other plans.  Plans that came from higher up the ladder of SHIELD. “Fury, he wanted us to watch you… something about Loki being too powerful.  And-”, grabbing your hand tightly, Steve emphasized his point, “-I promise you that I had no idea about his success, or the messages he had sent to you through Nick.  Like you, I thought that Loki was gone.  Missing.  Never coming back.” “I… I believe you Steve.  I know that you didn’t do all this on your own… but what was Nick hoping you’d find out?  I knew less than nothing about what was going on!” “I think he was worried that Loki would get to you first.  That if… when Loki returned, you would be his first stop.  Then you would know about Loki’s success and, frankly, Fury’s failures.  You would also know… well, everything you know now.  That Fury had you tailed, lied to, and led on in an effort to stop Loki from out flanking him.” Frenzied and frantic, you felt anger boiling up inside of you, “But I thought Loki was gone forever.  There was no hope for him and I… and Natasha, she told me that he was dead.” “All a part of Fury’s plan to keep you neutralized and Loki away.  If Loki thought that you’d ignored his letters, that you no longer loved him, why would he come back here?  And, if that didn’t work… when Loki came back and you were with me, what else could keep him on Earth?”

Whispering with realization, “So, they used you too.” Steve sighed and buried his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt, “Don’t feel bad for me.  I let them use my love for you, let them twist it up and shape it as they needed.  Honestly, I wish I could tell you that it was for you, but it wasn’t.  It was for me.  I wanted you, so, so badly.  I didn’t care what strings were attached.  And we built a life together, you and me.  I thought I could outrun the reality of the constant monitoring and daily reports.  Telling Natasha and Nick about every word and each email.  Don’t you see, I love you… and I wanted you, however I could get you.” Shaking your head, Natasha’s red wisps flying, “That’s not love, Steve.  I don’t know what that is… but love isn’t it.” “No?”  With a loud thunk, Steve slammed a small velvet box on the table between you. “Is… Is that what I think it is?”

“Last night.  It was going to happen last night.  Our friends here, under the lights and the stars, I was going to ask you to marry me.  I still would if-” Realization hit you like a ton of bricks, “If Loki hadn’t stepped back into our lives.” “-If Loki hadn’t stepped back into your life.” It made you both laugh in a sad way, how you finished the same thought, and for a fleeting second you could see why you had allowed Captain America to sweep you off your feet.  He was a lot of things to you now, but there was a time when he had been almost everything.  The evidence of that was in the small black square that said nothing but spoke volumes. “Steve, I don’t know if I would have said yes… even without Loki’s… arrival.  I think I have always known that you and I… we are very different people.” Sitting back in his chair, his gaze still locked on your own, “I just want you to know that I’m sorry.  I’m sorry about what I’ve done… what I’ve said… How, shit, how I’ve behaved.  I could say that it was my duty.  I could tell you it was out of love, but the plain truth is that I have always been jealous of what you and Loki share.” “You’ll find it Steve.  You really will.  There’s a person out there waiting for you.  And once you’ve found them, oh Steve, you’ll see that this… what we had, it’s a shadow.  An illusion.  Because love, real love, doesn’t come with caveats and catches.  It is an undeniable force which, in my case, even the boundaries of time and space can not deny.” Something like a sob burst out of Steve, and you were surprised to see tears in his eyes, “I was so wrong.  Could you ever forgive me?” “I want to, Steve.  I really do... “  What more could you say?  Patting his hand you started to rise, “I have to go now.  Loki and I need to keep moving and I don’t want to risk running into Nick and Natasha.  At least, not yet, anyway.” “Where are you planning to go?” “To the Avenger’s Tower.  I believe I know what Mr. Fury has been planning all along.”  Loki’s strong voice entered the conversation as smoothly as his arms wrapped possessively around your waist. Steve took in the protective stance of your returned lover with a raised eyebrow, and without further comment asked Loki, “Really?  And how are you going to breach the building?  They’ll be looking for you, even with disguises…  Fury is no fool.  Plus, there’s little chance that Tony hasn’t activated a million safety and security protocols by now.” Only interested in you, Loki refused to give Steve any of his attention, “Getting in can’t be that hard!  I’ll figure it out when I get there.  Ready pet?” With a gentle push under his broad hands your feet started to move towards the door.  Loki was eager to be off and away, especially after hearing so much of Roger’s confession.  Just knowing what Steve had done, manipulating you while also convinced of his love for you;  it was enough for Loki to commit murder.  He was having quite a difficult time not tearing the good Captain’s limbs off his body. Softening his tone, Steve practically pleaded, “Loki.  Wait.  I… I can help.” Turning his attention fully to your former flame, Loki purred venomously, “You can help?  I’d love to know what entails, Captain.” “I can get you into the place and take you exactly where you need to go.  Fury’s going to hate it, but I’m tired of taking orders that hurt the people that-”  His pause was as lingering as the look he gave you, “- That I love.”  Before Loki could offer a sincerely sassy reply you grabbed his sleeve, tugging, “Um… Excuse us a minute Steve.” Pulling him down the hall of a home that felt like a familiar faced stranger, you waited until you had a bit of distance from Steve before harshly whispering, “How long were you listening?”

Serving you that small, sexy smile, Loki grinned, “Long enough.  How did you know I was there?” “You are sneaky, but even you, God of Mischief, cast a shadow.” Swinging you close enough to catch your mouth with his own, Loki pressed a sweet kiss there before answering, “A mistake I will be careful not to make again!” “The tower, huh?  That’s where you want to go?”  Grabbing you at the swell of your hips, grinding his frame against your own, “Where I want to go, my darling, is to the nearest bed, preferably naked, with you and you alone.” Your hands traced over the lapels of his borrowed leather duster, pausing only to jerk him closer by the supple fabric, “Hmm… is that so?” “Oh yes…”  Loki’s buttery grumble filled your ear as his strong hands dug into the flesh of your bottom.  For a moment you thought he’d give in to temptation, his sweet lips teasingly close to your own upturned mouth, “But-” On your toes, leaning into Loki’s sturdy, leather draped frame, you paused, “Ugh.  But?” Moving you to a safer, less kissable, arms length away, Loki sighed with the same frustration you felt, “-But, where we need to go, as soon as possible, is the Tower.” Moaning grumpily, you stepped out of the arms you longed to linger in, “I was afraid you were going to say that.” “I know it’s less than… ideal, love, but I did find something useful before the good Captain unburdened his soul this morning.” “And that is?” “Fury’s plan.  At first I couldn’t figure out exactly what he was after.  What did Fury want?  How was I involved?” Loki was dragging this out, loving how it kept you hanging onto his every word, and you rolled your eyes, “Well?  What is it?  Weapons?  War?” “All of that, yes… and… yours truly.”  That triumphant smile that filled Loki’s whole face lit up his mischievous eyes.  Tilting your head, struggling to make sense of what Loki had just told you, “What do you mean, you.  Fury wanted you… to do what, exactly?’ “Loki was going to be the patsy.” You both turned toward the sound of Steve’s baritone at the door, suddenly remembering that the Good Captain was still there and that he was waiting to see what you were going to do next.  Leaning his 100 year old bones into the doorframe, Steve crossed his arms, “The fall guy.  An example of what happens if you cross SHIELD.” “I think, my dear Mr. Rogers, that you mean, I am to be used as an example of what happens if one crosses Nick Fury.”  Loki countered, slinging an arm over your shoulder protectively. The idea was frightening.  A man like Fury had too much power, too much at his disposal.  Just knowing the lengths he had gone to in order to keep you and Loki apart was scary enough.  Making enemies of your friends.  Threatening the people you loved.  Selling your affection to Steve in an effort to control Loki.

Now, the knowledge that all of it was done in an effort to ensure that Nick Fury was the toughest guy in the galaxy, it made your stomach clench.  “What do you mean, an example?” “Unless my intelligence is flawed, I believe that Fury was going to kill me.  Is that correct, Captain?” Steve felt the weight of two sets of eyes on him.  Yours, full of fearful love and blind hope that this was all just some misunderstanding.  Innocent and naive and as lovely as he could ever remember.  Loki’s were reflecting a deeper understanding.  The kind of knowledge that only time in the trenches teaches. There was no answer from Captain Rogers.  None was needed.  Honesty, final and resolute, was out in the open.  “Look.  I know I’m not the guy you want on your side.  I’ve… I haven’t been the man I needed to be.  Not for you-”  Steve locked his bright blues onto you, offering a small smile that spoke of sadness before facing Loki, “-Or you, Loki.  But if you let me help you now, I promise that I can get you into the tower and maybe, one day, you won’t think so little of me.” 

Around you the morning gained strength.  Somewhere nearby birds chirped wildly, blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding in the modest little farmhouse and its implications on intergalactic politics.  Without  moving a muscle, Loki plainly asked you, “Do you trust him, dearest?” Squaring your shoulders, you crossed your arms, staring down the man called Captain America.  Nodding decisively, “I do.  I don’t think he’d spill everything like that only to turn on us.  He’s not so bad Loki, really.” “We’ll see about that.  For now, we trust Steve.  Ok, what’s your plan, Rogers?” --- “Hey.  I… I have one other thing to show you.”  Steve was dressed for action in his branded tactical gear, looking every inch the super soldier that Dr. Erskine envisioned. “Steve, we have to get moving.  Loki’s eager and -” “Just open it, ok?”  The envelope was thick with folded paper, the flap tucked under and not sealed.  Clearly it had spent time in and out of pockets, the edges frayed and tattered.  In exasperated curiosity you gingerly pulled the sheets free.

Shaking, your hands trembled holding the once white documents as your voice thickened, “Is this… is this what I think it is?” Cocking his head playfully, that rueful smile pulling at his full mouth, Steve almost seemed cheerful as he teased, “It’s yours.  I think something about this place has always been yours and I want you to have it.” “But-” Folding your small hands in his mighty ones, Steve squeezed gently, “It was a wedding present, or it was supposed to be.” “But we’re not getting married.” “I know.  Still-” “I can’t, Steve.  It’s yours.  Your house, your farm, your dream.” Shaking his head, disagreeing, but feeling lighter than he had in decades, Steve insisted, “Too late, I’m afraid.  It’s done.  Actually, that version of the deed has been signed since our second week here.” As realization sunk in you appraised the man changing right before your eyes, astonished but exhilarated, “Where will you go?” “I dunno.  Think I might need to be alone for a bit.  Maybe see the world… but first-” “First, we have to stop Nick Fury.”

To Be Continued... My Minxes:   @scrumptious-finicky-illusion @iamverity​ @mizfit2​ @sammy-jo1977​ @wolfsmom1​ @jessiejunebug​ @iluvsumbucky​ @unadulteratedwizardlove​ @procrastinatinglikeabitch​ @shxdowofdarkness​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @ahintofkiwistrawberry​ @alexakeyloveloki​ @rorybutnotgilmore​ @crystalizedcaramel​ @lokislittlecorner​ @capcapcapsicle @jamielea81​ @caffiend-queen​ @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore​ @jenjen8675309​ @that-one-person​ @roguewraith​ @toomanystoriessolittletime​ @vodka-and-some-sass​ @just-random-obsessions​ @brokenthelovely​ @lots-of-loki​ @thefallenbibliophilequote​

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Another Wordgirl Au: Morally Gray Wordgirl

Morally Gray Wordgirl au

I don’t know if anyone else in the Wordgirl fandom thought about this at one point. A what-if I thought one day was what would have happened if Steven became Dr. Two Brains before Becky became Wordgirl? Such as what if Steven became Two Brains when Becky just came to earth as a baby? This is where the au begins

In this au, Becky is adopted by Dr. Two Brains. After Becky and Bob crash land on earth, Bob carries Becky around for a bit and enters the city. This is around the time Steven first becomes Two Brains. Bob, while carrying Becky, runs into Two Brains. At this point, Bob has no idea that Two Brains is a villain. Two Brains has cheese with him and Bob is hungry. Two Brains awkwardly hands some of his cheese to Bob. Two Brains may be a villain now but he is not heartless to not offer someone that is hungry food. Bob eats the cheese while Two Brains holds Becky. Two Brains is nervous at first because some random monkey just gave him a baby to hold😟. When Becky looks at Two Brains, she curiously calls him daddy. She is just a little kid who think that this new man holding her is her parent now. Two Brains heart just melts😍after hearing her call him daddy and looking into her innocent, alien, eyes. He immediately begins to dote on her as a dad would, ex. baby talk and cooing. Bob watches the interaction between Two Brains and Becky and decides that Two Brains would be a great person to stay with and raise Becky. He later regrets his decision.😓😆Here is an outline for how this au would go:

1. Becky still becomes Wordgirl. Bob tries to implement heroic morals into Becky during the time she is being raised by a villain. Becky wants to become a hero because she does not want to see the lives of innocent civilians hurt. However, since Dr. Two Brains also implemented villainous ideals into Becky growing up, her moral values are kind of mixed in her actions as a hero.

2. Becky is more sympathetic towards villains. Ex. When Chuck and Butcher claim to be innocent after being framed by Amazing Rope Guy, she immediately believes them and tries to figure out another angle of who really committed those crimes.

3. She isn’t as upset as when the spotlight is turned off her such as when Tiny Big came onto the scene or when Granny May became bingo champion. She is still upset, but Becky is not as focused on the limelight as canon. She, from Huggy’s teachings, believes that a superhero’s true reward comes from protecting the citizens and just helping when needed to prevent or avenge the cruelest of injustices. Wordgirl will accept gifts or keys to the city out of politeness. She uses the limelight to give the people of Fair City comfort and assurance that she is still there to protect them. Becky views heroism as a job more than a pleasure. It is basically, “You get good results based on how hard and well you do the work, not just what others say.” mentality.

4. That being said, Becky will not take a passive stance and try hard to prove her innocence if the citizens suddenly began to take advantage of her heroism or if they turn on her such as with the evil duplicate or when Granny May framed her for crimes. As I said earlier, Becky in this au views heroism as a job she enjoys and doesn't take impolite backlash, constructive criticism yes. Basically she just becomes done when residents of Fair City act like morons who think they know better. (I have always had a problem when a majority of the residents in Fair City act like gullible idiots. It always irks me how they will turn on Wordgirl easily and not often give a proper apology when they realize they were wrong. Sometimes, to me, it seems the villains have better appreciation for Wordgirl than the citizens. I am not including all citizens, just seems like a majority do this.) (Okay rant over.) Becky will be like, “if you guys don’t want me anymore then good luck.” She will intervene again just to keep the city from going into complete chaos. She still cares about the safety of the citizens, she just does not like it when they abandon their trust in her for no good reason. She is not even mad at the villains who cause this. They didn’t force the citizens to dislike Wordgirl, that was their choice.

5. Becky will not often take her dad to jail. She loves her dad and does not like the idea of him not being home (the warehouse; Becky’s living conditions their are like my version of the Becky Boxleitner au, just somewhat better due to her living their all her life.) She also does not like the idea of having to fight him, but has to in order to keep up appearances and not let anyone get suspicious and start suspecting her identity. That being said, she will let Two Brains escape after stoping the crimes depending on the severity. If Two Brains just steals cheese from the grocery store, she may often ignore it (its just cheese and it can easily be replenished). For crimes such as stealing money or turning artwork into cheese, Becky will stop her dad, but later act like he got away (if police are not around. “Two Brains Quartet” still happens because police are there.). Becky may do this sometimes for other villains depending on her or their mood. Citizens and Villains believe that Dr. Two Brains is an extremely tough villain to catch which raises his credibility as Fair City’s #1 villain when Wordgirl does this. Captain Huggy Face is not happy when Wordgirl let’s her dad go, but he deals with it because she cares about her dad. Becky does stand her ground if her dad, and the other villains, do something dangerous that affects the lives of the citizens. Incidents such as the plot to mind control all the city with bunny buttons and the cheesteroid do get Two Brains arrested. (Becky is like, “Sorry dad, but I can’t let you threaten the lives of innocent civilians.”) Since this happens rarely, Becky usually stays at her friends houses until her dad leaves prison. She has a visitor clearance and does visits with her dad when she can. (Still brings him cheese.) Not much interaction with the Botsford family unless they were a focus in episodes.

6. Becky is more aware of when villains act deceitful. (She was raised by one herself.) She pretends to be tricked to let their guard down before turning the tables on them. (She can be tricky and deceitful herself when she wants to be.)

The police force are more competent in this au than in canon. They were able to capture most villains, with exception to Two Brains and other major villains, before Wordgirl came onto the scene. The city was similar to Gotham before Batman showed up. It was fine, but crime rates were still high. The episode “The Wrong Side of the Law” happens differently than canon. Wordgirl is civil and polite to the police, but does really like law enforcement or fully trusts them due to her upbringing by a super villain. (Two Brains taught her she can respect law enforcement because they are capable of doing a good job, it does not mean she has to like them or follow the rules all the time. I sorta think that the villains have some respect for D.A. Sally Botsford because of how she is good at her job.)

Now on to “Normal” girl Becky. Becky is still referred to as Becky Boxleitner. (Dr. Two Brains did not want kids ignoring or making fun of Becky with a last name like Brains, or something mouse related. He wanted people to know and treat his daughter as herself, not just who she is related to. Two Brains also wanted to give Becky some protection so random people wouldn’t bother her because of his actions. So he just gave her his old human name.) Becky is similar to her canon character with a few changes.

1. Becky will empathize with someone if they are feeling upset and hurt. But if they are doing something dumb and stupid, or anything that is concerning to her, she will be upfront and honest with that person (not complete brutal honesty but something like “Please don’t do something stupid, I care about you and your health.”). She isn’t mean, but she is forward and won’t bother to hide feelings if hiding your emotions will only make the situation worse. 

2. Both Becky and Wordgirl are sassy like her dad.

3. She is still passionate about words and respects her teachers and main authority figures.

4. Becky is more clever about excuses.

5. She enjoys science more as well as literature. Becky has top grades in her class. (Next to Tobey). She enjoys science fairs and is a bit better at creating workable, and visually acceptable, inventions.

6. Becky likes puns (Two Brains) and knows every fact about cheese as well as every fact about words (again Two Brains’ fault). 

7. Becky is still a fan of Pretty Princess, but has ponies, books, and science stuff in her room. She is a bit more tomboyish than canon.  

Becky is still friends with Violet in this au. I always viewed Violet’s mom as an open-minded nature women, based on Violet’s character and where they live. She is easily accepting of Becky and Dr. Two Brains despite Two Brains life as a villain. Becky is also forward early on how some of Violet’s traditions make her uncomfortable so there is no issue in the series. 

Becky is more a fan of words and science in this au. She and Violet have fun mixing art and science. Becky does not take art classes, but rather is part of after-school science and reading clubs. (She takes science club with Tobey and reading club with Violet.)

Becky is also friends with Tobey in this au. I have nothing against Scoops’ character. I was just more fond of his character development in the episodes during and after he learns Becky’s identity, plus a few before the reveal. (In the early seasons, it seemed that Scoops would do anything for a big story, even as exposing Wordgirl’s identity as Becky. I was upset in that Vocab Bee episode because Scoops did not seem to consider Becky’s input or feeling when he found strong evidence that Becky was Wordgirl. To me it seemed unfair that Becky had to throw her chances at a competition she was having fun in just to protect her identity because of Scoops’ actions and attitude.) Tobey met Becky when they were between 5 and 6. Tobey just lost his dad (up to interpretation on how) and was just lonely. Kids would make fun of Tobey’s nerd-side and some other mean reasons, or they would ignore him. Becky sympathized with Tobey because most kids, not Violet, would avoid her because of her dad. (They would not dare bully her for fear of how Dr. Two Brains would react.) Tobey and Becky easily began to get along and overtime became friends. Claire McCallister was worried about her son hanging out with the child of a villain. But quickly after seeing how Becky was a good kid plus Two Brains being a good dad despite his status, and that her son was happy with friends, she let her worries slide. Claire, Dr. Two Brains, and Violet’s mom, have made an unofficial single parents support group between the three of them. In this au, Tobey does not become a villain, but still builds robots. (I already have a new villain that takes canon Tobey’s role.) Becky and Tobey are silently crushing on each other. Tobey does suspect Becky is Wordgirl, but respects her secret identity and will wait for her to tell him (or a reveal). (Still cares for her anyway.)

Scoops parents are friendly but are strong law-abiding citizens so they avoid Two Brains and Becky. Scoops in this au is nice, but is more concerned on news stories. He originally talks to Becky in hopes of getting an interview with her dad. Scoops is trying not to be inconsiderate, but he is sorta using Becky as a way to get to her dad. Becky deals with this stuff from other reporters and fans of her dad. Neither Dr. Two Brains and Becky like this attention. (Two Brains likes being in the news and in magazines, but he doesn’t like people using his daughter to get to him. Becky is the most important person in his life with cheese being second.) Becky shuts Scoops down after his first few initial attempts. Scoops is disappointed, but he apologizes and doesn’t bother her anymore. Becky is civil and polite to Scoops in this series, but that is about it. There is no crush. (I don’t know if I will keep the Violet x Scoops ship in this au or change it.)  

I really like this au along with a few other aus I made up which include an Alliance Swap au. I am going to expand more on this au and the characters later.  

[bogkeep]

hmmmmmmmmmm maybe i’ll write an Introspective Musing Post about my relationship to religion and their depiction in stories because i’ve pondering about this topic lately

so for those who are reading this and DON’T know what’s been going on...  there’s this webcomic i fell in love with some years ago, about six years actually, that depicts a post-apocalyptic fantasy/horror adventure set in the nordic countries. it had, and has still, some very uncomfortable flaws regarding racial representation, and the creator has historically not dealt very well with criticism towards it. it’s a whole Thing. my relationship with this comic has fluctuated a lot, since there are a lot of elements in it i DO love and i still feel very nostalgic about, and like idk i felt like i trust my skills in critical thinking enough to keep reading. aaand then the creator went a teensy bit off the deep end created a whole minicomic which is like... a lukewarm social media dystopia where christians are oppressed (and also everyone is a cute bunny, including our lord and saviour jesus christ). which is already tonedeaf enough considering there are religious people who DO get prosecuted for their faith, like, that’s an actual reality for a lot of people - but as far as i can tell, usually not christians. and then there’s an afterword that’s like, “anyway i got recently converted and realized i’m a disgusting human being full of sin who doesn’t deserve redemption but jesus loves me so i’ll be fine!! remember to repent for your sins xoxo” and a bunch of other stuff and IT’S KIND OF REALLY CONCERNING i have, uh, been habitually looking at the reactions to and discussions around this, maybe it’s not very self care of me but there’s a lot of overwhelming things rn and it’s fantastically distracting, yknow? like, overall this situation is fairly reminiscent of the whole jkr thing. creator of a series that is Fairly Beloved, does something hurtful, handles backlash in a weird way, a lot of people start taking distance from Beloved Series or find ways to enjoy it on their own terms, creator later reveals to have been fully radicalized and releases a whole manifesto, and any and all criticism gets framed as harassment and proving them right. of course, one of them is a super rich person with a LOT of media power and a topic that is a lot more destructive in our current zeitgeist, and the other is an independent webcomic creator, so it’s  not the same situation. just similar vibez ya feel as a result of this, i have been Thinking. and just this feels like some sort of defeat like god dammit she got me i AM thinking about the topic she wrote about!!! i should dismiss the whole thing!!! but thinking about topics is probably a good thing so hey lets go. me, i’m agnostic. i understand that this is a ‘lazy’ position to take, but it’s what works for me. i simply do not vibe with organized religion, personally. (i had the wikipedia page for ‘chaos magic’ open in a tab for several weeks, if that helps.) i was raised by atheists in a majorly atheist culture. christian atheist, i should specify. norway has been mostly and historically lutheran, and religion has usually been a private and personal thing. it turns out the teacher i had in 7th grade was mormon, but i ONLY found out because he showed up in a tv series discussing religious groups in norway later, and he was honestly one of the best teachers i have ever had - he reignited the whole class’ interest in science, math, and dungeons and dragons. it was a real “wait WHAT” moment for my teenage self. i think i was briefly converted to christianity by my friend when i was like 7, who grew up in a christian family (i visited them a couple times and always forgot they do prayers before dinner. oops!), but like, she ALSO made me believe she was the guardian of a secret magic orb that controls the entire world and if i told anybody the world would burn down in 3 seconds. i only suspected something was off when one day the Orb ran on batteries, and another day the Orb had to be plugged in to charge. in my defense i really wanted to be part of a cool fantasy plot. i had no idea how to be a christian beyond “uuuuh believe in god i guess” so it just faded away on its own. when i met this friend several years later, she was no longer christian. i think every childhood friend of mine who grew up in a christian family, was no longer christian when they grew up. most notably my closest internet friend whose family was catholic - she had several siblings, and each of them took a wildly different path, from hippie treehugger to laveyan satanist or something in that area. (i joined them for a sermon in a church when they visited my town. my phone went off during it because i had forgotten to silence it. oops!) ((i also really liked their mother’s interpretation of purgatory. she explained it as a bath, not fire. i like that.)) i have never had any personal negative experiences with christianity, despite being openly queer/gay/trans. the only time someone has directly told me i’m going to hell was some guy who saw me wearing a hoodie on norway’s constitution day. yeah i still remember that you bastard i’ve sworn to be spiteful about it till the day i die!! i’ve actually had much more insufferable interactions with the obnoxious kind of atheists - like yes yes i agree with you on a lot but that doesn’t diminish your ability to be an absolute hypocrite, it turns out? i remember going to see the movie ‘noah’ with a friend who had recently discovered reddit atheism and it was just really exhausting to discuss it with her. one of these Obnoxious Atheists is my Own Mother. which is a little strange, honestly, because she LOVES visiting churches for the Aesthetic and Architecture. we cannot go anywhere without having to stop by a pretty church to Admire and Explore. I’VE BEEN IN SO MANY CHURCHES FOR AN ATHEIST RAISED NON-CHRISTIAN. i’ve been to the vatican TWICE (i genuinely don’t even know how much of my extended family is christian. up north in the tiny village i come from, i believe my uncle is the churchkeeper, and it’s the only building in the area that did not get burnt down by the the nazis during ww2 - mostly because soldiers needed a place to sleep. still don’t know whether or not said uncle believes or not, because hey, it’s Personal) i think my biggest personal relationship to religion, and christianity specifically, has been academic. yeah, we learned a brief synopsis of world religions at school (and i remember the class used to be called ‘christianity, religion, and ethics’ and got changed to ‘religion, beliefs, and ethics’ which is cool. it was probably a big discourse but i was a teen who didnt care), but also my bachelor degree is in art history, specifically western art history because it’s a vast sprawling topic and they had to distill it as best they could SIGHS. western art history is deeply entangled with the history of the church, and i think the most i’ve ever learnt about christianity is through these classes (one of my professors wrote an article about how jesus can be interpreted as queer which i Deeply Appreciate). i also specifically tried to diversify my academic input by picking classes such as ‘depiction of muslims and jewish people in western medieval art’ and ‘art and religion’ when i was an exchange student in canada, along with 101 classes in anthropology and archaeology. because i think human diversity and culture is very cool and i want to absorb that knowledge as best as i can. i think my exchange semester in canada was the most religiously diverse space have ever been in, to be honest. now as an adult i have more christian friends again, but friends who chose it for themselves, and who practice in ways that sound good and healthy, like a place of solace and community for them. the vast majority of my friends are queer too, yknow?? i’ve known too many people who have seen these identities as fated opposites, but they aren’t, they’re just parts of who people are. it’s like... i genuinely love people having their faiths and beliefs so much. i love people finding that space where they belong and feel safe in. i love people having communities and heritages and connections. i deeply respect and admire opening up that space for faith within any other communities, like... if i’m going to listen to a podcast about scepticism and cults, i am not going to listen to it if it’s just an excuse to bash religion. i think the search for truth needs to be compassionate, always. you can acknowledge that crystals are cool and make people happy AND that multi level marketing schemes are deeply harmful and prey on people in vulnerable situaitons. YOU KNOW???? so now’s when i bring up Apocalypse Comic again. one of the things i really did like about it was, ironically, how it handled religion. in its setting, people have returned to old gods, and their magic drew power from their religion. characters from different regions had different beliefs and sources. in the first arc, they meet the spirit of a lutheran pastor, who ends up helping them with her powers. it was treated as, in the creators own words, ‘just another mythology’. and honestly? i love that. it was one of the nicest depictions i’ve seen of christianity in fiction, and as something that could coexist with other faiths. I Vibe With That. and then, uh, then... bunny dystopia comic. it just... it just straight up tells you christianity is literally the only way to..?? be a good person??? i guess?? i’m still kind of struggling to parse what exactly it wanted to say. the evil social media overlord bird tells you the bible makes you a DANGEROUS FREETHINKER, but the comic also treats rewriting the bible or finding your own way to faith as something,, Bad. The Bible Must Remain Unsullied. Never Criticize The Bible. also, doing good things just for social media clout is bad and selfish. you should do good things so you don’t burn in hell instead. is that the message? it reads a lot like the comic creator already had the idea for the comic, but only got the urge to make it after she was converted and needed to spread the good word. you do you i guess!! i understand that she’s new to this and probably Going Through Something, and this is just a step on her journey. but the absolute self-loathing she described in her afterword... it does not sound good. i’m just some agnostic kid so what do i know, but i do not think that kind of self-flagellating is a kind faith to have for yourself. i might not ever have been properly religious, but you know what i AM familiar with? a brain wired for ocd and intrusive thoughts. for a lot of my life i’ve struggled with my own kind of purity complex. i’ve had this really strange sensitivity for things that felt ‘tainted’. i’ve experienced having to remove more and more words from my vocabulary because they were Bad and i did not want to sully my sentences. it stacked, too - if a word turned out to be an euphemism for something, i could never feel comfortable saying it again. i still struggle a bit with these things, but i have confronted these things within myself. i’ve had to make myself comfortable with imperfection and ‘tainted’ things and accept that these are just, arbitrary categories my mind made up. maybe that’s the reason i can’t do organized religion even if i found one that fit for me - just like diets can trigger disordered eating, i think it would carve some bad brainpaths for me. so yeah i’m worried i guess! i’m worried when people think it’s so good that she finally found the correct faith even if it’s causing all this self-hate. is there really not a better way? or are they just trusting she’ll find it? and yeah it’s none of my concern, it’s like, i worry for jkr too but i do not want her within miles of my trans self thANKS. so like, i DO enjoy media that explores faith and what it means for you. my favourite band is the oh hellos, which DOES draw on faith and the songwriter’s experience with it. because of my religious iliteracy most of it has flown over my head for years and i’m like “oh hey this is gay” and then only later realize it was about god all along Probably. i like what they’ve done with the place. also, stormlight archive - i had NO idea sanderson was mormon, the way he writes his characters, many of whom actively discuss religion and their relationship to it. i love that about the books, honestly. Media That Explores Religion In A Complex And Compassionate Way... we like that i’ve been thinking about my own stories too, and how i might want to explore faith in them. most of my settings are based on magic and it’s like, what role does religion have in a world where gods are real and makes u magic. in sparrow spellcaster’s story, xe creates? summons? an old god - brings them to life out of the idea of them. it’s a story about hubris, mostly. then there’s iphimery, the story where i am actively fleshing out a pantheon. there’s no doubt the gods are real in the fantasy version of iphimery, they are the source of magic and sustain themselves on slivers of humanity in exchange. but in the modern version, where they are mostly forgotten? that’s some room for me to explore, i think. especially the character of timian, who comes from a smaller town and moves to a large and diverse city. in the fantasy story, the guardian deity chooses his sister as a vessel. in the modern setting, that does not happen, and i don’t yet know what does, but i really want timian to be someone who struggles with his identity - his faith, his sexuality, the expectations cast upon him by his hometown... i’m sure it’s a cliché story retold through a million gay characters but i want to do it too okay. i want to see him carve out his own way of existing within the world because i care him and want to see him thrive!!! alrighty i THINK that’s all i wanted to write. thanks if you read all of this, and if you didn’t that’s super cool have a nice day !

[strawbunniiee]

A Girl and a Ghost Ch. 3: The King’s Revenge

SOOOOO this is the part where the plot thickens :)

if anybody else wants me to tag them in these chapters so you know when they come out i will gladly do so andksnkfs

hope you enjoy! ive had tons of fun with writing these :D

dont mind me, just lettin my frendos know that this is a thing skfnkdjf

@salamifuposey @monsterbride99 aaAAA when i initially posted this i COMPLETELY forgot to do this a a a a a sorry

King Boo was furious.

How could that peasant, that foul impure abomination of a Boo do this to his beloved crown? It contained his power, it was so incredibly important to him...

And that filthy little purple haired brat! How could she so carelessly throw a rock at him like that?

He plopped his body down in a chair and marinated in his own rage for a few minutes.

After a few moments of enraged silence, he spoke.

"...I have got to get my revenge on those two. But... how will I do it?"

King Boo began to brainstorm a way to get the ghost Rabbid and his little idiot friend in hot water.

"Torture? No, no... one of them is a ghost. It wouldn't hurt him... Torture could be done with the little nuisance however. Perhaps a bit of childhood trauma will teach her not to mess with the wrong people." he thought aloud.

He spent almost fifteen whole minutes thinking of gruesome ways to get back at them, until it finally struck him.

"...Oooh, I know. I know exactly what to do now. It'll mostly affect that bloated rabbit, but I can still do some damage to his moronic pipsqueak pal."

He grinned maliciously and floated towards the doors of his manor.

"I'm about to open up some old wounds of yours, Tommy." he said to himself.

———

Meanwhile, Phantom was racing through the sky with Jawaii in his arms, panicking. He would never let King Boo lay his foul hands on her.

They were both absolutely dead silent the whole time until Jawaii opened her mouth.

"...Do you know that guy?"

Phantom halted for a moment and looked down at the young alien he held. "...Yes, I do, but I don't think I would like to go into detail at the moment. We have a very... rough history, I will say."

"Oh... I get it. It's okay, I won't pry. I understand." Jawaii said.

"Just remember that if King Boo ever tries to hurt us, I'll make sure he will regret it for the rest of his days." promised the Rabbid ghost. "I swear on it."

Phantom resumed his flight and soared down to the ground safely. He gently set her down in the grass.

"That was actually really fun! We should do that again sometime! ...without being scared off by an evil ghost, obviously. That would just make it less fun." said Jawaii.

"I'm glad you were entertained, I suppose... King Boo is quite intimidating. And rude." said Phantom.

Jawaii put her hands on her hips. "Well, yeah! I mean, he made fun of your weight! No friend of mine is getting made fun of like that!"

Phantom laughed a bit. "Oh, don't worry, I wasn't that harmed by that statement. I er, get that all the time."

She frowned. "Why do people tease you about that, that's dumb! Besides, I think you're perfect just the way you are!" She gave him a hug.

He hugged back and smiled. "Awww... thank you. I was born like this, I can't help it you see."

"You're a giant fluffy singing ghost bunny with a mustache, I have no idea how anybody could hate THAT! Cuz I don't."

"Oh, don't make me blush from all of these compliments!" said Phantom, smiling.

Jawaii jokingly grinned evilly. "Never. I'm gonna shower you in compliments 'til you DROWN!"

She cackled maniacally as she began relentlessly saying nice things about him with Phantom begging her to stop. Soon, it became a full-on flattery war to see who could out-compliment the other. They had a grand old time.

Eventually, the sun began to set.

"Oh yikes, I better get home. I had no idea we stayed out here for so long! Mom is probably having a heart attack as we speak!" said Jawaii.

Phantom was quite alarmed, his ears sprung up in worry and concern. "She's having a what?! Oh, poor child, I hope your mother is all right..."

She burst out laughing hysterically.

"Wh-what's so funny? I thought your mother was dying!"

"No, dummy! That was an exaggeration, I meant that she's probably WORRIED about me!" Jawaii continued giggling like a maniac.

"Ah. I see now... Thank you for correcting me!" Phantom joined in on the laughter.

They got themselves together after a moment.

"Oh yeah, mind if you could fly me over to my house..? We're kinda far away from home." said Jawaii.

"Of course!" Phantom replied happily.

Jawaii climbed on his back and the two flew home.

———

After flying back to town, Phantom gently set Jawaii down in front of her home.

"See you soon, my friend. I enjoyed showing you around Spooky Trails today!" said Phantom.

"Cya tomorrow Phantom! I had a good day today too!" She ran up to him and gave him one last hug.

She walked up to her door and waved goodbye to Phantom. He waved back.

"Moooom! I'm hoooome!"

Jawaii's stepmother Stella ran in.

"Oh, Jawaii! Thank goodness you're all right! I was so worried, where were you?"

"Sorry I came home late! But I spent today with a friend of mine."

Stella had a look of pleasant surprise on her face. "You made a friend? That's so wonderful! I know you haven't really ever had any friends, honey, I'm so happy to hear that you finally made one!" She smiled.

Jawaii grinned. "Yeah! I'll tell you allllll about him! He's the best."

They sat down at the dinner table with the food Stella made.

Jawaii dug into her mashed potatoes and ate it like a wild animal that had nothing to eat for the past 3 weeks.

"Honey, chew slowly. I don't want you choking!" said Stella.

"Sorry, Mom..." Jawaii said, frowning.

"It's okay. I don't want you in the hospital or anything, especially after you just made a new friend!"

"Oh, I've known him for a while, actually. We've been hanging out together a lot!" she smiled, her mouth still full of food.

"...Jawaii, sweetie, don't talk with food in your mouth.“

"Oh yeah! Sorry again Mom.."

"Anyways, that's why you've been out so much lately? I'm so happy for you, Jawaii!" Stella smiled.

Jawaii gulped down some water. "Yep! I'm glad I'm his friend too!"

They spent dinner talking about all of the fun adventures she and Phantom had gone on.

Jawaii however, conveniently left out any mention of them being in danger, she wouldn't want to worry her stepmother of course!

"Oh yeah! I meant to ask you this, but I got totally sidetracked but where's Dad? And where's Hakai?" asked Jawaii.

"Your father is out destroying planets again, and your sister is having a sleepover with some friends of hers." said Stella.

"Ohhhh. Wonder why Dad's out so late. Hope he's alright."

"I'm sure he's fine, hon."

Jawaii had another sister though, and her name was Roe. She went to a boarding school and wasn't home most of the time.

She stretched and yawned. "Hey Mom, I think I'm gonna hit the hay today."

Stella gave her a small look of surprise. "Oh! You are? Usually you're quite a night owl. Maybe you're just tired from all your little adventures with Phantom."

Jawaii smiled. "Yeah. Maybe. Anyways, g'night Mom! Love ya, don't let the bed bugs bite."

Stella gave Jawaii a hug. "Aww, good night sweetie. Love you too.”

Jawaii ran upstairs, changed into her nightgown, brushed her teeth and jumped into bed, quickly falling asleep after her long, tiring but fun day.

———

That same night, the Mushroom Kingdom was as quiet as ever when it was nighttime. The once colorful, cheerful inviting land was deathly silent, almost hauntingly so.

Princess Peach was safely tucked in her bed, sleeping peacefully.

But little did the sleeping princess know, this would not remain for long.

King Boo had finally made it to the castle after venturing there to exact his revenge. He knew how dearly Phantom loved Peach. Breaking them apart forever would be the ultimate punishment for stepping on his turf. He knew that either way, the plan would work. If Phantom didn't come to the manor, him and Peach would be separated forever. If he did, however, it would give the vengeful king the chance to trap him and Jawaii in his manor, to torture them and possibly even kill them somehow.

He knew he could kill Jawaii, that was no problem, but Phantom...? Could he possibly do it again? ...No, he's a ghost now. He can't be killed again. But the king knew that even if he couldn't die, he could still make him suffer for as long as he wanted. Possibly even for eternity.

He phased through the castle walls, not having any of the guards notice him. Then, he finally found her room. There Peach slept, defenseless, ready for the taking.

In the blink of an eye, he snatched her from her bed.

Peach immediately woke up and let out a shrill scream of horror, alerting the Toads guarding her door.

But it was too late. He had already burst out her window with her and was headed straight towards his mansion.

———

Tap, tap, tap.

Jawaii woke up very late that night to a tapping sound she heard at her window. She went over to it to find one of the Peek-A-Boos she had met in Spooky Trails, tapping away at her window.

"Hey... aren't you that kid who Phantom is friends with?"

Jawaii rubbed her eye and yawned. "Yeah. Why do you ask? And how are you at my house anyway?"

The Peek-A-Boo had a somber expression on his face. "Well... I have to tell you some... bad news."

Jawaii was horrified of what was about to come out of his mouth next. Did something terrible happen to Phantom?

"His love, Princess Peach was kidnapped by King Boo. And... Phantom is gone. He went off to go save her. Knowing King Boo, Phantom may not come back in one piece. ...The other Rabbids told me it was best to go tell you. That way, you would know where he is. You deserve to know..."

Jawaii was devastated. How could this happen?

She knew she had to save him. And if she couldn't save him... then she wouldn't let him suffer alone.

"...No. I'm not going to let this happen to him."

The Peek-A-Boo was taken aback in surprise by Jawaii's response. "...I dunno if you should go. You're only a kid. You could get seriously hu-"

"I don't care." said Jawaii.

She jumped into her closet and changed into her usual clothes, grabbed a lantern and ran out of the house and into the black, haunted forest that she met Phantom in.

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Recently, @sartorialcannibal wrote this concerning this post.

This is 100% my feelings about Sebastian ever since he called his true form repulsive. Also I RP as him on Twitter and it’s a big part of my character that he hates being a demon and talks about how he’s not a very good demon. And that’s one of the reasons he’s spending so much time with humans - he doesn’t fit in or enjoy demonkind. I definitely think this is a major part of his character. Also it makes me sad.

What makes “Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler” addicting, at least to me, is the cast of characters that don’t seem to fit in the society lumped together in a very unique situation. The universe Yana Toboso created where everything is aesthetically pleasing to look at despite the heaviness of the themes (from pedophilia to slavery) are not to be trifled with.

These social outcasts have polarizing issues that of course you cannot pinpoint if they are black or white. They always stay in the morally grey area. Some are even corrupt more than the others. They are also vulnerable, vicious , cunning, and disgusting.

But it all goes down to Sebastian Michaelis. A freak among the demons, the supernaturals. A demon who feels left out in his own realm, he is such an attractive character to play with. He’s manipulative as a demon should be, but his principles hold him back to be downright evil. That devotion to Ciel is a contradiction in itself. His adherence to social traditions (table manners, for example) while striving for perfection.

And I admit that ever since watching and reading “Kuroshitsuji,” plot bunnies are visiting me after decades of stagnation. It is unbelievable. You have these characters that you can build their historical background, beautiful to look at, damaged as hell, manipulative as they can be, dangerous they are. And yet you offer your whole devotion and they in turn inspire your creativity. And I love it.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 5 Thoughts Part 2

Part 1 is here.

5x14:

- I thought there was a musical performance coming up but nope. I can do with cleaning up a beach instead. I like it. And they’re sorting the trash as they pick it up? That’s actually super thoughtful. They have their moments.

- Icy and Tritannus are disgusting. And not because they’re cute and I hate cute like Stormy does. It’s because they’re cringy.

- So is Tritannus just gonna have Daphne floating around after him until the end of the season?

- Sooooo... there’s a throne that can give you ultimate power over the whole dimension and it’s just chilling there in the middle of the Infinite Ocean? That seems incredibly illogical and stupid to me. Who has access to the Infinite Ocean again? I know Sirenix got cursed but that was about 20 years ago. What was going on before that? Surely, Daphne couldn’t have been the only Sirenix fairy. And what if one of the fairies with Sirenix decided to just sit on the throne and take the power? This is just... an incredibly stupid and undeveloped concept even by Winx’ standards.

- Again, I have no idea why Daphne warned him at all. Just let the curse make everyone’s jobs easier and get rid of him. (I thought only the Trix had Sirenix, though, because he doesn’t look different after he got it and him being drained by the throne seems to support the idea that his powers are all coming from the pollution he consumes.) Also, how very convenient for him that there is a singular cell right there next to the Emperor’s Throne. ‘Cause any part of this makes any sense.

- Okay, they just vanished matter again. And yeah, we’ve established there is no logic to that but maybe it would have been a better idea to have all that trash recycled? So that it could have been used again? That would have been more eco friendly as it saves resources.

- Aww, poor Stella! Yes, the dress of carrots was definitely too impractical to be worn on a daily basis and also a potential hazard if it draws animals to you but I still feel bad for her. At least she was trying to do something good. And if she adapts her strategy a little and uses some magic she could really succeed in her mission and make clothing more ecological. I have a feeling that they are only writing her making horrible designs on purpose to give the appearance of some arc for her character. We all know season 1-3 Stella would have done so much better with her designs.

- Okay, Brandon did not handle that talk at all but I appreciate the fact that he was honest at the very least instead of just saying what Stella wants to hear from him. It was certainly hard for both of them but that is how relationships should be - honest.

- Yes, they just rationalized that all the garbage might draw in Tritannus but the moment they see a purple tornado it doesn’t click that that is Stormy. Because purple tornadoes are totally natural on Earth.

- The Trix look even worse in the 2D style while Winx look somewhat better than they do in 3D.

- Seriously, tell me how Winx are gonna defeat that tornado. Stormy could probably tear apart the whole planet with the power she’s packing here. And Tritannus, Icy and Darcy haven’t even lifted a finger yet.

- Yeah, it took all six of Winx to handle only Stormy’s powers so the evil group will just leave. It’s not like they appear stronger and probably have chances to win this.

- Love how everyone’s observation skills are going through a meltdown.

- Tritannus is ruthless and I have to say that I love that. I’m sick of the villains just leaving Winx alone without doing all the damage they possibly could just because the plot needs it to be so. Even here he could have made the mutants attack them and he didn’t but at least he used them as leverage so it’s better.

- Layla’s reaction was a little over the top in the Infinite Ocean but I am glad that they are showing her to be so upset about her relatives even though it’s extended family. We don’t see enough familial relationships on Winx.

- Please, tell me Tritannus will get the power of the Throne. Otherwise, they shoved all the nonsense surrounding it in here for nothing. And that will be a bigger challenge for Winx.

5x15:

- Love how in season 3 every Winx girl had a different swimming technique but now they are all swimming in the same way.

- Where is this problem coming out of all of a sudden? Stella had no issue firing at Tritannus in the previous episode. They’re just doing it to manufacture drama because otherwise, she would have the power to save her father from the beginning of the episode and they wouldn’t have an episode.

- They gave Layla a sword. Good. Best decision they’ve made all season.

- Love that Darcy and Stormy are thinking about what their role is here.

- Who thought the selkies could protect anything? They can’t even protect themselves.

- I love that they showed a couple of worlds but we only really saw the effect of the eclipse on Andros and Solaria.

- Radius has never been that much of an asshole (not that we’ve seen that much of him). He seems totally out of character here and I hate to admit that there is some logic to him being ruled by pride since he is legit standing in for the sun. I love the fact that both Stella and Luna were super worried about him, though, and instantly came to help.

- Omg, their hair changing colors is so not necessary or relevant rn. Wish they would just leave it alone.

- Layla roasting Tritannus that he’s letting Icy do all his fighting was absolute peak! I’m here for it!

- Okay, so there was literally no reason why Stella’s light didn’t work at the beginning of the episode but did at the end and it only made her seem more self-centered if anything because she only really put her will into fighting once she was directly affected. Not @ the way this season is not pulling off the emotional arcs at all.

- Wow, okay. Icy sacrificing herself for Tritannus was just... unexpected. Winx weren’t prepared either. I am glad that at least he had the decency to be mad that she’s hurt and appreciate what she did for him.

- Aww, Luna is absolutely precious and I love her already!

- Couldn’t have Bloom used her fire to the same effect that Stella used her light? And Layla could have totally used her morphix to cover them and make sure they won’t be hit. They didn’t just have to stand there and be useless.

5x16:

- Why did I hear Layla say pillow instead of pillar? I think I might need to go to bed (it’s like 5am).

- Nature kick? Nature KICK???????? They gave Flora an attack that’s inherently violent? What the hell were they thinking? That has never been her style so why start now?

- “I’d do anything for you, Tritannus.” Yes, including abandoning your sisters. Nice one, Icy!

- I knew it that the two mutants Layla freed would be Nereus and Tressa. No way can we have any adults here.

- It’s interesting that convergence didn’t work. There’s an intriguing implication in that somewhere but it’s too late to unpack it now.... Okay, now that I am awake (and have watched the rest of the episodes), let’s see what I get out of this. The Pillar needed light which is something tangible and physical unlike the other two Pillars so the convergence didn’t work because Stella is the only one whose powers are about light. I like the implication here and they could have done something interesting with it, not to mention implement some rules when it comes to convergence at the very least.

- Stella just singlehandedly powered all the suns in the Magic Dimension. That is the most powerful thing we have seen anyone do on this show. I love her so much!

- Aww, I feel so bad for Stella! I am crying over here. And seriously, why is Radius being so prickly here? He wasn’t like that in season 3. Stella was even ready to let them ignore her if it would mean that they could also ignore the budding argument. This is hurting her so much and it’s hurting me as well!

- Aww, Kiko really wanted to cheer Stella up so badly! He’s adorable.

- Was Erendor the one suggesting that they unite their powers? Wow, I am just shocked. Also, kinda amused that Faragonda managed to make them all shut up even though they are all more “important” than she is.

- So why is Diaspro on Eraklyon? She was supposed to be banished. But no, we need more stupid drama. I see that Erendor at least is back to his prickliness. And yes, I totally have to agree with Samara that he just made an awful mistake. Giving Diaspro the authority to speak in his name is a rash and reckless decision in general. After she mind controlled Sky? Absolute madness,

- Wizgiz looks so weird without his hat.

- What is so hard to figure out about the “fight fire with fire” expression? But they did a pretty good job regardless.

- Of course, there is Diaspro drama even when she and Sky don’t have any kind of personal relations anymore. But still, I don’t think Bloom should be so affected by it because she was told it was for his royal duties. (and since the meeting is held on Domino, she could totally be there as well) It is frustrating but it’s still better than what has happened with Diaspro before.

5x17:

- Omg, Daphne is pushing herself to her limits in the name of saving everyone. Meanwhile, what does she get in return? Tortured by both Stormy and Tritannus, vaguely ignored by her sister and the show won’t even let her parents show concern for her (not that they can save her now that she is in the Infinite Ocean but they could have tried in 5x13).

- Why is Kiko sleeping so far off the ground? That is dangerous. He could roll off the pillow in his sleep and fall... Or Bloom could send him flying through the room when she tosses in her sleep. Poor bunny.

- Eye of Inspiration? Wow, okay.

- Weren’t there four pillars? Why only three seals? And Pillar of Control and Pillar of Balance? What the hell? Light is at least tangible. But control and balance? What the hell?

- I can’t believe that Icy would turn on Darcy and Stormy because of a guy. This is so stupid and I hate it.

- When are the selkies going to learn that they are useless and the best idea would be to hide and go look for someone who actually stands a chance against Tritannus?

- The moon thing was some serious level of bullshit. Like, I get that it looks all fairytale-y and magic-y and shit but when you look at it from a logical point of view, it’s just a fucking mess. You’re telling me that just looking down at the well releases some magic? What the hell? Even if you take their Sirenix into account, this is still weird. (The room made of water was cool, though). Oh, and a map of the Infinite Ocean. How convenient. Because Alfea has all the answers.

- Wow, Mike and Vanessa are actually gonna clean that whole trash island up? I am in awe of their determination.

- Okay, so where the hell are the fairies of Earth? It would make sense for them to take action against Tritannus. He is hurting the planet directly and is also a major threat that needs to be dealt with. They should have been involved now that their kingdom was reinstated.

- Well, Stella is still feisty even when she’s sleep deprived. Also, I see they have no problem using their Sirenix powers now. I am so sick of them using convergence, though. Wish they’d do something more creative.

- I honestly wish Tritannus will get rid of the selkies permanently because they are that annoying.

- Seriously? Tritannus knows that they can follow him in the Infinite Ocean but he just... thought they wouldn’t find him? He should know better by now. And Layla was weird too because they know where he will be going. They can find him. Also, another convergence? Come. On!

5x18:

- What took Tritannus so long to show up? He was right there with the Trix. I do like the critique on Icy’s long hair that this was. Like, girl is aesthetic as hell but long hair could def be very dangerous.

- I am actually on Icy and Tritannus’ side here because the selkies are boring me to tears.

- Here’s an idea for you - instead of Daphne sacrificing every last bit of strength and vitality she has, maybe the Winx could figure something out on their own for a change.

- Ugh, the ugly dresses again. Classic, my ass. Ungodly hideous suits it better.

- Really not @ the way Marion’s throne is smaller than Oritel’s. Like, Erendor and Samara’s thrones were the same size but you’re telling me that Marion and Oritel’s are different implying that he has more power? Yeah, no. Fuck that idea. I like the third throne, though. What a shame Daphne isn’t there to fill her rightful place.

- I am so sick of the Diaspro drama that they are shoving in this even now.

- Oh, look! Roy is also there. How else are we gonna know that he is a Big DealTM? You know? Obviously someone that Layla should date.

- See, Marion is even the one leading this whole assembly. Though, my guess is that that would be because the union is her idea and Oritel agreed (probably a little begrudgingly). Of course, everyone else has to be a royal and prideful idiot about this. (I guess it was Theredor in 5x16 that suggested that they unite and not Erendor which would definitely make more sense). But yes, Winx are facing the consequences of what happens when everyone has a vote and you need consensus. Nothing gets fucking done. For once it actually looks plausible that Winx are more effective than any of the adults because they make up their minds quickly. Usually to a common stupid idea but they are certainly doing better than all the royals at this assembly.

- If the dragon is totally untamed, how is Codatorta riding it? This does not make sense to me. And I thought they would be learning strategy.

- Not @ the way Radius was being condescending to Stella. But I like the fact that she got through to him. She is gonna be a precious queen!

- I have to side with Diaspro because Bloom and Sky literally thought it to be a good idea to just leave the assembly and go deal with their teenage romance bullshit. Fucking responsible adults you are. Oh, yeah, sure. When she’s actually needed, she can’t leave all of a sudden and she’ll let the others do everything.

- Well, Winx are recklessly courageous, I will give them that. I hate how instantly they need their lessons, though. They learn something and it comes in handy the same day. What if something had happened, and they hadn’t had the lesson? They would be toast. Honestly, the levels of convenience because they don’t trust the audience to remember what happened in the episodes before that is just insane. It would have been better to have a couple of episodes between learning a skill and having to use it.

- Oh, wow! They noticed the pollution? I can’t believe it! Finally! This episode is actually treating me better. If they’d let the selkies become snacks and let Bloom take some responsibility, it would have been good. Now it isn’t half bad.

- This makes zero sense because Erendor and Oritel aka Eraklyon and Domino did have an alliance against the Ancestral Witches. And considering Erendor feeling guilty for betraying that alliance, it would make sense for him to join this one to fix his mistake back then or at least not repeat it. Only possible explanation for his behavior that I can think of is that Eraklyon is actually in a crisis and their defenses are in pretty bad shape so he doesn’t want the others to know that. But that still leaves them defenseless against a potential attack. This is stupid. I mean, his pride is obviously an explanation in and of itself but it is also the definition of stupid.

5x19:

- Why is Erendor so dense? If they defend the Pillars, Tritannus will be easier to beat without the power he will get if he destroys the Pillars. It is a simple deduction.

- Aww! This scene with Riven and Musa is so adorable! He was actually enjoying the music so much and Musa opened up about her mother. That was actually precious.

- Wow, they really tried hard to tie the balance thing to the sea and to music.

- Oh, man! Please, tell me Riven didn’t just run away like that because he got uncomfortable with emotions... Oh, wait! I get it now. He is planning a surprise for her and needs the help of this other girl, I believe it is the same one whose guitar playing skills he was admiring when Musa got all jealous for no fucking reason whatsoever. And they are making stupid drama again.

- Oh, come on! I have to stand Bloom and Sky stupid drama as well on top of the other one?!?!?! I hate this. Also, when will Bloom understand that she can’t be the center of Sky’s universe. She may not care about her royal duties but he was at least raised with some sense of responsibility towards his title. And what does Bloom do? Use her title to rub Diaspro’s nose in her victory on the Sky matter and then she just starts weeping over Sky wanting to talk to his father instead of dealing with the more important shit!

- You’d think that those Pillars would be better protected considering how fucking important they are. Also, aren’t the writers tired of making innocent mermaids on Andros suffer?

- They’re actually making a plan? And it’s a decent one? I can’t believe it!

- At least Tritannus goes back for Icy every time. Not that that’s gonna last but if she’s gonna ditch Darcy and Stormy, it’d better be worth it at least a little.

- Loved Bloom’s magical punch but the slow mo of Layla’s kick really does it a big disservice.

- Why did he throw his trident? That was idiotic. Layla going up in his face so that he could grab it back was also idiotic as hell so I guess they are equally stupid to balance each other out. Could have just blasted him with the trident and get it over with but noooooo. They have to make dumb choices.

- O. M. G! Darcy and Stormy got the whales? That was... so fucking AWESOME!!!! I was worried that them disappearing would actually fuck them over because Tritannus would get mad at them but they actually come back with the whales? Epic. Also, this makes me think that they are at least partially responsible for the chaos going on because Musa said it is the whales that keep the balance and Darcy just hypnotized them. I am so proud of my girl! *happy sob* Her powers really are just so badass in this season.

5x20:

- Seriously? This episode is titled “The Problems of Love” because of all the Sky and Bloom bullshit that will be in it (possibly Riven and Musa and even Tritannus and Icy as well)? Because THAT is the most important thing going on now.

- Okay, so Icy isn’t impressed by what Stormy and Darcy did for her? Girl, you need to wake the fuck up. I do love the energy of Darcy and Stormy just being evil sisters together and fucking shit up, though.

- So why did the rest of Winx not go to the Pillar while Musa was dealing with the whales? Also, didn’t they try the convergence on the Pillar of Light? It didn’t work. Why do they think it will work now? Oh, it actually did. Of course. Because balance. THE SYMBOLISM IS STRONG.

- Really not a fan of the way they have chopped the episodes in favor of suspense instead of in favor of every episode having a completed mini arc.

- Okay, so Musa is mature enough to know that bringing her mother back from the dead will mess with the natural flow of things but she can’t trust Riven just a tad bit more.

- So did Stella and Brandon make up? Last time we saw anything about them Stella said she hated them which she obviously didn’t mean but still. That was just left hanging there.

- Can they all leave Tecna alone? She and Timmy are happy with the way things are. If it works for them, then that’s the only thing that matters. And Musa projecting her relationship drama onto Tecna was just the worst. Glad at least Tecna trusts Timmy implicitly.

- Okay, so did Diaspro think this through? Of course, she didn’t. Once Sky learns what she’s done, she will probably get in trouble. I say probably because Erendor is kinda on her side here so it’s not all that certain. But in any case, she will make Sky resent her more. So still not a good idea.

- Bloom doesn’t have patience to wait for a minute. She knows Sky is busy and has a lot of things to do. She could just calm down a little and not expect him to respond to her every summons.

- Oh, my god! She really thinks that she is more important than a royal meeting. You are fucking yourself over and I wouldn’t give a damn if your stupid relationship drama wasn’t 50% of this godforsaken show.

- Sky should turn his phone off and Bloom should just get some fucking perspective. I know she’s used to being the center of the world but she needs to get her priorities straight as well. She should be looking for Daphne instead of being a fucking idiot over there. They know about the Emperor’s Throne. And if they have a map of the Infinite Ocean, they should know where it is. Just go there and confront Tritannus instead of waiting for him to keep stealing seals! How hard can it be? But of course, you need to have your head in the game, not in your bullshit relationship.

- My god, even ethereal beings like the guardians of Sirenix were dragged into this shit. At least that gave effect. And Bloom admitted she is the problem. I can’t believe it! Actual character development. Of course, I don’t expect it to stick until the next episode so it won’t matter but still.

- Umm... the wind should be carrying the pollen away from the flowers. It can’t carry pollen to them if the pollen comes from them. The wind can only carry it away. That is basically the idea of pollen. To get carried away.

- Omg, I am so tired of Stella’s interest in fashion fucking everything up. They’re making her incompetent and ignorant of everything else on purpose. Also, why can’t they fly? That was just out of nowhere.

5x21:

- They each have a special Sirenix spell? Was that concept introduced before or did it just show up now? I don’t think they’d said anything about that, though it would have been nice in the episode where Stella was having issues but later found the way to fix the Pillar of Light.

- I just wish they would leave Tecna and Timmy alone. Besides, they don’t have to go on a “real” and “romantic” date in order to be face to face. They can just chill on the couch and talk about what THEY want.

- Did Helia just tell Timmy to “man up”? You know what would be “manning up”? Getting over your egoistical impulses to meddle in everyone’s lives because you think you know best. At least Riven is being honest.

- What happened to just being yourself? Tecna and Timmy are already into each other for who they are. They don’t need all of this not so good dating advice.

- Wow, Daphne is going for desperate measures here but she is making sense at the very least.

- I am getting second hand embarrassment over Tecna and Timmy’s date. Poor guys. They just need to be themselves.

- Well, they succeeded with the destruction of the seal. I would love to see Tritannus’ reaction as well.

- Aww, at least Tecna and Timmy got to have a good end to their disastrous date.

5x22:

- I am so sick of Tritannus and Icy always repeating that they’ll be the emperor and empress once the Throne is complete. We get it, okay? No need to say it over and over again. I have a feeling they’re only doing that because they don’t actually have anything else to talk about.

- Omg, I thought this shit with Crystal and Helia was over. How much longer? Why is this even happening? I am so exasperated rn. At least Crystal is not like Diaspro. Even though the show tried to strongly suggest the similarity between them.

- Can they stop jumping to conclusions? Like, Flora legit saw Helia interact with Crystal for three seconds and it wasn’t him that threw himself at her. Flora is always trying to be polite so she should think that it’s possible that Helia is doing the same. Also, love how her insecurity stems from doubts in herself but that will never be resolved ever because no one gets proper arcs anymore.

- How is the king’s decision rational? It’s bullshit.

- Why the hell would droids function better in cold weather. How does that make sense?

- It would have been more interesting if Tritannus had destroyed the whole Pillar and they had to rebuild it from scratch. That might have needed more than convergence to fix and would have been a better challenge.

- Really? They have to fight the droids? That is the most predictable, most boring scenario that they could have come up with. Also, why isn’t there secondary defense against the droids? Like, just in case. No technology is infallible.

- I am confused. Is Tecna the princess of Zenith or not? Why does the king know her specifically if she’s not? Is it because she’s the guardian fairy of the planet? That could have been so much more interesting to see than any of this. A political discussion between him and the fairy that guards the whole planet. More worldbuilding.

- At least he changed his mind. I was hoping that would be the result of the mess with the droids.

- Aww, Tecna wished for Zenithians to feel empathy and connection! That is so precious. She has grown so much. Actually, this season hasn’t treated Tecna half bad. There were some golden opportunities that were missed but I actually like most of what they did do.

- Seriously? Sky sent a request for Bloom and she was still bitching about it? Honestly, that invitation for a diplomatic meeting could have been a cute thing where they get to both solve the issue with Eraklyon not wanting to join the alliance and their relationship drama. But no.

- I love Darcy and Stormy as a dynamic duo even if it pains me that Icy is treating them like that. But there is always place for her once she gets her mind back because she’s currently lost it.

5x23:

- I thought Politea was gonna be the plot of the third movie. But they’re bringing her in now? I am not sure I like this.

- Tritannus getting beaten down is a sight for sore eyes.

- Okay, I love this cute Bloom and Stella moment. Even if I am still not a fan of how they are giving Stella trouble with her designs because we all know that she is super good at what she does.

- Orrrrr... they could just use their Believix transformations and the Tracix wings to see the past. Though, those did seem to work only for the current location you’re at. And no past transformation is ever brought back.

- Why does Politea look like a brunette Bloom? Can they stop trying to make more of her? One is more than enough. Also, if Politea is a nymph as well, why does she look so plain compared to Daphne? We get it that Bloom and her whole family (and her whole planet) are all oh so special but this is ridiculous.

- Why the fuck did Politea refuse to help? If the Witches stole the power of the Infinite Ocean, she couldn’t get it for herself. Also, this is a blatant contradiction to everything we’ve been shown in the previous seasons. The witches grabbed Daphne and cursed her right after she opened the portal that sent Bloom to Earth, not in some battle for the Infinite Ocean.

- Didn’t Daphne say that Politea’s Sirenix turned evil because she turned evil? What the hell? And why would she turn into a monster when Daphne lost her body?????? I hate this.

- Oh, so Bloom’s going it alone now? Nice way to say she doesn’t think her friends can handle it because they aren’t as powerful as her. Wasn’t it exactly the fact that Politea refused to help Daphne that allegedly fucked them both over? Bloom should know better.

- Really? Icy didn’t dodge that? There’s a shitton of space in that underwater cave. She could have escaped in any direction. But no, she has to be dumb and get kicked. Lemme guess, Bloom went alone so that it could be a one on one against Icy and the writers could pretend there was any tension because that obviously wouldn’t have been the case if the rest of Winx were also there.

- So Politea just disappeared because that makes sense. Not like she’s a separate human being that was not formed by her Sirenix powers. And Darcy and Stormy are completely fine even though they absorbed an allegedly cursed Sirenix. And no one bothered finishing off Bloom just to make sure she would actually get finished off. How very convenient.

- Both Radius and Luna were at the assembly at Domino. Now they’re acting like 3-year-olds. I hate this so much. I can see why Stella is so done with their fighting. But I am so proud of her for talking to them and actually telling them how their behavior makes her feel. That was pretty mature of her. If only they could take her example and do the same and actually talk instead of just snapping at each other.

- Oh, and the teachers are at the fashion show as well? That’s cool.

- It’s actually cool that Stella didn’t wish her parents to get back together. She could have but that wouldn’t have been right since they don’t want that. Her wish is still a little questionable because their understanding of each other is not entirely their doing but, on the other hand, she wished that they would just listen to each other. Not necessarily agree. So I think it is actually okay.

- Awwww! It’s so cute from the rest of Winx to model Stella’s clothes!

- Lmaooo, Wizgiz is killing me in this episode. It’s cute how excited he is, though.

- I am so proud of Stella for what she said to (and about) Brandon. Now THAT was really mature of her. I loved it!

- Omg, Riven wrote a whole song for Musa! I knew that he would have a really cool surprise for her. Honestly, she doesn’t appreciate him as much as she should (when he’s not a jerk and he hasn’t been this season).

- But why is Roy with the Specialists? He’s not a part of their team. Please, stop acting like he has any place in this friend group. He’s an outsider and he’s never made any meaningful connections with any of them.

5x24:

- Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Dolphins are so precious!

- So Erendor did join the alliance at last? Not that they can agree on much still but at least they took the first step. Not @ the way the show keeps implying that Earth is the only planet that has pollution. And why did Flora decide to be dramatic before speaking?

- Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! The dolphins! Someone needs to stop him! He’s gonna destroy the precious dolphins!

- They actually made a joint decision? And Erendor fired Diaspro? Wow. WOW! I stan this episode. I just hope it won’t disappoint by the end. Oh, and here’s a prediction - Flora will earn her Sirenix wish this ep. Or Layla. But I think it will be Flora. (Bloom’s obv gonna be last.)

- Uggggh... Did a giant praying mantis just appear behind Stella and Layla? Why? Please no. (But that only makes me lean more in favor of Flora being the one to earn her wish this ep.)

- Oh, there’s more of them. I feel like all the “kick” spells of Sirenix were made specifically for the purpose of this episode.

- These shields couldn’t be any smaller. Sirenix spells are kinda lame, not gonna lie. Harmonix was much better in that regard (and more aesthetic even if impractical).

- Oh, yes. Don’t hurt the enormous bugs. The spell that is supposed to restore damaged environments will erase them out of existence instead. How is that better and why is Flora okay with it if she didn’t want the animals hurt?

- Is there anyone else in that task force besides the Specialists and the droids? You’re telling me that those are the only resources that the Magic Dimension can spare on the fight with what is currently the biggest threat to their existence? This is ridiculous.

- Luna can control the second sun of Solaria? I love that. I love her!

- So... Roy wasn’t even in danger. That’s so lame. I could have been on board with Layla saving him. And it would have been a nice parallel to their first meeting. Also, we have never seen them interact in order to care about any potential feelings between them. This is not how you make a relationship.

- Of course, Flora wouldn’t wish anything that tells us something new about her character. At this point nature and caring about it is the only personality trait she has (oh, and her doubts about her relationship with Helia). We can’t have anything else about her. Here’s something she could have wished for - that her sister can only ever die of natural death which could a) bring up the fact that she has a sister again and b) imply that she is still not over the fact that Miele almost died on her watch.

5x25:

- Omg, where is this sudden uncertainty about Helia coming from? Even though Crystal is not trying to take him from her. I wish this had been better set up at the very least. It could have been a great arc but we can’t have that, of course.

- Alfea has to be at least three times as big to host all the facilities we’ve seen it have in this season alone. I mean, come on!

- So now the mirror is a magical shoe designer? At least Stella’s wish to be with her parents was cute. But you’re telling me that all Layla wants right now is to dance with Roy? I call bullshit on that. She had zero time to recover from losing Nabu and I am so mad over this new “romance” being shoved at her out of the blue.

- Flora and Helia aren’t even gonna talk about this? Because the magical mirror solved the problem by showing what’s in her heart? I should have known this was going to happen.

- And why did Icy offer Layla instead of any of the other Winx? Because Layla has to be the strongest considering the nature of her powers aka she will be the hardest to capture. Though, it makes sense that the strongest will be the best fit to activate the Throne.

- So how did Nereus and Tressa go into the Infinite Ocean? Tritannus couldn’t before he stole Daphne’s Sirenix powers. So how did they manage without Sirenix?

- Why is Stella the one asking how to get rid of the mutants without hurting them when she was the one who managed to do exactly that in a previous episode? But, of course, they have forgotten all about previous episodes. Continuity? Don’t know her.

- How is the Breath of the Ocean summoning all the selkies? It was supposed to restore damaged environments. Now it suddenly has more functions because, of course, it does. It would be too much to want of them to figure out something else.

- Yes, I can see how they aren’t hurting the mutants. Not like knocking them out and possibly giving them concussions is hurting them. How could you think that?

- Oh, so Flora also has a “nature punch”? Are you kidding me?

- I see. They gave them all “punches” to compliment the “kicks” they already had. How very creative.

- You’d think that a prince would have been taught basic battle strategy and wouldn’t just turn his back on the enemy. But... obvious plot device to make Layla blow up and defeat Tritannus is obvious.

- Wow, they had to threaten Layla with losing someone else she cares about so that she couldn’t bring Nabu back to life and they could keep going with their stupid new romantic interest bullshit.

- AND Tritannus stole her power? Can Layla catch a break here? Also, why aren’t the rest of Winx following Bloom to go help Layla as well?

5x26:

- Wait, wait, wait! Are you telling me that the selkies knew where the Throne was this whole time?!?!?!?! AND they didn’t lead Winx there even though it was obvious that was where Tritannus was? Because “we’re almost there” implies that Bloom’s selkie knows the way to the Throne. So why, pray tell, are they only going there now and didn’t use that to fight him before?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! You know, when he still didn’t have everything he needed to activate the Throne?

- Did Tritannus get possessed by the power or something? This change in attitude is completely weird and really pissing me off because they could have actually done something decent with Icy and Tritannus’ relationship and the way it ended but they did not put a single thought in it. Anyway, I am glad Icy is back to her senses.

- Well, Musa looked like she was aiming at Roy which I wouldn’t mind all that much if it hadn’t been the middle of an important battle for which they needed him. But her magic waves didn’t affect him even though he was directly in their way so whatever.

- Now the whole palace is submerged. RIP to all the servants in there that didn’t have a tower to hide in and the Winx to save them.

- I actually love the idea of Winx interacting with the parents of the other Winx. It’s cute.

- Okay, but why is destroying the trident gonna render him powerless? He literally grew in size when he received the power of the Throne which means that it has to be in his body so taking away the trident shouldn’t work. Smh.

- Man, what a lame way to get rid of all the villains and their minions. Very anti climatic. And they didn’t even need the rest of Winx there. So what was this bullshit that they needed Sirenix to defeat him when that barely played any part in his downfall? If anything, it was what let him get the power to activate the Throne. (We all know they could have fixed the pillars even with Harmonix.)

- The gate of Oblivion? Hey, why did no one toss Valtor in there? Or the Trix for that matter?

- So Bloom didn’t actually wish to get Daphne back but to remove the Sirenix curse? Not that there’s much difference since the curse only ever seemed to have worked on Daphne (and Politea that just vanished in thin air).

- I’ll take Daphne’s comment about Bloom being the best little sister in the whole universe as her being emotional over the fact that she was brought back to life. It took Bloom so long to figure out that there was something wrong with her and then even longer to save her. In fact, she didn’t even look as concerned with Daphne’s situation as she was with her own romantic drama so I am not buying that she is so good at being a little sister. Besides, we all know that Miele is the best little sister.

- Aww, I really love that shot of Bloom and her whole family group hugging. And I especially love the fact that Mike and Vanessa are also there!

Oh, I have to write some sort of conclusion now? I was pretty clear on my feelings about this season so I don’t think there’s much to say. Only a few final words to the season itself - I dub thee The Season of Missed Opportunities. Also, love how Musa didn’t even get to use her Sirenix wish. Guess she didn’t please fate enough... even though she was mature enough to know that wishing her dead mother back was not the way she should use her wish. I call bullshit on that (and yes, this is my closing statement).