#and i think that her hair color is cute on soleil

[geminineart]

I've been watching all Pretty Cure seasons one by one for the last couple of years, and I always wanted to do some fan-redesigns, but never get the chance to! However, Star Twinkle has some of my favorite outfit designs (and some of the most wasted character design potential too…) so I couldn't miss this opportunity!

Cure Star's magical girl outfit is almost the same, but her civilian version has some tweaks here and there, because I like my human magicals having human colors before transformation! I also wanted her torso to be a little bit more square-shaped, but kept her general bodytype fairly thin, because I thought it fitted her personality and the way she moves!

Cure Milky was my favorite redesign of the group! Lala is beautiful, I think we all can agree on that, but I wanted to give her a full alien appearance (a cute one, yes, but alien after all)! So I took inspiration from the stereotypical green alien with slim bodies and huge head/eyes (probably inspired by that meme about Anime girls being aliens in disguise, too…) and made both her Magical girl and civilian versions too look like actual aliens! I also added a human disguise tho, so she can blend in with humans while staying with her friends on Earth!!!

Cure Soleil, the first (main) latina Pretty Cure!♥ This one's very meaningful to me for obvious reasons, and she's so beautiful in and out! The changes I did to her outfits were minimal, but I played around with her bodytype (It's true that we latinas are known to have curvier frames, so I wanted her to have a fuller figure that her og counterpart! ) and her hair texture, and her eye/hair colors. I still felt her blonde her was pretty iconic, tho… so I decided she has it dyed!

Last human Precure, Cure Selene! She has a pretty defined appearance, so I didn't had to do that much work with her, but she's a champion archer, so I tried to give her an inverted-triangle bodyshape, guessing she had some decently developed muscles in her back and arms! Also for her civilian appearance I decided to make her outfit more serious and her colors darker to make her look a little more… japanese! Hahaha ♥️

Cure Cosmos! ♥️ She has my favorite personality from the original group, but there were lots of little things from her design I wanted to change, including her keeping her original appearance when transforming, keeping her fur, hair and ears/tails, on the same hue, and some little tweaks to her Magical outfit! I also chose her human outfit based on some song cover from the show. She has her cat-ears and tail hidden under the puffy hat and blouse!

[baileypie-writes]

~Ranking All Orange Cures in Pretty Cure~

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Disclaimer: These are all my opinions! If you don’t agree with them, that’s fine! Just don’t attack me or anything.

Also, some of these cures are technically labeled as yellow, but I see them as orange.

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~☀️4 - Cure Soleil☀️~

(Star Twinkle Precure)

Cure Soleil is the first(and currently only) Precure character of color, and I love her for that!

Her personality is nice. You can tell how she loves her family, and how hard she works. Her design isn’t my cup of tea, but it’s still cool! I don’t hate her at all! She’s just at the bottom of the list, because I like the others better.

~🔥3 - Cure Sunny🔥~

(Smile Precure)

Despite being my least favorite orange cure, I love Cure Sunny!

She’s so cool and sporty, and her fire powers are awesome! If I didn’t grow up with her, she might’ve been at the bottom of the list. I guess I’m just biased.

~🪽2 - Cure Wing🪽~

(Soaring Sky Precure)

Ah yes, the first boy cure! Cure Wing gets a lot of hate for this reason, but I personally think it’s a good thing. It gives boys who love Precure someone to look up too.

He’s such a sweet, kind boy! His relationship with Elle is so cute too. He’s definitely more like her big brother than her knight.

~🍜1 - Cure Yum-Yum🍜~

(Delicious Party Precure)

I think Cure Yum-Yum is criminally underrated. Her design is so cool! That giant bow in the back and her noodle hair is so cute!

I also love her personality. I see myself a lot in her.

That’s all! Let me know what you think of my ranking, and how you would rank them yourself!

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~~baileypie-writes

[sieglinde-freud]

For the ask game: Ophelia and Camillia

HELL YEAHH hi stedy :) starting with ophelia

How I feel about this character

shes so cute. obviously super similar to her dad and while i feel like she doesnt do the chuuni thing quite as well, i think its cute that its mostly in an attempt to emulate her father, the bestest guy in the world to her, which differentiates it from odin’s mannerisms that were formed as a coping mechanism. shes just very happy and i love that for her :)

All the people I ship romantically with this character

i remember really liking her with hisame at one point? i think i still do but i cannot tell you what their support is about. i forgot entirely. honestly, i need to brush up on the fates second gen because theyre a huge blank spot in my mind 😭 but like, conceptually, i also like her with shiro, caeldori, nina, forrest, and mitama. i just have to actually read those…

My non-romantic OTP for this character

i like her little trio with forrest and nina :) theyre so cute in heirs of fate… i wish we could see more of the second gen dynamic like that. in my head i also like her friendship with soleil, but… in terms of whats given to me in the game… its just… eugh.

My unpopular opinion about this character

i dont think she’s a better unit than odin in conquest. i guess it can depend on who her mom is, but odin is generally going to have much more survivability due to his defense and hp + joining you pretty early, making his role as a nostank reliable and costs zero effort. ophelia takes time, and ideally you want to hold off on getting her for skills/offspring seals. any early game build can be done with nyx or elise, to less potency maybe, but with way less effort especially now that the best way of support grinding (mycastle easy seize) is no longer possible. of course, you can use dlc maps but if you take dlc into account conquest is a whole different game.

One thing I wish had happened

how about something i wish didnt happen? her support with soleil is genuinely one of these most uncomfortable things i have ever read in fire emblem which is saying a lot! because the writing in these games suck! for the most part it is soleil’s problem and not ophelia’s, so maybe i shouldn’t be complaining about it here, but i dunno man. its just… its so bad. i cant even read it in game like it gets a physical reaction out of me and not a positive one.

ok camilla now :)

How I feel about this character

i love her lots :) my savior on conquest and she had the best hair in the game. her supports are… pretty unfortunate most of the time but i think the ones that matter are really good and she’s a really sympathetic character when you get over intelligent systems not trusting in her enough to be popular and slapping the gooner bait “big sister” crap on her

All the people I ship romantically with this character

i really dont have a major preference for her? in game, i usually prefer pairings that give her a kid because 1) woag god stats and 2) her hair color is sooo good i cannot waste it. but in terms of just shipping, shes good with like. everyone. some supports are bad but i can get over most of them if i like the ship as a concept. but off the top of my head i like her with selena, beruka, takumi, saizo, peri, laslow, odin, niles, hinoka, charlotte, arthur, reina, probably more but. yeah shes versatile to me. godmilla

My non-romantic OTP for this character

leo!! all the nohr siblings really but i think camilla and leo specifically are just. they give me lots of brain worms. elise obviously wasnt born yet to exeprience the concubine wars, and as the heir and, iirc, the only legitimate son garon had, xander didn’t really get involved as much either. im sure it affected him, but he wasn’t there actually taking part in it. leo and camilla shoulder a lot for their siblings and i think its very interesting that despite it all, theyre probably the only people that can ever really understand what the other has been through. and i enjoy their supports too, with leo wanting camilla’s attention but not being willing to voice it, and camilla understanding that her smothering would probably just piss him off so she tries to avoid it, until they ultimately find a healthy medium and can start to kind of… work on their relationship with eachother after everything. i love them lots :)

My unpopular opinion about this character

im not sure i have one? i feel like opinions on camilla are so all over the place so its kind of hard to have one thats “unpopular.” but i’ll say that i prefer her in malig knight rather than wyvern lord which is probably the worse play in most scenarios but… oohh hot lady on undead dragon… im very simple.

One thing I wish had happened

more elaboration on her past and her mother and some more story relavance for her. she just kinda… fades into the back after leo and xander come which happens with the other sisters too, but still……

[rebelwhodoesntknow]

Tbh it sucks because Friends is so special to me but it tanked, actually got canceled unlike the other gens, the arcade game and merch sales weren't doing it so they tried to rework the series for the next gen

Aikatsu on Parade and all it's merchandise was partly an attempt to scrape up more money for Planet's release but??? I don't think it worked??? the first couple episodes mention all these really cool ideas about their idol world and then nothing came of it, it was a cute concept but I really think they just fell reaaally under budget and tried to skate by hoping nobody noticed

ever since Stars things have just been kind of mismanaged 😭 like why is the majority of their merch acrylic character stands?? you are a trading card rhythm game for 8 year olds 😭

I LOVE how diverse the music is!!!!! all the "standard idol stuff" really stands out too imo. Signalize was one of my favorites from the start, it just hits so different, most idol anime start with that extra sparkly guitar happy type of song but the instrumental for signalize was so unique, I always thought it was a bold choice for a show like that their rock music is so good. like so so gooddddd

I swear out of the like 700 songs of this series there are maybe 6 I don't enjoy?? ALSO WOW THATS A LOT

Same about the animation, OG s2-onward & Friends was great!!! I also love in the movie when Ichigo performs Kagayaki no Etude, there's a slow spinning scene when she's talking on stage about what the song means to her and every couple seconds it switches from 2d to cg angles and it's so seamless, I love it 😭💗

I think Planet's cg was also beautiful, I don't have much of an attatchment to the season but the character designs look really nice, good fluffy hair physics, and they've TOTALLY perfected the in-the-dark glowy look by then!!

another thing most of the fandom agreed on, Stars feeling kind of uncanny.. and the auras kept covering idols art certain parts so that's why they changed all the arches early on, they ACTUALLY got written complaints from kids 😭😂

I always wanted to see an idol with no type or a couple!!! Before Kaguya was introduced there was a huge theory going around that she was actually a Sexy/Cool type and since pairs were the point of Friends, we thought we were finally getting double type girls

I also wished the concept of my coords was used in more than that one ichigo gen ep, where you mix up brandless pieces, one of my favorite things to do is mix and match outfits in the ds games so I was hoping to see like idk maybe soleil could split their PR coords together one time or something??? idk would have been cool though!!

Ugh I do agree with you on the merchandise. Like I can’t play any of the card-based games because America so the cards would basically be glorified trading cards. This might be my doll collector brain talking, but why didn’t they make fashion dolls? I know they did for Friends but they didn’t expand on the concept at all, they just made two dolls. I want to see the girls in their basic coords and then fashion packs for each brand, like a set of multiple Futuring Girl rares or just one PR. I would have gone absolutely apeshit for that. It would also allow for mixing and matching, so maybe it could have tied into the show a lot more like with the concept of PR mixing you brought up! I feel like most PRs in units work pretty well together so I’d like to see the mix ups.

Yeah, I really do not care for planet. I think it really didn’t work, and was an awful lot like PriPara when it didn’t need to be! While the cg is admittedly gorgeous, I also feel like it tried to be so ✨aesthetic✨ all of a sudden instead of being bright and colorful like it’s always been! But maybe I just hate change.

I’ve heard that a lot of people find Raki to be a Mary Sue and hate the way she copied the designs of others. I don’t know enough about her to form an opinion, really, but what do you think?

I love the fact that the kids complained during Stars. They may be kids, but they have standards!!

I think double type idols would be super cool and really flesh out the world. Tbh I think there could be a few idols that could be double typed with only a few minor tweaks (I always thought Mikuru was a pop/sexy idol tbh). One thing I think would be interesting is to see how brands would react to it. Brands appreciate dedication, so would dual type idols have a hard time getting PRs because the pure-type brands would worry about being thrown aside? Cool conflict imo.

Now I have to ask, are the ds games any good? Are they able to be played as someone who speaks absolutely no Japanese? I’ve never really thought about getting one of the games before because I have no clue how they work

[moonstoneraven]

fates kids sprite edits part 2!

[mahou-furbies]

Precure tournament comments part 5

Cure Infini

i love cure infini he means everything to me

As a magical boy, gotta support the one canon boy cure!!

Cure Tomorrow

I love her stupid little ponytail

Cure Star

Go Star Go!!

Cure Star was the first Precure protag I actually like because she is /extremely/ autistic-coded!  I love the planets in her hair~

Pisces Star is a really funny form because she is a mermaid xd it goes well with Hikaru's personality ❤️❤️

I'm a sucker for a good star aesthetic lol [Twinkle Style]

Star Twinkle powerups are my faves (Twinkle style and zodiac forms) However Cure Star Pisces is always my fav since her mermaid tail is funny haha xD

Star is one of my favorites

Cure Soleil

I love how Soleil has a big interacial family that makes sure everyone's always okay~

What a surprise to see Soleil in the semi finals 👀 normally she is not considered as a fan favorite if we talk about her design xd

Cure Grace

cure grace is a sweetheart

i'm gonna go with grace's dream grace just cuz at the moment i think it's the prettiest. (though that is very subject to change)

Grace Kaguya is so pretty~

Her part in the movie was super cool, I love how she obliterates her enemies but is still so tender and gentle [Super Cure Grace]

It’s a crime that Grace had so many good forms in the movie and that they were shown for only a few seconds. [Kaguya Cure Grace]

i don't really have strong opinions on suite precure, but cure grace is cute, and the healin' good theme is a banger

Cure Sparkle

Cure Sparkle, my beloved!!!!!

Go, Sparkle, go!!!

Sparkle's [design] wins more since it has a nice color combination TwT those socks makes an awesome contrast 💛

[deann1120]

Thoughts on the Delicious Party Cures

This will only be for the Cures. I don’t really feel like doing everyone else lol, I’m tired.

Yui Nagomi / Cure Precious:

The name: It’s okay, I guess? I don’t really see how it fits with the theme of the season, but maybe people in the show keep calling her “precious”? It’s giving Gollum.

The outfit:

Happy we’re back to the lead being a color we can all agree on lmao. But she’s got the pan/trans flag thing going again

It’s kinda reminding me of Cure Whip’s outfit? Which makes sense given that was also a food season. The skirt tails in the back remind me of Cure Happy’s dress no it’s reminding me of Cure Grace’s coat sorry lol

This is probably the only outfit where I like the giant ribbons in the back. They don’t look messy here

Does she have HOOVES??

Fuwa Kokone / Cure Spicy:

The name: Makes the most sense with this season, but with a sandwich theme…? Maybe it’s because I’m American, but I’ve never thought of sandwiches as spicy… unless you’re putting some special sauce in there. But given that her civilian name means “fluffy,” I wonder why she wasn’t “Cure Fluff” or “Cure Fluffy”? At least sandwich breads are fluffy.

The outfit:

Tsundere face

I like these sub colors. They all go well with the turquoise-like blue

The tights and shoes remind me of Cure Princess’ outfit

That thing on her head looks like a teething ring. I feel like she could’ve gone without that. However, I like the pink streamer-like strand in her ponytail. It adds to the party theme

There is nothing in this outfit aside from PamuPamu’s presence that would tell me she’s a sandwich cure. I would’ve guessed she had a candy theme. I feel like that’s a pretty big design flaw lmao.

Ran Hanamichi / Cure YumYum:

The name: I don’t think I’m ever gonna like the attempts to make two words into one, even when it’s a repeated word. It’s just weird to me. Of course this is more relevant to the theme than “Precious,” but this name also isn’t necessarily related to ramen. I guess it fits her cutesy look.

The outfit:

My least favorite

This color scheme is what I thought we were gonna get from someone in Tropical Rouge. Specifically Cure “Summer.” But these do look like colors that would derive from a ramen theme, so good on that.

Toei’s doing that thing again where they’re saying she’s a yellow cure but there’s more orange in her than yellow—that heart on her chest is even red-orange! It’s like the hearts on Cure Sparkle’s gloves and Cure Soleil’s dress. Toei, please don’t be afraid to just have another orange cure!!

Her apron just randomly has blue, pink and purple highlights and it doesn’t look right.

Why is there like a whole other outfit on her back

I like the noodle hair-things (at least her outfit is somewhat relevant to her theme) but i wish the buns were also yellow. The pinkish red makes them look like buttons or giant zits. Are they parts of her hair or something else???

I do like the lil red heart on her skirt

Overall, they’re cute, but really all over the place like I thought. I think Precious’ no actually Spicy’s design is my favorite.

[wonderosia]

just one question since they cant think up of good questions (>'-'<) but whos your favorite cure >:D

oh oh i love this, i've watched several seasons but i'll answer based on my favs (A la Mode, Star Twinkle and Tropical Rouge). from a la mode i LOVE Cure Whip and Parfait, i'm too biased when it comes to pink (which is why i just love most protag-cures because *pink*) or colorful designs, but their dresses are way too cute and Whip is a rabbit which adds to it <3 in Star Twinkle of course, Cure Star, but i also adore Hoshina's normal design, mainly her hair~ and also Soleil, her color palette is exactly like the sun, she gives me a really nice and warm feeling and i love her transformation because it looks powerful with those solar flares at the start!!! now with Tropical Rouge, i must say from this season i liked many designs, i like Cure Summer yup yup though her human form is just...i prefer her Cure form because she's super colorful and her hair is sooo pretty and flowy like woah~ next to Summer i adore Papaya, i like her name too because it sounds kinda fitting, i like the word they chose!! her transformation is really cute too, specially when she rolls near the end of it~ BUT then, when i saw Laura's transformation into Cure La Mer i fell in love with her design and colors inmediatly!!! i've rewatched that scene way too many times because is so so so pretty~ i think she's one of my top top favorites and climbed pretty high on the tier list from that single moment~ i know there's a new season of Pretty Cure, Delicious Party, but i haven't watched it yet, expect i like the protag because her design is adorable honestly <3

[lannisterdaddyissues]

here, because its open heres my FE:F pairings and extra notes this run:

path: revelations

MC is masculine version

corrin + niles (of course)

azura + kaden

xander + effie

camilla + keaton

leo + nyx (her hair color looks good on forrest ok?)

elise + laslow (honestly i remember what had lead up to that was because they were some of my last unpaired units so my hand was forced. it was cute i guess but makes me a little uncomfortable)

ryoma + hana

hinoka + kaze

takumi + oboro

sakura + silas

mozu + hayato (my mozu is a witch. thought id say that. and she has a speed stat of 32)

azama + rinkah

jakob + beruka

odin + peri

planning on hinata + kagero

saizo + felicia

subaki and niles have an A+ support lol but hes not married (yet)

HEYYYYYYYYY this is epic!! i'm about to redo my current revelations run bc unfortunately i had only just gotten hitched with kaden when i recruited laslow and decided that i did, in fact, want to marry laslow so. fuk

i'll have to watch m!corrin and niles' supports sometimes bc i always play as f!corrin but i want to see their development bc ive never paired corrin with niles yet

anyway yes yes i love azura and kaden!! they were really sweet together. kaden is just the best ever i love him there's nobody better than kaden

xander and effie ooh i haven't paired them up yet but i wanna pair up xander and charlotte in my next run bc i've seen a lot about how they have great supports. also theyd be a big titty power couple and xander has malewife energy so theyre perfect together!

camilla and keaton yes idk why but that quote you said abt how it just works jsdfsgfjs idk why but it DOES 😭

leo and nyx yeah i was like ?!?!??!? idk what to do with nyx normally bc shes weird i think i paired her with hayato last time bc i never use either of them. hayato is so lame and nyx tends to suck in most of my runs so again another couple that is meant for one another

elise and laslow... 🤔 definitely not one i've thought of before and a bit uncomfy but i like elise and odin together so idk what im complaining about lol. strangely tho i could see elise as soleil's mom since they both love cute things right?

ryoma and hana INteresting!..... i can see that happening. now you've got me intrigued

hinoka and kaze is something i haven't thought of before but i can maybe see it? i cant even remember if i married her to anyone in my birthright playthrough bc she has very little personality beyond being corrin's sister and hating nohr :/ the only supports of hers i really like are her supports with xander, surprisingly enough. they were really sweet!

takumi and oboro yeah now i really wanna do them bc of oboro's canon thing for takumi, i wanna see how that would develop on takumi's end! i actually thought abt pairing them up on my latest run but instead i paired up oboro with subaki and if you havent paired them up yet you TOTALLY should bc their supports were so feelsgood

did sakura and silas have good supports? i paired silas with elise once and they were cute together but sakura is so shy i normally get bored by her supports

i paired mozu and hayato together once! mozu is so cute i love her but again as i said i never use hayato bc diviners are lame lol. but duuuude wtf how did u get such a good mozu?? are u willing to sell her /j

azama and rinkah ooh now that's a new one! i may pair them up next fates run out of curiosity bc they sound like they'd be oddly good together

jakob and beruka ooh yeah i considered pairing them up on my last fates run too but i rlly wanted black hair on dwyer lol. jakob's supports with kagero suck tho don't pair them up

oh my god odin and peri together that would be SO chaotic lmao. i cant even imagine how that would happen but they would make laslow's life a living hell which i am all here for

hinata and kagero also sounds oddly good together wtf there are so many pairings in this game i never considered. i remember on my first runs in birthright and conquest i just paired all the retainers together and didnt even give it a second thought like welp

LMAO SAIZO AND FELICIA. THATS GOTTA BE THE MOST ANTICLIMACTIC PAIRING IVE EVER HEARD. pairing felicia with ryoma is one thing but the world must truly be ending if saizo and felicia actually made it to s support, i must see this with my own eyes

ok i still dont get exactly what the a+ support means bc they dont even get an extra support??? is it a platonic s support or just you get to pretend theyre gay when nothing changes?? i recall i a+ supported hisame and shigure once bc they had supports that really got me but a+ did nothing for them

ill reblog this with my plans for my next fates run! also are u not going to pair some characters? like i noticed some people missing like selena, setsuna and arthur at least tho i wouldnt be surprised if theres an overabundance of characters

[alkhale]

so... that new his dark materials on HBO got me feeling some things and thinking... Memos HDM AU?

Memos His Dark Materials AU Ko-Fi Request

(for context for the excerpt down below this, when someone’s daemon makes contact with another person’s daemon, it’s considered very personal and intimate. This is normal between family members and very close friends or loved ones, say, Luffy’s daemon would probably touch all his nakama’s left and right just fine, but for certain others, this may come as a bit of an alarming little sensation for them since people feel what their daemons feel and the same vice versa as extension of their souls)

- Hoku’s daemon is a white panther named Hau.

The two of them don’t get along very well and tend to get on each other’s nerves due to personal reasons. They’re capable of being a fairly good distance apart even though this isn’t normal and considered painful for most people. They sort of trained themselves to be able to be apart because they felt following their independent values was most important. It’s a bit of a messy situation but they’re the first ones either of them would turn to no matter what. He has the same marking she has painted around the curve of his left eye because it’s tradition for Pokians to paint it onto their daemons when they come of age. All daemons from Artopoki are also always colored white just like their hair.

His name means “happiness” in Hawaiian.

- Mahina’s daemon is a white horse while Manu’s is a small white wild cat. Mihawk’s is a massive, massive ink black raven named Sable. She and Mahina’s daemon got along really well.

- Shank’s daemon is a reddish tinted lionness who goes by Reina. Hoku and Hau are a bit smitten by her but Hau kind of hates Shanks, maybe not hate but he tends to be on the more skeptical end of him versus Hoku being a little doe-eyed for the man. Hau loved Mihawk though. Mihawk was the first person to ever touch him outside of Hoku’s parents (human to daemon contact is a super big deal when it’s not family or intimate loved ones, daemon to daemon is a little more tolerable but raises some brows)

- Luffy’s daemon settles as a springy lionness name Soleil who he calls Sol. She’s very energetic and can’t really read a room but she makes up for it with energy. She and Luffy are two peas in a pod.

- Nami’s daemon is an orange fox named Riki, the greatest thieving duo across the East Blue.

- Zoro’s is a massive bengal tiger named Masumi and she’s got a much more approachable personality than her counterpart but tends to be just as lazy and ferocious.

- Usopp’s is a chameleon by the name of Emmo. She’s a bit of a coward too but she’s funny.

- Sanji’s is a beautiful, rather stunning lady jackrabbit by the name of Celine who loves beautiful people and kicking. She seems a little wiser than Sanji.

- Brook’s is the skeleton of a songbird named Aretha. They’re the strangest case on the Grand Line because of his devil fruit. She sings beautifully for a pile of bones though.

- Franky’s is a female beaver named Aspen, they’re pretty much carbon copies of each other.

- Robin’s is a black owl named Yuval. He’s on the quieter side and tends to creep people out on first glance but he’s a very gentlemanly owl.

- Ace’s ends up settling as a red and black lynx by the name of Iskra. Sabo’s is a peregrine falcon named Brisa.

- Vivi’s is a fennec fox named Seti.

- I couldn’t decide of Kid’s should be one hell of a murderous honey badger with attitude named Naga or a crocodile or a bear. Any of those three felt pretty right but I lean more toward the honey badger HAHAHA.

- Law’s daemon is a snow leopard named Estrella. These two are an especially dangerous duo and Estrella tends to be a bit more on the mysterious side at first.

- - - - - - -

“Your blood,” Shank said, cupping her cheek. “Is worth treasures more than his.”

Hau bit at Shanks’ cloak, snarling as a white husky in protest, trying to pull him away. Reina watched him in utter amusement.

Steam exploded from Hoku’s ears, her entire face flushing red.

“Oops, hey, someone get Makino! I’m worried dove’s got a fever!”

- - - - - - -

“It’s nothing but a childish crush,” Hau said pointedly to her, perfectly aware of the fluttery, gross feelings inside Hoku spilling over to him. He walked after her, lashing his tail angrily while Hoku stared up at the sky in a daze. Shanks had just given them a living, ripe kiionohi tree. “He just thinks we’re cute kids. He likes teasing us. This is how he took Luffy!”

Hau worked over-time to remain as indifferent toward Shanks as Hoku originally wanted to be. Hoku had just given up and rolled over to the fact that Shanks was just… so hard to dislike. Was there even a reason to dislike him? Sure, she still got jealous that Luffy was so damn fond of him, but when Luffy was always pulling her around despite that, promising she was his first before anyone else—

“Are you listening to me?” Hau hissed at her, biting her ankle in protest. Hoku looked down at him. “I don’t like him! He’s just another schmuck! Nothing’s gonna happen anyway! Dream on! We’re just kids to him, got it?”

“I know that,” Hoku snapped, cheeks flushing. “I-It’s just adoration. Childish adoration. What do you think I’m gonna do, ask him to marry me?”

“No,” Hau muttered, “but don’t get any ideas.”

“I’m not,” Hoku snapped back at him, lightly nudging his paws. Hau swiped at her. “He’s just… he’s just charming, is all. And you’re one to talk, you know. You look at anyone that’s willing to scratch your ears like they’re god!”

“I don’t let people scratch me behind the ears!” Hau protested. “No one’s allowed to touch me!”

“Yeah,” Hoku snorted. “Except Luffy, right? I feel what you feel too, dumbass. Think about how it feels for me to get scratched behind the ears too, okay?”

Hau grumpily settled down onto his haunches, stubbornly looking over to the side, “But it’s Luffy.”

Hoku could understand that, but it didn’t make the sensation any more normal. Actually, I might be starting to get used to that. Luffy’s so damn touchy it’ll kill me. She didn’t even flinch anymore when Hau and Soleil were pressed tight together, rolling around or tumbling about each other or cuddled up in a pile. Luffy’s warm fingers patting Hau’s head, hefting him up into his arms—that was still something she was getting used to.

Or Hoku, cupping Soleil’s head in her hands, pressing a kiss to the top of the daemon’s head, committing utter taboo. Hoku, letting Soleil cozy up to the crook of her neck, shove her face into Hoku’s hand, weave between her fingers while Luffy laughed beside them—

The four of them, touching each other’s daemons, each other’s partners, each other’s souls—

But I am getting used to it. Hoku shivered. Never touching anyone’s daemon, huh?

Hau lashed his tail, “I won’t let Shanks touch me, you can count on that.”

“You’re just jealous,” Hoku said. “Luffy and Soleil already said we’re first. And it’s not like Shanks is going to be here forever, he’s a pirate, remember?”

Hoku rubbed the side of her arm, looking down at her shoes, “He’s just… he’s just become Luffy’s idol. You see how he looks at him—Luffy knows what he wants to do now ‘cause of him.”

Hau huffed, whiskers twitching. Hoku gave him a little shove and Hau shifted into a bull, ramming at the back of her knees as Hoku laughed, shoving back at him.

Shanks was just a bit of fun, that was it.

- - - - - - - - 

But Reina didn’t play by the rules.

“You’re getting faster, little dove.”

Hoku almost screamed. Her heart lodged into her throat, forcing her to choke as Mau nearly clattered onto the dirt from her hands had she not hooked it last minute. She apologized to the amused blade, checking for scratches and trying to work out a game plan in her head.

Hau frowned. As deep of a frown as an unhappy skunk could make, sitting by a log and looking pointedly Reina’s way.

She didn’t know when Shanks’ daemon had made her way over to them or where Shanks was, probably with Luffy to be honest, but there Reina was, living up to her name.

The lioness daemon was stretched out onto a fat slab of rock jutting upwards from the ground. Luffy used it as a launching platform a lot when they were playing. Her red-gold body rippled, leisurely soaking up the sunlight.

Hoku’s fingers itched.

Reina watched them with golden irises. 

“Thanks,” Hoku said, trying not to be awkward but feeling very much so. “I’m not there yet though.”

Reina’s chest rumbled, a deep sound that made Hau wrinkle his nose in protest. She laid her head down onto her paws, rolling over onto her side. Hoku noticed the scars lining her softer underbelly, the notch missing from a piece of her flicking tail.

“You’ll get there,” Reina said soothingly. “Why don’t you take a break?”

I feel like I’m talking to the devil. Hoku shivered. Temptation incarnate. “I haven’t hit my number of swings yet.”

“Shanks and Luffy are playing by the harbor,” Reina almost purred. “Don’t you want to join?”

Hoku frowned at her boots. Yes. “No. I’m glad Shanks is taking up all his time.”

Reina’s ear twitched. Her eyes glimmered playfully. Hoku felt as though if her feet weren’t planted firmly to begin with, she’d already be making her way over to the lioness for no reason other than the fact that Reina seemed to be beckoning her over.

“How come you two can be so far apart?” Hau blurted. Hoku shot him a look of disbelief. 

Reina’s whiskers twitched in amusement.

Hau hunkered down, waving his big bushy tail. “I-Isn’t it painful? It’s weird, daemons aren’t supposed to be able to do that.”

“You two seem to be able to go fairly far,” Reina murmured. “Is that not strange?”

Hoku and Hau flinched.

Reina laid her head down onto the rock, letting the sun color her pelt. She looked crimson gold in the sunlight. “He and I simply found it in ourselves to promise to live our lives to the fullest and the freest.”

Reina seemed to smile, lips pulling back to show her fangs. “Besides, like this, I can be with Luffy and he can be with little dove at the same time, hmm?”

Hoku and Hau blinked in confusion. They looked at each other and back to Reina who’d rolled over to show them her back, settling down for a nice, long nap.

“Finish up those swings, dove,” Reina purred. “Then let’s play.”

I miss Luffy. Hoku miserably flattened herself down against the grass, Mau propped up onto a trunk beside her. Hau was chirping haughtily in the tree branch above her, flapping his white wings even though he was supposed to be a toucan. I always run off even when he’s playing with Shanks. Maybe I should just suck it up and have fun with them too. Or, not fun. Just… spend time. Yeah.

Hoku groaned, rubbing her sweaty face with her hands.

“About time,” Hau chirped at her. “Let’s go! I don’t care if Shanks and everyone else is there, I want to see Luffy and Sol.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hoku snapped. “I heard ya. You just want to get touched again.”

Hau flattened, ruffling his feathers, “That’s not true!”

It absolutely is. Hoku sighed, preparing her aching muscles to lift her sluggish body up. Hau was practically touched starved and Luffy’s generous pats were like a drug. He did a good job making sure Shanks never got near him though. Hoku didn’t even flinch. Touching other people’s daemons is still such a weird feeling though, I can’t get used to anyone else but them. 

She’d only ever touched Sable twice. Ki and Kekoa didn’t count because they were family. Soleil was the only one she ever really touch-touched, and even then, it was still a sensation Hoku felt all the way to the tip of her toes and down to her bones. Intimate. 

Bet no one else has a daemon willing to get himself pet. Hoku peeked through her fingers at Hau who jumped from the branch and shifted into a little white butterfly. He’d turn into a dog later because it was easier to play with Luffy like that. What daemon goes up to someone to get themselves touched? 

Some taboos just weren’t meant to be crossed.

A shadow fell over Hoku’s face and she blinked, moving her hands away to look up.

Reina looked down at her.

Hoku froze, stiff against the ground like a corpse. Her heart hammered stupidly loud in her chest, loud enough to burst through her ears. From this spot, she could make out every fine, red-gold hair smoothed over Reina’s slender face. She could see the dark lines that traced her feline gold eyes, followed the slope of her muzzle, to the long, elegant whiskers—a few cut short, and the few scars that lined her soft nose. 

This was the closest she had ever been to the daemon.

She could sense heat from the lioness, hulking power and muscle. Reina’s killing paws sat on either side of her head. She could crush Hoku’s skull without much effort. Rip her throat out. In another world, Hoku would be fearing for her life—even in this world, Hoku was still fearing for her life, but, but, maybe death at the hands of such a beautiful, powerful daemon couldn’t be that awful.

Hoku waited, staring at Reina with wide eyes.

Reina blinked once, slowly. Something like amusement seemed to shift over the fine hairs on her face and she lowered her head over Hoku’s. Her body seized up, unable to breathe.

And then languidly, a warm, wet and scratchy pink tongue rolled once across her face, down her forehead to her lips and over her chin. Reina pulled away, satisfied, looking down at Hoku’s disheveled, slightly wet face and bulging eyes before calmly sauntering off, hips swaying.

It took her a moment. A good, solid moment. Her heart did something funny, her body frozen stiff and ascended to some other plain of existence, her mind whirring and still buzzing from the electricity of the slightest contact with—

Someone else’s daemon—

 Reina—

Shanks’ daemon—

Touched—

Hoku’s face blushed a bright, scarlet red. She grabbed her face with her hands and rolled around in the dirt like the little bug she was.

Hau jealously nudged her face with his little ferret nose, huffing and puffing in displeasure.

She’d never been touched by someone else’s daemon before.

- - - - - - - -

The final nail into her own coffin was done by Hoku’s own hands.

At the crack of dawn, when the light was just beginning to crawl its way out of the horizon to peek over into the sky. Just hours before, Hoku had finally shown Shanks the book, speaking with him in the low light of that bar and making a total fool of herself—enough for Hau to tease and taunt her about it for hours until they fell asleep.

She woke up earlier than Luffy today, leaving him snoring in her hammock with Soleil sprawled as a baby badger over him. Hau woke up, slithering into her shirt and keeping himself warm by her stomach as they walked out into the forest.

Reina was already waiting for them.

“Dove,” Reina greeted, velvet voice carrying over as Hoku trudged through the dewy grass. Sunlight was warming her pelt, heating it up like a forge and turning the red-gold of her pelt darker and brighter.

Hau muttered a low, half-reluctant protest. Yesterday, Luffy had picked him up, holding him close and willingly thrusted Hau toward Shanks like some kind of sacrificial offering. 

Shanks didn’t take the daemon, simply grinning in understanding at Hau’s horrified expression. Her daemon had never felt more betrayed.

“Hau, you gotta get along with everyone!” Luffy laughed. “Don’t be dumb like Hoku!”

Hoku couldn’t stop the greedy, uncontrollable itch in her fingers.

“...good morning,” Hoku mumbled, tucking hair behind her ear out of habit. Reina was stretched out, regal and picture perfect on that same slab of stone. Dawn was rising over the fine curve of her spine and the lioness kept her gaze on them evenly, waiting as Hoku slowly came to stand beside the slab of rock.

Reina’s ears swiveled forward. She watched Hoku, eyes glittering. A soft sound left her parted jaws.

Hoku hesitantly took a seat on the rock, a few inches away from Reina. She could feel heat rising from the daemon, her head turning to follow Hoku as they stared at each other.

She weakly raised one hand. Hau’s heartbeat matched her own.

“Could I… Could I draw you?”

Reina’s jaws parted to let out a soft rumble. Her body curved more, keeping Hoku in the middle. Her paws stretched out and Reina kept her eyes evenly on Hoku’s.

Hoku softly set her hand down on Reina’s side. Warmth flooded into her fingertips, spreading up her arm and making half her body feel almost numb with the sensation. Hoku’s head spun, buzzing with that vibrant thrum of energy as Reina’s pelt shifted under her fingertips. Hoku daringly let her hand come down Reina’s spine, feeling the muscles and scars in one gentle stroke.

Reina’s scratchy tongue dragged over Hoku’s hand in approval.

“I hope that man is deep, deep asleep,” Hau muttered. Hoku agreed.

She thought her heart was going to burst.

- - - - - -- -- - -

“This place is crawling with marines now,” Smoker said. “What are you going to do? Let them arrest you like some kind of washed up drunk?”

Hoku lightly pushed the glass in front of her. The bartender nervously refilled the glass, jumping in fear when Smoker glared daggers at him.

“Hoku,” Smoker said.

The woman kept swallowing mouthfuls of the whiskey in her cup, ignoring him. Blanca’s fur had settled over her back, smoothing out. His daemon watched the woman before them in silence, looking at Hau and then back to Hoku.

A soft sound left Blanca’s lips. Smoker shot her a warning look. The smoky colored husky daemon lowered her tail.

“What happened to all that spunk?” Smoker continued. “You don’t give two shits if I cuff you and take you in from here?”

Hoku didn’t even turn to look at them. She kept her shoulders hunched, curling in on herself over the bar’s countertop and refusing to meet the gazes burning into her back. The empty glasses spread out across the wood counter beside her, the heavy smell of alcohol settling amidst the cigarette smoke.

Hau kept silent at her feet, curled up and head low. Smoker observed the daemon carefully, noticing the matted fur, the dirt stains in the crisp white that used to be his go-to for hunting them down in the crowd. His unsheathed claws, caked with dried dirt and blood. The cleanest spot was the blood red ink curled over his half-hidden face under the countertop’s shadow.

A new spot was inked into his fur. A small, blood red flame right where the muscle of his shoulder blade bunched under his right foreleg. Smoker’s eyes traveled upwards to the matching red flame inked into Hoku’s skin over her right shoulder blade.

“This is it?” Smoker said gruffly.

Hoku snorted. Blanca shot him a look, gray eyes hard to read but Smoker never needed to read her eyes, he could hear her thoughts loud and clear in his own head, in the space they shared.

“Who cares,” Hoku muttered bitterly. “You got what you wanted.”

Blanca fell silent. Smoker shot his daemon a sharp look, but she refused to meet his gaze, tail limp behind her and ears pricked far forward, focused on the woman before them.

Hoku bowed her head. Her hands went up, carding through her hair, holding them there as though she were cradling her head in her hands.

“You won,” Hoku whispered.

His daemon took a step forward.

“Blanca,” he warned.

The husky kept her muzzle shut, looking at him.

“Smoker.”

Smoker tossed his cigar to the side. His gloved hand clenched into a fist before it loosened. Smoker let out an aggravated sigh, shaking his head. He took a step forward, raising his hand up.

Hau’s growl ripped through the air like a knife. A single, resounding warning. Smoker glanced down to the daemon, glaring at them with icy venom, fangs and claws bared. Blanca lowered her head only an inch, her only way of showing they meant no harm. Hau pulled his lips back into a louder snarl, tail lashing in aggravation.

Hoku glanced down to her companion, frowning for a moment before she raised her head and looked back at Smoker.

Tears continued to trickle from the corners of her eyes. They slid down the curve of her cheeks, dripping down her chin. Hoku watched him in silence, expression unreadable.

The admiral hesitated for only a second. Blanca let out the softest, softest whine.

For a moment, Hau’s body untensed, staring. The foggy look started to clear. Hoku’s brows creased and Smoker reached out with his gloved hand one more time.

The doors to the bar slammed open.

The light winked out from Hoku’s eyes. Hau stood onto his paws, head lowered, eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. 

His men flooded the dimly lit room, raising their guns and shouting out orders as Smoker cursed in his head and Blanca’s ferocious barks of protest flooded the room over his, ordering the marine daemons to stand down.

Smoker lurched, eyes snapping in surprise to where Hau suddenly had Blanca pinned to the wooden floorboards of the bar. His daemon was silent, rigidly looking up at Hau with her teeth barely bared, body still while Hau’s jaws were wrapped around her neck. Smoker felt his teeth on his own, Hoku’s dead eyes looking at all of them.

“Go ahead,” Hoku said coldly. She turned to the marines by the door, half-smiling. “Just don’t forget, Hau’s got one more life over her.”

Blanca kept silent, staring imploringly at Hau. The panther ignored her gaze, keeping his jaws buried in the scruff of her throat, waiting. Smoker stared hard at Hoku and she kept her gaze on his men, expression devoid of emotion.

-- - ----- ----

“Estrella,” Law drawled, ice dripping with the roll of his tongue.

His daemon pounced.

They poor no-body marine dog never stood a chance.

--- --- ---- ---- --- 

“No,” Law said. “This is rehab.”

He kicked Hoku’s lower back, sending her flying down the stairs with an ungoldy screech and down into the boiler room. Penguin and Sachi peeked their heads around the corner, staring down into the darkest depths of their sub while Law shoved a hand into his pocket.

“Is she still alive?” Penguin asked.

“She’s got a couple, right?” Law asked Hau. “Which one was that?”

Hau flicked his tail tip, the only sign of his annoyance. Estrella watched him with peering eyes, following the sway of Hau’s haunches as he slunk down the steps into the boiler room after Hoku.

“Fuck you, Law!” came the ghostly holler. “I’m going to blow up your submarine! You forgot I’m suicidal, asshole!”

Law looked satisfied, turning his back on them and closing the boiler room door. To Sachi and Penguin he added, “Make sure she doesn’t come out until she’s done.”

---- --- --- --- ---

Law froze, his entire body stiff as ice.

He took a moment, reassessing the sensation he felt unfolding in his chest. He considered it carefully, made sure this… this feeling was not a mistake, that he had not wrongly interpreted the shared sensation between himself and his daemon. He picked it apart in seconds, slowly, rigidly turning his head to the corner of the deck.

It was dark, only a single headbeam lit from the corner pathway of the submarine. The deck on top of the rounded hull was bathed in darkness, but even in the thin light, he knew down to his bones he was not seeing wrongly. 

Law gave the woman beside him one discreet, searching glance.

Hoku looked completely and utterly unaffected. He watched her a second longer to make sure it wasn’t an act, but her careless, bored demeanor showed truthfully she had no inclination whatsoever to sharing his barely, barely startled turmoil. Hoku looked completely at ease, still squinting in the distance to see if she could make out the constellation they’d just discussed, mouth moving around the dried fruit she’d just popped into her mouth.

Law carefully, with great composure, withheld the light, creeping shiver that traveled down his spine. He narrowed his eyes, looking back, but Estrella coyly kept her mind blank, hiding all of her thoughts from him the way they’d taught each other to.

There, against the side of the entry doorway, the two of them laid. 

Hoku’s daemon had stretched out, directly in the middle of the deck to keep the perfect distance away from either side of the railings. His long, furred body turned a pale, ghostly shade of white under the moonlight, large paws hiding pearl white claws. Hau’s side rose and fell in lazy slumber, his tail stretched out behind him like a white whip, ears twitching only occasionally.

But the issue was who was beside him.

Estrella had silently made her way from Law’s side across the deck to his. Her lithe, powerful feline body almost nearly matched his in size. Law watched her with rapt, rigid focus, brows furrowed in dark disbelief as his daemon purposefully ignored his silent prodding.

She stopped inches from Hau’s form, sitting on her haunches, tail curled neatly over her paws. Hau’s ear flicked once in her direction to signal he’d noticed, but kept his eyes closed. Estrella stared down at him, icy gray gaze that had stared back as she ripped throats out of marines and pirates and their enemies alike, becoming almost clear.

Estrella rearranged herself, laying down on her stomach barely a centimeter—a heavy, tense centimeter Law could feel—from him. She folded her paws neatly over each other, staring out seemingly in boredom. Her striped black tail flicked from side to side, occasionally brushing against Hau’s limp one. A ghost of a touch.

Touch.

His daemon. Estrella.

Hau didn’t move, tail limp, body relaxed. Estrella turned her head to look down at the other daemon, expression carefully blank. Her tail curled and then the tip of it brushed against Hau’s flank. His fur seemed to shift, bright, scarred pink nose twitching but he remained relaxed. Estrella seemed pleased by this and her tail promptly laid out beside his own, curling idly over his.

Touching.

Law looked back at Hoku and she reached for another dried fruit, popping it into her mouth. She shuffled through her bag, debating whether or not to shove a handful more. Oblivious.

Is your connection to your daemon that terrible? Law almost bit out. Almost. It would have come out calm and cold and collected. Are you that dull? Is it that messed up? Are you an idiot—

He went rigid, gripping Kikoku with white knuckles. 

Law exhaled, slowly. He carefully turned over his shoulder, inch by inch, glaring daggers behind him.

Estrella didn’t even blink at him, eyes trained sideways and away. She looked silver against Hau’s snow white. Her long, raspy pink tongue slid out languidly from her mouth in soothing, relaxed motions. It showed off the dangerous curve of bone-crushing fangs. But Estrella’s tongue was now running over the top of Hau’s face, over his ears, around his neck as she turned her face and—

“Are you grooming him?” Law spat out in disbelief at her. 

The snow leopard lazily flicked her tail behind her in response. Hau yawned, stretching his paws out, unbothered, and resumed his slumber as Estrella continued her grooming, content.

Law ripped apart the shudder that almost raced down his spine. He shoved the sensations traveling from Estrella and Hau’s shared connection, the low buzz of energy, of electricity that came when two daemons touched each. A feeling he’d only ever felt when Corazon’s Rosa would curl her soft, furry body up around Estrella—

He grit his teeth, squaring his shoulders and forcibly maintaining his composure as he promptly knocked Kikoku against the metal railing once.

Hoku looked up, brows creasing. A fruit stuck out from between her lips. She gave him a look, as though he’d done something wrong for disturbing her.

Your daemon is touching my daemon.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Hoku asked.

Do you not feel what I feel?

Law gave her a flat look. Hoku continued to chew.

Go get your daemon—

“Hoku,” she and Law both looked down. Hau’s voice was smooth and not too low, like a melted rumble. He came up to her leg, pressing his big head against her hip and curling his tail over her leg. The white panther daemon blinked blue eyes up at them. Law could see gold.

Hau seemed to examine Law for a moment before his long whiskers twitched. The white panther blinked once. Law stared back at him, curious about the eye contact someone else’s daemon was making with him.

Without even pausing, Hoku’s hand ran over his face, pushing past his soft ears and turning against his cheek to scratch under his chin. Hau lifted his head for better access, a loud rumble filling the air.

Several feet away, Estrella slowly made her way toward them, nonchalant and shifting mass of silver and black fur. She didn’t even acknowledge the icy daggers her other half was fixing her with, haunches swaying as she came up and sat down loyally by Law’s feet. Estrella looked up at Hoku, whiskers twitching.

“What game are you playing?” Law thought at her.

“Nothing,” Estrella thought back at him, innocent. “Nothing at all.”

---- ----- -----

P.S - If you guys like this au, highly recommend checking out 500shadesofblue’s story “Echoes” on ao3, super good.

[riverboundao3ff]

Riverbound, Chapter 1

Your name is MSPA READER, and you are currently vibing outside of the known multiverse.

Well, you don’t really use that name anymore, on account of it not actually being a name. Names sound something like Emily, or Muhammad, or Patrick, or Shamita, or a million other put-together syllables and sounds.

Names are something personal. A title is anything but.

You do have a new title, though, one you like much better.

The Guardian.

Because that’s what you became when you yoinked the timeline away from the control of Ultimate Dirk and that Director lady, whoever she was. You looked Canon-With-A-Capital-C in its ugly face, spit on it, and then bent over to wipe your ass with the fabric of reality itself. Out of desperation, love, and most importantly sheer spite, you took it upon yourself to defy fate so that there is at least one timeline where everybody gets to live happy lives. This was victory at its finest. This is what it felt like to finally get everything you wanted. Your friends? Safe. Multiverse? Secure. Hotel? Trivago.

In the vast and rich history of pro-gamer moves, you believe you might have made the most powerful move of all.

After using the Green Sun- no, sorry, the Green Sun to make your own timeline, you did what any other person would do and took a big fuckin’ snooze, curling up around your universe like a mama cat protecting her kittens. You earned it.

And, if you were being completely honest with yourself, that’s how you would have spent the rest of time.

It’s not like you didn’t want to live. No, living was good. It’s just… you were so damn tired. You’re tired of always running from place to place, person to person, era to era. You’re tired of being injured, scared, and alone no matter how many friends you made. All the gods of the Furthest Rings know you’d gone through more in like a year than most people go through during their entire lives. Couldn’t a bitch just enjoy eternity in the void?

Apparently not.

The dreams began innocently enough. Playing video games with Dave, John, and Karkat. Exploring Jade’s island with Jake and Bec. Baking with Jane. Kanaya teaching you and Sollux how to sew. FLARP-ing with Vriska.

Laying side-by-side with Roxy as you two watched the sun rise. Role-playing with Nepeta. Movie night with Eridan. Getting high off your ass with Gamzee and scaring the shit out of some teal visiting their kismesis a few hives away. Discussing politics with Feferi.

Escaping that hellhouse the Soleil twins called their home. Watching those eerie lights in the corpsefield beside Fozzer. You and Remele beating a purpleblood to death.

You barely realize how nightmares had invaded your mind until you woke up with Karako’s yowls of terror in your ears. You didn’t have ears anymore, though, or a physical form, so it just sounded like your favorite clown son was screaming all around you in the abyss.

Okay. This was fine. This was fine, you kept telling yourself. After everything that’s happened to you, you were bound to develop PTSD at some point. That was completely natural.

Except this wasn’t just PTSD. This was something else entirely, because even when you were awake you saw the faces of your oldest friends burning in your mind’s eye. Something churned in your gut, ancient and primal. It was a feeling you knew well, and was usually accompanied by you launching yourself into whatever stupid shit you found next. The longer you tried to ignore it, the stronger it became, until you were permanently wrapped up around yourself like the most pathetic ball of Guardian that had to have ever existed.

You knew long before you actually put words to what was going on.

Of course. Of course it wasn’t over, because why would you ever get to have anything for yourself? Why would you ever get to just rest? For the first time in… who even knows how long, you sob hysterically into the sleeves of your hoodie.

A galaxy twinkles in the outer shell of your universe, lighting up the zig-zag sign on your chest. Mallek’s lazy smile fills your thoughts. If at all possible, everything hurts even more, until you can’t even cry to let out the pain.

Did he miss you? Did all of them miss you?

Oh, God, Daraya. You promised her you’d take her to Earth sometime, and then you just totally fucking vanished from the face of Alternia. What a fucking dick move. Granted, you hadn’t meant to do it, but still!

Your traitor-asshole brain reminds you of the fact that all of them are dead now. As in, Tyzias tried to lead a rebellion against the Alternian Empire, and then they all got killed. Your traitor-asshole brain also notes that it’s all your fault for encouraging those kinds of ideas.

Way to go, you absolute tool.

Except… they don’t have to be gone. You are the Guardian of your universe, and you make the rules. It feels so wrong to even think about it, but… yeah. You’re basically a god now. You can do what you want and nobody has the power to stop you.

Which brings about a whole new plethora of fuckery. If you were to go back, if you were to rewrite history… are you any better than Ultimate Dirk? Granted, you’d do it out of love, not because you’re a power-hungry bastard, but still. Shenanigans of this level are not to be taken lightly, even by sad Guardians with absolutely nothing better to do.

You sleep on it, which of course results in you waking up bawling like a baby as you remember the best roleplay sesh of your life, which was when Wanshi proudly gave your Soldier Purrbeasts OC her full name: Twinklemoon. You had a Soldier Purrbeasts OC named Twinklemoon. That’s why you were crying.

That’s it. You couldn’t stand it anymore.

You need advice, and you know exactly where to get it.

<>

You find her on the 8rigantine, furiously scribbling something down on a chart with a bunch of little figurines in the middle of it. You know better than to just haul your little friendslut ass up there while Vriska Serket is in the zone, so instead you knock on the hull and call up to her.

“Hello! Lady Spinneret, an old friend is in dire need of some advice!”

It takes about two seconds for a familiar spiky head to poke over the side of the deck. Vriska’s one dark eye lights up upon meeting your gaze, followed by a toothy grin that’s both menacing and completely genuine. She reaches back to grab something behind her. A rope ladder drops down and nearly nails you in the noggin, just like it did whenever you dropped by to FLARP with her.

“What the hell, bitch! I missed you!” she yells. Despite everything, you can’t help but smile. Vriska’s wild personality and no-bullshit attitude was just what you needed.

You’re very proud of yourself when you scale the ladder with ease and scramble up onto the deck without getting too much out of breath. With the amount of insane shit you’ve gotten yourself into during your travels, getting into shape came pretty easily. You’ve been told by several reliable sources that your legs are to die for.

“The 8-ball foretold your arrival. I brought snacks.” Vriska points to a bag next to her chart, not looking up from where she was drawing an impressively detailed kraken-looking thing. “Eat something before you start gabbing.”

That was sound logic, so you drag the back closer to you and start rooting around for something good. You find a bag of stinkroot chips, open that bad boy up, and start munching. Damn, did it feel good to eat something, and to also have a corporeal body to eat things with.

As you gather your thoughts, the hairs on the back of your neck prickle with the sensation of somebody’s eyes on you. You instantly look up to see Vriska staring at you. Her expression is blank, but her good eye held all the energy of a thunderstorm.

You swallow your chips. “What is it?”

“You look… different,” she says, setting down her pencil. “It’s like I can really see you now.”

“Huh?”

Vriska huffs, but she still doesn’t take her eye off you. “Before, you kinda looked like… I dunno, like somebody cut out a whole in reality and shoved the silhouette of a person inside? Like, I know what you looked like, but I couldn’t tell you the color of your hair, or what facial structure you have, or, like… dude, you have freckles.”

“I have freckles?” You reach up and touch your cheekbone, feeling the soft skin. Oh, hey, there’s some acne. Dammit. “Are they cute?”

“Sure? I think freckles are more of a human thing, so you’d have to ask John or Jade or whatever. Also you’re blonde, like Rose,” she tells you, thoughtfully scratching at her chin. “You’re still short as fuck, though. I could probably punt you off the poop deck.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Congrats on not looking like a hole in reality.”

You finish off your chips and flop back to stare at the night sky. With all the time you’ve spent on Alternia, you can now name a lot of the constellations. Right now, the Empress’s Trident poked up at a forty-five degree angle behind the pink moon. “I think I know how we can overthrow the Alternian Empire.”

Vriska’s pencil falls out of her hand.

You continue. “Have you read any records on a rebellion that occurred about… like, fifteen sweeps ago? I don’t know the exact date.”

Vriska’s mouth opens and closes a couple of times, and then she nods. “I sure fuckin’ did. Sollux did some of his mumbo-jumbo and got me some documents. He called it an early wriggling day present, but I know he wants to help my little… agenda. How do you even know…?”

“Because I helped encourage the right people to do it. I was there, Vriska. Those kids were my friends, and now they’re dead.”

She’s silent for a moment. “The leader was a teal named Tyzias.”

Your eyes are hot with tears. “I knew her. We met because she tripped on the sidewalk while carrying a shitload of her homework, and I helped her pick it all up when it went everywhere. She had a matesprit named-”

“Stelsa,” Vriska mutters. “Holy shit. She worked closely with some jades who lead their little army. They caused a hell of a lot of damage to the Empire before it all went down, I’ll give them that.”

Neither of you speak for a long moment, which you appreciate as you try and hold your messy self together. The longer you think about your old friends and all the good times you had with them, the more you’re certain about what you want to do.

They deserve to be here.

Your blood pressure spikes just thinking about it.

It’s Vriska who puts your thoughts into words. “You want to go back and help them win the rebellion.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s fucking crazy.”

“Yeah.”

She scooches over to you so she can stare down into your soul. “If we combine our resources and collaborate back and forth between the past and the future, we can make it so less people die. We could even take out that pathetic bitch of an Heiress they had back in the day. With your powers…”

“It’s possible I could compact time itself to create a world where we… where we can make things right. We could even help Feferi…”

You can’t bring yourself to say it in case you jinxed something, but by the look on Vriska’s face, she knows what you mean.

“It could work,” she breathes.

Slowly, you sit back up. Your heart was pounding so hard you felt it in your skull. “How do you think the others would feel about it?”

“Oh, they’d shit themselves,” Vriska snorts. “A full-scale rebellion across time and space?”

“True.”

“But it could work!” she repeats, staring into empty space.

“And they’d have a huge advantage they never had before. Me,” you say, talking to yourself more than to Vriska. You’d created this universe with your own power. It was time to protect it. “Vriska, I need to go before I chicken out. Tell the others what’s happening and that I’m sorry if this all goes to shit.”

“Wait!”

You look back at her as she grabs your arm, claws digging into the fabric of your hoodie. “I… you need supplies. No frickin’ way you’re going anywhere without at least a hydration flask.”

You know what she’s trying to say, and your chest fills up with all the warmth of a bonfire. God, you love this absolute bitch of a kid.

Vriska drags you to your feet, and then you’re both sprinting for her hive.

Amazingly, you don’t die trying to keep up with the cerulean as you charge up the stairs to her respiteblock together. You’re still out of breath by the time you reach the top, though, but Vriska’s already grabbing a backpack and tossing shit into it.

“Get me that jacket off the door,” she orders as she tosses in what looks like a small medical kit. You obey and throw her the jacket, the black leather one with the bright red hood.

She then waves you over, and you slip around her desk to see what’s up. In her hands is a black sheath, with a matching handle sticking out at the top.

Vriska pulls the sheath off to reveal the blade: a brilliant silver-blue metal that nearly glowed in the darkness. It’s incredibly beautiful and very scary to look at.

“I’ve had this thing forever, so I’m giving it to you, okay? Don’t fucking lose it. Press that little gray button at the top of the handle to heat up the blade. Good for starting fires and cauterizing wounds.” She shoves the jacket into the backpack and hands you the dagger.

“Vriska, I don’t know what to say,” you begin, but she smacks you.

“Shut up and strap it to your belt. You better come back soon. I want a detailed report on everything. Single-spaced,” she snaps.

You grin. “Yes, ma’am. I should be back, in like, ten nights. Maybe eleven.”

“Ten,” Vriska growls. “I’m coming for your ass otherwise.”

“Noted. Tell everybody I said hi.”

“Obviously.”

You reach into that little part of yourself, which in turn reaches back out into that chaotic river that is the flow of time. You throw the anchor down and wade upstream. It’s a little rougher than usual, but you won’t let that stop you. There was no turning back now.

Time travel is always like trying to hit a moving target, but you have great aim, and when you find what you’re looking for you feel your face split into another huge smile. There’s nothing different about this part of the river than any other, but you know. When it comes to the people you care about, you always know.

Everything feels more real to you than it has in years. Two moons shine even brighter in the sky, the chilly air stinging your face, and you’re no troll but it still feels like you’re going home.

You open your eyes.

“Ten nights,” you say to Vriska, and you let yourself fall through the current.

Your name is MSPA READER, and you are currently vibing outside of the known multiverse.

Well, you don’t really use that name anymore, on account of it not actually being a name. Names sound something like Emily, or Muhammad, or Patrick, or Shamita, or a million other put-together syllables and sounds.

Names are something personal. A title is anything but.

You do have a new title, though, one you like much better.

The Guardian.

Because that’s what you became when you yoinked the timeline away from the control of Ultimate Dirk and that Director lady, whoever she was. You looked Canon-With-A-Capital-C in its ugly face, spit on it, and then bent over to wipe your ass with the fabric of reality itself. Out of desperation, love, and most importantly sheer spite, you took it upon yourself to defy fate so that there is at least one timeline where everybody gets to live happy lives. This was victory at its finest. This is what it felt like to finally get everything you wanted. Your friends? Safe. Multiverse? Secure. Hotel? Trivago.

In the vast and rich history of pro-gamer moves, you believe you might have made the most powerful move of all.

After using the Green Sun- no, sorry, the Green Sun to make your own timeline, you did what any other person would do and took a big fuckin’ snooze, curling up around your universe like a mama cat protecting her kittens. You earned it.

And, if you were being completely honest with yourself, that’s how you would have spent the rest of time.

It’s not like you didn’t want to live. No, living was good. It’s just… you were so damn tired. You’re tired of always running from place to place, person to person, era to era. You’re tired of being injured, scared, and alone no matter how many friends you made. All the gods of the Furthest Rings know you’d gone through more in like a year than most people go through during their entire lives. Couldn’t a bitch just enjoy eternity in the void?

Apparently not.

The dreams began innocently enough. Playing video games with Dave, John, and Karkat. Exploring Jade’s island with Jake and Bec. Baking with Jane. Kanaya teaching you and Sollux how to sew. FLARP-ing with Vriska.

Laying side-by-side with Roxy as you two watched the sun rise. Role-playing with Nepeta. Movie night with Eridan. Getting high off your ass with Gamzee and scaring the shit out of some teal visiting their kismesis a few hives away. Discussing politics with Feferi.

Escaping that hellhouse the Soleil twins called their home. Watching those eerie lights in the corpsefield beside Fozzer. You and Remele beating a purpleblood to death.

You barely realize how nightmares had invaded your mind until you woke up with Karako’s yowls of terror in your ears. You didn’t have ears anymore, though, or a physical form, so it just sounded like your favorite clown son was screaming all around you in the abyss.

Okay. This was fine. This was fine, you kept telling yourself. After everything that’s happened to you, you were bound to develop PTSD at some point. That was completely natural.

Except this wasn’t just PTSD. This was something else entirely, because even when you were awake you saw the faces of your oldest friends burning in your mind’s eye. Something churned in your gut, ancient and primal. It was a feeling you knew well, and was usually accompanied by you launching yourself into whatever stupid shit you found next. The longer you tried to ignore it, the stronger it became, until you were permanently wrapped up around yourself like the most pathetic ball of Guardian that had to have ever existed.

You knew long before you actually put words to what was going on.

Of course. Of course it wasn’t over, because why would you ever get to have anything for yourself? Why would you ever get to just rest? For the first time in… who even knows how long, you sob hysterically into the sleeves of your hoodie.

A galaxy twinkles in the outer shell of your universe, lighting up the zig-zag sign on your chest. Mallek’s lazy smile fills your thoughts. If at all possible, everything hurts even more, until you can’t even cry to let out the pain.

Did he miss you? Did all of them miss you?

Oh, God, Daraya. You promised her you’d take her to Earth sometime, and then you just totally fucking vanished from the face of Alternia. What a fucking dick move. Granted, you hadn’t meant to do it, but still!

Your traitor-asshole brain reminds you of the fact that all of them are dead now. As in, Tyzias tried to lead a rebellion against the Alternian Empire, and then they all got killed. Your traitor-asshole brain also notes that it’s all your fault for encouraging those kinds of ideas.

Way to go, you absolute tool.

Except… they don’t have to be gone. You are the Guardian of your universe, and you make the rules. It feels so wrong to even think about it, but… yeah. You’re basically a god now. You can do what you want and nobody has the power to stop you.

Which brings about a whole new plethora of fuckery. If you were to go back, if you were to rewrite history… are you any better than Ultimate Dirk? Granted, you’d do it out of love, not because you’re a power-hungry bastard, but still. Shenanigans of this level are not to be taken lightly, even by sad Guardians with absolutely nothing better to do.

You sleep on it, which of course results in you waking up bawling like a baby as you remember the best roleplay sesh of your life, which was when Wanshi proudly gave your Soldier Purrbeasts OC her full name: Twinklemoon. You had a Soldier Purrbeasts OC named Twinklemoon. That’s why you were crying.

That’s it. You couldn’t stand it anymore.

You need advice, and you know exactly where to get it.

<>

You find her on the 8rigantine, furiously scribbling something down on a chart with a bunch of little figurines in the middle of it. You know better than to just haul your little friendslut ass up there while Vriska Serket is in the zone, so instead you knock on the hull and call up to her.

“Hello! Lady Spinneret, an old friend is in dire need of some advice!”

It takes about two seconds for a familiar spiky head to poke over the side of the deck. Vriska’s one dark eye lights up upon meeting your gaze, followed by a toothy grin that’s both menacing and completely genuine. She reaches back to grab something behind her. A rope ladder drops down and nearly nails you in the noggin, just like it did whenever you dropped by to FLARP with her.

“What the hell, bitch! I missed you!” she yells. Despite everything, you can’t help but smile. Vriska’s wild personality and no-bullshit attitude was just what you needed.

You’re very proud of yourself when you scale the ladder with ease and scramble up onto the deck without getting too much out of breath. With the amount of insane shit you’ve gotten yourself into during your travels, getting into shape came pretty easily. You’ve been told by several reliable sources that your legs are to die for.

“The 8-ball foretold your arrival. I brought snacks.” Vriska points to a bag next to her chart, not looking up from where she was drawing an impressively detailed kraken-looking thing. “Eat something before you start gabbing.”

That was sound logic, so you drag the back closer to you and start rooting around for something good. You find a bag of stinkroot chips, open that bad boy up, and start munching. Damn, did it feel good to eat something, and to also have a corporeal body to eat things with.

As you gather your thoughts, the hairs on the back of your neck prickle with the sensation of somebody’s eyes on you. You instantly look up to see Vriska staring at you. Her expression is blank, but her good eye held all the energy of a thunderstorm.

You swallow your chips. “What is it?”

“You look… different,” she says, setting down her pencil. “It’s like I can really see you now.”

“Huh?”

Vriska huffs, but she still doesn’t take her eye off you. “Before, you kinda looked like… I dunno, like somebody cut out a whole in reality and shoved the silhouette of a person inside? Like, I know what you looked like, but I couldn’t tell you the color of your hair, or what facial structure you have, or, like… dude, you have freckles.”

“I have freckles?” You reach up and touch your cheekbone, feeling the soft skin. Oh, hey, there’s some acne. Dammit. “Are they cute?”

“Sure? I think freckles are more of a human thing, so you’d have to ask John or Jade or whatever. Also you’re blonde, like Rose,” she tells you, thoughtfully scratching at her chin. “You’re still short as fuck, though. I could probably punt you off the poop deck.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Congrats on not looking like a hole in reality.”

You finish off your chips and flop back to stare at the night sky. With all the time you’ve spent on Alternia, you can now name a lot of the constellations. Right now, the Empress’s Trident poked up at a forty-five degree angle behind the pink moon. “I think I know how we can overthrow the Alternian Empire.”

Vriska’s pencil falls out of her hand.

You continue. “Have you read any records on a rebellion that occurred about… like, fifteen sweeps ago? I don’t know the exact date.”

Vriska’s mouth opens and closes a couple of times, and then she nods. “I sure fuckin’ did. Sollux did some of his mumbo-jumbo and got me some documents. He called it an early wriggling day present, but I know he wants to help my little… agenda. How do you even know…?”

“Because I helped encourage the right people to do it. I was there, Vriska. Those kids were my friends, and now they’re dead.”

She’s silent for a moment. “The leader was a teal named Tyzias.”

Your eyes are hot with tears. “I knew her. We met because she tripped on the sidewalk while carrying a shitload of her homework, and I helped her pick it all up when it went everywhere. She had a matesprit named-”

“Stelsa,” Vriska mutters. “Holy shit. She worked closely with some jades who lead their little army. They caused a hell of a lot of damage to the Empire before it all went down, I’ll give them that.”

Neither of you speak for a long moment, which you appreciate as you try and hold your messy self together. The longer you think about your old friends and all the good times you had with them, the more you’re certain about what you want to do.

They deserve to be here.

Your blood pressure spikes just thinking about it.

It’s Vriska who puts your thoughts into words. “You want to go back and help them win the rebellion.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s fucking crazy.”

“Yeah.”

She scooches over to you so she can stare down into your soul. “If we combine our resources and collaborate back and forth between the past and the future, we can make it so less people die. We could even take out that pathetic bitch of an Heiress they had back in the day. With your powers…”

“It’s possible I could compact time itself to create a world where we… where we can make things right. We could even help Feferi…”

You can’t bring yourself to say it in case you jinxed something, but by the look on Vriska’s face, she knows what you mean.

“It could work,” she breathes.

Slowly, you sit back up. Your heart was pounding so hard you felt it in your skull. “How do you think the others would feel about it?”

“Oh, they’d shit themselves,” Vriska snorts. “A full-scale rebellion across time and space?”

“True.”

“But it could work!” she repeats, staring into empty space.

“And they’d have a huge advantage they never had before. Me,” you say, talking to yourself more than to Vriska. You’d created this universe with your own power. It was time to protect it. “Vriska, I need to go before I chicken out. Tell the others what’s happening and that I’m sorry if this all goes to shit.”

“Wait!”

You look back at her as she grabs your arm, claws digging into the fabric of your hoodie. “I… you need supplies. No frickin’ way you’re going anywhere without at least a hydration flask.”

You know what she’s trying to say, and your chest fills up with all the warmth of a bonfire. God, you love this absolute bitch of a kid.

Vriska drags you to your feet, and then you’re both sprinting for her hive.

Amazingly, you don’t die trying to keep up with the cerulean as you charge up the stairs to her respiteblock together. You’re still out of breath by the time you reach the top, though, but Vriska’s already grabbing a backpack and tossing shit into it.

“Get me that jacket off the door,” she orders as she tosses in what looks like a small medical kit. You obey and throw her the jacket, the black leather one with the bright red hood.

She then waves you over, and you slip around her desk to see what’s up. In her hands is a black sheath, with a matching handle sticking out at the top.

Vriska pulls the sheath off to reveal the blade: a brilliant silver-blue metal that nearly glowed in the darkness. It’s incredibly beautiful and very scary to look at.

“I’ve had this thing forever, so I’m giving it to you, okay? Don’t fucking lose it. Press that little gray button at the top of the handle to heat up the blade. Good for starting fires and cauterizing wounds.” She shoves the jacket into the backpack and hands you the dagger.

“Vriska, I don’t know what to say,” you begin, but she smacks you.

“Shut up and strap it to your belt. You better come back soon. I want a detailed report on everything. Single-spaced,” she snaps.

You grin. “Yes, ma’am. I should be back, in like, ten nights. Maybe eleven.”

“Ten,” Vriska growls. “I’m coming for your ass otherwise.”

“Noted. Tell everybody I said hi.”

“Obviously.”

You reach into that little part of yourself, which in turn reaches back out into that chaotic river that is the flow of time. You throw the anchor down and wade upstream. It’s a little rougher than usual, but you won’t let that stop you. There was no turning back now.

Time travel is always like trying to hit a moving target, but you have great aim, and when you find what you’re looking for you feel your face split into another huge smile. There’s nothing different about this part of the river than any other, but you know. When it comes to the people you care about, you always know.

Everything feels more real to you than it has in years. Two moons shine even brighter in the sky, the chilly air stinging your face, and you’re no troll but it still feels like you’re going home.

You open your eyes.

“Ten nights,” you say to Vriska, and you let yourself fall through the current.

Your name is MSPA READER, and you are currently vibing outside of the known multiverse.

Well, you don’t really use that name anymore, on account of it not actually being a name. Names sound something like Emily, or Muhammad, or Patrick, or Shamita, or a million other put-together syllables and sounds.

Names are something personal. A title is anything but.

You do have a new title, though, one you like much better.

The Guardian.

Because that’s what you became when you yoinked the timeline away from the control of Ultimate Dirk and that Director lady, whoever she was. You looked Canon-With-A-Capital-C in its ugly face, spit on it, and then bent over to wipe your ass with the fabric of reality itself. Out of desperation, love, and most importantly sheer spite, you took it upon yourself to defy fate so that there is at least one timeline where everybody gets to live happy lives. This was victory at its finest. This is what it felt like to finally get everything you wanted. Your friends? Safe. Multiverse? Secure. Hotel? Trivago.

In the vast and rich history of pro-gamer moves, you believe you might have made the most powerful move of all.

After using the Green Sun- no, sorry, the Green Sun to make your own timeline, you did what any other person would do and took a big fuckin’ snooze, curling up around your universe like a mama cat protecting her kittens. You earned it.

And, if you were being completely honest with yourself, that’s how you would have spent the rest of time.

It’s not like you didn’t want to live. No, living was good. It’s just… you were so damn tired. You’re tired of always running from place to place, person to person, era to era. You’re tired of being injured, scared, and alone no matter how many friends you made. All the gods of the Furthest Rings know you’d gone through more in like a year than most people go through during their entire lives. Couldn’t a bitch just enjoy eternity in the void?

Apparently not.

The dreams began innocently enough. Playing video games with Dave, John, and Karkat. Exploring Jade’s island with Jake and Bec. Baking with Jane. Kanaya teaching you and Sollux how to sew. FLARP-ing with Vriska.

Laying side-by-side with Roxy as you two watched the sun rise. Role-playing with Nepeta. Movie night with Eridan. Getting high off your ass with Gamzee and scaring the shit out of some teal visiting their kismesis a few hives away. Discussing politics with Feferi.

Escaping that hellhouse the Soleil twins called their home. Watching those eerie lights in the corpsefield beside Fozzer. You and Remele beating a purpleblood to death.

You barely realize how nightmares had invaded your mind until you woke up with Karako’s yowls of terror in your ears. You didn’t have ears anymore, though, or a physical form, so it just sounded like your favorite clown son was screaming all around you in the abyss.

Okay. This was fine. This was fine, you kept telling yourself. After everything that’s happened to you, you were bound to develop PTSD at some point. That was completely natural.

Except this wasn’t just PTSD. This was something else entirely, because even when you were awake you saw the faces of your oldest friends burning in your mind’s eye. Something churned in your gut, ancient and primal. It was a feeling you knew well, and was usually accompanied by you launching yourself into whatever stupid shit you found next. The longer you tried to ignore it, the stronger it became, until you were permanently wrapped up around yourself like the most pathetic ball of Guardian that had to have ever existed.

You knew long before you actually put words to what was going on.

Of course. Of course it wasn’t over, because why would you ever get to have anything for yourself? Why would you ever get to just rest? For the first time in… who even knows how long, you sob hysterically into the sleeves of your hoodie.

A galaxy twinkles in the outer shell of your universe, lighting up the zig-zag sign on your chest. Mallek’s lazy smile fills your thoughts. If at all possible, everything hurts even more, until you can’t even cry to let out the pain.

Did he miss you? Did all of them miss you?

Oh, God, Daraya. You promised her you’d take her to Earth sometime, and then you just totally fucking vanished from the face of Alternia. What a fucking dick move. Granted, you hadn’t meant to do it, but still!

Your traitor-asshole brain reminds you of the fact that all of them are dead now. As in, Tyzias tried to lead a rebellion against the Alternian Empire, and then they all got killed. Your traitor-asshole brain also notes that it’s all your fault for encouraging those kinds of ideas.

Way to go, you absolute tool.

Except… they don’t have to be gone. You are the Guardian of your universe, and you make the rules. It feels so wrong to even think about it, but… yeah. You’re basically a god now. You can do what you want and nobody has the power to stop you.

Which brings about a whole new plethora of fuckery. If you were to go back, if you were to rewrite history… are you any better than Ultimate Dirk? Granted, you’d do it out of love, not because you’re a power-hungry bastard, but still. Shenanigans of this level are not to be taken lightly, even by sad Guardians with absolutely nothing better to do.

You sleep on it, which of course results in you waking up bawling like a baby as you remember the best roleplay sesh of your life, which was when Wanshi proudly gave your Soldier Purrbeasts OC her full name: Twinklemoon. You had a Soldier Purrbeasts OC named Twinklemoon. That’s why you were crying.

That’s it. You couldn’t stand it anymore.

You need advice, and you know exactly where to get it.

<>

You find her on the 8rigantine, furiously scribbling something down on a chart with a bunch of little figurines in the middle of it. You know better than to just haul your little friendslut ass up there while Vriska Serket is in the zone, so instead you knock on the hull and call up to her.

“Hello! Lady Spinneret, an old friend is in dire need of some advice!”

It takes about two seconds for a familiar spiky head to poke over the side of the deck. Vriska’s one dark eye lights up upon meeting your gaze, followed by a toothy grin that’s both menacing and completely genuine. She reaches back to grab something behind her. A rope ladder drops down and nearly nails you in the noggin, just like it did whenever you dropped by to FLARP with her.

“What the hell, bitch! I missed you!” she yells. Despite everything, you can’t help but smile. Vriska’s wild personality and no-bullshit attitude was just what you needed.

You’re very proud of yourself when you scale the ladder with ease and scramble up onto the deck without getting too much out of breath. With the amount of insane shit you’ve gotten yourself into during your travels, getting into shape came pretty easily. You’ve been told by several reliable sources that your legs are to die for.

“The 8-ball foretold your arrival. I brought snacks.” Vriska points to a bag next to her chart, not looking up from where she was drawing an impressively detailed kraken-looking thing. “Eat something before you start gabbing.”

That was sound logic, so you drag the back closer to you and start rooting around for something good. You find a bag of stinkroot chips, open that bad boy up, and start munching. Damn, did it feel good to eat something, and to also have a corporeal body to eat things with.

As you gather your thoughts, the hairs on the back of your neck prickle with the sensation of somebody’s eyes on you. You instantly look up to see Vriska staring at you. Her expression is blank, but her good eye held all the energy of a thunderstorm.

You swallow your chips. “What is it?”

“You look… different,” she says, setting down her pencil. “It’s like I can really see you now.”

“Huh?”

Vriska huffs, but she still doesn’t take her eye off you. “Before, you kinda looked like… I dunno, like somebody cut out a whole in reality and shoved the silhouette of a person inside? Like, I know what you looked like, but I couldn’t tell you the color of your hair, or what facial structure you have, or, like… dude, you have freckles.”

“I have freckles?” You reach up and touch your cheekbone, feeling the soft skin. Oh, hey, there’s some acne. Dammit. “Are they cute?”

“Sure? I think freckles are more of a human thing, so you’d have to ask John or Jade or whatever. Also you’re blonde, like Rose,” she tells you, thoughtfully scratching at her chin. “You’re still short as fuck, though. I could probably punt you off the poop deck.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Congrats on not looking like a hole in reality.”

You finish off your chips and flop back to stare at the night sky. With all the time you’ve spent on Alternia, you can now name a lot of the constellations. Right now, the Empress’s Trident poked up at a forty-five degree angle behind the pink moon. “I think I know how we can overthrow the Alternian Empire.”

Vriska’s pencil falls out of her hand.

You continue. “Have you read any records on a rebellion that occurred about… like, fifteen sweeps ago? I don’t know the exact date.”

Vriska’s mouth opens and closes a couple of times, and then she nods. “I sure fuckin’ did. Sollux did some of his mumbo-jumbo and got me some documents. He called it an early wriggling day present, but I know he wants to help my little… agenda. How do you even know…?”

“Because I helped encourage the right people to do it. I was there, Vriska. Those kids were my friends, and now they’re dead.”

She’s silent for a moment. “The leader was a teal named Tyzias.”

Your eyes are hot with tears. “I knew her. We met because she tripped on the sidewalk while carrying a shitload of her homework, and I helped her pick it all up when it went everywhere. She had a matesprit named-”

“Stelsa,” Vriska mutters. “Holy shit. She worked closely with some jades who lead their little army. They caused a hell of a lot of damage to the Empire before it all went down, I’ll give them that.”

Neither of you speak for a long moment, which you appreciate as you try and hold your messy self together. The longer you think about your old friends and all the good times you had with them, the more you’re certain about what you want to do.

They deserve to be here.

Your blood pressure spikes just thinking about it.

It’s Vriska who puts your thoughts into words. “You want to go back and help them win the rebellion.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s fucking crazy.”

“Yeah.”

She scooches over to you so she can stare down into your soul. “If we combine our resources and collaborate back and forth between the past and the future, we can make it so less people die. We could even take out that pathetic bitch of an Heiress they had back in the day. With your powers…”

“It’s possible I could compact time itself to create a world where we… where we can make things right. We could even help Feferi…”

You can’t bring yourself to say it in case you jinxed something, but by the look on Vriska’s face, she knows what you mean.

“It could work,” she breathes.

Slowly, you sit back up. Your heart was pounding so hard you felt it in your skull. “How do you think the others would feel about it?”

“Oh, they’d shit themselves,” Vriska snorts. “A full-scale rebellion across time and space?”

“True.”

“But it could work!” she repeats, staring into empty space.

“And they’d have a huge advantage they never had before. Me,” you say, talking to yourself more than to Vriska. You’d created this universe with your own power. It was time to protect it. “Vriska, I need to go before I chicken out. Tell the others what’s happening and that I’m sorry if this all goes to shit.”

“Wait!”

You look back at her as she grabs your arm, claws digging into the fabric of your hoodie. “I… you need supplies. No frickin’ way you’re going anywhere without at least a hydration flask.”

You know what she’s trying to say, and your chest fills up with all the warmth of a bonfire. God, you love this absolute bitch of a kid.

Vriska drags you to your feet, and then you’re both sprinting for her hive.

Amazingly, you don’t die trying to keep up with the cerulean as you charge up the stairs to her respiteblock together. You’re still out of breath by the time you reach the top, though, but Vriska’s already grabbing a backpack and tossing shit into it.

“Get me that jacket off the door,” she orders as she tosses in what looks like a small medical kit. You obey and throw her the jacket, the black leather one with the bright red hood.

She then waves you over, and you slip around her desk to see what’s up. In her hands is a black sheath, with a matching handle sticking out at the top.

Vriska pulls the sheath off to reveal the blade: a brilliant silver-blue metal that nearly glowed in the darkness. It’s incredibly beautiful and very scary to look at.

“I’ve had this thing forever, so I’m giving it to you, okay? Don’t fucking lose it. Press that little gray button at the top of the handle to heat up the blade. Good for starting fires and cauterizing wounds.” She shoves the jacket into the backpack and hands you the dagger.

“Vriska, I don’t know what to say,” you begin, but she smacks you.

“Shut up and strap it to your belt. You better come back soon. I want a detailed report on everything. Single-spaced,” she snaps.

You grin. “Yes, ma’am. I should be back, in like, ten nights. Maybe eleven.”

“Ten,” Vriska growls. “I’m coming for your ass otherwise.”

“Noted. Tell everybody I said hi.”

“Obviously.”

You reach into that little part of yourself, which in turn reaches back out into that chaotic river that is the flow of time. You throw the anchor down and wade upstream. It’s a little rougher than usual, but you won’t let that stop you. There was no turning back now.

Time travel is always like trying to hit a moving target, but you have great aim, and when you find what you’re looking for you feel your face split into another huge smile. There’s nothing different about this part of the river than any other, but you know. When it comes to the people you care about, you always know.

Everything feels more real to you than it has in years. Two moons shine even brighter in the sky, the chilly air stinging your face, and you’re no troll but it still feels like you’re going home.

You open your eyes.

“Ten nights,” you say to Vriska, and you let yourself fall through the current.

[techouspeaks]

My thoughts on Healin Good Precure.

I’m pretty much the same as everyone else that the designs and concept is pretty much generic and uninspiring. In the past few seasons of Precure there usually is some sort of twist and some callbacks to the older series fit in somewhere. In Hugtto Precure, some would argue there was too many callbacks and Star Twinkle Precure there were hardly any callbacks with exception of maybe a few power up attacks. 

This...Good grief. Did they even try?! Everything from the designs to the concept just wreaks uninspiring. We’re back to saving another generic fairy world when before, there was some unique twists for a while. Mahou Tsukai, we had a world full of witches and even some based on actual Wiccan and other mythologies (be it a bit loosely). Hugtto was set in the future, Star Twinkle, we had each character from another planet and we also had a few more twists like there being a teal colored precure. Yes, Milky is teal. She’s not completely green. She has some blue tint to her, deal with it. Then you have of course the first biracial precure who has dark skin, Cure Soleil.

And yeah, let’s talk about the designs. Everyone is saying they’re a mix of all the old Precures combined and yeah, I’m with them on that too. I mean you can’t argue. The moment you see the hair of the pink one, you immediately think of Cure Flora and when you see the hair style of the blue one, you immediately think of Cure Marine and the yellow one you automatically think Honey and Pine! Shoot, her character is literally every yellow cure we’ve seen! She likes fashion. She has a quirky personality where she’s nice but suddenly just blurts out what she says on her mind and she’s eccentric and her family owns a vet clinic with a cafe, which I keep wondering if it’s really alright to have a place where sick and injured animals have to go, be in the same place where food and drink is served. I mean guess it’s like how hospitals have a food court I guess, but vet clinics are typically not that big. Least big enough to keep the clinic and cafe separate. I dunno, for me that seems like a major health hazard but heck with it. There are talking stuffed animals in this. I can’t moan about that too much.

The blue cure is naturally a big sister type and the pink cure is a clumsy but sweet protagonist that is always gonna do her best and has a happy go lucky attitude...ugh. Can we have another nerdy insecure girl? Please? Or a tomboy? There are others that can be good leaders that aren’t clumsy! We haven’t had a tomboy in like forever! I think the last tomboy protagonist was Suite Precure and that is gonna be 10 years old in 2021! Mix it up just a little, will you Toei!

The wands are another Sailor Moon Kaleidoscope wand that wasn’t that original design to begin with, but they seem to like reusing it even in series that are actually good! So yeah, I think the whole thing is pretty generic and basic. The fairies are forgettable looking and the whole thing looks more of a parody of Precure than an actual Precure series.  Does that mean I think the whole series is gonna be like that?

Short answer, no. Yeah, as much as I and everyone else is hating on it, there is one thing that Precure has taught us and that as much as we judge on it and everyone is going to. It’s just how we are in nature. Opinions are like the holes we have (mouth, nose, butt, ect). We all have one and they can’t always stay close. We have to fumigate sometimes otherwise it eats us to our core. Anyway, Precure has always taught us that nothing is as it seems. This could be a good series that’s just hidden behind the generic outlook. For me, I always have a few doubtful reactions, shoot even outright blasting first responses to a new series especially when I really like the one currently running. Sometimes those reactions are justified and other times I get quite a bit of surprises.

Remember how everyone was excited when we first saw Kira Kira Precure A La Mode, with the cool animal designs? We saw the composer for the op and ed thinking we’d get some catchy tunes and then the series came out, a lot of folks started to hate it and even more as the series progressed? Same with Mahou Tsukai, which I like but will admit it does have some problems in terms of direction and story writing. Looks aren’t everything. Who knows? Maybe like Go Princess Precure, we could be looking at another masterpiece or maybe we’re right and looking at another Happiness Charge/Kira Kira disaster where everything is bland and predictable. Worse case scenario is that its like Doki Doki where I felt so bored watching it I barely remember watching it! I know I’m slamming on those series a lot. Again if you like them, more power to you. No hate towards you or your opinions of it. Those were series that just didn’t do it for me and I watched every series for Precuruary in February. 

Another positive is while Latte is clearly a Puff lookalke, she’s cute and even though she’s technically a baby, she’s more so a puppy and I’m glad we’re off the hook for taking care of a baby in this series. I also like the fact the Queen of the fairy world is a dog. Like an actual dog. Not a human or anthro animal. An actual animal. That’s kind of a neat twist and the animation and scenery so far is kind of pretty. It’s not special but passable. Pretty typical of Precure but meh, it’s Precure. They’re not going to do anything major fantastic. They’re here to sell toys.Speaking of which, the designs of the items they have to collect look kinda cool. They put detail into those at least.

So yeah. I agree that it looks generic but as Precure has taught us is that sometimes there is a hidden genuine gem behind all that glitter and fru fru. Just gotta look a little deeper into the woods to find it.

Or it could be a pile of dog crap...

[muthaz-rapapa]

StarPre: Zodiac Forms

Now that I’ve got the good quality official art, c’mon, did anyone seriously think I would not ramble about the zodiac forms in another long post? :P lol

Crap, I should be studying my Japanese since I’m traveling to Tokyo next week (GONNA GO VISIT THE PRECURE STORE, WOOOOT~!) but I want to get this post out first cuz I know I won’t have time or internet access to do it later.

So let’s do this!

Taurus form – BRAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSS

8D

This one I like best out of Star’s two forms (but Pisces is awesome too!) for that reason but I also love how they changed her short tutu-style skirt into an asymmetric, flowing one. And that cow pattern is to die for~! <3

The butterfly earrings and horns are a very nice touch as well! *chef’s kiss*

Pisces form – I can’t explain why or how Hikaru pulls off the mermaid look so well…but she just does, okay?

Maybe it’s the twintails.

Anyways, super cute! Adding a touch of blue and deep magenta to the overall light pink theme really makes her look more tropical.

Then there are the sea accessories and ugh! Sometimes when I look at this, I’m reminded of Mermaid Melody except the way Star is designed here looks a lot more fun.

Before I get into this, I just want to say that we can now celebrate Lala’s bubble shorts blooming into space dresses! Aaaaaahhh~ <D

Leo form – Y’know when I saw Lala go “RAWR!” in the movie trailer, I was like “This is it, if this is the last thing I see, I’ll be happy I lived”, hahaha!

Lion imagery is just so cool, y’know? (as Gelato can testify)

The wild hair, the crown.

Yeap. This pretty much confirms it. Lala is Space Queen. ;D

Cancer form – I’m simultaneously gushing over her crab hair, how much I love this shade of yellow green and giggling mad that she resembles a jellyfish more than a crustacean. xDD

*sigh* Really, I think Lala’s forms turned out the best. They faithfully captured the aesthetics of the Star Princesses while retaining Milky’s original design and without making it overly gaudy, too.

Lala, you are perfect! <3

Libra form – Normally, I would say that’s too crazy for even crazy magical girl hair but then I remember Felice’s Alexandrite form and how extra that was in all its Mother Nature floral glory…

…and I just shut my trap.

Still, it seems like Libra form had the least effort put into it.

I mean, yea, they moved some colors around (more like seeped the orange into the ombre of Soleil’s hair) and extended the reaches of her dress but it’s practically the same thing save for Libra’s hairdo…which looks more like a wig she put on that anything.

That’s just it. The dual cornucopia there catches your attention right away on how…fake it looks that it’s as if the rest don’t matter as much. Which is sad cuz the Libra Star Princess is perhaps one of the best Star Princesses based on what little personality we did get from each of them. And I just wanted to see something more creative for her form, that’s all. :(

Maybe it’ll look better in motion? We’ll just have to see if that happens in the movie. As of right now, this still picture isn’t really helping my impression of it.

Scorpio form – Much better. Absolutely adore the slimmer cut and my, does Elena look downright gorgeous with a ponytail! <D

I’m always reading about how “full of passion” Scorpios are and while I don’t let those descriptions get in the way of appreciating their characters, have to admit that “passion” was the first word that came to my mind when I saw Soleil in this form.

She literally looks like a goddess of sunsets. Beautiful.

Capricorn form – Still not sure if I’m the type of person who favors something just because I so happen to share a quality or trait with that one certain aspect of a character…

And I freely admit that the Capricorn form is not the best of bunch (though it’s definitely not the worst)…

…but it looks unarguably lovely regardless and I love it with all my heart because me is a Capricorn, after all~ <3

The tiny hearts themselves may be a bit much but it’s part of Capricorn Star Princess’s design so honestly, I have zero problem with it. They’re adorable~

Then I kinda squealed because Selene traded her umbrella/lamp shade skirt for a fancy bed canopy! LOL xDD

But most of all, it’s simply wonderful to see Madoka with wavy hair (AGAIN WITH THE HAIR!). Ooooo, gotta love that transition from light purple to fuchsia! X3

Like I said before, they made the Cures’ respective color schemes and the Star Princesses’ color schemes quite compatible. But that’s a given since they’re within close range of each other anyway.

Sagittarius form – Ok, I may have said Lala’s forms looked the best but I believe the Sagittarius form alone can blow everyone else’s out of the sky.

I mean, look at her! Isn’t she friggin’ STUNNING?!

The long side pony tail (*SCREAMS*), the mature vibe the long gown gives off and most of all, MADOKA HOLDING AN ACTUAL BOW AND ARROW AND LOOKING LIKE A WARRIOR MAIDEN DESCENDING FROM THE HEAVENS TO PURGE THE EVIL FROM THIS WRETCH WORLD!!

HAAAAAA……I dunno why I get so emotional over form changes, I just do.

Alright, first things first. This is not the place for me to spill my grievances about Cosmos in general so rest assured, I won’t do that. But I am allowed to say one thing.

Toei. I don’t understand your incomplete logic.

Cure Cosmos is a rainbow Cure. You either give her all twelve differently colored forms or you give her none at all.

Seriously, it makes no sense that she gets four zodiac forms, leaving the other girls with only two when we could have had:

1) the original starters with three zodiac forms each

2) Cosmos with either twelve (because SHE’S THE CURE OF EFFIN’ RAINBOWS!!) or one exceptionally glorified rainbow super form (with seven cat tails because RAINBOWS!!)

This is less about midseason Cure privilege (which Cosmos has heaps of) or the fact that they won’t be able to fit so many forms in an hour long special (it’s movie budget so piss off!) and more about not doing your math right to get the best, maximum output! xP

*sigh* Ok, petty raging done (for now). Moving along…

Aries form – As some of you may know, I’m not a fan of Cosmos’ rainbow skirt but I find I can easily overlook that (along with the cat ears, the flat top hat décor, the weird braids and the dorito clips) to appreciate the full picture.

And the Aries form may just be my most favorite out of Cosmos’ forms. Since Aries is the ram constellation, the white wool trim looks appropriate, especially against the crimson of her outfit. Frankly, I think Cosmos looks better in this red design than her normal blue-rainbow Cure form.

Then there’s the poofy (kyaa~!) hair that just acts so well as a backdrop to the ram horns.

Mm, yes, definitely my favorite. *nod nod*

Gemini form – Again, where the fuck were you when Met Gala was happening this year?!

Like, this would not only fit right in with the camp theme but could’ve won best dressed that night!

The only thing I’d consider getting rid of is the rainbow but then it’d probably look less campy so maybe not.

Anyways, I was the least fond of this form when I first saw it but the more I look at it, the more I’m learning to like it…??

The red cape (and cherry earrings) provides a sharp contrast to all the green going on, too.

Virgo form – Azure blue complements light pink and white in a very angelic sort of way. Pretty~

Cosmos’ hair also looks delightfully charming when it’s curled and has a flower decoration in it.

…That’s all I have to say, really.

Oh no, wait.

It’s extremely odd to me that Cosmos gets two zodiac forms that correspond to other Cures’ birthday signs and she doesn’t even get the form of her own birthday sign.

Hikaru’s is Aries and Elena’s is Virgo. Look who got those forms.

Yuni’s sign is Libra. That form went to Soleil instead.

…WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?! >:/

Aquarius form – Is it just me or do the rainbow pleats actually work here?

We’re dealing with water and the droplet beads attached to the ends really reminds me of the rain so that’s probably why.

Cosmos’ hair also looks mega good in waves, too.

And the stars~! Exquisite!

On another note, again she always comes as a strange package because if cats in general hate water, then pairing Cosmos up with Aquarius is the biggest mismatch of them all, them both having a blue theme be damned. xD;

~~~~~

*SIGH* Finished!

…Or not. One last thing. There’s always one last thing.

It’s just a real shame that these forms are exclusive to the movie. I mean, I know we all have our opinions on whether or not Form Changes are actually useful in the tv series (I don’t care, I just like looking at them and that’s reason enough for me)…

But the stock footage was severely underwhelming for StarPre so having these in the show may have done some good to alleviate that feeling.

Also, the Zodiac forms have a much closer relation to the space motif than the Twinkle forms do. Seriously, the most noticeable things about the Twinkle forms are the tiaras and it’s weird because we already have the Star Princesses. So WHY do we need to put tiaras on the Cures? They’re not aiming to become princesses themselves, they’re channeling the powers of the stars (aka the Zodiac princesses!) so they should take on appearance respective of the star signs!

Again, I really don’t understand Toei logic.

……AND ONE MORE THING! OMGODD

Is there anyone out there who tried to draw what the first four Cures would look like in the forms that went to Cosmos? And if there is, may I see them? Please, pretty pretty please please please?!?!?

[scendant]

@gaylaxied​ / lire or lass.

“.... I like the sun when it is like this. Bright outside, with clouds. Do you remember?”

She reached to the sky, opening her hand and caressing the air in her fingers, swirling it around. Following the edge of her warm wind, she twisted and twirled a small petal with her finger, watching it pirouette. Sweetly, pink. And cutely: spin. Elesis extended her hand, letting it fall on the inside of her fingers. Watching it slowly, she took her other hand off the seat and picked it up, holding it out in front of the other’s face. Index and thumb. The edges of it were brushed with nature’s gradients, pink at the edges, white--the ridges. Easy-breezy. Locks of hair flowed out from behind her ears and cascaded down her front. She closed her eyes to the gust of wind, smiling. The pillows under her eyes softened the crescent moons of her smile. Eyelashes wavering, cracked lips splitting in the vibrant gesture of her upturned curl, her bangs set flames to wind dusting against her forehead. The vision of her, swaying against a song in her head----the first time in a long time, content.

“I am happy. Is that strange? Without make-up. I like this place the best. At home, when spring tastes and smells like this, when it is cold and warm at the same time.”

She closed her eyes and aimed her petal at the sky, covering the sun with its rounded edge and creating her own personal eclipse. The sun’s rays kissed the edges of her pink, flowing out and flooding her vision with it. Daytime stars twinkled far and bright from the today that was overtaken in light. So dazzling, her aurora beyond the sun. So pretty, her petal a telescope to the prettiest eclipse she’d witnessed in a long time. Past Aernas’s clouds and sky, past Her soleil’s slow-song andante, she looked through it and liked it all the same.

“I remember days like this. it is far from now. I do not dislike life as-is. It is quieter. And louder. I like the energetic sounds. I like being in my office on my own. I like having both. But,” she turned towards the other, her arm lowering itself, relaxed, “I think it was more fun when we did not have any choice but to camp by the river. When it was just the few of us. Do you remember?”

Brilliantly, dazzlingly. Glassy. Today’s sun went through her monochrome and all of its colors spilled out from behind her back, making colors behind her as she stared relentlessly forward. Never once looking back, never once checking if her colors behind her were following after her lead, always trusting that they would always be there. Because of she looked back just once, all of those colors would disappear right before her. It scared her. But she can’t help but want to check and see how they’re doing. She cannot help but wonder how brightly the flowers bloomed behind her. She cannot stop thinking about them, wondering, waiting, listening, abated. But she cannot see them. At all. To her, they were her sun covered by her purposeful petal----they were the prettiest eclipse, the brightest light, the most colorful flare in the turn of her eyes. But she never stared at it directly; she would rather be blind.

                                     “I like it like this. If I could have forever, like this, then I would not need for a single thing more.”

[jess1820]

ti amo nyc! seeing phoenix 3x with feenix friends (jul 5 - 7 2018)

So! 3 days of phoenix with wonderful people in new york (my first time in nyc!), I don’t even know where to begin x.x (Pictures are on IG, video on YT). The Speciale shows are beautiful and incredible, and the boys put so much thought, detail, and love into it all. It was one of the best experiences in my life and it was so fun seeing everyone at the shows!!

under the cut is pretty much a rambling summary of the shows (amazing and adorably decorated), cute moments, and when we met them (ft. my fav convo with branco abt pokemon and witnessing brotherly tension) 

💘 @andersfel @funkyphoenixfan @thesunwillshineagain

7/5 | Night 1 💗

the show The show was amazing! It had been 7 months since I had last seen them. We were between Deck and Chris, I settled for the second row (I could have squished to the barrier but it was more comfortable to just be behind a little). That day was super humid and hot, so this show was probably the most sweatiest, but so satisfying. It was such a fun time! We got consolation prizes which is always super great! And countdown for Mads aaaaa (it was her 21st birthday, guess who (Chris ofc) sung to her 😭!!!) It was such a beautiful moment. They played Goodbye Soleil first and she was a bit down, but once it finished, COUNTDOWN happened! She was so happy it was the best reaction (what a complete 180 lol). Telefono was such a tune to hear live, I loved it! They were using the telefono booth instead of the red telephone (after the show you could get a polaroid in the booth for $1, such a cute idea whaaaa!!).

I thought for the Speciale they chose to use different guitars (Chris’s mint green, Branco’s array of guitars (black and red) instead of the og guitars (telecaster and cream bullet), but turns out they just didn’t have their regular guitars in time because their gear was still being held by air france until the 4th show lol.   

after the show

thomas After the show, we went outside to wait (we should have wandered the disco afterparty that was happening inside! The boys were hanging out meeting fans). About an hour later, Thomas came outside first wearing a white tee and backpack on. It was a small group outside so he went around to everyone, signing stuff and taking photos, and he hugged everyone too! He was so nice and gentle as usual. He left shortly after because he said it was past his kids bedtime and he had to put them into bed, something sweet like that 😭. Romy was at the show (with we think, Cedric’s daughter?) and they were helping run the merch stand! It was too cute!! They were so sweet. They were also in front of the barrier at some songs on the far right jumping and having such a good time during the show! It was so pure. (And I guess Vee is bffs with Romy now hahaha).   

deck Ok next up, Deck came out and was very chatty and goofy. He didn’t go to the afterparty. Vee said something about him being a charmer and he imitated playing a violin to be romantic, oh, he is so precious. Deck was really examining the Rally single I brought to get signed and he was like oh this is very rare and was looking at it, front and back. He was so nice and so cute 💘.

branco (and chris) Branco came out next and was so pretty wearing a koi fish print shirt. He has the best shirts. B was very friendly. Mads brought up the Coco thing (he signed as Coco on her INBLT booklet from the Manila show) and we got to hear him talk about his nickname again, it was so sweet and precious (his nieces call him Coco if you need a refresher). I love hearing him speak in general aaaa (you know me). Gotta say I also loved hearing him yell “Monsieur Mazzalai” at Chris because he was the last one needed to sign Mad’s awesome jacket. Chris made a face at him 😂. I had a few minutes with B and I am v happy he signed his name with the music note doodle! Sadly I didn't have the time to get to Chris bc he had to leave in a separate car (the rest of the boys got into one van, I remember Branco had a whole foods market bag aha). I did get to watch Chris run to the car with his suitcase which was funny and adorable, I love him. 

7/6 | Night 2 💗

the show They did long distance call!! Aaah! I was finally at the barrier, right between Thomas and Deck (literally the center can you believe it). The show was amazing as usual and they had balloons that would rain down on us in italian flag colors. It was at this show where a lot of balloons were falling onto the stage so Deck was using his bass and hitting the balloons (og it was so precious). He was having so much fun. I got a Deck wink during the show too aaa 💖 . Also, they played Lovelife with Giorgio Poi which was really cool! The boys had told us yesterday that they had a special planned for tonight, and this was that! And, I got to touch Thomas’s hair lol he was in our section a lot! 💘

after the show

so many faces We stayed for the afterparty because the boys had told us last night to stay and meet them here. It was funny because we were all awkward at the party so we followed them around like children while other people were actually partying.

We saw Sofia!!! She was gorgeous, literally radiating. It was unreal to see her in person. Cosima was with her! We also saw Chris’s girlfriend! Ah they were so cute (they were getting sake, dancing by the DJ, it was adorable). Chris was going around everywhere, drinking a lot of sake and beer lol. I flagged him down once to say hi and he said hello and he pat my back and LEFT 😂. So I had to flag him down again to ask for rally to be signed. It was a bit uncomfortable to follow them around and when there’s a moment/you get the guts to say hi they are either with someone else or with family and you’re just standing there so awkwardly lol. It’s easier to talk to them when they’re outside vs inside with music playing and it being a bit dark. I think we all agreed on this.

branco I also spotted Branco too! I found him near the back by the merch and asked for a photo again. My phone was such a failure that it took a while to get a photo so when it was done he asked if it was okay, twice 😭 (it’s still a bit blurry but I think it’s cute). Sweet bb koala you are so precious 🐨. 

7/7 | Night 3 💗

the show We were back at the barrier for the last night (for us), back to the right side between Deck and Chris. We got to hear playground love (waaaaaaah) and tuttifrutti! Playground love was so beautiful og 😭.

Throughout each night during sunskrupt, Branco would take a water break. A massive water break. He would drink water, keep the bottle at his lips and look into the screen, pondering life, then take another long drink of water. It was so long we were laughing and watching him drink water each night 😂 It was such a thing. I was that dork who took photos of this moment hahaha.

After playground love was countdown (when Chris came out, he brought his own guitar instead of picking up the one that was on stage, already tuned I think). Going into countdown, he had to put a capo on the guitar and tune it a bit, which took a very short amount of time but it was still something he had to do, and he was like ah merde! It was really funny and cute to hear him swear on stage since it was dead quiet 😂 

cute speciale things I tried their phoenix sake and took a polaroid in the telefono booth! It’s so cute. I also tried their childhood sandwiches on a “DAMN good baguette” (yeah they advertised it like this) and I gotta say, it sure was tasty. I didn’t get to try the gelato. Everything was so cute, they had ti amo balloons and a disco ball. They had a DJ too (I remember seeing Hedlund and Daniel Glass DJ-ing). The super mercato was so cool but I heard it kept breaking. Luckily I was able to get the pins and patches I wanted! (Though I didn’t notice they had a blue ti amo patch until it was too late!) The merch table also had a lot of cool merch and some old stuff from Bankrupt!. The entire vibe of the place was amazing. Every glass surface was graffitied with phoenix ti amo nyc 💘.  

after the show

chris and branco (ft. the greatest conversation) The afterparty this night felt a bit more natural for us. Maybe because we knew what to expect, but overall it was just more comfortable. At the party, we saw only Chris wandering around. We spoke to him and got to tell him we were all friends online and he was really surprised (it was cute). He was v thankful for us cheering so much! He was so smiley aaah. Mads finally was able to give him the cutest phoenix doodle she made (literal cutest he found himself and kept pointing to it 😭). I also remember a bit where Vee was talking about Deck’s spider pose and Chris was asking how to do it and then he tried to do it 😂 Chris is the best hahaha

After the venue kicked us out/ the party ended, we went outside and found that Branco was already outside talking to other fans. I was being silly on this last night and was speaking (was I loud?) about how cute he was to my friends and saying dumb things like look at those eyebrows and those cheeks (everything abt him is so cute ok i love this koala) and he stared into my soul 3 times (while talking to another group of fans) 🙈 and I didn’t know what to do im sorry for staring at u B 😭 💀 (you’re so pretty god!!)

Ok once it was our turn to talk to B, we talked to him abt…..pokemon 😂 (I don’t want to say too much but supposedly he has pokemon go and I love pokemon so you can imagine why we went down this path). It was a perfect opportunity since Vee also likes pokemon and her backpack featured the eevee evolutions. He was like ahh pokemon…. We asked him to pick a favorite from the backpack and I think he was confused (it was dark) and he pointed to eevee and named it as pikachu. The way he said it was so cute oh my god. He was like that’s pikachu (he said it twice). We were telling him that’s eevee and then he was saying that he is very old from another time, the shakespearean time. I think Vee then said he’s immortal or a vampire and he didn’t deny it. (idk why) I had to bring up the old cringe photoshoot they did where he looks like a vampire and he was watching and listening to me so intently as I was describing it. Mads saved it and just said it was posted on their IG and he was like ahh. (He probably was like these girls are so weird). Then he said that he knew the pokemon names but in french and so he pointed to vaporeon and said that’s aquali. It was SO CUTE. WOW. I can still hear his voice saying aquali. Literally so precious. 

Switching topics, Mads was asking if he saw the super cute doodle she did that she gave to Chris and I think he said he didn’t, but Chris said he showed him? (this part is a little fuzzy for me). Branco said that Chris never lies, called him over and then they were discussing if Chris had shown him/if Branco was present. Chris said that Branco probably forgot, then shortly after they started to speak in french to each other and we felt like shit was going down right in front of us omg (brothers fighting?!). At the end of it Branco opened his mouth without saying anything, then closed it, speechless (or, I thought of a cat showing its teeth lol) it was insane.  

Aaaaaa if you made it here thanks for reading 💗 It was such a cool time seeing phoenix with the feenix gang from online! I hope we all get to do it again in the future ✨ You all made this experience so memorable. 

[prisperview]

Prisperview’s 2017 Year Reflection

Worldwide Favorites

Women’s March

Lady Gaga at Superbowl LI in Houston

Marriage legalization and improved LGBT+ Rights around the world

Solar Eclipse

Worldwide Worsts

Trump and most things American government

Hurricane Harvey and Irma

Neo Nazis

Hollywood Sexual Assault crackdown (but also positive because we acknowledged the individuals who spoke up about it)

Las Vegas, O2 Arena, and Sutherland Springs attack and all gun violence without reformed laws

Music

Favorite albums of 2017

Atom Bomb (1999) - The Strike (for some reason, this album doesn’t exist anymore?) | Fav Song: Atom Bomb

Christine And The Queens (2015) - Christine And The Queens (Heloise became my new style icon) | Fav song: Tilted

Live and Let Ghosts (2008) - Jukebox the Ghost (I listened to it multiple times a day) | Fav song: Victoria

Harry Styles - Harry Styles (who do you think I am of course its on the list) |Fav song: Woman

Flicker - Niall Horan (see above) |Fav song: On My Own

Something To Tell You - HAIM (new old favorites!) |Fav song: Little of Your Love

You - EP - dodie (never followed her before, but her music is great) |Fav song: In the Middle

Steven Universe Vol.1 (Original Soundtrack)- (because its Steven Universe) | Fav song: Peace and Love

The Best of Kate Miller-Heidke: Act One (2016) - KMH | Fav song: Australian Idol

Other favorite songs

Footloose - Kenny Loggins

State of Mind - Satchmode

Basically any song on the Footloose AU playlist

Anniversary - Autoheart (Top song of 2017 according to Spotify)

Liam and Louis’ solo songs/collabs

Sonsick - San Fermin

La La Land Soundtrack

All I Ask - Adele

Light Up by Mutemath

More songs by Jukebox the Ghost

Boom Boom - Donora

Moana Soundtrack

You Knew - Mother Falcon 

Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It! - Kishi Bashi

You! Me! Dancing!  - Los Campesinos

Books

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

I re-read An Invisible Sign of my Own by Aimee Bender

I finally finished the Harry Potter Series!

(Fanfics count too, right?)

I got into podfics:

In Dreams by dolce_piccante (podfic) - the first podfic I fell in love with

Naked and Proud by kiwikero (podfic) - absolutely hilarious. I listened to this while working on portfolio applications

The Bucky Barnes Recovery Project: A series by FrostyEmma - I was obsessed with this during the spring

I’d Rather Hear my Dog Bark at a Crow by sunsetmog - I never thought I’d be into Tomlinshaw (or this super NSFW fic dont @ me) but I was up for hours trying to read this in one sitting

Couer du soleil by messofgorgeouschaos - havent finished it yet, but easily a favorite (Ot5!)

YouTube/Podcasts

Dan and Phil - never thought I’d get back into them after 2013 but here I am and I’m having a good time

The Drawfee Channel 

SprinkleofChatter - Louise’s vlogs made doing my hair on Sunday mornings easier

TalkDirection (podcast)-  not listening as much as I used to, but Caitlin and Cara are still good, especially around Harry’s album release time

What Should We Draw? (podcast)

MBMBaM (podcast) - new favorites!

Movies

La La Land (2016)

Trolls (2016) - it was good okay? Anna Kendrick is an all time fav

Wonder Woman - duh

The Big Sick -even though I just saw it a few nights ago

The Wind Rises (2013) - a studio ghibli movie

The First Monday in May (2016) - a documentary about putting together The Met Ball

One Small Hitch (2013) - indie film I found cute

Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl (2015)

TV

Andi Mack - !!! that’s all I can say. 

Silver Spoon - 1 of the 2 anime I watched in the past year

Terrace House: Aloha State

Hjørdis - A short feel good series

Criminal Minds - my sister brought this into our house and its our new family show

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - another show my sister brought up and we bond over it now

Stranger Things Season 2 

Voltron

Sherlock S4 - sucked

I watched a lot of Justice League/DC cartoons from the early 2000s to get ready for WW

Good Girls Revolt - though I never made it all the way through

Art

The DnP Terrarium!

LA LA Land gif

Got into an art school though I didn’t go (again)

Almost did a commission for someone

I did sell art!

Sold something on RedBubble

Fake music festival poster

Participating in the Phandom Big Bang

School

Finally started attending college

Got A’s in all classes. Out of 3 classes, don’t get excited

Learned more about Mathematics and coding

Life

Got closer to my sister

Brother moved out

Got back in touch with church

Reconnected with friend after 10 years

Found some hair solutions

I’m Bisexual! - that’s been creeping up on me since 8th grade and I finally ‘labeled’ it in 2016

Favorite Thrift Finds

Striped knit shirt

Brown ankle boots

Floral romper

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink - a book I loved in 4th grade that I thought I’d never see again

Vermont Teddy Bear Factory Tee

One Direction Where We Are Tour 2014 shirt!!! - that I’ll only wear once a year on July 23

Wrap around skirt

Fancy too-short romper I have yet to wear

Friends

Getting ice cream w/ the gang over spring break

Spending multiple hours @ Fuddruckers catching up w/ church friends

Going to see Sorcerer’s Stone in concert with M and D

That day O and I spent together where I was in hysterics over making music with water bottles

Late nights with my sister watching CM

S’s Grad party

Getting my ears pierced with B

Learning to Longboard

Cold playground chat with C

The Park wth C even though I wanted to puke after the fireworks thing

Hours long talks and BG with T

Finding and connecting with A and everyone else in small group, especially K, G, and E

Getting to know Tumblr mutuals better and gaining some new internet acquaintances

Joyfuls

Going to the theater to see LA LA Land by myself

Finally painting the game room

Waking up at 2 am to listen to Sign of the Times live

I started learning to play the ukulele

Making colored queues

Camping with the college ministry

Birthday with church friends

B’s end-of-Summer get together

Made a Link costume for my first Halloween party ever

Not-as-Joyfuls

H’s suicide, other deaths at old school and 13 reasons why

That one confrontation by an older family “friend”  in July - ouch 

Not being able to do VBS

More hair loss

College upsets

Every single conversation I had w/ my parents about the future

Seeing my friends hurt

Things I’m looking forward to in 2018

Getting to know friends better

More art

I might make a zine

Finding more good music/movies

Reading more

The different opportunities I could take

The Winter Olympics

Getting out of my little area of Texas maybe?

Finishing my first year of college

Dogs :)

Anything else positive that the world throws at us ★