#foxglove reference

[murdleandmarot]

@mysticalcats @emimii @toki-toro um hi hello *throws these in your general direction and hides behind a trash can*

[notquiteaghost]

one thing that is Niggling at me with rivers of london is. peter grant is a guy who Believes In Policing, which is an ideology i do not personally hold to be true but is also a mostly coherent worldview that makes sense for him to have. except. except! his approach to magic is specifically and explicitly going "okay but why does it work like that", and as someone who has that same kind of compassionate curiosity it feels like a disservice to not have him ask those same questions of the criminal justice system. especially when he is a working class black son of an addict.

like, on a meta level, to be clear. the thing about policing is it IS actually impossible to prevent people hurting others. and we do actually need a system to deal with the after-effects, and that system does need to be formal & somewhat at a remove. the problem is who holds the power in that system and how they use it, and the underlying concept that punishment prevents crime, and how cultural change is slow and difficult. it rings very true to have a guy who on some level doesn't really believe locking criminals up helps anyone in the long run, but has decided it at least helps in the short term and he is okay being the guy doing that. peter Wants To Help, and it does scan for him to decide becoming a cop is how he can do that.

it's just. to then have him join the unit run by a guy who was born before they repealed not just capital punishment but the capital punishment of children. so the concept of Deserved Consequences very much comes up, and continues to come up, and it is an ideological leap to go from "people who have committed crimes do not deserve to be killed" to "people who have committed crimes do not deserve to be imprisoned", and it does make sense for peter not to make it when it would require him to quit his job at the least. but also he spends so much time thinking 'but why does magic work' and absolutely no time thinking 'but why do people do crime' and it's jarring. can we at least acknowledge it's something he's purposefully avoiding yknow

[getinthefuckingcarkitten]

“...And then she got dragged out of the classroom, for like, the third time this week. I mean, mentioning condoms in the most religious teacher’s class is really… Hey, Avie, are you listening?” The girl leaned forward, her elbows sliding a bit on top of her crossed legs.

To be honest, Avery was only half-registering whatever she had been prattling on about for the last 30 minutes. She had only asked about school because she felt a little guilty for having “accidentally” pushed the smaller girl into the car’s door, hard enough to make her yelp like a little dog when you kick it. She wasn’t even really angry at the girl, but she took a bit too long saying goodbye to her friend outside school and Avery was a busy woman with places to be and networking to get done, so really, it was just a bit of an overreaction.

“...Yes.” Avery lied, nodding half-heartedly. “It was a real faux-pas of this girl, mhm.”

She seemed so clearly disinterested that the girl sighed and gave up, going quiet for a brief moment. Those were rare with this one, talkative as she was. At least she picked up on those little clues, and there was no need to tell her to shut up.

“Your bed is so comfortable!” The girl commented. Maybe Avery mentally praised her too soon, as she heard the bed creak while the girl swung her own body back and forth like a toddler on a sugar high.

Avery wouldn’t normally take anyone to her house, much less a girl like the one currently sitting on her bed, in her gaudy make-up and extremely short school skirt. As charming as she could be in parties, it turned out that the party girl persona was not only a persona, as Avery would have hoped. She was exactly as loud and hyperactive in her daily life.

Luckily for her, exactly as charming too, which was the reason Avery hadn’t dropped her yet, as there were benefits to having on her arm someone who could make grouchy executives laugh with bawdy jokes. And since she was in a bit of a rush, that little gremlin even got to see how nice Avery’s house was, too, as long as she remained within eyesight. Avery liked cats, but never owned one because of how prone they were to break stuff while jumping on counters. That girl was exactly like that, except bigger and less graceful.

Avery heard a thud, and breathed in deeply as she glanced to the side, seeing that the girl managed to fall off the bed due to her own clumsiness. She had picked her up by the school’s gate, no way that kid was already drunk... Avery pushed her chair back stiffly, feeling her head run hot with rage.

The click-clack of her heels made the girl look up, still dumbly steadying herself on her hands and knees on the floor. Such a position suited some kind of destitute orphan like her, of course, but it didn’t fit Avery’s companion for the evening at all.

“What are you doing still dressed like that?” Avery’s voice had a sharp edge to it. “Go wipe that clown shit off your face. We’re going to run late.”

Those new generation fashion fads always had Avery grinding her teeth from the sheer distaste, and that overdone, cartoonish sort of makeup that girls her age seemed to replicate in droves, shortening their skirts and lowering their socks to match was just one more ridiculous low-class idiocy. Avery had yet to beat it into that thick skull of hers. For now, she put up with it, but only until they went out together.

However, the girl simply looked up at her with a slight smirk.

“Can’t i go like this? I like it like this.” She said, all innocently. Avery gave her a cold look. “You just don’t get it.”

“What don’t i get?” Avery half-spat at her, clear disdain in her face and mockery in her voice. “I can see that you still paint your face like a child’s, yes. How endearing. Now go wash it off.”

The girl scowled a bit, but soon her annoying smile returned. She sat back, looking so relaxed that it’d make anyone just want to strangle her.

“Do you know why you don’t get it?” The girl asked, humming as she held back laughter.

“Why?” Avery asked through gritted teeth, her fists clenching.

“Because you’re such an old fucking hag.” The girl gave her a shit-eating grin, crooked little fangs on full display.

Avery heard the noise of impact, dry like fire crackling, slightly deafening, before she realized she had moved. As the girl’s head snapped back from the force of her punch, she looked down at her half-numb hand, scoffing. She could hear a low mewling, a pained gasp as the girl held her own face, her head having hit the bedframe hard enough to put her thoughts back into place.

When she looked back up at Avery, tears going down her face and making make-up run all over it, a little bit of blood coming out of her mouth, Avery felt a little bad.

And then the guilt went right out of the window as she heard the girl’s low chuckle as she rubbed her face, watching the white color transfer from her stained cheeks to her fingertips.

“Guess you got what you wanted.” The girl commented, knowing her makeup was ruined. Her usually high-pitched voice was hoarse, likely from the scare.

Avery watched the girl move and slowly stand, before sitting down on the bed. Her heavy breath and messy appearance should disgust anyone with half a mind to care about their expensive sheets getting stained by cheap makeup, but Avery was right past the point of caring when those puppy eyes, scared like cornered prey and yet oh so excited sent a shiver down her spine.

“Feeling a bit weak on the legs.” The girl’s voice, breathy and ragged, only made Avery lean in closer.

“Is that so?” Avery asked, her breath catching as she couldn’t stop herself from leering like a hungry wolf.

The girl took little time to close the distance left between them, and Avery had to remember she was really good at picking up on those subtle signs. Soft lips met hers, a receptive little mouth opening up for Avery to take what was hers, the taste of strawberry bubblegum overwhelmingly sweet mixing in with the tangy iron of spilled blood at the tip of that girl’s tongue making all traces of what could have been a fight dissipate like mist.

As they pulled away, a thin string of spit connecting them before Avery licked her lips, the girl came back and kissed her jaw.

“You know i didn’t mean it.” Sweet words coming from an even sweeter voice could go a long way even if it’s owner was such a deceptive little bitch. “Can i apologize?”

And Avery would never say no to such a sweet offering. She sat on the bed besides the girl, kissing her for a little more no matter how sloppy it got, giving her a little hum of approval before watching the little vixen slide down, leaving a kiss on Avery’s exposed shoulder as she went back to her knees. On second thought, that was the perfect position for her on all accounts.

The girl gently slid Avery’s panties off from under her cocktail dress, lifting her legs out of it one at a time, a kiss on her knees and another at her feet as the underwear came off before her kisses went up, first to the inside of Avery’s thighs, then up right in between them, eliciting an embarrassing moan that made Avery cover her mouth with her hand. Maybe she was more worked up than she previously thought, but work stress made it hard to get properly horny until she could have a hot young thing between her legs like this.

With far more care than Avery bothered to have when their positions were reversed, the girl used two fingers to push apart her folds before her tongue slid between them. Their eyes met as the girl sought approval to continue, as if she was fucking stupid or something. Avery’s hand grabbed a fistful of the girl’s hair and then she pulled her face in closer, and at least that was all she needed to do to have her right back at work, licking up and down her pussy with newfound vigor before focusing on her clit, her rhythmic movements making Avery’s hand tighten on her hair as the girl’s head bobbed, looking up at Avery like some lovesick puppy. The grip on her hair tightened as Avery’s hips buckled forward, as she threw one leg around the girl’s shoulder to ride her face better.

It didn’t take that long for Avery to come from the girl’s gentle caresses with one last forceful thrust, her leg briefly locking the girl’s head in place while Avery threw her head back and moaned one last, drawn-out mewl. As she recovered her bearings, her body relaxed and looked she down between her legs, that vixen looked a little too proud of herself, despite her disgustingly messy face and disheveled clothes.

And then she rose to her feet slowly, coming up to kiss Avery in a much tamer kiss, soft hands on their way to undo the zipper of the cocktail dress before Avery roughly grabbed one of the wandering hands.

“What are you doing?” Avery asked, her voice still icy despite not even being angry anymore. “We’re running late. Go take a shower, you look disgusting.”

The girl stilled for a moment, and Avery might have dreamt the spark of rebellion that crossed her face before she smiled pleasantly and nodded.

“Right… I’ll… Be back soon.” The girl replied, her voice a little less hoarse as she got off Avery and slowly walked to the suite’s spacious bathroom.

With her gone, Avery quickly pulled her panties up and went to check herself in the mirror. With a soft “Fuck,” she took some wet wipes to rub off the entire lower half of her face, having gotten careless enough to let her flawless foundation get stained with runny eyeliner and foundation that was twenty times darker than hers.

As she took her time to fix her appearance, she heard the soft pitter-patter of the girl’s bare feet behind her. Avery turned around to see her dressed in the pretty pink dress she had picked out especially for her, which indeed did compliment her hair quite well. And how much prettier she looked bare-faced, acting all coquettish as she approached Avery.

“What should i do?” The girl pointed to the bruise blooming on her cheek from Avery’s punch. “I can’t go out like this…”

“Sit down.” Avery got up from her vanity’s chair, and the girl promptly obeyed. Good, it seemed like she was no longer up to having an attitude, at least for now. “I’ll cover it up, so stay still.”

Avery pulled out a bunch of bottles and boxes from a few shopping bags, and laid them on the vanity before starting to apply some products to the girl’s face.

As the girl flinched and let out a soft gasp when the concealer brush made pressure against her cheek, Avery held her chin to keep her in place.

“Is it that sore?” Avery asked, halfway between concerned and finding it really funny. It wouldn’t be good if it was something serious, but the girl’s reactions, with her breathy little noises that sounded more naughty than really painful, were a bit amusing.

“N-No.” The girl lied, and repositioned her face to look straight ahead, playing tough. Whenever Avery pressed too hard on the bruise with a brush or sponge, the girl would bite her lips. It was hard not to laugh.

After a few minutes, the bruise was perfectly covered-up. Proud of herself, Avery showed it to the girl, who beamed at her reflection.

“Woah, so much better!” She said, amazed. “I’m glad. Can’t have people thinking you beat me.”

Avery only gave her a slap over the head for that one, before telling her to quiet down as she did the rest of her makeup, in a more professional and dignified style than her usual.

But as Avery drew on a winged cat liner that really complimented the girl’s sharp eyes, she spoke up again.

“Hey, Avie.” The girl started with that annoying nickname, making Avery sigh.

“I thought i had just told you to keep quiet.” Avery replied, disinterested in whatever she was about to say.

“I was just wondering how you knew my actual shade? I usually wear a darker one, so…” The girl trailed off as she realized how intensely Avery was glaring at her.

She didn’t even mean to glare. It was just a kneejerk reaction as she was expecting more bullshit.

“You hands.” Avery replied, simply. “I just looked at your hands.”

“...Ah.” The girl looked at her own hand, blushing a little. Avery hoped she wasn't getting any weird ideas-

A bruise like something like a hand had constrained the girl's wrist caught Avery’s attention, and she looked up to see another one blooming on the shoulder that hit the car as Avery pushed the girl. Suddenly, she was a bit more nervous.

“...I’ll wear gloves.” The girl spoke up, covering her bruised wrist with her other hand, making Avery snap out of it.

“...You know, good idea. I can… Cover up this one too, then.” Avery gently touched the girl’s bruised shoulder. “I can’t let people think i beat you.”

The girl giggled at this, looking cute now that she looked more like what Avery expected of her companions. Satisfied, she bent to start the shoulder cover up. To her surprise, the girl turned around and gave her a small peck on the lips.

As Avery pulled away, that infatuated look was back on the girl’s face. It gave her a small shudder, wondering how long would that little girl be satisfied with Avery’s sort of “affection.” Each day, it seemed like she wanted more and more of a reaction. Maybe this gamble was turning riskier than what was calculated-

But it was indeed so lovely, the way the girl turned her head away, averting her gaze as if the cover up of a bruise was some intimate affair, the way she sighed softly on Avery’s hand every now and then. Maybe keeping her around a while longer was okay, right?

++Love

[hattiestgal]

Let's see Riley in any one of the members of The Clash's outfits in this photo! Up to you which one!

All of the members of B,G,M! are quite avid photoshoot-doers, constantly trying to get good promo photos or otherwise just messing around and saving some good memories. The Clash was a good bit before Riley's time, but that won't stop her form appreciating their work! And after having found a top that surprisingly closely mimicked one of Riley's favorite photos of the band, they knew they had to do the same signature smolder

...Which isn't very easy when you can't keep a straight face!

[ghostorbz]

SAY HAI TO MY COOKIE OC

[foxglovesound]

Foxglove Petalkiss of Thornwood Sound

Name: Foxglove Petalkiss Past Names: Lightning Tempestborne, Rubble Age: 30 months (2 years) Rank: Resident (undeclared)  Identity & Pronouns: Tom, he/him Orientation: Gay

Family:

Hummingbird Whistler || paternal grandmother, deceased

Agoseris Petalkiss || paternal grandmother, Thornwood Sound senior

Hail Tempestborne || maternal grandfather, deceased

Tormentil Petalkiss || father’s sibling, Thornwood Sound caretaker

Chanterelle Petalkiss || paternal aunt, Thornwood Sound resident

Goldfinch Halfstorme || father, Openheath Hillock rilshamiaul

Breeze Tempestborne || mother, deceased

Heatwave Tempestborne || older sister, Openheath Hillock lord

Sunshower Tempestborne || older sibling, deceased

Rainstorm Tempestborne || older sister, deceased

Arnica Petalkiss || cousin, Thornwood Sound resident

Residency: The Soot-Kiss Residency 

[ask-toxinverse]

Toxin!Killer

Meet Toxin!Killer :D / Foxglove ( His sketch looks like a zombie lmao )

Info / Personality :

Foxglove is fairly energetic most of the time , and decieves people with his seemingly constant kindness and cheer . He is manipulative , but cares deeply about his friends , who he calls his ' patchmates ' as a play on flower patches .

He has a habit of stopping in the middle of sentences to stare into space , then continuing to talk like nothing happened . He has no memories of the inciting incident of their multiverse's odd .. whatever it is , but he has a feeling Myo and Mimosa know .

Other info :

Name : Foxglove / Fox

OG name : Killer

Flower : Foxglove

Danger 1-20 : 17

Likes : His patchmates , talking to others , the colors mauve and red

Dislikes : Nightshade , Myo , Mimosa , silence

[greenwitchcrafts]

May 2024 witch guide

Full moon: May 23rd

New moon: May 7th

Sabbats: Beltane-May1st

May Flower Moon

Known as: Bright Moon, Budding Moon, Dyad Moon, Egg Laying Moon, Frog Moon, Hare Moon, Leaf Budding Moon, Merry Moon, Moon of the Shedding Ponies, Planting Moon, Sproutkale, Thrimilcmonath & Winnemanoth

Element: Fire

Zodiac: Taurus & Gemini

Nature spirits: Elves & Faeries

Deities: Aphrodite, Artemis, Bast, Cernunnos, Diana, Frigga, Flora, Horned God, Kali, Maia, Pan, Priapus & Venus

Animals: Cat, leopard & lynx

Birds: Dove, Swallow & Swan

Trees: Hawthorne & rowan

Herbs: Cinnamon, dittany of Crete, Elder, mint, mugwort & thyme

Flowers: Foxglove, lily of the valley & rose

Scents: Rose & sandalwood

Stones: Amber, Apache tear, carnelian, emerald, garnet, malachite, rose quartz, ruby, tourmaline & tsavorite

Colors: Brown, green, orange, pink & yellow

Energy:  Abundance, creative energy, faerie & spirit contact, fertility, intuition, love, marriage, material gains, money, propagation, prosperity, real-estate dealings, relationships & tenacity

May’s Flower Moon name should be no surprise; flowers spring forth across North America in abundance this month!

• “Flower Moon” has been attributed to Algonquin peoples, as confirmed by Christina Ruddy of The Algonquin Way Cultural Centre in Pikwakanagan, Ontario.

May’s Moon was also referred to as the “Month of Flowers” by Jonathan Carver in his 1798 publication, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America: 1766, 1767, 1768 (pp. 250-252), as a likely Dakota name. Carver stayed with the Naudowessie (Dakota) over a period of time; his expedition covered the Great Lakes region, including the Wisconsin and Minnesota areas.

Beltane

Known as: Beltaine, May day, Roodmas & Cethsamhain

Season: Spring

Symbols: Eggs, faeries, fire, flowers & maypoles

Colors: Blue, dark yellow, green, light pink, orange, red, white yellow & rainbow spectrum

Oils/Incense: Frankincense, lilac, passion flower, rose, tuberose & vanilla

Animals: Bee, cattle, goat & rabbit

Mythical: Faeries

Stones: Bloodstone, emerald, lapis lazuli, orange carnelian, rose quartz & sapphire

Food: Beltane cakes, cherries, dairy foods, farls, green herbal salads, honey, meade, nuts, oat cakes, oats, strawberries & sweets

Herbs/Plants: Almond, ash tree, birch, bramble, cinquefoil, damiana, frankincense, hawthorn, ivy, meadowsweet, mushroom, rosemary, saffron, satyrion root, St.John's wort & woodruff

Flowers: Angelica, bluebell, daisy, hibiscus, honeysuckle, lilac, marigold, primrose, rose, rose hips & yellow cowslips

Trees: Ash, cedar, elder, fir, hawthorn, juniper, linden, mesquite, oak, pine, poplar, rowan & willow

Goddesses: Aphrodite, Areil, Artemis, Cybele, Danu, Diana, Dôn, Eiru, Elen, Eostre, Fand, Flidais, Flora, Freya, Frigga, Maia, Niwalen, Rhea, Rhiannon, Var, Venus & Xochiquetzal

Gods: Baal, Bacchnalia, Balder, Belanos, Belenus, Beli, Beltene, Cernunnos, Cupid, Faunus, Freyr, Grannus, The Green Man, Lares, Lugh, Manawyddan, Odin, Pan, Puck & Taranis

Issues, Intentions & Powers: Agriculture, creativity, fertility, lust, marriage, the otherworld/Underworld, pleasure, psychic ability, purification, sensuality, sex/uality, visions, warmth & youth

Spellwork: Birth, Earth magick, healing, health & pregnancy

Activities:

• Create a daisy chain or floral decorations

• Decorate & dance around a Maypole

• Set up an outdoor altar & leave offerings to faeries

• Prepare a ritual bath with fresh flowers

• Light a bonfire or candles & dance around them

• Set aside time for self care

• Gather flowers & use them to decorate your home or altar

• Prepare a feast to celebrate with friends/family

• Make flower crowns

• Bake bannocks, oat cakes or cookies

• Hang wreaths decorated with ribbons & flowers

• Plant flowers in your garden

• Start a wish book/box/journal

• Go on a walk & gice thanks to nature⁸

• Cast fertility or a bunch spells

• Fill small baskets of flowers & small goodies, then leave them on your friends/neighbors doorstep as a gesture of goodwill & friendship

Beltane is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature and is associated with important events in Irish mythology. Also known as Cétshamhain ('first of summer'), it marked the beginning of summer & was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people & crops, and to encourage growth. (Today, Witches who observe the Wheel of the Year celebrate Beltane as the height of Spring.)

Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke & ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires & sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused & then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire.

These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the aos sí. Doors, windows, byres and livestock would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire.

In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells & rushlights. Holy wells were also visited, while Beltane dew was thought to bring beauty & maintain youthfulness.

• The aos sí (often referred to as spirits or fairies) were thought to be especially active at Beltane. Like Samhain, which lies directly opposite from Beltane on the Wheel of the Year, this was seen as a time when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest. At Samhain the veil between the worlds of the living & the dead is thin enough that we can connect & convene with our beloved dead, here at Beltane it’s the veil between the human world, and the world of faeries & nature spirits that has grown thin. Offerings would be left at the ancient faerie forts, the wells and in other sacred places in an effort to appease these nature spirits to ensure a successful growing season.

Some believe this is when The Goddess is now the Mother & the God is seen as the Green Man or the wild stag. It celebrates the symbolic union, mating or marriage of the Goddess & God & heralds in the coming summer months. It represents life rather than Samhain on the opposite side of the Wheel of the Year.

Other Celebrations:

• Rosealia- May 23rd

Rosalia or Rosaria was a festival of roses celebrated on various dates, primarily in May, but scattered through mid-July. The observance is sometimes called a rosatio ("rose-adornment") or the dies rosationis, "day of rose-adornment," & could be celebrated also with violets. As a commemoration of the dead, the rosatio developed from the custom of placing flowers at burial sites. It was among the extensive private religious practices by means of which the Romans cared for their dead, reflecting the value placed on tradition (mos maiorum, "the way of the ancestors"), family lineage & memorials ranging from simple inscriptions to grand public works. Several dates on the Roman calendar were set aside as public holidays or memorial days devoted to the dead.

Roses had funerary significance in Greece, but were particularly associated with death & entombment among the Romans. In Greece, roses appear on funerary steles  & in epitaphs most often of girls. Flowers were traditional symbols of rejuvenation, rebirth &memory, with the red & purple of roses & violets felt to evoke the color of blood as a form of propitiation

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

Wikipedia

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Encyclopedia britannica

Llewellyn 2024 magical almanac Practical magic for everyday living

[jadeyarts]

Separate from that other anon I for one would personally love to hear your Peri and Harbinger/Foxglove headcanons

OMG YAYYYYY. I HAVE QUITE A FEW ♥ (for my own convenience i'm referring to them by their og series names for reasons)

the events of timmy's secret wish are what first planted the seeds of genuine, fully positive feelings and fondness for poof in foop's mind and heart... maybe even a puppy love crush. he seriously thought "well, dying in poof's arms wouldn't be so bad" and hoped that wouldn't awaken something in him. it did.

in a lot of episodes they often have differently colored eyes - foop has a darker shade of purple. i think poof's noticed, and i think he even likes the look of those darker eyes.

given how foop would cry out for poof to protect or save him, i think that poof grows to be incredibly protective of foop… poof will square up for his square!!!

hes the one telling cashiers that foop asked for no pickles, imho ♥

at some point poof stopped intervening in foop's nefarious schemes so i've kind of interpreted poof as just... not caring anymore. he can't stay mad at foop for long, and he finds himself not even bothered by whatever damages he ends up causing anyways. i think he might even find his antics amusing.

after the events of certifiable super sitter, foop actually feels comfortable with admitting that poof is his best friend-

it'd take a few more years to admit it to poof's face, though, it's too embarrassing for him! he'll gush to chloe constantly, though - she knows he's in love with poof before either of them does.

foop's first boyfriend was actually their mutual friend sammy sweetsparkle in high school, while poof had kind of an on-and-off puppy love situationship with goldie... until he kind of flipped out on her about constantly getting foop's name wrong in the middle of a jealousy induced break-down. foop was actually thrilled to hear that poof let his dark side show over wanting to be with him.

sammy and foop ironically broke up on good terms because sammy's best attempt at understanding the fairy/antifairy situation is that they must be soulmates and he didn't want to stand in the way of true love. he's their second biggest supporter.

technically poof confessed first but his confession was literally just screaming IF I DONT SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH YOU I AM LITERALLY GOING TO BLOW SOMETHING UP!!!! at foop, which was a love confession that would only appeal to foop.

chloe TRIED to plan the "perfect" first date for them but it was horribly awkward and not to their tastes. so instead their first REAL date was poof taking foop to a kelly clarkson concert where they got matching "my life would suck without you" t-shirts.

poof actually buys - WITH HUMAN MONEY, IN A HUMAN DISGUISE - every kelly clarkson album as it releases for foop.

they nearly elope several times but got caught by wanda every time. wanda doesn't really like the fact that poof is with foop but doesn't wanna turn into mama cosma about it so she comes to terms with it. she doesnt want them to just run away and get married when she doesn't think they're ready yet either, though. timmy has to be the one to appeal to foop's desire for attention to convince them to have a big wedding after they graduate. poof doesnt care whether he has a big wedding or just elopes - as long as foop is his. if foop wants a big wedding, that's what they'll have.

whenever people ask how long they've been together they tend to go silent because their first instinct is to say "about 50 years" even though they're only about 22-24, and they've only officially been a couple for about 6 or 7 years. foop's second instinct is also to say "from the very first moment i drew breath" like the dramatic weirdo he is. which isn't even accurate and they both know it.

literally so specific to my own little homebrewed post-canon that you can't even pretend it works with anw:

in my elaborate fanon after AC and AW abandoned foop in season 10, poof begs wanda to find someone who would be willing to take foop in. luckily, wanda knew just the fairies for the job.

after getting adopted foop changes his name to foxglove thimbleplight - poof changed his last name to thimbleplight when they got married so he becomes periwinkle thimbleplight. :3

they still call each other poof and foop - usually in the form of embarrassingly cheesy affectionate nicknames. we're talking "smoopy-poo" level cheesy usage here.

(actually that one still works with anw but the art i drew is clearly my own designs and not the anw designs and it's exceedingly cheesy so)

poof convinced foop to go to the fairy academy with him - initially foop was hesitant because he… wants to… but… antifairies cant become godparents, right??? poof was willing to do literally anything it would take to keep foop by his side though. he initially considers manipulating some poor unsuspecting godparent to quit on their godkid just so he can hijack the ensuing fairy idol for foop to win and take their job… it's devious, and he knows foop would have loved that he did something so malicious just for him, but in the end he just gets into a fight with jorgen and the fairy council about it. he argues that technically foop is legally a fairy now since he was adopted by fairies, so he should be allowed to become a godparent. they end up agreeing.

their relationship was kind of a controversial issue in fairyworld for a few years because of poof's high profile status - while they're not the first fairy and anti-fairy couple, they're the first recorded instance of a fairy coupled with their own counterpart in eons. the media did get bored of them eventually though.

they already wanted to get married after high school but they agreed to postpone the wedding until after they graduated from the fairy academy so they had enough free time to make it as over the top as foop wanted it to be. poof actually proposed to foop AGAIN with a diamond ring after they graduated from the fairy academy, even though they were technically already engaged - with the intent of being as over-the-top dramatic and annoying to the rest of their classmates as possible.

^ which is similar to what cosmo and wanda did as teens though details differ. cosmo is literally the only one who seems to realize this and audibly goes "WOW, DEJA VU..." when this all happens.

while wanda had to get used to poof and foop together, cosmo accepted it pretty much immediately. mostly because sometimes they reminded him of himself and wanda. (<- actually canon)

[lovecoredeity]

━━━✥♧ Cardamom Foxglove Heartfilia ♧✥━━━

Introducing the third eldest Heartfilia child, Cardamom Foxglove Heartfilia! Cardamom is the second’s strongest sorcerer as well as the second biggest disappointment to the Heartfilia family! Cardamom is painfully passive and willfully ignorant, he’s far too tender hearted for his or anyone else’s good. Cardamom used to be more assertive and outspoken than he is now until the incident which cost him his right eye. Since the incident occurred he has become more withdrawn, he’s far more soft spoken and meek, a shell of his former self.

❥ Additional fun fact! Cardamom is also referred to as “Cardamom the coward!” At least by Calliope

♡ if you like my art please consider buying me a kofi ♡

[itsphoenix0724]

A Shadowed Throne (Azriel x Reader)

Summary: The warmer seasons have been particularly hard this year as Azriel awaits his Queen's return. When winter finally dawns he finds Death will only kneel to life in one circumstance.

Warnings: SMUT, throne-sex, unprotected sex

Word Count: 1.5k

A/N: Hello everyone! This was heavily inspired by the myth of Hades and Persephone if that wasn't obvious. Also incredibly inspired by @azsazz's beautiful work called "Between the Shadow and the Soul" so please give that a read. I asked on anon if I could write something similar and I am thrilled they agreed. I hope everyone enjoys it, and as always constructive criticism is welcome!

The halls in the Obsidian Castle are always eerily quiet. You can only hear the whispers of the souls that bustle around the castle. The God of Death finds that he enjoys quiet peace. The cold marble of his throne presses against his back and calms his racing pulse. He feels your presence enter his realm. Shadows bring him a rush of warmth and the smell of sweet spring flowers. 

The feeling awakens something in his blood he thought was long dead. This spring's goodbye was awful, the summer bittersweet, and the fall melancholy.

Winter was always his favorite season.

Selfishly he loved the quiet bliss of snowfall and the influx of souls that enter his realm. Most of your smaller creations don’t survive the harshness the winter brings, but he wipes your tears and consoles you that all of your creations will be safe with him. He cherishes each one, kindly guiding them back when they’re ready to move on. 

Two souls open the large doors to the throne room. When he sees you the cold heart in his chest starts to beat again. He surveys you from where you stand at the door. 

You had chosen a dress in a deep purple for your return home. Two thigh-high slits let him see the vines that wrap all the way down to your bare feet. Your usual flowers had been swapped out for an homage to the underworld. A crown of lilies, nightshade, and oleander were woven through your hair. Two sets of foxglove dangled from your ears and purple emperor butterflies fluttered around your neckline. 

You were a vision, a true queen of his realm. 

Your eyes locked for one tortuous moment. Neither of you moved, exhaling a small breath before you take off to him in a run. With a wave of his hand, the souls cleared out of the throne room. They would celebrate the return of their queen later with a week-long festival in your honor. 

He fully intended to celebrate the return of his queen right fucking now. 

He pulled you onto his lap as soon as you reached the throne, the butterflies scattering into the air and landing around the both of you. One brave butterfly rests on his hair before your fingers chase it away.

He wraps one strong hand through your hair before finally drawing his mouth to yours. After months and months of cold, he finally feels warm again. He draws his tongue along the seam of your lips, and they open for him as he greedily slides his tongue into your mouth.  He moans as the taste of honey and pomegranates flood his senses and you dig your hands into his hair and pull so harshly he fears you may have drawn blood. 

“Azriel,” you whine his name into his mouth and he wants to inject the sound into his veins. Mortals fear his name, only referring to him as Death or King, and he finds he doesn’t mind their fear. 

He only wants his name to fall out of your lips anyway. 

He moves his lips to mark the soft skin of your neck. He wants to leave his mark everywhere on your body. He wants to remind you of why he deserves your return to him every winter. Azriel’s instincts are kicking into high gear. He wants to claim you and make you beg and cry underneath him and never let you go again. However, he puts that on pause. 

For now. 

He stands up, hauling your whole body against him before pinning you to the back of the throne and falling to his knees. 

All life has to yield to Death eventually, it’s the way of the world, but Death kneels for Life in some instances. He parts your dress, fingers toying with the vines that wrap up and down your legs before diving in. His eyes almost glaze over as he licks one strong stripe through your center, tongue gently flicking over the apex of your thighs in a way that makes you convulse and squirm beneath his tongue. There will be time for teasing later.

Azriel intends to fully make you beg for him when he can properly take you apart in the bed that has been dreadfully cold in your absence. He eats you like he was starving for it, in a way he was, as he laps at the juices running down your thighs and looks up at you through half-lidded lashes. Your cheeks are flushed, your chest heaving up and down as your fingers wind through his inky black hair. You urge him back down and he lets out a dark chuckle that wraps your bones in dark silks.

Azriel laps his tongue at your center before thrusting inside and you let out a moan of approval. His tongue fucks you in and out as one hand comes up to rub tight circles against your clit. You shatter against him with another scream of his name. Azriel’s eyes find yours again and he takes a moment to admire his queen. Your skin is flushed with a thin layer of sweat, even in the cool throne room, and you're lounging on the throne like a true ruler of the underworld. The sight makes his painfully hard cock twitch in his pants. He shucks your legs off of his shoulder before rising to his full height before you. You stare up at him through your eyelashes, playing innocent, even as you undo the laces that hold his pants shut. Your hand runs over him and his head falls back with a groan. 

He needs to get inside you now or this is going to be over far before it begins. 

He takes your hands away and pins them above your head as he slowly sinks in inch by tortuous inch. He tries to patiently wait for you to adjust but you dig your nails into his wrists and growl in his ear for him to “move already,” he begins to fuck you at a relentless pace. His hands drag down the top of your dress and he takes the weight of both breasts in his palms. He runs a thumb over your nipples before pinching and pulling in time to his thrusts.

“You’re such a good fucking girl,” He growls into your ear and he feels your run a hand up the back edge of his wing. He lets out a long moan, hips stuttering for a second, and he bites your neck in warning before pounding into you at a relentless pace.

You’re trying to arch your hips to meet his thrusts but you’re too fucking cock drunk to keep up. 

He reaches one hand down to play with your clit again and he brings you to another mind-numbing orgasm that makes your walls convulse around his cock. That and the way your nails are digging into his back sends him growling through his release. He pulls out slowly before tucking himself back in his pants and rearranging you so that you’re sat on his lap. Az rubs small circles on your lower back and you play with the ends of his hair.

“Sweetheart,” you mutter and he looks down at you, a small smile playing on your lips. “Where’s my throne?” He tries to smother the guilty look before feigning his innocence. With a wave of his hand your throne appears. A rose quartz twin to his obsidian one. 

“It depresses the souls when you’re not here Flower. I had to hide it.” It’s not a complete lie. He notices the sad glances the souls steal at your throne when you’re not here, it saddens him a bit as well, like half of his heart is missing. An incomplete set. 

“Uh-huh. Sure.” He sends another guilty smile your way. The whole truth is that he hid it so he could enjoy you on his throne, and you’ve always been able to clock his bullshit from a mile away. 

“Anyway,” He continues, hopeful to change the subject as he rises to his feet with you in his arms. You let out a small squeal and grip him tighter. “You have a party to prepare for my love. We’re thrilled to have you back.” He’s marching you to your bedroom and he kicks the throne room door closed behind him. 

“Azriel if you drop me I swear I will make flowers grow out of your ears.” It’s an empty threat. He can feel your body shake with unreleased laughter and hear the smile in your voice. Az leans down to playfully nip at your ear before he jostles you in his arms just to make the laugh you were holding bubble up in your chest. 

“I would never drop you Flower.” 

And for the first time in months, on the evening of the first day of winter, the halls of the Obsidian Castle are filled with the sounds of laughter.

[genericpuff]

I'm honestly amazed by how well you can imitate the LO S3 art style! Have you always been good at this sort of thing or is it a skill you developed due to your work as a tattoo artist?

ahhh thank you, but ima let you in on a little trade secret -

it's literally just referencing LMAO which is a valuable skillset to have! but one that I think a lot of folks tend to overlook because they think "learning to draw" means "I need to be able to draw everything perfectly from imagination!" Which sure, learning how to draw things without needing references might be cool, but it's ultimately not the sole defining feature of a "good artist" and I think there's frankly way too much emphasis put on "drawing without references" these days because it creates this unrealistic expectation of what an artist is. Referencing is part of the process! It's important! And it's a valuable skill to have so that you can actually grow your skills beyond your own limits! Referencing is as important to the process of creating art as research is to the process of writing, you can only produce so much new stuff if you're not taking in new stuff alongside it.

Though I use this skill a lot in tattooing as well, it's mostly rooted in my animation schooling which broke me out of the habit of drawing purely from imagination and taught me how to properly reference other material for educational purposes.

And I'm sure there are people in audience right now gasping at the fact that I simply cropped a bunch of different shots of Minthe from S3 and rearranged them like some surgical madman playing with body parts-

-but this is like, the actual majority of the process when it comes to learning other art styles and this process is taught as a skill in a lot of art schools because it forces you to draw what's there rather than what you think is there. This is the basis of master studies, to learn the techniques of other artists by trying to mimic them as closely as possible. Don't know what tools that artist used specifically? Try to recreate the work anyways with your best guess. Even if you only get close but not perfect, you'll still likely learn a lot along the way and may even develop some brand NEW techniques that weren't present in the original work you're studying from.

Imagination is necessary to the creative process, but it's only part of that process, you can't suddenly learn how to draw the way other artists draw through imagination alone because your imagination is limited purely by your own lived experiences. Our brains don't come pre-installed with these skills, they can't just magically unlock the capability to "do the thing". Just like how we have to learn to follow recipes as a means to becoming a baker or learn to read the alphabet to learn how to read and write, we have to learn how to draw what we see and reference the material around us if we truly want to expand our own innermost knowledge which will allow us to draw from imagination.

Here are some other examples of studies I've done, such as my attempts to learn the art style of The Doctor Foxglove Show:

As well as a background study from S1 of LO:

And of course here are a handful of the shitloads of studies I've done to try and "figure out" how to draw Hades and Persephone from S1 of LO:

Aaaand just for the fun of it, here are some completely non-LO studies, like the ones I did of Kazuma Koda's background work and Akihiko Yoshida's character designs for Nier: Automata:

And this sorta rotoscoped ??? animatic of Mitsuhiro doing the opening jig for Still Feel by Half Alive which is 100% not done and probably never will be LOL

I'm always progressively doing studies of both LO and other media in this way so that I can update my knowledge and continue to improve my skillset.

Though, despite my best efforts to mimic the original creator's style, works like Rekindled will always have my own stylizations present, as that's just an inevitable consequence of it being made by myself and Banshriek (and the fact that we just refuse to draw worse to look more like LO because jfc so much of LO's original art, even the stuff we love, is rooted in Rachel's trial and errors lmao), but that's a feature, not a bug :') <3

So the answer is yes, the Minthe S3 redraw was done through skills I developed over time, though not necessarily through tattooing, simply through learning how to actually practice properly beyond "drawing a lot". And you can too! Draw lots, but also remember that your brain isn't naturally just going to "get better" at whatever you're trying to achieve just because you really want to achieve it. I try to avoid the mantra of "just practice" because it oversimplifies what's truly necessary to learning - having something to learn from outside of your own imagination. If you don't learn how to practice properly, then you'll just wind up repeating the same mistakes and reinforcing the same bad habits over and over again.

All that's to say, if you want to learn how to draw like a certain artist, try and recreate their art for yourself ;0 (but like also please for the love of god remember that it's for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, I shouldn't have to tell y'all not to copy directly off other artists' work for your own because that's just deadass stealing lmao) I know this enters the ethical dilemma of tracing, and whether or not it's a "valid" way to learn, but there's a lot of virtue in learning through referencing other artists and building new skills through them. I'm sure folks will argue that it's a 'crutch' or 'training wheels', but that's all often being touted from the perspective that crutches and training wheels... are automatically bad things and aren't meant to help people ?

Like obviously if you want to create your own thing that isn't purely "living in the shadow" of the works that inspired you, you WILL have to make that leap into the unknown. But that leap's a lot less scary to make when you have a parachute.

[mjdrawsalot]

Jon Kent (pretty much) Complete Reading Order

Compiled first for my personal use and tidied up for @jonkentweek ! Goes up to June 2024 and includes every appearance of this character that I could find. I used ComicVine's archive to track these down, which is both fallible and constantly being updated, so there might be some mistakes. Also, I did my best to highlight the occasions where Jon was a significant character in a story and to skip the ones that were just a non-speaking, one-panel cameo, but those were personal judgements and your mileage might vary.

Color key (and apologies for the eye strain): Red are issues in which Jon is a central character, not just a cameo, Blue are crossover events, Orange are stories that take place in alternate universes/are non canonical

Optional stuff you can read for historical context:

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (1997) a classic possible future story, which is, to my knowledge, the 1st time a character named Jon who is Superman’s kid appears

Son of Superman (1999) a self-contained, now AU, story about a teen Jon Kent, very classic 90s young adult comic with all the tropes that come with that, but enjoyable as the proto-iteration of Jon as an idea

Canon appearances start here

The Final Days of Superman crossover event: Superman (2011) 51-52, Batman/Superman (2013) 31-32, Action Comics (2011) 51-52, Superman/Wonder Woman (2013) 28-29 (This is the origin story of the Clark, Lois and Jon that the comics follow in Rebirth. Largely ignored by writers, as it was written to patch up New52 weirdness, but there are occasional references that might be confusing if you skip it completely.)

Convergence (2015) 5, 8

Superman: Lois and Clark (2015) 1-8 (Establishes Jon and his family in the DCU)

Superman (2016) 1-11, 13, 17-28, 30, 32-36, 38, 40-45, Special 1

Action Comics (2016) 957-972, 974-978, 980-983, 985, 987, 989-1000, 1002, 1005, 1016, 1022-1035, 1042, 1045-1048, 1050-1057, 1059-1060, Special 1, Annual 2023

Justice League (2016) 3-6, 15, 18-19, 22, 28

Trinity (2016) 1-6, 16

Super Sons (2017) 1-16

Dark Nights: Metal (2017) 3, 6

The Man of Steel (2018) 1-6 (central from issue 4 onwards)

Superman (2018) 1, 4-12, 14-16, 20, 29-32

Adventures of the Super Sons (2018) 1-12

Justice League (2018) 9, 23-25, 34, 52, 75, Annual 2022

Super Sons/Dynomutt Special (2018)

Super Sons: The Polarshield Project (AU trilogy of graphic novels)

Supergirl (2016) 8, 30-33

DCeased (2019) 1-6 (what if DC but zombies?)

Super Sons: The Foxglove Mission

Lois Lane (2019) 3-4, 6

Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium 2

Legion of Super-Heroes (2019) 1-12

Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child

Green Lantern: Blackstars 2-3

The Terrifics (2018) 25

Teen Titans (2016) 15, 43, 45-46

DCeased: Hope at World’s End (2020) 1, 4-5, 9-15

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (in the short Super Sons story)

DCeased: Dead Planet (2020) 1-7

Super Sons: Escape to Landis

Batman/Superman (2019) Annual 1

Challenge of the Super Sons (2020) 1-14

Dark Knights: Death Metal The Last Stories of the DC Universe (2020) (in the Superman short story)

Dark Knights: Death Metal The Secret Origin (2021)

Dark Knights: Death Metal The Last 52 War of the Multiverses (2021) (in the Superman parts of the story)

DC Nation Presents Future State (2020) (intro, information and behind-the-scenes for Future State)

Future State: Superman of Metropolis (2021) 1-2 (Future State is another possible future, meaning that it’s not necessarily canon, but it takes place in the future of the main canon, not in a complete AU, like say, Dark Knights of Steel. Technically not necessary to understand main universe stories, but a few popular characters and characterizations were brought over to the main universe.)

Future State: Justice League (2021) 1-2

Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman (2021) 1-2

Future State: Kara Zor-el, Superwoman (2021) 1

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes (2021) 2

Infinite Frontier (2021) 0 (establishes the main universe status quo from this point on, feat. a synopsis of Jon’s life up to here)

Challenge of the Super Sons (2021) 1-7

Superman: Son of Kal-el (2021) 1-18, Annual 1

Shazam! (2021) 1

Superman Red and Blue (2021) 6 (in the short story The Special, but this mini series in general is cute and I recommend it)

Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes (2022) 1-6

Superman & Robin Special (2022) 1

DC’s Round Robin (2021) 2 (in the short story Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow)

Nightwing (2016) 89, 91-92, 101-104, 110, 112-113

Earth-Prime (2022) 2 (story based on the CW show Superman and Lois)

DC Pride (2022) (in the short story Super Pride)

Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis (2022) (in the short story Team Up)

Dark Crisis (2022) 1-7

Dark Crisis: Young Justice (2022) 1

Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League: Superman (2022) 1

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods (2022) 1, 4-5, 7-8

DC’s Terrors Through Time (2022) (in the short story Trick or Treat)

Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green (2022) 1

The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special (2023) (in The Life of Superman short story)

Dark Crisis: The Dark Army (2023)

Superman: Kal-El Returns Special (2023) (in the short story Distractions)

Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton (2023) (in the short story Electric)

Batman (2016) 131-132 (in the Tim Drake Robin chapters)

Superman (2023) 2-3, 9

Lazarus Planet: Omega (2023)

Power Girl Special (2023)

Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent (2023) 1-6

Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow (2023) 1 (edited version of the story in Round Robin)

DC Pride (2023) (in the short story My Best Bet)

Titans: Beast World (2024) 3-4, 6

Titans: Beast World Tour: Metropolis (2024)

Trinity Special (2024) (taken from the backups of Wonder Woman 2023 plus some extra)

[writing-for-life]

The Portrayal of Womanhood in A Game of You

I’ll be honest with you: Writing about The Sandman with a focus on (queer) women surely feels different in light of the recent allegations.

This meta has been languishing in my drafts for a long time, and since I’m currently clearing the pile, I will still publish it. Mostly because these views are mine and not someone else’s. And also because they’re critical to a degree. However, if you feel that these are topics that you currently find hard to engage with, this is the exit sign (I totally get it).

With that out of the road, let’s talk about the women of A Game of You (and why it was always one of my least favourite arcs, despite the fact that my literary and thematic preferences should have made it one of my favourite ones)…

Gender roles are a central theme in A Game of You. Before the arc even moves into these themes on a deeper level, we already get this:

Barbie tells Wanda that she wasn’t allowed to read comics when she was a young girl. And that immediately struck a chord with me upon my first reading as a teenager: I was allowed to read comics, but I still remember getting the side-eye, especially from boys. Somehow, you didn’t belong to their club (even if you arguably knew more about Batman than they did 🤣). The reason Barbie gives us is that reading comics supposedly rendered her “unladylike” (yes, comics were considered “boyish”, at least when I was a teenager, and this is exactly the time we’re talking about here). But it’s not just about how a girl is supposed to act—it’s also about actively excluding her from something that’s only for men/boys. And while the topic of, “What’s a girl supposed (and allowed!) to be like?” isn’t something either particularly dwell on in that moment, Wanda faces the struggle of having to define and fight for her womanhood daily: As a trans woman, she feels resistance on a constant basis. When she talks about Weirdzos from the Hyperman comics, this is actually a nod to DC’s Bizarro, who could be described as Superman’s shadow (there’s a whole story why they were called Weirdzos instead of Bizarros in The Sandman, but that’d lead too far here. You’ll probably find it on Google).

Close enough to the “real thing”, but always “slightly off”

And Wanda carries the shadow of her biology. All the time. There’s no escape for her, no respite, no true support.

We also see this in a scene with Hazel, one of Wanda's neighbours who lives in a lesbian relationship with her girlfriend Foxglove. Hazel noticed that Wanda has "a thingie." Despite the fact that a lot of “weird” things are happening in those panels, part of that is definitely that Wanda has not fully (in Hazel’s eyes) transitioned:

What is she, exactly (not who)?

And that question gets answered very painfully when Wanda, Hazel, Foxglove, and Thessaly come together to free Barbie from being trapped in the Dreaming. Thessaly is sure she can defeat the Cuckoo that holds Barbie captive. However, she needs menstrual blood to perform a ritual that will allow them to traverse the Moon Road into the Dreaming. During this process, Thessaly insensitively refers to Wanda as a man and prevents her from joining the journey with Foxglove and Hazel (and no, this isn’t about “Thessaly the TERF”—I already made my position on that clear and think that whole discussion needs a lot more nuance than fandom is often willing to engage in).

Maiden, Mother and Crone

Thessaly's statement, "This isn’t your route. It can’t be," further highlights the discrimination Wanda faces on a daily basis. She “isn’t” seen as a woman now, and she “can’t” ever be, even if she had reassignment surgery—Wanda would still be seen as a man by the ancient powers that be.

Wanda's struggle, more than any other character's, highlights the ongoing conflict between self-identity and societal perception of women. And that’s unfortunately still a struggle most women face. But Wanda’s character is particularly poignant because she is repeatedly forced to reaffirm her sense of self, only to be torn down again and again. Even Barbie, who always supports her and would probably never knowingly hurt her, says this when Wanda reveals her childhood name:

“Alvin? That's your real name?"

Please imagine what it must feel like if even the ones closest to you refer to your dead name as your “real” name, even if it’s without malicious intent (of course Barbie makes good on that later, but…).

Wanda can never truly find comfort in anyone. She is constantly confronted with the disparity between her self-perception and how the world views her. Ultimately, Wanda's exclusion from entering the Dreaming (and there’s more symbolism in that than you can shake a stick at—not just because she’s denied her womanhood, but also because she is denied entering a place of hope and possibility, and not least because she is denied being capable and having agency: Thessaly repeatedly acknowledges Wanda is important, and that she needs her help. But that’s on her terms, not Wanda’s) leads to her tragic death: The storm caused by drawing down the moon destroys the apartment where Wanda remains to watch over Barbie’s body.

And that’s why Wanda’s arc in the comics will always stay problematic to me (I don’t know how optimistic I can be for the TV series, because we’ve already seen her headstone in BTS shots, even if her overall arc seems to have changed): Dream grants Barbie a boon, which she uses to save the women in the Dreaming, but Wanda is not among them. There is no saving her—not in this world, not in any other.

Wanda's conservative parents bury her with her deadname Alvin Mann (and her second name adds insult to injury, because it is the German spelling of “man”, as in “male”. And again, I’m somewhat glad they have changed this for the series, as seen on said headstone, because I never got why choosing that name was necessary in the first place. Or let’s say: I get it, but I don’t think it was needed and was layered on too thick. Sometimes subtle does it, sorry).

Why is Wanda so consistently shamed, while Hazel and Foxglove's lesbian relationship is regarded not a big deal (I’m obviously not insinuating it should be, see my disclaimer at the bottom of this post)? Although I have to admit there are things about that one that always rubbed me up the wrong way, too: The dumbing down of Hazel (honestly, most of us were not that clueless about reproduction in the 80s and 90s, lesbians or otherwise), the play on butch/femme stereotypes to then clumsily try to turn them on their heads (which did not work for me), the still somewhat male gaze applied to Foxglove (she didn’t have to sleep naked with her tits on display, did she?), the implication that all women somehow end up as mothers (if they don’t end up dead), even if just “accidentally”… There’s a whole lot to be said about the topic of motherhood, and how it gets instrumentalised in several Sandman arcs, but maybe that’s for another time...

To explore that question, I want to have a closer look at Barbie, who is a (in my view, often clumsy) stand-in for the gender-identity of many (CIS) women.

A quick throwback to The Doll’s House

The first signs of Barbie's identity crisis don't appear in A Game of You, but rather in The Doll's House. She is introduced as one half of “Ken-Barbie”: They finish each other's sentences, Barbie lacks a distinct personality and is completely overshadowed by being a “traditional wife” (maybe not the type of trad wife we think about today, and yet…). The fact that she and Ken share names with plastic dolls underscores the artificial nature of their identities and their relationship.

Barbie's dream-life always felt more authentic and meaningful to her than her waking reality—that’s why she is only a shell of herself when she can’t dream (after the vortex interlude with Rose Walker). She is passive, conforms to her father's expectations of being "ladylike" and adheres to “good” CIS- and heteronormative behaviour. And then, after her divorce, she feels uprooted, shows little motivation and relies on Wanda for support. Freeing herself from her shackles could have been a story of reclaiming her power without the layer of implied loneliness (I’ll get to that). Instead, she needs to suffer for a bit…

Barbie being trapped in her dream world also traps her in a state of passivity: Dreams are not real. You can make them real, but that’s not what she does—they are a maladjusted escape for her. And yet (or maybe rather “because”), instead of directly confronting and fighting the Cuckoo, Barbie smashes the Porpentine (much to the Cuckoo's delight).

Upon waking…

Upon waking, Barbie's personality hasn't changed much from the woman we first met. When she goes to Wanda’s funeral, she struggles to defend Wanda from her transphobic aunt despite trying.

However, she engages in a small but significant act of rebellion by crossing out "Alvin" on Wanda's headstone with her favourite lipstick and writes her real name instead.

Barbie then recalls a dream she had while traveling to Wanda's funeral. In this dream, she sees Wanda not as she was in life, but as an idealised version of herself—soft, more curved, and wearing a pink dress. Death stands beside Wanda, symbolising that she is recognised for who she truly is.

And I get it: The idea was to say, “She was always a woman, even to the cosmic powers that be. Eat that, Thessaly and everyone else.” But there’s also the part of me that wants to say, “You know what? She was good the way she was. Perfect in her imperfection. We didn’t need to affirm her womanhood by showing her as a stereotypical woman.” The use of “perfect” and “drop-dead gorgeous” always really rubbed me up the wrong way in relation to the way she was portrayed in that panel. Because it portrays a stereotypical woman: That’s what you look like if you need to/want to pass. And this applies, sadly enough, to all women in one way or another, no matter what gender we were assigned at birth. But if that scene holds meaning to people, I also get it. My more critical take on it is maybe down to my own history (again: disclaimer at the bottom of this post).

Simultaneously, the destruction of the Land in the Dreaming grants Barbie a newfound independence. She is now alone, without her best friend or the friends of her dreams, but these losses have given her freedom. And for a moment, loneliness becomes the ultimate resolution to Barbie's identity conflict. And I found that idea horrible, I’ll be brutally honest with you:

On the final page of A Game of You, Barbie is shown alone, waiting for a bus to an unknown destination. She reflects on her dream of Wanda, where she had the chance to say goodbye to her past life. For a moment, she stands rigidly still, and that moment feels… really long? Separated from her past and facing an uncertain future, she is free from anyone's expectations or desires. And maybe, in that simplicity, she finds freedom.

And maybe, A Game of You challenges the idea that we have full control over our identities. Our self-perception and how others perceive us are always influenced by external factors. And somewhat, I could never quite shake the feeling the story equates the removal of the ties that bind us (in this case: relationships) and/or death with freedom: Wanda only fully realises her identity in death, and Barbie feels most liberated when she is free from past entanglements and future obligations. Whether that notion is truly rejected in the end is probably down to the reader: Barbie turns and runs towards her bus, heading into a future that, while uncertain, maybe also holds a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, none of the women of The Sandman get off particularly well in that department, and that is a common theme…

Disclaimer: I write this as a CIS bisexual woman in her 40s who has been in relationships with both women and men for 30+ years. Two of them led to marriage/civil partnership: One with a CIS woman, also bi (we were together for 10 years, 3 of them in a CP), one with my now husband (CIS straight man, married for 10 years, together longer, and we have a kid together). I don’t need to tell you this, but I am because I think it is important to disclose my own bias and experiences as a queer woman in the 90s, which include coming out, experiencing bi-erasure and misogyny from both inside and outside the LGBTQ+ community. As such, they will definitely colour the way I read and interpret A Game of You.

[ostewell]

finished the eps of malevolent that are out now and thought abt how like . "designs of john where he looks like the king in yellow go very hard, but like . what if he only resembles him . " which lead to the idea of john in a cloak covered w/ yellow flowers, the idea being like. you can grow out of your past, but it still has its impacts on you. and then i drew flowers for 9 hours

more ramblings under the cut <3

flower symbolism is like, semi-intentional; i mostly just tried to stray from flowers that have strongly romantic connotations (<- queerplatonic at most jarthur truther), but didnt Really pay attention/research too heavily? anyw here's the reasoning for most of the flower choices + their symbolism (according to this google sheet smone sent me in the midst of making this <3 (note: i will be picking and choosing and ignoring symbolisms as i see fit (looking at you yellow tulips))

(ignored symbolisms are italicized LOL)

pale pink rose at the cloak clasp thing: based on the time kayne referred to arthur as "[their (john and kayne's)] english rose" (grace, joy)

yellow roses: yellow roses pretty <3 (decrease of love, infidelity, jealousy, friendship)

marigolds: kayne nickname LOL (cruelty, grief, pain, other similar negative meanings LOL; note: marigold i referenced is the type you use for day of the dead, so im also saying mourning :3)

lemon blossom: kayne nickname as well - "lemonhead" <3 (discretion, fidelity in love)

yellow tulips: space filler and pretty KGJSHKD (hopeless love)

black-eyed susans: space filler and flower meaning <3 (justice)

buttercups: space filler (THE space filler) and flower meanings (riches, childishness, ingratitude)

dandelions: kayne nickname-ish? (flirtation, oracle, happiness)

daffodil: ... needed another flower similar in size to tulips LOL (chivalry)

foxglove: friend suggested it and i thought "man that would be a banger border thing..... and its poisonous? you could make a symbol out of that!" /SILLY (wishes, selflessness(?), insincerity)

jasmine: wanted smth small to fill more space :3 (grace, elegance)

sunflower: (tall specifically) similar color scheme /SILLY, its like. THE flower i think of when i think of yellow flowers LOL (pride, haughtiness, false riches, "smile on me still" - dwarf sunflowers symbolize adoration too which :3 hehe /SILLY)

cosmos: pretty 👍 (joy in love and life)

wish i found more that represent friendship LOL but <3

[foxglovesound]

the morning after