#tiger philanthropist

[love-takes-work]

Teabag Cookies

Amethyst routinely eats used teabags. This is not good for humans, but if you wanna be like her, how about making your own edible teabags (well, as chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies)? Read on. . . .

See more SU food tutorials!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon tea, any flavor you like

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup fine granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate pieces (to be melted)

Directions:

Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to whip the butter on medium speed until it is fluffy; it will take about 3 minutes. You can use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

In a little dish, stir together the tea and sugar. (Variation idea: If you want to make different flavors with different tea, you can half the ingredients and make separate batches.)

Whip the sugar mixture into the butter mixture, and once it's fully incorporated, add the vanilla extract.

Then add in the flour and salt. You will want to turn off the mixer, fold it in with the spatula a bit, and then use a low speed to complete mixing it in. Don't overmix; you want this to be evenly mixed together but no more.

Flatten the dough into a disc. Wrap it up in plastic wrap or a reusable refrigerator wrap, and chill it in the fridge for 1 hour or more.

Once the chilling is complete, prepare a clean floured surface and roll the dough out with a rolling pin to about half a centimeter/a quarter of an inch. Try to get it into a nice rectangle shape.

Using a nice sharp knife that makes clean cuts (or a pizza cutter), cut into nice little rectangles.

Use a spatula to lift the rectangles onto baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Space them with about a centimeter between them.

Then use the knife to chop two ends off each rectangle so they will be shaped like teabags.

Use a straw to punch a nice hole in each--not too close to the top. Make sure each hole goes all the way through.

Chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes. This will help them retain their shape and not let the hole close up too quickly; they will start to harden as they cook in the oven before the butter in them melts if they start cold.

While waiting for the cookies to chill, you can preheat the oven to 340º F / 170º C. When ready to bake, use the middle rack only (do two baking batches). Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes and do not let them get brown--they should remain tan.

Cool on wire racks. Once the cookies are totally cooled, you can dip them. Use a double boiler to melt your chocolate pieces, stirring with a spatula to help combine lumps.

Dip the cookies halfway in to coat them with chocolate, and then put them back on their parchment to settle. You should chill the cookies again to help the chocolate solidify.

Now, for the strings (which really make the effect!), if you are already a tea-drinker you can save up tea strings and tags from other teabags you've used. This is especially cool if you are varying the flavors of the tea in the cookies and you can include matching tags. . . .

But if you don't drink tea, don't want to wait to collect tea strings, or just want to make your own, you can use dental floss for the strings and folded-over address labels as tags.

If you are serving these at a little tea party or at a gathering, you can always decorate these tags with names, symbols, stickers, or messages!

When you're ready to put it all together, just loop each string through the cookie holes and tie them.

It's pretty much required that you serve them on adorable dishware with dainty cups, right? They are perfect for dunking in tea!

Or you could just unceremoniously chomp them down, like a certain Gem we know!

See more SU food tutorials!

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: March 3…

Feeling that the reign of Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire has played out, Amethyst decides to quit the team and retire from wrestling and it’s up to Steven to please the underground wrestling fans. “Tiger Philanthropist” premiered on this day, 7 Years Ago.

[cinamun]

Since moving to the Koh Sahpa region of Tomarang, Mr. & Mrs. Drake have become influential philanthropists. They are the largest donors to the Sulea Tiger Sanctuary and are key sustainers of the Cub Club having adopted Rajah, the oldest male tiger in the sanctuary.

[serpentpatrol]

Astro Observation: Leo ♌ Part 1

🔎Discretion: consider zodiac signs, aspects, and placements in a birth chart as a map of the soul, it gives you direction on how to recognize its influence or impact within you, as the saying goes: "the stars impels; they don't compel". These observations also depends on degrees, houses, aspects to planets and mostly the free will of the person. Your birth chart gives you information about the pattern of how your energy plays out in the universe but in the end it's your own free will which is the one that decides on how to manage the energy.

Webtoon/Manhwa: The Remarried Empress/The Second Marriage

🦁 Leo placements (venus, moon, mars, leo in 5th house, aura in leo, leo rising, etc) have this Emperor/Empress or King/Queen presence in how they carry themselves with dignity or pride and confidence. They exudes regal and rich vibrance which cannot be easily disrespected, they would still stand tall with strong pride like the packs of lion/tigers/jaguars. This reminds me as well of Jason Momoa, he definitely looks like a Lion, King of the Jungle 👇🏻🔥

🦁 Leos placements are warm-hearted people and they love to generously give extravagance/high quality gifts or host parties to celebrate, nothing is small from what they do towards themselves and to others, it would be grand like a King or Queen celebrate annual imperial events.

🦁 Leos are the fixed fire people, so their spirit are fierce and lively (depends on their moon signs, it could vary) but most of them have strong presence so everywhere they go, people would notice them. They have leadership quality too so they could help others or groups by giving inspirative examples from whatever that they are doing. Since the Sun is their planet ruler, Sun could also symbolized as clear willpower, this could be a good inspiration for others to follow and to pridefully express their own personal identity. From my personally POV, "Being unapologetically myself and I stand proud of it!!!" would be the right motto for these Leos.

🦁 Theme song for Leo placements (Leo Rising, Leo in 10th House, Leo MC, Leo Mars, Leo Venus) that I kept visualizing is "Fresh Out The Oven" from JLO (a Leo Woman). From my perspective, having alll those gold jewelleries she wore from earrings, necklace, bracelets, the outfit and shoes, and the nails art too were very typical Leo fashion style. Two other examples of Leo woman I know who both have Leo Sun and Leo Moon (basically Leo Stellium) are Evis Xheneti (Munky's wife, Munky is the bassist from KoRn music group) and Cinta Laura Kiehl (an Indonesian Actress/Music Artist/Philanthropist).

🦁 Leo women I noticed have this sharp fingernails 'claws' and they could have strong arms when physically fighting with someone else, even though the hands or fingers may seem soft but they still have that strong tiger like strength.

🦁 Besides the claws, LOOK AT THE JAWLINE, SO PROMINENT, SO SHARP IT COULD SLICE YOU LIKE A SHARP KNIFE LOL 🔥🔪. I notice Leo women have strong or prominent jawline, and if they could or like to dress themselves and do make up, they would look like cover models, literally all Leo women. But Leo men, they would look primal (the vibe mostly) in every occassion (formal or non-formal) like Viking soldiers or Genghis Khan, or even like those men who wore war outfits.

©SerpentPatrol

[faytelumos]

Dude the way I'm eating your tags like they're my last meal on death's row!! I'll do the same here. Can you IMAGINE the standard Thomas sat when he became a father.

This wild, rowdy, firecracker of a man Gotham grew from golden soil and made him dirty, becoming a dad? Oh man.

Especially in the black and white era, where the most proficient job you could have in Gotham was a gangster. Second was a thief. Third was politician, but they mean the same thing anyway.

No man was particularly attached to fatherhood, " Yeah, I see my brats once a week. "

" Sheesh, you're lucky. I had to cut back work when my wife delivered. I just don't get why I have to do be there. What's your stance on that, Thomas? Does the husband have to be there?"

Thomas, smiling like a feral tiger: You know I delivered my baby, right?

OOOKAY, I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS!

Okay, be Thomas Wayne, doctor, philanthropist, old money, living in Gotham with your beautiful wife and your beautiful boyfriend, and you're having a son.

(Martha makes a funny joke about needing more girls in the house, and Alfred reminds her she throws most of her feminine relationships away after a month and a half.)

This is Gotham city. This place breeds corruption and desperation like a petri dish. You inherited the role of a founding family heir from a father you never liked and every secret organization and mobster has been trying to put you in their pocket since.

And now you have a beautiful, tender, delicate baby boy.

Absolute fucking terror.

This boy is going to be a target for every walk of life from the ground to the sky. This boy is going to get seductive offers to corruption every day, this boy is going to be a walking paycheck for anyone who's in trouble, this boy is small, and vulnerable, and yours, and he's meat and money to everyone else out there.

His future is altogether uncertain, but there's a million possibilities out there, and most of them are terrible, and it's the worst kind of anxiety.

On top of this, based on your fic, Thomas did not have any kind of healthy relationship with his dad.

This makes it so much harder. Now you're Thomas, worried to death that the world is gonna eat your son alive, and wondering what kind of father you're gonna be.

Fatherhood and manliness are two toxic chemicals that mix into the water as far as Thomas can tell. Maybe Tommy can sleep a little easier knowing Alfred will be there, knowing Bruce's other father won't be taking Tommy's shit, will also be looking out for his boy. Maybe having such a good person there, too, will protect Bruce from the boogeyman inside every other man that is Fatherhood.

Because Thomas never met a father he liked. Thomas hated Ben. And he's so terrified he's going to be just like him.

But besides all of this, Thomas is here, now, holding his newborn baby in his hands. It was crazy getting ready for it — everyone was asking him if it was really a good idea for him to be delivering his own baby, but honestly, he would never forgive himself if he missed that chance. It was crazy, because Martha, his absolute fireworks show, his light in the dark, was soldiering through all of the contractions and the pain all the way to the delivery room. And Alfred's just outside, putting out fires all over the manor as they get ready for a bump turned into a baby, Tommy's rock calmly pacing and bringing order and certainty to a day so very full of chaos and fear.

And it's a lot. It's so much. But in the scrubs, with the mask and the gloves, Tommy's hands are steady and he breathes evenly, and he holds his wife's and child's lives in those hands, and he loves them endlessly. Nothing can go wrong, and he wouldn't trade the chance to be there for both of them through this for anything.

He's scared, of himself, of Gotham, but as his little boy's growing up, he just takes the moments he can get and he does everything in his power to make his little mini-me boy as happy as physically possible. He takes every moment to give Bruce what he wanted at that age.

[sanctuaryforalluniverses]

I'm writing a new Thea and Max novella!

Chapter 1: Not Exactly an Invitation

Having a super-spy boyfriend was not at all like the movies made it seem.

For the most part, Thea loved it that way. She vastly preferred their monster-movie nights to dinner in uncomfortably expensive restaurants, and she'd almost entirely broken him of trying to be suave around her. He did tend toward ridiculously dramatic gifts, but he preferred tiger lilies and stuffed video game characters over expensive jewelry and sexy dresses she would never wear.

She wasn't thrilled about the fact that she hardly ever saw him, but she could hardly argue against someone being dedicated to their job. His assignments being far away from her did mean she was in far less physical danger than the usual spy girlfriend. (When she was being sensible, which was less often than she should be these days, she could admit it was a good thing.)

Of course, dating a super-spy did mean dealing with a certain bouts of movie-like absurdity. Say, like when they're trying to surprise you with a long-planned vacation.

Thea blinked at her boss. "An absurdly wealthy, conveniently secretive Italian philanthropist called you." She recapped his explanation in her flattest tone, hoping the sheer impossibility would somehow penetrate the man's brain. She may have been short, with dark skin and curls pulled back into a sensible ponytail, but she'd had a lot of sarcasm practice. "In person, instead of having one of their 10,000 assistants do it. Asking for some random Chicago computer security specialist to fly to Rome to work on some unspecified, open-ended project. He will not only pay for all this, including a per-diem fee that will turn next year's taxes into a nightmare, but he's also planning on spiriting this random specialist around in his private jet."

Read more

[nvrcissasm]

in front of my  m o t h e r  and my sisters, i pretend  L O V E  is cheap and  VULGAR. i act like it’s a  s i n  - i pretend that  l o v e  is for women on a dark path. but at night i  D R E A M  of a love so heavy it makes my spine throb - i dream up a LOVER who makes love like he is separating  s a l t  from water…

Full Name: Narcissa Elladora Black Name Origin: Unlike her sisters and most of her relatives, Narcissa was not named after a star or constellation, instead after the Greeks. Narcissa is a name of Greek origin meaning daffodil. It is feminine of Narcisse, which comes from the legend of the beautiful Greek youth Narcissus, who became enamoured of his own reflection - hence “narcissism”. Nicknames: Cissa or Cissy, but only to those closest to her. She does prefer Cissa over Cissy though, as it sounds less childish. Age: Twenty Six Birthday: 23rd December, Capricorn Gender & Pronouns: Cis Woman, She/Her Sexuality: Heterosexual Relationship Status: Engaged to be married to Lucius Malfoy Patronus: Narcissa’s Patronus would take the form of a Tiger Boggart: Narcissa’s Boggart is Death Wand Type: 13″, Elm Wood with a Dragon Heartstring Core Occupation: Socialite and Philanthropist, Dark Artefacts Curator Affiliation: Death Eater Ally Face Claim: Lucy Boynton Key Information: Please see below the cut

𝙒𝘼𝙉𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙉𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎 ;;   coming soon

𝙋𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏 𝘽𝙊𝘼𝙍𝘿 ;;   can be found by clicking here

𝘼𝙎𝙎𝙊𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎 / 𝘼𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙏𝙄𝘾𝙎 ;;   ears that are always listening, rooms with high ceilings, the stony features of a face unwilling to give away any information, ‘clever as the devil and twice as pretty’, summer evenings and winter mornings, perfect paper creases, stargazing, ‘you’re like snow, beautiful but cold’, white linen, black roses protected by their thorns, the underestimated sister, the sweetest of smiles and eyes that are always watching.

𝙁𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙔 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙐𝙋𝘽𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙂 ;;   The youngest of three daughters, Narcissa was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and an appearance that would instantly set her apart from the rest of her immediate family. With her golden locks and piercing blue eyes, she was destined to stand out in photographs, contrasting the raven hair and dark features that were commonly associated with the Black family. At no point did this ever put her at a disadvantage however. Only a moment spent in her company is enough to see that the Black blood runs deep in her veins.

As a child, she was the princess of the family, in her fathers eyes especially, and it was from a very young age that she started being taught all that there was to know about how to be the perfect young woman. Narcissa picked everything up easily, whilst continuing to enjoy the finer things in life, and that was exactly what Cygnus and Druella wanted for their daughter - to become a respected Pureblood woman with the world at her disposal.

Growing up as part of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was, of course, not all sunshine and rainbows. Like many of the other families in their society, the Black home is full of secrets, scandal and betrayal. You name it, and chances are at least one of them have been accused of it. Of course they have their own way of dealing with it - Narcissa has already lived to witness one of her cousins and her own sister be disowned completely and she knows it is not the first time that it has happened. The fear of this happening to her for not being good enough, or for doing something wrong was instilled early in her life and it continues to hang over her to this very day.

𝘼𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙃𝙊𝙂𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙎 ;;   When it came to attending Hogwarts, there was no doubt that Narcissa would be sorted in to Slytherin House. The Sorting Hat barely touched her head before making its decision, and it was with her fellow snakes that she thrived. She worked hard to achieve good grades, and being away from the watchful eyes of her parents, she was able to find her own independence and sense of identity. Of course it never strayed far from what her parents wanted for her, but she was determined to ensure things were done on her terms as well.

𝘾𝘼𝙍𝙀𝙀𝙍 ;;   Although Narcissa is unemployed and has no need to find herself a job, she has always had a passion for dark artefacts and cursed objects, and has found herself to be somewhat of a collector of both. Only a small handful of people know about her collection, but it is something she takes pride in expanding. She has also been known to source and sell on a few objects here or there. When she is not expanding her collection, Narcissa considers herself as a proud socialite and philanthropist, publicly supporting a number of causes.

𝘼𝙁𝙁𝙄𝙇𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙍 ;;   When it comes to the war, Narcissa has always followed suit with the majority of her family and naturally agreed with the ideals of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Most of the company she kept was often from the inner circle, but she knew very early on that she would never agree to take the dark mark, despite being encouraged on numerous occasions to do so.

[thatone-highlighter]

tell me something about SU perhaps? Anything u want, I just wanna hear u talk about SU :]

im going to be autistic at you for a little bit now about Amethyst and Steven's relationship

ive tried to write out about 3 different versions of this and i havent gotten one im happy with so were just gonna roll with it okay? okay

one of the big things people talk about in the show is how the gems treat steven. the big two examples being in the episodes following A Single Pale Rose and in especially in Future. but a lot of the things people say are only really applicable to Pearl and Garnet. they dont really know how to deal with steven's issues and they both have a bad habit of falling back into old roles and as the show goes on they both start to more and more default to steven as the leader. but Amethyst, doesnt really do that.

after SPR, in between steven spending whole episodes trying to comfort sapphire and pearl and ruby and bismuth, he has an episode with Amethyst in which she spends the entire episode trying to make him feel better and figure out what he needs. which no one else really stops to do even tho she was his mom.

and now admittedly, i havent watched any of future in a While, but from what i remember Amethyst does try to push harder to get steven to talk and actually Doing things about stuff she notices when compared to Garnet and Pearl

to me, what i think this comes down to is the fact that unlike Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl have never really considered or been considered an equal to Steven. when he was younger and before he developed his power steven was at the bottom of the hierarchy within the crystal gems. and he stays there for a long time. eventually he starts to catch up to amethyst and they a little bit start to see eachother as equals, but not quite. and i think thats what happens in the Steven vs Amethyst arc. theyve both grown comfortable in this not-quite-equals dynamic, or at least Amethyst has, and when she thinks Steven is starting to get better than her, shes scared shes gonna get pushed down to the bottom again. but that doesnt happen, steven pulls her back up and together they decide to be equals on a level playing field. theyre equals and when one of them is suffering the other will pull them up, and when one of them succeeds the other can be proud of them. theyre equals

but theres none of that with pearl and garnet. i guess you could argue that together they have an arc about seeing each other as equals, but not with Steven. at first they see him as this little kid, hes just a little kid hes below them, they need to look after him, teach him. but even once he comes into his own and grows up i dont think they ever really see him as even close to a real equal. they either see him as their kid to look after or even sometimes they start to defer up to him, seeing him as their superior.

you could probably argue that as much as steven has grown uo with the gems, amethyst has grown up with steven too. sure shes a lot older than him and she had already been growing into her own. but to me i think the difference between flashback and even early season 1 amethyst to amethyst by the end of the show, she really grew up With Steven.

anyways yeah. i love amethyst and i love her friendship with steven. i love tiger millionare and tiger philanthropist. i love crack the whip, steven vs amethyst, earthlings, i love on the run, i love no matter what, i love whats your problem, i love smokey quartz and i love that they were the first steven/gem fusion

[littlequeenies]

Why Do We Love...

Jane Asher

I first knew about Jane Asher when I was a teenager. We really loved The Beatles since we were little, and at the time The Spice Girls, the Back Street Boyd and Britney Spears started to be popular among our classmates, me and my sister stuck to The Beatles (Queen, Guns'N'Roses, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith...)

[Jane and Paul at the 'How I Won the War' premiere, October 1967]

By then, we knew about Linda, Cynthia and Yoko. but one day, at our granny's, she had these magazines about gossip, and there was an article about an upcoming biography about Paul McCartney. In the same article there was this black and white photo of Paul and Jane at How I Won the War film premiere and said "At 25, Paul had a romance with stage actress, red-haired Jane Asher".

RED HAIRED STAGE ACTRESS you said?

[Jane in 1965]

I LOVED stage and I LOVED red hair!! (I still do!!!). So I memorised her name and as soon we got internet at home we started googling her and found out LOTS OF AMAZING websites about what was called "the Beatlegirls". My sis back then still loved Cynthia, as John was her favourite Beatle, but soon changed onto Pattie.

And Jane, of course, was not only a stage actress, but also a film and TV actress, a model, a cook, an author, an activist... And her romance to Paul was not only when he was 25, but for five years!

[1964 - Jane in Regent's Park]

We started saving pictures of Jane, Pattie, Cynthia and Maureen, guessing the years pretty well! We were hesitant to join yahoo groups because you needed a yahoo email, but in the end we did, and we found a great collection of photos and met fans alike!

[Jane in 1967, for the Ladies Home Journal]

And, of course, like the other muses we had, we started to build websites, then MySpace (remember that?!), facebook, here on tumblr... Always trying to find the best picture and the most accurate information about them.

What I really love about Jane is that now I don't "care" about Paul anymore, now it's her. and she's still acting! Maybe I knew her as a "Beatlegirl" but she is far more than that, she is not that anymore (to me). Like all the muses, she is her own person, and she defines herself as a "science groupie", isn't that fabulous?

[Jane in 1970, in "The Philanthropist" play]

Finally, after watching some of her films, collecting many of her magazines and photos, watching "An American In Paris" play that was filmed for cinemas, we're going to see her live in a theatre production in London this summer. We are very excited!

[Jane in the play "Moon Tiger" in 2014]

Today, for her 77th birthday, we wanted to share with all of you, dear followers, how we knew about Jane and what made us love her.

Here we share:

OUR BIOGRAPHY OF HER, WITH LINKS TO AMAZING SITES

JANE'S ACTING CAREER

HER POSTS IN OUR BLOG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR PRERAFAELITE BEAUTY

[voidambassador]

easily one of my favorite characters i ever made was an elaborate Tiger Mask/Tekken King gag. puerto rican orphan gets into pro wrestling, then mma fighting, exclusively to be a philanthropist. is so good at it he becomes a superhero. charming, huge man. realistic tiger head. Hero Of The People. Super Kicks Your Head Off.

[love-takes-work]

WHAT WAS THIS SHOW ABOUT?

One thing I really love about Steven Universe is that each of the four major characters kind of got a chance to be What The Show Was About. I would have LOVED spending more time with all of them and delving into who they were and who they became beyond what we got, but what we got was . . . actually pretty special.

STEVEN

As the ACTUAL main character and the show's literal namesake, it's obvious he's the protagonist. Our man has been through a lot and I don't suppose anyone would say he never got his moment considering he was there for the whole show. But except for some pretty important identity stuff that depended on his choices in the last episode of the OG show, a LOT of Steven Universe is stuff that happened to and around Steven. There was so much history and so much baggage that a lot of the story was about how he fended it off, dealt with it, fought it, reasoned with it, and managed everyone's emotions in the process.

Steven is set apart from the others in extraordinary ways: being half human, being extremely young, being Rose Quartz's son, and having Diamond-level powers and a claim to the Pink Diamond throne.

We had to wait for Steven Universe Future before the show was entirely focused on him, his development, his trauma, and his healing.

Some episodes from the original show focused on Steven's mental health and growth as a person--most notably "Mindful Education"--but we just didn't get to linger very long with his development until the epilogue show because plot stuff was always happening, other people's feelings were taking center stage, and worlds needed saving. I'm really glad we got Steven Universe Future for that reason. Some people disagreed, but I felt like it was a long overdue look into the soul of who he is--how his central defining character trait was his selflessness, and how desperately he needed to address that without having it manifest in a toxic way in the tradition of Jasper, White Diamond, or Pink Diamond.

AMETHYST

It could be argued that Amethyst had the most careful, nuanced, significant character growth of the three supporting Gems in the show. And it started immediately in the first season, when she constantly squabbled with Pearl and revealed that she felt judged and stifled and treated like a misbehaving child as early as "Tiger Millionaire."

Amethyst is set apart from the others in extraordinary ways: She's the clear outsider as the one who didn't fight in the war, the only full Gem from Earth in the group, the only Gem who grew up with no Homeworld dogma but also no roots, the only Gem who'd never met another one of her own and longed on some level for that connection.

The show continues to check in with Amethyst's self-worth issues throughout, giving us "An Indirect Kiss," "On the Run," "Maximum Capacity," "Reformed," and even "Cry For Help" (which seemed like an Amethyst episode until Pearl did her thing). We get "Onion Friend" when Amethyst shows us she thinks she's boring and that nobody values her. And we get "Too Far" when Amethyst really starts to internalize her inferiority based on Peridot's assessment of her and revelations of her origin.

With her cooking on that, we end up spending a string of episodes with Amethyst as the focus character. She's still shaking off dust about not doing what she's supposedly made for when a fight with Jasper twists the knife. She's beaten and insulted and almost physically destroyed, having to be rescued by Stevonnie. Steven misguidedly tries to cheer her up by letting her win at video games and she reveals that she thinks she's "the worst Crystal Gem." She finds an ally in him but still wrestles with her inferiority to Jasper. And when she still can't beat her in a rematch, she breaks down and realizes her strength is in togetherness. From there, she begins the process of healing, helped along by additional support from her family and finding some connection with meeting the Famethyst. When "Tiger Philanthropist" comes along and reveals that Amethyst doesn't need the outlet of wrestling anymore because she DOES feel she's good enough, we can reflect on what she's been through and how far she's come, and how that leads to her being the one who doesn't fall apart on Steven in the face of huge revelations about his mother.

GARNET

Garnet kind of peaked early, which is not to say it wasn't great. The final episode of Season 1 revealed her identity as a Fusion and further that she was "made of love," and then everyone was on the "Garnet is awesome" train.

Garnet is set apart from the others in extraordinary ways: being a Fusion all the time, leading the team and generally holding the others at an emotional distance, never asking questions, offering resources to the others for stability and balance, being the only Gem with Future Vision and a massive responsibility to use it well.

"Jailbreak" was a huge defining moment for Garnet, and as the "stable" character whose worst problems were mostly other people's problems, she did not seem to need a character arc. She was the culmination of a love story, always awesome and strong and dependable and everyone leaned on her, and in "Jailbreak" we found out why she has such an amazing foundation. But the show was not done with Garnet. Not by a long shot.

Pearl hurt her badly in "Cry For Help." Garnet's breakdown and subsequent focus on building Pearl back up was a significant look into how Ruby and Sapphire operate as a couple. Garnet is amazing partly because she is the result of all that work, but who is she as a person? As an individual who isn't an individual?

We see some of her struggle with leadership as the show moves on--most notably "Pool Hopping," and some of the last episodes when she can't make decisions in the Diamonds' shadow because everything's become about Steven's choices. But Garnet gets a spotlight again when Ruby and Sapphire feel differently about the Pink Diamond revelations and they worry Garnet only exists because of a lie. Digging into the real answers of who they are together through finally asking "The Question," and defining their fusion in their own image, was a move toward more authentic stability for Garnet. Her wedding made headlines, and watching her spearhead the immediate fight against the Diamonds on the beach was awe-inspiring.

PEARL

Pearl is initially presented as "the perfect one"--she's persnickety, she's organized, she's hyper-competent, and she's all about rules. But something else is going on with her not far beneath the surface. The first Gem to die onscreen--because of overconfidence and a silly mistake. The first (full) Gem to cry onscreen (and then over and over and over), the first to have a breakdown (and then over and over and over), the only one of the four to have faced an impossible choice, a relationship that nearly destroyed her, and a secret that ate her up from the inside. She was the only one who had (nearly) the whole story. All along.

Pearl is set apart from the others in extraordinary ways: the oldest Gem of the group by far, the one who served a Diamond and kept Rose Quartz's secret against her own will, the one who doesn't eat, sleep, or shapeshift. The one who both sat at royalty's right hand and existed as the lowest form of Gem life--created to be a servant, with programming no other type of Gem must live with. Her anxiety, grief, and desperate loneliness makes her one of the most multifaceted and interesting characters in animation history.

We see some minor wigging out from Pearl in "An Indirect Kiss" and a more intense version of it in "Space Race," but we get a much clearer picture that Pearl is Not Okay in "Rose's Scabbard." At that point we assume she thought she was closer to Rose than she really was--that she thought herself special and partial to secrets no one else knew, but that it wasn't true. "Rose's Scabbard" is a different episode on rewatch. Pearl is right that she alone was the one Rose "told everything." She did have a special relationship with her that the others did not.

Pearl's insecurity continues to bite us in the face as the show goes on. She tries to mold Connie into a self-sacrificial super-soldier after her own image in "Sworn to the Sword." Her deep need for someone strong to tell her what to do leads her to betray Garnet in "Cry For Help." Her inability to appropriately make it up to Garnet further complicates our understanding of how she can be so lost. Her jealousy, inertia, and angst frustrate her relationships, with some nice resolution in "Mr. Greg." Peridot's lore drop about Pearls' slave status sheds light on this, and seeing her get underestimated and bossed around by other Homeworld Gems is disheartening as we move on, but when we finally find out that she was Rose's secret accomplice in a false murder that poisoned thousands of their own citizens and led to massive waves of death, and that Pearl's free will to speak about it was also ripped away from her, we finally know, we know why she's been so brittle she could snap all along. She's been trapped inside herself all this time--in an almost literal way--and it's a wonder she's managed to carry on. Pearl's arcs have often been deemed the most emotionally fraught and tinged with gray morality.

These characters all got some very important story arcs focused on them in the midst of moving the plot along. I think the show did a phenomenal job with not only emotional development but with fallout for the other characters. We got to see the Gems' (and other loved ones') reactions when Steven's mental health took a nosedive, and watched them learn more about how to be there for him. We got to see Steven's initially misguided attempts to hype Amethyst up when she was spiraling, leading to him offering her what she actually did need, along with Garnet and Pearl (as Sardonyx) misfiring a bit when they wanted to celebrate Smoky Quartz. We got to see Steven's curiosities and misgivings about Garnet's life as a Fusion, and how Garnet affects others when she does crack under the strain, and how Steven must step up to leadership when Ruby and Sapphire are separated and how Amethyst tries to take care of him while Pearl has a guilt spiral. And we see how Pearl's choices led to Garnet's silent treatment, Amethyst's sulky helplessness, and Steven's attempt to hold the family together; we see how Pearl's confession reformats everyone's understanding of who the Crystal Gems are and why they're even here.

And even when the show is taking careful turns with each character to paint their nuanced feelings and troubles on the screen, it still managed to give us such a worthwhile overall story, with action and backstory and worldbuilding and everything. What's different about it is that the center was always its people--their relationships, their psyches, their evolution and education. I truly love the balance these creators chose, and I remain grateful that we got to experience this story.

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: March 3…

Feeling that the reign of Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire has played out, Amethyst decides to quit the team and retire from wrestling and it’s up to Steven to please the underground wrestling fans. “Tiger Philanthropist” premiered on this day, 6 Years Ago.

[bullfrawgs]

Steven Universe Season 4 Update, Episodes 11-24: In which Kino recognizes they’re hyperfixating on a children’s cartoon, before a rude awakening. (Certain Episode counts list Gem Harvest as either 2 episodes or 1, I already called it a single episode in the previous post and I’m keeping up with that plan).

Goal is to keep this under 1000 words. Wish me luck. (P.S. this was 1200 words on the dot)

Adventures in Light Distortion, Gem Heist, The Zoo, and That Will Be All (which constitute 4 of the episodes from Steven Bomb 5) feel like they should be talked about as a grouping. I don’t think those episodes ever reach the heights of the previous episode, but they still go a long way in pushing Steven toward his theoretical breaking point. Adventures in Light Distortion especially, those 30 seconds where he’s reconciling with the possibility that they are in fact all about to die are heartbreaking yet exceptional. The rest of the story has some nice moments (Blue Diamond has some exceptional characterization, really like that character) like all of the amethysts trying to act as emotional support to the Zoo Humans, but in the end I think the arc kinda peaked early, not that the remaining episodes were bad or anything.

The New Crystal Gems: I love this basic setup of the side characters all trying to fill the shoes of the main cast for a short period of time. Reminds me a lot of the Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes episode with Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and War Machine as the Avengers. Or the Loadingreadyrun internet Sitcom CommodoreHustle, with its episode The Bee Team (which is unfortunately just shy of becoming lost media but I digress). I love these side characters’ dynamics, especially since I like all 3 of Connie Peridot and Lapis more than Pearl or Amethyst. One does wonder why Peridot needs to lift the cars in order for them to get washed but hey it’s a visual spectacle and she is imitating the always stylish Garnet. (P.S. Lapis’ Hair covering one of her eyes to mimic Amethyst looked super hot and she should have kept it)

Storm in the Room: Jeeze, this episode. I’ve been waiting for this episode. Steven is right and he should say it. I especially love the contrast of him being there to keep Connie from having a panic attack to the immediate cut to the cold depressed atmosphere of Steven alone. This boy needs hugs and a better family. Impeccable directing on this episode. Maybe the most important episode of the batch but I don’t really have much to add to the episode itself. (The Lucy and Charlie Brown football thing was really funny, and a great metaphor for how Steven has felt every step of the way of trying to uncover the past of his family and of the gems. The football constantly pulled away.)

Rocknaldo: This feels like a pointed attack on appropriation of culture and/or insincere apologies by online figures that feels too specific to not have been targeted at some specific instance. I have no idea what that instance is, so it’s just kinda… weird. “Weird” is becoming the word of choice to describe an ever-increasing slate of the townie episodes. I miss the Bee and Puppycat vibes of season 1, the Townie episodes feel like they’re getting constantly weaker even as the main plot is constantly improving.

Tiger Philanthropist: Speaking of the decreasing quality of the townie eps. This one is almost certainly better than Tiger Millionaire (which for my money is maybe the worst episode of season 1) but it’s still not even hitting the same highs as some of the mid-tier season 1 townie eps. I do enjoy wrestling more than I did 4 years ago when I watched season 1, so maybe I’m getting hit by a mixture of nostalgia and finally getting the joke. Either way it’s just kinda forgettable.

Room for Ruby: Navel was always my favorite of the Rubies, and I was so excited for her to join the B Team! Which, I think, made the end of the episode hit even harder. She was so clever with that plan, and her deviousness coming through only now after being genuinely the nicest of the rubies throughout her last several appearances was quite clever. Also a great Lapis episode. “I knew it! Nobody could possibly be that well adjusted” indeed.

Lion 4 Alternate Ending: Tbh it’s kinda more of a sequel to Storm in the Room than to Lion 3 Straight to Video. In any respect, Steven keeps getting stymied every step of the way with the potential for answers that never fully give him resolution. Structurally, the whole thing is a shaggy dog story. A key that he wasn’t supposed to get, a travel he didn’t have to take (he asks himself why Lion walked through the desert) to open a locked door guarding nothing (both in the sense that the back of the building was blown off and he could have just walked around the door and that the contents of the room were junk not worth finding). Again I want to call back the Charlie Brown and Lucy football gag from Storm in the Room. He is so so willing to believe he has some destiny, and that his mother had some sort of grand plan and that she was some master manipulator leaving clues… because the alternative is the knowledge that, even if he was loved by a mother he never knew, he’s just a scared child who has been abused by the authority figures in his life, groomed for a fight that he technically never had to fight. The episode is pretty explicitly unclear about what message Steven is going to take away from the video. I think that that is only to its benefit.

Doug Out, The Good Lars, Are You My Dad, I Am My Mom: The last 4 episodes also feel like they belong clumped together like this. I like Doug Maheswaran, he seems like a cool guy (clearly grown since season 1) and I like Lars’ character dev (I choose to believe he was all ready to come inside when he was kidnapped) and I love Sadie’s stuff. The Pizza Potluck song is a low key banger. But the townie eps both get overshadowed (literally) by their final shots and Are You My Dad is all setup with no payoff. I Am My Mom is an insane 11 minutes. Lars kidnapped, Steven sacrificing himself to save the remainder of his friends… it feels like a betrayal in some respect for him to call himself Rose Quartz. He has spent his whole life trying to differentiate himself as his own person, but now he gives all that up for the sake of his loved ones. It’s a strong moment.

Anyway idk when the next recap will be. Hulu doesn't have season 5 and the local library only has seasons 1 and 2 so I'll need to trek out to a different library system an hour out to pick up the season 5 DVDs. Hopefully my hyperfixation will survive this setback.

[ofnarcissas]

in front of my  m o t h e r  and my sisters, i pretend  L O V E  is cheap and  VULGAR. i act like it’s a  s i n  - i pretend that  l o v e  is for women on a dark path. but at night i  D R E A M  of a love so heavy it makes my spine throb - i dream up a LOVER who makes love like he is separating  s a l t  from water...

Full Name: Narcissa Elladora Malfoy née Black Name Origin: Unlike her sisters and most of her relatives, Narcissa was not named after a star or constellation, instead after the Greeks. Narcissa is a name of Greek origin meaning daffodil. It is feminine of Narcisse, which comes from the legend of the beautiful Greek youth Narcissus, who became enamoured of his own reflection - hence “narcissism”. Nicknames: Cissa or Cissy, but only to those closest to her. She does prefer Cissa over Cissy though, as it sounds less childish. Age: Thirty Birthday: 23rd December, Capricorn Gender & Pronouns: Cis Woman, She/Her Sexuality: Heterosexual Relationship Status: Married Patronus: Narcissa’s Patronus would take the form of a Tiger Boggart: Narcissa’s Boggart is Death Wand Type: 13″, Elm Wood with a Dragon Heartstring Core Occupation: Socialite and Philanthropist, Dark Artefacts Curator Affiliation: Former Death Eater Ally Face Claim: Sarah Gadon Key Information: Please see below the cut

𝙒𝘼𝙉𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙉𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎 ;;   coming soon

𝙋𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏 𝘽𝙊𝘼𝙍𝘿 ;;   can be found by clicking here

𝘼𝙎𝙎𝙊𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎 / 𝘼𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙏𝙄𝘾𝙎 ;;   ears that are always listening, rooms with high ceilings, the stony features of a face unwilling to give away any information, ‘clever as the devil and twice as pretty’, summer evenings and winter mornings, perfect paper creases, stargazing, ‘you’re like snow, beautiful but cold’, white linen, black roses protected by their thorns, the underestimated sister, the sweetest of smiles and eyes that are always watching.

𝙁𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙔 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙐𝙋𝘽𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙂 ;;   The youngest of three daughters, Narcissa Elladora Black was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and an appearance that would instantly set her apart from the rest of her immediate family. With her golden locks and piercing blue eyes, she was destined to stand out in photographs, contrasting the raven hair and dark features that were commonly associated with the Black family. At no point did this ever put her at a disadvantage however. Only a moment spent in her company is enough to see that the Black blood runs deep in her veins.

As a child, she was the princess of the family, in her fathers eyes especially, and it was from a very young age that she started being taught all that there was to know about how to be the perfect young woman. Narcissa picked everything up easily, whilst continuing to enjoy the finer things in life, and that was exactly what Cygnus and Druella wanted for their daughter - to become a respected Pureblood woman with the world at her disposal.

Growing up as part of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was, of course, not all sunshine and rainbows. Like many of the other families in their society, the Black home is full of secrets, scandal and betrayal. You name it, and chances are at least one of them have been accused of it. Of course they have their own way of dealing with it - Narcissa has already lived to witness one of her cousins and her own sister be disowned completely and she knows it is not the first time that it has happened. The fear of this happening to her for not being good enough, or for doing something wrong was instilled early in her life and it continues to hang over her to this very day.

𝘼𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙃𝙊𝙂𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙎 ;;   When it came to attending Hogwarts, there was no doubt that Narcissa would be sorted in to Slytherin House. The Sorting Hat barely touched her head before making its decision, and it was with her fellow snakes that she thrived. She worked hard to achieve good grades, and being away from the watchful eyes of her parents, she was able to find her own independence and sense of identity. Of course it never strayed far from what her parents wanted for her, but she was determined to ensure things were done on her terms as well.

𝘾𝘼𝙍𝙀𝙀𝙍 ;;   Although Narcissa is unemployed and has no need to find herself a job, she has always had a passion for dark artefacts and cursed objects, and has found herself to be somewhat of a collector of both. Only a small handful of people know about her collection, but it is something she takes pride in expanding. She has also been known to source and sell on a few objects here or there. When she is not expanding her collection, Narcissa considers herself as a proud socialite and philanthropist, publicly supporting a number of causes.

𝘼𝙁𝙁𝙄𝙇𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙍 ;;   When it came to the war, Narcissa had always followed suit with the majority of her family and naturally agreed with the ideals of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Most of the company she kept was often from the inner circle, but she knew very early on that she would never agree to take the dark mark, despite being approached on numerous occasions to do so.

She had openly declared herself to be an ally at first, but it wasn’t long before she started to see the effects that this cause was having on those closest to her, and that was when the doubt began to set in. More and more was her husband gone until the early hours of the morning, called to the right hand side of Voldemort himself, and then there was her sisters ever growing obsession with the man who promised them all great things but only seemed to deliver chaos and destruction in return for their unwavering loyalty. Unwavering in the sense that no one dared to step out of line in fear of the punishment that would follow.

The true test of Narcissa’s loyalty to the Dark Lord came when she found out she was pregnant with Draco. After trying and failing for several years to give her husband an heir, Narcissa’s world view completely shifted the day she found out that she was pregnant. If her loyalty wasn’t already solely to her family, it was now. Nothing else mattered but protecting her child. Not having the most loving of mothers herself growing up, she never expected the protection and care of her own child to consume her every emotion the way it did, but wasn’t that what mothers were for? To show us all of the things that we never want to be ourselves?

𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝙄𝙎 𝙎𝙃𝙀 𝙉𝙊𝙒 ;;   The day that Voldemort was defeated was the last day that Narcissa had to feign any support of his so called cause. While others around her were in shock, devastated by the news and in disbelief that it was true, it was the first time in years that Narcissa felt that she could truly breath again. In her eyes it meant that her family was finally free, though she still has those days where she gets a niggling doubt in her mind that Voldemort isn’t truly gone for good.

In the years that have passed since Voldemort’s downfall, Narcissa has focussed almost all of her energy on her family. She counts her blessings every day that her husband has managed to avoid incarceration, though that isn’t to say that they Auror’s don’t still regularly knock on their door looking for anything that could potentially incriminate them. Whispers of other significant names have helped the Malfoy’s stay out of the direct firing line so far, and who’s to say what else they have up their sleeves to protect themselves at the cost of others.

When she isn’t doting on her son and husband, Narcissa invests her time in her collection of dark artefacts and cursed objects. Having always had a passion and curiosity for such things, she takes a lot of pride in her collection, even if only a small handful of people know about its existence. When she is not expanding her ever growing collection, Narcissa also considers herself to still be a proud socialite and philanthropist. Officially unemployed, but has more money than one person could ever need, she publicly supports a number of causes, with the cure for Dragon Pox fund being at the top of the list.

[stevenuniverse-bloginfo]

"I changed. That's the final piece. All those struggles, I learned from them, and I grew! Oh my gosh! It's not just my Gem powers I've forgotten! All this "happily ever after" stuff has made me forget the first power I ever had: the power to change!"

I DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH REBECCA SUGAR

INFO UNDER THE CUT

CHARACTERISTICS:

Name: Steven Quartz Universe

Age: 13-16

Species: Half-Gem and Half-Human

Gender: Male

Gender pronoun: He/Him

Sexuality: Straight

Weapon: Shield

TRAITS:

Birthday: August 15

Complexion: Fair

Height (Not confirmed) from 13-16: 4'11-5'6

Weight: 145 lbs

Hair: Dark Brown

Eyes: Black

Gemstone: Pink Diamond

Gem Type: Diamond

NICKNAME(S):

Schtu-ball

Little Man

Steve-O

The Steven

Ste-van

Star Child Jr

Cutie Pie

Starlight

ALIAS:

Tiger Millionaire/Tiger Philanthropist

Peter Pizzapoppolis

Zoltron

Esteban Universidad

Rose Quartz

Pink Diamond

Steven Quartz Cutie Pie DeMayo Diamond Universe

Professional Status:

AFFILIATION(S):

Off-Colors

The Great Diamond Authority

OCCUPATION(S):

Guardian (formerly)

Healer (formerly)

Champion wrestler (formerly; as Tiger Millionaire/Tiger Philanthropist)

Fortune teller (formerly; as Zoltron)

Big Donut Cashier/Stocker (temporarily)

Monarch (temporarily)

Teacher (formerly)

Earth's ambassador (formerly)

ALIGNMENT:

Crystal Gems

PERSONAL STATUS:

Status: Alive

Relatives:

Greg Universe (father)

Rose Quartz (mother; deceased)

Greg's Aunt and Uncle (grandaunt and granduncle)

Greg's Parents (grandmother and grandfather)

Deb (grandaunt)

Andy DeMayo (first cousin once removed)

Greg's Grandfather (great-grandfather)

Watermelon Stevens (creations)

Pumpkin (creation)

Cactus Steven (creation)

Topiary Stevens (creations)

WIKI:

Steven Quartz Universe is the titular main protagonist of the Steven Universe franchise. He is the son of Greg Universe and Rose Quartz, the only known hybrid of a human and a Gem and the first Crystal Gem of human descent. As a result of his parentage, Steven is an extraordinarily unique being with innate powers beyond that of normal humans and Gems. While he was only a child, Steven steadily grew from a tag-along to the Crystal Gems into the heart of the team thanks to his kind-hearted nature and resourcefulness.

Steven is devoted to protecting humanity and helping those in need just as Rose Quartz did, and though her monumental legacy once forced Steven to live in her shadow, he has since surpassed her by ending the authoritarian practices of the Great Diamond Authority and establishing peace across the galaxy. However, the consequences of his mother's mistakes continue to haunt Steven and those he cares about to his growing frustration. Additionally, as his friends and family continue to grow and start to go out into the world and beyond, Steven has begun to struggle with his own self-identity and what he wants to do with the rest of his life. He has also started coming to terms with suppressed trauma that he has built up over the course of his years of adventures and near-death experiences with Gems.

At the end of the series, however, after holding his feelings in for so long culminates in him transforming into a giant Gem monster after coming to the conclusion that he is a monster himself, Steven's friends and family manage to get through to him with the power of love. In the months following, he decides to leave Beach City to go on a road trip on his own to see the world and find himself.