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arrjaysketch · 8 months

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Future Plans! (September Update)

COMMISSIONS (UPDATE) I presently have no idea when I’ll open for commissions at this point! I really want to tackle personal projects first. REFERENCE SHEETS Presently, I have seven male characters left to do for this round! The characters are Graphite Doodles my unicorn stallion, Chris the mouse, Evan the rabbit, Kyle my red fox, Gabriel the squirrel, Trevor Dawson my wolf, and Bud Blaze, my MLP earth pony! There will be more coming at some future point; I really want to establish my characters! Having references available has been really helpful! It takes about two weeks to finish these reference sheets. Sometimes I can finish them earlier; I’m hoping to finish these by the end of 2023! TRADES & GIFT ART I’m thinking about doing gift art and trades sometime in 2024! I don’t have a set date in mind; I mostly want to work on some personal projects first and then see how I feel! EXPRESSION PROJECT Something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time is a better version of the 25 Expression Challenge. I’ve done a few challenges a long time ago, and I know I’ve done one recently-ish with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. BUT! I haven’t done one when I’ve had this much self-esteem, self-compassion, and self-efficacy! Like, I feel like I could push myself well beyond what I’ve done before! I’m making a 100 Expression Challenge! You all are in for a treat! I might work on this at the same time as Tremmie and Evan series! TREMMIE & EVAN SERIES While I’m working on the 100 Expression Challenge, I want to dive into a passion project I’ve been wanting to start for 15 YEARS. I’m going to have a Tremmie and Evan sex romp series/comic! It’s going to be everything from sweet, silly, to hot and heavy and gooey! I want to give myself a fun challenge, and I think y’all would love it as much as I do! SOFT SHADING I’m also planning on dinking around with soft shading in 2024! I think I could make my art really pop with some quality shading and lighting! POSSIBLY SELLING SOME OLD CHARACTERS AS ADOPTABLES I am thinking of selling some characters as adoptables! There are 13 characters of mine that I'm never going to draw again, and I’m not going to combine them nor redesign them. I was thinking of making a ref sheet for each and selling the characters! The characters are: Callisto the skadger (skunk badger (spoken for), Sheila the Ringtail, Helen the spotted skunk, Heather the hedgevixen, Mindy the otter, Shazzy the felox (feline/fox), Brook the swift fox, Yasmine the red fox, Jessica/Jessie the arctic fox, Ian the whitetail buck, Liam the jackal, Nemo the snow leopard) and Natalia (striped skunk, formerly Natasha, and unrelated to Jim Hardimans’s Natasha),Todd Vickson, the [undecided] fox. I was also thinking I’d probably due ¾ front view and ¼ back view, and 1 fully clothed view, instead of the 5 views I’m doing for my own characters. I’m thinking I’ll do this sometime much later in 2024. FUTURE REFERENCE SHEETS (LATE 2023) I realized that there are also characters I wish to keep! There are 10 characters in addition to the above that I want to do ref sheets for. Some are my wife Mistletoe's characters! She's not involved with the fandom anymore, but we fully support each other's interests! She sees how happy my characters make me and still likes furry and MLP art! (The characters are: Betsy, the arctic wolf (may change her name), Celeste the genet, Holly Graham, the red Scottish vixen, Josh the striped skunk, Marissa the mouse, Miriam the mouse (thinking of a new design!), Mistletoe the snowshoe hare, Rose Bunny the arctic hare, Josh, the striped skunk, and possibly bringing back Tremaine, but as a simple red fox, not a hedgefox). This will probably be late 2024. POSSIBLE ART PACKS: Instead of a printed portfolio (10 images printed on cardstock with a cardstock cover), I was thinking of doing two art packs I’d sell online! Printing, shipping, and storing physical merch is a huge pain, so I figure I’d sell it online! II am thinking of Poking At Vixens 4: Revisiting The Classics and Poking at Vixens 5: Vixens Poke Back! FUTURE CHARACTER SERIES IDEAS! In no particular order with no set date, yet! How Sherri the negaskunk met Kyle the fox Kyle being seduced by Cindy the kitsune Evan and Bridget Chris and Andrea Bridget and Andrea Chris and Evan A very soft, sweet, and steamy series involving Bud Blaze the stallion being very attentive to Boninie the cow gal! Sherri introducing Kyle to Bridget and Andrea PONIES I still love My Little Pony a whole danged lot! I’m absolutely expecting to draw more ponies from here until the end of time! I’ve been into ponies (1984) way longer than furry fandom (1996); I still love both fandoms a whole lot! I want to do art ranging from general audiences to smutty! HUMANS Re-uploading my old art on my Tremaine account back in 2018 made me realize how much I missed drawing humans! There are a bunch of artists whose humans really inspire me, and I absolutely want to practice drawing them! Once I feel I’ve got some decent progress made I’ll share some art! LEARNING NEW STUFF And, of course, I’m hoping to keep learning new things all the time! Goodness knows I’ve already learned so much since I started back on this path in May! Self-esteem, self-compassion, and self-efficacy have helped me a great deal in learning to take constructive criticism better, as well as learning to self-criticize with the aim of improving my art! I feel like as long as I make “having fun” a priority, everything else is so much easier! DISCORD SERVER (MAYBE, EVENTUALLY, BUT NOT RIGHT NOW) Definitely not at this time, but it’s something I’ll consider for the future! I’d like to be more active art-wise and grow my community significantly more before I go that route! STREAMING! I am also planning on streaming eventually. My real concern is being able to split my attention between drawing and a chat! I think I’ll start after I’m done with my initial round of character reference sheets! I do want to watch more streams, too, but I still have the same problem! I pretty much ignore the stream to focus on my own art. I feel like this is a thing I’ll need to jump into and play by ear, so to say!

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#status #status update #update #future plans #plans

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vonkarma2 · 2 years

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3 + 6 + 20 + 40 + 44? For oc asks

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else?

Not that I can think of I’m trying to think… I guess the closest would be making Meat City characters in a collaborative world, but I don’t think I’ve ever like made an oc together with someone else to my knowledge, + I definitely haven’t paid for an adopt or been gifted someone else’s character. I could be forgetting something but I don’t think so no :P it would be cool though maybe sometime in the future

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

David and Tiago look somewhat similar for now, but I think I’m going to redesign David to make him stand out a bit more/convey his personality better. Rocio and her dad both look a bit like Shamash. Outside of that though I really try to contrast people’s looks so I don’t think many of them look that similar?? Maybe they do lol idrk

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Saida: Originally, she wanted to play guitar, but she quit bc it was too difficult, + singing was ofc much easier so she decided to focus on that instead. She has been like actively studying for a while and she’s in the chorus of her school. She ofc likes punk rock/hard rock type music. She’s not like super talented or anything but she is pretty solid at least for her age, and she’s good at like not holding back and putting a lot of power in her vocals.

Melanie: She isn’t particularly good at singing whatsoever, but she does really like doing it for fun. She thinks it is incredibly embarrassing, however, so only does it when she’s alone. She likes a lot of genres of music, but she actually prefers pop + r&b style vocals over those of rock music.

Remy: In making pop music, he does have to sing sometimes, + his alien species has both like highly improved hearing and wider vocal range than humans, so he is considered really good. That being said, he doesn’t find it particularly enjoyable, he’s more of a dj/electronic musician, so he’ll like heavily modulate or like distort his vocals in some way to make them more interesting to him.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!

Mostly talking abt them with people shout out to anyone who’s ever talked abt ocs with me even if it was only for a little bit I always love doing it. Staying up late to work on writing for them was also really fun, and ofc I’ve made some drawings I’ve liked of them that were a lot of fun. Artfight as well

44. Something you like about your OCs in general

I have to come up with another one rip 😔😔😔 I should have saved the masc women thing for this one. Has anyone actually read all of these to get that reference I feel like I’ve done 500 even though this is literally the fifth one. Ok anyway this is like a personal taste thing but I like how for the most part most of my ocs are generally nice people, like don’t get me wrong I love terrible evil mean characters in general and making them sometimes as well, but it’s nice to think abt these people who all want to help each other and would probably get along. Super super corny I know but I like to think about it nonetheless. Here are the biggest exceptions to this rule

Joanna

Rocio

Aya

Salem

Tora

Henry

This other girl whose name I haven’t come up with yet she’s the one who looks like this

if anyone who has read this far has an idea for what her name should be please comment with it lol

#thanks for sending these :)#I did this many oc asks in an afternoon just to flex on you specifically #<joke #my ocs #daisy gloria and laura are in a gray area on the jerk to nice person scale #adam and talia would be on the list #but adam is very nice #and talia has very good intentions/usually effects to her actions #she’s just like. mean #also I just realized I have ocs named Henry and Adam… I should collect the other trc main characters too

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flygonscales · 2 years

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I’ve not been great at keeping up with this drawing challenge. This week has been really busy (we’re moving house soon), but here are the next four prompts! Same as last time, they’re only sketches, but I definitely want to add colour to some of them.

Day 3’s prompt was a fairy, so I went full Brian Froud on this one. I love how he distorts different body parts in his work, and combines them with loads of symbolism. This fairy is definitely a lord (or lady maybe? I don’t think they really have a gender). I also just love drawing long deer leggies, so satisfying.

Goddess was the challenge for day 4. I’m not sure about this sketch - she’s a goddess of the hearth a la Hestia, and the cat elements are taken from how cats love sitting by the fire. I think she could really do with a redesign, making her basket of logs on her back more prominent. I am happy with her pose though, I’m not great at stuff like that. I think she looks quite a bit like The Star from The Arcana (it’s a great game on mobile go and play it), and I like to think of this goddess like a mix between her and the Norse goddess Freyja.

Next prompt was ‘Merfolk’. I like the older depictions of mermaids as fully half and half creatures with a clear divide, but more modern mermaids (see Harry Potter and even Narnia films I think) are easier to draw (for me, anyway) and more natural. This merman was not based on any fish really, more concepts of how the sea is dangerous. (This is just getting out of using a reference, I know, but I just want to draw, not find the perfect image to copy from)

Finally, todays prompt was ‘Zombie’. Zombies I’ve never really liked, mostly because they often turn up in a modern setting, and lots of tropes are predictable nowadays (Shaun of the dead is great though, love that). Also swords are better than guns. So a zombie dog. I could be so much more original, but that’s what I felt like. Also his anatomy is defo kinda dodgy. He’s not much of a character though. I may improve him later

Sorry about the long post and the long gap with nothing. It’s the weekend next though, so I’ll probably get more done with less pauses soon

The prompt list is on the last post, thanks to whoever made it

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erinhime83 · 9 months

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Its that time again for some Division designs! I sort of go derailed from doing these thanks to the WfS rewrites, but I am determined not to wait another year to do the Cataclysm sequel, so here we are. Three months out and me freaking out about the last couple of design pictures I need to do, lol. These are simple and easy to do once I start on them, and they look neat, but it’s just the getting started that gets me, lol.

So these two are the first minor characters that I’ve done. They sort of straddle the line – they’re not important enough for me to consider being major characters, but they’re not shoved to the back burner, so to speak. But the fact that they are minor characters is probably why I was dragging my feet, since I had to figure out their style and all.

So first we have Felix, whose the second in command of the Lolita team, so he’s featured quite a bit. When I first created him, he was supposed to be someone who simply did not like Nova for whatever reason. He was supposed to be pretentious and an ass, thinking her newbie status was going to get in the way. He’s still a bit pretentious, but as soon as I started writing him, all aspects of him being an ass disappeared and he somehow gained respect for Nova and I started to like him. I mean, considering he’s on a lower tier team by choice would sort of suggest that he’s not completely full of himself.

He’s supposed to serve as the more grounded team leader, the one who understands their situation rather than be mad about their status. They should be a top tier team, none of them truly want that, because they have seem how pretentious and annoying those teams can be. Felix was drafted to the same team Astrid was on when they first started, and he’s like the only person who doesn’t view her powers as creepy and villain material, which is why he agreed to join her when she started her team.

I do see Felix as being a bit fashionable – he and Astrid have similar tastes – so I sort of slapped something hipster-y on him and I sort of like it? It suits him, in any case. The rest of him’s so dark that the green just pops, lol.

As for his Storm King uniform, I didn’t design it, sadly, but it looks so much cooler than anything I would have come up with. Granted, being as self-important that he is, you’d think he’d have a more complicated and expensive uniform, but I guess he just figures to stay on the level’s he’s at, and hey, what works, works. He looks cool, and that’s all that matters.

The next one is Ethan, who is a fun character to think of scenarios with. Too bad I couldn’t put them all in the first book, lol. I’m not sure where the idea came from originally, but I loved the idea of the rest of his team claiming that his superpower was ‘laziness’ because he didn’t want to do anything, and also that he was forced to join by his parents. And the idea that Blake is basically his keeper, frustratingly trying to get him to do anything.

But the thing is his power is super cool and useful and unusual. Blake feels he has potential, which is why he keeps pushing him, and Ethan isn’t completely disinterested in the idea of being a hero, or else he wouldn’t listen. It’s mostly that Ethan is a bit of a loner who would rather be doing anything else, but he’s slowly warming up to the team and the idea of being a hero.

And then the fight at the gala happened, and he had his first real taste of being a hero, and, well, Cosmic Star herself complimented his powers, so now he’s making more of an effort. (Blake is a little worried that Ethan might be scooped up by a better team now that he’s Making An Effort, but he doesn’t need to worry, since Ethan wouldn’t want to acclimate to a new team.)

His style seemed easy enough – I ended up aging him down from what I originally had him at so he was younger than Nova, and sticking him in skater teen fashion just made sense. It works well with him and his personality!

AND THEN there’s his redesigned uniform. I had always planned on Ethan getting a little more serious after Cosmic Star complimented him, and I realized last year that it should mean he has a new uniform, so I had to go and actually think about what he’s wear. I’d imagine his parents were still the ones who designed it for him, lol. It’s simple, but he looks really cool now. Definitely more like a hero than some dude who threw something together. I really like it.

So yeah, the first of the minor characters. So more should be coming soonish, just so I can get all this done and over with.

#my art #designs #cataclysm #felix #storm king #ethan #vine guy

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slytherwrites · 3 years

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Dedicated Interest - pt 1

Costume Innovation

The moment when a Class 1A member became interested in you would be days into the second year of school when you actually approached them after the second year lunch. With your notepad in hand and confidence spurred on from Power Loader himself supporting the redesigns, you head towards your target: Momo Yaoyorozu.

You’ve seen her fight—you’ve seen all of the future heroes fight. Support Class students are encouraged to watch Hero Course students in order to gain inspiration. Over the winter break, something in you had the urge to fix many of the hero students’ costumes—particularly the ones in Class 1A. They seemed to need your help the most.

The cafeteria is massive. But the tall girl isn’t hard to spot. With her long, black hair and confident, but charming voice, you’re able to locate her pretty easily. Getting her away from the girls she’s walked in with is the hard part.

But you don’t stop. In fact, you just go for it. It’s now or never, afterall.

“Yaoyorozu,” you ask, “can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Oh yeah, sure!” She replies, “don’t wait up for me guys. I’ll be there shortly!”

You lead her out into the hallway. The noise of the cafeteria can still be heard, but it’s muted enough so you two can clearly hear each other.

“Have we met before..?”

“Not formally,” you reply, “I’m one of the Support Class students, L/N Y/N. I was watching a bunch of the students compete and I was inspired to do costume redesigns.”

You pass her the notepad. A barebones sketch of her is underneath a more detailed drawing of your suggested hero outfit. With inspiration from both her summer and winter costume, it gives more strategic thought to her hero costume than there was before. There is an open back with an easily detachable front that can optionally be worn with a cloak. Elbow pads and knee pads provide joint protection, as well as shoes that’ll support her instead of the heeled boots she’d been fighting in. The cutouts are strategically placed, with spots on her thighs, lower legs, back and stomach. There still is an element of modesty, as her breasts aren’t halfway out all the time anymore and it’s all in her original color scheme.

“This is…” She pauses. You can’t tell what’s on her mind.

“Sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, I promise not to bother you anymore!”

“This is ingenious!” Momo replies, “Tell me, when do you think you could have this made?”

“Oh umm… I would have to get you measurements and source the materials, but that shouldn't take too long. A week, maybe two tops? Nothing new’s being innovated, it’s just a matter of taking it from my notes to an actual thing…”

“Sounds great.” She takes the pencil you keep clipped on your notepad and writes down her number, “I need to get to lunch but I’m free this afternoon for measurements. Text me!”

“I will!” You take the notebook, clutching it against your chest. Yaoyorozu was the right person to start with.

===

You immediately added Yaoyorozu’s number after lunch and now you’re getting a ping from it.

Yaoyorozu: Hey, I’m free anytime from 4:30-6:30pm. What time works best for you?

You look at your clock now. 4:30’s coming up soon. A number of your classmates are still in the 2-H Workshop, but it isn’t so busy that you wouldn’t bring in another person—that’s only when Hatsume’s working, as she’s a safety hazard in and of herself.

Y/N: Now’s fine! I’m in the 2-H workshop. It’s in the east wing.

The chatter of machinery and the lyrics to some pop song trail along in the background. You’ve mostly tuned it out, so Yaoyorozu has to tap on your shoulder to get your attention.

“Y/N?” Her calling you by your first name gets you out of your daze and you reply, “Oh, hi Yaoyorozu!”

You turn to face her. A bit of heat heads to your face as you see Yaoyorozu’s skin tight outfit. She certainly isn’t uncomfortable in her skin.

“You like my outfit? It’s designer—part of Mount Lady’s recently dropped workout line.” She replies, “I thought I’d wear something closer to my skin in order to get proper measurements done.”

“Oh yeah. That’s smart. Let me grab my tailor’s tape and a sticky note!” You rummage through your school bag for spare supplies, pulling it out and pushing your classwork aside, “Here it is! Now we’ll start from the top down, getting all of the measurements and then you can be on your way.”

“Sounds perfect.” Momo stands straight, arms and legs shoulder width apart. She’s obviously done this before.

As you hum along to the music, Momo watches you. You don’t notice, but she stares at you, dedicating every little detail to memory. Something in her wants to replicate everything you have for herself. Though, as you stand up and put your tape measurer down, she coughs and clears her mind of it’s racing thoughts.

“So… what were you working on?”

“Schoolwork, nothing much.” You admit, “Just some back to school safety briefings—as if most of us didn’t come in during the winter to continue our projects. You probably don’t want to hear about it.”

Momo proves you wrong, “What other projects do you have going on?”

“Oh uh… well, Power Loader’s gave us a robotics project to work on and I’ve been specializing in costumes so I’ve been trying to create a list of heroes and hero students to make improved costumes on. You’re the first I’ve actually been able to do hands-on work for though… That’s for this, by the way!”

“How could I refuse?” Momo asks, “Your improvements and overall design is better than what I could’ve come up with on my own.”

“I guess…”

“May I ask,” Momo says, “How did you come up with this design?”

“Mostly by watching your trainings, as well as current pro hero costume trends.” You repsponds, “Most female pro heroes have their legs exposed in some capacity, but don’t have any sort of knee protection—which I think is stupid. And if we do knee protection, we need elbow protection. And I’d advocate for more coverage in order to have protective plating underneath the suit, but since you need your skin out, I had to limit it to specific areas. And the cloak came really handy for that! Plus I could have it cover your back in order to let you conceal items you create and have you… I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“No, no! It’s fine.” Momo replies, “I find this fascinating. Please continue!”

“Well… I’ve noticed that in a pinch that you’ll lose your top and then have to make yourself new clothes. But since your shirt is magnetic and can be put back together, you can save… materials as well as use that space for other things.” You continue with a laugh at yourself, “I don’t really understand how your quirk works, but I hope this costume will work…”

“I convert fat lipids into other atoms and release them from my skin.” Momo explains, “but I think your idea will work.”

“Let’s see.” You reply, “Well, I think that’s all I need from you. Thanks for sticking around and listening to my rambling, Yaoyorozu.”

“Call me Yaomomo. My friends do, anyway.” She tells you, “Text me anytime!”

“Oh uh, cool.” You tell her, “I will.”

She eventually leaves you to your devices, but you don’t leave her thoughts. In fact, you are steadily taking up a large portion of her thoughts as she contacts her house staff to start construction on a wing in the manor to give you the biggest, best laboratory possible.

#yandere class 1a #yandere mha #yandere bnha #yandere momo yaoyorozu

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five-rivers · 3 years

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I'm new to the danny Phandom and i was wondering if you could give me some pointers to navigate? General vibe of the phandom? Do we acknowledge the movie thing and all "secret identity/revealed" fics take place in that nebulous space before the movie or does it not exit and we don't talk abt it

(2/2) follow up to my previous ask, i've really only seen canon from stove-is-on-fire and the associated fic

Stove is certainly a good place to start! Their art is so nice. Canon is dead to us anyway.

But? Movie? What are you talking about?

More seriously, most of us like to pretend Phantom Planet doesn’t exist. 99% of DP phanphic should be tagged cannon divergence just for that, but... we don’t. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I’ve ever actually seen a phic get tagged with canon divergence. The most I’ve seen is just the alternate universe tag.

Going backwards, I’d say our general vibe is pretty friendly. At least here on tumblr. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen someone being outright mean before and I’ve been here a couple of years. Even though we have a lot of fanon, we’re pretty accepting and respectful of all headcanons. There’s very little we take as actually absolute. I mean, we’re split on whether Danny’s alive, dead, half-dead (whatever that means), or simply dead inside, like every other teen.

But we’re also sort of high-key lawful-chaotic. As in, we currently have a planned, scheduled, sh*tposting contest which takes place behind a virtual Denny’s. With brackets. If it happens this year, it’ll be the third year.

Further evidence: The only discourse we regularly have is food discourse. Occasionally we will make parody blogs to impersonate each other. We trend every year on the anniversary of the first episode air date because of the Dannypocalypse (aka we paste a cursed screenshot of Danny’s face onto everything). We phrequently replace leading ‘f’s with ‘ph’s (I started doing this as a joke, but sometimes I read a word and can’t tell the difference).

Speaking of events, we have a lot. Currently, we’re in the midst of our Secret Santa event, which we call either the Christmas Truce or the Holiday Truce after a in-universe event in the show. I think the next big event is the Phight Club (aforementioned sh*tposting contest), then we have the Phic Phight (we split into teams and write phanphic at each other to see who can do the most), the Dannypocalypse, Dannymay (month-long prompt calendar challenge), and Ectober (another prompt calendar, but there are like three of them done by three different people; the one I do is the one week one). Occasionally someone will make a new one out of nowhere, but I believe that all of these have taken place at least twice and their creators/hosts are still active.

Blogs you should check out:

@lexosaurus: Unofficial cult leader. Cause of most phandom chaos, but also highly involved in planning events. Blog is made of jokes. Phics are high-grade angst. Truly, an enigma.

@reallydumbdannyphantomaus: Also called Bug. Not 100% sure why. The source of many jokes. Exactly What It Says On The Tin.

@ceciliaspen: Exceptional art. Mostly DP, but her OCs and original comic look great.

@coffeecakecafe: Same. Her headcanons and redesigns are super cool, too.

@gally-hin-phantom: Nice, soft, cute art. Also runs the @danphan-trading-board.

@ecto-american: Involved in a lot of phandom events. Excellent phics.

@bibliophilea: Just... Super nice? Is one of the Phic Phight mods.

@dannyphandump: This is Tali. Seems to be involved in everything, somehow. I see them all the time.

@kinglazrus: Everyone’s aunt.

@guardianrex: Curates cool meta, headcanon, and speculation posts.

@dp-marvel94: Good running library of phics. Also has some super cool phics about the Danny clones.

There are others I should probably tag, but this is who I can think of at the moment.

I hope this helps! Welcome to the phandom! You aren’t getting back out.

#ask #answer #danny phantom #phandom

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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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Cast Interviews From 1986 vs. 2016

So, I’ve found a podcast that’s been interviewing various Cats cast members and superfans. Most of the interviews come from the cast of the Broadway Revival, but there are also several interviews from US Tour III which went from 1986 to 1988. So we’ve got a bit of both old and new. Here’s what I’ve learned about how things have changed over the years and why the Broadway Revival is such a confused mess:

In the interviews of US Tour III cast members, it seemed like everyone was told the story of the play and had a pretty clear idea of what was going on. Some actors were given backstories for their characters, but the amount of detail varied. Actors cast as Munkustrap and Tugger were told that their characters were brothers and the sons of Old Deuteronomy. Actors cast as Demeter were given a full backstory for the character. However, Grizabella’s story remained vague. Bombalurina, Mistoffelees, and Sillabub also had no confirmed backstories, and most of their characters were improvised during rehearsals. Also, since this tour was from 1986-1988, a lot of cast members don’t remember a lot of what they were told. It’s been a while.

Out of the backstory and character information provided, Demeter’s was the most consistent. She was kidnapped by Macavity, escaping shortly before the events of the play. She’s an outsider to the tribe, but she knows Bombalurina and stays close to her. Bombalurina also had some experience with Macavity, but she enjoyed it more than Demeter did. This lines up with what Jacob Brent said about Demeter in the 1998 version.

Some character dynamics are different from more modern versions. Alonzo is Demeter’s love interest, as was typical with Broadway-based productions. Also, in most productions, Alonzo doesn’t get along with Tugger, but he’s a fan of him in this version.

Outside of Alonzo, it was made perfectly clear that Mistoffelees was played as a full adult, the same age as Munkustrap. The actor who played him throughout the tour, Randy Slovacek seemed to have made up most of Misto’s characterization in that production by himself. Misto was friends with Grizabella in the past and wasn’t upset by whatever she did to upset the others. When she first appears, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, taking the place of Coricopat and Tantomile, who were cut for the tour, run up to her and try to chase her away. Misto calls them off, but Munkustrap won’t let him do anything else to help her and he respects his authority too much to try anything.

The interviews of the Broadway Revival cast tell a very different story of what was going on behind the scenes. Apparently, they were rushed for time and there weren’t as many rehearsals before the show as there usually are. That, combined with the new choreography meant that nobody really knew what they were doing. Munkustrap and Tugger were confirmed to be siblings, but very little backstory information was given outside of that. The few cast members who worked with Gillian Lynne seemed to have a better idea of what was going on with their characters. Andy Blankenbuehler was still figuring things out and wasn’t able to offer similar clarity. The few times anyone was told anything, it was usually by Trevor Nunn.

Basically, Nunn and Lynne invented Cats, and nobody else seems to know how the fuck any of it works.

Tyler Hanes and Sara Jean Ford knew each other before being cast and they came up with a lot of backstory for their characters, which everyone else got drawn into. Ford played Jellylorum as the same age as Tugger. Since the actors are best friends, so are the characters, even though that makes little sense with their personalities. Jennyanydots, Bombalurina, Demeter, and Grizabella were in that same age range as well. It appears that nobody was anywhere between Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy in age, for some reason. Jenny and Skimble are a couple in this version, so Skimble’s probably also in this group. They have kittens together. Electra and Rumpleteazer are among them, though nothing was said about Mungojerrie. The merge with Coricopat and Tantomile in the US Tour implies that they’re twins in that version. In the Broadway Revival and the tour based on it, they’re apparently unrelated.

Grizabella ended up with a far more detailed backstory, all made up by the cast. She’s Jellylorum’s sister and she stole a man away from her and Jelly never loved again. None of the kittens are Jelly’s, though she’s sort of the nanny to all of them. Griz also had some sort of affair with Tugger and broke his heart, which is why he doesn’t do commitment. Then, Griz ran off with Macavity, got dumped for Bombalurina, and then she got dumped for Demeter who decided that Macavity was bad news pretty early on and ditched him. The relationship was abusive, but no one mentioned a kidnapping. After leaving Macavity, Griz was no longer welcome in the tribe, even though Bomba and Demeter were because Reasons. Forgetting that these characters are not human, she then got addicted to drugs, was driven to prostitution to support her drug habit, had a bunch of kids, and then left those kids to be raised by Jenny, who resents her for it. Nobody says which kittens are Grizabella’s. Portions of this backstory were used in the 2019 movie.

Also, I can say that some of the characterization issues with Tugger were, in fact, a direct result of the choreography changes. Tyler Hanes wanted to play up the sexuality of the character in a way that the new choreography didn’t allow. If Gillian Lynne’s choreography had been used for the number, Tugger’s characterization probably would’ve turned out very different, but the changes meant that what Hanes knew about the character, and how the audience perceived the character, were altered by the new choreography putting emphasis on vanity instead of sexuality.

So, that’s the story so far. Compared to at least one early production, the Broadway Revival was rushed and poorly thought out. The actors were given little information and left to fend for themselves, and they prioritized their bonds with their irl friends over what made sense for their characters. Interviews of cast members from both the revival and the following tour reference Andy Blankenbuehler as the one who had all the information, who the cast looked to for instructions. But, he had no idea what he was doing and couldn’t really help them.

Most of the problems can be traced to Blankenbuehler not knowing what he was doing and never really figuring it out. Though, some blame has to be placed on the cast who, left to their own devices, had a lot of bad ideas. Hanes and Ford in particular, though it was good that someone was trying to take charge, created a bit of a mess. None of Jellylorum’s character resembles any other Jellylorum characterization I’ve ever seen, and it doesn’t even come across clearly on stage. The young cast all seemed to struggle with the idea of playing older characters and nobody told them that they couldn’t age them down. The generation gap between Tugger and Jenny and Jelly is character information that’s now completely lost on the audience. You need older characters disapproving of Tugger to show that he’s a controversial figure to the tribe, not just an annoyance to Munkustrap.

But, some of the worst characterization problems were not entirely the fault of the cast. As I mentioned before, Tugger’s characterization was changed by the choreography. Grizabella had already been aged down by her redesign. Since Demeter’s kidnapping backstory wasn’t explained, this affected how Demeter was portrayed. Her sympathy for Grizabella came from having been on that side of town as Macavity’s prisoner and seeing the condition she was in. Without that backstory, Kim Faure may have not known that Demeter was supposed to have sympathy for Grizabella and interpreted her part differently. This was the result of unclear direction.

What We’ve Learned Today:

1. In the 1980s, Mistoffelees was, in fact, played as older than Jacob Brent played him in the VHS.

2. Munkustrap and Tugger (and not Mistoffelees) have pretty much always been the sons of Old Deuteronomy.

3. The backstory Jacob Brent gave for Demeter was the standard backstory for the character well before the VHS was filmed.

4. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were considered twins in the 1980s and most likely continued to be seen as such until the revival era, though I haven’t exactly checked in with every single production.

5. The Broadway Revival was a behind the scenes and nightmare and it’s mostly Blankenbuehler’s fault.

6. Gillian Lynne wrote Cats. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a concept album.

7. There are no middle-aged cats in the 2016 revival. I think Sara Jean Ford started it.

8. The idea that Grizabella’s backstory involved Macavity started with the 2016 cast improvising.

9. Kim Faure’s Demeter was most likely OOC due to a removal or lack of explanation of backstory.

10. Sometimes it’s okay to do things the same way they’ve been done before.

#cats tour iii #cats 2016 #andy blankenbuehler is bad at cats #i hate being mean to the 2016 cast #but theatre is a team sport #and most mistakes are made by the team #rum tum tugger #tyler hanes #who i like but also blame #sara jean ford #who is in the same boat as hanes #though i'm admittedly very picky about jellylorum portrayals #kim faure #she tried her best #but basically #gillian lynne #was what made cats a hit #and nobody knows what they're doing without her

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ask-demon-prosciutto · 2 years

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2 Years of ask-demon-prosciutto

((Well, it’s this blog’s 2 year anniversary. Probably not something to really celebrate considering how little content I’ve made, but that’s not why I’m posting about it. I’m talking about it because I want to make this milestone a comeback after all these months of dicking around. I’ve been planning this for quite a while, actually. I can’t remember how long I have, though maybe it’ll come to me later on (I’ve been up for an unnecessarily long time at the time of writing this). And now, the day that I planned would mark my return has come. And with new-ish beginnings come some pretty hefty changes. I of course didn’t get as much as I wanted to done, but it’s better than me holding onto an ask for several months just to give a shitty text response I suppose!

Okay, actually onto the updates:

General Changes

First off, we have completely new profile picture! I made this back in November, so I can safely say I’ve at least been working on this whole reboot since then! But yeah, I think this blog’s been LONG overdue for some new avatar flesh, especially considering...

Prosciutto Got a Redesign!

I’ve been teasing this for a while now, but now you guys get to see it in full, not only in the pinned post, but also... Here!

...I will admit he hasn’t changed as much as I wanted him to, but I’m still happy with how he turned out. I hope you guys are as well!

And for the record, I’m going to try to make new reference sheets like this for everyone else later on. I wanted to before today, but well... You know me (I was also occupied with other drawings).

New Pinned Post

I got a whole-ass new pinned post now! It features some new artwork, my inbox status, the Carrd, and some other things I’ll bring up down below. If you missed something important, you can probably find it in that post.

Carrd Updates

The Carrd’s gotten a pretty heft update since I last edited it! Changes include:

+Pretty much all of the text got rewritten or edited. Some sections were changed more than others.

+The Carrd overall now has a new aesthetic: The white/purple gradient was replaced with an orange/dark red one, a purple border was added, and the header image was changed to the new pfp + its size has been increased.

+Characters pages got a slight aesthetic overhaul too. Symbols corresponding to each character-minus Microorganism Pros- were added besides their names, and their subtitles/epithets were made bigger. The white dividers that went under each name were also removed because today I discovered that Carrds have a limited number of elements you can use if you don’t have their membership. Fun! I managed to free up some space, though they probably won’t be coming back knowing that there will be more elements needed as I introduce more characters.

+Also regarding characters, Illuso has been added to the roster of characters you can ask! With that, he has his own page now where you can gather come lore crumbs tm.

+Removed the tag guide page because I didn’t think it was necessary. Most of the tags have their meaning in parenthesis and/or are self-explantory. I also needed the element space, as discussed above. If people want it, however, I’ll bring the tag guide back, though it won’t be on the Carrd.

Speaking of that conflict regarding the limited elements, I’m considering moving everything over to a website now that I know of this. The Carrd I currently have is really beefy, and it’s only going to get even more stuffed as time goes on. I don’t think I’ll be able to fit everything I want to put on there, which is why I’m looking to find a good website maker, preferably one that doesn’t limit how much content you can put on one. I’ll be taking any suggestions given for the time being.

Discord

I’m working on setting up a Discord for this blog and as a sort of hub for other JJBA ask blogs out there! It’s mostly complete; I just wanna find a bot that can be used for auto-assigning roles first. It’ll put the invite link in the pinned post + make a separate post once I’m ready to open it up.

Scrapped Art/WIP Showcase

Remember when I promised this last year and then never actually did it? Well, it’s finally here! It’s also in the new pinned post in case you can’t find this post. Do keep in mind that it isn’t complete at the time of writing this though; I still gotta find some old sketchbook sketches that I never took pictures of.

More Activity?

I can’t guarantee this since I’m still the same old same old, but I’ll try my best to become more active! Y’all will also have to keep in mind that I got all sorts of other projects on my mind, and as of writing, something personal will be coming up soon for me, and it may affect my motivation depending on the outcome. Again, I’ll try my best to be more responsive, though it may come at the cost of the art’s quality...

Wow, this has been a long post. Well, it’s great to be on here for real and see you all again. And again, thanks for sticking around despite all my tomfoolery; it really means a lot to me. <3

#Not an ask #long post #Renovations (Blog Update)#((Finally... The hiatus ends #I probably won't be up by the time this and the other post go live btw #I stayed up all night making some last-minute preparations #If anything comes up I'll try to respond to it as soon as or shortly after I wake up though!#Love you guys <3

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quibbs126 · 1 year

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May I request a CacaoLily (Dark Cacao x White Lily) fan child if you haven’t done one already?

All right, I made her, this is Snowdrop Cookie

So as for her name, it’s mostly because snowdrops are white flowers, and the Dark Cacao Kingdom has a lot of snow. I was going to originally go with chocolate lilies, but then I looked at the two and realized that their kid would probably have white hair, whereas chocolate lilies are a dark brown, so I went with snowdrops instead

Snowdrop:

I’m gonna be completely honest, I think I should have spent more time on her design. I’m not too satisfied with it, and honestly I think I kind of rushed it, just because I had some ideas for her today. Her hair’s…good I suppose, and I definitely plan on keeping the eye shape. I added the black streaks so she’d bear more resemblance to her father. I was also debating between a bun or a ponytail, but my friend said ponytail was better, so I did that. Originally I planned to have her hair all down, but I couldn’t get it to look right. But as for her outfit, I really didn’t think about it as much as I should have. I wanted to incorporate snowdrops into her design, but I couldn’t figure out how, so I sort of gave her a cloak/scarf that resembles it, and then I just came up with something random for the rest of it that looked like the rest of the Dark Cacao Kingdom, since that’s where she lives. And as for the colors, I just sort of went with whatever random thing I could think of, mainly just giving her White Lily’s colors

Yeah, I definitely think I’m gonna redesign her and give her more time to actually be fleshed out in my head. I’ll probably draw her more as I flesh her out

Also technically what you see here isn’t what she looks like in “current day” Kingdom. This is her when she’s around 20 or so. In current day, she’s more around her mid 40s (though granted I’m not sure how to portray that), but we’ll get to that

So as for her character, so I was going to say that nothing much had changed since I talked about her this morning, and that I hadn’t fleshed her out at all, but while making this post I took a break and started thinking of her more. So what I say may not be accurate to the picture shown

Anyways, so the things I said before still apply. Snowdrop is the princess of the Dark Cacao Kingdom, and is Dark Choco’s older half sister. Though their age gap is a lot bigger than the other half siblings I’ve made for him (at least for now, I think the affocao one is going to have them beat out), with her being around 15 years older, or whatever Cookie terms that applies to, since she would have been around pre Dark Enchantress, but Dark Choco would be very young at the time of the Dark Flour War, which from what I understand has a few centuries in between them. But whatever, the timeline of Cookie Run is weird. Let’s just say she’s 15 years older and move on

So with this large age gap, while yes she was close to her little brother, she tended to be closer to a babysitter than just an older sister, given she’d be an adult by the time he’s like 3. Given Dark Choco had very little frame of reference for sibling relationships, he never saw this as weird

Anyways so let’s move on to Snowdrop on her own. …Okay I’ll be honest, I don’t have much on her personality other than she’s sweet and a bit timid at times. I think I’m also going to keep the aspect that she helped with the physicians in the Citadel, possibly learning parts of their trade. However, don’t take her somewhat meek appearance as a sign she’s not a threat, she’s still a Dark Cacao warrior, and one trained by Dark Cacao at that. She’s absolutely nasty with a dagger, her preferred weapon of choice. Also, she’s not short, not by a long shot, with her height rivaling that of her father, meaning she towers over most people. She’s just a bit lanky

Anyways, so one day, back when Dark Choco was young, around 5 or so (but after White Lily disappeared), Snowdrop suddenly disappeared without a trace, and she hasn’t been seen since. The last person to see her was Dark Choco, where the previous night, he had gone out of his room for a glass of milk, only to see Snowdrop sneaking through the halls wrapped in a cloak. He asked where she was going and she said she was just planning on going out for a little evening stroll outside the castle. She helped him get his glass and tucked him back in bed, telling him to keep her walk a little secret between him, before kissing him goodnight. The morning after, no one could find him. Eventually after a few days, Dark Choco felt bad and that maybe something had happened, and told his dad that she said she had gone out for a walk, but still no trace of her could be found. No one knows why she left, but Dark Cacao can’t help but blame himself (also in truth I haven’t figured out why she left either. Maybe something to do with her mom. I just wanted her to be missing). If she ever returns, and especially after the incident with Dark Choco, Dark Cacao will keep his gates open

I may end up drawing her post-disappearance, but I haven’t decided

But yeah, that’s Snowdrop. Definitely feel like I should have spent more time on her, but I hope you still like her regardless

#cookie run #cookie run kingdom #dark cacao cookie #white lily cookie #cacaolily #cookie run oc #fankid #fanchild #snowdrop cookie #my ocs #my art #requests #answers

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nny11writes · 3 years

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For we will raise you, in safety and peace

Okay, tumblr ate the first attempt at this post, hopefully it doesn’t devour this one as well! Here’s the deal, I can’t seem to figure out a good ending for this fic to save my life and I don’t want it to languish in the pile of unfinished wips. So I’m going to post what I have here on tumblr to at least get it out there somewhere. If anyone has suggestions for an ending I am all ears! HUGE shoutout to @venn364 for helping me figure this fic out to this point and for helping me Horde-ify hush a by baby!

Rating: Teen (for some cursing) Category: F/F/F Relationship(s): Glitradora (Glimmer/Catra/Adora) Characters: Glimmer, Catra, Adora Warnings: None apply, this is a fluff fic Additional Tags: Multiple PoVs, fluff, happy fic, happy ending, crushes, idiots in love, dorks in love, young children, Catra deals with the curse of being cute, Adora is a massive dork but what else is new, Glimmer tries to flex on her crushes by singing, lullaby, hush a by baby, post war, post canon Summary: During the post-war reconstruction of Plumeria, Glimmer volunteers herself and voluntells her crushes to take care of the local children to keep them out from under foot. She just, didn’t expect the Horde to require childcare as part of their regular duties and rotation. Or Three Sapphics watch one another interacting with young children and go, “Well guess I’m somehow more in love, cool cool cool.”

Adora and Catra looked at one another and shrugged. “Yeah okay.”

Glimmer was relieved, don’t get her wrong, but that was…not exactly what she’d expected. “Just like that? That simple?”

It wasn’t like she’d expected them to just hop on board with her, even if she’d wanted this to all pan out.

Catra rolled her eyes, a bit too theatrically thanks, before answering, “Well, I mean, sucks to be doing Cadet chores again, but, whatever. Just a buncha kids.”

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Glimmer grumbled, rubbing a hand at her neck. “You’re not trying to act too cool, and you’re not freaking out enough.”

They shared another confused look before Adora spoke up. “I mean, why would I? We’ve done a bunch of rounds at the Infant Pods, more than our fair share in fact.” That last part she said with a pointed look at her oldest friend.

Catra stretched lazily, “I will not apologize.”

“Point is, we can do this. It’s pretty simple over all, especially with you there as a third!”

Glimmer laughed, “Wait. Hang on, seriously? I’ve never babysat before but you two have?”

“Really? Weird. But, uh, yeah. Everyone in the Horde has some child rearing experience, it’s literally part of your Cadet chores and rotation.”

The galaxy must be on it’s side right now. The Horde, the EVIL Horde, had enforced babysitting chores. “Why?”

Adora shrugged, “Well someone has to make sure they’re clean and fed, doing their homework-”

“Not destroying property or getting in dangerous situations before we could send them to the meat grinder-”

“Keeping them out from underfoot, and getting their energy out too.”

“Also the whole, sometimes babies just die when you don’t, like, hold them enough thing. ...What? Did you think Hordak was at the Pods rocking them to sleep?” Catra laughed.

It certainly was an image. Glimmer giggled as she pictured Hordak overwhelmed by a literal wave of babies. “No, I just never thought about it I guess. You’ll have to teach me.”

They both grinned and Glimmer felt her heart skip a beat. It was, look, don’t judge, it was a really, really good look on them, okay?

It only took a few minutes to arrive at the temporary nursery Perfuma had set up. While Plumeria was still being cleaned up, she’d wanted a safe place for the children to go, and only needed a few extra hands to help as she pulled her subjects to help redesign their homes. Not that she’d put it like that. Something about syncing their harmonies while reconnecting with their innermost roots? The point was that Glimmer had offered to help mostly to help and partially to avoid another extremely long and boring meeting, but one teleporting queen with no childcare experience was not ideal. Perfuma had been the one to suggest Catra and Adora, seeing as the reconstruction really relied more on Perfuma regrowing the homes in this particular space.

So, they were working with what they had. And apparently that meant Horde soldiers. Experienced Horde soldiers who knew what to do with kids. Weird!

When they arrived, it was chaos.

Catra couldn’t help the small grimace she wore, she’d never been fond of IPD. Kids are loud, they don’t have boundaries or respect for other’s boundaries either. She doesn’t know how many times some toddler or Junior Cadet had petted her or pulled her tail and ears with their mysteriously sticky little hands while covered in snot. But she could also say that the one good thing about it was, without fail, some baby was going to think you were the hottest shit ever. And it had done wonders for her low self esteem as a Cadet to know that she’d always collect a gaggle of kids who everyone claimed were impossible to handle doing exactly what she wanted.

It had actually been kind of hilarious out in the Crimson Waste to use some of the tactics she’d learned in the IP against grown gangsters and thugs.

Catra could also say that the very next best thing about it was watching Adora either slowly unravel into a total mess or watching Adora get all the other kids under her thumb. Not that Adora would think of it like that, the goody two shoes, but kids seemed to naturally either love the blonde or desire nothing more than to destroy her.

Especially at the time, Catra could relate.

She was actually kind of interested to do this now just to see Adora go at it again.

And also Glimmer apparently had no experience with kids and Catra would kill to watch that skiff wreck. No, ugh, she had promised to help hadn’t she? Alright, no watching that skiff wreck unless it happened before she could intervene.

She snickered a little as, just like she used to, Adora gave the attention claps that none of these particular kids would know. Embarrassingly, the old rhythm still made Catra’s back straighten a hair just thanks to the amount of times she’d heard it.

Adora’s voice rang loud and clear across the little fenced in area, “Atten-shun!”

The kids mostly stopped, but Catra had a feeling that was due to an adult shouting and not out of their training. Did rebellion kids have training? They had to get some kind of education for sure. Huh. Probably should look into that, like, now that it was post war and all.

“Hello, salutations, and greetings!” Adora started her old spiel as if she’d never stopped, putting on her ‘force captain’ voice which was almost a mockery more than anything else. Not that Adora realized that. “I am Adora, this is Catra, and this is Glimmer. Today we will be watching, caring, sharing, and not botching a wonderful day of enrichment with you. Starting now we will do our very best to educate, captivate, and celebrate without need to castigate! It is time to have fun and run, uh, under the sun! Can I get a hoo-ra?”

The part about their newly acquired sun was a nice touch, Catra mental gave Adora extra points for finally having learned to change it on the fly. Catra weakly lifted a fist to mutter ‘hoo-ra’ with a few confused kids. Oof. Rough, but not unexpected. These ankle biters hadn’t been trained to respond promptly and loudly to Horde commands.

Yet it still had about the same effect. The children were already split down the middle looking at Adora like she was a complete idiot or like she was the best thing ever. Soon more of them would think she was the best thing ever than not, kids loved Adora’s canned speech. It always got a few laughs. Kids were easily entertained by someone clearly putting on a show and rhyming.

Adora put on an over the top look of bewilderment, putting her fists on her hips in some sort of quasi-power pose before asking, “What kind of hoo-ra was that? I want you to shout from deep in your lungs, you won’t sound dumb when it’s all in good fun! Now can I get a HOO-RA?”

Catra gave a slightly more enthusiastic call, and was delighted when Glimmer gamely screamed her head off and then blushed as the kids stared at her, because they had still not shouted. Alright, this had already paid off! Nothing better that watching Glimmer blush like that.

Adora was smiling warmly at the queen, that was always a good look on her. “I SAID HOO-RA!”

This time they managed to get most of the brats on board. A whole army of kids no taller than her waist who were thrilled to scream, a few even did it more than once. It was kind of nostalgic.

“THAT’S what I call a call! I am floored by this horde-” Adora’s eyes widened in panic as she tried to pivot her pre-written speech for a second time. “-o-of wards! Floored! I am floored!”

Aaaand twice was one too many alterations. As much fun as it would be to watch Adora fall apart over it, Catra knew it was mean. And she was trying to, you know, to be less mean.

“Ca-Adora,” wow this was harder than she’d thought. She hadn’t almost called Adora a Cadet in years. “Will be working with any of you who’d like to play a singing and marching game. Line up in front of Adora if you want to join.”

Catra grabbed Glimmer’s hand to pull her forward, which really was only for the benefit of getting to hold Glimmer’s hand. “Anyone who does not want to play a game can join us, we will be taking care of the infants so it’ll be quieter.”

She was not surprised when most of the children flocked to play. There were always a few quiet ones or nervous ones who would hang back, and she was counting on it. Sure enough four kids shuffled their way instead of towards Adora, who was already sorting her little platoon into rank and file, teaching them a quick sound off to learn their names.

Catra motioned between her and Glimmer, “You know our names, what are yours?” The kids shifted awkwardly, looking at one another to start. Catra smirked. “If you don’t want to say I will give you a nickname. For instance, this is now Sparkles.”

Glimmer glared at her, but Catra didn’t stop or let her get a word in edgewise. She pointed at the first kid with glasses, “You can be Specs, short for specification.” A bold faced lie if she’d ever told one. “Stripes, I like your shirt!” Less of a lie. “Flower Power just like Princess Perfuma,” she nodded to the boy with a flower crown. The last kid was nervously shifting hoof to hoof, “And Two Step you got some fancy looking moves.”

“And what do you all think we should call Catra?” Glimmer asked, grinning evilly, as if the kids wouldn’t just suggest kitty or fluffy or whiskers. Maybe tails if someone was feeling creative.

“Kitty!”

Catra chuckled, it was like clockwork. “How about Big Cat? It’s cooler than Kitty!” They nodded gamely to the change. “Cool. Now, does anyone want to help me with the babies? We just need to hold them.”

That was how Catra found herself leaning back against a tree with an infant sleeping on her chest after she’d situated Glimmer and the quartet. All while snickering at some of the concerned looks being shot their way as Adora got the platoon marching and singing. If they weren’t gonna get their asses in gear to manage all the hyper kids, then they could suck it up. Besides, it wasn’t even that intense of a song.

“I think that learning is cool!” The kids echoed after Adora. “Which is why I will stay in school!”

It was schlocky and dorky, if she’d been over there she’d have died of embarrassment already.

Still, Catra couldn’t help but melt a little as Adora exaggerated a high march and then kids behind her did basically whatever they wanted as she marched them around the nursery. It was nice. Even if it made Adora look really dumb, it also made her look happy. Something Catra hadn’t seen a lot of from her in years. Oh no, she was getting mushy about this now?

Disgusting. She needed a distraction stat.

“Anyone have a good story?” Catra asked and after a beat of silence, promptly ignored the kids as they started almost talking over each other to tell something about their day or who knows what. Thankfully Glimmer seemed interested even if a little stiff and awkward. Catra was grateful that her fur hid a sudden blush as she watched Glimmer holding a baby and being enthusiastically engaged in the kids' stories.

Wow.

She gets away from the Horde for less than a year, and now she’s getting sappy over Sparkles.

Gross.

Adora, of course, had a plan. A good one with details and everything!

She was using her patented IPPA (thankfully, things had to be going pretty bad for her to resort to Infant Pod Plan B) and so far things had gone well. She’d taught her platoon to march, even got them to make up some rhymes to sing for it (even if she’d had to backtrack after one of the boys said ‘butts’ and everyone then started to just scream sentences with little sense ending with ‘butts’). After a bit of that she got them doing some basic exercise with her. Jumping jacks and running, she’d then start a game of charge and was already wincing in sympathy pains as some of the kids hurled themselves full speed at the enemy team only to fold in half around their linked arms. Still, the point was to give them free reign here to lose their minds and wear out their bodies a little in preparation for a well earned nap or quiet play time.

After making sure that Catra had eyes on her group, Adora left to hunt down water for everyone, and maybe spent a little time making heart eyes across the field.

Catra, despite what she thought, was pretty good with kids. Especially little infants. Between her fluff, heat, and purrs she was an instant baby soother. Adora would know, she was once the only big baby that Catra would soothe the same way. When they’d been younger, Catra used to lose her temper during IPD, but the older they got the more she’d pull it together. There had always been something heartwarming about watching Catra sit down with a kid who was upset and listen to them intently.

Then there was Glimmer. Gosh, she’d been so nervous going in, but seemed to be quickly becoming a favorite. Because Glimmer always listened to people, no matter their age, and her high energy responses appeared to be winning her fans. The more she integrated with the kids, the more she relaxed too. And there was something absolutely mind blowing about watching her bounce a little baby in her arms, while gasping in genuine delight at something a kid had scribbled into the dirt with a stick.

Adora didn’t even blush, didn’t feel a lick of shame as she quietly got affirmation that yes, girls.

“Ew,” one of the kids snickered after finishing their water, looking right at her before making a face.

She smiled, shrugging and offered her best, worldly advice. “Girls are great.”

“Ew.” They repeated before giggling and skipping away to their friends.

Whether they eventually agreed with her, liked boys instead, like everyone, or even no one, Adora felt very assured in her assessment of wow girls pretty, so she let it slide.

Later, standing at the barrel and handing out gourds of water or helping kids re-apply their protective balms (the sun was nice, but the sun could apparently burn you which was insane), she did another check. Taking note of any particularly worn out kids to send over to Catra’s group, and was very pleased that no one seemed to be really injured. Man, this was way easier than manhandling Recruits who were about to be Junior Cadets. Maybe she could do this more often? Without all the jockeying for power and praise it was actually fun.

After another thirty minutes whizzed by according to her internal clock, Adora decided it was time to start her platoon’s cool down for water and snacks. Maybe a nap after that. It was all smooth sailing!

Adora managed to make eye contact with Catra, flashing a quick few hand signs they’d made up when they were eight and almost lived in the pods between Adora’s clumsiness and Catra’s random bursts of high energy. Catra nodded, both hands occupied as she bottle fed one of the infants, and Adora almost died. First of cuteness, because Catra was looking so cute! But also from laughter because Glimmer’s tongue was sticking out between her teeth in concentration as she carefully fed another infant. And also because she looked super cute doing it!

What a sight! It took her another minute to realize she was just standing there staring at them with a horrifically soft smile on her face. And Catra was staring back with an equally mortifying soft look. And Glimmer was now looking between them with her own embarrassingly tender look.

So this is how I die, public affection.

For some reason this was the thing that set her off. Blushing as red as her jacket, Adora pivoted around to call the platoon to get some snacks and more water. Which, considering most of them were either still singing or making up marching songs, took a little bit to organize.

The snack and water break had been decently timed, they had just finished burping the last of the babies when Adora called all the kids over. Catra waited with Glimmer until everyone else had something to eat, before mingling as best she could. It was more second nature to keep her head on a swivel, making sure no kids were making a jailbreak and no one was beating someone else’s face in. Although that probably wasn’t a concern on the Rebellion side. Maybe she’d have to rescue a kid from suffocating under a bunch of hugs?

She shrugged and got a gourd of water, barely finishing it before Two Step tugged at her hand. They’d only gotten more energetic the longer they’d been helping, so she wasn’t even surprised when they asked, "Can I pet your fluff!?"

Catra sighed heavily. This is what she got for wearing a crop top around children. She turned to look at the Two Step and smiled as best she could while also dying inside. If she didn’t let it happen following her own rules, many kids would simply find a way to make it happen anyways. Better to get it out of the way and without sticky hands. Seriously what do kids even do that makes their hands that sticky? "Sure, but only if I can touch your antlers, they look fuzzy."

They almost stabbed her in the stomach with said nubbly antlers in their excitement, apparently oblivious for at least a moment about how fragile they were. Two Step was still wiggling around the way they had the whole afternoon as they rushed to explain, "They are! They’re new and growing in bigger and my dad says that someday they’ll be HUGE like his!"

She ran a few fingers carefully along the warm velvet and nodded, it was softer than she’d actually expected it to be, and it almost seemed like she could feel the blood pumping in them? Or maybe her brain was messing with her? Either way, weird. "Neat. Your turn kiddo."

Catra did her best to not groan in annoyance when the girl simply leaned forward to rub her face on the fluffiest part of her belly.

"You said pet."

"I am petting!"

"Petting is done with your hands, not your face."

"Says who?"

Well shit, had her there. “...alright, well played.”

She glared as the trademark a high pitched whistling sound of cooing alerted her to Glimmer and Adora looking at her with hearts in their eyes and sparkles around their faces. Not literally, but she could picture it. The traitors. She could see Glimmer mouthing the words so cute and groaned. She was not cute! Ugh!

“Okay, I think that’s enough.”

Two Step grumbled but let go. “Thanks!” And with that they skipped away to hang out with the other kids.

Oh yeah, definitely time to put the kids down for a nap if they could.

It had taken longer that Glimmer expected to calm down the kids. A small handful of them went tearing off around the field cackling like loons as Catra easily loped after them on all fours. Which of course resulted in more kids wanting to get chased for some reason, shrieking in delight each time Catra put on a hair more speed to tap their arms or legs. Eventually even they were exhausted and fell panting into the grass for Adora and her to watch while Catra continued herding. It was adorable and Glimmer was never, ever gonna let her live down her afternoon of being a sheep dog. If only Bow or Entrapta were here to take a picture!

Glimmer reluctantly left her post of watching and jeering at ‘Big Cat’ to help Adora get the youngest ones situated and sleeping rolls or blankets laid out. For the ones who refused to take a nap (whether because they weren’t tired or wanted to pretend they weren’t tired), Glimmer asked around to find a few decks of cards for them to use. She wrangled a promise from each group to be quiet so their friends could sleep, and by the time she’d finished that it was tempting to take her own nap.

Adora was efficiently sorting kids into sleeping spaces, and Glimmer smiled a bit at the way she let pairs and groups just pile up together. Having seen the impossible looking ways Adora and Catra could be found tangled up after a nap, she felt pretty confident that they knew what they were doing.

When Catra finally arrived with the last two kids, both of whom she carried under her arms as they giggled, Glimmer was grateful for the chance to relax a little with her friends. She nudged Adora’s side as they passed and whispered, “Maybe afterwards you can use She-Ra? You know, give them a climbing gym or swing them around.”

Adora blinked rapidly before breaking out in a huge grin and did a little over the top flexing before they made their way over to sit with Catra. And for a few minutes they sat in a peaceful silence, enjoying the sounds of the forest and leaning against one another.

“Pssst,” Stripes rolled over to look at them, making huge puppy dog eyes before asking, “Sing us a lullaby?”

Glimmer’s eyes sparkled as she turned to watch Adora and Catra apparently debate the issue, because hello! Getting to hear them sing lullabies! They rapidly signed back and forth, faces squashing and stretching as they added emphasis to the conversation before they turned and nodded.

“Okay,” Adora said softly, “but you can’t laugh, we only know Horde songs.”

“The Horde had songs?” A little boy asked, popping up from his blanket with a huge smile.

“Yeah we did. To be fair, they’re not uh,” Adora faltered and quickly looked at Catra, which to be fair Glimmer hadn’t considered that the songs they knew might be inappropriate. She quickly decided that she also didn’t really care.

“Adults probably wouldn’t like them here.” Catra supplied with a mischievous grin, apparently knowing that the kids would all be desperate to hear them now.

“Catra!” Adora hissed in what was probably supposed to be a whisper.

“I want to hear!” Glimmer added fuel to the fire and snickered at the look of betrayal on Adora’s face. “What? I do!”

She threw her arms in the air before huffing in her fake annoyed voice, “Fine, I’ll sing a song!”

There was a moment before Adora shakily started to sing both a very familiar tune set to very different lyrics.

Hush-a-bye baby, your crying will cease For we will raise you, in safety and peace If the walls crumble, there’s no need to bawl We’ll burn the villains, princess and all

Glimmer sputtered, accidentally ending it before it even started, not just because the lullaby included a line about burning rebellion citizens to death including princesses. But also because her mother used to sing this to her! “Wait, wait, wait, that’s- that’s not how that song goes!”

“Wha- yes it is!” Adora huffed, arms crossing as she blushed, “I said you couldn’t be mean!”

“First of all, you said I couldn’t laugh and I didn’t! Secondly,” Glimmer cleared her throat to sing her version. She’d always loved singing, even took lessons when she was younger before deciding she’d rather do it for fun. But what was the point of being able to sing flawlessly under pressure if not to flex on your crushes?

Rock-a-bye baby, thy cradle is green; Father's a nobleman, mother's a queen; And Buckley’s a washer, who wears a gold ring; And Tambour’s a drummer, who drums for the king.

Not that she got any further than Adora did before being interrupted as well.

“Ew, it’s all princessy!” Catra jeered playfully getting a few giggles from the kids.

“Uh, yeah, my mom sang it to me when I was a baby!”

“Gross. Ours is better!”

Adora laughed nervously, apparently unsure what to do as their play fight went down in front of a room full of impressionable children. Which, really, was her own fault for not expecting it.

Glimmer puffed up and leaned forward, tapping Catra on the nose just to be a brat before issuing the challenge she knew would get results. “Prove it!”

Ah, the good old stand by of “prove it”, as equally effective as a double dog dare!

So Catra, looking genuinely affronted, took a breath and sang in a wholly and unfairly good voice.

Hush-a-bye baby, your crying will cease For we will raise you, in safety and peace If the walls crumble, there’s no need to bawl We’ll burn the villains, princess and all

Baby is drowsing, valiant and brave With Hordak’s power, disorder we’ll stave Though cadet’s sleeping, her dreams we all share For order and harmony’s, our duty to bear

Hush-a-bye baby, do not you fear Never mind, baby, your squad is right here Strong little fingers, but eyes must shut tight Stay sound asleep now, until morning’s light

“People sang to you as babies about Hordak’s power and burning people?” Glimmer asked, both perplexed at the Horde-ified version and slightly disturbed. No wonder some of their soldiers bought the Evil Horde’s propaganda if this was what they were taught from the cradle!

“Glimmer, I love you, and I say this with as much respect as I can,” Catra said without an ounce of respect in her body or soul, “We grew up in the Fright Zone under the eyes of commanding officers of the Evil Horde. What did you think they sang to us about?”

Well shit, had her there.

#Glimmer #Adora #Catra #Glitradora #SPOP #she ra #fanfiction #fanfic #dorks in love is just *chef kiss*#the Horde sings lullabies to their babies #surprisingly familiar but wildly different lullabies #halp this fic won't let me wrap it up in a satisfying manner so I'm throwing it into the wind to see what falls out #this could absolutely end with them going into a relationship #or it could absolutely end with them just crushing on one another #suggestions are welcome!

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