teaandsmut

[teaandsmut]

#it's okay i guess :p #shipping discourse

[teaandsmut]

WIP Wednesday

Here's another bit from my WIP chapter 22 of Tactical Disadvantage, this time with an emphasis on the 'in progress' part of 'WIP'.

(This what my fics/chapters sometimes look like if I haven't fully figured out the emotional thread and I'm starting to get lost. This chapter has half a dozen pairs of red and blue text marking prompts and responses in significant emotional shifts to help me try to make sense of it. Plus blanks I haven't filled in and things I haven't decided yet.)

***

She waited for Catra to take the bait, unsure if they were flirting. She gave a tiny smile for reassurance when Catra glanced sideways.

Catra’s expression clouded in response. She dropped Glimmer’s hand.

“Is everyone in position?” asked Catra, pointedly changing the subject as she fixed her gaze on the ship.

Glimmer stared at her. [Need an extra beat between dropping her hand and the next sentence, where her emotional state/thoughts stall before starting to rise.] She was torn between begging Catra to explain [demanding that Catra explain?] herself and shoving her with exasperation. “Uh, yeah,” she managed. “It shouldn’t be long now.”

[Catra says something professional-sounding.]

#glitra #spop #wip wednesday #the colours are less visually straining in the actual draft document but these are all that tumblr has to offer

[teaandsmut]

How did I deal with the stress of this week today so I didn't explode?

Simple!

I wrote 6k worth of pure glitra filth, like a very normal person does! :)

#👀

[teaandsmut]

A wise choice! And I'm sure it's a perfectly normal one, as anyone around here will tell you.

How did I deal with the stress of this week today so I didn't explode?

Simple!

I wrote 6k worth of pure glitra filth, like a very normal person does! :)

#right? right???

[teaandsmut]

Requesting help for disabled trans friend

Hello internet, my friend Ash needs some help.

He doesn’t have a social media presence, so I am writing on his behalf. Two years ago, I helped Ash move out of an abusive home situation. Shortly after, he developed a chronic illness that required numerous medical visits for diagnosis and treatment. Because his insurance will no longer provide for co-pay and fund more rigorous tests, this has put him into thousands of dollars of medical debt, on top of the other debt it required for him to move here. We both live in an extremely rural area, necessitating weekly travel for more than 4 hours just to get groceries.

Because of his autoimmune disease, Ash is unable to get a second job to help him out of his debt. Nor can he focus on his hobbies, writing and crafting plush animals. His current job is already exacerbating his symptoms and he's sick daily. I am unable to support him financially, and he has no family who can help him either. His family is extremely abusive, so relying on them is not an option. Right now Ash is struggling to afford food and gas, and is unable to pay off his medical debt. I know that there is a lot of terrible crap going on in the world and that this call for aid is poorly timed, but anything helps. If you cannot donate, please consider at least sharing this post. He would very much appreciate it.

Here's his ko-fi link. Again, anything helps.

P.S. Here's Baby, Ash's very important support cat.

Thanks again!

#please consider helping my friend if you can #mutual aid #signal boost

[teaandsmut]

WIP Wednesday

I'm going to try posting snippets of my the fic I'm working on for WIP Wednesdays. I think "WIP Wednesday" might have suggested rules or something but I'm just going to post some small amount, and hopefully that'll encourage me to open the document to work on it.

The excerpt below is from Chapter 22 of Tactical Disadvantage, an E-rated canon universe Glitra fic. You can find chapters 1-21 here :)

---

“Well, they’ve definitely got numbers on their side,” said Catra. She stood on a clifftop between Glimmer and Bow, who were dumbstruck as they stared into the canyon below. Melog crouched low next to the trio, their tail a deep amber with a slowly pulsing light as it swept back and forth across the ground.

Prime’s ship rose like a sinister spinning top from a wide chasm between sheer cliffs. Its narrow base was docked in a pit and attached to the ground by a series of metal arcs. Rows of bots and clones were arranged around it, spread in a defensive circle formation across the canyon floor. In the distance, Etheria’s forests and mountains were silhouetted beneath the midnight sky, while the green glow from hundreds of weapons turned the chasm into a lurid wound through the landscape.

The Whispering Woods were uncannily quiet, without whispers from wildlife or wind, and there was no sign of the other Rebellion fighters they expected to find mid-battle. The only sound was a low mechanical hum. Glimmer and Bow’s earlier bravado had abandoned them in the face of the daunting scene.

“Uh… But that’s never stopped you before, right?” Catra added hastily.

Glimmer pressed her hand over her mouth to hold back a frightened little sob. She turned her wide eyes to Catra.

#glitra #catra #glimmer #spop #wip wednesday #(i'm going to try to resist the urge to explain the context of the excerpts and just post them)

[teaandsmut]

I've been struggling to write anything at all after the horrors of writing and rewriting my thesis. But I'm starting to emotionally recover from my various ordeals and I really miss writing for fun, so I've been trying to think of a warm-up exercise that will allow me to reawaken my writing brain and regain some confidence without too much pressure. I've settled on writing an alternative version of the first chapter of Tactical Disadvantage from Catra's POV (instead of Glimmer's as in the original).

It's been fun so far! I'm enjoying getting excited about this fic again. I'm undecided if I'll finish the full alternative chapter, it might fulfill its purpose as a warm-up before then, but if I do then I'll post it to AO3 as TD bonus content. (Also I think it'd be funny to call the flipped POV chapter Tactical Advantage...?)

I feel like sharing, so here's the WIP so far. Around 700 words. The fic starts towards the end of season 2, sometime after White Out.

---

Catra sulked aimlessly through the Fright Zone corridors, trying to shake off a dark mood.

No matter what successes she achieved, Hordak continued to find fault with her. This time it was her ‘inability to command authority’, after a training exercise she put her team through had turned disastrous. As if it was her fault she had inherited such poorly trained cadets.

Catra’s thoughts were interrupted as her attention caught on something.

She paused where she stood, ears twitching and tail bristling, while her consciousness caught up with her instincts. What was different? She sniffed the air.

There! An ionic fizz that didn’t belong. She sniffed again. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn it was just like the infuriating crackle in the air that appeared whenever that sparkly princess teleported.

Catra scowled at the thought of her. Something about her was deeply annoying.

The ionic scent grew stronger as Catra stalked further down the corridor in her hunt for its source, then faded again. It definitely smelled like the clouds of sparkles around the teleporting princess. Catra should know – it was usually all over her when they fought.

Could she actually be here? Catra narrowed her eyes and scanned the corridor. Where would I hide if I were a dumb princess alone in hostile territory? Her gaze rose to a wide, rectangular utility duct that ran high along a wall, with a sizeable gap between it and the corridor’s exposed ceiling beams. She had spent more than a little time hiding in similar crevices of the Fright Zone. Where would I hide if I were a dumb cat alone in hostile territory?

Catra hastily refocused her thoughts on the matter at hand: was Sparkles here in the Fright Zone and, if so, what was Catra going to do about it? She stood on her toes and lifted her nose as high as she could. This time she thought she caught an out-of-place but familiar sweetness. After checking the corridor was empty, she climbed silently up the wall opposite the metal duct until she was almost level with it. She twisted around.

Despite her suspicions, Catra almost lost her grip on the wall with the shock of seeing tufts of pink and purple hair in the shadows above the duct. She recovered quickly and – determined not to let a princess keep the element of surprise – sprang up from the wall to grab a central ceiling beam, from which she swung and leapt. She landed lightly on the duct, ready for a fight.

The Bright Moon princess lay at Catra’s feet. She was asleep. Catra nearly laughed in disbelief – as if her mere presence wasn’t strange enough. Catra studied her for a moment, looking for anything that explained why she was here.

The princess’s boots were freshly scuffed and muddy, so she had been travelling on foot. She was far from home, hiding, and tired enough to fall asleep in an unsafe location, so she was probably low on magic. She looked a little bedraggled but not so much as to suggest she had been in a fight, so she had avoided being seen. She had been here long enough to fall asleep yet no alarm had been raised, so she was likely alone. This wasn’t an official visit.

Catra went down on her hands and knees to look more closely at the sleeping princess. She was quite pretty, really. It was odd to see her face so relaxed, lit by the soft glow from her shimmering hair. Glimmering, thought Catra.

Catra pulled back. She had a golden opportunity here. For what, she wasn’t yet sure, but she mustn’t waste it. She closed her eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and opened her eyes as a ruthless Force Captain once more. The princess was perfect prey, lying defenceless before her.

Catra straddled Glimmer’s waist, roughly jostling her onto her back as she did so, and knelt over her. When she didn’t wake, Catra tapped her face impatiently. Glimmer moaned and squeezed her eyes closed. Cute, thought Catra. She drew her claws and pressed them hard against Glimmer’s cheek.

“Wakey, wakey, Sparkles.”

[If you like, you can read the original and the rest of the scene on AO3 here.]

#glitra

[teaandsmut]

I made a Lonnie/Double Trouble playlist for the She-Ra Crackship Weekend event! (Some songs have suggestive, explicit, or potentially challenging/offensive lyrics.)

I originally made it to figure out the mood and dynamic for the ship (which I think is more of an extremely rare pair than a true crackship, but as soon I thought of it I knew I had to go for it). However, to no one's surprise, I didn't have the time or headspace to actually write anything for it. So I'm sharing the playlist and you'll just have to take my word for it that the Lonnie/Double Trouble romance story I made up in my head to go with it was GREAT.

Here's the gist of the story, for interest or as movie-in-your-head inspiration when listening to the playlist:

The two of them begin an affair (they'd just have to bump into each other, let's be honest) and it quickly gets complicated. Lonnie, who values community at the cost of freedom, and Double Trouble, who values freedom at the cost of community, are drawn into late night debates about the merits of their respective lives and choices, which become heated arguments as their affair goes on longer than expected.

This eventually leads to rebellious discussion as they realise how fucked up the systems they live in are, and consider that maybe they can burn them to the ground to make way for something better. But will having the other one by their side give them sufficient courage to leave the safety of their fucked up but familiar worlds??

I may have accidentally started shipping them in earnest...

#lonnie #double trouble #spop #sheracrackshipweekend2023 #i had a lot of fun daydreaming about this and i think it's in the spirit of the event #so thought i'd share even though i didn't manage to write anything #i switched my creative brain on again for the first time in a while so for me it was a successful endeavour #this shares a few similarities with some glitra dynamics i enjoy but differs in the value conflicts methods of debate and chosen solution #so it's TOTALLY DIFFERENT OKAY

[teaandsmut]

I keep wanting to write some pithy wee post to summarise how I've been and how I'm ready to dive back into fandom life. But it's difficult to summarise without getting into lots of moping and personal details, and I don't think there will be a single moment when I throw myself back into fandom stuff all at once. So this is my best attempt at an update of sorts, for anyone who's interested.

I've been having a difficult time for the past two years, really difficult for the past year, and my mental health is in a bad state. But I think the beginning of the end of this bad state is in sight. I'm hoping to get back into fandom stuff as part of clawing my way out of the depression pit, because I miss my hobbies and friends. Probably a slow and gradual process though.

I still think about Catra and Glimmer fucking all the time. I will be finishing TD (the final chapters exist in various patchily drafted states, and are more reliably backed up than they were in the laptop meltdown of July 2021). I really appreciate all the comments I've received on my fics and reblogs/likes on my art while I've been quiet, they're very heartening.

And since a couple of months ago I have a PhD! You may call me Dr Smut :p

[teaandsmut]

*Nude and/or suggestive fanart below*

Just adding to the chorus of "you're probably wearing too large a band size and too small a cup size, please check out the r/abrathatfits size calculator" that I'm certain will be in the notes.

These are all modelled on a UK 28FF/30F, which the internet informs me is a US 28H/30G (the poll uses US sizing):

Perhaps slightly bigger relative to underbust and waist size than the absolute average (for example, in standard sized garments they might result in some gaping between shirt buttons at chest height or having to choose between a bit tight at the boobs and a bit loose at the waist for dresses with a fitted bodice), but ultimately a pretty common size.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

#for the sake of education i'm giving up my chance to test my followers' knowledge by having them guess her bra size in a poll

[teaandsmut]

Hallowe'en struggles: when your sparkly girlfriend manages to look completely adorable in her Bo-Peep costume while your, uh, ears are too big for the Red Riding Hood costume she got you and you definitely don't feel a little bit cute in it.

(Image description in alt text.)

#seasonal reblog #also i found an old corset of mine today and trying it on reminded me of this :p #(and hello! i haven't been around on here much because i haven't been well but i'm hopeful that i'll start getting better soon)

[teaandsmut]

i swear at least 50% of my posts are about boobs

[teaandsmut]

New Glitra game: Name ONE thing you like about the Catra/Glimmer ship.

I'll go first. I love how they at any point, with zero provokation, can start fighting or kissing (or most likely both).

#stretching the glitra part of my brain as i attempt to reconstruct my personality

[teaandsmut]

I think this is self-explanatory.

#guess how many likes this got on twitter #ONE #and while i appreciate that solitary like #overall it was an amusing reminder that i should stop bothering with twitter altogether #anyway i've become a bit obsessed with neon green while i lose my mind finishing my thesis so idk here it is again ta da #now with a transparent background

[teaandsmut]

Yay!

The struggle is real though! Even when I am writing a Glitra fic, no matter if they're friends or enemies or something in between, I find it difficult to leave them alone for too long without them getting all flirty and/or intimately touchy with each other unless there's a serious deterrent, but sometimes it's "necessary for the plot".

Me: Right, all I have to do is to write a quick transition scene to stich these two paragraphs together.

Me, reads brackets: [Glimmer and Catra are alone for five minutes] ...OK, I can work with that.

Me: It's absolutely vital to remember that all I need is a quick transition. A few lines of dialouge, that's all.

Me: Also, in case I have forgotten, this is NOT a Glitra fic.

Me: I repeat, all I have to do is to write Glimmer and Catra bounce a few lines and then I'm done.

Me, deep breath, sits down to write.

Me with dejected voice, thirty minutes and several paragraphs later: This is now a Glitra fic.

#e.g. one time i had to move them to a new location where they were within view of others and they had to look directly at the bigger problem #i also have this problem with lonnie talking to almost any female character

[teaandsmut]

I don't really consider myself part of the fandom proper*, but I like when fandoms stabilise like this. The focus changes from excitement about new content to shared appreciation for the thing or some specific part of the thing and/or enjoyment of playing around in the world or with the pieces.

*(I tend to see myself as someone who lives in a wee house on the outskirts of the fandom village and doesn't go near the centre very often or join many parties, but will occasionally place some smut outside my door in case anyone is interested, chat with friends and potential new friends who come to visit, go to visit my pals, and can sometimes be heard muttering to myself late at night.)

She-ra fans, how you feeling? 

It’s been getting quieter and quieter here, natural for a fandom of a show that’s been over for 3 years(!!! that’s twice as long as it was running!!!)

But I think that even though some fandom regulars are showing up less, the fact they’re still here is a strong sign. 

It reminds me of the Adventure Time fandom and how there are people there that I’ve known for basically a decade. 

#only tangentially related but: fandom time exists separately to real world time for me #i'm regularly shocked by how much time has actually passed since i posted this that or the other thing #(there were other tags in between these about my difficult life stuff? but it glitched while i was editing and it looks like tumblr lost it #(probably for the best)

[teaandsmut]

(If you don't see a post featuring Catra's boobs below this one but you would like to, you might want to change your community label settings!)

#dl