[cleebs]

"what else can go wrong?"

howdy, its cece! i'm in my 20s and i write about women with round killing things ™ and sailor hands ™ while moonlighting as a connoisseur of dated pop culture references.

you can read my poorly-punctuated, run-on sentanced, verbose work here on ao3!

my faves i've worked on (so far) are:

to lakerda, with love

requests/asks are open

[beardedmrbean]

[theman]

I GOT A FUCKING RAISE THE POTATO WORKED WTF

[tattooedzombigirl]

This potato works. Every. Fucking. Time.

[secondlina]

Reblogging because it’s a damn potato and I want to encourage people to assume potatoes are magical.

[sinksanksockie2]

w-what if potato is actually lucky

[deirdressart]

first Xena week sketch <3

Happy 30th, Xena Warrior Princess. You’re the best.

[deirdressart]

<3 good night

[nojillnolife]

[pwaise-hestia]

[green-ajah]

Xena: Warrior Princess (1995 - 2001) ⤷ Fave Episodes: S3 EP18 “Fins, Femmes and Gems”

[warriorprincesstramp]

unmoisturised. bothered. out of my lane. unfocused. decaying.

[phosphorus-noodles]

Reblog to let your followers know that despite your current obsession your previous obsessions still exist and are simply lying dormant until they awaken and strike again

[whenfatecollides]

Xena Warrior Princess 1.07 The Titans

[freshtots]

Idea: motorcycle xena

[green-ajah]

Xena: Warrior Princess (1995 - 2001) ⤷ Fave Episodes: S2 EP6 “Warrior … Princess … Tramp”

[lucyllawless]

For @damnwormholes

[tazaryoot]

you guys know i love xena right?

[marley-manson]

Would you fuck, marry, or kill the Xena character you get?

Pick one

Fuck

Marry

Kill

Voting ended onJun 12, 2024

[deirdressart]

Callisto zine

[marley-manson]

Honestly I think the scene in Paradise Found where Xena hallucinates herself snapping Gabrielle's wrist is one of my favourite moments of the show.

Like first of all the aesthetics and vibes of like 4/5ths of this episode (let's not speak of those painfully bad fiveish minutes) are immaculate, and that scene is beautiful, in an incredible and effective contrast to the horrific action on screen and Xena's deteriorating mental state.

But mostly I just love the unabashedly, disturbingly dark depiction of Xena. The sequence is framed as what Xena wants in that moment. "I'll show you what I want," is what she says. She wants to lash out, she wants to cause pain. There's the whole magical aura causing her dark side to like, gain strength of course. This isn't her average day-to-day state of mind, certainly not with Gabrielle. But the episode begins with Gabrielle pointing out that Xena enjoyed her latest fight, and wondering what's more important to her - the good she's fighting for, or the fight itself? And like, the whole point of this episode is to depict Xena's "dark" sadistic side as the most significant part of her, the core of her being, essentially. It's extra heightened here, but it's still ever-present elsewhere.

There is a significant part of Xena, a dominant part, even a driving part, that wants to hurt people. She harnesses that part of her to do good, but the show is sometimes wonderfully stark in its depiction of her darkness, and what it could lead her to do without Gabrielle's, and her own, tempering judgement.

Like, it's such a harsh little scene. It's sudden and intense and scary. And it's just so fucking gratifying to watch a show with a female protagonist who's allowed to be genuinely frightening, without even needing to change. Where the moral of the story is that yes, part of you is frightening, and potentially dangerous to those around you, but that part is still important.

The part of her deep, deep down that wants to hurt Gabrielle when Gabrielle mildly annoys her is necessary. One assumes that without a magical influence drawing it out, it would be a fleeting, easily dismissed wisp of a thought, rather than an overwhelming, hallucinatory urge. A moment of dumb, irrational emotion channeled into a later battle for good, or a workout, or hell, sex, maybe. But the seed is there, and the show revels in it, sans moral judgement. I mean, even in this very episode Xena's darkness is what saves the day. The show tells us that this is what makes Xena a hero. Her sadism doesn't need to be conquered, it needs to be harnessed and thrust in the right direction. And even more than that, it's something we're meant to enjoy about Xena, part of the core of what makes the show entertaining.

And it's great when it comes out in lighter scenes too, like a cupid's-arrow-influenced Xena sparring with Draco and full on backhanding him as foreplay, or telling Ares she likes the look of him impaled on her sword, or just when she grins as she improvises an entertaining way of fighting 10 mooks; and it's great when it comes out in dark but still action-oriented scenes, like her command of the Athenians in The Price, or her assault on the village in Ties That Bind, or even the Gab-drag.

But when that sadism comes out in a genuinely shocking, grotesque scene of disturbing, abusive, petty violence edited like a moment from a horror movie... well there's something a little extra delightful about that, to me lol. Even if it didn't actually happen, that image of Xena is so powerfully illustrative and interesting and, as far as I'm aware, virtually unique to female heroes in the way the urge behind it is still ultimately framed positively, and I adore it to pieces.