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@90stvqueen / 90stvqueen.tumblr.com

✨ jess she/ze/they 30s ✨ i write about women kissing
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my storygraph is jessawarriorprincess btw and if we're mutuals i want to follow you 🫵

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i love season 4 because xena keeps trying to leave gabrielle to protect her and gabrielle keeps getting so angry about xena going on about her vision, and gabrielle is scared and trying to find a path of nonviolence because sure. xena's dark side scares her but truthfully, her own dark side scares her. season 4 is about her reconciling her own dark side, the yin and yang of it all. understanding the importance of xena's darkness and her own and how important it is, the way we use it, how we learn from it.

eventually "the way" becomes the way of love, the way of friendship, their path together. the path itself doesn't matter as long as they're together, as long as they figure it out together. something xena understood long ago but gabrielle needed more time to learn. it's my favorite when gabrielle starts telling her. and xena let her, did her best to support her. what xena needed to learn was that gabrielle also had darkness, that she had to allow her the agency to choose, to stop protecting her, to give her all the tools she could to help her on their journey. she doesn't fully get there until the end. but it's still a beautiful journey and they are so so good.

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i love this post. one thing i want to add, to your point about gabrielle needing more time to learn something xena understood first: i actually think gabrielle understood it at the beginning of her journey, too. she just lost that understanding and had to find it again. the fact that she had to undergo that transformation to become someone she already was is also a core theme of the show. even as far back as season one, we have scenes like this one, from "athens academy of the performing bards," of all episodes:

Xena: I only remember one story told me when I was young. It was about two orphans who decided to search the world for their families. And it’s all about their adventures and how they kept searching. But the part I remember most is the end. “And when the first man—” Gabrielle: “—reached the end of his journey, he found himself—” Both: “—at the beginning.” Gabrielle: “The family he had sought had travelled the world with him. The only family he had ever known—ever needed—was standing right beside him.” I know the story. Xena: Thanks for being my family. You're like a sister to me. Now, go get your dream.

here, xena recalls the story before gabrielle does, showing a deeper understanding of the way of friendship and the fact that their journey together is inextricably linked. but gabrielle knows the story, too. they both know that gabrielle's trip to athens is a temporary divergence from their shared path, but gabrielle has growing to do and that's not something that can be rushed.

that ties into what you said about xena needing to learn that gabrielle has darkness in her, too, and to stop protecting gabrielle. if i'm not completely disregarding the "you're like a sister to me" line, i'm interpreting it thusly: xena sees herself as a corrupting influence, and sister-zoning gabrielle is one way she can keep gabrielle at arm's length from her own darkness. especially at this point in xena's journey, where she has pretty much only used her sexuality as a weapon.

i know your post is more focused on season four, so forgive me for bringing season one to the table. the beauty of their journey to me is how clearly you can see how they got to where they are at any given point in the series. season four xena and gabrielle are so different from season one xena and gabrielle, but the lessons they're learning together are by and large the same.

in conclusion:

#xwp
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hey guysss so unfortunately the rumors are true and im leaving the narrative. Buttt the good news is my absence will create such a gaping hole in your lives that it will become a sort of presence itself, and so in a way it will kind of be like i never left! But i am. Leaving just to be clear.

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#steven universe#su
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Reblogged the-frankenman-writes
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Guess who’s never beating the “cutie patootie” allegations? It’s the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)! It can be found in parts of northern Europe and Asia. In the colder areas of its range, this species hibernates through the winter. To prepare for this long rest, individuals gorge themselves with food—including insects, fruit, and crustaceans. A raccoon dog can gain up to 50 percent of its weight during this process, and at its peak, an individual can weigh up to 22 lbs (10 kg). Photo: sduben, iStock

#animals#perfect angel baby