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milkypompon · 4 years

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𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 | Gaang x Earthbender!Reader

𝕀𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕖 | What’s life like with the Gaang when they include another Earthbender? Well to everyone’s surprise, it’s quite calm… sometimes. Y/N’s ability is unlike the hard-core Metalbending, Sandbending, and tradition Earthbendingof Toph. Yes, they’re fully capable of doing all that if they truly wanted to. But Y/N chooses to help out in their own way, giving life to nature and indirectly to their friends too.

𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣'𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖 | You can deem these as Character x Reader or just some adorable platonic love with the wonderful team! On another note, for some reason, I LITERALLY WRITE SMALL STORIES INSTEAD OF HEADCANONS LMAOOO. Still hope you got a lil something out of this.

𝔼ℕ𝕁𝕆𝕐

【𝔸𝔸ℕ𝔾】

Puns. That’s it puns.

The crew sat around a flickering fire dead in the night. Wind whistled into their ears and leaves swirled about their hair. Despite the chill weather, everyone chattered and laughed wildly. Sokka began yet another high tale of his that was supposedly dating back to his childhood. His arms flailed wildly, receiving cackles from Toph. While Katara and Zuko fell onto their side, legs kicking the air sporadically.

Y/N sat next to Aang who suddenly grabbed their shoulder and said firmly, “We need to talk.”

Everyone stopped their shenanigans.

Aang deepened his voice, “Y/N… for what’s Earth, you are the team’s most down to planet person ever.”

Y/N snorted, “IT’S DOWN TO EARTH. NOT PLANET”

Well… at least he tried.

Competitions on who can pull out the most potatoes out of the dirt. Let’s just say the Gaang ate potatoes for a week thanks to Aang. And an astonishing two week thanks to Y/N.

When they have heated arguments, which weren’t often, but the team sure as hell stepped on the gas when it did happen, Y/N would offer Aang some pretty nasty food. Nothing dangerous or poisonous, well Aang would actually describe the apple inhabiting worms he took a bite out of last week.

【𝕊𝕆𝕂𝕂𝔸】

Absolutely without a doubt calls you many nicknames

Exhibit A

Sokka poked Y/N’s cheek, he received a smile in return. “Hey, uh… plant nanny, could you swing by at my place and take a look at the vegetables Katara planted? They’re already wilting…”

Y/N giggled, “You planted them didn’t you?”

“Wha- of course I didn’t. FINE, I did!”

Exhibit B

“You just stepped on the chamomile flowers that just started sprouting!” Y/N squealed at Sokka.

“Oh SHIT-” Sokka ate a mouthful of dirt right after Y/N hit him hard in the back of the head with a tree branch. “I’m sorry I upset you Sweet Pea…”

Asked the Gaang as to why Y/N doesn’t perform traditional Earthbending and just received, “Why don’t you ask them yourself?”

Sokka was downright afraid, not because of Y/N’s personality, but he didn’t want to poke through their past. Obviously, curiosity got the best of him!

“Well, I just like the smell of flowers and the taste of organic food more than hurling rocks at people,” Y/N simply shrugged.

Sokka nodded, there was nothing more to it.

“But, sometimes I do like creating my own cliffs and pushing enemies off of it. It’s more meaningful if it’s from rocks I formed myself,” Y/N stared at him dead in the eye.

Sokka’s eyebrows arched high.

That was the last time anyone saw Sokka :0

【ℤ𝕌𝕂𝕆】

Many stories as the two planted flowers in front of the Fire Nation palace

“Y’know, Y/N, this reminds me of this one time Uncle made tea out of a white jade bush,” Zuko snickered.

Y/N eyes widened, “ISN’t THAT POISONOUS?? ... Or was it not??”

“Oh trust me, you would not want to be trying white jade bush tea,” he smirked.

Tends plants with Y/N because it reminds him of the peaceful days of when he served tea at Ba Sing Se

BUT, poor Zuko easily becomes sunburnt when he helps with Y/N’s garden

Y/N heard a knock at their bedroom door.

It was Zuko behind the door saying, “Uh, Y/N could you help me-”

When they swung the door open they were greeted with a scorched man with peeling skin. “HOLY SHIT! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!”

Quickly, Y/N led Zuko to the bathroom and in the corner sat a mini fridge. (He always wondered what was in it. Snacks?) When Y/N opened it, there were stacks of aloe vera leaves snuggled next to each other.

“Why do you have so much-” Zuko began.

“Let’s just say Aang was my first patient…” Y/N laughed under their breath. They gently applied the aloe onto Zuko’s body, which earned them hisses from the dramatic Fire Lord.

“That takes care of it!” Y/N clasped their hands proudly.

“Uh, Y/N. I’m feeling a bit… itCHY!” Zuko yelped.

That’s when both of them found out that Zuko was allergic to aloe vera. Congrats, now Y/N has to call the doctor.

Every weekend, Zuko swing by for new flowers for Ursa (if she returned to the palace... )

“Knock, knock!” Fire Lord Zuko greeted Y/N with a bright smile.

“What brings you here on this fine morning, Your Highness?” Y/N teased.

“Mother’s been nagging me to ask you for help to create a bouquet for each of the rooms in the palace,” Zuko stated.

Y/N’s voice hitched, “EACH ROOM??”

“Don’t worry! I’ll help you pick the flowers and arrange them!,” he offered.

“Oh, like you’d be of any help,” Y/N giggled.

“I swear I’ll be more careful this time,” Zuko rolled his eyes.

But, uh… this time ended up just like last week, Zuko set the flowers he was arranging on fire…

【𝕂𝔸𝕋𝔸ℝ𝔸 】

Basketweaving… attempts by Katara

On Ember Island, the Gaang was able to laze around for a few days (well until Zuko gave the team a big beating that Sozin’s comet was going to practically destroy the world).

Y/N sat under the shade of the swaying palm trees, undisturbed by the squealing of Sokka as his supposed sand sculpture resembling Suki was destroyed. Y/N hummed as they weaved the palm fronds into little baskets.

Katara approached them and commented, “Y/N that’s beautiful! I wish the Southern Water Tribe could make these. Sokka and I were kept busy creating pots with Gran-Gran.”

Y/N timidly scratched the back of their neck, “I could teach you if you’d like! Then we can use it to hold the fish we’ll catch later with Sokka.”

Y/N used their earthbending to pull down the leaves from the palm trees and their work began.

After the fishing trip of the wonderful trio, Katara carefully placed the fish they caught in the basket she wove. As they neared the sandy beach Aang took notice of their disgruntled state. He commented, “Why do all three of you look-”

“I TRIED OKAY! THE FISH GOT OUT OF THE BASKET I WOVE,” Katara defended herself.

“AND IT SLAPPED ALL THREE OF US BEFORE IT JUMPED BACK IN THE WATER,” Sokka yelled.

Katara tried, okay!

Flowercrowns

Many flowercrowns were made for the Gaang with the help of Katara

She may not be that great at creating baskets, but you can bet that Katara doesn’t stop at making crowns: She’s made necklaces and bracelets for Appa and Momo.

Potion making!

Katara would use her waterbending to mix the little potions that Y/N created They’d walk around rolling hills that contained many flowers and herbs that could be used for healing potions and in some cases caffeinated tea!

【𝕋𝕆ℙℍ】

Usual Toph shenanigans

“Ugh, some clerk just charged me over the usual price for these seeds we’ve been needing!” Y/N grumbled.

“Well, we could do something about it…” Toph smirked.

Y/N searched for some termites around the forest and Toph helped transport them around the clerk’s house.

- A few days later -

“Uh, Aang,” Zuko tugged at Aang’s sleeve. “Wasn’t there a house there a couple days ago?”

“I think you drank some cactus juice, buddy,” Sokka simply shrugged.

“Actually, I think there was…” Aang scratched his chin in confusion.

Toph offered Y/N a high-five, “A job well done, if I do say so myself!”

Some brawls that should have clearly not have started in the first place

“Y/N fite me!” Toph marched up to Y/N.

“No,” they stated bluntly.

“WHy! It’s kinda a thing for all us to train together,” she defended herself.

“Fine, but don’t get angry at me if you end up with a splinter or two,” Y/N rolled their eyes.

By sunset, Toph’s head was stuck in between a tree for a couple hours. Even Y/N couldn’t get her out. Or maybe they could…

Y/N teaches Toph “Treebending”, which was a challenge for both of them

“You have to be gentle with these plants Toph!” Y/N’s forehead was forming a red square from all their facepalms caused by Toph.

“I’M TRYING!” She quipped. “It’s kinda hard to be gentle when I’ve been practicing metalbending these past few weeks.

【ℝ𝔼ℚ𝕌𝔼𝕊𝕋 𝕋𝕆 𝔹𝔼 𝕆ℕ 𝔸 𝕋𝔸𝔾𝕃𝕀𝕊𝕋 𝕋ℍℝ𝕌 𝕄𝕐 𝕀ℕ𝔹𝕆𝕏 𝔸ℕ𝔻 ℝ𝔼ℚ𝕌𝔼𝕊𝕋𝕊 𝔽𝕆ℝ 𝔸𝕋𝕃𝔸 𝔸ℝ𝔼 𝕆ℙ𝔼ℕ】

𝔼𝕟𝕕𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖 | THESE WERE SO FUN TO MAKE! Also, thanks again for the people who’ve been supporting my “Extra Hot Sifu Hotman: Zuko x Reader” fic! I’m taking a small break just to layout how I want the story to go and I’m trying my hand at doing headcanons/requests from my inbox.

#zuko x reader #zuko #zuko imagines #sokka x reader #sokka imagines #aang x reader #aang #aang imagines #katara x reader #katara #katara imagines #toph x reader #toph #toph imagines #atla #atla imagines #avatar #avatar imagines

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sparkles-and-trash · 3 years

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You asked for modern atla headcanons. I am usually not that into modern AUs for ATLA, unless they’re set within the world of ATLA - unlike in other fandoms, I find it really weird when I can see a person’s highly regional lived experience stamped all over these characters. But I die for modern AUs where, for instance, Ba Sing Se has outgrown its original walls into a full-on megacity, or the Sato-style mecha - now piloted remotely - are being used by both the benders and non-benders of Republic City (non-benders trying to level the playing field, benders using all tools at their disposal to keep that from happening).

I was really disappointed by the weird political messaging of LoK and in many ways I feel like my desire to see the Gaang translated to that era or an era more similar to our own is a wish for a fixit where Toph’s not a cop and Sokka is around to push back at the assumption of bender supremacy in their society. If I wrote fic I’d write one set in a world similar to our own, with a similar anti-colonial plot as the first ATLA but with some of the conflicts of LoK season 2 added to the mix. I like the idea that the Gaang would at first be fighting an imperialist fire nation, but that Sokka (and Suki) would suck them into a more complex conflict with the world’s current power structure. They’re all in their early 20s instead of their teens - like maybe Sokka’s an engineer who ends up being scouted and initiated by a group of non-bender freedom fighters, and he has to manage his conflicting relationships with them and the Gaang. And maybe Aang and Katara don’t actually get it at first - like Aang’s like, how can you talk about supremacy when I’m literally the last of my people, and Katara’s like, all the Southern Water Tribe benders are dead or (more hopefully) imprisoned stfu, and Sokka’s like - what does it say about our world that benders are so powerful that the fire nation didn’t even consider us when they attacked the SWT - nonbenders still had to pick up the pieces though, and your life is still considered more valuable and important than mine. And Toph’s basically an shameless bender-supremacist that has to have this shit explained to her repeatedly despite the fact that she has experience being condescended to as a result of her disability. Like I want the Gaang to have a serious conflict around this but then actually come around to the idea that defeating the fire nation isn’t the only thing they need to accomplish.

Zuko would actually get it way more quickly, because he knows first hand the intimate damage bending can do, and I love to imagine Ty Lee surprising everyone by leaving Azula for this non-bender army, rather than for Mai or (tangentially) Zuko. She’d be like, yes, I will teach everyone chi blocking, and then they’ll never be as afraid of their “loved ones” as I have been. But Zuko would still be a shitty imperialist at first - just with differently shitty hair. He’d be doing more more intelligence-style stuff (basically Ozai would be like, you’re not even worthy of being called a bender, or being in charge of benders. Go sit in submarines and offices and geotag possible locations for the avatar and spy on the earth kingdom, and maybe if you find the avatar you can come home).

And at 22 Zuko would be mostly going through the motions, totally emotionally stunted, having spent all his time alone or with people he’s been taught to think were really beneath him, but he’d be slowly getting the idea that Ozai’s absolutely full of shit. “Spying” (he’s not very good at it) and spending all this time with non-benders has a)allowed him time to move in circles Azula never would (nobody but the royal family and a fire nation few nobles know about Zuko’s scar, so he’s not clocked as anything but a victim of the fire nation) and b) allowed him time to appreciate his non-bending skills (he’s still really into swords because Zuko’s always going to be a nerd) and the non-bending skills of his underlings. He starts wondering why these people are even working toward the fire nation’s goals, and then slowly realizing some of them actually aren’t - there’s a whiff of low-grade sabotage around a lot of fire nation missions, and Zuko begins to realize specific non-benders are responsible. He doesn’t immediately expose them - instead he (inexpertly) tails them to a meeting, and is promptly kidnapped by chi-blocking non-benders. Ty Lee obviously knows who he is, and while most of the leaders of the non-benders want to use him as some kind of bargaining chip with the fire nation, she nixes that idea on account of Ozai not giving a shit, and instead says, “shit, we’ll just have to imprison him.” Meanwhile Zuko’s like… this sucks but also I think you guys are onto something. Sokka (in glasses, because I love Sokka in glasses) keeps visiting him to gather intel (which he could just get from the more advantageously placed Ty Lee) and stare at him. And bring him food and films, and complain to him about the fire nation’s drone technology. And accidentally little bits of the non-bender’s plans. Eventually Zuko’s like you shouldn’t be telling me any of this, but since you are I’m going to help you with this stupid thing I think you might be planning that I know won’t work for reasons and tell you what to do instead. And Zuko saves a bunch of non-bender lives that day, so they begin to trust him more and more.

Of course this turns into yet another conflict with Katara once she and Aang are brought in on the fact that Sokka and his movement are working with the literal heir of the Fire Nation’s dictatorship. Aang is totally fine with it, and Toph (still a bender-supremacist, though humoring her friends in this new cause of theirs) is like, no, this is great, we need as many benders as we can get (Toph would be a sardonic goth if she could see colors well enough to avoid them - instead she’s just a very loyal asshole with dirty feet and a lot of brutal/abstract blackwork tattoos. She’s likes how much they scare people).

Anyway eventually they do all work together to no only unseat Ozai from his imperialist dictatorship but also begin an equalist uprising out in the open. Aang toys with taking everyone’s (and I mean everyone in the whole world’s) bending away but realizes the whole problem is benders having the power to make decisions for other people, so instead he throws himself behind the equalist cause (literally behind the leaders of the equalist cause) and says he’ll support their mechanization and their right to protect themselves (and agitate for laws wherever they live that support justice and protection for non-benders) with all the powers at his disposal. In the end they build republic city, which is envisioned as a multi-national city with non-bender representation build into its governing structure. Toph doesn’t become a cop. She goes around building literal bridges and tearing pavement out of places that shouldn’t be paved, and has three kids by different unnamed fathers and one of them is a non-bender that gets really into metallurgy but also talks a lot of loving shit to her mom.

Blah blah bah. I have overstayed my welcome in your ask box, but you got me thinking. If only I actually knew how to write!

my dude, you straight up sat down and wrote a whole ass one shot and sent it to me on anon???? you have to be an actual godsend???

nobody ever overstays their welcome in my ask box (if they're nice!), but this is above and beyond, I am blown away by how cool this is????????

I don't even know what to say tbh, and if you ever write this, or want to talk more about it, please feel free to hit me up, in any way, and I'd be stoked to hear more about it!!!

share your fav modern au head canons with me ~

#atla #atla au #Modern ATLA au #avatar the last airbender #anon #my dude #i am blown away #zuko #sokka #toph #katara #aang #just #woah

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charlieliqueur · 4 years

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Mark X Camper!Reader (Unus Annus)

Camp Days - Part One

Summary/Warnings: Unus Annus spoilers? Takes place during Camp Unus Annus, includes some of Camp Unus Annus fan stuff like the camp cabins and etc, and some of my own variations. Reader is 18+ years old, and part of cabin Taser Fire, since it seems decreed that Mark is the head counselor for that cabin. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to the Camp Unus Annus posts and you'll find the stuff pretty quick.

---

You didn't remember signing up for this camp. Probably because you didn't, you couldn't have. Oddly enough, you barely remember anything before waking up on a bus, a bag packed and other 'campers' waiting to arrive. This felt off, the bus ride, the look of it, how isolated and almost abandoned it felt. It had all the wrong feelings.

But you were still here. Almost immediately after stepping off the bus a blond man and brunette woman held out stacks of shirts. One stack white, one black. You carefully picked one, and the woman kindly said "Welcome campers! This isn't our official welcome, but we wanted to make sure you had a uniform for initiation! I'm one of the counselors here, my name is Amy! And this is Evan!" They both waved happily.

What were you doing at a summer camp again?

Why would you be here-

Suddenly you all were being ushered away to a grassy clearing with a bonfire pit. Near a roaring fire were two men, wearing semi-matching black and white clothes. One in white, one in black. They turned towards the group of several, beyond several, dozen campers of varying ages, looks, and personalities.

"Welcome to your first day of Camp Unus Annus! In just a few moments you'll be directed to your cabin!" Said the short haired one. The longer haired man said "Don't forget, Camp Unus Annus and officials are not responsible for any harm or death caused here."

"Death??" Asked a few, they also seemed to have no idea how they ended up here.

"Um, excuse me, but I don't remember signing up for this camp," said one girl.

"Me neither!"

"I don't remember too!"

"Uh, me either!"

They two men looked at one another and began laughing. It seemed almost fake. They looked back at the group of confused people. "Of course you didn't sign up, that's not how Camp works here. Now come on! And-" the man in the white shirt looked to the man in black and they said in unison looking over the group, "Don't forget the Buddy System!!"

---

You had been sorted to your cabin. You stood among a group of confused and concerned campers, as they tried to find buddies before your counselor arrived. You got paired up with a man named Gerald, mainly because he had no one else and seemed distant enough not to bother you too much. Though he seemed a little incompetent.

You all looked at the still-packed collection of supplies, when suddenly a rushing of footsteps and a loud voice boomed, "Heeeeey campeeers!!"

You all looked to see Mark. He adjusted his white shirt briefly before smiling and saying "I bet you're all thrilled to be here, and-- What's this? You don't have your tents up yet?? Well hurry! Nightfall is coming soon and the bears will be out, and the bats, and deer, and snakes-- Just, chop chop!"

The group looked among each other hesitantly. "B-Bears?" Asked a girl.

"Yeah!! And not just the animals. Bear Cabin is... well, we won't talk about them."

"Aren't you betraying the buddy system?" Asked a young man. He seemed rather upset. Probably didn't like being at a summer camp he didn't sign up for. Neither did you.

"Yeah, you've broken your own rule!" Added another boy, the first one's buddy.

"Do you wanna talk to me about rules or do you wanna listen and live??" Mark demanded strongly. Most of the younger teens immediately started opening the tent bags, pulling out the plastic structures and beginning to set them up. Gerald and yourself began setting up your tent as well. The older group members glared and hesitated, before joining in as well.

Soon tents were set up, and as Counselor Mark was inspecting them, a large portion of Taser Fire gathered around a fire pit. "What are we supposed to do?" Asked one boy, his name was Daniel. "What do you mean?" Asked Lizzy, a twenty-something girl.

"Like, the fuck are we supposed to do?? Just play along to this summer camp BS? Hasn't anyone realized we've been kidnapped??"

"Speak for yourselves," said Mickey, a thirteen year old boy. "My home fuckin' sucks, I'd rather be here getting covered in mosquito bites than have another drunk fight with my dad," he said openly. It seemed he felt safe here. What was this place doing to you all? Some now anxious, some now comfortable? And what were you feeling?

"Okay campers, it seems dusk has begun. Why don't we get a fire started for a little meal before night, eh?" Asked Mark, gesturing with an open smile. You all looked around at each other and sheepishly nodded. He gave off vibes. Vibes you weren't sure how to feel about.

"And tomorrow, we start the fun!" He assured, before gathering some wood from a pile and making a firepit. You yawned and looked around. "Hey, where's Gerald?" You asked, when suddenly the man stepped beside you, zipping his fly. "Sorry, just stepped away to-"

Suddenly Mark seized him by the collar of his shirt. "Remember... the buddy system. Nobody leaves the group without their buddy!! Understood??" This was directed at the whole group, who nervously agreed, fearing what their counselor would do if they disobeyed. You stumbled back a bit from the muscles man who practically held your buddy a foot off the ground. He lowered Gerald to the ground and stepped away, refocusing on his fire.

It started up in no time, and the campers gathered around it. You looked off into the distance and could see a few other distant lights. Fires or lanterns. There were five cabins in total.

Thicc Water, near the lake.

Breaking Wind, in a clearing.

Earth Girth, near a river.

The Bears, near a cave system.

Taser Fire, on a rocky area near the forest.

You were studying a map that had come with the supplies. Your fingers traced paths and memorized some bigger details. This place felt off, and you wanted to know where to go if you needed to run somewhere. Either away from something... or someone...

Your nervous eyes glanced up at Counselor Mark, a guitar in his hands while he strummed a tune and hummed a song no one knew. He gave off an ill aura. Ted Bundy mixed with Jigsaw and maybe a cult leader or two. Suddenly Counselor Mark saw you watching, and after your eyes met briefly, you looked back down at the map.

"So tell me all your names," he requested, and you looked up with only your eyes, to see his looking across everyone.

People answered, some more reluctant than others. What worried you most is how some who had been very upset being here were suddenly laughing and sharing past stories and tales. Once more that feeling hit you, a feeling it seemed only a few others realized. This place, these people, it was wrong. At least... at least Mark was...

---

You were lying awake in your tent, your buddy Gerald asleep beside you. He wasn't exceedingly friendly, or strong, or smart, but least he didn't snore. You were propped on your arm, a zippo lighter in your hands, lit to provide enough light to read the map. Then you noticed something in the corner. You brought the lighter closer, and it revealed words, full National Treasure style.

Near the logs whom fell, find the stories they tell. A land of old, of death and cold...

What... the... fuck? What was this about?

You suddenly heard footsteps. You clicked the lighter shut, stuffed the map under your bag, and pulled the covers of the sleeping bag over your head. You were nearly silent, but not suspiciously so. You heard them get close to the tent, and heard whispering, but you couldn't identify who.

"Such a shame..."

"Can't follow the rules, can't stay in camp..."

"It is day one, Annus, give them time."

"Life is not fair, nor is death. Time will march ever forward, my friend. Lessons must be learnt in the time they have. Momento Mori."

"Yes, that is true... which tent was it?"

"This way..."

You covered your mouth, hoping they couldn't hear your ragged and terrified breaths. You listened to the footsteps leave. It took you hours to fall asleep, and even then you were plagued by nightmares. Of two men, one in a white suit, one in black, they were familiar but you couldn't place them, their faces just out of sight.

---

"UNUS ANNUS! UNUS ANNUS! UNUS ANNUS!" A chant erupted through a speaker system you hadn't noticed existed, the sound of distorted male voices. You sprung upright, hearing someone rustle the tents and say "Time to get up campers!"

Counselor Mark.

You groaned, and suddenly went still, remembering last night. You waited for Gerald to step out so you could change. You left the tent as well, seeing a fire already started. A majority of the group was gathered round, laughing and joking and making food.

"Where's Jake?" Asked a voice, one that sounded pained and scared.

"Who?" Asked one girl.

"JAKE!" Said the boy, as if we should know. But you did, you actually remembered. Jake and this boy were the two who pointed out Mark breaking the rules. Mark simply laughed it off and said "Jake has been removed from Camp Unus Annus, should've followed the rules. Now, who wants bacon??"

"Me!!" Cheered some, holding out their plates. You stuck farther back, pulling your map from your pocket. You saw a circle appeared around a spot on the map. You couldn't leave alone. Buddy System. Didn't wanna end up like Jake...

"Hey Gerald?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going somewhere, come on."

"But what about-"

"You'll live. Besides, that bacon seems... off..."

"What do you-"

"Just shut up and follow."

"Okaaaay."

He followed you as the both of you headed towards the marking on the map. "Gonna let me know what this is about?" He asked, walking lazily, not even concerned on wild animals in the woods or poisonous plants and crazy counselors.

You yawned deeply, restless from last night's sleep. You didn't have a lot of time. Then you saw it. Stuck under a log that seemed like it had fallen decades ago, poking out, was a journal. "Help me move this," you demanded of you buddy, trying to force the log to roll.

"Y/n, you sure? It's all damp and rotted, there might be like slugs or-"

"Dammit Gerald push the log!!"

He whined again before pushing against it with you, and it rolled over enough for you to kick the journal free.

"All this way for a notebook? Pfft..."

"Yeah, a notebook. One you won't mention or you'll have more than just Mark to worry about," you warned darkly.

What was wrong with you? Would you normally say that? Yes, no? You couldn't remember. There had to be something about this place. A toxic material waste, brain fucking everyone.

Gerald hesitantly agreed to secrecy, then began his journey back, you following close behind.

"Hey, look, Taser Bitches!" Shouted an unfamiliar voice. You both looked around, before seeing a small group of kids, wearing matching bandanas. Thicc Water.

"Alright guys, pelt 'em!!!" Shouted someone, and they raised water balloons.

"What the fuc-??"

You urged Gerald to run and you both began sprinting, water balloons crashing and splatting all around you, the water seemed oddly thicc.

However you escaped with your lives, and luckily it seemed counselor Mark was gone. Good. You pulled the journal out in front of you and read the first entry.

I don't know what day it is. Not what they say. They think today is tomorrow and is also yesterday. I've been here weeks and they're saying day three. This place is wrong, so fucking wrong. But I can't leave. My buddy started the idea of cabins. He seems to be leaving me. I can't escape without help...

You entered your tent and exhaled shakily. You took a seat on the polyurethane floor. Was this from the beginning of the camp? It had to be a while ago, these cabins and all had been here for a long time, the signs and everything super old. Like, decades old. That's when what you read next horrified you.

Counselor Mark and Ethan are up to something. Kids keep going missing and it's only ones in their cabins. I have to get the fuck out of here...

How old are they? What the fuck was this?? Was this real, what did this even mean, that Counselor Mark and Ethan are-

Suddenly there was a rustling on the tent, like knocking, and a scary familiar voice asked "Hey y/n right?"

To be Continued...

A/N: Woo!! I hope to finish this story, or at least get a good few parts out. What's going on? Spoooooky. Anyways, things will obviously get more dramatic as it continues. Hope you enjoyed!

#markiplier #unus annus #crankgameplays #ethan nestor #mark fischbach #amy nelson #camp unus annus #markiplier x reader #annus x reader #unus #annus #fanfic #fanfiction #camp unus annus fic

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listless-brainrot · 3 years

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Avatar: The Last Airbender DS Game Review

no one asked for this but i don’t ever see anyone talk about the atla videogames, which is a true tragedy, and i know that this may be because the video games aren’t technically canon, but i think they’re still worth talking about!

i finished this game in about three days, and i’m going to be talking about its gameplay, graphics, and story, all in that order.

spoilers below, as i’ll be talking about the entire game in depth.

Gameplay:

the bulk of the gameplay consists of controlling your party of four, which consists of aang, sokka, katara, and haru. you can swap between any member of your party at any time using the touchscreen. you can run around with the d-pad, and you can also walk by holding down the b button. but onto the combat- each member has a specific set of attacks they can use, with two kinds of attacks and defenses, primaries and specials, with attacks assigned to the y and x buttons, and defenses assigned to the b and a buttons respectively. the game is jrpg-esque, in the sense that it has (somewhat) random encounters and a multi-person party, each with strengths and weaknesses. the random encounters aren’t fully random, as the enemies (which range from animals to machines) can be easily spotted and avoided in the overworld, but they do chase the party down. there is no in-game option to run from any random encounter, as you have to purchase smoke balls to run away from a fight. each random encounter will either drop a healing item or an unspecified amount of gold, which can be used in shops.

the game works in “chapters”, similar to the actual show’s structure, which has episodes, each of which start you and your party in/near a village, according to whatever setting the plot deems necessary. in each village, there is a variety of shops, which include an herbalist, medicine man, and fruit seller. the herbalist will mix together any random herbs you find (for a fee) in the overworld, creating single use status-buffing items that have varying effects based on the kinds of herbs used. the medicine man (unsure if that’s what he’s actually called) will sell incense and smoke bombs, with the latter used to control the rest of the party, with different kinds of incense used to dictate their behavior in battle. for example, defense incense will make the rest of your party use more defensive moves, rather than offensive. the fruit seller sells various healing items, which range between single and party-healing. as the game progresses, these items grow more and more costly, requiring increasing amounts of gold. there are also hidden item boxes, though these are found in both the villages and world itself. items can be held in a sizeable inventory, but items must manually be moved up into a six-slot hotbar for use during combat.

though the bulk of the gameplay is exploration and fighting, there are also some smaller parts within the game that switch it up a bit. there are minigames, such as four nations force, which can be found in villages and is a pai-sho-esque game with similar tiles, as well as opportunities to train certain members of the party, namely haru (at least in my experience). there is a segment in which you can control momo, and have him solve a puzzle to open a door, and in that same segment, there is a mission where you have to utilize the b-button to silently walk past guards. there are a few of fetch-quests, though they aren’t too difficult, and drive the plot forward.

the gameplay isn’t anything groundbreaking or spectacular, but it serves its purpose well, and can make for some really fun strategy-driven moments where you have to constantly swap between characters to see if there’s advantages to using one over the other, and rationing out health items carefully to see if they’ll last you before a boss fight. there’s definitely a lot of combat, and, while the game doesn’t force you to, there is the inherent expectation of level-grinding, which can make certain segments of the game a whole lot easier, especially with unlocked specials and higher power. there is also the fact that, should you lose a random encounter fight with no smoke bombs, you are basically stuck in the fight until you win or quit, which are the only two options. furthermore, should you quit, you’ll be sent back to your last save, and you must manually save, as is standard for most games of this era, as it only prompts you to save at the very conclusion of a chapter. there is a bit of mercy, however- should your entire party die and you continue, your party’s health will be restored to at least a third, and all items used in the previous battle will return in your inventory, ready to be used again.

Graphics:

as is expected with ds games of this era, the characters are rendered in charming little pixel sprites, which each sprite being beautifully animated and full of personality. in cutscenes, each character emotes with their own set of sprites, and their mouths are animated when they talk. sometimes, their sprites are used for comedic effect- there are rarely moments where characters are just standing and spewing dialogue. there are also pixel-rendered portraits of each character in the party on the touchscreen, allowing you to see their health, moves, and level.

what’s interesting about this game, however, is that, while the characters are 2d sprites, their surroundings are 3d, and you can change the viewpoint of the camera at any time in the overworld with the l and r bumpers, allowing you to really see the entirety of the map. this makes exploring all the more interesting, as you can spin the camera around to see hidden loot boxes or other items you may have missed. in villages, there is a lot of new personality and depth given to each setting, especially familiar sights from the show such as omashu and the northern air temple. the aesthetic of the overall show is kept intact well, as even the npcs in new towns all appear to fit by design, and there is a sense of visual cohesion that makes it feel true to its roots. there are little nods to canon beyond just the main characters, such as one of the healing items in the game being a custard tart, and town designs expanding on already established settings.

each segment of the game carries with it a unique feel, making each chapter easily distinguishable from the last. the game has so much charm, with its bright visual styles and faithfulness to its canon inspiration, and each setting is unique and fun to explore. the only thing that may bog it down in terms of both gameplay and graphics is that a majority of the surrounding buildings in villages and cities can’t be entered nor explored- they’re just props. this gives a slightly empty vibe to the environment when you notice that the background props are just props. it would be much more fun to explore the given environment if there was more to do, rather than just the same three to five things. furthermore, while the camera function is very useful, it can also be really confusing in terms of navigation. there’s a map and a compass, sure, but sometimes you’ll be stuck spinning the camera until you’re absolutely sure you’re headed in the right direction. the map, at least, does give you an indicator on where you’re supposed to go next to advance the plot, and there is a similar kind on the compass as well, which helps immensely.

Story:

unlike other games (namely burning earth and into the inferno), this game’s plot is mostly standalone, and doesn’t follow the canon timeline very closely. there is less “a game about playing through the show’s events”, and more of “a game that uses canon elements to create a story of its own”. the story, which doesn’t fully fit within the bounds of canon, is still an interesting story to present nonetheless.

spoilers for the entire story begin here!

the story opens with aang, katara, and sokka in the north pole, where master pakku has been mysteriously replaced with a character named master wei, who tells the gaang that one of their waterbenders, named hiryu, has vanished. upon further investigation, a waterskin and a weird piece of metal is discovered where the waterbender was seen last- however, these investigations are quickly halted by the arrival of zuko and the fire nation, who kidnap katara as bait for aang. sokka and aang track her down to a fire nation prison, where they have to dress up as fire nation soldiers in order to sneak in and get info on her whereabouts in order to save her. while saving katara, they also discover another prisoner named lian, who is presumably being forced to work for the fire nation. after a brief battle with the warden, they find that lian has escaped on her own, and left a note behind, pointing them in the direction of an earth kingdom village.

after katara has been saved and the gaang follows the note, they find the village being terrorized by mysterious machines with the ability to bend/use singular elements, though they are being fended off by two earthbenders. upon further investigation, the earthbenders turn out to be tyro and haru, who were saving villages when this one was attacked by machines. after defeating the machines, the gaang learns from tyro that another bender has been kidnapped- an earthbender named yuan, who was one of haru’s closest friends. because of this, tyro encourages haru to join the gaang’s quest to find out where the machines are coming from, and points them towards the forest for clues, as a wise spirit resides there. the party then encounters a bear-like creature, which attacks them, though upon defeat, reveals itself to be the forest spirit, who gives them very cryptic answers when asked about the origins of the machines, saying something related to the heart of the earth kingdom.

somehow, this prompts the gaang (now joined by haru) to go to omashu, as it’s in the heart of the earth kingdom. aang decides to ask his friend king bumi to help them figure out where they need to go to find the origins of the machines, and the king, while happy to see his friends again, is forbidden from helping the group discover secrets, due to his royal counsul, who refuses to let them go to where they need to go. nevertheless, bumi directs them towards the earth kingdom royal library, where a scroll is found showing a series of bending techniques, as well as some kind of map. upon bringing their findings to king bumi, he points them in the direction of four paws island- an unmarked island off the coast of the earth kingdom. however, as the gaang prepares to leave, the fire nation attacks once more, forcing them to find an alternate route out of the city, where they are challenged by the royal counsul, who is revealed to be conspiring with someone relating to the machines. haru, enraged by the counsul’s traitorous actions, takes him on one on one, and, upon defeat, allows the gaang to escape to four paws island.

now on four paws island, the party finds more mysteries than they bargained for, as there are more machines terrorizing the people of four paws, as well as more benders going missing. unsure where to start, they begin to search the island for a statue they recognized from the royal library, soon discovering a hidden passageway underneath it that leads them to a model of the island itself, which holds a mysterious blue rock. the rock, covered in old writing, is then brought to the elder of the village, who reveals that it holds the entire history of four paws, and also serves as a key to a secret passageway. the passageway, which is discovered in the side of a cliff west of the village, is revealed to be a sprawling, underground lair, crawling with machines. at the end of it, a large machine sits in wait as a familiar face operates on it. the person reveals themselves to be lian, who has been building the machines in hopes of restoring peace to the world. the machines, she hopes, will wipe out and replace benders, thus evening the playing field, as the very existence of benders creates divide between people and nations. she worked with the fire nation solely to gain resources for her machines, as well as the omashu royal counsul, and she tries to persuade aang to join her, stating that he will never be ready to fight ozai. aang refuses, along with the rest of the gaang, and, in a fit of rage, she states that she will cut off his connection to the avatar state and unleashes her prototype bending machine on them, which uses three of the four elements to attack. upon defeat of the machine, the gaang rushes to catch lian before she can escape again.

the group now lands at an earth kingdom village that borders the air temples, and aang decides to take appa head off on his own towards the northern air temple, knowing that lian will most likely head there and destroy the avatar statues, mistakenly believing that this action will sever his ties to the spirit world. the story then alternates between aang at the air temple, and katara, sokka, and haru back at the village. while aang fights off machines and tries to protect the air temple from destruction, the rest of the group fights off machines in the forest, where the people from the village were trying to rebuild. after defeating the machines, however, a mysterious large machine appears, and katara, sokka, and haru are taken. when aang arrives back at the village after successfully protecting the temple, he is attacked by a drill-like machine, and has to destroy it on his own. upon defeating the machine, he discovers a large hole/tunnel in the ground, and decides to follow it, hoping it’ll lead him to his friends.

the tunnel leads aang to another village, where a large temple resides in the northwest that villagers refuse to enter, due to benders mysteriously disappearing around there. aang, after battling his way through the surrounding forest, enters the temple and discovers his friends imprisoned there by lian, and he is forced to save each of them separately. sokka is found trapped in a strung up cage, and he discovers a tool left behind by lian, which he uses to open locked doors within the temple. katara is inexplicably found on the other side of a large lava pit, and aang must fly across it to save her. haru is found in a metal prison below the temple, and, after being feed by sokka, tells the rest of the gaang where lian is headed. now fully reunited, the group heads towards the heart of the temple, which is blocked by a series of large rocks that haru makes quick work of, and they prepare to stop lian.

before stopping lian, however, the group discovers zuko, who lays injured on a bridge. aang, who runs to help him, asks if he needs help and assumes he was captured by lian as well, but zuko refuses to accept his help, instead berating the fire nation for trusting lian and her nefarious machines. the gaang reassures zuko that they will do something about the machines, but are forced to leave him behind, unable to do anything to save him at the time, despite aang’s protests. the group then falls for a trap, which unleashes an even stronger version of the prototype bending machine from before, which now has the ability to freeze water, and is forced to destroy it before they can continue. after the ensuing battle, aang, sokka, katara, and haru finally prepare to confront lian for the final time.

lian, standing in front of a powerful machine with the ability to use all four of the elements, is found alongside two other benders- hiryu and yuan, who are revealed to be working with and for lian, teaching her machines their bending techniques, as they support and believe in their cause, rather than held against their will, as originally believed. this upsets haru, who tries to convince yuan to join their group, to no avail. lian repeats her speech on division between the four nations and elements, stating that she would rather have thinkers in charge of the world, rather than magicians. she gives the group one more chance to join her side, lest they be eliminated by her ‘avatar’ machine, stating that benders such as yuan that side with her cause will be spared, and that benders such as zuko who refuse will suffer the consequences. aang, who firmly believes that zuko didn’t make the wrong choice, states that being the avatar is something that can’t be replaced by machines, and he and the rest of the party ultimately challenge and prepare to destroy her ‘avatar’ machine.

midway through the fight, however, a fireball is shot at aang, which none of the group sees except for katara, and she throws herself in front of it, taking the hit for aang. while the rest of the group rushes to her aid, lian mocks the group for being weak, showing that this is proof that her machine is stronger than all benders. enraged, aang enters the avatar state, facing the machine alone and destroying it quickly, soon passing out from exhausion once the fight ends. unlike in other iterations of this same game, lian survives and is helped by hiryu and yuan, who realize the consequences of their mistakes and elect to help lian and improve themselves. escaping as sokka and haru care for aang and katara.

aang eventually reawakens in katara’s arms, and sokka gets angry with katara putting her life on the line for aang, but katara says that she had to do something, as aang is important to not only the world, but her as well. aang learns that this message is applicable to his role as the avatar, realizing that he has a responsibility to help when no one else can, and he must accept his role in the world. soon, the group escapes the fortress over to appa and momo, and begin heading back to haru’s village, bringing him home before starting back off on aang’s quest to learn all four elements. zuko is also revealed to have escaped the fortress, and is upset that he missed his opportunity to capture the avatar.

spoilers for the entire story end here!

the story is extremely simple, yet chaming and full of twists. it’s definitely not something one would expect from atla’s usual fare, especially considering the technology and themes, but it still fits pretty well. lian is an interesting and dynamic villain, and her motivations are presented in a believable manner, and she makes for a pretty sizeable threat over the course of the story. the dialogue and cutscenes are generally entertaining, and the story is fun to watch unravel. the only things i personally took issue with were the pacing and some character inconsistencies. there’s a segment in omashu that’s a bunch of fetch quests that lead up to a joke, and, while the joke is pretty funny, bogs the pacing down a lot. there’s also no sidequests whatsoever (barring the singular one in the north), and there is no way to go back to a previous chapter, so you have to accomplish every single thing you want to accomplish before moving forward. the story is extremely linear, which works well, but i found myself wanting more, especially in the character department. surprisingly, haru works extremely well as a member of the gaang, and i found his interactions with them to be entertaining and fun to watch. it’s cool to have an atla piece of media that not only remembers him, but makes him an actual character. however, there’s not much for character on character interactions, even with all the cutscenes. i wanted to see more of this new gaang being friends, since it presented an entirely different dynamic from the show. there’s also the issue of some interactions feeling pretty flat, such as haru being imprisoned again and having no reaction to it, or sokka not being given much depth outside of being the butt of many jokes (outside of the one scene with the kid and the boomerang), but these are minor gripes in the face of the characters and story it presented. overall, i think the only big thing i have to complain about is the ending, which was changed from the original ending, where lian ambiguously dies and haru and yuan reconcile. it feels like a last ditch attempt to redeem lian and yuan, which i understand to some extend, but it feels extremely out of place and put in at the last moment. this also downplays haru and yuan, which is sad considering that yuan getting captured is what leads haru to join the adventure in the first place.

In Summary:

7.5/10. it’s a fun game with some difficulty spikes and a genuinely enjoyable story. i know that most tv show videogames don’t have a great reputation, so i think this was pretty good compared to what i’ve played before. the main things that keep it from being a 10/10 for me was the realization that the game wanted me to grind, lack of extra content that would’ve heightened the experience, some story and character snags, and rather repetitive boss fights. i took off an entire .5 for the fight with the spirit bear, which was a really infuriating experience (that was largely my own fault as i walked in unprepared), but other than that, i would genuinely recommend this game to anyone who wants a fun time with well-made spinoff videogame.

11 notes · View notes

tulaladd · 3 years

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世界最遅tulaladd2020best DL list

年間ベストを始めて以来、初の事態。

なんと9か月遅れのポスト。あと3か月で次の年ベスの発表時期じゃないですか…唯一にして最大の理由が、もちろんあるにはある。

暗夜行路のような唄声が車内から眺める某庁舎前の雪景色と甘酸っぱい感情を喚起させるRY Xや、このリストには登場しない自分用に作ったプレイリスト（日本語ラップ編、シティーポップ編）をひとりで何度も諳んじては胸を焦がした。それらの音楽が本来持つ資質にプラスして思い出補正でランクインした作品がいくつかある（最たるものがサントラ部門かな）。そんな変化があった2020年でした。

それを除けば、音楽ライフは基本的に前年を踏襲。つまり引き続きapple music依存型で、DIG活動もほほ休止（荷物の山に埋もれたタンテをセッティングし直せるまともな精神状態じゃなかった…）。落第生の体たらくをここ何年も続けてるわけです。とはいえ昨年と比べれば、リスト入り作品の数が格段に増えた＝それなりに楽しい音楽生活が営めていたのも事実。その充実を支えたものがアルゴリズムって点がものすごく納得はいかないけれど。（毎年書いてるけど、手当たり次第サブスクを横断する中で「もう一度聴きたい」と思えたものが以下のDLリスト。感覚的には昨年より緩い5枚に1枚。それでも昨年比3倍の約250枚！）

いつまで延命できるか分からないローカルラジオを継続できたのもラッキーだった。相変わらずみんなとあーだこーだ言いながらいろんな曲を聴く時間が音楽ライフを豊かにしてくれました。感謝。過去最高に音楽への熱が薄いテキストになっちゃうけど、9か月遅れだと致し方なしか。

三ツ星評価のうち、エル・ミシェルズ・アフェアのシングルはラジオの一戸くんレコメン、今年も熱量が持続しているサウスロンドン・ジャズ・シーンのマンスール・ブラウンEPはおなじみWOZNIAK星くんのオススメ、ほかにも人から教わってお気に入りになった作品が少なくないのは、サブスクじゃ届かないリアルの強みが感じられて、そこだけは希望があるのかな。

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特筆するとすれば、Bartosz KruczynskiのEARTH TRAX以来追い続けてきたリズムセクション・インターナショナルが、旬のサウスロンドン・シーンと地下ハウス/テクノ・シーンのメルティング・ポットだったことが分かって興味が再燃させられた個人的な事件。そのセンセーションのグラウンド・ゼロにあたるTHE COLOURS THAT RISEの発見が今年No.1の成果かな。

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唯一職場で音楽談義ができるために相互レコメンに特化したLINEを展開中のT氏に教えられたエディ・チャコンのアルバム、そのエディの復活劇を手掛け、若林恵さん経由でずっぽりハマったソランジュ『A Seat At The Table』の禅的ミニマリズのデザイナーでもあることが事後に発覚したジョン・キャロル・カービーの2人は、今年ならではの幸福な時間の中で何度も繰り返し聴いた一生の思い出確定盤。ジョンなんか3カテゴリーに分かれてのランクインだもんな。　

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さて2021年。あと3か月しかない。今年はやる？やらない？いろいろ越えるべきものが多くすぎてそれ以前の問題かもしれないなけど。

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【TECHNO / HOUSE / (NU)DISCO / ELECTRONICS】 ★★★THE COLOURS THAT RISE / Grey Doubt ★★THE COLOURS THAT RISE / 2020 EP（2017） ★★THEO PARRISH / Wuddaji ★★Machinedrum / A View of U ★Kuniyuki Takahashi / Flying Music EP ★Oneohtrix Point Never / Magic Oneohtrix Point Never ★VLADISLAV DELAY / Rakka ★LUKE SLATER / berghain fünfzehn ★Jayda G / Both of Us / Are U Down EP ★TSHA / Flowers EP ★DISCLOSURE / Energy ★DARKSTAR / Civic Jams ★Chari Chari / We Hear the Last Decades Dreaming ★HUNEE / Boiler Room : an hour with HUNEE（DJ Mix） ★Autechre / SIGN Arca / @@@@@ BURIAL / Chemz FOUR TET / Sixteen Oceans JAMES BLAKE / Before EP GLOBAL COMMUNICATION / Transmissions Sampler JOHN FRUSCIANTE / Maya TRICKFINGER / She Smiles Because She Presses the Button EP TRICKFINGER / Look Down, See Us EP 60 Miles / Swamp 2 Sea EP EARTH TRAX / LP1 EARTH TRAX / LP2 BIG YAWN / No! HIATT dB / Palimpsest EP GL / You Read My Mind DJ SOFA / Elsewhere Junior I - a Collection of Cosmic Children’s Song Mr President / One Night feat.Celia Kameni & Cindy Pooch J.A.K.A.M. / ASTRAL DUB WORX Inner Science / Made パソコン音楽クラブ / Ambience EP LOCUSSOLUS / Locussolus（Expanded） Various Artists / South DAN KYE / Small Moments OFF THE MEDS / Off The Meds BASSO / Proper Sunburn - Forgotten Sunscreen Applied By Basso（2019） Copenema / Dexia a Musica Tocar（2019） Seahawks / Eyes of the Moon（2019） Jayda G / Significant Changes（2019） MMM / Que Barbaro（2013）

【HIPHOP / R&B / BEATS / FUNK】 ★★★EDDIE CHACON / Outside（Laraaji Remix） ★★EDDIE CHACON / Pleasure, Joy and Happiness ★★Lil Narnia / Pain Extract ★★VHOOR / Baile & Sauce ★AG CLUB / Halfway Off the Porch ★MAC MILLER / Circles ★THUNDRCAT / It Is What It Is ★WILMA ARCHER / A Western Circular ★OXP, ONRA & POMRAD / Swing Convention ★DJ KRUSH / TRICKSTER ★BENEDEK / Bene’s World（2017） JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / High feat.Eddie Chacon & Nailah Hunter THE WEEKND / After Hours DRAKE / Dark Lane Demo Tapes POP SMOKE / Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon IVAN AVE / DOUBLE GOODBYES MOSES SUMNEY / græ PETER COTTON TALE / CATCH NNAMDI / BRAT Yves Tumor / Heaven Ta a Toutured Mind Teebs / Ardour（10th Anniversary Edition） Wajatta / Don’t Let Get You Down Lapalux / Esrevoinma EP Kutmah / New Appliance THE HELIOCENTRICS / Telemetric Sounds VULFPECK / The Joy of Music, The Job of Real Estate JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / Lazzara（2019） Various Artists / Kutmah presents : Sketchbook Radio Archives, Vol.1（2018） Invisibl Skratch Piklz / The 13th Foor（2016） D-STYLES / Phantazagorea（2002）

【JAZZ（the New Chapter） / WORLD】 ★★★MANSUR BROWN / Tesuto ★★★JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / My Garden ★★KAMASI WASHINGTON / Harmony of Difference EP（2017） ★JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / Love Theme ★MANSUR BROWN / Shiroi ★JEFF PARKER / Suite for Max Brown ★CHICAGO UNDERGROUND QUARTET / Good Days ★TOM MISCH & YUSSEF DAYES / What Kinda Music ★KAMAAL WILLIAMS / Wu Hen ★ROB MAZUREK & EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA / Dimentional Stardust: ★ORLANDO LE FLEMING / Romantic Funk : The Unfamiliar ★SAM WILKES / WILKES（2019） ★YUSSEF KAMAAL / Black Focus（2016） ★ZSOFIA BOROS / Local Objects（2016） JYOTI & GEORGIA ANNE MULDROW / Mama, You Can Bet! BUTCHER BROWN / #KingButch BRAXTON COOK / Fire Sign PAT METHENY / From This Place Fabiano do Nascimento / Preludio SAM GENDEL / Satin Doll SAM GENDEL / Pass If Music（2018） SAM WILKES / Live on the Green（2019） BRANDON COLEMAN / Resistance（2018） KIEFER / Superbloom（2019）鈴木良雄 / モーニング・ピクチャー（1984）鈴木良雄 / ウイングス（1987） JOHN EBERSON, BJ0RNAR ANDRESEN, PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE / Mind the Gap（2001）

【（INDIE）ROCK / （INDIE） POP / SSW】 ★★★EL MICHELS AFFAIR / Reasons feat.Bobby Oroza ★★EL MICHELS AFFAIR / Adult Themes ★★THE FLAMING LIPS / American Head ★★SUFJAN STEVENS / The Ascension ★★FLEET FOXES / Shore ★★COLDPLAY / Everyday Life（2019） ★★RY X / Unfurl（2019） ★★THE WAR ON DRUGS / Lost in the Dream（2014） ★PHOEBE BRIDGERS / Copycat Killer feat. ROB MOOSE - EP ★Mk.gee / A Museum of Contradiction ★PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE / Agitprop Alterna ★BLAKE MILLS / Mutable Set ★THE STROKES / The New Abnormal ★CHS / Jungle Sauna（2019） ★KINDNESS / Something Like A War（2019） ★〝Blue〟Gene Tyranny & Peter Gordon / Trust In Rock（2019） ★STATE RIVER WIDENING / Early Music（2003） BIBIO / Sleep On The Wing Jonsi / Shiver JEFF TWEEDY / Love Is The King REAL ESTATE / The Main Thing ANIMAL COLLECTIVE / Bridge to Quite LITTLE DRAGON / New Me . Same us JAGA JAZZIST / Pyramid TAME IMPAlA / The Slow Rush TRAVIS / 10 Songs SORRY / 925 JOSEPH OF MERCURY / WAVE Ⅱ Khruangbin / Mordechai Various Artists / Hiding From the Landlord HOWLING / Colure DEVENDRA BANHART / Ma（2019） LANA DEL REY / Norman Fucking Rockwell（2019） DAVE GROHL / Play（2018） CRITERIA / En Garde（2003）

【PUNK / HEAVEY / EXTREAM】 ★★envy / The Fallen Crimson ★★lang / There is no reply, but sweet wind blew（2018） ★envy / LAST WISH（Live at Liquidroom Tokyo） ★SLIFT / UMMON ★HORSE LORDS / The Common Task ★coriky / coriky ★Sans Visage, Look at moment / Split Single ★Sans Visage / moments（2017） ★LIGHTNING BOIL / Sonic Citadel（2019） ★Harvey Milk / Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men（2006） DEFTONES / Ohms Converge / Endless Arrow JESU / Terminus JESU / Never JESU / Ascension（Delux） KRUELTY / A Dying Truth XIBALBA / Anos En Infierno Various Artists / Speedy Wunderground Year 4（2019） RUSSIAN CIRCLE / Russian Circle Audiotree Far Out（2019） EARTH / Live at Third Man Records（2017） THE ARMED / Only Love（2018） THE ARMED / Untitled（2015）

【AMBIENT / NEW AGE / DRONE / MINIMAL MUSIC / EXPERIMENTAL】 ★★JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / Conflict ★★Dukes of Chutney / Hazel ★HEATHERED PEARLS / Cast ★SAM PREKOP / Comma BING & RUTH / Species FRANKIE REYES / Originalitos IAN WILLIAM CRAIG / Red Sun Through Smoke WINDY & CARL / Allegiance and Conviction JONNY NASH & SUZANNE KRAFT / A Heart So White JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / Tuscany（2019） JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / Meditation In Music（2018） JOHN CARROLL KIRBY / Travel（2017） ALEXANDER RISHAUG / Shadow of Events（2011）【CLASSIC / OST】 ★LUDWIG GORANSSON / Tenet OST ★JOHN WILLIAMS / Double Trouble ※from OST of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban（2004） DUSTIN O'HALLORAN / Ammonite OST KAMASI WASHINGTON / Becoming（Music from the Netflix Original Documentary） DUSTIN O'HALLORAN / Lumiere（2011） BETH GIBBONS, The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Krzysztof Penderecki / Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No.3（2019） ANTONI WIT, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra(Katowice) & Polish Choir of Krakow / Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No.2（2001） ZSOFIA BOROS / Local Objects（2016）【DOMESTIC（without HIPHOP）】 ★★★METAFIVE / 環境と心理 ★★GEZAN / 狂（KLUE） ★★downy / 第七作品集「無題」 ★★岡村靖幸 / 操 ★★崎山蒼志 / ソフト　※FEVER LIVE ver. on YouTube ★★SILENT POETS / dawn（2018） ★WOZNIAK / Vegetable Home Run ★Ai Aso / The Faintest Hint ★jan and naomi / YES ★mei ehara / Ampersands ★ディーン・フジオカ / Neo Dimension ★LUNA SEA / Make a vow ★坂本慎太郎 / 好きっていう気持ち / おぼろげナイトクラブ ★Cuushe / Waken ★sassya- / 脊髄（2019） ★小袋成彬 / Piercing（2019） ★She Her Her Hers / stereochrome（2014） WOZNIAK / Lost WOZNIAK / Double Face mouse on the keys / Arche 5kai / Untitled #2 KAN SANO / Susanna Ovall / Ovall（2019） mabanua / Blurred（2018） D.A.N. / Aechma ふさえ / そのまま相馬智行 & 鳴海徹朗 / 春の闇 jan and naomi / Neutrino 王舟 / Pulchra Ondo 春ねむり / LOVETHEISM 井出健介と母船 / Contact From Exne Kedy And The Poltergeists（エクスネ・ケディと騒がしい幽霊からのコンタクト）吉田一郎不可触世界 / えぴせし岡田拓郎 / Morning Sun blgtz / Feature EP Coff / Tiny Music（2019）【DOMESTIC（HIPHOP）】 ★★DJ CHARI & DJ TATSUKI / GOLDEN ROUTE ★★Weny Dacillo / Hapitable Hotel ★Hideyoshi / Dead End Adventure ★GG UJIHARA / WEAKNESS EP（2018） ★DJ CHARI & DJ TATSUKI / Time feat.Yo-Sea & KEIJU（2019） ★GG UJIHARA / WEAKNESS EP（2018） KOHH / worst KEIJU / T.A.T.O. Sauce81 / S8100 MARTER / Weltraumasthetik 2020 Normcore Boyz / MEDIAGE なみちえ / 毎日来日徳利 / REVOLUTION starscream & Page Hiiragi / Ghost(s) DJ CHARI / GAME（2019） YOUNG HASTLE & GG UJIHARA / YOUNG UJIHARA EP（2019） Weny Dacillo / AMPM EP（2017）

#tulaladd2020best

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gayavatarstyle · 4 years

Note

ooh i know youre more of a zukka person but would you do some jet/zuko hcs?

Headcanon A (realistic): I get the feeling neither Zuko nor Jet had ever really given anythought to their sexualities until they met on the ferry to Ba Sing Se. They’reboth uncomfortably aware that both the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom have someantiquated ideas about two boys kissing, but honestly, once they start exploringthemselves and each other after their crime date? Who gives a shit about theirnations?

Headcanon B (unrealistic): So I doubt they would have found time what with the Dai Liconspiracy and whatnot, but I like to think that at some point in Ba Sing Seafter meeting up with the Gaang that Jet would have a little bro-talk withSokka, during which he brings up Li, the beautiful secret Fire Nation boy whobroke his heart. Sokka feels for him until Jet mentions the huge scar over Li’sright eye. Oh no. (“Katara listen to me: he said this guy is scarred and travelling with hisuncle and beautiful. It’s Zuko.” “What was that last thing?” “I said it’s Zuko?” “Not that part.”)

Headcanon C (sad): Since we never find out what happens to the other FreedomFighters, we don’t know if anyone thought to remember Jet after he died. TheGaang know he went out trying to do the right thing and be better, but they hada lot of mixed feelings and experiences with Jet. Zuko, on the other hand? Hewas starting to fall in love with Jet before Ozai’s war took another good thingaway from him. So I like to think that once things settle down in the palace Zukosets up a little memorial for Jet, right next to Lu Ten’s. He visits it onoccasion, when he needs to talk.

Headcanon D (canon? don’tknow her): NOPE. EVERYTHING’S FINE. JET IS FINE.NOTHING. BAD. EVER. HAPPENED. EVERRRRR. Anyway Jet is alive, but I don’t thinkJetko could ever be endgame. Zuko won’t leave the Fire Nation and Jet has waytoo much trauma associated with it. So Jet travels the Earth Kingdom helpingwar orphans, with financial support from Fire Lord Zuko. Zuko occasionallyvisits for… diplomatic booty calls.

honestly good for them!

#zuko #jet #jetko #avatar #the last airbender #headcanons #Anonymous

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 3 years

Text

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 11)

“How’d things go last night?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How can you not know?”

“I don’t really have any other dates that I can compare it to, Hajime.”

“Well did he make you laugh and smile?”

“He did.” But he also reminded her of just why she doesn’t particularly deserve to laugh and smile. She wonders if Hajime would reprimand her for turning his son down. Even if he wouldn’t, she isn’t sure that she should. She can’t imagine that there is a line of people waiting to shower her with affection. She is almost certain that she wouldn’t take well to it anyhow. She isn’t the sort for hugs and kisses and tender touches. It is quite hard to imagine herself on the receiving end of it. She can already picture her cheeks growing red and she loathes the very idea of being left a flustered mess.

“But?” Hajime prompts.

She shrugs and slaps her hands against her thighs. “But then he told me about how his wife died. That kind of ruins the mood, wouldn’t you say?”

Hajime rolls his eyes, “sounds like Seukhyun. He doesn’t exactly know how to choose dinner conversations. I’d wager that he’s just about as...socially confused as you are.”

“Is that how Atsu’s mother died? Did those soldiers kill her too?”

He glances into the other room where Atsu leaps off of his bed with Bao, The Magnificent Mole in hand. He drops the stuffed badger-mole into Caihong’s lap. “I thought that his name was Mud Muncher!” The girl declares. Satisfied that the boy is fully engrossed, Hajime turns back to her. “No. She was killed by the Fire Nation. After our own soldiers left they told the enemy soldiers exactly where to find us. I told Atsu that she just got sick…”

“Have you ever met a good soldier, Hajime?”

“Personally, no.” He replies. “But I’m sure that there are some out there.”

Azula responds with a bitter sniff.

“You don’t think so?”

“I don’t. They fight for what they think is best and then they find out that, that thing is actually the worst. And then they realize that they are monsters. Of course, most of them knew it all along. Nobody joins the military unless they want to kill someone.”

“Do you…” he looks into the other room. Atsu has fastened one of Caihong’s dolls to Bao. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

She nods her head towards the children.

“Atsu, Caihong!” They look up. “Rikka and I are going for a quick walk, stay out of trouble or I’ll go right to old man Hajime!”

“Don’t worry dad, Bao the Magnificent Mole has Avatar powers, he can defend the whole house from evil Fire Lord Bonsai!”

“Do you mean, Ozai?” Azula asks.

He shakes his head, “nope, I mean Bonsai! Fire Lord Bonsai is an evil bonsai tree that can talk and its leaves are on fire--except the fire is purple---and Avatar Mao is the world’s last hope because…” he sucks in a deep breath, “...because if he doesn’t stop Bonsai then Bonsai will use Roku’s comet to destroy the lion-turtle!”

“Also Ba Sing Se, Bonsai is going to burn Ba Sing Se if Mao can’t stop him.” Caihong adds.

Azula nods. “If you say so.”

“And! And! And also Fire Lord Bonsai has a son that’s a cabbage named Leaf and he’s the prince.” He holds up a leaf, “this is…”

“Leaf?” Hajime guesses.

“Mmmhmm!”

“Come on, Hajime.” She tugs at the man’s arm before Atsu can introduce any other offensive caricatures.

“You and Cai behave.” He waits for the children to nod before following Azula outside. “We were saying…”

“There are no good soldiers Hajime. It doesn’t matter what side of the war they are on. The winning side simply looks less evil because they are painted well. But they’re all…”

“You were a soldier, weren’t you?” Azula swallows. She feels his hand cup around her own. “Let’s walk by the riverside, it’s quieter there.”

He doesn’t speak to her again until they come to a stop on a rickety bridge. “I know that you like being right but I disagree with you. Sure, there are people who join the war over power and bloodlust but some people join the military because they have no choice. Some folks need money, some were forced into it, and some want to protect loved ones. What was your reason?”

Azula thinks for a moment. It certainly wasn’t a matter of money and really she had no one to protect. She didn’t feel particularly forced, she’d rather enjoyed it and she thinks that she would enjoy it still--to feel the thrill of a conquest, a rush of adrenaline, a feeling of worth and accomplishment. “Power.”

“Power?” Hajime asks.

She nods. “I don’t know why you are surprised.”

He seems to study her for a long time. “Why did you want power?”

She furrows her brows.

“I’ve come to observe that most people who want power want it because they feel weak.”

But she had, had all of the power in the world in riches and in bending.

“So why did you want it?”

“I…” She looks off. Off to where the river leads, curling into a tangle of pine. Catkins and tallgrasses bob in the breeze. And yet, even with all of this clarity, she can’t seem to think of a reason why she would have wanted more power. She supposes that, that is just it; she never wanted it for herself, she wanted it so that she could turn it over to her father.

“I think that soldiers are a bit different in the Fire Nation. It seems like, over there, some people were raised on war and never knew any different.” He pauses to chuck a stone into the river. It lands with a plop and stirred up ringlets on the surface. A dragonfly launches itself out of the grasses. “I guess it isn’t so different in the Earth Kingdom. They make it sound glorious, and good and so you start to think that it is…”

Azula stares at the backs of her hands, feels the breeze fluttering her hair against her neck.

“I don’t think that you wanted power, usually people can say exactly why they want it.”

“To give it to my father.”

He nods. “So...love then?”

“What?”

“You wanted power so that you could give it to someone you loved? He was too weak to get it for himself so…”

“He wasn’t weak. He was the most powerful man I knew. He wanted more of it so I was going to get it for him.”

“Okay, he wasn’t weak.” Hajime nods. He is quiet for the longest time. And several times he opens his mouth as if to say something but closes it once more as if thinking better of doing so. She watches a count of six birds swoop down to take drinks before he finally says, “It sounds like you were one of the people who was raised on war. I don’t think that a good father would want his daughter to go to war for him.”

“My father was a good father.” Her stomach sinks even as she says it. He was such a good father that he left her behind. Strangely that probably was the best thing that he could have done for her. It weighs on her so heavily that she finds herself practically slumping over the bridge.

“You didn’t go to war for power. You went to war for love, to show it or to earn it. Or maybe both.”

Love…

He cups his hand over hers. “Maybe it led to bad things but at least you can say that you had one of the best reasons to become a soldier.”

If only that was it. If only that was the whole truth. If only glory and fear had no part of why she’d done so. If only she had just been a simple soldier. “I’m not what you think I am.”

He chuckles. “Who says that I’ve leapt to any conclusions about you?”

“It isn’t a matter of saying it, it’s a matter of implying.”

“I don’t have any solid ideas of who you are but I know what you aren’t.”

“Oh?”

He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know that you’re not a bad person, Rikka.”

Rikka is not a bad person. He can’t soundly say the same for Azula. She opens her mouth and it very nearly comes out. She very nearly tells him just who he is dealing with.

“The people in this village only say good things about you. A lot of them are more open to firebenders because of you. Maybe you think that you’re a bad person, but you’re not.” His hand slides off her hers. “We should probably check on Atsu and Caihong.”

She nods. “Yes, that would be a good idea.”

That day she learns that she might not be a monster.

.oOo.

She hates to admit it but she likes Sokka’s laugh. It isn’t charming. It isn’t elegant. It isn’t a pleasant sound, he snorts. But it is genuine, pure, and unapologetic happiness. The sort of laugh she hasn’t heard since listening in on Atsu and Caihong’s play. She holds the Bao against her stomach, absently stroking his head as she waits for Sokka to finish laughing.

“So you’re telling me that this Atsu kid sees me as a boomerang and he thinks that you’re a…”

“The color blue.” She nods. “Anything that he can find that is blue. He had bits and pieces of information but he had it all mixed up and so instead of blue fire, Fire Lord Bonsai’s daughter is just blue. Anything blue.”

“And ‘Roku’s’ comet was a…”

“Flaming cabbage sent by a very vengeful merchant, yes.”

“Oh man, that kid’s a genius. He outta write for the Ember Island players.” He wipes a tear from his eyes. “Maybe you can introduce me to him one day.”

She squeezes the badger-mole and shakes her head. She is glad that his eyes are still closed with laughter. She campuses herself before he looks up.

“Sorry, I know that I promised not to ask any questions after your story but I really just needed some clarification.”

“Those questions were superficial, I didn’t mind answering them. Your turn.”

“Alright, so do you want to hear about the time when we took Zuko to the Water Tribes for some penguin sledding and he got swarmed by them or…”

“Yes. I want to hear that one.”

“Or…”

“I want to hear the Zuko penguin story.” Azula says firmly.

.oOo.

He supposes that he will have to save the, Zuko stuck in a coconut tree for a day when she isn’t so stubbornly refusing the possibility of a funnier Zuko mishap story. She stares at him expectantly, drumming her fingers upon the badger-mole.

“So it was an anniversary present from me to Suki. I decided that it would be fun to take her to the tribes because she always wanted to see a penguin in person. It was great we got all snuggly and cozy, we had these really warm fur blankets and this fire going. There was a blizzard outside so Katara and Zuko and the others were stuck with Hakoda at Bato’s place. Suki and I had some alone time.” He winks. “She pecked me on the cheek and...”

“Spare me the details, Sokka. The only pecking that I would like to hear about involves Zuzu and penguins.”

He flushes. “Right, well after Suki and I got our alone time we decided to take a group trip to the penguin caves. Aang wanted to go penguin sledding again, he said that he could beat Zuko down the hillside. And you know how Zuko gets, ‘I’m going to beat the Avatar in a penguin race, for honor!’ So he went after the largest penguin. Those things are bigger than you think!”

Azula takes a sip of tea, “are they now?”

He nods. “Pretty sure there was one that is bigger than you. I guess that’s not saying much because…”

She fixes him with a deadpan stare and a quirked brow.

“Because...those penguins are massive, not because you’re really small.” He hears her inhale through her nose and snickers. “So Zuko finds the largest penguin that he could find and just leaps on. But that penguin was a mother and it was meal time so all of the chicks just waddle on up but Zuko is in the way. I think that they thought that he was their mother because they were trying to get food from him.”

“Did they get it?”

Sokka shakes his head. “Not from Zuko. Katara had to run all the way back to the village to get buckets of krill to lure them off of Zuko. He was picking feathers out of his hair for days.”

“That does sound like Zuzu. But usually it’s the turtle-ducks.” She gives a one armed shrug. “I guess that he has an affinity for creatures with beaks.”

“Thanks for sharing the badger-mole story.”

She toys with the sash of her nightgown. “I’m...glad that you enjoyed it.”

He grins, though it isn’t particularly the story that he enjoyed--granted her certainly did enjoy that well enough--what he enjoyed was hearing it from her. Was seeing the soft smile on her lips. Was noticing and observing the way her eyes seemed to light up when she made mention of the boy. It was comforting. Comforting and reassuring somehow.

“Does it make you feel better?” He asks.

She tilts her head.

“To talk about moments that made you happy.”

She works a muscle in her jaw, “I suppose that it helps a little, yes.”

“Maybe all of us can get together and…”

“No.” Azula murmurs. “Not yet. I don’t want to share these things with Zuzu yet, he’ll be...overbearing. TyLee gets too sappy and Mai isn’t interested in hearing me go on about some kid.”

“He’s not just some kid.” Sokka says immediately. “I can tell.” Azula tenses and he lifts his hands. “Don’t worry, I’m not asking questions. But it isn’t a bad thing, you know, to show people that you’ve got feelings and that you care about other people.”

She reclines in the chair, props her head against her arm and drapes the other over her belly. She seems to stare off at nothing at all. “Perhaps.”

“Think about it!” He insists. “Servants and guards have been approaching you more. They aren’t scared of you. I know that Mai and TyLee say that you have a thing for being all scary and intimidating but you don’t need to be anymore because…”

“The war has been over for years.” Her eyes don’t leave that distant spot, wherever it is. “I know.”

.oOo.

“Then why do you still have so many walls up?”

Because she is afraid.

“If you think that we won’t like you for being yourself, it’s not true. We have met all sorts of weirdos that we love. Like those swamp guys, you met them! They’re weird and we like them!”

“The more you talk the deeper you dig.” She rolls her eyes. But he isn’t entirely off in his assumptions.

“You took a lot of walls down for me today,” he continues. “Believe it or not, I liked it. I liked the little glimpse that I saw.”

Her tummy flutters. “Yes well I’m not ready for that.”

“Not ready to let people know that you’re a human being?”

Not ready to let people see her, all of her. Not ready for them to get attached to her and care for her. She isn’t even ready for the possibility. She certainly isn’t ready to let people love her. Not the way Hajime did. Cherishable or not she isn’t ready to feel again what Hajime had made her feel. Not with someone who isn’t Hajime.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Sokka #Sokkla #Fanfiction

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aboutcaseyaffleck · 3 years

Text

BOSTON BY CASEY AFFLECK

October 25, 2020 For the record, what follows is nostalgia, false memories, and generalizations. But it’s all true. I grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Boston proper. Cambridge was one of the most diverse, multicultural cities in America. It was a beautiful, colorful, vibrant place. People from all over the world lived there, all mixed-up together. It is the place I was born and will return to, God willing. It is the city with the smells and sounds and tastes and people I love the most. Despite how much I loved it, when I look at old photos, I often look like this:

I’m in the front in the blue shirt. My best friend was Michael, the tall kid in the red shirt, whose family came from Barbados. Through the middle school years, anytime we weren’t in school we were roaming the streets like Dickensian urchins.

In the ‘90s, Cambridge got rid of rent control. Families who had lived there for four or five generations were squeezed out. Now the city is gentrified; but when I was growing up there, it was scrappy and beautiful. It was mostly working people, except for West Cambridge—where wealthy families lived, where professors lived. Where Cornel West, Yo-Yo Ma, and the Governor lived. East Cambridge was working-class Portuguese families, butcher shops, funeral parlors, and tow yards. Cambridgeport, where I lived, was mostly poor, Italian, Black, Greek, and Irish families. North Cambridge had some big housing projects and the school where my mom taught fifth grade—in a gigantic cement structure called The Tobin School that felt like it was far away because I would have to take a train AND a bus to get there. In reality, it’s like three miles from where we lived.

This is me hanging out in her classroom:

As people and places evolve, the past always reveals blemishes unseen at the time. However, Massachusetts manages, as time unfolds, to be a place that was so often on the right side. Not always, but often enough that I am proud to be from Cambridge, Massachusetts, no matter what.

From Massachusetts came the first national publication denouncing slavery, America’s “first feminist”, and The Cambridge Woman’s Suffrage League, which formed in 1886. My high school had the first girl to play tackle football in that division. Cambridge voted-in the first openly gay African-American mayor in our country. Right now our mayor is a very popular and forward-thinking Muslim woman who immigrated from Pakistan named Sumbul Siddiqui. We have marvels of architecture, science, and tech. It was in Cambridge that the very first email was ever sent (and received). And every year the Red Sox stand up to the wealthier bullies from the Bronx. These are all things we are immensely proud of, but nobody is resting on these laurels.

I am going to tell you about the places I remember fondly, whether they are still there or not.

Luckily, the city’s history isn’t going anywhere, and it hasn’t lost all of its charms. It is a place best seen by walking. So just walk. It’s also seasonal. Different activities for different seasons. But if you can hoof it for a few miles do this: start at the Old North Church and go by Paul Revere House, through Faneuil Hall, by The Old State House through Boston Common, through the Back Bay, go left and pass through Roxbury, another left, and go through South Boston till you hit the water and go left till you hit the Children’s Museum. Sit down and relax. If you just want a path, walk that. Map it or wander around. The city is full of little back streets with lots of character.

MY BOSTON FAVORITES

When looking for things to do and see in the area, you can ask ten people and get ten different answers. You will get a long list of historical buildings, or you will get names of some of the country’s prettiest parks, or you will get pointed toward the campuses of some of the very best schools in the world. But for every Bunker Hill, there are ten other places you haven’t heard of. So I am going to tell you about the places I remember fondly, whether they are still there or not. The thing about Boston is you can miss all the best stuff, and you will still leave thinking it is one of the best cities on Earth. Have fun.

Pinocchio Pizza, Harvard Square. I asked my son to describe it. He says, “the food is good but the vibe is fire, old school; whatever, just get a slice and sit on the ground. That’s why I like it.” I have no idea why he wants to sit on the ground, but I guess that’s part of the charm of the place. We’re both vegan so we both scrape the cheese off and eat bread and sauce. That should tell you something.

Oleana Restaurant on Hampshire Street in Cambridge. Chef Ana Sortun is a baller. The food is Turkish inspired, and it is delicious. Always. Friendly people, pretty inside, and it is in a nice residential neighborhood. My dad lived in an apartment a few blocks away behind a Store 24 until he was evicted back in 1989.

Maharaja, Harvard Square. Incredible Indian food. And it has one of the only third-story views of Harvard Square.

Veggie Galaxy is great diner food. It is vegan. It has breakfast, lunch, dinner, milkshakes and other deserts. All day and all night food that is filling and really good.

Life Alive Organic will serve you the healthiest and heartiest meal you can find anywhere. It’s across the street from City Hall, the post office, and the oldest YMCA in the country.

Cantab Lounge, where my dad was a bartender, and then a janitor when he was too drunk to be a bartender. I drank six thousand ginger ales, sitting in the corner at a sticky table while he worked. Forever it was a bar for postal workers that opened at 10 am, where alcoholics ate hard-boiled eggs from jars that had been sitting on the bar top for two weeks. A couple of days after initially writing this, I got an email from the owner. It is being sold after tens of thousands of years. I don’t know why I care because I don’t exactly have any fond memories from the place, but seeing the brick-and-mortar of your childhood torn down is a kind of mid-life, coming-of-age moment. Life is change.

Darwins Ltd coffee shop and attached mini-grocer and sandwich spot. If you get a coffee and then walk west two blocks on Mt. Auburn St. you will discover on your right a nice little park with a fountain to hang out. It is called Longfellow Park. Or you can look to your left and you will see the Charles River, and you can stroll there.

Fomu for dessert.

Zhu Pan Asian Cuisine and True Bistro for good vegan food.

Newbury Comics is famous and cool.

Million Year Picnic is for comic connoisseurs. They are both great. And they were both plagued by roving bands of middle school thieves in my day. The most notorious was named Mathew Maher. He is now a well-known theater actor on Broadway and appeared in the comic book movie Captain Marvel. But back then he stole shit.

Harvard Coop is the best place to browse for books. Especially the kids section. We spend hours there and nobody kicks us out.

After the game ended everyone would come out and buy sausages [from me] on their way home, then I would clean up and go into a bar outside the park, where my boss was drinking and I’d wait till he was done so I could get a ride home. I was 12 years old. A couple of years ago I threw out the first pitch. Life is change.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is my favorite museum in town, maybe anywhere. It was once her home and it features an indoor garden that is perfect. It also has a great collection of art from around the world. Back on March 18, 1990, two famous paintings were stolen from the museum. As I remember it, a couple of guys showed up in the morning in police uniforms and the guard let them in. They tied the guard up and took a dozen paintings—Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas—and vanished. The FBI never found them and never found the art. There are two plaques below two empty spaces on the walls to this day. On some days, classical musicians perform in random rooms while you walk around. You won’t want to leave.

Fenway Park. Greatest professional sports arena of any kind. I used to sell sausages in front of the Cask ‘N Flagon, a bar behind The Green Monster.

It is the best baseball bar in the country. When everyone was in the park watching the game, and there was nobody buying food, I would go in and find a seat and watch the game with whoever I was working with; I have seen hundreds of games from every part of the park. After the game ended everyone would come out and buy sausages on their way home, then I would clean up and go into a bar outside the park, where my boss was drinking and I’d wait till he was done so I could get a ride home. I was 12 years old. A couple of years ago I threw out the first pitch. Life is change.

Plimoth Plantation is a living museum in Plymouth, which is 40 minutes from Boston. It is amazing. The actors working there are some of the best I have seen anywhere. If you are even mildly interested in history you have to go there.

Fresh Pond is where you can go running or biking. Two and a half-mile loop.

Or you could hit The Emerald Necklace which is a great run that hits many of the best green areas, Franklin Park included. When we were young we would hop the fence and swim in the water. That isn’t done anymore ever, and everyone has grown up and leading better, more responsible lives.

John Weeks Footbridge is a very pretty, very old, brick walking bridge that spans the Charles River. Watching the Charles Regatta from here is awesome. That is in the Fall. But it’s also great any night.

The King School is a grade school not too far from there. It has maybe the best playground in the city. If you are there in the summer you can just walk on. When I was a kid, the King School is where a girl went who I was head over heels in love with. I finally got a shot at winning her heart in my early twenties and blew it.

Mount Auburn Cemetery is beautiful if you like that kind of thing. Lots of cool people are buried there, and the trees and stones are really nice. It’s a maze but just walk uphill. You will reach a monument with a great view of the city.

The American Repertory Theater puts on good plays. I grew up going there cause a friend of my mother’s directed many of the shows and could sneak us in the back. I wasn’t the adult making that decision; had I known better I would have scraped together the ticket price and supported the arts.

Boston Common is beautiful but you have to avoid all the shopping around it. If you have to shop go to:

NOMAD on Mass Ave in Cambridge is a store that you shouldn’t miss. In a world lost to chain stores and general homogenization of everything, Nomad is the real deal. Deb Colburn has been curating this place since I was ten. It is her store, and she has been trying to wake people up to folk art from around the world since Reagan was in office.

Bodega is a hidden high-end sneaker and casual wear store that must be entered through an unmarked door inside a bodega on a nearby side street. It’s cool how they have done it. Great presentation. Kids will like it.

KIDS ACTIVITIES

There are lots of things you can force your kids to do—things they won’t like the sound of at first, but will ultimately enjoy.

IMAGE CAPTIONS, LEFT TO RIGHT

On a rainy day, hop on the T and ride around town all day reading comics. Then stand outside in the warm rain (kids from LA don’t get this much).

Looking at murals. Cambridge has great murals everywhere. They are old and, incredibly, not vandalized. This one has been on this wall near the river since I was a kid. The child is mine and he is sick of walking around Cambridge.

If you feel like a pilgrim hit the gift shop at Plimoth Plantation.

Playing chess at Leavitt & Pierce Tobacco. You can inhale the scent of pipe tobacco without smoking it, and rent a chess set, clock, and table for $2 an hour in a beautiful old, wood-paneled shop with great ambiance.

Going to the oldest YMCA in the country.

Kayaking on the Charles River. You can get your kayak on Soldiers Field Rd. Take it east under all the bridges until you get to the inlet at Kendell Sq. It will all be clear. It will take about an hour.

Climbing the stairs at Harvard Football Stadium.

Reading books at the Harvard Coop.

NEARBY BOSTON

If you wanna go a little farther, go out to Gloucester for the day. Swim, eat, walk around, go back.

Whale watching sounds like a lame tourist trap but seeing whales up close will change the way you think about life on Earth.

You can take the ferry from Downtown Boston to Provincetown. It is a great place to visit or stay a few days while in town. Ptown is the eastern-most point on the continent. I might be making that up, but it’s close. It’s an arm that sticks out into the Atlantic. It’s really lovely there with a great vibe all around. You can’t have a bad time and everyone is super happy to be there. The beaches are all beautiful. Sharks mostly only eat the seals and won’t come any closer to shore than two feet—but if you want to see a great white up close, we can make that happen.

Cape Cod has some great flea markets. If you plan on spending time on vacation with your family you can find some essentials, like a medieval battle helmet, at the flea market.

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

30 minutes on the local train line from downtown. Made famous by the Salem witch trials; a fun place to visit and walk around for about 128 minutes. Newburyport and Rockport lines, which depart from Boston’s North Station, stop at the Salem station. You can go into the homes of people who lived during the witch hunt.

The House of the Seven Gables, made famous by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s novel The House of the Seven Gables, is a 1668 colonial mansion in Salem, Massachusetts named for its gables. The house is now a non-profit museum, with an admission fee charged for tours, as well as an active settlement house with programs for children. It was built for Captain John Turner and stayed with the family for three generations.

The Jonathan Corwin House in Salem, Massachusetts, known as The Witch House, was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin. It is the only structure still standing in Salem with direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692, thought to be built between 1620 and 1642. Corwin bought it in 1675 when he was 35, and he lived there for more than 40 years. The house remained in the Corwin family until the mid-19th century and is located in the McIntire Historic District.

A MECCA FOR ARTISTS

Lastly, for centuries, Cambridge has been a mecca for artists, especially writers. Here are some spots to see if you like that kind of thing:

The corner of JFK Street and 1390 Massachusetts Avenue. This is a good spot. Here is why: America’s FIRST PUBLISHED POET was a woman named Anne Bradstreet who died in 1672 and lived on this spot! It went through lots of changes, and 300 years later, by the time I was walking around, it became a great burger place called THE TASTY. In 1996 or whatever, The Tasty appears in the movie Good Will Hunting in the scene when Matt Damon kisses Minnie Driver. It might have also appeared in the film Love Story back in the 70s. I mix them up. Now it is a CVS. God help us.

The Longfellow House. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived at 105 Brattle Street. The great poet taught at Harvard and lived in the Georgian mansion from 1837 until his death in 1882. Before the author, George Washington used the house as his headquarters during the Siege of Boston. The house is open to the public, and it is where I had my eighth-grade graduation ceremony. The mayor attended and forgot the name of our school in his address to the kids. I heard people mutter that he was drunk. I can’t blame him. I had my first drinks hours before that ceremony.

71 Cherry Street, Cambridge. The woman considered to be American’s FIRST feminist, Margaret Fuller, was born and lived here.

Henry and Alice James lived at 20 Quincy Street. The house was knocked down in 1930 and the Harvard Faculty Club was erected there.

W.E.B. DuBois lived at 20 Flagg Street. The writer and pioneer of civil rights rented a room in this Cambridgeport home from 1890 to 1893. This is blocks from my childhood home. He was the first African American to receive a degree from Harvard.

Robert Frost lived at 35 Brewster Street. Frost, who attended high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts, lived in the West Cambridge home from 1943 to 1963.

T.S. Eliot lived at 16 Ash Street.

E.E. Cummings lived at 104 Irving Street. He was an innovator. He also wrote a poem about “Cambridge Women”. He lived at the Irving Street home from 1892 until about 1917.

Also you can find homes of the genius Nabokov and the great and beloved Julia Childs if you look around.

Source

#casey affleck #quote #feature #boston

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btxtreads · 4 years

Text

ANOTHER TAG ASHJHJASD

extra long tag game (aka a tmi that no one particularly cares for)

tagged by @txthearteu

tagging @markhyucknorenminchenji @qtsoobin @beomberry @txtdiaries and other people who wanna do it idk

ONE

tell me the first song that made you stan your current fave group and why did your faves attract you so much?

of course, none other than king943 hSJADJSAJHAS. He’s a little secret I’ll let you all in on: the first person I actually noticed in TXT was,,,,,,, Kang Taehyun hSDHJAHJSDAHSA but he wasn’t my bias. I just thought he was cute (also amused me bc my BTS bias was Taehyung and I found a guy named Taehyun cute), but I didn’t stan them then. I started stanning when I saw ONE DREAM.TXT where they talked to BTS and found them really cute and endearing. Looking into them, they were wild, and chaotic and so fun and also i got rEAAAALLY attached to Soobin. So here I am. There u go, my stanning story.

TWO

rule: answer the ten questions and write your own!

what’s your unrealistic goal for life?

becoming a famous actress or singer hJSHADJSA

if you had known that we would be in a global pandemic, what’s one thing that you would’ve done before things shut down (if they have for you)?

Went to a theme park. I miss going to theme parks 🥺

what’s an unconventional thing that you carry around with you when you go out?

hmmm most of the time i just go out with just my phone and money unless I need to bring a bag due to safety concerns/more items needed. So I’d say nothing unconventional.

favourite type of plushies and why?

God do I seem boring hsahsajjsa but i wasn’t too big on plushies. I had a gigantic teddy bear named Justin when I was a kid (it’s a bear with shades that my brother gave me) and I used to buy plushies whenever I’m in disneyland, it’s all in my sister’s reading lounge. The only plushie in my room now is a Mollang doll wearing like a blue shirt/dress, it’s my favorite rn It’s squishyyyy

favourite song right now?

right now, it’s Work It by Sabrina Carpenter.

something that you’ve always wanted to learn?

Dancing (i literally suck. i have no idea how. no joke), Vocal Lessons (had some lessons briefly for like a year but i stopped and want to take some again), music production, acting, hosting

tell a funny story about yourself (or just something that you’ve witnessed)

ok okok so one time in our class groupchat we were talking about class elections for officers. There were muse votes and some people were saying they want me to be the muse but i didnt want to bc i was busy with work. Then they started saying that they want me to be the muse and this guy that i rejected be the escort. while this is happening, i was simping hard for soobin in another chat. anyways, i got everything mixed up and accidentally sent the soobin simp stuff to the class chat and everyone thought i was simping for the classmate i rejected i was so asHAMED.

headphones or speakers? why?

speakers! idk i just like blastic the music loud.

craving any food right now? what are you craving?

anything with cheese

which music streaming platform do you prefer? why?

spotify since its free for me askjjksad someone pays for my subscription lmaooo

😌✌️

questions from cj to me:

android or apple? why?

APPLE because im loyal 😌 and i guess im just used to it so its easier to use for me + all my gadgets at home are mac

words of affirmation or physical affection? why?

I think there should be a good balance of both. The words will have the ability to give you this sense of comfort and satisfaction and you know just overall a peace of mind when you hear the right words??? and physical affection bc sometimes it’s just better to get a hug or a kiss isntead of talking yk? actions speak louder than words sometimes

bean bag or rocking chair? why?

Honestly, this would depend. If I’m reading a book and feeling very vintage with a hot cup of coffee, definitely a rocking chair. If I’m watching TV and basically just chilling I’d go for Bean Bag. I like maintaining the atmosphere.

do you view a half-filled glass as half-full or half-empty or an in-between? why? (go as deep as you can)

I view it as in-between, because there’s always room for improvement. There’s always things to change, and consider, and make better. There’s no such thing as perfect.

If someone were to grant your wish right now, what would it be and why?

Please stop corona right now and let everyone go back to their daily lives and please let me attend a TXT concert bls im begging on my kNEES

if someone were to give you anything you want right now, what would it be and why? (something that can be held)

Give me Soobin I just want to give him a hug. this is valid i can hold him

favorite season and why

Winter! Even if I’ve never experienced snow or winter before, the whole idea of snow is just really fun and endearing to me. One of my bucketlists is to see snow in real life. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve always been this person to prefer the cold over heat.

what made you enter tumblr?

I’ve always been here! Just not in kpop tumblr. I’ve since deleted my old accounts and shame but i came back to write. It’s always been so stress-relieving to me, to write without any expectations on my back because I’m thinking about grades or a competition. Also Soobin simping is a daily thing and I gotta release it somewhere man

are you happy with where you are in life right now? why or why not?

Yes. I may not be the richest or the prettiest, or smartest or whatever, but I have a good family that loves me. I have good friends that support me and I have TXT and BTS to help me cope when things get overwhelming. I have a job that gives me a little bit of income (it’s not too common for college students here to get jobs like in the US, most of them just focus on acads) and all the means to continue my education amidst the pandemic. So really, I’m grateful for where I am now.

to see the boys in real life but for it to happen only once in your lifetime, or to meet the boys via online fan meeting as many times as you can in your lifetime? why?

Why do you have to do me dirty cj,,,,, prolly online. I may not get to hug them or anything but I get to talk to them still. As may times as I want to. And as a girl whose sanity literally just depends on Soobin giggles rn it’ll be very therapeutic to me to see them and talk to them as much as I could, even just through a screen.

QUESTIONS FROM ME TO YOU:

Cinema or Netflix? Why?

Fire or Rain? Why?

What’s the worst experience you’ve had as a KPOP stan?

How do you handle stress?

Favorite Disney Princess and why?

Which fictional character do you say you relate the most to?

How did you get into KPOP?

What kind of merch you got 👀

Would you date a KPOP idol? What would you do if you do date one? (doesnt have to be your bias, just wanna see what y’all would do)

Would you rather be with someone you love but doesn’t love you back or be with someone that loves yu but you don’t love them back? (Or, as the Filipinos would say, Mahal ko o Mahal Ako)

THREE

rule: bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations, then tag nine people.

AIR ༉⋆͙̈

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see the dawn / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE ༉⋆͙̈

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing

WATER ༉⋆͙̈

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love simply lit dinners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids shows out of nostalgia / i see emotions in colors not words

EARTH ༉⋆͙̈

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love this chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER ༉⋆͙̈

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

FOUR

PERSONAL

name: -

nickname: rina

birthday: -

zodiac: gemini

nationality: filipino

languages: english, filipino

gender: female

sexuality: straight

height: 5′2 like 2 years ago, i probably grew like an inch or two

BLOG STUFF

inspiration for muse: --

meaning behind my url: bts and txt fanfics to read hasjhsahj

blog established: ,,,,, i cant remember askjjksdjkdsa but the blog is only a few months old!

followers: 384!!! love yall

FAVORITES

favourite animals: b u n n y y y y y

favourite books: CAMP HALF BLOOD SERIES BY RICK RIORDAN IM ZEUS’ DAUGHTER YALL

favourite colour: black, blue, purple

favourite fictional characters: Percy Jackson, Jaron from Ascendance Trilogy, Chimmy!!! hihi

favourite flower: white roses

favourite scent: coffee

favourite season: winter

RANDOM

average hours of sleep: 3-5 or 8-10.

cats or dogs: dogs because cats scare me

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: coffee!!! especially if it’s iced and sweet

current time: 12:21 AM

dream trip: California. Look I have the visa, pls miss rona. just leave so cali can just let me IN

dream job: actress or singer

hobbies: writing, reading, watching crackvids

hogwarts house: gryffindor

last movie watched: Work It (bc it has sabrina carpenter ahshsahsa i have low standards when we talk about Sabrina)

last song listened to: Helpless - Hamilton OBC

no. of blankets you sleep with: 1

random fact(s): if given the chance again, I would go on a date in high school. Also try to exert more effort in my appearance back then i looked like an honest to god M E S S (tbh i still do but now i have eyebrow liner on) hsajhsajhh

FIVE

10 things I can’t stop listening to (at the moment)

Run Away - TXT

Work It - Sabrina Carpenter

Euphoria - BTS

Song Cry - Yeonjun

Helpless - Hamilton OBC

Satisfied - Hamilton OBC

Journey to the past - Anastasia OBC

Lost in the Woods - Frozen OST

Perfect Song - Sabrina Carpenter

Friends - BTS

#tags #tagging #tagged yet again #sadjkjksdajad #what a mess #im so basic wtf

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aristotles-denial · 3 years

Text

fallen embers name meanings

having a lil trouble getting into the writing groove rn and ive been meaning to do this anyway, so im gonna make a lil series on all the names i use in my fic is it my fault the fallen embers burn, starting with the crew! :D (almost) everyone’s names have something to do w/ their characterization/design/the overall mood of the story, or at least what i Originally had planned for them lol

Anzu: japanese; apricot

only one (i think) that doesn’t have anything to do w/ the actual character, i just think it’s a cute name! + it goes really well w/ canon fire nation names (Z & ending w/ a vowel), but it fits almost too well…i sometimes get her name mixed up w/ azula’s lol. this is also the only time i repeated the first letter; i tried to have all the names begin w/ different letters so it’d be easier for me & i could use shorthand, but i just…forgot to do so when choosing anzu’s name. whoops!

Chai Son: thai; mischievous boy

Gan: chinese; daring or adventurous

he was originally gonna be one of the two youngest crew members, along w/ chai son, and they’d both be The Comedy Relief & wreak havoc, hence the name. i changed it up bc i felt that having a Chaotic Young Male Crew Duo would make this fic too reminiscent to others like Salvage & TAOB

Hoshi: japanese; star

adoption.com (the first result when i looked up “japanese names”) lied to me. it said hoshi is a unisex name. but now when i look up “hoshi name meaning” all the results say it’s a girl’s name 👿. also the meaning doesn’t necessarily have anything to do w/ their characterization, i just thought it fitting to use a name that meant some type of celestial body

edit: nvm japanese-names.info says it’s a boy’s name. so whatever it’s unisex

Mikazuki: japanese; moon of the third night

mizuki, meaning beautiful moon, was my first choice bc a) it uses a Z and b) she’s part swt hence “moon” but i thought it was way too similar to miyuki, the name of the herbalist’s cat in the blue spirit episode of atla ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Narong (jee’s given name): thai; prone to warfare, to make war

Ryuji: japanese; dragon man

Taka: japanese; tall, honorable

and she’s a 6’4” noblewoman… how fitting

her surname, Zhang, is chinese and means archer, though i just chose it bc it’s a common chinese surname :)

Yong-Yut: thai; good in fighting

i generally chose thai & japanese names for fire nationals. gan’s name is chinese bc he was originally gonna be from the colonies (i changed his character A Ton if you can’t tell lmao), and i wanted a bit of a distinction btwn fire nation & earth kingdom names by having them be thai & japanese and chinese, respectively. taka’s last name is chinese bc she is from the colonies

next up is all of yong-yut’s aliases 😎

#fallen embers #tfeb meta #meta #my post.#tfeb #sugimoto anzu #sichantha chai son #nakamura gan #mahi'ai hoshi #chu mikazuki #jee narong #namgung ryuji #mangal taka #saelim yong yut #lists #tfeb names

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chrysanthemumpink · 4 years

Text

ive been thinking and i dont think i like legend of korra. It’s not the writer’s fault. It was nick’s behavior that ruined everything. I blame them completely, but i still can’t make myself like the show despite of it.

The concept of the first season was very, VERY strong. Too strong for Nick to support with little to no effort. In the end, I think there was too much pressure to resolve the seasons’s issue quickly. Amon had to be gone by the end of season 1 as there was no garuntee for a season two. Meanwhile, season one had to pull double the weight that the last airbender did their first season. Seriously, LoK season one had to introduce Korra and the new team avatar. They also had to do some heavy world building that had to consider the previous show’s fallout. Not only did times have to change but there also needed to be some sort of update and progress and that just world building. We haven’t even gotten to LoK’s need to address the former team avatar. And after ALL that, there still needed to be a villain and conflict large enough to need someone as powers as the avatar. It was literally impossible to do all of that in 15 episodes. I don’t think I like Legend of Korra but I do know a good job when I see one. And almost all of my blame is on Nick’s handling of the show. They should have promised 3 seasons at minimum.

The rest of this post is just criticism about how the lack of time really hurt Korra’s story arch, and it’s mixed with a rant on what i wished happened/ what the show had potential to be.

But the first thing I want to say is that LoK really over exaggerated the animosity between bending and non bending. And I’m an attempt to create conflict they mis/characterized what bending is and how it worked in the Last Airbender. In the original series, there didnt seem to be that much animosity between bender and non bender. Yea not being a bender was a thing but it was rarely seen as a weakness, nor was being a bender an inherent strength. MOST of the shows strongest characters were non benders. (Mai, Ty-Lee, Jet and his team, Sokka, The white lotus, etc). There were non-earth benders challenging the Boulder. Benders were special. But they much wernt stronger or powerful. It was closer to the was some people have double joints or burp on command, convenient but not an inherent difference unless under certain circumstances.

What I’m trying to say is that bending was NOT a weapon in the Last Airbender. It was a spiritual relationship between the world and the people in it. Apart from everyone being soilders, most benders used bending for craft. Agriculture, building, creation, cooking, irrigation, performance…that was what most benders did and their bending was limited to that craft. So bending was much more about human’s connection with spiritual material. And b/c of that most benders...were not powerful or even a threat.

Without training, bending changes very little about a person. Its not treated like a superpower or even a gift. Just a characteristic and even in the last airbender, the firebending and earthbending “skills” taught in schools were very practical, not deadly. Not even the fire nations had many fire benders in combat. Most fire benders could barely warm tea without significant training, most earth benders had to work to move dirt, water benders wernt out moving entire streams. ghe characters in ATLA and Team Aang were the bending exception! Not the norm! Toph was so gifted that she had to be introduced in a literal meta-physical vision. Zuko is the direct relative of the previous fire bending avatar and both he and Azula were literally bred to be gifted Fire Benders and trained from birth. This was why Aang learning the four elements was extremely difficult. And why he was told early, because the major conflict is the NECESSITY for training.

Korra didn’t have this. The show changed bending so something more innate than a skill that must be cultivated. Tbh, it would have been fine if it was just Korra who was a great bender, but almost every bender was uncharacteristically good. Amon’s points only made sense when you consider bending to be a power of sorts. And the shift was odd, meanwhile we were really stripped of the opportunity to watch Korra’s relationship to bending. Sorry but Korra should not have been a master of 3 elements as a toddler. But by doing that, it failed to give Korda a relationship to elements as individuals. All we know about Korra’s bending was that it was “good.” It’s ok to have Korra gifted and immediately catch on to bending. But again, bending isn’t inherent. It would have been nice to see how she utilized a skill rather than a superpower. How did she interact with the culture? How did she learn about herself through the training? Korra’s relationship to every element, other than air, is the same. The show didn’t have time and they did what they could. I’m really just highlighting how the time constraint didn’t let writers actually give Korra a story arc. She had a conflict, but a story? Ehh.

But moving on to later seasons and Tonrak. Let’s think about potential and what could have happened if Korea was given room. Imagine if Korra had only known one element when the shoe started. Let’s say that she knew she was the avatar. But after a hundreds year war, she s was banned from training as an attempt to give her a normal life. Something that Aang didn’t have. So despite Korra being filled with some of greatest raw power, she’s uncontrolled but itching to learn how to bend. So she spends her entire life waiting to get older and then the day finally arrives when she leaves the water tribe for the dream she’s been waiting her whole life for comes to fruition.

But unbeknownst to her, the real reason she was kept from bending and sheltered was because of growing political tensions. With the war over, and tribes mixing, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the 4 nations to respect their differences. And thus all just comes to a head with bending. Then a new political thought is becoming popular, that if there was no bending everyone would be “equal.” This can be a fallout from the fire nation being thought of as great for so long.

So then there’s Tonrak, the ideas he’s saying has been said by him for years. Then boom, he shows up with the actual ability to actually take bending away. Aang did it? Why shouldn’t that power be shared? So Korra was relatively sheltered to hide her from the political backlash and scrutiny. Her identity had to be kept secret.

But when Tonrak comes along and tries to get rid of bending Korra has to become a public figure for pro-bending. This does a lot of things:

First: it would mean that Korra has to learn about each element and about being the avatar against the backdrop of a growing political/terrorist movement AGAINST bending and against the separation of the 4 nations. You can really struggle with the idea of equality vs balance. Just imagine Korra learning to bend each element while more and more ppl are determined to get rid of bending all together. Have her learns about blood bending, maybe revisits Kyoshi killing that ruler, and have her learn how even the pacifist air nomads can be dangerous? How would Korra’s views on bending change. And plus, the Avater himself proved that sometimes, talking bending away was necessary. Sooo???

Next: Korra would also have to contend with the fact that her role as the avatar is much more diplomatic than combatitive. She has to do speeches and people are always watching her. She can’t unleash her true power without scaring the public. But she also has to pretend to be someone she’s not by giving speeches, having dinners, etc. Personally, I’d have her vent her frustrations as a “secret” wrestler. Where no one knows she’s the avatar.

Last: The air nomads have been exterminated and wiped out. They actually have been hunted for their bending. So maybe have the air family talk about what it’s really like to be exterminated? Have them show the reality of what it is that Amon is proposing.

Then maybe korra could learn about the ways bending is necessary. Like for health, light, and agriculture. Maybe return to the swamp, a rural area, and see how bending is intregal to their way of life. Learn how bending healed Aang.

But me, as in EYE, would have taken this a step further. I’m already thus far in the post. But Tonrak could have succeeded in taking away Korra’s bending early on. Let’s say that she did master all the elements as a toddler. But after having her bending taken away, she had to unlock it or something. If we can’t watch her learn bending as a whole, take the whole thing away. Make Korra contend with bending as a spiritual form outside of herself and maybe make it so that she has to find all the original spirits…and ask them to give her bending. Something like having Yue return. Then we have the Bison, the. Dragons, Moles,. And to stir the pot even more, have Asami get into chi blocking on screen and have this cause animosity between her and the others

Gee, have some fun with it and give Korra the ability to change or switch bending. “Accidentally,” switch Mako and Bolin’s elements for a quick funny episode. How do things change? (Here I would reintroduce Iroh or maybe even zuko and discuss that their bending techniques are not so different and that they can learn from each other)

And this is a long post but I did really like bringing back the air nomads. So if EYE, as in me, were a writer.

In the end, I would just have Korra be like “HEY” maybe I, as the Avatar, should not be the sole owner of spiritual knowledge and connection.

If Korra can take away bending, she can give it. So to bring back the air nomads she sets up trials, similar to her own, where a person has to “learn” the essence of air bending from the air nomad family and the bison if they are willing. Have Jinora really help with the spiritual side of this. And once those people have been deemed worthy by the bison, Tenzin, and Jinora...THEN they are granted airbending by the avatar. Then have Bumi be the first one to go through the process.

This way the air nomads can be rebuilt but not so randomly and while regaining the core of what air nomads stood for.

This can also be away to ease the political tension. Like oh? you can just “become” a bender now. It’s no longer set in stone...cool

#why is this so long #avatar the last airbender #the last airbender #the legend of korra #LoK #TLA

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jyndor · 3 years

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Cop-thing-anon here:

(I don't believe in the blue lives matter thing by the way)

I do get where you're coming from. I guess I see the thing about cops and cop AUs differently because the police is different and not as fucked up in my country. The thing about the fanart is just..I think you're reading too much into it. I don't think the artist really focused on the skin colour of Sokka, I mean, it's a kids show. Skin colour was never really mentioned or important in atla. But Sokka's personality is most likely why the artist was inspired to draw him as a "gangster", with azula (the villain) being a cop. It is kind of insensitive to draw that with the events going on, but I think that a lot of people in the fandom take some things way too seriously, for a kids show back in the late 2000's anyway.

hey anon, I say this with love and I am being sincere. I'm gonna need you to rewatch the show if you think skin color didn't matter. and it doesn't matter where you live because there is no part of the world, no culture, that isn't shaped by colonialism. I don't mean to be condescending so please bear with me, I truly believe in educating people as a part of allyship and anti-racism.

Anon, please know that I am not angry or anything but sincere in what I’m about to say. Just bear with me because I know that unlearning shit is difficult and can be painful, but we’ve gotta do it. I do appreciate you wanting to have this conversation at all. And I’m not writing this just for your benefit - this is for anyone who wants to learn about why A) race is a part of ATLA’s narrative and B) why critical analysis of mass media is actually important. So I’m not assuming you don’t know basic things about this stuff, I’m not trying to be condescending.

Now we’re gonna fix colonialism and imperialism XD wee okay here we go.

No matter where you live in the world you have some awareness of skin color. Your understanding of race might be different than mine, in fact it probably is. Race as we know it today is a social construct that stems from many things (and I wrote several hundred words on it but it was too much and too far removed from the point I’m trying to make so I edited all of that out. Yay.)

You don’t usually see imperialism, one of the major themes in Avatar, without colonialism. Imperialism is slightly different than colonialism - you can think of it like the ideology behind the practice of colonialism.* Imperialism can be used to describe expansionism in general - which has been going on since the bronze age lol humans, I stg - but usually when people today refer to colonialism and imperialism they’re talking about imperialism starting in the 17th century.

Now imperialism is not just a European concept. ATLA is set in a world that we know is supposed to be like a combination of different Asian cultures (with some influences from the Americas). And the Fire Nation is clearly influenced by Imperial Japan. So briefly:

Japan had a policy of sakoku (chained or closed country) which kept it mostly isolated (out of concerns that Japan would fall victim to something like the Opium Wars in China, among other things) from the rest of the world for a couple hundred years until the 1850s when a US Naval commander named Matthew Perry (I am not kidding) forced Japan to open its borders for trade to the United States by gunboat diplomacy, an oxymoron if I have ever seen one before.

Japan ended up signing unequal treaties with a lot of Western countries, and this bred xenophobia and hostility in Japan. The Emperor who signed these treaties died of smallpox, and after some internal conflict his son decided try to renegotiate these treaties. The US and European countries were not interested in renegotiating dick but the mission wasn’t unsuccessful because the diplomats A) exchanged some islands with Russia and B) were inspired by western economic policy and society to “modernize” Japan. Japan began industrialization and it converted to a market economy with the help of the US and other western powers.

So over many years, Japan went to war with China, Korea, Russia (and took back some of the land they exchanged with them), and others. From wikipedia:

Using its superior technological advances in naval aviation and its modern doctrines of amphibious and naval warfare, Japan achieved one of the fastest maritime expansions in history. By 1942 Japan had conquered much of East Asia and the Pacific, including the east of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, part of New Guinea and many islands of the Pacific Ocean.

But ATLA is not a Japanese story. The Fire Nation is not Imperial Japan. The Earth Kingdom is not China or Korea, the Air Nomads are not Tibetan monks, and the Water Tribes are not Inuit. The creators definitely drew heavy inspiration from all of these places and others, but ATLA is a story written by American people in the United States for American kids. It is an American story.

And it was created at a time when the United States was victimizing people in Afghanistan and Iraq (and other places) in many similar ways to how the Fire Nation victimized people. In fact, the show starts in the Southern Water Tribe, which represent Inuit people, indigenous people in Alaska, Canada and Greenland, I think it’s safe to assume that the genocide being referenced here is not one by Japan but rather by European colonizers and later by the United States and Canada.

Imperialism is in the show’s DNA.

And so is racism. In our world they are inherently connected. And visual cues from the show along with things the characters say suggest that we are meant to make the comparison between our world and the ATLA world. Every story has a purpose - it doesn’t have to be political, but for Avatar it is political, it is anti-imperialist.

In this article about how ATLA resonates with us in 2020, Aina Khan of the Guardian interviews Professor Ali A Olomi about using ATLA to teach at Penn State. “One of the things we see with the Fire Nation is the ideological justification for what they’re doing. We are a glorious civilization. We have abundance, we have wealth, we have technological advancement; we need to share it with the rest of the world. That’s almost word for word European colonisation.”

Zuko and Azula both call Katara a peasant. In fact, Azula calls her a dirty peasant. This is one step away from calling her a s*vage I mean come on. While peasant might just be purely classist (lol no) because Zuko and Azula are royalty, um it’s clearly racialized classism because of real life context. There is real history with colonizers calling indigenous people this, dismissing their cultures as primitive and barbaric.

Add into the mix colorism, which is bias against darker skin and privileges fair skin (which is a byproduct of imperialism) and you have clear race shit happening in Avatar.

When I saw that fanart, I was immediately reminded of black lives matter of course, but mainly of the fact that indigenous peoples are also at high risk of being victimized by police. Not just in the US. And how gross it is to depict a colonizer like Azula as an angry cop (representing the state) turning her gun on an indigenous man who is dressed like a gangster which... yike.

Mass media influence everything we do. The messaging we get, our politics, what we want to eat for dinner because we’re hungry and have been writing this stupid essay for three hours LOL. It’s important that people think critically about what they consume. Otherwise you get the goddamn United States with half of our population stanning a racist fraud. You want to know why US Americans are so ignorant? Because our education system sucks, because we don’t have any real media literacy. But apparently the rest of the world has some fucking nerve making fun of Americans** because all of us suck at it. No one is thinking critically about media.

A really terrifying thing about people is our ability to take whatever message we want from stories, even if it is in direct contradiction with the narrative of a story. There’s a movie called American History X which is explicitly anti-fascist, but because it’s a drama and Ed Norton is cut and looks badass and uncucked or whatever LOL, the iconography in that movie is fairly popular with neo-nazis. Yike. This is not at that level of course, this is some random niche fanart for a rare pairing.

For better or for worse, US media and entertainment gets a lot of attention and people around the world eat it up. Maybe you don’t need to know every little detail about US American shit, and I know we tend to dominate media, but black lives matter is not just a 2020 thing. People have known about it for years, since it started. If that fanart was created in 2019, which I think it was, the BLM movement had already existed for six years. If you’re watching an American show like Avatar and you’re making fanart on social media but you don’t know what BLM is in 2019... well educate yourself lmao.

Considering that Black fans have expressed frustration and discomfort in fandoms over and over again, and I am sure indigenous fans have too because fandoms are racist sometimes, it’s important that white fans help make fandoms better. And I am a white fan, and I consider myself an anti-racist. Which means I have to be active about racism when I see it.

btw I found this great essay by @cobra-diamond which you should read if you want more details about the similarities between Japan and the Fire Nation.

* that is very reductive but it’s fine lol

** I am kidding, unless you are english feel free to make fun of americans for non-gun, non-trauma related things pls

#anons #asks #racism tw #colonialism tw #atla #fandom racism #acab #police violence #indigenous right #nazism tw #oh lord shitty discourse tw #imperialism tw #anyway now i'm gonna eat

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doodles-arts · 5 years

Text

Head-cannon: The turtles with a bender s/o

Word count: 6048

Description: This is a headcanon on how the turtles act with a s/o that bends an element, like water, earth, air and fire. Everything changed when the fire nation attacked. There is also a bonus! each of the head canons have a short imagine

pairings: donatellox reader, leonardo x reader, michaelangelo x reader, raphael x reader

Raphael:

-My bad boy here would be smitten over you the second he sees you.

-oh shit? Who’s that’s badass?? You b!!!

-he loves how easy water bending is for you. He also loves the way that when he gets hurt you're the first person at his side, healing him with your special ability

-Your So! Strong. Controlling water and bending takes patience, peace and power. And he’s certain that you have all three

-he’s so beta for you O m g

-he loves your hair!!! The way is moves when you bend. Almost like water

-Your calves and biceps are rock hard. He so vexed over them

-”watch your tongue big red!” You say that whenever he gets sassy with you

-Big red? SUch a turn of for him

-Your both so flirty all the time

-You sneak kisses and touch as often as possible

-“oh please, choke me,'' he says this to Leo- testing his older brother- you pipe in before leo can say anything “I volunteer.” everyone is shook

-raph listens to no one, but you~

-Your so strong, and he can tell because one day a flood breaks through the lair and you tried to hold it all off. There was SO much water, you were grunting in pain as you held it all off to help Donnie as he fixes a pipe that burst

You held the water from pouring through the broken pipe. The water kept building, getting heavier and heavier. You felt when the water was about to burst, ready to hold it off even before it did. Now? You weren’t so sure.

Raph was amazed at how you could hold the water so perfectly it was still; unmoving. “Amazing”, he mumbled. You were holding the water for a good hour, and it was straining on you. After another 20 minutes and you fall to your knees, almost yelling in pain.

”Donnie…. What's taking so long?”

Everyone froze as you fell to your knees. The cloud of water above you rippling. Your arms were trembling as you held up all of the water in the air. The boys checked in on you now and again after you fell. Ralph didn't move from beside you, keeping you company as an excuse to fret over you. Another 10 minutes and your arms were shaking, your back cracking under pressure. You were yelling in anguish, the weight too heavy for you. Two hands pushed your back forward, ”I’ve got you, tiger, take a break”.

You smiled, biting your lip at his gruff voice. ”oh, I think I like that idea!” you said seductively, Raph found this funny and smirked. Though when you let go of all the weight from your back and put them on to his hands, he knew you had to be superhuman. You weighed as much as his weights, good God! He couldn't imagine what type of weight you were holding on your arms. His palms pushed against the part of your back below your shoulders with his hands uncomfortably upside down.

After 30 minutes you could feel Raphael hands trembling, the uncomfortable position as he held the weight of the water was new to him, he couldn't hold on to it well. You felt really bad for him having to help you, but thankfully Donnie finally finished fixing the pipe. You tried to stand but felt your legs falter, ”let me help you up” his warm breath on your neck was driving you crazy!

You sent the water away slowly out of the lair, with Raphael’s help, and into the sewers. ”jeez tiger, you deserve more credit!” he said placing a hand on your waist and rubbed it as you held the water back from flowing through the pipes until Donnie could fix it permanently. ”I think I might be able to forgive you,” you mumbled with a smirk.

-You got him to appreciate you in a few more way after that

-he helped you ”stretch” out the knots out...

Leonardo:

-This calm leader is amazed at your strength

-fire bending takes a clear mind with zero emotion

-and gosh, are you emotionless!

-at first he finds it mysterious, than annoying because you never really paid him any attention, but after getting to know you through Donatello he sorta likes it.

-finding your straightforward and cool headed personality attractive

-Your fire bending is almost as hot as you are

- ha ha, get it?

- you always light things on fire whenever Leo touches you

-The perfect heater. Mickey cuddles you all the time during winter

-leo h a t e s it

-Your hands get super hot and red like an electric stove whoever you get mad

-and your cheeks, when your flustered!!

-Leo finds out that he sucks at flirting with you

-You always light the candles when you’re both meditating

-Oh did I mention, you love tea? And meditating, reading?

-Your both a match made in heaven

-he tries to flirt and drop hints

-Your oblivious, like not a clue

-he finally tells you he likes you and your like, “okay cool, I like you too leo”

- at first he like, what?

-You still don't get though

-You still didn’t know that he liked LIKED you.

-When he further explains it, your shook

He sat quietly, waiting for your response after he had just blurted it out in the kitchen to you. Your eyes focused on your book. You slowly lifted your head with a raised eyebrow, looking back down at your book as you responded. “Okay Leo, I like you too.” His eyes widened and grinned like a maniac!

That was until he noticed your eyes were glued back to your book nonchalantly. He might not have ever had a girlfriend before but he knew that no confession ever ended that way. He knew not to expect, you, of all people, to jump up and kiss him. But he knew that just because you tried to be emotionless didn’t mean you didn’t have any. He knew that your emotions were way to closely connected to your bending.

Clearing his throat to catch your attention once more, it didn’t work. He reached over and gently put a hand on the top of your book. Covering the page you were reading from. “Hey, I’m not sure you heard me, I like you. Like more than a friend, I like the way you smirk when you're smiling and when your nose wrinkles up when your angry”, he got up and walked around the table, your cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “I really do like you, I’ve been wanting to ask, would you be my girlfriend?” Your eyes were wide and the spring in your stomach started to stretch. You tried to keep the fire in check, but this was all new and Leo leaning forward wasn’t making it any easier.

“Yes,” you wanted to be his girlfriend, but you just couldn’t meet his eyes.

Leo wasn’t going to let this moment pass, you never got this flustered, this was his only chance. He leaned in closer to your face and planted a soft kiss on your cheek, but last minute something stung his lips. “YeAuOo!” You had been so surprised that your cheeks had gotten as hot as a stove. “MAh Lipzz” he cried out trying to stop the burning stinging.

Oh no!

-He forgives you though, because the way you heat up your lips when you kiss him is addicting.

-he loves when you kiss his neck, it feels like a sin.

-perfect cuddle buddy in the winter. Mikey lost his privilege

Michaelangelo:

-earth bending takes confidence and lots of emotion, unlike fire

-Your strong, like stronger than normal humans and other benders

-mikey loves your shoulders

-You actually picked him up once

-You like to pretend their are earthquakes to prank him

-he’s s h o o k every time

-he likes when you train, your Amazing

-You make earth roller coasters for him

-for a moment, NY times really believed it to be aliens, all the earth craters and roads that were paved as you bent a track

-once he convinced you to make crop circles in central park

-The news Lost its mind

-Your both a dangerous mix

-like if you mix a mentos and soda in a closed bottle and opened it unexpectedly

-You guys are the couple that don’t understand that PDA can be alil uncomfortable to watch

-This is because of Mikey though, he’s the clingy type

-sometimes your too harsh on others and super cold, but Mikey melts your heart

-Your honestly like a rabid dog, and mikey is your trainer

-he loves how all of your ex’s want you back, but you don’t even bat an eye towards them

-”none of them know how to make me laugh”, “he didn’t know how to calm me down”, “none of them knew how to please me, Like you~”

-oh?? He takes the hint

-he’s loud, and you like it

-a lot of the times your orange underwear is ripped by the end of the day…

-You and Raph are best friends

-Mikey is low key jealous

-one day, your training and he loses it

-You snap at him, than cuddle him because he cries. You coo him back to his happy and goofy self

-You’re never this soft with anyone

-He loves your special attention though

Your sparring against Raph, trash talking each other in the new dojo, an extra space Mikey begged donatello to clear for you, so you could practice your earth bending. Usually your both very loud, yelling as Raph blocks and you bend. The new dojo is big and round with all solid earth underneath. It’s in a hole in the ground outside of the lair, but there’s a pipes that connects the two spaces and Mikey can hear everything from his spot on the couch playing video games. At first he didn’t mind you hanging with Raph, he didn’t care if you beat his butt in a few spars, but then you started leaving him behind to spar with the red cladded giant. And as much as he was a very chill dude, it hurts to feel like second best and forgotten like some toy. He tried to contain his anger and focus on his game. But your voice was intoxicating, your war cries raised goosebumps on his scaly skin. How could he not feel the anger boil and top over as he watched you rough house with Raph on your way back into the lair and laugh. You laughed. Something you rarely did without him. It’s why no one really liked you, it's why he loved your smile so much. Cause you only laughed at his jokes. You only ever smiled at him, it made your smile so much more special. He slammed his controller off and stomped off into his room, angirly flopping on his bed before pulling out the Dsi you got him for his birthday and playing.

Raph gave you the okay to run after him, he never got angry, never got jealous. Oh god, did you mess up again? You always had ex’s leave because you were overconfident and way too sure of yourself. You never understood the whole, not being buddy buddy with other guys. You were stuck up. And as much as you knew this, none of your ex’s were really any fun, but not Mikey, he was perfect. And you were afraid he’s felt the same way, that he’d want to leave. You tried to shake the feeling, he was allowed to be jealous, at least that’s what you hoped it was.

Knocking gently before opening the door, unsure of how to approach an angry Mikey, afraid you’d screw up like you always did. You never knew how to fix arguments or disagreements with your past lovers, you always made it worse. “Hey winky dink” you whispered as you used his nickname, trying to be as sweet as you could. He angrily turned away from you,his shell facing you as he played on the Dsi. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes, you knew he was just reacting, and he was allowed to react. You placed a hand on his shell, “baby if you wanna talk about something, I'm all ears. What’s wrong?” You thought that was nice, though your tone was low and sweet… it sounded a little condescending. He shimmed away from your touch. “No” he grumbled, and you were taken aback. Mikey never acted this way! It was out of character for him. You were never good at being empathetic and this was all new to you.

And he knew he was pushing his luck, but he never felt jealousy quite like this before, not knowing how to control himself, he was riding out his anger. But he didn’t really want you to leave. And you didn’t have the heart to leave either. But you also weren’t going to put up with this shit! “Listen here you overgrown yoshi, i’m trying to share a heart to heart with you because I'm afraid of losing you. If you can’t grow up and talk to me, then why the hell make a scene? You should already know I don’t like your brother you dope!” Though you never really said anything insulting except the yoshi part and name calling, your tone was rough. Tough as rock and Mikey didn’t like confrontation with you. He loved you way too much to be yelled at and was extremely sensitive with you.

He whirled around, baby blue eyes wide as saucers. His bottom lip jutted out and started trembling, aw man, your heart started panicking. ‘Here it comes’...

His eyes started to water up, and soon you couldn’t even see his beautiful baby blue eyes under his thick tears. He sobbed, “yoshi? B-BUt he’s FAT. Are you s-saying i’m FAt? Is that w-why you train with R-raph- Cause? Is i-it?” He started mumbling and sobbing nonsense and your chest felt like someone punched their way into your heart and pulled it out. You felt terrible. Like a monster. “No, no, no baby. That’s not it at all.” you cooed as you crawled further on his bed and towards him. Pulling him to your chest and putting his thighs on your lap*. Rocking him slowly as you cood to him how much you loved him and how he was the only one for you. There could be no other in your heart but him. It was only until you started asking him how much he thought you loved him while pulling his face to look at you with his chin. Nuzzling his snout with your nose until he laughed. “There's my laughy-Mikey~” He hid his face in your neck until he felt his cheeks cool down.

You trailed kisses down the side of his face, “I love you Mikey.” He churred in response.

“For the record, yoshi has nothing on me.”

-He loves the way you victory dance and taunt him when you win mario kart

-Your not even good but he lets you win once in while

-You give the best b******

*mikey can be very soft when he cries. Soft boi 100%

Donatello

-computers = hot air

-hot air= heat

-turtle + heat = snappy turtle or sweaty turtle

-he didn’t like you at first

-Your really positive… wayyy too optimistic for his realistic expectations

-one day in the summer Mikey makes a prank with water balloons and when he throws at Donatello, almost wetting his very computers, you blow it away before he can damage the electronics

-after that, he learns to respect you

- a few days later Donatello comments on how hot it is and you blow a cold breeze in to his lab

-he doesn’t realize it until he sees his brothers sweating their asses off in the living room and his room is super cool. And his room is usually the hottest because of all the hot software

-Your sleeping on the edge of the couch, head on the armrest with a hand posed towards his room

-he smiles sweetly, realizing how sweet you actually are. Your not extremely optimistic, your kind and empathetic.

-he works the nerve to invite you to his lab for more cool breezes in exchange to help you with your homework. You agreed.

-as you work, he sees how hard you try, your a fast learner

-he likes watching you work and doze off

-he starts to notice how beautiful you are

-You stare at him Alot

-why?

-Best free air conditioning

-everyone fights over you in the summer, Donnie usually wins

-Your just so good at your bending that it isn’t even tiring to bend cold air around the room

-Your really level headed, but your always happy

-You always make him feel better

-You’re really tiny

-like is it normal? He loves how those buns look on your head

-The way your baby hairs move cutely around whenever you air bend

-oh shit.

-he’s head over heels now. bam.game over

-he makes you a pinwheel that plays 3D images whenever you air bend wind in to it

-You Love it, you jump into his arms and give him a huge hug

-he Confucius

-hugs back, and loves the way your hair smells, wishes he could hug you more

-one day you tell him how much you like his eyes and his mind is blown

-You find this funny

You’re packing your things away to go home and as you pass Donatello and bid him goodbye you remember something that had been on your mind lately. You turned around sharply and stood still for a second. If you did it, would he return the thought? Would you overstep a boundary? Well, there was only one way to find out!

Walking back to Donnie’s lab with a huge grin and a pep in your step, walking back into the lab and walking towards his computer chair you took a deep breath feeling the air welcome you and feel your confidence build a little more. “Mikey, no I can’t help-” cutting him off by grabbing the sides of the computer swivel chair and turning him around to face you. You smile and he straightens his glasses, he gulps in confusion when you lean in to his face. Small enough that you don’t really lean down even if he is sitting, he finds that sexy/ adorable. You tilt your head and stared harder, leaning in closer and he leans back into his chair, cheeks on fire. You reached forward and pulled his glasses upwards with a gentle smile, “uhhh-” “-You really do have beautiful eyes!” He pulled back fully in confusion hitting his head on his swivel chair from pulling back so strongly. His glasses fell on his snout and slid down, you giggled before pushing them upwards before leaning to his left cheek and giving his hot cheek and blow of cool air and a quick kiss.

“See ya donn-” there was a tug on your wrist as your turned around. Feeling giddy you turned back around and face the pretty purple turtle. His mouth opened and closed in a faint attempt to gather himself and say something, he was making a bigger fool of himself, damnit. “I think I can help” you uttered sweetly while lifting his chin and leaning back down. Your lips were soft. God he could get used to this. Your like cold water, cooling and you smelt like pinewood and mint, he liked it very much.

Bonus?????

Splinter

-he never thought you’d accept him, but you weren’t exactly normal either

-living in a swap with no one other than the few like you

-splinter seemed normal

-You lived with other vine benders and water benders in your swap, but the expanding cities called for your people to accept the modern world.

-The sewers were close to home and were the only spot where you could bend and learn new things like plant bending, without being seen

-You first met him when he was around looking for supplies and food for himself and the boys.

-once you gained his trust you met the baby turtles and you had fallen in love

-being an older woman from different world, these baby boys were a step in the right direction; for a family

-You offered to help him raise them

-reluctant at first but soon won over, splinter agreed

-You cooked and worked for the boys while splinter cleaned and tuckered the boys out with ninjutsu

-the first time they called you mom you cried

-You made flower crowns for Raph as a child

-Leo helped you farm, it wasn’t easy in the sewers but you both managed

-Donatello soon helped and you couldn’t have been prouder of your boys. Creating a mechanism of mirrors to help the planting vegetables grows

-You always grew herbs with your bending for splinters tea, he was always grateful

-You taught the boys as much as you can about the outside world, but the truth was, you were still learning as well

-Leo was always curious about your old life in the swamp with your old family

-You loved telling them stories with splinter, one told from your own families

-Your mom look is very frightening

-The boys love you so much, your so kind and caring

-they don’t like to pick favorites, but… mom has never sent us to the hashi, chores are a lot better than the hashi

-You spoil them, you really do

-splinter tells you a l l the time

-they love when you play with them, their so used to seeing you leave for work and coming back very late that they don’t get to play with you much

-You grow older in to your mid 40’s and splinters grows concerned with your work schedule

-it wasn’t until you began coming home and passing out the second you sat down that he pleaded you take a break

-he knew it wasn’t easy to work more than 8 hours and then come home to cook and leave again fro more work

-You refused, the boys needed you to work, they were growing and deserved everything they asked for and needed new clothes and shoes as they grew older and bigger.

-splinter tried to reason with you, and again you refused. Growing tired of his persistence you both argued over it.

-The boys were very frightened and peeked through the dojo slide doors, and you looked back splinter before you started laughing once you noticed them.

-”oh, please forgive me splinter, it’s just were fighting like an old married couple”

-he joins in and you take his advice to take a vacation once the boys walk in for a family hug

-more time home meant more family time!

-The boys won't let you do anything the first two days

-”you need water? I've got it!” “you need your slippers? Where are they?” “dinner’s on us!” “I've run you a bath mom!”

-it isn’t until the end of the second day that the boys are arguing and you over hear that you finally understand

-they think you work so much because your tired of them?

-You barge in and remind them how much you love them, FAMILY HUG

-splinter is very helpful when you have a lot of stress, massages, teas, and bath remedies

-The boys are so annoying as they get older

-they mother hen you SO much, why? Because your older and frail because of all those years working for them

-You have a bad knee and really bad wrists that get stuck and hurt if you do too much

-even though your old you, still tend to an old garden and make Raph secret flower crowns every once and awhile

-You make Donnie tea that sends him sleeping in seconds, splinter is really amazed at how you still pull it off

-Mikey stays up watching the kids cartoon channel with you, you like them because they're cute and heartwarming

-You scrapbook

-The boys love you so much, you cry at EVERY birthday

-Your a cool mom in their teen years

-You worked your butt off to save money and retire. It’s totally worth it

-You love being their for them when their teenage emotions get the better of them

-The night they escape to go topside, you catch them leaving but instead of busting them you distract splinter, splinter is pleased

-splinter is Not pleased once their back

-You don’t tattle tale either!

“Where are you boys going?” you croaked in your southern accent, they froze. Knowing they had woke you up. They froze, fearing the worst from you and then the hashi, you and dad made a sick tag team. “If your going to go, what are you waiting for? Make sure to stay quiet, New York never sleeps.” They were ecstatic, each lifting you around and hugging, you shushed them as they rough housed and cheered about their amazing mother.

“Shushhhhh, Leave, leave! I’ll take care of your father. Now have fun and stay safe. Look after each other.” They smiled at each other before dashing out of the lair. You smile and walk over to the splinters room, finding him reading the new book you got him. Reaching forward to grab his book, your plan on distracting him already in tow. You knew his soft spots like the back of your hand

They get caught on their way back into the lair, because they were being loud as usual and Splinter heard them. No longer having his undivided attention and distraction. You rolled your eyes at your boys, could they have been any more obvious? He lined them up while you fiddled with the metal ring on your hand, feeling very bad for your boys. They looked at you awaiting for your help, gosh, you really did spoil them! You couldn’t help them now!

“Where were you? Did your mother assist you to go topside?” you gasped dramatically before grabbing one of his ears and twisting it painfully. The boys snickered as splinter apologized profusely and turned back to the boy, that got them quiet fast. “Next time think before you accuse me of something so foolish.” he rubbed his ear, “yes, yes. To the hashi I suppose if you won’t confess,” your heart clenched painfully when you saw them in there but stink eyed them to ensure your name wouldn’t be named once they spilled.

“Honey, listen-” “NO, ma! I’m tired of being the bad guy, tired of dad treating us like kids when we’ve saved the world. Tired of being treated like the one with no control. I’m tired of Leo being the favorite…” you listened, listened to him rant. Because it was important he trusted you and knew you respected all of his emotions. Important that he learned that all of his emotions were valid.

You patted the spot on the bed next to you and held your hot headed son against your own head. “I love you Raphael, I have no favorites, because if I lost any of you my heart would never heal. Leo is not our favorite, and if you don’t believe me, who makes you your flower crowns? Who’s the one who makes you the extra pancakes just because you ask? Me. I love you all, I try my best to show it, my son, my beautiful son. You have so much to give the human world don’t let your anger cloud that.” You pet his head as he cried and made him the flower crown you always made him on times like these.

“No, no, you have training tomorrow morning sweetie, off to bed!” He gave you his famous puppy pout. And you caved, knowing splinter would never let you live this down, your son always won you over. It was those baby blue eyes. “30 more minutes and its off to bed!” He grinned so big your own jaw hurt. “Okay mommy! Love you!” you chuckled, your youngest still called you mommy and you LOVed it, it reminded you of when they were little. You went to the bathroom, and stepped in to your bed, as quietly as possible…

“Michelangelo gave you the pout again didn’t he?” You could have face palmed right there, he chuckled and turned around and hugged you, “it is alright my lotus, you will overcome it soon enough.” You sighed playfully. After awhile you woke up to a raspy throat, Your husband asked why you were leaving, replying you asked if he’d like some water as well. He asked for a cup and walking out of your room you saw you youngest son passed out on the couch with the remote in hand. You smiled, grabbing a comforter to drape over him and tucking him in and put the remote away. Leaning down to kiss his forehead, “I love you too, Michelangelo”

“Donatello baby, it's awfully late, are you working on something important?” “extremely mother!” There was nothing better than being called mother in your late years. Note the sarcasm. It made you feel older, but you knew it was out of respect. “Hmmm, is it saving the world from terror, important?” He paused before peeking his head out of his work to look at you, “about 5 notches less important, mother.” You nodded slowly, “baby, you have training tomorrow, 30 more minutes.” He grinned and your heart melted, “thanks mother!”

You warmed a ketted and crushed up some special herbs, fixing them in and when the tea was ready you added mint and lavender with plenty of honey after adding your special herbs, with a peanut butter sandwich. A new trick you came up with and splinter was well aware of it. Watching by, could you trick the boy this time? “Baby, Are you hungry? I made you a sandwich” he gladly took it with a big smile and a very sweet ‘thank you’. “Do you want something to drink, baby?” you asked coyly, he took another bite and nodded gratefully, Leaning over to splinter as you both walked back over to the kitchen, “got ‘em!” Bringing the already made cup over to your little genius.

“There was no milk, but I made me and your father some tea, so I thought this would be better anyway~”, he took a swing and thanked you again. You walked over to the seat where Splinter waited for you on the couch with your own tea cup of peppermint tea. Reaching out your hand for a high-five your husband gave you one. “You never cease to amaze me, my darling.” Your son was asleep in the next 10 minutes, your husband helped him to bed and off to dream land and he went with a kiss to his forehead as you tucked him in.

He groaned once more, he couldn’t focus on his meditation. “Alright, even i’m tense. What’s wrong, my son?” He jumped in his seat on the dojo floor. Usually it was splinter who helped him out of this funk, but mamma bear had come to the rescue today. He sighed one more time as helped you sit on the mat because of your bad knees and laid his head on your lap. You massaged his temples, and almost instantly he started feeling better. “Recently I've been thinking I'm not fit to be leader. This is supposed to be easy, but it isn’t. It’s supposed to be, like, second nature but it’s not.” You thought for a moment on how to reply while stroking your son’s head and shoulder.

“I’m not like you father, wisdom has never come easy to me. But I do have experience, leadership isn’t natural it’s a choice. You have to fail to learn as a leader because your not following and your not learning. Your teaching and I'm aware it can be quite a hassle at times, but your father chose you for a reason. Perhaps you don’t believe it, but he did. And if there's one thing that man is good at, it’s at choosing the right choices.” He smiled at his mother's words meant to tease is father, at the end. “Your right-” “damn straight I am” you mumbled and chuckled. He leaned up and gave you a kiss on the cheek before returning to his meditation in perfect peace now. His mind remembering what you had said, he trusted you and took great care with your words. You leaned over and grabbed an arm while placing a kiss on his cheek, “you’ve got this, blue”, having full fate in your eldest son.

With your birthday coming up the boys in your home were awfully quiet at times. For a whole week there were no fights, zero trips to the hashi, and no boys staying up late. Thankfully you had clean the lair up before your birthday week and you had the whole week to relax. And that’s exactly what you did. Too old to be running after the boys, your first birthday in retirement. “This is livin~”. On your birthday your husband awoke you with tickling kisses and whispers, and when you arrived to the kitchen and found breakfast all prepared. You smiled and gushed at your boys. “You boys shouldn’t have!” They all let you pick the best of everything, and instead of taking it you gave mikey the first spritz of the whipped cream, Rapheal the sweetest and biggest strawberry by bending it to grow, donatello the best pancake and leo the warm syrup first. You also poured the tea for your husband, “but mom-”, “no buts! My favorite part of breakfast is taking care of my family!” “sweet!” You giggled at michaelangelo.

The rest of the day, the boys paid you extra attention, getting you anything you wanted and your husband ran you a special bath. Life was bliss at the moment and you were enjoying every bit of it. As you walked to the kitchen for a cup of water the boys screamed ‘surprise!’ “boys! You should know better than to scare an old lady like that!” They all laughed as they brought out the cake with two candles with a 6 and a 0. They sang you happy birthday and you were gushing the whole time. You asked donnie o take a family photo, he timed the camera and you said “whiskeyyy!” It was beautiful and the boys insisted you took one with splinter, and in the middle of the picture you swiped a finger of frosting on his nose. You laughed as the boys froze and kissed the frosting off with a smile, another flash made you laugh. The cake and family time was a blast! You all played Monopoly and you laughed the whole way through it. At the end of the night the boys prepared to leave for patrol and before they routinely they all gave you a hug.

“Happy birthday mom, thank you for always working hard for us, you always put us first”

“Happy birthday ma! Thank you for always putting up with us, no one could have asked for a better mother”

“Happy birthday mother, thank you for always making time for us and getting everything we’ve ever wanted"

“Happy birthday mommy! Your the coolest and one day i’m gonna spoil you as much as you’ve spoiled us!”

You were in tears at the end of their hugs, “get back here boys!” you said with tears in your eyes, Holding all four of them for a group hug. “I have the bet sons!”

After they left your husband played some of your favorite slow southern songs and danced with you. “Thank you darling, for all you have done for this family. If it were possible, I'm sure me and the boys would find a way of giving you the world. You have done more than be a mother to the boys, you have become their hero, lotus” he whispered into your ear as you danced and you danced as you sobbed happily. It felt so good to be validated by your family after all the years you worked so hard for. This was officially the best birthday ever.

Remember to validate your mothers!!

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