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spicyicymeloncat · 2 years

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Ooh, maybe Morro for the doodle and opinions game thing lol 👀

Morro

Ahhh shadow the hedgehog! I mean, Morro. I’ll be honest tho, this guy has some wasted potential both in universe and as a writing standpoint. I love a good edgy parallel main character and he definitely has an interesting backstory and I wish we got more of him. Idk this is an unpopular opinion but s5 isn’t my favourite (although as I say that, I watched the first 3 episodes this morning and really enjoyed it lol) since it’s a little all over the place. But he’s still very interesting so I’ll get into it. (Note after drawing him and over analysing him for like an hour, I like him even more than I did when I started writing this lol)

(Ps: currently as of this post, I have no more suggestions so feel free to spam my inbox bc I like writing essays on legos and also drawing)

Morro is actually an orphan (or abandoned idk) which is big sad, and Wu finds him when he’s pretty young and he looks pretty experienced in foraging bins for trash which suggests he’s been alone for a while. Although it’s interesting he, as an orphan child, decided he specifically wanted to climb that huge ass mountain to find rubbish. Maybe he’s always been ambitious and decided “yep I can climb a mountain” or maybe he caused trouble in a village somewhere and had to run away, and decided the mountain was a safe, quiet bet. Either I love how Wu found a child and was like “yeah I’ll teach it to kill”. I don’t think Wu should’ve been allowed to have a child actually. But I’ve noticed, in Ghost Story, Wu talked about how when the fsm died he said he’d leave a message to find his tomb and Wu never found it. Kinda sounds like Wu has daddy issues. And so this arc is now about generational trauma. I think the fsm, yknow as an escapee of war himself, probably raised Wu and Garmadon quite strictly and Wu probably grew up with a lot of pressure, first as practically a demigod, and second as one who bares the duty of stopping/saving his brother from evil. So what does a man who was raised as a warrior at a young age do when he sees a young child? Try and raise it in the only way he knew how. Wu also having to deal with Garmadon leaving and also getting ghosted by Misako at the same time so I think Morro’s company would’ve been nice. The discovery of Morro’s elemental power is interesting because we know that wind was one of the elements, the fsm hadn’t mastered, so wu may have never even encountered it. Also since a lot of the elemental masters are shown to be fighters, it might mean that the EMs typically take up some sort of fighting job in general. Could that mean Morro’s parents may have died or got lost to combat? Maybe that’s why he had his powers so young. The more you think about it, the more tragic it gets. I think, with how much of a good omen Morro seemed to be, Wu probably expected he was the green ninja. Morro definitely would’ve had some hero complex, he came in, made his master’s life a lot less lonely, he’s gonna save the world and help Wu fix things with his family. And when he’s not that, he ends up doing a lot of unnecessary and concerning things to prove himself. He gets a little loopy (and honestly it would’ve been sick if they leaned into that in the present plot actually). Morro ends up leaving to go find the Fsm’s tomb and mannn you can tell how brutally militant the fsm and Wu’s relationship was when the former literally makes visiting his grave a test of honour for his son (Ik he also was hiding the realm Crystal but yeah). And Morro leaves. Which is such a L, especially for Wu considering Wu’s father left him with barely a hint of where he died, Garmadon left him to train far away, Misako also, like everyone leaves Wu. Maybe that’s why Wu didn’t go after him. Not only did Wu tell Morro about the green ninja but also about the fsm’s tomb which lead him to his death, so yeah it makes sense why Wu would be so secretive. Because not only did the prophecy push Morro over the edge, if Wu never talked about his father Morro may not have died.

Morro has a really cool intro to the series, from the VA change of the night guard, to Lloyd screaming off screen, and then the fight at the monastery in the dark, his aesthetic, pathetic fallacy (cool weather sets the mood) and his theme, it’s very cool. I do wish though, we got more of a visualisation of Lloyd and Morro fighting for control it could even have tied back to Garmadon and his evilisation yknow? Also Morro unfortunately has a redemption at death arc which is generally disappointing. He changes his mind about all his bitterness without really any reasoning. Wu doesn’t do anything in the season really until at the very last moment, and it just comes out of nowhere. Like s5 is not on my rewrite list but if I could change anything, one of those things would be giving Morro internal conflict. Make Morro feel Lloyd’s love for his family, make Morro briefly doubt what he’s doing and miss Wu. And mannn I wish Wu played more of a role in this season, in regards to Morro. Like Wu never got to see his own father’s tomb.

I get it though, there’s a lot happening with wu already since he’s trying Nya. I do like how he’s reluctant to tell Nya about her powers especially in the season where the villain is a villain because Wu said too much. Morro and Nya also have a few parallels, both are unable to handle failure and struggle to adapt when their life changes. It’s cool because we get to see Nya succeed where Morro didn’t (and that’s why she’s allowed to wear green). I think honestly this season should’ve had more Kai development considering Kai and Morro basically have the same plot, and it would’ve really wrapped up the staff scene in s4. Like maybe with Kai telling Morro of how he avoided being like him, how Kai chose to protect others instead of trying to earn a title that he didn’t need. Maybe that would have then played into Morro’s redemption later on.

Also how come Morro got sent the cursed realm? Well I have a theory but this is basically Ninjago speed run angst percentage. So to go to the cursed realm ya got to get cursed. So what if Morro managed to curse himself? Like his swore he’d find the tomb or else he’d go to the cursed realm and him making a verbal oath actually held weight because spooky superstition. Maybe he dabbled in dark magic to help him on his quest. Idk I just think it’s poetic that Morro’s downfall is himself. Although I wish I knew why he ended up being the preeminent’s lackey. Hmm here’s a suggestion, the preeminent, in true eldritch horror fashion, is like a goddess, like the compelling call of destiny, that has dubbed Morro as her own “chosen one”, which is why he has the highest status of all the ghosts. I just need the preeminent to be creepy.

All in all I think Morro has a really good set up I just wish we got more of a learning arc for him, just to back up his redemption. Villains like the overlord, or the Oni don’t need character development because they only need to be strong, and villains like Chen and Nadakhan don’t need development because they can just be incredibly smart from the get go. But villains that have shifting moralities need to get justification on why that is the case and with Morro and Harumi, imo I think Ninjago drops the ball, and their final moments of not being awful feel very rushed. Also I love Morro aesthetic and think he should be even more insane actually, have him be weirdly connected to the preeminent and also have him be almost delusional in his quest for power because it would be spicy. But in general, Morro is super interesting and that’s why I think fanon is more popular, because people like to lean in and see if they can push Morro where the writers didn’t (although it’s more likely fanon Morro is just popular because he’s emo). Also a note about DotD, I actually love that special mostly for the villain interactions because it’s just gorgeous. Now that Morro is over his intensely huge drama Queen arc, when placed next to the other he’s kinda chill and love the fact when he shows up he scares the life out of the other ninja, but he’s actually pretty civil and other than he can’t help himself from acting villainous. But he has a sense of honour and yknow he probably would’ve made for a great ninja.

Here’s a random hc to close this off, Morro actually loved pirates and would’ve had the time of his life if he was around for s6.

But that’s it for now! Morro good.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #Ninjago Morro #doodlarambla #ninjago doodlarambla #I rlly wanna do more of these #gives me an incentive to design these characters #he’s so fun to draw and I didn’t even know #the thing is with Ninjago is that there’s so much content that you don’t even remember #yknow when he does the #blank Lego stare #yeah

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gwenbrightly · 3 years

Text

The Great Flower Chain Making Competition

Written for the @ninjago-calendar project. The Ninja take Lloyd on a picnic and Cole teaches everyone how to make flower chains.

“He needs normalcy,” Lloyd heard Nya tell his uncle in a hushed voice. He paused outside of his uncle’s room to hear what would come next.

“But his training-” Wu started in, but Kai interrupted him.

“But nothing, Master Wu. You can’t expect him to adjust to being the Green Ninja right away without problems. He’s just a kid, so let him be one.”

There was silence for a moment and Lloyd could easily imagine Nya giving Wu her signature you’d better do as I say or else look to prove her brother’s point. He waited to hear the response, not quite sure what they were talking about, but knowing it involved him.

“I… suppose you have a point,” Wu admitted eventually, “you can do what you asked on one condition: Everyone stays nearby and return to the Bounty immediately if I contact you.”

“That’s technically two conditions,” said Nya, pointedly. Wu sighed.

“Don’t make me regret this.”

“We won’t,” Kai assured him and then the door opened before Lloyd could disappear around the corner. Nya raised an eyebrow when she saw him.

“Lloyd, were you… eavesdropping?”

“N-no,” he insisted at first, but both siblings immediately saw through his lie.

“How much did you hear, Lloyd?” Kai asked quietly. Lloyd shrugged.

“I dunno. Not much. But you guys really didn’t have to get on Wu’s case for me over training. I’m fine.” Another lie.

“Considering we literally just got you back from a group of traitorous snakes, I’d say it’d be completely understandable if you weren’t fine. And besides, it’s our duty to protect you. Even from your uncle,” Kai stated fiercely, ruffling Lloyd’s hair. Nya nodded in agreement.

“Which is why we convinced him to give everyone the day off so we can take you to do something fun!” she announced. Lloyd blinked.

“Fun?” he repeated blankly. He had to admit that doing something to get his mind off of, well, everything, sounded appealing. But there was so much to be done now that he knew he was the Green Ninja. Could he even afford a day off? Lloyd wasn’t sure how all this destined savior business worked.

“That’s right! We’re going on a picnic!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lloyd questioned, not sharing Nya’s enthusiasm, “I mean, the Serpentine probably want revenge for what happened at the fire temple.”

“Sure it is. We’ll just have to be careful,” Nya assured him at the same time as Kai insisted, “We only have good ideas!”

They rolled their eyes at each other, but neither backed down.

“We’re not taking no for an answer, Lloyd. Fresh air is good for shrimps like you,” Kai continued, giving Lloyd a smile. Lloyd knew he was probably right, though he didn’t know much about fresh air. Darkley’s had always been kind of stuffy.

Nya looked at him expectantly. He bit his lip.

“Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I’m telling Pythor to eat you first,” Lloyd relented. A few hours away couldn’t do any harm.

_________________________

“I think we’re almost there,” Cole announced. Lloyd could just make out the clearing up ahead. After gathering the rest of the ninja and packing lunch, which had been a hectic affair, the group had set out to find the perfect picnic spot. Cole claimed to “know a place” and the others had eagerly followed his lead. Lloyd had never been on a picnic before, so he wasn’t really sure what they were looking for, but hopefully it would all make sense sooner or later.

“Awesome,” Nya said, running her hands together enthusiastically.

“Yeah,” Kai agreed, sounding less excited, “what did you put in this thing, Zane? My arms are starting to get tired.”

“Oh, just the picnic essentials.” Zane called over his shoulder. Kai held the picnic basket in front of him, giving it a distaste glare.

“You sure you didn’t pack the kitchen sink?”

The nindroid deigned not to reply and Kai continued to mutter complaints as they continued down the trail. Deciding to have mercy on Kai after a few minutes (he was a little tired of the complaining), Lloyd asked,

“Want me to take it for a sec?”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Cole cut in, “we’re here.”

“Thank goodness,” Kai declared, staggering forward to set the basket down on a tree stump. Lloyd rolled his eyes at his dramatics before wandering off to explore while Nya and Jay spread out the ginormous picnic blanket they had stolen from Wu.

He found a stream not far from where Kai had left the picnic basket. Sitting down amongst the reeds, Lloyd watched the water ripple and swirl. He could see tiny minnows swimming in and out of the shadows. What other creatures might be lurking nearby?

Maybe after they ate, Kai would be interested in helping him find out. There could be water snakes, turtles, or maybe even frogs! Frogs liked marshy areas – didn’t they?

Lloyd could just imagine the look on Jay’s face when he and Kai brought back the biggest, slimiest frog they could find. He giggled maniacally as he skipped a stone across the stream. It bounced a few times before sinking with a soft plunk. The minnows scattered. Lloyd sighed happily, watching them.

There was something so peaceful about this place. About the way the gentle breeze tickled the flowers that covered the meadow. Maybe he should pick some for Nya. Girls liked flowers, didn’t they? There hadn’t been many girls at Darkleys.

Of course, there was always the possibility that she was allergic to flowers. After all, Nya had once told him that she had a perfume allergy. He should probably ask Kai about that before he went and picked too many flowers for her…

“Lloyd! It’s time for lunch.”

Someone called, interrupting his thoughts. Plans for pestering his honorary siblings would have to wait. Lloyd sidled over to the picnic blanket and plopped down next to Kai, who handed him a plate.

“So, Cole. How did you know about this place?” Jay inquired as he set out the sandwich supplies. Cole smiled wistfully and explained,

“My parents brought me here a few times when I was a kid. We would play in the stream for hours and then Mom would teach me how to make flower chains and force Pop and I to wear them. It was really fun.”

“Aww. That sounds nice,” Nya commented. She held out a jar of peanut butter to Lloyd, who happily accepted it. He slathered some onto his bread, listening to Cole share more stories about his childhood. Lloyd wished his own parents had been around to take him on picnics and have water fights with him. But that wasn’t the way the world worked.

With a sigh, Lloyd took a bite of his sandwich. Just the right ratio of jelly to peanut butter. Perfect.

“You mentioned flower chains, right?” Jay asked through a mouthful of food. It sounded more like he was saying, “Ooh entond oor Jane’s ight?”

“Yeah?” Cole replied, raising an eyebrow. Jay swallowed before continuing.

“This might sound kinda silly, but… I’ve always wondered how people make those.”

“Oh, it’s easy!” Cole announced with a grin, “want me to teach you after we finish eating?”

“I, for one, would love to learn,” Nya stated. She took a bite of jello salad and glanced around at the others, who nodded.

“As would I,” Zane agreed serenely. Kai smirked and said,

“Sure. Why not. But I say we make it a competition.”

“A competition?” Lloyd asked curiously, his eyes widening. That sounded promising.

“Yeah! I’m thinking we each make a flower chain, and whoever has the best one wins. We can, like, have Master Wu judge them when we get back to the Bounty, or something,” Kai explained.

“That sounds kinda fun,” Nya decided, before turning to Lloyd, “whaddya think? You in?”

Lloyd shrugged noncommittally, but ultimately agreed to join in. He had nothing better to do and was awfully curious about these… flower chains, anyway. What was the point of making chains from flowers? It wasn’t like you could use such a chain to trap enemies or anything exciting. Oh, well. He knew this entire trip was just to distract him from Green Ninja stuff. So it was probably okay if there were no practical applications for flower chains that he could use to cause chaos later on.

The small boy shoved what was left of his sandwich into his mouth and chewed messily as he gazed around the meadow. There sure were a lot of flowers to choose from. He wondered how they would know which were best to use. And how long it was going to take the others to finish their food. Lloyd was starting to get bored of sitting there with nothing to do.

“All right, listen up, people. What you’re looking for is flowers with nice long stems, like this,” Cole finally announced. He held up a daffodil. “That makes it easier to weave them together. Once everyone has their supplies, meet back here, and I’ll explain the rest. Everybody ready?”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Jay said. He gave a teasing salute and trotted off across the meadow. Cole rolled his eyes as he watched him go.

“Apparently, we have started,” Zane observed with a wry smile. The others laughed.

“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say the competition has begun.” Cole agreed.

“Well? What are we waiting for?” Nya asked before nudging Lloyd, “We can’t let Jay beat us!”

She grabbed his arm and drug him off toward the opposite end of the meadow from where Jay had gone.

“Are teams even legal?” Lloyd heard Kai ask in the distance.

“I never said they weren’t.” came the response. Nya giggled and came to a stop.

“This looks like a good place to start picking flowers,” she said, bending over to examine a patch of irises. Lloyd nodded and plucked one, careful to make sure the stem was long enough to meet Cole’s standards.

“Perfect.” Nya smiled approvingly. She began gathering an armful of flowers of her own. Red, then pink, then white, then purple. The two soon had sizable clumps of irises and various other flowers they had found growing nearby. Ready for the next phase of the competition, they returned to the picnic blanket just as the others began heading back.

“Congratulations, competitors. You have completed the first challenge,” Cole stated in his best announcer voice. The rest of the group cheered with much more vigor than was truly necessary. They were all quite invested in the competition by this point.

“Now you must learn how to make flower chains from the pro himself. Watch as I demonstrate,” Cole continued. He showed them how to weave the flowers together by taking clumps of 3 and braiding them in an intricate pattern. Next, he showed them how to connect new flowers to the braid by counting several stems as a single strand while braiding.

The project had mixed results. Cole kept having to jump in to assist Kai before he could tear his flowers apart in frustration (they wouldn’t stay in place), while Jay’s weaving was so complex that even Zane couldn’t make sense of his strategy.

Nya and Lloyd were hard at work designing a pattern of colors that was extra appealing to the eye when they realized that they had neglected to collect any blue flowers. Nya nodded her head meaningfully towards Jay’s pile of flowers, which contained a variety of blue wildflowers. Lloyd grinned and swapped spots with her, giving her easy access to Jay’s stash.

“Hey, Jay- I seem to be having trouble with this part… mind helping me out?” she asked ever so innocently. Jay flashed her a smile and scooted closer to her before launching into a tirade about the art of braiding.

“Mhm. Oh, that makes sense,” Nya commented, pretending to be interested as she slipped a few of the flowers from Jay’s pile into Lloyd’s waiting hands. She continued to do this for several minutes before Jay finally caught on.

“Hey. Hey wait! You can’t do that!” he protested in frustration. Nya simply smiled.

“All is fair in love and war, Jay.”

“Yeah!” Lloyd agreed, nodding vigorously. Jay glared at him.

“Do you even know what that means?” he asked.

“Nope!” Lloyd said, happily adding a blue flower to his chain. All in all, the picnic had been way more exciting than he’d expected.

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #Ninjago Calendar #March #Lloyd #Cole #Flower chains #my fics #validate meeee

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caelum-in-the-avatarverse · 4 years

Link

Written for Kataang Week 2020. Prompt - The Red Thread of Fate. (Image Source)

“Oh, wow. That’s different!” “Not every day you see water glow,” Katara agreed smugly. “Oh, that’s cool too. But I’m talking about what you’re doing to the chi in my ligaments!”

Ty Lee can see things.

~~~

Whooooooooo almost done Kataang Week! Which is good cuz I'm kinda flagging lol. Note to self: Work on things earlier, maybe don't do two Character Weeks in one month, haha. :P

Warnings for me playing fast and loose with auras and chi as a concept.

“Oh, wow. That’s different!”

Katara looked up from the glowing water she was swirling around Ty Lee’s sprained ankle to give the other girl an amused look. “I guess you’ve never seen waterbending healing before.”

“Nope!” Ty Lee said. She leaned forward to watch Katara work, intrigued, one hand reaching out to point at what Katara was doing. “It’s amazing.”

“Not every day you see water glow,” Katara agreed smugly.

“Oh, that’s cool too. But I’m talking about what you’re doing to the chi in my ligaments!”

Now that was unexpected. Katara instinctively glanced around for Mai or even Zuko - the other two Fire Nation teens were far more used to Ty Lee’s idiosyncrasies - but it was just the two of them sitting in the courtyard. She blinked at Ty Lee. “...What?”

“Yeah, you’re literally knitting it back together and fixing the flow - oh that is so cool!” Ty Lee’s finger was hovering dangerously close to her ankle.

“Please don’t touch the water,” Katara said.

Ty Lee immediately withdrew her hand, but she was still completely enthralled watching Katara work. “You’re putting your own energy into it, and the water’s manipulating the chi flow,” she said, “but you’re pulling chi from my meridians, too.” She traced a line down her leg, following the shaoyang meridian.

“You can see that?” Katara asked.

“Yep!”

Ty Lee’s terrifying accuracy in blocking people’s chi was starting to make sense. She’d been teaching Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors for a while now, but even so they didn’t always land their hits properly. Katara had supposed Ty Lee had simply had a lifetime to memorize pressure points, but...maybe there was more to it.

“That’s...pretty cool too,” Katara said. “I can’t even see that. I can feel chi when I’m healing, but that’s about it.” Or maybe she was feeling blood. Well, wasn’t that a pleasant thought.

Ty Lee beamed. “It’s a gift. Usually.”

“So...what does chi look like?”

Ty Lee shrugged. “Chi.” When Katara gave her an unimpressed look, she giggled. “What does water look like?”

Katara opened her mouth to retort, realized she had no answer, and sighed.

Ty lee tilted her head, staring at her ankle. “It’s like...it has colors.”

“Colors,” Katara repeated.

“Yeah. And they kind of...float? Sometimes?”

“Floating colors.”

Ty Lee deflated. “It’s hard to explain.”

“You’re the first person I’ve met since Sifu Yugoda who understands how a meridian works and what I’m doing with it when I heal,” Katara said dryly. “I can try to understand.”

Ty Lee brightened. “Okay! You can see it too, you know. When you make the water glow. That’s the chi doing it. But I guess you can only see it when you’re really using it.”

“What does it usually look like?”

“It looks like...lines of energy.” She peered at her ankle. “Right now, I’m seeing where it’s blocked and torn, and how you’re loosening it up and drawing it back together - ooh!” Ty Lee sighed in relief just as Katara fixed one of the major tears in her ankle ligaments. “Yeah,” she managed after a moment. “Like that. Wow. This is so much better than waiting for it to heal on its own.”

Katara smiled, smug. “And it has colors?”

“Yeah,” said Ty Lee. “They’re part of your aura.”

“And you can see those too, right?” Katara asked, remembering a few offhand comments the other girl had made since they’d met.

“Auras? Yeah, those are easy. Yours is very nice, by the way. Lots of blues and greens, some turquoise and pink.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You’re calm and compassionate and definitely good at healing things,” Ty Lee grinned.

Katara grinned back. “That’s pretty cool that you can see all that.” She twisted the water around Ty Lee’s ankle.

“I can see lots of things,” Ty Lee said matter-of-factly. “Looking at you I can see your chi, your aura…” She peered at Katara’s foot for a moment, apparently concentrating. “And even your red string!”

“My what?” Katara asked.

“Your red string,” Ty Lee repeated. “But if you don’t want me to talk about that that’s fine, I get it, I know some people like surprises - ”

“Sorry, I just - what’s a red string?” Katara asked, thoroughly confused.

Ty Lee blinked. “...You don’t know?”

“Not a clue.”

“Do they not have red strings in the Water Tribe?”

“Well I guess we must, if I have one,” Katara said, “but I’ve never heard of it before. What is it?” Was it bad? It sounded like a Fire Nation thing. That didn’t necessarily mean it was bad but - why did she have a Fire Nation thing?

Ty Lee fiddled with her braid. “It’s fate,” she said. “The Red String of Fate. It’s a legend - except it’s real, of course. But the story goes that the Old Man Under the Moon ties a red string around the ankles of people who are destined to marry or fall in love with each other, connecting them before they know it.”

“So everyone is just...destined for a specific person?” Katara wasn’t one to disbelieve destiny - she’d believed in the Avatar’s return long after the rest of her tribe had lost hope, after all. She’d traveled across the world and back on that hope. And she considered herself pretty good friends with Iroh now, from whom she’d heard quite a bit about destiny. Heck, she’d even spent days pestering Aunt Wu for information on her future husband. “That sounds romantic.”

“Ideally?” Ty Le said, looking uncertain. “Sometimes it’s just...there, but nothing comes of it. Sometimes things happen.” She grimaced and glanced away, eyes going sad. “Sometimes the string gets cut, or breaks.”

“Oh,” said Katara. She wondered if Ty Lee knew someone with a broken string, but decided against asking. The war had lasted a hundred years, and despite being the perpetrators, the Fire Nation was not without its losses. She finished up with the water around Ty Lee’s leg, tossing it back into the courtyard fountain. “How’s that?”

Ty Lee carefully rolled her foot in several directions. “Wow, this feels so much better, thank you!”

“Try standing up,” Katara said, eyeing Ty Lee’s ankle as she got to her feet. “Carefully.”

Ty Lee stood, flexed her leg once or twice, took a few careful steps, and then whooped and did a full set of cartwheels around the courtyard and back.

“Careful!” Katara yelped, even as Ty Lee came to a stop before her. She didn’t want the girl undoing her work already.

“Good as new!” Ty Lee proclaimed. “You’re amazing, thank you so much!” She looked about three seconds from tackling Katara in a hug, but also like she was capable of restraining herself. Katara appreciated it. Ty Lee was a nice girl, now that she was getting to know her, but...they weren’t quite at hugs yet.

“You’re welcome,” Katara said. “Thanks for telling me about red strings. It’s a nice story.”

“It is!” Ty Lee beamed. “And very popular. Everyone in the Fire Nation knows that story.”

“I’ve never heard it,” Katara said.

“I have!” Aang said cheerily, dropping into the courtyard from the eaves of an overhanging roof. “It’s mostly a Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom legend.”

“But it’s not a legend,” Ty Lee insisted. “It’s real. I mean...I’m looking at yours right now!”

“Oh, wow, your spirit sight’s that strong?” Aang asked.

“‘Yours’ as in both of ours?” Katara asked, glancing at Aang. “Or ‘yours’ as in mine and his, separately?”

“Do you really want to know?” Ty Lee asked, looking between them.

A bit of enthusiasm Katara hadn’t felt since leaving Aunt Wu’s village reared up in her heart, and she said, “Yes.”

At the same time, Aang said, “Oh, I already know.”

Ty Lee and Katara looked at him, surprised.

“Mine just kind of...frays off, or something,” Aang elaborated. “Like it wasn’t finished.”

Ty Lee frowned at him before looking down at something that neither Aang nor Katara could see. “Uh...it looks pretty finished to me.” She peered closer. “The Old Man Under the Moon must’ve woven your strings together, because I can’t tell they were ever separate.”

Aang blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Who told you your string was broken?” Ty Lee demanded, looking miffed. “They must have awful spirit sight. I ought to tell them they shouldn’t go panicking people like that!”

“She’s dead,” Aang blurted. Katara winced and Ty Lee blanched. “I mean, she has to be dead, it’s been a hundred years. And she didn’t tell me, I just overheard her talking to Monk Gyatso about it. They probably didn’t want me worried.”

“Oh,” said Ty Lee, admirably rallying from the experience of being Aang’s friend and realizing how much he’d lost over casual conversation. She’d get used to it, Katara thought wryly. “Well, that’s a relief. I hate it when people try to scare people with spirit sight to scam them or something, it’s so irresponsible!”

“Oh, I wasn’t scared,” Aang said quickly. “I mean, I was just a little kid? What did I care about marriage or unfinished strings? I wasn’t worried about it.” He rubbed the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly. “Not back then, anyway.” He glanced at Katara.

Katara smiled at him. “Were you worried about that the whole time?”

“Not the whole time,” Aang insisted. “Just...sometimes. I didn’t know what an unfinished string meant! And I didn’t have anyone to ask about it, so…”

Katara raised an eyebrow. “You had an unfinished string over eighty years before I was even born, Aang.”

“...Yeah,” Aang said, chuckling. “Guess that explains that, huh?”

Katara leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek.

“Awwwwww!” Ty Lee gushed. “You two are so cute! No wonder the Old Man Under the Moon chose you for each other!”

“Does he choose?” Katara asked. “Or does he just know the future and tie people together according to what he sees?”

“Uhhhhhhh,” said Ty Lee, “I’m...not sure?”

“If I ever meet him, I’ll ask,” Aang said.

“Well however he does it,” Ty Lee said, “you two are totally perfect for each other, even if you did have to wait a hundred years!”

Katara snorted and Aang smiled, but he looked slightly haunted. No one else would have known it but Katara - except Ty Lee apparently picked up on it too. Maybe it was her aura vision.

“...I’m sorry,” she said. “That...might have come out wrong.”

If Aang and Katara had always been destined for each other, that meant he’d always been destined for the iceberg. That he’d always been destined to lose a century. Perhaps the war and the loss of the Airbenders had been destiny as well.

Tragedies such as those should never simply be accepted as fate.

“It’s okay,” Aang said, even though it really wasn’t and never would be. “I find it’s best to just...not think about destiny too deeply. It just...is.”

Katara nudged his shoulder. “Hey,” she said, “destiny can be changed. It isn’t set in stone. And sometimes we’re completely wrong about it. I mean, the Fire Nation thought it was their destiny to take over the whole world, and look how that turned out.”

“Oh, yeah,” Ty Lee said, flipping her braid over her shoulder, “we were super wrong about that.”

“Your string was unfinished,” Katara said. “Maybe it would’ve joined up with someone else’s. And we don’t know when it merged with mine. Who really knows?”

Aang smiled at her. “Destiny is a funny thing,” he agreed. And then, teasing, “And you were worth waiting for.”

“Aang!” she laughed, and he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“But you should still totally ask the Old Man Under the Moon how it works, if you ever meet him,” Ty Lee said. “Now I’m curious!”

“Oh, I will,” Aang promised, looking into Katara’s eyes. “Right after I thank him.”

~~~

Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated.

Notes:

Welp I guess I have a vague headcanon idea on how waterbending healing works now, lol. I mean it makes sense Katara couldn't heal Jet if the energy needed to do so was more than she and he had available. Spirit Oasis water is clearly imbued with a ton of extra energy and spiritual properties, allowing it to perform miracles, lol. Meridians are a concept in traditional Chinese medicine, and I am fairly certain Waterbenders use them because I think the dummy Yugoda was demonstrating on in her class had meridian outlines on it that she was making the water follow.

Aura colors can be very different and sometimes even contradictory depending on which website you're looking at, but for my purposes, blues mean caring, loving, and sensitive, greens mean growth, healing, and an ability to cause change, turquoise is more sensitivity and healing, pink indicates love and compassion, not necessarily just for a person, but for what you're doing or believe in.

The Red Thread of Fate is, of course, an ancient Chinese legend that also made its way to Japan and Korea. Originally the red thread was tied around the ankles of people destined to be married, though in modern times it's depicted around the bearers' fingers. The thread is tied by Yuè Xià Lǎorén, the Chinese god of marriage and love who often appears as an old man under the moon. The original myth has it that the red thread cannot be broken, as those bound by it are destined to be together. I've taken interpretational liberties with it for angst purposes. Anyone who's familiar with my headcanons for Ty Lee's family, you have three guesses as to who Ty Lee knows with a broken red string, and the first two don't count. :P

I'm not sure if the original myth was strictly for people who were meant to be married, or if those destined to love without marriage were included. For the purposes of my worldbuilding, I've decided it doesn't necessarily mean marriage, just that two people are meant to be together romantically.

Also the idea of destiny is pretty epic in a series like ATLA and it IS a centric theme so it's definitely a force in the story HOWEVER I dislike the idea of Aang and Katara being so destined for each other Aang had to get frozen and the Airbenders had to get wiped out so like...idk I fiddled with that a bit at the end. *shrugs* I didn't go too deep tho, because it's late and this is a oneshot and let's be honest, I mostly wrote this for Ty Lee. ;)

#kataang week #atla fanfic #avatar fanfiction #aang #katara #ty lee #caelum writes

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the-strawzish-clownfish · 5 years

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So Sensei Wu might be God

Not actually, but a representation in the show. I’ve got some evidence stored up as to why I think so.

He knows everything. He acts like he doesn’t know what’s coming next, but he DEFINITELY knows exactly what’s going to happen two weeks, four days, twenty-seven minutes, and nine seconds from now. He always has. He knew that Lloyd was going to become the Green Ninja from the get-go, but he never let on. He knew that Zane was a nindroid, but he didn’t tell any of them that because it would teach them how to love each other despite their differences. He knew that Garmadon would return to his former self and eventually sacrifice himself for the good side of the world, but did he ever mention anything about that? NO. He didn’t tell the ninja anything about anything, but this only strengthened them. THAT’S HIS POINT. HE KNOWS THAT IF THEY JUST TRUST IN HIS TEACHINGS, THEY WILL OVERCOME ANY OBSTACLE THEY FACE.

He is literally ancient. Even though Wu wasn’t the oldest being ever like God, he’s still not young by any means. Back before Lord Garmadon was taken over by the Overlord, ol’ Garmy filled us in on the fact that he has been working on his “foolproof” plan for thousands of years. Now, Garmadon hasn’t always been completely evil. Let’s say that he was about eight when he was bitten by the Great Devourer--or the beta version of it, at least. The venom took over slowly--the show mentions that the evil had completely taken over by the time he met Misako, who we can assume is about fifty-seven, as of her first appearance. That brings up a whole new conversation about the likelihood that Misako would have been able to conceive Lloyd (who was maybe nine years old at his first appearance; yes, I know that the Tomorrow’s Tea aged him to about sixteen physically, but he’s still only about eight or nine) at forty-nine, but that’s a different discussion. Since he didn’t reach his new form (creepy black four-armed dude with bone in hair) until after Nya was rescued (I don’t remember exactly when), we can assume that he has been actually formulating his plan since the evil took over. Since Wu is the younger brother (by maybe two years), it’s pretty obvious that he’s pretty frickin’ old.

He has always been there to guide the ninja. Even when he wasn’t physically present, the ninja have always turned to Wu’s teachings to help them through struggles. And when he was there, the ninja turned to him for help. Even when they went back in time, they saw Sensei Wu on his way to seduce Kai into becoming a ninja (ooh, now that I think about it, that needs to be a ship. not one that I like, just one that needs to exist. Ku or Wai for the ship name) and immediately said, “Frick what Sensei told us earlier about not messing with literally anything. Let’s go ask his past self to help us not change anything!” He’s just the ultimate source of guidance.

In my mind, Wu is a representation of God. There are more things that I think support this theory, but these are the big ones. If anyone ever finds this post, feel free to fight with me over this because Wu is the goshdarned best fight me

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souslejaune · 5 years

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Auntie Dee Dee’s living room... (Folio 1: Part 2)

Auntie Dee Dee’s living room had the best view of an Accra sunset I had ever seen. Through the hand-polished clarity of her first floor sliding doors, beyond the fragrant haze of the flower-filled porch, the day performed its bedtime rituals.

Amorous cocks strutted their seduction in circles around hens as dust rose from beneath them. The cry of roving fishmongers rose to mingle with the faint smell of bougainvillea – orange and yellow. “Red fish. Last for the day. Cheap red fish.” Shrewd housewives emerged from their homes for these last minute bargains that made chop money last a little bit longer. There was sweat on their bead noses. They had been cooking.

Cooking is why I loved going to Auntie Dee Dee’s. I didn’t go there to see the sun give one last jaundiced wink before it turned steadily red as it submerged itself in the sea. I went there because Auntie Dee Dee was a sorceress whose spells lay in the texture of chopped onions, the mildly singed smell of fried plantain, the spicy tongue of chilli, the slippery kiss of oil… The food of her fingers was edible temptation.

In Ghana, it is understood that such a woman can have any man. A woman who befriends her is said to open the door of her marriage to discontent. But she was my mother’s best friend. They had known each other since they were knee high and my mother insisted that Dee Dee had never stopped eating in all the time she had known her.

Every Friday at 4pm my mother would yell, “Kids, are you ready?” From obscure corners of the house, my sister and I would scream, “Yes.” My father would already be in the car. His pride and joy. A navy blue Datsun 120Y gleaming in the relentless afternoon sun. Polished from roof to tyres. He closed his shop early on Fridays so that he could come home and wash it. He said he didn’t trust me to do it then – maybe later. Naana, my sister, liked to tease him about the car.

“Ei Daddy! Are we using the car today?”

My father would raise his arms in a mockery of prayer. “Dear God, let my next daughter be intelligent! Teach her what it means when I sit in my car and start the engine!”

Our mirth would explode in synchronised chaos. My mother holding her side, my sister shaking her head, me stamping like a victim of soldier ants.

It is not unfair to say my father was protective of his car, but it would be wrong to say he was miserly with it. Although he only used it on weekends he let my mother take it shopping every Wednesday. Women drivers were a rare thing so my mother was a minor star. She was the envy of the market traders who sat outside the main walls of Kaneshie Market and she liked the attention. She took pains to walk round the car, roll all the windows up and lock the doors as the traders chattered.

“O wu sumɔɔ o sane. What a man he must be! Will you buy some tomatoes?”

“Madam, me adamfo, how beautiful you look in your car, my friend. Do you want some Gari today? Only two cedis for one america.”

One america is a uniquely Ghanaian measurement that is equivalent to one full tin of an acceptably large size. It is standardised by neither weight nor volume. I learnt this on my first trip to the market with my mother when I noticed that some traders battered their tins so that they would contain less produce, which they sold for the same price. When I pointed this out to my mother she laughed, jingling the car keys as her dimples caught the attention of the sun.

“The trick is knowing whom to buy from.”

The traders in Kaneshie market shouted out their prices with competitive sideways glances at their rivals. Never missing an opportunity to sell, they could convince the smallest hunchback of their incredible height; such were their powers of flattery. My mother always came home on Wednesdays beaming with childlike smiles. Fully gorged on sweet words.

On Fridays however, we only had one destination – Auntie Dee Dee’s. Usually my father talked politics with her husband, Johnny, who was the Minister for Education, whilst my mother discussed sports and cuisine with Auntie Dee Dee. My mother and Dee Dee both sprinted for Ghana in the 1960s. At the 1965 All Africa Games – the first ever – Auntie Dee Dee made history in the 200 metres semi-finals, becoming the first athlete not to compete for dietary reasons. The food supplies she'd packed from Ghana had run out by then and she couldn't find the right kind of groundnut paste to make the 'reviving' soup she ate with rice or gari at least 10 hours before her race day began. She had hoped to make up for missing out on a medal in Bamako in 1969, but when the games were cancelled because of the overthrow of the socialist government in Mali in 1968, she retired. Often, while catching up with my mother by the earth coloured stove, Auntie Dee Dee would beckon me to her side, put her heavy arm around my neck, and smile down at me. She called me her little husband and liked to play with my unruly Afro, occasionally poking her little finger in my right-side-only dimple. From my vantage point beside Auntie Dee Dee, I could reach out and pilfer some achɔmɔ – sweet fried dough snacks that Auntie Dee Dee never seemed to run out of – and watch Uncle Johnny talking to my father. Uncle Johnny’s parabolic eyebrows made it seem like he was always asking a question. I didn’t talk much. I was six years younger than my sister and I loved to listen to people speak. I liked the sounds of some of the big words they used; like imperative and amralofoi. Sometimes, when I wasn’t enveloped by the mango- and cinnamon-fragranced body mass of Auntie Dee Dee, I watched the sun set with Naana and Uncle-and-Auntie’s son Junior. When the smells started coming from the kitchen, we went to Junior’s room to play games. We needed to. Our parents didn’t like us to run around the kitchen and we always seemed to lose our minds when the smell of fried onions started to waft.

._.

In the first few years of my life that was Friday for me. Sunsets and full stomachs.

I got an early birthday card for my seventh birthday. It came on November 15, 1981 – a week early. It was in a textured cream envelope with a glittering red star stuck on the V of the seal.

I had been in a low mood for a few days; I couldn't explain why and my mother had been worried about me. I was lethargic and completely disinterested in things which usually excited me – like football and throwing stones. She asked me if I was ill and checked my temperature – normal. But it was clear that did not satisfy her. Her round face had a pinch in it, like a balloon in the clutches of a clothes peg. Naana always said Mummy looked as though she was in labour every time one of us got hurt, or got into trouble – as though she was reliving the moments of our birth. With no clear symptoms for my condition, she forced me to take an aspirin just in case. A few minutes after she gave me the tablets, I got heartburn and she panicked.

“Oh, Kojo.” She turned to my father with a hand on her mouth, her voice shrill. “Have I poisoned him? Should we call your mother?”

My father, son of a nurse, responded with the calm of his mother. “Relax, Sarah, he probably took the tablet too quickly. He’ll be fine.” He turned to me. “Ebo, does it hurt a lot?”

I shook my head. Trying to be brave.

Naana and my father tried to cheer me up by making funny faces, but my laughter had lost its energy. I wasn’t even ticklish anymore. Eventually they all gave up.

However when the early birthday card arrived a day later, my eyes lit up; so, although my mother wouldn’t normally have given the card to me until my actual birthday, she handed it to me. I ripped the envelope with a fork from our kitchen and pulled out the card. It had Pink Panther on the front and one hundred cedis inside. It was signed, Your favourite Auntie, Dee Dee.

“Mummy look! One hundred cedis!” I came alive like a fanned fire. For the first time I noticed the red serial number on a hundred cedi note.

“Ooh, lucky boy, let me keep it for you.”

My mother snatched it from me with a smile.

She had a trick with money. You always managed to spend it before she was due to give it back to you. It faded into the background like a country's history. If it were in a forest, it would be one amongst the leaves that cushion the forest floor – you would know it was there, but who could find it? The money became the last pack of sweets you had, or the cost of the new socks you were wearing; I knew I’d lost that money forever.

“Mummy, can I call Auntie Dee Dee to thank her?”

“Of course.”

The telephone rang and rang. No one picked up.

My father came home crying that day. Within minutes my mother was crying too. The news and its companion tears soon spread to Naana and I.

Auntie Dee Dee had had a heart attack whilst cooking. She was alone at home and died. The next day my mother gave me back the money Auntie Dee Dee had sent me. She mumbled something about last wishes and how the dead always knew things. Blowing her nose with a tear-sodden handkerchief, she took out the battered address book she kept by her side of the bed, called the friends she and Dee Dee had grown up with, and started planning the funeral. With every call, she cried again, as though Auntie Dee Dee had just died. She relived her devastation with each memory of Auntie Dee Dee rekindled by another friend. By evening my mother looked five years older; she could barely do anything without sobbing, so my father became her. His grief was a warm silence. He served us food, held our hands and made our mother endless glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice with lime. It was all she wanted. The sight of food intensified her grief. Naana and I grew red-eyed from watching our parents cry, wondering what our playmate Junior would do without a mother. We went to bed with headaches.

People converged on Auntie Dee Dee’s funeral in migratory bird fashion. In shining red and black mourning plumage. Wax prints so fresh that you could still smell the ink on them. Dutch prints quickly learning the language of African sun as they soaked up the sweat of grieving bodies. The women had quarter pieces of cloth show-boated into elaborate headgear, which they bore as heavily as their grief. The men carried themselves with a grace that belied the casual toss of dark Adinkra cloths over their left shoulders. I looked for Junior in the dark forest of tearful bodies but he was nowhere to be found. Uncle Johnny sat by the dead body; shoulders bent, clad in black, fossilised by sorrow, his eyebrows at odds with his tears.

My mother made me file past the dead body. Not caring for my seven-year-old sensitivity. Ostensibly for my own good. The waache seller down our road, who was single-handedly responsible for daily lunchtime pilgrimages of men from the Industrial Area, explained it to me later.

“If you don’t see a dead person in their coffin, there is a possibility they will visit you.”

Actually, I wouldn’t have minded a visit from Auntie Dee Dee. I had questions for her.

Anyway, I filed past the body; keeping my eyes down, trained on the gleaming black traditional slippers the adults were wearing. I only got a glance. She was adorned in all her finery, gold rings and a stiff smile. There was a red handbag trapped under her left arm to match the red dress she had been stuffed into. Red was her favourite colour.

“Quel gachis!”

It was the first time I heard French spoken properly. Auntie Dee Dee’s grandfather was French, and one of her cousins had travelled all the way from Paris to demonstrate his love by shaving his armpits to wear cloth the Ghanaian way.

Quel gachis! My father translated it later. What a waste! It sounded so much better in French. English just didn’t have the right sound for it. I resolved to learn French.

—–

continued >> here << ... | start from beginning? | current projects: The City Will Love You and a collection of poems, The Geez

#novel #series #fiction #niiayikweiparkes

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