#and definitely one of my first full forays into writing spirits

[seyaryminamoto]

The Shadows in her Reflection: Sokkla Saturdays 2023

Day 7: Air

Rated: M

On FF.net/On AO3

That there would be tension by the next morning, after the way things had turned out on the previous day, caught everyone by surprise besides Sokka and Azula. The anguish apparent across the Princess's features caused more than a few of the others to fear that she was regressing, that she hadn't been ready for what happened, for as good as being part of their group… until Sokka finally spoke, by the dining table, as Azula held her head in place with her hands, elbows upon the furniture.

"Last night… Azula had a vision of Yue in her dreams," Sokka said, gritting his teeth. "It wasn't like the others. After it ended… she couldn't see her anymore."

"What?" Zuko frowned. Toph whistled beside him.

"Doesn't that mean you guys got her to see everything she needed to see? Isn't that how this works?" she asked.

"It's not," Azula said, her voice strained. No one, not even Sokka, had expected her to speak just yet. "I would've thought it was as simple as that, if I hadn't seen her anymore with no further explanation, but… what she said in that dream paints a different picture."

"What kind of picture?" Katara asked, eyeing her warily.

"I… I've had dreams that never seemed real. Dreams about her," Azula explained. "She was in a dark space, something was pulling her down, usually, but she seemed to be moments away from fading off in a cloud of smoke, somehow. I mostly couldn't reach her, I couldn't talk to her, I just… saw whatever was happening. I only talked with her once, I think, in those kinds of dreams. When I woke up and looked at any of my reflections, she'd be there, smiling, waving at me, acting like nothing was wrong. I asked her about it a long time ago, long before I came across Sokka, and she… she always acted like she had no idea what I was talking about. The little shit just… lied to me about what she's been going through, constantly, whenever I wasn't paying attention to her."

"But that means… she's not okay. What happened last night, when you stopped seeing her… it's definitely not because you fulfilled her wishes," Aang frowned.

Zuko paced towards a nearby window: it was morning, but sometimes the moon was visible in daylight, nonetheless. He saw nothing at the moment.

"Maybe there'd be no moon anyway, right now, but… I don't see it," Zuko said. Azula snarled, fingers slipping through her scalp and gripping it tightly.

"The moon hasn't been restored, then?" Ursa said. "So… if you can't see Yue anymore, Azula, does that mean…?"

"I don't know," Azula said, glancing at Sokka with undisguised guilt. "I… I don't know if I can do anything for her anymore. If she had just told me…!"

"Take it easy, okay?" Sokka said, a hand on her shoulder as Azula snarled in distress. "If she didn't say anything… it's probably because she thought the situation was hopeless. She tends to be self-sacrificial that way."

"And we're just… what, going to sit by and do nothing?" Azula asked. "We can't just…"

"Let her go just like that? We can't, that's true," Sokka said. "But that's why I wanted to talk to Aang: if someone could help us figure this out, it's bound to be him."

"Wait, me?" Aang grimaced: Azula's expectant glare suggested she was moments away from threatening him into providing a solution. "Okay, I… I don't know that I can. I know I'm the bridge between humans and spirits, but…"

"Find out where she is. Go to the Spirit World!" Azula exclaimed, folding her arms over her chest. Aang sighed.

"Easier said than done," he admitted. "But… maybe it can be done."

His sudden statement caught everyone off guard, sudden as it was for hope to bloom, even if uncertain hope. Azula raised her eyebrows, and Sokka bit his lip.

"What do you have in mind?" Sokka asked.

"I could… look for help. Find the Ocean Spirit, maybe, find out if La knows something of what's going on," Aang suggested. "We worked together to save the Water Tribe once. Maybe he will still trust me now? I… I hope he will, at least."

"How would you go about doing this?" Azula asked. Aang frowned, rubbing his chin with a hand.

"I mean… a spiritual place, close to the ocean, maybe?" he said. "Because along with that, I… I have the feeling I can't be the one to sort this out, Azula. You're the one who had that connection to Yue, so you, uh… you might need to come to the Spirit World too, or wherever she might be."

"What?" Azula gasped. Sokka flinched.

"Are you sure about that?" he said. "The Spirit World is a mess of a place, Aang. There's no bending there, remember? Are you going to join her there, or…?"

"I don't know that I can. I'll have to try to reach out to La," Aang sighed, rubbing his brow with his fingertips. "But even if I succeed, I think Azula will need to be ready to face this herself. I don't think her connection to Yue has been severed completely, I don't think it's that easy… but if she's some other spirit's prisoner, we'll have to get there fast before it does get severed."

"What would we do? How do we go about it?" Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm thinking… a spiritually charged location. Air Temple Island isn't really that just yet," Aang said, glancing about himself with a frown. "But maybe… maybe another Air Temple could do. Like the Eastern one!"

"Why would we have to go halfway across the world for a spiritual place?" Toph grimaced. "Can't we just go somewhere closer than that? Like the oasis where the fish were swimming, or whatever?"

"That sounds more logical, but… Azula went there already and nothing happened," Sokka said, eyeing her remorsefully. "Back then, she wanted to get rid of Yue and I helped her get inside. There was nothing from Tui or La on that day."

"Not even the slightest recognition?" asked Aang, grimacing. "Then… yeah, I think we should go to an Air Temple instead. Short of finding a grand spiritual location sooner, the Eastern Air Temple is the place where I cleansed my chakras and accessed, well… another plane of existence, I guess. I couldn't do enough with that back then, but I did later, when the situation was dire. I can try to train you so that you can reach that stage once we're in the temple, and while Azula is in there, I…"

"Wait," Sokka said, frowning. "I'll go with her."

"You… what?" Aang smiled awkwardly.

"Isn't spirit mumbo-jumbo just mumbo-jumbo to you too?" Toph asked.

"If the logic is that there's a connection between Azula and Yue that will allow Azula to go into the Spirit World, then it stands to reason that I should be able to follow Azula too because I'm connected to her as well," Sokka stated, stubbornly. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"I… don't know that it works that way," she said. Sokka scoffed.

"Maybe it doesn't, but I'll try anyhow," he said. "Stupid spirits can't screw me over this time around… I won't let you go into a weird spirit adventure without doing my damnedest to join you there."

"Yue might have a better chance at… at fighting back against whatever that thing is if it's the two of us together," Azula reasoned, frowning. "Even if we won't know what we're doing, of course. I can't bend there, you said?"

"The Spirit World is difficult to navigate if you head into it with, uh… logic?" Aang said. Both Sokka and Azula grimaced. "Which I suspect you two won't appreciate much…"

"True… they're mostly logical thinkers. And I say mostly because it's not very logical for them to be together, but…" Katara said, lowering her voice as she spoke further. Azula rolled her eyes but offered no response to her words.

"Thing is, you have to feel things rather than think them through," Aang said. "You have to experience everything as it comes, and if it's not the way it should be, you just… roll with it?"

"So, if they found Yue turned into a badgertoad, they'd have to… save the badgertoad?" Toph asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Basically, yes," Aang shrugged.

"And how would we know it's her?" Azula grimaced.

"You would. Or maybe both of you would, because you're both connected to her," Aang said, with a shrug and a smile. Azula huffed.

"This is more twisted by the minute…" she reasoned, shaking her head. Sokka squeezed her shoulder.

"I know it's hard and it's not the way this should've gone down… but we can do this, Azula," he said, firmly. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"You've had forays into the Spirit World before, have you?"

"Uh… once. Can't remember a thing, but I did," Sokka said, blinking blankly. "Though I do know that there's no bathrooms."

"Charming," Azula said. "Guess our bladder will be exploding the whole time, then."

"Yeeeah, I felt it a little too much, especially when I came back," Sokka sighed.

"Either way… I think we have to go elsewhere to help you both connect to her. Guru Pathik helped me connect with my cosmic energy in the Eastern Air Temple," Aang said. "I managed to access it again in Ba Sing Se, uh… just before you nearly killed me."

Azula blinked blankly: she remembered that moment all too well. The thrill of victory, the opening that nobody else seemed to recognize as such… the knowledge that she had destroyed the enemy's trump card and secured a perfect conquest for her father and his cause.

The very same person she had nearly killed that day sat before her, willing to offer his knowledge and aid to save Yue. If she had succeeded on that day, the world would be a much more unforgiving place… she might not have any of the bonds she had developed over the past months. Sokka would have never wanted her, that was for sure… Yue might have never connected to her.

It was strange to find that, after so many years of resentment against her brother and his friends, suddenly the Fire Nation's victory looked so shallow and empty in comparison to everything she had gained, a decade afterwards, with everyone she had met and bonded with. She tightened her fists over her lap and nodded.

"Well… I doubt you'll feel compelled to do the same thing to me, should I access that plane of existence at all, but I wouldn't blame you much if you did," she said. Aang smiled and shook his head.

"I wouldn't."

"And that's quite fortunate for me," Azula said, her jaw squared. "I… I wasn't sorry for it, when I did it. But now, I…"

She couldn't seem to finish the sentence. Too many people were listening, maybe, too many witnesses, too much riding on what they needed to do next…

"It's okay," Aang smiled kindly again. Azula frowned slightly. "We can talk about that whenever you want, later. For now… let's focus on what we'll do next. We can set up Appa and go… though I don't think we should bring Bumi this time around."

"Don't ask me to watch him again. I'm not going to do it this time either," Toph said, bluntly. Aang rolled his eyes.

"Can't wait for you to have your own kids so I can refuse to watch them for you when you need me to…"

"I'm not going to have any, so that's fine by me," Toph smirked. "Besides… I'm going with you lot."

"You… what?" Zuko frowned. "Shouldn't you go back to Republic City?"

"My students can keep the peace while I'm out," Toph said, waving a hand dismissively at him. "What? Planned on giving me a lift to the city and now you're sad that we won't get to spend time together, Zuko?"

"I… wasn't going to do that. I'm going with them too," Zuko said: Azula raised her eyebrows.

"You are?"

"Wait, we're all going?" Sokka asked, blinking blankly.

"You didn't expect me to stay behind when something this troublesome is going on, or did you?" Katara stared at her brother matter-of-factly. "We couldn't do anything to help you when you lost Yue the first time around. I don't know if we can do anything this time, but… we'd better try."

Sokka swallowed hard, meeting his sister's gaze with heartfelt gratitude. Katara smirked slightly at him, stepping closer to lightly punch his shoulder.

"What's with that look? You'd think I've never done anything to help you…"

"Well… this just means a lot, Katara. Thank you," he said, wrapping her in a quick embrace. Katara pat his shoulder, still nervous, still uneasy…

But Sokka was more himself now than he had been in years. The way he spoke, the easygoing behavior, the silly reactions, the thoughtful ones… if this truly was the effect Azula had on him, Katara certainly had underestimated the Fire Nation Princess far more than she ever imagined possible.

Preparations began, then, for the long journey to the Eastern Air Temple: Bumi would wind up in Ursa's care, for she wouldn't join them on this particular trip. It seemed to be quite heartbreaking for her to stay behind, but she hugged her children affectionately before seeing them off on Appa, already loaded with all the luggage they'd brought for what hopefully wouldn't be a very long trip.

"Be careful, my dears," Ursa said, an arm around each of them. Azula buried her face in her mother's neck, while Zuko pressed his brow to the top of her head. "Look after each other, okay?"

"We will," Zuko said. "Azula has a big trip to make, so… I might as well make sure she gets there safely."

"We'll be back soon," Azula said, pulling back even though she would have wished to hold her mother for a little longer. Ursa smiled kindly, cupping her face before kissing her brow. "Mom…"

"I should have done that far more often. From the moment you were born as a little solstice child," Ursa laughed, meeting Azula's tearful eyes with hers. "You were so headstrong and powerful even then… and you're only stronger now that you stand with people who can lift you even higher than you've gone so far. So… whatever you need to do, if you must fly into the sky to find Yue or whatever the spirits require of you, go for it. Don't look back. Every last one of us believes in you… I believe in you. You can do this, dear."

Azula swallowed hard and nodded, hugging Ursa one more time. Zuko smiled fondly as he stepped aside, unsure of how he had ever felt threatened by the possibility of his mother bonding with his sister… right now, he could only feel relief, instead, to see them tighter than they ever had been.

He ferried Azula to Appa, where the others waited: she wound up sinking into Sokka's embrace once she climbed up, burying her face in his neck this time around. The Water Tribesman caressed her hair, letting her nestle on his lap, knowing she was looking for more than just the physical closeness, more than just attempting to annoy their respective siblings, who appeared to be somewhere between disgusted and uncomfortable right now…

"You okay?" he whispered. Azula shook her head.

"I… I don't want to fail this time. I don't want to fail," she whispered. Sokka nodded, rubbing her shoulder kindly as he reeled her close to him.

"We'll do whatever it takes. We'll bring her back."

Sokka glanced up into the sky: the preparations had taken a long time, and the moon wasn't visible in the sunset, but he still tried to find it in the sky. Wherever Yue was, whatever she was going through… they'd save her, at all costs.

The journey was sluggish: Appa, as strong as he might be, couldn't carry six fully-grown adults, without any stops along the way, halfway across the world. As slow as their trip appeared to the eager, desperate Azula, Sokka reassured her that Aang wasn't taking as many detours as he often did in the past. The Avatar guided the bison without losing sight of their goal, his concern increasing as days passed and only slivers, weak silhouettes of the moon could be seen in the night sky. There were times when she was virtually impossible to glimpse at all…

"Maybe behind that mountain," Sokka suggested one night, in the camp where they would rest for the night. Azula gritted her teeth, hugging her legs to her chest as she stared in the direction Sokka had mentioned.

"What's there?" Toph asked, offhandedly, resting with her back against Katara's flank, by the fire.

"Well, we don't really know if something is, but we figured the moon might be…" Sokka said. Toph frowned.

"The… moon," she repeated.

"Toph?" Sokka called her. The earthbender shook her head.

"Sorry, sorry, I… what're we looking for, again?"

"Yue? The moon? We're trying to save her?" Sokka said. Toph hummed.

"Right. Right. Uh… right."

"You don't remember?" Azula asked. Toph scoffed.

"I remember! I just… blanked out for a second. No biggie," she said, waving a hand dismissively in their direction. Even Katara appeared perplexed by Toph's sudden bout of forgetfulness.

"Are you okay?" Katara asked, placing a hand over Toph's brow. The earthbender huffed.

"Don't be so twitchy over me, Katara. I'm fine, just a dumb mistake. I'm probably just… tired," she concluded, and she nodded with certainty she most likely didn't feel at all.

Azula stared at her with a furrowed brow, arms folded over her chest: it wasn't like her to forget what was happening. The earthbender was insidious, even, nosey and always ready to butt into matters that didn't concern her. Why would she struggle to remember the reason behind a trip they were currently on? It didn't make sense…

A day later, it was Zuko, instead.

"It's been fun going on the road with all of you again, but… when are we going back, exactly?" he blurted out, suddenly, halfway through their flight. Azula eyed him in confusion and disbelief.

"You could've stayed and gone back home when we were still in Air Temple Island," she told him. "We're not going back until after we've saved Yue."

"Who?"

Sokka scowled, turning towards Zuko in utter confusion. The Fire Lord's nonchalant attitude didn't suggest he was merely trying to annoy him…

"Yue? The Moon Spirit?" Sokka said.

"The… what?" Zuko grimaced.

"Are you two taking cactus juice or something?" Katara asked, glancing between Zuko and Toph. "You don't remember why we set out, Zuko?"

"I…! Wait, I do. Right! The… Azula was seeing someone in… in reflections. That's what… oh. Uh. Sorry. It just slipped my mind."

It was bad enough for it to happen once: twice was no coincidence.

"Appa… buddy, I know I'm pressuring you, but please hurry," Aang said, sitting by the bison's neck.

Azula tensed up, shrinking into Sokka's embrace: he held her tightly, hoping to reassure her, but knowing he might just fail at it. Azula raised her mirror again, desperate to see even a sign of her friend… but there was nothing but her own face in the depths of the polished surface. No one else was there.

"Whatever that thing is, the one that caught her… it's like it's trying to take her away from this world," Sokka concluded, scowling. "Maybe… maybe even trying to erase all memories of her? Whatever it is, though… it's vile."

"It is," Azula agreed, shivering: she held the mirror still, elevating a silent prayer for Yue, begging her to hold on… to stay strong until she and Sokka could reach her.

After a week of fast-paced travel, the sky bison finally descended on the deserted towers of the Eastern Air Temple. Aang would work with Sokka and Azula, seeking to direct them into their cosmic plane or into the Spirit World, but that was as far as he could take them. While he would have liked to join them too, his own connection to Yue would not suffice to lead him to her, not as it would with Azula and Sokka.

"This is going to be fast and sudden, and you're not going to enjoy it much, but I need you guys to work with me," Aang said, having led them to a tall tower at the height of the temple. They stood on the tower's surface, and Aang turned towards them with a stern, concerned expression. "Even I… am having trouble keeping myself centered on what we're doing. So is Katara, by now."

"You're all… forgetting," Azula said. Aang nodded.

"I don't know for how long this can be sustained. Whatever is trapping Yue might be seeking to erase her, and the moon, completely," he said. "Reach her before it succeeds, and you'll have a chance to save her. Otherwise… none of us will even remember there's someone to save, to begin with."

"A life without… without the moon? That can't work," Sokka frowned. "When Zhao did what he did, didn't the Ocean Spirit go berserk because there was no moon in the sky, if just briefly?"

"Yeah… yeah," Aang gritted his teeth. "That's just more reason why I shouldn't come with you."

"You'll try to control the Ocean Spirit again?" Sokka asked, raising his eyebrows. Aang shrugged.

"It's worth a shot," he said. "Though I don't know if it will work out as easily as that, but… I'll try. As for you two… you need to meditate. I'd show you how to open your chakras the way I was taught, but I don't think we'll have enough time for it: let your connection with each other and Yue guide you into the Spirit World. Seek it out… and once you grab hold of it, don't let go."

"That's easier said than done," Azula scowled. "I don't know what that even means, Avatar, I…"

"You do know. You've lost her, right?" Aang said. "Take that residue, the knowledge that something that was there is no longer present. Take it hard, and don't let go of it. Remember her, tell yourself her name over and over until… until your spirit finds hers. I'll stand with you until it happens."

Azula gritted her teeth, but she nodded in acceptance before long. The sooner they got started, the faster she'd be able to save Yue.

As advised by Aang, the two of them sat together, face to face, meditating. The Avatar and his other allies waited nearby, each of them struggling in different ways to recall why, exactly, they were standing by as Sokka and Azula meditated at all.

"Aang said… something's messing with our heads. Our memories," Katara said.

"Well, whatever it is, it's stupid. I hate feeling like I don't know what I'm doing," Toph snarled, rubbing her brow. "I think it's giving me a headache."

"Yue…" Zuko repeated, as good as clinging to the name to ensure he wouldn't forget this time. "This is all about Yue. This is all for…"

Similar thoughts coursed through his sister's mind: she shivered against the breeze, unwilling to forget the person responsible for every single good change that had come her way over the past months. Fear reared its head inside her heart: what if she was next? What if she forgot her? What if she wound up forsaking Yue when she needed her the most?

Yue had given up. She had long surrendered to the misery of her situation. Azula had been her only hope, her only chance at salvation… in a twisted way, as far as the dream had conveyed to Azula. For only because Azula was rotten, careless, unwilling to change, had the wretched entity tormenting Yue allowed them to meet at all…

But was that it? Could it be that her connection to Sokka, even if it hadn't been forged yet, had brought her and Yue together too? Or could it be that the wretched entity in question couldn't break their bond with her?

That strange flow of thought brought her back to reality, rather than helping her drift further into a spiritual state of elevation of some sort. She shuddered and raised her gaze towards Sokka, who grimaced while failing to find the state of mind he needed to access.

"I just… thought of something," Azula said. Sokka hummed, opening one eye. "Maybe that thing, the one capturing her, didn't let me talk to her for amusement alone. Maybe… maybe it couldn't stop me from reaching her, instead. Maybe it only figured out how to stop me now, but my connection to Yue might just be stronger than whatever that thing is trying to achieve. Does… does that make sense?"

"Don't know if it does, but I love the sound of it," Sokka smiled. "Moreover… Aang says it's all feelings and instinct rather than thought and logic. If you're feeling that way… maybe it's already true, or maybe you can make it a reality once we reach the Spirit World, if just by your sheer willpower?"

"Maybe," Azula said. Sokka smiled.

He reached out to take her hands in his, and Azula felt reassured instantly by his warmth and presence. He breathed deeply, closing his eyes anew.

"We will find our way to her… and we'll stop this, whatever it is. We will save Yue."

Azula's heart jolted upon hearing those words: she felt that same determination… knowing that she wouldn't fight alone, that he stood beside her as equals, settled her aching, troubled heart. If Sokka believed this was possible, so did she.

And as difficult as it might be for two people so given to logic and facts to give in to spirituality instead, Sokka and Azula now clung to nothing but faith, blind faith in the girl who had brought them together… in the Moon Spirit, whose absence in the sky hurt them more deeply than it did anyone else.

"Are they…?" Katara blinked blankly: a strange atmosphere now hung between her brother and his lover, as though their bodies were only functioning by inertia now…

Their souls were gone.

"They made it," Aang smiled. "Now we wait and hope that they'll sort this one out. I think they can, I really do, but…"

A thunderous sound, north from the mountains, brought all four of them to frown and turn their attention in that direction.

"A storm?" Toph asked.

"The sky is clear," Katara told her.

"So… was that a dragon or something?" Toph asked.

"No, that's…" Aang said, frowning as he stared into the horizon: something dark stirred in the distance. Something he couldn't quite pinpoint just yet… but it sent shivers down his back. Familiar shivers… he had experienced them before. "It's La."

"It's… who, now?" Toph grimaced.

"The Ocean Spirit," Aang said: this time, all his friends fell silent. "It's… it's acting up. It's doing something! I have to go!"

"Aang?!" Katara called for him: he spread his glider open, fear plain across his face. "What are you going to do? I can help…!"

"I don't know if you can!" Aang said, remorsefully. "But… but maybe it's better if you do come anyway. You, Zuko and Toph can ride on Appa! I'll go ahead! Follow me there!"

"Right. Right!" Katara's relief to hear she would be free to join him was palpable: she gripped Aang's robe, pulling him close for a good luck kiss, her brow pressed to his. "Whatever's going on… you can do this. You're the Avatar."

"That had better count for something," Aang smiled a little.

"It always has," Katara responded, earnestly.

The Avatar took off, the heavy mantle of responsibility already weighing heavily on his shoulders. Appa groaned as he followed, while Aang took advantage of his bending to rush faster and faster towards whatever was taking place by the shores of the Eastern Air Temple's islands…

It was dark. Everything was dark. She thought she was asleep, but if she was, she couldn't seem to open her eyes. Azula gasped, raising her hands, touching her own body to ensure it was still there, for she could barely feel a thing but coldness, utter coldness, and…

Specks of light, in the distance. All around her.

A beam, of golden light, suddenly formed underneath her feet. She had been falling before, perhaps… or maybe simply floating. She settled on the beam carefully, uncomfortable, confused, glancing about herself as surging fears gripped her heart.

"Sokka?!" she called her lover, to no avail. "Yue!"

That, too, yielded no answers.

The gold spilled, though, spreading further and further towards something… Azula turned on her heels, hugging herself still: there was a coldness where her firebending usually was. She realized soon that the discomfort she felt came from that acute lacking, the sensation of being cut off from the power that had been a vital part of her life since her childhood…

"What is this? Where…?" Azula gritted her teeth: during their journey, Aang had talked about a huge, cosmic version of himself holding some magical ball of whatever… she didn't understand any of that, and according to him, she wasn't supposed to understand it either.

The long road spread forward, further, into the distance… all the way to a place where she didn't find any gigantic versions of herself: a blazing ball of flames stood in that place instead.

The warmth became overwhelming suddenly. Azula flinched, stepping away by sheer instinct: the sun? Was that what it was? She certainly was a strong firebender, but strong enough to challenge the sun and win? She sincerely doubted it. Besides, she wasn't here to meet the damn sun…!

"Yue!" she screamed, towards the rest of the dark space around her. "Yue, where are you, damn it?! Answer me!"

The sun's intensity increased: not knowing what to do, Azula broke into a sprint, running away from it, instead of towards it. At the rate at which it expanded, at which it moved, it might just be attempting to consume her…

The light from the sun seemed to brighten the darkness… up until a certain point. There was one area, Azula realized, where the sun's strength waned. Running as fast as she could go, Azula hardly noticed that the light road underneath her feet was changing, turning in that direction… as though aware that this was where she wanted to go. Her heart pulsated with need, with awareness, with suspicion…

Yue was inside that cluster of darkness.

"YUE!"

She screamed, running faster as the bridge spread underneath her feet. She snarled as she pushed herself harder still…

The cluster of darkness was immense, far larger than she had realized at first. She slowed only once she was near it… and a sense of vacancy, of humidity, of cold struck her once she was near it.

An oozing, leaking liquid pooled at the bottom of what appeared to be a sphere of darkness: one force was airy, gas-like, while the other was the dark, unpleasant liquid that seemed moments away from drying out completely… but then it climbed back up, as though unwilling to let go just yet.

Two forces? Was Yue's one of them, or…?

She snarled, focusing on Yue only. She strained her gaze, trying to see into the sphere…

A shade of pale white within the darkness.

"YUE!" she screamed… only for another deep voice to also call that name.

"Yuueee…"

The girl didn't respond to either one. Azula snarled, unsure of what to do: the bridge underneath her appeared to have stopped generating itself. When she tried to take a step forward, it didn't extend underneath her feet anymore. What could she do? What would she…?

"Oho… but if it isn't the Sun Princess! Are you here to trade places with your personal torment? Fine by me! I would much rather have you!"

Azula shuddered, stepping back instead of forward: that wasn't the same voice that had called for Yue before. It was wicked, ringing with an evil presence she had never sensed before. The entity laughed wickedly, and Azula snarled as she glared at the cluster of darkness…

Whoever this entity might be, the sphere within which Yue nestled was his doing.

"Let her go! Set her free!" Azula shouted.

"I will, I will! If you give yourself up to me, that is," the entity said. Azula shuddered. "Muffling the moon has been nice training to get the sun next, yes! Far more entertaining! The whole world shall tremble, oh, it shall! Perhaps it will freeze over, and isn't snow pretty? As pretty as your dear friend, the Moon Princess…!"

"I'm not… giving you a damn thing. I'm here to rescue Yue from you," Azula snarled.

"What? That's not how this works, Sun Princess!" the entity said, before bursting out in laughter. "Give me your heart and I shall return hers! Do it!"

"I have the bad feeling that she gave you nothing, to begin with," Azula hissed. The entity, unsurprisingly, laughed.

"Oh, she didn't, but I took it anyhow!" he exclaimed. "I crashed into the moon, you see… and the moon was alive! I was so strong, so much stronger than her, and I could reach into her depths… oh, she is marvelous. Beautiful! Broken and miserable. But oh…! Imagine a whole world as broken and miserable as she is. That's what you could give me! Why would you deprive me from it? Why would you? You hate them! You despise them! They made you suffer, didn't they? They put you through so many ordeals…!"

"You… what?" Azula scowled… as some of the swirling gas spilled away from the sphere and took humanoid shape suddenly, right before her eyes: the shape of her father: "W-wha…?!"

"You were but a tool to me," Ozai said, with a wicked smile, so cruel it cut through Azula as unreal, even for her father's standards. "A weapon for me to hone and use to my liking! I made you, and so, I own you! You will never be free from everything I did to you, from all the damage I inflicted! Your only salvation is… destruction! Oblivion!"

"Oblivion?!" Azula repeated, eyes wide. "You… is that what you are? Is that what your true nature is, you… you twisted spirit, or whatever it is you are?!"

"I am your father…" Ozai said, a hand upon his chest… though the smoke comprising him shifted suddenly, turning into someone else instead: Ursa. "Or your mother. The one who hurt you and abandoned you. The one who would forsake you for your brother's sake! The one who replaced you with another girl, the one who gets to live happily ever after without paying the price of all her mistakes against you…!"

"T-that's…!" Azula gasped, her chest burning with wrongness. "No… t-that's not… stop this. This isn't…!"

"Didn't I do all those things? I most certainly did!" Ursa exclaimed, proudly… to then switch into Zuko, instead. "I placed a bounty on your head: dead or alive! You're but an inconvenience until I'm free to get rid of you, once I have an heir of my own! I will forsake you, as everyone always has! I envied you once… but now, you're the one who envies me! You fear me! Your entire life revolves around making me suffer, but the only one suffering is you! And that's by my design! I've never wanted anything more in life than to destroy you!"

"Stop this!" Azula exclaimed, tears blooming in her eyes. "Stop! Stop already!"

"A-… Azula…!"

Yue's voice caused Azula to break the spell the entity held upon her briefly: it was but a moment's notice, but Yue's eyes met hers… for once, she was far more corporeal than ever before. For once, she was far more real than she ever had been…

For once, Azula wasn't visiting her as a dream, but as her full, conscious spirit, and she needed to reach her.

"YUE!"

"Go! Leave! Azula, forget me…! Forget!"

Azula's heart shook: she couldn't do that. Forget her? Forget the person who had changed her life for the better as Yue had?

Everything that wretch had tormented her with was true, and it already seemed to split its smoke into two new entities, Mai and Ty Lee this time around… it would rub her greatest grudges, her darkest resentments, in her face until she snapped. That was its goal, it couldn't be more apparent… it wanted to convince her to resign herself to its control. It wouldn't forsake Yue even if Azula surrendered… it wouldn't hold back from laying waste upon the entire world if she let it.

"We betrayed you…!" Mai and Ty Lee spoke at unison. "You were a terrible friend… but so were we! We haven't tried to reach for you again because we hate you! We fear you! We never cared for you, and you always knew that to be the truth…!"

"I'm a little busy at the moment, you damnable annoyance!" Azula roared, focusing on Yue again: the smoke that had poured down seemed to regenerate gradually, covering her up again. "Break out of there! Yue, just break free!"

"I…! I can't! I don't know how, Azula, just…!"

"Yue…" Azula snarled: she needed to figure out how to fight this smoke, but how? Without her bending, with nothing to offer… what could she do? She raised a fist, throwing it towards the smoke Ty Lee, only for her hand to catch nothing: the smoke reformed then… this time, as the Avatar.

"I destroyed all your hopes and dreams for a future, just as you once killed me. I will never forgive you for what you did to me," the false Aang said. "Your crimes cannot be forgotten. I only sent you here… because I knew that you would wind up killing yourself by trying to save Yue."

Azula snarled: none of those words made the slightest bit of sense… not even her father would be quite so foolish as to admit such things out loud to her, no matter how true they might be. This was… this was the wretched creature's attempt to take over her heart, to convince her of all the things she already had believed and known in the past. She had thought the Avatar would want her dead, after all… that he would despise her. But that wasn't the man who had brought her halfway across the world to save Yue.

None of it was real. None of…

The smoke swirled.

The next person whose shape it stole was Sokka.

Her heart pounded in a foolish, needy way. Just seeing him relieved her, even though it shouldn't have. It was another trick by the wretched spirit, but the affection she felt for him was so vivid she couldn't even use her better sense to be wary of him. What would he say? What would he use against her…?

"Fuck, that took a while."

Azula's eyes widened: the smoke shifted, but this time, the man it had formed into didn't fade away. Frustration gnawed at the strange entity… as the man became more corporeal than any who had preceded him. A furious roar sent bad shivers down Azula's spine… but it didn't stop her from reaching to clasp Sokka's hand.

He gripped hers back, smiling wildly.

"It's… it's you. It's really you?!" Azula exclaimed. Sokka laughed.

"Seems like longing for you hard enough gave me the chance to come here, somehow! Beats me how I did it, but…!"

"BEGONE!" the entity exclaimed: Azula snarled, yanking Sokka towards herself as the smoke oozed out, as good as spilling out of the sphere: Yue remained inside the sphere, and this time, the two of them could see her easily in that smoky storm.

"Yue…!" Sokka gasped: her terrified face, the shaking of her head, the tears down her cheeks… it was Princess Yue.

"Sokka, no! B-both of you…! Leave! Please, leave! Protect the world! It can go on without me…! You don't need me!" she cried, frantically.

Sokka and Azula stood in place for a moment, horror crossing their features upon hearing those words from the Moon Spirit… the entity, of course, laughed as it spread its tendrils of smoke towards them.

"She rejects you! What a dashing rescue, wasn't it?" the entity mocked Sokka, who scowled at the smoke with confusion. "But your Princess won't return with you, young fool! Shame that a warrior of your caliber would be so weak, so helpless in the face of a true challenge…!"

"Oh, you think?" Sokka gritted his teeth, releasing Azula's hand and closing his eyes.

Azula watched him for a moment, unsure of what he was doing… then, his hair began to sway, as though a powerful wind were blowing, even though it wasn't. His clothes shifted that way, too: what was he…?

He roared, stepping forward and swinging an arm in an arch towards the smoke.

A burst of air bloomed from his hand, cutting the smoke in half.

"W-what…? What?!" Azula exclaimed. Sokka laughed, backing down towards her as the entity struggled to compose itself.

"This is a place of feeling! Of spirit! Logic doesn't apply here, Azula!" Sokka told her, startling her.

"How does that result in you… airbending?!" Azula exclaimed.

"Oh, that wasn't airbending: I wanted to be a spirit of air."

"You… wanted to be? What? How does that work? Did you just ask something to turn you into…?!"

"That's exactly what doesn't matter!" Sokka laughed: a breeze burst around him, brushing against her. "Come on! We're way smarter than that dirtbag! Let's give him a piece of our minds!"

Azula gaped in shock as Sokka closed his eyes again: he jumped about ten feet into the air, only to become a beacon of light this time. He wasn't as powerful as the sun she had left behind earlier… but powerful enough to show what was happening in the swirling darkness within which Yue remained trapped. She gazed out in confusion, finding Azula again: she raised a hand towards her, and Azula tried to reach for it… but failed. They were still too far apart.

"I want… stairs! A sled! Something! Damn it, you thing, just work with me!" Azula roared, striking the beam upon which she stood with a foot.

Nothing shifted, nothing changed: meanwhile, the smoke was charging against Sokka… turning into a train-tank, it seemed. Azula gazed at it in utter confusion… and then her jaw dropped as Sokka roared while becoming… a giant axe.

"SOKKA!" she shouted, though her concern was misplaced: Sokka appeared to have learned to embrace the illogical nature of the Spirit World so much more effectively than she had, and with a single swing, he cut across the smoke train-tank cleanly.

"Azula…!" Yue cried out, and Azula turned her attention towards her again. "T-the Ocean Spirit…! La…!"

"What? What is it?! Is it responsible for this too?!" Azula exclaimed. Yue shook her head frantically. "Yue…!"

"He's losing his grip on me! H-he's… forgetting me!" she told her. Azula's eyes widened. "If he does…!"

"The world will…" Azula said.

Everything would fall into chaos.

This creature, this spirit, whatever it might be… it lived off chaos. It sought to create it at all costs. If Azula had been the one in its power, it would have cut off the light of the sun, annihilating life on their world. And as Yue was the prisoner… then the means for that destruction would be La, instead. The black koi fish. The Ocean Spirit.

The dark tendrils.

The liquid that kept spilling down, down, attempting to climb over the smoke again only to fall once more.

"Yuuu… eeee…" the deep, dark voice called her. The Princess cried, hands reaching down to grip the liquid that had been ensnaring her body so far…

What Azula had seen in her dreams hadn't been quite as what she had expected: the dark tendrils wrapped around her were the Ocean Spirit… keeping Yue in place. Keeping her where she belonged while Oblivion sought to delete her from existence, to keep her to himself and then destroy everything else.

The Ocean Spirit had been fighting to save her, even more desperately than she or Sokka had.

Azula snarled, wanting nothing but to become one with the Ocean Spirit herself, to give it her determination and fierceness to find a way to save Yue. A tug in her heart urged her to do it… but how? She didn't really understand, her affinity wasn't with the ocean…

Would she even lend it enough strength? Could she?

Did she want Oblivion to win?

That last intrusive thought was as good as a slap to the face.

She hesitated for too long.

"No… NO!"

The surging waves of dark liquid couldn't climb as high anymore. They slowly started to lose strength… the thread of it, linking Yue to the outside of her sphere was slowly fading.

"Yu…" was the last thing the Ocean Spirit could manifest…

Before a thunderous roar washed through the entire area. Azula shivered, hugging herself again: Sokka dove towards her, shifting into something else now – an eagle of a sort, and he wrapped his wings around her, protecting her from a sudden swirl, a torrent of water that burst in no conceivable direction.

"Yes… yes! We've done it, Yue! We've succeeded!" Oblivion chanted with delight, and Yue screamed. Her voice pierced their hearts as despair took hold of her, of each of them…

The bond between the Ocean and the Moon had been broken.

A restless ocean was one thing.

An entirely untethered one was a whole other matter.

"What the hell just happened?!" Toph asked, shrinking against Zuko as Appa landed awkwardly by a cliff: Aang was out in the open, in the storm that was rising, attempting, perhaps, to waterbend…

But to Katara's utter shock, her attempt to waterbend didn't work at all once she tried to summon the contents of her waterskins.

"What? W-what? No… no bending?" she asked. "Why?!"

"Why are you asking me? I don't know!" Toph scoffed.

"There's something… missing," Zuko growled, gritting his teeth. "When I lost my bending, I went back to the source, remember? Go back to the source of waterbending…!"

"The ocean?!" Katara yelled at him, gesturing at the swirling, rising tides they could see, through which Aang kept gliding awkwardly.

But Zuko was right… something was off. There was one more element that made waterbending what it was, wasn't there? Katara thought there was, but… what would it be?

"Whatever it is, we'd better find it fast and tell Aang! He can't do anything if he can't waterbend to calm down the Ocean Spirit, can he?!" Zuko asked.

"Maybe? I don't know! I…!"

Deeper in the water, Aang hovered above the swirling waves: Yue. She was slipping out of his mind, and only by sheer willpower could he keep her present at all. The moon… whatever had happened just now had broken the moon's link to the ocean, just as it had when Zhao had destroyed Tui, long ago. How had it happened this time? How could they fix it?

"It's me!" Aang shouted, at no one in particular. "La! It's me! Come to me! I can help you!"

The ocean didn't respond: instead, it attacked more fiercely: stronger, larger waves were rushing in…

And it didn't take Aang too long to realize that this wasn't happening solely in the vicinity of the Eastern Air Temple.

If there was no moon, and there were no tides… and the Ocean Spirit was as furious over that loss as ever?

The extent of its fury would spread to the entire world.

Once, Aang had channeled La's anger into attacking solely the Fire Nation army responsible for the catastrophe in the North Pole. This time… could he do anything equivalent to that? How could he stop the Ocean Spirit from rampaging without restraint, all across the world…?

"I don't know what to do… I don't know what to do," Aang whispered, eyes flickering in panic from side to side. He had to find a way to keep La contained… but how?

The ocean was growing more restless, more chaotic… and one attempt to grip it in his control resulted in nothing. Aang snarled, lowering his hand: the other elements? Could the other three work to contain water? Could he create a strong and sturdy prison of earth all across the world to restrain the water? Unlikely. A fire storm that evaporated everything? That would be as detrimental to the world as letting the ocean rampage freely…

Air.

If he could work with the pressure, right above the ocean… if he could create a solid barrier that contained the water until La stopped its rampage, he might just succeed at saving the world from the wrath of the immensely powerful entity.

"Okay. Okay… Guys?!" Aang cried out: he wasn't talking to his friends, however… but to the voices, the entities, within his soul. "I'm going to need every last one of you to help me out here! Are you with me?!"

"We are always with you," the voices of the Avatars echoed in his heart. Aang nodded.

"Then… let's go!"

He released his glider, shooting it back towards his friends before turning around in midair.

His arrows began glowing once he entered the Avatar State.

Arms and legs spread out wide, Aang gathered all his power, extending his reach further, further, further… the power of his thousands of past lives, linked one after the other, allowed him to spread a protective, invisible mantle that pressed against the ocean, holding it in place with a burst of powerful, potent air that squashed and contained the ocean in its rightful place.

Unbeknownst to Aang, impromptu tsunamis halfway across the world were interrupted by his powerful move. The incoherent tidal motions that had spread all across the planet, threatening to overtake the land and destroy all life, were stemmed by the sudden front of potent, unyielding airbending…

"What is he…? H-how is he…?!" Katara gasped, gazing at her husband from the cliff: Aang hovered above the ocean, without touching it, spreading that power all across the numerous wild waters of the world.

"I don't know, but… I'm feeling short of air," Toph said, gritting her teeth: Zuko wrapped an arm around her to keep her close.

"Me too," he admitted. Katara didn't want to acknowledge she was no better than them.

"He's… b-bending all the air. All of it," Katara said: that her husband was an unthinkably powerful bender came as no surprise, she'd always known that… but even he had his limits. He couldn't find a way to ensure that every person in the world would not be affected by the massive bending feat he was performing. A little discomfort would have to be preferable to being completely destroyed by the force of the tidal waves…

And so, Aang lingered there, suspended between air and water, as good as holding his breath, just as he upheld his role as the keeper of balance between ocean and sky, between spirits and humans… between all elements.

Even so, the fate of their world, their very survival, hinged on two people who, unlike the Avatar, hadn't been chosen by destiny to enter the Spirit World and save anyone: Aang snarled, repeating Yue's name to himself over and over again as he hoped, desperately, that Sokka and Azula would succeed at their quest somehow… that they would find Yue, and that they would bring her back to the Ocean Spirit right away.

Sokka wasn't exactly running out of ideas… but the possibilities of fighting against Oblivion grew slimmer as despair spread among them, it seemed. Yue reached down towards the fading remnants of La, tears spilling down her face, to no avail. Azula stood paralyzed, unsure of what to do…

"Hey! Azula!" Sokka called her, returning to his usual self, gripping her shoulders and turning her towards him. The Princess met his eyes, her own were filled with panic. "Stop… stop thinking and overthinking. Start just… feeling! Let your heart take the wheel! I don't even know how we could save Yue… but that's what we're here to do, so we're doing it! Oblivion won't have its way! Even if the Ocean Spirit forgets her, even if everyone does…!"

"We won't," Azula finished. Sokka nodded.

"And for now, that will be enough to make sure Oblivion fails," Sokka said, fiercely. Azula swallowed hard and nodded.

"What do I do?"

"For starters… we need to break her out of that damn prison," Sokka growled, glaring at the swirling sphere of smoke and darkness that hugged Yue again… she was barely visible through what appeared to be debris, floating around her. Azula gritted her teeth.

"Can you keep him busy?" she asked. Sokka raised an eyebrow. "I might… have an idea. A weird one. You said I should feel, and that's what I'll try to do. To just… go by impulse and try to channel the one thing I know I can!"

"Okay!" Sokka nodded. "I'll find a way to piss him off!"

"Don't take it too far. I don't know what he'd dare do to you," Azula said, cupping his face. Sokka smiled.

"We're going to win. I know we will."

Azula didn't know where his certainty came from, but she let him infect her with it: she pressed a fierce, passionate kiss to his lips…

Before turning around and running down the beam she had followed all the way to Yue.

Sokka watched her go, knowing that she'd return. Remembering all too well his certainty that he'd never trust her, back when everything had started… a slow smile spread over his face as he thought of how far they'd come before he turned towards Oblivion.

"You… what drives you, wretch?!" Oblivion growled. "You are not wanted. You are not needed! The women you love belong to me!"

"You're one hell of a moron if you think they'd ever belong to anyone," Sokka said. "No wonder you have to kidnap them to keep them around you, bet no girl would stay near you for longer than a minute if they could help it, otherwise…"

"I don't need them to want me! It's more fun to take them this way!" Oblivion said. Sokka winced.

"That's disgusting, you creep," he said. "What the hell are you? And why are you so damn obsessed with Yue?!"

"Yue? Oh, no. I wanted her! The one that ran like a coward, ahahaha, she will return to me soon, she will!" Oblivion exclaimed. Sokka frowned.

"What? You mean… you trapped Yue to get to Azula?!"

"I wanted them both, I did! For, you see, Yue was fun! But when she broke free, just enough to connect with someone from the human world, it was someone delightfully wicked! Someone twisted and broken! Someone who would want to see the world burn every bit as much as I did!"

"So… you let Yue connect with her, and only her, because you wanted Azula to stir her despair further," Sokka concluded, frowning slowly.

"But you… you had to get in the way of my plans!" Oblivion exclaimed. "You were not meant to be a part of it! You wretch! You filthy wretch!"

"You… you want me to feel sorry for you, do you? To feel guilt because I sabotaged your great experiment, is it?" Sokka asked, trembling with rage. "You took the girl I loved once, filled her heart with misery and pain, all be it so you could use the woman I love now to torture and torment her?! And because things aren't going your way, you despise me?"

"You gave her happiness, and love, and joy! What kind of fool would do such a thing for a monster?!"

Sokka snarled: Yue, too, snapped out of her tearful self for a moment upon hearing those words.

A monster.

"You…" Yue said, gritting her teeth and turning her gaze into the sphere that held her captive. "You dared? You…! How could you speak of her that way?! How dare you…!"

"It's but the truth, and it is no concern of…!"

He fell silent when a bolt of lightning shot through the smoke.

Yue gasped, glancing towards Sokka. Sparks fizzled out of him as he readied himself to become something else still… this time, a manner of maelstrom that leapt from his spot on Azula's bridge and then landed against the smoke.

"What…?! You dare challenge me head on, you fool?!" Oblivion laughed: Yue gasped as everything around her seemed to begin spinning, the sphere's smoke changing in shape…

A tornado clashed against a maelstrom, colliding as blades might, blow after blow. None of it could erase the harm inflicted by Oblivion. None of it could change the words it had chosen to bestow upon someone Sokka treasured. He roared in his maelstrom form, and thunder appeared to strike, fizzling out after causing further damage upon his enemy…

Yue remained trapped in the throes of Oblivion's grip… but she crawled as best she could through the fog, through the smoke, towards the end of Oblivion's twister. If she could just get out, if this was the one chance she'd get to do that…

But the tornado closed in over and over again as she progressed. Every step forward was another step back. Again, despair gripped Yue… and she cried to herself as she hoped for Azula to be safe. As she hoped for something she had never dared say before, something she hadn't known how to ask… for her situation had appeared entirely hopeless. And maybe it still was… but she wasn't alone anymore.

"Help… help," she whispered, before her voice strengthened further: "HELP! AZULA! AZULA!"

The Fire Nation Princess felt the heat swirling and rising as she rushed towards that large orb in the sky. She didn't know what she needed to do for this to work, she didn't know what Sokka was doing right now…

But she needed to go as far as she possibly could. There could be no half measures, no hesitation.

Once she reached the sphere of flames, she jumped forward.

She let the fire's heat burn her clothes, singing her skin, her hair, as she allowed herself to be consumed by that fire…

When she opened her eyes again, she found that she had been the one who had consumed the flames instead.

A power unlike anything she had experienced burned and thrummed inside her. She turned around, and the golden road she had followed glowed brighter still. She glared into the distance… and then she felt a hand upon her shoulder.

"I had been expecting you."

Azula shuddered, but she held off her immediate caution, her instinctive wariness, and turned her head towards the golden, burning woman standing behind her.

"The Moon Spirit has needed our help. I could do nothing for Tui in her first demise: you may yet save Yue."

"Who are you?" Azula asked. The spirit touched her chest.

"I am the flames that dwell inside you, inside each living, breathing being in the land you belong to. In the world you inhabit," the spirit said. "Should I have failed at my task… it would have fallen to you to take my place, just as it fell to Yue when Tui failed at hers."

Azula's eyes widened.

"I… was fated for this?" she asked. The spirit smiled.

"Your fate is in your hands. The world dealt cruelty upon Tui and Yue… but if we stop Oblivion now, you won't need to make any such sacrifice. So go, Azula: take my power… and prove yourself worthy of being the Champion of the Sun."

Azula's heart burned with a righteous fury she had never felt before.

Oblivion had sought to tempt her with taunts over a world that had forsaken her, forgotten her, treated her as a disposable, ignorable element. She had failed to take a proper stand then, affected by its words… but not so much that she would lose sight of reality.

Sokka's reappearance, his genuine return, had relieved her so greatly that none of the creature's mockery had mattered anymore.

She had grown to love him. She had grown to love Yue. She had a place in her family again. She had people in her life who might just become her friends in due time. She might have a future, too, beyond this catastrophe, should they solve it successfully. A year ago, Oblivion would have ensnared her so easily it would have been embarrassing…

Yue had saved her in so many more ways than the apparent.

The quest to see the world and find thousands of new experiences hadn't been for her own sake: Yue had done it for Azula.

Tears welled in her eyes as emotion surged so powerfully inside Azula that she could barely endure it. She snarled, gripping her chest tightly with a hand as her heart raced faster, and faster, and…

She shot off, leaving a trail of golden, potent fire in her wake.

Yue would be restored.

She'd stake her very life on seeing that it would be so.

The battle between the tornado and the maelstrom continued when the glow of a potent star suddenly blinded Yue. She gasped as a golden shine came rushing fast, vertiginously so, towards them…

"Azula…?!" she exclaimed: the maelstrom broke off the tornado, and Sokka took his natural form again for a moment, too impressed by the sight to carry on focusing on the battlefield, or his willpower-based transformation.

"Azula!" he cried out.

"COME TO ME!" roared Oblivion: he rose higher, and Sokka snarled as he scrambled for something else to do, anything he could resort to… "Join us! Yue and I can use the company! Come to us!"

Azula shot fast towards the smoke entity, her heavy scowl giving away the certainty, the seriousness, of the task at hand. Her flaming fists tightened as she shot herself faster onwards, as she neared Yue's position…

"AZULA!" Yue screamed.

Azula plunged into the darkness, and Oblivion's smoke swirled around her shape, capturing her inside its grasp.

"NO!" Sokka exclaimed, panic taking hold of him. "AZULA!"

"MINE! MINE, MINE, MINE! THEY'RE MINE! THEY'RE MINE…!" Oblivion exclaimed, cackling and rejoicing...

Unaware that the burning Princess had wrapped her arms around the Moon Spirit.

Yue gasped, as Azula gripped her tightly. The girl, sixteen-years-old after all, only reached Azula's shoulder. It was the first time they had stood together, in the same physical space, even if in a spiritual plane.

"A… Azula…!" Yue wept, raising her gaze desperately towards her… to find a smiling Champion of the Sun gazing upon her.

"You held on. Thank you," Azula said. "Would've been very irksome if you'd given up to that brute while we couldn't get to you."

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen, I…" Yue said, desperately.

"You really need to be more honest. Could've tried to help you sooner, if you had been," Azula smirked, cupping Yue's face. "I… I might be able to do a few things to fight him, Yue. But I don't think I can do it alone."

"What…?"

"My power. My fire. You can reflect it, can't you? That's your nature. You're the moon… and the moon glows because the sun shines upon it. Right?"

"T-then…" Yue said, eyes wide. Azula smiled.

"I will shine… and you will glow. And we'll tear this piece of shit to shambles if it's the last thing we do," Azula hissed. Yue smiled warmly, nodding in agreement.

Azula took Yue's hands in hers, closing her eyes. The heat started rising, but Yue welcomed that warmth… just as Sokka, terrified and desperate, did the same when glimpses of that light started to burn past the dark smoke sphere.

"Azula…" he gasped, as Oblivion swirled awkwardly, attempting to smother the light.

"Enough, I said. Nobody asked you to shine like that!" Oblivion growled.

"Let them go. Let them go!" Sokka roared.

"No! They're mine, I said! Mine!" Oblivion roared.

"LET THEM GO!"

Sokka's voice served as a beacon. Azula smiled at the sound of it, knowing exactly where not to aim the next attack she'd do… an attack for which Yue would serve as her support.

"I'll never forget you, Yue. No matter what it takes… you'll always be a part of me."

Yue shivered before nodding: Azula raised one of her hands, and Yue pressed her palm to hers.

The light that hardly escaped the cluster of darkness strengthened further, bolstered fiercely by the power of the Champion of the Sun. Oblivion's discomfort increased further, as it twitched and stirred, unable to retain the shape of its sphere of darkness as he had before.

"Now! Yue!"

Believing in others had always been easy for her. She had no true power of her own while she lived, so she had learned long ago how to trust others to do things, to fight, to succeed at their quests, no matter what they might be. This time, though… this time, Yue was the one who needed to succeed. She breathed in, she focused… and she released her energy in a wild burst.

The cage of darkness was overcome by the blinding light that burst out of that sphere. Sokka shielded his eyes… but he smiled, hearing the agonic screams of Oblivion seeking to reform again.

"NO! NO! YOU'RE MINE! YOU'RE MINE! THE WORLD WILL BE TORN APART! YOUR WORLD WILL BE BETTER IF IT PAYS FOR ALL THE HARM IT DID TO YOU! YOU WISH FOR IT TO BE DESTROYED! YOU'RE NO CHAMPION OF THE SUN! YOU'RE A MONSTER! YOU'RE…!"

Standing in the space where the vanished sphere had been before, Azula raised a hand towards the remaining smoke, and she tightened it into a fist.

A burst of fire, golden as the sun, eliminated the unwanted, reviled, cruel entity that, a year ago, had ensnared the moon.

Sokka laughed, sensing the wicked spirit's presence had been dispelled. It most likely hadn't been destroyed, not for good… but for now, it had lost its grip on Azula and Yue, and that was more than enough as things stood.

Yue continued to glow powerfully, still with her palm pressed to Azula's. She breathed heavily after a moment, as good as coming back to herself…

To find the darkness had dispelled at last.

To gaze down, to the depths of the universe, to find their world stood right below their feet.

"It's… it's our world. I can see it again. I can…" Yue said, with a helpless smile. Azula held her closely still.

"Is this how you see everything?" she asked. Yue shook her head.

"It's… how I did sometimes. When I wasn't walking through the Spirit World… or among humans, if I had the chance to," Yue said, with a sad but earnest smile. Azula nodded in understanding. "And now I can do that again because…"

"Because you let us help you, you stubborn little weirdo," Azula grumbled, prompting Yue to laugh as Azula squeezed her nose between her index and middle fingers. Blazes flickered at the contact, and Azula pulled her hand back quickly. "Damn. I shouldn't do that right now. I'm all… fired up, I suppose."

"For what it's worth? I'd dare say that's your real form, Azula!" Sokka exclaimed, startling Azula. She turned towards him with a questioning stare, as he floated by willpower alone towards them. "You know… you're on fire? You're smoking hot? You're hot as hell?"

"You're in front of a teenager, you idiot. Don't talk that way." Azula grunted at him. Yue laughed, and Sokka smiled as he turned his attention towards Yue.

"Yue…" he said, with a sincere, kind smile. She grinned right back at him, eyes tearful and grateful.

"You never gave up on me. Neither of you did," she said. "You're… you're really so grown, Sokka. Azula… Azula lied, you know? You did grow to be even more handsome than you were…"

"Heh. I knew that already. She was just trying to hide that I'm her type and she didn't know how to sound convincing," Sokka smirked. Azula rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I'm glad I can speak to you again… though it was fun to do it through you, Azula," Yue laughed, and Azula smiled and shook her head.

"Shouldn't have been as much fun, but it was. Guess I can't be your translator anymore, huh?"

"I can always cover my ears whenever she speaks so you tell me what she's saying, if you want," Sokka grinned. Azula laughed, and Yue smiled fondly at the two of them.

"I never… never imagined I could be set free," she said. "This is… it really isn't the Spirit World itself."

"I realized. It's… strange. Cosmic, in a wild way," Sokka said, gazing about himself. "It works even more weirdly than I thought the Spirit World would."

"I've always been able to drift between this place, the Spirit World, and occasionally the human world. That stopped when the comet collided," Yue said, closing her eyes. "I don't know if… if Oblivion was inside that comet, or if the sight of me in danger caused Oblivion to rise from wherever it hid, but… after it happened, I was trapped here. I couldn't… do anything. And as I was trapped, the moon's glow waned and I could only speak with you because, well…"

"Because Oblivion wanted me," Azula said. Sokka gritted his teeth. "Don't get jealous now, will you?"

"Not jealous. Just… protective," Sokka said, with a heavy sigh. "Bad enough that Oblivion had been causing Yue so much grief… it wanted to do it to you too. I couldn't just stay calm through that, now, could I?"

"You should have, but it's of no matter. We won anyway," Azula smiled proudly. Yue giggled.

"The three of us… we do make a good team," she said. Azula raised a hand, clasping her shoulder gently.

"We… uh, we do," she said, pulling her flaming had back before burning Yue, though Yue laughed at the feeling, nonetheless.

"But… there's one thing left for me to do," Yue said, glancing down at the Earth from where they stood. "For all this time… the Ocean Spirit, La, kept me safe and grounded. Oblivion's interest in you, Azula… it allowed La to grip me, to hold onto me. But once Oblivion gave up on you, because you were no longer the kind of person who would choose to inflict oblivion upon the human world? All my connections started to fade. I only asked you to forget, even though I knew it wasn't in your control, or mine, if you did… because I thought it'd be less painful. But in the end, Oblivion was the one who sought to make everyone forget me…"

"The piece of shit," Sokka grumbled.

"It was working. My brother, Sokka's sister, Toph… even the Avatar," Azula mentioned. "They were struggling to remember you, or why we were traveling at all."

"But you swore you'd ensure that I wouldn't be forgotten," Yue said, with a warm smile. "I suppose, now that the moon shall return, it will be much harder for people to forget me, huh?"

"They might take you for granted again, in the sky… but we won't," Azula said, her throat thickening with tears. "Though… you'll still lurk around, won't you? I know you're not trapped anymore, and maybe you're behind on your, I don't know, cosmic paperwork, but…"

"I have no paperwork in the Spirit World," Yue laughed. Sokka hummed.

"Sounds like the first aspect of the Spirit World that I absolutely prefer over the human one. We should move there, Azula," Sokka suggested, nudging her with his elbow. Azula smiled and shook her head.

"I'm just saying, I… I guess your days of lurking in my mirrors are over?"

The words sank heavily in Sokka and Yue. The two of them exchanged worried looks before turning their attention towards Azula.

"I… Yeah. I don't think I'll be doing that anymore," Yue mumbled. Azula smiled and shrugged.

"Well, what can you do, huh? Was… was something, while it lasted," she said. Yue gritted her teeth.

"You're… you're going to miss me, aren't you?" Yue asked, with a gentle smile. Azula scoffed.

"As if. Don't be so conceited," she said, folding her arms over her chest. Yue smiled warmly.

"You noticed when I was lying… I can tell when you are, too," she said. Azula scoffed, and if she hadn't been on fire, still, she might just have blushed darkly.

"It'll be strange, adapting to life without you, but… we fixed things for you. You'll be okay this time. And you'll have a proper conversation with Sokka before it happens this time, too. So… a wish fulfilled indeed," Azula said, somewhat nervously. "I should, uh… return these powers. I might wind up naked after I do. Yue, cover your eyes by then."

"I've seen you naked before whenever the water of your tubs reflected your body, though…"

"Ugh. That's disturbing," Azula groaned. Yue giggled, shrugging in her direction.

"I am a spirit, you know. We… see a lot of things. Some bad, some good," she grinned.

"And some hot as hell, like her," Sokka grinned proudly. Yue giggled and Azula punched his shoulder. "Come on! It's really a cool look. You're going to miss it when it's gone."

"Sounds more like you will. Pervert," Azula huffed. Yue laughed.

"I… I'm going to miss your arguments, that's for sure," she said. "And just… being part of what you're doing. Seeing so many beautiful sights, I… I really enjoyed it. This journey… it was beautiful. I never imagined I'd get to live through something like that. And that I'd do it, and actually become friends with you in the process, Azula, I… I'll always be grateful for that."

"Well… I'm grateful for you too, believe it or not," Azula said, earnestly. "If it weren't for your pesky meddling, your chattiness, your ridiculous praises, I… I wouldn't be here now. And for once in my life, it feels like I'm exactly who I want to be, and where I want to be, too."

"That's good to hear," Yue smiled warmly. Azula sighed.

"You'll be okay on your own?" she asked. Yue shook her head.

"I won't be alone," she said, smiling down at the world beneath their feet once more.

A tendril of dark liquid reached up slowly, tentatively, until Yue touched it with a fingertip. The water rose, strengthening and swirling around her, and Yue laughed as the very end of the water tendril shifted slightly, becoming akin to a fish, perhaps even a water snake…

"I'm back, La," she whispered.

"Tui… Yue," La said, calm and content.

Azula smiled, gazing down at the world: it was hard to see it from this distance, but it seemed as though the renewed contact between the spirits had put a stop to whatever was happening down below…

Aang blacked out, falling into the water, once the Avatar Spirit no longer sustained him after he ceased the suspended, extended bending feat he had pulled, all across the world. He sank into the depths of the ocean, exhausted… until his wife's bending reeled him up, back aboard Appa.

"They did it… the crazy bastards did it," Zuko exclaimed, still somewhat breathless, eyes glued to the dark sky above them: he couldn't remember the moon glowing more brightly ever before.

"Moon's back? Yue's all good now?" Toph said, before humming. "Must be. I… remember her now. I forgot about her for a while there. Did you?"

"We all did," Katara said, holding Aang affectionately as he coughed, smiling awkwardly at her. "You okay?"

"I'm… alive. I think. Thank you, Katara," he said, pressing his brow to hers. Katara smiled.

"Always ready to bail you out when you're in trouble, silly," she said, kissing his cheek.

Aang sighed, weakened and helpless now… but proud of what he had achieved. Bending the entire atmosphere might have been a tall order… but he succeeded at doing so for long enough to keep La contained, preventing massive disasters and hopefully minimizing the potential death toll of the initial reaction by the uncontrollable ocean. He sighed in relief, closing his eyes… deeply hoping that Sokka and Azula would be ready to return to the human world once he and the others returned, too.

Azula frowned as she felt her power shifting in an odd manner. She turned around… finding the Sun Spirit standing not too far from where she was. The Princess breathed deeply and stepped towards her.

"I never doubted you could do it," the Sun Spirit smiled kindly upon Azula, who bowed her head respectfully towards her. "Well done, Champion."

"That might be too great a title. I was quite selfishly trying to save my friend just because she mattered to me," Azula admitted. The Sun Spirit laughed.

"Selfishness? Trying to save another is selfishness? Curious," she said. Azula smirked and shrugged. "You are a rare one, Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. A most extraordinary woman… much as Princess Yue would have grown to be one, too."

"But I didn't get that chance," Yue said, with a sad smile.

"Thus… do not waste yours, Princess Azula," the Sun Spirit said. Azula nodded. "I can take a new champion after many generations pass, too. Just as the Moon Spirit would have chosen her favorites, centuries before or after Yue was born. It isn't your fate to be my vessel or my replacement, just as it wouldn't be for any of my protegees. Young Yue made a great sacrifice for the greater good… and the human world shall forever owe her its survival and endurance because of it. You, child, need not be another sacrifice."

"There's not much reason why I would need to sacrifice myself anymore, now, is there?" Azula said.

"None of you should have to sacrifice anything at all to begin with," Sokka told her, and Azula gazed at him gratefully upon hearing those words.

"Never forget… the bond between the two of you is strong," the Sun Spirit said. Azula gazed at Yue next, who smiled kindly at her. "The moon receives and reflects the sun's light… Yue has learned to be your mirror, your reflection. To show you your faults just as she shows your virtues. She is the moon to the sun you can shine, Azula. And when you burn your brightest, you inspire others to do the same. As you did with her."

Azula nodded, swallowing back the tears she nearly spilled. The Sun Spirit moved closer, pressing a soft kiss upon her brow.

"You did well, child. And now… it's time for you to go home."

The flames covering her body withdrew into the Sun Spirit: the fire she had leant to Azula drifted inside her… and with a final smile and a kind nod of approval, the Sun Spirit drifted back to where she belonged. Azula watched her go, grateful… relieved.

"We've restored balance… somewhat," Sokka said, with a gentle smile. "And hey… still on fire even when you're not literally on fire, Azula, really."

"Shut up," Azula huffed, smiling regardless of her bashfulness: to her surprise, a robe suddenly appeared around her body, and Sokka grinned cheekily at her when she eyed him questioningly.

"I'll ogle you whenever you let me. But as I appear to have figured out the code of how to invoke nonsensical things in this plane, I figured I'd dress you up," he said. Azula laughed.

"Thoughtful of you," she said, turning towards Yue again.

She seemed so small, so young… but when she raised her head again, Yue seemed as strong as ever. She smiled kindly at them, taking their hands in hers.

"I didn't really think it was possible that I'd ever stop envying whoever might marry you one day, Sokka," she admitted, with a weak smile. "Even if I wanted to be kind and supportive of your relationship with Suki, I truthfully couldn't stop wishing I were in her place instead. But when it comes to you two, I… I can't help but be so happy that the two people I love the most would find love in each other, too."

"Kind of blindsided all of us, didn't it?" Sokka said, with a chuckle. Azula smiled too. Yue bit her lip.

"I just… I want to say that I'm really grateful for everything you did. I would have been lost without you. I know you didn't care for me or want to help me for the longest time, Azula… but that really didn't matter to me. I just… I just wanted what was best for you. And I think you found it."

She brought their hands together, smiling kindly as their fingers linked. Azula smiled at Sokka, who smiled back at her.

"So… go back," Yue said, earnestly. "Go… and be happy together. Live the lives you deserve. Never forget how many kind things you've done for others, such as me. Never forget… that you changed my world in the best of ways."

"You did the same for me," Azula whispered, raising her free hand to stroke Yue's hair gently. "I didn't want to see it, to accept it… but I did, in the end. I owe you so much more than I'll ever be able to repay, Yue."

"I don't think that's true. You saved me," Yue smiled. "That's already so much more than I can repay, too. I wasn't going to survive without you. I'm so glad… so glad that you could come to help me. And now… I get to see you from afar. I might be able to manifest myself around you two sometimes, or just one of you, I don't know… won't happen too often, but I'll try!"

"You'd better. Though if you give us any frights intentionally by showing up at inopportune moments, you won't ever hear the end of it," Azula threatened her. Yue laughed and Sokka smirked.

"You can come see us whenever you want," he told Yue. "You're always going to be welcome. I don't think I did nearly as much as Azula did for you…"

"You did plenty, silly," Azula said. Sokka smiled and shrugged.

"Even if I did… point is, I always wanted to do right by you. To make amends for your death being as violent and abrupt as it was. I wish we'd had enough time to… to talk, to say goodbye, to process what was happening, but we didn't. I was in pain for so long, and then that swamp vision I had of you…"

"That was the swamp's doing. It wasn't really me," Yue said, apologetically. Sokka chuckled.

"Yeah. It wasn't as kind as you are," he said. "But the swamp said… I had failed you. I hadn't saved you. I had to protect you, it was my duty, and I couldn't do it. So… I've felt this weight, this responsibility on my shoulders for a long time, because I couldn't protect you once before…"

"And you succeeded this time," Yue whispered, kindly. Sokka smiled warmly. "I know you've struggled to know your worth… but you're extraordinary, Sokka. You have everything it takes to prove it, too. So… don't be afraid to show the world who you really are. Don't worry about protecting me anymore… I'm safe again."

"And if you ever aren't, you'll let us know?" Sokka asked. Yue laughed and nodded.

"As long as I can, sure… but I hope it won't happen, nonetheless," she said. Azula swallowed hard.

"Then… this is it?"

She met Yue's gaze for a long moment, and the young girl's eyes flooded with tears anew. She nodded, and Azula sighed before stepping forward, wrapping her arms firmly around Princess Yue… the Moon Spirit.

She had wanted to hug Yue so many times, most of all as of late. The feeling of doing it spiritually certainly came off as strange, but it was all they'd get. It might even be the one time she'd get to do it at all. Tears spilled down Azula's cheeks as she held Yue tightly.

"Thank you… for everything," she managed to say, her voice strained. Yue shook her head.

"I'm the one… the one who's grateful to you," Yue said. "For everything you saw, and everything you showed and taught me… everything I lived and loved with you. S-so… go on and do it some more. Live… love. Experience everything for… for the both of us. I know I may not always be visible, in the sky? But… I'll always be with you."

Sokka smiled warmly: hearing Yue speak those words to Azula struck a chord in his heart, for they were the very last ones she had spoken to him before taking her place in the night sky.

"And we'll always be with you too. And thinking of you," Azula nodded. Yue giggled. "You brought us together… and we'll always treasure you. We won't ever let you be forgotten."

"Thank you for finding me in the darkness," Yue said, pressing her face to her shoulder. "For letting me be your reflection within my shadows. For understanding me… in ways I never knew I wanted to be understood. Thank you for bearing with me, even when I made it hard… thank you for caring as much as you did. You were my light in the darkness… and now, it's time that you go light up so many other things in the world, too."

"Wait… you're not condoning arson, are you?"

"W-well, no…"

"Such a shame," Azula smiled. Yue laughed as Azula pulled back, and tears spilled down both their faces. "I meant it when I said it, but… I ought to do it again: I love you, Yue."

"I love you too," Yue grinned giddily, leaning in for another hug. "I'm so glad it was you. I'm so glad that you were the one person I could always see."

Azula nodded, hugging the girl back as tightly as could be.

"I'm glad you were here. That you were part of my life, for as long as you were," she said.

Azula raised her tearful eyes towards Sokka, who continued to watch them fondly… she reached for his wrist, yanking him towards herself, and Sokka laughed as he hugged the two of them, too.

"I'll miss you too, even if I'm sure Azula will miss you more," Sokka smiled. "Go shine brightly in the sky, okay? We'll be fine… so make sure you are, too. Let us know if you get into any trouble… and maybe I'll come back and turn into a giant axe again, what do you know?"

The girls laughed at Sokka's mirth, and Azula rested her head on his shoulder briefly, while Yue nestled against his chest.

"Thank you, Sokka. Thank you, Azula. Thank you. I'll always love you. Always."

A white flash blinded them briefly, and they closed their eyes to brace themselves against it…

"Hey… they're back! Look!"

"Oh, finally."

Sokka and Azula grimaced, coming back to their senses while still sitting in the position Aang had left them at. Which meant, of course, that they were as sore as could be…

"Sokka? Azula? You guys okay?" Aang called them, kneeling by them as they opened their eyes.

"We're… back," Azula realized. Sokka scoffed slightly, with a lop-sided smirk.

"Sad. Can't turn into a giant axe anymore," he said. Azula laughed, and the others gaped at them in confusion.

"It's… a long story," Azula said.

She cast a glance to the sky, though, where twinkling stars no longer could be as easily visible… for they were in the moon's vicinity.

It glowed so brightly, so beautifully, that Azula couldn't help the tears that welled in her eyes at the sight of it. At the knowledge that her friend had succeeded at reclaiming her place as the Moon Spirit… at the awareness that she'd helped her against the worst challenges she had been dealt by the wretched Oblivion.

Sokka tugged at her hand gently, and they exchanged a relieved, warm smile before he leaned in for a kiss – naturally, half of the group complained, but Azula held Sokka closely nonetheless, brows pressed together as mutual pride and relief took hold of their hearts. They would explain everything to the others soon… but for now, her heart did not ache over loneliness now that Yue was gone. Instead, it remained strong and full of emotions over the awareness and certainty that she had finally saved Yue… and that Yue, conversely, had saved her just as well.

#sokkla #sokkla saturdays 2023 #sokklasaturdays #sokka #azula #and here we go #the big chaotic showdown #sorry not sorry I like my spirits to be fucked up #and weird #and illogical and irrational #Oblivion was a weirdo to make #and definitely one of my first full forays into writing spirits #I admit it can be fun but I'm not looking forward to doing it more often hahaha #hope you guys enjoy this one #and its outcome #slightly inspired in a certain movie I wonder if you guys will figure out which one #... also no offense but full offense Aang deserves to be portrayed as a powerhouse more often #people sleep on the goddamn Avatar #so I'm gonna go out of my way #and portray him as so OP that he can bend across the whole fucking world yes sir #hope you guys enjoy that :'D

[grelleswife]

Just randomly remembered At the Heart of Justice AND ofc I have to reread it now. Also I hope lawliet-imagines is still around and everything is okay with them🤍 That was literally one of the best works I've read and indeed as author stated very close in style to the canonical LAPD book. Like the writing is just so well. It's been several years since I've read it actually...and I still remember their first kiss XD

I wish it was canon dammit. Ray pebbles can go somewhere else(or have a fate like in canon idk). Naomi deserved so much better...another character assassination and men's inability to write women...

Anyways #LawmassacreForever

p.s. also do you guys still have l×naomi week? This was the smallest fandom I've ever been in but it had so many talented people ❣️

The fic that kindled my love for L x Naomi, served as the catalyst for my foray into fandom, and remains, in my humble opinion, the definitive work for this ship…you’re making me nostalgic, anon! :’) @lawliet-imagines did a great job of establishing the atmosphere of a detective novel while also developing the relationship between agent and frog, but without the misogyny that pervades much of Death Note’s canon. 🙏 As far as I’m aware, she’s doing fine—just occupied with responsibilities out in the three-dimensional world.

Kick Rage Pebble to the curb. 😤 If only Naomi had been given a partner with whom she was equally matched and had the chance to achieve her full potential rather than be snuffed out by Ohba and Obata because her intelligence would have halted Light’s schemes in their tracks!

But nonetheless, the spirit of Lawmassacre shall live on! ✊

There are no immediate plans for another L x Naomi Week, but I’d happily support any similar endeavors hosted by other blogs. By nature, rarepair communities tend to be a drop in the vast lake of the overall fandom, but we shine brightly with passion and enthusiasm!

#death asks #naomi misora #l lawliet #l x naomi #at the heart of justice #other people’s fic #other people’s writing

[brawltogethernow]

Well, in the spirit of the season I guess I should ask... is Venom's debut story in ASM worth reading?

The only answer you need might be that my first thought was, "Wait, which one?" But, okay, having put together that you probably mean the actual issue "Venom", ASM #300, I'm gonna go with...I guess?

While the schlockily web-bedecked opener is noted and appreciated, this issue isn't on my shortlist of the franchise's best forays into horror. It's more standard action with a handful of horror moments? It's definitely not on my shortlist of best issues period. Like, it's not bad, not at all! It's just okay! There are some fun moments! I wouldn't press it on somebody and insist they read it, but I wouldn't advise people to skip it either.

I don't usually take this stance on stories from older comics that went on to be heavily retold and adapted, but the execution doesn't really do justice to the cool concepts in the introduction of Venom The Supervillain. I think I would still feel that way even if it were the same writing paired with an artist I like more, but... Actually that's probably not true. I have a really hard time vibing with McFarlane comics.

It's also not the strongest reading experience taken as a standalone issue, because it had a fairly long build-up laced through issues otherwise focusing on other topics. Even if you skip the Alien Costume Saga and go straight for issues rolling out the carpet for Eddie Brock-as-Venom, you're going to be starting a hop back in Web of Spider-Man #18, which I don't really need to namecheck so specifically but wanted to so I can clarify that that issue is about Peter getting stranded mostly naked out in the burbs, almost starving to death, getting arrested, and then being hunted by the wealthy for sport. This is by the same writer, so, yeah, I definitely like his approach to pulp better when it's not ugly. RIP.

Though it's definitely still true that... Once you hit the late eighties where Amazing, Spectacular, and Web are all running concurrently, the rough rule of thumb is that Amazing is going to be the most average one. It basically becomes optional extra reading to glean a better understanding of the other two main titles. Again, it's not bad! But its sister titles are regularly great, and the same is true of the first two and a half decades of ASM, so the comparison is rough.

For the spooky factor, I'm not going to knock "Spider-Man but with teeth" (though still before Venom really starts to be drawn as gooey), but I prefer the alien costume era's aesthetic, where the symbiote is two dimensional like a malignant shadow (that's in love with the subject it has taken the shape of but not enough to know how not to harm it) - an artistically minimalist descendant of the Phantom Blot.

(-- Web #1)

To let the words of others frame this sequence:

So yeah, Venom (composite identity) and Venom (alien) and Eddie (Catholic reporter) each have different reading lists floating around if you want to go spelunking in one of those topics. Fair warning for moviegoers that comics Eddie is literally just such a weirdo, like in a fun train wreck way but lacking that, like, sick chihuahua charm Tom Hardy brings to the role.

That said! The alien costume stuff isn't really a Halloween read either! If you want a Spidey story that will give you chills from the same era, I'm going to recommend "Mad Dog Ward", a three-parter in Web #33, ASM #295, and SSM #133. (This time it's all by the same creative team: Don't skip the ASM issue lmao.)

Fair warning that the trigger list on this one is, like, probably too long to tally on both hands, and I would have to reread it in full to try to compile that.

Edit: ...Looking at that cover again, I should probably clarify that Venom is not in the three-shot. Given those stories came out within six months of each other, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a point of design inspiration!

#spiderman #venom #spidey #marvel #comics #mirrorfalls #asks answered #essays #horror

[deiliamedlini]

Happy 1 Yr Tumblrversary to Myself!

In the past year, I have started or completed almost every fic I have listed on my Tumblr! I was going to reblog only the ones I finished this year, but it’s really almost all of them. So I’m going to just go through my list and see what I think about all my fics and reminisce to myself ahaha!! Join me if you dare!

Long  Fics:

Favorite Fic: Unbroken. You’ll never change my mind! Something about it, I just adored through the entire experience. And I posted full chapters daily for almost the entire fic, so that was a fun challenge! 

Most Surprising: Alone With You. This was a comfort fic, and I didn’t put all my effort into it, so I was shocked by how many people enjoyed it!

Most Excited About: Through Hell Or High Water. Once I get past this chapter, I get to where I actually have wanted to be and I can’t wait!

Pride and Joy: Heart of the Champions/Spirit of the Goddess. Though I just did the rewrites on that, this was my first real fic (+sequel) that I ever wrote, so it’s near and dear to me

Most Freeing: The Time Traveller and Her Knight: Definitely enjoy writing this one if only because I feel very free with it. No betas, no real self-criticisms. if I want Zelda to spend an entire chapter as an unreliable narrator character, I will!

Saddest: Written in the Stars. I cried while writing this at one point. Spoiler (which is in the tags), someone dies. And I was listening to sad music the whole time so that didn’t help.

Cutest Zelink: On A Wing and A Prayer. I loved writing Skyward Zelink because they’re perfect and adorable. ‘Nuff said. 

Favorite Risk: Of Kith and Kin. This was my first foray out of the T ratings and into M, and I loved giving Link a brother, and giving them all complex relationships! Not my best work, but I needed the adventure!

Biggest (Positive) Challenge: Into the Dark- Turning the Whumptober prompts into a mini fic was SO FUN OMG!! I did all daily chapters, didn’t write any in advance, did Linktober at the same time. It was so fun, and I really liked this fic. Don’t know why I never put it on Ao3. Maybe in October I’ll post it daily? ALSO SHOUTOUT! This is the reason I got a Tumblr! To participate in the -tobers. 

Cringiest- Tale of the Hero/Cloud and a Dream. Tale was my first actual Zelda fic, first complete fic, very weird experience. I enjoyed it, but it was so bad and I didn’t know what I was doing ever. Then Cloud is like, 5 ch long and then I abandoned it and I still don’t know if I’m going back lol. Oops!

Not Zelda: Sunset. My only complete longfic that’s not Zelda related! Until Dawn collection! That was fun. I was originally going to use Ao3 for just non-Zelda works like this, but then I got sucked in by how great it is.

Oneshots:

Favorites: Thinking of You, Slipping on Ice, and And Into the Fire

Cried the Hardest: For Zelda. I think I was in a mood, because I SOBBED the whole way through writing this oneshot.

First and only Prompt Oneshots: Unmasked- Masquerade Ball prompt which was my first ever prompt and I loved it and went a little overboard but omg I loved it, did I say that already?, and We’ll Have Tomorrow- MFC Behind the fic challenge prompt. This was fun because I accidently wrote something just so crushing that I didn’t even cry when I wrote it. I was just so empty hahahhahha!! OOPS! 

Would Turn Into a Full Fic If I Had the Motivation: Actually, two I already said, so Thinking of You and And Into the Fire, but also Silent Princess and In Plain Sight.

Experimental Present Tense that I Surprisingly Enjoyed: All of Me. I like killing Link and Zelda in their own fics. I won’t apologize. This is one of them

First Oneshot Ever: Flames of Fire. IT SUCKS OMG! THIS IS WHY I DON’T WRITE FIRST PERSON

Non Zelink- Small Steps- Sidion and Revali from my AU Alone With You.

Not Zelda: Strength From Within (ALTA): I wanted Katara to bloodbend. That’s my motivation

#legend of zelda #zelink #zelda #link #writing #fics #tumblrversary #fic list #my fics

[i-am-a-closet-fanfic-fiend]

The Art of Love (Part 8) ~ Steve Rogers x Reader College!AU

A/N: Hello lovelies! Happy Tuesday! I hope that you’re all having a good week! We’ve got a few more parts for this story. And I’m hoping to post on Tuesdays so keep an eye out. And enjoy and take care of yourselves! 

Summary: More shenanigans with the idiots in love and sarah and bucky 

Characters/Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader (Eventual), Bucky Barnes, Sarah Rogers

Rating: K+

Warnings: None. Fluff . Idiots

Word Count: 1250

Divider by: @whimsicalrogers​

Main Masterlist | The Art of Love Masterlist | Broken Hearts and Robot Parts Masterlist (Companion Fic) ​

Bucky nudged Steve as they cleared and washed the dishes.

“They seem to be getting along well,” he nodded towards you and Sarah.

“Yeah, they sure do.”

Steve watched you fondly, letting out a soft sigh when you laughed at the story his mother was telling you. Undoubtedly about him and most definitely embarrassing based on the snort you let out.

“You know you look like a love struck dope right now,” Bucky chuckled.

“Do not,” he huffed, elbowing Bucky out of the way so he could keep washing.

“Oh come on, man. Why don’t you just admit it? You two are practically married.”

“We’re just comfortable around each other. We’re best friends,” Steve argued, rinsing off the last of the plates and wiping down the sink.

“No. We’re best friends.”

“Debatable,” the blonde grumbled.

Bucky scoffed, but otherwise ignored the comment.

“You two are something else. For crying out loud the two of you hosted your mom for dinner.”

Steve lacked a believable retort so he kept his mouth shut.

The truth was, he knew Bucky was right, and although he’d long since admitted his feelings for you to himself. He wasn’t ready to say them to you.

Once the dishes were done, he and Bucky rejoined you and Sarah in the living room.

“All done?” you asked as Steve sat down in the armchair. He was rarely so far away, and you found yourself missing his warmth.

Bucky lounged in the chair and a half with your pack of Oreos.

“Bucky!”

“What?”

“Those are mine for our marathon,” you pouted. “I’ve been waiting to open them all week.”  

He paused with a cookie halfway to his mouth.

“The package was half empty.”

You swung your gaze onto Steve, who was looking all kinds of guilty.

“Sorry, sweetheart. I was half asleep after a sudden bout of inspiration the other night. And I kind of ate a couple.”

“A couple?” You quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, a lot. I did already replace them though. And I got you the chocolate cream ones too.”

Your mock glare slipped as you giggled in delight.

“Thanks, Stevie. I guess I forgive you then.”

His shoulders dipped in relief and you laughed at him.  

“Does that mean I can eat the rest of these?” Bucky mumbled with his mouth full.

“Oh James,” Sarah admonished fondly.

“Yes,” you chuckled. “Have at it.”

“So, what were you two talking about?” Steve asked as Bucky happily munched on cookies.

“Y/n was telling me how the two of you first met. You never told me that you took ballroom dancing lessons, Steven.” Sarah’s smile was full of mirth.

“It was just one hour a week. I wasn’t very good. Y/n’s the only reason I even made it through.”

“That is not true. You were the best partner a girl good ask for. Once I got steel tipped character shoes,” you teased.

Steve groaned and slid down in his seat.

“I’m kidding. Steve truly was the best. I’d still ask him to be my partner any day of the week. The steps are just part of it. You’ve got to know the other person’s rhythm.”

Steve couldn’t help as his smile widened.

“We have gotten pretty good at that over the years.”

“Yes, we have. It’s something I could only hope for in a partner.”

“Speaking of dancing-”

“Buck,” Steve warned.

“Relax, it’s not about you or your brief foray into hip hop.”

“Excuse me?” Sarah guffawed looking to you for elaboration.

“It was very brief. Like one day brief. He transferred to swing after his first class,” you admitted.

“Oh dear.”

“Smudge,” Steve whined hiding behind a throw pillow.

Unable to bear the sight of him embarrassed, you made your way over to him, plucking the pillow from his hands as you settled on the arm of his chair.  

“In his defense, I begged him to take it with me,” you explained to Sarah, carding your fingers through his hair. “It was an intermediate class that I was nervous to take because it was mostly upperclassmen. And Steve was sweet enough to sign up for it with me. Once I realized Natasha was also in the class, I held his oath fulfilled.”

He chuckled at the Lord of the Rings reference as his hand settled on your hip.

“My two left feet are always at your service, milady.”

He took your other hand and pressed a gentle kiss to your knuckles.

“I am learning so many new things tonight,” Sarah smiled at the two of you.

Her warm smile kept any feelings of embarrassment at bay.

“Anyways, I have a favor to ask,” Bucky interjected, breaking the pregnant moment.  

“Of course. What do you need?”

“The big fundraiser for this semester is going to be a dance-a-thon.”

“Oh that sounds so fun,” you gushed.  

“I think it will be.”

“So what do you need from me?”

“The brothers and I thought a fun way to keep the day moving was to teach different dances throughout the night. And since you’re the only one I know knows pretty much all of them…”

“Yes! Of course I’ll help. We can do swing and Lindy and…”

You hopped off the chair to grab a notebook and start writing things down. Bucky joined you at the dining room table, going over ideas and timetables.

Sarah took the opportunity to observe her son. Steve’s eyes never left you as you flitted about, talking animatedly and gesturing wildly. Clearly he was smitten. You both were. Her beloved son just needed to do something about it.

You and Sarah shared a tight hug as she said her goodbyes. She ruffled Bucky’s hair and reminded him to call his mom, before the two of you got back to work.

“Walk me out?”

“Of course, Ma.”

“You know, you really should tell her how you feel,” Sarah said conversationally as he walked her to the door.  

Steve’s steps faltered as he looked down at her, wide eyed from shock.

“I’m not in love with Smudge,” he blurted out.

“Oh, darling. Would you like to try that again?”

He sighed, knowing there was no use in lying. He was terrible at it anyway.

“I can’t tell her, Ma.”  

“And why not?”

“Because I could lose her.”

“Oh, Steven. There’s no chance of that.”

“But how do you know?”

“Because she is just as in love with you as you are with her. Any fool could see that. And I most certainly did not raise a fool now did I?”

“Of course not, ma’am.”

“Good, then go tell the amazing woman how you feel about her.”

“You really like her?” he asked with a shy smile.

“Of course I do. I’ve been telling you she was the best thing to happen to you for years. Tonight just confirmed it.”

“But what if I end up leaving?”

“Whether you leave or not, you both deserve to know your options.”

She could see the decision rolling around in his head.

“Just think on it. Personally, I think she’d be well worth the effort of long distance.”

“Of course she is,” Steve huffed, insulted his mother would imply he thought otherwise.

“Then what exactly is your argument?”

“I-“

The cab driver leaned on his horn.

“I’ve got to go. Good night, honey.”

She gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead.

“Night, Ma,” he mumbled still stunned by the turn in the conversation.

What was his argument?

A/N: Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Tag List

Update 3/15/2021: Hello, Lovelies. As some of you may have seen on the blog I have decided to suspend tag lists. If you would like to receive updates about new content please follow @naynay-writes​​ and turn on notifications. Thank you! Xoxo, Naynay

The Art of Love Tag List

@stupendoussciencenaturepanda​ @itsallyscorner​ @warmmoonlight​ @intricate-melody​ @xremember-me-notx

Steve/Chris Tag List 

@isaxhorror @peachykeen3502​ @patzammit​ @wordlesscaptain​ @coffeebooksandfandom​​ @hereisanapplepie @mywinterwolf​ @straightforwardly​ @aikeia​

Marvel Tag List @hdthdthdt​​  @sophiatomlinson23​ @scarlettsoldier​ @acupofhotlatte​ @slender--spirit​ @petitesmate​ @libbymouse​

Permanent Tag List  @iamwarrenspeace​ @jayzayy​ @bexboo616​ @neoqueen306​ @santheweird​ @rowenaravencalw​ @buckitybarnes​ @prxttybirdz​ @sergeantjbuckybarnes​ @captainsamwlsn​ @nyxveracity​ @queenoftrash97​ @walkingtravesty97​ @memyselfandmaddox​ @lowkeybuckyb​ @whiskey2011​ @averyrogers83​ @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ @beansparker​ @coralphantomninja​ @xxashy999xx @ravennightingaleandavatempus​ @paintballkid711​ @whosmarisaaarw​ @silverkitten547 @yknott81​ @thefridgeismybestie​ @crispy-kitten​ @greyeyedsmile14​ @loving-life-my-way​ @geeksareunique​ @rachelsficcollections​ @captainscanadian​ @palaiasaurus64​​ @sea040561​ @kakakatey​ @supermusicallee​

#Steve Rogers x Reader #Steve Rogers x y/n #Steve Rogers x You #Steve Rogers AU #College!AU #College!Steve Rogers #college!steve rogers x reader #The Art of Love #Part 8

[octinary]

2020 in Review

I got tagged by two very wonderful people (@round--robin and @tumbleweedtech - thanks for thinking of me!) to try this “5 favourite works you created in 2020″ thing, so here it goes! 

1. Him (E, 33k, CW: graphic depictions of violence, depression, self-harm, suicide attempt)

Summary:  In his time as a witcher, Geralt has killed just about everything that can be killed: monsters, beasts, constructs, men, even the undead can die again if you know the trick to it. Wraiths, he knows, are the lingering troubled spirits of people who died tragically, violently, unjustly and unavenged. Their unfair fate spawns in them a jealousy and hatred of everything living that quickly drives them mad and makes them dangerous and deadly, driven to torment those responsible for their plight. Usually he feels no more than a twinge of pity as he sends them off again with silver and fire, but then again usually they aren’t haunting him. Usually they aren’t Jaskier.  Geralt learns that Jaskier never made it off the mountain after the dragon hunt and, if that’s what it takes to appease the monster that now wears his face, neither will Geralt.

This is it.  The big one.  This is the one I am most proud of and also the most popular thing I’ve written this year by hits, by comments and by bookmarks.  I have definitely received the most lovely feedback regarding it, some of which had me almost tearing up.  It is also hands-down the story I felt most compelled to tell and that was most important to me that I told it well.  It’s also one of those things that reading it probably tells you way more about me than I am actually comfortable with...  It also has inspired two pieces of really amazing fanart by @pinkaxolotl85 and @gerrito! Check them out here and here!

2. Something Eternal (E, 6,666 words, CW: graphic depictions of violence, major character death)

Summary: Kaer Morhen has always been haunted. Before Salamandra plundered the paltry survivors of the earlier pogrom for forgotten reagents, before the pogrom, when the mob fanatically massacred the Wolf witchers out of blind hate, even before the witchers themselves strapped their children down to administer the mutagens that killed 7 out of every 10 so tortured, the bones of the long dead sea and the whisper of long stilled waves painted every corridor of the keep with their memories. It’s always been a place for dead things. It’s where, at the end of his long full life, Jaskier of Oxenfurt goes to die. It’s where the monster he brought with him is going to kill everyone he loves.

Hilariously, we go from my most popular fic to my least popular fic, but it’s still one I am very proud of.  It was written for the The Witcher Halloween Flash Fic Challenge (so in 48 hours from conception to finished product), but I think it turned out pretty good.  I would like to think that it is the tags, not the writing, that have been keeping people away.  It was also my first time writing horror (unless you could Him as horror, I guess), and I am unreasonably amused by finishing it at 6,666 words.

3. Save a Horse (E, 6.5k, CW: porn, pony play)

Summary: It was Eskel’s idea. It had to be really. The number of people who could seriously suggest to the two of them that Lambert pretend to be Geralt’s mount in a sexually submissive way, and then actually have that suggestion acted on, was exactly one. Lambert would have decked anyone else out of hand before even considering it, but Eskel? Eskel, who knew them both so well, who shared his own kinks with them playfully when they all fell into bed together, who seemed to want nothing more than for them all to enjoy each other? He at least owed it to Eskel to listen.

My first (and so far only) try at writing smut and I dove right into the deep end!  I am pretty proud of the characterizations in this one, even if it is porn.  Spoiler alert: it is about 2k of build-up and the smut is probably what a lot of people would consider pretty tame and just chock full of feelings.  My excuse for it is that the real kink was trust and understanding all along.  I had a few readers tell me that pony play isn’t really their thing and they still enjoyed it, so I think it worked out in the end.

4. Present Tense (T, 5.3k, CW: canon typical violence, unhealthy coping mechanisms, canon character death)

Summary:  After avenging Aiden’s death, Lambert was not particularly concerned with ensuring his own survival.  Luckily for everyone who still cared about the prickly bastard, his survival no longer seemed to be up to him.

Another fic from The Witcher Flash Fic Challenge!  Seriously, that challenge got me out of a number of writing funks this year and was very much a godsend.  I don’t know why in particular I like this one so much; it might just be some of the wordplay or imagery, but I think it sticks out as some of my better writing.

5. In Which Markus (Professional Highwayman) Gets Stabbed (T, 4.4k, CW: none that I can think of - it is very silly fluff)

Summary: Markus has a simple three step plan: 1. Watch the tournament at the Passiflora to see who wins the pot. 2. Get that person drunk. 3. Steal everything they have.  He is also about to have three problems: 1. Geralt 2. Yennefer 3. Jaskier

It was honestly a toss up between this and Lingua Franca (my first attempt at Witcher fanfic) as the last entry, but I think overall this one is a neater and more polished piece of writing.  It is 90% banter with a sweet ending.  It’s probably the funniest thing I’ve done and it was just so much fun to write and seemed to descend fully formed from the heavens merely using me as a conduit.  I think the whole thing took me maybe two hours to write, if that.  It was also my first foray into actually interacting with other people in the fandom, since it was inspired by another work (In which Artur (Apprentice Thief) quits his job by Volts) and I had to be brave and actually talk to another human being to make sure they were okay with me riffing off of their idea.

I tag @sternenstaub28 and @major-trouble!  What are you proud of making this year?  If you want to share, of course.  No pressure!

#the witcher #fanfic #tag game #year in review

[jbird-the-manwich]

which magic model do you prefer to use? (spirit, energy, psychological, information, or meta)

Honestly it's a spectrum I've bounced across for much of my life. When I was growing up, everything even somewhat related to magic or divination I ever heard about was purely folklore, folk witchcraft, and folk magic of a heavily protestant bent (I'm the kid of an Appalachian water witch/cunning person, and yes, they do still exist, just rarely within full view) so it was about like you'd expect, the spirit model wasn't so much one model of many, so much as just "the way it is whether we like it or not", so my earliest exposure was to the spirit model, along with numerous, numerous lectures about the dangers and breadth of the spirit world.

Experiencing what parts of the Appalachian traditions my family maintained, I got a little obsessed and tried to go looking for more material - and as a Lil teen witch all I could get ahold of was texts on the energy model and Llewellyns almost uniquely Llewellyny neo-Wiccan elementally-focused mish mash between the spirit model and energy models, so my first few years were spent absorbing as much material about "really real witchcraft" of this variety as I could get ahold of, which lead into a brief foray into "High Magic" of the goetic current only lasting about six months, being a teenager, evocation was exciting as a concept but far too much work in practice, so i fell back onto my haunches of superstition and folkcraft coupled with what functional spells I'd found in my admittedly very shitty books. For years I didn't really think much about the foundations of magic as a practice in general and pretty much just considered it a nifty thing that I could do if I had to. Eventually I started reading about chaos magic, got heavy into the abstract meta ass "nothing is ultimately true all things are permitted" style of seat of your pants practice for awhile, even tried an emoji spell or two, tried to get my head around the New Witchcraft of the internet, played with the energy model espoused by most new agers and the vibration model espoused by the REALLY new agers, and was dissatisfied with both the work involved of visualizing things and the functional, but kind of bland and unsatisfying results I was getting, coupled with the absolute idiocy of other practitioners insisting wishful thinking was as good as actual results.

So I went back to back basics in my mid-to-late 20s, reading about historical witches, trial records, what have you, which eventually lead me into Traditional Witchcraft, I. E The Devil, the writings of Gemma Gary, Chumbley, the Two Nigels, etc, and found I was actually most comfortable there, as despite the grimoire speak and absolutely mysterious choices of wording, it's pretty much the other side of the same coin I grew up with, so much of my journey with magic and back into witchcraft was meta AF, and these days I'm pretty well comfortable and sat upon the spirit model, and you can pry it from my cold dead hands.

One of these days, I'm going to do a post about the actual definition of Traditional Witchcraft as a current of practice, because most of social media seems to think it's just a title you adopt to get followers on Instagram and sound more authoritative while continuing to just pull glitterbending psychodrama forth from the depths of one's rectum rather than a current of traditions predicated not only on a very specific definition of what makes a witch a witch, but also on its very own fairly cut-and-dry and interpretation of the spirit model, but that's a different rant for a different evening.

[mobius-prime]

277. Sonic Universe #8

Mobius: 30 Years Later (Part 4 of 4): The Freedom Fighters of the Future

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

So things are bad. Tikhaos is wrecking the castle and is already looking to move on to the rest of Portal, and no one really knows how they'll stop her. Sonic doesn't even know what he's looking at, and is baffled when Lara-Su mentions the monster's name, leading to the mention of a couple more noodle incidents.

I will say it seems a little trite to rehash the whole Perfect Chaos thing once again in a new setting, akin to how Star Wars just rehashed the Death Star twice after the original movie, but then again, the whole point of this arc is to show history repeating itself in both negative and positive ways. I actually do like the concept of the Future Freedom Fighters, the children of the original Freedom Fighters, carrying on the fight against renewed threats to the world - in m opinion it's one of the only things this arc actually gets right. The team wonders how Tikhaos was released and how she got all this Chaos energy in her in the first place, but decide they have to focus on the most present threat first.

This is one of the only actual character moments King Shadow gets at all in this arc, and honestly, I don't buy it. I suppose this is meant to be sort of a "bad future" Shadow, in which he never truly got the chance to fully comprehend Maria's ultimate wish and ended up horribly misinterpreting it, trying to bring peace to the world by conquering it and enforcing that "peace" through his brutal regime. But it falls incredibly flat without any kind of attempt at explaining how he ended up like this. Literally all we know about the past of this particular timeline is that Sonic disappeared shortly after Eggman was finally defeated for good - details that were covered in Penders' version of the future, such as Knuckles going green once more and "remaking the world as he saw fit" or whatever aren't confirmed to have happened or not happened, making everything about what led up to this moment entirely uncertain. Thus, there's no explanation whatsoever about what could have happened to Shadow that led to him becoming so brutal and tyrannical - literally, the backstory provided in SU#5 just makes it seem like he showed up one day and started taking over for no reason. Given his relatively tame character progression in the comics compared to in the games (where he undergoes significantly more trauma and is actually directly exposed to the temptation to violently take over the world), I find him developing in this direction extremely hard to believe. Like, I know I've gone on about how he's my favorite and all, but even if he wasn't, him becoming evil like this just makes no logical sense.

Anyway, Sonic orders Lara-Su to organize the rest of her band of new Freedom Fighters to stall Tikhaos while he rescues his family from the panic room, and orders Argyle to contact the Echidna Security Team to evacuate the city. Lara-Su is nervous about being totally in charge, but takes to it like a natural, ordering the others to distract and halt Tikhaos' advance so people have a chance to get away. Meanwhile, Sonic finds the half-destroyed panic room… with Sally still sitting pretty inside it, a vapid smile on her face. Seriously, normally Ian is good at writing his female characters, so I don't know what the hell happened here with Sally. I get she's close to fifty years old at this point and she was never a frontline combatant in the first place, but the Sally I know wouldn't exactly be content to just sit around while the castle literally fell apart around her, she'd be getting everyone on their feet and looking for an escape route, goddammit.

Once again I have to point out that Silver's motivations don't seem to make sense here. In every other appearance he makes in the comic, he's fully convinced that a traitor within the ranks of the Freedom Fighters is what caused his future to come to ruin, and yet here it's pretty clearly a result of Tikhaos' rage, which was obviously not caused by any Freedom Fighter at all. As Sonic carries Sally and encourages his kids to follow him to safety outside of the castle, Argyle reports that the evacuation of the city is going smoothly, with no reported casualties so far. The new Freedom Fighters are doing a decent job of holding back Tikhaos, but they're nowhere near strong enough to actually take her down, and are due to wear down eventually. Most importantly, the Dark Presence has actually fully renounced Shadow, and are helping to evacuate the civilians and have also freed Tails and Mina. Seems like a pretty quick turnaround for a terrorist organization, but whatever. There's also no further elaboration on the whole Shadow thing, by the way. You'd think everyone would freak out at the knowledge that Shadow has escaped containment and is clearly behind this disaster, but he's never mentioned again in the issue. This would have been the perfect opportunity to actually explain what the hell happened to him to cause such a drastic change in personality, and to have him show some actual regret and character growth from it all, but nah, he apparently just vanishes into the aether never to be seen again or face any consequences for his actions here. Great writing, Ian! Lara-Su decides that the fight is becoming a little too dicey, and decides to try appealing to Tikhaos' emotional side.

Hey, Tails! As he joins in the fight, Mina rushes in to grab their two kids and carry them to safety, much to Melody's annoyance. She protests that she and Skye are Freedom Fighters now, to which Skye emphatically agrees despite his timid nature, and this softens Mina's heart a little, no doubt remembering her own past with the original team. Meanwhile, Jacques and Belle are almost crushed by one of Tikhaos' tentacles, when Silver jumps into the fight.

While he helps stall Tikhaos, Sonic and Lara-Su discuss what needs to be done to actually stop her entirely. Manik and Sonia chime in at this point, reminding Sonic of his victory over Perfect Chaos when he was young and how he targeted its brain, and though he's not too pleased with being reminded that he's not young anymore, he decides they have a point. He calls on everyone on the field to clear a path for him as he rushes the beast, but he's not as fast as he used to be, and it turns to face him…

Look, I know Mobians like to start 'em young, but have we forgotten Sonic's kids are literally four years old?! I mean, kudos to them and all, but that's incredibly dangerous! Still, I can only imagine how popular one might be growing up if they were not only the offspring of a great war hero, but could also boast they took down a deadly monster at the age of four. With Tikhaos weakened, Lara-Su approaches while reciting Tikal's prayer, and this calms her down until she's reverted back to her ordinary Tikal-shaped spirit form, sleeping on the ground. Sonic congratulates everyone on working together effectively to save the day, and cracks a few obligatory jokes about his back hurting because, you know, he's old now.

"Chronos Control," huh? I actually like that quite a bit, nice twist on the ol' familiar Chaos Control. Sally congratulates Sonic on helping save the day, still relegated to being the useless cheerleader on the sidelines instead of doing literally anything proactive like her present-timeline self would definitely have been doing, and everyone poses for a nice final shot, excited to have formed the new Freedom Fighters. Despite the many, many (many) criticisms I have of this entire arc, it is a nice ending at least, fit to stand with the other triumphant finales in the comic at least. Still, overall, I feel like it was shallow, nonsensical, and full of bad characterizations of all the familiar characters. Individuals like Tails and Sally don't feel like themselves at all, but blank slates with the same names as their present-day counterparts, and others such as Shadow are entirely unrecognizable. Luckily for my sanity, this is the last foray we make into the Light Mobius timeline in the comic, and any future issues that deal with the future are set… a bit further into the future, if you catch my drift.

Like the last SU arc, this one ends with a teaser epilogue for the next arc, featuring none other than Finitevus coming out of a warp ring somewhere in a desert in Downunda, speaking to an unknown shadowy figure about how Angel Island is almost overhead and how he's "dying" to meet Knuckles again… Dun dun duuunnn!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #su 8 #writer: ian flynn #pencils: tracy yardley #colors: jason jensen

[smuttymess]

bts astro soulmate reading | for ellen

sign: leo sun | aries moon | scorpio rising

lover: Park Jimin | soulmate: Kim Seokjin

This reading is for the beautiful, smart, lovely Ellen! I really had fun writing this one as I think this is truly a match made in heaven. Hope you enjoy too :)

Action-oriented, strong-willed and enthusiastic, Leo Suns are truly a force to behold. Add in a fiery Aries Moon and you've got yourself a powerhouse who will work tirelessly to achieve any goal they set their mind to - be it a seemingly impossible project at work or playing matchmaker to a notoriously picky bestie. A big-picture thinker, you live in the here and now, focusing less on fantasy and more on the expansive potential of your reality. Supported by your innate self-confidence that radiates from your soul, you are a naturally charming and strong leader, bringing people together and making beautiful things happen (see: events!) Scorpio is a curious sign as it has the intensity of fire, but all within the magnificent depths of water as its core element. While your Aries Moon and Leo Sun is a roaring fire that burns passionately and bright, your Scorpio rising - which dictates how you present yourself - often results in a cooler exterior, with an incredible emotional current flowing just beneath the surface. To those who first meet you, you are seemingly reserved and aloof - avoiding frivolity and small talk like the plague - preferring instead to simply listen, observe and absorb before revealing your true self. This is to your benefit, as your Leo/Aries combination often lends to bluntness, sharp words, and sometimes hurt feelings - the Scorpio rising dials that back a bit, making you more cautious with your language but also perhaps standoffish at times. Despite this occasionally ice exterior, you are very keen to connect with people on a deep, emotional level, and nobody knows this better than the people closest to you. While you have many friends and admirers, there are only a select few that get full access to your heart - and to them you are unfailingly loyal, warm, compassionate, reliable, and generous. Once your trust is earned, you are likely to give your all in your work, familial, and romantic relationships - your love is big, bold, and boundless. Unlike more passive, agreeable signs, you definitely expect equal love in return - Leo/Aries needs praise, recognition, and appreciation for all of your fabulousness, and like a true fire sign, you're not afraid to ask for it. A goal-setter, there is nothing you do in life that isn't deliberate or without meaning. Your desire is to leave an impact, making your mark on the world with your own fiery personal brand, and its likely that your influence already spans further than you realize.

A true connector and creator, you naturally seek ways of construction experiences that meet your expectations and exceptional taste levels - who better than you? Being a lover of fantasy and spectacle, nobody is surprised when you create a Studio 54-inspired pop-up party, wherein you show off your curves in your best 70s get up. Blissed out in a sea of glitter, sequins, and champagne, you are simply shining beneath the dazzling lights as disco floats through the air. The tone of the evening is simply fabulous, and surrounded by friends new and old you are truly in your element. You are unstoppable, the star of tonight's show, and the only thing that could make it better is a dance with the beautiful stranger sauntering around the club in his perfectly tailored bellbottoms and silky button down shirt like he owns the place. Wanting nothing but the best in your life, you are attuned to the fact that you want him, strategically positioning yourself in the middle of the dance floor as the music plays and meeting his eyes with an inviting stare. With ample confidence and mysterious aura in your arsenal, Park Jimin does not stand a chance once your sights are set, and it is not long before you two find yourselves immersed in each other's company under the flashing lights and the sheer electricity of the evening you've created. You tend to leave people wanting more, so you are not surprised to find the flirty Libra boy in your DMs the next morning. So, when is the next party?

Developing from a flirtatious friendship into something a bit more fun, Leo and Libra are an instant hit. This is a combination of fire and air, with Jimin acting as the wind beneath your sails as the easy, go-with-the-flow, partner in crime for all of your big schemes. Possessing an innate love of beauty, of fantasy, and romance, Jimin provides a level of optimism that your fantastical mind requires - he genuinely believes that there is nothing you cannot accomplish, helping your dreams along to become a reality. A Libra's extremely affable, adoring nature is like kryptonite to the romantic Leo who does not know the meaning of too much praise. It is no surprise when these two meet it is nothing short of a whirlwind relationship, with Jimin doting on your every wish without hesitation. The combination of Jimin's Libra Sun and Gemini Mercury makes him expertly aware of how to charm you, giving you exactly what you need at the right time. A true people-pleaser, you are delighted to find Jimin highly amenable to your emotions and desires, wanting nothing more than to ensure you are content. When you feel the genuine nature of this person that simply wants you to be happy - and unwavering loyalty of his Gemini moon - you are able to fully let down the walls posed by your more mysterious, reserved Scorpio rising that initially avoids vulnerability so soon. As Leo and Libra falls in love, there is an infinite level of romance and adoration. Suddenly, you find that you are in fact a hopeless romantic, loving being that sickening couple that sits next to each other in the corner of wine bars. He helps you slow down to access a more sensual side of your sign, your fingers intertwined underneath the table in a playful exchange while his hands graze your thigh despite. Jimin's Gemini Mercury allows for a bit of mystery and impulsivity, and there is something exciting to you about not knowing what you're going to get from him on any given day - while he can easily seduce you, is more than happy to let your more assertive Aries Moon take control when the mood strikes.

While Leo and Libra are typically quite compatible, there are some underlying issues presented by your charts. While you enjoy Jimin's free-flowing nature and desire to please, you become unsettled when this behavior is not just limited to you. His eagerness to please makes him quite susceptible to peer pressure, something that you simply cannot relate to with your heightened sense of independence. When he shows up late for date night, flushed and tipsy after a couple of extra rounds with the boys, you grow less amused by this side of his persona which you begin to see as inherently weak. Additionally, his moody, sensitive Moon in Gemini combined with a Venus in Scorpio makes him an especially possessive partner, not fully allowing you to be the social butterfly you are at your core and also requiring a level of affection and attention that you cannot always provide. When you feel that your needs are not being met to the level you expect, your Leo bluntness alongside the sting of your Scorpio rising are likely to hurt the softer Libra who is effectively allergic to criticism or discomfort in their personal and romantic lives, causing him to retreat. This only serves to exacerbate the problem, leading you to end the relationship on a swift and final note.

Always on the move and averse to any type of wallowing, Leo Sun/Aries Moons are constantly ideating, creating new ways to have fun and enjoy life to the fullest. You are truly the architect of your life, moving on your own terms which often leads you in the pursuit of food, travel, music or any other experience wherein you can connect on a sensory level with the world around you. Travel to another city for a concert? Consider tickets booked. Try a foreign cuisine completely unknown to you? Why not! Your friends are more than happy to go along for the ride, knowing that wherever you're going is where they want to be. You enjoy activities which showcase your profoundly adventurous, spirited nature. Independent and proud, you adore a challenge but not known for asking for help even when you need it say, during your first foray into rock climbing experience at a facility in the mountains. Despite your assuredness that you've got this (you don't!) it is when you're stuck midway through the advanced wall you insisted on climbing that a pair of big, strong hands are firmly grabbing the harness around your waist and steadily guiding you back down to earth. Before you can even process all that just occurred, your eyes widen at the sight of the gorgeous man in front of you shaking his head in disapproval. "You weren't listening to my instructions at all, were you?" His words are stern, but his eyes bright and lips pursed into a smile as he senses your competitiveness. In true Leo form you're soon able to charm your way out of what potentially could have been a lawsuit, enjoying taking to the smoke show who reintroduces himself as Kim Seokjin before explaining the basics you so diligently ignored. Impressed, you remain composed despite the incredible visual of Jin swiftly scaling the wall with ease. Like this, see? Our Sagittarius Jin is not always extroverted, but certainly has the confidence to ask for what he wants, and it's not long before he's proposing a 1:1 lesson in the very near future. Your Scorpio rising knows to play it cool but also when to seize an opportunity, and undoubtedly this one is too good to pass up.

This is a duo that may play a few games in the early phases of dating, but one ignited there is no extinguishing this spark.  Jin's Sagittarius Sun is an ideal match for your Leo Sun as you share a warm, good-natured aura that you exude in every area of your life - its one of your signature qualities that you find most attractive in yourself and others. While there is a lot of ego in this pairing - both of you aware of your individual greatness but also in each others - you find a true partner matching your profound level of adventure, curiosity, and genuine experiences. This manifests itself in somewhat of a condensed dating phase, equipped with elaborate dates wherein the sky truly is the limit. Such a fiery countless hours together bonding over both new and shared interests - think skiing in Aspen, racing on a closed-course, a food tour of Rome - allowing them to show off their own skills while igniting their competitive fire while learning something new. Initially there is likely to be more of an investment in fun than an emotional commitment - a Sagittarius's specialty - and were it not for your other placements this could easily dissolve into a longstanding friends-with-benefits or fun summer fling. Luckily, your compatibility is deepened exponentially by several specific pairings that overlap and compliment each other. Two Moons in Aries are equally ambitious, fair, independent and honest, and you both take pride in this character trait that you are so appreciated for and allows you to be extremely successful in work and your social circles. Once you begin to explore the "why" behind your ambition - your desire for connection, improving humanity, making an impact - you are both able to open up into a deeper level of emotional understanding that few others get to access.

It is here that you find true romance, with his Venus in Capricorn appealing to your sensitive, dreamy, and romantic Pisces rising/Leo Sun. True to your Leo brand, you also need to be praised, worshipped and adored. You rule with your emotions, so acting up out of sheer passion is not unlike you. Not everyone can handle this wide range of emotions, but adaptable Jin is up for the task. He is perfectly able to navigate your moods, with the patience of a saint combined with a Mercury is in Scorpio which makes him extremely observant and strategic in terms of his communication. There is no staying mad with a Sagittarius (no matter how annoying he may be) as his need to move forward at a rapid clip makes it nearly impossible for problems to fester too long. With Venus in Capricorn there displays of grandiose affection you adore: two dozen roses at your door just because, renting out your favorite restaurant for a private meal on a random weeknight, a fully packed suitcase at the edge of your bed with an accompanying note. Madrid tomorrow morning? This is a couple that fucks like rabbits, often beginning the foreplay long before they reach the bedroom. He certainly enjoys watching you slink around the room at any party or event, entertaining the crowd with your charm and basking in the limelight, looking absolutely stunning in a dress he's gifted you. There is an air of excitement as the night goes on, knowing full well that he will be the one that has his hands all over you as soon as you get home. Its likely that the two of you get off on being the power couple that nobody can get enough of, and even more satisfying is that is just comes so naturally to you - there is no faking this level of chemistry! A mutually impulsive nature exists at the core of this dynamic, meaning you may not wait until you get home (why would you, when there's a car?)

Fiercely independent and fast-paced, more than anything you need someone who can both keep up with you and challenge you as well. Jin the Archer is notoriously hard to lock down, seeking someone who will let him be his fully adventurous, fun-loving self, and he successfully finds that in the equally on-the-go Leo. Your sensitive Leo thinks funny guy Jin may initially be a bit over-the-top in his playful teasing of you, enjoying pressing your buttons a little bit, but over time you learn that this is simply how a Sag shows love. It is this highly humorous element of his personality that opens you up to access a more playful and lighthearted side of yourself that embraces your humanity and flaws without taking them too personally. Together, Leo and Sag guide and drive each other in your respective careers, acting as partners and confidantes, while innately understanding the others need for space like few others can. At the core, this pairing has a strong foundation of friendship upon which everything else is built, creating a very open and respectful relationship which allows the other to stay true to their deeper selves without fear of judgement for being "too much". The life created between this pairing is one of fun, great wealth through your many successful enterprises, and the strongly rooted presence of family. Fiery, bold, passionate selves, this pair grows even stronger as they move through life together, inevitably making their mark on the world through charitable and culture contributions with their infectiously energetic personals and uniquely creative minds.

#bts #bts astrology #bts horoscope #leo #aries #scorpio #park jimin #kim seokjin #astrology #horoscope #creative writing #bangtan #bangtan astrology #bangtan fic #libra

[letterboxd]

Grand Gestures.

Casually breaking new ground for the rom-com genre, writer-director Natalie Krinsky tells Dominic Corry about creating her quietly revolutionary new film The Broken Hearts Gallery—while leading man Dacre Montgomery reveals his Letterboxd habits.

“Good, bad, ugly. The whole lot. I love reading the bad reviews. I’m all about it.” —Dacre Montgomery

An antidote to 2020 malaise if ever there was one, the upbeat, emotionally frank and unapologetically sentimental new big-screen romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery is here to lift your spirits and mend your broken heart.

Blockers and Bad Education star Geraldine Viswanathan leads the film as Lucy, a New York art gallery assistant prone to hoarding physical memorabilia from past relationships. After being dumped and fired in quick succession, Lucy meet-cutes Nick (Stranger Things break-out Dacre Montgomery), an aspiring hotelier with a large empty space on his hands, in which Lucy decides to stage the titular pop-up exhibition, filled with objects representing lost loves.

Proving there are still plenty of new places to go in the well-worn rom-com genre, Krinsky’s film is generating passionate responses on Letterboxd, where fans are celebrating its contemporary sensibility. “Refreshingly modern,” writes Anne. “Diversity is easily achieved and there’s really no heteronormativity. People are just people, love is just love, and that’s what wins me over.”

“Definitely a very 2020 film,” writes Jovi. “It couldn’t have been written in the same way even ten years ago. It captures being in your twenties in the modern day perfectly.” “Bloody loved the female empowerment and the unconventional narrative and characters,” enthuses Meg.

Geraldine Viswanathan and Dacre Montgomery in ‘The Broken Hearts Gallery’.

Reading through the reviews, the most common reaction is praise for how unapologetically inclusive the film is, in a way that feels appallingly novel for a mainstream film. As Krinsky explains it, “I wanted to make a film that was reflective of the world that I see around me and the world that these characters would inhabit if they lived amongst us mortals.” Or, as Montgomery casually states, “I think it’s where we’re at in 2020 with casting and stuff.” The ease with which the film does this indicts most of modern cinema for its lack of representation.

Krinsky’s inclusive casting and characterization decisions stretch across the entire cast, encompassing that essential feature of modern rom-coms: the quirky ‘best friend’. As well as lending authenticity and personality to the leading characters’ lives, the bestie is often where the ‘com’ in rom-com comes in. The Broken Hearts Gallery has an abundance of quirksters, from Lucy’s roommates (who include Hamilton’s Phillipa Soo as saucy, serial heartbreaker Nadine) to Nick’s straight-talking BFF Marcos (a very funny Arturo Castro).

But the chemistry between the central couple is everything in romantic comedies, and The Broken Hearts Gallery benefits greatly from its fresh-faced, emerging-star leads, both of whom are Australian. “We had a rapport with each other much faster maybe than usual,” Montgomery says of his and Viswanathan’s shared background. “I haven't worked with an Australian actor or actress overseas so that was really nice. She’s a wildly talented, comedic actress. It was my first foray into this sort of genre. I was sort of shit-scared and she’s really held my hand through it.”

Geraldine Viswanathan and director Natalie Krinsky.

Krinksy, likewise, was blown away by Viswanathan’s talents, having seen her work in Blockers and Hala. “She does this great physical comedy in Blockers, and then in Hala, she plays this really vulnerable, dramatic teenage role. I was so taken by her ability to pull both of those completely different parts off. I just immediately had this feeling, which I hadn’t ever had before, of: ‘this is Lucy’. She’s got this comedic timing that is very much like Lucille Ball, it’s got this effervescence to it. She’s able to do so much without saying a word. And then she opens her mouth and it’s a gift.”

It’s no small thing for Viswanathan to have been cast as Lucy. Many an actor’s career has been made by a leading role in a romantic comedy, and—current industry upheaval notwithstanding—Viswanathan looks set to break out even further with her performance here. Montgomery’s and Krinsky’s enthusiasm for her work echoes a central theme in The Broken Hearts Gallery: when Montgomery first met with writer-director Krinsky about the film, she told him the story was somewhat inspired by the idea of seeing men support women in their careers, as Nick does with Lucy. “That was a big thing for me,” he explains, “because I have a lot of really strong women in my life that have supported me—my partner, my mum, my grandmother, so on and so forth.”

Those who know Montgomery from Stranger Things will be interested to learn why he pivoted to romantic comedy. He tells us he was looking for something diametrically opposed to his break-out performance in that show. “As a viewer, I love comedy. As an actor, can’t think of anything scarier. I function in this realm of ‘plan, prepare, do everything the way I know’. The great thing about this was it was ever-evolving. It really did force me to come out of my comfort zone.” (Montgomery will pivot again for his next role, which he says is “kind of a dream role. I can’t speak about it now… Again, it’s 180 degrees in the other direction, so it is a wild ride.”)

Krinsky is also switching things up, career-wise. The Broken Hearts Gallery is her first feature film, after cutting her teeth in television writers’ rooms (Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, 90210). She credits that environment for training her to fix storytelling problems on the fly. A story a decade in the making, Broken Hearts came from her own romantic aspirations and fears. “I had had many conversations like [the one Lucy has early in the film with Max (Utkarsh Ambudkar), where he dumps her after telling her she’s ‘a blast’]. So that certainly came from my life. I’d been fired from my job. I was moving apartments and I was going through the detritus of these past relationships and kind of trying to figure out what I was going to keep and what I was going to hold on to. You kind of pepper in those things [that are] reflective of relationships in your twenties.”

‘The Broken Hearts Gallery’ director Natalie Krinsky.

Going into the film, Krinsky was very conscious of trying to set it apart from rom-coms that have come before. “Making a good romantic comedy is actually quite difficult because it’s so well-trodden, and because there are beats that we want. We want to cheer for two people falling in love. Because of that, my philosophy going into this was very much centered around Lucy. We’ve seen a lot of romantic comedies in the past where we see a woman trying to fit herself into a mold in order to be with someone and ultimately realizing, ‘Oh, that mold isn’t who I am’. Lucy is a character who certainly has her foibles and has her anxieties and has her eccentricities, but she consistently asks the world to love her because she is weird, not despite the fact that she is weird. That messaging was really important to me.”

In another case of the film gently nudging the rom-com genre forward, it acknowledges how ridiculous grand romantic gestures can be, but still manages to include a few. Krinsky believes there is room for grand gestures in real life. “I certainly hope so. I would like a grand gesture every once in a while—wouldn’t we all? We deserve it. I’m a little bit hopelessly romantic in that way. And I will say I like the surprise. To be able to just, show up home and say, ‘I was walking around today and I saw this cactus. And I thought of you. And here it is.’ Maybe that’s not so grand, but it’s the gesture at least.”

We note that another unique aspect of The Broken Hearts Gallery is the feeling that it doesn’t seem like it’s going to live or die on whether or not the two main characters end up together. “I think they both needed to confront a little bit of who they were,” Krinksy agrees. “Which I always think is the truth about really falling in love, is that in order to have a good relationship, you need to have a good one with yourself first.”

Clearly a huge fan of the genre, we ask Krinsky to recommend her favorites from the canon. “I love some of our recent classics. When Harry Met Sally is a perfect romantic comedy. Bridget Jones’s Diary is a perfect romantic comedy. I love Clueless—even though it’s more com than rom. And then I really love some of the older ones. Broadcast News is one of my all time favorites. Going back even further two of my go-tos that hold up today are His Girl Friday and It Happened One Night. Those two, especially if you’re talking about the ‘strong female lead’, they held them in spades and that fast quippy dialogue I just really live for.”

Montgomery, meanwhile, turns out to be somewhat of a cinephile, something he cultivated as a teenager in the Australian suburbs. “I worked at McDonald’s and I spent all my money on going to [electronics and DVD store] JB Hi-Fi. That’s my childhood in a nutshell. Growing up, I was either at the cinema or in my room and spending all my money on DVDs. All my friends worked at video stores. That was kind of my jam.”

And then—mic drop—Montgomery casually shares the news that he has a secret Letterboxd account. Yes, dear reader, it appears that Dacre is a full-on ’boxd-head. “Oh yeah. I mean, that’s why I was so happy that this [interview] was coordinated. Other than obviously having a chance to talk to you just in general to chat about the platform, it’s a combination of a couple of things that I’m going to put quickly in a couple of words: obviously you can create watchlists on Disney+, Netflix and so on. But then you’ve got so many bloody platforms, all of your lists are in different spaces and all of your movies are spread out on different platforms.

“For me, the biggest role for [Letterboxd] is I can formulate everything in one place, on one platform and look at it. It’s just got so … much … stuff. If I’m up for a horror movie, but I want it set in the snow, I can log on there and it’s, like, The Thing, Hold The Dark. All these great movies. Which I love. And I can read reviews of them before or after.”

Montgomery’s partner is also on Letterboxd, as is his childhood best friend. “Every time we leave the cinema, he gets on Letterboxd and writes a review—his honest, immediate reaction to what he’s just seen. It’s the first thing he does. It’s a great outlet for him. He’s had filmmakers reach out to him, which is another lovely thing. I think a lot of the arts and creative community is actually active on that platform. My buddy just spent the $20 for the year thing and now he can see what his top actors are that he watches, what’s his most-watched decade. I love that sort of stuff. I’m such a cinephile, to be able to collate everything into one sort of succinct thing—that’s my dream.”

Naturally, we ask Montgomery to represent his home country and name-check some Aussie films and filmmakers. “Obviously I’m still quite young, but a lot of cinema like Felony, The Rover, Animal Kingdom, that whole sort of genre, like all the David Michôd films. That sort of realm, I loved growing up. Baz Luhrmann’s films, obviously. Don McAlpine, Australian cinematographer. Bruce Beresford. There’s such an amazing pedigree of actors as well, most recently, obviously the Edgertons [Joel and Nash], Ben Mendelsohn, Heath, obviously, and Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman.”

Curious to learn more about why a bona-fide star would lurk on Letterboxd where his own performances are ranked, rated and reviewed, we ask Montgomery: what does he get out of it? “I don't have this in-built bias or expectation, even though you’d think I would to kind of go, ‘Why didn’t they like that?’ I love reading the bad reviews. I’m all about it. I’m just interested to see what they engaged with. I think that’s the great thing about Letterboxd as opposed to any other platform is that I can just kind of log in under my alias and read everyone’s uninhibited dialogue that’s come out just after they’ve seen the film. And I love that. Good, bad, ugly. The whole lot. I think it’s the coolest thing ever.”

So then, the final, obvious question: has he been reading the Broken Hearts reviews? “I love to look up the Broken Hearts Gallery page. I think people are just enjoying this level of escapism. If they had the ability to go to a drive-in or to the cinema, wherever they are, people are just kind of going ‘it was so nice to get out of my house and out of my head’. It’s what any cinema tries to do, that level of escapism. I think it couldn’t have come at a better time. Once it’s done its cinematic release, it’ll be on streamers and then people can have that level of escapism who weren’t able to go to the cinema, so that’s really nice.”

Prepare yourself for The Broken Hearts Gallery by checking out this extremely thorough Letterboxd list of romantic comedies, expand your romantic comedy horizons with this list of South Korean rom-coms, and get a feel for where Letterboxd members are at, rom-com-wise, with this romantic comedy showdown.

‘The Broken Hearts Gallery’ is in theaters where possible. Dacre Montgomery’s first book of poetry will be released in October. Comments have been edited for clarity and length.

#the broken hearts gallery #natalie krinsky #dacre montgomery #geraldine viswanathan #romantic comedy #romantic comedies #rom com #romcom #rom-com #letterboxd

[shidiand]

How do you imagine Tenco's Story ending in your head?

that is a GREAT but UNEXPECTED QUESTION freshlybaked "spider" bread and i'm really happy to have the opportunity to try and answer this ageless question that has burned within all of us in the tenco's story iv waiting room community since 2013. it is an incredible coincidence (or is it? 👀) that i was just talking to Risa about tenco's this (edit: yesterday) morning so i am extra double super in the mood to talk about Tenco's Story today. so excellent of a coincidence is this that i am tempted to refer you to them in case you wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter that would probably turn out super cool, but that is neither here nor there; let us talk Tenco's Story.

i of course must mention my unadvertised and modestly detailed commentary on tenco's i-iii at https://shidiand.tumblr.com/tencos, presenting slightly interesting facts in an unwieldy and difficult-to-use format, but as it dates back to june 2017, i want to take some time to understand my feelings about the series once more.

tenco's story is a series that has a lot of meaning to me.

i took on my current name of shidiand in november of 2013. i was still in 11th grade at the time, 4th year of high school, and a very socially isolated person. i should say i was introduced to touhou in 7th grade, 2010, so i was still working through a 3 years-strong phase of trying to simultaneously both find an outlet for and bottle up an endless wellspring of awkward weeaboo-gamer nerd energy at the time.

i had my first real foray onto the internet in 2010, tried out twitter, followed some RPers and other people who had Cool Touhou Usernames. didn't really go anywhere. i had maybe 50 followers, i dont really know the count but it was definitely a) double digits and b) pretty low. didn't know what to tweet about. didn't know how to hit it off with others. i think there was basically maybe only 3 other people i ever properly interacted with. oh shit i was playing league of legends at the time. oh my god. i really did play league of .. oh my god. let's move on.

aw shit im super digressing amn't i. well.

this is just how it goes when i write essays on tumblr.com.

i'm afraid you're just along for the ride at this point so please do your best to enjoy it.

i got kind of tired of twitter at the time because i didnt know what to do with it. didnt know how to interact with people and didnt find the people i was following interesting, so i ghosted on out of there by the end of 2012. didnt deactivate it until like 2015 but at that point that was just burning away my dark history. anyways. november 2013.

--im taking a lot of time here trawling through old files on my computer, my tumblr blog, notification emails still lying around in my gmail inbox from twitter, the dropbox i didn't actually use but it had several tenco's story pictures on it but i deleted them so this was useless, ... to trace the timeline of this story and im really seeing a lot of remnants of dark history here you know? did you know i wrote a letter to a girl i had a crush on valentine's day 2014, slipped it into her locker, and anxiously hung around nearby at lunchtime to see how she reacted at lunchtime? i certainly didn't, or at least i made darn ass sure to forget about this incredible virgin incident and not remember it, ever, until i came across the records of it that i thoughtfully preserved for the me of 5 years later today. ok well now i have to read the letter to see if it was as bad as it just sounded there brb

ok so the good news is that it was actually very focused on being positive and full of admiration for the cool things she did instead of being a confession letter so i am very glad i was able to be a respectful chad 5 years ago, but the bad news is that the jokes, the actual sentences i put together. oh my god. but i mean. well. at least i got the spirit. its certainly a step up from this other person in my grade, WEEABOO ANDREW, YOU MAY RECALL THIS STORY AND HIS NAME FROM PREVIOUS STORYTIMES, THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND who came to school on halloween once cosplaying kirito from sword art online and got very possessive about people asking if they could hold his black replica plastic sword, and probably worse, dropped a "will you be my girlfriend" letter into the locker of my homie and fellow trombonist samantha, who was a little bit nerdy, hung out with the anime-likers who were actually sociable and fun to be around so you can imagine why weeaboo andrew was into her, which had i) a direct quotation from SAO chapter 16.5 (origin of the famous "glopping noise" line), and ii) a condom. jesus christ. i dont want to talk about this any more. next topic.

i also put this drawing of iku nagae and her skarmory (actually an albinoss from 18 DRAGONS) on the other side of the letter because it was the coolest thing i could think of drawing at the time. and i completely agree with 2014 me because it IS super fucking cool. hell fuckin yeah

https://shidiand.tumblr.com/post/76301993387/iku-nagae-ft-that-thing-that-supposedly-is-a

alright that was a fun little trip down memory lane but lets get back on track. november 2013. i started anew as shidiand. still awkward, still learning how to express myself and looking for my place among others. i followed some touhou bloggers, hung around r/touhou a lot as well. in december i got my first tablet for christmas, a wacom bamboo splash. i still use this thing! the usb cable disconnects if you bump it so i have to find just the perfect position to sit in whenever i want to draw, but its served me well. anyways. i was just starting to play around with digital art but i remember, probably just before new years, for some reason i wanted to find out more about tenshi hinanawi (i don't remember why. tenshi wasn't even one of my favourite characters at the time) so i went googling and right there on zerochan i found this:

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=23525572

this was during my dark souls phase so i just went BANANAS at the sight of this. this was literally the coolest image i had ever seen in my internet life. That image alone made me want to draw in hopes that I could make something as cool as that someday.

it wasn't immediately after but i soon discovered tenco's story, and it was love. kannnu was my very first artistic inspiration, and for a long time, my only one. i absolutely idolized them at the time. since then, ive found other artists to look up to, in a more healthy manner, but to this day i still look up to kannnu, still admire their work a lot.

i played around with drawing, followed the lives of people on tumblr, started reading touhou fanfiction, made a new twitter. i met a lot of new people along the way. some people i havent stuck with, some i cut ties with, and some people i still keep in contact with today. over those long 5 years of being shidiand, i found a name (i used to use shidian and then shid, but someone called me shidi once and i realized that was a lot better), how to reach out to others, how to express myself, places that i could feel included in. this is why i owe a blood debt to evelyn, who permitted me to kneel at her throne and was like "yea ok you can join my discord server u seem cool". evelyn, if you were confused by me ominously mentioning this blood debt/blood oath in a tumblr reply 1-2 years ago, this is the context. those 5 years were like a coming of age of sorts, that i never had when i was in high school.

and my love for tenco's story, that inspired me to draw that day, has been with me since almost the very beginning of my time as shidiand. from the beginning, i have always encouraged people to READ TENCO'S STORY, like the kin of those who cry PLAY MELTY or WATCH SYMPHOGEAR. i think my very first sidebar description was something akin to a prayer, written in very choral language, hoping for the day tenco's story iv was completed, ..., "meanwhile, furious shitposting". kannnu's work, finding delight in whatever they chose to draw, has been at my side, all along. my true mentor, my guiding moonlight...

so that's why i still to this day love tenco's story so much.

let's talk about tenco's story.

tenco's story is a story told through single pictures. the plot is vague, and details are sparse. dialogue is rare. we only know what has happened; we seldom know why. furthermore, there are many gaps between scenes that the reader is left to fill in for themselves; we see only snapshots that form an hazy outline of the events that occurred, and must imagine the rest. motivations and explanations fail me. but even with a barebones plot, tenco's story has themes, and if nothing else, those have to be carried through.

the main theme, of course, is journey and travel, but there are also other ideas, too. i actually think they start to change as the series goes on:

book i, where tenshi runs away from home, is about striking out on your own. it's a very fun and unpredictable journey, together with a friend.

book ii, where tenshi and iku are separated, forces tenshi to find and rely on companions of her own even more. but they do so, and they are able overcome hardships, and there is food and festival.

book iii marks a climax, reasserting tenshi's goal of finding the sword of hisou. i feel like the journey shifts from a travel (visiting) to a path forwards (making your way through). perhaps this is just something i get from knowing the locations from dark souls (Anor Londo, New Londo Ruins, the Great Hollow), but the locations start to give more of a sense of verticality, like they're emphasizing tenshi's climb to the summit. the hardships and enemies are the greatest they've been yet, and right when they near the top, tenshi and iku start to bleed. the book ends on an uncertain note.

if i had to describe the type of journey and travel that tenshi and iku undertake, there's this sense of wonder at discovering new places, wandering from vista to vista in delight, but also a sense of conquering, making it through a difficult patch. the sequence from pages 2-44 to 2-51, taken together, convey this sense of overcoming the best. it's one of my favourite parts. again, although the tone definitely starts to lean towards struggle in book iii, i think tenco's sense of wonder really is the heart of the series. there's no map of the world, no predicting where tenshi and iku will end up next. and through their travels, though they come across many enemies, they also find friends -- places of refuge, places full of life, people who will look after them for a few days, companions who will stay with them for the rest of the journey. at the end of book iii, we see a long haired tenshi with purple hair being impaled by the sword of hisou (3-33, see also this extra illustration that risa pointed out to me http://sinnnkai.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-195.html), and regular short haired tenshi continuing on her journey (3-42). if we ignore the out-of-story images where tenshi has the sword of hisou, tenshi has actually only ever used her sunlight blade (2-24, 3-26, etc), so i think that the long haired tenshi on 3-33 is a different person altogether. (if i had to guess, she might be the purple haired woman in the top left of https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35443328 as we have never seen that woman appear anywhere.) she probably has something to do with the flashbacks at the end of book ii and she might somehow be short-haired tenshi at the same time, but this is just speculation.

however, in 3-43, tenshi's hair is rather blue, so i don't know if this is the purple haired woman or not. if it is, tenshi is probably still fine and closing in on the summit, but if it isn't, then it's very worrying to see a picture of tenshi without any of her companions. it's very ominous.

meanwhile, iku, while climbing the red carpeted corridor, is stabbed, and disappears for a few pages. there's a black page, a shot of a shrine that strongly resembles the hakurei shrine, and a picture of iku standing behind someone in a tux, with the line "In the past, I was saved by the lady I was serving, you see?". and then iku wakes up in a field of flowers.

i think what this scene makes clear is a theme that has continued to appear and reappear throughout every book of "being saved, being aided by someone's kindness".

i think another theme that is implied and has to be addressed by this story of running away from home is "return". something im imagining is that the reason tenshi makes finding the sword of hisou her goal is because she wants to have something to prove herself with, to vindicate her when she comes home. but i don't think she needs to prove anything, and i ultimately think that she would be happier spending the rest of her life exploring.

so i think this should be what happens in the ending.

open on iku's journey, and give her a long sequence of travel without seeing tenshi. underline her newfound resolve. she climbs to the summit with albinoss, and finds the rest of tenshi's companions fallen. and in the last room is sword of hisou tenshi, who has lost herself, and it comes down to iku to bring her back. after a difficult battle, when both of them are on their last legs, iku is unable to stand any longer. but at this moment tenshi sees her companions struggling to get back up and reach her, and that's what brings her to her senses. and iku gets to see how many friends tenshi's been able to make on her own, and they finally and properly reunite. together, tenshi and iku carry each other out of the last room.

i don't think it's necessary to return to heaven. as a conclusion, dedicate some time to tenshi and iku travelling together. they're on their way back, revisiting old friends who helped them along the way, enjoying the journey. their last stop is the house of the elderly nawis (1-42). tenshi shows off the sword of hisou; she decided to keep it not as a trophy to show her family but as proof of the bonds of her companions. surrounded by friends, tenshi and iku decide to part ways with each other, knowing that the other will be alright. iku drifts among the clouds once more, and tenshi sets off for the horizon.

that's the plot that i'd write/just wrote. i don't really expect tenco's story iv to ever come out, though. i mentioned my first sidebar description earlier in this essay, but of course, you can see that it's been changed. 2 years ago, i read my hopeful prayer once more and was struck with a terrible melancholy, so now it reads this: "having come to terms with the fact that tenco's story iv will never be released, i can still live, knowing that the spirit of the journey will live on through kannnu's original works [...] meanwhile, furious shitposting".

on one level, tenco's story is a story, but in the process of following it, i came to think of the work itself as a journey too. you can constantly see kannnu's improvement between and even within each book. they have always drawn whatever they liked; what plot matters in the face of "I wanted to draw a beautiful sky." "I wanted to draw a fantastic battle." "I wanted to draw Dark Souls and Monster Hunter and Pokemon and Brave Fencer Musashi and Bokura no Taiyou and Touhou."

its not really kannnu's style to go back and tie up old ends. they just draw whatever makes them happy. so as i watch them continue to draw beautiful places and fantastic creatures, new characters heading out on journeys of their own or just enjoying their everyday lives, it's as if tenco's story never ended. the limits and consistency of that world ignored, and a new one springs up; in a way, the world of tenco's, which had such thin boundaries, just gets bigger.

but even so, having said all that, i still see them draw that short-haired tenshi from time to time. it makes me happy to see them remember tenco's story with such fondness. often crossing over with orion or roar or elweiss, you can see tenshi on another journey.

#tenco's story #freshlybakedspiderbread

[im-fairly-whitty]

10 Starters

Tagged by @slusheeduck for the “10 Starters Challenge.” Essentially taking the first line of 10 of your fics/works (or the first paragraph to get the vibe of it.) 

It was so so much fun digging through my story trunk and remembering all these fantastic projects! Here we go:

1. The Arbrel

My very first novel, started this one when I was fifteen and it's a loose mess of a plot featuring people who have animal-based superpowers. 

Unfinished and always will be. 

Mitch dashed down the alley, his stolen prize grasped tightly in his hand as he weaved around crushed cardboard boxes and jumped over loose piles of leaves. The cold October air bit through the holes in his jeans and the hood of his sweatshirt slid off, baring his short dark hair to the chilled twilight of the Minnesota evening.

2. Dr Who fanfic

I thought Coco was my first foray into fanfic, but then remembered an old Dr Who self-insert drabble I wrote forever ago. 

For some reason I've forgotten, it seems to have been part of a homework assignment.

A package of gluten-free spaghetti, that’s all I had wanted when I walked through the automatic doors of my neighborhood Smith’s. Instead of procuring my pasta as according to plan, I now found myself precariously perched upon the ice cream freezer.

3. Honey Rubies

There was a spooky story contest at a Haloween party I attended in high school. Wrote this oneshot from the point of view of a disturbingly cheerful clinically insane murderer and swept away first prize no contest after completely terrifying my friends. 

Maybe available for posting if requested.

I love my white chair, it is solid and secure and always there. I know it is always there. Around it spreads a beautiful field of emerald grass that stretches to a horizon of blue that soars up to form a ceiling of azure far above my head. I call this place Amy. The first Amy was a person, not a place, she was always there too. Until one day she wasn’t.

4. Hitman for Hire: Unfinished Business Only

A story about a hitman who takes business from spirits with unfinished business, killing their murderers so that the spirits can move on before warping into dangerous poltergeists like the one that killed his mother, who was a psychic. 

I only ever wrote the first chapter of this one since I decided I wasn't comfortable jumping down the dark rabbit hole that this story would require (it would definitely be an M rating and I don't like wandering past pg-13), but I do love the chapter a lot. I could be convinced to post what I have already if requested, but will likely remain unfinished.

“... and once the ladder tipped I fell right on the fence below. It was a two-story fall! And then my idiot brother-in-law just watches me bleed out, a piece of rebar through my neck. You ever bled to death? Like, it’s quick, but not that quick.” The lanky man rubbed a hand on his neck, grimacing.

5. How to Hate the Planet Earth 

An alien scout has just finished her report that the Earth is ready for harvesting but is feeling guilty about having doomed the planet and its population that she's come to love. Now with three days before the end of Earth she recruits a depressed and confused art student to help her find all the reasons to hate Earth to make her feel better. 

A finished 30k romp of a story featuring a one-eared cat, a retaliatory gang, and an overall "Good Omens/Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" vibe. Could possibly be convinced to post, but it’ll need editing first.

Taking a sip of coffee Hinge picked up her pen with new resolve, focusing on the bitter taste. 

The native’s addictive stimulant of choice, “coffee...”

She took another sip of the disgusting, awful, really despicable drink. 

...causes headaches if the habit is not sustained...

Her next sip had an extra taste of vanilla.

...which isn’t hard, since the delicious...

Frowning she crossed it out and tried again, taking another swig, savoring the nutmeg. 

The terrible, not tasty, not amazing nutmeg she had discovered yesterday while taste-testing all the different kinds of flavors you could order.

6. Never City

A dystopian retelling of Peter Pan, Sixteen-year-old Peder isn't happy when the Tinker asks him to kidnap two young boys before the government does. He and his group of robotic lost boys prefer to stay hidden in the shadows of Never City, but he agrees anyway. He doesn't want the government to trap the minds of John and Michael Darling in digital "lifechips" like they did with the lost boys Peder now cares for. 

 It’s a full and polished YA novel manuscript I was shopping around to agents last year, but not sure if I'm going to anymore since my writing has improved a ton since then so I’m feeling stuck in limbo with this one.

Peder had plenty of experience reviving the dead, he just needed to work a bit faster than usual tonight.

7. Nightmare Knight

There is a man that’s been in Samantha’s dreams for months now. No, not “the man of her dreams,” literally a man, always in the background, just casually watching her from a distance every night. She’s never able to talk to him, so when he shows up at her house one morning to offer her an apprenticeship as a nightmare slayer, she’s more than intrigued. Her real life is a dead end as far as she’s concerned, and maybe she sort of had to lie to her new mentor and kind of run away from home, but she’s not going to let anything keep her from taking full advantage of this chance to escape her real life. Little does she realize that in the dreamscape, her devil-may-care attitude will lead to attracting all kinds of devils who DO care, unleashing exactly the kind of monsters she’ll be training to kill. By the time she does realize it, it might be too late.

I have a full finished novel manuscript of it but am currently rewriting it.

“I am dreaming. I am paying attention.” Samantha said aloud, focusing as hard as she could.

8. Hillbriar

Dani Hillbriar, youngest of three, has enough problems in her fifteen-year-old life before she wakes up coughing sparks one morning, not to mention the scaly rash on her shoulder. Turns out that her brother, sister and father are having the same unexpected health issues, which reaches a terrifying crescendo when her brother Marcos sprouts giant leathery wings right in the middle of the living room. Turns out that Dad's crazy uncle has left the family a huge property in the middle of Montana in his will, an apparently magical property that happens to comes with the ability to turn into a dragon in order to protect it. Something that neither Dani, her family, or the dragon community at large are at all pleased about as the family is pulled into the secret-ridden politics of the Hillbriar family that have been covered for years. 

A novel I have planned out but is mostly unwritten, I'll be working more on it sometime.

It's not like like I woke up planning to burn my house down, I'm not a freak. It just kind of happened.

9. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Coco

Baby's first real fanfic (not counting the Dr Who drabble). Ernesto De la Cruz a year post movie decides to pay Miguel a visit to give the kid a taste of what regret feels like.

It had been a year since paradise had turned to hell.

10. The Way You Keep Me Guessing: Coco Teacher AU

Yall know this one. Here’s the first line of the first chapter I did for it. Imelda was still angry with Hector, meaning that when he was late to the welcome-back assembly she couldn’t text him to see where he was. She’d maintained complete radio silence for three months now despite his best efforts and was very proud of herself for it.

***

If you’ve got 10+ works to choose from and the fancy hits you, go ahead and tag yourself! This was a lot of fun and is making me itch to get back to some of my original works projects.

#long post #wit writes #10 starters #this was a ton of fun #thanks slush!

[amethystfaery-blog1]

Faery Witchcraft

Hello lovelies,

There are many kinds of witches out there. Witchcraft is such a flexible and personal form of faith and expression that there are so many sub groups and types of witches out there that I thought it would be fun and informative to actually look a little more in-depth in to the different kinds of witch craft out there but also supply some places and books that you could look at to learn more yourself if you are interested..

So the first one i am going to talk about is fey witchcraft. Its the one I have had the most interaction with so it seemed like a good place to start. Fairies were my first foray into magic as a child. First though I am going to talk a bit about fairies because when I was young fairies were always pretty and lovely with glittery wings and little tiaras, they were there to help and might be a little mischievous but in the ends meant no real harm.

Holy Summerlands is that a load of bullshit.

I read a series called the Merry Gentry by Laurell K Hamilton and it was full of all kinds of different fey. Then me being me, I was curious if any of it was based on history or myth and to my delight it was based on old legends. I began delving into the myths of the sidhe and brownies and red caps, it was quite interesting and the legends and stories held all sorts of mischievous and really quite horrible things the fey were said to do to humans. What was worse were the things humans did to those they thought were fairies like throw babies they believed to be changelings (children swapped with fairy babies) into the fire. Ireland, England and Scotland seemed to have the longest and deepest history of fairies if you are interested in learning more. There are some beautiful and scary legends of all sorts of fey. Like the red caps who wore caps that dripped blood, the sidhe who would steal away people and return them years later, only for them to die because they ate faery food. Brownies were spirits who would look after a house or a family, some were good and some were bad but the only way to get them to leave was by gifting them with something could be clothes, food or items. The high courts of fey called Sidhe were capable of great beauty and nightmares. People used to blame wild faery hunts on people becoming mad.

So to the point of the post. Witches who identify as Faery witch or practice a fey kind of witchcraft or incorporate fey into their magic essentially use fairies the way many will use gods or goddesses or spirits or elements. When one needs help or guidance they may call on a specific kind of fairy to help them. Fairies are also said to be big helpers in leaving signs and symbols but also can cause chaos and upset if they are angered. Fairies are quite powerful and easily offended, hence why many books will tell you to leave offerings a lot to keep the fey from playing pranks or causing chaos in your home.

Fairies are very much tied to the earth and like animals they do not behave like humans. They will do as they please and only help if they want, no matter how many times you ask or plead. Fey magic is a very wild magic and users need to have a heavy does of caution and respect when dealing with the fey. That is not to say it is only bad or good, but just as you would be careful around an animal because you don’t know how they will react to what you do, you need to be careful around them. I know I am writing alot about caution but fey magic can be a wonderful thing to incorporate into your craft or even be the kind of witchcraft you throw yourself into fully if it speaks to you. Welcoming fey into your life and home can be an amazing experience. They used to say that those who were artists and creative or a little mad (ie saw the world different) were touched or blessed by the fey. Talking to the fey and opening your energy to them can bring in a kind of madness and wildness that can be wonderful and eye opening as long as you don’t take then for granted because once they’re pissed, you can be in trouble. They are not human and see the world so differently than what we see it as, which is wonderful and can cause us to challenge how we view things but as I said, it means they may not react the way humans would if you do something. Promises mean everything to the fey, if you make a promise to them keep it but it goes both ways if they make a promise to you then you can be guaranteed that they will deliver. Keeping ones word was a way to show honour amongst the fey and there are many legends that show breaking a vow or lying was a quick way to either end up dead or hurt or tricked. Also make sure each promise or deal is spelled out specifically, they are notorious for keeping their word but will sometimes keep it in a way you don’t expect. For example, if they promise to make a dream come true and have not specified what dream it could be any, from being naked in front of everyone to having more money than you could dream (of course witchcraft doesn’t normally work in the way anyway, just handing you what you want but it’s an example).

On to a lighter note, I never used to see the fey as a child outside of my dreams and mind but I would build houses and places for them to hide and rest amongst the fallen frangipani flowers, leaves and gum nuts. I would dig holes in tree stumps and make little shelters out of sticks and leaves. I used to do it because I believed I was helping them even though I didn’t see them when I was outside. Just because you don’t see doesn’t mean you don’t believe. I never quite saw things the way other saw things. I lived half in a dream world and was always classified a little different from the others around me. Not that that is a bad thing, I just see now that I may have been a bit touched by the fey which is actually kind of cool now that I think of it and I value the fact I can believe in things even when others kind of think I am woo woo.

So if you are interested in looking more into this kind magic I am providing a list of books to start looking into. Keep in mind that fey magic is essentially witchcraft except as I said previously you are looking to the fey for help or guidance rather than to any god or goddess. The fey are extremely nature based so nature based practices and holidays from things like wicca and other pagan practices can go hand in hand with fey. The key in my opinion in building your fey magic is to research. Look into the myths, legends and books that contain fey. The Merry Gentry series caused me to start my own research into the fey, it got me writing questions, looking up names and places mentioned in the books and that is how I started learning about the fairies I had believed in as a child in a much more real light.

So to start you on your way are a list of books both fiction and non, poems, tarot cards and bits and bobs that can get you started.

Books to look into:

Shadow and Light Oracle deck By Lucy Cavendish and Jasmine Beckett Griffith One of my first oracle decks that truly caught. I think it also thoroughly captures the light, dark and shadows aspects of the fey. But it also shows how just because soemthing is light does not mean it is good, nor because something is dark does not mean it is bad. You will be quite surprised by the cards meanings, they won’t be what you expect them to be.

Grimm’s Tales By the Grimm’s Brothers and Fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson Read closely to the way the fairies and witches are portrayed here, you will be surprised by how many were not actually bad or evil but were generally wronged or keeping promises. An example is the witch in Rapunzel, she made a promise with the man that he could have as much green as long as he promised his first born. He agreed to the deal, he did not have to but he did and when the witch came to collect she was merely receiving her part of the deal. In Sleeping Beauty the fairy that cursed the princess was not a mean fairy but merely one that had been forgotten even when the other fairies had been invited, then was dis-respected by the king and queen. She was hurt and lashed out.

Goblin Market Goblins are classified fey. I read this poem in high school and it shows the darker side of the fey. The part that would lure and “play” with humans for their own amusement.

Midsummer Nights Dream By William Shakespeare It’s a classic, just try it.

Faery Magic by Lucy Cavendish and Selene Connelly This is probably the most instructional and well written book on actual fey witchcraft I have ever read (yes I am a huge Lucy Cavendish fan). Not only does it cover different types or fey, but also how to communicate and inject them into your craft. If you are looking for something more information on how to for faery witchcraft I definitely recommend this book over all others.

An Encyclopedia of Faeries, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies and other supernatural creatures By Katharine Briggs. So I actually got this book as a Christmas gift from my dad as a fluke. He asked what I wanted and I wrote this book down as I knew it was impossible to find and shock and surprise it turned up. It’s amazing. It is written by a woman who got her PhD in this stuff and is full of all the different legends, myths and fey, it should be a go to for anyone who is interested in fey magic.

Merry Gentry By Laurel K Hamilton This was the series that got me back into faeries because the fey in here are not the pretty, glittery, helping and gentle kind of fairies little kids grow up with. These fey have watched history go by, shaped it, been worshipped as gods, been stripped of their powers and are pretty much dying as a race until this Princess starts to wake things up. Laurel K Hamilton did her research for this series to which I found out after looking at the bibliography at the back and then looking up some of the names in the series. She makes it her own but uses legends and myths to make it more real I guess would be the word. It’s set in the modern day and it’s a world where the fey have been apart of life the whole time.

Fair Folk By Marvin Kaye This is a collection of stories where people have encounters with the fey. I like these collections because they show the more unpredictable side to the fey. For example the first books is about a girl who is forced to do things for a fairy but ends up not being the one he wants, he wants her beautiful yet mean step sister. Another is a bout a man who has Brownie move in, which he is happy about until he realises she is using his credit card to fix up his apartment and buy food and she has expensive tastes. The stories are pretty good, I re-read them all the time.

Yes I realise a lot of these books are fiction but the point is to start you thinking. The Merry Gentry series are the only reason why I am into all kinds of fey as an adult, the Fair Folk and Goblin markets showed me darker and more unpredictable sides of the fey, but it was my own research that shaped the way I talk to the fey today. There is also the fact that there are few (in my opinion) decent books on actual faery witchcraft, hence why I only offered one. But that being said using faeries in your craft is something easily applied to as long as you research the type of fey. You would not ask a Red Cap for house help but you may ask a Brownie. Or you would not ask a Kelpie to help you how to swim but maybe a mermaid or one of the Tuatha De Daanan would be able to. And if you have no idea what any of those things are google it.

My last piece of advice is to go find a toadstool ring or a mushroom ring and stand in it. Listen carefully, listen with an open mind and see if you can here them.

Love to hear what you all think of all this and from any Fey Witches out there.

Talk to you all later,

#faery witch #witch #witchcraft #love #wiccan

[playchoices]

Inside Choices: LoveHacks Finale

After many jokes, clickbait titles, and San Francisco shenanigans, the #LoveHacks series finale has come and gone. The #LoveHacks story is one that many of us on Team Pixelberry relate to -- that millennial life, amirite? -- and we're sad to see this laugh-out-loud story of friendship and love end. For a final behind-the-scenes look at #LoveHacks, read on...

This Series Finale Will Blow Your Mind! You Won't Believe What These Writers Have To Say -- ah, who am I kidding? I can't do these clickbait titles. So how do you feel now that the series is over?

Megan: It's definitely a bittersweet experience. We've been working on LoveHacks for almost a year now, and while we're proud of what we've done, it feels weird to not be hanging out with Dani, Brooke, Cole, Horatio, Mark, and Sereena each week as we write new chapters.

Owen: Ditto to all of that. Writing LoveHacks felt really unique and was a lot of fun. It's great to move on to different things, but #LH always will hold a special, ridiculous place in my heart.

What did you love about writing #LoveHacks? What did you consider the most challenging part?

Megan: I loved so much about writing LoveHacks, it's hard to choose just one thing! Exploring the different relationships between Dani and Mark, Ben, and Leah was a lot of fun, but I think writing the friendships between the core group was my favorite. The biggest challenge for me was keeping things funny week after week (and trying to keep up with our resident jokester, Owen!).

Owen: I loved getting to write PB's first foray into a sitcom-style story, and being able to push the jokes a bit further. The challenge for me was balancing unbridled tomfoolery with delivering the romance and drama that Choices fans love. Luckily, Megan's an amazing Book Lead and kept us on track... Like, originally, I wanted Cole's real name to be "Cole Minor", so that I could joke that it sounded like "coal miner"... In retrospect, Megan was right to veto that one.

#LoveHacks was chock full of jokes, situational gags, and quirky characters. What was your favorite joke?

Megan: My favorite joke was one Owen wrote:

Owen: I loved the figurative "death" scene we did during the paintball fight! (Also I hadn't written combat in a while, so it was fun to do a nod back to the action sequences and death scenes of Most Wanted and Cause of Death.)

Out of curiosity, who do you think you identify with the most in the #LoveHacks group?

Megan: I identify with our heroine Dani a lot, especially in Book 2. She's at such a crossroads in her life, and there's a lot of freedom in that, but also a lot of stress!

Owen: I like to think that Ben is essentially me, but much hotter and more Korean. This is wishful thinking of course, but I aspire to the ideal of a geek who is charming because of his geekiness, not in spite of it.

Where do you think the #LoveHacks crew is headed after the series finale? What's your headcanon (or is it just canon)?

Megan: A sneak peek at our headcanon of the future... Flash forward to a year later. Dani, Leah, and their blog are kicking butt, and Andi interns for them after school. Ben is preparing to do a Solaris panel at the Seattle HeroCon. Mark and Isaac bond over Isaac's success running Dopey Cat and the sequel, Dopey Cat Bros. Sereena has finally graduated, and Aiyana has moved in with her. The friends meet up for a drink at the Double Tap, and toast together just like old times.

Owen: ...And also Horatio's a cyborg now.

Give us one last #LoveHack. For old time's sake.

Megan: Be picky. You're worth it.

Owen: Be as strong as Sereena, but as kind as Horatio. And don't underestimate a good cologne.

What's next for the #LoveHacks team? Tell ussss.

Megan: Sadly, the LoveHacks team is splitting up! (RIP) But I'm really excited about my next project! I can't say much more about it right now, but keep an eye out for something new in the coming months!

Owen: I am a wandering swordsman, going from team to team, wherever the people cry out for a hero. (I'm actually literally doing some writing on Hero with Keyan right now). But soon I'll be teaming up with Coco from the Rules of Engagement team for a different TOP SECRET PROJECT that I am honor-bound not to disclose.

Like Brooke said, this feels like the end of an era. LoveHacks will be missed, but I'm sure the jokes, the friendship, and the spirit of Dopey Cat will live on in my heart and the hearts of many others. To everyone who took the time to read this finale post, thank you! We hope you're looking forward to whatever's next for Choices.

-Jessica

#playchoices #inside choices #dopey cat #lovehacks #long post

[mjwood93]

When Wright is Right, When Wright is Wrong: Thoughts on N.T. Wright and “How God Became King”


A note to the reader: This is my first foray into a blogpost dealing with Theology so, please be gracious. I understand I have a long way to go in terms of writing and am open to constructive criticism.


I’ve never enjoyed disagreeing with someone more.


N.T. Wright is the well-known, highly controversial New Testament Scholar, current Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Saint Andrews. He was former Bishop of Durham, and is well known for his four volume work on Christian Origins and the People of God.


I have not had that much experience at all with Wright until fairly recently. Wright is someone who I’ve always heard Christians rant and rave about. In my undergrad I always heard about his claims of “How there’s so much more” and “How we got it all wrong” as Christians when it comes to the Gospels, or Scripture as a whole. It wasn’t until I started reading more Reformed authors and those into Biblical Scholarship that I really started to see him pop up more, which would make sense in reading academic work. I was very curious why Reformed authors would quote Wright in particular, because from what I knew at the time they claimed to be at odds with their theological systems as a whole. I decided to delve into Wright myself, and purchased the book “How God Became King”. I have supplemented this reading with listening to interviews and lectures on how the Reformed and broader Evangelical community view him, as well as some lectures from the former Bishop himself, to try and get a full picture of his theology.


So, from the get-go, would I recommend N.T. Wright? Well, yes and no. Let’s get something straight here, there are ALOT of good things about Wright and to completely blanket him as a complete enemy to Christianity is just wrong, but for as many good things that Wright says, there are just as many bad ones that do greater damage to someone who may not have a full understanding of the Gospel. But first, let’s start with the positives:


When Wright is (W)Right


1. The first thing I will say about Wright is that he is a brilliant, readable, clear, sometimes humorous, and insightful communicator. He can write easily for the layperson as well as an academic. For example, I especially enjoyed reading about his views on the Temple in the Bible, and while I’ve read and listened to many Reformed authors convey their thoughts on this theme, Wright is the one who has communicated that theme probably with the most ease and coherence.


2. I think it is great that he is a proponent of Biblical Theology or “whole-bible” theology. My generation is probably the most illiterate generation of Christians from a Scriptural standpoint. We can quote Bible verses in and out of context without having any idea of how that verse or passage of Scripture fits into the rest of Scripture as a whole in terms of context and canon. Many Christians today cannot even tell us what the broad story lines or themes of Scripture are, how they run through the rest of Scripture, why they are laid out that way, most important of all being how that relates to Christ and by extension to His Church. In “How God Became King”, Wright is able to give us “mini-tours” if you will on the themes of Israel, Temple, Christ, and most of all Kingdom from Genesis to Revelation. I would make a few modifications, but for the most part Wright is correct in how he lays out each of one of these themes, and one is able to follow them with ease and coherence as I said before. The fact that he is giving a broad outline and cares so much about it is different from the rest of shallow Christianity.


3. From what I’ve heard, when it comes to apologetics dealing with the Resurrection and Historical Jesus, he is a must read. Just from the snapshot I’ve gotten in “How God Became King” how he deals with Enlightenment thinkers, as well as calling out flaws of the Jesus Seminar, I’m definitely adding “Jesus and the Victory of God”, and “The Resurrection and the Son of God” to my reading list. You will find these along with other books of his referenced in almost any scholarly bibliography.


4. He is able to point out flaws in our current Western tradition that should not be ignored. Wright is correct when saying that some Christians incorrectly make the Gospel about “just going to Heaven when you die”. The Gospel is not a Heaven-destination flight, it is about the fact that we are dead in our sin, and it is only by God’s power through faith in Christ that we have a reconciled relationship with God the Father so that we can live in obedience for His Glory. Sadly, Wright does not make this the Gospel at all, which I will have to deal with later.


5. Though not in HGBK, another positive thing about Wright is that he is against homosexual marriage. When it comes to this subject we should find an ally in Wright. 


6. Also not in HGBK, but another good thing about Wright, is that he is in support of more theologically-related Worship. Specifically Psalmody or Psalm-singing. His Plenary Address in 2012 at the Calvin Symposium of Worship on the Psalms is one of the best lectures I’ve ever heard. Seriously. If there is one thing you check out from Wright, let this be it and nothing more.


Now, on to some more concerning matters.


When Wright is Definitely Wrong


1. The Gospel and our Sinful Condition - Though the Kingdom theme is one that is central to the Bible and God Himself (I’m reading a book right now God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants that deals with this), the Gospel is not “Jesus is King over all Heaven and Earth” and that’s it. The Gospel is how through the substitutionary atonement of Christ, sinners have a reconciled relationship to God the Father and are declared righteous in and through the work of Christ alone, and can now truly be obedient to Him by the Holy Spirit for God’s Glory. Instead of this Penal Substitutionary atonement view, Wright holds the Christus Victor atonement view, which basically says Christ overcame the powers of the world and took all the consequences (effects) of sin and evil in the world, and defeated the dark spiritual powers of the earth and the rest of the cosmos, so now Jesus is King over all the Earth and in Heaven. Now, this is correct, but it does not go far enough, and it does nothing to affect our SINFUL CONDITION and standing before a holy God. The Bible says we are dead in our sin and cannot choose God. The Christus Victor view presupposes that we are able to choose God and Christ on our own and therefore at the very LEAST ends up being Arminian. Though Wright says many Christians do not have the dial turned up on the Kingdom when teaching the Bible, I think Wright goes too far and turns it up to eleven, drowning out everything else. Another way I would put this is, that Wright says a lot about Jesus being King, but does nothing with Christ’s role of mediator as Our Great High Priest. Wright never ultimately defines what he wants this Theocratical Kingdom of Jesus on Earth to be and look like. 


2. Justification - New Perspective on Paul. In very broad terms this means justification is mainly or solely a corporate/communal matter and doesn’t really deal with individual justification. Individual justification is largely a Western thought process. Wright uses his own translations of the New Testament (which in my opinion are just very clunky to read) and in HGBK, he literally translates a passage that deals with our individual justification before God and translates the word justification into “God’s covenant-faithfulness” i.e. God keeping you in the community. This does not deal with our repentance and again, our sinful condition. To emphasize our corporate standing with the Church is important when one becomes a Christian, but to completely divorce that from our individual standing before a holy God undercuts the Gospel. To make justification solely a corporate matter also could lead to a works-based salvation of how one stays in the community. Behind the New Perspective of Paul there is also an undercurrent of ecumenicalism and that “if we can just get rid of what Luther said about justification, then we can we can see that really each denomination of protestantism and Catholics aren’t that different at all. It was Luther who read Romans and Galatians wrong, so the Christian church has misread the Bible for the past 500 years”. Really? If we read the Patristic fathers, we can see very easily that this is not the case at all for the doctrine of Justification.


3. Inerrancy of God’s Word - Wright emphasizes the human author when talking about the Bible. Now don’t get me wrong, this is important to do. The Bible did not just drop out of Heaven, it was written over long periods of time by different authors who all had their unique writing style and wrote in different genres and in different cultural contexts in three languages. But I don’t think Wright ever relates the human authors of the Bible to God speaking. The problem is in the Bible we see Moses and others writing something in their books and when it is referred to later in the Bible, it is quoted something to the effect of “The Lord says…” To say the Bible is filled with error because of the fallibility of the human author or to say that the Bible is an authority but not our final authority for our faith and practice are slippery slope arguments. If the Bible is in error in some part where do we find them and where does the error begin and end? If the Bible is not our final authority then what is? Culture? Man? Experience? As someone who holds a Christ-Centered view of Scripture it is astounding to me that he says the whole Bible points to Christ yet he believes the Bible is not inerrant. The only way it could do that is if it was. He says multiple times in this book that Scripture DOES have authority but what that authority looks like and how much authority it has he never really defines. It is outside of HGBK that he has stated he thinks of the doctrine of Inerrancy as a response to the Catholic Church and Enlightenment thinkers of their day.


4. Evolution - Wright is a supporter of Bio-Logos and from what I know, is at the very least, open to Theistic Evolution being the way the opening Genesis chapters took place. While I understand the intention of this view, ultimately Evolution and Christianity are two different world-views, one being based on chaos and naturalism, while the other is based on order and Truth. While I do think one can be a Christian and a Theistic Evolutionist, and there is grace to be given as long as one truly professes Christ as Lord and bears fruit, I do think they have seriously mis-stepped logically in their worldview, and do not realize the full implications of holding such a worldview relating to the Gospel. There is much more I could say on the whole Genesis issue, but I’ll leave that for another time.


5. Caricatures of the Reformed traditions and their creeds - One thing I was continually disappointed in by the opening and closing chapters of HGBK, was how Wright ultimately makes it seem like HE has found the answer to what everyone else has been missing for the past two-thousand years. Nowhere in HGBK does Wright give any scholarly evidence for what he claims about the Creeds and Confessions. He claims that they do not tell the whole story of Christianity and he makes it seem like this was all former Christians of the time knew and repeated. “They miss the whole part about Israel and there is nothing about the Kingdom!” is what Wright basically exclaims, but teaching the story arc of the Bible was not what creeds and confessions were for. They were formed to combat against heresies of the day to mark out truth from error. The Puritans and other past Christians wrote extensively on the Kingdom and about Israel and the Church being the new creation of the one true people of God. I honestly just don’t know where he gets this idea, unless it is just to help sell the book.


So, to come full circle, would I recommend Wright? Again yes, and no. I would not recommend him at all to someone who is a new Christian; someone who is still trying to flesh out the Gospel and the theme of Kingdom in their own study of the Word. I would want to make sure if someone did read Wright, that they knew what they were in for and that I could trust them with discerning different parts of theological systems. Is he completely wrong on everything? No. As I’ve said earlier, with the themes of Scripture that he does get right, he can be very clear and helpful. Sometimes he adds new insights and angles that I had not previously thought of before. His influence has gone far and wide, laying the groundwork for non-profits such as The Bible Project (who, while I like a good amount of their stuff, basically hold the same theology as Wright). His research and work on Second Temple Judaism should not be ignored. I do plan on reading his book on the Psalms and his Christian Origins series at some point. Reading Wright has helped me become a more discerning reader, and though it may be awhile before I pick up another book of his, the thoughts and discussion that have come out of reading him ultimately have been beneficial to me. I feel like I have much more of a grasp on what he actually believes, and could articulate that to someone else. And that should be one our goals as Christians who encounter and engage other world-views and those who even share (or claim to share) our own. If we are truly saved by the Gospel and believe what it says, then we should know that we have nothing to fear because His Truth will remain and conquer over all. It is sad to me that such a brilliant mind who gets large swaths and themes that lead up to and come out of the Gospel correct, but gets the central core of the Gospel wrong. I pray that he sees his error and comes to joyfully embrace the True Gospel for what it is.

#n. t. wright #reformed #christianity #christ #book #theology

[cryptoveins]

Money 2.0 Stuff: Open Binance

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Lending

In the spirit of transparency, my motivation for writing this particular piece is largely driven by my unnerving desire to use the term ‘Bebentralized Binance’ and so, what the heck! Let’s get it out there and move on. 

Anyway: 

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has ventured into the lending space, according to an announcement Monday. The new offering, dubbed “Binance Lending,” allows holders of BNB token, Ethereum classic (ETC) and Tether (USDT) stablecoin earn interest on their funds.

Some Bloomberg columnists called Matt Levine like to argue that one way of thinking about the development of blockchain-related financial products is as the re-learning of modern capitalism, but for the most part I think it’s just about Binance practicing indiscriminate revisionism and claiming time-old services as innovations of their own. Just look at their name! And now, thanks to finance luminary CZ, we have Initial Exchange Offerings, Binance DEX, and the latest offering, Binance Lending. If things continue on their current course, it truly will not be too long before banks all relocate to Ball Street. 

Binance Lending is not a surprising development – lending is both a (indirectly) profitable and highly sought-after feature – but it does have some interesting implications for the existing cryptocurrency exchange landscape. Despite best efforts from competitors, BitMex has long dominated the leveraged trading vertical primarily due to its ever-nebulous ‘network effects’ and, more quantifiably, a superior trading engine. A purveyor of its own network effects, Binance’s emergence onto the margin scene represents the first serious challenge to BitMex’s hegemony.

It will not be the last. With Coinbase rumoured to be releasing a similar product of its own in coming months, leverage will soon become a matter of table stakes, forcing operators to expand their horizons and increasingly offer ancillary products across the cryptocurrency services stack: staking, custody, commerce, customer service, primary issuance.   

Binance Lending is not a surprising development but it does have some curious features that we should probably not expect to be standardized across competitors: (1) Max leverage at 3x, which is remarkably conservative compared to BitMex’s 100x for Bitcoin (2) 10 million cap on USDT lending and 1 million per account cap on USDT borrowing, which seems rather insignificant for an exchange that saw over $1 billion in 24-hour volume (3) initial asset selection, which has been limited to USDT, BNB, and Ethereum Classic, is, barring USDT, perhaps non-obvious (4) rather than relying on market forces, Binance has pre-set terms and guaranteed interest themselves. This is to say they will guarantee USDT lenders 10% APR no matter borrow demand: if users lend 10 million USDT over a year and just 50,000 USDT is generated in interest, Binance will make up the 50k USDT difference itself.  

On closer inspection, the rationale behind these latter two features becomes increasingly obvious and requires reframing an earlier point in this piece. Another way of looking at Binance’s entrance into the world of financial services is less as a means of co-opting finance or providing a superior user experience and more a path to protecting and driving value to its native token, BNB. There are suggestions that Binance will soon allow users to stake BNB in order to participate in the Binance DEX validation process. Access to Initial Exchange Offerings required users to stake BNB. Now we have a product that guarantees BNB lenders 15% APR, driving demand for BNB while ensuring that circulating supply falls as BNB is taken off the market. And trust me, it will be taken off the market: BNB borrowers will pay 109.5% APR (versus the 10% they will pay on USDT) and even those that fall into the ‘VIP 8’ user tier (I personally feel that the VIP allure starts to wear off after tier 5…) will be limited to a 1,000 BNB limit. Like Russia’s election process, speculators are free to short BNB at will, but they will pay a heavy price. Meanwhile, 15% on the maximum subscription cap of 200,000 BNB comes to roughly $750,000 in interest over a single year, a slim price to pay to protect Binance’s 80m BNB (~$2 billion) treasury. 

A natural question to ask is what does Binance’s foray into lending mean for Decentralized Finance? To date, ‘decentralized lending’ has been the runaway success of Open Finance — does Binance Lending disrupt the disruptors? Well, not quite, not yet. A missed opportunity, Binance’s USDT borrow rates are roughly aligned with the USDC Weighted Average Borrow Rate. Undercutting the stablecoin borrow market and absorbing market share itself seems like an obvious and expected move from the historically ruthless folks at Binance. 

But perhaps CZ truly is playing 6D Settlers of Catan: setting USDT rates at par to decentralized alternatives is in many ways a statement of confidence, an indirect way of saying “yes, hello friends, nice little lending game you have over there: it would be a shame if someone were to Bebentralize it.” 

Opyn

Meanwhile, the decentralized lending/margin landscape is undergoing a degree of disruption itself, perhaps to be expected in an industry largely defined by permissionless interoperability or what those not active in open source software might call ‘stealing’. Disappointingly I will have to save my lending landscape thesis for another day, although I will leave you with a short note on Opyn. 

Several weeks ago I discussed the Open Finance value proposition and part of my three-point definition included this concept of ‘permissionless innovation’, the notion that developers can combine financial primitives to iterate on products at speed and with ease. Of all existing products on the market, Opyn, a leveraged trading platform, best epitomizes this permissionless property, combining Uniswap, Compound, Kyber, and dYdX on the back-end while providing a user-friendly interface on the front-end, all for just a 0.8% trading fee. In the grand scheme of things I tend to think of permissionless as an aspirational quality but Opyn is a good example of how things can get a bit out of hand. 

Presumably born out of an urgency to distinguish itself among competitors, Opyn recently introduced a 6x leverage feature. This initially came as a surprise to me – Opyn uses dYdX and Compound lending pools to source borrow liquidity and both platforms currently require a minimum collateralization rate of 150% and 125%, respectively. How does 6x come into play? 

As it happens, dYdX has set a minimum collateralization of 125% through its interface, but liquidation proceedings only begin once collateral slips below the 115% threshold. Opyn has simply bypassed dYdX’s internal policy and set its minimum collateralization to 120%. Liquidation proceedings still start at 115% though, so a 4.16% downswing, hardly an irregularity in today’s market, will be enough to wipe out an entire position. That Opyn sources some of its liquidity through Uniswap, which, by design, is subject to deterministic slippage, means that users may find themselves auto-liquidated at the very point which they open a 6x long. 

Permissionlessness — yes, that’s a word now — is in many ways a double-edged sword: as moats become less defensible and fees compress, companies at the margin will invariably be forced to branch out to higher-yield, higher-risk offerings. Retail consumers will compose a large percentage of the target market. To some extent the transparent and largely incentive compatible properties of Open Finance should help mitigate some concerns, but it’s probably also worth bearing these risks in mind before we are confronted with a full-fledged censorship resistant Binancial Beltdown the likes of which we have never quite seen before.   

The post Money 2.0 Stuff: Open Binance appeared first on Cryptoveins.

https://cryptoveins.com/2019/08/money-2-0-stuff-open-binance/

#Digital Assets