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cherrychonk · 3 years

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The Transfer Part 9

*This bih is 4k+ long so to read it fully just follow them link*

“What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm annoying? What if-”

“Enough!” Lin raised her voice exasperated.

You had been pacing for the last ten minutes waiting for the ferry. You were rethinking the piercings and the short sleeve blouse. You kept your hands on your arms in an attempt to cover up. You felt too vulnerable for your liking and the anxiety started getting to you.

“Everything is going to be fine Y/N. Stop overthinking it. They are all very accepting of everyone’s differences. You won't be the reason they stop thinking this way.” She offered her knowledge. “The ferry is almost here, come down. Everything will be okay.”

You nodded, you were still nervous but not as much. The ferry arrived and both of you got on and some people started to stare at you. Lin would stare at them back until they got uncomfortable and minded their own business. You placed your hand on your lower back, the stress was making your stitches hurt, Lin saw this and placed her hand above yours.

“Is it hurting?” She asked softly.

“It happens when I get stressed, but if I apply a bit of pressure it helps.” You answer, you take your arm off but she keeps it on. You tried not to think of it too much but the warm blush was already spreading to your ears.

Soon the ferry arrives at the temple's docks and you both get out. You can see the long road ahead and sigh. You start walking alongside the earthbender until you reach a long line of stairs. You took the first step holding tightly onto Lin, a few more steps and you had to take a moment to breathe.

The chief looked at you and used her bending to make a platform under both of you. “Hold on.” She said as the platform started moving upwards. After a few minutes both of you were finally in the courtyard of the temple. A young girl with long hair and two buns made her way to you. She smiled and started asking questions rapidly.

“Are you Y/N? How old are you? Are you a firebender? Do you like animals? Can I see your tattoos? How many tattoos do you have? How many piercings do you have?”

You stood there a moment collecting the information before smiling back at her.

“Yes, 25, yes, also yes, sure, like 15? A few.”

She scanned you up and down and grabbed your arms. She started looking at them and flipping them to see the full picture.

“You're so cool and pretty!” The girl charmed as she stared.

“Ikki, leave her alone, she's tired.” Lin growled.

The girl seemed unfazed at Lin’s antics.

You chuckled “It's alright Chief. So you're Ikki? Nice to meet you, I like your buns.”

“It's my signature hairstyle.” She smirked as she touched her hair. “Come on, dinner's ready.”

You followed the girl inside where a tall man with blue arrow tattoos and a tan woman with short hair greeted you. Your eyes widened when you realized who the people in front of you were.

You bowed deeply and immediately winced. “Master Tenzin, Avatar Korra. It's an honor to be blessed with your presence.” You said formally with a smile.

“It's an honor to meet you officer Y/N, we've heard so much.” Tenzin said softly.

“Yes! But due to your back injury we would prefer you not to bow. It could hurt you more.”

You blushed and nodded. “I'm just in such awe to meet such incredible people.”

“We are very happy to meet you too.” A new feminine voice said.

You look up to see the one and only Asami Sato.

“Miss Sato!” You automatically bowed again and winced.

Asami laughed. “Let's go take a seat, I think your back would appreciate it.”

The heiress took your hand and guided you to the table where Kya, Amara and Pema were sitting. You also saw Mako and another man with green eyes sitting next to him. Lin sat on one of your sides while Asami sat on the other. There were two more kids, another girl with arrow tattoos and a boy with short black hair.

“Y/N this is Bolin, my brother.” Mako said, introducing you.

You reached over and shook his hand. “A pleasure to meet you Bolin, Your brother has told me great things about you.”

“Aww bro really?” Bolin said with teary eyes.

Mako scoffed. “You've already met Korra, Amara, Kya and Asami, so she's Pema.” He said pointing to the woman near Tenzin. “She's Tenzin’s wife and mother to Ikki, Jinora and Meelo, the kids next to her.”

“I'm happy to meet all of you.” You said smiling. The pain started once more and you tried to reach behind you but the position was awkward.

Lin leaned into you. “You need help with that?”

You blushed but nodded, her hand went to your lower back applying steady preaching. You sighed in relief. “Thank you” You could see a blush as she nodded and couldn't help but grin.

“So, Y/N…” Korra started. “Let me start by saying that I LOVE your style.”

You smiled. “Thank you Avatar Korra.”

“Just Korra is fine.” She looked at Asami. “You look really cool, I mean when we saw the pictures in the newspaper it was blurry so we didn't get to see the details.”

“But your tattoos are amazing! It makes you look even more beautiful than you already are.” Asami finished.

You were blushing profusely. “Oh thank you honestly. They are just as much part of me as my hair.”

Kya knew the two women were enjoying flustering you. So she charged in to help you ease your nerves.

“How are you finding the city so far?” The waterbender asked.

“Oh! It's been really cool!” You smiled. “I haven't been able to see a lot since I'm working a lot but there's a cafe I'm falling in love with. It's close to the precinct and they sell the best strawberry and cream biscuits I've ever tasted.” You gush.

“Oh you like sweets? You have to try Kya’s fruit tart, it's the best thing ever.” Korra responded smiling.

“Yeah! Oh and you should go to a noodle place we know, they sell the best noodles!” Bolin said to you.

“I'll definitely try it out!”

You had been in the conversation so long that you didn't even notice Lin’s hand off your back. You looked at her discreetly but she was focused on a conversation with Kya.

“Are you single?” Meelo asked boldly.

“Yup.” You said looking back at him.

“Do you like boys or girls?” Ikki asked.

“Women.” You answer carefully.

Lin looked at you and took a sip of her tea. The gesture didn't go unnoticed.

“Me too!” Bolin said smiling.

“That's nice to know Y/N, we'll have to introduce you our clubs and places.” Kya sais smiling.

“So Y/N, tell us about yourself. What's your story?” Asami asked.

“My story?” You looked at her quizzically.

“Yeah, who is Y/N? What happened that made you end up here as a police officer?” Korra asked.

“Oh well I think that story is far too long and boring.” You chuckled.

“We are listening.” Pema said softly.

You suddenly felt every eye in the room looking at you, your nerves grew and you started feeling anxious again. You looked up at Lin and she gave you a nod.

“Okay well, I'll go chronologically? So it doesn't confuse anyone so much?”

“Sure!” Korra said happily.

You smiled. “Okay here we go. My name is Y/N L/N, I was born here in Republic City but I've lived in Ba Sing Se since I was a child. I'm a firebender like both my parents.

“When I was born my mother moved us to Ba Sing Se, when I was two my father left us. I have no memories of him and can't remember his face, I just know that his departure hurt my mother greatly. My mom was a strict woman, everything had to be perfect for her including me. She would spar with me from the moment I could bend, it was something we bonded over… or I thought we did.

“She wasn't very emotional, hugs and kisses we're definitely not her language. But that didn't mean I didn't love her greatly, she and my father will always hold a place in my heart. I grew to respect my element and be thankful for my life and the things I was given. I loved making friends and taking care of animals.

“When I was seven my mother left and I was all on my own. A farmer took me for a while until a real foster family could take me in. and honestly? It was the worst. I ended running away from them and later on ended running from every single foster family I ever got. I became an orphaned runaway.”

“So you're an orphan?” Mako asked.

“Yup!” You said like it was nothing.

“We are orphans too!” Bolin said.

“Me too.” Asami said more shyly.

“I mean it's not bad, I took care of things.” You responded, taking a sip of tea.

“How did you survive on the streets so young?” Lin asked.

“I joined a local pack of kids. We were all stealing and getting into trouble. I was very slick with my hands, could take your socks without taking off your boots.”

“Literally?” Bolin asked.

“Literally, you’d be surprised.” You laughed.

Lin looked at you sternly.

“Hey, I had to stay alive somehow. Besides, it caught up to me. I would always have trouble with the law and one day Chief Lei Ba got sick of my shenanigans and arrested me after stealing cabbages-”

“Cabbages?! From all the things to steal, why cabbages?!” Mako asked in disbelief.

“It wasn't for me! I found a goat gorilla in a cage! Poor thing looked awfully skinny and someone had to feed it!”

“Okay, okay what happened next?” Kya asked intrigued.

“Well he took me in, handcuffs and everything. It was like every other time. He took me in, arrested me, wrote about my crime, scolded me and sent me off. Only this time he didn't send me off. He took me to his office, sat me down and threw a few logs onto his fireplace.”

Lin wondered if this was the part where something bad happened that made you fear fire. She was on the edge listening to you.

“He looked at me-” You continued. “And took my file that was filled with my transgressions and threw it on the fire.”

“What?!” Amara asked, amazed.

You laughed. “Let me finish! He scolded me about what I did and after that we stayed quiet. He then told me he had found a family in the Fire Nation that would adopt me and give me a new life. They were soldiers themselves but had a few kids and agreed to take me in, per the chief’s request. I guess they were friends or something. Or, he would take care of me and take me off the streets, he was going to be strict and there would be a lot of rules but those were the only options I had.”

“And you chose to stay.” Lin responded.

“Yup, I chose to stay. It was hard at first but I made it out and thrived. He took me in as his own and gave me a new life. I became his shadow and did everything to try and make him proud. I graduated school early and as soon as I grabbed the diploma I was running down to the academy’s door enlisting myself. He almost had a stroke when he found out.”

“But, I was first in my class. Worked my a- buttoff every day. Did extra, worked more, fought more, study more and at the end it was all so worth it.”

Lin could see the shine in your eyes as you talked.

“I remember the day of my graduation. When the chief gave us all our badges, I was the last one in line. The runt of the litter. He shook my hand, placed my badge and looked me in the eyes and-”

You felt your eyes water. “He said… I'm so proud of you Y/N. So very proud.” You wiped a tear that fell from your eye. “I managed not to cry until after the ceremony but when we were walking back home we hugged and I cried for hours.”

“The first day everyone already knew me, I mean, I'm the chief’s daughter so it's not like I was a stranger. But finally, finally I felt like I had a family again. The rest is history.” You smiled.

Bolin was crying like a little kid while Lin looked at you with glossy eyes.

“Wow, that's… it reminds me of my own story.” Mako said smiling. “This job means a lot to me too.”

“It's more than a job, it's who I am. Helping people, being there for the ones in need, it's… it's my calling.”

“Wait wait! What about the tattoos!?” Ikki asked expectantly.

“Oh my tattoos?” You chuckled. “I got drunk one night with the rest of the officers and we got our badge numbers tattooed. I woke up with the ink in my arm, it was just the numbers and it made it look like I was some sort of prisoner so I went back later on to add some flowers around it and that's how it started.”

You showed the old tattoo on your arm.

“What's your favorite tattoo??”

“This badgermole someone very special drew for me.” You said showing your bicep, it was a scribble drawing of a badgermole’s head.

“It looks so ugly! Badgermoles dont look like that!” Meelo said with no filter.

“Meelo!” Pema scolded.

“It looks like it's been drawn by a child.” Asami said looking at it.

“Yup, little Eliah. That kid will stay in my heart forever.”

“Ooh! What's the story?” Bolin asked, resting his head on his palms.

“He was a sick boy that wanted to be a police officer, so I convinced the Chief to make him an honorary officer. He agreed as long as I was the one taking responsibility for him. So I did, made him my little partner. We did traffic stops, tickets, arrests, chases.”

“You took a child to a chase?” Lin asked.

“I always took care of him!” You said quickly.

“He was the sweetest. I remember how happy he was being a police officer. But of course he got worse until he was on his deathbed. We would visit him every day and bring some reports to tell him how things were going that day. He asked for my favorite animal and I told him. He drew this-” You said pointing to your bicep. “And I got it tattooed. My artist even made a stencil so we could have matching tattoos. When I showed it to him he was ecstatic laughing and as vivacious as ever. It made me so happy.”

“He passed away two days later and we gave him an official police burial. With escort and everything. We laid him down with the rest of our fallen officers and we watched over his mother. He was the only family she had so it was hard for her but we stood by her. A year later she died of the same illness.”

“Wow…” Kya said with wide eyes. “That's a lot…”

“You must be proud that you allowed that child to have the life he wanted.” Tenzin spoke.

“He was our little brother.” You said, sighing.

“I'm going to get a lot of tattoos like yours!” Ikki said with a smirk. “It's going to be so cool and I'm going to look tough like you and aunt Lin!”

You smiled back at the young girl. “You can be just as tough as the Chief without tattoos. She doesn't have any and she can strike fear in anyone by just narrowing her eyes.”

The earthbender looked at you in a glare. You chuckled nervously. “See? Terrifying.”

Ikki crosses her arms. “But I want to have cool tattoos like you!”

You thought about it for a moment before smiling. “You sure you want tattoos like mine? What's wrong with the blue arrows? They are super cool!”

“No they aren't! They are so boring!”

“Hey!” Jinora said offended.

“Besides, I want many different ones instead of just one full tattoo.”

You nodded. “You know, when you reach adulthood, I know an artist that does amazing work and has been in the industry for decades.”

Ikki beamed. “Really?!”

“Absolutely-”

#the legend of korra #lin beifong #y/n #fanfic

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zuzuslastbraincell · 4 years

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fun world-building facts about the eyeliner incident:

so the main canon divergence is that roku killed sozin, instead of just chilling in his cottage for ~50 years. he ended up leading a coalition force against him, in prep for civil war, although was able to bait him out to an erupting volcano and kill him at the age of 40 or 50 or so. roku then lived for another 100 years (hardly out of character for an avatar to do so).

roku went further, though, and after killing sozin, declared there would be no more fire lords in the avatar state. this split the fire nation into monarchists and anti-monarchists, essentially, and there was still a fair bit of civil unrest/war after sozin’s death because not everyone agreed.

a lot of monarchists ran off to the colonies after sozin was killed, to protect their assets, to protect their lives, as a place to hide out until the storm blew over (it did not blow over) and to regroup for a next assault (which did not succeed).

this was fine, until a second phase: roku wanted to give the radicals in his coalition a leading voice in the next government to be. a lot of people disagreed. in the colonies (many of which had officially been handed back to the earth kingdom), there were riots, lots of dissent, etc. amongst fire nationals.

when the north western earth kingdom became the site of resistance against radicals in the fire nation (as roku’s opposition to sozin was based on a coalition of liberal nobles and bureaucrats & emerging radical workers syndicates), a lot of monarchists & ultranationalists ended up emigrating with the initial wave of noble émigrés, and eventually, some of the more liberal nobles supporting roku turned against them as well. (this is also how roku’s youngest daughter, rina, who was married off to a sozin loyalist in a hostage situation organised by sozin, ends up in the earth kingdom - she and her husband defect, and initially support roku, but seeing the radicals that he is genuinely helping and supporting, they move to the earth kingdom). the reputation of this second wave depends on province - ex-soldiers are always hated, and the north west & regions in close proximity despise the fire nation, but the east & ba sing se has always been quite hospitable, & many have dual bases in ba sing se and the northwest. the ba sing se nobility, over time, mingle more and more with high profile fire nation émigrés who have property.

fire nationals in the earth kingdom are thus culturally different, usually, to fire nation citizens in the modern fire nation. more likely to be monarchists, more likely to hold sympathetic sentiment to azulon etc. (though most agree - publically - that sozin went too far, even if they think azulon should have his crown in private), and a lot of their styles of fashion, music, art, dance etc. is based on a lot of “antiquated” “old fashioned” fire nation traditions with some earth kingdom ideas mixed in. to fire nation residents, they just look at least 80 years out of date.

fire nation descendants in the earth kingdom are more likely to be involved with particular organised crime syndicates (the triads, as opposed to ones with other names). this is because after the war ended abruptly with sozin’s death, a lot ex-mercenaries and ex-soldiers stationed in the colonies/northwest began to find work/business through protection racketeering (in absence of organised govt. in the north-western earth kingdom). even in the modern day, the north west has problems with corruption, control, and is economically quite deprived despite having massive resources and that’s an after-effect of colonialism and attempts by the national government to ‘penalise’ the officials in that region for colluding with fire nation nationals/ex-colonists (very exasperating for genuine earth kingdom officials, and earth kingdom locals). roku did try and help the region but he’s generally disliked for lots of reasons & was trying to stop the fire nation from collapsing after supporting the radicals (a controversial decision!) and facing counter-revolutionary violence. i think roku felt like he neglected the fire nation for the earth kingdom in his youth and that’s why sozin was able to get as far as he did, so i think he made the very difficult decision to prioritise trying to sort out the fire nation. hence why yu dao is in a bit of a state. i imagine yu dao (republic city) is a big buzzing city but has those same problems with organised crime we see in lok.

the sozin dynasty, as azulon & his descendants are called, aren’t an exception to this involvement in organised crime. a lot of people were actually quite sympathetic to a young azulon after his father was killed at around the age of fifty or so, including fire nationals in the earth kingdom, but also the nobility in the earth kingdom, themselves staunch monarchists, who saw sozin as the problem and not the system of monarchy itself. all of this allowed azulon & his family to flee the caldera & manage to transfer a number of their assets with relative ease; they were never penniless, despite the sob story you might here.

azulon set up links with local businesses who were run by sympathisers, as well as organised crime syndicates, and through wise purchases, good advisors, & some savvy of his own, shifted from aristocracy to bourgeoisie with relative ease, & bought/negotiated their place at the negotiating table, to eventually come to be considered the lead stakeholder in those crime syndicates (with enough distance, though, as not to be suspicious). very much saved his name from being a laughing stock through his own ability there, but if you’d hear the story told, people who say that folks were deferential to him in part because of his lineage (sometimes, but not always true - the revolution had caused people to doubt).

regarding his sons, iroh had far more involved in organised crime and illegitimate business than ozai, who essentially looked after the more boring legitimate side of things (but took that role seriously and expanded it beyond being a simple front). iroh actually had a worse reputation up until azulon died, and was just considered a very competent but cut-throat political/business leader/general player with a lot of very very shady links that couldn’t quite be proven, but also like, was famously quite charming and well-liked in the high society ba sing se network. like, i want to be honest to show iroh here - he was bad! in the show, he was a war criminal! i mentioned he was a war profiteer (largely because ‘war criminal’ doesn’t make as much sense imo), and that was almost definitely regarding civil wars/coups that have been attempted in the fire nation & earth kingdom. this stopped when lu ten ended up being shot in the crossfire during a turf war and rather than pursuing a violent vendetta, iroh stepped out of the spotlight and let ozai take over the reigns more.

anyway, after zuko was burned for attempting to stand up to ozai, iroh basically faked his own death and completely ditched anything left of what he’d spent his life building in order to whisk zuko away and invent new identities for themselves in the fire nation (ironically) where they worked as tea shop workers (yes. li and mushi, still canon). i don’t think they live in the caldera, since cameras/photos mean it’s easier to be tracked, and zuko probably lives somewhere quiet-ish like ember island. zuko has a decent adolescence, considering, after he’s estranged. no “find the avatar” in this universe, for fairly obvious reasons.

i’m not an expert in organised crime by any means but hopefully this all makes sense. a lot of what azulon/iroh/ozai is doing, through the purchase of land, the control of business, the use of organised crime as an illicit form of govt. essentially is a form of colonisation, where the region is deprived due to fire nation business interests and in earth kingdom control in name only. corruption and close ties between ba sing se and fire nation émigrés mean that centralised govt is underfunding & turning a blind eye to it (which, in canon, ba sing se does, ‘no war in ba sing se’ etc.). most of the colonisation efforts are centred in the north-west, but azula is brought up in ba sing se given it’s far more reputable/prestigious, though she’s undoubtedly been to both places.

as for what’s happening in the fire nation, i feel like aesthetically it’s a little different - ba sing se is ancient buildings with sky trains, lots of urban sprawl & a very wide and endless city, whereas i imagine the caldera is a very tall city due to limited space available, more skyscrapers in the fire nation due to limits in islands. also, the fire nation has sea trains and submarine trains/tunnels, because. politically? haven’t quite decided but they’re some flavour of anarchist-communist (was reluctant to use that word in the fic itself because people have all kinds of interpretations of it, often very negative knee-jerk responses to it, but essentially: community-owned services and businesses and spaces instead of privately-owned ones, with egalitarian principles enshrined into the culture & identity now) over there if i’m honest, with lots of democratic councils. obviously i don’t think it’ll be perfect and i imagine ‘the national question’ is something that comes up a lot, with some difficulties between national & regional identity (imo the fire nation is very diverse, we see the sun warriors and then the sages who help korra in s2 are from different groups/cultures than the militaristic one that rose to prominence in the 100 year war and i hc a lot of that regional diversity was steamrolled for sozin’s imperialist project).

ANYWAY

there’s a reason i made this post on my main last week:

this is getting very long but hopefully this is some insight into what i’ve been thinking about when i made this AU

#very long and lots of politics #disclaimer: i am a leftist and that informs how i look at these issues #(if that wasn't obvious already)

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kristallioness · 3 years

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2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

*arrives a month late*... Happy 2021 to all of you, my dear followers! *raises a glass* It seems that my tendency to finish my artwork or personal posts on time has only gotten worse over time (I blame work *lol*). Oh well, better late than never, since there are things I would still like to take with me from this extraordinary year of 2020.

It is cringeworthy that I have two huge red X-s this year. But after I'd put these puzzle pieces together, I remembered far too well what was going on in my (work) life at the time, so it's completely understandable why I didn't have the time nor the energy to draw at all during those two months.

What were those typical statistics that I wrote about again to compare the years? *goes to read last year's post*.. Oh, right! In 2020, I managed to finish 3 full digital drawings (from the months of April, July and December) as well as work on several sketches. I wrote 28,154 words worth of fanfiction (oohh, that's a lot better than previous year), plus 3,126 words in English (I dare say I wrote an equal amount in Estonian) for the prompts I got during UYLD (making the total 31,280 words, which is quite impressive!).

I finished reading the 1st Kyoshi novel in the evening of the 20th and slightly past midnight on the 21st December (barely before the holidays, but I set this goal for myself and I did it!). Am already looking forward to starting with the 2nd part some time this year. Besides that, I ordered and received all the other new Avatar books that came out (3rd part of "Ruins of the Empire", "Katara and the Pirate's Silver", "Legacy of the Fire Nation") as well as BOTH Avatar series DVD sets (I still can't believe I found these on sale on some random online store in Estonia, but these are now among my most prized possessions!).

I finally started my Avatar rewatch last January, but merely got to the Ba Sing Se episodes in Book 2 (I need to continue with "The Earth King") and now it's been 5 YEARS since I last saw Korra. Reading through my journal personal posts from last year, I know far too well that it's not about rushing through it as fast as possible. Instead, I should enjoy the ride and continue watching the episodes when I'm well rested and in the right mood. That way I'll end up feeling much more at peace.

As for the entire year as a whole? I don't think anyone in this world of ours was prepared for the way this decade would begin - with an uncontrollable pandemic, the virus of which is randomly attacking and threatening to wipe out the weakest amongst us. If any of you (or even if you know someone who) have lost a loved one to this plague, there is not much else I can offer but my sincerest condolences! Me, my family, friends and colleagues seem to have managed to avoid catching it so far. *spits 3 x over her shoulder*

I had such high hopes for this year in so many ways. Event-wise I was looking forward to watching the Eurovision Song Contest in May (where Uku Suviste was supposed to represent Estonia for the 1st time ever after so many unfortunate failures to get selected as the winner of our local competition), the European Football Championships in June (asking my colleagues which countries they support, perhaps make fun bets / guesses with them to see whose team would win the matches), the Tokyo Olympic Games in July-August, the President of Estonia (Mrs. Kersti Kaljulaid) coming to visit my hometown to celebrate our Victory Day by taking part in the parade together with the Defence Forces (after 15 years *sigh*)...

I will always remember my last big event, which took place when life used to be "normal", so to say. It was the 102nd anniversary of Estonia on the 24th of February, when I took part of all the most important celebrations in Tallinn on our Independence Day, FULL-TIME (whenever I scroll through my Facebook timeline, I see the photos I uploaded of that day, my heart melts and I smile fondly). But the day after that.. utter hell broke loose. We had our first infected person in the country.

I will also remember the last day I went to work in "normal" conditions. Friday, the 13th of March (typically my lucky day-number combination): I missed the tram I wanted to get on in the morning, at work my team received great news that one of our colleague's family had grown bigger by a new tiny member the day before, we had our last team lunch together, we discussed the safety measures that we should take and joked about what might happen next week, I took the bus home instead of the tram (as the tram's route came from the airport and that place was considered to be more dangerous and with a higher risk of catching this virus).. It was another 2.5 weeks later by then (since the 25th of February) - Estonia (along with the rest of Europe) went into full lockdown.

The beginning was frightening and people were on edge, nobody really knew what to do nor what was gonna happen next. But in time, things began to shake into place and everybody developed a comfortable routine for remote work, including figuring out how to get everyday things done (such as grocery shopping). I found solace in taking photographs of various beautiful bird species, who began to fly around and serenaded me during spring, visiting the trees around my "nest" i.e. rented apartment (with a pair of them ACTUALLY building a nest in the chestnut tree right beside my window, thus turning me into a protective godmother of their chicks).

To be honest, I was awestruck by the positive / surprising aftermath of this lockdown: how the world / environment began to heal itself from the pollution that was normally caused by humans. I was taken aback by how dead silent our usually loud capital became in my neighbourhood (I could only hear trams passing by my house according to their schedules, practically no cars whatsoever, streets were empty of people.. absolute silence).

By May-June, things started to look up in Estonia (as well as the rest of Europe) and people were allowed to start travelling / moving around more freely. During my vacation in July, I managed to go to my last (open air) event (for the rest of the year) under these new "corona" conditions and ended up having a blast at the Open Farm Days in my home county for the first time.

Our country's shining moment came during the first week of September, when we hosted the first ever Rally Estonia of the World Rally Championship (WRC), where our very own Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja won. The event was so well organized and successful that nobody caught the virus nor did the spectators / participants spread it to others, which surely must've helped in ensuring us a spot in the WRC calendar for 2021 as well.

The remainder of the year was rather dull, with the exception of the US Presidential elections in November, when we were all holding our breaths that Joe Biden would win (congratulations, my American friends!). This eventually led to the painful downfall of THE WORST government the Republic of Estonia has ever had, and to the rise of our first female Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas (both happening in January 2021, I couldn't believe it all spiralled so soon, ha-ha!).

Anyways, during the last 4 months, work was very stressful and driving me nuts, so badly that when I eventually went on vacation before Christmas, I had a slight anxiety disorder that wouldn't let me relax for several days (luckily it went away just as quickly once I began to take it easy and managed to get some proper rest / sleep).

In hindsight, I kind of get this weird feeling as if I saw this whole thing coming, given how actively I was living my life throughout 2019. My final year of the 2010's was so full of important events and personal achievements. It's almost as if something mysterious inside was driving me, telling me to visit all the places and do all the things I wanted to do, cause I wouldn't have this sort of a chance again for a very long time.

This must be the main reason why I am thankful for 2020 for going the way it did. Sure, I'm disappointed that a lot of events were cancelled, that so many people have had to leave this world so soon due to this unpredictable disease.. But I think there are so many lessons to take from what came out of all of this. I believe the world needed some sort of a restart or break, given in what direction we were headed (politically, economically, environmentally, socially etc.). I'm just sorry it's had to come with such a high price of innocent lives.

I have even higher hopes for 2021, given how amazingly January has already passed for me and my country, and what is to come in my hometown in February. Let's take the lessons learned from 2020 with us and keep on heading back towards the "normal" lifestyle we used to know. Except this time, let's improve our ways, put all the hatred behind us, be more considerate, keep a distance, stay safe, but still try to make the world a better place for everyone. Thank you so much for reading, for remaining by my side, and for your support and love throughout the years, my friends! I hope to see you all alive and healthy at the end of the white metal ox year of 2021! *virtual hugs*

#personal #shards of Kristal

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focusas · 6 years

Text

Azula Week Day 6; Family

This can be considered to be sequel to my previous fanfiction “Lets have some fun“. Lets have even more fun with Sokka and Azula. There will be Zuko too. Trigger warning: trigger warnings :D

Zuko was afraid. He was very afraid of what his mom would say about the incident that happened with Azula or how everyone was talking that he has no honor and dared to dabble with incest. Wherever he went he could hear palace staff murmuring about his honorless acts with his sister and those indolent fools paid no attention to their ruler or its close proximity. Like seriously Zuko could stand right next to those fools and they would ignore him like he was some wall decoration. All excuses or real facts saying that it was instead Sokka that had affair with Azula were ignored, because everyone liked to gossip and had no time to see if it was truth or not. The nobles and palace staff were experiencing their freedom renaissance now that Zuko rouse to throne after oppressing regimes of Azulon or Ozai where even single glance or word spoke at wrong time could get you imprisoned or banished from Fire nation. Palace staff also noticed that Zuko was too soft to do anything Azulon or Ozai would do without second thought and used that knowledge to the max. Zuko knew that too, but couldn’t do anything about it without turning to his father. That being said he had to endure their talks that were spreading to capital resident and everyone thinking that he was dishonorable scum no better than previous rulers. There were harsh punishment for anyone dabbling with incest instanced by Sozin to strengthen royal blood line since incest was the worst mistake any ruler could do and all those inbred fools were good for nothing. At same time it was also one of the reasons why Sozin started hundred years war against Earth kingdom; after all living closed in their own island you could go only so far before you needed to marry your distant cousin or niece several times removed. New strong blood was needed to revitalize his glorious nation. Azulon decided to follow his father foots and did similar thing with watertribes and their attractive men and women. Strong fire nation men would take captured watertribe women as their concubines to freshen their bloodlines and get attractive genes in their family. The war required soldiers and each girl that reached mature age of sixteen was forced to marry and make babies as fast as possible. Fire needed people to bend it. Same thing was with boys and for each boy, that was adobe seventeen and weren’t married or sired a child, his family had to pay hefty price to royal treasury as punishment for failing in their children well being. Azulon even married his younger son to avatar descendant get to some of that improvement even if they weren’t destined to inherit anything. Fire nation’s propaganda machine was working nonstop to indoctrinate people to see the one truth and it has taken deep roots inside the country. Why would you marry local men or woman when you could marry distant woman from nearby island with chance to inherit her family’s wealth and estate when its previous owner met untimely death in carriage accident or manure explosion. You could never be sure if simple trip to toilet wouldn’t end into tragic accident. Local was dull and boring while distant neighbors were fancy and exotic and you could easily become laughing stock of family and community if anyone learned that you were running romance with your house members.

Now that the word was spreading about fire lord Zuko adventures with his sister and everyone were laughing and making fool of him, Zuko had to fix this problem. His honor or the lack of it demanded it! It was all that fool’s, Sokka, fault that he got so wasted he didn’t saw difference between Azula and Suki and was easily seduced by Azula to make fool of Zuko. At same time Zuko had to admit it was also partly his own fault because he was caught red handed by Sokka when he, Zuko, had his hands under Suki’s armor to cares her naked skin while their mouths where locked in passionate kiss and oblivious to their surrounding while trying to get everything from this lustful act. After that it was obvious why Sokka locked himself in his food storage and drunk all his booze, but how could Zuko have known that it all would lead to such disgraceful acts? He needed to settle down this incident before his mother returned back to capital and learned about it all, because while he could endure common people talks, his mother losing her opinion about him would be the end of him. Luckily Ursa was still touring Fire nation islands with Kiyi and wouldn’t return for three month. Plenty of time for people to forget about this disaster that happened in palace.

The easiest way for people to forget about something was to distract them with something new and flashy, but Zuko had to admit that he was dumb when it come to plotting or scheming and that Azula was master in this subject and could easily foil anything he would think. He needed help and the only one person that could do it was happily sipping tea in his shop in Ba Sing Se, so Zuko sent an airship to get his uncle as fast as possible back to Fire nation with note that he needs his help for delicate matter at home. The trip with ship would waste too much time and he couldn’t be so careless. Everything had to be done fast and in secret! After all nothing screams secret as huge airship secretly taking of and moving to unknown Ba Sing Se direction. Zuko decided to counter one mastermind with another after all Iroh was the best option when you needed to do something secret or clever and him running that secret white lo… whatever with only few people knowing about it, was good testament of how secretive that old tea lover could be. It took some time but eventually Iroh arrived to palace and they could start to scheme how to get Zuko good name and make people forget what happened or what they thought has happened between him and his sister. Iroh was happy to sit and drink tea with his nephew while watching clouds passing nearby in royal palace garden, or at least that’s how it looked to palace residents while huge plot was cooking instead.

After staying for two weeks Iroh left on his journey back to Ba Sing Se and Zuko decided to go on with plan and went to meet with Ty lee before sending message to Sokka since he has task for him. Sokka was training with Piandao so it was short journey for him and he quickly arrived to capital to see what kind of trouble plagued his friend. Zuko accepted Sokka with huge feast since he knew what bottomless pit resided in Sokka’s stomach before moving to serious matter: apparently there was big gang of rebels that still wanted to put Ozai back on throne or at least to assassinate Zuko and Zuko was greatly concerned with it. Zuko wanted for Sokka to infiltrate it so that they could undermine it from within. Then when the day finally drawn to the end and all serious matters were settled, Zuko offered to share some drinks to talk about good old days and what or where their friends are now and what they do. At same time Mai and Ty lee decided to visit Azula in an excuse to try and rekindle their old friendship. Both Mai and Ty lee tried to stay as far as possible from Azula after she returned to live back in palace and this would be their first true meeting after that fateful day on Black rock where they would meet as friends.

It was already midnight when Zuko managed to get Sokka so drunk he passed out and it was time for next part of plan. Some time ago Mai came to Zuko’s room where he and Sokka were drinking, kissed Zuko and whispered that Azula passed out from generous supply Zuko provided to Ty lee for this special occasion. Then Mai left and went back to her place. Sokka was already too drunk to note anything suspicion about it and thought it was normal for them to act like that. So after Sokka passed out from one too many drinks Zuko took his drunken friend and carried him to Azula’s room where Ty lee was already at work setting everything as planned and then they laid Sokka next to Azula.

“Make it look like it actually happened here.” Zuko told to Ty lee as if to ensure she knows what to do, then left the room since he didn’t want to overstay here or to be seen exiting Azula’s room by some random palace resident, at same time Ty lee jumped in action to fulfill her friend’s request. She had already disrobed Azula who was already completely naked and lying under blanket in her bed so it was only Sokka Ty lee needed to free from his clothes and she was eating him with her eyes while during it. Sokka had well toned body and Ty lee was enjoying touching him very much. Every time she touched his muscles it sent shivers down her spine and made her urge to join him in same bed grow stronger and stronger, but Ty lee had to restrict herself from doing so; this was supposed to be Sokka’s and Azula’s night and not hers no matter how tempting it was. In Ty lee’s book Azula should be happy to be with such pretty boy.

After Ty lee finished undressing Sokka, she had lot of pleasure in doing so, she lied both Sokka and Azula next to one another and had to think of good way to make it look like they actually done it and had hard time in deciding how to make it look like they actually done it here. At first both Sokka and Azula were lying facing each other, but that didn’t look real and someone could say they just fall asleep in same bed and nothing ever happen between them. Zuko asked her to make it so that there would be no doubt they actually done it. When you were dealing with Azula everything had to be perfect; there was no other way! Then Ty lee took Sokka’s hand and laid it on top of Azula’s tit. It still didn’t look correct so she instead rolled Sokka on top of Azula to make it look better, but doubt still plagued her. Something was missing but she couldn’t discover what it was, the pose looked unnatural. Sokka was bigger than Azula and it looked like he was trying to squeeze her between his body and the bed. So she moved Azula’s head to side and then made it look like Sokka was kissing her neck. Now it looked better but still not perfect. Ty lee examined the view from several different angles before great idea shot to her mind and wicked smile appeared on her face. She would enjoy it as much as Sokka and so Ty lee kneed on the floor near the spot where Sokka’s buttock were and took his little thing in her hand to play for a bit. Ty lee knew all the right spots to touch, after all she had lots of practice, so in no time Sokka’s penis hardened in Ty lee’s soft hand and was ready for work even if his owner was completely wasted. The acrobat was reaching her own ecstasy just by touching Sokka’s body. Ty lee played with it and even had to take short break to calm herself until she felt that Sokka’s buddy was ready to deliver its load and then positioned it near Azula’s entrance and pushed it inside. Both Sokka and Azula released low growls that momentary scared Ty lee that her play subjects may wake up and kill her for what she was about to do and but after several seconds of inactivity she released breath she didn’t even known to hold and returned back to her dirty deed. There was some resistance while sliding Sokka’s penis inside Azula’s vagina, but Ty lee applied more force and pushed it deeper inside princess while at same time making it to deliver its load inside her. Now there would be no doubt that Sokka and Azula spent one passionate night here.

Then when pink trouble maker was sure everything was perfect she moved to designated room to notify person waiting in it about job well done. Ty lee entered the room and was momentary shocked when instead of Zuko there was Iroh sitting in it.

“Uncle Iroh, what are you doing in here? I thought you have left several days ago.” Ty lee tried to think if this was supposed to be. Zuko was supposed to be here and no the old general.

“Oh I just forgot my favorite tea pot. I can’t go anywhere without it.” Iroh smiled warmly at Ty lee while rubbing small tea pot. “Is it done?” He added as an afterthought like it was just some trivial matter.

“Uh… Yes, it is.” Ty lee answered thinking that Iroh wanted to know about progress with Sokka and Azula. “Where is …” Ty lee couldn’t finish her sentence when someone hit her from behind and made her fall on the ground unconscious.

“Take her to the ship. I will join you there shortly.” Iroh commanded man standing near unconscious girl before leaving the room.

Several hours later Zuko collected fire sages and went to investigate strange sound that apparently were coming from somewhere in palace and it just so happened that they appeared to be coming from somewhere nearby where Azula’s room was and to make sure there are no spirits there, Zuko decided to enter Azula’s room and boy o boy what a sight he had before his eyes. There lies his naked sister in bed with a man and that man is no one else, but his friend Sokka. Zuko was expecting something like that but looks like Ty lee outdid his expectations.

“AZULA! SOKKA! WHAT IN THE SPIRITS NAME ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Zuko shouted as if wanting to get their attention even when he knew that they wouldn’t reply, but he still had to play his part. Then fire lord and his retinue moved closer to examine and one fire sage noted that boy had his thing inside the girl and there were some blood on the sheet. Royal physician was summoned to evaluate the situation and confirmed what everyone suspected. Both Sokka and Azula got drunk and then had sex, but what was surprising was that this may be the first time when Azula had proper sex. At same time other sages found Kyoshi armor and other utensils dropped in corner like in previous time. Everything looked like it was the last time when Zuko had that unfortunate accident to the smallest detail except this time the perpetrator was clear and they were caught in the middle of it. No one now could deny that Sokka and Azula were sleeping together and practiced all kinds of sex.

“I invoke Nofukyo law!” Zuko stated after every evidences of Sokka and Azula dirty deed were examined. “Head fire sage do you accept to proceed with ceremony?”

“The evidences are irrefutable and i accept your request, my lord.” Head fire sage bowed to fire lord.

“Proceed with ceremony with my blessing... and with haste.” Zuko stated before leaving the room. Now everyone will have something else to talk about other than his lack of honor and no one could deny that Sokka and Azula were involved in affair.

o0o0o0o

“Uuuu…” Sokka woke up and felt like his head was trying to kill him. He tried to stand up but couldn’t. There was something lying on top of him and it looked like dirty potato sack was tossed on top of him and was weighing him down. His one hand was under it and he couldn’t move it, but luckily his other hand was free and with it he gripped potato sack as if looking for potato that could make stable grip and tried to move it away.

Azula woke up and felt that something was groping her breast and while she felt like extreme hangover was about to consume her, the fact that someone put their hands where they weren’t supposed to be was good wake up call that managed to clear her head since no one could grope her and leave unpunished. Somehow one of her arms was not responding, but Azula ignored it for now and after igniting blue fire in her free hand positioned herself to face the offender and seeing that they both were lying on the ground she elbowed it.

There was the flash of blue before stinging pain shoot in his stomach, but that at same time helped to fix Sokka’s vision and he cursed his luck for it wasn’t a potato sack that he was trying to free himself from, but princess Azula herself and she looked ready to kill him where he was lying.

“Please don’t kill me!” Sokka screamed like a girl while trying to shield himself from angry firebender in vain.

“You have forfeited your life the moment you … OH SHIT!” Azula was about to roust this fool before her unresponsive arm come before her eyes… and it wasn’t alone. There was huge metal sleeve on it that tightly bond it to similar metal sleeve Sokka had on his hand.

“SHIT!” Azula cursed once again and fell on the sand near Sokka when the reality of what has happened hit her. Enormous rage storm was burning inside her and she tried to contain it.

“What?!” Sokka dared to open his eyes when nothing has happened and he prayed to whatever spirit that could listen to him that he was still alive. Then he looked to the girl that promised murder just a couple seconds ago.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” Sokka screamed when he saw what Azula saw and tried to remove it, but it all was in vain for all his efforts only created small sand cloud nearby before Azula yanked her arm forcing Sokka to lay on sand with her.

“ What is this? This must be some prank!” Sokka half screamed while raising his arm in the air while at same time raising Azula’s arm too since it was bond together.

“You better check if you still have it.” Azula looked at Sokka with her burning red eyes that had its usual devious and cunning sight but at same time there was doubt and confusion there.

“My what?” Sokka asked a little calmer, but still with panic in his voice.

“Your little buddy. They like to cut it off before granting us this gift.” Azula elaborated and saw how frantically Sokka’s hands moved to grope his groin.

“By your look I can see that you still have it. That’s good for you or I would have killed you.” Azula tried to laugh but it sounded unnatural and scared Sokka more than her blue flame or maybe he was scared that Fire nation were bigger barbarians that he first thought about them.

“Uh… since you know more than me, could you share that knowledge with me because I am completely lost here.” Sokka asked Azula after he recovered from shock.

“We are family now, Sokka, you are me!”

“Family!?” Sokka repeated the word as if not knowing what it meant. “Family as in what?”

“As in husband and wife and this …” Azula rouse her hand that was bound to Sokka’s hand in the air “… this is Zuzu’s wedding gift for us.”

“Husband, Wife, Wedding …? What!? I am still too young for marriage!” Sokka tried to stand up and free his hands but all he managed to do was to make him and Azula roll on the sand with Azula getting on top of him.

“Welcome to the family Sokka. Now you will be considered royal pack mule.” Azula looked at Sokka while sitting on top of him.”This…” she raised her bond arm up while at same time making Sokka winch “…most of time when fire lord find one of his unmarried relatives having affair with someone, he would just kill the offender and burn the other, but there are other ways to punish those fools and we just fall into one of those. A forced marriage! This ‘thing’… ” Azula motioned with her free hand toward metal sleeve on her bound arm. “… is royal binding and it have quite strict restrictions when it can be enforced. There is no way to get it removed unless both people would want to sever their arms that are bond. The key that locked it in place was thrown into the sea after key hole was filled with hot metal. We are bound forever. That’s how that law goes… someone is going to die for this!”

“Please don’t kill anyone!” Sokka tried to make puppy eyes while trying to settle with idea that he is bound to scary and ruthless fire nation princess and the only thing he and her have now are just dirty potato bags to cover their bodies.

“Oh don’t worry I wouldn’t need to. You dear sister will do all work for us after she learns what my foolish brother did.” Azula replied while casually stroking Sokka’s chest while straddling him and trying to calm the storm inside her.

“Now that I think about it, it all make sense of why he asked for me to urgently come to palace. That bastard… Zuko is fool he couldn’t have planed this.” Sokka tried to make sense of the situation.

“You are right, but he is still going to die when Katara would come to talk to him about this subject. She almost killed him the first time when he had us engaged and forced him to break it.” Azula was already calm and her voice tone returned to normal.

“I was engaged to you? When did that happened!?” Sokka was surprised by this information or how anyone failed to tell him such important fact.

“You were completely wasted and it was only for several hours so don’t make big deal of it. Zuko has no idea what laws are in Fire nation since he didn’t receive that education and instead was chasing wind while looking for avatar. I on the other hand am well versed in Fire nation’s laws and know of only one people that could have known about it. Iroh!” A silence reigned after that statement while Azula was still stroking Sokka’s chest; it had strange calming effect on her.”That sly bastard always favored Zuzu.” Sokka continued to lay on the sand with Azula on top of him with both thinking how they get into this situation and find ways out of it.

“One time! It was only one time when I decided to trust people and thought that me and my old friends Mai and Ty lee could rekindle our friendship, but look where that led me. That was foolish! I should have know that something was up when suddenly Mai and Ty lee decided to visit and talk with me. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Azula cursed her luck.”Oh well…”

“Come on fool we need to find way out of …” Azula looked and her surroundings,- the sands where everywhere,-“ this… nowhere!” She looked at poor excuse of clothing she was wearing. “And we need to find some proper clothing too.”

“There are some people that deserve a payback for what they did to us!”

#Azula #Sokka #azulaweek2018 #Zuko #atla #azulaweek 2018 #Sokkla #Avatar The Last Airbender #My writing #lol #:D

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spellcastersjudgement · 6 years

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Jaden nd bastion for that domestic ask thing? >:3c

THE OTP YES i have so many feelings and everyone needs to hear me sob over the nerd baby and his superhero

also that icon is the content i look for on this hellsite well done

who is the big spoon/little spoon Jaden is the little spoon!! he prefers being the big spoon tbh he likes curling up against bastions fuckin ripped back but jaden always falls asleep first because he has to get this twelve hours or else he will be a grumpy boy but bastion?? bastion stays up all night drinking coffee and doing god knows what bc he’s the type of guy thats like ‘hey jaden im gonna go read a bit before i got to bed’ and then he fuckin stays up all night because he has no self control lmao so when it’s like 3am and he’s finally put down his book or finished dicking around on the computer he finally gets in bed and he doesnt want to wake up his husband (yes theyre married in my mind ok im love them) so he just lays down and pulls the human kuriboh to his chest and falls asleep

what is their favorite non-sexual activity the standard answer is Card Games but besides dool masters they like to go on drives and look at stars and talk abt whatever. bastion is a chemical engineer and jaden’s his professional duelist trophy husband so they dont get to be together as much as they want bc jaden’s tournament schedule so when they’re together they gotta make it count u know so bastion will pick jaden up from the airport and they’ll just start driving out of the city talking about DM or what bastion’s been up to or whatever’s going through jaden’s mind (an enigma lmao) and then when there are no more streetlights to make it difficult to see the stars they’ll pull over and lay on the hood and cuddle and keep talking. it’s like 4am before they finally go home and since they’re going to sleep at the same time jaden finally gets his chance to be the big spoon

who uses all the hot water in the morning getting jaden to shower is a fucking struggle he’s like a cat. living in the slifer dorm made him accustomed to being a generally gross person in general so he lives off dry shampoo and body spray so he doesn’t smell like hassleberry after a workout so that leaves bastion to take all of the water because he showers every morning after his run and insists on h is hair being perfect and well taken care of. like the guy has at least five different hair care products in the shower at all times while jaden, even though he’s dumb thick rich, buys that 3-in-1 crap he and syrus used to make stretch for a month back in college. jaden is also known to stick his kuriboh hair under the sink and shake it out like a dog because he is a gross boy that usually gets up about ten minutes before he has to leave so there’s no time for an actual shower and we’ve gotten away from the actual question but the tldr is bastion stands under the hot water he’s got one of those mirrors to shave in the shower while he’s doing his deep conditioning treatment and has a pore strip on his nose for beautiful ™ skin

what they order from take out this one ties in a lot to my sageshipping BrOTP headcanons (on god there needs to be a brotp ask so i can scream to the world my love for bastion/alexis friendship) but the bit of background is that bastion and alexis would always order from this indian place that was open real late at night when they were in grad school together (no delivery at duel academy cause its an island u know) so it has a special place in his heart. jaden is a wimp when it comes to spice but since bastion loves it they order it anyway and the people that deliver the food know to make it wimpy baby spicy for jaden so he doesn’t end up sweating half his body weight up and crapping out lava four hours later

what is the most trivial thing they fight over oh god they dont fight a lot because they love and appreciate each other’s eccentricities but if they’re going to fight its going to be over who’s doing the driving. they both love cars, bastion likes taking it apart and modifying them and whatnot and jaden likes the aesthetique (though his aesthetique is painting flames on a corolla jaden u lil shit smh) and they both like to go fast so when they go out they bitch abt who gets to drive. bastion tells jaden he doesnt appreciate the feel of the machine and jaden says bastion drives like a fucking old man so they end up settling the matter with rousing game of rock paper scissors

who does most of the cleaning NEITHER OH MY GOD theyre both total slobs. bastion’s desk and home office is covered in his notebooks and duel monster cards, his walls covered with god knows what (formulas, dates, to-do lists, grocery lists) the guy just grabs the sharpie and starts writing because he’s afraid of forgetting something if he doesnt get it down right then. jaden lives in filth he has three day old bowls of cereal at his desk and uses used napkins as tissues he is certifiably NASTY. anyway they hire a housekeeper to make sure the entire house doesnt fall into disarray and she’s like their surrogate mother making sure they eat more than takeout and coffee and making sure the house smells nice. they call her Mama Cheryl (good middle aged mom name) and she’s the embarrassing mom at jadens local tournaments the kind that prints out huge pictures of his face and wears shirts with Neos on them and cheers for her boy v loudly. again we’re away from the question but i have a lot of headcanons abt this i’ll probs put in my dissertation lol

what has a season pass in their DVR hmmm this is an interesting one…i like to think jaden loves crime shows because they’re heroes and he likes watching the good guys ™ win in the end. his favorite show is psych (which u all should watch its hilarious) but since that ended a while ago he’s been in to criminal minds and SVU because he likes watching the really diabolical criminals get caught. bastion never knew his mans was into such dark stuff until he opened the season pass thingy and got quite the heart attack because he thought jaden was all butterflies and flowers and funny stuff but bastion had to learn the duality of man the hard way. bastion doesn’t watch television that much but his guilty pleasure is vikings on the history channel and stuff on the discovery channel because he loves learning what a nerd

who controls the netflix queue jaden is the one that likes to watch netflix the most but i wouldnt say he’s in control per se. they’re usually down for watching what each other likes but in the end jaden will sometimes end up superseding bastion because dammit bas we are not watching a documentary about the dead sea scrolls you dont even believe in god and bastions like fine youre cute we can watch Castle (even though thats not on netflix but i wish it were)

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working jaden. jaden all the way. bastion brings up a a wikihow article about how to fix the hvac system and he’s like I CAN FIX THIS and jadens like ily babe but you work with chemicals not with this kind of thing ur gonna break it like the time u tried to fix the sink and fuckin clogged the shit out of it we are calling Cheryl and Cheryl’s like jaden im a housekeeper call someone who actually does this for a living. anyway while theyre waiting for the professionals to get there bastion tries to demonstrate he knows what he’s doing he is smort by writing the steps and shit on the wall and jadens like youre so cute but no dont touch the heating system. he has to distract his lil nerd by asking him about what deck he should use for his next tournament or what the probability of drawing three polymerizations on the first turn is and bastion loves talking about math so jaden keeps asking questions until the system is fixed (he doesnt remember much of bastions mathematical explanations but bastion looks so cute with his eyes all bright and shiny talking about statistics)

who leaves their stuff around BOTH they are slobs. jadens a bit worse if we’re being honest because while bastion leaves his papers and cards around schmaden schmuki leaves his underwear and food and cups in the living room and is prone to stripping off his clothes for one reason or another and just laying on the couch watching ESPN with his goddamn pants on the floor and saying they were constricting his knees or some shit when bastion asks why he feels the need to be half naked all the time. bastion had his own room in college so he doesnt quite understand why jadens comfortable just answering the door with a trail of clothing behind him because most people that dont know him assume he’s been getting bizzay but nah he just be Like That

who remembers to buy the milk jaden do because he drinks milk in his coffee. bastion drinks it black so if theres no milk its like eh whatever but jaden is a mess without his caffeine and he hates how bitter and gross it is when theres no milk in it so even if jaden’s not the one going to the grocery store he’ll write it on the wall so bastion will remember it because his mans dont check his texts that often but anything on that wall he fuckin remembers and jaden doesnt understand why he be Like That

who remembers anniversaries both! they are dumb thick in love with each other and they like to plan little things to do for the anniversary of their first date, when they made it official, their wedding, etc. jaden is much more extravagant and will do something like jump on the bed until bastion wakes up and then drag him out for breakfast and get atticus to sing a really off-key renditions of classic love songs and bastion blushes so hard and its so cute it should be criminal lmao. bastion will get jaden a cute little gift like one of those pictures where the artist takes a photo and paints it so they can hang it on their wall. or bastion will fine tune his duel disk or get him a new card for his deck. they are in big gay love and i love them so much

thanks for this ask on god i just wrote 1800 words of tutorship feels i have a problem lol

#sailorspencer #ygogx #the boy #bastion #the otp #tutorshipping #i had sooo much fun writing this im love fluffy domestic tutorship boys

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sasuhinasno1fan · 6 years

Text

Bloodbender

So @terezees I’m your gifter for the @vldhalloween. Most of my stories are usually Lance focused so I hope like hell I do a good job of making Keith good in this. I also don’t really do a lot of platonic Klance stories either, but most of those are one shots so again hoping this doesn’t lean too much into the realm of coupleish. Most of the stuff you asked for I’ve never really done so I was like, what something that can work and then ATLA and Jet came to mind. So hope you enjoy your trick and happy Halloween.

“I’m sorry, you want me to what?” Lance had been happily studying away for his Myths within Astrology class when Keith sprung a question on him.

“I want you to use bloodbending on me.”

“Are you insane? No way? Why in La’s name would I even think about doing that?”

“Lance, remember what Pidge said? Lotor’s ‘generals’, one of them is a waterbender and you know he could care less about the laws. I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew bloodbending.”

“Ok just because Prince Lotor and his father took over Ba Sing Se and are practically running it into the ground, doesn’t mean I should do bloodbending on you. Besides, we’re avoiding Lotor anyway. We just steal stuff from the Upper Ring and heal those in the Lower Ring. Once Allura feels like its safe to get us out of here, we’ll join the resistance and then you’ll get to fight him. Until then, I plan on staying far away from Lotor.”

“That’s the thing. What if he catches us? What if I’m forced against this waterbender? I need to know how to defend myself.”

“Here’s how you defend yourself, run like hell and hope they don’t catch you. Keith, the only reason I know how to bloodbend is because my tribe believed it could be used for healing purposes but even then it’s only in serious situations. It affects the user’s mind and using it like that is horrible.”

Keith knew Lance didn’t talk about his home much, so he knew this wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. Keith knew it was a stretch anyway, but Lance was right. While they pretended to be just simple travellers trying to live in the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se while Lance attended the University there even under the rule of Emperor Zarkon, the two were the famed thieves, Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady. They’d steal items from the Upper Ring, giving it to those in need and Lance would heal any sick people who were unfortunately too poor to afford anything to help them. They’d keep up with it to piss off Lotor and help the people until Allura, the leader of the Voltron Rebellion felt it was safe to pull them out so they could finally bring Zarkon down.

“Alright, fine. I’m sorry I asked.” He could see Lance relax now that he wasn’t being hounded but could still see that Lance’s mind was on bad memories. He grabbed the book from Lance’s hand, ignoring the sound of annoyance Lance made, “do they have anything about us in here?”

“Us?”

“Yeah, the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady, or did they even have a male version?”

“Excuse you, just because I don’t mind being called a girl doesn’t allow you to give me crap about it. The Painted Lady is a distinguished woman whose power were amazing. I am lucky and honoured to be able to be called her.” Keith would constantly tease him about his choice in being the Painted Lady, but Lance didn’t care. He felt that the Painted Lady was someone worth being and he made no effort to change it from Lady to Man. Plus, Keith knew it was a way to get Lance to change his mind quickly, taking it off of their previous conversation.

When he first met Lance, Keith didn’t think they’d end up being the best bending team. They could argue for ages and could be unbelievably petty at times, but as time went on, Lance became someone he could rely on, his impulse control. He had no problem calling Keith out and Keith tried his best to help keep Lance’s spirits up. They were a good team, maybe why Allura thought it best they stay at Ba Sing Se with Pidge. The plantbender didn’t join them during their excursions but was very good at getting information to and from the rebel group. There were times that they’d have to steal information to help the rebel groups but mostly they saw Pidge around the city blending in just like they were. Keith hoped that they’d be out of here soon, because according to Pidge, Lotor and his generals were moving much more than usually did.

“A retrieval mission?” Keith asked, sitting across from Pidge at the local tea house.

“Yeah, I got this message that a man is willing to give information about Lotor and his movements. It seems almost too good to be true, but I don’t want to risk it.”

“Should we? If it’s a trap, we could be playing right into Lotor’s hands. You couldn’t find who sent the message?”

“No.” Pidge looked put out. “All my messengers came back with nothing. All we know about this guy is where he lives, which is a summer house for someone. There’s no name on the lease and I can’t get anything, which is so frustrating. I don’t want to risk you guys but this is either a trap, or this guy is really good and hiding his tracks.”

Keith thought. Getting information on Lotor would be a big help but if it was a trap, then they were screwed. The Blue Spirit getting caught would not be good, especially if Lotor found out he was connected to the Voltron Rebellion.

“Maybe I can check the place out? I might be able to get a better idea if I go check myself.”

“I don’t know, I mean if my messengers couldn’t find out a lot, I don’t know what you could do. I think we should take the chance. Just if your gut is telling you something’s wrong, then get the hell out of dodge, ok?”

“Right. Should I bring Lance with me?”

“It would be suggested. I would try and take care of the lower Ring earlier, cause this guy wants to meet tonight.”

Keith sighed, t'was the life of a thief. “Alright. Lance should be back from his classes. I’ll talk to him and we’ll make a plan.”

“Good luck and be careful ok? Can’t have our best retrieval experts getting caught.”

Keith was quick to finish his tea and head back to the house. He was assuming Lance would be there, but the place was empty. All there was, was a note on the table.

My anthropology class had a felid trip. I’ll be back before sundown.

Great, that meant he would have to come up with a plan all by himself. Lance hated not being in the know when it came to stuff like this but what choice did he have? There was a small part of him that didn’t like this, the whole situation, but he was sure it was because of what they were heading into. He really hoped he wasn’t wrong.

The sun started sinking as Keith came up with a plan and half of a backup. All of them depended on Lance, but he wasn’t even there yet.

“Come on Lance, where are you?” Keith muttered looking as the sun set beneath the wall. The time he wanted to head out was getting closer and Lance wasn’t back yet. Keith went into Lance’s room, hoping there would be something that hinted to where he could be when he noticed something. The chest with the fake side that held his Painted Lady stuff was halfway open. Lance would leave it like that in case anyone broke in and found it. Most people would close the door if they went through it, not half open. And his things weren’t there. “Could he be down at the Lower Ring already?”

Keith changed into his clothes, hooking his Dao swords to his back as that feeling from before grew. Keith usually listened to his gut and this feeling was telling him something was wrong. And that something had to do with Lance. He wasn’t one to abandon a mission but the whole thing felt too unsteady to do by himself. He’d find Lance first and then decide from there.

Keith landed on top of another rooftop. He had checked the building that housed the sick people but Lance wasn’t there. Lance wasn’t anywhere in the Lower Ring and there weren’t that many places to look. The feeling in his stomach was growing even more. He did not like this.

He might have been focused on looking for Lance but he did sense someone behind him. He turned only to be blasted off the roof with an airblast. He barely managed to somersault back onto his feet, where he saw five figures approach the edge of the roof he had been on. The one in the middle looked familiar but before he could even try and see if he was right, the largest figure jumped off the roof and landed on the ground, shaking the ground. Earthbender.

“The Blue Spirit, you’re under arrest for crimes against the Empire. You can come quietly or I can pound you into the floor. Please say I can pound you into the floor.” A woman, much taller and muscular than him growled, almost salivating at the thought of wanting to fight him.

Keith didn’t answer as he unsheathed his swords. Three other figures jumped down, leaving that familiar shape on the roof. He knew that figure, that shape, but it didn’t make any sense.

“Zethrid, let’s let his friend take care of him. It was amazing how easy it was to catch him, tricking his class to come to Lake Laogai.” One of the other figures spoke. Another woman, her hair tied in a bun with bits of hair in front of her face.

Oh Angi, he had hoped he was wrong. He watched the last figure jump down. It was Lance, dressed in his Painted Lady attire. But his eyes were vacant, like he wasn’t himself.

“Either surrender or your friend here will do it for you. I hear waterbenders can control people. I wonder if your friend can do the same.”

Keith was stuck on what to do. It didn’t feel right attacking Lance, something was wrong with him. But Lance didn’t seem to care as a waterwhip came darting towards him. Keith darted back to dodge and decided to run. If he could get Lance away from those women, he might have a chance of trying to talk to him without revealing who they were, unless they knew already.

“Hey, he’s getting away!” a new voice yelled.

“He won’t get far.”

Keith dodged another attack from the waterwhip, turning to face Lance. He had water covering his arms like tentacles.

“Lance, what are you doing?” Lance didn’t answer, attacking again. Keith kicked his leg up, fire escaping the sole evaporating the water. He stood ready as the steam clouded his vision and was granted with arrows of ice shooting at him. A swift punch melted them. “Lance, snap out of it. What are you doing?”

That’s when he felt it, like someone was grabbing his insides and pulling him as his knees were forced to the ground and his arms bending behind his back. His entire body moved like it was jerking.

“Yay, he did it!” the same voice as before cheered as the four women came strolling up to them. “Wow, bloodbenders are really scary. Narti, you really need to learn this.”

Bloodbending. Lance was using bloodbending on him. No wonder he didn’t want to, this was horrible. He could barely see the look on Lance’s face but he was still staring back at Keith with that blank expression on his face. This wasn’t Lance. The Lance he knew flinched at the idea of using bloodbending, even in situations of healing.

“I didn’t think the brainwashing would work this well. Very good, now bring him to his feet and we can hand you both over to Lotor. He’ll be very pleased.”

Lotor. He couldn’t allow it, if they got captured, the rebellion wouldn’t be able to happen, Lance wouldn’t be able to see his family again and he would never be able to see Shiro again either and the whole world would dissolve into chaos. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let that happen. He felt his blood starting to boil and could just feel his leg starting to lose that jerky feeling. He took his chance, swinging it around to send a wave of fire around Lance, separating them from the women. He guessed with Lance’s minor use of bloodbending he got distracted, but he’d take it. The minute he felt use of his body again, he darted forward and slammed his fist into Lance’s solar plexus. Once he felt Lance slump down on him, he moved like the entire Empire’s army was after him. He could hear the taller woman cursing and orders for them to split up and find them. Avoid and hide from them and then head to Pidge’s apartment. He hoped the plantbender knew a bit about healing.

“You will become the Painted Lady like you do at nights and find us your partner. When you find him, if he does not come quietly, you will attack. Use bloodbending to subdue. You will use bloodbending on him.”

Lance moaned as his senses came back to him, his head pounding. That memory? Dream? Whatever it was, kept sounding off on his head. He felt like he had been underwater with no way of creating an air bubble for himself, drowning and he was finally awake.

“Lance?” that voice was…Keith? Keith, his best friend and partner. The Blue Spirit to his Painted Lady. Why did he sound so worried? What happened to make him sound like that?

He opened his eyes and they took a while to adjust before seeing Keith leaning over him looking worried. He noticed they were in Pidge’s place, judging from all the plants he could spot behind Keith. Keith was in his Blue Spirit attire and he could feel the flowy cloth of his Painted Lady outfit. What happened?

“How do you feel?” Keith asked.

“I’ve got a really bad headache. Keith, what happened? Did we get attacked during our healing trip?” though Lance didn’t really remember ever leaving for it. He remembered going to Lake Laogai with his classmates but after that…nothing. “We didn’t go on our healing trip, what happened?”

“So apparently,” Pidge’s voice came into the room as they got into Lance’s view, “Lake Laogai is known as a hiding place for an old brainwashing facility or something? Technically it was denounced as the previous vacation spot by the old Earth King. You got caught; at least that’s what Keith told me.”

“By Lotor’s generals. They knew who you were and captured you. I don’t know how but they did. They brainwashed you into attacking when you found me.” Keith explained.

Brainwashed? So that voice he heard was the suggested implant they put? “What happened? Did I hurt you?”

“No, the fight ended pretty quickly but I think maybe because of something they suggested so you were more focused on that.”

“You’ll be happy to know that my first big healing session was trying to help your brain remove the suggestions. I sent a message to Allura to try and get us out of here since they know us now, so if I missed something, at least there will be other healers to help you.” Pidge said.

“Thanks Pidgey. Shame I couldn’t see you in action. As your waterbending teacher, I’m proud. That’s a big thing to do for someone learning. I’m sorry I blew our cover.”

“I don’t think it was your fault. You’re careful and those women still caught you. I think Lotor has known about us for a while.” Keith said. It was weird hearing him brush Lance’s apologies off. He thought Keith would have been telling him he should have been more careful, shouldn’t have brought his Painted Lady stuff, should have tried to get away.

“Did something happen? You’re being really nice, I mean more than usual.”

Keith gave him a weak glare. There it was. “You-you used bloodbending on me. I think it might have been suggested and they knew somehow.”

“Use bloodbending to subdue.” That’s what the voice said.

“Did I-?”

“I wasn’t hurt that badly. You just subdued me and I broke out of it I guess? I was able to distract them and knocked you out. After we got away from them I brought you here.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Lance, it’s not your fault. I get why your village is so scared of bloodbending, even with its healing options. If anything, I’m sorry I even suggested the fact you try it out on me. I guess the only good thing that came out of that confrontation is that you don’t remember.”

“Bad thing, our covers are blown, well you two, and we need to get out of here fast. I guess this goes to show just how hard it’ll be to defeat Lotor.” Pidge pointed out.

While Lance was glad about the small upside, Pidge was right. Lotor’s generals outright kidnapped him and messed with his head. He hoped they could get out with any problems because this whole war just became so much more real.

#firebender keith #waterbender lance #bloodbending #vldhalloween

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Avatar: 10 Things Every Fan Should Know About Earth Bending

The world of Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra has its own magic system, known as bending. The four classic Greek elements of fire, water, wind, and earth can be harnessed with bending, and save the Avatar, a bender can wield only one element. The Earth Kingdom, the world's largest landmass, is home of most of the world's earth benders, and se of their earth bending powers are truly earthshaking.

RELATED: Avatar: The Last Airbender: 10 Life Lessons That Are Still Relevant Today

The earth is solid, ancient, and unyielding, and earth benders have long since incorporated this philosophy into their bending art. These benders, unlike fleet-footed air benders or aggressive fire benders, use a low center of gravity and simple movements to move huge amounts of stone and soil for construction, defense, or even attack. But there is more to the earth than the ground under one's feet.

10 Badger Moles Invented It

In the Avatar world, each of the four elements had an original bender. The moon bended water, dragons bended fire with their breath, and sky bison bended the very air. Deep below the surface, badger moles bended the earth to create their subterranean tunnels and dens, and humanity soon learned how to do the same. But while some earth benders (such as the fight club ones) have a shallow understanding of earth bending, some benders such as Toph Beifong learned directly from the badger moles and became better benders for it.

9 Oma and Shu

Toph learned a lot from the badger moles, but history says that the two lovers Oma and Shu first brought earth bending to humanity. According to a tale Katara and Aang learned in Book 2: Earth of The Last Airbender, the two lovers Oma and Shu hailed from rival tribes and learned earth bending from the badger moles so they could secretly meet. After the male lover fell in battle, the woman used her skills to unite the feuding tribes and create the city Omashu, named after her and her fallen lover's honor.

RELATED: Avatar: 10 Reasons Why Aang Is the Most Powerful Bender (And 10 Why It's Actually Korra)

8 Metal Bending

In a moment of crisis, Toph pioneered a whole new field of bending known as metal bending. By bending the impurities in steel and iron, she could reshape metal with her bare hands (and feet), and soon opened a school to teach this craft to talented earth benders. By Korra's time, metal bending was commonplace, and Republic City was kept safe with squads of metal bender police. And as for Zaofu, the entire city is crafted by and home to many talented earth benders, including Toph's daughter Suyin Beifong and her children.

7 Lava Bending

While metal bending is a rare and extraordinary use of earth bending, lava bending is a truly exceptional branch of bending. Only two lava benders, Gazan and Bolin, are ever seen performing this art. With it, a lava bender may convert stone into molten lava at will, and control it freely for offense or defense. Fields or streams of lava are often an excellent way to control access to an area, whether to block an attack or cut off an exit. And with enough force, lava bending can topple even the largest structures, such as an Air Nation temple.

Related: Avatar: 10 Things You Never Knew About Zuko

6 Magnetize With the Feet

Ba Sing Se is home to the Dai Li, elite earth benders who silently bend chunks or rock with terrifying skill and discipline. They are even seen standing on the ceiling or running along walls in the city, but how do they do it? Skilled earth benders can magnetize their feet to rocks and soil making it easy to climb a rock wall or cliff. An earth bender always has an exit, it seems.

5 Creating Buildings With It

In real life and the Avatar world alike, stones and earth make construction possible. Just look at the real-life Egyptian pyramids, or the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia. Back in the Avatar universe, the Earth Kingdom is home to cities that would be impossible anywhere else, such as the mountain-city Omashu or the sprawling, walled-off Ba Sing Se. All cities are built on the earth, and if earth is your element, the possibilities are endless.

RELATED: 10 Reasons Avatar: The Last Airbender Is An Anime

4 The Feet Can See

An overlooked fundamental of earth bending is the use of bare feet to sense all vibrations in the ground. With this skill, the blind Toph Beifong could see nearly anything, and her daughter Lin could do much the same. In seconds, Lin could sense the entire layout of an underground Equalist base and find her imprisoned metal bender police there.

3 It is Based on Spring

In the Avatar universe, each season corresponds with an affinity for one of the four elements. Many fire benders are born in summer, most water benders celebrate their birthday in winter, and air benders are often born in the cool autumn season. That leaves spring for earth benders, and more earth benders are born at that time than any other. It is during spring when the earth is home to reborn life, such as blooming flower fields, trees, and much more. Not to mention how the frosty earth melts when spring arrives.

Related: Avatar: 10 Things Every Fan Should Know About Toph

2 Sand Bending

This is one diverse bending art, and the sand benders represent yet another variety of earth bending. In the great Si Wong Desert (both Aang and Korra explored it at some point), local earth benders get around on sail gliders by bending the very sand around them. In this way, they loosely mimic air bending as they throw countless sand grains at a glider's sail to make it move. Without this art, the desert might well be impossible to inhabit, but these hardy people found the way. They can even haul away a heavy sky bison this way: in particular, the poor Apa.

1 Neutral Jing and Patience

Earth bending is by no means a pacifist art, but neither does it subscribe to fire bending's philosophy of aggression and speed. When Aang met King Bumi for the second time, the young Avatar learned that in between positive jing (attack) and negative jing (retreat) lies neutral jing, the core of earth bending. As Bumi put it, "wait, and listen." An earth bender will sense their surroundings like the patient earth itself, and while the earth bender may not strike first, they may very well strike last. Toph certainly does this, and the results speak for themselves. Just ask The Boulder.

NEXT: 10 Anime Characters Who Are More Powerful Than Avatar Aang

source https://screenrant.com/avatar-every-fan-know-earth-bending/

#screenrant

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zuzuslastbraincell · 3 years

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For the salty ask game: 6, 10 and 16? <3

6: Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I never used to like kataang or maiko much, but I’m good with the former and really like the latter now.

while I’m still not a big fan of the kataang (without wanting to write an essay: ember island players ruins it for me), I’ve softened on it a lot largely just from seeing the content for it on here. they’re just honestly very sweet? I don’t know if it’ll last for practical reasons, but the idea of aang & katara offering each other hope from the beginning and until the end is just lovely.

as for maiko, I absolutely love the strength of mai & zuko’s dynamic (platonic or romantic) just from their boiling rock interactions alone. I feel like a lot of early s3 maiko very much demonstrates that they have some communication difficulties to work through together (thinking about the beach in particular here, but also the ‘are you cold?’ scene, as well as the break-up via letter interaction, that’s the big one) and in a sense mai represents part of zuko’s ‘ideal’ life as a perfect prince that he realises that he has to break from in the first half of s3, but I’ve come around to the idea that if they spent some time working through their communication issues they could really have something lovely? I do also think mai deserves a short break from the stifling culture of nobility/time to explore herself first, but after that? totally could work. like, i’m personally really attached to the gay zuko headcanon and always have been but a lot recent mutuals are maiko shippers and i’ve become very attached to maiko as well because of them (in parallel universes of course).

16: If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

so many things....

1. less racist, more sensitive worldbuilding. crucially better south asian rep, clear south asian rep. this also means including removing the caricature of guru pathik and changing the design of combustion man (and p’li) not to include a reference to shiva. the show’s philosophies and vocabulary owes so much to south asian culture and the lack of representation in that aspect alone is shocking.

2. references to the fact that there are some air nomad survivors / descendents in hiding in various and that being a late s2 / s3 subplot. (maybe aang is still the last airbender tho? but certainly his culture won’t die with him). the culture isn’t perfectly preserved / has changed with time and enduring hardships, some things have been lost, but there are still survivors clinging on, proud. maybe it’s this community that helps with him the avatar state, not a random guru? or they could help him with his s3e1 dilemma about ‘blending in’, as many of them have discarded certain aspects of appearance in order to hide? i feel like this could add so much to aang’s arc in the latter half of the show.

3. better writing of the white lotus, with the white lotus as a international resistance org that operates in all nations, that uses old man’s pai sho club as a front. they’re introduced as opposing the dai li in ba sing se, as trying to organise resistance in secret, have ties to some local revolutionary/radical factions as they have a long standing rivalry with the dai li (& part of the reason the dai li side with azula is to crush the white lotus and resistance to their reign). iroh is not grand lotus but merely gets recruited in s2, as part of a redemption arc.

4. a subtle iroh redemption arc where iroh realises he cannot simply be passive and perhaps let the treasonous thought ”hm, maybe it would have been better if the avatar fought sozin” cross his mind - he needs to take a more active role in opposing the fire nation, and he joins the white lotus. i think he also needs to reckon quite specifically with the cost of the siege of ba sing se, he needs to make amends to those hurt from it on both sides - be confronted by fire nation defectors who left after the siege because why were their deaths less important that his son’s? as well as encounter how the siege left scars on the lower ring, in a less visible way (untrained lower ring residents formed resistance militia and generally died in huge numbers; plague and starvation greatly affected the lower ring, etc.). no iroh as a moral authority here - he’s morally grey trying to become good. also he doesn’t stick around in ba sing se, he realises the jasmine dragon, as lovely as it is, isn’t true redemption either, and at the end of the series he stays in the fire nation.

5. leading into point 3 (and 4): in s3 the gaang encounters and works with grassroots underground resistance in the fire nation. i think this is a better message than ‘oh the fire nation is a soceity ridden by class division that exploits its poorer / less privileged people and its own environment as long as it doesn’t affect the elite, and turns even its most privileged children into traumatised child soldiers and is indirectly hurt by its own colonialism and imperialistic culture, and that’s deeply sad’ - i think a better message is ‘the fire nation is a society with all those problems and you can do something about it. you can stand up. even though that’s scary.’ this resistance group is around for day of black sun (in fact they’re vital to it) and then you see a key member in boiling rock too.

6. no combustion man. honestly? weak writing. would much prefer zuko attempting to ‘stealthily’ track the gaang on the false premise of a ‘welcome home tour’ where he slips out under night to try and chase them down - this would mostly be alluded to in a few scenes. i also think this would get zuko to realise how much the fire nation itself has been hurt from war. i think the main early s3 plot points e.g. the beach episode still happens, as does the war meeting. i feel like zuko would need extra firepower to be a decent s3 threat - maybe he takes mai and ty lee with him? zuko ultimate lesbian ally takes bored lesbians from the palace for a knife throwing chi blocking field trip kjfshdj i’m joking. but seriously we could also have a combustion bender on board as well as a potential new character (i’m imagining someone like a younger p’li if i’m honest, same age range as zuko), as long as they have a character beyond being a scary assassin. maybe they defect early to the resistance group before the day of black sun, tell zuko they should too (but zuko doesn’t listen)? that’d be rad.

7. the existence of grassroots resistance would basically allow for the series to end with zuko being offerred the crown, but deciding to give it up / end the royal line. rather than a power vacuum, or iroh, the existance of resistance means there are clearly people (i.e. adults) who can fill that space. maybe this is a bit optimistic of me but i would just love to set up a scenario where zuko doesn’t become a boy-king of an imperialist nation and where absolute monarchy doesn’t continue, where there’s a clear shift in system. i understand the narrative power of zuko acknowledges he has inherited wealth and power that has been gained through exploitation and imperialism, and dedicating his whole life to undoing the damage his family has done, but i think he can do this without being the fire lord? in fact not being the fire lord is a good first step. zuko finds another way of doing exactly this.

8. talked about this a lot recently but better toph s3 representation & greater ties to the earth kingdom. also, i’d just appreciate a lot more flavour from the earth kingdom as a whole, and more prominent characters from there?

9. okay i’m not sure there is quite honestly space in the narrative for an azula redemption clearly on screen in as much depth as zuko’s but 1. i’d like iroh not to treat her horribly, thanks, and maybe even try to reach out to her at appropriate moments, maybe we see him (comically) say a lovely warm hello during her s2 appearances, maybe we see her play pai sho with him in s3 while he’s in prison in return for some secret info he’s not actually giving her while he’s not-so-subtly suggesting she should defy her father (but it’s too little too late, he already *chose* zuko in her eyes, and perhaps he did and is only just beginning to realise that) 2. i would like some hope and optimism at the end for azula. her breakdown is truly tragic but it feels like pain for pain’s sake in a sense - i would have loved for the finale scene with zuko & ozai replaced with a scene where someone visits azula and tells them they’ll be there for her and/or they love her. perhaps iroh, perhaps zuko (though i think that one would be more complicated obviously). i would love a post-finale scene where iroh sets up a tea shop somewhere in the fire nation where we see azula out the back, finishing up wiping down/mopping the patio, and before aang goes inside to say hi to his friends, we see them bump into each other - azula bows deeply, a clear apology, and aang accepts it. then we see azula runs off to go hang out with some friends before we follow aang inside as he encounters his own friends.

basically i’d rewrite a lot of s3. i’m dearly, dearly attached to s3, especially the second half, which has some of my favourite episodes of the entire season, but i think it’s flawed.

#drowning-in-cacophony #long post #sorry this ended up being REALLY long

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