#pathik news

[krokonoko]

god do any of you ever think about how Guru Pathik said "Love is a form of energy and it swirls all around us. The Air Nomads love for you has not left this world, it is still inside of your heart, and is reborn as new love."

that shit hit teenage!me like a truck.

and then they showed the Air Nomads reforming into Katara first laying eyes on Aang and smiling at him, as if he's the most precious thing in the world.

imagine how immeasurable Katara's affection for Aang has to be.

these two invented love.

#it's 2 AM and I'm lying awake thinking about loss don't touch me #aang #katara #kataang #kataangtag #atla #kroko speaks

[ghanjrho]

A:TLA; how it should have ended.

Recently, I've been on a deep dive into the A:tLA fandom, specifically the Zutara sphere. And that means I've found a lot of long-form meta on the show, it's ending, LoK, script final drafts, you name it. That's all gone in the brain blender, and here's what came out the other side.

Sozin's Comet honestly doesn't change that much; only two real differences.

The magic rock is gone. Instead, we get a flashback to Guru Pathik, and Aang realizes that he has to let go of his attachment to Katara.

The Maiko/Kataang victory laps in the last 5 minutes are gone. Mai and Zuko get a scene where they wish each other well, but acknowledge that they're over. Katara and Aang have a nice moment where they choose friendship. There's love there, but it's Philia, not Eros.

@burst-of-iridescent has a delightful essay series on Zutara, and the part that sticks in my head is that in the run-up to the finale, Aang and Katara are at their least unified. To wit:

In "The Southern Raiders" Aang is preachy, condescending, and more than a little hypocritical about Katara's plan to take vengeance for her mother. The episode ends with Katara explicitly rejecting Aang's belief that Yon Rha was forgiven.

In "The Ember Island Players" Aang is distraught at the idea that EIP!Katara's statements, namely that Aang is like her brother and she's attracted to Zuko, are true. When he questions Real!Katara about this, he responds to her statement that she's confused about her feelings by kissing her. The kiss is not returned. Again, no resolution is had.

Finally, in "Sozin's Comet Part 1" Katara is part of the chorus condemning Aang for refusing to even consider killing Ozai, no matter how many people are at stake. He runs off from the group, and from there disappears into the Spirit World to get Lion-Turtled. Yet again, no resolution, and the two don't reunite until the tea shop.

Now speaking of the Lion Turtles, I'm actually not opposed to them. Yes, they come out of nowhere to deliver an 11th Hour Superpower that handily spares Aang from having to actually make a choice he disagrees with, but at the end of the day it is a kid's show. Nickelodeon was never going to approve a script where Aang killed Ozai. Throw in a little bit of foreshadowing, and I'm good. It's worth noting here that the story of Avatar Wan was supposed to be covered in A:tLA, which would handily cover that requirement.

Now, for the post-canon. We'll start with Fire.

Zuko is NOT left alone in the Fire Nation. Similarly, Iroh does NOT fuck off back to Ba Sing Se.

Toph and Suki stick around. Suki in her canon role as commander of Zuko's Kyoshi Warrior bodyguard, while Toph and Mai use Toph's lie-detection and Mai's insider knowledge to purge threats to the new peace.

Toph eventually goes back to the Earth Kingdom to start a metalbending academy, but first she needs to make sure that her Sparky lives to be the grumpy old man he was born to be.

While Iroh is correct that for political and diplomatic reasons Zuko needs to be Fire Lord, he also bows to the reality that Zuko is plain and simply not ready to be the Fire Lord.

Zuko went from 4th in line to 1st in line basically overnight, and the 5-ish years he spent as Crown Prince were clearly not spent preparing him to succeed Ozai.

So a teenager with a fairly surface-level understanding of "how to monarch" has to self-Reconstruction the Fire Nation, while paying reparations, without having been militarily conquered.

This is how idealists get assassinated. New Plan!

Zuko is crowned Fire Lord. Iroh is his Prince Regent. It's very clear to all involved that Zuko is the one charting the course forward for the Fire Nation, while Iroh is there to convert intent to action, while teaching Zuko how it's done.

It doesn't hurt that Iroh is one of the Fire Nation's most successful military commanders, so the civil war route is a lot riskier for anyone to attempt.

Next, Sokka

Sokka honestly has a pretty good arc in the post-canon. Nothing I really feel the need to correct.

Eventually, Suki is able to hand off her duties in the Fire Nation to someone else and goes home to Kyoshi Island

It’s still home, but it isn’t the same. Or rather, she isn’t the same.

She never leaves the island behind, but it’s usually a stop on the journey from Wolf Cove to Republic City.

Then, Aang

Aang divides his time between Avatar duties and Last Airbender duties.

Avatar duties involve a lot of sitting in on meetings and reminding people that the ultimate goal is peace.

Last Airbender duties involve a lot of teaching Air Acolytes everything he remembers from his childhood. He gets lucky here, though.

The Airbender Genocide wasn't complete. More than a few Air Nomads escaped the Genocide, and hid themselves away. Some in small villages built in remote mountain valleys, others blended into Earth Kingdom settlements.

Plenty of quarter- or eighth-Air Nomad kids running around with airbending potential they never had the knowledge to develop. Think very early Book 1 Katara here.

The result is that a resurgent Air Nation is being formed, with a culture woven from the threads that survived through relics, the refugees, and Aang himself.

Airbenders are still rare, and it's over a decade before another airbender earns their mastery, but it's not his son and his grandkids when Korra comes around.

Finally, Katara

Katara spends a lot of time traveling. She spends time in the South Pole, helping to rebuild and learning Southern Style Waterbending from the released waterbenders. She also travels the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, doing what she can to solve problems.

There are a lot of problems to solve.

Her travels in the Fire Nation are particularly fruitful; word of the Last Agni Kai has spread, so she is known to be the one that the Fire Lord sacrificed himself for, and who healed his wound.

She and Zuko stay in contact, allowing themselves to have a slow-burn courtship.

After a couple of years she moves to Caldera City and starts getting down to seriously courting Zuko, preparing herself for Fire Ladydom.

The year before Iroh is set to retire as Regent, she and Zuko start thinking about the wedding.

There are a lot of potential traditions to uphold, even just between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation

This goes double for the daughter of the head chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe, and the Fire Lord himself.

They decide to have fun with it and do everything.

Aang presides over a private ceremony, family/close friends only, that is really just a mutual declaration of love and friendship.

Then come the Southern Water traditions. It's the full gamut, with ice-dodging, sacred hunts and more. In the end, Zuko is an honorary member of the Southern Water Tribe, and he and Katara are wed (again).

There's a diplomatic tour through the Earth Kingdom, stopping at Kyoshi, Gaoling, Omashu, Ba Sing Se, the Foggy Swamp the former Fire Colonies, and ending at the Northern Water Tribe. The language used artfully slides over whether the couple is newly married or about to be married, but overall it works well for the Fire Nation's reputation abroad.

The final act is in the Fire Nation. A full Royal Wedding, a grand affair of state, held at high noon on the day of the summer solstice. When all is said and done, Zuko and Katara now rule alone as Fire Lord and Fire Lady.

Alright, I have more, but I'm tired. Tune in next time for the Fire Nation (extended) Royal Family! featuring Steambabies (Found here)

#atla #zutara #fixit #fire nation politics #all the weddings #zuko definitely has the mark of the too stubborn to die #its not called that #but still #avatar the last airbender

[empressofthesunslittlecorner]

A rant about Aang and Byrke

WARNING NOT KATAANG FRIENDLY

CONTINUE WITH PRECAUTION

Hello my loves!

Here I'm with a new blog entry.

This time we will talk about Kataang, Aang and Byrke.

Since I'm writing a FanFic where Aang is paired with an OC, I thought I could tell you why I prefer Aang with OCs instead of Katara.

Just to be clear.

I like Aang.

I love Katara and would for this girl sell my liver.

But them together as a pair...please no!

Kataang is one of my NOTPs.

In my Let's Talk about Zutara post I pretty much said why I can't stand this pairing.

One is the age and maturity gap.

What does a 14-year-old want with a 12-year-old? It's just creepy, no matter the gender and it would have been better if they got together at like 22 and 20.

Even if I think Zutara is superior, I could grimly accept Kataang.

Second Aang and Katara are the worst version of their self together.

I haven't read the comics, but what I saw on Tumblr and on Legend of Korra was enough to make me angry.

Katara was reduce to Aang price, girlfriend, housewife and mother of his children.

The warrior girl we all loved, who never turned her back on people who needed her, became in the name of love (and Byrke) a shadow of herself.

Our real Katara would smack this wishy-washy version of herself to kingdom come!

Then we have Aang. The boy clearly turns into a Nice GuyTM when it's about Katara.

He kissed her TWICE, TWICE, without her consent and never said sorry for this.

He thinks he deserves her love because he is the Avatar (the hero) and that's how it be.

Till Season 2 Aang wasn't that worse about Katara, a lot of plotpoints pointed out that Aang obsession, I'm not calling it love, on Katara was not good.

He replaced the love for his people with Katara.

Erm, that's not healthy at all.

What Aang expierendec was traumatic, he is the sole suriver of a genocide, but he can't shove all his love for his people to Katara.

How can only one person hold this standards?

It's impossible.

Katara is a bandaid on a ripped arm.

A bandaid isn't going to fix Aang trauma.

He needed to really face it and accept it and let Katara go.

Guru Pathik told him he to let Katara go, but I don't think it was meant to say, don't love that girl anymore.

No, it was more like: you clearly are obsessed with her and think if she loves you all your hurt will go away, but this isn't the case!

Aang could still love Katara, he just needed to stop to put her on a pestal!

Then we know what happens, he let's her go, seems to get the Avatar State, but turn it down because Katara is in danger and he must save her.

Alright, we all would run to our loved one if they are in danger, but Aang, you are the Avatar.

The Avatar is the peacekeeper of this world.

Sadly he can't put his own desires forward, he has do to what was for the world right!

In the Crystal Catabombs he realizes this.

So he let's go of Katara to get the Avatar State and then gets shot down by Azula.

Then when the first episode of season 3 rolls around, you get the feeling that Aang learnend his lesson.

Because he was selfish, he lost his greatest eapan.

He needed to be better.

Only...after the first episode season 3 was really...bad.

I can't say it better.

If you compare it to the other two seasons...season 3 has mayor problems.

A lot of plotpoints get forgotten, Aang didn't learn from his mistakes, he acts entitled for Katara love and he gets his Avatar State back thanks to Deus-Ex-Machine Rock and even finds a way to handle Ozai thanks to Deus-Ex-Machine Lion Turtle.

How, HOW, did the creators look at this and want a golly what an awesome final?

It was not!

It was rushend and not earnend!

Because Aang is a selfinsert from Bryek.

They statet once in an interview that Kataang was reflection how they had a crush on their babysitter, who of course didn't wanted them and would go out with the "bad boy".

The bad boy here in question is Zuko, which is hilarious since Zuko is the most awkward dork.

So they wanted to create a story were the young hero gets the hot older girl.

No normal 14-year-old girl would date a 12-year-old and if she did call the police on her ass!

Avatar was only amazing because of writers like Aaron Ehasz, who turned Toph, who was supposed to be a boy and a love rival for Aang, into this badass girl who didn't let her disabilty stop her to become the greatest earthbender and inventer of metalbening in the world.

They truned Iroh into thee loveable and wise uncle and not like Byrke wanted into a spy for Ozai.

Also Azula was supposed to be a boy too, but she became the female villain we all loved and wish we would see in other media's too!

A lot of writer wanted also Zutara to happen and not Kataang.

If I remember right season 3 was so rushed and lacking because the movie-who-shall-not-be-named was in production and Bryke wanted the series to end before it.

A lot of concept were thrown out the window for it.

The writers wanted to make even a season 4, where Aang would even find other airbenders, but noooooooooooooooo we can't give Aang the healing he deserves, we must live out a fantasy trough this boy.

Looking at you Bryke.

Anyways we got, what we got and I'm so not happy about it.

Zutara should be canon and Aang should have found a girl who loved really, who was his equal and who didn't needed to be a broodmare for the air nomads, becasue there where still air nomads around.

Here we get back to my preference to ship Aang with OCs. Since I'm a big fan of the theoretical season four we would have gotten, it's only naturel to imagine own characters, since no canon characters exist for it.

I would have loved to see Aang with a descendant of Air Nomads. She learning from him, he learning from her, cute!

But let's be real if Aang is writing good he could work with a lot of characters.

Even canon ones like On Ji. I found her really cute with him.

The only thing I want for Aang partner is that the girl doesn't get reduced to a broodmare.

So the airbenders have always to come back/stop from hiding.

IT'S NOT THE COMPLICATED!

BUT WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

WE LIVE IN THE DARK TIMELINE!

AVATAR COULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY CARTOON EVER, BUT NOOOOOO TWO MEN HAD TO MAKE THEIR WEIRD FANTASY REALITY AND DIDN'T LISTEN TO THEIR TEAM OF WRITER WHO WERE LIKE, FAM THAT'S NARRAVTIVLY SPEACKING HUGE STEPS BACKWARDS!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Yeah, I think you all guessed how much I hate Bryke.

Fricking pricks!

Also, people who make fun of their own fans because they ship a pairing themselves not like are the worst!

That shows have much respect they have for their fans.

Zero.

They just wanted to live out their fantasy and be done.

Again, fricking pricks!

So for now, that's from me, I needed to get it out of my chest.

Till next time my loves!

#avatar the last airbender #anti kataang #anti bryke #katara deserved better #aang deserved better #zuko deserved better #the whole gaang deserved better #bryke critical #avatar the last airbender season 3 was a trainwreck #zutara

[morethingsgraphicnovel]

IX. The Hermit

This card is about soul-searching, self-reflection, and meditation. Drawing this card indicates a need to block out everyone else's voice for your own, to reconnect with your inner self. So of course, Guru Pathik is featured on this card, since he attempted to help Aang do exactly that. When this card appears, make sure you take a breath and find some time to be alone to reconnect with your inner voice.

--

I'm drawing an Avatar themed tarot deck (Major Arcana only)! Every day I'll reveal a new design. :) Follow along and let me know which one is your favorite!

#atla #atla tarot deck #the hermit #aang #avatar the last airbender

[flowersadida]

I think that Aang's attachment to Katara means that he needs to get rid of it in order to learn to control the avatar state.

Before this, his love for her was compared to his love for his people. Personally, I think that this moment should have shown not only Katara, but also Sokka, Appa and Toph. It's like his old family has been reborn into a new one, and he loves his friends as much as he loves his people. After all, in essence, they're the same nomads as the airbenders, and in some sense they became part of his people and his heart.

I think that comparing his romantic attraction with family affections is somehow not very correct. I have two options for explaining this: either they wanted to show us that Aang’s love for Katara is purely brotherly, or for him incest is a family matter (this is a joke, don’t take it seriously).

In general, this isn't so important, I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that the series encourages his feelings for Katara as such. That is, it’s not about his love for Katara, but about attachment, and I want to share my thoughts about what it is all about.

As I understand, Aang's avatar state depends on whether Katara is there to calm him down. Aang is literally dependent on Katara for support and shifts the responsibility for self-control onto her. This is bad for many reasons, and one of them is that this way he cannot learn to stop himself when necessary. After all, there is always Katara who will do it for him. That is, his attachment to her literally prevents him from gaining the skill of controlling enormous power.

This is why I think Aang should have been separated from his friends in "Desert". Imagine if he found the sandbenders alone, without Katara to calm him down. Imagine what he would do if he couldn't calm down.

Personally, I see hard angst: he would be stopped by fainting, and after waking up he would see only scraps of fabric and broken weapons around him, realizing that he didn't even leave the corpses and they were buried somewhere under the sand... How traumatic. But this would have shown Aang the consequences of his lack of control and procrastination (I remind you that Aang doesn't remember until the end of the season that he actually wants to study the avatar state so as not to hurt anyone). He would have realized that without Katara he was too dangerous to people, this forced his conflict set up at the beginning of the season to move on.

Perhaps he would actually think about Pathik's words and learn to share his dependence on selfless love, which would take his feelings for Katara to another level. He would have grown up... Or, on the contrary, he would have been afraid to take responsibility and would have begun to depend even more on Katara, fearing a repetition of this mistake.

I don't know, but the point is that the theme of self-control would be brought up during the season, rather than at the beginning and end.

However, the series ultimately conflates the concepts of dependence on Katara and love for her into one, which creates a less than pleasant message. Not only are viewers taught to shift responsibility to their partner, but in the end Aang didn't move forward as a character: he remained the same as he was at the beginning of the season.

However, in the last episode of book 3, Aang was somehow miraculously able to exit the avatar state on his own, and I honestly don’t know how. Apparently, he learned this behind the scenes, just like Toph - to conquer the sand -_-

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla critical #aang critical #atla meta #anti aang #anti kataang

[atlaculture]

What do you think of the possibility of other cultural inspirations being further included in to the Avatar universe?

While there was a new character design for the Avatar TTRPG revealed called “The Successor”, who seems to clearly have clothing inspired by Ainu fashion. Interestingly, he is apparently from the Southern Water Tribe. Perhaps, this could be a different village which is more directly based on Ainu people, rather than Inuit culture.

There have just been two new Air Nomad characters revealed for Avatar Generations, who appear to be based on Indian people. Their names are Sameera and Nethaka. They were just revealed in a livestream.

Realistically, I am still skeptical about any of the new lore from the TTRPG & Avatar Generations actually being adapted into the animated works of Avatar Studios. Although, I’d love to see it actually being cohesively tied in to the universe. Since, I think that these mediums have actually been adding such great lore to the franchise, which seems have to gone largely unnoticed by the fandom.

Lastly, are there any cultures that you’d think could still fit nicely into Avatar world as inspiration? Personally, I’d love to see Aboriginal Australian & Polynesian cultures also being explored in the franchise.

I think there's a very good chance that the extended Avatarverse will have additional cultures added as the franchise continues.

Regarding "The Successor" (Kahola), I've actually written at length about his design here and here. I really like his look, but I think his design would have been more appropriate for a Kyoshi Island character.

According to the Avatar wiki, Sameera and Nethaka are based on Sri Lankan Buddhists. As Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist, it's a great source of inspiration for the Air Nomads. I'm really happy that they've added South Asian-coded characters to the Air Nomads. They were already implied to have existed by Pathik being described as a "spiritual brother to the Air Nomads"; which I took as a euphemism for him being a non-bender with Air Nomad ancestry. It also contributes to my headcanon that the four air temples each reflect different regions with large Buddhist populations: South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Himalayas.

I like the idea of the Water Tribe having random settlements all over the Avatar world that each have a different culture. A Polynesian-inspired Water Tribe settlement that developed on a remote Fire Nation island--- probably prior to Sozin converting the country into a despotic ethno-nationalist state--- would be fun to explore.

#replies

[spacecasehobbit]

I've been thinking more and more lately about the idea that Azula is naturally so much better of a firebender than Zuko, in combination with the idea that Azula only lost their Agni Kai in the finale because she was in the midst of her breakdown, vs. the way that Zuko often fares poorly in comparison to Azula in past episodes where he is the one in the midst of emotional distress.

In the first season, Iroh is constantly trying to get Zuko to slow down and relax, while Zuko is meanwhile still failing to deal with the immense pain, fear, guilt, and anger he feels over the traumatic event three years prior in which his father publically humiliated him and burned off half his face in front of a bunch of the Fire Nation nobility and then banished him with nothing but an impossible quest to pin his hopes for "redemption" on. So Zuko starts S1 apparently still needing to work on his basics, according to Iroh, but he also starts S1 still deeply emotionally unbalanced by the loss and trauma that his father put him through three years earlier.

Yet even in S1 Zuko also wins an Agni Kai with Zhao, an adult firebending master who has recently been promoted by Ozai, because Zuko is able to get control of his emotions and put Zhao off balance with anger instead.

In S2, the first time Zuko faces Azula, she taunts him with emotional barbs and dodges his attacks until he's off-balanced enough by his rage that she can knock him down in a few hits. Azula, meanwhile, gives the appearance of being emotionally in control of herself, not least because she's the one with a whole ship full of loyal soldiers and her father's approval behind her.

The second time he faces off against Azula, it's in their 3-way fight against each other and Aang. In this fight, Zuko is just coming off several weeks of traveling alone, starving, nearly finding acceptance and saving a kid who'd been kind to him, and then getting rejected by the town he'd just helped when he reveals who he is. Aang, meanwhile, spends the encounter both fighting Azula and Zuko, and fighting several days of sleeplessness because of Azula chasing him in a tank with Mai and Ty Lee. Azula, meanwhile, has been able to take shifts with her friends and sleep just fine while chasing the Gaang, so she is once again the most put together person in the fight. When the rest of the Gaang and Iroh arrive, however, it's Iroh who she tries to strike down before fleeing - Iroh, the one person she so far hasn't been able to unbalance with exhaustion and/or emotional manipulation.

Finally, in Ba Sing Se, when Azula initially captures Zuko it is because he's stopped running away and tries to issue a challenge to an Agni Kai. Instead of accepting, Azula laughs at him and refuses his challenge. The next time they fight, they're on the same side fighting against Katara (who is emotionally compromised by her feelings of betrayal when Zuko joins on Azula's side of the fight) and Aang (who came into the fight already emotionally compromised by the conflict between his fear for Katara's safety, vs. the knowledge that he came into this fight without completing his work with Guru Pathik, and against the Guru's advice).

The closest thing we get, in canon, to a fight between the Fire Siblings on even emotional ground is probably the fight at the beginning of The Southern Raiders. Zuko is finally integrating into the Gaang, but there's still tension with Katara and his peace with Sokka is still very new. Azula on the other hand has just been betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee, but she still has a fleet of airships full of soldiers at her command and hasn't completely fallen apart, yet.

This is also, I suspect not at all coincidentally, the fight in which they seem most evenly matched in terms of their bending.

(Even in the flashbacks during Zuko Alone, the best direct comparison we see between Zuko and Azula's firebending skill is from Zuko's memory of Ozai showing off Azula to their grandfather. In that memory, there are fairly clear indications that Zuko and Azula are already aware, at least to some extent, that Ozai finds Zuko displeasing and considers Azula the inherently better child.

We see how Zuko's desire to prove that he's just as good as Azula and thus also "worthy" of his father's affection makes him impulsive and easily goaded by Azula, who pokes directly at this sore spot by telling him smugly that he'll never catch up to her so he really shouldn't even try. All together, this means that Zuko's attempt to replicate the kata Azula just showed off perfectly is doomed before it begins, because Zuko starts off in an emotionally volatile headspace, rather than calm and confident.)

And anyway I feel like there's a point in here, about how the question of whether Azula or Zuko is a "better bender" maybe has a lot less to do with natural talent and a lot more to do with which one is feeling more confident and in control of themselves in a given encounter, instead of the narrative of Azula's inherent superiority over Zuko which Ozai did his best to drill into his kids. A point, too, in how Azula's one major loss in a bending fight is often brushed off as a function of her unsettled emotional state at the time, while ignoring the way we see her consistently seek to undermine her opponent's emotional (and sometimes physical) balance before striking in every previous fight she's won.

(And, perhaps, a broader point about how constantly making a kid feel inferior to their peers might in fact lead to them performing worse in practice at tasks they are made to feel inferior in, while kids who feel confident in a given skillset and are praised for their progress might also find it easier to make progress more quickly.)

All this to say, I feel like there's a pretty solid chance that a fight between them on truly equal footing - if Azula were to get a redemption arc and they both went into the fight after taking some time post-canon to grow and heal, to a point where they both felt calm and confident in themselves and their bending - would be a very even fight and a total toss up over who would win on any given day.

#atla #zuko meta #azula meta #this may have gotten away from me a bit #it was supposed to be short... #oops

[theowritesfiction]

'The Guru'

I'll be honest... this new, happy and positive Zuko creeps me out. I don't trust him at ALL. It's honestly like he has been utterly brainwashed by the Dai Li. Hmm... he was in the catacombs under the lake, right? Maybe that's what happened... hence the fever, nightmares and now this 100% personality change!

Sokka's reunion with the Water Tribe warriors and his dad... I'm not crying, ur crying! I honestly had forgotten that Sokka gets his sense of 'humor' from his dad. The warriors in the camp totally look exhausted by dealing with Hakoda's jokes for months. :) Still, Sokka being treated like a man by his dad... it means the world to him <3

I love Azula and the dangerous ladies on their infiltration mission. King Kuei is still a dolt, though. Even if these Kyoshi Warriors were not impostors, why would you blurt out about your invasion plans just like that? Maybe not everyone needs to know about it? The scene with Azula plotting the coup and Ty Lee joking around with Mai and admiring Azula's confidence... it's an almost domestic dangerous ladies moment and I love it.

Watching Azula's plans unfold is just so incredibly satisfying. The setup of letting the Dai Li overhear Mai and Ty Lee... perfect. And obviously, I love the scene of Katara telling the 'Kyoshi Warriors' that the Fire Nation have infiltrated the city. Especially because she recognizes Azula by looking her in the eyes... interesting, very interesting. <3

Aang's lessons with Pathik are quite fascinating. Pathik torturing Aang with the banana and onion juice is a big part of the fun. But the issue of unlocking the final chakra is something I heavily dislike. That Aang would refuse to embrace his lessons and get rid of his earthly attachments, when the girl he thinks he loves has shown very few signs of being romantically interested in him... ugh, just no. And I really hate the eventual payoff of all this, when Aang got to unlock his full powers without sacrificing anything in return. He literally was handed his cake and got to eat it too. And to me, that's not satisfying storytelling. Learning to give up his one-sided crush would have been a far more powerful and wholesome message other than 'oh I guess I'll just not unlock my full potential necessary to save the world because of the girl who so far has acted like I'm her baby brother 99% of the time'. Aang gets 100 Jerk Points for not completing his training.  

Also, I hate how in this way the narrative places second hand burden of guilt and responsibility on Katara for this. The viewers are being manipulated into thinking that because Aang gave up all this for her, she is now obliged to get with him. Gross.

Watching Toph figure out metalbending is just pure awesomeness. I have nothing else to say about that. She's just that damn impressive. It's not even hubris or exaggeration when Toph states that she's the most powerful earthbender that's ever lived. I believe her 100%. Also, she just locked two grown men into a tiny steel coffin and left them to die. <3

The ending is fantastic as well, with Azula letting Long Feng believe that he's in control. Azula is such an icon when it comes to episode endings. You can't go wrong with that ominous smile or a smirk.

Jerk Points for Book 2:

Iroh, Long Feng - 560 Azulon - 300 Aang - 290 Ursa, General Fong  - 200 Zuko, Toph - 120 Ozai, King Kuei - 100 Sokka - 70 Bumi, Lao Beifong - 50 Pakku - 30

#my atla rewatch #atla book 2 #the guru

[kataraslove]

Hey got some headcanon on my head and it's bothering me as devoted katang fan, I'm no writer or content creator but I've loved this ship for so long now, first before giving you the headcanon I must tell you how I got it, so it goes like this within the Hindu yogic culture of Indian or Buddhist culture there lives an understanding that energy is seen as a serpent and that the rising of this serpent threw the Chakra leads to different quality of experience and perception, energy in yoga is called Shakti or kundalinin, shiva is her equal, shiva means nothingness or the beyond, now to the headcanon, I've looked at Ang potential as an energy bender and tryed to recreate this process in my head by using this yogic tradition threw the serpent kundalini, but changing the serpent name to katara,

Headcanon

1 Angs an energy bender and by that has the potential to master the 4 elements without the spirit of raava, but by using his own serpent energy he names after he's beloved katara,

2 threw Ang learning energy bending end up creating a serpent who's quality and potency of power is the closest to katara personality and has merge her energy with his energy signature thus Ang giving the serpent a name, after his most beloved, or Angtara or katang or katara,

3 katara and Ang create a new form of martial art and bending, music, Art and dance but for healing just for them two, by using air water and energy bending, and Ang allows katara threw the connections of the dance and energy bending to allow katara to experience the 4 elements, and ther children learn and create there own style of the same art music bending martial art dance, healing,

4 katara and Ang create a place just like the two lover, in the SWT and air temple island,

5 Ang and katara children and descendants can be energy bender also but it take alote of training and spiritual discipline to master one element to the next, thus there energy serpent is still growing, and because of there love for there mother and grandmother they have immortalized her as a goddess and carry her energy signature, thus katara lives on energetically in her descendants,

6 Ang ask katara to write the laws and constitution and values for her descendants that will continually create glorious nation in her name threw out the 4 nation just like Republicans city, but better

7 katara descendants who will one day create a nation that will unify the four elemental nation under the flag that represent her quality strength and moral and values,

8 katara is given statue were ever her descendants go, people love her worshipp her creates holidays for her, and seeks to create a better world for her, names a city after her and a flower,

9 Ang established an secret order dedicated to creating a better future, that ends up help established all these nation were katara descendants wave her flag

Okay I do have more but that's all I can remember, it mostly has to do with energy bending and how I'm trying to immortalized katara threw this by having Ang love and devotion and unwavering love for her be reincarnation as a force that could help create possibilities for her descendants and the future story, im noo writer or content creator but I'm passionate and in love with this ship and its possibilities but I'm only using energy bending here but we can alway weaves everything together, I've always wanted to hear a katang fanfic with these quality and headcanon in it, I've carried these ideas in my head for so long and I didn't know what to do with it, please do with it as you please, my mission is done

my love and respect thank you so much for being there for the katang community and our beloved couple, merry late Christmas and have a happy new years

oh wow! you learn something new everyday!

i assume that the process of aang unlocking his chakras to master the avatar state with guru pathik is a representation of awakening the kundalini serpent, to achieve ultimate enlightenment and master the avatar state. and so when azula shoots him with lightening at the base of the spine, she removed his ability to access the kundalini serpent/the avatar state.

but his slamming of his back into the rock unlocked his ability to connect with this power and reawaken the kundalini serpent (aka the avatar state).

as for your headcanons, those are beautiful! i love the notion of katara and aang’s descendants honouring their love and of katara being worshipped and revered by the next generations. i always believe that she should be considered as the matriarch of the new air nation by future airbenders. so thank you for sharing this with me, it’s so sweet!

#look I have no idea what i’m saying in the first part but the avatar state representing the kundalini serpent makes a lot of sense #and helps with clarifications surrounding aang’s arc #asks

[sokkathebluewolf]

Preview: Gladiator Chapter 276... and 277

The setback in the Southern Air Temple results in a much-needed introspective journey for more than just the Avatar: Guru Pathik teaches the Gladiator and his allies to make peace with their faults and understand themselves better in order to truly conquer themselves and the dangers that await them in the future.

A casual day in Azula's rooms takes an unexpected turn after Rei makes what appears to be a simple request. Yet fulfilling it will take a toll on the Princess's broken heart, for she will come across a painful reminder of the life she once shared with the man she loved...

Read Gladiator HERE or HERE

For a snippet of the new chapter, support me on Patreon!

#gladiator previews #gladiator chapter 276 #gladiator chapter 277 #gladiator

[awanderingmuse-ficrec]

Discovering Destiny Series

Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender

Author: Megarapike (Majorwhovian)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major Injury, Violence, Child Abuse

Word Count: 272,665

Pairings: Zutara, Sukka

Characters: Katara, Zuko, Aang, Toph Beifong, Sokka, Suki, Kanna, Hakoda, Bato, Pakku, Yugoda, Arnook, Leo Beifong, Poppy Beifong,Uncle Iroh, Appa, Guru Pathik, Momo

Tags: Romance, Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Action/Adventure, Blue Spirit Zuko, The Painted Lady, Gaang shenanigans, Toph is a boss, Suki is best girl, Zuko is a dork, Order of the White Lotus, Ozai Being a Terrible Parent, Azula needs therapy, Actually they all need therapy, Babies, My heart split between six characters, Aang is misunderstood, Zutara rules, fight me, Appa is MVP, How come all fanfics forget Momo?!?, Sokka is bf material, Katara and Zuko are basically mom and dad, Kissing under water is sexy as long as you can breath, This is not a mermaid au, fluffy day to day, sweet scenes, we stan healthy relationships, ice dodging, supper with the fam, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, but has grown up a lot, no assassination attempts, finally we get a break, Hakoda is daddy, on all counts, was that too far?, fr Hakoda is a good dad, They all need therapy, Zuko and Sokka are bros, Therapy, PTSD, survivor's guilt, Did I mention Zutara, Heavy Themes, Hurt/ComfortGrief, Circle of Abuse, Trauma, Guilt, That's it. that's the only tag we need, Poppy and Leo can join Ozai in the terrible parents club, I Try to Make You Cry, avatar aang, Gaang Angst, Angst, emotional connections, Supernatural Bonds

First come loves, then comes...a lot of complications that will repeatedly break your heart then make you laugh then cry then break your heart again before I hand you some glue so we can put back the pieces together. Also a bit of adventure, mystery, and a lot of mental healing.

Currently planned for 6 stories with an overarching plot and mystery through the whole series. Each story is designed to be read on its own as a standalone if you find the word count daunting.

Destiny is a Funny Thing

They thought they knew what their destinies were...save the world, become Fire Lord, maybe even fall in love along the way...But Destiny has a funny way of turning expectations into something you never dreamed possible. Maybe the story isn't your simple save the world and get the girl kind of tale. Maybe there's so much more to it than that. And maybe there can be more than one kind of happy ending...

Mark of the Trusted

This is part of a series, but each story is designed to be read as a standalone if you don't want to read everything.

In the two years after the war, the Gaang focuses on rebuilding their homes and spending time with family. Zuko struggles with guilt and worries about Azula's health, but for the first time in his life he has a large support system and a loving family around him at all times. A short story about love, healing, and learning to understand and support someone who is struggling with mental health.

Katara Alone

This is part of a series, but each story is designed to be read as a standalone if you don't want to read everything.

Three years after the war, Katara is studying healing in the North Pole when an incident abruptly makes her leave. Lost in a spiral of grief and guilt, she takes a detour into the Fire Nation alone, not willing to let her friends and family see her at her worst. When Zuko finds out she is missing he takes a trip to the North Pole to try and unravel the mystery Katara left behind.

Toph Alone

This is part of a series, but each story is designed to be read as a standalone if you don't want to read everything.

It's been years since Toph has seen her parents, but she always imagined reuniting with them under better circumstances. While her friends are either missing, preoccupied, or unavailable, a new law forces Toph back to Gaoling. Far away from the family she adopted, Toph must find a way to reconcile with her parents...or spend the next couple years of her life alone and on the run.

Aang Alone

Two years after the end of the war, Aang is plagued with constant headaches, sleepless nights, and an unexplainable hollow feeling in his chest. After two months of being unable to get into the Spirit World, a past avatar finally comes to him with a message: Go find Guru Pathik again and prepare himself for a future event that will change everything he knows about the world. In pain, desperate, and tired, Aang goes on a yearlong journey to find answers and healing and to answer the question: is he really the last airbender?

#atla #zutara #sukka #katara #zuko #sokka #suki #toph #aang #atla:ozai parenting #atla:team as family #atla:angst #atla:fluff #book 3 #atla:postcanon #paintedlady!katara #bluespirit!zuko #the muse's favs #wip #100k #mature #fic rec

[flameohotwife]

for the fic emoji ask game: 😅🏆😬 and ✅!

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

I'm not sure tbh. I think every scene/story I've written has served a purpose (to me at least) at the time that I wrote it. I might have done some things differently, but overall, I don't know that I'm to the point yet where I'm necessarily embarrassed by the existence of any of them (barring anyone irl reading them ofc, which we will get to, haha)

🏆 What's your most popular fic?

I answered by hits/kudos here, but in terms of hits:kudos ratio, it's actually Silence and Sparrowkeets (rated T)? It's such a new fic though (for kataang week this year) with so few hits comparitively that I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. Although the second highest hits:kudos ratio fic is Making Time (rated G) so who knows.

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

Any of my nsfw fics, hahahaha, for obvious reasons.

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

That's an interesting question! There are definitely words and phrases that I catch myself using over and over again, mainly because I have a hard time coming up with other words (even with a thesaurus) that mean exactly what I want to say and I am a repetitive person, hahaha. Also, I love to run with the theme of "rebirth." Especially when it comes to their love and their nations. I think that is something that is so beautiful about their relationship, and that Guru Pathik gives us that insight into their love being the love of a nation reborn just chokes me up every time I think about it, so I love incorporating that into my writing whenever I can (even if my readers are probably sick of it, hahaha oops).

Thanks so much for the playing the fanfic writer emoji ask game, friend! This was fun!

#emoji ask game #northerngoshawk #asks #kataang fanfic

[a2zsportsnews]

Indian sports news wrap: March 24

BOXING Haryana boxers confirm 19 medals at 3rd Sub Junior National Championship Continuing its dominant show in the tournament, 19 Haryana boxers entered semifinals and confirmed their medals at the 3rd Sub Junior National Championship at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida. The girls from Haryana managed to secure 10 medals while the boys sealed the semifinals berth in…

View On WordPress

#Indian #March #News #sports #wrap

[spellboundshadow]

My Current Wellness through the lens of the Chakras | A Full Moon Reflection

Yesterday when I was  writing about the service training I want to explore, I got into the weeds about wellness. The thing is, I've been in a pretty dark place lately where wants and needs have boiled down to "I need to eat food and drink water and sleep to stay alive." Thus, it has felt incredibly superficial to say "I need words of affirmation" when what I really need is the will to live.

But that's not living. That is survival and I am ready to start thriving again.

Part of breaking out of survival mode means examining what wellness might look like and what the path to get there entails. Part of it is getting back on my meds after having to go off them for two weeks for a sleep study (got through it yesterday).

So today, on the full moon, I'm going to explore my current state of wellness and path back to equilibrium. And I think the best way to do so is to look at it through the lens of the chakra.

Chakra

The Chakras are energy centers in the body that play a significant role in holistic wellbeing. They are located at various points along the spine, starting from the base and reaching up to the crown of the head. They are believed to have the ability to influence our overall wellbeing on multiple levels. When these energy centers are in balance and spinning harmoniously, we experience a sense of vitality, harmony and wellness. However, if there are blockages or imbalances in the chakras, it can lead to physical and emotional distress. Their alignment is crucial for achieving holistic wellness.

They come to us from the Hindu tradition that originated in India. However, many neo-pagan and new age practitioners also reflect on the Chakras as powerful energetic tools for balancing the whole self. One of my favorite, accessible explanations of this comes from this segment of Avatar the Last Airbender (S2:E19), in which Guru Pathik explains the Chakras to Aang as pools of energy flowing through the body.

I was going to write about the Eight Dimensions of Wellness here also (a therapy tool from the early 1990s), but the Chakra journaling took me where I needed to go. I often think that Chakras make up who we are and the Eight Dimensions of Wellness make up how we live. But I found, through journaling my way up the path of the Chakras, that I need only apply them through journaling to lift some of the blockages and find equilibrium. I feel much better after writing all this

Chakra Model

Root Chakra (Muladhara)

I am.

Security. Stability. Groundedness.

For the past two weeks I have been off of the SSRI, ADHD, and anti-anxiety meds that I take in preparation for a sleep study. I was dreading this because I was certain I would feel out of control and sad all the time. While I have wanted to cry every other moment and have had an incredibly short fuse, I have also been forced to find coping mechanisms outside of those aids in order to address an underlying problem that has impacted those diagnoses.

One such effort is that I have decided to work at the library or the game store one day a week for the foreseeable future. This is because I realized that in the mid-afternoon my temper grows short as I get tired. If I leave the house and isolate a little bit, it gives me time to reset away from the family, while fulfilling my work obligations. On the weekends, I make time for naps in the early afternoons to mitigate this.

In the longer term, I am hopeful that the sleep study turns up something that will be helpful to my overall wellness. I also have returned to my mental health meds today, in a slightly different formulation. We have learned a lot in the past few weeks about how my body is reacting to things, but also in how our relationships within the household can act as bracers to hold each other up amid different challenges.

Finding Balance

Question: What do you fear?

Answer: Loss of love and care from those I love the most.

Balancing Affirmation: I cannot control how others around me think, feel, or act. I can only control the care with with I treat them and hope that they will treat me with care in return. Perhaps that hope is a source of fear? I need reassurance. And then I need to believe it when I get it.

Full Moon: On the day of the harvest moon, I release my need to control how others think or feel about me. I know that I can set boundaries for myself in how I want to be treated, and likewise, expectations for how they treat me, but that is not the same as micromanaging their actions.

Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana)

I feel.

Creativity. Emotion. Passion.

Amid the challenges of the last few weeks, I have been overwhelmed with emotion and my outlet has been creativity. Writing alone has consumed double digit hours of the past week since I started this resolution. I'm also working on a D&D campaign, making book art, and drawing a little.

Today I am overwhelmed with hurt by the way people close to me have addressed my emotional wellbeing in the past week or so. However, I must acknowledge that my emotional regulation has been lacking during this timeframe and things might look different in the light of the SSRI that I am able to take again.

It is unreasonable to expect everyone (even those close to me) to understand and empathize with every emotion, every time. Those hurts must first be healed by my own emotional first aid, before they can be addressed with the other person. And part of that self-care must consider whether I (in my time of instability) bled on or injured anyone else. If that is the case, then part of the longterm healing must include an apology and restorative actions.

Finding Balance

Question: What do you blame yourself for?

Answer: I blame myself for the times when I have been overcome with emotion and have used my voice and feelings to hurt people when I feel unheard or dysregulated. I blame myself for letting fear and hurt cloud my judgement.

Balancing Affirmation: My feelings matter and are as real as "reason." I must accept the reality that the harm has occurred and seek/offer forgiveness where needed, including forgiving myself. But do not let past emotions color present actions.

Full Moon: On the day of the harvest moon, I release the hurt and fear that I have been harboring in my relationships. I forgive myself for the hurt I have caused myself and I forgive others for the hurt they have caused me. Likewise, I will seek to make amends with the people that I have wronged.

Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)

I can.

Self-Esteem. Confidence. Personal Power.

Oh boy. My self-esteem and confidence have been in the gutter these past few months. I have had ups and downs with the national shortage of certain ADHD medications, then the sleep study. I am finally in a place where I have access to the brain cocktail that I need. In fact, I would find it interesting to reflect on this in a month at the next full moon.

However, I think it is important to acknowledge that I have always been an incredibly sensitive person. That sensitivity is not a disability. I think that by rejecting my emotions and silencing them, I am doing myself more harm than good in this area. If I am constantly trying to carve out pieces of myself to throw away, how can I come to love myself?

My sensitivity is not a liability. It is where my personal power lies. I need to embrace it.

Finding Balance

Question: What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest disappointments in yourself?

Answer: I am ashamed of how my emotions rule my mind and body. I am ashamed that when I am hurt, I find it hard to control my voice, so I either silence it or shout. Neither of which are healthy for anyone.

Balancing Affirmation: I will never find balance if I deny the part of myself that feels so deeply. Stepping into confidence means learning to work with the feelings I am experiencing rather than trying to excise them.

Full Moon: On the day of the harvest moon, I release my shame. No longer will I seek to carve out pieces of myself to make me more palatable to those who love me. If I want to be loved for my whole self, I must first offer my whole self up and show love for every part of me.

Heart Chakra (Anahata)

I love.

Love. Compassion. Forgiveness.

I love so deeply and find that fear often turns that love to grief when hurt occurs. There is so much fear clouding this chakra and I don't know how to let it go. Actually, I do. I have to let go of the examples from the past of those who could not (or would not) love me the way I needed to be loved. I must forgive them and move forward into new opportunity and connection.

Today, I am feeling hurt by people close to me, but is that hurt really something they caused? Or am I looking for patterns of carelessness that were built on the foundations of others who have since exited my life? Can I offer them forgiveness and then hold onto the apology rather than the hurt? Can I offer forgiveness to those who haven't (and maybe won't ever) asked for it?

I don't go to AA, but I have read and tended to most of the 12 Steps. Step 8 and 9 deal with making amends and forgiving others. I acknowledge that I am responsibile for some of the harm that has been caused. I acknowledge that I am responsible for healing the harm done to me. At the end of the day, forgiveness is the only way to move forward and start anew. 

Finding Balance

Question: Lay all of your grief out in front of you. Who is there to greet you?

Answer: My grief is not in the people I have lost to death, but in the people I have had to cut out of my life for the sake of my emotional, mental, physical, and familial wellbeing. I have not done so lightly, and the grief I have felt as a result has made nurturing new connections difficult.

Balancing Affirmation: Grief is love that has no where to go. But new love can be nurtured in the fertile soil it leaves behind. Recognizing that past hurts do not inform future happiness (seeing a pattern here), I must forge ahead armed with the knowledge I have today and look to a future filled with unknowns. I must release my fear of those unknowns and embrace the love and care that are offered.

Full Moon: On the day of the harvest moon, I release my grief to make way for new (and new expressions of) love. I release the pain of loss and allow it to flow into the soil, nourishing it with the potential energy of love.

Throat Chakra (Vishuddha)

I speak.

Communication. Self-Expression. Authenticity.

I pride myself on being a great communicator. I can talk, write, photograph, and make art about it all day, every day, forever. But the truth is, the person I lie to the most is myself. I say "it's fine" when it really isn't. I say "it doesn't matter" when really I mean that it feels like no one cares or it feels like speaking up will only make things worse.

About six months ago, a friend said to me: I can't imagine how many times you've had to bite your tongue and hurt your own feelings to be graceful.

And frankly, that fucking hurt. I've typed so many words about people that have hurt me, which will never see the light of day. I could fill oceans with the sentences I've strung together describing my pain. I tried to became numb to it. Bit my tongue harder and harder while my mouth filled with blood and my soul screamed.

But there is a way out. I can just ... Say it out loud. Put it down. Let it sink into the waters of renewal until I am cleansed of its pain.

Finding Balance

Question: What lies have you told yourself about your own nature?

Answer: I have told myself that no one cares. That ultimately, I am alone in the world to fend for myself. That I don't need anyone else to know about my fears and desires.

Balancing Affirmation: Connection and communication go hand in hand. People who love me simply cannot care about the things that I don't tell them about. They can't apologize for the hurts they don't know exist. And if I remain closed off to them, they likely will not offer me chances for repair when they are also hurt.

Full Moon: On the day of the harvest moon, I release my silence. I no longer cling to silence as a way to keep the peace. I no longer hold my tongue for the sake of being gracious. Fear and distrust breed in darkness. It is time to shine a light where there is shadow and go forth in boldness.

Third Eye Chakra (Ajna)

I see.

Intuition. Insight. Inner Wisdom.

I wrote about intuition recently, but I think there are some new things to learn in this context. As I have learned through this writing exercise, there is a lot of fear holding me back in many contexts.

Part of this realization probably has to do with the conversation I had with MzRhythm last night. We were talking about the nature of groupthink, and her theory is that all individual and group actions come down to fear (fear of losing something or fear of not attaining something). I am inclined to agree, for the most part, but would argue that it comes down to a spectrum between fear of loss and desire to attain. This is a minor linguistic twist on a theory that we largely agree upon.

Recognizing that fear and desire are the base drives that guide decision-making, I can come armed to any situation with new tools to manage that fear and support that desire. The first step is to acknowledge that my desire for control and my fear of being hurt are huge factors in my behavior. I have to make friends with uncertainty in order to embrace all of the possibilities the universe has to offer, both in a spiritual sense and a physical sense.

Finding Balance

Question: What illusions have you come to believe as truth?

Answer: I have believed in the illusion of control and separation. I have believed that things can be categorized and subdivided until they fit nicely into neat little boxes, and thus controlled. I have believed that it is possible to move through this world without hurting anyone or being hurt, if only I tried hard enough. These are illusions.

Balancing Affirmation: By living in the universal truth of chaos, I can drop into the river of belief ... that the universe will deliver what is needed to my door and provide me with opportunities for surviving (and even thriving) through the challenges.

Full Moon: On the day of the harvest moon, I release the illusion of control. I recognize that clinging tighter to people, situations, and things does not change the outcomes for the better. I will state my feelings, fears, needs, and desires without the intention of controlling others, but with the intention of providing them with information on how to care for me better. What they do with that information is up to them. The wheel weaves as the wheel wills, and whatnot.

Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)

I know.

Spirituality. Purpose. Transcendence.

This chakra is probably the most tangled up one of them all. I am very much tied up in the earthly attachments like maintaining the calendar and making sure everyone gets where they need to be, when they need to be there. But this feeling of compulsory busyness makes me incredibly unhappy and puts everyone's mental health at risk. When the busyness reaches a pinnacle, I find that spirituality goes out the window first. Then time to talk through things with each other. Then the time for a sit down meal together. And so on.

I know this is a thing that is a result of having a parent who wanted to give us the world and in the end just made us exhausted with all the activities we were required to do. I do not have to emulate that, but it hard in the current capitalist hellscape to imagine anything else. When the world tells you that your productivity is paramount, how can you fathom rest? Stillness, in this model, is torture.

So I struggle to feel like I am doing enough. I have to schedule for myself time to do nothing. Or eventually my body will force me to. Which is worse? I want to slow my life down to the pace of my wellbeing, but I don't even know what that is. I think it starts by letting go of the reins.

Finding Balance

Question: What earthly attachments keep you from corresponding with your cosmic self?

Answer: I am overly attached to the earthly concept of control. This manifests in my life as compulsory busyness. Our connectedness as a household (which is what truly feeds my purpose right now) suffers and breaks down when busy overruns our lives, and us along with it. And yet, the lure of having every moment scheduled and regimented lingers in the corner of my mind.

Balancing Affirmation: There is wholeness in stillness.

Full Moon: On the day of the full moon, I release the notion that control is possible. I release the compulsion to fill my life with more. I release myself from the binds of stifling expectations, whether placed on me by myself and by others. I release myself into her care and allow myself to sink into her embrace. 

----

Fall 2023 Writing Index

This writing has been part of my effort to write everyday from the autumn equinox to the winter solstice. Find the rest of the writings in this series here: Fall 2023 Writing Index

#journal #fall journal #journaling #wellness #chakra #chakras #chakra balancing #balance

[drpathikparikh]

#best hepatologist in ahmedabad #best liver doctor in ahmedabad

[atla-fandom-confessions]

ok here’s my sokka is Izumi’s father theory (which is entirely made up and has almost no basis in canon):

• Zuko goes to visit the sun earth kingdom but his airship disappears in a storm and doesn’t reach its destination

• his friends search everywhere for him but only find the wreckage of the airship drifting out on the open ocean

• everyone mourns Zuko, including his widow Mai and best friend Sokka, but they realize they can’t tell anyone yet because the fire nation will collapse into chaos if it gets out that the Fire lord is dead and a new war might even start

• Iroh goes to look for Azula who is off living her best post-therapy life in the earth kingdom but she’s not easy to find

• meanwhile it’s getting harder to play Weekend at Bernie’s with Zuko when they don’t even have his body so Sokka proposes to Mai that she fake being pregnant so that when Zuko’s death becomes public, they’ll still be able to prevent a revolution since there’s an heir to the throne on the way

• Mai tells him that things aren’t going to be that easy because the Fire Sages will want to perform rituals and stuff while she’s supposedly pregnant and they’ll catch on quickly that she’s lying

• it becomes obvious that Mai has to actually be pregnant for the plan to work which makes things a little awkward and angsty

• through process of elimination she and Sokka decide that he is the only option because Aang is off looking for Azula with Iroh and they can’t risk bringing another person in on their plan

• also since Sokka is a nonbender the odds of the baby being a firebender is higher than it would be if Aang (or Haru) were the father, but since he’s water tribe they might be doomed as soon as the baby arrives so the plan is only buying about nine months of time

• with no other options they decide to go through with it and sleep together

• it’s really awkward obviously but they’ve been growing closer emotionally since Zuko’s death and they both feel guilty for enjoying their night together

• for the sake of thoroughness they try for a month and the awkwardness goes away and their feelings for each other start to come out

• one night Sokka tells Mai that he thinks he’s a terrible friend because even though he’s heartbroken over Zuko’s death, he doesn’t regret that the two of them have gotten closer

• Mai reveals that she found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago and kisses him and their relationship stops becoming purely practical

• Sokka stays close to her throughout the pregnancy and everyone outside of the gaang thinks that he’s just being extra supportive to his best friend’s widow

• (which he is…but he’s also sleeping with her and sound everything he would as the father)

• the baby comes eventually and Sokka arranges an escape plan for himself and Mai and the baby because once someone notices that the baby has water tribe features, they’ll be in huge trouble

• the baby comes out resembling her mother almost entirely with fair skin and golden eyes…everyone assumes that she is Zuko’s daughter, even though the Fire Sages say that she’s not a firebender

• Sokka and Mai are trying to decide if they should stay now and pretend Izumi is the rightful Firelord because Azula has refused to take the throne even as regent

• suddenly Zuko shows up out of nowhere and reveals that he was shipwrecked at an air temple and stayed there for months to learn how to unlock his chakras from Guru Pathik so he could finally bend lightning

• Sokka and Mai are shocked and angry at him but they don’t see any other choice besides letting things return to their natural course…and they have to pretend that nothing happened between them at all which is the hardest part

• Zuko is overjoyed that he has a daughter and Mai goes back to being Zuko’s Fire Lady, forcing herself to become the stoic and dutiful noble woman she used to be as a little girl especially because now that Zuko has unlocked his chakras, he’s more aloof than before

• Sokka tries to talk to her but she tells him that they have to move on with their lives and he reluctantly agrees and leaves the Fire Nation

• he and Mai never speak of it ever again, and Mai keeps the truth from Zuko because she knows he’d treat Izumi differently and probably hate her and Sokka too…also she’s still mad at him for staying at the air temple for so long without telling her

• ten years pass and Sokka gets married and has his own family while Mai tries to take her own advice by finding small joys in her life as Fire Lady, most of which are with Izumi

• one day Mai finds her daughter crying by the turtleduck pond and asks what’s wrong and why she isn’t with her tutor

• Izumi wants to know about her father and Mai tells her that Zuko is currently in his office

• Izumi gets angry for a second and yells at her mom to stop lying and tell the truth for once, then she bends some of the water in the pond and demands to know who/where her “real” father is

• Mai explains what happened and tells Izumi that she’s sorry but no one can never know

• years later, Sokka comes to visit and Izumi notices the way that he looks wistfully at her and Mai and decides to keep the secret too

x

#atla #atla fandom confessions #maikka #izumi