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#ty Lin for changing his name <3
firelxdykatara · 3 years
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You’re doing a LoK rewrite, correct? Would be really interested in hearing how you plan on fixing Suyin’s character and the Lin-Suyin conflict because……. oh boy. Man there’s a lot to unpack there. This is what happens when we don’t let Toph just raise her fucking kids for the sake of pushing a stupid as hell narrative about working women and single motherhood.
I am indeed!
In... you know, the way I'm doing most of my big potential projects, in that I have a folder with some documents that have plot notes and... some day I may actually get full, finished fics out of them (h2o AU is in there, as is my voltron!atla fusion AU, and uhhhh my book 3 atla rewrite, and a few other things), so... but I will say that the docs I have for my LoK rewrite so far amount to roughly 4.2k words of just Plot and Character Notes, which may some day turn into words of Story, hopefully.
ANYWAY, POINT IS: yes, this exists, and I have Many Many Thoughts.
Including how the Gaang kids would shake out! Cause I know I'm doing Zutara, and maybe Tokka???? Although I don't wanna just leave Suki out either... maybe a throuple??? Or Sukka having an amicable breakup before Sokka and Toph get together--maybe she already has Lin by then, and Sokka helps support her through the grief of losing Kanto???? Idk honestly, I haven't actually figured any of that out definitively yet except that Aang was perfectly happy to settle down with an Air Acolyte from one of the rebuilt temples because he grew up and out of his crush on Katara pretty easily once he hit puberty and matured a bit.
UHHH none of which is actually an answer to your question, because it's a valid one! Which is why I've been sitting on this a while (10 days I'm so sorry) bc I haven't made any solid decisions but I've been letting it percolate around my head a bit. And the more I think about it, the more I really like the Sukka -> Tokka idea (and I don't want to kill off Suki since the kids all deserve their awesome Kyoshi warrior auntie in their lives, and also I want a Sukka kid to be besties with Iara [zuko and katara's youngest] so maybe she gets with someone else after she and Sokka split? I could be talked into Ty Lee/Suki actually, the more I think about it....), but obviously having a stable father figure and a Toph who is... not what LoK made her out to be will dramatically change the Beifong family dynamic.
That said, I think I actually have a solution. (I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do.) Toph has Lin with Kanto--and he passes away when Lin is two or three, which is why she has very few memories of her father. (Although none of this 'she doesn't even know his name until she's 50+ cause Toph didn't tell her daughters about their fathers' bullshit.) Sokka is there for her through it all (all of the gaang is, of course, but you know that it sometimes just hits different when it's someone you're also starting to fall in love with, especially when there are older and much more deeply buried feelings there that are now resurfacing, because at least in my version Toph was deeply in love with Sokka when they were teenagers, but he was in love with Suki and she also loved Suki so she didn't want to mess up anything about their family or the group dynamics by making her feelings anyone else's problem), they fall in love, get married and have Suyin.
(Sokka may jokingly refer to it as a shotgun wedding, but the truth is he wanted to propose well before he found out she was pregnant, his attempts just kept getting messed up in increasingly comedic fashion.)
Throughout all of this, Republic City has been established, Sokka is Chancellor, Toph is something of a defacto police chief--mostly because, at the time, no one else was willing to volunteer, and she jokingly offered to whip the law enforcement, but unfortunately everyone else at the meeting took her seriously. However, she is also the founder of the probending league, and basically her feelings about law enforcement are complicated and she actively discouraged her kids from joining the force which is part of why Lin did. How else do you have a teen rebel phase with a parent like Toph? (Which, in this instance, means tough and firm but fair, with a 'you break it, it's up to you to fix it' attitude and very little desire to actually control her daughters and their behavior.)
Ah, but here's the rub.
Suyin is ten years old when Sokka dies, and Lin is sixteen. I'm not sure how he's killed--maybe by Yakone, to tie it into my plans for Amon and book 1. (Note that I'm not sure when the Yakone bloodbending trial happened in canon, but it doesn't matter. The timeline I'm gonna build will be completely different post-comet, and I'll eventually write it all down so that I can keep things straight.) Which would incidentally provide excellent means of having Katara have a very personal stake in the Amon conflict, and perhaps color the fight between him and Iara, but I'm getting off track. And I think Sokka being killed by Yakone, and Toph being unable to protect or save him, or deliver her own brand of justice to avenge him (because Aang is there to stop her and.... shit probably got ugly, I suspect she didn't talk to Aang for at least twenty years after Sokka's death--and this isn't to say I think Toph is particularly violent or murderous, but in that moment, she absolutely wanted to kill the man with her bare hands, and however much she may have regretted it afterwards, she took a very long time to forgive Aang for stopping her in the first place), is what results in Toph stepping down as police chief.
She didn't withdraw from her daughters or fuck off into the swamp or anything (words cannot express how much I hate that part of her canon history), but she did grieve for a very long time. Lin, meanwhile, felt like it was up to her to keep her family together, while also feeling a desperate need to... prove herself, I think. And because her mother was so adamant that she not join the police force, that's exactly what she does. I think Lin completely misread Toph's intentions, too, and believed that the discouragement was because her mother didn't think she had what it takes, when in reality I think Toph was scared of Lin losing herself in the job like she herself had begun to, and eventually coming up on something she couldn't change or fix and making the same mistakes she had.
(I think Toph and Lin have communication issues largely because they are both headstrong and willful, but where Toph thought she was giving her daughters the room they would need to make their own way, what Lin desperately craved was direction and she felt like that was something her mother simply couldn't understand.)
Suyin, on the other hand, fell in with a bad crowd like in canon. I think that what she desperately needed was attention, similar to Lin craving direction, and Toph was trying so hard not to be her own parents that she went a little too far in the other direction and Suyin began to feel like it didn't matter what she did, her mom wouldn't care, or get angry, or discipline her, or anything. Lin and Suyin butted heads a lot growing up, too, especially after Sokka's death, because Lin tried to rein in her sister's behavior and this was met with resistance and derision because Suyin felt like Lin was trying to be both mom and dad and she was neither but her big sister would never admit to being just as lost as she was and it made her furious.
So when Suyin is sixteen, and Lin is twenty-two and new to the force, The Big Rift happens. Lin catches Suyin and her gang, tries to apprehend her, gets a scar on her face in the ensuing conflict. But instead of abusing her power and sending her problem child off to her mother before fucking off to the swamp to avoid the consequences of her actions, Toph tries to actually fix things. Suyin cools her heels in prison for a while, because she was paralyzed by guilt at the time when she hurt her sister (a few inches lower and she could have slit her throat), and was still there when Lin's backup arrived.
Uhhhhhhhhhhh..... I'm so sorry I rambled for so long, BUT THE UPSHOT IS: I think Suyin learned a bit about culpability and taking responsibility for her own actions, Toph realized that her daughters had different needs than she did at their age (and I think a lot of the problem was that grief clouded her own ability to connect with her daughters, and in trying to not be her own parents she lost sight of how to be the parent her own daughters needed), and Lin, I think, had to realize that she had never fully processed the loss of not one but two fathers and had turned to her job in order to avoid actually confronting the grief that had overshadowed her childhood.
However, she did not forgive Suyin, at least not right away--and she wasn't forced or expected to. Suyin understood that she crossed a serious line, she took her lumps and did her time, and no one shamed Lin for her anger. I think, as a result, she had less reason to hold onto that bitterness, and perhaps by the time the story actually begins, she and Suyin are on much better terms, though I haven't worked it out exactly yet.
UHHH yeah I went on for days lmao. All of this is subject to change, too, depending on the needs of the story whenever I get around to actually writing it all down, BUT these are my initial thoughts, at least.
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old-and-new-friends · 3 years
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for the ask game: T
T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)
Oh boy buckle up!
Bumi II, Mako, Zuko, Suki and Sokka are all bisexual and I will die on this hill.
Iroh II loves mangos, idolizes the Kyoshi Warriors, and has a gender identity that boils down to "I do what I want".
Iroh II can't drive but he's fully convinced he can because he learned during military training.
Bumi II is Iroh II's dad.
Bumi II and Izumi circled around their affection for each other since childhood.
Lu Ten is gay. This isn't optional, unless it's June for some reason. He had a huge crush on Zhao when he was younger. He has a boyfriend he meets during the war (Akihiro) that he keeps secret from his family.
Even as an adult and into war Lu Ten carried a stuffed Fire Slug with him named Flameo.
Jeong Jeong and Iroh had sex once but no one knows if it was a relationship or not. Piandao only knows about the once because Jeong Jeong accidentally told him.
Baatar Sr. is Sokka and Suki's kid.
Ty Lee had a crush on Lu Ten when she was little but she's actually a lesbian.
Ty Lee had air nomad ancestry and gains Airbending during harmonic convergence but doesn't tell Tenzin.
Jinora ropes Iroh II (and sometimes Mako) into a book club.
Iroh II was childhood friends with both Wu and Baatar Jr.
Wu is older than Mako. He was just about to graduate University when his Aunt died and he dropped out (so about 3-4 years older).
Iroh II isn't the biggest fan of tea but he puts up with it for his family. Sometimes he hates it, sometimes he's indifferent and sometimes he's okay with it but he never loves it.
Asami and Naga have a tense relationship for the first few months after Korra and Asami start dating as Naga sees Asami as competition for Korra's attention. Their relationship evens out when Mako shares his secret on how he got Naga to like him when dating Korra (steak cubes).
Tonraq still acts like Korra and Mako are dating everytime he sees Mako because he likes how awkward Mako gets trying to correct him and thinks its funny to scare Mako.
Mako and Lin both stay late at the office and after a few weeks of this happening (and realizing Mako was living there) she started sharing her hidden donut stash.
Densa is trans.
I have way more headcanons but these are the ones that always live in the back of my mind and are never changing because there's no reason to change what's working.
Send Me an Ask!
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fbfh · 4 years
Text
“forever” paxton hall-yoshida x reader
genre: fluffy romance + mutual pining (not too slowburn tho lol)
word count: 3.4k
au: none?? jock x theatre nerd ig
pairing: Paxton x broadway baby!reader 
requested: yes !! i hope u like it uwu
warnings: one hell one motherfucking and i think that’s it for swearing?? um brief self deprecating/talking bad abt urself from paxton (bby boy needs a self love boost), reader and paxton are home alone together for a little while but nothing bad happens, uh,,, i think that’s it
summary: when Eleanor can’t run lines with you, she sends over a very attractive, mutually pining substitute.
reccomended songs: “Seventeen” - Tuck everlasting OBC, “The Kiss” -The Princess Diaries score
a/n: i’m p sure i kept the reader p gender neutral but there’s implied slightly long hair, and you play the lead (a girl named winnie) in ur schools production of tuck everlasting but like it’s theatre so anyone can play anyone lol,, this took so got dam long bc i’m fucking s o f t for jock x artist and it just sorta happened lol aLsO,, not super thoroughly edited so there might be a typo or two?? im tired lol
requests r open <3
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You had only ever seen two athletes present during rehearsals. Once when Madeline (who at the time was playing Penny in your production of Hairspray) was dating a guy from the soccer team. The other was when the star of the basketball team had come in to give your choreographer pointers for the basketball scenes during High School Musical. 
Until now.
You had run onstage part of the way through “Live Like This”, which wasn’t out of the ordinary since so much progress had been made on the costumes. You were still tying the ribbon on your pinafore as you jumped into the song, but when your eyes met a face in the usually empty auditorium, you faltered. You almost sang the wrong verse, but recovered quickly, continuing with the blocking. What felt like a moment later, the number was almost done and you were nearing the end of your counterpoint with Mae Tuck - played by Eleanor, of course. Who could be better for the part? You held out the last note, trying to stay in character despite all the distractions in the back of your mind. You had to talk to Eleanor when the director called for 10; she’d started telling you how Devi was being weird recently. Also, what the Hadestown was Paxton Hall-Yoshida doing chilling in the auditorium? You shoved all that away, focusing on staying in character until the director called for a break. 
‘I want to go to the fair. I want to go so badly! I just need a change, need to get out of this house for a little while. I never do anything, so this can’t be asking for too much, right?’ 
You projected all that into your everything - face, voice, mannerisms, energy.
“Hold!” 
Everyone froze.
The director wrote a few things on his paper, sighed, and underlined something several times. 
“Okay, good job! I need to revise some of the blocking, then we’ll do notes, so take ten.” Your sudden nerves had definitely made you pitchy, you knew that would be one of your notes for sure. 
A chorus of “Thank you ten”s erupted, and you immediately ran to Eleanor, telling the others good job as you passed. 
You leaned in and started speaking to her, quietly.
“Okay you need to finish telling me about Devi, and that other news you’re being so cryptic about! Also, what’s up with Fierro over there?” you nodded towards Paxton hoping he wouldn’t see, and you noticed Fab is sitting near him. You realized they’re probably waiting for Eleanor and/or Devi. That must be it, he’s been hanging out with them lately, right? Eleanor gasped.
“You’re right! Paxton is such a Fierro!”
You cringed inwardly a little bit as her voice carried through the auditorium, mixing with the others. Your eyes darted over to him for a fraction of a second. Oh god. He was looking at you. Or in your general direction at least. Lena, the costumer, walked around the set gingerly, following you around and getting you out of your dress incredibly carefully as you and Eleanor walked off stage. 
“No! Well, yes- but no. What’s he doing here? Jocks never come here during rehearsals. I saw Fab too, are you guys and Devi getting dinner or something?” You said, entering the auditorium, and stepping out of the dress. You grabbed sweatpants and a silky, floral kimono jacket from your bag to throw over your leotard and tights. She waved back at Fab before sitting down in the front. You both grabbed your fans and dramatically flicked them open in sync. Your wrists fluttered, cooling both of you off.  A knowing, and slightly mischievous, look came on her face. 
“Devi and Fab and I are. Paxton must be here for something… else.” she shrugged, nodding towards Paxton. You looked over again. He was staring at you. You did a double take and tried to hold back your smile. 
“Wh- I do not know to what you are referring.” 
“To what I am referring is the blush on his cheeks.”
You barely held back a nervous, bubbling laugh.
“He is not blushing! Why would he be blushing!”
“I don’t know,” She shrugged, “Just like how I don’t know that he’s been loitering in the halls outside the music room during your last three solo music rehearsals.”
You struggled for an answer. Before you could form one, you were interrupted.
“Okay, okay what is the best Lin Manuel Miranda musical? Because Kathryn thinks it’s Hamilton-” 
“Duh!”
“-But I think it’s In the Heights! It’s an underrated jewel!” Jonah interjected, still wearing his Jesse Tuck hat. 
You considered for a moment.
“I mean, they’re too different to compare. In the Heights has the same energy as Rent - showcasing what goes on in ordinary people’s lives, and how love ties us all together,” he nodded in agreement, “But Hamilton is on a way larger scale, almost Les Mis meets Fun Home vibes. But in terms of personal preference…” Eleanor scoffed at your answer, and Jonah went back to debate further with Kathryn.
“Anyway,” you turned back to Eleanor to ask her what the hell she meant by Paxton Hall-Yoshida was blushing. But before you could-
“Eleanor, we need you to try on your blue dress again,” Lena was already pulling her away, “I had the empire waist in the right place but half the pins fell out, and it’s just...” And she was whisked away before you could finish the thought. You just had time to help Holly get out her wig pins and drink some lemon water before notes. Eleanor still wasn’t back, so you made sure to write down hers for her. It was pretty standard; be quiet backstage, go over your lines, don’t touch props that aren’t yours, don’t eat in costume, and a couple blocking changes you made note of. After your end of rehearsal warm downs and huddle, everyone left relatively quickly. You ducked into the bathroom to freshen up a little. Sometimes it was hard coming down from such intense energy after rehearsal. You mentally ran through your to do list. You needed to get some more tea, write that essay when you got home, go over your notes- You gasped, cutting off your own train of thought. You ran out of the bathroom to look for Eleanor, still clutching her notes in hand. 
~
Your voice still echoed in Paxton’s ears. He wished he had a whole album of you singing. Your voice made him want to ruin his spotify algorithm by listening to nothing else. You had looked at him a couple times, and his heart had almost stopped. He didn’t know eye contact could be so intense. It’s probably just cause you’re like, the only person in the audience. Where else is she supposed to look? He deflated a little. He heard his name and looked over to you and Eleanor talking together. Hopefully it was about him. Hopefully it was good. He checked his phone, trying to look busy. When he glanced up to see if you were looking, you were gone. He started to look around for you when he saw Eleanor waving at Fab, and sure enough, you were next to her. What he didn’t expect was you dropping your dress to the ground. Time slowed down (and his heart sped up) as you stretched a little, and pulled out sweatpants from your bag.
Wow.
 You had on what looked like a bathing suit on underneath, and a few other people had done the same, but he knew that image would be in his memory, probably forever. His heart was beating in his ears and he knew he must be blushing.
“You okay, Paxton?” Fab asked, a seat or two away. Oh god, he didn’t want people asking why he blushed every time he looked at you! He muttered something about needing to make a call and headed for the doors. Don’t look back at her, don’t look back at her… His eyes involuntarily darted in your direction right before he left. You had on a flowy translucent jacket, your hair thrown back supermodel style as you fanned yourself to cool down. He needed to cool down too. Maybe a cold shower, a really cold shower.
~
You managed to find Eleanor just before she left. Two girls were with her, you had seen Fab once, and you’d heard a lot about Devi, but had never been introduced. 
You gave Eleanor her notes, and she hugged you.
“You’re a lifesaver!” 
“Of course, I-”
“Uh, who’s this?” you looked over, and the shorter girl - Devi, based on what you’d heard about her -  was giving you a weird look. You introduced yourself. 
“Nice to meet you. How do you know Eleanor?” said the taller girl - definitely Fab.
“Oh,” you smiled, “she’s my almost mother in law. And my arch rival,” you counted on your fingers, “my sister, my niece, my lover, my husband, and…” you trailed off, trying to think of the other dynamics your characters had had in past shows.
“Your co-conspirator.” 
“Right,” you laughed. Devi and Fab looked at you two.
“We’re in the musical together.” you clarified. You were about to part ways when you called to Eleanor, “Hey, we’re still on for running lines tomorrow night?” 
“Uh… Sounds good!” she walked away quickly, speaking to Devi and Fab in hushed tones. Something was definitely up. That was typical Eleanor Scheming behavior. 
~
That night, you almost couldn’t sleep. This wasn’t the normal post rehearsal can’t sleep. In fact, Tuck Everlasting was the last thing on your mind as you readjusted your pillows and snuggled into your duvet. You stared at the neon blue stars projected and swirling on your ceiling. You sighed. Again. Your brain was a 24/7 livestream of Paxton Hall-Yoshida to relax/study to. You saw him again, his face in the dimly lit auditorium, Adonis in a sea of faded seats. If you hadn’t been sure before, you knew now that red was definitely his color. You rolled onto your side. Your heart picked up speed as a thought crossed your mind. You could almost see Paxton now, kneeling next to you, his fingertips brushing your cheek. The piano underscore to “Seventeen” ran through your mind. You could imagine him saying “Wait with me, we could share the world…” so vividly it almost hurt. He leaned in, and… 
You let out a loud sigh and rolled over again. Your heart was fully saturated. That’s more than enough pining for tonight. 
~
“Paxton!” 
He was a little surprised when Eleanor just walked up to him at lunch the next day. Most people were too intimidated to approach him out of the blue. 
“I have a plan.”
“Uh, I don’t know what you-”
“Cut the crap, I know you like her.” 
His face blanched. Well, yeah of course he did. Who wouldn’t? He was going to ask Eleanor if there was something he could do to win you over, just not here, not now. Not where everyone could watch and jeer and rib him for it. Just like they were doing now. 
“Woah, dude, who is it?” Trent asked. He fumbled for words. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He hadn’t kept his crush a secret because he was embarrased of you, he’d kept it a secret because his dumbass friends wouldn’t get you. Hell, he barely got you. You were so deep, and emotive, and artistic... 
“Bro, if you like her as much as it seems like you do,” Trent continued, “you gotta win her over.” He was a little shocked at the agreement murmuring through his group of friends. He didn’t know how to respond. Trent turned to Eleanor.
“What’s the plan, drama mama?”
“First of all,” she said, an almost humorously dangerous look on her face, “never call me that again. Second,” she shoved some papers into Paxton’s hands, “meet me in the music room immediately after school.” She started back for her table. Trent looked back over to Paxton. 
“You gotta do it, dude. We’ll cover for you at swim.” 
The rest of his friends agreed. He was pleasantly surprised at how supportive they were being. 
“Yeah, I guess... we’ve got a plan.”
~
The next day went by pretty smoothly. No rehearsal was scheduled since they were finishing construction for some of the sets, but everyone was instructed to do a couple read throughs of the script, focusing on scenes they’re still forgetting, to make sure everyone’s off book. You stopped by 7 Eleven to get a blue slurpee (for homework) and a couple coconut waters (for run throughs). You texted Eleanor on your way to the slurpee machine. 
okay so do you like the mango coconut water or the pineapple one?? It’s the mango one right?? i always forget lmao
sent at 4:16 pm
btw I don’t have that much homework so you can probs come by around 5:30 if you’re ready by then
sent at 4:16 pm
Bae Tuck
OMFG!! I totally forgot about running lines tonight, I can’t make it! :( but I’ll send someone over to help you out. :)
sent at 4:17 pm
You squinted at your screen. That was weird. Eleanor never used colon parentheses smilies. Like, ever. She always used emojis, and usually way more than two per text. 
yeah np, are u good? ♡
sent at 4:17 pm
Bae Tuck
Yes :)
sent at 4:18 pm
Bae Tuck
Also get the passionfruit one 🥥🍠 👀
sent at 4:18
that’s,,, el that’s a sweet potato,,
sent at 4:19 pm
Bae Tuck
Close enough 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️
sent at 4:19pm
...Okay? That was definitely weird. You shook it off and headed for the counter to pay. You stopped half way there, and turned back to swap the mango for passionfruit. 
Not long after you had finished your homework and tidied up your room a little, the doorbell rang. You exited the kitchen, drinks in hand, and opened the door. Your heart caught in your throat. Paxton Hall-Yoshida was standing outside. And you were pretty sure he looked nervous. You both just stood there for a second. No one breathed, no one spoke. 
“Uh, hi, do you want to…” you backed up, motioning for him to come inside. 
“Yeah, thanks,” he said, entering the doorway. Paxton motherfucking Hall-Yoshida was in your living room. You held out a hand to him.
“Coconut water?” he took the box, looked at the label, and smiled. 
“Yeah, thanks,” he said again, this time a faint, yet unmistakable note of joy in his voice. He took a sip. He smiled.
“Passionfruit’s my favorite.” You silently thanked Eleanor, who you knew must have planned all this. Most of the evening was a blur, and you thanked god your family wasn’t home right now. You went upstairs, texted Eleanor asking what the actual fuck, made some surprisingly comfortable small talk, then filled him in on how to run lines. 
“Do you think playing the soundtrack would help you… get into character?” he asked. 
“I would probably just end up singing the whole thing,” You laughed and tried to ignore the butterflies in your chest. The main scene you struggled with was before “Seventeen”. It was harder to get into Winnie’s head because you had no romantic feelings for Jonah, and you always just made each other laugh. You had started with a few easier scenes of Winnie and Jesse, like the fair, and the dialogue before “Top of the World”. 
“That was really good,” he said, and you felt the sincerity of his words. 
“Thanks…” you smiled and took a sip of coconut water, hoping you weren’t blushing too hard. 
“So what next?” he asked. 
“Probably the scene before ‘Seventeen’,” you said, giving him the page and scene number, “it’s one of the hardest ones for me. I guess I just can’t connect to Jonah the way Winnie does.” 
“Huh,” he said, skimming the page. When you looked up at him, he had something between a smile and a smirk playing at his lips. You made yourself look away before you got too distracted. You refused to think about the fact that you were sitting across from Paxton Hall-Yoshida on your bed, in your room, like you were… close with each other. His eyes skimmed the script, finding the dialogue. He glanced up at you and nodded, indicating he found his place. You began.
“I was so afraid you wouldn’t get away,” you said, jumping into character.
“I may be 102, but I can still outrun anyone,” a smile played at his lips. You smiled, then let your face fall.
“I’m so sorry, I-I tried to warn you-”
“No, no,” he interjected almost seamlessly, “It’s okay, it’s… refreshing having someone look after me who isn’t my mom.” His eyes flickered between your face and the page. You smiled with him for a second, then let distress cloud your face.
“Jesse… that man came by my house today. He heard the music box, he knows about you-”
“I know he knows…” 
You continued on with the scene and he trailed off when he came to the sheet music for the song Seventeen. You took in a breath to start the dialogue in the middle of the song, but before you could…
“Six years from now you will turn seventeen,
Turn seventeen,
The same age as me,
Six years from now,
Go to the spring,
Go to the spring and drink…”
He was singing to you. He was looking at you and singing to you. His eyes only flickered down to the page to confirm the lyrics. He was nervous, you could tell. But through his hesitance, the emotion in his voice was sincere. Your heart was beating faster. You didn’t even notice your pulse was ringing in your ears, you were too focused on Paxton. 
“I'll wait for you till you turn seventeen,
Turn seventeen,
The same age as me,
Six years from now,
Go to the spring,
Go to the spring and drink…” Your hand rose to cover your mouth. He hesitated, and you remembered your dialogue.
“Uh, wh-what if I… forget where the spring is?” He reached out and took your free hand in his. Your pulse was off the charts. “I’ll go get you some water. Just… remember to keep it somewhere safe. Somewhere no one will find it.” You got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about the water. You knew he had never really been in a serious relationship before, and it clicked suddenly - if he learned an entire song to duet with you, just how much he must like you. You exhaled a breathy laugh, unsure how to process the sudden euphoria you felt. 
“You make the world sound so… exciting. I just want to drink the water right now!”
“Uh, no. You have to wait.” you both smiled, anticipating the upcoming joke.
“Why?” you ask, “What’s the difference?” You held your breath as he tried not to laugh through the delivery of the punchline. 
“Believe me,” he rubbed his thumb over your hand, “there’s a difference.” You both chuckled, and he continued singing. You were so focused on him, so… touched that he would do all this for you. 
“Winnie, wait with me,
And we could be married,
Winnie, wait with me,
And we'll share the world,
Winnie, you can stop time,
And live like this,
Forever…”
“I could live like this forever,” you echoed.
“Live like this...” you sang in tandem.
“What do you say, Winnie? Do you want to…” he broke character suddenly, and asked, his eyes boring into yours, “Do you want to go out some time?” 
He could see the adorable smile blooming on your face, even from behind your hand. You nodded.
“Yes, I-I would love that,” and you began to sing the last line in the song, “Forever-” 
But before you finished holding out the note, his lips were on yours. His mouth moved slowly, intentionally, against yours. You followed his lead, flustered. He leaned further forward, his palm caressing your cheek. It was everything you imagined it would be, and you had quite the imagination. Your head was angled up and your hands rested themselves on his back, one tracing little shapes. Your shoulders were pressed against each other and neither of you could think. He was so warm. He tasted like coconut and passion fruit, and a distant part of your mind silently thanked Eleanor again. 
You really could live like this forever.
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smokeybrand · 3 years
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Smokey brand Postmortem: You Suck
I don’t really talk about my love for Mortal Kombat near as much as i do for Marvel, Fate, Star Wars, or Batman, but i adore that bloody franchise. Seriously, the vast majority of this blog is just Marvel and Star Wars content but, i mean, I'm an Eighties baby. That was a massive chunk of our childhoods. See? Even in an essay bout Mortal Kombat, Marvel and Star Wars found it’s way into the conversation. I have a problem but that’s not the problem i want to address in this essay. The problem i have with this one, is the f*cking Mortal Kombat release that just dropped. F*ck did they get so much wrong! I haven’t felt this frustrated with a movie since The Old Guard. I wanted this to be a Comparison but, as i tried to coalesce my thoughts about both films, it became mad apparent to me that the Nineties version of this movie would runaway with it. How is it possible that a film which came out twenty-six years ago, sh*ts all over one with modern shooting techniques and effects? How can a PG-13 movie, saturated with tongue-in-cheek camp and constant nods to the camera, do the Enter the Dragon knock-off franchise more justice that the blockbuster, R-rated, third attempt? Yeah, so this is a postmortem now.
Issue: Cole Young
Why? F*cking why? Listen, I'm all for reimaginings. I love when people can take an established work, recontextualize it, and present something new but familiar. That’s why i keep seeing Batman movies. You can only tell that dude’s story so many times but it’s how you present that story which grabs me. I like the idea of Cole. A fresh face for the audience to view these fantastical circumstances through? Good idea. I hate the execution of Cole. Punk ass weenie who literally develops powers by getting his ass kicked, portrayed by an actor who can’t act, but brought in because of his stunt background, only to nerf the physicality of the role, relegating dude’s greatest strength to his greatest weakness? F*cking, why?
Fix 1: Drop Cole Young, Start Liu Kang
Look, Liu Kang IS Mortal Kombat. He’s their Ryu. He’s their Link. He’s their guy. Drop the family. Drop the Scorpion stuff. Drop the professional fight thrower shtick Build him up as a dude who learned all of this in the Buddhist orphanage he grew up in, denying all of it as just legend and storytelling, until he’s attacked by Sub-Zero. Force him to fight Subby-boy, only to get his ass beat without his Arcana, but have Jax save him just in time. Basically follow Cole’s plot going forward with an emphasis on Liu’s training.
Issue: Shang Tsung
Listen, Ng Chin Han is a get. Dude is a decent actor and i enjoyed he take on the shapeshifter but come on? If you’re not trying to do a Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, you’re doing it wrong. Shang Tsung should be snarky, quippy, and overconfident. This dude has won nine straight Mortal Kombat tournaments. It’s fine for him to be conniving and deceitful, Deadly Alliance, but this version of Shang is just too flaccid for the title. Hell, when Tagawa came back for the game, he STILL exuded that same smarmy energy and it was perfect.
Fix 2: Give Shang Tsung more agency
I, personally, love smarmy Shang Tsung but if you want to go different, go brutal. Make Shang the spear head of the offense. Give him a seen where he is just mowing down jobber monks in Raiden’s temple before getting real intimate with Hung Lao. Have Tsung absolutely brutalized Lao as Liu watches, breaking his neck before sucking the sole out of his limp body. You got an R, Lean into that sh*t. You gotta give Liu that Chan moment. Lao’s death not only establishes Shang as a straight up force, but activates Liu’s Arcana, fulfilling the prophecy.
Issue: The f*cking prophecy
Bro, you gotta get rid of all the Scorpion prophecy sh*t. That doesn’t fit. It doesn’t make any sense. The prophecy is supposed to be a foreshadowing of Outworld’s downfall. Tying everything to Scorpion and Sub-Zero just because Ed Boon loves the character is kind of ridiculous. And that’s coming from me, a guy who uses Scorpion as his main since MKI. I love Scorpion, Dude is my favorite character in the entire franchise but giving him such a prominent role in this first film was a mistake.
Fix 3: Make it the Shaolin Prophecy
Have Shang Tsung send Sub-Zero into the Shaolin Temple with a team of Jobbers, probably Tarkatan or other Lin Kuei, and murder everyone. It is whispered that a great champion, kin to Master Kung Lao, would defeat the armies of Outworld, sealing Earthrealm off from the Emperor's grasp. baby Liu and Kung are saved, sent off to an orphanage in the US where they grow up in an orphanage run by a weird old man who tells stories. Eventually, the two separate, Kung returns to their homeland, Liu stays in the states, and they live their lives. Fast forward a bit and Shang gets wind that there are two survivors and he dispatches Sub-Zero to go after Liu. Fast forward to the temple, Liu reconnects with his cousin, Kung, who explains his powers activated during a battle against, let’s say... Baraka? Raiden feels it, recruits Kung Lao, who has been training in the temple ever since. He spars with Liu, teaching him the secrets her learned from Master Bo Rai Cho, until Raiden’s Temple is singed. Everything lays out like it did in the film except Liu watched Lao die at the hand of Shang, his Dragon Arcana activates, and the Sorcerer knows he dun goof’d.
Issue: Fights
The fighting sucked in this, man. It was shot like none of the principal actors were physical enough to pull off the fight scenes, which is ridiculous, because that opening scene was exceptional and those dues are old as f*ck. The dude who plays Scorpion, Hiroyuki Sanada, is f*cking sixty, man. You’re telling me these youngsters with actual stunt backgrounds, can’t give me a scrap as entertaining as a sixty year old man? Word?
Fix 4: Oh, there’s a lot here, bud
First, shoot the scraps better. Holy sh*t, that Taken editing was stupid. We live in an age of John Wick, The Raid, and Jason Bourne films, but you chose to shoot these scenes like this? Really? Bro, no. Hell, the fights in Enter the Dragon are some of the best I've eve seen and that motherf*cker dropped forty-eight years ago. Just do whatever he f*ck they did, just do it with a modern twist. Two, cast motherf*ckers that can believable execute the choreography. The chick that played Sonya in the first one, had to learn her fighting n set during the downtime of production because she as late to the shoot. THAT chick was a more believable fighter than the dude who played Cole and that was his f*cking job before he was an actor! F*cking, how?? Three, hire better stunt coordinators. These fights needed to be plotted out much better. Sure, fatalities are cool and special moves are awesome but they aren’t necessary. Liu Kang through one fireball in the first MK film and it was ll the better for it. I don’t need giant flame dragons and head claps and sh*t, i just need brutal, intense, violence inflicted upon a person. These people are in the fight for their lives. I need to feel that. Four, hire more jobbers. Too many actual named characters died in this movie. Too many actual named characters appeared in this movie. Why the f*ck was Nitara in this?
Look, there’s still SO much i would change about this flick. The costumes, the tone, the choice in music, the writing; All need to be adjusted. I would hold Scorpion back until sequel. Have him breaking out of the Netherrealm as a post credit stinger or something. This movie is broken and i think that’s because WB just made this thing to secure rights or a a backdoor pilot for HBO max content. Either way, this movie is bad, man and it didn’t have to be. You can make dope ass, martial arts films, on the cheap, especially when you “ground them in reality.” Why the f*ck didn’t that happen here? How the f*ck is the budget so high, and the film so cheap looking? I miss the ingenuity of the Eighties. Cats had to figure out how to make sh*t work because CG was too expensive. Now, that sh*t is everywhere and it’s a detriment to film. That sh*t takes casualties out of practical films and Mortal Kombat is definitely one of those.
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mxrcayong · 4 years
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avatar 01.14
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masterlist.
previous | next 
chapter fourteen: trust
“Trust me this once.”
Johnny’s words seemed to bounce around her mind like a broken pinball machine, the ball to enter the scoring zone. Her heart felt like it was pounding – falling deeper and deeper into the pit of her stomach. The sound of the door shutting behind him resounded in the room, echoing off each wall as they momentarily sat in silence. Despite being momentary, each second seemed to feel like an hour.
But they had no time to dwell on it. Sukiara ensured it, quickly returning back to the initial subject; the plan and their tasks. “We have to assume they will be heavily guarded or equipped to handle benders, or both.” She seemed unfazed as if she was listing their grocery shopping list, even though she was obviously picturing the dangerous task ahead of them.
Jisung furrowed his eyebrows, confused. “What can handle benders? Other than the cuffs, of course.” At the sound of his voice and the panic in Sukiara’s eyes, Tari’s heart dropped further than before. He’s risking his life…he’s only two years younger than me.
Sukiara pointed to Tari, designating her the task of explaining what she had told Sukiara when she had stayed in Bak Mei for a week. “Uhm…” Her eyes still lingered on the door, praying Johnny and Kilari will burst through the door and return to their seats or praying that by some twisted means of fate, someone would come in and exclaim it’s a prank. However, Sukiara snapped her fingers – semi-breaking her out of the trance. “Uhm… when Kilari and Doyoung were attacked in the…” She trailed off, her words getting lost as she continued to pray Johnny and Kilari returned.
“The initial attacks?” Yuta finished for her and Tari smiled at him gratefully. His hand went to her knee, his thumb stroking up and down comfortingly. Hearing his voice successfully broke her out of her hypnosis on the door. She noticed Sonan and Doyoung leaning in, intrigued about what Tari had to say. They didn’t hear anything about this before, even if they were there and they felt guilty to how they didn’t notice her struggle.
“I had a hard time healing them and it felt like the wounds were…” She scrambled through her mind for the right words, “fighting back or needed extra effort to actually heal.” Tari said, still somewhat despondent. Doyoung’s eyes went wide, before his eyes quickly jumped to where Tari had healed him.
Sonan stared at Tari in shock. How did she not notice? She tried to search back in her memories for that moment, but she was a bit drunk by then. The memory was faded with missing pieces. They had drank to forget the aftermath of the attacks, and never has she hated drinking more.  
“It’s safe to assume they’ll be armed with similar materials or similar techniques.” Sukiara took over the room once more. “They might’ve been inspired by Ty Lee’s fighting style.”
At the mention of the familiar name, a flashback to a memory Tari has never personally experienced overtook her senses. This is the first time in a while that a memory from her past life succumbed her involuntarily, taking over her senses as if she was reliving the moment.
Suddenly she was in an emerald room, something she recognized not only from her memories but the textbooks on the old legendary nation of Ba Sing Se. It was dark, the emerald seeming to reflect the shadows around the room. Tari could smell the scent of tea from the throne to the perfume of the Kyoshi Warriors in front of her.
An undeniable rage grumbled in her stomach, but she wasn’t in her own body. She had no control about what she would do about this rage - Avatar Aang was in control, and always the best at suppressing his negative emotions.
She could recognize, using Aang’s hindsight, the three Kyoshi warriors as Ty Lee, Mei, and Azula. Despite the rage seeming to pump through their blood, Tari also felt pity for Azula and a sense of missing Ty Lee and Mei (probably a result of Aang’s later friendship with the two).
The pity for Azula was overwhelming now as she lived through the memory, unable to act. Azula was only fourteen and was taught to be a war machine. She was born in the same life as Zuko, and Zuko was neglected and mentally abused – even physically. In the back of Tari’s mind, another mental image of Azula being dragged away by the mental institution and jail reminded Tari of her fate.
Katara approached, starting to water bend from the small capsule of water she brought with her. But Ty Lee cartwheeled towards Katara and flipped over her. Almost in slow motion, she pressed a point on Katara’s neck – causing Katara to groan in pain before falling to her side and the same water she was bending pooling out of her body.
“A combination of pressure points and acrobatics…” Tari commented. “But do you think the materials have something to do it?”
Instead of responding directly to the question, Sukiara deflected. She let out a sigh that Tari swore was the most disappointed sigh she has heard from her in her life. “I know you don’t like fighting, but I think…” She emphasized the word Tari had used in her questions, “you have to train and be ready to fight.”
Tari’s heart dropped. How about the other benders? Can they get stuck in the crossfire?
Before Tari could object, Sukiara shouted out demands and instructions. “I will finalise the plan by tomorrow night. You have 4 days and 3 nights to prepare. Tari and everyone, please go get dressed in training attire. Yuta and Jisung, fire and earth are Tari’s least mastered elements. Please train her with it. Especially fire, so please start on that today. I will send down our bending moderator to discuss with you Tari’s progress.” She turned to the only non-bender left in the room. “Sonan, feel free to help me strategize or practice with our weapons expert.”
With that, Sukiara marched out of the room with no reaction – as if she was a robot. These were the times Tari remembers that Sukiara wasn’t her parent or her legal caretaker, but a guardian and a manager. Her priority is not her wellbeing, but her ability to do the Avatar’s purpose; to keep balance in the world.  
Tari was still shell-shocked, but she had an idea she believed Sukiara must hear. Jumping to her feet, she ran to the door frame and leaned out. From hanging out the room, she watched Sukiara walking down the empty corridor..
“Can you contact Lin?” Tari shouted down the hall, her words echoing throughout the corridor.
Sukiara turned around briefly, giving her a thumbs up, and disappeared down the hallway.
As soon as she turned around to enter the room once more, Yuta, Jisung, and Doyoung were already heading out. “Let’s train.”
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99% of Tari’s childhood and her adolescence was training or doing homeschooling. Homeschooling, however, was a mere 20% as she took accelerated courses of study. She practically finished K-12 by age 12. It helped that the whole entire history being taught in classes was in her memories – she has technically lived them before. She merely had to learn other basic skills, from math to grammar. Despite that, school was always second priority compared to bending training. Consequently, training was a hefty majority of her childhood.
With that in mind, Tari can flawlessly braid her hair out of the way blindfolded. She can navigate the training centers in the island and the temples she trained at (given they haven’t changed) in a complete blackout under a night sky.
It didn’t take long before she was in the training center, biting anxiously at her nails while waiting for her ‘trainers’ Jisung, Yuta, and Doyoung. She didn’t know where to start. Should she stretch? Most likely, but she can’t seem to concentrate. She can’t seem to stop wondering where Johnny and Kilari ran off to, what Sukiara plans, or if her friends will be safe tomorrow.
In all her life of training; of knowing the procedures, of knowing every single stretch that could possibly be known to man – this is the first time in year Tari is standing in the middle of the courtyard, uncertain of what to do. As much as she dreaded training, she just wanted it to happen already so she can stop imagining how it’ll go (which, by the way, in her head – hasn’t gone well).
Within minutes, she sees Yuta, Doyoung, and Jisung walk down the steps with her bending guide. Yes, she had Sukiara as her guardian – but she had Lia Kim as her bending guide. In that sense, Lia Kim has theoretically mastered all the elements – however she’s purely a Water Bender. Resultingly, Lia monitors Tari’s growth with bending – she keeps track of what she has obviously mastered and what she has to continue in mastering.
She has many good memories with Lia. Lia always managed to make training somewhat fun – turning training sessions into obstacle courses, games of hide and seek, challenges, and just general fun. She was the only one of her ‘three main mentors’ who turned things into games; Sukiara was always in charge of acting like a parental figure while Choi Youngjun always had to be strict due to the accelerated course of education she was required to take.
Despite the group of them gracing kind smiles on their faces, Tari was still anxiously predicting any way training could go wrong – from her burning someone to them giving up on her. Tari found that her leg started shaking without her control.
Doyoung took one glance at her and noticed this; noticed her widened eyes, her lips between her teeth, her feet anxiously tapping at the ground. He didn’t know all about her past, but he knew about her now – so well, that they can communicate purely through their eyes. That’s all he needed to know, he decided.
So, he did what he did when Tari seems panicked in public; distract her.
“Honestly, I’m glad you’re practically forced to be training with me.” Doyoung smiled. “Like, if you went to the gym, I’m about 10000% certain you’d choose anyone but me to be your trainer.”
Tari felt a weight off her shoulders at Doyoung’s teasing smirk. She stood to her feet and playfully pushed his shoulder, “Yeah, because obviously you’ll somehow end up making me do something dumb. May I remind you of the fork stabbing incident?”
“THAT WAS ONE TIME!”
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The sun had set, and everyone was exhausted.
Hours and hours of training only brought them to a point of giving up, but Tari refused. Jisung has distracted himself with Doyoung once more, the two playing around with a small game they created that Tari and Yuta cannot understand at all. All they know is that when Jisung manages to balance on the airball and knock Doyoung off his feet, Jisung screams in celebration while Doyoung falls to his knees – cursing any higher being out there. Vice versa can be said when Jisung is sprawled on the floor.
They saw their work as over. Doyoung, from the very beginning, just had to remind Tari of the offensive and defensive moves of Air Bending rather than the daily tasks. Jisung had a bit more on his plate, but Yuta reminded them of Sukiara’s suggestion to tackle her biggest weakness first; fire. It wasn’t a surprise when everyone agreed.
Tari and Yuta were still in the middle of the courtyard, repeating the last move Tari couldn’t seem to master. Yuta was impressed – she was quick learner. He was surprised she didn’t master it sooner, however, he noticed she was mostly good at theory. She can describe a move perfectly, but when she actually tries to do it? Something goes wrong.
He notices how she hesitates, how her foot moves out of place, how she loses concentration on the actual move as she focuses on how she could mess up.
Her head was hurting. I swear I’m doing this right. She checked everything more than a million times; her foot placement for the millionth time, the positioning of her fingers, the angle of her arms – but all she could let out was a measly fire ball while Yuta seemed to call upon the burning core of the world itself.
Yuta could sense the frustration boiling Tari’s blood and placed his hand on her back. He’s been demonstrating from a distance initially, as requested by Tari to ‘avoid getting hurt’. But he’s been in her position before – and he often feels much more relaxed with the touch of a fellow human being.
A bell chime ran through the island, alerting every one of dinner now ready in the canteen.
“Thank God!” Doyoung praised, “I’m starving!”
Jisung following behind, “I wonder what food they’re serving today.” He commented, as if to himself.  “As long as it’s not fire nation food, I’m good.” Jisung’s face turned into a painful wince as if he just ate into the spicy dish again.
The two stopped in their positions, noticing Tari not following behind. Doyoung sighed, “Tari, you need to eat.” Tari refused to answer, Yuta still hovering over her as he tried to analyse her face. It was stern – focused on the fake target placed in front of her. “Tari-“
“I’ll eat later.” She said coldly, almost as if her words were ice.
Of course, it’s not mandatory to go to dinner at the time. Mealtimes at Bak Mei last for five hours, so often, people go when they please. But Tari even missed lunch.
“Tari,”
“I’LL EAT LATER, DO!” Doyoung jumped at the change of tone. This is the first time she properly ever yelled at him, and that means a lot considering they have been roommates for approximately two years.
Yuta, himself, even flinched. Jisung’s eyes went wide. From his position as the closest to her, Yuta signalled to Doyoung and Jisung to go ahead and eat. “Go ahead.” He insisted, “We’ll catch up.” He winked at them, letting them know he’ll try his best to get her to eat.
“Go ahead, Yuta.” Tari stated, “You don’t have to wait for me, I’ll probably never get it anyway.”
“You can’t fire bend on an empty stomach, though!” He smiled, trying to charm into the canteen. She can’t say it wasn’t working; his smile was so bright, like he was radiating happiness. “Isn’t it fire nation night tonight? The food will definitely help, think of all the spice.” He made tingly-motions with his hands, making Tari’s guard fall down and letting himself chuckle.
Tari dropped her arms from the position. “Fire nation night was last night. It’s air nation food tonight.” Her voice was suddenly small.
“Even better!” Yuta clapped his hands, “My dad used to make the best dumplings. He was born in Air Temple Island actually, he actually was living with Aang.” At the mention of his name, especially while training – her heart hurt.
Was this how Aang was feeling? About fighting the fire lord? Conflicted, loss, unwilling to do it? How did he do it? Why can’t I be more like him?
The half-fire nation and half-air nation citizen smiled sadly, noticing – even under the courtyard’s dim lights – how Tari’s gaze fell to her feet with a darkened glaze. “Okay, how about this. I help you master this move. We go to dinner. And if you really want to, we do another training session after dinner. You don’t have to meditate tonight.” Yuta sighed.
Tari looked up at him; his sparkling brown eyes full of concern, his small smile. How could I say no? When she begrudgingly nodded, his small smile was replaced with a large one that showed all his teeth – his face immediately becoming brighter. She swore she wouldn’t need the courtyard to be lit up when he’s there, smiling. It reminded her of the candle fountain in the earth nation, something Lin snuck her out after curfew to show her. It was a beautiful sight.
“Okay, then, let’s get a move on because we need to get some food in you.” He teased, his hands immediately being put on Tari’s waist. At the skin ship, Tari shivered. She normally never shivers – it’s the beauty of air bending helping adjust to the temperature around her, but his touch seemed to shoot electricity throughout her. She regrets not wearing a longer T-Shirt, but she normally wears crop tops to train, especially when bending fire.
He was strong, but the way he helped Tari fix up her stance was gentle – as if she was a fragile doll. No one treated her as gentle when training as he is now, other than before she found out she was the Avatar. They always pushed her, continuously challenged her. She can’t recall every bad bruise and injury she got from training – it’s probably over a thousand. But he was treating her like she was made of glass. Her heart fluttered.
“You have to remain loose,” He nudged her feet to be wider apart, “you have to be ready to move fast so keep your heels off the ground.”
“But earth bending, your heels have to be down right?” Tari clarified.
“Yeah, but this is fire bending, babes.” Tari swears this man must know how to do lightning bending, because everything that comes out of his mouth sends electricity down her spine. He inched closer, his chest pressed against her back as he fixes her posture. His hot breath brushed behind her ear. “Keep your arms shoulder level.” His hands trailed upwards, tickling her sides, as it went to help her position her arms. “From,” His hand trailed towards her hand which is outstretched in front of her. “Bring this in with your fingers tight together as if they were glued on the sides,” Holding the back of her hand, he guided it close to her chest – as if pointing to her heart. “Turn your palm over as it faces you,” As he instructs her verbally, he’s helping guide her movements with his right hand while his left hand is still holding her hip loosely. “…and then slice the air and shoot it out.”
It all felt intimate; his lips behind her ear, his hot breath hitting it with very word, his hand against her hip. “Now, that’s the hand movements. Do you know what to do with your feet?”
Tari launched her right foot up, keeping the bottom of her foot flat towards the hypothetical opponent. “No, no, you need to point it towards the target. Pointing it makes your kick sharper and helps you move more efficiently.”
She nodded as she amended to his feedback. “Okay, perfect. Now do it without me. Remember, focus on fire. Focus on what you want. Focus on the energy you feel, the electricity within you.” He stepped back to watch her perform the move basically perfect, except for one thing. “You have to stay off your heels.”
“Ugh!” Tari could do this easily with air bending, which also emphasizes getting off your heels. “It’s just like air bending, but why is this harder?”
“Exactly,” Yuta grinned, his eyes looking down at her lips. “It’s harder because air bending is about peace, patience, liberty, and balance. That seems to be like you, from what I’ve seen. Fire?” He started leaning in, “it’s all about passion,” His voice became huskier and more hushed as he leaned even closer. His eyes glanced down to her lips, before back at her eyes.
Tari was surprised; as she found herself leaning in too. Soon, they were millimeters apart. “It’s about performance, but mostly - inner fire.” And his lips pressed onto hers.
It was as if the kiss could help them learn everything about each other, as if their lips were books about their whole lives and they just wanted to know everything. His lips were soft and moist, breathing into her lips gently as they kissed.
Tari pulled away, the heat in her cheeks not going to disappear any time soon. She felt awkward, but immediately wanted to cool the tension. “Passion, huh?” She chuckled, biting her lip and trying to hide her blushing cheeks from the cocky Yuta. “I thought fire bending was also about providing a source of life.”
The master bender chuckled. “Technically, yes. But I wanted an excuse to kiss you.”
She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “Uh, yeah, dinner, shall we?”
Let’s just say, Doyoung knew something was up inside the canteen when she refused to mention training and when Yuta’s leg was leaning against Tari’s under the table.
request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here
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lins-fandom-hub · 4 years
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HPHM Profile: Clara Lin
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Template by @hogwartsmystory​
Identity
Name: Clara Xing-Hui Lin (林星慧)
Gender: Female
Age: 17 as of May 31, 1990
Birth Date: April 25, 1973
Species: Human
Blood Status: (Pureblood, Half-Blood, Muggleborn)
Half-Blood? Both her parents are Muggleborn and were chosen by magical institutions to study magic.
Sexuality: Heterosexual.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Ethnicity: Chinese
Nationality: English? She’s born in England after all.
Residence: Oxford, England
Myer Briggs Personality Type: ESTJ
The Mage
1st Wand: Acacia wood with Unicorn Hair, 12 inches, pliable
A very unusual wand wood, which I have found creates tricky wands that often refuse to produce magic for any but their owner, and also withhold their best effects from all but those most gifted. This sensitivity renders them difficult to place, and I keep only a small stock for those witches or wizards of sufficient subtlety, for acacia is not suited to what is commonly known as ‘bangs-and-smells’ magic. When well-matched, an acacia wand matches any for power, though it is often underrated due to the peculiarity of its temperament.
2nd Wand: Ebony wood with Dragon Heartstring, 11 and a quarter inches
This jet-black wand wood has an impressive appearance and reputation, being highly suited to all manner of combative magic, and to Transfiguration. Ebony is happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves. Frequently non-conformist, highly individual or comfortable with the status of outsider, ebony wand owners have been found both among the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and among the Death Eaters. In my experience the ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure, and will not be swayed lightly from their purpose.
Animagus: Chinese Li Hua (a type of tabby cat found in China)
Misc Magical Abilities: (Legilimen, Seer, Parselmouth, Obscurial, ect)
In the canon story, Clara is a born Legilimens, first practising the art with a wand and under Snape’s tutelage before perfecting the art on her own time without the pressure of the final Curse on Hogwarts and without a wand. It made reading the minds of her family much easier, especially when it came to how they felt about Jacob’s return and the downfall of the Lin reputation all those years ago. In a way, she tried to use it for good.
Boggart Form: 
Considering that Clara’s got as many fears as the typical human being, it could take the form of knives coming her way, or a puddle of blood turning into a torrential flood around her ankles. But her biggest fear, and hence her Boggart, was hearing her friends and family say that she was hopeless, worthless, and useless. Backstabbers, to put it concisely. Her Boggart would be in the form of her friends and people she trusted coming in at her, spitting out those words she didn’t want to hear.
Riddikulus Form: 
If said Boggart appears before her, Riddikulus would make their tongues all tied and saying such pure nonsense that it’d make her laugh. Why would she feel bad about imagining them affected with the Tongue Tying Curse, anyway? They’re not real.
Amortentia: (What do they smell like?)
If anyone was to smell Clara’s scent, they’d smell jasmine, burning wood, and a hint of orange juice. Okay, don’t ask about the orange juice. Something citrussy goes well with something sweet.
Amortentia: (What do they smell?)
Clara would smell petrichor, fresh linens, and an aromatic sort of wood--pine, maybe? Not sure? Something that calls her to the woods.
(*cough cough* totally not *cough* Barnaby’s *cough* scent *cough*)
Patronus: 
Clara’s Patronus is a unicorn--a pure creature with a sole intent to protect, it can outrun any danger and face it head on.
Patronus Memory: 
You mean her happiest memory? Seeing the stars one summer with Jacob and her little sister, Em, one summer. Feeling the close ties of her siblings was what made her happy.
Mirror of Erised: 
In the past, she would have seen herself surrounded by all the people she loved, just being happy together. This image used to include Rakepick until she revealed her true colours in the Buried Vault--since then, her image had been forcefully shunned.
Following certain events in year 6 that caused Clara to lose her friend, the reflection had now changed to an image of Clara and Rowan, both sitting together and laughing together like they used to in old times. The sight of their smiles would have been enough for Clara to just sit in front of the mirror without any sense of time. If only she could have done something to save her best friend...her tree twin...
Specialized/Favourite Spells:
Reparo (and yes, she is fully aware that this does not heal a broken heart)
Incendio
Stupefy
Protego
Appearance
Faceclaim: N/A
**I haven’t thought of a face claim at all when making Clara, as she’s literally based off of me, appearance and personality wise. So we’ll say I’m her face claim? Though I’m not that comfortable allowing a picture of myself to circulate around Tumblr, so I’m going to leave this part out.
Height: 5′7″
Weight: I mean, she’s not overweight but not underweight? Does that count?
Physique: Somewhat slender figure, overall an average build
Eye Colour: Dark brown
Hair Colour: Black
Skin Tone: Pale
Body Modifications: N/A. She does wear glasses, though.
Scarring: N/A
Inventory: (what do they carry on them?)
a lucky Knut from her sister
her textbooks
her quills
her ink
two silk bookmarks
her wand
a couple pieces of miscellaneous candy
Allegiances
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor
Ilvermorny House: Pukwudgie
Affiliations/Organizations:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Gryffindor House)
Auror Office, Ministry of Magic, London
Chinese Wizarding Task Force, Beijing
Professions:
Auror
Free-lance Magizoologist
Free-lance Curse-Breaker
Free-lance pianist/musician
Hogwarts Information
Class Proficiencies:
Astronomy: E
Charms: O
DADA: O
Flying: E
Herbology: E
History of Magic: E
Potions: O
Transfiguration: O
Electives: Care of Magical Creatures (O), Divination (A), Arithmancy (E)
Quidditch: Gryffindor Chaser from year 3 to year 6 at Hogwarts
Extra Curricular: 
Frog Choir
Music Club
Duelling Club (on occasion)
Favourite Professors:
Professor Minerva McGonagall
As Head of Gryffindor House, Clara looks up to her a lot and always turns to her for troubling issues arising. Well, it wasn’t solely based on the fact that she’s Head of Gryffindor that she felt so connected with her. She had a strict air but it was not always for the worst circumstances. In some ways she reminded her of her mom. 
Professor Filius Flitwick
As Jacob really loved Professor Flitwick, Clara always tried her best to make Flitwick proud of her Charms work. In a way, though, she always felt like he was encouraging her to do her best every time, almost the same way Jacob might have if he was still present with her. Besides, Flitwick was an insightful person when it came to certain magical phenomena she didn’t understand.
Least Favourite Professors:
Professor Sybill Trelawney
There was something a little off about the way Trelawney presented herself to her Divination class, and honestly it made Clara question her legitimacy in her pursued arts. However, she did well not to question it openly, as she knew Trelanwney would do more than challenge her.
Professor Severus Snape
She knew she could trust him, but his sullen disposition still scares her and makes her very wary about him. Truly, she couldn’t find herself entrusting him with even the most serious of her secrets and problems. Nothing good would come out of their interactions, even if he did show a sliver of care for the girl.
Relationships
Brother: Jacob Pan-Hui Lin
Jacob Lin is her closest sibling and the one person she knew she would always stand by no matter what. After all, they were close when they were kids, despite him being 6 years older than MC.
In the olden days, he used to tease her a lot on her potential music career. It wasn’t bad, of course--just something for lighthearted fun.
Jacob’s known to be quite the fashionable neat wizard in his old days. He was really picky about what he wore and how his hair looked before heading out for the day. Eventually those thoughts faded away with time.
When he attended Hogwarts, Jacob was Sorted into Gryffindor.
Most of his time at Hogwarts was a mystery, but few people who came in after his expulsion knew that he wrote in a private notebook, had a chamber where he sorted all his information and gathered clues about the Cursed Vaults, and left in his wake a rather...interesting mix of emotions.
Jacob didn’t want to be a Curse-Breaker at first, but the Cursed Vaults kept luring him in that direction until he eventually accepted its calling. Well, with severe consequences, of course. 
Misc Siblings:
Little Sister: Emily Wen-Hui Lin
Emily, often nicknamed little Em by the two older siblings, is 5 years younger than MC. She was very young when Jacob disappeared, thus she had very little memories of her brother.
There were only a few moments little Em could remember when her parents were actually peaceful and at ease. Most of their time, though, was spent fighting, and...well...let’s just say she tried to ease the rifts but with no luck.
When she eventually entered Hogwarts, while her older sister is in sixth year, she got Sorted into Hufflepuff, making her the only sibling in the family to be Sorted in a different house apart from both her siblings.
Upon her graduation, Em went on to become a professional herbologist and potioneer, working closely with Penny and Chiara in her endeavours
Father: Sueh-Yen Lin
Sueh-Yen was born in China and attended Mahoutokoro at the age of 7. Following the end of his magical education he began to pursue his passions in herbology in London, where he met Clara’s mother, Renee Tao. After he became a family man, he began to work as a landscaper, helping other people design and nurture their gardens both Muggle and magical. Following Clara’s fourth year, he began to work at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.
Mother: Renee Lin (nee Tao)
Renee was born and raised in America, attending Ilvermorny and being sorted into the Horned Serpent house. While she was at school she developed an interest in psychology and the mind, and so she began to take up studies in such areas and continued to branch her studies further after her graduation. She attended a Muggle university in England then, majoring in psychology, and eventually she met Clara’s father. She began to write books for both Muggle and wizarding communities after she became a mother, her topics focusing on proper child discipline for parents. Following Clara’s fourth year, she also took up work at the Ministry of Magic, in the same department as her husband.
Love Interest: Barnaby Lee
Before Clara’s third year, Barnaby was an insignificant student whose name had been mentioned once or twice by her peers. Then she knew of him in his third year, and at first they couldn’t stand each other. At least, Clara couldn’t stand him. Eventually they warmed up to each other through an uneasy, almost awkward, interaction in the Three Broomsticks following a duel. Well, you can find all the information on their relationship here. 
Best Friends: Rowan Khanna, Penny Haywood, Nymphadora Tonks, Tulip Karasu, Jae Kim, Charlie Weasley, Diego Caplan, Liz Tuttle, Badeea Ali
Rival: Merula Snyde
Enemy: Rakepick, R, Voldemort
Dormmates: Rowan Khanna, three other female Gryffindors
Pets: Clara was allowed to take Wagner (her owl) and her cat (Chopin) home after every year at school. As for the other pets in her dormitory, she would give them all to Hagrid every year before leaving Hogwarts for the summer.
Closest Canon Friends: 
Rowan Khanna
Nymphadora Tonks
Penny Haywood
Tulip Karasu
Charlie Weasley
Closest MC Friends: 
Sarahi Silvers (@dat-silvers-girl)
Aleksia Aries (@aleksia-aries-hogwartsmystery)
Aisilng Baskerville (@elefseija)
Helene Adler (@heleneplays)
Carewyn Cromwell (@carewyncromwell)
Kyril Vasiley (@kyril-hphm​)
Cato Reese (@catohphm​)
Xia Howlett (@ljthebard1​)
Katriona Cassiopeia (@mcnullychaser​)
Montague Donohue (@montaguehphm​)
Septimus Crowe (@brothergrimm71​)
That’s all for now unless you want me to add your MC to the list...
Flavio Ceccere (@sirfluffig​)
Alvina Arcane-Zheng ( @oneirataxia-girl )
Background/History
Born on April 25, 1973, Clara was surrounded by love from her first cry
Okay, well, you know how it is--babies cry the instance they’re born, so don’t shun me for saying this
Clara first witnessed her parents’ occupations watching them work at home when she was young. She always loved interacting with the plants whenever she helped her dad in the family garden, and she saw her mom’s growing success with her expertise on child discipline translated into writing
When her little sister was born, Clara and Jacob both loved her dearly, but as she was too young at the time they relied on each other for many things
Clara began to take up playing the piano when she was around four years old--she first learned from a teacher just down the street for about five years, then she continued learning on her own
Her interest peaked when she was young and she saw some street musicians performing on the streets. She took up said instrument as a hobby, and eventually developed a gift for music through her education.
Clara got glasses when she was seven years old due to prolonged exposure to tiny notes on the paper. Yes, that’s a valid reason for people to get glasses. Since then, she had to go to yearly eye appointments every summer just to make sure her eyesight isn’t getting worse.
Jacob went to Hogwarts, and soon Clara saw his transformation due to his slow growing obsession with the Cursed Vaults
Eventually, when Jacob went missing in the beginning of June 1984, it was the family’s last straw
Clara’s parents both began to row over every single little thing now, leaving poor Em almost traumatized and scared of arguments
Em had been told at the time that Jacob was on vacation, thus she didn’t understand why her parents were arguing so much
Clara’s mother had resigned from writing another book after Jacob’s disappearance, having received so many negative reviews from critics (and she had been bombarded by owls with such slander)
The family gardens almost completely wilted in her father’s negligence, and had it not been for little Em the garden would have withered completely
The events of Hogwarts Mystery unfolded
Following Clara’s graduation, she began to work as an Auror in training alongside Tonks and Talbott
She and Barnaby, her love interest, got a place of their own, where they lived happily for a while
Three years into living together, Barnaby and Clara got engaged
In the summer of 1995, shortly before their initial wedding, Clara was called away for about a year and a half to China
The dark wizards expelled from Mahoutokoro have now started their own band and began to infiltrate most of China by the time Voldemort had risen once more. Clara was dispatched to Beijing, China, at her own will, and with the help of some other wizards and witches in the group they trained together and began to take down these Japanese foes
During this time, Clara stayed with her maternal grandmother (her grandfather passed away during her fifth year), occasionally visiting her paternal grandmother once in a while to make sure everything there was okay
The training with this task force was very different from her training as an Auror given the circumstances. Clara had to learn to work not only with her wand, but also in martial arts (notably taichi, taekwondo, and kung fu). She was also given a magic carpet to travel from one place to another in place of her broom.
Clara only returned to the United Kingdom when she heard of Dumbledore’s death, and attended his funeral. However, she had to return to China shortly after as the dark forces there got so strong that the task force could not hold them back without her. 
Clara returned to the UK once and for all on May 1, 1998, and fought alongside her friends in the Battle of Hogwarts and survived. She married Barnaby following the end of the war, but not before they and their surviving friends first paid tribute to the fallen.
The Chinese Wizarding Task Force disbanded upon Voldemort’s fall.
They eventually had three children--Melvin and Milo (twin boys) and Sylvia--and they lived in peace ever since.
Personality
Clara’s a very well-rounded person who understands that life is all about taking risks and making mistakes along the way
Okay, well maybe one shouldn’t solely focus on making mistakes. She just acknowledges that not every person is made perfect and so she embraces everyone’s different personalities, understanding every flaw that made them who they are.
She’s analytical in many circumstances, always stepping carefully in every interaction and situation to avoid any sudden flares of attacks
She’s studious in academics, and friendly around many people, to put it in short
She won’t hesitate to help anyone, but if they knew they lied, she could never find it in her to forgive them
If someone tries to double cross her, though, she’d get really angry and wouldn’t hesitate to show her opponents how powerful she could be.
Misc
Clara’s not a very good cook. It wasn’t until her detention in fifth year when she was asked to make a simple sandwich, and from there she began to work on her rough cooking talents--almost none when she first started, and still basic when she left, but it was enough for her to sustain a simple meal.
Professor McGonagall gave Clara a room for her to practice piano at Hogwarts if things became too stressful. Not many people stumble upon this room except for one particularly curious person...
Though Clara’s dorm was decked in red, her favourite colour was actually purple. And blue. No, she couldn’t choose between the two.
Clara would always have a mug by her bedside so that whenever she had a nightmare she would make herself a mug of hot chocolate (and yes, in the middle of the night--don’t ask)
Clara could speak somewhat fluent Mandarin. She eventually continued to hone that skill when she was in Beijing working with the Chinese Wizarding Task Force.
More facts to come...
39 notes · View notes
eddycurrents · 5 years
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For the week of 22 July 2019
Quick Bits:
A Walk Through Hell #12 concludes what has been an excellent horror tale from Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen with another trip into existential terror as we’re given a glimpse of what this is all about and what’s coming.
| Published by AfterShock
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Action Comics #1013 keeps a lot of plates spinning as it works through elements of “Year of the Villain”, Event Leviathan, the ongoing Invisible Mafia story thread, and the Rose and Thorn revival. It’s kind of impressive as to how it remains entertaining and engrossing with as much going on.
| Published by DC Comics
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Age of Conan: Bêlit #5 is another ending this week, as we finish off Bêlit’s coming of age origin story, as she confronts the Stygian priest and lays claim to her title of Queen of the Black Coast. Great art from Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Andrea Di Vito, and Jason Keith.
| Published by Marvel
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Amazing Spider-Man #26 introduces us to the new Sinister Syndicate fully as they plan an attack on Boomerang. It’s kind of funny to see him still getting into trouble even now that he’s trying to stay legit. Great art from Kev Walker and Laura Martin.
| Published by Marvel
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Ascender #4 gives us a few surprises in the fight between the vampires and the resistance. The grey washes, with mixes of red, from Dustin Nguyen on the vampire’s throneworld is very impressive.
| Published by Image
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Batgirl #37 launches the new creative team of Cecil Castellucci, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design with part one of “Oracle Rising”. There’s a nice battle with Killer Moth, emphasizing what some villains are doing in order to try to get noticed by Luthor to receive the offer, while playing up the expense that goes into crimefighting. Also, the Terrible Trio unleash something probably not too good.
| Published by DC Comics
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Dark Red #5 concludes the first arc as Chip and Evie try to fight off an army of Nazi vampires. It’s good, with some nice funny moments. Great art from Corin Howell and Mark Englert.
| Published by AfterShock
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Detective Comics #1008 is a straight-forward single issue story of Batman and Joker at the circus from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Dave Baron, and Rob Leigh. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the extended arcs, even as it sets up a new threat in the “Year of the Villain” offering.
| Published by DC Comics
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Dial H for Hero #5 gets a little meta as we dive into the Multiverse, the Heroverse, and the Bleed from Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Scott Hanna, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe. The use of breaking through panels, reproductions of old comics scenes, and a variation of styles just deliver phenomenal storytelling.
| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics
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Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #2 continues to fill in the backstory of the adventurers’ time with the White Sails, introducing us to the pitfalls that harried them, before giving more hints in the present of the nightmare that tore them apart. B. Dave Walters, Tess Fowler, Jay Fotos, and Neil Uyetake are delivering an entertaining fantasy tale here.
| Published by IDW
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Fearless #1 is a new three-issue anthology mini-series spotlighting a number of the women of Marvel, both characters and creative talent. This first issue leads off with a continuing lead feature from Seanan McGuire, Claire Roe, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Janice Chiang, as Sue Richards, Carol Danvers, and Storm prepare to visit a girls camp as motivational speakers. There’s also an entertaining Mille the Model back-up from Leah Williams, Nina Vakueva, Rosenberg, and Chiang. And a very funny Jessica Jones story from the Captain Marvel team of Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, Tamra Bonvillain, with Chiang. Though short, that last story is pretty much worth the price of the issue alone.
| Published by Marvel
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Five Years #3 sees Tambi meet with Ivy and Julie to discuss that various nations around the world are dangerously developing Phi-alloy technology. Also a surprise appearance of people we thought were out. Great art as always from Terry Moore.
| Published by Abstract Studio
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The Flash #75 delivers three stories for this extra-sized anniversary issue. The lead concludes the “Year One” arc. This is some of the best art that I have ever seen from Howard Porter, he and Hi-Fi just deliver amazing artwork here. There are also two back-ups, one hinting at things to come in the future for Barry and the other tying in to “Year of the Villain” as Captain Cold receives Luthor’s offer.
| Published by DC Comics
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Guardians of the Galaxy #7 begins the second arc, “Faithless”, from Donny Cates, Cory Smith, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. It really introduces us to the new Universal Church of Truth as they take out an entire squadron of the Nova Corps and then worse things happen as the Guardians go off to investigate. I love the name for the Guardians’ new ship and that final page is one hell of a shock.
| Published by Marvel
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History of the Marvel Universe #1 is an interesting project from Mark Waid, Javier Rodríguez, Álvaro López, and Joe Caramagna. It’s framed as Galactus telling Franklin Richards (at least I think that’s Franklin Richards) the history of the universe before it dies and the next is reborn. As expected, it’s dry facts, but it’s fascinating in how it’s comprehensively presented and the artwork from Rodríguez and López is jaw-dropping gorgeous. There are also annotations in the back to show where these events come from. It’s well put together and I highly recommended it to die-hard Marvel fans.
| Published by Marvel
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Invisible Kingdom #5 concludes the first arc with an almost entirely one-sided battle between the Sun Dog and a Lux battleship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano elevate the tension nicely through this issue and give a few surprises when everything seems grim and it looks like the end.
| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books
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Killer Groove #3 wonderfully showcases one of Jackie’s cases as it intertwines with the music scene and criminal underworld. Ollie Masters, Eoin Marron, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are doing a nice job with this series of crafting one larger story out of many separate smaller tales.
| Published by AfterShock
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Lazarus: Risen #2 is another dense read. The series has always been hefty, but this new format has elevated things further, doubling up comics content and adding a prose short story, the letters pages, and extra content like gaming material and the usual in-world advertisements. I’m loving it. Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Tyler Boss, Santi Arcas, Simon Bowland, Adam Christopher, and Crystal Frasier are definitely giving you your money’s worth and more here. Excellent comics content as the war between Carlyle and Morray/D’Souza heats up.
| Published by Image
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Livewire #8 pits Amanda versus Jada for a final round. It’s still interesting how practically everyone is trying to portray Amanda’s actions as harmful and villainous. Great art from Kano.
| Published by Valiant
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Martian Manhunter #7 sees J’onn and Diane uncover some of the results of the experiments that have been going on with the kidnapped and missing people, it’s horrifying. Incredible and haunting artwork in this one from Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia. 
| Published by DC Comics
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Marvels: Epilogue is a short, but sweet, coda to the Marvels series from Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, John Roshell, and Richard Starkings. It spotlights events from X-Men #98 through the eyes of Phil Sheldon and his daughters, capturing some of the awe, wonder, and terror that Sheldon experienced during the main series. The book is filled out with an interview with Busiek and Ross on their experience with the series and what it’s like to look back on it 25 years later, as well as interviews with the editors who worked on the book.
| Published by Marvel
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Middlewest #9 sets out a new quest for Abel as he comes across the Nowak people. Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos are continuing to make magic with this series. The art is beautiful and the story is endlessly captivating.
| Published by Image
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Psi-Lords #2 continues to investigate these four captives, changed for whatever reason by the Psi-Lords, and the habitat of their prison. An interesting jail hierarchy of gangs is revealed and a bit of a memory of the four’s lives before being captured. Gorgeous art from Renato Guedes.
| Published by Valiant
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Star Pig #1 is weird. Very weird. Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee give us the story of a kid on her way to space camp whose ship is struck and destroyed by an asteroid, saved by a space pig and a scavenger energy ball. It’s probably one of the more unique tales I’ve seen in a while.
| Published by IDW
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Sword Master #1, like Aero before it, features two stories. In the first, Greg Pak adapts into English a tale from Shuizhu and Gunji of the titular hero, Lin Lie, and his quest to find his missing father. It’s an interesting start and the artwork from Gunji is gorgeous. The back up original story pairs Shang-Chi up with Lin in a story from Greg Pak, Ario Anindito, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It follows up on their appearance in the New Agents of Atlas tie-in to “War of the Realms” and presents an interesting antagonist on their trail.
| Published by Marvel
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Valkyrie #1 is a wonderful debut from Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, CAFU, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Sabino. We get some continued supporting cast from Jane Foster’s time as Thor, although with a new status quo, and an interesting hook in trying to track down Dragonfang, the former Valkyrie’s sword. The art from CAFU and Aburtov is beautiful.
| Published by Marvel
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Warlord of Mars Attacks #2 continues this crossover of John Carter and Mars Attacks. It’s interesting how it incorporates Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories as actual things in this world and explains how Mars as a dead planet and one as teeming with life as Barsoom could exist simultaneously.
| Published by Dynamite
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The Weatherman Vol. 2 #2 gives us more of a look at the nightmare that has consumed Earth as the crew attempt to find the doctor who might be able to fix everything. It goes about as well as could be expected. The monster designs and execution from Nathan Fox and Moreno Dinisio are incredible.
| Published by Image
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Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre #1 is another one-shot catching up on the wider world of Venom as we barrel headlong into Absolute Carnage. Cullen Bunn, Joshua Cassara, Alberto Alburquerque, Jay David Ramos, and Clayton Cowles give us a great story checking in with Andi Benton, the former Mania and occasional sidekick to Flash Thompson’s Venom.
| Published by Marvel
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Wonder Woman #75 continues “Return of the Amazons” from G. Willow Wilson, Xermanico, Jesus Merino, Vicente Cifuentes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau. This arc basically brings Wilson’s run around full circle to deal with some of the elements that kicked off her first issue as Diana faces off against Grail. Some really nice double page spreads with border art from Xermanico.
| Published by DC Comics
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Other Highlights: Archie #706, Archie vs. Predator 2 #1, Bone Parish #11, Books of Magic #10, Clue: Candlestick #3, Curse Words #23, Doctor Strange #16, Farmhand #10, Freedom Fighters #7, Grumble #8, House of X #1, Justice League Dark #13, Lumberjanes #64, Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #3, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #5, Marvel Action: Avengers #6, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41, Night Moves #5, Redneck #22, Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual #1, Shuri #10, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #6, Star Wars #69, TMNT: The Rise of the TMNT - Sound Off #1, Tony Stark: Iron Man #14, The Wicked + The Divine #44
Recommended Collections: Black Panther - Book 7: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda Part 2, Go-Bots - Volume 1, Harrow County: Library Edition - Volume 3, House of Whispers - Volume 1: The Power Divided, James Bond: Origin - Volume 1, Lodger - Volume 1, Lumberjanes - Volume 12, Savage Sword of Conan - Volume 1: The Cult of Koga Thun, Self/Made, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 6: The Flight of the Falcon, Thor of Realms, William Gibson’s Alien 3
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d. emerson eddy might well be a space lord.
5 notes · View notes
hachibe · 3 years
Text
Thoughts on The Legend of Korra season 2:
- I forgot to say in s1: i appreciate how they used the past avatars bending their elements in the opening. We get to see Kyoshi-earth, Roku-fire, Aang-air and Korra-water. In atla it was so random, we got Pakku-water, some dude for earth (I think it was Roku’s earthbending master, i don’t remember his name), Azula-fire, Aang for air and Roku in the end when Katara starts talking about the Avatar.
- srly! episode one didn’t even started yet and i’m nervous laughing because i remember Mako started dating Korra without ever breaking up with Asami. Maybe he thought that by saying to Asami that he did care for her it would be clear that they were breaking up.
- i need to confess, I LOVE BUMI, i really do. you are not gonna see me say a bad word about him ever.
- i don’t like Korra’s dad. i don’t know/remember why yet. but i’ll elaborate later.
- ok, i think now i know why i don’t like him. everyone in tlok is a remarkable bender. that’s why. Mako and Bolin? they are so good they are fighting in pro-bending matches at the age of 16 (or whatever it was their ages in s1, i think Mako was 18 or something). Korra is a prodigy, bending 3 elements at the age of 3. Tenzin? Masterbender. Lin? Perfect, never done anything wrong in her life. Tenzin’s kids? all good benders. Korra’s dad? Not only he is a great bender (we see him doing more cool stuff as the seasons progresses) he is also the leader of all of the Southern Water Tribe (and he is an immigrant, he isn’t even southern tribe). With the major characters we have here, only Asami and Bumi are non benders and even that don’t last long. While in atla every other character was a non bender (Sokka, Suki, all of the Kyoshi warriors, Jet and all of the freedom fighters, Ty Lee, Mai, the Mechanist and all of the people who where living there with them, Hakoda and Bantou, basically every single character the Gaang met in their travels) and not just that, but we see all of the major characters start small and grow with time. Zuko, even being amazing the way he is, is constantly called a failure and is highly poor skilled in comparison to his sister. He is constantly training to be better. Katara we see struggle through all of season 1. Aang has to learn every single one of the elements , and he is a genius, but we see him train and try to improve himself. Sokka sucks at first but he learns from all types of sources and improves himself with time. The only ones that can never fail are Toph and Azula. What’s my point? Well, idk, my point is, why did Korra’s dad had to be this flawless powerful guy? 
- and hey, this whole rant is not me saying that Korra ruined the avatar legacy or that Korra is a Mary Sue (if anyone is a Mary Sue is Suyin), like a lot of people do. I really don’t believe that. Korra may not struggle with her bending like Aang did but she struggles in every other aspect of being an avatar. And i find it fascinating to see that. I think it was a really clever choice to make her so different of Aang. However, i don’t see how every other character has to be a powerful bender as well.  (me at some point in the end of the season: maybe this is the consequece of the end of the 100 years war. after the fire nation stopped targeting and killing every bender, there was finally room and appropriate enviroment for benders to prosper)
- oh look at me, comparing atla and tlok again
- i had written a whole thing about the cloudbabies and Aang being a shit parent but then i had to reassess my thoughts on it. the way the accusations flow from Kya’s and Bumi’s mouth make it seems like Aang didn’t even look at his older kids. and i can be kind and say that is only because Kya and Bumi are hurt and resentful, they paint the situation a little worst than it actually was. in my mind Aang didn’t straight up neglect his kids, he loved them all, he just made mistakes along his life, bad parenting choices in his eager pursuit of populating the world with airbenders. and i can go on with that, mostly because i really like this story line of Bumi never thinking he was good enough. but i can also admit that this whole story goes well in line with all the other disregards to atla that tlok does, like forgetting about Suki, don’t caring about Katara, making Toph a cop, etc. so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- LMAO Mako telling Bolin “just break up with her” WTF!
- I'm only on episode 4 and this season biggest flaw is clearly the lack of Lin Beifong. (me at the end of the season: too little Lin, and the little we saw of her was her being a shit cop)
- ok, so Varrick is the plan guy (coming back here a couple of episodes later: totally forgot Varrick was a villian)
- tears in my eyes with this photo. look at them!!!
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- first words out of Lin's mouth this season are "Welcome home Avatar, thanks for starting a war" whsjwjsjsjsjsjsnanshahajahajajajajajsjsjshshs how you do not love this woman?
- was this thing with Bolin and women supposed to be funny? Because, it wasn't funny when I first watched and still isn't funny.
- one thing s2 has for itself is the Wann's episodes ❤️
- interesting to notice that Wann's firebending is very firebending-y. And I mean is clearly Shaolin kung fu style. Zuko and Azula’s style, not Mako’s style.
- thinking again and like, before i thought that one of the biggest flaw of tlok was that Korra never learn, that we never see Korra grow and change and improve herself. She keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. but now idk, i’m starting to think that the narrative just has no mercy for her. it just drops shit after shit over her for the sake of idk grim dark plotlines because that’s all that people know how to write these days. like srly, the girl already has problem learning shit, because she can never listen, so instead of writing a story where she learns and grow from this we cut her connection to her past lives, whom before always were there for their reincarnations and thaught them things. let’s just eliminate that since she hardly ever talks to them anyways! 
- i don’t mean that like “oh look at Korra, the worst avatar ever! she destroyed the avatar legacy blablabla”. But i mean, was it really necessary? did we really need this plotline (matter of fact, this whole season)? what’s the whole message here? that you are not your past lives? that you’re your own person and you can fight on your own? idk maybe. (me after the end of the season: is exactly that) because if the answer is just to pave way for s3 and whatever happens with airbenders i’m gonna call bullshit because that story line is even worst.
- i don’t care for Bolin being turned into a dumbhead but i do love this brotherly friendship he has with Asami, i’m all here for this.
- Asami, still a saint
- I FACKING LOVE Bumi charming the shit out of the spirits by playing music to them. And then destroying the whole camp kind of by accident. This is the Aangiest thing ever. Bumi, in the end, is the most like his father from all of his siblings.
- the music is beautiful tho. and i mean, the soundtrack, not specifically the one Bumi plays to the spirits.
- i don’t understand exactly what happened with Jinora there but i think i’m gonna let this past because is too much to unpack.
 - and i don’t know what to think about leaving the portals to the spirit world opened. like, WHY? it feels a little like, once again, Korra not thinking things through 
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Literature
Sunday Evening Thoughts
November 18, 2018
                                                    Literature
Dear Paul and Rachel,
Start children off in the way they should go, and even when old they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6
       One of my stated goals for my high school kids was for them to see the Bible as a collection of different literary genres. In resurrecting the notes from my class, my second goal stated:
2. To show you examples of several literary genres - or literary forms: short stories, poetry, narratives, fiction literature, and popular sayings. These various genres are subdivided into adventure stories, erotic love poems (something most of your parents would not want you to read on your own), and even sci-fi narratives.
       My first goal was to get them to actually read the Bible. It’s amazing how many people know of its contents, but fail to have ever read it.
       One literary genre found in the Bible but rarely recognized is humor literature. The Book of Jonah is one of those examples: Jonah is a slapstick, bumbling character is the same archetype of Chevy Chase’s character on early SNL or the Rosanna Dana-Dana character of Gilda Radner on SNL. Jonah falls overboard, gets swallowed up by a whale, and then the whale pukes Jonah on the beach. Very ancient sophomoric humor! Another example is the story of Zacchaeus, the short man found in the Gospel of Luke. Luke is satirizing a short, rich dude. (“A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.” Luke 19:2-3)
       Of course, both examples have a higher theological purpose. But it is also true that some humor today has a higher purpose: mocking a political figure or a movie star to show their ineptness.
       One new literary genre today that I am mostly unfamiliar is Twitter — short, pithy statements of 140 characters. Although I am not on Twitter, there are millions and millions of people who are. One person who has a large following on Twitter, and for the last several years posts a morning and an evening Tweet, is Lin-Manuel Miranda (author and actor in the famous Broadway play Hamilton).
       Miranda teamed-up with illustrator Jonny Sun and published a book of his Tweets called Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me and You. (A quick aside for several of you Thinkers connected to MIT and Harvard: Jonny Sun is a MIT doctorial candidate. Sun is also affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.) Some of Miranda’s Tweets are funny; others serious. Some are very simple; others are complex. Most are worth reading, though not all. All of Sun’s illustrations of Miranda’s Tweets are simple but interesting. In the end, Mirada’s Tweets are similar to those ancient Tweets found in the Book of Proverbs: Some synonymous parallelisms, some antithetical parallelisms; some highly organized and structured; some free thought.
       Perhaps the best way to explain Miranda’s Tweets is to show some examples. Here goes:
Things may never be like this again. That could be good news or bad news, but it’s true nonetheless. Gmorning.
Everything is changing all the time. May as well lean into it. Gnight!
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Gmorning! Your mind is yours alone. Do what it takes to make yourself comfy. Build a library in there, play some music. Make it your home.
Gnight! Your mind is yours alone. Do what it takes to make yourself comfy. Draw the blinds, kick out unwelcome guests. Make it your home.
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Good morning. I believe in you. Not always in our leaders, not always in the subway schedules, but always in you. You, unwavering.
Good night. I believe in you. Not always in our institutions, and not always in my own strength, but always in you. You, evergreen.
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Gmorning. Your worst fears about yourself only need a drop of attention and sunlight to grow and wreck your whole shit. Clear away those weeds. Take time to harvest your strengths and your joys. Water and sunlight to the best in you.
Gnight. Doubts may grow as shadows loom, when you’re alone with your thoughts. Plant music, art, pics of the ones you love in the darkest corners. Harvest the fruits of your daydreams and rest. Water and sunlight to the best in you.
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Gmorning! Use your brains, use your heart, use your courage. And click those heels if you need to peace out!
Gnight! *clicks heels three times*
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You’re indescribable. We writers spend our lives trying to do you justice. And you’re always more than we can capture. Good morning.
You’re indescribable. We writers spend our lives trying to conjure you from every angle. We get close enough to keep trying. Good night.
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Good morning, you. Yes, you. YOU RIGHT THERE, LOOKIN” CUTE AS YOU WANNA BE. Damn, you gon’ knock ‘em out today! Go!
Good night, you. You there, LOOKIN” FRESH AS HELL. Check you out. Leavin’ a trail of people dreaming about you in your wake.
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Good morning. Words fail us, often, but when we put ‘em together the right way they can pull boulders out of us. Keep working with ‘em.
Good night. Tomorrow we take pen to pad, move mountains. Get some rest.
Bored yet?
Good morning. Take care of each other. Take care of yourself. Repeat. (Note: Illustration of an adult tying a kid’s shoe.)
Good night. Take care of each other. Take care of yourself. Repeat. (Note: Illustration of an adult tying his or her own shoe.)
_______________________________________________________________
Good morning. You will have to say no to things to say yes to your work. It will be worth it.
Good night. Don’t forget to look up from your work & let real life in. It makes work better.
These were the Tweets I marked. Hope you liked them!
       My question to you is should I sign-on to Twitter? Am I missing something significant? “A penny for your thoughts!” Sir (St.) Thomas More.
       Have a good week…
       Love,
       Dad
P.S. Words! (Hey, the fact you are reading this S.E.T. means you like to read.) Here is an excellent cover of the song “Burn” from the play Hamilton on the endless words Hamilton continually wrote. Crank it up!
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emblem-333 · 7 years
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Danny Ainge's Gamble On Kyrie Irving
I’m becoming more disenchanted with this stupid sport by the day. All the preconceived notions of sports I conjured in my youth have been disproven in the last few years. whisked away the illusion I had of loyalty still remaining prevalent in sports. The Spurs being the lone exception - players, coaches, general managers look out for primarily themselves. It’s why Gordon Hayward refused to take $500,000 less to make room on the roster without having to trade anybody. It’s why Paul George is in OKC, his old team is trying to throw a monkey wretch in their former player’s plan to return home to Los Angeles.
We don’t like it, even as fans benefit from it, the NBA is a business where childlike wonder doesn’t thrive. Old men go ring chasing, teams casually fire GMs and coaches every summer and trade players they don’t like regardless of how much they mean to fans and the team’s identity.
The Isaiah Thomas trade makes sense for the Boston Celtics in a computer. Kyrie Irving isn’t yet the superior point guard, but is younger, under contract for an extra season and will be cheaper to retain once a free agent in 2019 (he has a player-option for 2019 he’ll most definitely exercise). For all what Thomas was in Boston, he isn’t the ISO threat Irving is. He’s yet to hit his ceiling, while the 5-9 wonder hit his already and will only decline - coming off a server hip injury that’s derailed careers in the past, it isn’t unreasonable to believe we’ve seen the best of Isaiah Thomas.
Obtaining Gordon Hayward made the talented and prickly Jae Crowder expendable. You may disagree, certainly Ainge didn’t. It’s an armchair observation, but how far was your team going if Jae Crowder was your second best scoring option? He’s a wonderful player, he hasn’t been able to be the two-way threat he once was prior to J.R Smith slashing him in the playoffs in 2015. Still, Jae hit nearly 40% of his threes, hit an inordinate of twos (54%), and can get to the rim when his knees are healthy. In theory he should help your team defensively, yet for the last two seasons his DRtg jumps from 102 to 108, which isn’t scary, then you factor in his last two playoffs, against Atlanta in 2016 a hobbled Crowder put up a 99 DRtg. The next season, a healthy Jae, with defensive Swiss-army knife Al Horford, his rating jumped fifteen points.
Course, it isn’t easy guarding LeBron James. That can overemphasize anyone’s shortcomings. His DRtg rating was a solid 109 prior to the Cavs series for the postseason. Of course DRtg isn’t the definitive stat to accurately account someone’s worth on defense.
To me, Crowder is a solid two-way threat, when the offensive burden isn’t on him. If he is playing 27.5 minutes a night for you, as opposed to the 32.4 he played for Boston in 2016-‘17, his knees won’t wear down like they did and his jump shot may become more of a consistent threat in the playoffs. Outside of an explosive Game 1 vs Washington, Crowder shot 32.3% from beyond the arc in the post season prior, and 35% after. I’ve been of the unpopular opinion that he should take more TWOs than threes. The importance given the 3-point line been emphasized so much, a large chunk of the court has gone untouched. San Antonio exploited the glitch in the system against Houston, I wouldn’t mind seeing other teams try to do the same.
Ante Zizic in four-years will be Timofey Mozgov…
Evaluating the final Nets pick by the Celtics is most likely not of an opinion widely thought. Ainge believes the Nets aren’t a dumpster fire - and weren’t one last year, only when competent guard Jeremy Lin suited up for only 36 games did the Nets fail to crack more than 20-wins; 13-23 in games in where Lin started.
Newly acquired D'Angelo Russell has potential, is in dire need of a change of scenery. His basic stat line and per 36 are similar to Lakers favorite Kobe Bryant. Only in Laker Land was the second overall pick considered a bust upon arrival, never mind his first season being sacrificed to the Kobe Farewell Tour. His own coach threw him under the bus because D'Angelo caught a teammate cheating on his significant other. His second season things were more tame. Glimmers of a three-point shot showed, in a large sample between November 2016 and March of 2017, Russell hit 35.5% of his long-range attempts. 15.6 ppg, 4.8 asp, 3.5 rpg, and 1.4 steals per game. Keep in mind, Russell has had to make die with Julius Randle (an athletic forward without much of anything else), Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng taking up most of the cap room and clogging the lanes.
Jeremy Lin is an average backup pushed into a starters role because of the Nets depleted roster. Nonetheless he is still an actual basketball player. Prospects Caris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are at least better than Randle. The gigantic elephant in the room is Brook Lopez - the second best player in Nets history is no longer starting at center. Subbing Lopez for Mozgov certainly is a downgrade. The complete roster of the Brooklyn Nets despite this is still superior to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Brooklyn added DeMarre Carroll when healthy is a decent starting forward, that’s loss a step from his days in Atlanta, but can still defend his position. And though I despised the trade, Allan Crabbe is a better player than Andrew Nicholson. Crabbe cannot do much but shoot. It is debatable whether he’s any better than Lin to start at SG. Both aren’t positive forces on defensive, their impact limited to their ability to shoot the ball. Except Lin can run the offense, where Crabbe cannot. But having D'Angelo makes Lin expendable.
Factoring in the laughable top-heaviness of the league, teams are undoubtedly tanking for next year’s draft. Atlanta, Indianapolis, Chicago, Orlando, New York, Phoenix are purposely going to lose fifty-plus games. New Orléans did not try to lose last season and were bad enough to stay in the latter parts of the lottery. Sacramento has time and time again appeared in the middle of the lottery, even without trying. There is no reason to believe the Kings won’t duplicate that result this upcoming season. In Los Angeles, if Danilo Gallinari and Blake Griffin aren’t ever healthy, the Clippers are out of the playoff race by Christmas, they could shut down their roster to get a high draft pick.
Perhaps the Nets are one of many teams who’ll win twenty-five to thirty games and by the fate of the ping-pong balls will land outside of the top-5. This is the gamble Danny Ainge is making. The package of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Ante Zizc is enough for Irving - a top-5 lottery pick means he wildly overpaid for a player not better than IT.
As for Irving…yes, he isn’t better than Thomas…for now. I am probably being generous when assuming if he is healthy Thomas will still be better than Irving for the 2017-‘18 season. After that however, Thomas will never be an All-Star caliber player again. Thomas is on the back-9 of his career, his game relying on explosive speed, athleticism to get his shoots. Often he finds himself knocked to the ground, his wrist getting slapped, body being smacked around adds wear and tear to his body. Opposing teams running him off screens, making it impossible to get his shot off without it getting blocked. Yet, all that swarming of Isaiah for 2.5 years hasn’t deterred him from playing at a high-level.
Irving doesn’t need to worry about the same limitations Thomas does. But his game is far from altruistic. He’s an unwilling passer, and yearns to be the next Kobe Bryant; believes strongly in “Mamba Mentality”.
I can understand Kyrie wanting to leave LeBron. The third-greatest player of all-time is an asshole. There’s no need for nuance. Irving values a franchise that is stable. Well, he’ll get that in Boston. He wants to be the straw that stirs the drink, all of the assists coming from him. Is Irving the best player on the Celtics? Probably not. Does he give a fuck? No.
It’s frustrating because Irving has shown he can pass, hit his man off the cut, showing off his court vision. Unfortunately he doesn’t wish to play that way all the time, only in short spurts. He’s going to dominate the ball, and I worry he thinks the only way to silence his critics is to have an impeccable stat line even if the loses pile up.
We can point to him and LeBron’s disappointing regular season, finishing 23-23 en route to an underwhelming 51-win total. But keep in the mind the massive upheaval the roster went under mid-season and the age of the core role-players. Richard Jefferson, Kyle Korver, J.R Smith are in their mid-30s, and the unimaginative offense helmed by LeBron and Ty Lue did little to get worth out of them.
When push came to shove, on the grandest of stages Irving showed he can single handily destroy all your hopes and dreams. Everyone points to his Game 4 throat-stomp of the Celtics. Let’s not forget after Irving hit 48.6% of his shots, 43.6% of his threes, and averaged 28.5 points and nearly 5 assists.
Irving is a mixed bag. For all the talent he possesses he just wants to score. That’s all he wants to do. But the fact he’s going from Ty Lue to Brad Stevens has to count for something right? Name one player that’s passed through the Stevens vortex and hasn’t improved? Even Tayshaun Prince’s corpse hit 55.9% of his field goal attempts.
In two-years Kyrie Irving can become the best point guard in the N.B.A. It’s only a matter of if he wants to do it his way or not.
For now, he’s fourth best in the East - eighth best in the entire league. He’s played for four overmatched coaches, before James’ return, Irving’s best teammates were Jarret Jack and Seth Curry. He is moving into a situation where All-Stars Gordon Hayward and Al Horford are his best two guys. The tools are on the Celtics roster for Kyrie to be great.
In a computer this trade made sense. The cynical side of me likes this trade because Thomas is of no use to us beyond next season - he may not even be of use this season if his hip injury sidelines him. But Celtics Nation had reached a point up until the trade they’d rather lose with Isaiah Thomas than win with anybody else.
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buddyrabrahams · 7 years
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10 teams with great cap situations heading into NBA free agency
The NBA playoff picture fundamentally changes every summer because of free agency.
The Cavs signed LeBron from Miami in 2014. The Clippers snatched DeAndre Jordan from the jaws of the Mavericks and the Warriors re-signed Draymond Green in 2015. And, of course, Golden State inked perhaps the second-best player in the world -– Kevin Durant, who went on to win NBA Finals MVP — in 2016.
There are a number of areas in which an NBA general manager must excel if he dreams of achieving success – such as drafting prospects, developing talent, managing the trade block, controlling media narratives, and hiring a coaching staff – but free agency changes everything.
A GM’s ability to attract and hold onto good players, and shrewdly manage the league’s salary cap in the process, goes a long way toward determining whether he can put a championship product on the floor.
As a number of writers have noted, this year’s crop of free agents is top-notch. Many big names -– among them Gordon Hayward, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Kyle Lowry –- are single and ready to mingle.
So, which teams have positioned themselves to land one or two key players and elevate their chances of competing for the Larry O’Brien trophy next June?
(It’s worth noting the salary cap for the 2017-18 season will be significantly lower than many expected. Last week the league updated its projection to $99 million, down from the most recent projection of $101 million. The original projection, handed out in 2015, was $109 million.)
Below are 10 teams with strong cap situations heading into free agency, which officially begins July 6 (free agents can begin reaching verbal agreements with teams Saturday). The projected starting cap space numbers, which have been updated to reflect recent transactions such as the Bulls-Timberwolves and Lakers-Nets trades, come courtesy of RealGM and HoopsHype calculations.
1. Sacramento Kings – Projected Starting Cap Space: $53,236,837
The Kings have veterans coming off the books and money to blow. Rudy Gay, Tyreke Evans, Arron Afflalo (whom the team waived), Darren Collison, and Ty Lawson are among the Kings’ free agents.
Sacramento had a solid draft, snagging Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox, North Carolina’s Justin Jackson, Duke’s Harry Giles, and Kansas’ Frank Mason. Though I loved the Fox and Mason picks, this is another team that would have benefitted from the addition of Malik Monk. Instead, the Kings traded down to take Jackson and Giles. It sure would’ve been fun to see Fox and Monk continue their careers together.
The Kings’ trade of DeMarcus Cousins continues to look better with time. Now, Sacramento has a budding young backcourt with Fox, Mason, and Buddy Hield.
The Kings have a big hole at the wing. Though Jackson could help patch it up, Sacramento should address this need in free agency – Tony Snell, Caldwell-Pope, and Porter are viable candidates.
Sacramento could also use an offensively minded big man to join the gradually improving Willie Cauley-Stein. Greg Monroe, Mason Plumlee, and Nikola Mirotic should be on Sacramento’s radar.
2. Philadelphia 76ers – Projected Starting Cap Space: $38,202,651
The Process has been built through the draft, as Philadelphia has now used top picks to snag Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and the ghost of Nerlens Noel.
Things are finally starting to come together, and I love what they did in this year’s draft. Fultz was the creator they needed in the backcourt, but don’t sleep on the rest of their picks: Jonah Bolden (Australia), Sterling Brown (SMU), and Mathias Lessort (France). They also acquired Anzejs Pasecniks (Spain), the No. 25 pick, from the Magic.
The 76ers have a lot of guys on rookie deals and plenty of space to spend on free agents, if they so choose. They should sign Joel Embiid to an extension, though he has only played 31 career games, while his long-term value is a little bit questionable.
At this point, Philadelphia has plenty of youth and should seek out some veterans to fill in the team’s gaps. The 76ers don’t need to lose their cap advantage in doing so; they could pursue some mid-level guys: Joe Ingles, Patrick Patterson, and J.J. Redick would fit well.
3. Miami Heat – Projected Starting Cap Space: $34,582,760
Erik Spoelstra has done a wonderful job of holding his team together after the Big 3 era in Miami. The Heat missed out on the playoffs this year because Indiana held a tiebreaker (both teams finished 41-41), but they’ve got two nice pieces in Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic.
Dion Waiters was a pleasant surprise this season; he averaged 15.8 points and 4.3 assists (a career high) per game, and shot a career-best 40 percent from three. After a rough two-year stint in Oklahoma City, he appears to have found his home, and Miami should make re-signing Waiters a priority. Waiters, 25, might command a massive deal after his breakout year.
With Chris Bosh off the books, Miami needs help in the frontcourt. Given the playing styles of the Dragic/Waiters/Whiteside core, the Heat should look for a mobile big. Blake Griffin should be their top priority.
As always, it helps to have fallbacks: Ibaka and Gay are two to consider.
4. Denver Nuggets – Projected Starting Cap Space: $28,874,181
What do you do if you’re the Nuggets?
They finished only one game out of the No. 8 seed in the West this year, but their roster is not built to contend with the league’s best. Nikola Jokic is an exciting young player, but how much else do they really have? Danilo Gallinari is a valuable piece in the modern NBA, but he’ll turn 29 this summer and the Nuggets are years from contending. It might make sense for Denver to let him walk and spend that money elsewhere.
There are number of paths Denver could take, but one thing is clear: this team needs to find its identity.
Fortunately for the Nuggets, if they let Gallinari walk, they’ll have some real cap flexibility. One option is Paul Millsap, whose playing style would complement Jokic well. Another is to pursue Hayward, but it’s a longshot that he would choose Denver over Utah or Boston.
5. Brooklyn Nets – Projected Starting Cap Space: $24,728,106
The Nets’ trade for D’Angelo Russell was the first good move the franchise has made in quite a while. Granted, Brooklyn has to eat Timofey Mozgov’s contract – did anyone ever think that was a good deal for the Lakers? – and lost franchise hero Brook Lopez, but the Nets got a super promising 21-year-old guard with All-Star potential out of the deal.
With Russell, Jeremy Lin, and Sean Kilpatrick, Brooklyn has a fine backcourt. The Nets should now be looking for help on the wing and in the post. They should be planning for the post LeBron-on-the-Cavs era.
Detroit’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Washington’s Otto Porter Jr. come to mind as good targets on the wing. Memphis’ JaMychal Green and Chicago’s Cristiano Felicio (a work in progress) are potential big-man targets. Brooklyn also addressed its big-man need in the draft, snagging Jarrett Allen from Texas and Aleksandar Vezenkov from Spain.
6. San Antonio Spurs – Projected Starting Cap Space: $18,853,735
The Spurs are reportedly interested in Chris Paul, but from a big-picture perspective, signing a 32-year-old little guy to a max deal does not make much sense. Additionally, if they want to bring Simmons back, that will eat up much if not all of their space.
Rumor has it San Antonio is also interested in Derrick Rose, who is a shell of his former self but should still have some gas in the tank. If anyone can revive Rose’s career, it’s Gregg Popovich. George Hill, who started his career with San Antonio, is another guard who looks like a good fit.
There have also been rumors that the Spurs are shopping LaMarcus Aldridge, who is under contract for $21.5 million. Clearing Aldridge’s contract would give the Spurs a lot more leeway to pursue a player like Paul.
The Spurs have their franchise guy -– Kawhi Leonard -– but these days it looks like you need three or four All-Stars to win a title, and they’re clearly considering making moves.
7. Boston Celtics – Projected Starting Cap Space: $17,786,828
We all know where Boston wants this money to go. The Celtics want Gordon Hayward.
The Utah guard who broke out this year – narrowly missing out on making All-NBA – played for Boston coach Brad Stevens at Butler. And Stevens was the first coach to recruit Hayward before he went through a growth spurt. The two have a good relationship, no doubt, and this seems like a franchise-free agent match made in heaven.
If Hayward does decide to join Boston, that would eat up just about all of the Celtics’ cap space, and they’d have to bid adieu to Kelly Olynyk (which, considering you’d be getting Hayward, wouldn’t be all that hard to do).
The Celtics need scoring and shooting on the wing and in the post. If they can’t get Hayward, they may consider Griffin, Danilo Gallinari, or – gasp! – Rudy Gay. Their other option is a trade for Indiana’s Paul George, which appears to still be on the table.
8. New York Knicks – Projected Starting Cap Space: $17,588,175
It’s true – Phil Jackson has made a mess of this franchise. Kristaps Porzingis should absolutely not be on the trade block. Buying out Carmelo Anthony – and getting nothing in return – should absolutely not be a consideration. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah should never have been signed.
Additionally, the Knicks may have flubbed the draft, which is a prime opportunity to correct mistakes. Frank Ntilikina might turn into a nice player, but I would’ve liked to have seen New York take Kentucky’s Malik Monk, who dropped 47 on North Carolina and seems like a much surer thing. Even John Calipari called the Knicks out for making the error of passing on Monk.
What’s done is done, though, and New York can only now focus on the present. The next opportunity to turn things around comes with free agency. What they need to avoid doing is signing past-their-prime former stars.
They need to look at younger players with high upside who could play alongside Porzingis. San Antonio’s Jonathon Simmons is a two-way wing that comes to mind. Jrue Holiday would be another good fit, as would Tim Hardaway Jr., who started his career with the Knicks and has blossomed in Atlanta.
9. Dallas Mavericks – Projected Starting Cap Space: $13,558,909
Mavs fans have got to feel good about the team selecting NC State’s Dennis Smith Jr. in the draft. Smith fell because of injury and work-ethic concerns, but his upside is huge.
Dallas simply hasn’t had an electrifying player like Smith in years, and though it’s too early to tell how he’ll pan out in the pros, he has superstar potential.
The Mavs’ young core is now Smith, Harrison Barnes (who’s under contract for three more years), and Wesley Matthews (two more years). Nerlens Noel is a free agent, but the team might bring him back. Dirk Nowitzki will come back on a restructured deal.
If I’m Dallas, I’m putting my chips on Smith and my two good wing players and using my cap space to pursue a mobile big man with potential to stretch the floor. Blake Griffin should be high on the Mavs’ wish list, and Serge Ibaka makes a lot of sense as a fallback option.
10. Minnesota Timberwolves – Projected Starting Cap Space: $9,740,777
The Timberwolves were already a fun League Pass team, and now they might be a League Pass must-watch. With the acquisition of Jimmy Butler, Minnesota now has a fascinating starting five: Ricky Rubio, Andrew Wiggins, Butler, Gorgui Dieng, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Tom Thibodeau managed to fleece his former team, the Bulls. To acquire Butler – a third-team All-NBA guy! – and the No. 16 pick in last week’s draft, Minnesota gave up only Zach LaVine (who’s coming off of a torn ACL), Kris Dunn (who had a brutal rookie year), and the No. 7 pick.
The Wolves still have the capability to make some interesting moves in free agency, too. They’re reportedly targeting a point guard, and Kyle Lowry, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, and George Hill appear to be on their radar.
This is interesting, as one would think the pass-first Rubio – who’s still somehow only 26 years old – would flourish with the type of lineup Minnesota has assembled.
Aaron Mansfield is a freelance sports writer whose work has appeared in Complex, USA Today, and the New York Times. You can reach him via email at [email protected].
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