i always forget that the seasons have different months in other parts of the world & then i get confused by the wildly inaccurate associations of certain vibes. like âaugustâ by taylor swift.
youâre telling me thatâs supposed to be about SUMMERTIME???? august is clearly a winter song for a winter month, complete with ocean run-swims at 6am and servo hot chocolates and a nice long soak in the spa, before the afternoon sun comes out and youâre seeking those patches of its warmth to stretch out in like a house cat does when he finds the Optimal Naptime Spot. august has those week-long ski trips, seven hour drives and man-made snow and closed chairlifts because some of the runs didnât get enough coverage â steamy puds and stargazing and card games, and the ipod shuffle you got in 2013 is playing Open Season and Two Weeks and White Winter Hymnal through sand-ridden earphones that donât quite work the same anymore, but the vibes still hit just right, the same as they would back in 2009 when the snow was heavier and the colours were brighter and those songs were playing through your dadâs brand-new iphone 3 on drives that felt endless, watching raindrops race down the windows of the old forester and barely having half a clue as to what time even was, what change would mean. august is early mornings at the lake, salt splashing from every direction, soaking the sleeves of your thermal before the sunâs even risen, paddling your way through the dark with zero clue where you are or whoâs around you, working harder just to warm up, but now youâre too warm and tired and itâs fucking time trials week and marathon season and you just wanna go home and take a nice long shower and a nice long nap before you gotta do it all again tomorrow. but the routine is steadying â until one day the floor suddenly shifts out from under you and itâs not the same anymore and youâre watching other people enjoy what you want to enjoy but just canât, and maybe you never really enjoyed it in the first place?? but no, there was definitely a time you did, just because itâs not that time anymore doesnât mean it never existed, but still, you envy those who still enjoy those things and still have those things, even though they could be yours too if you wanted, but you donât want it. at least, you donât think you do.
oh, and yâall are missing out on springtime!september.
thereâs a lot that can be critiqued with the shift in kataraâs characterisation, but this⊠this isnât it.
katara being less bossy & brash makes sense for how theyâve written her backstory. and they NAILED that tragic backstory.
she watched her mother die, and in an attempt to save kya, she accidentally framed her as a waterbender. katara is afraid. afraid of her powers, of the fire nation, of seeing her loved ones get hurt (afraid of being unable to do anything about it) sheâs harboured so much guilt for so long - torturing herself with what ifâs and shouldâves.
katara is still katara. sheâs still hot headed and compassionate and sassy. but sheâs no master, and she knows it. and by ep 8, sheâs grown SO much. sheâs angrier, fiercer, stronger. just because sheâs not shouting it from the rooftops, doesnât mean that itâs not there.
because katara DOES have flaws.
sheâs still petty, naive, and inexperienced. sheâs still too trusting and overconfident. she still brings up her dead mum in every other conversation.
but most of all; sheâs afraid. she let fear rule her for a long time, and by ep8, sheâs the one ruling it.
she knows she has limited knowledge and experience.
as soon as she meets aang, sheâs taking his advice on bending and even actively seeks it.
sheâs been creating her own moves by modifying earthbending techniques. itâs not perfect, but itâs so much more than what she could do before. sheâs going out of her way to learn more, to be better, to fight back. sheâs using all the resources she can get.
she HAD to be self taught. because nobody was there to teach her. and when she finally found a teacher, he refused, just because sheâs a girl.
this is exactly the same in the animation.
at this point in the show (NWT), sheâs overcome the internal obstacles of her powers. sheâs in control of her fears and guilt. she did that herself â and she had to. not just because there was nobody else, but because thatâs her responsibility. itâs something only she can do. aang, gran gran, jet all helped, but in the end, katara did it herself.
but now she has to face an EXTERNAL obstacle, and the last time she faced an external obstacle like that, it was when a fire nation soldier killed her mother in front of her.
this time, katara knows what happens when nobody is there to teach the untrained. she knows better. she has the ability to protect herself and others, and pakku has the ability to TRAIN THE WOMEN and utilise those strengths. and sheâll be damned if any more lives are lost because of a preventable vulnerability.
so yeah, she may not be as bossy or angry or loud, but sheâs still katara. sheâs still strong and independent. sheâs still compassionate and kind. sheâs still her own master, and she still bickers with her brother.
she still takes NO shit from anyone.
natla suffers from a LOT of exposition, but people seem to be forgetting that nuance still exists. itâs just in different ways than the original. because we already HAVE the original. we donât need to be told and shown the same things we already know. in the live action, that stuff lies in the subtleties, and the more obvious aspects are the changes, as is the way with all adaptions.
Netflix, I donât know how to tell you this but a woman doesnât have to be self taught to be a strong female character. Itâs ok to let her know her limitation and ask for help. Itâs ok to let her get angry, itâs ok to let her be jealous, itâs ok to let your female character have flaws and WORK on them. Your female character doesnât have to become a master on her own to be memorable, it just makes her accomplishment feel unearned.
making this up as i go along, gonna give myself 30 minutes to come up with something. prompt generator dot com or something gave me the prompts [friendship bracelets] + [miscommunication].
ââŠWhat are you doing?â Enzo asks amusedly, watching Damon try and creep up on him with all the subtlety of a baby horse wearing sleigh bells on its hooves.
The other vampire walks closer, casuallyâfar too casuallyâand stops right in front of Enzo, who narrows his eyes and takes in his ex-cellmateâs appearance. Heâs got his hands shoved in the pockets of his leather jacket, a glint in his eye that just oozes âDANGERâ, and a wicked little smirk to tie the whole look together.
ââŠNothing,â Damon sing-songs. âJust hanginâ with my BFF, thatâs all.â
âMm-hmm. Thatâs all?â
Thereâs a vigorous nod. âThatâs all.â
Blue eyes gaze, unblinking.
Brown eyes gaze right back.
Five, ten minutes pass, neither vampire breaking from their impromptu (and unspoken) staring contest.
Blue eyes gaze even harder, and their attached person grabs Enzoâs hand. âMine.â
âYours,â Enzo agrees.
Damon smiles evilly at that admission, and Enzo wondersânot for the first timeâwhether his (ex) friend might be part-fae. Itâs not outside the realm of possibility, from what heâs been taught about the supernatural world these days.
Something cold wraps around his wrist, quickly, silently ââ until the sudden click! causes Enzo to break the staring contest so that he can glance down at his hand in confusion.
âHa!â Damon giggles maniacally, practically vibrating out of his own skin, âI won!â
Enzo wiggles his hand inside the attached cuff. Which doesnât look like any of the ones heâs ever seen; not even the official ones heâd accidentally nicked from the Sheriff â This oneâs strange. A bit heavier. Not by much, not Augustine-level, but the difference is there. Maybe itâs a new thing, heavy handcuffs. âSo you did,â he concedes, âbut what does that have to do with handcuffing only one of my wrists?â Part of him wonders if heâs gonna get locked in the Salvatoreâs creepy basement again. He hopes not. He hasnât done anything wrong, right? Definitely not enough for Damon to be the one locking him upâŠright???
âI won,â Damon tells him, simple as that. âAnd you lost. Loser has to be handcuffed to the winner for a week.â Damon pulls his hand out of his jacket to click on the other end of the metal cuffs, so theyâre sitting nicely around his own wrist, connected to the chain of Enzoâs own jail bracelet.
âHandcuffed. Right.â Surprisingly Safe For Work of Damon, actually. Heâs not really sure what the whole staring contest thing had to do with it, though.
Then he grins at the British vampire. âThink of it like⊠a friendship bracelet.â
âA friendship bracelet?â Enzo echoes, and Damon nods emphatically. âYeah,â he says, jiggling their conjoined hands, âa best friendship bracelet.â
Let the record show that Enzo definitely does not smile at this. At all. Because itâs terribly inconvenient and not in any realm cute.
âWhy?â
The jiggling stops.
âWhy?â Damon asks quietly, hurt seeping into every corner of the singular syllable. âDo youâwas thiâWhy wouldnât I? Youâre my best friend.â He says it so simply, so certainly, so honestly that Enzo wishes to believe him more than anything.
And part of him does.
But thereâs another, bigger part of him that wants more than what Damonâs offering.
âNot that,â he retracts, âwhy the handcuffs?â
Damon brightens up a little, and so does Enzoâs traitorous heart. âBonding activity. Spell wears off in a week, but if you hate this, we can probably get Bonnie to undo it before then.â He takes a deep breath. âI-I just⊠thought that maybe we could have some fun with it. BecauseâŠyouâre moving out and all, ân IâŠ.â He scrunches up his face. âI donât want you to!â
Enzo lets out a hopeful breath. âYou donât?â
âOf course not! Thatâs why I orchestrated this whole thing!â
A stupid inconvenience birthed from good intentions? That checks out. âYou chained us together, with magical handcuffs⊠all because Iâve been thinking about finding my own place?â
Damon nods sullenly, then shrugs, pulling Enzoâs cuffed hand up with the action.
âDamon⊠you couldâve just told me.â
âYouâve been avoiding me. I just wanted to make sure you couldnât leave.â
âAnd I wanted to make sure you couldnât ask me to.â
11:22pm.
that⊠iâm quite proud of that. iâm typing this on my phone, so go me! yeehaw never gonna put myself through that again.
Characters being compared to dogs always use terriers or pitbulls or something for their metaphors. âThey grab on and they donât let goâ âThey keep worrying at it until itâs deadâ etc.
Anyway, I want to see collies used as metaphors. Albert Payson Terhune style. âHe was like an attack dogâmaking slash-and-run attacks, cutting them up worse every time, never staying in range long enough to get hurt but circling back over and over.â