#a fire avatar who's quest is to figure the makings of this world and bring down the churches who hunted him from birth | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raewritez · 3 years

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all that mattered

based on this request: Hello! I love your writing! Can i request a zuko x firebender reader where the reader was a close friend of zuko’s and went with him when he had to go hunt the avatar and she goes w the gaang in the catacombs and is hurt by zuko’s decision but they reconcile slowly @ the western air temple? Thanks!!

word count: 2.8k

You were happy, a cautious glint of hope pulling at your heartstrings as you smiled at Zuko from across the teashop. After all you had been through together; from playing pirates with the young boy who wore his heart on his sleeve to sneaking onto the navy ship to follow your best friend on his seemingly unachievable quest for the Avatar, you had finally grasped the scraps of unabashed content in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se.

You were so proud of Zuko. He had come so far from the erratic, rage-filled boy you had stuck with the past three years, now growing into the person you always knew he was. The glimmers of your youth seemed so far now, yet closer than they had been in years. The Zuko you knew then; the soft, earnest child who loved his friend unashamedly in the merriments of your pretendings was slowly peeking out of the harsh exterior he had built up in his desolation.

He found himself aching, yearning for your presence and the unwavering comfort you had always provided him. He could barely remember a world without you, without the familiarity of your laughter and the warmth of your caring touches. He knew he loved you, he supposed he always had. He knew it in the way his heart would speed up at the sight of your grin, how a lovely blush would make its way to his face at the soothing lilt of your voice. He knew he loved you, the same way he had when his hands were small and his face unscarred, when the only problems were the insufficient days that weren’t long enough to hold all your adventures.

Now, you were smiling at him from across the room of Iroh’s tea shop. Like always, he felt his face heat up and the corners of his lips threatening to lift at the mere sight of your joyful expression. He smiled back, forgetting for a moment the weight upon his shoulders. Again, the Avatar had been preoccupying his mind, the temptation and longing to be back home and to feel the affection of his father overpowering his logic. But now, with his amber eyes locked with yours and his uncle’s jolly laughter ringing over the dulled chatter of the customers, he thought maybe a life like this wouldn’t be too bad.

///

“Zuko!” you cried, launching yourself into his arms.

Iroh trailed behind you, the Avatar in tow. The catacombs shone with an emerald glow, a slight chill in the humid air. You turned your head to see Aang hugging Katara, while you step aside to allow Iroh to embrace his nephew.

“Uncle, Y/n, I don't understand,” Zuko speaks, his brows furrowed. “What are you doing with the Avatar?”

“Saving you, that's what,” Aang replies. Zuko growls and steps forward confrontationally, your arms reaching out to restrain him.

“Zuko, it's time we talked,” Iroh says calmly.

He tells Aang and Katara to leave, Zuko’s eyes trailing after them.

“Why, Uncle?” Zuko questions in a hurt tone.

Iroh simply smiles. “You're not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good.”

You yelp as you feel your body being encased in a prison of crystal alongside Iroh, your eyes snapping up to meet Azula’s golden ones with a glare that could send a man ten feet under. Zuko frantically reaches out to you, only to be halted by Azula’s drawling voice.

“I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle. But Zuko, Prince Zuko, you're a lot of things, but you're not a traitor, are you?” “Release them immediately,” Zuko growls.

“It's not too late for you, Zuko. You can still redeem yourself.” “Zuko, no!” You shout, desperation in your eyes. “You can’t listen to her! She’s lying, like she always does!” Azula chuckles sinisterly. “Am I, Y/n? Or are you just trying to hold him back? He knows his destiny, it seems to me like you’re only preventing him from achieving it.”

“Zuko, that’s not true!” you call out to him, your voice cracking. “I know you, I know that what you want isn’t-”

“Why don't you let him decide, Y/n?” her voice cuts through like a knife. “Zuko, I need you. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have father’s love. You’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted.” Iroh’s pleads are drowned out by the noise inside your head, the panic setting in and clouding your senses. Please, Zuko. Don’t do this.

Tears roll down your cheeks as Zuko turns his back, following his sister out of the cavern. A choked cry leaves your mouth, desperation for the lost feeling of happiness leaving you feeling empty.

Iroh tenderly calls out your name, the deep sadness in his expression interrupted only by a glint of determination.

/// You gaze up in horror as the figure of the Avatar falls to the ground, Azula’s outstretched fingers crackling with electricity.

Katara rushes forward, her water crashing over the Dai Li agents and Firenation siblings and pulling them under the waves. She embraces Aang in her arms, a look of hopelessness and despair shining in her tear-filled eyes.

You stare in disbelief at the face of the prince, your heart splintering. Iroh suddenly jumps in front of your frame defensively, his voice booming in the hollowness of the catacomb.

“You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!” Fire thrusts forth from his fists, momentarily halting the soldiers. Katara makes her way over to you, her hand outstretched. You look at her with confusion, having been prepared to suffer your fate at the hands of your nation.

“Come on!” She exclaims, grasping your hand and lifting the three of you out of the wretched caves. The last thing you see are his eyes, piercing your soul with the bitterness of betrayal and abandonment.

///

“Hello, Zuko here.”

You can only stare, shocked into a state of paralyzation by the utter surprise of seeing his figure on the mountainside. He looks different, his hair is longer and his face bears a hesitant smile.

As the shock fades, it is replaced with a burning anger, the one that has been brewing and festering in the depths of your soul ever since he walked out of that cave with his sister. Your eyes narrow into slits, a hardened glare contorting your features. His eyes flicker to yours as your friends unload their bearings onto him, only to shrink away at the fire in your expression.

He longs to rush forward, to fall at your feet and beg for forgiveness. The guilt that has been plaguing his mind for weeks bubbling to the surface; the sight of you almost bringing him to the ground. He yearns to be in your arms again, to bask in your wondrous existence and fearless love.

But he knows he doesn’t deserve it. He had hurt you, abandoned you. You, who had stood steadfast beside him through all his troubles and misfortunes, you, who had shown such faith in him that he began to wonder how he deserved it. And for what? For honor? For the approval of his father? He didn’t know, but he knew that walking away from you and his uncle in those catacombs was the single biggest regret of his life.

He’s sent away, and you don’t argue. Not that he would expect you to. That night, as he curls in on himself by the blaze of the campfire, silent tears stream down his face as he aches for you, as he loves you from afar in the high hours of the night. He at least finds comfort in the fact that you sleep under the same sky.

///

a week later...

It was almost unbearable, having him so near. You saw him everyday as he trained with Aang and conversed with the rest, his gaze always finding yours the second you walked into his vicinity. You kept your distance, the wound of his desertion still raw and painful, building new walls around your heart which had always remained unsheltered. Your body betrayed your logic, your fingers itching to run through his hair, your breath escaping your lungs whenever you heard the rasp of his voice.

You knew he had changed, really changed this time, that much was obvious. The way he and Aang talked like old friends, how he was slowly worming his way into the group’s good graces and affections.

He hadn’t pushed you, hadn’t demanded you speak to him or expressed anger at your coldness. Instead, he waited, reluctantly settling for small acts of atonement and care. He would always ensure you received the first bowl of rice at dinnertime, secretly complete your chores for you. He treated you like an idol, an alter, his actions small compensation for all his wrongdoings and mistakes.

That didn’t mean it was easy for him, though. Zuko starved for your closeness, the feeling of having you so close yet so far eating away at his heart. He feared that he would never again experience the love you so unsparingly served to him, never again bathe in the solace of your friendship.

He found you sitting beneath the moon, Yue’s light cascading through your hair and illuminating your features with an ethereal glow. His breath was ripped away at your unapologetic beauty, a familiar longing consuming his senses.

“Y/n,” he whispered.

You whipped around, your eyes locking with his. Under his intense stare you were paralyzed, unable to run away like you wanted.

You sighed. “What do you want, Zuko?”

There was a bitterness to your words, but all Zuko could focus on was the way his name sounded from your lips. He hadn’t heard the sound in so long, the melody squeezing his heart with adoration. He knew it was undeserved, though.

When he didn’t respond you scoffed and rolled your eyes, standing up to walk back to the temple only to be gently yanked back by a hold on your wrist.

“No, wait, I...” his eyes were wide, a distressed look upon his face. He glanced down at your interlocked hands, reluctantly letting go so as not to overstep. “I...”

You stared at him, brows furrowed. What? What could you possibly have to say to me?

“I...I’m sorry.”

He sighed, brushing his hair out of his face. “I know that doesn’t mean anything, and it doesn’t make anything better, but....I just need you to know how sorry I am.”

When you didn’t interrupt, he pressed on.

“Not a single day went by where I didn’t think of you. When I was in the Fire Nation, I had everything I’d ever wanted. I thought everything would fall into place...but it didn’t. Every night when I went to sleep I would see your face, how you looked at me back in Ba Sing Se. Like I was a monster.”

Your features softened at that, that part inside you that you had locked away yearning to reach out to him, to comfort him like you always had.

“What I did was so wrong,” he continued. “And I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for it. But I can’t live with knowing that you hate me, that we can never be friends again because I was so stupid. And, I mean, you’re not just my friend, you’re way more than that! We’ve been through everything together, and back in Ba Sing Se everything was perfect and I ruined it, and now you hate me and now I probably can’t ever-”

He was rambling now, his eyes ablaze with the struggle to salvage the scraps of your relationship. You couldn’t stand watching him in such distress, all of the emotions you had built a wall around slowly cracking through.

“I don’t hate you, Zuko.”

The words were out before you could stop them.

His rant ceased abruptly, his eyes latching onto yours, a question lingering behind his golden irises.

“I never really hated you,” you spoke, shuffling uncomfortably in your place. “I just...”

His wild eyes calmed, replaced with an imploring gaze, urging you to continue.

“I thought I did. Every time I thought of you I felt so angry, and I thought I hated you but I don’t. I never could.” His lips parted, staring at you with such wonderment you were reminded of the way people beheld paintings. Or how Iroh looked at tea.

“Why?” he questioned. “Why can’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

You knew.

///

Days passed, and the crumbs of your bond with Zuko were slowly falling back into place. You still bore a scar from the memories, but seeing him acting as the person you had always wanted him to be filled your heart with more pride than you’d like to admit.

He moved around freely, interacting with the misfits that had become your family and smiled carelessly in the gleams of his content. Seeing the way his eyes lit up, the way his lips tugged up at the corners made your heartbeat irregular. His hair wasn’t bad either, and his insistence to remain shirtless while training Aang certainly wasn’t helping your attempts to remain impassive.

You found him sitting at the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling over the vast expanse of sky. His ebony locks danced around his face, a pensive expression resting on his brows.

He snapped around at the sound of your footsteps, an unguarded grin making its way to his face upon seeing you.

“Hi,” you greeted, your feet carrying you to sit beside him.

“Hey,” he breathed, eyeing your profile as your arm brushed against his, the sensation sending shivers up his spine.

You tilted your head towards the stars, the coolness of the night caressing your cheeks. You remained silent for a few minutes before speaking.

“I missed you, you know.”

Zuko turned to you, finding your eyes closed against the navy curtain of the sky.

“Even when I was mad. I guess spending ten years of your life with someone makes you a little attached, huh?”

His eyes traced your profile, dipping down the curve of your nose and lips and rising back to the delicateness of your eyelashes. Attached, he chuckled. He was long past attached.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Your head swirled to face him, your eyes reflecting the adoration and love they always had, the same look Zuko had passed to you so often in the shadows of your obliviousness. Your fingers rose to tenderly trace the outline of his scar, your familiar touch elicting all of the emotions Zuko had been deprived of in your time apart.

He nuzzled further into your embrace, feeling much like the boy he had been all those years ago. Just you and him, when nothing else mattered. When he was a child, and you were a child, and he loved his friend in the pureness of childhood.

And he loved you now.

Deciding he couldn’t wait any longer, after years of longing built up on a lifetime of friendship, he pushed himself forward until his lips met yours.

Your breath escaped you in a gasp, your palm finding its way to its proper place against his cheek. Your lips pressed against his with fervor, all of the emotions that you had ever felt for this boy disclosed in the desperation in which your hands grasped his shirt in a hopeless attempt to bring yourself even closer.

His arms wound around your waist, his thumbs stroking your sides as he kissed you with all the love and affection he possessed. His raven hair tickled your face as your lips locked over and over again, until the only thing you two were more desperate for than each other was air.

You breathed heavily, slowly regaining your senses. Your eyes met his with the same hesitant look that was held in his. For a moment you simply stared at each other, gazing, before grins broke out across both your faces.

Your laugh cut through the night, his own chuckles escaping him. He gazed at you fondly, leaning in to capture your mouth in a short and sweet kiss. You smiled unabashedly, pressing your forehead against his. This was long overdue. You basked in each other’s presence, soft caresses and brief pecks shared under the light of the moon. As you loved one another beneath the stars the world faded away and nothing else mattered.

It was just you and him.

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firelxdykatara · 4 years

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ppl love to forget that katara: 1. has her own taste, 2. developed around aang, he needed her for his development and vice versa, 3. ZUTARA IS SHIP BETWEEN AN OPPRESOR X OPPRESSED!!! Ignoring all of the development they had with their respective partners and the trauma Zuko caused Katara!!

In the infamous words of one Luke Skywalker: amazing. every word of what you just said was wrong.

It’s actually kind of ironic that you bring up Katara’s taste, since, throughout the show, we have examples of the guys she likes, to greater or lesser extents in canon--Jet (explicit romantic feelings on her part, word of god that jet was her first kiss--a kiss that would have been consensual, incidentally, something you should keep in mind for later) and Haru (she denies the crush, but that could just as easily have been because of the abomination he’d been growing on his lip rather than denying those feelings ever existed), both of whom have much more in common (in terms of both emotional and physical maturity, and physical appearance) with Zuko than either of them has with Aang.

Zuko’s book 3 hairstyle is almost exactly reminiscent of Jet’s, even, if not quite as floofy.

(This is probably in part because of Jet’s function as a foil of Zuko within the narrative, particularly given their book 2 encounters, which I think just further solidifies my point that, were it not for extenuating circumstances [like the fact that Zuko was introduced as an enemy and they had significant obstacles to hurdle before they could be friends], Zuko would have been exactly Katara’s type. Had they met under different circumstances, she could have been the girl he went on a date with in Ba Sing Se. Just something to think about.)

So, yes, we’ve established that Katara has her own taste. Her tastes seem to be boys with great hair who are taller than her, the same age or older, and of a similar maturity level.

Aang falls short (heh, short) on all counts. So it isn’t Katara’s taste in boys that led her to be interested in him. Hm!

Next, you claim that Katara ‘developed around Aang’--that she was necessary for his development, and that he was necessary for hers.

Let’s take a moment to examine that, shall we?

I will absolutely grant you that Katara was necessary for Aang’s development--only to a point, of course, but we’ll get to that later--but was he really necessary for Katara‘s growth? I suppose I could grant you this on a generous technicality--he did, after all, provide her with the means to finally leave the South Pole and find a waterbending master to teach her (although she wound up largely self-taught anyway). But that had nothing to do with his relationship to Katara and everything to do with the structure of the plot--Katara and Sokka find Aang (and he never would have gotten out of that iceberg without Katara’s own righteous anger, so even that leads back to her own power), and then they go on a quest to find teachers for the Chosen One and save the world.

The story could not have begun without first finding Aang and then providing means for the other main characters to travel with him (or, in Zuko’s case, chase him), but this has nothing at all to do with Aang’s relationship to Katara. Aang was not a mover in Katara’s developmental arc--if anything, he acted as an obstacle more often than not, his actions ranging from innocent but obnoxious (playing and flirting with girls rather than helping with chores like picking up vital supplies, leaving Katara to do all of the quite literal heavy lifting and keeping her stuck in the role of caretaker that she’d been thrust into following the death of her mother), to deliberate and harmful (hiding the map to Katara and Sokka’s father, a truly selfish action, regardless of his lack of malicious intent, and one for which he never actually apologized), to somewhere in between (”she didn’t really mean that” he says to the man refusing to train Katara because she’s a girl, when yes, she very much did mean that, and Aang was no help in finally getting the old codger to eat his words--Katara had to shove them down his throat her own damn self).

While Katara’s overall arc wasn’t exactly big and dynamic (like Zuko’s redemption arc), or in-your-face (like Sokka getting force-fed Respect Women Juice and his eventual growth into a tactician and leader), it was very much present and woven into her character--and Aang had almost no part in it. He provided her with the means to get to the North Pole, but left Katara alone to fight the patriarchy herself. He messed around while Katara took it on herself to do the chores and keep the Gaang alive, but he did almost nothing to decrease that burden so she could grow out of the caretaker role. (Contrary to popular shipper claims, Aang didn’t actually teach Katara to have fun. She already knew how to have fun. But she couldn’t indulge, because she had a responsibility to her family and her tribe, and later to her brother and Aang and Toph, and Aang goofing off and trying to get her to do the same only added to her burdens rather than subtracting from them.) He provided Katara with the necessary motive to learn to heal herself, but he certainly didn’t seem to learn from the experience of accidentally burning her, preferring instead to claim he was never going to firebend again, despite already knowing, at that point, that he was going to need to master fire along with the other elements to become a fully realized Avatar and defeat the Firelord.

He didn’t help Katara keep them alive during The Desert. (In fact, he ran off, leaving her to desperately try to keep Sokka and Toph from succumbing to the heat while worrying for his safety.) In The Painted Lady, Katara makes the decision to stall the Gaang and do what she can to help the Fire Nation villagers on her own--Aang agrees to help her when he finds out, but he wasn’t actually instrumental in her making that choice. The Puppetmaster was, again, Katara finding a master of her own, and having to deal with the fallout from that. And in The Southern Raiders, Aang was--perhaps unknowingly, if I’m being generous, because he is a child and could not reasonably be expected to fully understand the implications of what he was asking her to do or why it was impossible--actively impeding Katara’s development! She desperately needed closure, something he could not understand and actively belittled and dismissed. The only reason he relented in the end (but not without a condescending ‘I forgive you! Does that give you any ideas???’ parting shot lmao) was because Katara was planning to take Appa anyway, and letting her go (and hoping she’d just magically wind up doing things his way) was easier than trying to fight her on it.

While Aang’s existence was necessary for Katara to start down her own path, she needed neither his guidance nor his approval to follow it--and absolutely nothing would change about Katara’s arc if you removed their romantic relationship entirely.

Possibly because the only changes needed to do so would be to remove the two times Aang kissed Katara without her consent (which, hopefully, no one would actually miss), and the epilogue kiss (which was awkward and unnecessary to begin with, since ending the entire show on a romantic kiss as the final shot kind of missed the point of the story to begin with, but that’s another discussion). None of these kisses (which are the only moments in which Katara’s feelings for Aang are so much as addressed; do note that addressing them, or hinting that they needed to be, is not the same as saying she exhibited any sign of reciprocating them) altered anything about Katara’s behavior, her personal arc, or (and perhaps most critically) her relationship with Aang.

It’s that last point that is really damning, as far as ‘Katara obviously had feelings for Aang, she kissed him in the finale!’ goes. Because she didn’t ‘obviously’ have feelings for him. And the fact that he kissed her before the invasion and then she forgot about it (she literally had no idea what he was talking about during the play’s intermission until he reminded her that he’d kissed her) is pretty clear evidence that she didn’t actually have feelings for him. Not the kind he had for her.

I’ve been a teenage girl. I know what it’s like to be surprise!kissed by your crush. And I absolutely for a full fact know that I had not completely forgotten about that kiss three months later and had, in fact, spent most of my waking hours thinking about it and remembering it and trying to talk to him about it. Now, granted, I was not in the middle of a war, but even if I had been, I doubt I would have needed reminding about the fact that the boy I’ve supposedly been developing feelings for had kissed me and showed clearly that he had those feelings for me too.

At the very least, if Katara was harboring feelings that she was worried about approaching until after the war, her relationship dynamic with Aang should have shifted. But it didn’t. She acted the exact same way with him after the Day of Black Sun as she did before it--that is, as a mother figure and a caretaker, responsible for his wellbeing. (And it’s clear she never took him down off the pedestal she needed him to occupy, either--let it not be said that the unhealthy aspects of their relationship only went one way.)

And book 3 is, incidentally, where Katara went from being vital to Aang’s development to being detrimental to it--or, rather, Aang’s refusal to let go of his attachment to her (despite ostensibly having done as much at the end of book 2) was. Because despite having been told by, perhaps, the greatest authority left in the world on Air Nomad culture (even more than Aang, who had left his temple with a child’s understanding of his culture that was never able to mature because he got stuck in the ice berg while his people were wiped out) that he had to let go of his possessive attachment to this girl who never even expressed the possibility that she might harbor romantic feelings for him to begin with, after Azula killed him and Katara brought him back, he went right back into the mindset of Katara is mine, it’s just a matter of time.

And the narrative validated him for it.

Notice how, during Ember Island Players, Aang says the following (emphasis mine):

“We kissed at the invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together. But we’re not.”

First of all, if you go back and watch the scene, it’s clear it wasn’t a mutual kiss. Aang sprang a surprise kiss on Katara, which left her shocked and unhappy after he flew off. (The decision to have her looking away and frowning was a deliberate one on the part of Bryke, who wanted Katara’s feelings kept ambiguous. Heaven forbid you allow the animators to make it clear that this fourteen-year-old girl who was just kissed without her consent by someone she’d never once demonstrated romantic feelings toward might actually have some. Heaven forbid she have a little agency in her own romantic narrative. But whatever.)

Second, he says he thought they were gonna be together.

He thought.

He never once even asked Katara what she thought--or even how she felt. He just assumes. He assumes that if he kisses her, she’ll kiss him back and they’ll get together. He assumes that she must have feelings for him, even though her body language is closed off and she told him with her words that she did not want to talk or think about this right now, and kisses her regardless of those signals, upsetting her and leading her to storm off.

And the narrative rewards him, because despite the fact that they don’t have a single significant scene together after that second disastrous kiss, Katara just decides off-screen that she Does Love Him Really and walks onto the balcony to make out with him.

The upshot of all this being that, while Katara was indeed instrumental to a lot of Aang’s early growth and development, Aang was not necessary for her own arc, and their romantic relationship (such as it was) actively hampered Aang’s development in book 3, while removing it would change absolutely nothing for Katara (except saving her from some painfully embarrassing memories).

As far as your third point, I’m simply not going to get baited into explaining how reducing Zutara to an ‘oppressor/oppressed’ relationship is not only insulting to interracial couples irl (not to mention any other couple with a potentially unbalanced dynamic of societal power, since there are many more axis of oppression than just racial), but demeaning to Zuko and Katara, their personal arcs as well as their relationship development together.

However, I will point out that Zuko was not responsible for any of Katara’s trauma. She did not find violence and fighting in bending battles to be traumatic--in fact, she reveled in it. She enjoyed fighting against Zuko at multiple points (especially noticeable in their battle at the end of book 1), because she wanted to fight--she always had--and once she had the ability, she was ready to throw down with anyone who gave her the slightest reason. (Including, by the way, her own potential waterbending master.) Aang’s death at the end of book 2 was Azula’s doing, and while I think that contributed to Katara’s extreme reaction to Zuko joining the gaang, it was not something for which she actively blamed him, and it wasn’t something she believed would be repeated--she let him go off alone on a journey to find the original firebending masters with Aang well before she chose to forgive him. So she already trusted Zuko’s intentions and that Aang would be safe with him.

Finally, because this has gotten long enough already, I hope you now understand that Zuko and Katara getting together would not require ignoring any of their development with their canonical romantic partners. We’ve already established that Katara’s arc wouldn’t change in the slightest if all of Aang’s romantic advances were removed, and I haven’t even gotten into how Mai meant nothing in the grand scheme of Zuko’s development because I’m pretty sure that’s just self-evident. I mean, the video compilation put together by Nick showcasing Zuko’s journey throughout the series doesn’t include a single scene with Mai, though it does include several with Katara, and even Jin makes an appearance--because Katara, and even Jin, played key roles in Zuko’s personal journey, while his relationship with Mai happened entirely off-screen and her only real function was to showcase just how unhealthy trying to force himself back into the role of the Crown Prince was for him.

What development, exactly, is there between them to even ignore?

At any rate, I’ve gone on long enough--I hope you enjoy the fact that you activated my wordvomit trap card right when i was about to go to bed, anon, because I just spent two hours writing this instead. In case you’re interested in the TL;DR: at the end of the day, there was no meaningful, mutual development in Kataang’s romantic relationship, and those romantic feelings that did exist were largely one-sided and ultimately detrimental to Aang’s development in the final third of his overall arc. Meanwhile, Mai meant nothing to Zuko’s journey--rather like Aang’s romantic overtures, she could be removed from the show completely and nothing about his story would change--while Zuko and Katara were both vital to each other’s overall storylines, arcs and development. This, coupled with the fact that Zuko never actually traumatized Katara and, in fact, helped her achieve closure from the biggest source of her own trauma, means that Zuko and Katara have better and more believable build up that could potentially lead to a romantic relationship than either of them have with their canon romantic partners.

So no, anon, I didn’t forget anything--I think you may have, though. Perhaps a rewatch is in order? Make sure not to close your eyes for the back half of book 3 this time.

#atla #zutara #zuko #katara #aang salt #kataang salt #maiko salt #salt for ts #just trying to cover my bases #asked #Anonymous

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bucky-blogs · 4 years

Text

Longing

Pairing: Zuko x Reader

Word Count: 2, 713

Warnings: None

Synopsis: “I saw that you were taking Zuko requests. If you have the time could you please write me headcanons or a short fic where they go to see the Ember Island play and the actors kiss and everyone is like "That did't actually happen, right?" and zuko and the reader are like, "Um... about that." Sorry if it's too confusing. Please and thank you.” requested by Anon

Being one of the swamp benders for so long, you’ve never been outside of the Foggy Swamp. When the Avatar and his friends came, you were excited. You were always curious about what’s outside the foggy swamp. For years, you were only hearing stories from Due and Huu. Your mother and father died young, and Huu was the one who stood to be your father figure.

As a water bender, he helped you with your skills. While Huu helped you use water bending as a way of bringing life, Due helped you use your bending for combative skills. At the age of 16, you’re already a master based on the knowledge your fellow swamp tribe taught you.

You were practicing with Huu that day when the Avatar and his friends came. It was fascinating seeing people from outside the swamp. After talking to them, you joined their little group. Joining them on adventures and using your skills for good is a great experience for you. Although you miss your tribe, this was the best time of your life.

Katara and you would exchange knowledge and help each other as both of you were water benders, you taught her some combat style water bending while she taught you how to heal. You would always help Aang feed Appa and bond with him by sparring with him whenever you guys could. Toph, Sokka, and you were the trio that annoyed Katara at times. Whenever the three of you were together, she always knew that you were planning something mischievous.

As you and the gang were staying in Ba Sing Se, you were always out and exploring the place; everything fascinated you. Houses with roofs, the sun looking towards you, people interacting and children playing on the streets. Because you lived in the swamp for so long, you haven’t seen the sun much. Nature was your number one friend.

While you were walking, you noticed a commotion in one of the shops; crowds of people were walking towards it.

“I was told they have the best tea in the city!” one of the bystanders said. You were curious, you’ve never had tea in your life. You walked towards the place with admiration for this tea thing, wanting to try it. As you went in, you saw two workers, one old man and a guy your age, his face looked like he didn’t want to be there and you giggled at his expression.

Zuko wore a frown on his face as the tea shop was being bombarded with people, having heard that his uncle makes great tea. He was wiping one of the tables when he heard a giggle at his side, he immediately stood up straight at the sound and looked at the sound. He saw a girl about his age, with [Y/H] and long [Y/HC], she was grinning at him and looking at the place.

“Can I help you?” he asked you, sounding bored and annoyed.

“What is tea? I heard people talking about how this is one of the greatest things here,” you asked him, a curious expression on your face that Zuko couldn’t help but admire the innocence.

“You’ve never had tea in your life?” Zuko asked, confused. Who in the world hasn’t heard of or had tea? This girl looked like she was just born yesterday. But based on the look on her face, it really looked like a genuine question. She really doesn’t know what tea is.

That was the start of you always going to their tea shop. Every day you would visit the boy and his uncle, and you invited him after his shift to walk the streets. You got to know him more, and he discovered that you were from the swamp tribe. When he learned that you were traveling with the Avatar, his eyes grew wide. Maybe you were the answer to his quest, he would lead you to him and capture him and get his honor back.

It sounded wrong though, you were too precious for him to lose, and it would break your heart. He was beginning to feel something towards you. The next day, he planned a day for you two where he would reveal his true identity. Hiding things from you made him uncomfortable and he wanted you to know who he really was. He liked you so much. You were different from every person he met. You were curious about the world, you were innocent, careful, and attentive. You were always full of questions about everything that he couldn’t help but answer because he liked talking to you. Even though there’s a war raging on, you still had a positive spirit that he admired. Now, he decided he didn’t want to hide any more. He wanted you to know the real him and not as Lee from the tea shop.

You were waiting outside the tea shop for Zuko; he had invited you for a night out and to enjoy the festival that was going on. “Look at you! You look so cute”, you complimented him as you ruffled his neatly combed hair, giggling all the while. “Hey! My uncle took ten minutes to do my hair.” he blushed. He loved the feeling of your hand on his hair. You grabbed his hand and linked it with yours and started walking towards the plaza.

“I know we’re both new to the city but, how are you liking it here so far?”, you asked as you try different foods, humming as you found a particular food you like. Zuko glanced at his food, playing with it, losing his appetite and getting nervous as he was about to tell you his secret.

“It’s great”, he said simply. You smiled at him and answered your own question, “Well I found it nice. It’s kinda weird because no one knows about the war here but everything seems so peaceful!”

“[Y/N], I have something to say,” he suddenly stated, his nerves getting the best of him as his palms got clammy. “Not here, let’s go somewhere quiet.” he grabbed your hand and you blushed. His hand was kind of rough and soft at the same time. It fit perfectly with yours, you couldn’t help harbor feelings towards him. He helped and cared for you. He would always answer whenever you had questions about the world.

Zuko dragged you to a quiet place, his hand holding yours tightly. He took a few steps forwards, his back facing you as he closed his eyes and told you about who he was, how he was Prince Zuko from the Fire Nation, and how he was banished and told to capture the Avatar to gain his honor back.

“I know,” you softly told him. “I may not know everything about the world, but I know who you are Zuko. I’ve known for quite some time now. At first, I can’t quite place who you were but I saw your face somewhere. I saw some wanted posters of you and your uncle. I didn’t tell the gang or anyone because I wanted to get to know you better. You aren’t your past, and based on why you’re here in Ba Sing Se, I felt like you needed a fresh start from everything that happened to you.”

You closed the distance between the two of you and put your arms around his neck.

“The one who could bring your honor is only yourself, Zuko. You are worth every chance life gives you. Always remember who you are.”

Zuko’s eyes widened. He suddenly remembered what his mother told him the night she left. He looked at you with so much love and care. No one has told such sweet things to him before. He closed the distance between your faces and locked his lips with yours.

The kiss that you were yearning for, you returned with the same love for him. He was worth it. Prince Zuko was always worth it.

Time has passed as you and Zuko continue to get to know each other, stealing a few kisses here and there. You helped him and his uncle move to the upper ring, helping them set the shop up and even helping when there are lots of customers. When Katara discovered the tea shop, you and Zuko agreed to lay low for a while.

Days turned to months since you last saw Zuko, you weren’t there when Azula shot Aang with lightning but you heard from Katara about his betrayal. The hurt you felt was indescribable, it broke you knowing that the one you love has betrayed you but deep inside, you know that Zuko is just being blinded by his false honor. As you await the day of the black sun, all you could think about was him. You never mentioned your experience with Zuko to anyone. He was your secret, your escape from everything.

Despite his betrayal, you still had hope for him. You kept telling yourself that you knew the real Zuko, and he would never do that. You prayed to the spirits to help Zuko find his way back to you, so you could finally tell him how much he meant to you and forever care for him as much as he cared for you back in Ba Sing Se.

Everyone sensed how much happier you had been when Zuko finally joined your group, they were confused, as you were the only one to not get angry when he joined and accepted him fully in the group.

Zuko, though happy to see you smiling and healthy, felt ashamed of his actions. He would avoid you despite you trying to care for him and help him open up more to the group. He couldn’t face you knowing he betrayed you for his honor. He couldn’t put into words how he could ask for your forgiveness and make it up to you. Every day back in the fire nation, he would always think of you as his hope. Being without you felt wrong, it was like half of his soul was with you so he did everything he could to get back to you, but now that you were with him, he felt at ease.

You and the gang arrived in Ember Island and stayed by the Fire Lord’s beach house. Zuko couldn’t help but admire you in your fire nation disguise. It was Azula’s old clothes that fit you and you looked regal. He blushed when he saw you, Aang seeing the red on Zuko’s face and moved his eyes to where he was looking at and saw you. Aang’s eyes grew wide at Zuko’s blushing face as he went to where you, Katara, and Toph were talking. Sokka and Suki came back from their exploring, a flyer on Sokka’s hand.

“You guys are not going to believe this. There's a play about us.” Sokka told everyone.

“We were just in town and we found this poster.” Suki added.

“How is that possible?” Katara asked, glancing at the poster.

“Listen to this. The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu On Tim who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage!" Sokka exclaimed, sounding excited about the play. "Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players.” Suki said as she read the last line.

“Ugh. We used to go there. they butchered ‘Love Amongst the Dragons’ every year.” Zuko scoffed, remembering the times his mother made them go there.

You shrugged, “I don’t know, it could be fun”

Eventually, everyone agreed. You were sitting next to Zuko with Katara on your other side. Aang frowns, wanting to sit next to Katara, you give him an apologetic smile as he sat next to Zuko’s other side.

The play was fun, you were laughing at how they portrayed your friends, laughing especially at Zuko’s.

“I think it’s pretty spot-on”, Katara said and you giggled

“How could you say that?” Zuko said and a few moments later. Ironically, his actor said the same thing, which made you laugh harder, Zuko blushed at the sound of your laugh. He really missed it.

The scene progressed to where you and the gang were in Ba Sing Se. Your eyes widened when they played the scene where you and Zuko were talking about his past.

“Oh, Lee! I’m such an innocent person! I have lived in the swamp for years. Tell me the purpose of this tea!” your actress said exaggeratedly.

“My name is not Lee. I am Prince Zuko and I must bring back my honor but I can’t help but be blinded by your beauty. You captured my heart!”, Zuko’s actor replied as the actor pulled your actress closer and they shared a passionate kiss.

“WHAT?!” Sokka exclaimed, “YOU GUYS KISSED?” Both you and Zuko blushed, not telling everyone of your history. You hid your face in Zuko’s shoulder, leaning against him as he blushed at the sight of you leaning against him. He was speechless. The others had a shocked expression on their faces as they looked between the both of you.

“We’ll explain later.” Zuko finally told everyone.

It was finally the intermission, your nerves brewing as everyone crowded you and Zuko with angry faces.

“When did this happen?” “Why didn’t you tell us?” “Were you just using her?”, Sokka, Katara, and Aang questioned at the same time. Toph just at the side, smiling at what’s going on.

“No! I’m not using her! How could you say that?”, Zuko answered the question that bothered him the most. “It was both of our decisions not to tell anyone because we knew we were gonna get in trouble. But know that my feelings are real. I didn’t even know [Y/N] was part of your team and when I found out, I-...I knew that I shouldn’t hide who I am to her. I don’t want to hurt her but it’s too late. I hurt her and everyone by my betrayal. I was scared. I got blinded by my honor, and I hurt everyone. Especially you, [Y/N]” he explained,turning his body towards yours. “I want to apologize to you, every day I keep thinking of how I could betray and hurt you. I made so many mistakes and I understand if you can’t return the feelings anymore. I was scared and confused and I know that you can’t forgive me after everything I’ve done.”

“Zuko…” you said softly holding his hand.

“[Y/N], you taught me that my honor isn’t something that anyone can give but myself. You taught me that I should always remember who I am and I’m sorry it took so long before I figured it out.” he kneeled in front of you, his head bowed at your feet. You didn’t notice that your friends already went back inside leaving the two of you alone.

“Zuko, I already forgave you. Everyday I would pray to the spirits to lead you back to me, lead you back to the right path. I never gave up on you. I told you Zuko, you’re worth every chance. Prince Zuko, you are worth it.” you told him, kneeling down as well.

You softly caressed the side where his scar is, his eyes brimming with tears as you leaned in, kissing his forehead.

“I’m just glad you’re here now.”

He wrapped his arms around you, hugging you tightly, not wanting to let go in fear of this being a dream. “I’m scared of losing you. I’m sorry for everything that I have done, for abandoning you, for making the wrong choice.”

“I forgive you Zuko. It doesn’t matter if you made a wrong choice.The important part is you learned from your mistakes and are doing everything you can to make it right.”

That night you stayed by his side, refusing to let go of his hand, occasionally whispering sweet things in his ear. This wasn’t the end, this was only the beginning. What’s important is that you’re together. Like a puzzle piece, you complete one another.

A/N: So this is my 100 follower celebration oneshot!! I can’t believe that my fat ass managed to get 100 followers. Thank you everyone and my friends who supported me specially @knaite-solo who’s always been there for me!!! Thank you to @aceavatar and @zukoszukhoes for beta reading this fic, I appreciate what you’ve done to make this one shot better than what I initially did! I owe you guys one. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I swear I’ll try to be active and take in more request and make more fics. I’m planning a full fanfic soon but I’m still working on some details. Thank you everyone and stay quenched!!

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narrativelysignificantturtleduck · 3 years

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@volkswagonblues re: your post about fandom perception of iroh - i started writing my thoughts and i realized i had too many to fit in tags so here they are in post form

(tw: discussions of abuse dynamics)

i think he genuinely regrets what he did, has grown and changed from his days as an imperialist. there's something so lovely about how he treats people in tales of ba sing se, the way he's so genuinely kind to everyone he meets and encourages the best in them. and then we get to lu ten "if only i could have saved you". it's easily read as "if only i had been a kind man then, you would not be dead". i really do feel his pain there.

so, if iroh wants to maintain a relationship with zuko, he can't directly challenge zuko's beliefs about his father or his nation. he has to seem like he's helping zuko in his quest. we see that when he does challenge zuko's beliefs, it drives zuko away from him ("zuko alone", "the crossroads of destiny"). when he joined zuko in exile, he made the difficult decision to put taking action against his nation on hold to help guide zuko.

however, the fact that he only changes his ways after his son dies - that makes me a bit uncomfortable. like how did you not notice earlier? why did it take being personally affected to see this? even though he's genuinely changed, i can imagine many characters who've been harmed by the fire nation not trusting him. in particular, i doubt he'd gain the trust of many adults, who'd have clear memories of crown prince iroh.

i think his relationship with zuko might be where we get this idea that he did very little to fight against his nation. after all, he helps zuko in his quest to capture the avatar and clearly still holds some power. but i see this as actually a very smart way of dealing with someone who's trapped in the cycle of abuse. a trapped abuse victim is not going to take kindly to someone criticizing their abuser or trying to forcefully pull them out of the environment.* they think their abuser is good and correct and that anyone who criticizes just doesn't understand. abusers isolate their victims from other support systems to make them reliant on the abuser, to maintain control over their victims' lives.

*this is also why he doesn't intervene with azula. zuko being exiled offers iroh an opportunity to become a new guiding figure in his life, while both ozai and a trapped azula are going to resist any attempt to remove her from that environment. when he says "she's crazy and needs to go down" he a) has just been shot full of her lightning, and b) is supporting zuko in turning against his family. does he wish he'd been able to help azula? probably. can he take action to help her without incurring ozai's wrath or jeopardizing zuko's growth? no, probably not.

so far, i've been way more positive than i thought i would be, as someone whose blog title comes from a post saying "fuck iroh". i think that's because i see iroh mainly as...limited. if you want a fire nation character who takes a bold stand against their nation, you're better off with jeong jeong or zuko. if you want a mentor figure who can help a teen character who's been hurt by the fire nation, you're better off with characters like hakoda, bato, kanna, bumi, or tyro (haru's dad, underrated imo) who can relate to those experiences. i think having iroh be korra's spirit world guide was a mistake born of "old asian man must be spiritual" and "let's bring back a fan favorite", and aang would've been a better choice. iroh is a well-written character, but sometimes fandom (and the show creators, in lok's case) wants him to be things i know he's not.

regarding the question "lovable wise old uncle or hypocrite centrist liberal war criminal?" - i guess i probably lean towards the centrist liberal war criminal side of things, personally. not because i don't think he's wise about certain things (his handling of zuko, as i said), but because it makes it harder for me to like him. he's casually sexist (his treatment of june, the gender role gifts he gives zuko and azula), and i think he'd be casually heteronormative right up until zuko comes out, at which point he will become an overly supportive but good-hearted straight ally. he's clearly more interested in working within the system than tearing it down, since he focuses his energy on redeeming the heir to the throne over literally any other avenue for making change. it took being personally affected by the war for him to realize it was wrong. i could sit and have a nice cup of tea with him, get some advice, but i know there's a limit to what i can expect of him.

#atla #iroh #nina's personal log

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sofieeisstupid · 3 years

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Avatar Naruto AU??

Ok so I saw this post on instagram about a ATLA Naruto AU and I can't stop thinking about it. There's so much that could work here and I just need to write it down somewhere. soo uhhh here's some brain vomit

Featuring:

Firebending Prince Sasuke on a quest to get revenge on his brother for murdering the rest of the royal family and throwing the fire nation into chaos.

Airbending Avatar Naruto who needs to find a new home for the almost wiped out air nomads and oh yeah that world-peace nonsense, might as well help the flamebrain to help the fire nation not collapse.

Earthbender Sakura who doesn't like to bend at first cause it's dirty, but she is driven to be as strong as her friends and to protect her country from being in the middle of another war.

Firebender Kakashi who is Sasuke's tutor + secret royal guard member assigned to keep him safe while on his 'sabbatical'. Also Mr. oh gosh these kids are going to kill themselves I should probably train them

Very vague sense of a timeline:

The fire nation has been waging war on the rest of the word and the air nomads are very very close to being dead and Itachi is groomed from a young age to further the fire nations might across the world.

So the white lotus comes in and is like "itachi you are the only way the cycle of hate ends, you must end it or the other nations will end you." And Itachi does his thing and murders everyone to save his brother. Oop.

Sasuke grows up in the midst of a crumbling fire nation with no family and a bunch of politicians trying to control him to control the future of the fire nation.

Eventually he's like enough is enough ima just leave and kill my brother. He almost makes it out but Kakashi finds him and is like lol ok you can go, but I have to come with you.

They 'steal' a boat and set out to the earth kingdom where shit starts to happen and Sakura and Naruto come into the picture.

He meets Sakura first after inadvertently saving her town while on the hunt for Itachi, she wants to be able to protect herself and admires his strength.

Naruto is next, he's been traveling around the Earth Kingdom doing war relief measures and trying to find a new home for the air nomads. He knows his duty is to bring peace and all that nonsense and his avatar senses are telling him this annoying jerk is the answer?! He's not pleased, but does figure that by traveling with them he can scout more places for a new air temple.

Anddd that's as far as i got. tbh I have no idea what this is or what do do with it but it wouldn't stop playing in my brain so I like fuck it ima write it down, that's what this place is for right? 😋

#naruto #naruto au #avatar the last airbender #atla au #headcanon #team 7 #but like with bending #random musings #what is this #what has my brain created

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worstloki · 4 years

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Wait...ATLA AU with Waterbender!Loki, and FireNation!Asgard. Mayhaps the spirits are more relevant in this AU, so people especially blessed by non-main/non-elemental spirits (so anyone other than La, Tui, Agni, uhhh Guain and Shu are the earth kingdom ones I think, and The Autumn Lord or air) can have some manipulation of Qi, but it works differently and is very, very rare, depending on the power level of the spirit, a bending blessing can last 1 generation without renewing it through more bending blood, or like 20 generations but it skips a few. So you can have Non-bender (but actually water bender Loki), or Insert Cannon Spirt that can give him some shape shifting blessed and maybe still Water bender but figures that that out waay later Loki. This ask is a little bit of a mess, but just Water Tribe Loki (who’s stuffed full of ‘water Tribe’s are barbaric’ propaganda) Living in Fire Nation Asgard.

because Loki, like me, simply must be the center of the universe:

- Asgard is the fire nation, obviously, and Odin has 3 kids: the fire-bending lightning-bending prodigy daughter, the spare fire-bender who is good but not as good who will strive to do what his father asks because Father simply must be right (even if he’ll realize later and switch sides), the non-bender who is the dishonorable family disgrace who freaks out and makes a run from home when he realizes he can water bend and neither of his parents can and realizes he was adopted? stolen?? and is maybe the avatar and oh frick Odin’s razing the other nations trying to find the avatar and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

- The “air nation” can be four temples/realms (svartalfheim, alfheim, vanaheim, muspelheim) which were wiped out on by the last Sozin’s comet, so the cycle moved on to the water nation (southern water tribe/jotunheim) (northern water tribe/nifleheim) and there ain’t no way he’s going there those people are barbaric monsters... aren’t they?

- he joins a Midgardian (earth-kingdom) circus road-trip that’s touring across the realms (yes, he juggles) that’s actually just the Avengers and maybe they’re all non-benders? maybe some of them are? None of them are too flashy but Loki’s trying to observe the mix of bending styles and pick up on bending techniques without making it too obvious that he’s not a non-bender

- cue Loki getting in touch with the Earth spirit and getting some neat blessing gifts with bending and now he can Earth bend too and suddenly BAM Thor attacks the circus and Loki water bends to defend his circus friends from his fire and they make eye contact and Loki is so scared/devastated at having to go up against Thor who is angry at Loki for leaving home and has been tasked to retrieve Loki - the water bending throws Thor off and in his confusion Loki freezes him to the ground and apologizes and runs for it.

- now the circus folks are all “um, dude??? the prince of the fire nation just attacked us and you didn’t tell us you could bend?? what’s up with that???” so he tells them he may or may not be Fire Nation Prince Loki and they all feel betrayed because “those colonialist jerks??” but Loki explains how he’s actually a water bender... and may also be an earth bender... and they’re all totally on-board with the avatar returning because it’s about time and the earth kingdom is on thin ice with them (ba sing se is Svartalfheim btw) and yes the reason we’re a mix of benders is because this circus is actually the white lotus the avengers and were touring the realms to low-key try finding the avatar who is supposed to be the saving grace and end of this war please

- now the circus folks are helping Loki meet all the other nation spirits (yes they venture into the terrifying Jotunheim and Nifleheim while searching for the spirit (”what do you mean you don’t know where the spirit is?? how’d you find the last ones??” “I only met one!! and it came to me!!” “well I guess we’re stuck searching everywhere in this frozen wasteland then”) and additionally he only gets to meet the spirit who grants him the bending after he accepts parts of himself and others (for example, the water bending was a result of him finally realizing that he didn’t stand a chance at the throne and it wasn’t until every shred of hope that Odin could one day be proud of him was gone that he was messing with the turtleduck pool and maybe saw the water spirit in the reflection and bent water) (the earth spirit comes to him when he accepts that there are people that will still be proud of him and he can move on with life because the circus folk like him for who he is and were excited when he successfully landed a bunch of throwing knives on targets and decided on that as an act he can do)

- The circus folk are also trying to teach Loki what little they know about bending btw since he’s admitted to copying and mixing their techniques together (he does all the bending in one style and yes it’s as chaotic for the opponent as that sounds because you can never tell what he’s going to bend) but there 100% has to be an episode where he steals the water-scroll

- Thor chases them down and Loki can bend water now?? and he’s just trying to bring Loki back like Odin asked him too and then one time he catches up to them and Loki panics and bends Earth too and Thor realizes and stops fighting and tells Loki to just go. Thor goes back to the Fire Nation and argues with Odin and calls him out because Loki is the avatar?? he’s from the water tribe?? and he feels betrayed and does the Zuko-Ozai-Black-Sun-Speech-Without-The-Black-Sun about how neither Loki nor Thor need to prove themselves and he won’t tear this family apart any further (Frigga is in fact an absent mother here btw) and then Thor goes and chases Loki down over weeks and saves him (blue mask hero?? except... feathered-helmet hero??) from Fire Nation soldiers who got their hands on him and the circus folk are NOT happy to have him around (air bending comes to Loki when he finally forgives Thor for being an arrogant self-righteous meanie to him for years because Hela is attacking them now and this is so much worse and Thor gets his eye burnt by Hela and Bruce isn’t that good but he can water-bend and heal a bit so it’s not too bad and he takes a moment to breathe and goes for a walk and BAM air spirit)

- they get attacked a few more times, loki tries getting over the trauma that is realizing the harm that the fire nation has done to all the other realms (and thor is learning this too by the way so when hela attacks you bet they try mentioning the damage and loss of culture the fire nation is resposible for even if she doesn’t care because she’s the heir she needs to be perfect because her two brothers weren’t and look what happened to them they were exiled and live with a blasphemous blend of peasants (and rich-kid-metal-bending-earth-nation-runaway-royalty tony (”WHAT?! SO THAT’S WHERE YOU GET THE MONEY?? I thought you were scamming people not selling cool metal toys and what are we doing that attracts all these royal snobs to us??”))

- Loki has a dream where the fire spirit tells him to keep searching and then one day Hela goes to burn Thor again and Loki just goes ahead and fire bends right back at her and hoo boy his fire isn’t blue but it sure is a lot and Thor does the “........YES!!!” thing and Hela gets stuck in a ring of fire while everyone else laughs and leaves and she can’t lose so watch as her “close friends” end up not being ty lee and mai but the valkyries (the kyoshi warriors are the Red Room Assassins in this AU and no it’s not a childhood torture house it’s just a mostly-women midgardian protection group (maybe Nat trained there so if the circus ever bumps into them she’ll know them? Jane should get to be one of them too even if she’s more into inventing... she and tony should Talk... maybe she and Pepper can beat him up and give him some Respect Women Juice the same way Sokka got his?))

- epic chase across the realms since Loki can bend all the elements now he just needs to figure out how the Avatar state works but until then the gaang is struggling to stay ahead of the Valkyries and get Loki trained up to take down Odin (Thor teaches Loki fire bending so that’s covered but no one else except Tony who is a metal-bending expert really learnt properly and Loki isn’t even a metal-bender)

- eventually Hela snaps from all the losses and as she becomes more unhinged Brun jumps sides and Hela kills off (or fires, if we’re staying PG) the rest of the Valkyries and now Brun is super guilty but she’s fighting to avenge them now

- blah blah blah Sozin’s comet day and Loki goes up against Odin with the help of the Avengers (maybe Thor can take down Hela with the help of Brun and Nat?) etc. etc.

- so anyways Loki takes Odin’s fire bending and that was the first time he’s entered the Avatar state and when everyone asks how it felt Loki goes “oh i’m not the avatar”

- “you’re WHAT” “not it” “but you JUST went into the avatar state and everything” “yeah and kyoshi gives good head pats but I’m not it” “but-- you mastered ALL THE ELEMENTS?!” “yeah because I was gifted them by the spirits” “but you needed to renew the cycle after it was gone from the world for so long--” “nah I think the spirits just liked me and wanted me to have it” “they... just... like... you...??” “yeah” “so you actually ARE a non-bender Brother??” “oh yeah definitely I was, but not anymore :)” “so you ARE the avatar”

- [twenty minutes later] “I just went into the avatar state and they just told me i’m not it” “...this happened while you were in the avatar state though???” *shrugs* “eh” “don’t SHRUG this off is there an actual avatar out there or no???” “maybe the real avatar was the friends we made along the way” “shouldn’t we go find them???” *cue everyone setting out on another grand quest to find the ~actual~ Avatar*

#ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS #okay so Avatar!Loki AU but also not #just because #I hope you didn't expect a short response #I may have gone overboard #just a bit #just a small tad teensy weensy bit #now if only someone would write this #I love the idea of Loki being a water bender living in Fire Nation Asgard though #like... the drama #Loki would have a Thor-1-worthy breakdown upon finding out #he'd jump to conclusions and be right #and then when he actually meets another water bender it'll be BRUCE and he's NICE #loki's going to be getting whiplash #the entire show is going to be like Zuko ALone with the learning except Loki isn't alone

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havendance · 4 years

Text

More AtLA x Leverage Crossover

Because I still have a lot of thoughts. This is getting closer and closer to something I actually might write the more I think about it. The leverage crew + kids is top tier content and Zuko is prime adoption material. Look, he and Parker would get along great, that’s all I’m saying.

Edit: Now an actual story! Check it out here.

Background:

This takes place vaguely during season 5 of Leverage. Definetly before Eliot gets that haircut.

Zuko gets burned and banished and dumped in the states. Either at a port in boston, or a port on the west coast from which he eventually makes his way to Portland. It’s basically one of those ‘Zuko got dumped in the Earth Kingdom and gets adopted’ fics except it’s America instead of the Earth Kingdom. Nothing changes about the adoption portion. He’s got nothing but the clothes on his back, the knife his uncle gave him, and some money that was gone far too soon.

There’s bending in this world, mainly localized to the four nations. Zuko’s still a firebender. Anyone who’s a bender in cannon is a bender here. The Leverage crew is almost entirely non-benders like the majority of people in the US. Parker, however, has grey eyes and feels most alive when she’s falling, the wind rushing around her. Her bending isn’t conscious, she probably isn’t even aware of it, but she definitely has air in her blood. (Look airbender!Paker is just too perfect to pass up.)

For that matter, there’s also an Avatar in this world. They’re primarily a religious figure, also localized to the four nations. They’re still a master of all four elements, but their main role is that of the bridge between the spirit world and the material world. They haven’t been seen in a hundred years, possibly more, since the massacre of an Air Nomad Temple was the starting incident in what would prove to be a century of tension and intermittent war in the region. Zuko’s quest is still to find the Avatar and it’s just as impossible in canon except a little moreso because of the whole getting dumped in the US with zero resources thing. If you want to regain your honor, find the avatar, Ozai said. Just don’t expect any help.

The Story:

Parker finds him first. She’s out doing what she does for fun which usually involves climbing high buildings and breaking into places, etc. She runs into Zuko who’s doing roughly the same thing. He’s not bad at it either for a kid, so Parker naturally decides to give him some tips. She also ends up scaring him, and well, there’s some running and chasing and in the end she brings him back either to the Brewpub.

Nate and Hardison would like to know where Parker stole this kid from. Eliot sighs and gets him something to eat. Sophie starts fussing over him.

Zuko dissolves a little under Sophie’s mothering. He imprints on everyone after a while but she has a way with people and he imprints on her first and hardest.

He also tells them that his name’s Lee.

It takes Hardison a little while to find out just who ‘Lee’ is. He may be a miracle worker, but the kid has a rather large and fresh burn scar that messes with the facial recognition software and Lee’s a common (and obviously fake) name. Combine that with the fact that the Fire Nation takes the privacy of their royal family very seriously and that the official story of Prince Zuko’s banishment is both highly edited and buried pretty deep and out of the way. All that put together doesn’t really make for an easy search.

Once he’s put all the pieces together though… There’s a video. It’s shaky and low quality but that doesn’t make what it’s showing any less horrifying. The Fire Nation’s suppressing it; it keeps getting taken down nearly as soon as it’s put up, but Hardison still stumbles across it. He actually finds it before he realizes that it’s Lee. He’s curious and gets about halfway through before realizing with growing horror just what’s about to go down and noping out. Later, after he’s gone through about 50 different emotions where at least half of them are some form of anger, he goes back and watches it all the way through, he figures he owes Lee/Zuko at least that much.

Nate has to be talked down from immediately flying Leverage out to the fire nation to orchestrate Ozai’s downfall by the rest of the crew when Hardison shares the story of just what happened to Zuko. They eventually plan to do a long-term plan acting against him (like with Moreau) because everyone wants to make Ozai suffer after what they learned, it’s just facing off against an entire Nation is a big deal, even if they already kind of did it with San Lorenzo.

Anyway, as a result of this, Nate’s plans to steal the Black Book and retire get pushed back. The rich and powerful can wait. This is scary!Nate that we saw in the cross my heart job.

By this point, they’ve basically adopted him and start training him to be just as kick-ass as they are:

Zuko’s good at sneaking, really good. Not as good as Parker of course, but he learns quickly. She teaches him the other aspects of thievery as well and while he isn’t quite as good at picking pockets as he is at scaling buildings and avoiding security, he’s still good.

He also radiates pure fight-me energy. Eliot teaches him how to fight without bending. He also teaches Zuko how to cook, which he does use his fire-bending for. It’s all about the context.

Sophie tries to teach him about grifting but while he can manage reading people he can’t lie to save his life.

Nate likewise tries to teach him plotting but Zuko’s default plan is definitely winging it so they clash there and ultimately give up

Zuko’s less interested in most of the stuff Hardison does, but he is very interested in all of the ways that he does research and ends up helping with that a lot. And if he’s using his spare time to do as much research into the Avatar and his missing mother as he can, well, it’s his spare time.

Nate and Zuko spend a lot of time denying their father-son dynamic. According to them, Zuko doesn’t need a new dad and Nate doesn’t need a new son. It’s inevitable though. Nate may be a drunk bastard, but this is a kid and he was a father once. Also, Ozai sucks.

Zuko and Sophie are theater buddies! They both love the stage so much but can’t act to save their life (on stage at least). They also have wildly differing opinions on what makes good theatre so when they go to plays they have long arguments about what the production did right/wrong afterward.

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storydays · 3 years

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Season 1, ep3, p2

"Your best friend is a.....polar bear dog." Mako started wearily, before smiling fondly at Neo, who grunted. "Somehow that makes perfect sense, considering." "I'll take that as a compliment, city boy." A few minutes later, they arrived to town square, looking around and didn't see a sign of you or Bolin. Neo stopped near Firelord Zuko's statue from his early days, looked up and barked. "Well, this is Bo's normal hang out spot, and Neo seems to have missed (Y/-" Mako was cut off by Neo running over to the kids playing nearby, licking one of the boys.

Laughing, the kids crowded around him and Naga, who followed her brother, ignoring the two approaching figures behind the two animals. "You guys seen my brother around here today?" Mako called, as the oldest turned towards them. "Perhaps. My memory's a little...foggy. Maybe you can help clear it up." The child sniffed, before holding his hand out. "You're good, Skoochy. A real pro." Mako chuckled, before handing the child a few coins. "Yeah, I've seen him." "When?" demanded the firebender. "About noon." "What was he doing?" A frown came onto Skoochy's face, as he recalled the earlier event. "He was performing some kind of monkey-rat circus, and then..." Turning, the kid held his hand out for more.

Skoochy yelped as a giant water hand picked him up, and brought him face to face with an unimpressed you. Chuckling sheepishly, he grinned at your raised eyebrow. "H-Hey, (Y/F/N)! How you doing?" "Skoochy, take the kids back to the Rosario, and do not come out without Mika." You said sternly, placing the child down and watching them run off. "Hey, come back here!" Mako called, before glaring up at a casual you, Korra laughing at you shrugging carelessly.

"I got a lead on where Bolin is," you jumped down in front of the two, sliding your glider into your holster on your back. "The Triple Threats, the Red Monsoons, the Agni Kais..all the triads are muscling up for something big..." "Meaning there's a turf war brewing, and Bolin's about to get caught right in the middle of it." Mako frowned, rubbing his forehead. "Yup, follow me. I managed to track him down, but it wouldn't hurt to have some backup; let's go."

Hopping onto Neo, you told him to go to the Triad's hideout, waited for Mako to get on, and the three of you take off on the Water Tribe animals, and cross the river, when Naga stopped and starting chasing a small animal. "Wait, Naga!" "That's Pabu!" Korra and Mako said at the same time. "No, Naga, Pabu is a friend, not food." Korra said sternly, as the two bumped noses and Pabu crawled onto Mako's shoulder. "We gotta hurry." reminded the firebender.

*At the hideout*

"Something's not right..there are usually thugs posted out front. We need to be--" Mako trailed off as Korra kicked the door in. Mako deadpanned as you strolled in, hands behind your head, looking around curiously at the trashed hideout. "Bolin? You here?" Mako called, looking around. You sensed Bolin's presence outside, and hurried outside, with water skin arms forming around your arms. You called out to the other two. "I've got visual on them! Let's go!" You realized that following them in plain view wasn't the best idea. "Neo, help Korra and Mako! I'm going solo!"

You veered right heading towards the rooftops, keeping an eye on the van and your surroundings. Mako fired a blast of fire towards the bikes, Korra used her earthbending but the kidnapper jumped over the earth, and another fired two ball traps toward the polar bear dogs, making the animals trip and send the Avatar and firebender to the ground. "Oh man." You stopped chasing Bolin and jumped down to protect Korra and Mako from the incoming enemy.

It was three on one with Korra getting neutralized early in the fight followed by Mako getting knocked down. You stood in front of them protectively, before using your waterbending to make a ice barrier, making the enemies send out canisters of gas and got back on their bikes zooming off.

Korra groaned, Naga helping her stand up, before trying to firebend. "Ugh! I can't bend! I can't bend!" She panicked. "Calm down, Korra." You stated, helping Mako up before Neo cuddled into your back. "It'll wear off. Those guys were chi blockers. They're Amon's henchmen." continued Mako stretched his arm out, as Korra did the same. "Amon? That anti-bending guy with the mask?"

You sat down on Neo's back cross-legged, closed your eyes and began searching for Bolin's spirit. "Yeah, he's the leader of the Equalists." "But what do they want with the Triple Threats?" wondered the Water Tribe girl. "Whatever it is..it can't be good. I can't believe Bolin got himself into this mess. " Mako pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed in annoyed concern. "Mako, we're going to save your brother, I promise you that." Korra and Mako stared into each other's eyes.

Neither noticed (e/c) eyes staring at them, before their owner smirked. You grabbed Neo's reigns, and coughed. They turned to him. "If you two are done with your romantic stare down.."They sputtered at him as he continued breezily. "I've found Bo again, but we need to go." Mako cleared his throat and hopped onto Neo's back. "Neo, let's go." You urge, heading towards the other side of town.

*timeskip*

You let Neo, Naga and Pabu rest near the warehouse, and threw clothes at Korra and Mako. "Hey, what are these for (Y/N)?" Korra asked, just as Mako asked, "How'd you get our measurements?" You scoff, tying your hair back, and pulling a headband on to hide your arrow. "Please, have you guys met hyper active airbenders? Instead of chasing them, I learned how to take measurements discretely. Anyway, we need those to get in to where they're keeping Bolin." They shrugged and went to go get change.

"You guys go first, and wait for me near the entrance. I'll enter after you guys." You watched as Korra wrapped her arm around Mako. You starred at them, looked at Neo, before laughing at the scene in front of you, your polar bear dog laughing aside you. "O-Okay," you snickered before sobering up. "Wait here for me boy, we'll be back." Neo nudged you, as you adjusted your coat, and heading towards the entrance.

"This is a private event, no one gets in without a invitation." The guard crossed his arm before you showed him a flyer you grabbed from the man in the park. "The revelation is upon us my brother. Enjoy." He stepped aside and let you in. You walked towards Korra and Mako and gasped at the insane of amount of people gathered.

"I knew a lot of people hated benders but I've never seen so many in one place." Mako mumbled. "Okay, Korra, you know what to do. Mako and I will go into the crowd and watch for Bolin. Stay safe." You all nodded, before splitting up. "And now, please welcome your hero, your savior, Amon!" an announcer called out, as said figure rose up from below the stage. You felt tremors running down your back seeing the masked man again.

'I'm not afraid of him. I'm prepared for him this time.' "My quest for equality began many many years ago. When I was a boy, my family and I lived on a small farm. We weren't rich, and none of us were benders. This made us very easy targets for the firebender who extorted my father. One day, my father confronted this man, but when he did, that firebender took my family from me, then he took my face."

Amon turned towards the crowd in front of him. "I've been forced to hide behind a mask, ever since. As you know, the Avatar has recently arrived in Republic City." Suddenly everyone began booing and jeering at the mention of Korra. "And if she were here, she would tell you that bending brings balance to the world, but she is wrong. The only thing bending has brought to the world is suffering."

You clenched your fists at this accusation. "It has been the cause of every war in every era, but that is about to change.I know you've been wondering what this whole 'revelation?' You are about to get your answer." You and Mako looked at each other in concern, before turning back to the stage. "Since the beginning of time, the spirits have acted as guardians of our world, and they haven spoken to me." 'Pfft, what a load of bison crap.' You snickered to yourself.

"They say the Avatar has failed humanity, that's why the spirits have chosen me to usher a new era of balance. They have granted me a power that will make equality a reality--The power to take away a person's bending away.....permanently." You couldn't help but gasp along with the crowd. "T-That's imp-possible. T-This guy is insane!" Mako raised an eyebrow at your stuttering, and wrapped an arm around your shoulders in comfort, like he does with Bolin.

"Now for a demonstration. Please welcome, "Lightning Bolt" Zolt leader of the Triple Triad, and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City." You watch as said criminal scowled at the crowd. The normals began booing him which resulted him saying back, "Ah, boo yourself!" You laugh at his sarcastic attitude. You watched as other members of the Triple Triad and Bolin be forced to kneel. "There's Bolin." You muttered to Mako. "What's taking Korra so long?" Mako muttered.

"Zolt has amassed a fortune by extorting and abusing non-benders but his reign of terror is about to come to an end. However, in the interest of fairness, I will give Zolt the chance to fight to keep his bending." The two backed up to give each other space, for a proper battle. "You're going to regret doing that, pal." Zolt smirked before they began fighting back and forth with Zolt getting more and more frustrated and finally began shooting lighting at Amon who moved quickly.

Amon grabbed Zolt by the back of his neck, and began doing something to him, you started shivering under Mako's arm. The lightning died down, and a burst of flame came from Zolt's hand, before he collapsed. ' W-what was that?' you thought as Zolt staggered to his feet. "What did you do to me?" he demanded. "Your firebending is gone...forever." Amon turned to the crowd and said strongly: "The era of bending is over. A new era of equality has begun." He raised his fist as the crowd around you begun shifting uncomfortably. "Not yet, (Y/N). We need to wait for Korra." Mako whispered, grabbing your hand stopping you from exposing yourselves. "B-But I can't just sit here and watch these other benders lose--" "I know, but unfortunately we have no choice," he hissed, mentally cursing your need to help others at this moment.

It was at that moment that steam entered the room, causing people to freak out. "Let's go." whispered Mako before you took to the stage, making icicles pop up entrapping Amon and his guards in place. Mako grabbed Bolin while Amon called to you, "You can try and resist all you want (Y/N) but I assure you, you will see things my way." You didn't reply but bended the steam to hide your escape.

You all run into the alleyway, discarding your clothes. But then heard Neo howling in pain and growling aggravation at the Equalists trying to tame him. You were torn between helping your friends, and helping your animal buddy. Then an Equalist slashed Neo with a knife and that was when you made your decision. You used nearby water to push yourself into the air and used the momentum to kick the enemies away and encased them into ice before sending them into the empty building nearby, effectively knocking him out. You exhaled sharply before turning to Neo's whimpering form, and your friends approaching you, from atop of Naga. You pulled water from you emergency pouch and began moving it across the wound.

Neo whinned in annoyance and you hummed in acknowledgement. "Sorry boy, I'm almost done. Are you guys okay?" You asked, not allowing yourself to stop healing. "Yes, we're fine. These two are a little fried but otherwise we're good." Neo licked you and stood up, stretching his leg carefully. Naga nudged him with snout before the two were ready to go. "Bo, you can ride with me." You offered a hand to the weary Earthbender. "Thanks for finding me (Y/N)." he mumbled sleepily, as you all escaped.

*Timeskip*

You walked wearily behind Korra, shaken from what you witnessed. "Thank goodness, I was just about to send out a search party. Are you two all right?" He placed a hand on both of your shoulders. "Mm-mm." "N-No Uncle." You looked over the ledge before jumping down, using the water to soften your fall, and running off to your mother's tree, exhaling heavily. You didn't blink when you felt the air move behind you.

"Uncle, when Amon took away the other's bendings, I felt their pain, surprise, and their sorrow, like nothing I've felt before." You turned around and sunk to your knees, feeling small. He sat next to you, draping his cloak over you. "That is because you are an empath, like your mother. She was connected with the spirits in a similar manner. Perhaps it's best if you talk to your gran-gran about this, try and get your mind back in the right place." You peek at him from under your bangs as Nevermore landed near you, and tilted her head curiously.

"Yeah, maybe."

#legend of korra #lok imagine #legend of korra x reader #male reader x legend of korra #legend of korra imagine

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jaceyneedsabetterusername · 4 years

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Brave Little Soldier Boy

Pairings: Zuko x Reader

Summary: When an attack on a Fire Nation troop goes awry, not everyone makes it out.

Warnings: DEATH. Sad stuff y’all, Descriptions of blood and wounds

Word Count: 1880

A/N: General Eiri is an OC. That’s about it. Also I’m really sorry for this because I love Zuko with my whole heart and don’t want anything bad to happen to him but this has been in my heads for days.

______________________________

The plan was simple. Just a quick guerilla style attack on a Fire Nation battalion that was headed towards one of the last Earth Kingdom cities that was not under the Fire Nation control. With a small militia of local soldiers and volunteers, most of which were benders, on top of having the avatar on your side, there was no reason it should have spiraled so out of control.

But it did.

It was obvious to you and Zuko that the battle would be much harder to win than initially expected the second you saw that General Eiri was leading the battalion. He was one of Ozai’s most trusted associates and one of the most revered generals in the army, known for getting results, regardless of the cost. His men were some of the best trained in the army. When you and Zuko saw him, both of you had a gnawing feeling of dread in the pits of your stomachs. By the time you knew it was his battalion, it was too late to tell the militia to change tactics.

The cost of the mistake had been the most brutal battle you’d ever been in.

Trees along the path were charred or still on fire. Bodies of Fire Nation soldiers and Earth Kingdom militia alike littered the ground. Everyone was soaking wet and had their fair share of bruises, cuts, and burns from the battle. The only reason you had won was because Aang’s avatar state was triggered when Katara was cornered by a group of fire benders who had her cornered, using their fire to suck the moisture from the air. Aang had sent nearly the entire river that flowed beside the path to sweep away the Fire Nation soldiers, leaving behind only the people part of your side.

You were on your hands and knees, coughing and sputtering the last drops of water from your lungs as you pushed yourself up and surveyed the damage. You’d seen battles before, even fought in some. Being Zuko’s lifelong best friend turned girlfriend, you chose to travel the world with him while he was in exile. As much as you regretted it, you were there for the attack on Kyoshi Island and several others along with Zuko on his quest to capture Aang. You had seen and done things you regretted. The remnants of this battle felt exactly like it did when you looked back on those regretful times.

When you looked around and saw the death and destruction, you couldn’t help but feel partially responsible. It wasn’t like you and Zuko knew beforehand that this was General Eiri’s army and even if you did, it wasn’t like you were going to just let them take the city. You knew deep down that there wasn’t another other way you would have handled the situation but you couldn’t help but feel irrationally guilty.

“Y/N! Are you okay?” Katara jogged over to you. She was totally dry, having bent the water around her when Aang swept it across you.

You nodded, “I’m fine. Where is everyone?” Apart from the cuts and bruises that everyone had acquired from being thrown around, you were alright.

Almost on cue, Toph stood from the ground a few dozen feet behind Katara and wrung out her clothes, “Aang, I don’t know what you did, but that was awesome!” Aang was standing about fifty feet from your left, taking a second to see the damage that had been caused by the damage.

“Did we win?” Sokka asked wearily, pressing his body out of the now muddy road and looking down in disappointment to see how dirty his clothes were.

There was still one person missing. “Where’s Zuko?” You asked, anxiety creeping up as more and more members of the militia stood up and none of them were Zuko.

“I haven’t seen him since the beginning of the attack.” Katara sounded apologetic as she answered, “We’ll find him.” Her eyes were reassuring but that that didn’t stop the panic from welling up in your chest.

You had started walking off before Katara had even finished talking, almost in a trance as you searched the battlefield. People had begun to get up, regaining their composure after the wave swept over them but none of them were Zuko as far as you could see.

“Zuko?” You called out, “Zuko?”

A distant cough and quiet, “Y/N…”

It came out as almost a struggling plea that shook you to your very core. “Zuko!” You looked around frantically, knowing you were close, until you found him, lying slumped over some gnarled tree roots that were partially above ground. “Oh my God, Zuko! What happened?”

You ran over to him, practically sliding on your knees to him and doing a once over of his body. There was blood staining multiple spots on his clothing, bleeding together so much so that you couldn’t even figure out what needed to be fixed.

“General Eiri-” He coughed and grimaced at his own words, his voice hoarse and strained, “Called me the Fire Nation’s greatest disgrace and-” Yet again, he broke down into a fit of coughs. He didn’t need to finish his sentence to piece together what happened next.

You stroked his hair out of his face, “Shh, it’s okay. Don’t hurt yourself.” You were trying with all your might to stay strong but this didn’t look good. What you couldn’t fathom was how in the world this could have happened. Zuko was the strongest person you knew- literally. You’d seen the man break doors with a single kick. He had been trained in fire bending, sword fighting, and hand to hand combat since he could walk. There was no reason you could think of that he should have lost a fight but here he was.

“Katara! Help!” You yelled out, tears brimming in your eyes. You swallowed hard, trying with all your might to keep them back.

Katara came running to help, “Y/N! What’s wrong?” She noticed the large pool of blood immediately and gasped, “Zuko!”

“You have to heal him!” It was more of a demand than a request and Katara’s wide eyes told you that you took her off guard with your words.

“Let me try.” With a wave of her hand, Katara lifted water from the river and swirled it around Zuko’s various wounds. He hissed and gripped your arm weakly.

“You’re okay. She’s gonna fix you up.” You cooed, shifting so that his head rested in your lap and you stroked his hair.

Katara put all her focus into trying to heal the wounds but even if she could heal them up, she couldn’t replace the blood. “It’s not working.” She too was nearly crying, feeling like this was the ultimate failure, allowing a friend to die.

Your eyes were nearly flaming when you looked at her, “What the hell do you mean!? Didn’t you bring Aang back from the dead?” Anger and fear were pronounced in your voice and Katara almost shrank back. She’d never seen you like this but she couldn’t say she blamed you.

“I had special water from the Northern Water Tribe then! This water isn’t working. He’s already lost so much blood… I-I don’t know what to do.” Katara was nearly shaking. She’d never lost someone she was trying to save before.

“Then I’ll cauterize the wounds.” A flame lit ablaze in your hand and you moved to untie his shirt and reveal the wounds.

Katara just shook her head and matched your watery gaze, “I could close the wounds too without the pain of burning him but it won’t replace the blood.”

“THEN WHAT WILL, MISS HEALER?!” You lashed out angrily, voice reverberating through the woods.

Katara flinched back, eyes wide, but her eyes were watering as she looked down at Zuko, “I am so sorry. I wish I could heal you.” Her voice cracked as tears began to pour down her face.

The world spun around you and the air felt crushing. The tears fell down your cheeks freely now as Toph, Sokka, and Aang all joined the group of you.

“It’s okay, Y/N.” Zuko weakly squeezed your arm but you shook your head.

“No! It’s not okay! You can’t leave me! Not after all we’ve been through.” It was as if your entire lives flashed in a slideshow. Your father was a Fire Nation official so you and Zuko had been friends from a young age, growing up together as best friends. Upon his exile, you’d gone against your father’s wishes and joined Zuko on his quest across the world. Somewhere along the line, you’d both figured out that your love for each other went deeper than just that of friends. You’d seen this boy live life with such determination and resolve that seeing him just give into death left you dumbfounded.

“J-just don’t leave me,” Zuko pleaded weakly, his eyes focusing and unfocusing as he looked up at you, “I don’t want to go alone.”

You stroked his hair aside and bent down, kissing him on the lips, “When have I ever left you alone, Zu? I’ve got you.” His skin that had always burned so warm was now unnervingly cool and clammy.

“I’m sorry I let you down.”

“Don’t you dare say that. You didn’t let anyone down. I’m sorry I let you down. I should have been there to help. If only I-” You sobbed, hot tears falling down your face as you gripped his tunic top, trying to keep him close to you.

“Please,” A few more coughs disrupted his speech, “Don’t do that to yourself.” You couldn’t say anything back. You didn’t know what to say. There was so much you wanted to say, so much you wanted to do. You wanted to win this war with him, to help resolve the unrest across the world, to eventually get married and have some little ones of your own, to grow old together. How could you possibly say anything that could suffice for a lifetime of never seeing him again?

Zuko shifted in your arms, grimacing as he did, “It’s cold.”

A small flame appeared in your hand once more, holding it just close enough for the warmth to radiate onto him without burning him. “I’ve got you, love.”

“I love you.” He whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek, “And tell my uncle I’m sorry. For everything...”

“He knows, Zuko. And I love you so much.”

Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Katara watched as you fell apart, your body wracking in muffled sobs as you held Zuko close. Sokka and Toph stood quietly while Aang and Katara both cried silently. Following Aang, all four knelt down beside the two of you and hung their heads low, some choosing to hold his arm just to let him know he wasn’t alone.

“Leaves from the vine, falling so slow,” You began the traditional Fire Nation lullaby low and shaky, rocking Zuko gently while you sang.

“Like tiny fragile shells drifting in the foam.” His eyes slowly fluttered shut, your voice almost morphing into his mother’s while he struggled to stay awake.

“Little soldier boy, come marching home,” Zuko focused on the feel of your touch one last time, feeling himself being drawn from this world and into the next.

“Brave little soldier boy, come marching home.”

#atla #atla fics #zuko #zuko fanfic #zuko imagine #zuko x reader #zuko x you #Avatar The Last Airbender #fire bending

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Tides of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 23

Tides of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because I want to know Amri’s plan!

Last times on book: Amri and co are on a quest to unite all the Gelfling against the Skeksis. They’ve succeeded with the Sifa of Cera-Na and the Dousan of the Wellspring but learn that All-Maudra Mayrin was killed by the Skeksis while they were avoiding ever going to Ha’rar. Mayrin’s eldest daughter and Skeksis loyalist Seladon has been named new All-Maudra. Fearing that the Vapra won’t rise up in resistance, the group is lost for solutions until Amri dreams he falls into the ocean and has a cryptic conversation with the urRu Swimmer.

Chapter 23

Team Naia climb a mountain but find a mysterious tower

They planned to leave that evening, when they could move under the cover of the night. Until then, Amri found a corner of the cabin and crawled under a pile of pillows, blocking out the daylight. He dreamed of the stone tree in the belly of Grot. He stood before it as it died, limbs like roots, or roots like limbs. Knowing that if he could be breathed in by the ancient thing, flow into its veins and up its trunk, when he emerged on the other side, he would be a pink blossom on the slender boughs of the Sanctuary Tree.

He heard whispers. A thousand voices, all as one. The shadows moved with infinite limbs. When he woke, it took everything he had not to slap away the spider tapping the back of his hand.

The protags are probably used to it at this point but oh no I would freak out. I do not like crawlies crawling on me.

Anyway, aside from waking up Amri for The Plan, Tavra also has a favor to ask Amri.

“In case anything should happen to me tonight. Someday, when the fires are lit. When it’s safe. Would you find my sister Brea and tell her what happened? I want her to know that I didn’t abandon her.”

“No,” he said. “I’ll make sure you get to tell her yourself.”

Has anyone in fiction ever answered otherwise?

It feels like that kind of thing only comes up so the other person can go ‘no you’re totally going to survive so you can tell her yourself’ or ‘we’ll tell her together’ or something.

Protagonists try to be optimistic about their chances, I guess.

I think I’ve seen maybe one example where a more world-weary character just instantly agreed to a request like that, recognizing the asker wanted reassurance that things would be taken care of if the worst happened.

Anyway.

Naia brings a cloak for Amri to wear when they go out and climb up a snowy mountain. Its in Silverling white and silver which Amri feels weird about since the Gelfling tribes like to color code just like people from Avatar. But he recognizes its better for the mountains so puts it on.

“Do I look like a Silverling?” he asked, pulling his hair out from inside the cloak collar.

Naia’s ears turned pink. She looked away and mumbled, “Not a bit.”

Shiiiiiiiiiiip teeeeeeeeeease.

If they hold hands at this rate, they’re going to explode.

Tae comes in and tells them its time to go, the Vapra are gathering at the citadel but neither the Skeksis nor Seladon have shown yet. And even with the Waystar trees, its going to be getting very dark on the mountain.

While the team is climbing the mountain to do the Plan with the Waystar trees, Onica is basically going to be the getaway driver. She’s staying on the boat ready to go. If anything goes wrong, they can fly off the mountain to the boat and sail away to fight another day.

This vague the Plan has multiple angles figured out. Its a good the Plan.

Onica also tells them that she believes in them. Aww. Onica encouragement is truly precious.

I’m so glad that we’ve gotten so much Onica material in this book. She’s great.

Team Naia leave the boat and the wharf (Amri looking back to see if the Swimmer shows but she does not) and hurry through the city.

As Tae had said, the Vapra of Ha’rar were already gathering near the steps that led up to the citadel. Huddled in their silver cloaks, whispering quietly among themselves. Amri heard the consistent sound of fear, and apprehension. He heard Seladon’s name, and Tavra’s. The sibilant sounds of the Skeksis Lords’ names. skekUng, skekZok. skekSil, the Chamberlain. skekSo, the Emperor.

I wonder if all of them are showing up. That’s a big gathering of Skeksises.

But the team keeps going to where Ha’rar meets the mountain and then up a narrow winding stairway.

There’s more buildings of Ha’rar even built into the mountain but the stairway becomes a steep footpath and then nothing. Just trudging through deep snow in a mountain side forest. In the dark. It’s evening. For everyone that’s not Amri or Tavra, the footing becomes really uncertain.

“I can’t see a thing. Is this what it’s been like for you, traveling in the day?” Naia asked as they reached a rocky ledge too high to step over. He made short work of it and crouched on the top, grabbing Naia’s hand and pulling her up and over. She didn’t wait for him to say yes before she added, “I didn’t realize.”

“It’s all right,” he said. “Not everywhere in Thra is caves and rocks.” Though night and ice is close enough, he thought. Or at least he hoped it would be.

They stop to look at Ha’rar, which is described as looking like a painting at this distance. Maybe a matte painting. I miss matte paintings. They were so cool.

The team has reached a point where Tavra can’t guide them anymore because the wind changes the landscape too often so she tells them to follow the Waystars’ light but be careful of hidden crags.

Tae says

“Our path is up to you now, Amri.”

Something he’d longed to hear, but now that he had, it felt heavy on his shoulders. It was up to him to guide them -- and protect them from danger. He knelt and touched the freezing stones. Under the deep snow, the mountain path still existed. He could feel its sturdiness.

That rock sense thing sure is helpful.

Super helpful.

Amri even senses a building up ahead.

Not any building Tavra is familiar with but as she says not many people travel up here so if someone were to build something, not many people would know or care.

“It would be a nice way to live if you wanted to be alone,” Naia remarked.

“And if you didn’t mind freezing,” Kylan added, teeth chattering.

Hah! Good ol’ best boy Kylan.

He’s so quiet that he doesn’t feel as present as some of the other characters but he remains relevant to the plot and delightful.

Amri leads the group towards the mysterious building, which is a simple stone and ice tower. It looks abandoned from the outside and the place doesn’t seem too occupied or furnished on the inside but Kylan can tell that the hearth has been lit within the past couple days.

So its not abandoned, just austere.

They can’t stay long without losing their opportunity to reach the Gelfling of Ha’rar before the Skeksis do but they can stay long enough to warm up with a fire and hey, there’s a hearth right there.

While Kylan started the fire, Amri touched the parchments that were strewn across the stone worktable. The soft, cold paper was thick and fibrous, covered in ink-drawn maps and charts. He recognized the coastline of the Silver Sea, from Kylan’s book, meticulous and fine-detailed, every landform and eddy and bay lovingly titled and detailed. Cera-Na and her fingerlike headlands, even the sand river they’d taken into the desert. The Caves of Grot, the Claw Mountains. The long tail of the Black River, the lifeline of the Skarith Basin.

There were other charts, too, but they were not of the land. Amri recognized stars and the Sisters, the patterns of the wind drawn across the sky where it intersected with the path of the Brothers. The pictures of the seasons and the ninets, how the phases of the moons changed course as Thra moved through time and space.

Hmmm. And the maps are drawn in ink, too, and not dream-etched.

So I have my theory about whose house this might be. I’m a bit surprised that it is where it is but I have my theory.

I mean, its got to be an urRu, right? Not a Gelfling because its ink and not BURNING WITH YOUR MIND POWERS. Probably not a Skeksis because there’s one Skeksis who could live in such simple digs without succumbing to the unfathomable urge to bedazzle everything in sight.

And would we be so lucky to get a second urRu when there’s only a few chapters left? No, no. This is clearly the oddly mountain located house of urSan the Swimmer. All the way up on a mountain, the further place from the sea.

I like that the map including the desert implies that she just swam the sand rivers too. That’s commitment to your monomania.

Amri arranges the maps on the table to they form a jumbo map of the Skarith Land and is in awe at seeing his whole world (or at least the only important continent of it apparently) all at once like this and at how much of it he has personally seen since starting his journey with the group.

But there’s work to be done so he asks Tavra if she knows what she’s going to say for the Plan.

“Yes,” the Silverling spider replied. “I don’t know if it will be enough, but it is all I have. I can only hope that my words can move the Vapra to believe that there is hope... even without my mother and Seladon to guide them.”

“They still have you,” Naia assured her. “Even if your voice is small. If Amri’s right, and if Kylan can do what he did with the Sanctuary Tree, then...”

I like that their plans are always building up off their previous plans.

But before Naia can finish explaining the Plan there’s a crunching on the snow outside and the door is slammed open by an old familiar unexpected individual.

SHE! Her. skekSa the Mariner, who is just as confused to see the Gelflings here as they are to see here.

Its a small world after all, I guess.

Her menacing eyes fell upon Amri and his friends, then the star charts and sea maps. Amri found his hand on the hilt of Tavra’s sword. skekSa reached back and slammed the door, throwing the latch so there was no escape. She leveled the room with her gaze, hot breath steaming from her nostrils.

“Tell me, and I will let you live,” she growled. “Where is urSan the Swimmer?”

Dun dun dun?

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #Tides of the Dark Crystal #liveblog #Amri #Naia #Kylan #Tae #Onica #Tavra #another character

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fyregrayfong · 4 years

Text

Hesitate 14|15

FryeArcana

Chapter 14

True Fear

After a couple of hours, you tell the team that you’re going to head back out the tunnel to check the status at the island. Asami and Mako are quick to argue to not let you go, but you assure them that you’ll be fine. You will return and let them know if you see anything, if you don’t return not to come looking for her. “Stay on the objective” you tell them before you walk back and head in the way you came. After a couple of minutes you reach the end of the tunnel and see all but one airship, this one seems designed slightly different than the others. You begin to think if it’s Amon ship. Could it be that he’s captured the Lin and the family? You run back to the gang and tell them there is one ship still there. You plan to wait out the ship hopefully it’ll leave soon, and you can look around for clues to where Amon could be. Maybe rescue some survivors if there are any. Asami is quick to respond “no, it’s too dangerous for you to be on your own. That’s not a risk I want you to make.” She looks at you angrily, everyone agrees. “I get what you’re saying, but if there is anything to that can lead us to where Amon’s hideout can be it might be there. No arguments” Asami huffs and crosses her arms upset with you before getting worried and hugs you tightly, “just be careful, I don’t know what I’ll do if Amon gets you” you hug her back and nods at everyone else. “You’re the new Team Avatar. You got this. I’ll come find you if I make it out the island safely.” You look back at them before running back down the tunnel and you reach the end. You look up and stay sitting outside of view but enough to be able to watch the ship start to leave. You take a deep breath and decide there’s no other way across than to swim. The boat would be too obvious in case the airship turns back. You start swimming as fast as you can the current surprising is working in your favor but it’s hard to swim when it’s raining hard.

You pull yourself up exhausted of the long distance swim and breath laying on the wet concrete as you catch your breath before you muster up the energy to keep on going. You bend your cables and grab onto the edge of one of the buildings and pull yourself up and reach the top of the island. You start walking up the steps to the highest point of the temple when you see a figure laying on the floor. Your eyes widen as you stumble and fall, you crawl back up and get on your feet as you get closer. From the rain it is hard to see but soon you see the metallic armor and gray hair. Your heart sinks to the bottom of the pit of your stomach as you drop to your knees. “no….” you mutter and stand back up and run over to her “Lin!” you yell out and skid down the concrete next to her. You put your hand on her shoulder and turn her over, so she lays on her back. She’s unresponsive knocked out cold. You run your hand up to the side of her neck and check for a pulse. She’s alive. You look around the area and see the island is completely clear. You start to wonder whether it’s best to stay on the island or to get off. Due to the rain you decide maybe it’ll be good due to the low visibility to get off in case Amon or the Equalists comes back and sees if anyone came for Lin. You guess Amon left Lin behind as a message for the team. You sit up and lift Lin up carrying her in your arms. You carry her as you look down at her you walk down the steps until you reach the edge of the cliff. Then you pull Lin over your shoulder and bend the cable around the top a column and slowly lower yourself down the side of the island until you come down the dock then recoil the cables back.

You hear Lin groan out a bit softly starting to stir, “it’s okay, Lin it’s just me” you talk to her reassuring. You carry her to the boat and softly set her down and start driving the boat over towards the city. It takes a couple of minutes till you reach the other side off the dock. You help Lin up and she opens her eyes once again and sees you “y/n?” she groans “can you walk?” you ask her as you put her arm around your shoulder as you wrap your arm around her waist and pick her up again. She dozes off again leaning onto your chest as you walk off the dock and look around for any chi-blockers around, but the coast is clear. You walk over down an alley and notice a motorcycle under some tarp. You bend some earth to stabilize the cycle then you help Lin on then mount on yourself. You shoot your cables and wrap you and Lin together to prevent her to fall off. You bend the earth away and hotwire the bike before you rev it and drive off.

Lin wakes up midway through the ride in the city surprised to be on a bike and wraps her arms around your waist holding on tight, “y/n?! Where are we going?” she calls out. Look weave through the streets “nice for you to join me chief” you bring your hand to rub her hand before taking the handlebar again. You pull up into your old place you used to live at when you first came to the city which have long been vacant. You slowly drive up the alley nearby and unbending the cables around you and Lin and help Lin down. Lin looks at you then looks down defeat, she whispers “Amon got me” your eyes widen. Your worse thoughts coming true when she confirms what you thought when you saw her. “I’m sorry” you whisper to her then hide the bike and put your hand on her back and walk her to a side entrance and take her into the attic of the shop, “whose place is this?” Lin looks around you look for some matches and light a lantern “no one at the moment.” You keep your voice down. “where are we?” she looks around while you walk to the other side of the room and uncover a bed you start to cough and try to fight it covering your nose. “Remember when I told you--that day at the park--tea shop owned by an old lady who offered me a place to stay? Well this is the place, well was anyways. I found out during one of my patrols shifts that the lady passed, and the business closed down, it’s been vacant ever since.” You look over at her and walk her to the bed. “so why you bring us to this place?” she looks over at you still feeling weak. “our apartments are most likely compromised, and I didn’t want to risk it. No one knew this about me except you and the owner, Asami doesn’t even know by the time I met her, I had already moved to an actual apartment and not this attic.” You look over at her upset. Lin’s eyes widen and looks at you “where is Korra and the others?” panic in her voice, your voice assuring her “they are safe, when I left they were still underground.” She sighed and your turn to answer “what about Tenzin and the family? Were they able to escape?” you look at her and she looks down recalling back the events “I think so, I took down one airship and did damage the second before I was captured it turned back giving Tenzin a chance to escape”. You sigh and nod “hopefully they did…” then rub your hands on your thigh and sit up “you should rest, I can metal bend you out of your armor to make you comfortable” Lin looks down and doesn’t respond you forget that you ask her before she softly respond “yes, thank you”. You stand and go in front of her to face her and bend her armor off of her and sets it beside her by the bed. “I’ll watch over you while you rest, we can take turns, I’ll be back though. I’m going to see if there are any booth cushions in the shop.” You open the trapdoor and climb down the ladder and quietly drop down and walk down to the shop and pull the cushion part of the booth and carry it up the ladder then slide it over towards the bed and use it as a makeshift bed. You groan as you lean back on the wall, you slowly turn your head over to Lin and watch her stare at the ceiling. Looking defeated and lost, you just hope that her sacrifice was worth it to win this war.

You hide behind garbage bags in an alley as you see several mecha-tanks drive by. You pull your collars up and pull your hat down as you hurry back to the attic. You look around and cover your cycle, you were able to go get it back at your apartment on the way to get some food. You check if the coast is clear before you launch yourself bending a column from the ground. You grab onto the fire escape and pull yourself up before you tap several short knocks followed by two long knocks the window opens and you slide in. You give Lin the bag of food then, take off your hat and jacket as you give her the report of what you saw throughout the streets. You both eat the food before you speak, “I can see what Korra comes from, it’s hard being patient, how much longer do you think until the United Forces arrive?” you look over at her. “it shouldn’t be long, probably another day or two” she mutters. “there’s going to be a rally happening in the arena sometime this week. You think we should do to gather intel on Amon?” you look at Lin, first time you’re not sure what to do. “it’s a risk, but it might give us a leg up on what Amon is planning to do” you nod

You and Lin walk with the crowd down the corridor and find a seat in the stands but stay close to an entry in case you need to sneak out and escape. You both have on coats and hats you grab a scarf you found in the attic and put it around your neck. You both look around paranoid to not get caught and the rally soon begins. You don’t see any chi-blockers around the second floor, maybe they’re confident Korra won’t show up?” you hear Amon talk about his experience with a firebender and how he struck his entire family down and was the reason for his quest to equalize the world. Man, people really do be getting scarred by fire benders a lot, you think until you hear a loud voice coming from the other side of the arena and see two chi-blockers reveal themselves as Mako and Korra. “Korra…” you whisper as both yours and Lin’s eyes widen. “what is she doing here?” Lin whispered back. You try to get up, but Lin grabs your arm and sits you back down, “we can’t reveal ourselves” you grit your teeth and look down. She’s right. You both hear what Korra has to say to the crowd “Amon has been lying to you. The spirits didn’t give him the power to take people’s bending away. He uses blood bending to do it. Amon is a waterbender.” She points her finger at Amon. Your eyes glance around the floor as you listen to Korra, “now it makes sense” you whisper, and Lin turns to you. “what does” “I wondered how Amon could overtake Tarrlok the only explanation is…” Korra keeps talking “His father was Yakone, and his brother is councilman Tarrlok” you finally breathed out the last part of your sentence “…family”. Lin’s eyes widen at the news and looks over at Amon and the chi-blockers on the stage. Amon reveals his scarred face and you look shocked, but you and Lin believe Korra, she wouldn’t come in here until she was sure. Then Lin softly gasp and grabs your arm turning your attention to the stage “That can’t be. I saw them get away, I took the airships down…” she whispers upset that her sacrifice didn’t work. You ball your fists “we have to get down there somehow” you mutter as you see Tenzin and his kids tied up to poles coming up from the ground.

You look around trying to find some way to get down without getting caught. You see Mako shoot out blue electric waves to the stage and they start attacking the stage. The crowd starts to run at every entry trying to get away from the attack, you grab Lin and pull her down the corridor. “We need to go; we might run into them outside the arena” you call at her and you both run down the stairs. You bust open a door and you both run out you start to head down the street when you see a bald headed arrow with three kids, “look there!” you yell out and you both start running calling Tenzin and the kids. Tenzin looks over and sees Lin then you beside her. “Lin! y/n! Glad you’re safe, we need to rescue Pema and the baby” he states as starts motioning everyone to start running. “where are they?!” Lin runs “in prison”. “where did Korra and Mako go?” you jump in as you run “they’re still in the arena, facing Amon.” Your eyes widen and hope Korra has what it takes to take on Amon. “we don’t have much time, Lin and I will meet you at the prison, you guys can air bend there” Tenzin nods while you and Lin run to where you stashed the cycle and turn it on. Lin jumps up behind you and puts her hands on your waist as you rev the bike and speed off. Lin grabs onto you tighter as you weave through traffic and catch up with Tenzin and the kids. Tenzin looks back and recognize you and Lin and you reach the prison.

You were successfully able to save Pema and the baby and agreed to go back to Air Temple Island. Once everyone makes it to the island, you patiently wait for Korra and Mako to return. Korra gives you all the news that Amon took Korra’s bending away. You look down sadden by the news, unsure if and when Amon will return. Lin puts her hand on Korra’s shoulder with a sadden voice, “I can’t believe Amon got you too.” Bolin buts in trying to look at the positive “hey, at least you unlocked your air bending.” He tries to cheer Korra up. Everyone looks at Bolin annoyed, Mako looks at him “Bro, not the time.” You nudge his head “read the room, Bolin” you sneer at him. He sheepishly steps back “right… right, I’ll just stand over here, quietly….in silence.” You roll your eyes and groan rubbing your face. You care for the guy but, come on. Everyone turns to see the second division fleet arrive. The kids jump up excited to greet their uncle Bumi and you see an older man standing on the edge of the boat and give his biggest holler then claps his hand. You can’t help but raise an eyebrow in amusement. Tenzin suggest traveling to the Southern Water Tribe compound to see if Master Katara can heal Korra and try to unblock her bending. You guys all get packed and head on to the boat for the trip. You sit and look over at Lin who, looks like she has lost her spirit. When you can understand, she lost her identity, a large piece of who she is. Without her bending she can’t continue on the force and fight.

You guys arrive late at night to the Southern Water Tribe compound, and Katara tries right away to try to work on healing Korra. Everyone is waiting on any news, you pace in the healing hut before Asami pulls you down, “you should sit, I think your pacing is making everyone more anxious.” You look around and see everyone’s faces and you look down. After a couple of hours, Katara walks out and softly shakes her head “I’m doing everything I can, but she is still incredibly blocked. I suggest Korra and you all rest and we can try again tomorrow.” Everyone let’s out a long sigh and grungily agree. Katara and the White Lotus have prepared sites for everyone to sleep in. Tenzin and his family in one, Korra with her parents, Mako and Bolin, You and Asami, then Lin in her own. You look over at Lin and your face softens, wondering how worried she must be feeling. You bet she’s trying to be hopeful Katara can unblock Korra’s bending. Everyone starts heading to their sites, you and Asami walk in and you glance back at Lin slowly walking defeated to her hut. You look down and sigh, Asami looks over at you and puts her hand on your shoulder, “you should go to her, y/n” she tells you softly. You turn your head to Asami “what do you mean?” she gives you a soft smile. “come on, don’t make me say it. I’ve seen the way you look at Lin. You like her, right?” Your eyes widen and you dart to the bed walking away from her and she follows you, “what makes you think that?” you say softly, barely a whisper. “I had my suspicions, but then I noticed the looks and glances you gave Lin, how concerned you were when Lin went with Tenzin and his family on Oogi, then how you watch her since we’ve been here. Just say it, you’re falling for Lin Beifong” She looks at you and you put your head down. You could deny and hide it to everyone else, but Asami is your best friend, practically your sister. If you can’t share it with her then who else, you pick your head up and slowly nod “yeah, you’re right….I like Lin” your heart races when you finally say those words out loud for the first time. You stand “no, I’m falling for Lin” you say with more certainty. Asami smiles and stands up putting her hand on your shoulder “then go to her, she needs comfort, now more than ever. She lost her bending too. I’ll cover for you” you look at her and smile “thanks, Sami”. You grab your bag and look out the door sneaking out. You’re not going to leave Lin on her own, not on a night like this.

#TLOK1Hesitate #fanfic #linbeifong #lin x reader #fyrefics

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ilonga · 4 years

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Got some Avatar Au Questions! So I'm assuming mustafar deviates significantly from canon, but how do obi-wan and anakin sort things out? How do obi-wan and Ahsoka escape palpatine's purge? When Anakin joins up with the rebellion, what is the reunion like for obi-wan, anakin, & Ahsoka? (The last one might be spoilery, so I completely understand if you do not want to elaborate on it)

oooh these are questions I’m super excited to answer!!

ok, to start with answering these questions, let’s first explain how Order 66 goes down in this au.

As I already mentioned, Palpatine has some sort of team up/deal with Vaatu that allows him quite a bit of control over the spirits, and he’s been using this power to orchestrate the spirit attacks starting with Maul so long ago. As the years passed, Palpatine increased the spirit attacks and the destruction and death they caused, and used this to gain more power himself and, eventually, create an army to fight them. At the end of the AOTC-adjacent era, he, despite Padme’s fighting against it (”We have had peace with the spirits, respected them, for centuries--we must find out why they are attacking, not escalate the conflict!”), creates the Grand Army of the Four Nations to fight back against the spirits in the first Spirit War in centuries. He then conscripts nonbenders into the army and places members of Raava’s Order, benders, at the head of various battalions.

When it comes time for Order 66, Palpatine orders the spirits to posses various nonbenders and has them attack their Generals/Commanders with intent to kill, taking most of them by surprise. Similar to canon, most of the benders are slaughtered while some manage to escape. A lot of the nonbenders are then killed/disposed of, so Palpatine doesn’t have many people who know the truth in the way (and also, he can claim that the benders killed them in their quest for power and turn the public against them even more). In addition, for benders not in battles/in the temple, Palpatine sends the Inquisitors, firebenders that he’s kidnapped and trained in secret over the years.

Ahsoka in this au (an airbender) is a bit like Jinora from Legend of Korra; she has a strong spiritual connection and connection to the spirit world. Because of this, she’s able to save herself and Obi-wan, and save some of the nonbenders from the spirits’ possession, such as Rex and some others. In the chaos, they get separated and don’t really have time to figure out what just happened, but they both know, to an extent, that Palpatine is behind this, and that most of Raava’s Order has just been slaughtered.

Then, Obi-wan learns that Anakin killed the avatar (Shaak Ti).

He’s betrayed, and confused, and furious, and in complete shock. He’s also mentally not in a great place; he’s just seen his friends and comrades slaughtered in cold blood. He thinks that Anakin was in on the plan to wipe them out completely (Anakin, meanwhile, doesn’t know about Order 66 and doesn’t learn about it until he wakes up after the Mustafar-adjacent battle), and had been working with Palpatine (because why else would Anakin kill Shaak Ti? How could Anakin kill Shaak Ti?).

So he goes to confront Anakin, and in a bit of a reverse of canon, Obi-wan’s the one who’s angry and on the offensive here, and initiates the fight. It’s worth noting that Anakin’s also not in a great place mentally; aside from having just killed the Avatar, he thinks his wife and unborn children were murdered because of the Order and that the Order he’s spent years fighting for has just been trying to gain power and suppress nonbenders all along (Pong Krell, anyone?). When Obi-wan attacks him, the conclusion he draws is “Oh no, he was in on the conspiracy too. He was in on the thing with Padme too.” because why else would Obi-wan be attacking him so viciously out of nowhere? So now they’re both sure they’ve been betrayed by the other, and they’re fighting. Usually, in a fight between benders, there’s some tradition, some honor. The swords, a big part of duels according to the traditions of the Order, are used. In this fight, none of that is used. Obi-wan forgoes them entirely; it’s a very much “how could you”, emotional, blunt force, unrefined kind of fight. Obi-wan blasts water, shards of ice, waves at Anakin, Anakin dodges, responds in turn with spurts and jets of fire. Both know each other’s techniques inside and out, obviously; it’s a very even fight. At one point Obi-wan yells something adjacent to his “you were my brother” line in canon, a “how could you betray me, us, like this?”, or a “how could you?”, smthing like that, and Anakin has a split second of distraction because what is Obi-wan talking about? What happened to the Order?

Obi-wan takes advantage of this distraction and his next hit knocks Anakin unconscious; he then freezes Anakin in a massive block of ice. He flees, then, it all being too overwhelming. He can’t bring himself to strike any kind of killing blow. He doesn’t know, then or later, if he left Anakin there hoping he would die or hoping he would survive. Years pass and Obi-wan seriously regrets the fight, especially regrets that he never found out why Anakin sided with Palpatine, or killed Shaak Ti. He realizes that there must have been something he didn’t know, and wishes he hadn’t attacked him so rashly and had at least gotten answers.

As for Anakin, Palpatine’s lackeys find him hours or maybe even days after the fight, and get him out of the ice. The time spent in the ice leaves him with frostbite and he ends up having to get three limbs amputated (his right arm and both legs). It also leaves him with permanent tremors. He gets prosthetics, which he can power with a low level-lightning type technique, and armor and a helmet, which Palpatine forces him to wear. He’s forced to wear the armor for a couple reasons; to hide his identity as a former member of Raava’s Order and a beloved hero, to hide the tremors, which Palpatine views as a sign of visible weakness, and because Palpatine enjoys the feeling of owning Anakin and the armor is a way to mark that.

Anakin physically joining the Rebellion happens right after he tries to sacrifice himself in Palpatine’s throne room so that Luke can escape, and though he manages to take out all of the guards/inquisitors and hold off Palpatine for some time, he gets blasted with a hell of a lot of lightning and fully expects to die right there. Luke goes into the Avatar state and gets them both out, and is able to do enough healing so that Anakin survives the encounter. He gets them to the Rebellion and basically? Begs Obi-wan to heal Anakin.

“I know he’s Vader, I know what he’s done to you, to the Order, but he sacrificed himself to rescue me and he’s dying, you have to help him--”

Obi-wan, of course, does, and has been living with his regrets and missing his little brother for so long that he probably would have done it without the begging anyways, at the very least so he can finally get answers from Anakin.

So Anakin is being slowly but surely healed by Obi-wan (it probably takes him months to recover tbh), and there’s plenty of angst because Obi-wan sees the extent of the injuries he caused and guilt, and because the first time Anakin wakes up--

Well, Anakin fully expected to die, right? And now he’s not dead which makes no sense, he was ready to die (and he wakes up and he thinks, even if I’m not dead now, I’ll be dead soon enough--either the lightning will do me in or Obi-wan will, if he had any sense he’d kill me--obviously he’s not mentally in a great place but being tortured and manipulated and slowly fighting back against the Firelord for years will do that to you), but it’s also good because he’s been Blue Spirit, a double agent, for years ever since Luke revealed himself to Anakin, and this means he has a chance to give the vital information he has on the Empire’s attack plans, ship schematics, etc.

So the first time he wakes up, when he can finally get his eyes to focus, he gets Obi-wan’s attention and basically starts babbling about attack plans, schematics, weaknesses, etc etc. And Obi-wan’s like “no, wait, you’re still weak, you need to recover, go back to sleep--” and Anakin’s like “no time, you need this information before I die--” and a stressful time is had by all. The next time he wakes up, he’s a bit less all over the place and it slowly starts to sink in that he is going to survive after all, so the urgency dies down a bit. Obi-wan gets the full story of how Palpatine manipulated him, what happened that night, etc, and Anakin gets the full story of what exactly happened during Order 66, what actually happened to Padme, what happened to his kid (kids, he has two--major shock is had). Ahsoka is the one to tell him that Palpatine was controlling the spirits all along.

He’s surprised, of course, but also somewhat resigned. The grandfatherly veneer of Palpatine has fallen further and further away as the years have passed and his true nature has been clearer and clearer; Anakin has known for a long time that Palpatine is not the good guy (hence his personal rebellion).

Ahsoka, like in canon, manages most of the intelligence networks of the Rebellion in this au. So she’s been getting and processing Blue Spirit’s messages for years, and when she realizes it’s Anakin--well, lots of emotions all around.

Obi-wan and Anakin do mend their relationship, as do Anakin and Ahsoka. Some of the kids Anakin saved over the years are at the Rebellion and recognize him--this also helps things along. And his information as Blue Spirit has saved many lives.

Obi-wan has been Luke’s waterbending teacher for a while, and Ahsoka has been his airbending/spirit world teacher, so eventually Anakin does take his place as Luke’s (and Leia’s!) firebending teacher.

Thanks for these asks and sorry for making the response so long!! Honestly I think I’ve been hoping for these questions, I’ve been wanting to talk about how this goes down forever :)

shorter summary: Obi-wan encounters Anakin just after Order 66 occurred and Anakin’s killed Shaak Ti. Believing Anakin to have been in on Palpatine’s plan all along and having betrayed them all, he attacks and initiates the fight in something of a reverse of canon. Anakin, seeing Obi-wan attacking him, comes to the conclusion that Obi-wan must have been part of the Order’s conspiracy (that Palpatine has convinced him of), which he would have never believed of him but why else would Obi-wan be attacking him like this? Neither of them are in a particularly good state of mind or particularly mentally sound during the fight. Obi-wan knocks him out and freezes him in ice, then flees. Palpatine finds Anakin a sizable amount of time later, and Anakin is left with three amputated limbs (which he gets prosthetics for) and permanent tremors (which the Vader armor hides).

Obi-wan and Ahsoa escape the purge because Ahsoka has a spiritual connection akin to Jinora’s in LOK, and is able to purge the spirits from some of the army such as Rex. In the chaos, the two are separated.

Obi-wan and Anakin reunite first, when Luke brings Anakin back to the Rebellion severely injured from the confrontation with Palpatine. He begs Obi-wan to heal him and Obi-wan agrees. It takes some time for Anakin to move past the fact that he’s not dead, but eventually, he and Obi-wan communicate, they both get the full story of what happened twenty years ago, and their relationship starts to mend. It’s faster once Obi-wan and the Rebellion realize that Darth Vader and Blue Spirit (the Imperial double agent whose information had saved so many) are one and the same. Same with Ahsoka, although it’s a quicker fix for her and Anakin’s relationship since she only found out about his actions secondhand, from Obi-wan, and it makes so much more sense once he gets his side of the story, and because she’s the one who’s been processing his info as Blue Spirit.

hope you liked!!

#star wars/avatar au #star wars/avatar crossover #star wars/avatar au asks #star wars fanfiction #my writing #anon asks #star wars #avatar the last airbender #anakin skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #damn even my tl;dr was too long #this whole damn thing is so long #guess I really had a lot of details I wanted to share huh #sorry anon!#hope you liked it anyways #:)

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supergenial · 4 years

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Cindered Shadows was pretty decent

I recently finished the Cindered Shadows DLC and decided to once again write about my impressions, don't worry though, this one isn't as long as the previous ones. Spoilers: I think this is as good as fire emblem is gonna get for a while.

1) No Agarthans, thank GOD

A story as old as fire emblem: There's an interesting human villain with down to earth motivations or obsessions, but in the large scale of the story they're overshadowed by a supernatural being who wants to destroy the world for no reason other than "they're just evil". This is Edelgard and the Agarthans, Arvis and Manfroy/Loptous, Rudolph and Duma, Ashnard and Ashera, Walhart and Grima... you get it. This shit sucks to put it bluntly. Having these stereotypically evil bad guys who are clearly evil is one of the main things that brings down the plot of any fire emblem game. I'm of the belief that they should kick out these supernatural villains and just leave us against the human villains, the one's with actual ideals and beliefs other than "hurr durr, destroy the world".

And then there’s our villain for this DLC. Now yes, it feels like they recycled a certain professor from the Harry Potter series, but I like that he is "The" bad guy for the DLC, he's not being controlled by anyone. He's obsessed with Byleth's mom and in-game this makes a lot of sense. If Byleth, who is incapable of communication, can drive people crazy for them just by existing then just imagine a Byleth who can actually talk. Her "waifu" charms must be off the charts, so I can't blame this guy for being obsessed. More importantly he's not being controlled by the Agarthans, he's not being played by anyone. He's a man who's lived a righteous life, he took care of a lot of people who all love him but ultimately decided to use them for his own gain and his own obsessions. As far as FE villains go... He's good, honestly, great job Intelligent Systems, I expected a lot less.

2) Reduced avatar wanking

Shots fucking fired

Sure, Byleth's mom is a main focus of the plot, and Byleth is the one who sets the plot in motion, but rarely does it feel like the game is going "gee Player, you're so great, you're our god, we all love you and want to marry you". Byleth still plays a large role sure (unfortunately) but it still feels like this is the story of Yuri and his gang with Byleth being their strategist which is, idk, way better than the idea behind the main game? The one where Byleth turns into a literal god, gets every achievement of the army attributed to them only, has every other conversation remind us how glorious Byleth is, etc.

In fact the dlc goes as far as having Hapi constantly belittle Byleth and even make fun of their communication skills by calling him Chatterbox (good job to the localizers, she doesn’t say this in the japanese audio). Get that teacher’s ass girl, destroy them. (Obviously I would hate this behavior if it was directed to someone else, but in this case I'm willing to make a concession).

3) Yuri's backstory

Ashe: I admire and love this man who is my only parental figure but Rhea said he's kind of bad so I killed him Yuri: Church ordered me to kill a bunch of thieves and delinquents and I refused

You have no idea who much I love the fact that Yuri is someone who protested his orders and got kicked out of the church for refusing to kill civillians. This instantly sends him very high in my rankings. Playing through the first half of the game all I wanted was to stop and say "No, Lady Rhea, fuck you. I don't think it's very cash money for the most powerful military force in the continent to eradicate a lightly armed militia of farmers (with popular support in their locality!)" this is what true imperialism is all about! But there is sadly no option for that.

Just by telling us that Yuri is someone who was punished for saying "No, these orders are inhumane, I refuse to carry them out" that is enough for me, the game is saying "yes, we know, have your compensation price". In the end Yuri is extremely loyal to Rhea which is unfortunate but hey, at least they lampshaded one of the most glaring issues I have with the main game, so that's at least something.

4) "You've obtained all information. Proceed with the story, NOW"

Rather than wasting time forever thinking up which activity I should carry out, abyss is simply a place where you talk to the abyssal denizens to get some plot information or speculation, and boom, you're done. No running around forever, no quests, no doors that take ages to load. You can perfectly skip the abyss parts and at most you'll miss out on Edelgard's conversation with Dimiri (which is fucking hilarious) and a few rusted weapons that can be forged but that's it. Upon talking to every resident of the abyss the game will actually say you’ve acquired all information and will prompt you to go into combat rather than assume you want to dilly dally for a while.

I actually rather like this and would not be opposed to it being the philosophy behind future in-between segments between chapters. I can understand IntSys wanting to load in a ton of features like a sauna and fishing to rack up excitement for the game, I know I was excited for fishing, but when these activities have rewards tied to them, replaying becomes kind of a chore, "aw geez, I have to fish 69 fish to reach professor rank A+ AGAIN" (I actually had to when trying to get the piss screen from clearing maddening). Getting only some conversations and a bit of context for the story, that's... pretty good honestly, I liked this better than the monastery and better than My Castle. Throw in some skits with multiple characters at once and I’m gold

(seriously how come there’s no scenes with the three of the bros, Dimitri, Sylvain and Felix all hanging out together, the fact that a third character never shows up in support conversations is fucking bad)

5) Sometimes less is more

I've extensively complained about three houses already but bear with me. Yet another thing that infuriates me about the game is the extensive amount of work it required. I truly do think that if they had released only the blue lions route and left everything else in the plot as mysterious and unexplained loose ends left entirely up to speculation, that'd be a great game on it's own. Instead I have to see all the hard work that went into making the other routes only so that, in the end, they just had me going "well it was ok I guess". Every scene in the game requires work, many hours of coding, writing, voice acting, sound editing, making sure the models don't look too messed up, bug testing, etc. The amount of work that went into three houses was brutal regardless of what you think of the final product, yet a lot of people didn't even bother playing through all of that. So yes, I honestly wanted less, give me a more concise game rather than spreading too wide and ending up thin.

Cindered Shadows on the other hand is concise to a fault to make up for that. The story is pretty straightforward and leaves no loose ends to itself, there's no anime cutscenes, no supports (within abyss, you can support them all in the main game). There's even that very awkward sacrifice scene where some characters are having their life and blood drained from them yet the visual representation we see is just them standing around like normal, with Yuri even doing that hand pose he does all the time instead of squirming in pain or something. It's very awkward looking, objectively not good, but it gets the point across and doesn't make me go "wow you put in all this effort for nothing" because the whole thing is also fairly short (5 to 10 hours in hard mode).

I know, it sounds like I'm shitting on the dlc, but the point is I'd much rather get something short that leaves me satisfied than something like the main game that makes me go "this could've been so hecking gooood if they changed X" for the rest of my life.

6) The gameplay

Chapter 4 is my favorite mission in the whole game

They made Hard Mode good. I previously said maddening was the one difficulty where this game made sense, but this one achieves perfection with just hard mode. This is because the team actually knows what you have. In the main game there's all sorts of variables to account for due to the large amount of player expression that is possible, you can reclass anyone into anything and throughout many lucky or unlucky level ups, maps can be entirely different based on that rng and choices. Here though, your characters already have solid bases starting at lvl 20, and you can't reclass too much so the devs know exactly what you're working with and can plan accordingly. Beating the maps feels incredibly satisfying not just because the objectives have more variety now, but also because you feel like you found the right way to use the tools you were given. This is why the first few chapters of any fire emblem game often feel so good, because the devs know exactly what you have.

Not that I think player expression is bad! It's very satisfying to warp skip chapters and to use broken units like battalion vantage+wrath Dimitri as these things make you feel like you've truly subjugated the game, but it takes some time for those things to really take off. There's a time to reap and a time to sow, and the sowing time can get pretty dull sometimes but that's what makes the payoff feel worth it. Still, for a short experience like cindered shadows is, this style just fits perfectly, plus chapter 4 has quickly become one of my favorite chapters in the whole game, along with chapter 6.

7) In The End

Idk folks, I just like it. If you just want more adventures with the three lords, this is it.

If you’re looking for any excuses to avoid this I'd say the better ones are: maps are reused from the main game (they work much better here though), it's 10 hours at most so it's price-to-cash ratio isn't very good with the expansion pass being $30, and also the Abysskeeper feels a bit TOO winkwink nudgenudge to me, especially since Gatekeeper was popular enough to make it into Super Smash Brothers. Like yeah bro, we get it, we all love Gatekeeper, you didn't have to do this.

I also like that they finally gave Dimitri a semi-problematic quote where he says he kinda likes the idea of poor people living underground out of sight, I think it’s a very rich-white-boy flaw to have and not entirely awful given his life experience up to that point. And yes I do think he has no flaws and is entirely unproblematic in the main game, “feral” as he may look it doesn’t seem like he goes around killing civilians or doing anything other than busting up imperial troops which is kind of justified since they started the invasion, on top that he’s the strongest unit in the game and the most chill and honest ruler once he calms down, so little dent in his record that’s irrelevant in the large picture is indeed welcome.

Overall though, after being so massively disappointed by the Fates DLC, so much I didn't even bother with the ones for Echoes, I certainly like what I'm seeing here and that's a good sign, bravo Intsys.

#fire emblem #cindered shadows #spoilers #review #deep analysis

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xxxdragonfucker69xxx · 6 years

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Dicebending

Dicebending is a game about the world of Avatar: the Last Airbender, inhabited by people with elemental powers. Into each nation are born people with power over a certain element, called benders. The Earth Kingdom produces earthbenders, the Water Tribe produces waterbenders, the Fire Nation produces firebenders, and the Air Nomads.... well.

Three years ago the Fire Nation attacked the Air Nomads, decimating their lands and incinerating their temples. Fortunately, the Air Nomads were, well, nomads. Many of their number were traveling at the time of the attacks, and went into hiding instead. Isolated and afraid, they scattered among the other peoples. Likewise, many dissenters from the Fire Nation escaped before their court-martials, and have joined with resistance fighters or defending militias. Unfortunately, bending has both a biological and a spiritual component. The militarized culture of the Fire Nation has already severely constrained modern firebenders, who channel anger and violence into their bending; and with the loss of Air Nomad culture, it is unlikely that further airbenders will ever be born. You are fighting, not just for the freedom of the known world, but for the preservation of entire ways of life.

Of course, there is hope. The Avatar is out there somewhere, master of every element. It has been some years since Avatar Roku passed, of course, but his successor should be ready to appear at any moment. Opinions on the new Avatar are divided: some take the Avatar as a savior figure and place all their hope in him, while others believe they will have to save themselves. Even if someone is out there, they would be from the now-scattered Air Nomads, untrained and up against the might of the Fire Nation military machine. They'll need all the help they can get.

To create a character, decide what nation you are from: the Air Nomads, the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, or the Fire Nation. It may be possible that you were born in one place but have blood from another. You are a bender of that element, unless you are not a bender at all.

Assign a d4, d6, d8 and d10 among four stats: Air, Earth, Fire and Water. Your highest stat is probably that of your primary element.... unless it's not? You will spend most of your time advancing your character by accumulating XP. Each element has its own XP pool, and is filled by different kinds of significant moments. You get 1-2 XP every time you bring your character development to the forefront in a scene, sort of look around and acknowledge that this is an XP moment. (If at all possible, XP should be represented by a pile of physical tokens -- quarters, candy, etc -- so you can look people in the eye and take one, and then someone can slide you another if they think you deserve it.) This is called a beat. You can only claim 2 XP per session, and one from rolling 1s (see below). Once you have 20 XP in an element, you level up in that element and can claim a reward. Alternately, you can spend 10 XP at any time from any element to learn a new technique, if you've been working on it or had a tutor. Leveling up an element can allow you to...

learn up to three new techniques

learn a specialized style of bending, like metalbending or plantbending, and at least one technique of that style

get a cool new item

learn a new Skill

increase the size of that element's die

...do something else?

Elements are rated from 0 to 5: 0 is the starting rating for each element, while 3 is the mark of a master. At level 4 you can reshape landscapes, and at level 5 you can do whatever you want.

Air is the element of freedom, enlightenment and sensitivity. Air-aspected XP beats include...

...reaching out to someone, and understanding their point of view

...looking at the world, and reacting to it

...thinking about an issue, and deciding to shelve it for later

...finally solving a problem, and feeling free

...listening to someone tell a story

...doing something fun, just because it's fun

...sympathizing with the outcast or wrong

...learning a secret about someone

...forgiving yourself for something

...having a profound spiritual experience

...ignoring a problem, or shrugging it off

...taking something less seriously than you should

Water is the element of flexibility, change and self-control. Water-aspected XP beats include...

...realizing there's a problem, and letting go of the thing that keeps you from fixing it

...guessing at something, and not reaching a conclusion

...surrendering to something, or someone

...getting thrown into a situation you didn't expect or can't handle, and doing your best, especially if your best isn't good enough (yet)

...figuring out how to live with a change that's happened in you

...learning something new about yourself, and grappling with it

...forgiving someone

...abandoning something precious

...breaking the rules, especially if they're ones you set for yourself

...looking at temptation, and not giving in

...encountering someone from your past, and showing how you've (both) changed

Fire is the element of power, will and passion. Fire-aspected XP beats include...

...obsessing over something, and refusing to let go

...fighting harder

...setting out on a quest

...doing something you can't take back

...realizing there are going to be consequences, and acting anyways

...showing off, especially if it gets you in trouble

...venting your emotions through violence or hard work

...monologuing passionately about something

...experiencing romantic entanglement

...freaking out or having an emotional breakdown

...dueling for your honor

...getting so intense everyone kinda goes whoa, especially about something that doesn't really warrant it

Earth is the element of strength, endurance and patience. Earth-aspected XP beats include...

...simple and honest work

...refusing to give up

...keeping a promise

...putting up a facade

...getting in trouble to help a friend

...deciding to wait and watch

...struggling on alone

...remembering someone or something absent, especially if it hurts a little

...getting attached to something of yours, like a favorite weapon or umbrella

...taking care of someone or something who can't take care of themselves

...saying 'this is gonna suck', or some variant

...exhibiting confidence in your self-image

...finding something you thought you'd lost

When you want to do something, describe the attitude you are taking towards it and roll an appropriate element. If you roll a 1, you can mark XP once per session, and describe it as an appropriate beat if you want (so choosing an appropriate element balances the likelihood of success against the possibility of progress). Otherwise, the GM narrates how well you did, and whether or not you overcome the obstacle. Bending is not necessarily rolled with its own element -- if you airbend stubbornly, you may have to roll Earth or Fire instead.

You have 10 Will and 10 Stamina. You also have up to 2 Skills, which let you roll a die one size higher when doing something. Each Skill is specific to an element: Seduction might be a skill of Fire, for example. If you want to seduce someone, you can then roll your Fire one die bigger than usual, but not if you're doing it in a more Earthy way. At any time, you can spend 1 Will to reroll a roll, but you can only do this once per roll. (You get XP even if you reroll a 1.)

When combat starts, the attacker acts first. Each round, you declare what stance you want to take: offensive, defensive, or strategic. Then you act against someone. For example, if you take a defensive stance against an archer, you may be intercepting their arrows with panes of ice; if you take a strategic maneuver against a waterbender, you may attempt to smother nearby water with dirt. You can only use techniques that match your stance: you can't defend while in an offensive stance, only attack and hope to outdo your attacker. Then you both roll your respective elements against each other. There is a cycle of stances: defensive stances can outlast an all-out attack, strategic stances can outmaneuver a solid defense, and offensive stances cut through clever tricks. When using defense against offense, offense against strategy, or strategy against defense, roll a die higher: this is called 'upgrading' your die, or using a stance's 'advantage'. Sometimes it may make sense for nothing to happen, such as if both defend, and in this case nothing happens.

When you win a combat roll, you roll a die according to your technique and take some damage, losing that much Stamina. Stamina represents the energy they have to keep fighting: it can be reduced by beating them up or by waiting for them to exhaust themselves. Attacks, defenses, and maneuvers all deal damage. Ties go to the fighter with the larger die -- not necessarily the higher element. Certain techniques may have a lasting effect; in this case, save the original roll and roll against it, but if you should be rolling a die larger, instead the other party rolls a die smaller. If they attempt to overcome multiple techniques at once, they must roll against and possibly take damage from all techniques.

If they are at less than half Stamina, you may instead use a strategic stance to try and inflict an Affliction on them. Afflictions may be injuries, tactical disadvantages, or emotional turmoil. An Affliction reduces the size of their die when using a certain stance: you can penalize all their offensive stances, all their defensive stances, or all their strategic stances. (d4 can't be reduced any further.) Alternately, you can afflict one of their elements. Afflictions last until the end of the fight. If reduced to 0 Stamina, they go down and you can do whatever you want to them, including making Afflictions permanent.

There are three ranges: close, mid, and far. Close is close enough to fistfight, mid is far enough to run to, and far is anything farther than that. Techniques can't be used beyond their range. You can move one range on your turn, in addition to your other actions.

As a bender, you are confined to one element -- usually that of your home nation, but sometimes blood from another element makes its way across the globe. At start, you know two bending techniques. Some techniques require your element to be at a certain level: flight requires expert airbending, for example. Alternately, some techniques require another element: bending smoke is an airbending technique that requires familiarity with fire. Finally, each element has a number of advanced bending disciplines: bloodbending and healing are advanced classes of waterbending. To learn an advanced bending discipline, you need to either find a teacher or already have that element at level 3.

Each technique is tagged with a Will cost, a stance, and an elemental prerequisite. Firebending trends to straight offense, while airbending is more strategic, earthbending is a mix and waterbending moves between offense and defense. Some techniques may not make sense in all situations: holding your breath is an effective defense against drowning but useless against fireballs. Benders can also work together to produce a technique neither could alone; a technique that requires Water 4 could be produced by two waterbenders with Water 2, if one of them knew the technique or they were copying a teacher.

If you are not a bender, you may instead learn techniques related to a particular weapon or martial arts style.

BASIC TECHNIQUES

Attack

Cost: -

Type: Attack

This is a basic attack: punches, kicks, sword chops, etc. The opponent takes d6 damage, but they must be in close range.

Ranged Attack

Cost: -

Type: Attack

This is an attack with a ranged weapon: a bow, a boomerang, etc. Range depends on what kind of weapon it is: thrown weapons usually reach mid range, arrows can reach farther. The opponent takes d4 damage.

Defend

Cost: -

Type: Defense

This is a basic defensive stance: getting ready to dodge, block or deflect blows and waiting for the enemy to tire. The opponent takes d4 damage.

Maneuver

Cost: -

Type: Strategic

This is finding some way to trick or penalize your enemy: throwing sand in their face, grabbing their sword arm, etc. Usually this is performed up close, but if you have a ranged weapon you can try and do a trick shot. The opponent takes an Affliction or d4 damage.

i only ever base tatterpigs off chuubos or pbtd anymore

sorry this is late i literally forgot i hadnt made a post yet

airbending and waterbending techniques tomorrow, earthbending and firebending after that

not totally happy with the speed of technique progression

this one im rewriting right after tatterpigsgiving i can already see how to improve it, incorporating jing and so forth

#tatterpigsgiving #tatterpigs #atla

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permian-tropos · 6 years

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Aftermath: Alternate End (part 15/31)

chronological fic posts

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15. “I thought you had forgotten.”

Rae spends the night in a large but primitive hospice room, with rounded earthen walls and narrowing ceiling flue over a central firepit. Her mind is half-present for every sting of pain as she’s put on a scratchy cot and has ointments smeared over burns on her chest and legs. It becomes a sort of torture, that she can’t fight back against. Then it dulls to an annoyance, and then she’s left alone for a while, and she misses the attention. When she returns to full consciousness, it is less like a light turning on, and instead an arduous process of gathering the energy and nerve to think clearly. An unglamorous behind-the-scenes look at all the restorative processes meant to be subconscious during sleep. This time, she has to direct everything herself.

An anchorite with an eye patch approaches as Rae tries to sit up, and offers her a cup of pungent liquid.

“In your condition, this is better for the dehydration than water,” the woman tells her. “It will settle your stomach.”

It’s warm, but not hot, and has a savory taste mixed with sweetness. Not bad at first, but a bit grainy and cloying, the familiar aftertaste of medicine. She’d much rather have water, but she only thinks about her preferences after she gulps enough liquid down to quench the urgency of her thirst.

Though, once the liquid is inside her, her body can pull the water out, and she perceives this process, as much as she perceives the chemicals relaxing the muscles that might spasm and push everything up. It is an intriguing effect. She remembers being forced to inhale a mist through a leather mask, while her burned skin was exposed. The drug hadn’t dulled any pain, but it kept her from moving.

She puppets her throat and tongue and lips to speak. “Thank you. Thank you for everything. Is Brentin…? The man I was with.”

The woman gestures to another bed on the other side of the firepit. Two other dark-robed monks are standing by it, seemingly reciting chants. Their faces are hidden by hoods, but one of them is very short, and their voice has a higher pitch. A child?

“He is recovering, too. Give him time. Unlike you, he needed surgery.”

Rae pulls a memory out of her mental file. The ground exploding underneath Brentin as he scrambled out of the cave entrance. “On his feet?” The woman nods. Rae explains, “We took a risk with a plume escaping Niima. Not a friend of yours, I’ve heard.”

The woman purses her lips and nods. Her features may be more lined by sun exposure than Rae’s, but otherwise seems close to her own age. “You know Jakku well for an outsider.”

“You don’t have to be here long to learn to watch your step. But…” Rae peers at the woman accusingly. “How do you know I’m an outsider? Last night, was it you who said— I must be new to Jakku?”

The anchorite returns to the central fire and refills the cup of medicinal tea from a cauldron suspended over low coals. She brings it back while restraining a beatific smile. “The Eremite foretold your arrival. An outsider would arrive on this world seeking truth and redemption. After weeks of fruitless wandering, you would come to us at last for aid.”

“Oh,” Rae says, cheeks growing hot. “It seems I’ve stumbled into a prophesy. I’m very flattered.” She accepts the cup and mulls over her opinion on this. She was scornful of Niima’s god complex, so she can’t embrace this wholeheartedly. But then she’d also like to rub it in that worm’s face, just a bit.

Rae Sloane has never been a figure of myth. She is sure she disapproves of the idea. But it would be better to go along with it, just for the sake of convenience? To keep her newfound allies?

“Is the Eremite,” she finally asks, “that man in the shrine?” From the way people invoked the name on this planet, Rae assumed he was a character from ancient legends. It could have been why she thought him a statue at first.

“Essentially. That is his avatar.”

“Right.” Rae swings her legs around to the side of the cot and starts to stand. “I’ll be talking to him eventually, I expect. No time like the present?” Jakku, aside from its thrilling habit of venting steam from cracks in the ground, has been so dreary and dull. Everything is waiting, slipping into a stupor while time eats passing hours, while gnats gather to drink your sweat. Rae is done with that.

The anchorite shoos her back down into bed with reproachful hand gestures. “Oh, no, please, don’t waste your energy. It really would be like talking to a statue. I can lead you to pray before him later, if you wish.”

Rae tries to squash her frustration. She knows she shouldn’t get on the wrong side of another living god, even if she is tired of living gods and their antics.

“The Eremite’s vessel is wracked by agony,” the woman explains. “He proves his worthiness by completely controlling his body, and he only allows himself movement for a single hour each day.”

“Well, who am I to tell him how to live?” Rae mutters, settling back into bed. Of course there’d be waiting involved, in anything quintessentially Jakkuvian. Particularly their religions. Niima forced her and Brentin to wait for hours, bound and blindfolded, feigning submission, until they were almost too stiff to stand. This seems like the same, just inverted.

“Suffering can sharpen your senses, can’t it? You may become aware of your body as a machine, a ship you captain. The Eremite senses beyond himself, seeing far across the world through the vibrations in the ground.”

“With the Force?” Rae asks impatiently. This could be what she’s been looking for. Especially since the ramblings about suffering and self-mastery remind her of the twisted sermons of the Emperor’s advisor, Yupe Tashu, who spurred her on this quest.

Tashu was the one who gave her the name of this planet. Called it the inscription of the Emperor’s Will.

The woman doesn’t respond, and instead stares across the room, her jaw starting to drop.

The other anchorites clam up as well, and the child grips their adult minder’s hand.

The man framed by the door wears the same dark, plain robes as the others. All that marks him as special are the carved bone crutches under his arms, and the stunned reverence from the others.

Rae recognizes that trembling gait, though she doesn’t need to, to guess who he is.

The Eremite takes the steps leading inside slowly, reminding Rae of how she dragged herself up the hill to reach the habit house. Even the placement of each crutch is laborious.

No one moves to help the man; in fact, the anchorites withdraw, the one-eyed woman in particular, whose mouth flattens into a line and whose posture becomes stiff, almost strict.

Perhaps the man is too holy to touch. Rae thinks it won’t add to his holiness if he falls flat on his face, which his wavering frame threatens with every step. What is visible of his features under the hood shows how much effort it takes him to walk. He breathes harshly through his nose, his teeth worry his lower lip as he makes calculations for each movement.

It is clear what he came here for. He approaches Rae’s bedside. She apprehends him warily, again feeling too flattered by the special attention.

The easiest approach would be to play dumb, pretend she knows nothing of their ways. Pretend she hadn’t just been lectured about him by one of his followers. “Ah…” Rae straightens up. “Were you the one who found us? Last night?”

“I am,” the man whispers.

“Would you like to sit?” She indicates the end of her bed.

The Eremite nods and lowers himself down, holding the crutches together and leaning his brow against them. His hands, as Rae noticed before, are deeply veined and wrinkled.

The one-eyed woman clicks her tongue to her teeth in disapproval. Was that for me, Rae wonders, or for the Eremite? But she still can be smug. You wanted me to pray to him, but here he is, paying respects to me.

She much prefers this audience with a god to her ordeal with Niima.

But when the man pushes back his hood, Rae is overwhelmed in a way she hadn’t anticipated.

He isn’t an old man, though his face is deeply marred by lines and veins, the way his hands are. They aren’t the natural marks of age. His skin is tight where it should be loose, clinging to his skull. If the effect were more severe he would look mummified. His hair has gray roots at his temples, but much of it is dark. And his eyes, glancing up at her, are keen, black as the eyes of the mice that Rae and Brentin had to keep dumping out of their packs and boots in the morning after pitching a tent. They were bold little creatures, not meek like their counterparts on other worlds.

And amid all that, there is something… “I feel like I’ve met you before,” Rae says, impressed by her own honesty.

The Eremite is impressed as well. His eyes open wider, and he raises his chin to regard her more openly. “You have,” he says. The voice rings familiar, too. “I thought you had forgotten.”

She claws through her memories, trying to place him, and comes back empty-handed. “Apparently… yes. Yes, I have.”

“Then… don’t let it trouble you. Let us meet again.” He taps his thumb absently against the bone crutch handles, before leaning them against the bedpost. “It is a good meeting.”

Rae considers this. It wasn’t a particularly dignified one for her, though it puts her in his debt. “An eventful one,” she concedes. “Rae Sloane. Formerly Admiral Sloane, of the Galactic Empire.” She extends her hand, then finds it too bare and vulnerable hovering in the space between them.

The Eremite clasps it before she can withdraw. His palms are cold and clammy. Slight tremors in his thin fingers remind Rae of the warning vibrations she learned to detect before what the locals called a plume, where steam unexpectedly jetted up like a tripped land mine.

Rae forces herself to relax. Her anxiety must be from the strangeness of it all.

The man’s grip is gentle, giving a reassuring squeeze. “It is a pleasure, Formerly Admiral Sloane.”

Rae scans the room. The woman with the eye patch has migrated over to join the pair by Brentin’s cot. She has her hand on the child’s hooded head, pushing it down in a deferential bow, while exchanging furtive, meaningful glances with her fellow adult.

“And you are the Eremite,” Rae prompts.

The Eremite nods, and casts his eyes down. “Ah. Well. I cannot stay. My visit has been most unusual.”

“Back to being a statue?” Rae checks the anchorites, notes the woman’s pinched expression, and places her other hand over the Eremite’s. “Shall I speak with you again, later?”

“I insist,” he says, and leans closer. “So I might hear what brought you to Jakku. I hope it is a good story.”

He has noticed her glance across the room, and the corner of his mouth quirks up. They share a moment, an odd spark of intimate understanding. Co-conspirators against stodgy traditionalism, despite how peculiar it is in context. Rae is momentarily entranced. She doesn’t want to mis-categorize her feelings, but does she find him attractive? She admits he would not be conventionally so, to a human. His disfigurement transforms him, almost strips him of his species.

So this is what half a year in a New Republic prison has done to her. She’s been addled by their hedonism and open-mindedness.

“If that’s how I can repay your hospitality…” she offers.

“It would be a fine payment.” The Eremite takes his crutches in hand and rises from her bed. This time, he finds his balance a bit more easily. As soon as there’s enough space, the anchorite woman moves to stand between him and Rae’s bed.

Rae, sure this conversation has broken several taboos, hides a smirk. It might be ungrateful, given the anchorites’ charity, but she deserves to get her way after everything she has suffered. After everything she has had to sacrifice.

This is the galaxy smiling on me, she thinks. This is redemption.

#my post #my fic #gallirae fictober #look im just saying #if sloane is like ''hm i'd hit that'' when rax is actively conspicuously evil #if he's a friendly mysterious object of worship #and flirting with him is a big power move #she might go for it

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