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bard-llama · 1 year

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WiP Wednesday: The Blue Spirit is a Bitch LMAO

This WiP Wednesday brought to you by “wouldn’t it be funny if only Zuko could see the Blue Spirit and they’re just damned annoying?”

So far, I’m working on Chapter 6 of this, so here’s some random scenes that make me laugh and/or cry.

From the very beginning, taking place during/before Zuko Alone.

In Zuko’s defense, if he’d known that the Blue Spirit was real, he never would’ve used their name! In point of fact, the correct name for his mask was the Dark Water Spirit, but that seemed like a technicality that wouldn’t matter to the spirit he’d apparently offended.

You steal my name, my face… the spirit rumbled, something about their voice sending chills down his spine, I will take you up on the offer.

Zuko gulped. He hadn’t meant to offer anything.

Somehow, he didn’t think they cared.

You want to be the Blue Spirit, they said, and the thing in front of Zuko grinned a wide, creepy grin. Wish granted.

Very abruptly, Zuko’s constant headache spiked enough to make his vision white out.

When he blinked back to awareness, he was lying on his back in the grass and the sun had begun to start peeking over the horizon. Perhaps that was what had woken him, because typically, Agni’s rays energized him.

He could use some energizing right now, because he felt like he’d been hit with a fucking airship traveling full speed.

“Ugh,” he groaned, rubbing his head. “What–?”

Oh come now, it’s not that bad, that chilling voice from earlier spoke and Zuko’s eyes snapped open to see that the bizarre creature in front of him – it almost looked human, except for the complete lack of features beyond the freaky smile – was still there, but had also become solid in a way they weren’t before. When he moved, they followed him. You’re stuck with me, they grinned.

Oh Agni, what had Zuko gotten himself into?

Given his complete lack of supplies, heading for the nearest town seemed sensible, but as soon as he grew close enough to hear the bustle of people, he knew it was a mistake. He could see something weird surrounding each person, a kind of colorful haze that – oh. Oh, dammit, had Ty Lee been right about auras this whole time!?

Ugh, if so, he owed her a massive apology, because he’d always dismissed the silly idea.

It was disorienting, but Zuko fixed his eyes on the ground, only glancing up briefly to ensure he was going in the right direction and not going to hit anyone. No one reacted to his new ‘friend’, despite the clearly inhuman appearance of them.

Yeah, no one else can see me, the Blue Spirit said casually, stretching strangely blob-like hands over their head. Ah, it feels good to move around. I’ve been cooped up in that stupid grove for way too long.

Zuko frowned, wondering if he should ask – but the last thing he needed was to draw attention by talking to himself.

Maybe the spirit would go away and it would become a moot point?

He snorted quietly. Yeah, his life was never that kind.

From Ch 2, where The Chase takes place

A few days later, he actually felt fairly stable with the whole seeing auras thing and the spirit that only he could perceive haunting him.

Actually, it was… weirdly kind of nice? To not be alone. Even though the Blue Spirit was creepy, it was nice to have someone during the long trek across the rocky plains.

A flutter of something beige caught his attention and his hand snapped out automatically to grab what turned out to be… hair?

Specifically, bison hair. The Avatar was nearby.

Heart suddenly pounding with hope, Zuko wondered if perhaps this was his chance to change everything. If he could just capture the Avatar, then – then – then what? He was considered a traitor to the Fire Nation with orders to be executed on sight. What could he actually do if he did manage to catch the Avatar?

Which was far from guaranteed. He’d never successfully held the Avatar for more than a few hours before, and even then, he’d had a blizzard to help him.

Huh, the Avatar really is back? The Blue Spirit asked. Where have they fucking been?

“Uh,” Zuko coughed. He wasn’t wholly sure, but… “I think they got frozen or something?”

…you’re kidding, right?

Zuko just shrugged, changing direction to follow the trail of bison fur. Maybe he didn’t know what to do if he caught the Avatar… but he had to try.

He literally had no other purpose in this world now.

Well, I wouldn’t quite say that, the Blue Spirit grinned. He was starting to get used to seeing that grin on a face with no other features, including no eyes, but it was still creepy. You are the Blue Spirit now.

Zuko frowned. “What does that mean?”

Their grin just widened and Zuko tried not to worry too much about it, but his hackles were definitely up when he spotted the abandoned village in the distance. The Avatar had probably gone there, which meant Zuko would be going there.

For three years, his entire purpose had been pursuing the Avatar. He didn’t know how to stop doing that, especially when he had nothing else. So maybe he didn’t have a great chance of capturing Aang (based on all of their past encounters and Zuko’s usual luck), but he had to at least try.

Never give up without a fight. Intriguing concept.

Zuko scowled at the Blue Spirit, stomping towards town.

Then he saw blue fire blossom above one of the buildings and suddenly, he had cause to run. If Azula was here, if Azula was after the Avatar – no. He had to stop her. Without the Avatar, he had no way of ever returning home. He couldn’t let her take that hope from him, even if it was a frail and fading hope.

When Zuko made his appearance on the scene, Azula and Aang were facing off down a street – so he threw a blast of fire between them and jumped down from the neighboring rooftop, landing lightly on his feet.

Concerned primarily with not breaking his legs, Zuko hadn’t really made notice of what his fire looked like. But Azula had.

“White fire? Really, Zuzu? Can you grow anymore freakish?”

He bared his teeth, snarling at her, but part of him was startled to note that she was right. Instead of the usual orange-red, his fire came out white when he struck.

He had no idea what was up with that, but he set it aside. Maybe it was a side effect of the whole spirit possession thing.

What was important was that the white fire was even hotter than Azula’s blue fire, and he could see on her face when she realized it, her calm veneer broken by a frown. Then she moved, darting between buildings, and the chase was on.

The Avatar followed her, too, and Zuko shot a few blasts at them just to keep them out of the way and on their toes. (If some of those blasts happened to cause them to jump out of the way of Azula’s shots, then that was pure coincidence.)

Zuko’s main focus was Azula. As much as he wanted to capture the Avatar, Azula was the more prominent threat.

She laughed. “So you really are a traitor. How delightful. Father will be pleased when I bring back your corpse.”

Zuko flinched.

“What–?” the Avatar started, brow furrowed in confusion, but Zuko couldn’t look at them. He had to stay focused on Azula, or she would take advantage of his distraction.

The fight continued and he wasn’t quite sure when the others showed up, but somehow, six of them ended up backing Azula up against a wall, bending (and boomerang) at the ready.

She held her hands up with calm deliberation. “Well, look at this,” she smirked. “Enemies and traitors, all working together.” She raised her hands in a peaceful gesture, but there was no way she was actually accepting defeat. “I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor.”

“Like fuck,” Zuko couldn’t help but retort, and her eyes narrowed.

“You’ve never known anything about honor,” she responded and he couldn’t help his flinch.

“That is not true,” Uncle said firmly, somehow here beside him along with the Avatar’s group.

Azula smirked slightly. “Do you doubt my royal word?”

“Every word you say is a lie,” Zuko said automatically, because it was true. Azula always lied.

“Oh good,” Azula said casually, “then you know I’m lying when I say that I’ve missed you, dear Brother. The palace just hasn’t been the same without you. So quiet, so tranquil – so much better without you there.”

Again, Zuko couldn’t hide his flinch and Azula’s smirk sharpened.

It was only the Blue Spirit’s warning to block that let him raise a fire wall in front of all of them, unsure of who Azula was aiming for. Her blue fire combined with his white and exploded, sending them all flying back with a wave of heat.

Zuko managed to land on his feet. He was the only one.

A quick assessment of their surroundings showed that the Avatar’s group and Uncle had fallen to the ground, and Azula was nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck,” he swore quietly, moving to help his Uncle up.

“Thank you, Nephew,” Uncle smiled at him as though things were at all normal. “It is good to see you well.”

“...yeah.”

“Azula’s gone,” announced the Avatar’s strategist – the fucker with the damned boomerang. His name was… Suki? Socket? No, that didn’t seem right.

“That doesn’t mean we can let our guards down,” the waterbender said icily, glaring at Zuko.

Which… fair enough, but suddenly, his motivation to fight the Avatar and get blown through walls was waning. He already hurt enough. He really didn’t need to add additional injuries to his collection.

Aang looked at him with innocence and a slight smile, aura bright like sunshine. “Hi, Zuko,” he greeted, as though they weren’t enemies.

Zuko had no idea what to do with that. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a silent groan.

“Who the fuck are you?” the little Earth Kingdom girl that had apparently joined the Avatar’s group asked.

“Who are you?” he asked in return.

She grinned widely and honestly, it was almost on the same level of creepy as the Blue Spirit’s smiles. He swallowed back a shudder.

“I’m Toph Beifong,” she introduced, “I’m the Greatest Earthbender in the World!”

Zuko blinked, staring at her. “Aren’t you like… ten?”

“Twelve,” she corrected. “And if you don’t believe me, I’d be delighted to demonstrate.”

Something told Zuko that this demonstration would be very painful.

“...I’ll take your word for it,” he decided. Mostly, he was too tired to deal with getting beat up, but he could admit – bright blue streaks of confidence dominated in her aura and he figured that probably meant she could back up her claims.

“So… are we fighting?”

Zuko sighed, really wishing he had a better answer than, ‘do I have to?’

Of course he had to. His Father had assigned him the task of capturing the Avatar. He could not fail. Again. He had too many failures on his record as it was.

But also… his ribs were still healing and frankly, getting blown through a building did not sound appealing.

“Was I imagining things or was your fire white?” Aang asked.

Zuko just shrugged, but yeah, it had been, and he had no idea what that was about.

White fire is not achievable by humans, the Blue Spirit said casually, walking around Aang and examining the Avatar. But you are no longer human.

Zuko’s eye widened and he almost choked at the words. What the fuck did that mean?

You’re me now, remember? The Blue Spirit’s grin was feral and Zuko gulped.

“Right,” he muttered.

And a little later:

“I have a proposal,” Uncle began. “We are all tired and worn. Perhaps we can make camp, get some rest, and deal with things later?”

Zuko sent his Uncle a disbelieving glance. No way would they consent to sleeping with him around. Why the fuck would they!? He was their enemy!

“Okay!” Aang agreed instantly.

“Not okay!” exclaimed the strategist – seriously, what was his name? Zuko really should know it. Soup? Socks? No, that was stupid.

…maybe Suki? His mind kept coming back to that, so that had to be it, right?

“Maybe two separate camps?” Toph suggested. “We can take over some of these abandoned buildings. Or I can just make us an earthen camp.”

“Do you think any of these buildings have real beds?” the waterbender asked with something longing and utterly exhausted in her voice.

When was the last time these idiots slept?

“I don’t care,” he decided, choosing a building at random and stomping into it.

As if to specifically spite him, the Blue Spirit lounged on the bed that was in fact there.

He sighed heavily, but called out, “yes on the beds.”

“Dibs on the next house!” Aang cried out immediately, and from the woosh of air Zuko could hear, he’d probably barged right in.

Zuko shook his head. Was this for real? Was he really about to make camp next to the Avatar? Why!?

Oh, I’d say it’s pretty obvious why, the Blue Spirit smirked.

Zuko frowned, confused. “What?”

What’s the Avatar’s name? They asked out of nowhere.

“Uh…” Zuko glanced around, trying to figure out the relevance. “...Aang?”

Mmhm. And what are the others’ names?

“Um,” Zuko flushed. “I mean, there’s Toph. And… Suki?”

“Are you talking to me?” Uncle called, making his way into the house.

Zuko shook his head, flushing.

The Blue Spirit smirked and suddenly he knew he was going to hate whatever was said next.

You have a crush, the Blue Spirit announced.

“What!?” Zuko flushed bright red, sputtering in disbelief. “Do not!”

The Blue Spirit just cackled, that same ghostly laughter that sent shivers down his spine.

“Nephew?” Uncle approached, a look of concern across his face.

Zuko covered his blushing face. “Nevermind,” he muttered.

Uncle’s eyebrow arched, but he let it go. “Are you tired?”

“Uh. Kinda?” He was… but he’d also noticed that he needed a lot less sleep now than he had before.

“Then let us rest,” Uncle smiled. “A man needs his rest. We can speak in the morning.”

After Zuko has a nightmare:

Fortunately, Zuko awoke with the scream trapped in his chest, the memory of his Father’s fist of fire making him shake.

He needed air, so he launched himself out of the chair and stumbled out onto the streets, where the sun was about two hours away from peeking over the horizon. Fortunately, Uncle had taught him to meditate on where the sun wasn’t as much as where it was, so Zuko chose a nice spot and settled down.

Naturally, that was when the Blue Spirit plopped themselves in front of them with – actually, with a strangely serious expression. As much of an expression as one could make with only a mouth.

That’s fucked up, the Blue Spirit opened with.

Zuko blinked. “...what is?”

Your memory.

Zuko’s eye widened. “You can see my memories!?”

Only when you dream. For now.

Well. That wasn’t ominous.

“How long am I stuck with you exactly?”

Oh, you’re never getting rid of me, the Blue Spirit laughed.

Swallowing hard, Zuko decided he couldn’t think too hard about that.

He was wrong, the Blue Spirit said, mouth flattening into a serious line again. You know that, right? Like, I don’t even have human morals and holy fuck, he was super wrong to do that to you.

Zuko frowned. “He was punishing me for disrespect,” he whispered.

Yeah, I’m a spirit of justice, the Blue Spirit said bluntly. There was nothing just about that.

“Yes there was,” Zuko objected. There had to be. Otherwise, how could everyone else have acted like it was okay?

He was always forcing his Father to punish him. It wasn’t that Father wanted to – but Father wanted him to be stronger, to stop being a disappointment.

He deserved everything Father had ever done to him.

That’s bullshit, the Blue Spirit said.

“Well, what do you know of it?” Zuko snapped. “It’s none of your fucking business.”

On the contrary, the Blue Spirit grinned. I am the spirit of vengeful justice. It is entirely my business how my host has been mistreated.

“I haven’t been,” Zuko said, but somehow it felt like a lie.

Yes, the Blue Spirit said simply, you have. But not to worry – you can now take just revenge for each slight!

“There aren’t any slights!”

Really? Not even against the Blue Fire Girl?

Zuko hesitated.

That’s what I thought.

“Ugh,” Zuko groaned. “Just… shut up.” He’d come out here to meditate, not to question everything he’d ever known.

But the thoughts wouldn’t stop circulating around his head when he tried to meditate, so he changed his plans, instead pulling out his swords.

In the prior village, he’d combined his swords and his fire together. And he hadn’t noticed if his fire was white there – more concerned with the whole stone mallet to the chest thing – but it certainly was now.

It was kind of unnerving, so Zuko stuck to playing with his swords only, doing his best to mitigate how much he pulled on his ribs. But he couldn’t afford to be idle while they healed, so he needed to learn how to fight with them.

It wasn’t the first time he’d learned to compensate for an injury limiting his mobility. (In the most memorable previous time, he’d had to figure out how to practice dual dao with one arm in a cast after Father had broken it as punishment for playing with swords when his firebending was a disappointment.)

Again, the Blue Spirit said, that’s fucked up. Like, seriously. No wonder the world has gotten so out of balance if that’s what’s leading the Fire Nation.

Zuko felt like he needed to defend his Father, but he really didn’t know what to say. It was Father. Everything he did was right by definition.

But the Blue Spirit said nothing else and Zuko let it go, shedding his shirt when sweat started to make his skin itch. Then he focused only on moving his swords the way they were supposed to move, filtering out all other input from his senses.

Which is why he jumped about three feet into the air when Aang’s voice asked out of nowhere, “what happened to you!?”

“Fuck!” Zuko swore, pressing a hand to his pounding heart. “Fucking Agni, don’t do that.”

The Avatar just frowned at him, face pinched with what almost looked like concern. “What happened?”

“None of your business,” Zuko snapped, reaching for his shirt and quickly covering his torso – and the very obvious bruises and scars scattered across it.

“Katara’s a healer,” Aang offered.

Katara. Was that the waterbender? He had read that waterbending could sometimes heal. But even if she could do it… “yeah, I don’t think that’s on offer for your enemy,” he said bluntly.

“Everyone deserves healing,” Aang disagreed. “And we won’t know until we ask.”

“Well, I’m not asking,” Zuko snapped.

“But–”

“Fuck off,” Zuko said, turning away from the Avatar. This… was actually the perfect opportunity to attack, with no one else around but them. But right now, Zuko was angry and confused and in pain and he did not have the mental capacity to deal with the Avatar trying to help his enemy. Again.

He spun his swords, moving through the katas Master Piandao had once taught him and paying the Avatar no mind. He kind of figured Aang would go back to his friends – but instead, when he finished the kata, Aang clapped.

Zuko whirled around to stare at him.

“That was really cool!” Aang enthused. “I mean, I knew from before that you were good with swords, but like – wow! You’re really good!”

“...thanks?” Zuko hazarded, uncertain of what to do with the Avatar’s praise.

Cruuuuuuuush, the Blue Spirit’s singsong voice said from way too close, and Zuko jumped again, earning him a surprised look from Aang.

Ugh. He did not have a crush.

You so do, the Blue Spirit responded, clearly amused.

“What do you want?” Zuko demanded, and he honestly didn’t know if he was asking the damned spirit or the Avatar.

Aang shrugged. “We haven’t seen you in a while.”

“...shouldn’t you consider that a good thing?”

“Hmm,” Aang paused to actually think about it. “There are positives to it,” he said eventually, “but there’s something reassuringly familiar about you chasing me.”

“...are you fucking kidding me?”

“Well, I mean, since I woke up from the ice, you and Katara and Sokka have been the most consistent things in my life,” he said, smiling brightly at Zuko.

Zuko… did not know what to do with that.

“Hey, can I ask?” Aang began, “why do you chase me anyway?”

Because the Fire Lord is a sadistic asshole, the Blue Spirit said.

Zuko froze, which apparently worried Aang, because he held his hands out, quick to assure, “you don’t have to tell me! I’m just curious.”

You know, the Blue Spirit observed, if you won’t believe me, maybe you should tell him. I guarantee he will tell you that your Father is seriously fucked up beyond belief.

That made Zuko scowl and Aang winced, leaning back and murmuring an apology.

It was ridiculous that Zuko felt guilty for making him think it was his fault that Zuko was pissed.

He wanted so badly to respond to the Blue Spirit, but there was only so much responding to things no one else could hear that could be excused. So he grit his teeth and bit out, “go away.”

Aang pouted. There was really no other word for the expression. “Aw, c’mon,” he whined. “We can talk about something else!”

“I don’t want to talk to you at all,” Zuko said without thinking and the hurt that crossed Aang’s face made something uncomfortable twist in his chest. He huffed, annoyed with everything about this situation.

“Okay,” Aang said quietly, voice small. Zuko did not feel guilty about that. “But can you at least come see Katara and get healed? It can’t be easy to fight with… all of that.”

It wasn’t, but like hell was Zuko admitting that. “I’m fine.”

“Those bruises looked really deep,” Aang pointed out.

Zuko shrugged. “Nothing broke. Probably.”

“‘Probably’!?”

He sighed, “what do you care?”

Frowning, Aang looked up at him with earnest eyes and said, “no one should be in pain.”

That actually made Zuko laugh, which was horrible for his ribs, but… “I don’t remember what it’s like not to be in pain,” he admitted. “You get used to it.”

Aang’s look of horror just reminded Zuko of how different their lives were. This was an airbender who had grown up in a world without war, in a temple where fun and serenity were considered to be the most important things.

It was such a foreign upbringing that Zuko couldn’t really understand it. His entire life had always been a struggle. He’d never been given anything for free – but the Avatar? They probably got offered free shit all the time.

Shaking his head, Zuko turned away. “Go away, Aang.”

Aang did not go away. In fact, when Zuko headed towards the house Uncle was sleeping in, the Avatar followed him.

“You know my name,” Aang said, surprise in his voice.

Zuko’s face scrunched in confusion, unsure why that mattered. Then he spotted the Blue Spirit’s wide grin parting to say something and he snapped out, “shut up.”

Aang ignored that. “Do you know the others’ names?” he asked curiously, skipping up next to Zuko.

Zuko’s fists clenched and the Blue Spirit laughed.

No, the Blue Spirit said, smugness in their voice. You just know his because you’ve got a crush.

He did not! Desperate to defend himself, he blurted out, “I know Appa and Momo!”

“You… do?” Aang blinked at him in surprise.

Zuko flushed. “Um. Admittedly, not sure which is which.”

That made Aang burst out into giggles. “Appa is my bison,” he said with a grin. “Momo is our lemur.”

And a little later:

“The world has changed so much,” Aang said, voice quiet. “It scares me.”

“I mean,” Zuko heard himself say before he knew he was going to, “even a hundred years ago, your perception of the world was probably pretty different from most people in the other nations.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’re an Air Nomad.”

“...yeah?”

Zuko flushed. “The other nations don’t really have so much emphasis on ‘fun’. Even historically. And I mean, not saying that you were ignorant of the other nations – I’m sure you visited them plenty – but Air Nomads… the other nations aren’t like that.”

“What do you mean?” Aang frowned.

Zuko sucked on his bottom lip, trying to find the right words. “Probably the closest to the Air Nomad lifestyle would be the Water Tribes. They’re communal too – or at least, the South is. I dunno much about the North that’s not eighty years out of date, and as of then, they’d moved away from that a couple thousand years ago. But that makes a pretty significant difference. When you know your needs are provided for… it’s different. But the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom… they’ve never been like that. I mean, I’m sure some places have done it on a local level before, but like, nationally, there’s no guarantee for Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom citizens that they will always have food or shelter or water or–” he spotted the look on Aang’s face and broke off. “Um. Yeah.”

“Really?” Aang whispered. “I mean, I guess I knew that a little bit? Bumi lived on the streets in Omashu a hundred years ago.”

Zuko blinked. “Bumi? As in King Bumi!?”

“Yeah, he became king at some point?” Aang shrugged. “He – he was always good at taking care of himself that I guess I never really realized… how can the Earth King and the Fire Lord not feed all their people?”

“Well, scale is definitely a factor,” Zuko said. “Like, there is a point where a society gets too big to effectively manage. I mean, there were around twenty-nine thousand Air Nomads. The Southern Water Tribes, too, were around twenty thousand at their peak. But the Fire Nation has a hundred-seventy-nine thousand people, and the Earth Kingdom has at least three-point-five million.”

Aang’s eyes were wide. “Whoa.”

“Yeah. So size is a factor. But probably also culture? Like… before the Fire Nation unified into one country, we were a little more like the Southern Water Tribes. Each island had their own clans and good rulers took care of their people. But then we came together as one nation and…” he frowned, horrified by the thought that it all went downhill from there.

“But…” Aang’s face scrunched up in confusion, “I mean, I don’t really get how having a single ruler works, but like… how can they not take care of all their people? Isn’t that the purpose of having a ruler?”

Zuko had no response to that.

He’s got a point, the Blue Spirit pointed out, watching Zuko and Aang like they were the best entertainment they’d seen in years.

…which might actually be the case, but Zuko determinedly did not care.

He scowled at the Blue Spirit, just on principle.

“What are you looking at?” Aang asked curiously, following his gaze – and probably seeing nothing more interesting than the dust-swept ground.

“Nothing,” Zuko muttered, realizing that at some point, he’d stopped walking just to talk to Aang. Frown deepening, he resumed his journey to Uncle.

Aang continued to skip alongside him until they heard Katara’s voice snarling, “where is he!?”

They shared a concerned look and ran.

Katara stood over Uncle, icicles hovering threateningly around him. The only thing that stopped Zuko from attacking was the fact that Uncle appeared entirely calm, sipping a cup of tea.

Where had he even found tea?

“Katara?” Aang called, and she whirled around.

“Aang! Are you okay?” she asked, running up to him and glaring fiercely at Zuko.

“I’m fine,” Aang said easily. “What’s wrong?”

“We woke up and you were gone and then it turned out Zuko was also gone, so…” the Water Tribe boy – Aang had said his name, hadn’t he? What was it? – shrugged, looking bored. There was clear relief on his face, though, and his boomerang was in hand.

Agni, Zuko hated that thing.

Then the boy’s words penetrated his head and he realized that he hadn’t even tried to capture the Avatar. Like, at all.

Was he really so scared of getting his ass kicked that he didn’t even bother to try!?

Yeah, I don’t think that’s the problem, the Blue Spirit said, a smirk on their face. Zuko’s brow knit in confusion and they clarified, do you really want to bring that innocent and gullible Avatar to the man who burned your face off?

Zuko couldn’t help his flinch and it garnered him strange looks, but he tried to ignore it.

What do you think your Father would do to him? the Blue Spirit asked curiously. Which body part do you think he would burn first.

Zuko’s inhale made sharp pain spread through his chest and he winced, pressing a hand to his ribs absently, more focused on the Blue Spirit than the way the Avatar looked at him with obvious concern.

He wanted to tell the Blue Spirit that they were wrong, that Father wouldn’t – wouldn’t–

Would your Father keep him alive, you think? Or let him reincarnate eventually?

“Stop,” Zuko whispered, eye wide as he processed the Blue Spirit’s words.

“Stop what?” Aang asked, standing too close to him and looking curiously between him and the presumably empty patch of street where the Blue Spirit stood. “Are you okay?”

Suddenly unspeakably angry, Zuko grit out, “I’m fine.” Then he turned on his heel and marched away – away from the Avatar, but more importantly, away from the Blue Spirit and the horrible things they said.

They were wrong. They had to be. Father wouldn’t–

But. But he’d never thought Father would burn him so badly either, and what if the Blue Spirit was right!? If – if Father could punish his son so severely… what would he do to the boy who happened to be the Fire Nation’s most wanted enemy?

Zuko had deserved his punishment, but Aang…

No, not Aang. The Avatar. The one being powerful enough to challenge the Fire Lord.

Father would have no mercy. He certainly hadn’t had any for Zuko.

And that was right. That was just.

The problem was, Zuko wasn’t sure he could sentence anyone to worse than what he got. The burn on his face had been deep enough to steal not just his sight on that side, but his hearing, too. It hurt constantly and made his whole head throb.

But he’d deserved it. Right? He’d – he’d spoken out of turn in the Fire Lord’s war room. He’d shown unforgiveable disrespect. That – that was an offense serious enough to warrant such a punishment… wasn’t it?

An hour ago, he wouldn’t have questioned it. But now? Now the Blue Spirit’s complete disapproval of his Father had instilled doubts in him.

Father wouldn’t be happy.

It was fine, though. Zuko wouldn’t succumb. He would always be loyal to his Father, as a good son should be. He wasn’t a good son, Father had made that clear, but he had to try.

So why couldn’t he dismiss the Blue Spirit’s words?

Trying to stop thinking, Zuko dove into a kata that he knew well enough to be comfortable with, but not so well that he didn’t have to pay attention to what he was doing. His fire came out bright white, but he refused to let his mind contemplate that. It didn’t matter what his fire looked like. All that mattered was that he execute the kata correctly.

Next Chapter:

Iroh was used to worrying about Zuko. In general, his nephew excelled in reckless behavior – but now especially, with everything in their life so shaken up, he felt that worry more keenly than ever.

He shouldn’t have let Zuko go alone.

“Uh…” the Earth Kingdom girl coughed, “what the fuck just happened?”

“Got me,” the Water Tribe boy said. “Zuko just started staring into space and freaking out.”

“I don’t think he was staring into space,” the Avatar said, frowning. “It seemed more like he was looking at something.”

“But there’s nothing there.”

Iroh stroked his beard, intrigued. “Nothing we could see. Which does not necessarily mean nothing at all.”

“...are you saying that Zuko’s seeing things?”

“Actually, I was thinking more about the white fire. The spirit fire.”

The Avatar gasped. “You think Zuko saw a spirit? But why couldn’t we?”

“Very few beings can see a spirit’s form without the spirit intending it.” Iroh was actually one of those beings, but he’d seen nothing either. The question was, did that mean there was nothing to see? “Some of it comes down to power – not many spirits are powerful enough to manifest physically unless something serious happens to set them off.”

“Like the fucking Hei Bai spirit,” the Water Tribe boy muttered.

“What,” the Avatar asked hesitantly, “what would it mean, if Zuko sees a spirit?”

“I’m not sure,” Iroh admitted, but now that the thought had occurred, he worried about it. What could the spirits want with his boy?

“He’s injured,” the Avatar’s quiet voice said.

“What? Who?” the waterbender blinked.

“Zuko. He looked pretty badly injured, but he wouldn’t come back to ask you to heal him, so…”

She sniffed, sticking her nose in the air. “I wouldn’t anyway.”

The Avatar frowned sadly. “He guessed that. But – but he could have broken bones, Katara!”

“...he did touch his ribs like he was in pain,” the boomerang kid said reluctantly.

Iroh fretted, but he knew nothing he could say would help this girl decide to heal her enemy, so he stayed quiet.

“So what? He chased us across the world!”

The Avatar chewed on his lip and then admitted, “he also saved me from Zhao once.”

“...what?” Iroh wasn’t the only one to look at him in surprise.

“I – I got captured by Zhao,” the Avatar explained hesitantly. “After that big storm, you remember? Where you guys got super sick? Well, I went looking for medicine and these freaky archers came after me and… Zhao strung me up in this stronghold. And he – I was so scared,” he admitted. “I could barely move. I didn’t know what to do. But then the door opened and–”

The waterbender scoffed. “And Zuko appeared? Yeah right!”

“He did!” the Avatar insisted. “But I didn’t know it was him at first. He wore a mask and used swords instead of fire.”

“...Zuko can use swords?” the Water Tribe boy asked, looking mildly disturbed.

“Yeah! He was practicing with them earlier and wow! He’s really good! I mean, I kinda knew that, because we had to fight a lot of firebenders to escape, but like…” he shrugged.

The waterbender crossed her arms. “Well if he’s so injured, what is he doing practicing?”

The Avatar frowned. “I mentioned that. He just said that nothing was broken. Probably.”

“‘Probably’!?” Iroh couldn’t help but burst out.

“That’s what I said!” The Avatar looked distressed. “He – he said he doesn’t remember what it’s like not to be in pain.”

Iroh winced. It wasn’t that that came as a surprise, exactly, but it was difficult for him to acknowledge the reality that his boy experienced constant pain and there was nothing he could do about it.

He did not like feeling powerless.

“What does that mean?” the Water Tribe boy demanded. His sister’s face was a strange mix of horrified, disbelieving, and sad.

Iroh sighed. “Such deep burns are not without consequence,” he murmured.

“Who–?” the Avatar dared to ask.

Part of Iroh wanted so badly to tell them. Their goal was to face the Fire Lord and stop this war. They should know just how terrible Ozai was.

But… Zuko wouldn’t want his enemies to know. Zuko hadn’t yet come to realize just how unforgivable it was for his Father to do such a horrible thing. It broke Iroh’s heart, but he hoped that one day, Zuko would be ready to acknowledge that his Father was wrong.

Iroh sighed, shaking his head in response to the Avatar’s question.

The Water Tribe boy coughed. “Um. Who are you, anyway? I mean, obviously you’re always following Zuko around, but…”

That made Iroh’s lips twitch. “I am Zuko’s Uncle,” he introduced. “My name is Iroh.”

“His… Uncle?” the boy said with a strange expression on his face. “As in… his Father’s brother?”

“Indeed,” Iroh agreed.

“...younger brother, though, right?”

“Ah,” Iroh clicked his tongue. “No. Ozai is almost twenty years my junior.”

Not me just sharing practically the whole next chapter oops

“Nephew!” Uncle beamed at him, looking up from the Pai Sho board he’d found somewhere. “Would you like some tea?”

Zuko sighed, taking a seat across from Uncle (carefully holding his torso still, because fuck, his ribs hurt). He would not be playing Pai Sho, but he did want to talk to his Uncle.

“What’s on your mind, Nephew?” Uncle asked, inviting him to share.

Zuko wanted to ask. But it was also really hard to get the words to cooperate. In the end, his question was blurted out with a complete lack of tact.

“What do you think Father would do to the Avatar?”

Uncle blinked in surprise, then took a moment to think, looking contemplatively down at the board. “I am not sure I can theorize,” he said.

“He’ll,” Zuko stuttered, “he’ll do worse than he did to me, won’t he?”

“It is highly likely,” Uncle said carefully. Too carefully.

The Blue Spirit’s words ran through his mind again and he had to whisper out the question that scared him more than anything. “Was Father wrong?”

“What?”

“When – when he – I – I deserved it, right?”

“No!” Uncle said with such emphasis that it made Zuko tense. He clearly noticed and calmed himself. “No, Zuko. There is nothing you could do that would deserve such treatment.”

Zuko frowned. How could that be? “But…”

Told you, the Blue Spirit chimed in, and Zuko suddenly noticed them lounging across the moth-eaten couch.

But that didn’t make sense. How could he not deserve it? Why would Father do that if he hadn’t deserved it?

Because he is cruel, the Blue Spirit said simply. But don’t take my word for it. Ask him.

Zuko chewed on his lip, not quite able to look at Uncle. “Why?” he asked quietly. “If – if I didn’t – then why?”

“Zuko,” Uncle began, but Zuko had to finish.

“If – if what he did was wrong, then why didn’t anybody stop him!?”

Uncle set his teacup aside, and when Zuko glanced up, he was looking at Zuko with a serious expression. It made him look sad.

“There is no excuse for cowardice,” Uncle said, and his voice shook in a way it never had before. “But sometimes fear is easier to succumb to than courage.”

Zuko frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Uncle said, “that not only did Ozai wrong you, but you were failed by all of us who should’ve done something and never did. It is unforgivable, Zuko.” Uncle met his gaze with shiny eyes. “Of everyone there that day, Zuko, you are the only one who did not do something wrong.”

“But–”

“You were right, Zuko,” Uncle said clearly, stopping for a moment to clear his throat, voice thick with emotion. “You were right to speak up for the 41st. You absolutely did not deserve what happened – no one ever could.”

“But how can that be!?” Zuko burst out. “If – if it was so wrong, then how come no one has ever said that before? How come you’ve never said that before!?”

Uncle flinched. “You love your Father,” he said after a moment. “When you love someone, it is difficult to see the ways they are wrong. When others criticize those we love, we rarely believe them. But that does not mean it is not true.” He sniffled and cleared his throat. “I never wanted you to push me away.”

Zuko’s face was scrunched in distress. “But – but even the Earth Kingdom merchants and the gossips in every port and the soldiers everywhere – everyone acted like Father was right. How can that not be the case?”

“Your Father has a great deal of power over the world,” Uncle said slowly. “Not because of his crown, but because of his cruelty. People the world over fear him. Fear makes us cowards, and sometimes it is easier to pretend it’s not there than to admit that we failed. Because if we acknowledge that Ozai is wrong and we do nothing… we are not less guilty than he is.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!”

“No,” Uncle agreed, voice so very sad. “It doesn’t. The world has become terribly broken, Zuko, and too few remember what it is to act with compassion and love. Our family has brought a century of war on this world and people have become twisted with malice and desperation. That does not make it right. What Ozai did was wrong. And there is no possible way anyone could deserve that.”

Zuko shook his head, not able to accept that. It was ridiculous. If Uncle was right, then the whole world was wrong. That couldn’t be possible.

It made much more sense to think that the problem was Zuko. Maybe… maybe other people wouldn’t deserve it. But Zuko did. Zuko had to have, because otherwise, every single person he’d ever met had been wrong. All those people who sneered at him and laughed at him and made jokes about it and–

It was too many people. Surely they couldn’t all be in the wrong.

No, it had to be that Zuko was the one wrong. It had to be.

Uncle reached out slowly to touch his arm and Zuko couldn’t help his flinch, head spinning with confusion.

It couldn’t be. Uncle had to be incorrect, that was the only thing that made sense.

But… but Uncle looked at him with such guilt and pain and heartbreak and Zuko didn’t know what to do with that and–

“I need air,” he grunted out, scrambling to his feet and bolting.

Unfortunately, while Uncle could be outrun, the Blue Spirit could not be.

He’s right, they said, strolling alongside Zuko.

“Fuck off,” Zuko grit out. “Just – just go away!”

Fine, the Blue Spirit agreed. But he’s still right.

A moment later, they popped out of existence, and Zuko let out a shaky breath, suddenly feeling a hot burning behind his right eye.

They were wrong. They had to be.

Right?

Now Aang’s POV

Aang was floating on cloud nine. He could earthbend! After a horribly long day of failure after failure after failure, he could do it! He could move rock!

Katara left to start dinner and Sokka and Toph had eagerly followed her, but Aang had too much energy to stay in place, so he wandered through the streets, bending pebbles around just because he could.

So when he spotted Zuko stomping down an intersecting street, he raced after the Prince excitedly.

“Hey Zuko, guess what?” He used his airbending to speed ahead and come around to face Zuko, a bright grin on his face. Then he spotted Zuko’s expression and his smile fell. “Are you okay?”

Zuko turned away instantly, sniffling and wiping his right eye. Aang… was pretty sure he’d seen tears on Zuko’s cheek and he didn’t know what to do with that. It had… never really occurred to him that Zuko could cry.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

“Nothing. Go away.” Zuko’s voice lacked any force and he wouldn’t look at Aang, even when Aang circled around him again.

“Is there anything I can do?” Aang asked quietly.

“Yeah, fuck off,” Zuko grunted, twisting on his heel to stomp away from Aang.

Aang chewed on his lip. He – he didn’t want to not respect Zuko’s wishes, but something was very clearly wrong and he couldn’t just leave Zuko to be upset alone.

“I can distract you, if you want?” he offered. If Zuko wouldn’t talk to him, then he could at least help Zuko take his mind off whatever had happened… right?

“Why!?” Zuko demanded, rounding on him. “What do you care!?”

Aang frowned. “Why… wouldn’t I care?”

Zuko sputtered. “Because we’re enemies, maybe!?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want you to be unhappy,” Aang pointed out. “I don’t want anyone to be unhappy. So if I can do something about it when someone is…” he shrugged.

Zuko stared in disbelief. The eyelashes of his right eye – the only eye that had eyelashes – were clumped with tears and it was pretty obvious that Zuko had definitely been crying.

Aang hated when people cried. He wanted to give Zuko a hug, but that might be pushing things a little too far. Still, he could at least do something to offer comfort.

“If you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s okay,” he said, voice as gentle as he could make it. “You don’t have to tell me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take your mind off it.”

“...how?”

“Um,” Aang considered his options. “Oh! Would you like to fly on Appa?”

Zuko’s face made it clear he thought Aang was crazy.

“Flight is amazing!” Aang insisted. “C’mon, I’ve taken a lot of first-time flyers out. It’ll be fun!”

“Fun,” Zuko repeated blankly. “You… I don’t know why I’m surprised,” he huffed.

Aang attempted a smile. “As you know, Air Nomads are big on fun,” he said easily. “Do you wanna go flying?”

There was definite temptation on Zuko’s face, but the frown stayed dominant. “You realize I could just knock you out and fly to the Fire Nation, right?”

“Well, I guess it’s possible,” Aang acknowledged. “But I think Appa would have something to say about that. He can be positively unmoveable when he’s feeling stubborn, you know?”

Zuko blinked slowly, processing that. Then he actually snorted.

“Sky bison were considered to be one of the most willful pack animals in the world,” Zuko muttered.

“Yeah!” Aang nodded, though he was definitely surprised Zuko knew that. But it didn’t really matter. “So… wanna go flying?”

“...fuck it, why not?” Zuko said after a moment.

“Great! C’mon!” Aang positively beamed, grabbing Zuko’s hand and dragging him towards Appa.

Zuko asks the burning question

When Zuko’s eyes opened again, there was a considering look on his face. “Can I ask you something?”

Surprised, Aang nodded. “Sure!”

“In – in the Air Temples,” he began, voice hoarse, “how were you punished if you disrespected the elders?”

Aang tilted his head. “Disrespect how?”

“What do you mean ‘how’?” Zuko frowned. “Disrespect is disrespect.”

“Well, I guess, but like… it kinda depends on how much of a sense of humor you have, you know? Like – like Master Gyatso and I would prank the other elders all the time, and Monk Tashi would get super mad, but Monk Pasang usually found it funny. He’d even give us feedback on how the pies tasted!”

“...pies?”

“Oh yeah, see, Master Gyatso is a great baker. And pies are perfect for throwing at people’s heads.”

Zuko stared at him. “You… threw pies at your elders?” There was clear horror in Zuko’s voice. “What did they do to you? How were you punished?”

“Oh, usually it was just more chores and stuff,” Aang shrugged. “I’m very good at cleaning bison stables.”

Zuko’s stare almost turned gaping.

“What?”

“You,” Zuko’s voice was strangled, “you attacked and humiliated your elders and all you got was more chores!?”

“Uh… yeah?” Aang frowned. “Why? What do you think should’ve happened?”

Zuko clutched at his hair, face distraught. “It’s – that can’t – it’s not – what!?”

Aang wasn’t sure what was troubling Zuko so much, but he reached out with clearly telegraphed movements to touch Zuko’s arm. “What happened?” he asked quietly.

Zuko’s muscles flinched under his fingers, but Zuko didn’t actually pull away. Instead, he sat hunched over, tugging at his own hair.

“Zuko?” Aang shifted closer, hoping to offer what comfort he could. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Zuko shook his head, very obviously focusing on keeping his breathing steady. Even so, each exhale shuddered, and Aang was pretty sure that wasn’t just because of the bruising he’d seen earlier.

“Can I hug you?”

That made Zuko jerk back, gaping at him. “What!?”

“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” Aang said very seriously, “but you seem like you could use a hug. So… can I?”

For some reason, his question seemed to cause Zuko great consternation, but after a long moment, Zuko said, “I… guess?”

“Okay,” Aang smiled. “Just tell me when you want me to let go.” With that said, he shifted so that he could hug Zuko properly, pulling Zuko into him and pressing their chests together.

Zuko was tense in his arms and he kept his touch gentle, not wanting to aggravate the unknown injuries Zuko definitely had.

It was kind of awkward, just sitting in silence, hugging someone who was stiff as a board, but Aang ignored that, focusing on offering whatever comfort he could.

He didn’t know what was wrong or why Zuko was upset, but he did know that he liked Zuko and he didn’t like Zuko being unhappy.

So he held Zuko close and gradually, Zuko’s muscles unwound. At some point, Zuko even tilted his face into Aang’s shoulder, hands coming up to clutch at the back of Aang’s shirt. Aang smiled slightly, leaning his weight into Zuko and slowly rubbing Zuko’s back.

They stayed like that for a long time, just circling in the air above the village their families were in and hugging tightly.

And finally, a fun little distraction

Aside from Uncle, it had been a very long time since anyone had hugged Zuko. And even Uncle didn’t do it often.

It was… kind of nice?

Embarrassing beyond belief that he needed it, but he could admit that after waaaaaaay too long spent hugging Aang, he… did actually feel a little bit better. It hadn’t fixed anything, but he felt sort of like it had grounded him. There was still a typhoon of thought and emotion in his head, but he’d managed to push it down enough that he felt like he could actually breathe.

Unfortunately, that meant that he then had to acknowledge the part where he’d basically just broken down in his enemy’s arms.

He flushed, swallowing uncomfortably and drawing away with a mumbled apology.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Aang said softly. “Are you okay?”

Zuko opened his mouth to respond and then realized that he didn’t have an answer. He… wasn’t entirely sure he knew what it meant to be okay.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Aang’s smile was compassionate in a way that made Zuko feel exposed like a raw wound.

“No!” he lashed out with a scowl.

“Okay,” Aang said easily. “If you decide you do wanna talk about it, you’re welcome to come to me any time. In the meantime, do you wanna do a barrel roll?”

Zuko’s face was probably a fascinating thing to study as different emotions flashed through his mind.

But honestly, that did sound pretty cool.

“Yeah,” he decided, setting aside all the things he didn’t know how to feel about.

“Great!” Aang grinned. “Hang on to my arm, just in case. Appa knows what he’s doing, but it’s still best to be careful with people who can’t fly.”

The barrel roll was actually completely amazing and Zuko actually felt a smile pulling at his lips. It was an unfamiliar feeling.

#atla #wip wednesday #zuko x aang #zukaang #i mean really pretty gen #but the INTENT is to get there at some point #lord only knows if that will happen #season 2 au

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zablife · 2 years

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Somehow there are now 1K of you here reading my fics and that is surreal to me! Tysm to everyone who reads, comments and reblogs my work. It means the world to me! In honor of this milestone I'll be holding a little celebration (details below the cut.) I hope you'll join me for games, moodboards and fics for all my fandoms (Peaky Blinders, Top Gun Maverick and House of the Dragon). A special ty to the lovely @peakyblinded for the amazing custom banner and @madame-wilsonn for help with the theme! Tagging some of my beloved mutuals below the cut.🥂

UPDATE: See what's been added here.

Let's have some fun the way a Gatsby party goer might. In other words let's misbehave!!

Make a request by sending a fandom, character (if you find them on my masterlist I'll write for them) and icon below to my inbox. Requests are open until Oct. 15.

⛲️Swim in the fountain~Go on and dare me to play FMK, Would you rather, cast your mutuals or any other game you can think of.

💃🏻Dance on the table~Show off by submitting a fic w/ party theme and/or using a Gatsby-inspired prompt from this list. (1K words or less. No due date!! Use the tag #zablife1K.)

🍾 Spill champagne~Request a juicy blurb that will make you spill your drink using this drama prompt list.

🖼 Steal a painting~"Tell the Lee girls I've counted!" Create or request a moodboard for your fave character at a soirée.

🤵🏻‍♂️Kiss and tell~Request a NSFW head canon about your fave character.

A little party never killed nobody so come join me lovelies:

@retromafia, @violaobanion, @shelbydelrey, @runnning-outof-time, @look-at-the-soul, @bonniesgoldengirl, @celticmelody, @theshelbyclan, @theshelbyslimited, @dearshelby, @solomons-finest-rum, @christinasyellowflowers, @madame-wilsonn, @amysteryspot, @murderousginger, @peakyrogers, @kittycatcait219, @gypsy-girl-08, @noforkingclue, @notyour-valentine, @the-makingsofgreatness, @flysafepapi, @gilmoreslorelai, @hauntedheathcliff, @twvstedsouls, @magicallovdrms, @rikki-b-lake, @lovemissyhoneybee, @teenwolf-theoriginals, @mythos-writes, @mrsalwayswrite, @tommydoesntpayforsuits, @evita-shelby, @l1-l4, @xxblackballoonxx, @shelbywhiterose, @little-diable, @multifandomwriter56, @pherelesytsia, @cillmequick, @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie, @dreamlandcreations, @justalonelyslytherin, @imjess-themess, @jakexfmc, @moral-terpitude

#zablife1K

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boydykepdf · 11 months

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@fastasyoucan1999 ty 4 the tag!! <3

book that pleasantly surprised you: do androids dream of electric sheep? by philip k. dick! read this like a month ago + had only read one other philip k. dick book + didn't really enjoy it so i was surprised by how much i liked this one <3

book that disappointed you: quite a few recently which is...unfortunate. just been reading a lot of books that i end up not really liking :( most recent was the girl in red by christina henry which i read last week after having it on my tbr for so long that i forgot why i even added it and it was simply. not good! writing ranged from mediocre to bad + the actual plot was not particularly interesting or well-executed so :/ second most recent was bad feminist by roxane gay which just. did not have good politics lol

your current read: living a feminist life by sara ahmed but it's slow going bc i am...not really enjoying it </3 giving her a chance bc i've only just finished the first 3 chs but...honestly had higher expectations...

top 2 books on your tbr: my tbr is sprawling + disorganized i don't really have any particular order in mind for it but! i do want 2 read young mungo bc i've seen all my tumblr mutuals raving abt it + i've also been meaning 2 read on earth we're briefly gorgeous for a really long time!

an author you’re loving: having been reading some engels + marx this year + loving them lol & have also read a couple books by leslie feinberg + bell hooks + have really enjoyed those as well!!

rec a book to the person who tagged you: ummm my go-to rec right now is. the archive of alternate endings by lindsey drager simply bc it is my favorite thing i've read this year <3 but also!! since u enjoyed the captive prince series...the feverwake duology by victoria lee has kind of a similar vibe although v different setting etc....one of my faves <3

no-pressure tags: @pomegranate-pill @loseraccount @suspendedinbush @boyjoan @steelycunt @twisted-tales-told

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multiversal-pig-outing · 4 months

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By the time of korra ty lee gotten so big she really couldn't do her acrobatics anymore. But she does run a successful acrobatic and ch-blocking school.

#fat #muse:ty lee

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rlaehrwk-37 · 1 year

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translation by @lee-hakhyun <33

• This starting scene had me quaking in my boots even the first time i read it.

So, Han Sooyoung is now talking to the readers across the universe who read her story (ugh why not me?)

“her unlucky tone” ORV has a lot of ‘unlucky’ things if I put my mind to it. specially a certain reader’s unlucky smile. even thinking about it makes me want to punch a wall, so let’s forget about it.

So apparently Sooyoung sent a short story to the cloud. I wonder which side story it is? Bc this side story is totally not gonna be short, unless she’s comparing it with ORV or TWSA. Hm I wonder which one…? (It would be insane if it was the Mia side story)

So a “foreign war” (is it a war between universes eh????) is about to begin. We’ve no fucking clue what that means. But ty for this bomb Sooyoung, im totally not worried for Lee Hakhyun now…

• A-Are you telling me Gilyoung has the capacity to eat locusts?? (Not that I doubt it, ofc)

And ofc Joonghyuk got his boots from Doc Marten’s (I’ve never shopped for boots so idfk what I’m talking about)

Protagonist swag 😔👊

Reading this passage makes me feel some type of way I can’t explain. So I can’t write for it. eugejdhwjekdjuduw.

• One reader asks Han Sooyoung about Kim Dokja, the question that we’ve been dying to know the answer to. But in typical cliche fashion, the screen blanks before she can answer.

Hm it’s interesting how LHH compares his feelings to HSY’s. He claims that if she was real, she’d be feeling the same thing as him even though her mental health is probably far worse than ours atp. It’s gonna get worse bc HSY belittles any “self-proclaimed writer” she meets and calls them a faker bc they do not have the avatar skill. But LHH equates his emotions to her level. My boy…

• Anyway, the hosts have prepared a quiz for the readers. Just like how Kim Dokja received a “gift” from tls123? So fucking sus istg.

The readers answer some weird questions like “How many times did ◼️ appear in the story?” and “what’s the significance of the number 1863?”

Of course, both Lee Hakhyun, and me had no fucking clue what that meant but the readers did.

“1863 is the year the world’s first subway opened, and it symbolises Yoo Joonghyuk’s repeated return to the moving subway.” <- is the response by a reader.

Honestly I was dumbfounded when I googled it up and saw this :

WHAT THE FUCK SINGNSONG???? I thought the answers didn’t matter and they just wanted to kidnap the readers but holy shit???? It’s actually real?!?

I love how SNS are actually dropping in little trivia abt the story and their thoughts thru this side story. I love all this new information. It’s so… mind blowing. They thought it out so well!!

• Hmm Representative Kim Dokja’s analysis… this guy really did all that and is also a part of an organisation that kidnapped readers from a different worldline.

Also Lee Hakhyun immediately acting like he knew tf that was LMAOO 🤣 he’s such a prideful liar i love him,, what a little shit.

• LHH : “Can I say I love this story more than they do?”

Me, absolutely not crying : ugh shut the fuck up shutupshutupshutup

This story is making me more emotional than it should. I’m so sensitive…

• Eventually Ji Eunyu, the editor, answers a question bc she doesn’t wanna be left behind (honestly so relatable…)

Readers crying :’))) bc the story has now ended. They can face reality now. At least they’ll get their prize..?

I’ll never get tired of thinking of LHH thinking deeply about KDJ… something about his attachment to KDJ, him thinking “what would Kim Dokja do?” to face a problem in the scenarios… looking around to find Dokja, bc he’s their shining star in the face of calamity, their saving grace.

And oof, the question asked to him, “Who is the heroine of ORV?”

Can I say Kim Dokja? XDD

Well seriously speaking, i could consider Han Sooyoung… but it is a trick question.

• But LHH answers this. I’m a little conflicted? We know ORV is not supposed to be a romance novel. (which I love about it!!!! abolish romance!!! XD)

But ORV is a love letter from KimCom (and Han Sooyoung primarily) to all of Kim Dokja across the Universe.

“Compared to other main characters, the proportion of appearances was not high”. Uhh is he thinking about Sangah here? I’m honestly lost lmao but to me personally, I can’t see KDJ with any woman other than HSY. Alongside YJH, she’s the one who understands and forgives him. (Not to undermine the significance of his relations with the rest of KimCom bc that’s not the thing I’d do, but HSY plays a pivotal role even later in the side story!)

LHH apparently created this character for KDJ, and there’s… so much to unpack from this statement alone 🤐🤐

• UGHHH STOP.

(she or he or they idc I wanna know who’s his fav character)

Honestly I was clutching my phone so tightly at this point…

• those seats are not going to be empty for too long…

I cant believe ORV has managed to even traumatise me with THEATRE SEATS.

readers collecting snow… bc it snows on Kim Dokja’s bday 🤧🥺🥺 ugh this part is so…

[The Fourth Wall] glimmering on the screen. The readers walked through this Fourth Wall from the Theatre to get into ORV and back to the Theatre they’ll return, although what Theatre it’ll be… we’ll see :)

• Lee Hakhyun’s nickname on the tag is [■■■] :)))

Lee Hakhyun wanting to write a story even for one person who’s left behind ToT I’ll need to make a separate post for this uwaaaa

• and so, Lee Hakhyun is isekai’d into ORV, and this shitshow begins once more, folks.

#orv #orv side story #lee hakhyun #orv spoilers #omniscient reader’s viewpoint #kim dokja

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karlyanalora · 2 years

Note

As someone whose listened to "We Don't Talk About Bruno over a dozen times, can you please tell me about "We Don’t Talk About Zuko"?

Okay, so my sister is in a humor group, and sometimes they do song parodies. So we came up with this one together. Unfortunately it didn't make the cut, but we hope it will next semester. If it does, I'll post the video here for sure. Enjoy the lyrics!

Toph is walking backward while talking to the Gaang: So let me get this straight. You get your butt’s kicked by a bald kid with a ponytail?

Sokka: We do the butt-kicking, thank you very much. But basically, yes.

Toph: So how did you meet this Zu-

Sokka & Katara: We don't talk about Zuko, no, no, no!

We don't talk about Zuko... but

Zuko (slides across the stage dramatically, arms raised dramatically): It was my Agni Kai

Iroh: It was his Agni Kai

Zuko: I was getting ready to either fight my father or die

Iroh: And no one asked why!

Zuko: Ozai walks in with a malevolent grin-

Iroh: Fire!!

Zuko: You telling this story, or am I?

Iroh: I'm sorry, Prince Zuko, go on

Zuko: Ozai says, "Go find Aang"

Iroh: Are you insane?

Zuko: He burned my face, now I'm in pain

Iroh: Someone get the healers!

Zuko: Banished, now I'm chasing Aang

Iroh: What an awful day... but anyway

Sokka & Katara: We don't talk about Zuko, no, no, no!

We don't talk about Zuko!

Iroh: Hey! Grew to love and care for Zuko struggling and stumbling

I could always hear him sort of whimpering and wondering

I associate him with the sound of falling leaves, ch-ch-ch

It's a heavy lift, with a gift all fumbling

Always left Azula and the Fire Lord grumbling

Sent on a quest that would not ever end

Do you comprehend?

Sokka: A face to cause a scare

A stick shoved up his butt

Yeah, he’s got bad hair

Should really get it cut

Yeah, he’s lookin’ for Aang

Gosh, he’s such a pain! (hey!)

We don't talk about Zuko, no, no, no! (We don't talk about Zuko, no, no, no!)

We don't talk about Zuko (we don't talk about Zuko!)

He told me the moon would die

The next day: dead! (No, no!)

Mai: He told me we would breakup!

And just like he said... (no, no!)

Aang: He said that all my hair would reappear, now look at my head (no, no! Hey!)

The Gaang: Your fate is sealed when he rears his ugly head!

Azula: In his life, I'm the one pulling strings, now the throne will someday be mine

He watched me as my powers did grow, now his honor is on the line

Sokka: Sparky Boom Man's on his way!

He told me that the girl of my dreams would be just out of reach

Betrothed to another

It's like I see her now

Katara: Hey Toph, I want not a sound out of you (it's like I can see her now)

Sokka: She’s the moon now

Toph: Um, Zuko...

Yeah, about that Zuko...

I really need to know about Zuko...

Gimmie the truth and the whole truth, Zuko

Ty Lee: (Azula, your brother's here)

Cabbage Man: My cabbages!

Soka: A face to cause a scare (Zuko: it was my Agni Kai, it was his Agni Kai)

A stick shoved up his butt (I was getting ready to either)

Yeah, he’s got bad hair (fight my father or die)

Should really get it cut (Iroh: And no one asked why!)

Yeah, he’s lookin’ for Aang (Zuko: Ozai walks in with a malevolent grin-)

Gosh he’s such a pain (Iroh: fire!)

Zuko: You telling this story, or am I?

Iroh: I'm sorry, Prince Zuko, go on (Soka: Sparky Boom Man’s on his way)

Zuko: Ozai says, "Go find Aang" (a face to cause a scare, a stick shoved up his butt)

He burned my face, now I’m in pain

Banished, now I'm chasing Aang

The Gaang: He's here! (Bending battle begins as Gaang spies Zuko)

Don't talk about Zuko, no! (Toph: Why did I talk about Zuko?)

Not a word about Zuko

Toph: I never should've brought up Zuko!

#avatar the last airbender #we don't talk about bruno #zuko #sokka #uncle iroh #toph beiphong #azula

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fantasies-fairytales-n-fics · 1 year

Text

Code Blue Ch. 3 "Hysteria"

Summary: Josie is discharged from the hospital and goes home to more than one upsetting situations. A treasure hunt begins but someone deters it, temporarily. A close friend comes for Josie. She learns shocking information. Lee is in trouble and is in need of saving, but can he be? Quite the reunion takes place.

*Warning* language, mentions of child death, injury, alcohol mentions, angst, mentions of traumatic events(ptsd), mentions of infertility, mentions of anxiety, mentions of organized crime

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist

Salem, Massachusetts

February 2, 2023 - Earlier in the day

"TAXI!!!" You hollered while vigorously waving your hand in the air. It was 9 am as you ran out to the hospital parking lot watching a cab pulling away from dropping someone off.

The winter groundhog day was actually quite warm and sunny to where you could get by with the thin waist length jacket you wore. You were in a rush to get home, charge your phone and get on your laptop to search for the debonair doctor Lee. In a way, you were glad this was happening as it you distracted you from thinking about your brother, otherwise you would just go crawl in bed and hibernate until his future funeral was over.

It was just you and your mother Margaret now. You were 30 years old and still lived with her but only so she wasn't alone since your father had passed a few years ago. Besides, you had no significant other tying you down which was by your choice. One too many let downs had been enough for you to handle so you made the family businesses a priority along with your love of writing. Fantasies, fairytales and romance novels were your thing, although you loved a good horror story as well. Living in the witch city certainly had it's perks and influenced a lot of your material. One thing that came with writing was research and you were damn good at it. Finding Dr. Pace would...should be a piece of cake.

The cab dropped you off and you went racing into the house.

"Mom! I'm home!"

As you shut the door, there stood your mother at the bottom of the stairwell on her phone....and something in the kitchen was burning.

"Hey! Mom, what are you doing?? You're supposed to be resting, not trying to burn the house down!"

You ran into the kitchen and foolishly yanked the flame filled cast iron pan filled with charred bacon off the stove. Screaming in agony, you instinctively dropped it onto the floor.

"Fuck!!"

You ran to the sink while sucking on your fingers and desperately submerged your hand under a cold stream of water. About five more F bombs dropped from your clenched mouth as you stared at your already blistering palm.

"I'm sorry honey! Are you alright? I was only trying to make some breakfast for you. Let me get some ointment...."

"You couldn't have waited until I got home? I called you this morning and told you I would be here soon mom!"

"Alright. Well I am just going to go up to my room then." she huffed and stormed up the stairs.

You just stood there, peering down at the splattered grease and broke down in quiet sobs as you leaned over the sink. The smoke, the smell, the burning of your hand, had all triggered your memories of the explosion. In that moment, you became so angry at Jason for the lifestyle he chose that resulted in his death and could have killed you too. You dreaded what was to come of it soon enough as you would have to face the investigating detective who tried to speak with you, but Britt would not allow it because of the condition you were in at the time.

After soaking your hand for a few more minutes, you went to the bathroom and wrapped your palm in gauze, then trekked up the stairs to your room to get your laptop. First and foremost, you plugged your phone in. Then....you heard your mom crying.

You crept inside her room and found her taking clothes out of the closet and someone sitting on her bed. Megan, the younger sister that you did not acknowledge because she only came around when she wanted something, such as a boyfriend of yours. Otherwise, she was whoring it up in Boston somewhere. You were fuming inside to see her as she did not even care for Jason at all. Most likely she was there to hit her mother up for money as there was an abundance of it from the businesses and also from your father's will that he left all of you.

You glared at her as she ignored you and played on her phone.

""Mom...I'm sorry. I did not mean to snap at you. Are...you ok?"

Your curly haired redheaded mother rolled her eyes and turned to you.

"No Jo, I am not O..K. How could I be? My son is...and now I have to find something for him to wear and plan a funeral but what do I dress someone in who was in the mob?"

"Do you think I was oblivious to his so called profession? Or that you knew about it? And were almost killed too?"

She, along with most of the town and police department were definitely not oblivious to what Jason was involved in. Mafia, mob, organized crime...call it what you will, it all meant the same thing and your brother had been in it up to his neck for many years. You just happened to be collateral damage merely by being in his orbit.

You paced about, wanting to scream as you couldn't take it when your mom got into these moods.

"Ok...I can see you need some space right now, so I am going to go to my room for a bit, and then I am leaving. You seem to have everything you need here."

Your sarcasm was deep as you left, glowering at Megan in her stupid little clashing beret.

Your phone was now half charged and you powered it on. 3 new voicemails appeared in your notifications.

"Hey Josie, it's Britt. Obviously your phone is dead as it went straight to voicemail. Call me..or text, whatever. Just let me know how you're doing. David is worried about you also so give him a shout out too, K? Love you. Talk soon."

"Hello Miss March, this is Detective Butler with the Salem P.D. following up about the incident on pier 55 yesterday. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience to set up a time to take your statement. Sooner than later is best. You can reach me at 555-7268. Thank you."

"Ugh!!" you reeled. He was just going to have to wait. What did it even matter now anyways? Your brother was gone and the last thing you wanted to get involved in was matters of the mob.

"Hi there Miss March. This is Dr. Bloom. I just wanted to follow up with you to see how you are doing. Hopefully well. Feel free to reach out if you have any concerns...and again. I am sorry for your loss. Bye."

"What in the hell was that?" you whispered. Do doctors call to check on patients? Not that you knew of...and you had just seen him three hours ago.

You blew it off and hopped in the shower, dressed and fixed yourself up, then grabbed your laptop and phone charger, stuffing them in your bag and took off. Anywhere but there was good for you to do your doctor hunt.

You headed straight for Britt's downtown apartment since you knew this was her day off. Of course the gorgeous 5'9 40 year old brunette who looked 30, had a snazzy penthouse on the top floor of a place called the Metro Court but she certainly could afford it with her Chief of Staff salary. She deserved it though because she worked her ass off and was damn good at what she did as she was an OBGYN. She had chosen that path when she found out she could never conceive a child, so she wanted to help others out. It was something you could identify with as well, but yours stemmed from an accident years ago.

As you got out of your car, you glanced up at the twenty story high rise which made your stomach do a flip. Heights off almost any kind, you couldn't do or you would freeze solid and have an anxiety attack, which this fear was caused by a ride at an amusement park. But oddly, you didn't have a problem with riding rollercoasters...as long as it wasn't anything to where your feet would dangle out in the open. You had to be boxed in or it wasn't happening. You had been to the famous Cedar Point once in Ohio and rode the Power Tower. Biggest mistake ever... Everyone sits around this gigantic pole in their own chair with your legs hanging in mid air and then it starts moving up, then at some point, it just drops and flies back up, over and over.

Your body had frozen as the panic set in, and it was bad. You screamed and cried as if you were being murdered, while your friends laughed. The ride attendant couldn't decipher your terrified screams from everyone else's joyful ones, so you had to endure it, and you've been traumatized ever since.

Up the gazillion flights of stairs you went, as another issue you had was elevators. You had claustrophobia and any small space would have you flat on the floor in seconds. Your sinister sister once locked you in a pitch black crawl space when you were both teens and let you scream and cry for over an hour before your mother came home. Megan quickly unlocked the door and denied having anything to do with it, that the door must have gotten stuck. She paid for it though, much later when you kicked her ass after school one day with no witnesses.

You finally reached Britt's door, huffing and puffing as you knocked.

"Omg Josie!! Hiiiii!!!" She threw her arms around you as you both did the little jump up and down dance while laughing.

"Hey you!" a familiar voice sounded from behind. Dr. David Conrad, Britt's brother and also your drop dead gorgeous other best friend. Tall, dark and handsome with piercing blue eyes, also older than you at 38 ...and all just like the stunning Dr. Pace. It was no secret Dave had it bad for you but you were not willing to cross that line and risk your friendship with him in case it didn't work out. It wasn't easy though because he was just perfect in every way. One of the most kind, caring and compassionate individuals that you had ever known. But this Lee guy...you had never felt so drawn to anyone in your life, not even Dave....the pull was undeniable, at least on your end and you had to find out why.

Dave came right to you and picked you up in a spinning hug.

"How's my girl? I am so sorry about what happened sweetheart. I would have been there for you, but I was out of town. I rushed as fast as I could to get here. Britt told me you were coming here so I just came here to wait. Don't ever scare me like that again, you hear me?"

His words and tone were so heartfelt and sincere. You knew he was in love with you but you also knew he would never tell you that. He too was afraid of jeopardizing his friendship with you. You felt like such a fool because he was every woman's dream and yet you kept him at arm's length. Sure, people say being great friends first bud some of the best relationships but after all you had been through in that department, you were just too scared to test the waters because it would kill you if you lost him. You did love him, you just weren't in love with him.

"Hey, don't worry! I know you would have been here in a flash if you could. Your here now and that's all that matters." You stroked his cheek and smiled.

"You're the best, you know that? So...I am grilling out on the patio, taking advantage of this unusual warm weather. You're gonna stick around right? We can all get our drinks on and try to have a little fun? Just to try and ease your thoughts some?"

'I..I..well...I actually have some things to go take care of...but I guess I can stay for a little while since I haven't seen you in a minute." His grin matched yours as he spun around to make you a drink. His famous midnight margaritas, although it was only high noon. You and he named the popular drink that after many nights of horror movies on his couch. One of those nights, you mentioned that you were in the mood for a margarita and it was midnight, and he happened to have all the ingredients so he got up and made them, and then it just became a tradition with a name.

He handed you the icy beverage and then went to the patio to finish his ridiculously good steaks.

"Someone's sure happy to see you." Britt said in an insinuating manner. She knew of her brother's feelings. Most people did.

You rolled your eyes at her. "Ugh. Britt. Don't. He will find someone someday. That person is not me. Although, it baffles me. All these gorgeous doctors at SGH and they're all single."

"That's because they have no life." she chuckled. "Same for me." Her face changed to sadness as she looked down.

"So...how are you doing with all this?"

"I...I'm fine? Why wouldn't I be? Except that I am worried about you."

"Maybe because you were in love with my brother."

"Well...he didn't love me and now he's gone and...Josie...I don't want to talk about that ok? So what's with all the stuff?"

She was good at deflecting, so you broke down and decided to tell her what you were up to. After explaining it all to her, only the parts about finding the bracelet and wanting to return it and thank him, she gave you the dreaded look you knew you were going to get.

"So, like I know you better than anyone, and I also know when you have a thing for someone. I also know of the train wrecks of relationships you've been in and that you're trying to steer clear of that, so why on earth are you doing somersaults for a man you have only known for like 5 minutes? And don't deny it, I can hear it in your tone and see it in your eyes. The way you talk about him. I'll tell you right now, you need to get in your car and drive as far in the oppsite direction form him as you can. He's bad news Josie."

"What? How?? He was so kind and understanding."

"Because he's a doctor. That's his job."

Now you were just getting pissed. "So you're saying it was all an act? That he's an asshole or something because I may have only known him for the 5 minutes you speak of, but his eyes...there was...something in them...and it was not that of what you say..."

"It's called lust. You're beautiful and every man knows it."

You laughed sarcastically. "Ok, if that's what it was, then why isn't he chasing after me?"

"Ok...look. He called the hospital about an hour ago and requested for time off to take care of some business. The man's a workoholic and has weeks upon weeks to use so I allowed it, but not for that reason. He's a hot mess Josie. Dealing with things you do not need in your life."

"Excuse me but I will make the decisions of what I do and don't need....Shit...I'm sorry. I don't mean to be hasty. I know you are only looking out for me...but it's not like I haven't dealt with hot messes before. Hell...I"M one." you giggled.

"Maybe so, but did you forget you're trying to stay away from all that or did you hit your head in that explosion? If you knew what I know, you would think twice. So I'll tell you."

"No...you won't! Whatever he is going through is none of my business, and honestly it's none of yours either unless it is affecting his ability to treat his patients."

"I fear that it could. There are days I can tell he had not slept, his eyes all blood shot and sucking down his red bulls, and his mood swings will give you whiplash. He's so irritable lately and as I said, he works too much. I have suggested to him in the past to take time off, but he refuses so when he asked for it, I gladly accepted because he needs to get his shit together before an accident or mistake happens with a patient. Josie...he had a son who died and..."

"NO I SAID! Don't tell me this, it's not your place." You literally put your hands over your ears and walked away.

"You need to know before you get in too deep. There was a car accident. The boy was only five years old and he wasn't buckled in..."

"Stop!! No wonder the man is a complete wreck and you're standing here calling him a hot mess and bad news. I am going to go find him to return his bracelet wether you like it or not. So are you going to tell me his address or do I have to drive to everyone I find on google?"

"Ok..OK....calm down. Geez. I know where he's at right now and he'll probably be there at least two weeks so I am only going to tell you if you stay here tonight and think all of this through. Dave came all the way here to be with you Josie. He left an important conference...for you. The least you could do is spend a little time with him and go in the morning. Dr. Pace needs his space anyways. He's at his old home where he lived with his son. He was renting it and the people up and left, leaving the place in a disarray so he's going to be there a long time cleaning it and fixing things. One day won't hurt you to hang out with your best friend, you know, the guy you've actually known more than 5 minutes?"

The woman could certainly pose a good argument and you knew you wouldn't win. You also knew she was right so you agreed to wait. Your heart was broken over what she vaguely told you. Now you knew what you saw in his eyes.....pain.

You woke up at 1 am in a sweat from a nightmare and couldn't breathe. But it wasn't about the explosion...it was about Lee. As you laid your head in your hands and closed your eyes, you strangely heard Lee's voice in your head. "Just breathe Jo."

You sat up straight, eyes still closed and sucked in a deep breath, then blew it out slowly.

"Ok...ok Jo...breathe...you cannot have another panic attack...not now." you mumbled under your breath. Of course you hadn't taken your meds like Dr. Bloom had persistently told you to do.

When you got this way, your entire rationalized thinking capability was non existent. Why were you like this? So befuddled? After the episode with your mom and surprisingly seeing your succubus sister, you were flat out frazzled and so was your hand still as it stung, but that wasn't enough to get you in such a frenzy. It was him....it was all him. The dream was horrible. Lee had been hurt and you were trying to get to him but you couldn't. It had to all be related to what Britt told you and the fact you were trying to find him but had to wait. The thought of seeing him again had your stomach filled with butterflies. A feeling no other had ever caused. You screamed internally of frustration and whipped the blanket over your head, finally falling back asleep after a few minutes.

Lee's old home- 1 am.

Lee was three sheets to the wind and in a maudlin mood. A mood to reminisce and he knew just where to go. The attic. It had all of Jacob's things stored in boxes. He pretty much had to pull himself up the ladder in his stupefied state to accomplish his destination.

All he could manage to do was stumble around while using the flashlight on his phone as there was no light in the attic. Corner after corner was stacked with boxes and he couldn't remember which ones were his son's as it had been years since he had went up there. He could never bring himself to do it and now, the one time that he wanted to, he still could barely do it due to his blind drunken state.

As he turned around, he saw the pile belonging to his son. The sight was so overwhelming that he gasped and stepped backwards.

But there was nothing there but the open doorway he just climbed through. Down the wooden ladder he tumbled, crashing to the floor below which knocked him out cold.

February 3, 2023

You awoke bright and early at 7 am. There was no way you could make yourself sleep any longer. You snuck into Britt's room and woke her up by plopping onto her bed with a laugh.

"Ok...it's tomorrow, now spill it. What's his address?"

Britt moaned and yanked the blankets over her head. "Noooooo...go awayyyy. It's too early and my head is killing me."

"Well who's fault is that miss beer pong champion?"

You had all played games and drank last night, although you drank yours in moderation so you would be ready for today.

"Tell me or I am going to jump up and down in your bed like a kid on a trampoline!"

She whipped the blankets down. "OK OK, please don't!"

You ran and got a pen and paper off her dresser, then hopped back onto her bed in an Indian style position with an anticipated grin on your face as she groaned from the bounce.

You scribbled down the address and directions, then jumped up and rooted through her closet for something to wear as you both were the same size in clothing. Then off to the shower you went so she could go back to sleep. Once you were done, you quickly texted a still sleeping Dave to tell him thank you for everything and that you would see him soon. Down the twenty flights of stairs you went and got into your car. A classic silver Monte Carlo SS with chrome wheels. You loved the older style sports cars. Even bicycles. The one you had was blue and looked like it belonged to Almira Gulch and should have a captive Toto on the back in a basket.

Off you went with your tires squealing. Your lead foot was inspired by Jason who rode a motorcycle and was always burning rubber. Your car had the absolute best sound system too so you turned on Sirius XM and cranked it up. The song was so fitting too for what was occurring and it was one of your favorite bands as well. Def Leppard. Hysteria.

youtube

The window down, you sang along.

"I gotta know tonight, if you're alone tonight. Can't stop this feeling, can't stop this fire..." Your thoughts went straight to Lee. What the hell had done to you?

It was now almost 9 am and the drive would take you about 30 minutes with the morning traffic. You prayed that Lee would already be up. The butterflies were swarming through your stomach as you pulled onto the street his house was on. You turned off your music and slowly drove as you searched the house numbers. There it was. A large two story home with a large porch with stone pillars and a swing.... and the front door was wide open. There was also the coolest classic muscle car parked in the driveway.

You got out with the bracelet in your pocket and carefully shut the door as you gazed up at the open doorway that held blackness behind it.

"Breathe Jo..." you whispered and went up the steps. The closer you got to the entrance, contents of the home became visible from the sunlight shining in. Your heart dropped as you saw Lee laying in the middle of the floor with a bloodied nose.

"Jesus!" You rushed to him and dropped to your knees. He was unconscious, or so you believed. You began to panic as you called his name but got no response. You flipped him over and checked his pulse but failed to find it.

"Lee! Can you hear me? Come on, wake up please!" you shouted frantically as you patted his cheek over and over.

What you did next is all you could think of to do before you were going to grab your phone and call 911. CPR, which you had absolutely no idea how to do.

Leaning down, you opened his mouth and placed your lips over his, but as soon as you did, you felt his warm breath softly flow onto your cheek from his nose....yet you remained in an immobile lip lock with him as you couldn't move. You did not want to move. His lips were so incredibly soft and you liked the way they fit perfectly to yours. It felt like a union of soulmates for the first time as you foolishly believed in that stuff. His breath was tainted with whiskey and you now understood why.

You broke the seal of your joined lips and hovered over him, lost as to what to do for him.

Suddenly he gasped and began to sit up with his eyes in a squint from the sunlight.

"You...You're...here..." he whispered as he gazed at you like you weren't real.

"I...Are...you alright? What can I do? Do you need me to call an ambulance?"

All he did was stare at you, then spoke one word.

"W...water."

You stretched your neck up and glanced all around for a kitchen or bathroom.

"Ok..ok. Don't move. I'll find you some."

You shuffled to your feet and found the kitchen and grabbed the first thing you saw for a cup. A child's thermos. You snatched the top off and filled it, then scuffled back to him.

"Here...it's all I could find." you said as your shaking hand offered it to him.

He drank it as his eyes remained fixed on you, then his head lowered as if he was ashamed to be seen in such a state.

You sat trembling in a silent hysteria, trying to hold down yesterday's lunch. Words were out of reach as your brain fumbled for them. Finally, you spoke.

"Wh..what happened? Are you alright?"

He glanced up at the open attic door, then brought his sapphire orbs back to you.

"I...fell. It was...dark and I..." He sighed as he closed his eyes. "Basically, I was shit faced and lost my ability to navigate. How...why... are you here....miss....March?"

"Please...call me Josie. I. I wanted to...." You couldn't stop looking at the blood. "You're hurt... bleeding. Please, let me get something to clean you up."

All you could think about was if you had came last night, maybe this would not have happened to him.

"Thank you...but it's not necessary. I did this to myself. Do stupid things, get stupid results. I will live." he lightly smiled.

You gave him a meek smile. "Well, you didn't deserve that. That's quite a fall.

"Indeed. So...are you going to tell me why you are here or how you even found me?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry. I...I wanted...I found something I think belongs to you and...I also wanted to thank you for what you did for me."

"Something of mine? How could that be?"

You reached in your pocket and pulled out the bracelet, dangling it in front of you. "It..it was under the table in my hospital room..."

His eyes widened as he stiffened into an upright position. "My...bracelet..." he whispered in disbelief.

You handed it to him and he held it as if it would break. "You...you have no idea what this means to me...I..I never thought I would see it again. You came all the way here to give me this?"

"Well....yeah. It looks expensive. I..I tried to fix the clasp. I think it will work now. It was the least I could do after what you did....sitting with me and all."

His mouth hung slightly open as his eyes darted about your face in awe. "I...I don't even know what to say....th...thank you...Josie." His soft delicate tone was so sincere.

"You're so welcome. I am glad to see you so happy." you said in a timorous voice.

His head slightly tilted at your words. You both stared at each other in silence for what seemed like minutes. Shyly, you lowered your eyes.

"You...you have a little...something right...." he touched his lips as he gazed at yours.

Quickly and self consciously, you wiped you mouth and your fingers revealed some blood from him. Oh god, you thought...did he remember? You wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out.

"I...I had...patted your face to try and wake you and must have...gotten some blood on my hand...then...touched my face..." you rambled in the most awkward stutter. How lame did your explanation sound? The grin that formed on his mouth told you he fucking knew. The panic was creeping up into your chest from sheer embarrassment. For fucks sake, how did this man make you so damn frazzled and nervous. Between the butterflies and this feeling, you had no answers, just that not a single soul has ever made your body react this way.

You were certain he was going to call you out on it, but he didn't. He seemed to notice your fear and didn't want to embarrass you more than you already were. Of course he probably noticed it, the fact that you knew you were 50 shades of red right now. You could feel it.

He then got up. "Let me give you some money for returning this to me and for fixing it."

"Oh god no, Lee, I do not want your money. I just wanted you to have that back. It is obviously something of great importance to you and expensive like I had said before."

He turned with a dazed look. "H...how did you know my name? Which brings me again to the question of how did you find me?"

You didn't want to give Britt up, although you actually kind of did after the way she had downgraded him...but...you could see her point now after finding him in such a dire state.

"Google." you simply replied with a fib. You were going to search him anyways, so maybe it wasn't such a stretch of the truth.

"Oh..." he also simply replied. "Yes, it is very expensive but it's value to me is nothing of cost."

He held it in is palm and gazed so deeply at it. "It was a birthday gift from someone special."

His tone was of sheer sadness as his face then corresponded. You knew then it was from his son.

Stupidly, you said it. "You had a son, it was...from him?" Open mouth, insert foot is all you could think.

He lightly gasped as his eyes sprung up from his hand. Then he just flat out said it.

(click the volume button below)

"Oh god...I..I am soooo sorry. Please forgive me Dr. Pace. It is so none of my business."

Lee took a few steps towards you. "Please...call me Lee...and do not be sorry. It's not like it's some classified secret. I'm sure google can tell you that as well."

His eyes diverted back to the bracelet as he took it and tried to put it on his wrist, failing miserably.

"M...may I?" Your hand reached out to him.

There he was, staring at you again. He held the bracelet out to you and held his arm there in an answer to your question.

You sheepishly took it and wrapped it around his wrist. Tremors rolled through your fingers at the touch of his skin while you tried to clasp it. He must have felt it.

"Here....you hold the end and I'll hook it." His voice was understanding and his smile comforting. "There. Back where it belongs thanks to you."

"I am going into the kitchen for more water. Would you care to come have some? Or some juice? Sorry, it is all I have right now."

"Sure." you squeaked and followed him. As he came to the archway to the kitchen, he leaned on the wall, appearing dizzy and then he just dropped.

"Jesus Lee! Are you alright??" you knelt beside him and rubbed his arm. "Let me take you to the hospital, please! You obviously hit your head and have a concussion."

He brought his arm up, laying it over his forehead. "No...please no. They cannot know..."

He then took your hand. "Who's the doctor here?" he smirked. "I didn't hit my head, only had the wind knocked out of me when I fell...and I'm severely dehydrated. I now the symptoms."

"And I also know doctors are not supposed to diagnose themselves. Britt told me that."

"And she also told you about Jacob. She knows all about what happened, not google. Am I right?"

You closed your eyes in shame. "Ok, ok I may have stretched the truth some but.."

"Jo...calm down, it's ok. I am not upset."

Now you were the one staring at him.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"You...you called me...Jo..." You also remembered he called you that when he told you to breathe when you awoke from your dream and imagined his voice. Did you imagine it?

"Annnnd? That's your name isn't it?" he chuckled.

"Well...yes, technically but...no one but my mom and Jason ever called me that...well...me too when I talk to myself.."

"You talk to yourself? I think maybe you are the one with the brain injury." he chortled in amusement.

"Ha ha. You got jokes, so you must be ok."

Your hands were still entwined and his smile faded as he was lost in your sun like eyes....You felt his hand lightly squeeze yours and then he began to tell you about Jacob....

@redeemer46

#lee pace #leeepfrog #lee pace fanfiction #love stories #dark stories #david conrad #kelly thiebaud #doctors #code blue #Youtube

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faggotgamzee · 1 year

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orv classpects these classpects are written and approached from the perspective of what their roles are in the narrative/story and if they have achieved their character arcs rather than embodying their personalities !! major spoilers for the novel ahead !!

my choices also prioritize making sure they fit thematically against each other, in the same way they do in the story but I honestly didn't have to try hard just from how will written orv is and how it is very similarly approached to homestuck when it comes to certain building blocks/beats in writing a story so as such I ended up with the characters that were written as narrative foils to each other fitting very well for their exact opposite classpects unintentionally I gave yjh maid of time and I gave hsy prince of space which are exact opposite classpects to each other fitting their foil like status in the story and or how jung heewon and lee hyunsung are complimentary characters so as such they get blood and heart (sword and shield) and knight and page this wasn't my direct intention when I came into writing this but I am happy with my choices because of it haha

kim dokja - mage of hope

hope is an aspect of choices, options and possibilities as well as belief, dokja's entire story arc is guided by his hope and belief for the characters he's read in the story, and he has been kept alive solely on the hopes tied to said characters, he didnt hope for something better for himself, but something better for the story and once he is given the option to enter the story he has been a source of hope for everyone around him. he continuedly gives multiple characters hope for a better ending, hope to survive etc

and tying into this the way he gives out that hope is through his thorough understanding of the source material 'ways of survival' mage is an active understanding class one that FULLY knows the aspect and exploits the systems its given with that knowledge, mages so far in the comic tend to have self destructive tendencies/rotten ability to use their aspect for themselves, with meulin a mage of heart one who understands people's selves and hearts , thoroughly being manipulated and puppeted unable to understand or see her own sense of self and sollux captor a mage of doom not being able to circumnavigate his own continues doom even though he could see it coming from a mile away, their thematic journey is to learn to help themselves as such I think a mage of hope is a perfect classpect for someone who continuedly gives people hope through killing himself repeatedly lmao, he lacks hope for himself but that doesn't mean he cant give it to everyone else

yjh - maid of time / maid of doom

the reason I started writing this post if because I was listening to temporal shenanigan's and I was struck by how similar YJH is to aradia's story the reason I am hesitating between doom and time is because I like the imagery of YJH being a doom player as an almost foil to dokja's hope (note the opposite of hope classpect wise in homestuck isnt doom, but rage, doom's opposite is life, however, doom is rather similar to rage and I'd consider them analogous not the same but work within similar enough frames) , doom is about systems and restraints, being stuck within the bounds of a "code" a "game" and I think it also works very well for yjh, someone who is literally doomed by the narrative stuck in between the texts, but a lot of doom player's in the story end their story, well, doomed? and while their story continues the only way to circumnavigate their doom is to be outside of the bounds of the story (think SP). I think it'd be interesting if the two different yjh's the one dokja grew up with was doomed (SP) and the one in orv is dictated by time, but a part of me also slightly feels like that cheapens yjh's overall story since both yjh's do struggle immensely with both doom and time but it would fix my hesitation lmao imagine dokja's hope powers did something to give yjh a new chance/a new chance for their session speaking of, a LOT of yjh's story is dictated by time (this concept alone I could write essays about in how its portrayed in the story in multiple forms pocket watch aside) , time involves and symbolizes death, constant movement. it is uncertainty and inevitability. it is one of the core aspects required in every session for its success its opposite aspect is space which I think hsy fully embodies and it makes me happier to have him as a direct foil to hsy more than an almost foil to dokja because that is how he is written in the story maid class is a passive creation class and I know at first glance it doesnt sound like yjh but a maid's thematic story is to grow past being subservient to their aspect and take a hold of it. Aradia starts off the story as a ghost, and then a robot, puppeted by the whims of the dead and then every so often equius, till she goes batshit and takes control of her own narrative, she becomes time itself (a pun on made of time) and thats why the song I linked you can hear the singer become more "alive" the more time passes she is no longer untethered from time by the end of her journey and in much the same way we can see the maid journey reflected in yjh's self actualization, he starts off as a puppet of the oldest dream, a puppet to the star system/story, but most importantly, a puppet to time, he is forced to chase an ending he cant see and even though he can "choose" to regress that is never an actual choice because it will simply happen whether he wants it to or not, dokja gives him hope and helps with this versions self actualization, dont regress, dont give in to time and to take control of it just this once sp reaches the self actualization of a maid of doom (and time tbh), someone who deletes himself from the story, he is no longer a slave to the text he has reached the end of it and is choosing his own story hidden amongst the doomed in the forest

hsy - prince of space

space is the other aspect most important for the success of a session, its an aspect of creation, beginnings, creativity and while I feel like there might be some disagreement due to her fractured sense of self being very similar to a certain prince of heart, dirk wouldnt fracture himself into completely different people/characters and while his fractures can grow to become different people ie hal, their core origin is that they are him, whereas in hsy's case she is capable of creating completely new different people (yjh) and while they do share similarities, they are different from the start. I personally think space is a perfect aspect for a writer. the prince class is an active destruction class, the way destruction classes work is that they invoke the opposite of their class, because they are destroying it so if the opposite of space is time, she would be invoking yjh's aspect which I think is poetic, and space is all about beginnings but a prince of space would be all about endings which is a large theme for her in ORV at first I wanted to give her the knight class (an active exploitation class that deals with having to come to terms with their insecurity) because of the fractured sense of self and the perceived insecurity of hiding behind masks of various versions of herself that she creates, but I think prince can also touch upon those things in a much more precise manner than simply saying she is insecure in her aspect because hsy isnt insecure in her writing she is very confident in it but she is insecure about WOS (calls it shitty bad writing etc), she is using her writing to destroy herself and the world she created , hsy of the 1863'rd round specifically does this very clearly, to achieve an ending, its not a good ending but an ending nonetheless of a writer who is tired of her story and her main character she is self destructively hiding herself away using her aspect/abilities rather than overcompensating for them the way a knight does a prince's thematic journey is to uh, not destroy themselves while they try to get to where they are going so I think ill give her A plus for effort? I mean she is alive by the end of the story so she succeeded! she continuedly destroys herself for the story culminating in her biggest act of destruction, writing WOS for dokja and then just disappearing into herself by destroying her own ending and becoming her own beginning

yoo sangah - seer of void / rage

in much the same vain as yjh I cant decide on an aspect for yoo sangah because I think both of these are very prominent in her story and I think it can go either or, sadly I don't have the same cop out with yjh so I'll just explain my reasoning for both void deals with secrets, nothingness, the hidden and obscured while rage is a direct foil to hope so it deals with restrictions, limitations and while it can be mistaken for also dealing with negative feelings, it is more about what those negative feelings invoke than directly the negative feelings itself, so for example, angry people tend to tunnel vision, which is a limitation which is rage's domain yoo sangah's story beats weave both rage and void very well, for rage for example is dictated with limitations, being controlled, having to bend to peoples wills and or being cornered into "one option" "one way" ie: her parents wanting her to get married, becoming a vessel to all of olympus for power, to kill or not to kill, morality. this is mostly prominent in the first half of the story but also secrets and the unknown being a major part of her story too in the second half ie: her story's culmination has her becoming a vessel of samsara (which deals with huge themes of nothingness/void and transcending it, something from nothing and nothing from something), she breaks through the fourth wall and has literal access to all the information and secrets of the world which also symbolizes her as one of the characters most prominently "outside of the story" even if she has been playing within its bounds this entire time, when she enters the fourth wall she isn't bound by the story anymore and is generally a "mysterious" character much like dokja she keeps her cards close to her chest and constantly has a mask on she understands others but no one ever understands her (well some close exceptions I expect that we aren't shown but this is just from my memory in the story) she admires dokja specifically because he felt "unlimited" to her from the start, when she was mad and put hot sauce in her bosses coffee (or was it salt instead of sugar, something like that) and dokja didnt snitch her in as she expected she saw that there are people living outside the bounds of the system of society which intersected morality which she valued and used it against her continuedly, dokja didnt care, dokja wasnt playing the game of "life" dokja just wanted to read, thats all he valued, and to yoo sangah who wants to live a life she is happy with, found that notion appealing because dokja was doing it seemingly to her with minimal effort while she was playing a game trapped in an ivory tower of her own creation, she wants freedom from the system but isnt satisfied unless she is playing it well (her also being a very good gamer plays into this too) her being a rage player would work great as a foil to dokja because thats what she is in the story, someone like dokja, a reader and she was participating in her own story and limiting herself while dokja was completely checked out of his own story/life till ORV and thats why she is continuedly commenting on how different he is after the fall

this also plays into her being a seer very prominently, seers are a passive understanding class (analogous to mage) a seers journey is to learn to stop participating in the game, and instead start directing it, they are not pieces on the chessboard no matter how competent they think they will be at it, they collect information and direct how its used by others

that's why yoo sangah's self actualization in the story is to take herself out of it and start directing it using the fourth wall that's when she grows most comfortable into herself and stops suffering in dissatisfaction

I want to lean towards seer of rage, for the symmetry of it to dokja but seer of void works just as well and still maintains half that symmetry with her being a seer and plays well with the space aspect of hsy

Jung heewon - knight of heart

Heart is the very core of your soul, who you are and your internal emotional desires, compassion etc jung heewons story is dictated by morality, right and wrong, and how she specifically feels about the injustices around she has a strong sense of self which aids her in her story however she is very insecure and hides it well knights are an active exploitation class, they are one of the most powerful classes in the game they know how to wield and exploit their aspect to its fullest potential which mirrors her power level in the story, however they are mostly doing so because they lack it and or are afraid of losing it a knights journey as I mentioned above is to stop being insecure in their aspect and overcompensating for it, jung heewons story starts off immediately as someone who has failed and died and wasnt in the original, lacking a presence or self in the story, she is able to thrive due to being given and shown compassion by dokja, however she is still insecure in her ability to maintain that connection and it shows prominently every time dokja kills himself her arc culminates in her stopping relying on others for right and wrong and instead be confident in herself and her judgements

honorable mention of knights often being compared to tools because of how useful they are just like she is compared to a good sword a lot in the story

lee hyunsung - page of blood

Blood deals with interpersonal connections, being grounded, loyalty lee hyunsung's story beats all deal with connections he is one of the most grounded characters in the story, he cares about the story because its not a story, its his world and he will protect the people in his world.

page is the passive version of knight and exploitation class, (like how seer is the passive version of mage) they also are insecure in their lack of aspect and overcompensate badly for it, lee hyunsung holds on to being the perfect soldier and shield when his entire story is about letting go of that past and to think for himself, lee hyungsung lets his connections with others guide him and control him and thats why he is continuedly exploited by dokja and yjh page is also notorious for taking a long time to "reach its culmination" dokja exploits this and tries to speed it up and we get to see him reaching his full potential going from someone who is "passive" and the ultimate shield for his friends to a sword who knows who he is truly loyal a position akin to jung heewon's

#00900 #its that time again where my obsessions intersect with homestuck #orv #this is 14.5k words... woops #i kinda got lazy by the end and i might go back and edit it later #godspeed to anyone who reads this lmao

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