#i do also think that given them being nomads the fire nation probably want able to wipe the air nomads out completely
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Thinking abt the air nomads:
What if, after the war, once the dust has settled a little, Aang goes back to travelling, hoping that maybe he can find at least some trace of surviving airbenders. As an added bonus, he gets to do more of the exploring and wandering that he had to put on hold.
Toph goes with him ofc. She only just got a taste of real freedom and it was overshadowed by ever-present impending doom. While she's on speaking terms with her parents, she isnt quite ready to be back under their roof on a permanent basis. The rest of the gaang have their individual homes and responsibilities that they get back to, though they join for the odd field trip or adventure when they can.
So anyway, they're touring all over the world and over the years they notice just how displaced so many people have become. EK citizens who barely escaped the blaze but lost everything; FN military now decommissioned with no idea how to carry on; people looking for a new start in the hard-won peace. Maybe it starts with Toph heading back to Earth Rumble, where a group of young runaways scrounge for cheap fights to make a little money.
At each turn they find more and more people with no homes to return to and no family to protect them; runaways escaping the roles the war forced them into. Gradually, Aang and Toph start to see that they aren't so different from themselves. They just want a new start.
So they decide to give them one. They clean up the temples and set up villages in the surrounding areas (helps to be master earthbenders), where people can arrive and stay as long as they need. Travellers and refugees pass through in droves, sometimes choosing to stay and rebuild their lives there, sometimes continuing in their wandering with a guarantee that they'll always have a place to return to should they have the need.
Over time, the lemurs grow in number and even some flying bison calfs (hybrids with a relative species maybe?), can be seen in the skies. Whenever the founders visit, it isn't the same but Aang feels a little more at home.
The first time someone asks Aang to teach him his philosophies, and expresses his desire to become a monk, how can he refuse? Maybe it's a former soldier, somebody who's done terrible things, looking for a path to redemption. So Aang teaches him, and then he teaches others. And though they may not be airbenders, they are as earnest and faithful as any nun or monk Aang knew before. The temples become filled with new faces: Firebenders, Earthbenders, Waterbenders and non-benders all wearing Air nomad orange and yellow.
Aang always feared that it would be his responsibility to have airbender children, and the idea of forcing that on someone he loved terrified him. Maybe that's why he waited so long before acting on his feelings for his best friend, his travelling companion, his fellow-village builder and temple-restorer. How could they have a truly happy relationship with this pressure hanging over them? He wishes he could be content with the new way of things that he and his friends have created. But he knows that he can't be the last airbender forever...
Nobody knows why some children can bend the elements and others can't. Is it blood? Is it blessing? Is it the land in which you're born? Or is it the simple allocation of fates decided by the values and norms you're raised believing in? Is it enough to be surrounded by the culture and beliefs of the Air Nomads? Nobody knows...
All they know is that nobody sees it coming when the six-year-old daughter of two non-bender villagers from the Earth Kingdom and Northern Water Tribe sends herself flying twelve feet into the air with a sneeze.
#oops it became a taang au how did that happen#i just think it wld be neat if the air nomads worked more like irl monks/nuns#not necessarily celibate but still made up of people who choose to follow the way of life#instead of the iffy implications of all monks/nuns having no choice because they were born airbenders#i dunno it's iffy to me#taang#my posts#atla#atla headcanon#do we need to rewatch Ice Age 2 ppl??#repopulation is not a good reason for two people to be together!#avatar: the last airbender#i do also think that given them being nomads the fire nation probably want able to wipe the air nomads out completely#bu they just had to survive in hiding/ in a very diluted form#maybe like the sun warriors do#airbender!Ty Lee my beloved#also wld reflect the themes of unity vs division well if there were more than just airbenders among the air nomads#like how a waterbender can be a ruler of the Fire Nation or a Firebender can run a tea shop in the Earth Kingdom#toph x aang#edited cos someone got upset at my introduction and while i reckon they were willfully misreading i didnt want anyone to misconstrue#to clarify -> any child of aang's wld be an air nomad but there's no guarantee they wld be an airbender#esp if he had a child with an earth or waterbender#and we see how this had a negative effect in canon#hope that clears things up xx
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Love Conquers All
Zuko x Male Reader
Word Count: 1856
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Y/n could understand where Zuko was coming from, but he knew he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't go as well as he had perhaps envisioned.
It was all very well and good that he had finally found his way, but he had hurt the Avatars group a fair bit before finding his way. Y/n also knew that as someone who had been a part of Zuko's attempts to hurt them, he had no leg to stand on in helping smooth the situation over. He hadn't been as single-minded in his focus on capturing the Avatar, but he had only cared because Zuko cared.
He didn't think that would matter to them, but then, Y/n didn't particularly care one way or the other how they felt about him. The only person who mattered to him was Zuko. Well, and Iroh, but that was a given of anyone who had met the calm old man.
When they made it to the kids campsite Y/n hung back, staying by the exit. It wasn't that he didn't trust them not to ambush him and Zuko, oh wait, it was that. Never mind.
Y/n watched the exchange carefully. He could feel it in the air mere seconds before she struck.
Faster than their eyes could follow, Y/n moved. By the time that everyone had caught up with the events, Y/n was standing in front of Zuko, sheathing his sword after having deflected Katara's water whip.
Silence reigned for a single heartbeat. Then Katara shrieked in outrage.
"How dare you!"
Y/n was sure she was still speaking, but he had a habit of being selectively deaf when it most benefited him.
And then, with almost no warning she was throwing water at him with increasingly wild movements.
It was no match for Y/n's technique.
It wasn't common knowledge, in fact, he had hidden it for most of his life, but Y/n was an airbender.
Yeah, literally the biggest lie in their world was that there were no more airbenders. The Air Nomads had had the practice of removing non-benders from their society and giving them to the other kingdoms.
What they didn't know was that all it took was for the right circumstances to happen and suddenly you had airbenders in the descendants of those non-benders.
It didn't change much ultimately, they were so few that they wouldn't ever be considered a threat to anyone, not that the Air Nomads had been when the Fire Nation had attacked them a hundred years ago.
What it all came down to, was a confused child suddenly developing powers that no one was able to control anymore.
Luckily for Y/n, the only person who had been around the first time he had bended was Zuko. As secrets tend to do, it had bound the two closer together than anyone would have thought ever since that day.
It was a loyalty that had seen Y/n stowing away on the ship Zuko had been banished on, and one that had been returned by Zuko had never once considered that the apparently Fire Nation child could be the reborn Avatar.
What it came down to, was that Katara was having no luck besting Y/n. Much as he wanted to put her in her place properly, Y/n knew that what they were trying to accomplish here would be hurt by that. From the looks of things though, they might have lost that chance.
Y/n stayed on the defensive, letting her tire herself out instead of outright attacking. He was worried about the look the Avatar was giving him though. That wide eyed expression couldn't mean anything good for his secret. He had always known that it would come out eventually, but he had hoped it would last longer than this dammit!
"Katara stop!"
The kid was trying to get in between then now, but the water tribe girl was apparently past the point of caring. She was just not backing down.
"Wait, I wanna talk to him!"
"No! They need to get out of here and never come back!"
Y/n was sure that her words might have been more intimidating if she weren't so clearly out of her league. He decided to ignore the voice in the back of his head that whispered that if he had used even half of his abilities properly before this they might have caught the Avatar long ago.
The element of surprise couldn't be taken for granted after all, and judging from the kid's reaction just now, all they would have had to do was show him Y/n's powers and he probably would have stayed on the ship that first day.
Y/n pulled himself out of his thoughts with a shrug. It was a bit late for that right now.
The Avatar had managed to get between Y/n and Katara, and seemed to be trying to talk her down from her rage. Y/n watched, only mildly interested. This wasn't how he had thought today would go.
He turned to Zuko, who was still standing behind him.
"Are you okay?"
He just looked Y/n over, head to toe looking for injuries.
"I'm fine, but are you sure it was a good idea to show them that? I could have taken a few hits. I've had worse before, you know that."
Y/n clenched his jaw at the reminder.
"I know. I'm sorry. You know how I feel about you willingly putting yourself in danger though. You didn't even try to defend yourself. Don't think I didn't spot that."
Y/n leveled a flat stare at Zuko.
He at least had the good grace to blush in shame and hide behind his fringe.
Y/n turned back to the group of kids gathered in front of them.
He gave them his best blank stare. He had nothing more to say to them, this was about Zuko teaching the Avatar firebending after all.
Besides, he was sure that anything he said would be twisted around and spat back at him by the water tribe girl.
"You're an airbender!"
Y/n refused to give up his secret that easily.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The little blind girl perked up.
"You're lying. You are an airbender? I thought they were all wiped out."
Y/n stubbornly refused to respond. He could see the water tribe girl's eye narrow at his silence. She was just about to explode on him again when Y/n felt a shift in the air. Less than a second later he felt Zuko's hand on his shoulder.
He slumped slightly. Damn Zuko's soft heart.
"Yes. I can bend air."
The shout of pure joy that the Avatar let out was enough to make Y/n feel slightly guilty about keeping it from him the whole time he had been after him.
"I'm not alone! There must be more, right? Some of the monks survived and hid right? Please tell me!"
Man, this kid was excitable, and as happy as he was, Y/n didn't want to be the one to tell him that he was wrong. He couldn't take the soft option of letting Zuko tell him though, they would probably turn on the both of them and Zuko wouldn't be able to fulfill his destiny.
"No."
"No you're not going to tell him?"
That girl was really starting to get on Y/n's nerves.
"No, they didn't survive."
That shut her up.
It also made the kid tear up, but there was no point building a lie just to make him feel better in this moment. That would be more cruel than the truth.
"The only reason that I exist right now is because of your ancestors though. Your people had a practice of testing their babies for airbending potential."
The Avatar was nodding along. Good, this wouldn't be a surprise to him.
"Well, when they showed to be non-benders your people gave them away. They were sent off to the other kingdoms, not welcome in, nor considered to be, a part of the Air Nomads."
"Air Nomads are airbenders, so if they aren't airbenders they aren't Air Nomads. That's just the way things are."
Y/n grit his teeth. It was an old hurt, but it still stung. He pulled in a deep breath and the only thing that stopped him from screaming about the injustice of it all was Zuko's hand that was still on his shoulder lending him the strength to continue.
"Your people were wrong. Occasionally their methods would be wrong, and they would let a bender slip away into another kingdom. But more than that, its in our blood, in the thing that makes us who we are. When enough of your ancestors were born from the Air Nomads, no matter whether they could bend themselves or not, you have the possibility to end up as a bender."
The Avatar's jaw was hanging open as he stared in horror at Y/n.
"But, they couldn't possibly have known that! If they had, maybe they wouldn't have done what they did."
Y/n's eyes shone with a dark light. This was something he would ultimately have to give up, but it was worth planting the seed if he could.
"So your saying that the only possible use non-benders have is the possibility of benders being born from them?"
The Avatar stopped cold and stared at Y/n in horror.
"What? No! Of course not!"
"Then what? You had no problem with the idea that they would be thrown away like yesterday's garbage up until now. The only thing that's changed is this piece of information."
Y/n pulled back as he saw the tears form in the Avatar's eyes.
"Think on that for a while. You have a non-bender in your group. Do you consider him to be useless?"
The kids all looked like they had been hit over the head.
Y/n was sure that this would be the end of their interaction for the day.
"We'll come back tomorrow. Maybe then we can talk without resorting to violence."
He turned back to Katara who looked like she was getting ready to unleash whatever thoughts had been happening in that head of hers.
"Before you put your foot in it, consider this. We have two things you want. One you desperately need, the other, something you desperately want. Have a good night."
Zuko turned and walked back the way they had come, with Y/n bringing up the rear. He didn't trust them not to attack them from behind.
Y/n hoped that with the reminder that they needed Zuko to teach the Avatar firebending, they would be more open to meeting the next day. If that weren't enough, then there was the added bonus of Y/n being the only other airbender that they knew. He was sure that the Avatar wouldn't be able to resist the pull to be around someone who was like him for long.
Either way, they still had a long way to go to convince them that they didn't want to hurt them and that this wasn't a trap.
'Oh well,' Y/n thought as he lay sleepily beside their fire, 'things always look better in the morning.'
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The significance of Aang’s age, the reason why it’s explicitly stated as being 12 (going on 13, give or take 100 years), is because this is a coming-of-age show that’s actually about truly coming-of-age as it was originally conceptualized. That is, coming-of-age as religious ritual. There’s probably one modern coming-of-age ceremony in this tradition that’s immediately and broadly recognizable (in name if nothing else) to most of the American audience atla was originally marketed toward: Bar Mitzvah (Bat Mitzvah for women).
And, at what age does this ceremony take place? For boys, it’s 13 (12 for girls). This real world connection becomes more compelling when we remember that the voice actor for Aang, Zachary Tyler Eisen, is Jewish, and when we note the references to famous anti-Nazi films in a show about resisting ethnic cleansing. (”Bato and the Water Tribe” connects to The Sound of Music while “The Firebending Masters” alludes to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.)
Of course, Judaism isn’t the only religion that maintains coming-of-age ceremonies. Many faiths distinguish the pubescent age with ceremony and a shift of spiritual study and clerical responsibilities within the community of worship. I especially love this short series on a Buddhist coming-of-age initiation ceremony for boys among the Shan in Thailand for the way it displaces Western ideas of manhood.
I think we often see, especially in fandom and/or purity culture, a protective zeal to singularly and strictly distinguish adulthood and childhood, and those definitions revolves around sex and sexual maturation. That is often what the coming-of-age narrative in fiction has pervasively devolved into. In fact, a religious coming-of-age ceremony was just as often as not distinct from a culture’s marrying age (which we can infer would be the age sexual relationships were considered expected and acceptable).
The coming-of-age, the transition between childhood and adulthood, instead, was focused on moral and spiritual development. The explanation of wikipedia is concise: “ Before the child reaches bar mitzvah age, parents hold the responsibility for their child's actions. After this age, the boys and girls bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics, and are able to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.” We think of Aang, bereft of his mentors guidance trying to do righteously in the world, having now received the marks and celebrations indicating maturity amongst the monks.
Despite that sense of increased independence, I especially want to point out the aspect of ceremony to invite a child now as a respected peer into a religious community. While the rite may extinguish the nature of a child-parent relationship, it welcomes the young person into a broader network. An excerpt from Britannica’s section on diverse Native American coming-of-age ceremonies explains, “These ceremonies provide structures for instruction in traditional knowledge...They reintegrate an individual into kin, community, and cosmos when new status is attained.” These communal processes shepherd members of a group through difficult changes and do their best to help them arrive on the other side with a clear sense of identity, belonging, and purpose. (Interestingly, this is also the ceremony at which language for new adult names and genders can be given and spread).
In terms of ethnic cleansing, wiping out the coming-of-age rite and its subsequent instruction is instrumental in destroying a people. Even if it doesn’t kill the individuals, it disrupts the network of support and tradition, which dissolves the culture. It’s one reason we witness again and again Fire Nation imperials calling Aang a child. The tattoos mark him as a versed adult among the nomads, but by ignoring Aang’s initiation, the Fire Nation can maintain it’s prideful insistence of total annihilation against its enemy. If Aang is just a kid, he is not a carrier of the monks’ ways.
But as we repeatedly witness throughout the show, Aang has a profound connection to his culture, its traditions, laws, and beliefs, and holds himself responsible for maintaining it, because he did come-of-age among his people. And, the finale is a reaffirmation of this spiritual maturity in the eyes of his community as it exists across time immemorial. ATLA reasserts the importance of ritual and spirituality in the coming-of-age narrative. It’s not about one person becoming mature. It’s about one person maturing to serve the sense of belonging their people in faith have already granted to them.
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Obey me! x Avatar the last airbeder/ Avatar the legend of Korra
I thought about what elements the Obey me characters would be able to bend in the universe of ATLA/ ATLOK, so here´s a list of their elements, sub elements and their preferred fighting style!
If you don´t know the show, here´s a short list of the elements (although I highly recommend watching the series they´re amazing)
Fire bending (can be trained into lightning- & combustion-bending)
Water bending (can be trained into ice-, steam-, plant- and blood-bending)
Air bending (can be trained to fly or project your spirit)
Earth bending (can be trained into metal- or lava-bending and for seismic sense)
Have fun reading and let me know what you think!!
Lucifer
Element: Fire (white-blue flames)
Sub element: Lightning
Fighting style: mainly fighting with lightning, it's more elegant and deadly, and those words are basically the definition of papa Luci. Legends say that once when Lucifer was angered enough, he casted a whole storm to let lightning go down on the whole land.
His white-blue fire is known to be the hottest type of flames, with Lucifer being able to keep their heat on this level for as long as the flames are burning.
"Fire as well as lightning shall be treated with care and used with dignity. Also, if you keep your cool in battle, you can watch as your enemy gets toasted by your attacks, and I personally very much enjoy this satisfaction."
Mammon
Element: Air
Sub element: mild form of flight
Fighting style: "Korra style", basically the more modern way to airbend as shown in the legend of Korra: specifically more forward and for combat (attacking and approaching enemies), for dragging enemies through the air as Mammon pleases.
Although flight is an extremely rare and spiritual ability, somehow the goof Mammon is able to fly short distances without a glider or other tools.
"Livin' like a true air nomad? Nah, that ain't like me. How am I able to fly, then? Well, I'm THE great Mammon after all!"
Levi
Element: Water
Sub element: Ice, steam
Fighting style: prefers to attack with waves of pure water, but when his envy kicks in, he might switch to freezing it (when self-loathing) or boiling it (when angered in envy).
As he loves being engulfed in water, he has perfected moving and diving in the ocean.
"I like being in the ocean... The water wraps around you like a tight but soft hug... A-ah, n-nothing, I would never say anything cheesy like this...!!"
Satan
Element: Fire
Sub element: Combustion
Fighting style: much like his anger can occur in explosive rushes, so does his element as combustion bending shoots a beam of explosive energy at whoever Satan wants to see dead. The explosions become larger the angrier he is, but also harder to control.
Yes, he has this fancy third eye tattoo where he shoots the explosions out of, period.
Technically very skilled in bending fire but dislikes using it (as it reminds him of Lucifer)
"What are you staring at? Do I look this strange to you? Well, if it's that irritating to be near me, I could blast you into pieces."
Asmo
Element: Water
Sub element: Plant bending
Fighting style: not really into fighting, but if he does he uses vines with thorns to whip his enemies asses (preferably in the literal sense hehe). He keeps the vines entagled around his body to always have some with him, and let's them bloom to make it/ himself more beautiful.
Is actually better at bending plants than regular water, even though the pure element should be the easiest to bend.
"Water inside plants is sweeter, which is just like me!", is his explanation for this.
Beel
Element: Earth
Sub element: Seismic sense
Fighting style: Due to his physique he is able to bend massive amounts of stone at once, yeeting those at his enemies. His powers decrease the hungrier he is, but peak once he enters his hungered rage. God help the mountains around him if that happens, they might be pulled of the ground if they are in the way between Beel and his food.
As he is rather calm and dislikes initiating fights, he learned to listen to the earth, his seismic sense helping him detect objects connected to the ground through vibrations.
"If you stay calm and feel your surroundings, you'll find yourself with many advantages in life... For me, it's the ability to detect the nearest food, hehe..."
Belphie
Element: Earth
Sub element: Sand
Fighting style: likes the fast attacks that are possible when bending sand, it's lighter and better to form than solid ground.
Probably his favourite move is to swirl the sand up to disturb his opponents vision while he himself isn't hindered by it at all. If no sand around, he prefers to use smaller rocks and uses them as projectiles.
"Direct combat is too tiring... I'd rather annoy my enemies until they are sick of fighting me. Everyone hates sand in their eyes, right?"
Diavolo
Element: Earth
Sub element: Lava
Fighting style: In my personal AU that is currently forming in my head, Diavolo is the earth prince and thus rarely gets to fight, but oh boy can he beat you up if he wants to. For his size, he is surprisingly agile as he utilizes his earth bending to move. His attacks are mostly through lava bending, a technique which he came up with himself after thinking about how water benders can change their element's state of aggregation. With lava, he keeps his enemies where he wants them to be, to then bombard his enemies with lava projectiles.
"Don't be shy, come a little closer! I might be a prince, but there is no need to be afraid... If I wanted to battle you, you would have already found yourself in a pit of lava!"
Barbatos
Element: Earth
Sub element: Metal, truth seer
Fighting style: This sly mf keeps shreds of metal on his body at any time to be able to shoot them at enemies (kind of like Mai with her knifes). Not an aggressive fighter, rather he waits for the opponent's move, analysing them to then attack with whatever metal is around, or through earth bending, if more effective.
His truth seeing is a form of seismic sense that specialises in sensing another's breathing and heart rate, making him the perfect guard for the earth prince Diavolo.
"I seem to sense an increase in your heart rate... Are you lying or simply thrilled to see me, hm~?"
Simeon
Element: Water
Sub element: healing, spirit bending
Fighting style: Simeon barely ever has to fight, his role in the tribe is a spiritual, not a warrior one. He has magnificent healing skills and is highly spiritual, so fighting is just not his cup of tea. All techniques he is able to do are traditional figures that are passed over generations in the water tribes.
He uses the techniques for 'dances' rather than combat, when pacifying evil spirits or to communicate with and befriend good ones.
Sub element: mild form of spiritual projection
Is able to travel to the spirit world, helps keeping the balance between the human and spirit world.
"Bending is so much more than a weapon to hurt your enemies. Come, I will show you my favourite spiritual place and tell you about the beauty of elements and spirits."
Luke
Element: Air
Fighting style: "Aang style", defensive and keeping his distance. Dodging until finding a weak point, however if you annoy litte Luke, he might switch to a more direct fighting style. With this reckless fighting style, Luke likes to disturb his opponents balance, his satisfaction big when he, a tiny boy, can blow grown-ups off their feet.
Solomon
He loves spirits, so he had always given it his all to get into the spirit world, successfully. Now, he is working on a technique to move his soul unbound by his body. Up to now he can drastically increase his sense (see and hear) through sensing through the wind around him, but he couldn't give his spirit an intangible form yet.
"If you can exist outside your body in the spirit world, it has to be possible here, too! Watch me, I will figure out how to do it one day!!"
Element: Water
Sub element: blood
"You know, technically, air nomads could bend the air carried by your blood cells... Earth benders the minerals and ions in your blood... So basically, blood bending is a really... Huh? What do you mean you're scared of me? I'm harmless, I swear~"
Fighting style: Don't worry, I know blood bending is always treated as the worst thing ever, but Solomon rarely ever relies on his blood bending skill for combat, even though he is able to use it outside of full moon nights, too. He knows a lot about the human body, so he can actually use those skills to heal and help people! (Or well, potentially, he could cause all your blood vessels to burst, but... That is only an option... Maybe... Mostly...)
He is talented with water and ice enough to fight bending those, will use those in the most annoying ways he can.
Bonus: My two MCs Violet and Clover
Element: none
Clover
Weapon: Bow and arrows
Fighting style: Clover tought herself how to use the bow in her free time in case she ever needs to defend herself. Other than that, she wasn't born with any bending abilities, but is, just like Simeon, very spiritually talented and helps him with his work. Wishes to be able to travel to the spirit world one day.
She can hear and see spirits that have escaped into the human world and has made it her task to ensure they return to their home safely.
"H-huh? Ah, don't mind me, I'm not special at all... But wouldn't you like to meet my ghost friends? They have so many fascinating stories to tell."
Violet
Element (learned): fire (mastered), earth (only a little)
Element (yet to learn/ master): water, air, earth
Fighting style: Avatar alerrrt. Yes, this amazing lady would be the avatar of this generation. Born in the fire nation, she has mastered bending fire at young age. Given the right ground (e.g. volcanic stone), Violet has a unique technique of colouring her flames as the bends tiniest fragments of metals and minerals along with the flames. For that she lets the fire touch the ground and burns the metals in her motion. The minerals cause the different flame colorations and showed that she is indeed the avatar. Has yet to learn bending the three other elements.
Lucifer was her teacher for mastering fire bending, and she was taught to fight with a sword, too.
"I may be capable of bending every element, but I still have a long way to go. My homeland has taught me the arts of fire and the sword, but now it is time for me to learn the arts of the rest of the world."
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Thank you so much for reading!! If you´d like to hear more about this concept I can come up with backstories for each character! Just let me know if you´d be interested~
#obeyme#atla#atlok#obey me#obey me leviathan#obey me asmo#obey me beel#obey me belphie#obey me lucifer#obey me mammon#obey me satan#obey me shall we date
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Zukaang!
001 | ZUKAANG
when I started shipping it if I did: i shipped kataang from day 1 and zukaang really just followed so easily from that since it's so clear how important aang is to zuko and how much aang cares about zuko in return. it's about them being narrative foils!! the connection they've had since the beginning of the series!! (also i've been a follower of @thethiefandtheairbender for a while and all their good zukaang content really just cemented it for me)
my thoughts: i LOVE how much their relationship is rooted in canon! i adore both platonic and romantic zukaang (i picture them getting together romantically after aang is in his late teens usually) so it's the perfect win-win situation. aang was the first person outside of iroh to extend kindness to zuko (multiple times, for that matter) within atla and it's so clear how that kindness has impacted zuko even just by the end of book one. and ahhhh their matching scars!! given by azula and healed by katara!! the parallels between zukaang run deeper than largely any other relationship in the show, and for good reason - zukaang being foils is key to the story, imo, and people who don't understand that are really missing out lmao. and hello!! they build republic city together and that makes me all 🥰 inside. and oml the comparison of sozin/roku (with sozin betraying the avatar and destroying the air nomads) to zuko/aang (with zuko becoming one of aang's closest friends and i firmly believe helping him restore the air temples), e.g. repairing the damage of one's ancestors and healing the cycle of hatred and war!! goddamn!! it's too much for me. basically zukaang is for the cool kids so why y'all still shipping zuko with the water tribe sibs that he probably didn't know the name of for the longest time while he was obsessed with aang 😂
What makes me happy about them: how much they love and care about each other, whether you prefer to see it as strictly platonic or watch it grow into something more romantic 🤧, the mutual trust and respect (especially as zuko matures post-series), iroh himself talking about how important aang is to zuko, the picture of them holding hands for the republic city thing, how aang no doubt makes zuko laugh and smile more than anyone else, how aang probably enjoys getting zuko flustered - okay literally everything about them. they're so in love and i freaking love their love
What makes me sad about them: this is sad in a bittersweet way lol but zuko feeling responsible for what his ancestors did to aang's people and aang not wanting zuko to carry that burden because he doesn't and could never blame him. so much possibility for that good hurt/comfort! also i feel like it would take a while for zuko to grasp the importance of aang's culture to him and would probably accidentally make some callous remarks especially after they first got together (i haven't forgotten that "air temple preschool" bs, zuzu) and i imagine aang would be really hurt and it's something they'd have to talk about and work through together (so again yes kinda sad but it's really about the chance for growth™ haha!)
things done in fanfic that annoys me: i haven't seen it much but i don't like fics that suggest aang would drop katara for zuko. katara would still be very important to aang and he to her even if they weren't together. (again tho i don't think i've seen this more than once or twice)
things I look for in fanfic: aang explaining his culture to zuko, them working on restoration of the air temples together, aang being so bright and positive and zuko just there like "oh my god he's so cute. fuck", zuko's feelings for aang hitting him like a sledgehammer (bonus points if it's him seeing aang after like a year and aang is suddenly almost his height 😂), zuko taking aang to fire nation festivals, tender first kisses that result in them both becoming flustered, blushing messes
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: kataang and maiko for sure! i do think zukka is pretty cute, too, tho (even if it is oversaturating the fandom rn lmfao)
My happily ever after for them: my ULTIMATE happily ever after is zutaraang with aang in the middle (and platonic zutara) but oh man the ot4 of maixzukoxaangxkatara is soooo good, too, and i can't believe im only just getting into it now. but in terms of zukaang specifically - thanks to zuko's help aang is able to restore all the air temples before he dies, both of them being great dads to their kids (zuko probably spoiling them rotten and aang like "babe. babe they don't need another [insert random trinket here]" 😂), zuko working with aang to dismantle fire nation propaganda and to properly educate his people on the air nomads, aang travelling a lot and it being a rare but amazing occurrence when zuko is able to go with him, and literally just them being in love forever tbh. thanks for coming to my tedtalk
who is the big spoon/little spoon: they switch it up but zuko is usually the big spoon and aang the little spoon bc it allows their scars to line up almost perfectly
what is their favorite non-sexual activity: aang totally makes zuko dance with him all the time. zuko pretends to be all begrudging but he secretly loves it.
#amy answers#intezaarlily1#THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS I HAD SO MUCH FUN#zukaang#aang#zuko#aanglove#atla#avatar the last airbender#amy writes#kinda? got some headcanons here lol
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Ty lee (i feel like i havent seen many of you ty lee thots)
honestly love her!! tbh i don’t have many that others haven’t said more clearly and more interestingly
Why I like them
she’s a character with lots of hidden motives, depths, and complexity, who guards her true thoughts and opinions quite closely, but simultaneously *is* what she advertises herself as: a happy-go-lucky girl. like i don’t think her cheerfulness and her enthusiasm for auras and spirituality is entirely inauthentic - it’s just that she’s adept at using her own enthusiasm to mask her real feelings and thoughts. like there’s a lot to her there.
Why I don’t
i mean, she props up an imperialist coup of ba sing se by stealing the disguises of warriors who honour the avatar. objectively not good.
Favorite episode (scene if movie)
oh, the beach, hands down. we finally get to see a glimpse of what troubles and upsets ty lee, and how she struggles. we also get to see her angry, instead of hiding negative emotions through evasion.
Favorite season/movie
book two. oh sure book three adds depth and complexity but we barely see her. book two just has so many good lines and moments - the clumps or tufts debate, the first time we see how devastating chi blocking is, the match against the kyoshi warriors (underrated), all the stuff with the drill... classic honestly.
Favorite line
okay if i’m honest “you’re not prettier than us!” at the kyoshi warriors cracks me up. i know it’s a line that is almost definitely written by misogynists who believe beauty/prettiness is central to girls/women and how they see themselves and how they should see themselves, but when you remove that context it’s just so jarring and it screams baby gay to me, or some kind of issues that need to be sorted out.
Favourite outfit
oh she looks great as a kyoshi warrior! love her there :)
OTP
okay i love mailee and tysuki equally for different reasons.
mailee i love because the whole concept of love being about communication and building your own language and finding ways to speak only to each other is key to it, especially given the toxic environment they are in s2-3 with azula, they’re incapable of being honest with words and have to communicate in other ways. but also i think there’s a lot of good angst potential. as well as hiding it from azula, they have so little time to themselves, and are so often surveilled, that it is difficult to ascertain each other’s feelings. they’re not sure of whether they can trust *each other*, and there’s a sense of them wanting to reach out and confirm but not being able to... this is complicated further by mai’s relationship to zuko, which does ty lee read as genuine or as one of azula’s manipulations? when mai betrays azula for zuko, does ty lee ever expect to be loved back? the idea of them together is super sweet like goth/pink gfs rights but there’s depth there... complexity
as for tysuki, it’s like... this is very much an *interpretation* of how it could go down, but i love the idea that ty lee is able to find a sense of home and belonging and identity and selfhood in the kyoshi warriors, to build roots, to not just find herself but build herself, despite her expectations that it’d last six months to a year. and i love the idea of suki having an equal, who can take her in a fight, who can help her shoulder the difficulty of teaching and organising but brings some levity and mischief and fun back, after it feels like the war has sapped it out of them with responsibility after responsibility. i think suki’s groundedness could be exactly what ty lee needs and i think suki could do with a partner who can pull her own weight but also, make her smile. i like the idea too of ty lee really finding a place to call her home after all of the mess in the fire nation between her family and azula, away from all of that... it’s a little idyllic, but it’s what she needs.
Brotp
oh ty lee & zuko!! there’s potential here, for sure. like zuko would need to see ty lee as more than ‘azula’s friend’, but they’re both emotional people who are outspoken about how they feel - it’s just zuko’s earnest and honest and wears his heart on his sleeve, whereas ty lee uses her reputation of ‘wearing her heart on her sleeve’ to hide it, & similar to how i think zuko’s inability to lie/emotional honesty is a big comfort and help to mai, i think it would similarly help ty lee. i really love the idea of these two in particular being able to talk about being hurt by azula together and help each other heal. but also i just like the ‘unlikely friendship’ dynamic of these two, and the possibility of zuko being able to overlook ty lee’s reputation to get to know her for real. they’ve both been overlooked/undervalued in their respective families, and both left the fire nation because of it (albeit in very different circumstance), are both well travelled and very independent for their respective ages, there’s definitely ‘on the road’ stories they could share, and both have struggled to find themselves in different ways. there’s a lot of common threads.
also i think ty lee & aang would be wonderful as well :) i think a lot of aang’s initial gaang - zuko, katara, and sokka - would probably want to head home after their adventures in the war, and i imagine aang ends up finding new companions to travel with. i like the idea of ty lee, after the kyoshi warriors, being one of these.
Head Canon
she’s a lesbian! :^)
just based off ‘the beach’ episode mainly, and how reluctant she seems around boys in that.
Unpopular opinion
hmmm i don’t think i have any?
A wish
asides from being happy and contented in general? would love to see her join aang’s second group of companions. i think toph, ty lee, aang, & potentially two new characters would be a really fun (and chaotic) little crew :^). also would just love her to realise the brotp potential with aang and zuko as outlined above, and get to date a nice girl of some kind.
OH I would also love more family background on her & exploration of the possible air nomad heritage ty lee theory, i’d love to see some of that. would make aang’s relationship even more meaningful (but potentially, complicated! having heritage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re part of that group).
An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen
being azula’s designated healer and makes-her-redemption-arc happen. i already outlined today why that’d be bad for zuko and i think, while their relationship is different, it would be a negative experience for ty lee as well. azula is her peer, a peer who has hurt her quite deeply through the manipulation she pulled to get ty lee to give up her dreams and come along and uses manipulation as a primary way of interacting with people (even if like, i think they might have had a genuine friendship as kids, that poisons a relationship quickly), then tried to kill mai when turned against her... like, ty lee has good reasons to want to stay away from her, and honestly ty lee needs to heal as well, needs time and space. she should not be responsible for her well being full stop, but especially in this situation. i’m not ruling out the possibility of reconciliation but ty lee and azula would need to ‘hard reset’ their relationship and that would mean plenty of time apart, azula coming forward with apologies, azula making amends, and slowly, over time, building up trust. but honestly, even if azula is genuine in wanting to make amends, i’m not sure risking her wellbeing for that process would be best for ty lee anyway - i’ve personally cut people off in my life for my own wellbeing for less (although really what decision is best depends on your personality outlook how comfortable you feel your support network etc. a multitude of factors). regardless of your interpretation of their dynamic, ty lee does not exist for azula, and should not exist to further her character development but also as a character in her own right at this point.
5 words to best describe them
cheerful, chaotic, complex, perceptive, pink!
My nickname for them
“prettier than you <3” (after the kyoshi warriors line, but with a pink heart emoji because of course she would, but also because it’s just funny, lol. ty lee has a mean streak)
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Reimagining ATLA's Water Tribes and Air Nomads:
I love Avatar so much you guys, it's a masterpiece in writing and worldbuilding, but over the years I've sat and thought over it, I've thought up some ideas. In the show, the Air Nomads and Water Tribes aren't as fleshed out as the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, so as a worldbuilding exercise, I fleshed them out some more, with some slight rewriting.
The Water Tribes:
There are 2 types of Water Tribes - polar hunter-gatherer icebending tribes who developed waterbending as a result of being surrounded by ice and water(and use it to mass-hunt sea life and build ice houses, like the Arctic cultures they're based on), - and tropical seafarers who navigate a large ocean filled with islands, based on Austronesians and other Pacific peoples, who used ocean currents and star maps to navigate the vast oceans, and diverged into a number of different Pacific nations with the Austronesian expansion(being surrounded by a vast ocean, they'd develop waterbending separately than the poles).
The Pacific Water Tribe would have a large number of smaller "tribes" like how the polar tribes are divided into North and South, with some being inspired by Aboriginal Australians and Mississippians(hence boomerangs and other Oceanian influences in the polar Water Tribe, and also the swamp tribe), and as the Fire Nation is a tropical island nation that colonized nearby coastal territories, a number of these Water Tribes will be colonized by the Fire Nation, similar to the Earth kingdom, some of the earliest colonies in the Fire Nation's expansion.
Given both of their cultures have the shared art of waterbending(and more recently, both being colonized by the Fire Nation), the polar and tropical tribes have a kinship with each other, and welcome other Water Tribe people and assist them in their voyages(better explaining how polar tribes can cross the entire earth from pole to pole, going through vastly different climates, in ships made from just bone and animal hide). Given Water is the element of change and adaptability (a large number of tribes united by a common bending style developed in different occasions to suit their environment) and heart and community (resisting the Fire Nation and cultural camaraderie and hospitality to other Tribespeople even if they aren't a part of your tribe, along with the theme of indigenous unity forming in the wake of colonization, which could be tied to the element of Water), these would fit pretty in line with what Water represents in Avatar.
Sokka and Katara would meet other Water Tribes and the people that make them up in Book 1 as they travel from pole to pole, and learn about things like seafaring by sensing the ocean and looking to the moon's astral companions, along with have small bits of community and hospitality when they enter Water Tribe territories along their way. There would be a recurring character a la Jet or Suki from one of these new tribes.
Lastly, in real life, day and night cycles behave very differently in polar regions: at the poles of the earth, an entire year is 6 months of darkness and night, followed by the sun rising and not setting for another 6 months. This is called the midnight sun effect(and is something Sokka actually references in the first episode of the series, despite the sun and moon rising and setting in normal 24 hour cycles in the show). Given how Waterbending and Firebending are given strength by the sun and moon, this would be a great detail to add to Book 1, perhaps with the eventual sunrise/set in the Northern Water Tribe being a timeframe they need to reach the tribe before it occurs, as it would be such an important event.
Also, as mentioned in a previous post I made, I like the idea of the spirit portals on each pole being connected, and how the Polar Water Tribes became 'sister tribes' before they could circumnavigate the globe, along with how the Ocean and Moon spirit moved between the North and South Water Tribes on a cycle, before the Fire Nation severed the portal with the spiritual wound they inflicted on the world with their genocide of the Air Nomads and Southern Water Tribe, a visualization of the spiritual damage they are doing on the world, and one that would eventually heal decades later in Korra's era after reparations are made.
The Air Nomads:
The Air Nomads were not wiped out entirely in Sozin's genocide - Aang is not the last person of his culture. In real life, genocides do not destroy a culture or people entirely - they are still alive, often with their culture critically endangered and their presence erased and suppressed so that many people do not think they even exist anymore, see how Americans treat the original inhabitants of our continents that White Europeans tried to wipe out(and never fully succeeded in). I didn't mind the Air Nomads being revived and Sky Bisons miraculously surviving in Korra for this reason, a more realistic tragedy for Aang(aside from having ran away and not been able to interfere when the genocide of his people started and losing all his friends and family over the 100 year time skip) would be dealing with the actual effects of genocide and being a member of a culture that the Fire Nation drove to endangerment and is deeply wounded and scarred from a systemic genocide against them.
Aang would meet other Air Nomads, and we'd get a character who was an Air Nomad too, possibly showing the cultural differences between the 4 temples(which don't have that weird worldbuilding about gender segregation, also, not every Air Nomad would be an Airbender like the creators have stated). This would also help explain why the Sandbenders knew what specialized equipment to use to capture Appa when airbenders and sky bisons haven't existed for 100 years, and how Long Feng and other Earth Kingdom people knew about Sky Bisons, with an Earth Kingdom commoner saying Appa was probably being sold for bison steaks(a market that apparently still existed 100 years after Bisons were driven extinct).
I'd want to see how Air Nomads who couldn't airbend would be accommodated in their culture - every kin group can still have a flying bison and make their nomadic travels, but how are non-benders accommodated? This could connect to the inventor's son in the Northern Air Temple, who showed how disabled people could have accomodations made for them in gliders. Maybe the Western Air Temple could be a little more OSHA compliant, so you wouldn't fall to your death if you trip near a ledge, too.
I feel like we didn't get to see enough of the Air Nomads in ATLA, after Gyatso and Aang, is the only other named Air Nomad Yangchen, who appears like twice throughout the original show? I'd love to see Air Nomads migrating and raising herds of bison(they are nomadic pastoralists, after all). Tibetan culture has a unique element where many young boys are expected to live at a monastery for a few years to learn discipline and mature, which would be interesting to represent in the Air Nomads' spirituality and temples that are already present in the show. Would there be any Air Nomad settlements or homesteads outside the Air Temples? Would there be many nomadic herds of bison herders in the mountains and islands the temples are situated in?
Lastly, Air Nomads surviving the genocide would heighten ATLA's important message about reparations and healing from genocide and violence: after the Fire Nation is de-programmed and reparations are made to restore and help the Air Nomads and Water Tribes heal, the sky bisons will return to roaming the world, and the Air Nomads would be able to rebuild their culture and the Water Tribes would be able to rebuild their tribes and regain autonomy of their territory when the Fire Nation returns their land to them, with the spiritual scars left on the world after the Fire Nation's war eventually healing, with the portals in the Water Tribe being restored again and the Ocean and Moon spirits being able to return to the Southern Water Tribe's spirit oasis again after years of being severed from them.
#avatar#avatar the last airbender#sokka#katara#aang#worldbuilding#rewrite#atla#air nomads#water tribe
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Stop Holding Each Other Back, Dang It! - Part 1
Another messy anti-Kataa/ng essay no one asked for but this has been on my mind for two hours so I’m writing it anyways.
Narratively speaking, Kataa/ng makes zero sense. No symbolism that fits the themes of the show is probably my biggest strike against K/ataang, but there’s another part: How they hold each other back, specifically, how Ka.tara (intentionally or not) holds Aan/g back.
Part 1 is going to be about how K.atara holds Aa/ng’s development, Part 2 is going to be how Aan/g and K/ataang overshadowed Katara and just...well, y’all know how LoK and the comics went.
(this is all going to be from memory so if I miss an episode...rip)
And now on with the messily thrown together meta! :D
Let’s start with the Southern Air Temple. She covers up the Fire Nation helmet in an attempt to spare his feelings, and this brutally backfires on her when Momo leads Aa.ng to Gyatso’s skeleton and goes into the Avatar State in order to process his grief and shock.
The next major episode is The Storm, when Kat.ara tells Aan.g that his running away issue is not a bad problem. Yes and no, on that statement. On one hand, it let him survive the Air Nomad Genocide, but on the other hand, he still ran away. I wouldn’t have had a big problem with this had it not been continually rewarded (something I might’ve mentioned in my Bumbleby and K.ataang contrast meta).
After these two episodes, the show shows in little ways on how much faith Ka.tara puts onto Aa.ng on him being the last hope for the world and also increases her motherly drive to protect him. This especially pops up in Bitter Work.
With a new teacher comes a new teaching style, and Top.h does not pull her punches. Where Katar.a is gentle, T.oph is tough, where Kat.ara coddles, To.ph essentially throws A.ang onto his face. Top.h is critical and almost brutal at times, whereas Kata.ra encourages and gently corrects, which probably stems from The Waterbending Scroll, where the one time Ka.tara does get to snap at A.ang, Aa/ng nearly cries and she freaks out and apologizes for being frustrated (I remember someone talking about Kata.ra’s reaction being “I’m the worst mom ever” lol, if I find it I’ll reblog it). Kat.ara, already having abandonment issues/unable to hurt Aang’s feelings in a way that would lead to character growth with Aang (running away in The Storm, nearly crying when she snaps at him in The Waterbending Scroll) already shows Kata.ra and A.ang’s incompatibility. Sure, it’s nice that your partner encourages you, but not to the point where they blind themselves to your faults. Other people have written metas that better articulate this point.
I could say Bitter Work foreshadows K.atara unknowingly holding Aan/g back, as later in the season in The Guru, A.ang gives up mastering the Avatar State in favor of rescuing Ka/tara (because apparently being a minute away from mastering the AS is a problem? He was ready to give it all up until he saw that Kata.ra was in trouble, and if he mastered the AS, he’d really be able to save her so???? I need to make another meta about this oh dear) Kat.ara coddles him, strokes his ego, and kisses his boo-boos, along with looking to him as the pinnacle of hope and peace. To a 12-year-old, this looks like the ideal girlfriend, and I don’t exactly fault him for thinking that given that he’s twelve and this is his first full-on crush (and then the narrative goes on to reward him with her. Ew. *shudders*)
However, A.ang’s growth suffers because of Kat.ara’s mothering/overprotectiveness (Katara treats him vastly different than Top.h and Sok.ka, let’s be real, she goes through T.oph’s stuff in The Runaway and gives Sokk.a a piece of her mind) - sure, he does deserve encouragement, but sometimes, you got to give someone a shove or a kick in the pants to make them do something. Kata.ra soothing A.ang’s ego didn’t really help him earthbend at all, all it did was get him to understand that learning to earthbend was not going to be a walk in the park learning waterbending was. I might be confusing fanon with canon bc sometimes fics are just that good, but other instances in the show has Kata/ra being gentle with A.ang or never having them address the issue. honestly i would kill to see a convo between them about why Aa.ng didn’t master the Avatar State before coming to rescue Ka.tara but that’s a fic for another time
TL;DR: Kataa/ng is on really shaky foundation once you get past the lack of symbolism and inability to tie in with the show’s themes, and is further hit due to K/atara being way too protective of Aan.g to see his faults properly. There’s a lot of baggage to unpack that deserves a meta or a fix-it fic (as if I didn’t have like ten of those sitting around my drive already) of its own to expand on. Past meta have also talked about the one-sidedness of Katara and Aang’s relationship in how much the emotional support goes to and how poorly they communicate what they actually want.
#nightfalcon posts#nightfalcon rants#atla salt#a:tla salt#atla critical#a:tla critical#long post#kataang salt#anti kataang#aang critical#katara critical
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atla sense8 au.
a couple people seemed interested so i decided to type this all up. there's a LOT, and i spent more time than i should on this, so i hope someone reads it. (3.5k words total, it’s practically a plot outline.) aspects of the sense8 lore has been modified to fit ATLA, and for people who aren’t fans of the show, i try to be clear, but if it’s still confusing, here’s a link to the wiki page that details how the sensate thing works.
it's all under the cut.
no one in the gaang knows they're a sensate, not even when the avatar awakens from his 100 year slumber.
so when exactly is their cluster "born"? (aka for non-fans, when do they suddenly gain their psychic connections to the people within their group/"cluster"?) it happens at roku's temple, during the winter solstice. roku himself "births" their cluster, and tells aang briefly about what he just did. aang understands -- because sensates were common knowledge amongst air nomads.
aang, katara, and sokka escape one way and zuko escapes another, and for the next week, they start... feeling odd. soon, roku starts to visit them and they start having sudden migraines. one day, sokka's out hunting when aang suddenly "visits" him, sees the ferret-hare sokka's about to kill, and stops sokka from killing it. somehow, instead of being stupefied by their newfound ability, sokka just chews aang out for letting his next meal get away. they discuss what aang knows about the sensate ability over the fire. one of the abilities, beyond "visiting", is "sharing", where they can share skills with each other. katara tries to take advantage of this during "the waterbending scroll".
zuko has a dream with roku and afterwards, starts getting migraines, but for the most part, he doesn't feel the connection. why? iroh knew that zuko was an unawakened sensate from a young age, and thus kept blockers (sourced from the OotWL) on hand in case zuko woke up. normally, iroh would want zuko to embrace his nature, but iroh also realizes that there's danger in being a sensate, especially in the fire nation. most information of sensates has been suppressed there over the years, and zuko could be headhunted if found out. (and... there's another reason as to why iroh gives zuko blockers, but more on that later.)
toph is also within the cluster, but nobody actually knows that for some time. aang, katara, and sokka have their suspicions that someone else is in the cluster, but they can't discern whom. this is because toph's blindness has an odd effect through her connection. while sensates would usually be able to identify each other by seeing each other's physical appearance when they "visit" through their bond, toph has no conception of her own appearance, and as such, she initially can't seem to project herself visually the way that everyone else does. since sighted people -- aang, katara, sokka -- rely heavily on physicality to identify others, this hampers them.
it doesn't help that bending is complicated by the cluster connection. toph can't use her bending to "see" aang, katara, and sokka when they visit her via psychic connection, because they aren't physically there. likewise, they don't receive any visual input, either, when they visit toph. instead, they receive this odd earth-sense feeling that's absolutely foreign and indecipherable to them. when toph visits them, she has to leave almost immediately -- her occipital lobe is severely underdeveloped and thus, she can't interpret the visual information they give her. with time, they should be able to resolve this, but not immediately after they made the connection. all of this this is a significant barrier between their communication -- they can speak, but early on, toph, understandably, begins to think that the other three don't actually exist and manages to effectively block them out. this prevents them from realizing the connection they have until s2. (more on bending later.)
the "medication" (blockers) that uncle gave zuko becomes a normal supplement he takes, in the form of tea. he thinks it's to stave off migraines. still, sometimes he goes a little too long between doses, and sees some peculiar things. when he's sleeping, his dreams get odd. one night, he dreams of escaping into a storm. he shakes it off, and when his ship gets trapped in another storm, he takes it as an omen.
aang, likewise, has a dream the night after being rescued by the blue spirit. a man looming over him, nothing more than a sillouette, fire in his hand. "... and suffering will be your teacher," he hears.
when sokka looks into yue's eyes, euphoria runs though him. he thinks it's love, but it's something more. yue is an unawakened sensate, and while it's rare for unawakened sensates to make connections with other sensates, it does happen, and in this case, she's made a connection with sokka. (for non-fans: sensates can make psychic connections with people outside their cluster by meeting each other's eyes. they must be physically in the same space when they meet eyes, though. connections made outside of the cluster cannot share skills, but they can "visit" each other.)
(yes, this means toph is immune to creating connections outside her own cluster. this is both a boon and a loss -- she can't have unique connections, but that also means that malicious sensates can't force a connection with her.)
pakku fesses up to the fact that kanna left him, and that she probably left him due to his misogynistic attitude. however, a lot more people have left the NWT in the last 100 years, that weren't all related to cultural problems. many sensates, when they were "born", suddenly had the perspectives of people who lived in other nations, and many left to join the rest of their clusters. this is something that katara discovers from yugoda.
after zuko's ship is blown up, his supply of "medication" becomes even less regular. when zuko infiltrates the NWT, his medication is wearing off, and a migraine is coming on. he pushes through it. when he and katara fight, they meet eyes, and something electric runs through both of them. they ignore this, but it happens again between aang and zuko, when zuko's medication is wearing off even more. none of them know what's happened, but aang remembers the experience later.
when yue sacrifices herself, sokka quite literally feels her apotheosis. later, he realizes that he can still feel her. katara feels the cycles of the moon because she's a waterbender, sokka feels it because he and yue are connected.
the foggy swamp shows aang toph's appearance... and things slowly start to change within their cluster. during "the blind bandit", aang recognizes toph to be his future earthbending master immediately, but so too does katara and sokka, who, in canon, did not make the immediate connection. when they chase her down, they finally manage to make toph understand that she's part of a psychic cluster, that those voices she heard before were real.
during "zuko alone"/"the chase", katara sees something she shouldn't see. there's a man standing over someone else, with his back to her, twin swords in both hands, wreathed in flame. she can't see his face but he feels familiar.
in "the chase" itself, aang also sees zuko, this time fully recognizing him, and then so too does sokka. since toph and zuko both are somewhat closed off, they can't sense each other -- but aang, katara, and sokka, who don't know this, thus incorrectly believe that toph doesn't have a connection to zuko at all. therefore, they come to the conclusion that zuko is a sensate, but that he's not a part of their cluster. they must've created accidentally met his eyes and made a connection with him back when he was chasing them. though sokka has to wonder why zuko didn't just use his connection to better track them down, like he's somewhat doing now, during "the chase".
after zuko reunites with iroh, he's shaken by the odd visions he had of the gaang while traveling. he doesn't understand that he's psychically connected to them, so they felt more like premonitions. he tells iroh a little of what he saw, and iroh nearly startles in alarm as he realizes that zuko's cluster is the avatar's group. but given the fact that zuko is reeling from both the fight with azula and iroh's injury, iroh decides to keep it to himself. when zuko asks if iroh has any more of the migraine "medication", iroh gives it to him -- only for now, he thinks.
in "bitter work", toph takes advantage of the psychic connection to teach aang earthbending. katara had done this before, a little, but not much, because aang never really needed it. for earthbending though? it's useful. toph gets aang to "visit" her, and forces him to stay. when he's visiting her, he only gets her sensory input, and thus, he's blind. he has to spend time with her and learn to decipher the information that toph's earth-sense gives her. this helps him understand his own earth-sense.
also, just for fun, before sokka gets stuck in a hole in that episode, he accidentally visits katara while she's practicing bending. he asks her what it feels like. she lets him take a ride in her body and shows him how it feels.
and that's really how bending works in conjunction with the psychic connection -- bending is partially based in body, so when a sensate briefly possesses another sensate's body, they can bend whatever element is in that body. but that's also contingent on their own spiritual connection to the element. in sokka's case, his peculiar attachment to the moon (yue) makes him not-the-worst at waterbending when in katara's body. when katara and sokka "visit" toph, the information they get from her earth-sense is not as precise as the info that aang gets, because they have less connection with the earth. so on and so forth. yes, when someone "visits" aang's body, they can bend all four elements. this particular property of possession only works well within clusters, as it's part of the skillsharing aspect which is unique to clusters.
there are other effects on bending, too. when iroh begins to teach zuko lightning direction, he first begins by teaching zuko the basics of movement in waterbending. zuko picks up the push-and-pull fluidity of the style almost immediately. why? because some of katara's and aang's expertise has trickled down to him, sometime when his connection wasn't blocked. (during the siege of the north, specifically.)
when aang loses it after appa is kidnapped, everyone in the connection can feel his anger. they can feel the avatar state, almost as they were there themselves, shrouded in anger and grief. and katara drags him down to earth once again, but sokka and toph run forwards to meet him, and together, they hold him in their presence and provide him comfort and support through their connection. somewhere else, zuko begins to cry, and he doesn't quite know why.
for most of the rest of the season, zuko takes blockers regularly, and his connection to the gaang is blocked. the exception is when he falls ill after setting appa free. an illness that deep is semi-resistant to the blockers, and odd memories weave their way into his dreams -- an air nomad laughing with him (aang), black snow falling from the sky (sokka), his mother's face superimposed over another's (katara), the feeling of badgermole snout against his cheek (toph), and the feeling of being buried alive in lava (roku, their cluster "mother" who passed some memories down to them). all of this is in a blur that mixes with the rest of his absurd and symbolic dream, and he can't quite separate them out when he awakens.
in "the guru", when aang ascends the last chakra and sees the cosmic energy around him, he can see the visage of the rest of the cluster there, glowing sillouettes akin to his avatar state. they're tethered to him, but guru pathik tells him to let go of his connections. he has to be willing to keep moving even without them, even if they died... but he can't. he's fallen in love with their connection -- katara, sokka, toph, and the odd flickering image of someone else on the horizon. and suddenly, he can feel katara in danger, viscerally so, and he has to leave.
during "the crossroads of destiny", tension comes to a head. when katara talks to zuko, she references the fact that zuko made a sensate psychic connection to her, aang, and sokka, while he was hunting them. (remember, she doesn't know he's part of the cluster, but thinks he's a sensate from another cluster that managed to connect with them through eye contact.) this confuses him, but he doesn't quite get the clarification he needs before iroh and aang come in, and both aang and katara leave. when azula traps iroh, and leaves zuko and iroh alone, iroh finally reveals to zuko the extent of what he is, including the fact that the rest of his cluster, the rest of his psychic family, is the avatar and his friends. from this, zuko also discerns that the medication wasn't actually medication, and feels angry at iroh, which in part leads to his betrayal.
"if you go down this path, i can no longer protect you, nephew," iroh says, as zuko leaves to fight azula.
the lightning strike is a terrifying moment, and it reverberates throughout the sensate bond. katara almost collapses but manages to get aang to safety. toph and sokka are struck with fear and pain. and zuko... feels a twinge in his chest, something that penetrates even through his blockers. he barely manages to hide it.
in "the awakening", aang tries to close himself off to his cluster, and he hides from them. out in the ocean, he sees yue, and roku, and suddenly he sees them in a deeper fashion, feels the sensate energy between them. katara, sokka, and toph track him to the island with their connection.
at the start of s3, zuko goes home. his usual supply of blockers is running low, since he got them from his uncle, and he's just run out. now, zuko meets his father again for the first time in years. when he looks up into ozai's eyes, all the muscles in his body are too warm, too cold. and ozai narrows his eyes, and smiles. why, he didn't know his son was a sensate, too.
they both recognize what just occured, and ozai tells him that he'll leave zuko a supply of blockers to take regularly. the crown prince has just returned home in honor. it would be horrible if they'd have to send him away once again, on another hunt.
you see, ozai first awakened when he was in his late twenties, before he married ursa. sensates are forbidden knowledge in the fire nation, but azulon suspected that there would be sensates in his family one day. but since being a sensate gives you an unfortunate connection to people that may not be fire nation, it's not something that either azulon or ozai was happy about. so ozai vowed to prove his loyalty by hunting and killing his clustermates. this is a painful and terrifying process. killing a clustermate is like a killing a part of yourself. and ozai did this several times. he even killed another fire nation woman that was part of his cluster; he surmised that her temporary connection to those of earth and water would make her traitorous, and justified it that way. now, all of ozai's clustermates are dead, but he still retains his abilities as a sensate to connect to other sensates.
zuko is... happy that his father seems to respect him, but he feels uneasy. the unease remains as azula delivers to him the blockers, like she knows exactly what he is, too. and the way that she acts as if he knows the avatar is alive, does she suspect that the avatar is part of his cluster? did she see him react to his so-called death in a way that indicated a psychic connection? he doesn't know, and he feels so very uneasy and destabilized.
during "sokka's master", sokka's more skilled at swordplay than he should be. he chalks it off to natural talent, but there was a weird, long moment where he almost selected the dual dao as his weapon of choice. later, when he's planning the invasion with the water tribe, hakoda notes that sokka's handwriting has become neater and more formalized, closer to the sharp script of the fire nation nobility. sokka thinks that it's from being in the fire nation for too long.
in "the avatar and the fire lord", aang and zuko both find out that roku and sozin were part of the same cluster. through this, aang realizes that avatars of the past have had clusters of their own, ones that they kept a secret but nevertheless had. roku and sozin are also shown to have outlived the rest of their cluster, but sozin killed roku and became the last one standing. from that act, zuko realizes the history that runs through the blood of fire royalty -- the sin of killing one's own spiritual brothers, fratricide of the highest order. it's a curse that even ozai followed through on, and it's one that zuko will eventually be damned to if he cannot rise above it -- this is what iroh tells him as zuko kneels in front of his cell.
when zuko escapes the fire nation on the day of black sun, he takes a supply of blockers with him. after all, if he doesn't block his own sensate ability, his father will be able to track him using the connection they made with each other. when he confronts the gaang in the western air temple, he doesn't get the chance to explain that he's part of their cluster, but alarm bells go off toph's head. he leaves to go back to his camp, and she follows because she NEEDS to verify this hunch. he burns her, but when she finally gets back to the gaang, she knows for sure that she recognizes that voice -- he's the odd voice she heard once back during the chase, sleep deprived. he's psychically connected to her.
the puzzle pieces fall together in the gaang's mind. zuko had already established connections with the other three, so they assumed before that their connection to him was a product of them meeting eyes with him during his initial hunt. but toph cannot make connections with people outside of her cluster, due to her blindness, so she can't possibly have a connection with zuko... unless he's a part of their cluster. it's a terrifying conclusion, and not one that everyone wants to accept. behind toph, aang is probably the one who most wants to accept zuko -- it's unnatural to reject a clustermate, that he knows from what the monks told him.
zuko takes his blockers diligently, so that his father can't find him through the connection. but, by the time he and aang meet the dragons, it's worn off, just a little. not enough that ozai can find him, but enough that he and aang can share in the rainbow fire together, their inner fires vibrating at the same beautiful intensity. this connection is one they alone share -- even when katara, sokka, or toph try to bend fire in either of their bodies, they can't capture the real spirit behind the fire.
sokka takes a few blockers with zuko before they go to the boiling rock, but the rest of the small supply that they take with them to the boiling rock is burned away with the rest of the warship. as a result, it's a race against time for them to get hakoda and get out, as their medication wears away. for sokka, he's practically waiting for the blockers to wear off, so he can SOS aang, katara, and toph, but for zuko, once the blockers wear off, his father can find him once again. in this case, it's actually a good thing that he gets outed as an impostor and imprisoned because then, at least, anybody who comes after him aren't coming after him because they tracked him through the bond.
however, when azula finds the gaang at the western air temple, it IS because ozai told her they'd be there. that's because zuko's blockers wore off before he could arrive at the temple and take another from the rest of his supply. everyone's back to being sort of safe during their stay at ember island.
when aang gets stranded on the lionturtle, the lionturtle shows him not only energybending, but the very psychic nervous system that connects him to his clustermates. it's almost like the roots of the foggy swamp tree, this great psychic energy that connects everyone and everything but is strongest between the sensates. they are all connected, but their sensate connections are an incredible and unusual manifestation of this energy.
aang takes away ozai's sensate abilities alongside his bending, so he can no longer abuse them. if energybending is a sort of "neutralization" of ozai's bending ability, the removal of his sensate ability is a sort of "severance". it severs ozai from that great psychic energy that connects everyone and everything, and in some sense, that's a fate worse than death. that's as if the world rejected you and judged you unworthy of the connections that living creatures make. aang doesn't regret doing what he did to ozai, but he opts never to do it again.
after the war, zuko finally stops taking blockers. he's free to truly connect with the rest of the gaang. toph embraces her connection as well, and one day, she manages to actually see, using sokka's eyes first, and then one by one, every one else. furthermore, the rest of the gaang finally begin to understand how she “sees”, and as a result, they all become more comfortable visiting each other.
love blossoms within the cluster, both platonic and romantic.
#atla#avatar the last airbender#aang#zuko#katara#sokka#toph#atla au#yeets this into the tags because i spent so much time on it and i want people to read it#me: oh this will be a cute set of headcanons! [3 hours later]#i have unreplied asks solely for the fact that i WILL write an essay#my brain hurts man i went crazy stupid with this#PLEASE read it. i'm begging you#this is the fruit of my labor#mine#text#headcanons#*head hurty noises*#atla headcanons and aus
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The Firelord’s Promise (Kyoshi fic)
Chapter 1: Nomad’s Land
Chapter 2: A Bureaucrat’s Word
Chapter 3: Throw Away Your Honor, Rally In The Streets
Chapter 4: Unfortunate Truths
Chapter 5: A Change For The Better
Chapter 6: The Roles We’re Given
Chapter 7: To Save A Life
Final Chapter: I’ll Always Be With You
The hut which Motome and his family lived in wasn’t a sign of wealth or prosperity, but it was still home. The wind that came with nighttime lightly shook the wooden structure, sometimes swaying it side to side. Sometimes he thought the whole hut would collapse in on itself, but even during the worst storms, it was somehow able to stand. It was all he had, nothing more than the wood to build it and a spot to make a fire.
His family was small, just his wife Kuni and his nine-year-old daughter Song. They had fallen on hard times with sizable debt and the failing harvests, leading him to desperate measures for his family’s well being. He was called upon by Fire Nation chancellors to take the place of someone who was up for execution, mainly due to his resemblance to the accused. His family would be relinquished of their debts, giving them the possibility of a better life. From where he stood, there wouldn’t be another chance to help them, so he took it. He couldn’t bear telling them, not just for the tears it would bring but also the push back against the idea. Kuni would never approve of it, which is why he never told her. He thought it was best for everyone.
But a series of strange events kept Motome from reaching that goal and relieving his family. He had to pretend to be a man named Yun, which he didn’t quite understand other than being told it was for “the good of the country”. Then he was miraculously saved by the Avatar, even if he didn’t want to be saved at first. After that, he spent a few days in the cells near the royal palace, waiting for an execution that never came. After a while he thought life was pulling a sick joke on him, playing out his anticipation for death like a musical note that just keeps rising. With the days that passed, he noticed the rain coming over Caldera. It gave him brief comfort, as it means that the crops might finally grow again and their family would have a moment to prosper. It was too bad that he wasn’t there to see it.
Then, all of a sudden, he was freed. The guards said that his debts had been eschewed and he was free to go home as long as he never mentioned these events to anyone. Motome didn’t know what to think or feel after walking out of the prison gates, all he could do was make the trek back home. For some reason, he could deal with the idea of facing death (at least he thought so), but the idea of facing his family after leaving them without a word was somehow much worse.
When he returned, he was greeted with angry yelling and copious tears. Kuni had searched the town for a month trying to find him, only coming to dead ends at every corner. She was about to give up before he miraculously returned. He tried to brush off his disappearance as being gone for a fishing job, but Kuni was persistent and was able to get the truth out of him pretty easily. It was hard to understand for Motome, there was still a lot that was left ambiguous. For example, who was Yun? Why was he on trial for execution and why was it an issue that could impact the clans? Why was he being used as a decoy? More than anything, why did the Avatar try to save him? Why was he freed?
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The smell of warm rice filled the hut with a sense of serenity. To Motome, it was an aroma that was dearly missed during his time in prison. He sat by the fire, taking in the scent as he weaved a wicker basket. Song sat by him, watching the bubbles start to rise from the heated pot. But from the other side of the room, Motome heard Kuni call out to him.
“Motome, there's someone here to see you….”
There was a bit of hesitation in her voice, and Motome was confused as to who would want to visit this close to night time. He put down the basket and made his way over. A twinge of fear came over him as he slowly began to notice how tall the person at the door was. At first, he panicked, thinking that it might be a Fire Nation soldier finding out about his broken promise to not discuss his time in prison. But some of that fear subsided when he saw the person’s face.
“I apologize for my intrusion,” said Kyoshi while bowing. “But by any chance, are you Motome?”
Motome nodded without saying anything. He was not expecting the Avatar to cross his path twice in his life. It would have been an honor if the circumstances weren’t so strange.
“Y-Yes, I am.”
Kyoshi raised her head back up to examine him. The Fire Nation had already pulled a great deal of deception over her, so she needed to make sure he really was the same person as before. But most of her reference was how close to Yun he appeared. And like last time, he might as well have been a doppelganger if it weren’t for his gold-colored eyes. It was like being able to see him again.
Kyoshi could feel a deep pain in her chest, but she did her best to push it off to the side. It wasn’t important now, she found what she was looking for and that's all that mattered.
“I apologize it took me this long to find you, I was told that you lived around here and the travel took longer than I expected. I just needed to make sure you were still alive.”
At that moment, Motome realized why he was released that day. After the Avatar tried to save him, she must have pulled some strings to get his freedom and his debts erased. He was a bit surprised it took him this long to come to that realization.
“Again, I apologize for my intrusion. I’ll be on my way.” Kyoshi started walking back to town before she heard a voice behind her.
“Wait!”
She turned back around to Motome. He seemed like he was trying to find the right words, caught in a web of conflicting thoughts.
“You don’t have to leave so soon. Come inside, we just started making dinner.”
Kyoshi was slightly taken aback by the offer. She remembered Motome mentioning his family were living in poverty and struggling for food so she felt slightly guilty, like she was taking from the needy.
“It’s fine, really. Besides I don’t want to bother your family.”
“Oh come now, you're not bothering anyone,” Kuni interjected quite assertively. “Come inside, we’re almost done with the rice.”
Kuni didn’t exactly know what Kyoshi’s relation to Motome was, but she knew who the tall girl was. “It would be an honor to make a home-cooked meal for the Avatar,” she quipped.
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The food reminded her of the noodles Rangi gave her back at North Chung-Ling. Technically it wasn’t as fancy as anything she saw at the royal palace, but it still tasted like a lot of love was put into it. For a second, she was so distracted by how good the food was that she forgot what her original intention with showing up was.
She looked up from her bowl, noticing Kuni’s satisfied smirk knowing the Avatar was thoroughly enjoying her culinary work. She also noticed a stare from Song. She had finished her meal early and was examining the Avatar from across the room. Eventually, she crawled over to Kyoshi’s side to study her up close.
The young girl lightly tugged at Kyoshi’s green kimono. “Your clothes are cool! I wish I got to dress like this.”
Kyoshi chuckled a genuine chuckle. It was one thing to get the admiration of the people, but to hear a young girl say your “cool” was a special feeling. When she was younger, she was only the target for ridicule among others of her own age so it was something she mostly missed out on.
Song continued to look over Kyoshi’s appearance until something else caught her eye. She pulled out one of Kyoshi’s fans from the cloth around her waist. “What’s this?” She looked at it closely before she opened it.
Fright was across Kyoshi’s face as she realized what the girl found. She took it back as quickly as she could. This surprised Song, but also the other members of her family. Kyoshi could sense the unease she must have caused by her reaction.
“Song, don’t bother Kyoshi please,” said Kuni.
Kyoshi looked at Song while holding the open fan. She gave the young girl a stern but concerned look, channeling a tiny bit of her Avatar authority.
“This is not a toy to play with, its a very dangerous weapon. Do you understand?”
Song nodded her head sadly, looking like she was about to get a lecture. Kyoshi sighed before she put a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder. She quickly put away the fan.
“No child should ever have to wield one of these,” Kyoshi said with bitterness in her voice.
Motome could sense the uncomfortable silence in the room, so he decided to break the silence.
“Avatar Kyoshi, I haven’t gotten the chance to say this but……..I’m truly in your debt. If there’s ever anything I could do to repay you, I’m at your service.”
Montome bowed from his spot. There was a great sense of honor behind the action, not the facade that the other nobles had manufactured about honor. This was a true, deeply rooted honor for another person’s bravery.
Kuni did the same. “And I’m grateful for you bringing back my husband. I don’t know what I would have done if he never came back.”
Motome raised from his bow to face his wife. He let out a light chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. “Oh Kuni, you would have done fine without me. I mean with the harvest coming back you’d probably have saved a lot of-”
“I’m not talking about money Motome! I’m talking about you! Do you think I would have cared if we get a few more copper pieces each week? Do you think I wouldn’t care that I never got to see you again? That your daughter never got to see you again?”
Motome looked down at the ground. Something about the response surprised him. “Your right. I know saying ‘I’m sorry’ won’t make it go away but I truly am.”
Kuni’s serious look slowly subsided as she sighed. “You can really be a dunce sometimes,” she said while smiling. “I’m still mad at you, but I’m just glad your home.”
Kuni hugged Montome tightly, which he in return hugged her. Song came to the back and hugged both of them yelling “group hug”. Kuni held Montome’s hand in the embrace.
“You know you're worth more to than just a few coins to me. Just because you think you have to kill yourself in order to provide for us doesn’t mean you should. I know we’ll get by, but I’d rather be getting by with you.”
They didn’t have to say anything after that, they just held onto their embrace. Kyoshi watched from the sidelines, observing probably her first instance of a real family. She was kind of jealous of Song. Even living in poverty, she had the love of a caring family. But she also realized that her actions, to save Motome, saved this girl from a life of growing up without a father. Kyoshi had spent her life without someone she could see as a mother figure, but she did have Kelsang as a father. The thoughts of the family and friends she lost came back to her, but there was still that feeling of relief.
The feeling knowing that she actually saved someone.
She also saw something else in this family. The advice Motome’s wife was giving him reminded her of Rangi. The kind of advice that should have been obvious but meant more than they realized. It was almost like she could hear her voice in the room. But she also took great sympathy on Motome, she knew too well what it felt like to go down a road you couldn’t turn back from, only to realize it was never necessary in the first place. For a day where her ego could have grown with all the attention she was getting, it was humbling to relate with someone who was by all accounts an average person.
Kyoshi bowed slightly. “You don’t need to repay me, your hospitality has been more than enough.”
Kuni interjected again. “Nonsense! Not to pry but I don’t think a bowl of soup and rice is enough to say ‘thank you for saving my loved one from possible death.’”
Kyoshi couldn’t argue with that. She just felt that she’d already been given enough. “It's fine, really. I’ve lived off of less anyways.”
Motome took note of that curious bit of information. It was probably impolite of him to try to get more into the Avatar’s personal history, but this piqued his interest. He leaned in after Kyoshi spoke. “What do you mean by that?”
Kyoshi didn’t even realize that she opened herself up to her life story with that comment. It must have been the change of scenario that allowed her to open up without realizing it. While she was talking to Zoryu only a couple of minutes ago, she felt more comfortable talking about this with welcoming strangers.
Kuni scoffed at Motome’s question. “Honey, please you shouldn’t ask qu-”
“No, it's fine,” Kyoshi interjected.
Now both of them leaned in, realizing they were getting to speak with the Avatar in a somewhat informal way. Kyoshi exhaled before she recounted her tale.
“Before I was the Avatar, or before I knew I was the Avatar, I lived on the streets. I was abandoned by my parents. For a good while I had to learn to live with what I had, but it was still hard trying to live on your own as a kid. Later on, I discovered I was the Avatar from someone who took me in. So much happened after that, most of it bad. I tried to help a lot of people, but mostly let them down. But now I’ve got a better bearing on who I am as the Avatar, which is what brought me here. Finding you.”
The room was left quiet. No one knew how to respond for a good while. Motome examined Kyoshi, remembering that he caught her at a somewhat vulnerable moment when they first met. Now he had great sympathy for the Avatar. He looked at her.
“Funny isn’t it. How easily life can deal you a bad hand.”
Kyoshi looked at him as well. She saw a face that expressed the same weariness that she had felt for so long. Someone who was trying to come to terms with their own limits. But also, she saw a face that reminded her of a friend. It reminded her of someone she lost.
Montome’s face suddenly changed to worry. “Oh I-I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
Kyoshi was confused by his reaction. She didn’t realize she was crying. The embarrassment from her realization didn’t help, crying in front of strangers would not have been considered proper Avatar behavior. Neither would using her kimono as a handkerchief. She tried to speak, her voice was shaky.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she repeated trying to keep her composure. It was hard, especially when she would see his face again. “It's just…….you look so much like him”
Motome started to make the connections in his head. He only knew about Yun from what the chancellors told him, what they wanted him to imitate. But he never knew who he truly was. But he could tell from Kyoshi’s expression that he used to be a good friend.
“Is he……”
He didn’t want to say it, but Kyoshi understood what he was asking. She nodded, trying to contain the sadness. Motome didn’t avert his eyes.
Kyoshi’s voice was still shaky. “I did it, I needed to know he wouldn’t hurt anyone else.” There wasn’t any reconciliation in the way that she spoke, just a great sense of loss.
Motome didn’t know how to comfort her at first, he knew nothing of her situation. But he still tried anyway. “W…..What was he like?”
It wasn’t a question that Kyoshi would have expected, but it did relieve some of her sadness. It was nice to find someone who didn’t just take pity on her, it was someone who wanted to know more than just sad parts. For the first time since he had disappeared, someone wanted to know who Yun really was.
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Dusk had shifted into the night as the lights of the capital began to illuminate in the distance. Kyoshi crouched as she exited the low front door of the hut. Motome, Kuni and Song all followed behind her. The wind was starting to blow softly across the grassy plains.
“Remember, you're always welcome in this house,” said Kuni. “Feel free to stop by to say hello whenever you like.”
Kyoshi smiled. It was another new experience for her, receiving kindness from total strangers and being invited to visit again. She didn’t know how to properly process it, sometimes she didn’t know what to do with unconditional kindness, even now. One thing that she did know was that she would be visiting again, possibly very soon.
“Thank you, thank you both.” Then she crouched down to speak with Song. “And you won’t play with any more dangerous fans now will you?”
Song huffed and stood straight, she nodded like a student taking commanders from a teacher. Her mouth was quivering a little bit. “No ma'am!”
“Good then,” she ruffled her hair slightly before standing back up.
Kyoshi waved to the family before she started walking, heading back into town. But a few seconds into her walk, she heard something strange. The sound of footsteps on the grass. They were going quickly. Someone was running towards her. It was so sudden. Something in the back of her mind fired, she started to panic. She felt danger, but she couldn’t identify it.
She turned around quickly, ready to face whatever threat it might be. Then she suddenly felt her waist tighten. She looked around at first and couldn’t find anyone. Then she looked down.
Song was hugging Kyoshi very tightly. She was hugging about as tight as she could. Kyoshi was confused, both by the intention of the embrace and the internal feeling she was getting. Song only hugged tighter with each second. The young girl tried speaking, only to be stopped by the occasional sniffle. Kyoshi realized she was crying. She tried to comfort her with a little pat on the head, unsure of what to do. With time, she finally spoke.
“Thank you,” she said through a shaky voice. “For saving my papa.”
Through the girls crying, Kyoshi felt a freeing relief. Relief that this girl would not have to go through what she lived through as a child. Because of Kyoshi, she would get to have a childhood. Knowing this, it somehow made the past few weeks of torment worth it, to know she was able to save at least one life, do something that was more than make up for her own shortcomings. She saved Rangi, and she saved this girl’s father. It took everything Kyoshi had not to cry, she wanted to stay strong for Song.
With her voice also shaky, Kyoshi kept repeating “It’s okay, it’s okay” as the young girl began to calm down. Once her crying ended, Song made her way back to her parents. Kyoshi waved to the young girl before continuing her trek back.
So many thoughts were swimming through her mind. What am I going to tell Rangi when I get back? Is this what being the Avatar is all about? Why do I feel really…..good all of a sudden? Why do I suddenly want kids?
But then one thought crept into her mind, one that stood dormant for most of her visit but finally showed itself after she left. She felt a longing for someone she had lost, thinking of Yun when she looking at Motome. But there was another person she was missing. Someone that meant the world to her, someone that gave her comfort in bad times, someone who was there to support her in her finest hours.
She missed her father. Not her real father, but her true father.
#avatar#atla#rise of kyoshi#shadow of kyoshi#trok#tsok#kyoshi#rangi#the firelords promise#the firelords promise part 7#the firelords promise chapter 7
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Okay first of all, how the hell did y’all not know that the Fire Nation knew about your invasion plans for the solar eclipse? You knew Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee had been waltzing around the Earth King’s palace disgused as Kyoshi Warriors, Katara saw them. How would you not assume they had probably heard about the invasion plans? And yes the plans changed somewhat after that, what with the conquering of Ba Sing Se, but you really don’t think they would be prepared for some sort of attack just in case?
And even if our good guys had no way of knowing the Fire Nation knew about their intentions, the more I think about it, the more the whole invasion plan strikes me as a dumb idea. First of all, let’s not overstate the advantage you have. The firebenders are going to lose their bending for eight minutes. That’s it. And yeah, sure that major in terms of helping Aang win a one-on-one with Ozai, but in terms of a battle that’s not much. Being without bending doesn’t suddenly render the entire army defenseless. They still have all their training in non-bending fighting, including soliders who were never benders in the first place and are used to fighting other people, including benders, without any firebending. Not to mention all the military tech the Fire Nation has.
Plus you have no control over that eight minute window; it’s going to happen when it happens, regardless of whether or not y’all are in position when it does. It’s not even that long a window in the first place. It might give an edge if you could time it to happen exactly when you want or if you were starting the attack simultaneously, but in this situation there’s no way to be sure how long it’s going to take you to fight to whatever place you want to be in to take full advantage of the eclipse.
And secondly, what are y’all even trying to achieve here? What, are you going to take the Fire Nation capital with your ragtag bunch of fighters? Even if you manage to pull that off, I promise you you aren’t going to be able to hold it for long. Not smack dab in the middle of the Fire Nation when you’ve taken none of the surrounding countryside, have no familiarity with the local geography or populace, and as stated don’t even have that many fighters.
But oh, we don’t have to hold it for long, just long enough to force a surrender. Okay, yeah sure, you force them to surrender, and they’ll sign your treaty and place nice, for about five minutes until the army comes swarming in to retake the palace. At which point they’ll tear up the treaty because they don’t have to keep agreements made at knifepoint, especially when you don’t have a knife anymore.
There’s a lot of talk about Aang needing to defeat the Fire Lord like that��s going to solve everything, which is dubious. Ozai is not a load-bearing boss; killing him doesn’t automatically win the war nor will it make everyone in the Fire Nation suddenly respect the Avatar’s authority of arbiter of justice again when he’s currently public enemy number one. Ozai’s got two heir who both want to see the war continue (well, Zuko doesn’t by this point, but the Gaang doesn’t know that), and there’s a whole government in place who can find someone to replace the Fire Lord should Azula and Zuko also be killed. Yeah, Aang does need to stop the Fire Lord, but that by itself isn’t going to achieve anything, and sending a bunch of soliders in to attack the Fire Nation capital is neither necessary nor helpful.
For my money, here’s what you do: all your soliders stay in the Earth Kingdom. You send them out to any and all major cities currently being held by the Fire Nation ASAP, Omashu and Ba Sing Se being the two obvious ones. The soliders should then work covertly with the local civilians, letting them know about the upcoming eclipse. You need to be super careful here to make sure the Fire Nation find out; ideally at least one solider sent to each city should be familiar with the area and reliably able to pick out trustworthy people to talk to. They should get as many volunteers as possible willing to fight during the eclipse, but more importantly is before the solar eclipse we need to do some serious sabotage. Like oh my goodness, I’m so sorry my roosterdog keeps howling all night long disturbing your sleep Mr. Fire Nation solider; I don’t know what’s gotten into him. And oh no, mildew got into the grain stores and I didn’t even realize and gave you all that bad bread that’s made you sick. And somehow the night before the eclipse a full third of the soliders in town got overserved and have all got terrible hangovers. Between all that and the advantage of the eclipse, hopefully the good guy soliders should be in a position to retake most of the major cities. That’s going to be very important in a minute.
Meanwhile the Gaang and a few spies or other covert operatives fly on Appa to the capital as quickly as they can while maintaining secrecy. The Gaang will then hang out and train and prepare at a discreet distance since they’re too recognizable for covert work. The spies will infiltrate the Fire Nation palace, getting the lay of the land and figuring out the plans for during the solar eclipse. When the eclipse hits, the spies will be responsible for capturing Azula and Zuko (assuming the two aren’t with Ozai at the time), freeing Iroh from prison, and escorting all three to wherever Ozai is. The Gaang will use the start of the eclipse to do a storming of the palace similar to what they did to talk to the Earth King in Ba Sing Se. once they reach Ozai, Aang will capture him and wait for the other three members of the royal family to appear. Once they’re all there Aang makes a speech about the war being bad, the importance of balance, etc., and then declare Iroh to be the new Fire Lord. He would then defer to Iroh as to the sentencing of the remaining three prisoners. Finally he would “introduce” Iroh to Sokka and Katara, son and daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Toph, daughter of the prominent Bei Fong family of the Earth Kingdom, and himself, the last remaining Air Nomad, here to discuss a treaty with the Fire Lord to end the war.
With this Aang has now replaced the Fire Lord with someone he can be relatively confident in trusting and who arguably has the strongest claim to the title of all four members of the royal family, meaning the citizens and nobility of the Fire Nation are more likely to accept him. Turning the other three over to Iroh for judgement lends legitimacy to Iroh’s position. He’s not a puppet for the Avatar; the Avatar gave him the title, then immediately stepped back and said, “your nation, your rules.” And introducing the four of them as essentially ambassadors for their nations both sets the tone for peace/ending the war and gives them a good reason for sticking around to make sure Iroh doesn’t get immediately assasinated by other government officials and Ozai put right back on the throne. And circling back to all those Earth Kingdom cities the soliders freed during the eclipse, that gives Iroh some additional solid backing for ending the war; it’s gone on too long and cost too much already and they can’t reasonably keep going after losing all that ground.
So this ended up being way longer than I expected, but apparently I have a lot of thoughts on the matter. And to be clear I’m not trying to put Sokka’s plan down, not totally. Given the objective of invading the Fire Nation capital and the assumption that the Fire Nation isn’t anticipating their attack, it’s a very good plan! I just feel that maybe those base premises should have be challenged.
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Ryuusei Chap 1. (Stray Kids Benders AU)
Blog’s Masterlist
Benders Masterlist
Pairing in this chap: Firebender Hyunjin x Airbender ‘Sky’ >Original Character< . (It’s a girl but there’s no mention about her appearance aside from the obvious clothing tattoos etc... from Air Nomads so you can imagine her however you like best I only gave her a name).
Warnings: Not in this chapter. Well?? There’s Woojin here cause I started writing this a loong time ago :’)
Please enjoy my new story and let me know what you think about it💖
<<Hyunjin-ah, if you had known by then...Would that had changed anything?
When I look at the sky now...I only see our stars no matter what.
Can you see them too wherever you are?>>
Chapter One: Intro and Leaving the Air Temple.
Mainly composed by Air Nomads, my family always traveled around the world. My dad belongs to the Southern Water Tribe but he is not a bender at all. He met my mom as she was exploring the world and they fell in love.
Growing up I too met other kids from different nations as we travelled up and down.
I met Jisung and Felix at the Northern Water Tribe while I met Seungmin and Jeongin at the Southern one. Woojin at the Earth Kingdom, and Changbin, Minho and Hyunjin at the Fire Nation.
I've got a brother named Chan also, he's a year older than me but he hasn't shown any bender abilities. That's my dad's fault I guess. I don't think that bothers him tho, he's always seemed plenty happy watching me practice my airbending and play with the other kids. I had the most fun as a child hanging out with Jisung and Felix playing with snow. Jisung would build a huge snow castle for us to play inside which is a very complicated thing to do even for a waterbender kid but he never was even a bit like any other person I’ve ever met so I wasn’t really surprised.
Playing with Changbin and Minho was kinda tougher. They always wanted to practice bending fights and even if I enjoyed them I would get hurt sometimes and it was the same for Hyunjin. He didn't like fighting that much either so, often we would sneak out and just talk about what we did while we were apart. I would tell him about the guys and how different every nation was from the others. Then he would cry and tell me how much he hated it there. He had a lot of pressure from his family to be the best. Also the other kids would mock him saying he would just have anything handle it to him for free. That he didn't need to get better at bending or fighting only cause he was the son of someone kinda important there so he'd be given a nice occupation anyway. 'What if I don't want to do any of that? What if what I really want to do is to sail away from here?'. He'd say. And I would encourage him to do so. Even if we were just eight years old back then, the world was already being cruel to him. I wished I could take him with us in our travels. I wanted him to meet Jisung and the others. I beg my parents a hundred times but it was too risky taking a Fire Nation kid of his position with us. If something would had happened to him while he was traveling with us...
In any case as we grew older he seemed to adjust to that place. Normally it would be seven to eight months between visits to the Fire Nation but there was a time when we couldn't visit in two whole years. And it was in the winter of my fourteenth birthday when I first noticed a slight change on Hyunjin. He stopped talking as much as before and apparently he started to enjoy fighting against Minho and Changbin. At least we would still run across that city surrounded by all those houses with the red roofs till we'd reach the lake. Then we'd sit and look at the starry night sky. We did that every night for a month that time but the day me and my family had to move again was right next to the corner.
I was talking about Jisung once again that night. Mainly cause by then I had noticed it kinda pissed him off and I'd found it amusing. I had no idea back then why he'd get all sulky when I'd mention Jisung cause I used to tell him about all my other friends too. But now that I think of it probably was cause I laughed and smiled the most while talking about him.
As a kid I had always wanted for Jisung and Hyunjin to meet and be good friends cause they were the most special to me. But as I grew older I stopped hoping for that.
After all, water and fire was never a good combination and Hyunjin didn’t seem like he was very excited about it either.
But as I was saying, I was talking once again about Jisung when Hyunjin held my hand after standing up, helping me stand up too. Then he started walking quickly not releasing my hand till we were at the top of a cliff. 'Why have you brought me here?' I asked as I chuckled. He just pointed at the sky. A little sweat running down his cheek after all that running. Still the moonlight would make him look so ethereal before my eyes. 'I've been coming here every night since you last left'. He said and I blushed without completely understanding. 'Last time you visited you said those stars looked like a flying bison and I couldn't see it. You got so mad at me. So I came here every night and finally I got to see it'. He was so serious talking about that. 'I was so happy cause now maybe I could see the same stars you're seeing even if you're so far way'. He said. 'That's what I thought when I got to see the flying bison all these months ago and I've been waiting to tell you so'. My heart kinda hurt back then even if I wasn't sure why. 'Sky, when you look at the stars after you leave... Will you think of me once in a while? Even if Jisung is around'. My heart skipped a beat. 'Hyunjin... You're the person I always have in mind no matter where I go'. He smiled then and I felt how my heart hurt even more. 'I'm glad to hear that... Cause I don't think I'll ever be able to get you out of my head'.
I didn't know what to say in that moment but he was leaning over me anyway so apparently the only thing I could do was mentally prepare for my first kiss. Guess the universe had other plans for me though cause Minho and Changbin came out of nowhere laughing at us. 'You idiots, so this is where you come every night'. Changbin said. Minho playing with some fire on his hands. Hyunjin let out a frustrated sigh and I was feeling like crying. I thought it was unfair. Who knew if I'd be able to see Hyunjin like that again? Everytime I'd leave the Fire Nation I wasn't sure when I'd be back. If my friends would still be there... I didn't know how much their lives would change while I was away. And the universe just took my first kiss away from me. It wasn't just any kiss either. Even if I was just fourteen I had been in love with Hyunjin for as long as I could remember.
I went back to my family that night feeling like I would never get that chance back.Then four years passed since that night and so far I was right. My family stopped traveling that much when my grandmother got sick. It was hard at first for Chan and me staying at the Air Nation. We didn't want to leave till our grandma got better but after those nearly five years it was about time we did and explore the world by our own.
I would be lying if I say I wasn't afraid of meeting the guys again after all those years. Maybe they didn't remember me at all. Jisung tended to forget anything that wasn't interesting to him so what if I wasn't interesting anymore? After all he had plenty of time to find something far more interesting than me. But what about Seungmin? He probably forgot too right? He was only interested on pranking me all day and playing around with Jeongin. Woojin would spend most of his time just chatting to Chan as Felix used to do too when he wasn't playing with Jisung and me. Changbin and Minho... Maybe they remembered me, cause we used to fight a lot but also we had so much fun. And then Hyunjin... I could feel my heart hurting so bad as I thought of the posibility of him forgeting about me. He said he wouldn't be able to get me out of his head right? But it had been so long. Only a fool like myself would still be thinking about its first love.
I could feel how Chan was watching me as I gathered my stuff and secured it on 'Ddalgi', that's my flying bison's name and Chan's called 'Racha'. We were taking both in our journey cause we'd split at some point. He'd go to the Earth Kingdom while I went to the Fire Nation, which terrified me cause Chan had always been such a support for me. I was going to miss him like hell and I thought I'd probably feel so lost without him. Still I didn't want to be a burden. I wanted him to be able to do the things he wanted to without worrying about me.
He was smiling at me so I smiled back. 'What?' I asked. 'Don't forget the food'. He said and I chuckled. 'That's practically all I'm gonna carry with me apart from the gifts for the guys. I don't need anything else'. He chuckled too. 'Right, you don't need snow wear or stuff like that cause you're an airbender'. I proudly smiled. 'Exactly. Ah, but I do need my staff'. I said as I went to get it.
Half an hour later or so we were ready to go.
Saying bye to our family wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. (As much as I was dying to get out of there.) But it was okay. I was mostly excited about seeing how much the guys had changed in those years. We looked back one last time to the Air Temple as we flew away, and I couldn't help feeling some kind of way. I got used to stay at one place for nearly five years and then suddenly we were back to moving around. Thankfully when I looked at Chan and he smiled at me, all my worries went away. I was ready for this. And wether the guys would remember me or not I was planning on hugging them and don't let go till they asked me to.
I sighed as the Northern Air Temple became blurry in the distance. 'Hyunjin-ah, do you still think of me from time to time?'. I mumbled to myself as I looked at the horizon feeling the same pain in my chest I felt years ago, when I waved him goodbye as we both cried, wondering if we'll ever see eachother again.
Chapter two: The Northern Water Tribe.
#stray kids#skz#stray kids imagines#stray kids au#hyunjin#hwang hyunjin#bangchan#minho#jeongin#jisung#han#seungmin#changbin#felix#woojin#lee know#i.n#j.one#spearb#cb97#3racha#3racha imagines#kpop#kpop imagines#bender#benders#avatar#airbender#firebender#waterbender
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Chapter 77 provided a glimpse of YOUNG GIEVE!
This was super interesting because so little is known about Gieve’s backstory, and for that reason I wanted to take a closer look at what we are shown here and what it might tell us about Gieve’s early life (because thanks to this scene, I have some theories).
This is a very short flashback so I’m going to include all of it below for those who haven’t been able to read the chapter yet.
This flashback shows us a man reciting a cautionary tale concerning Mount Demavant and Zahhak to a group of people (mixed ages/genders) sat around a fire inside a tent. I’ll outline my thoughts on it below.
These people are definitely Parsian, nomadic, and probably a family group. How can we be sure they are Parsian? Well, we know that Gieve is, but even discounting that for a moment, we know that this legend and the fear of the Snake King Zahhak that accompanies it is part of the Parsian national consciousness but not widely known or believed by those from other countries.
I think their nomadic nature is evidenced by the fact that this is taking place in a tent, with belongings suited for travel (bedrolls, luggage packaged up for travel etc) but that could certainly lean towards semi-nomadic depending on how they make a living as they travel around (perhaps they might end up staying in cities/towns for a while here and there, especially if they earn money by entertaining with music and poetry...you can see an oud in the first image!). In addition to this, the story about Zahhak isn’t just a story; it has a practical purpose here, too; a warning that although they may travel far and wide, they shouldn’t venture near Mount Demavant. (Aside from Zahhak, there are other sensible reasons for not going there, as can be seen from the landscape and weather visible in this chapter.)
Why do I feel sure this is a family group? The mixed of ages makes me think of an extended family who live together, travel together and make a shared living (possibly as part of a larger group / nomadic tribe). The dynamic also seems to indicate this, with the older man being the ‘head of the family’ with everyone else listening to him. Gieve’s own words in this chapter also support both the idea that he grew up with family, and the theory that these people earned their living without resorting to banditry. I’ll expand on that now.
Right before this glimpse into his past, Gieve notices tracks which indicate he’s not alone on the mountain, and thinks:
‘No decent man would venture anywhere near Mount Demavant. With the exception of yours truly. Which means they’re brigands or bandits... Either way, they’ll be scoundrels who wouldn’t obey even their own parents.’ (emphasis mine)
Gieve thinks of himself as a decent man, and by extension those who raised him must have been decent people, too. The last line in particular seems to be very significant, given that we have the flashback immediately afterwards. It makes me think that the man in the flashback may well be his father (certain elements of Gieve’s personal style seem to have originated here: the pattern on this man’s hood/blanket is very similar to the one on Gieve’s, both of them have animal paw accessories, and an oud is present which I presume belongs to the man telling the story; this article about gōsān also theorises that the occupation of minstrel must have been passed down from father to son). If this is Gieve’s father, I think we can assume that Gieve had a good relationship with him.
I think it’s worth paying close attention to the wording of Gieve’s thoughts at the close of the flashback, too. As we return to the present, Gieve thinks:
‘Hmph... The dead don’t reawaken.’
I can’t help but wonder whether this scene is also a hint that something bad might have happened to the people in it. The line quoted above is ostensibly about the foretold return of the Hero King, who will then banish Zahhak forever, but it seems as though Gieve is also thinking about something else, something more personal. Is he reflecting on an experience in his past, something that happened to the other people in the flashback? Is that line a hint that some or all of them are dead? I think so. (To be honest, I always had the impression that Gieve learned to be self-sufficient from an early age; that fits with him losing his family while he was young.)
So I definitely think this scene is meant to allude to something bad that happened in Gieve’s past.
I have no idea whether we’ll ever find out for certain what happened, though. I did have an initial theory that there might have been some sort of incident where he didn’t listen to the cautions of his parents and something bad happened as a result, but the more I consider it, the less likely I find that to be true. If you look at young Gieve in this flashback, he sits at the front of the group. I can imagine that he was captivated by the tale being told and obviously believed in it wholeheartedly. He calls the others on the mountain ‘scoundrels who wouldn’t obey even their own parents’ because he sees them as the opposite of himself.
As the flashback ends and we return to the present, it’s clear that as an adult, Gieve is now much more disillusioned with the world and can no longer see things in the same way he did as a child. His experiences (which very likely include the loss of his family) have taught him that the world doesn’t work the way it does in legends and stories, and so he can’t help but be cynical even if part of him wants to be proven wrong (he may be a skeptic, but he definitely has a romantic heart).
So, that was a vague theory about Gieve’s past.
Here’s another theory/headcanon to end this post with. I’ve joked before about Gieve secretly being an immortal Prince of Sistan (since this is the lie he used to deceive Tahamenay’s attendant) but after this flashback I’m considering the idea that Gieve and his family were inspired by/descended from the Saka (a nomadic Iranian people who invaded the Parthian Empire and then eventually settled in Sistan). In the world of Arslan Senki, Sistan is an old country that no longer exists; given the historical location of the real Sistan, perhaps it was absorbed into Pars a long time ago.
I admit that there’s little supporting evidence and mostly I just like the thought that there may have been a grain of truth in what Gieve said after all, but I did notice that one particular Saka group were described as ‘red-haired and blue-eyed.’ Gieve is also described in the novels as having reddish hair and dark blue eyes.
The flashback in this chapter is a new scene added by Hiromu Arakawa, but it’s highly likely that she asked Yoshika Tanaka for guidance. I wonder whether he revealed details about Gieve’s backstory that we don’t yet know If anyone has any thoughts or theories of their own, I’d love to hear about them!
#arslan senki#the heroic legend of arslan#arslan senki spoilers#gieve#this flashback was so unexpected!#long post#sorry i can't help it
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The issue of bloodlines and their burdens is not limited solely to Star Wars. Another story that tackles the issue perhaps even better than the Original Six (and a heck of a lot better than the Sequel Trilogy) is Avatar: the Last Airbender.
I know you’re all thinking of the same character, but we’ll get to him in a bit, because first, we need to study our Original Three protagonists, starting with Aang.
1. Aang is the Last Airbender, but he’s not some Air Nomad Prince; we still have never met his parents, and their legacy is irrelevant because of the monastic order he was raised in, but his heritage is one far more significant than blood: he is the Avatar. He is a reincarnation gifted with the ability to push past the boundaries of those already deemed exceptional. He can bend all four elements, he can enter the Spirit World at will, and he is capable of communicating with his past lives for advice and counsel. This is power people would kill for...and the theme of his story is coming to grips with it. Throughout his story, he rejects it, embraces it, runs from it, succumbs to it, and finally finds a way to balance it with himself. He decides that he is both the Avatar and the Last Airbender, the protector of all four nations and the one responsible for preserving the culture of Air. During all of this, he also balances himself with his titles, retaining his connection to his friends and his love for his family. We learn in the next series that it was a struggle up until the day the died, but he managed to do it...this is what makes him an Epic Hero. From the day he was born, he was destined to save the world, but he did it his way, and never allowed his responsibilities to erase his identity, or his personal attachments to let the world fail. He trusted in those around him and was able to save the world by sharing the burden.
2. Said burden, of course, falls on the shoulders of Katara and Sokka--or rather, into their willing hands. They are, amusingly enough, royalty themselves: Sokka is the son and heir to the chief, and Katara (like Luke) is the last practitioner of a power she inherited from her deceased parent (of course, Kya wasn’t ruling the Fire Nation, but we’ll get to that later). What does this royal lineage get them?
Absolutely nothing. When the Fire Nation ship rolls in and the soldiers storm their village, Zuko doesn’t go around saying “I need to speak to the chief!” and then sit down in a tent with Sokka for a diplomatic discussion: he has the villagers all lined up and bullied without regard for rank or status. It’s highly doubtful that Hakoda even had any royalty in his bloodline--he was probably just a big, strong man with a smart head on his shoulders who a lot of other villagers decided “hey, let’s follow him and listen to him and let him protect us,” and that’s how he became the chief. With some good strong genes and excellent parenting, he was able to raise his children to be strong, too...and that sums up what those two have going for them. The Northern Water Tribe doesn’t let Katara train because she’s a fellow princess; she fights and claws her way to the top (and then is trained anyway because Necklace Ex Machina, but the fact that it’s a Northern Water Tribe tradition and her grandmother’s migration are all well-done plot points makes it work), and her superpowered healing abilities are also something she masters with a lot of hard work...okay, so Katara’s a little OP, but she works hard, and she’s an example of someone who comes from nothing becoming a superhero.
Sokka, on the other hand, waltzes right into the first derelict island village he finds and says “Wassup, ladies, I’m the most powerful warrior among my people, feel free to ogle!” and is promptly trussed up and tossed to the floor...where he then returns to beg for forgiveness and training, because he learned that his rank, privilege, and power don’t mean a thing in the real world, and if he’s going to survive, he needs to be willing to humble himself and learn. And learn he does--studying hunting strategies, making traps, shadowing guerillas, infiltrating cities, protecting princesses, doing chin-touches, strumming guitars, faking diseases...all until he goes to train with a master swordsman, who does little more than help him to produce a weapon, because by this point Sokka’s seen so much action and drama that he’s a full-fledged warrior. Sokka’s journey is one of a boy earning his position as the heir to his father’s seat: he’s left with almost nothing, but keeps learning and adapting until he’s strong and clever enough to rescue his father from prison. Sokka began with the responsibility of having to inherit his father’s position, and he earned it.
3. Toph and Suki, the other members of Team Avatar, are also special, but neither of them really has responsibilities; Toph is wealthy and privileged, but her privilege is a cage, and she chooses to reject it to pursue her own goals. She trains Aang, she fights for freedom, and eventually opens a school and forms a security group...and then dumps all that on her daughters and runs away to a swamp, but that is yet another essay. Suki, on the other hand, is very similar to Hakoda: she’s in charge of a bunch of fighting women on some shanty island off the coast of the Nowhere Peninsula, a place so worthless it was the final tidbit on some ancient conqueror’s wishlist, and then it just broke from the land and moved away so it didn’t have to be involved with any drama. Suki runs the gym there. That’s literally what she does. She’s a part-time fitness instructor, part-time policewoman, and eventually she decides that she’s going to go off and help police other parts of the world, because what the heck else is she going to do with her life? Then she hijacks an airship and rescues other heroes during the apocalypse or something. The point is, Toph and Suki could have both stayed home and done nothing the whole time if they’d wanted, but they chose to do more.
4. All right, now it’s time for the one you’ve all been waiting for: Azula! Oh, sorry, were you expecting Zuko? Nah, we’re starting with his sister. Because she is everything Lucasfilm wants a bloodline legacy to embody: wealthy and privileged, proud of her genes and her talents, taught by the best, raised to be the best, and completely ruthless and uncaring...even cruel. It’s Azula who delivers one of the greatest speeches in the show, the speech that sounds like it belongs anywhere besides a Nickelodeon Cartoon: “I can see your whole history in your eyes. You’ve always had to struggle, and claw, and connive your way to power. But true power? The divine right to rule? Is something you’re born with.” The creepiest thing about the speech is that it uproots the classic literary promise of “Anyone can be a hero!” while still maintaining the theme of the show. It can be argued that Azula is right. She’s a main character, one with her own design and color palette, with more than two outfits to her name; the world isn’t going to be saved by Chong the Nomad or the hapless cabbage merchant, and it’s not going to be destroyed by one of the Rough Rhinos or Fire Nation Soldier 13. She coldly delivers a smackdown and leaves not only the lesser villains, but the audience questioning everything: are there those born to lead, and those born to serve? The grim answer the show provides...is yes.
5. This is where Zuko comes in. Prince Zuko. Royalty. Strength. Discipl...disciplin...dis...hehehe...”Discipline”. Zuko. HA. *ahem* No, but really, when we meet Zuko, he’s a fantastic villain. He has a giant metal ship, glittering armor, rippling black hair...and a menacing, terrifying scar. Fire comes from his fingertips, he seethes with rage, and he is Prince Zuko of the mighty Fire Nation: all of the world will tremble at his coming. But for a moment, a soft moment, we see his armor hidden by a cloak in the middle of the night, as he quietly seethes to his uncle about finding the Avatar and restoring his honor, and we hear him muse about his father to Aang, and see hints of a person beneath that.
Everything becomes clear in the third episode. Prince Zuko’s ship, which dwarfed Sokka’s village, sits timidly in the shadow of a line of much larger vessels. Commander Zhao towers above Zuko and wears much fancier armor, and then outplays Zuko in a mindgame. We see suddenly that Zuko’s status as a prince is all but worthless...his own father has rejected him. The scar on his face is not some amazing battle scar, but a mark of shame from a duel he lost--a duel we later learn was lost to his own father. Zuko triumphs in a fresh duel, showing honor and restraint, and a glimmer of kindness and mercy...but he continues to try and defeat the Avatar throughout his journey. Time and again, we see Zuko, this privileged prince, try to overcome the heroes...and he loses it all. He barely escapes being collected by his smarter, deadlier sister, and spends a whole season on the run, forced to conceal his true identity from everyone he meets out of fear and shame. He bears witness to the crimes his people have committed: broken villages, scarred legs, starving refugees. He’s given a choice, then, to stay among them...or to betray them all and return home. In his fear and impatience, he chooses the latter: he rejects goodness and chooses the privilege and power. He returns home, he is a hero, he has his father’s respect, his girlfriend’s love, everything he ever wanted...and this is a story that could not be told if he were anyone else.
Because then he realizes that this isn’t making him happy--he, too, has responsibilities. So he throws it all away, and marches to his father and tells him, straight-out, that he cannot live in safety and comfort while the rest of the world cowers in terror. He won’t turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. He leaves, flying off, and risks death time and time again, until finally he fights to win back the crown...and almost loses it to save the life of one of those peasants he’d tormented back in another life. Then, he stands tall and takes his place on the throne, and vows to use his privilege and power to better the world...and we see that he does. How? Because he’s royalty. The story is not about how “a good person can make a difference”, but that “people who can make a difference need to be taught how to be good”. Azula boasted about the “divine right to rule” giving power...yet Zuko’s mind was swayed by a peasant girl with a scarred leg, a boy who decided to fight soldiers with a knife, and a young rebel who couldn’t stand the sight of starving refugees. The core of power can be swayed by many who work together...and that’s the point of the show. Everyone has power. It’s how you use it that matters.
#atla#the world isn't saved by lee the earthbender who threw some rocks and started an avalanche#I may do a part 2 where I talk about yue mai and ty lee who are ALSO privileged individuals who contrast one another#especially yue because princess and sacrifice and blessing and SO MUCH#but this will do for now#my brain just died#tlj#tlj criticism#long post
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Sanders Sides Avatar AU Part 9
This is part of a multi chapter fic in an AU where Thomas is the avatar in an atla type universe. Refer to the intro and chapter list post for more details.
No warnings I can think of. Let me know if some are needed. 2,469 words.
Tip Jar
Intro and Chapter List
At the base of the mountain of the northern air temple was a small town creatively named Base Camp that acted as a tourist destination and a connection to the outside world for airbenders. Even in the two hundred years since the end of the great war the air nomad population was dangerously low. The airbenders all tended to stick together and move between the four air temples and air temple island in Republic City. Sometimes the community spread out, but never permanently. Some left for a while in pursuit of other careers or college but for the most part they returned to the community at one point or another.
The group parked the truck in Base Camp’s singular parking lot and argued about who to send. Patton seemed a logical choice, as Logan pointed out, however he lacked the determination to demand to see Thomas’ former teacher. So did Virgil. They decided on a compromise. Logan goes, but the others watch from the sidelines wearing a duplicate outfit so one of them can switch out if need be.
“That is one of the worst plans I have ever heard you come up with. And that includes your plan to sneak our dinner into the movies when you were in late secondary school.” Joan said.
“Yes, but it did work.” Logan pointed out.
“Weren’t you supposed to be the voice of reason around here or something?” Joan asked.
“I’m just stating facts.” Logan said, jumping out of the truck.
Joan, followed by a confused Talyn, jumped out of the truck too. They trusted that the other three would be able to follow through the trees and avoid security cameras. Niddy was being kept with Virgil because the dragon had been really clingy since he’d gone missing so they didn’t want him to randomly run off and give away any secrets.
The town had signs advertising air temple tours, careers as air acolytes, and cheap trinkets and fruit pies, but they were also accompanied a number of closed signs.
“This place is normally full of people.” Logan said. “This is highly unusual. It’s different.”
“Different scares you, doesn’t it?” Talyn asked. “This place sure creeps me out.”
“Fear of difference is illogical, so I personally am not afraid of it.” Logan said. “I can see how it would disturb you, though.”
“What does earthbending have to do with logic?” Joan asked. “Or this freaky abandoned tourist trap? It’s cold.”
“Wait, didn’t we tell you? We aren’t necessarily…”
“Thomas!” came a little voice. “Thomas is back!”
There was a group of about twenty small children under the age of nine being herded out of a shop by an air acolyte, judging by the orange robes. All of the children were wearing orange training uniforms, children’s play robes, or t-shirts and jeans with various tv and radio show logos on their backpacks.
One of the older children came running over quickly with a burst of air behind them. A little airbender. Talyn gasped at the realization all of these children must be airbenders. They had never met one before. Unless you count Patton, which doesn’t really work.
“I’ll bet you don’t remember me.” the little girl said sticking her tounge out.
“Jewel.” Logan said. “You got taller, but no less immature.”
“I am too mature!” Jewel said, blowing one of her many curly ponytails out of her face. “And I should be UP ON THE MOUNTAIN!”
She threw those last words behind her at the tired looking air acolyte who was holding a baby in his arms while a two year old clung to his leg.
“It’s not safe anymore.” the acolyte said like he’d said it a thousand times already.
“Aran, what’s going on?” Logan asked.
“It’s complicated. For right now though, I need to get these kids to town hall. They got to look at the shops. Come on, guys.”
Aran herded the children in a general direction. A four year old briefly broke away from the crowd and very importantly took something out of his inner coat pocket. It was an orange knitted hat with an airbending logo on it.
“I stole it from a shop.” they said very importantly. “But I want you to have it. Shhhhh. Don’t tell teacher.”
Then they ran back into the crowd just in time for Aran to count them.
“What just happened?” asked Talyn.
“I think I was given a stolen gift.” Logan said. “Do either of you want it?”
“But it’s stolen.” Said Talyn.
“I don’t care.” said Joan, putting it on.
“Neither do I.” said Logan.
Aran came back a minute later and noticed the hat Joan was wearing.
“Did Jess give you that?” he said.
“Yes they did.” Logan confirmed.
“They say they ‘steal’ everything, but really they just take the complementary things we give to guests and claim they stole it when they hand them out. You can keep that.”
“Cool.” said Joan. “Because it’s getting sort of cold.”
“We have coats.” Talyn reminded them.
“Yeah, but I didn’t feel like wearing one.”
“In any case,” Logan said, sounding very strict, “I would like permission to speak to master Xiong. Is he here?”
“He’s at the temple, but I’m not sure. We’re kind of in an emergency situation.”
What would Thomas do here? Let’s see. Old acquaintance, trouble brewing, desperate situation, adorable children screaming in the distance. He would be a bit anxious but happy to see his friend. Most likely using his “sunshine shtick” as his friends called it.
“C’mon, buddy. Whatever it is, I can do my best to help. And I really need some help. Please?” Logan said.
“Well, maybe I can get you a ride up. I’ll call.”
He made his way inside an abandoned shop and found a phone. Logan heard a “pssst” from behind a building.
“Hey flaw in the logic, switch out with Patton.” Roman scream-whispered from his hiding spot.
Logan went over. “Why would I do that?”
“Because what if you need to airbend?” came a voice from above.
Patton was sitting on top of a building holding a staff.
“And look! I finally found where we hid the glider!” Patton squealed in excitement.
“What? We lost that four years ago. Where was it?” Logan said.
“Inside a tree!” Patton said happily floating down.
He opened the glider. Unlike most gliders which were airbender orange, this one was earth kingdom green and beige and had “Thomas” written in very small print in the bottom corner of the left wing.
“We never even used it that much.” Logan insisted.
“Just switch out with him.” Said Virgil from behind a trash bin. “Aran could be back any second now.”
“Fine.” Logan grumbled.
Patton jumped down from the roof and Logan joined Virgil behind the trash bin, keeping track of where they were by feeling the vibrations in the ground through his hands.
“Okay, Xiong is happy to see you. And… is that your glider?” Aran said, walking back.
“Uh, yup.” Patton said awkwardly. “I just found it!”
“You lost it like…”
“Four years ago?” asked Joan, eyeballing Patton suspiciously.
“Probably.” Said Patton.
“Right, well Xiong is coming to get you himself in a few minutes. He’ll fly you up and explain on the way. I need to get back to the kids. They need as much help as they can get over there.” Aron said.
“Do you really trust Xiong this much?” Talyn said, remembering that morning’s discussion.
“Yes.” Patton said, strangely serious. “I do, one hundred and like, twelve percent.”
They sat on a bench and waited for a bison to fall out of the sky.
“So there’s something Logan said that’s been bugging me.” Joan said.
“What?” Logan asked from behind a nearby wall.
“Oh, right. You’re listening. Well, you were saying something about logic? Actually, you do seem to act weirdly logical for an earthbender. I don’t remember what exactly you said, but you know what I mean.”
“We’re imaginary.” Patton proclaimed.
“What?” asked Talyn, who had been spacing out and just came back to reality.
“Well we’re not imaginary right now.” grumbled Virgil.
“What?” asked Joan.
“This is way more complicated than necessary.” said Logan. “Remember that thing you told Thomas you do to calm yourself down? That kind of advanced talking to yourself?”
“Yeah?” said Joan.
“That’s it.” said Logan.
“What’s it? Who’s talking?”
Apparently a bison had descended from the sky without them noticing while they had been talking. And it had been carrying a middle aged man of medium height with straight black hair and acne scars all over his tan face.
“Master Xiong!” Patton exclaimed, bowing in respect.
“Thomas.” Xiong said, bowing back. “Am I hearing things?”
“No, these are my friends Joan and Talyn.”
Joan and Talyn clumsily bowed in respect.
“And this is the rest of me.” Patton said, gesturing towards the wall.
Logan walked out, followed by Roman dragging Vigil. You could tell it was Virgil by the sleep deprivation under his eyes.
“What?” Xiong said.
“It’s a very long story.” Roman said. “Full of adventure. Maybe we can explain on the way up, and you can explain whatever trouble you are in.”
Xiong looked at the other two young people standing there.
“Don’t worry. It really is him and you get used to the yelling.” Joan said.
On the ride up in the flying bison, Niddy flew alongside them and occasionally jumped back on to make sure all of Thomas was watching him. They all took turns explaining how Thomas had ended up split apart, as well as adding in why the pieces knew why they were when they split.
“It’s a therapy technique or something I dunno.” Virgil said.
“That spirit that attacked you sounds exactly like the spirit that attacked our temple, and the fire sages.” Xiong said.
“The fire sages?” asked Talyn. “Those people that guard the avatar temple in the fire nation?”
“Yes. And the spirit destroyed all the statues of firebending avatars they had. It destroyed our sanctuary as well. It was heading north, last time we saw it.” Xiong said, shaking his head. “And if you stay split up, what does that mean for the world?”
“We don’t know. That’s the problem.” Virgil said. “It would change everything, and everything does not have to be changed.”
“Are you really a waterbender? Really?” Roman asked.
“Why don’t I drown you and we’ll find out?” Virgil said.
“That doesn’t even make any sense.” Roman scoffed. “I’m happy to have you back, but your threats have not improved at all.”
“Anyways, I’m guessing you do not want the other airbenders to see you.” Xiong said.
“That would be ideal.” Logan said.
“I can take you to the bison stables and you can make your way to what is left of the sanctuary there if you want to contact Avatar Wang or any of the other avatars that have lived here, but I’ll admit I am sceptical.” Xiong said.
Patton beamed. “I believe in us, so much, and thank you so much for helping us. I can’t…”
“Do not, do not start crying again.” Logan begged.
Logan, Patton, and Virgil lay flat against the saddle as they flew over the temple and then stood up again as they landed near the bison. Talyn took the opportunity to throw up in a trash can from air sickness.
“Are you dying?” Virgil asked.
“They have air sickness.” Logan said.
“Yeah, I’d better take care of them. You go ahead.” Joan said.
Niddy went to comfort Talyn at Patton’s instruction. Xiong said he’d take care of them and that he’d tell the other airbenders not to go near the remains of the temple until they were done.
They walked through the familiar passageways Thomas hadn’t been in for four years. Virgil held the hooded black jacket they had bought in Ba Sing Se and not needed until now. Logan was wearing a more Thomas-esque brown jacket. Patton and Roman wereable to keep themselves warm with breathing. Virgil found this stunningly unfair. It was way too cold up here and autumn was approaching fast.
“You’re not going to find what you’re looking for, waterbender.” came the voice of fear.
“Yeah, whatever.” Virgil whispered.
“Did you say something, Verge?” Logan asked.
“No. Just trying to calm down.” he answered.
As they walked past the murals and tile formations, more and more chunks of the wall were missing. As they turned a corner, Patton and Virgil found themselves subconsciously grabbing each other’s hands as they saw the door.
The huge metal and wooden door that had led to the sanctuary was twisted and splintered beyond recognition. The pipes that held the door shut and would only yield to airbending were now bent. When they walked inside the damage was even more discouraging. There was a huge hole in the wall and the murals and statues of previous airbending avatars had been broken.
“What did we do?” Patton asked.
“Nothing.” Roman said. “Nothing at all.”
“You know that’s not true.” Virgil said. “We shouldn’t even be here.”
Roman took his other hand. Virgil didn’t push him away for once.
Meditating as a group turned out to be a bit awkward, especially since Thomas didn’t usually meditate at all, but they managed to sit in a circle and get their breathing in time. None of them really wanted to be doing this, so it took a long time. A really long time.
When Thomas finally opened his eyes, the sun had gone down and the moon was shining through the huge gaping hole in the wall. When he started it had been early morning. He expected to see someone, and he almost did. A person seemed to flicker in and out of view, but then they vanished.
“You’re not going to find what you’re looking for, Avatar.” came a voice.
“What?” Thomas asked, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.
“You’re looking in the wrong place, and as far as you know you always will be.” it said.
“Fear, I’m sorry.” he said.
“I know you are. We all know.”
“No, please!” He cried.
“No!” Roman screamed.
He stood up and screamed in rage, red hot fire spewing out of his mouth. He kicked a stone and hurt his foot on it, falling over.
Virgil was pulling the hood over his eyes. He was shaking. Patton ran forward and tried to calm Roman down. Cracks were appearing in the ground under Logan’s feet as he stood up.
“Was that your fault, waterbender?” came the voice in Virgil’s head.
“Shut. Up.” Virgil said through gritted teeth.
The other three looked back.
“It’s still talking to you, isn’t it?” Roman asked.
“No kidding.” Virgil said, not knowing if he was violently shaking from the cold or something else.
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#i finished this at 3 in the morning#my eyes are very open#sanders sides#thomas sanders#avatar au#fanfic#fan fic#fanfiction#fan fiction#roman wrote a thing
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Eventually I’ll get up the mojo to write this whole epic fic out properly.
So for about 3-5 years I’ve had this vague idea for a fic where Rose Tyler, Mello, and Alphonse or Winry are kidnapped by B who was brought back to life and is crazy+immortal+cannibalistic and has Terrible Plans with those three. So of course the Tenth Doctor, Edward Elric, and Matt have to team up and have lots of zany hijinks as they try to a) get their Golden Trio back and b) stop B. If I actually write out the entire plotline I can probably force myself to finish it but you know. kids. job. parenting. wife-ing.
So for now, maybe someone else will enjoy these snippets in the form of “20 one-word prompts.”
Bullet - The look Near gives them hasn’t so much as a flicker, a single iota, of emotion. “42.” “42… what?” “The number of bullets that ultimately hit him, and not the surrounding area.” A pause. “There’s a 97% chance that he would find some gallows humor sort of approval in the geeky significance of the number, but I suggest keeping all of this conversation from him for obvious reasons.”
Lesson - “Okay, I’m fucking tired of carrying this entire team through every fight.” Ed announces suddenly. Well, the Doctor thinks it’s sudden, given that they should be catching their breath after running for their lives to the TARDIS… again. And evidently that’s exactly Ed’s point, as he continues from his position collapsed on the floor next to them, “You need to at least be able to hold them off until I can come and save your ass. TARDIS, got a training room?” And unfortunately for the Doctor and Matt, she does.
Wind - Sometimes Matt wonders if it’s possible to stick your head outside the door of the TARDIS as she flies through space-time. He puts entirely too much time into thinking through all of the possibilities.
Resurface - Seeing B standing over another body (god DAMN it) with a horrible bloody smile is an especially unpleasant jolt after what felt like a brief research holiday in time.
Winter - It takes a moment to recognize that the blonde lady--Halle, apparently-- has brought them to a person. He(?) is dressed in pajamas and kneeling on the floor, looking over a puzzle that covers at least a 5-foot-square. His hair, the pajamas, and the puzzle are the exact same shade of startling white, what the hell, and his skin is barely a shade darker. There are toy robots and cars strewn carefully (never in danger of being stepped on, and all posed in some sort of battle or weird scene) throughout the room. That’s weird, given that his build puts him at about their age (well, the Doctor’s apparent age), and definitely too old to play with this stuff, but his shadow-rimmed eyes look simultaneously old and coldly blank. Panda-boy looks up from his puzzle and actually raises two white eyebrows when his gaze zeros in on Matt, and that just makes Halle more anxious. Ed gets the impression that this may be the most his subordinates have ever seen him emote. Of course Matt has no problem waltzing up to Panda-boy and slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Aww, miss me, N? I knew you really cared!”
Cruelty - B just laughs.
Uncle - Mr. Wammy, L explains, is the closest thing to a grandparent or doting uncle most of the orphans have experienced. Having never married, he instead kept stumbling upon, caring for, and raising a few dozen devoted orphans. That they were all scary-smart had been something of an afterthought.
Happiest - He’s surrounded on both sides with two brilliant companions, his lady-ship (Matt must be rubbing off on him-- his humor is usually much more clever than terrible puns) is singing in the back of his mind, and with each murder-plot foiled they are tangibly closer to bringing back Rose. He doesn’t remember being this delighted with life and hungry for the next day even as his Fourth Self.
Bunting - The first time they really have to utilize the Wardrobe Room is when they land in what the TARDIS says in the Earth Kingdom. Matt and Ed grumble while the Doctor has entirely too much fun playing dress up. The result is all three in comfortably loose robes and form-fitting clothing underneath that reminds Matt of feudal Japan. Ed is unimpressed when the Doctor tries to persuade Ed to pick any color other than red for his robes-- evidently there’s a color code on this world, the green hues Matt and the Doctor are in are harmless, and red has implications. Ed colorfully tells the Doctor where to shove his implications before the Doctor gives up. As it turns out, the vaguely-stupid clothing blends right in with what the locals are wearing-- granted, they had to hike for almost half an hour on a friggin’ beach before they even found said locals, but Matt was the only one who complained. Aforementioned locals are wearing clothing that is a blend of red, green, water, and a few flashes of orange, much to the Doctor’s bewilderment. “There are four Nations that make up this world’s human-populated continant,” he’d explained on the long-ass beach hike. “Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, and Air Nomads. Last the TARDIS knew, the Air Nomads have been wiped out aside from a chosen-one child called the Avatar. The Water Tribe is mostly a ragged navy, the Earth Kingdom spearheads the fight against the Fire Nation, and the Fire Nation is the only fully thought-out and trained force who just so happens to be keen on taking everything else over and also destroyed the Air Islands. Each Nation has a vastly different culture that has been kept carefully separate for at least three hundred years.” “So, looks like Her Ladyship is a little out of date,” Matt observes in an undertone. The Doctor shoots him an exasperated look before accosting the first poor random guy they see. “Hello!” He says brightly. “Can you direct me to your leader? The one in charge of everything here? The local guard captain, perhaps?” The guy pauses and visibly sizes them up before sighing. “You’ll have to talk to Zuko.” Zuko turns out to be a guy about their age, with long-ish black hair tied back with colorful ribbon (each of the main nation’s colors represented in the ribbons, Matt noted), nicer-looking and more practical robes that were such a deep shade of blue as to almost be black, with embroidery in green and orange, and a red shirt barely visible beneath that. He had golden eyes that narrowed when the trio of weirdos approached. Zuko had also had a wicked tough life, judging by the mean scar that looked like someone had punched his eye with fire. Eh, Matt thought he was pretty hot. “Huojion,” Zuko started, and damn that was a smokey hot voice to match. “Who’re they?” “Just showed up and started asking for whoever was in charge, sir,” their escort said crisply. Zuko shot Huojion a look that said gee, thanks before nodding and saying aloud, “Thank you for bringing them here. Who are you, and what do you want?” With those words, the atmosphere subtly shifted from ignoring-neutral to warning-wary. The Doctor had mentioned that people could bend elements here-- which said something about what he’d put them through when Ed didn’t so much as roll his eyes at the impossibility-- and Matt was willing to bet on which element Zuko had some control over. “You always bring us to such friendly places, Doctor!” Matt said, not one to pass up an opportunity to be a smart-ass.
Stalked - With the knowing smirk twisting B’s face, the Doctor has the sudden realization that they were not, in point of fact, chasing the crazed immortal genius so much as he’s led them on a merry dance across time and space.
Immortality - Shit, why hadn’t L killed this fucker when it was still possible?!
College - It had been a long-ass time since he’d last found something worth learning. Matt rather suspected Ed felt the same way, given how they both fawned over the TARDIS’ console. When the Doctor informed them they were spoiling her, it was with a laugh. That laugh petered out when the TARDIS started to take their side in petty arguments.
Sauna - The last thing Mello remembered was burning heat pain heart nobreath matt no
Carnivore - He’d really thought he’d left the fucking cannibals behind. Nobody could ever possibly get used to the up close and personal scenes of seemingly-random missing body parts or organs. Even fucking Matt flinches. Ed feels bile rise in the back of his throat, but the Doctor is definitely the most volatile of the three and goes and does something stupid because he kind of sucks at stepping back and not making things just a little bit harder. (Ed can’t really blame him)
Clutch - Once in a while (y’know, in between all the running-for-their-lives and examining horrifically bloody crime scenes and trying to plot how to kill an ironically un-killable serial killer and other cheerful shit), they’ll pass a church, or a shrine, or some lady will have a rosary on her shelf, and he’ll remember his hands tightly holding the only thing he brought with him to Wammy’s, and Matt’s heart will stupidly seize up for reasons other than the many health problems he’s carefully cultivated. (Well, Mello might actually count as one of those, come to think of it)
Wednesday - Ed’s pretty sure the Doctor just attracts weirdos. L doesn’t even blink and takes the news of time travel entirely in stride, like he hears about science-breaking instances every fucking day. Though if this guy was Matt’s teacher, that probably means he’s considering thirty ways he could use the abilities of the TARDIS himself, determining exactly how far in the future they are from, contemplating the repercussions of Matt meeting his younger self downstairs, and attempting to creep them all out with that earnestly blank stare, all at once. Ed’s really glad he grew up pretty normal.
Cavity - Ed’s pretty sure the Doctor and Rose are gonna give him diabetes. Hell, they’re gonna give everyone in the TARDIS diabetes, and isn’t that gonna be a hilariously awkward trip to the 23rd Century or whenever they’d managed to completely cure it.
Engaged - It’s weird having companions who not only take an extended interest in the TARDIS, but actively and intently work with her when she requests.
Saint - They put up with a lot of terrible puns from Matt. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been left in tenth-century London with zero chance of any kind of technology as a comparatively small revenge, though Ed’s pretty sure the Doctor thinks about it.
Sinner - Matt’s pretty sure Mel thinks he’s damned with no chance of redemption, and only prays in a fervent bid to get Matt’s soul to Heaven. That’s… fucking stupid. Good Catholics don’t do a tenth of what Mello ferociously does. But Matt did his reading, and good Catholics are supposed to work to get their spouse to the pearly gates, and Mello is nothing if not his partner, so if there’s a whispered Hail Mary in the dark when the blond disaster is doing that adorable snore that he threatens to beat Matt over when he mentions it the next day… well. It’s only returning the favor, isn’t it?
#golden trio#edward elric#fullmetal alchemist#death note#matt/mello#doctor who#doctor/rose#fanfiction
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