#i was talking about how my sifu said i needed to forgive some people in my life when i told him how they were stressing me out | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

metellastella · 4 years

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Oneshot: Injury by a Firebender: The Dragon of the West and the Avatar

“Don’t touch me.” the monk said sharply.

Iroh’s bronze eyes blinked in bewilderment at the harsh reprimand from the lighthearted airbender. He had gone in to hug him, because he was clearly upset after their training session. The boy had been burned before, and this one had been simple enough for Katara to heal. So he wasn’t sure what had suddenly caused this shift in mood.

“Are you all right?” the fatherly man asked with a tinge of panic.

The boy was silent.

His silver eyes cut into him. Iroh began churning up thoughts, trying to puzzle out what might be wrong, as he had when Lu Ten had gotten into moody episodes or angry fits.

“Aang,” the man said with a choked noise, “I am so, so sorry.” “It’s not your fault.” But the words were not forgiving in tone. They were hard. They projected ‘I understand this, but my feelings are very different from welcoming you back into my space right now.’

“What can I do to make it up to you? To make you feel better?”

Aang’s shoulders screwed up.

“Just . . .”

He breathed three times.

Iroh recognized how he expanded his diaphragm as far as it would go, sucking in all the life-giving air his lungs could stand, and then releasing slowly like a leaking gas tank.

The words from tutors from his own boyhood spoke to him,

‘Picture you are drawing in the prana, the life force around you, and with each breath out, imagine you are cleansing yourself of fear and weakness.’

“You don’t normally act angry or forceful like Zuko,” the airbender analyzed. “But you do have your rare moments. If you could just . . . be extra quiet for the next few days, that would be a spiritsend.”

“Of course. I will be totally silent, if that’s what would help.”

The monk relaxed further. “What made this one worse? Was it something I did specifically?”

The monk opened his eyes and gave him a strained smile. “Toph and Zuko see you as the father you never had, Sensei. Or,” he corrected, “Does the Fire Nation use Sifu?” “Either is fine.”

“Or do you prefer Master?” “Aang, it really doesn’t matter. You insist on this formality, even though I’ve told you it’s not necessary.”

“You see it as formality,” the monk bowed his head. “We saw it primarily as affection.”

“Ah! Well then I am honored.”

“It is not a sign of dominance or status,” the monk went on. “But, like ‘Uncle,’ from Zuko, a friendly honorific.” “Like -chan! Or -san.” “Exactly. Like family.”

The boy was silent for a few moments, and his brief happiness vanished. “I had my own gurus, so although I want to see you as a parental figure, it feels as if I am betraying the dead by doing so.” The words dropped on him with all the force of the boy’s ten ton bison slamming into the ground.

Tears gathered in the old man’s eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” the monk said again, much gentler this time. “I want to like you, Master Iroh. But, the man that you, as a boy, kowtowed to as respect to an elder? He brutally murdered my elders.”

Iroh couldn’t breathe. “Katara complains at me how ‘Zuko reminds me of my dead mother, and how am I supposed to deal with that,’ well.” The preteen laughed harshly. “I have to go meditate after she says things like that, or I will end up saying some very nasty things to her. She is like a noblewoman who complains that it is too hot, while fanning herself. I am the peasant out in the fields, toiling away to serve her up her dinner plate.” Iroh was convinced that he was having an out of body experience. He hadn’t felt this completely flattened by confusion since Mahimata, the Earth Spirit essentially mentally tortured him.

“Nobody seems to understand exactly how much pain I’m in.” The boy went on in a monotone. “When we started out our journey, I would cry almost every day, as a normal person grieving their entire extended family’s death would. Sokka totally understood. He’d hug me, and rock me. Katara on the other hand, could not handle it. Grieving periods for one person are usually about at least a year, the monks would say. We had a couple of elders join the Spirit World, during my lifetime. So. If we were going to do some simple math here, how long would I need to grieve just every single one of my boyhood playmates, aside from an entire population of my people?” Iroh was beginning to feel faint from lack of oxygen.

“Katara could not see me like that. It drove her insane. She’d let Sokka handle it. And I didn’t understand why at the time. I was hurt. I was beyond hurt. She acted so motherly all the time, and then when I needed her most, she abandoned me? I didn’t say anything to Sokka about it. I just cried. And tried to do what the monks said, look for the gratitude in the situation. A way to look at things from a positive angle. Impossible task, surely. I’d like to see the Mechanist be good enough at problem solving to unravel that one. After several meditation sessions, I finally ferreted out a way to look at it differently. This was ‘good.’ His macho attitude didn’t extend into berating a younger boy to ‘be more manly’ as you might expect.”

He repeated the deep breaths.

“Because, if both of them, my new family, had been unable to comfort me . . .”

The stab through the veteran’s heart was more painful than any blade that had ever gotten through his defenses and sliced into him.

“Katara saw me as the savior to the world,” the monk said distantly. “So, not only was she hurt by my pain, because her empathy is strong. Every time that would happen, she would think that the world was lost, that we really couldn’t do it. I was too broken to be able to do this. Later on, she said, ‘Aang, we can just run away. You are only one person. You can’t solve this. There’s too much history. Too many people involved. I’ll bet my soul to some wicked spirit, that when the Avatar was established, the elder spirits never expected him to have to do something like this!! This was all a mistake. A slip of Fate. Surely, we need to just let you talk to them, and they’ll say the same thing!’”

“I was very tempted by that offer,” the Bridge Between the Worlds said ponderously. “What if I just found some secluded spot for a couple of weeks, in order to go into deeper meditation trance states, and negotiate my way out of my responsibility? Were the spirits that merciful? Maybe.”

He shrugged. “Maybe I should ‘have faith’ that the spirits would be fair to me, a poor little boy who did nothing to deserve this.”

Several more breaths, and Iroh could feel the wind around him reacting this time around.

“I had a dream, where Roku spoke to me. He apologized for how he acted. That I needed more empathy from him, too. That he was not just my Guide, but also my elder who loved me.”

A loud sob escaped him, and his element whooshed in response.

“And now, when I sleep, I am in his arms. Like a baby who sleeps next to their mother. Sokka doesn’t have to do it so much, although he is still completely willing, and reminds me daily. Katara has gotten a little better.”

His next breath out was like a release valve, preventing overload from a too-full tank.

“Nowadays, Roku murmurs things to me like, ‘It’s ok if you fail, Aang.’ ‘Just try your best.’ ‘That’s all any of us can ask from you.’ ‘You won’t be penalized by the Spirits.’ ‘You won’t even hear a harsh word from any of us Avatars.’ ‘And we most certainly will be there to comfort you.’ If I die, whether by disgruntled protestors, or by assassins trying to re-ignite the war, then the Air Nomads will truly have left the world. I try, during my meditations, to rein in that all-encompassing, all-too-likely scenario. Meditation is meant to quell anxiety after all,” he said a bit bitterly, “and all its attendant visualizations. I guess I am just lucky that, although my anxiety is centered on the entire world, I also have more powerful meditation states than the average person as well. It is suited to the task.” he said flatly.

His silver eyes glanced around his surroundings.

“Had I been born somewhere else than the Air Temples, where meditation for bending is not taken so seriously, I’m not sure what mental state I would be in. I could be catatonic, for one. I’m sure I would’ve hurt or killed people in fits of rage by now, Avatar Spirit involved or not.”

He paused. “There has never been a child Avatar in the Spirit World. Ever. None of the spirits I have talked to in dreams knows what will happen if that comes to pass. Will I be a child in perpetuity? Some of the more feminine ones cluck over me like a mother hen and say, ‘You poor dear, you will feel very lonely here, should you die.’ ‘You will be the only one of your kind here, just as you are on the Material Plane.’ ‘We will lavish you with attention, little one.’ ‘You deserve paradise after death, probably even more so than any human who has ever existed.’ ‘Don’t be afraid.’” His tears drew tracks down his cheeks.

“‘You’ve never had a mother, have you, love?’ ‘Your gurus were so mastered in their minds that they could provide that feminine touch to you.’ ‘We don’t mean to disrespect their culture, dear, but it seems terribly sad to us, still.’”

He let out a broken chuckle and quavered in a slightly otherworldly voice, “Roku, you brute, you had better take over as the next Avatar’s Guide if that happens. Expecting a child who had barely begun to live to mentor a sixteen year old? The fire fields will freeze over before we let you off the hook.’” The boy wiped his eyes.

“I have lots of ‘people’ rooting for me. Not only rooting for me, but allowing the possibility that I will fail. And that, is what every boy and girl in the world needs.”

#Avatar The Last Airbender #aang #zuko #iroh #airbender #air nomads #fire nation

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kittyandbugaboo · 5 years

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ML, if Origins ended differently...

My favorite Headcannon is if the Umbrella Scene didnt happen in Orgins because imagine:

•marinette just assumes Adrien is as bad as Chloe and just chooses to avoid him

•Adrien gets frustrated with Marinette dismissing him so he just decides she’s assumptive and stop trying to apologize

•Adrien complains to Nino about “stubborn Dupain-Cheng” and Nino is amused and suggests “yea and don’t you just hate how she smells like vanilla and strawberries” and Adrien is like “yea! and don’t get me started on-“ but stops and blushes because why must Nino expose him like this?

•marinette sometimes mocks Adrien to Tikki or Alya; “oh I’m Adrien Agreste; I’m gifted at the piano and fencing, blah blah blah” but doesn’t realize that’s she’s complimenting him constantly even though Alya tries to hint to her about it

•Adrien is lowkey calling out Marinette during class by saying to Bustier “some people can’t listen and forgive others” and Marinette just sits behind him and mocks him while he talks

•marienette tells bustier “well maybe if some people understood how to not do mean things in the first place or at least be sorry they would deserve to have their explanation listened to”

•we get lots of scenes where Marinette and Adrien are in each other’s faces, lots of sassy arguing and always them calling each other only by their last names

•meanwhile Chat and LB had revealed their crushes on each other way early on but Ladybug shut it down saying “I’m sorry but this is our job. We’re going on missions, not dates, we can’t be together Chat noir” they stop flirting and being romantic but they both secretly still have repressed feelings for each other

•ladybug and chat becomes a badass best friend duo (still pretty cannon)

•in Evillustator, Chat is annoyed about having to watch Marinette but just sucks it up and goes since Ladybug asked him to

•When Chat gets to her house Mari has a plate of passion fruit macaroons ready because she just so happens to be making them (it’s actually because Chat told ladybug he loves passion fruit on a missions once)

•Chat is shocked and weirded out by how sweet Mari is to his alter ego and wonders why she can’t be this nice to Adrien but just thinks it’s because chat is a hero and all

•Chat can’t help but make a snarky comment to Marinette (maybe because she mentioned a certain annoying Adrien to him) and she turns into Sassinette for a second and snatches his half eaten macaroon from his hand saying she’ll give it back if he apologizes

•Mari and chat get really in each other’s faces and stare intensely seeing who will break first

•Chat leans back and inhales “Sorry, princess” & Marinette stares for a moment before smiling softly and giving his macaroon back “you’re forgiven, I’m sorry too”

•Chat meant to call Mari “princess” sarcastically but it makes her heart flutter anyways

•Chat wonders if only Marinette would let Adrien apologize whether it would be that easy to forgive

•Alya asks Mari about her time with Chat at the end of the episode and Adrien blushes as he heard Marinette go on about how cool he is

•in Horrificator, Adrienette are made the leads because Alya and Nino are attempting to get them to be friends and put an end to this stupid feud

•they freak out when they hear about the kiss

•in Animan, Nino himself invites Mari to the zoo but asks if Adrien will come for support since he’s nervous, Adrien doesn’t understand why Nino likes Marinette but he says “I’ll help you out but only because you’re helpless”

•little to Adriens knowledge this whole this is another elaborate plan from Alya and Nino to have Adrien & Marinette end up “alone” at the zoo together and become friends (Alya and Nino are secretly watching from afar)

•in Kung Food, Adrienette are both annoyed that Alya set them up but Mari genuinely needs help and Adrien does actually want to practice his Chinese

•when Chloe is racist tho Adrien calls her out and after Chloe leaves Adrien tells Mari “look I don’t like you, Dupain-Cheng. But no one deserves that treatment” and even reluctantly reveals to Marinette that Sifu does like her

•it’s quiet for a moment and marinette just kinda nudges him with her hand and whispers “thanks”

•Chat complains about this girl that is stubborn about not letting him apologize and he doesn’t know what to do, Ladybug tells him to find a common interest and try to bond with her

•Lb complains about this jerk in her class and chat says “why don’t you give him a chance and if he’s still a jerk I’ll handle him!”

•In Gamer, Mari signs up for the tournament because she knows she’s good and wants to rub it in Agrestes face (she didn’t know they would be partnered)

•marinette pulverized Adrien but then they have to be partners and Adrien is gonna refuse at first but remember ladybugs suggestion so he decides to try it anyways

•marinette doesnt try to get out of the tournament because she’s trying to give Adrien a shot like Chat said to

•When adrien comes over Mari is panicking to get a bunch of chat noir stuff off her walls because she think Adrien will make fun of her

•the gaming scene is similar just a little more angsty and competitive and Mari still gives him her lucky charm but it’s because she feels bad since Adrien reveals he spends most time cooped up in his room at home with little free time and can only play the game alone and he’s not even that good at it

•the rest of the episodes goes pretty similar except instead of marinette saying “he’s always so over the top” When chat leaves her on the roof she tells Tikki “he’s so cool!”

•in Volpina, Marinette was just in the library for research and doesn’t want to follow Adrien but Tikki says she needs the book

•marinette realized Lila is lying about LB and the Fox miraculous but doesn’t say anything since she’s not jealous, she just hopes Agreste isn’t really that dumb

•the rest of the ep goes pretty similar but except it (the season finale) ends with the umbrella scene

•adrien says “look, today I found out this one person lied to me and I realized when people get wrong information it can lead to bad things so i just wanted to make sure you have all the right information” *gives the same umbrella scene explanation*

•marinette has a pretty similar reaction to cannon but she makes her acceptance of the apology verbal this time “I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain” and then he gives her the umbrella

•Adrien says “see you tomorrow, Marinette” and leaves

•marinette stammers and tells Tikki “h-he called me marinette”

#adrien agreste #adrienette #ladybug #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #ml marinette #marinette dupain cheng #ml marichat #marichat #ml ladynoir #ladynoir

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