It ain't the being alone.
She'd been alone all her life. Had grown comfortable with it. Had known loneliness like an old friend. Had known. For never had loneliness wounded her the way it did now. She now knows that loneliness had left her long ago and had not been her companion since he walked into her life.
It ain't the empty home, baby.
She looks around at the house they'd called home. She is haunted by a memory. A memory of the rafters being filled with laughter and joy as he waltzed her around their dining room. A memory of the smell of spiced meats and mouth-watering dishes. Memories of endless hours of talking, of enjoying each others' companies as the fire crackled and the rain poured down outside.
These memories fade, leaving her in the cold, desolate house she had built for them. Portraits smile at her from the walls, cruel remembrances of a time no longer present. The fire no longer crackles. The stove no longer houses their cooking. And the floors remain un-danced.
You know I'm good on my own.
As she stares at a dent in the wall, she also remembers the endless fights. Him complaining that she was always gone. Shouting that she was never around. Her yelling back that she was around. All the time. That she should be allowed her own time and space. That she shouldn't need to be so firmly attached to him at all times that they fuse into one person. They had been born separate for a reason.
She remembers the silence after that. Should've predicted what came next.
You know it's more the being unknown.
He did not speak to her again, except for short words, curt answers. He was never in the house unless it was to sleep, and somedays, he did not even return for that. He no longer remembered the secrets they had shared with smiles. He no longer cared to remember her favorites, her laugh, her song. It was as if he was methodically un-remembering her.
And oh, how her heart broke at that.
And there are some people, love, who are better unknown.
She presses a hand to her chest, surprised to see it come away clean. The pain of her heart is so acute she believes she should be bleeding.
For it was not just the un-remembering. She had found out later, after he had left for the last time, that he had found someone new. Had wooed and courted this other with as much fervor as he had her. Had made them laugh, had danced with them, had enjoyed their company as ardently as he had with her.
It was then her heart cleaved. Was rent in two. Never to be mended. To be removed completely from his memory... to be treated as if she had never existed... No, there was no coming back from that.
It would've been better if she had never met him, she thinks to herself. For the good did not outweigh the bad.
She thinks back to how often he would dismiss her. Would not share in her excitement the closer they got to the end. Was it her fault? Should she have tried harder?
No. Her resolve hardens. The blame is not hers to carry. Not when he left the way he did. Not when he abandoned her before she even knew it was over.
She stands and looks at the match burning in her hand. She lets it fall to the ground and walks out of the burning house, burning the memories of him with it.
Nothing would grow on that patch of land again. She had ensured it. Had coaxed her magic back to her after years of suppressing it to make him happy. Never again would she debase herself the way she had allowed him to debase her.
She is the most powerful witch of her age. And the world would remember her power once more.
Starting with him and his pretty new bride.
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Here's the conclusion to the longest atla meta I ever wrote (about platonic love in the show) for all the old and new fans coming into the fandom (def spoilers):
"Ideally, within the morality of the series (at least as it appears to us with no regard for whatever limits or self-censorship occurred due to its era of production and child-friendly requirements), “friends'' are maintained alongside romantic partnerships. Both Zuko and Aang’s separate romantic relationships blossom within the same episode that they declare their “friendship.” In fact, a vital plotline is the development of Zuko’s relationship with Aang’s romantic interest. While anyone in the fandom is well aware of the popular interpretation of romantic affection between Zuko and Katara because of their shared narrative, I have to point out that romantic feelings across the series are made extremely explicit through statements, blushes, and kisses. Zuko’s relationship with Katara can be better understood in the light of the coming-of-age counternarrative: While the love interest often serves as a catalyst for separation for a homosocial relationship, the friendly relationship with Aang’s love interest—seeking her forgiveness, respecting her power, calling on her support, etc—is vital for Zuko to ultimately create an environment of peace in which he and Aang can fulfill their destined “friendship.”
We can look at Katara’s femininity as the most important device for manifesting Aang and Zuko’s eventual union (and therefore the restoration of balance to the world). It’s her rage against misogyny that frees Aang from his iceberg, midwifing him into the world again after his arrested development, the complete opposite of a Wendy figure. It’s her arms that hold Aang in the pieta after his death in the Crossroads of Destiny, positioning her as a divine God-bearer. Afterwards, its her hands that resurrect Aang so that they together can fulfill his destiny. It will be these same hands with this same holy water that resurrect Zuko in the finale. Only through Katara’s decided blessing could Aang and Zuko proceed toward the fated reunion of their souls.
The importance of this critical relationship to femininity becomes relevant to a scene in “Emerald Island Players” that one might note as an outstanding moment of gay panic. Zuko and Aang, watching their counterparts on stage, cringe and shrink when, upon being saved by The Blue Spirit character in the play, Aang’s performer declares “My hero!” Instead of the assumption of homophobia, I wonder whether we might read Aang and Zuko’s responses as discomfort with the misogynistic heterosexual dynamics the declaration represents. Across the board, Avatar subverted the damsel in distress trope. There’s a-whole-nother essay to be written on all the ways it goes about this work, but the events in “The Blue Spirit” certainly speak to this subversion. It’s quite explicit that Zuko, after breaking Aang’s chains, is equally dependent on Aang for their escape. And, by the end of the actual episode, the savior role is reversed as Aang drags an unconscious Zuko away from certain death. To depict these events within the simplistic “damsel in distress” scenario, as The Ember Island Players do, positions Aang as a subordinately feminized colonial subject, denies him his agency, and depicts the relationship as something merely romantic, devoid of the equalizing platonic force that actually empowers them. The moment in the play is uncomfortable for Aang and Zuko because it makes Zuko the hero and Aang the helpless object. Aang is explicit about his embarrassment over his feminized and infantilized depiction in the play. And Zuko, newly reformed, is embarrassed to see, on one hand, his villainy throughout the play and, on the other hand, see how his character is positioned as as a savior to the person who has actually saved him.
At the heart of the series is not the idea of a chosen one or savior. Instead, we are saved by the ability for one person to see themselves in another person and to feel that same person equally understands their own soul. This is the ideal of platonic love. Platonic love between two matured boys—two boys within whose memories and bodies bare the scars of their queer sensitivities—is an essential part of the future of peace.
Many fans have a sense of this, labeling the relationship as “brotp” and “platonic soulmates.” I simply encourage people to acknowledge that platonic love, especially in this context, is not a limit. There is no “no homo” joke here. When we remark on the platonic love between Zuko and Aang (and across media more generally) we are precisely making room for friendship, romance, and whatever else it could mean, whatever else it might become.
While I find Legend of Korra lacking and in some ways detrimental to appreciating the original series, it’s finale interestingly parallels and extends this reading of platonic love in a sapphic vein. And most recently, She-ra Princess of Power was able to even more explicitly realize these dynamics in the relationship between Adora and Catra. Let’s simply acknowledge that Aang and Zuko’s relationship blazed the trail: that peace, happiness, hope, and freedom could all hinge on a “friendship,” because a “friend” was never supposed to be set apart from or less than other kinds of relationships. For the ways it disregards gender, disregards individualism, disregards dominion--platonic love is the foundation of any meaningful relationship. And a meaningful relationship is the foundation for a more peaceful world."
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Soup Kitchens and Runaway Ghosts
NEXT>>
Dani let out a breath of relief. Danny’s injuries were all accounted for, and now he’s fast asleep on the makeshift bed that she made out of cardboard and scratchy cloth that is... semi-clean. There were still bandages that Jazz threw in a backpack that she packed for Danny before Dani flew as fast as she could out of their house, clutching onto Danny as hard as she could until she knew that they were safe and away from his parents and the GIW.
An old, abandoned apartment that seemed haunted (but not really) was the best place she could take them.
But with only clothes and bandages for Danny in the backpack, there wasn’t any food. She took a look outside, and deemed it still early for a few soup kitchens to still be open, especially for dinner.
So, she leaned down, patting Danny’s head, whispering how she’ll be back as soon as she could. She’ll just get some food for Danny and her to eat. She took her own pack, filled with ice-cream containers and plastic spoons that she’s collected over the months she went travelling.
Then, turning invisible, she flew out of the abandoned apartment building.
***
- Okay, so, what happens is that Jason runs a soup kitchen. He’s still Red Hood, and the people helping him run the kitchen are his Goons. But his Goons have no idea that Jason is Red Hood. They just think that Jason is someone Red Hood wants to help, and the Goons love helping the dude. Not just because he’s good at cooking, but because they actually feel like they’re doing something good when they help.
- There’s always a new face coming into the soup kitchen, new kids that ran away from toxic home environments, people who lost their jobs and became desperate, families who are trying to get by...
- Then, Jason felt a chill run down his back and the Lazarus Madness in his mind hiding away where Jason couldn’t feel it. He looked around to what could have caused that reaction, and locks his eyes on his black-haired, blue-eyed child carrying ice-cream containers asking one of his Goons, Bill, if he could fill it up.
- Bill doesn’t ask questions. He told all of his Goons that are working in this kitchen to never ask questions when someone asks for more, or to bring some home. Just do it.
- She doesn’t eat in the dining area that Jason set up, instead tucks away the sealed soup and bread, and some eggrolls Jason taught his goons to make, and walked out of the place.
- The Lazarus Madness then returned, though still dulled and almost whining in annoyance in his mind.
- Shaking his head, Jason walked in to replace the empty pot of soup for a new one. Then, he turned to Bill to take care of the place, saying he needed to report to Red Hood something.
- “Is it the kid with the containers earlier?” he asked.
- “Yeah,” Jason just decided to reply. “I just have a... feeling.”
- Bill frowned and told Jason that he got it from here.
- Jason went out back, opened his security cameras to locate where the kid went. But, when he went to the time the kid walked out of the door, it was like she just disappeared into thin air! Jason wondered what was with the girl that caused the Lazarus Madness to crawl into near inexistence to the back of his mind.
- But Jason decided that he’ll look more into it later.
***
- The young girl shows up a the next day. This time, not only does she ask for the containers to be filled, she even asks for her water bottles to be filled with drinking water because the water jugs that were brought out were empty.
- Interestingly, the girl seemed more tense in front of Jason, squirming where she was standing and trying hard not to stare at Jason, looking away when Jason directs his gaze to her.
- Does she also feel how she’s pushing away the Lazarus?
- A question for another time. He had food to give out.
- This time, Jason and Bill were switched. Bill, his faithful student in the art of cooking, is in the kitchen cooking up more soup while all the other Goons were putting together some ham and cheese sandwiches. And Jason with some of the other goons were giving out the food.
- Jason calls for one of the other goons to change the empty water jugs with new ones while he fills her containers with soup, one container with some rice porridge, and another one with the sandwiches his goons put together. He gave enough that could be eaten for two people.
- When Jason sees the state of the little girl’s water bottles (it’s the plastic water bottles, and it’s all crinkled up like paper), Jason tells the little girl to wait and goes to the back kitchen (noticing when he looks back how the girl relaxes as he leaves) to get one of his water bottles that he stole from Bruce that he wasn’t using. It was big, enough to be filled with four glasses of water.
- Jason could always steal another one. Not like Bruce was using them anyways.
- So, after washing the bottle, he steps back out, refills the bottle, and gives it to the little girl. Her eyes widen, letting out an excited gasp, seeming to forget how tense she was in his presence.
- “I can have this?!” her eyes were sparkling towards him, and Jason couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.
- “Yeah! I have plenty more where that came from.”
- The little girl stuffed the containers in her bags, and the water bottle last. Then, she gently brought her pack over her shoulder.
- With a grin towards Jason, she said, “Thanks Mister!”
- With a huff, Jason says, “Just call me Jason.”
- Repeating his name and thanking him again, the little girl was out of the soup kitchen.
- Checking the security feeds again, she disappeared into thin air just like last time. There is seriously no trace of her walking out the moment she exited at the same time as other kids. Either she’s really good at stealth and misdirection, or she’s a meta.
- Jason wouldn’t be surprised if she were one.
***
- For the next 3 days, the little girl keeps coming back with newly washed containers, and even comes over during brunch times.
- But Jason notices how she’s getting more anxious as the days went by. So, on the 6th day she came over, Jason pulls her aside and asks her if there was something wrong.
- The little girl starts crying then and there. She has a kinda-brother, kinda-cousin who’s hurt from his parents hurting him, and he’s had a fever that won’t go down. She doesn’t know what to do, and none of the fever medicine she stole from the drug stores were working, and she tried getting the antibiotic ointment but Danny, her brother-cousin’s name, wasn’t getting better at all.
- Jason calmed the girl down. Bill, his most trusted Goon, said that he’ll man the kitchen. Jason should go help the girl.
- And Jason gathers some things that would most definitely be useful for some emergency first aid. Judging by what the little girl told him, this Danny would need to be brought to Leslie.
- Before they leave, Jason asks the little girl her name.
- “Danielle, but everyone calls me Dani, with an ‘I’.”
- “Does Danny call you that, too?”
- “We think it’s funny.”
- Jason is brought to a nearby abandoned apartment. On some ratty bed and covered by some blanket that was definitely stolen, lays a teenage boy whose breath was stuttering as he breathes. There was a cooling pad over the kid’s head.
- He ran up to the kid, and gasps when he feels the Lazarus Madness completely vanish from his mind.
- He ignores that for now, peeling off the blanket to take a look over Danny, who was sweating through his clothes.
- “Where is he hurt?” Jason asks.
- Dani tells him he’s hurt badly on his back and chest. He removes the shirt. The bandages were wrapped clumsily, but covered all the important parts.
- The important parts being wounds as if he was blasted by a ray gun, and cuts on his torso as if he was being dissected. A vivisection.
- “His parents were scientists,” Dani said from behind him. Jason turned towards her, and this time her eyes were glowing a familiar shade of green. He’s seen it many times in his reflection, but seeing it on another person made goosebumps rise on his arms. “I... I could explain what’s going on, but Danny can’t go back to his parents... Because his parents aren’t the only people who are after him... They’re probably after me, too.”
- “I don’t need you to explain to me,” he said, bringing out his things to perform emergency first aid. “But we need to bring Danny to someone who could heal him better, alright?”
- “No hospitals... he... his blood isn’t... normal...” she said, wringing her wrist with her hand, face scrunched up as if she doesn’t know what’s okay to tell him.
- Jason pursed his lips. He could... call in for one of his favors with someone the Red Hood knows. They’d ask for nothing except to repay him.
- So, Jason tells Dani to wait for him here. Don’t answer the door for anyone, because Jason will be coming in through the window to pick them up. He tells Dani to fix up their things, and to prepare because they were taking Danny to a friend of his who wouldn’t ask any questions no matter what he saw.
- Once he was out, and after feeling the Lazarus filling his mind up again with a vengeance, he calls Bill, telling him that he’s leaving the cleanup of the kitchen to him and the others. And that he’s also going to Red Hood for some help. Bill, who had also grown fond of the little girl who he shared his Stolen Femurs story with, was worried but told him to stay safe, and to keep the kid safe.
- After hanging up, he changes into his Red Hood gear, calls his illegal doctor, and drives his Hoodmobile (lovingly named by Dick - 9 years old at heart - Grayson) to the apartment where Dani and Danny were staying. But he also found some suspicious White Van, and some people in white suits holding... blaster guns? Those are definitely blaster guns. They were probably the ones who hurt Danny, then.
- Red Hood parked his car in a location he would easily be able to get into, and scaled the apartment to the floor Dani hid her and Danny in. He knocked on the window, lifting his helmet up a little to show his domino-mask-less face. He put it back on as he went inside. Just like he told Dani to do, all of their things were fixed. By the panic on Dani’s face, she knows about the suspicious people.
- “I can carry Danny out of here without being seen,” she said. “But me and Danny could easily be tracked by them because of what we are... But I can be quick. I promise!”
- Dani didn’t even wait for his reply, something green shined in her hands, and she easily picked up the kid, easily floated into the air, and easily turned invisible.
- “So that’s how you managed to disappear from my cams,” he said.
- He couldn’t see her, but he could tell that she was grinning. He took their packs and scaled down the walls.
- But just as he landed, a blaster gun was pointed at his face.
- “Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked the men in white.
- One of them was holding some kind of gadget that was rapidly beeping when pointed at Jason’s direction.
- “There are three ghosts in our current location,” the one holding the gadget said, staring pointedly towards Jason.
- “Well, that’s just rude,” he said, because he’s more of a zombie than a ghost, and immediately punched the one pointing the blaster in his face. He disarmed him, grabbed the blaster for himself, and disarmed the other men in white whipping out their own blaster guns. With every shot, a blaster was destroyed. And when Jason accidentally hit a pole, that pole had a melted hole, creaked, and fell to the ground.
- The blasters were stronger than Jason thought, and he was wondering how Danny survived such a thing. He took out a smoke bomb and through it to the ground, using the smoke to get to his Hoodmobile. (God, he hates that name.)
- Once he was in the driver’s seat, he dropped the packs beside him and called for Dani. “You guys in here?”
- “y-yeah! We’re in the back!” she said, letting go of the invisibility. Danny’s head laid on her lap, but his breathing seemed to be getting worse.
- “They’re this way!”
- “Shit.”
- Jason starts the car and starts driving.
- The Hoodmobile is breaking every traffic law known to man, but so were the men in white’s van, which also had some built in blasters Jason knew Tim and Batman would secretly drool over. The vans seemed to multiply the more corners he turned.
- These men in white don’t seem to care about property damage, either. Or about civilians being affected or injured by the consequences of their blasts.
- Thankfully it was night, and Jason was calling for Oracle to respond.
- “Hood, who are the people chasing you?”
- “No idea, but they pointed some blaster to my face. Called me a ghost with some gadget they use to track for some,” he said. “No matter where I go, they seem to be able to track me because of what I am.” He was using Dani’s explanation for this. He cursed and turned a hard left to avoid hitting a civilian. “I don’t know what the range for the gadget is, but I need you to disable it so I could get somewhere safe.”
- “On it,” Oracle said. But a few seconds of swerving around the road later, he heard Oracle curse.
- “What is it?”
- “Their tech is all protected by something. No matter how much I hack into them, a newer code just keeps coming in to stop me.”
- “Can you fry their systems?” Jason asked.
- “...I could,” said Oracle. “But we’d never get the information we need form them. Are you okay with that?”
- Jason snorted. “You know how I get my information,” he said, jokingly. “You Bats and your fancy technology got nothing on threatening people with guns.”
- With a huff, Oracle began typing rapidly on her computer. And, in 5 beautiful seconds, the Vans all screeched to a stop as the technology in their vehicle fizzles and pops in tiny explosions.
- Jason threw some smoke bombs outside his window, and broke even more traffic laws driving to the outskirts of Gotham.
****
NEXT>> (Masterlist)
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Ride 764: Dearest wish
Pag 1
1: The one thing the third year Onoda Sakamichi desires is....?
Pag 2
3: His dearest wish!!
4: Right!!
Pag 3
1: That's definitely Onoda's dearest wish
Pag 4
2: Do your beest
They're so fast!
They move the wind
The jerseys are so brightly colored
3: No no no no
4: That- that's not it
That's not-
Is Sohoku arguing over something!?
Pag 5
1: That- that was just the spur of the moment
I ended up just saying anything
2: That's not my dearest wish at all....
So- uhm
3: Please forget about it, everyone!!
4: No way!!
Yeah
Teh!!
Yep
Yeah
Pag 6
1: That must be our goal this year!! Our third victory in a row!!
Pag 7
1: Yessir!!
On!!
Yeah!!
2: The three day long stage is harsh and long, that's why everyone's strengths will be necessary!!
Yessir!!
3: If we can all unite our strengths and support each other as one...
4: The I'll be able to win brilliantly!! Yeah!!
Just like I did during the prefectural qualification!!
Ohhhh
Tch
Pag 8
1: I'll sprint desperately, Hotshot-san will accompany me, and I'll do a grand finishing dash, just like that day!!
Okay!! You've been saying it over and over again!!
2: You're really a guy who clings to the glory of the past
The prefectural qualification is connected to the Inter High, it's not in the past!!
You're the type of guy I hate the most when you get carried away
Naruko-san was amazing, teh!!
That day, yeah!!
Naruko-san!!
3: Sto-stop iit, you were both amazing that day
4: Come oon... we're in the middle of an important meeting
6: Now that I think about it
Onoda-san's....
7: This is all
Pag 9
1: Can I say one last thing?
2: I also think our goal must be a third consecutive victory
3: There's just one thing I'm curious about we still haven't asked
Onoda-san
5: What's your goal this year?
What are you running in the Inter High for?
6: When I asked you this last year during the first years' race
Pag 10
1: I want to report it
2: You said you wanted to report the victory to your senpai
3: And you
4: Accomplished that
5: Honestly, when I first heard that I thought “what is he talking about, that's such a small goal”
But that day, after the race, when I saw Onoda-san doing it
6: I was shaking
I thought from the bottom of my heart that it was amazing
Pag 11
1: I thought you were super cool
5: Wh- no no
That- I was just reporting, there's nothing cool about it at all, okay
Pag 12
1: So I want to know what your goal is this year
Please tell us what you're thinking about!!
2: Is it “I want to report to that senpai once again”!?
4: Crowning your third victory in a row as the captain!?
6: Is it the mountain's bib!? Is it winning a stage!?
Please tell us... your goal during the race...
7: or maybe for when the race is over!!
8: A.....
9: No no no
It's nothing- yes, it's nothing!!
Pag 13
1: Onoda's goal....
2: I see, what Onoda-kun wants to do....
3: Now that I think about it....
4: What is it!? You started saying it now, “a”!!
Is it “running as an assist”!?
5: Does it mean you don't want to bear the last heavy burden!?
No no no no, that's fine, if the situation calls for it I'll do my best
6: That's enough, Issa
7: There are things Onoda-san doesn't want to say too
No, if it can become motivation for the team then he should say it
Pag 14
1: Onoda-san's goal!!
2: But still, Issa!!
I'm telling you, anything is fine!!
Ah, uhm...
3: It's a really personal thing, so.... don't get your hopes up...
But.... that's... always been.... my dearest wish...
4: Dearest wish!!
5: If we run with all we have in this Inter High.... putting together all of our strengths and deliver our jersey to the finish line
6: If we get the best result....
Pag 15
1: No no, I really can't say more than this
3: Say it, everything's fine. I'm curious too
4: Ah.... if we get the best results.... I....
5: I want to reserve a room somewhere...
6: A room?
8: Prepare teacakes
9: Cakes!?
10: Ask for everyone's cooperation...
Pag 16
1: Gather five people
5: It's something I've been imagining.... since before... entering school in my first year.....
7: Even just for one day
8: Even just a few hours after school
Everyone will bring what they like
9: A.....
Oi.... don't tell me you mean.... you
Pag 17
1: I'm thinking of reviving the anime research club!!
Pag 18
5: No way!!
Pag 19
1: And then, there
2: I think I could call Makishima-san, who likes figures
I feel like you've misunderstood something here
3: And Midosuji-kun who likes anime
Would you be able to hold a conversation with him!?
4: Isn't that good!! The best goal!!
5: You'll gather five people in no time!!
6: Kakaka mine will be the first name you write down
7: Amazing
From England and Kyoto....!!
Pag 20
1: I don't really get it, but somehow that fired me up!!
2: That's Onoda-san's dearest wish!!
3: Ah
4: N-no, it's really nothing much, so I take it back...
Revive the anime club!!
Let's do it, for Onoda-san!!
I don't really know what an anime club does, but I'm in!!
Me too!!
5: Yeeah!!
Let's do it!!
Issa, calm down
Pag 21
2: Your goal is to “revive the anime research club even for just day”?
Oi oi, that's such a small
3: but splendid goal!!
4: You managed to unite the club's intentions as one with such bizarre words!!
5: You're really are an unpredictable guy!!
The plate will soon become green
“Real start”.... the real race will start!!
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