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auxiliarydetective · 1 month

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Evie's One Piece OC Compendium

SO @eustasskidsfattits asked me to make a post about my One Piece OCs, so here it is! I wanted to make this way sooner, but then stuff happened and then I got to show one of my friends OPLA and 8 OCs turned to 9 (oopsies...). Also, the perfectionist in me would not shut up. Yes, this is technically the intro for the three newest ones, so buckle up!

I'm gonna list them in the order that I created them, simply because listing them in the order of their appearance in the story would be fairly impossible with how OPLA likes to introduce characters earlier on lol - These OCs also all exist in their own separate universes, by the way...

So yeah, long post incoming and, for any OPLA-onlies reading this post: Spoiler warning!!!

Not proofread because I just wanna finally get this post out and I am lacking energy

The Guardian: Aether S. Luna

The original One Piece OC and also the one who has gone through the most changes. I revamped her only recently!

Luna is convinced that she's the daughter of the moon goddess aka of Mother Moon herself, and there are some very odd things about her that make that very plausible. She looks like how you would imagine the daughter of the moon to look like, with very pale skin and very light blonde hair, she has magical powers that are charged by basking in the moonlight, she needs very little sleep as long as the moon is out, her strength is based on the moon cycle... Oh, also: Wings. Large, white wings, that don't fit in with any other humanoid creature in the world. So, nobody really has any solid evidence against it either. Well... Nobody who hasn't been to Egghead Island.

She's introduced into the story at Long Ring Long Land (I actually have two fics for that) as a part of Foxy's crew because he won her in a Davy Back Fight. Before that, she was sort of aimlessly travelling the seas with various crews, just trying to find a place to belong. Throughout the Davy Back Fight, Luna ends up befriending the Straw Hats and Luffy, being Luffy, of course won't pass up the opportunity to have someone as weird as her on their crew, so she joins!

Sanji is, of course, very enamoured with this literal goddess. Even more so than usual. Luckily for him, his charm seems to be working on Luna too. She essentially goes from "Oh, you're adorable. You're funny." to "Oh. Oh no. That's the love of my life, isn't it?", at the very latest when she sees Sanji after he absolutely decimates the people on the Sea Train.

I can't really talk too much about her because a lot of my ideas for her are very visual, but I guess I could give some more little facts? First of all, Luna is 18 and her blood group is S. You can take a look at my animanga character sketches for her here and here if you want! Her wings haven't grown to their full size yet pre-timeskip, and she molts like a bird as she grows, so whenever that happens, she's essentially grounded and chronically exhausted. And that happens around the time of Sabaody. Perfect timing, right? Also, she has to preen her wings, especially after battles, and her crewmates keep around her feathers either for practical or sentimental reasons. And in case you were wondering, of course she heads to Whole Cake Island to go after her boyfriend. Big Mom takes an interest in her, Judge wants to steal her lineage factor, it's a very fun time for everyone involved.

The Sweet Tooth: Charlotte Inari

Ah yes, sweet little Inari. Inari is Pudding's twin sister, she's also a member of the Three-Eyed Tribe and she's named after inari-zushi (if you were wondering how she fits into the Charlotte Family naming scheme). She ate the Kami Kami no Mi, Model: Shikigami, which has a very complicated way to how it works, but, essentially, it binds her to a master whose orders she has to follow and, in turn, gets special abilities from based on her master's. That master is the person who last saved her life. The problem with that situation is that she got the devil fruit when she was still very young and travelling at sea with one of her siblings, and a sea battle ensued where chaos happened and she got herself kidnapped. So, she ends up being passed around from master to master for years until finally ending up with Enel. That is, until Luffy defeats him, and she joins the Straw Hats.

Inari, being that she spent her early formative years on Totto Land, has some very interesting ideas of what's considered normal for animals, plant life, people... for everything, really. She fights with two war fans (as well as her devil fruit, of course) and knows how to play the shamisen, both of which she picked up while travelling with a crew of Wano ancestry for a while. Also, she naturally has a huge sweet tooth and loves to make sweets too. It runs in her genes.

Inari's goal while travelling with the Straw Hats at first is to get back home. She's just a kid, she wants to go home, at least to let her family know that she's okay. And her family and her friends will totally get along, right??? That's also why she doesn't fully consider herself part of the Straw Hats for the longest time. She's a member of the Big Mom Pirates, simply by birth right. However, this all gets a bit thrown on its head with the Timeskip and everything after that. Because, during the timeskip, Kuma sends her to Totto Land, and she officially joins the Big Mom Pirates. So, she has everything she has ever wanted, right? Well... She still ends up coming back. She loves her friends too much not to go back to them. And then Luffy ends up starting a war with Big Mom, which is... not ideal? Whole Cake Island is especially fun. And Wano? Oh boy!

Also... remember the special ability of the Three-Eyed Tribe? Yeah. Inari awakens her third eye when she hears the Drums of Liberation, but nobody notices and she doesn't tell anybody until the battle is long over, and even then she only tells Sanji and Robin.

The Tailor: Akaito Coraline

My dear, sweet Cora... We're entering the live action era now! Aka when everything started to escalate and I started drowning in OCs. I freaking love the live action, man... Maybe a little too much.

Anyways, Cora! Cora is the last living member of the Akaito Clan, a tailoring family from the North Blue of world-class fame who was eradicated by Germa 66 when they didn't want to work for their evil plans. Their main identifier is a sewing needle pierced through the left ear, and they can tell a person's measurements just by looking at them. Of course, there are many imposters around because Akaito-made clothes sell for a fortune, but they usually fail at these criteria. Cora was only a baby when the attack from Germa happened, so she doesn't remember anything from that day or about her family, except for her mother, who was selected as the sole adult survivor of the massacre, because she had Cora, and Judge had plans for Cora. Little did Judge know that her mother also had plans for Cora, and that she had given the baby the Akaito Clan's most prized possession: The Sew Sew Fruit (Chiku Chiku no Mi), which gives its user mastery over the entire clothesmaking process and its tools and materials.

I don't want to get too much into Cora's backstory here, but she befriended Sanji and thought that he had died, and then her mother died, she helped create and designed the Raid Suits and then she ran away with the help of Reiju at 16 years old. Afterwards, she rose to considerable fame as a tailor in the East Blue, until finally stumbling across Sanji at Baratie, the same day that the Straw Hats also show up there. Shenanigans ensue.

I think, if I were going to describe Cora's personality in only three aspects, it's trauma, kindness, and a huge double crush that she doesn't like to admit. Because not only is she wholly unprepared for Sanji being not only alive but also a pretty and charming young man, there's also a swordsman who she has to stitch back together after a big fight and who she ends up falling head over heels for. The two boys constantly bickering doesn't help much either, and they also bicker over her, constantly trying to out-boyfriend each other. In case you were wondering whose side Cora usually takes in these fights, the answer is: She joins in on the side of entertainment. Whichever side would yield the funnier result. She just thinks their fights are way too funny and stupid. Also, she's constantly touch-starved and also scared of touch. And sleep-deprived. She gets better in the "scared of touch" category over the course of her journey with the Straw Hats, so... Sleepy cuddles. So many sleepy cuddles. If Zoro's taking a nap, she's taking a nap too, no buts. And Sanji eventually ends up with his arm around her waist 90% of the time. His personal space is also her personal space.

So, uh, fighting style! She uses a rapier and keeps explaining to people that, no, she's not a swordsman, she's a fencer. There's a difference. Also, she uses strings a lot, and plagiarizes Doffy's travelling method after Dressrosa. The thing with strings and dyes and whatnot is a whole new can of worms that I won't get into right now but it's super cool.

One more fun fact: Cora is short. She's tiny. And she wears heels to compensate, which Zoro hates because they're not practical at all. Her entire fashion sense gives him minor aggressions, partially because a lot of her clothes are a lot more fashion than function, partially because she looks too damn gorgeous in them and he's constantly reminded of his embarrassing crush and has gotten so distracted by her that he has walked into tables and doorframes multiple times. Sanji, on the other hand, fully supports her fashion choices. Maybe show a little more skin next time..? Pretty please? I have concept art for her and one of the more distracting outfits :)

The Scout: "Desert Fox" Felicity

The baby of the crew. Yeah, she's younger than Chopper. Inari is already young, being 14, but Lily? Lily is twelve. Absolute baby. How did she end up with the Straw Hats? Blame it on Buggy kidnapping her and then kidnapping the Straw Hats on top, letting them bust her out with them. Nami and Zoro pretty much become her caretakers on the spot, Nami consciously and Zoro... well... Turns out he has a bit of a soft spot for little scared kids with fox ears. They bring her back home to her "sister" Kaya at Syrup Village, but then she almost gets murdered by a killer butler, and Kaya asks them to take Lily with them, so... Well, she's with them now! Only about a few days later though, one of her caretakers gets himself almost killed and the other decides to abandon the crew. Good thing that Sanji has pretty much decided to adopt her, because otherwise she'd be crying her eyes out.

Lily is actually half mink! That's where she got her fennec fox features and some of her behavioural patterns (i.e. cuddliness, switching between napping and getting the zoomies...) from. But her behaviour could just as well be caused by her devil fruit, because she ate the Jōi Jōi no Mi, which gives her emotions magical properties. Which ones? No one knows! You'll find out when it happens. Pretty much the only really predictable effect back when Lily joins the crew is that she turns back into a nonverbal five-year-old when she gets too scared. She also has a pretty good success rate of turning into a more anthropomorphic fox creature when getting into the spirit for a battle. She's a mink after all, and minks are born fighters! And in case you're wondering: Yes, she does have electro! And sharp teeth. You do not want to make her upset. Best case scenario is that she bites you, worst case is either some magical shenanigans or she starts crying and her crewmates come to kick your ass.

I haven't developed her too much beyond the first season of OPLA, but I just know that she has to go absolutely feral at Alabasta, because that's a fennec fox's natural habitat and her epithet is "Desert Fox", so it only makes sense for her to get it at Alabasta. Also, it would be peak funny for Crocodile to complain to the Marines about a literal child messing up his plans, and peak funny is also peak One Piece, so you best believe I'll do it. Also, her being this young means I get to watch her grow up over the timeskip. I imagine she maybe gets sent to Zou and starts to really master her electro and devil fruit attacks? Something along the lines of "I'm all grown up now! I have my powers under control!" and then immediately turning back into a kindergartener in the face of danger would probably be her running gag post-TS. Also, I'm so soft for her relationship with Sanji. I could go on for ages about Whole Cake Island, but I'll leave it at that for now. This post is already getting long enough...

The Matron: Dracule Aurelia

Oh boy, you're not ready for her. She's the daughter of Rayleigh and Shakky. Trans queen (thanks, Iva). Raised as a Kuja, got love sickness just like her mother and fell for a red-headed idiot first, then for a certain swordsman. Ended up marrying the swordsman in the most dramatic way possible. Also maybe the second most beautiful woman in the world, after Boa Hancock of course.

Aurelia is essentially the fusion of a mafia boss, a mob wife, and an Ancient Roman patron. She has unbelievable amounts of money and an invisible net of connections that makes her almost untouchable. She's allied with Emperors, Warlords, kings and queens... Her main deal is providing smaller, more inexperienced pirate crews with her protection and support and getting their services in return, for example as soliders, for transportation... Whatever she needs at that moment. She can be as kind as she can be cruel, and people are generally both in awe and scared of her. Her epithet is "Black Widow" both because of her spider net of connections and because all of her lovers keep mysteriously dying as if through some sort of curse. Mihawk is the only one who has been able to resist that curse. Shanks doesn't count because Aurelia claims she never truly loved him.

One of the places under her protection is Baratie, and so she gets caught up in the Straw Hats' shenanigans. First, Nami asks her for help, then she returns to Arlong ransacking the place and essentially kidnapping Nami, then she finds out that Zoro was almost killed by her husband... Also, Sanji is the closest thing to a son that she has, so Sanji joining the Straw Hats is pretty much the final nail in the coffin to her deciding on her own terms that she's going to protect those kids to the best of her ability. You can kind of imagine her as the rich aunt, but a lot more deadly. Generally, she spends a majority in the story picking up her den den mushi and going "Luffy, what did you do this time?" The boy pretty much becomes her most effective portégé when it comes to expanding her territory, because he keeps punching tyrants and asking her to put the newly freed kingdoms under her protection. She also kicks ass at Marineford, of course, helps protect the Sunny during the timeskip, and becomes decorously unhinged when Whole Cake Island comes around because of her own personal history with Big Mom and "That's my son!" and "Luffy, you are not going to kill an Emperor." - so yeah, she pretty much has to follow the Straw Hats to Wano too, lest they get themselves kicked. She's both the queen of the literal universe and the exhausted mother of a crew of literal toddlers. Or. Well. Children and one supercharged toddler who will not stop causing chaos.

Her entire backstory is so freaking great. Growing up as a Kuja, running away from home because she's mad at her mother for leaving the Kuja tribe, her very first murder of a lover who also happened to be a nobleman, her bond with Iva and speedy hormone therapy, whatever the hell was going on between her and Shanks, her relationship with Mihawk, the whole situation with Big Mom and her rules for alliances, Mihawk literally fighting for her hand in marriage, her meeting Sanji and essentially adopting him... There's a lot going on. Wish I could write it one day.

The Mechanic: Lux Jirou

Lynx boi! Kuro tricked him into thinking he had Amber Lead Snydrome but it's actually just vitiligo. Used to be a member of the Black Cat Pirates (posing as the mansion's security guard) but liked Kaya a little too much and figured out Kuro was lying, so he teamed up with the Straw Hats to take him down. Also has the worst crush on Zoro and Zoro has the worst crushback, but they're both too stupid to figure it out. He goes by Jirou while with the Black Cat Pirates but starts going only by his last name Lux once he starts rebelling. Ends up joining the Heart Pirates and working as a mechanic on the Polar Tang.

Once again, so many of my ideas for him are more visual because... big kitty! Huge freaking paws! Cuddly cat naps! Involuntary purring because he has a crush and he's a cat and... Yeah. Also, he's absolutely thriving at Punk Hazard. Lots of snow? No problem! Lynx have built-in snow shoes. Also, his devil fruit (Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Lynx), much like the dinosaur SMILEs of the Beasts Pirates, works with Zoan logic. "Lynxes can walk on snow, so they can also walk on water, right? Since water is just frozen snow. And then maybe they can walk on air too if they train hard enough? Because of the humidity?"

The Siren: Kanyalani

Also known as Kan-chan, because Luffy is not pronouncing her full name. She's a betta fish mermaid and former slave and joined the Sun Pirates after being liberated. She has a romance with Jinbe which eventually turns into a polycule with the addition of Robin and Franky when they both join the Straw Hats. Kan-chan fights with chakrams and uses Merman Combat as well as some Fishman Karate.

Now for some mermaid characteristics: Since she's a betta fish mermaid, she shares betta fish characteristics. This means that she loves her color when she's unhappy and becomes more vibrant when she is happy. She also has a unique ability. Whereas all mermaids have beautiful voices, Kan-chan's singing can lull anyone to sleep, even in the midst of battle. Also, she's over thirty, so her tail is split, but she has trouble walking, so she practically never does it. She prefers using Bubbly Corals to navigate and claims that her very frilly fin makes for bad legs anyways.

The Archer: Shimotsuki Kaede

A Kuina look alike from Ebisu Town who nearly gives Zoro a heart attack when he sees her with her mask off for the first time. The concept for this OC basically came to me in the concept of many What Ifs. What if Kuina was still alive? What if Kuina was even more gender? What if there was a flying squirrel? What if someone pulled a Robin Hood on Orochi?

So, here's Kaede. Regular Ebisu Town citizen by day, dying and mending kimonos, stealing food and shooting arrows at people by night. As Ebisu Town gets the leftovers from the Flower Capital, this also includes the half-eaten SMILEs, and Kaede had the one-in-a-million luck of one of the SMILEs, finicky things that they are, still having traces of the power it once gave. And so, she got the power of the flying squirrel SMILE, making her the "devil fruit twin" of Bao Huang. She practices kyūdō in secret and almost runs an arrow through Orochi's head after Yasuie's execution. She would've hit the bastard too if someone hadn't hit her bow and made her miss.

The Soldier: Roronoa Sonoko

Ah yes, the reason why this post took me so long... She just appeared the moment I saw the scene in OPLA where Morgan tries to get Zoro to join the Marines. Because my brain went: Y'know, what if he actually had? So, I bring to you: Zoro's sister. No, not biological sister. They're siblings the way the ASL brothers are siblings. By exchanging sake cups. They got in trouble for stealing the sake and the cups but it was all worth it. What makes the situation even funnier is that Sonoko keeps on telling people that they're not biological siblings but nobody believes her because she's pretty much Zoro's spitting image. And it's her fault, too! Because she chooses to wear those earrings (more or less, but that's a bit of a longer story) and she chooses to dye her hair green! Yes, among the thousands of people with naturally funky hair colors, Kaede is pretty much the only one who actually dyes her hair.

So yeah, she's a Marine! Freshly promoted to Ensign when Koby and Helmeppo join and Garp's protégé. Her sword training comes from Bogard but she uses Two-Sword Style, so it's more her figuring out techniques and Bogard putting up with them. That is until Garp calls on Mihawk to go catch Luffy. Hawk Eyes comes to the ship to say that he decided not to do just that and Garp, as a payment for not reporting this to the World Government, asks Mihawk to take Sonoko on as a student. Mihawk, being Mihawk, is about to remind Garp that he does whatever he wants and doesn't need a deal like that. But then he sees the spitting image of Zoro in front of him and hears the same last name - and he changes his mind. Maybe it's worth a shot?

Following that, I don't have that many ideas except that Sonoko gets a bunch of promotions, only to go AWOL to warn Mihawk of the dismantling of the Warlords system during the Reverie because, at this point, she's far more loyal to him than to the Government or the Marines. She then completely deserts and dashes to Wano to help her brother and his crew defeat Kaido. In the process of the Raid on Onigashima (possibly while protecting either Hiyori or Zoro), she loses an arm and one of her swords and is just... overcome with guilt and shame. So much so that she can't bring herself to return to Mihawk after this incredible failure. Franky does replace her arm with a robotic one and everyone is super nice and supportive to her, the samurai step in and try to reason with her, but she's completely blinded by shame and anxiety. She keeps training, of course, she keepy going, but she just doesn't see herself as worthy anymore of being the student of the World's Greatest Swordsman. But then Mihawk himself shows up at Wano, looking specifically for her and tells her that she isn't a failure, that he's proud of her for her sacrifice for her cause and, most importantly of all, because she kept going. So, all is well and she joins the Cross Guild. Maybe befriends Cabaji, I dunno.

Taglist: @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @bravelittleflower @box-of-bats @supermarine-silvally - let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!

#one piece oc #opla oc #oc: aether s luna #oc: charlotte inari #oc: akaito coraline #oc: felicity #oc: dracule aurelia #oc: lux jirou #oc: kanyalani #oc: shimotsuki kaede #oc: roronoa sonoko

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syrupsyche · 6 months

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8, 20, andor 22 for the choose violence asks!

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Already answered smth similar re: Marius so here's another opinion......what makes exR actually appealing isn't whether or not the characters themselves like (or dislike) each other but rather, the Symbolism of it all. Enjolras clearly doesn't like Grantaire, and I'd argue that Grantaire himself doesn't even know the full extent of his love for Enjolras, but it doesn't matter what these bozos think; their fates are already intertwined, whether they like it or not. They are "a phenomenon which is often observable"; Grantaire simply "admired his opposite by instinct". They have no control over their relationship to each other! They are soulmates without even knowing or caring about it. They are a match made in hell. Grantaire literally cannot exist without Enjolras, and it is simply nature that Enjolras will always have someone trailing after him like a fart cloud. Only in death can they even BEGIN to understand each other. Canonically, their inherent tragedy is what's so appealing about them......

....fanonically, though, the more exR fluff the better <3 Both these statements shall coexist lol.

20. part of canon you find tedious or boring

Other than the obvious digressions....its hard to choose one plot-related part because Hugo is so good at action and emotion and dialogue. I suppose I'd answer this a little differently then and say the entire part at the end where Valjean gets ostracised by Marius and falls slowly into (even more) depression. It's not tedious or boring per se but it just HURTS reading it. I know I said one post ago that it's not solely Marius' or Valjean's fault and that ultimately, that's just how the cookie crumbles when these two idiots with Baggage™️ interact with each other, but this is still the part that I stop at during my rereads. I haven't even reached this part yet in my 1972 watch!

22. favourite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Anything Cosette related tbh, but the one thing that gets glossed over often is almost how....feral she becomes, living under the Thénardiers. A lot of adaptations (especially the musical) like to keep her innocent and pure even through her years of abuse but it doesn't quite work like that in the story. The importance of Cosette's time at the inn is to show how cruelty changes people, no matter how kind or innocent they were before. Her experience here needs to parallel Valjean's experience in prison! We need to know that "injustice had made her peevish, and misery had made her ugly". Cosette cannot remain perfect when suffering under the hands of the Thénardiers; it is only when they are removed that she can flourish as the kind, brave soul we know she is!

Just realised the question said "favourite part of canon"....obviously her abusive childhood is not my favourite part, but it's certainly an important part of Cosette's character, as well as the story as a whole!

#ty for the ask!! i enjoyed writing them #i rly get out of hand with these opinion asks huh #les mis #enjolras #grantaire #cosette #cosette fauchelevent #syrup ramble #syrup asks

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scoonsalicious · 18 days

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Here we are ladies, gents, and the non-binaries. The long-awaited Chapter 27 which you've blessed us in FULL today. 8 parts??? what have I done to deserve this? And I've got so many thoughts I Literally had to stare at my screen to collect myself because where do I even start????? Well, first off, I can start with the fact that that was amazing and you're incredible, and thank you for this. I've got so many things to say but I'm literally short-circuiting so AAAH. okay. I'm doing it by roughly by parts so I don't miss a thing. And since you've given us 8 parts, expect this to be the longest essay yet (I'm not even kidding please I apologize this got away from me)

First off, the slow build-up was killing meeee. But then again, I do love seeing them having normal conversations (I mean, a dick in the garbage disposal isn't exactly normal but I digress because that part made me laugh) and seeing Bucky be so protective of her because he has a point. Jesse is out for blood and leaving Pocket alone would be a terrible idea (I mean, well, we obviously see this later). I love their banter too! The teasing and the joking and Bucky's smug lil "nothing I haven't seen before" like okay, pipe down. I love Pocket's stubbornness, arguing with Bucky that she can handle herself (which she can obvs) but I couldn't help but giggle when she *pouts* "I have a gun" *pouts* when Bucky told her that even Nat couldn't handle Jane in hand to hand ESPECIALLY when the unhinged snake is set out for the kill and a super soldier at that.

Now, the footage of Jacky in the Hydra base. That was….a lot. It honestly was so disturbing and scary. It's absolutely insane the way Hydra manufactured her obsession with Bucky. But it's also genius in the sickest way. Because THAT is how you make sure you get a mission done. A teenage crush turned obsession? I mean, have you seen one direction fans back in the day? They were unhinged and could hack anything and that's without training (I was a fan too and I saw it all happen online LMAO). Now we have someone who is a teenage girl with an obsession, who's fucked in the head with all that Hydra manipulation, has super soldier powers, a highly trained assassin and has been made to believe that she can get everything she wants? Who’s stopping that? She makes serial killers look sane. She's been set out to him before anyone even knew she existed. Honestly, that whole thing just had me sitting staring at the wall for a few seconds before I could continue because it's insaneeee. It's so scary, just thinking about someone like her existing in the real world. But that part where she was about to jerk off to Bucky's picture has me laughing and feeling distraught at the same time. But that hint of Bucky being uncomfortable about it followed by Pocket's comment about already sleeping with her, at first I thought he just felt guilty about it but after reading all the parts? A foreshadowing that he's never been comfortable in the first place? I see what you're doing. But god, massacring a whole Hydra base and just the image of her Carrie-style but with a proud grin. Chills. Get her away from me please I'm scared.

(on a side note, Pocket thirsting over Jesus Barnes in Wakanda please BIG MOOD. That really reallyyyyy short clip of him in Infinity War throwing that sack with one hand has me falling in line like, yes sarge, me next please. ANYWAY back to the story)

I'm glad they cleared up that whispering in the conference room when the whole below the paygrade comment. Because people keeping forgetting that were just in Pocket's POV and with that comes some unreliable narrating sometimes because we obviously won't get the full scope of what happened because we're only seeing her thoughts and her perception on the situation. Which is why I always think it's important to think on a broader scale outside what's shown on the text. But god, THAT much money? I'm still heartbroken for Chloe though because she didn't deserve that. But sigh, we just discussed not letting Pocket leave the safe house for her safety and then suddenly we're leaving her alone? Barnes? Really? Have you read any fanfics in your life? Anyway.

That whole commentary about the whole trafficking situation was so spot on. I have nothing else to add to that because you pretty much said it all. It's both sad and so enraging. BUT AH NO. YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO LEAVE POCKET SERIOUSLY. But she genuinely did think Dimitri was the least evil of them all so sigh. I already knew where this was going and I already had a hunch who this "Hydra" boss is waiting at the club. But lol the gasp I let out when I read her name. *insert that 'why am I gasping, I already knew that meme' here* Even just that hint of Jordan being so quick and strong since she's a super soldier, it really sets the tone how Pocket really can't get out of this through physical strength. And now the face off begins.

But damn. I honestly didn't think she'd get even crazier yet here we are. I even felt my skin crawl just knowing the amount of time Jerms spied on Bucky, Pocket, and them both together. She's literally been watching their every move even in the confines of their bedroom. And that gives her so much upper hand because all the fights, insecurities, weaknesses, all their trauma and past, what makes them tick as a couple, what breaks them down, she knows it ALL and she's obviously going to use that to her advantage. Well, she did and she did it well. Imagine playing a cheese game with someone who already knows all your moves. How can you win against that? Every time she says she "loves" him I have the urge to throw up. Like girl you don't. You’re obsessed with him. There's a huge difference. And God that she show here obsession and delusion and that really is the best play Pocket could make. Shattering that deranged fairytale she has in her head of Bucky ever wanting her.

That part, where Juno admitting to feeding Bucky all the things she'd been feeding him, especially the degradation parts. When you're so desperate to try and save a relationship, you really do become willing to try anything and take any advice even if it's not the best ones. And like I said many parts ago, she's smart so the way she manipulated Bucky (who's already so insecure and broken and such an easy mind to manipulate) was so calculated that it was always going to be a success.

Which brings me to the infamous video which was without consent, might I add. The way Jayla made it seem in her text when she recounted it Bucky was so far from what actually happened. She really was selling it as if they'd fuck like no tomorrow and Bucky turned into this feral sex god or something. But that's her delusions playing it up, making it seem like it was the best sex ever when in reality, that couldn't have been farther from the truth. That wasn't fucking, hell I don't even know what you call that. I mean, I could be pushing it here so please do correct me if I'm wrong, but that was SA in a way. An unenthusiastic yes is still a no and you could clearly see that Bucky wasn't into it, tried to stop it even. And with men, there's a different dynamic when it comes to SA because of patriarchal standards and toxic masculinity and this misconception that they always want sex etc. And it truly was pathetic on Josef's part claiming that they fucked because, dude, what was that? But it also left a bad taste in my mouth for Bucky. Because what I saw in my head was just him laying there while she took what she wanted, I guess. And yeah, he didn't push her off and there was a part of him that was so hurt and angry thinking that Pocket betrayed him that he wanted to get revenge but even then, he didn't seem that excited on the fact. I mean, the snake had to bring up the articles and Steve over and over and over again because that's the only way she could keep Bucky angry and hurt enough to not protest and just, let things happen. And she was feeding him lies and hitting exactly where it would sting with that purple push up bra because how could she have known that right? In Bucky's head, that was confirmation that she was telling the truth because he didn't know that Jenny had access to footages. She played her game well and she stabbed him exactly on where the stitches are so that was a lost cause on Bucky's part.

And God, I have all my reports saved in one doc and I really did hit it already did I. About me saying how Bucky probably let Russia happen as a way to punish himself too. And that Jayla truly did play into Bucky's insecurities with those articles because what fight does he have against America's Golden Boy? When he already believes Pocket deserves someone better and that someone took form into the person he's insecure about the most? How can you not spiral? I know I'm repeating myself but we truly can't just ignore what Bucky went through with Hydra in all of this. He's got such a fragile mind and self esteem that it's already easy to break him down if you truly think about it. Now, imagine having someone who knows EVERYTHING that made you crumble and has all the ammo and information to be able to say just the right words for you to trust them? And, well, speaking from experience, you really can't know you're being manipulated until you're out of it. I didn't realize how bad my experience was until I retold it to a friend. So I don't Bucky had an ounce of awareness as to what Joanna was doing to his mental state. It was the sickest most calculated thing what she did that I think even the most secure person could feel that security crumble even for a little. Now you have someone who's already fragile and insecure in the first place? He honestly stood no chance.

Obviously, it doesn't take away the fact that Pocket was still hurt and she has every single right to be. But I think she was more hurt that Bucky wasn't secure in their relationship and her love for him rather than the act itself. Because the way it happened really was kind funny and God I cringed at the way Jocelyn took so so long to even get him going and not even get him going at all because Bucky had to think of Pocket to get hard. And he truly only got himself going by imagining it was Pocket. I mean, he had his eyes closed!!! Beyond me how Juan was able to keep going since Bucky was practically screaming someone else's name so fucking obvious and loud and I have no doubt she heard it since she's a super soldier but she's a different level of delusional so I'm not even surprised. Taking what she could get probably.

I can't WAIT to see feral protective Bucky on the next part. And as much as I want to see all the action, I kinda want him to see him be so calm with his confrontation with Jude. Because you know what would truly break that snake? Bucky telling her over and over and over how he could never love someone like her in all the languages and all the phrases he could. Is it evil of me to want him to break her down on a mental level rather than physical? Because to me, that would be a much more worth it revenge with all the emotional and mental abuse she's done on Pocket and Bucky. Because yeah, Pocket saying those things already hit a nerve. Now imagine it coming from Bucky's mouth? The man she claims she "loves"? Either way, I have no doubt you're going to feed us well so I'm going to be happy not matter what happens. I CAN'T WAIT.

— Jnon 🤍

\y Beautiful Jnon,he 'dick-in-the-garbage disposal' line will live rent-free in Bucky's head for the rest of his life, lol. I like to imagine that it's a visual that got Pocket through a lot of tough times. I loved writing their banter (tbh, I love writing banter in general, lol). I just adore seeing them in a little bit of domestic fluff. And .Bucky has definitely seen it all before, lol. Literally nothing Pocket's got going on hasn't been exposed to his... intense scrutiny, lol. When it came to leaving Pocket alone, the safehouse was probably the safest place for Bucky to do it. I mean, Carthage knew about the Wiggle Room, but she didn't know where the safehouse was.

I'm pleased (which is weird to say) that the Hydra footage was disturbing-- it was 100% meant to be. Like, back in the '90s (the glorious '90s, which I miss with every fiber of my being), I was a HUGE Hanson fan. Like, so rabid I look back on it with embarrassment, lol. And I was thinking-- there's no one with greater obsessive focus than a teenage girl with a celebrity crush, you know? And it just kind of made sense to me that Hydra would harness that to ensure the greatest success to assure they get their asset back. And Jade's not a teenager, but she grew up in isolation, without peers her own age, so I see her as emotionally stunted. In a weird way, she has that in common with Pocket. They were both prevented from growing up in the natural order of things so they could serve the agenda of men. They're like two different sides of the same coin. And Bucky was so uncomfortable at the idea of seeing Jade get off to photos of him, because she did, essentially sexually assault him-- he was never comfortable having sex with her, and the idea that she was using his photo for sexual gratification long before he ever knew she existed makes him feel even more violated.

Let us discus Jesus Barnes. Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have had impure thoughts of a man, repeatedly, lol. But for real, if you're not familiar, please check out Rock Me, Sexy Jesus from Hamlet 2, which is literally THE ONLY thing I can think about when I see this:

Like, turn my water in whine, please. (I'm not even sure how that works as some kind of filthy entendre, but I'mma leave it 'cause I like how it sounds, lol)

I almost didn't include the bit about Bucky telling Pocket what he actually said to Jade during the mission briefing, but I realized I didn't want her thinking he divulged her secrets. He did some shit, but he didn't do that.

Bucky has not read any fanfics in his life, unfortunately, but this just gave me a hilarious idea for a oneshot where Pocket tries to get him riled up by reading a smutty Bucky Barnes fanfic to him, so thank you for that, lol.

Sad part is, Pocket trusted Dimitri. And I think he trusted her, too, which was why he was so betrayed when he found out she wasn't who she said she was. I did need Bucky to leave Pocket alone, but in his defense, the safehouse was the safest place he could have left her. I mean, Jade knew about the Wiggle Room, knew that she would be working there, but she didn't know where the safehouse location was. So, it seemed liked the safest place at the time, and it would have been if Dimitri hadn't shown up for her. Everyone wanted Pocket to kick Jade's ass, and I wanted it, too, but Jade's always been too strong and fast. All Pocket could use to beat her is her wits.

Having her spy on Bucky and Pocket was actually a late addition to the narrative, and I'm so glad I included it, because it really cements how messed up she is. And it gave her so much ammo to use against them. They really did not stand a chance with her having all that access. (Also, I know you meant "chess game," but you wrote "cheese game" and I am in so in love with that, I'm going to pretend you did it on purpose, lol). I also wanted to show that Jade wasn't just crazy, but she was smart, too, and resourceful, which is what makes her so much more dangerous.

And you're not wrong-- the Russia incident bordered on sexual assault. I don't think he would ever see it like that, being a man from the '40s, but it was. An unenthusiastic yes is just as bad as a no. She pushed and manipulated him so badly, he really had no chance. And once she brought up that purple push up bra? It was over. Without knowing she'd been spying, how could he not believe her?

I'm dying to hear your thoughts about Chapter 28! I can't wait! Love you!

#unwanted #jnon report

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hils79 · 8 months

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Hils Watches Moonlight Chicken - Ep 5

I forgot this drama is only 8 episodes long so I'm over halfway through now. Wild. I'll be finished in a couple of days. Feels so quick after a 40 episode cdrama

So we're seeing what Alan and Wen were like before they broke up. I'm starting to have a theory about how this is going to end...

Also, it's weird seeing Mix kiss someone who isn't Earth. I've only seen the two of them together in dramas

Damn that fight scene was brutal but holy shit First and Mix are good actors. I was so focused on what was happening I forgot about the food that's in front of me

Thank god for Gong, who is apparently the only sensible person in this drama

Okay, here's my theory now that we're under the read more tag. I'm worried that the plot of this movie (two people who fall in love but don't end up together because of other factors) is what is going to happen to Jim and Wen. GMM typically doesn't make bittersweet BL dramas but this one is bit more mature than the others. I am bracing myself just in case this movie is foreshadowing.

That's about the highest level of praise you can get from a teenage boy

It's always Engineering or Architecture

Wen's just had a 'oh my kind of step-nephew is in love with a boy' moment. He looks so fond.

They don't live in a small town or anything. I don't think it's unreasonable for Jim to ask for someone who didn't show up at his restaurant and yell at him to deal with his loan application.

Yes, let's have a very thinly veiled conversation in which Wen is compared to a pen

It's just occurred to me that I've seen First play a high school student (The Eclipse), a college student (Not Me) and now a bank manager who I assume is meant to be in his late 20s or early 30s. All of these dramas were filmed in the last 2 years. That's some range!

Come on dude, don't be a total dick. You had better send off his loan application and not just toss it in the bin.

Okay, that's interesting given my comment above. Why DID Jim go to Alan's bank? Is he hoping to get turned down?

It's like he was reading my liveblog and is now answering all of my comments :D

Gong is my new favourite. He's so done with all Wen and Alan's nonsense

He is so right and he should say it

Well, let's see. We were having a nice romantic Christmas moment, then your ex-boyfriend who you still live with and share a bed with showed up. He yelled at you, then he yelled me, then he yelled you some more and shoved you over. Oh, yeah, and this dude is also in charge of whether I can borrow the money I need to save my business.

Okay, if this was closer to the end I'd be more worried that they were going to go with the bittersweet movie ending but given that there's another 3 episodes after this one maybe it'll be okay?

Alan really does like talking in metaphors. Wen was a pen, now Jim is chicken

I was saying today I am enjoying that for the most part characters in this actually use their words instead of just leaping to conclusions and making assumptions. Not always, but way more than most dramas. I'm glad Wen and Alan have finally had the mature conversation that they needed to have for both of them to move on

I still think Alan is going to end up with Gaipa but given that they haven't even met yet that may just be wishful thinking.

A good progressive boy

Bold of you to assume you can just move in with Jim

#hils watches #hils watches moonlight chicken #hils watches tdramas #moonlight chicken #tdrama

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entropy-game-dev · 4 months

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Phylogenesia Automatorum Post-game Devlog #3: Upgrades Everywhere...

When I first developed a barebones prototype of this game (you can see it in devlog #1), I showed it to one of my friends, Z, who suggested adding roguelike elements to the game. This was an absolutely amazing idea that cemented the direction I was going to take, and at this point in the development cycle I was finally getting to implement these features! Read on to find out more...

Oh and friendly reminder: this series of posts will make way more sense if you have game, tried the game out already (you can also rate it here if you have an itch.io account).

While I have the field upgrades as the main image here (only because it's animated), the first random upgrades I worked on were individual plant characteristics. This was the first time I'd ever written to a database in-game (usually I am just reading from them) and I knew this was a no-no without a backup copy, so I make two copies of the database when the game starts - a read-only copy and a copy that the game draws the plant statistics from.

Sidenote: There's no actual difference between the two in terms of the code, I just say to myself and keep in mind that one of them is not to be written to.

When determining what upgrades out of a potential list to show, I first loop through every available plant, and every available characteristic that isn't already at the hard cap. Obviously for, say, spawn range, the minimum is 0 and the maximum is 8. If the upgrade would increase the statistic past the cap, it is clamped to the cap, and then if that value is different from the starting value, add it to the list of potential upgrades.

I then loop over this list twice, once for positive upgrades and then again for negative upgrades. There's only a 30% chance to receive a negative upgrade but these are nonetheless important when you need to have a plant die faster (to generate death points) or to stop a plant from spreading so quickly. Naturally, statistics like point value and point generation are purely positive with no downside so negative upgrades for these are not generated.

Finally, I roll for whether an upgrade is "critical", a 10% chance for the increase/decrease to be doubled. If the roll is critical but the change in stat isn't double (i.e. when you're at a spawn max of 7 and you're going to 8), the critical flag is removed from that upgrade (which determined whether you see a double exclamation mark next to the upgrade text.

I then repurposed that entire system but for choosing new plants themselves. This was easy enough - only add plants to the list if they haven't been enabled yet.

Field upgrades were even easier - always add field upgrades to the list and add these tiles to a separate grid with the same dimensions as the field grid upon purchase. With field upgrades, because they were a completely new system suggested by Maza, one of my other playtesters, I then needed to go back through the code and add field tile modifiers (such as spawning plants, reducing/increasing statistics for plants on that tile, etc), but honestly it wasn't too painful.

The codebase is incredibly messy as I was trying to smash this out as fast as possible, but the main thing is that everything worked in the end!!

Stay tuned for the 4th and final part of the devlog, and then a post-mortem writeup shortly after. Thanks for reading!

#gamedev #videogame #gamemaker #devblog #pixel art #indiedev #codeblr #roguelike #roguelite #incremental #life simulation

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sadiewayne · 8 months

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my somewhat hot take on ric grayson

firstly, spoilers for the whole ric grayson arc. if you haven't read it and have somehow avoided learning about it through tumblr, here is your warning

also a disclaimer, i am only just getting into comics by reading nightwing. i have read nightwing (2011) aka new 52, grayson, and all the rebirth (2016) stuff. i am yet to read infinite frontier (it's on its way) so i can't talk about any of that

spoilers and shit opinions ahead

so, i read all of ric grayson aka nightwing (2016) #50-73/77 depending on how you want to fully define his arc and the supporting issues of batman #54-55, and the joker war where he gets his memories back

and tbh, it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be

don't get me wrong, its an awful nightwing story. i did hate a lot of it. it was only when jurgens took over and actually made the plot a plot did it get better, but i was expecting it to be the worst thing in the world and i actually found myself enjoying it in the same way i enjoy watching twilight, which is to say its cringy but there's just something that keeps me hooked.

so lets look at the positives and negatives

positives:

bea: i actually really like bea. i think she was actually a decent match for dick as she did good in her own, non-vigilante way, and was reliable. she wasn't trying to backstab him or trying to mind control him, and she actively fought for him to get his memories back in the end and was willing to get to know dick even thought she fell in love with ric. she also wasn't annoyed that he was/is a vigilante and didn't tell him to stop for her sake. i'm not mad dick broke up with her bc i expected as much, but she was one of the better partners.

parts of ric: under it all, ric was still dick. i was expecting an absolute piece of shit but ric was actually a good guy after jurgens took over. maybe it was the expectations i had from what others have said but fully, i think he isn't given enough credit. he wanted to leave the life he didn't remember behind but ended up going back to it and being one of the 'nightwings'. he didn't do it for an anterior motive, he didn't do it because he owed someone, he did it because it felt right. especially after the way he reacted in nightwing annual #2 when bruce old him he was nightwing, it was nice to see him going out there.

the court of owls: i loved the court of owls tie in. its a great plot that has been central to dicks new 52 story, and one that carried all the way through to the end. especially with it being cobb in the end, the way it started, it felt nice and cyclical. the history of the court of owls in terms of its creation for new 52 is interesting and the way dick was tied up in it all is one of the things that i have really enjoyed throughout the 3 titles. seeing it through 2011, grayson, and then multiple times in 2016 makes me little nerd heart sing. again, it may just be my bias to the court as a villain, but seeing dick as a talon, even for a short period of time, was pretty cool.

joker war: obviously this whole storyline could work independently with dick or ric but i do like how it was tied into his story so well. the magic crystal thing is weird but, given dick's history with the joker as robin and as jason's brother, i loved that it was the joker that brought his memories back in the end i know it was the court and the bea that did most of the work but still i also loved seeing the aftermath, seeing him struggle to go back to nightwing despite him being dick again, the fact that he was happy as ric and had to leave that behind. dick had another hero moment and i do like that

ok, with that all done, here are the negatives:

the arc length: i know this is very common but the arc went on for way too long. i know it was because the original 8 issue plan was thrown out, and jurgens then had to do damage control, but it was still too long. im lucky that could read it all start to finish in one sitting, but this was an arc that lasted 2 years! like WHAT! this really should have been 1 arc, i get it being 2 after the whole mess with who wrote it but still, cut out like most of the middle stuff, have the first arc and the final court arc and then boom, it would be so much better.

the other parts of ric: ok, so i don't like most of his character. mainly him not accepting help from his family. again i know this is a common complain, most of the negatives are, but he had so many people around him that wanted to help and he dismissed them all. they all tried to help him have a life afterwards and he basically told them to fuck off. even after he started going and vigilante-ing again, he never reached out to talk to them. i do sort of get it when he first left the hospital to go to the manor and bruce had the stupid idea to show him his death, but i still think it was a major flaw.

dan didio, scott lobdell, and eric esquivel: if you don't know these names, count yourself lucky. i did my research and found a great reddit post all about the logistical history of ric grayson that is worth reading if you're interested but the crux of these three is a whole list of verbal abuse, toxic workplace practices, and sexual harassment/assault. didio is co-publisher and has a reputation of hating nightwing, like he tried to have him killed off during infinite crisis all the way back in 2005. lobdell is the person who ached for the amnesia arc to be extended despite him only writing 8 issues in the end. esquivel was only brought on for co-writer for one issue but that issue was released only a few days after sexual abuse allegations about him came out. a lot of these men being in charge of nightwing and not being fired until 2020 comes down to their standings in DC and the connections they had at the top. all disgusting, but it meant that the first chunk of ric graysons run is marred with their names and actions. i wouldn't;t include this as a factor except it is a factor. ric grayson may have been 'created' by benjamin percy but he only wrote the first issue, the next 8 were lobdell, before jurgens wrote the rest. and if the big men upstairs wanted ric grayson, they would get ric grayson.

honestly, when i got to #49, i was tempted to not read any further. I would just skip straight to infinite frontier and pretend that ric didn't exist. but i wanted to do my due diligence to the character, so i powered through and found that there was some light in the dark. there is a lot wrong with the arc, and even with the positives i would still say i didn't like the arc, but i can see some of the positives.

also again, this reddit post is super interesting for anyone who doesn't know the history behind ric as how he was received at the time. im glad i read it but i won't be revisiting it

#dc comics #ric grayson #dick grayson #nightwing #batman #bruce wayne #red hood #jason todd #red robin #tim drake #robin #damian wayne #batgirl #oracle #barabra gordon #comic history #sadies dick grayson

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pokesmashorpokepass · 3 months

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Gen V, Complete!

Hooray! We've taken, shall we say, a full smash census of the Unova Region's most smashable Pokemon!

As such, let us proceed with the customary look at this generations...

Sultans of Smash!

(Which, as I'm sure y'all are aware of by now, is just a fancy way of saying they got more "Smash" than "Pass" votes.)

So let's not delay further, how about we see what Gen V has to offer? Our Smashables are (under the Read More because oh man, as per usual, this gonna take a while):

1. Oh hey, looks like we're back to starting with the Grass Starter! But really, I shouldn't be too surprised, since said Grass Starter is the imposing yet regal Serperior! At 72.9% Smashable we're starting Unova off strong with a Pokemon of such noble bearing we can't help but stand at attention in the face of such a glare.

2. And next on the list, we have our Fire Starter, Emboar! With plenty to love, a charming hot-bloodedness, and a warmth both physical and emotional, it's easy to see how they earned that 68.9% Smash rating!

3. Samurai have always had a certain romance about them, not to dissimilar to the romances of European knights. And with our Water Starter, Samurott, we can see this romance (or at least a kind of romance) is alive and well! Whether it's Unovan Samurott's resemblance to a more standard samurai (and 60.1% Smash rating) or the more black knight/ronin-esque Hisuian variant (and said variant's 70.9% rating), it's clear many will be romantically interested in this samurai.

4. Seems Weavile isn't the only thief to take hearts, because we have the very literal cat burglar Liepard sneaking their way into the Sultans of Smash! As that 64.2% Smash rating demonstrates, this cat has more than just razor sharp claws in their arsenal of tools.

5. Like a bolt from the blue, it's time for the Reaper Rev- Wait, wrong series. But, incorrect references aside, our next entry does make their way onto the list from out of the blue! Zebstrika, everyone's favorite zapping zebra, has charged their way onto the list with a 55.4% Smash rating!

6. Our next entrant, I dunno what I can say about them, other than the fact that I really had to force myself to put in that "I dunno" part in the beginning there because in nearly every language, their name is a pun that means being unsure if you know the answer to a question! As you can probably guess from that, it's Audino! Not hard to see how they got here, they're cute! They're lovable! They help at Pokemon Centers! They have a 56.5% Smash rating! And, they have a Mega Evolution with a strong 67.7% rating! What can I say, everyone loves the healer! (Well the reasonable people do.)

7. You guys have a thing for parental figures, don't y'all? Why do I ask? Because next on the list we have Leavanny, the Nurturing Pokemon! With a 71.2% Smash rating, I reiterate on my point that y'all seem to have a thing for more parent-like Pokemon. Although... I suppose, considering Leavanny's habit of making plants into wearable accessories and clothes, Leavanny has the benefit of being the most likely Pokemon to make you a flower crown! And I gotta admit, hard not to appreciate a gesture like that.

8. This next one, some of y'all seemed surprised about! But me? I saw them coming a mile away, I have seen my fair share of people gushing about this Pokemon! Who is it? Why, it's none other than Scolipede! Just shy of the 70% mark with a still-majorly-impressive 69.9% Smash rating, looks like this massive bug's cool looks have attracted more than you'd think!

9. Nobility takes many forms, as seen by our next Sultan's two forms! But no matter what form Lilligant takes, her elegance and grace are evident! Whether it's the more princess like Unovan Lilligant (67.7% Smash rating) or the more sporty and athletic Hisuian Lilligant (68.7% Smash rating), the beauty of this noble flower cannot be denied.

10. Oh hey, a middle evolution! Haven't seen one of these in a while! All said though I am not surprised. Have you ever heard the expression "Girls want bad boys"? Because even though not all of y'all are women and not all Krokoroks are dudes, I think that same principal still applies! If nothing else, that 52.4% Smash rating seems to indicate something!

11. But obviously, the badder the dude, the more people want them. This is definitely real science, look we have Krookodile to prove it! They're basically the baddest crocodile ever, and they've got a solid 64.8% Smash rating to back up the conclusion!

12. When exploring the Relic Castle, one must beware any sarcophagus they see, for it may actually be a Cofagrifus! At least, I say beware, but judging by that 55.5% Smash rating, I suspect many of y'all would respond to my warning with a hearty "Don't threaten me with a good time!" And to each their own, but I'd just like to say maybe catch them first so the smashing can be done much more safely?

13. This next Pokemon may be a master of illusions, but you know what isn't illusory? Everyone's love for them! That's right, it's the Pokemon I personally was most looking forward to, Zoroark! And Oh Boy, they pulled Some Numbers, both Unovan and Hisuian alike. Coming in at a whopping 84.5% Smash and an equally impressive 84.2% Smash respectively, I'm glad to report that these two have dethroned previous record holder Hisuian Typhlosion within the vaunted ranks of the Gods of Smash! And yes, I'm counting them together as co-holders of the record. The percentages are so close I'm convinced the difference in numbers is pretty much just because they got different numbers of votes. Yes, it seems Zoroark's popularity from back when Gen V was young never really waned.

14. Anyways, coming down from the high of our new Gods of Smash, we find ourselves in the presence of the lovely Cinccino and her classy feather boa-esque fur! Coming in at a 51.5% Smash rating, seems this chinchilla cleans up quite nicely.

15. So many people love goth fashion, which is understandable as that shit rules. So it's probably no surprise that Gothitelle, who may as well be called the Goth Pokemon, managed to get a 61.9% Smash rating! They don't seem surprised either, they probably foresaw it with their powers...

16. I'm gonna be honest, I've genuinely got nothing for this one, they came out of left field for me. Reuniclus and their 50.9% Smash rating! I mean, considering they're a kind of slime creature maybe I shouldn't be too surprised (I've seen some very risque slime people art), and yet somehow I am.

17. People do love a majestic stag. Their great antlers, their graceful form and movements, some even consider them an embodiment of nature itself. So it's kinda fitting on multiple ends that our next Sultan is Sawsbuck, the embodiment of the seasons! Pulling a 56.3% rating in Spring Form, a 53.7% rating in Summer Form, a 60.3% rating in Autumn Form, and a 63.2% rating in Winter Form, Sawsbuck has something for any enjoyer of any season (Especially the colder season fans it seems).

18. On next Sultan, I must say there's a lot to appreciate. Their Typing paired with Levitate, their sucker-shaped mouth having many applications for smashing, the electricity for those of y'all into that, they have it all. Yes, it's true, Eelektross has made it into the Sultans of Smash with a 51.9% Smash rating! I'd call it shocking, but the only thing shocking here is their type. It's a shame Eelektross doesn't have any bioluminescence though, imagine the pun! (If they lit up they'd be a Lamprey! *Ba-Dum-Tss*)

19. Swinging onto the list with all the subtlety of a battleaxe, it's Haxorus! Packing some very nice armor, a head like a fine axe, and a 59.6% Smash rating, this dragon warrior is primed for more than battle!

20. When they say everybody was kung-fu fighting, what they don't tell you is everybody was doing it in hopes of impressing this next Sultan of Smash. Mienshao, the next entry on our list, showcases the power and skill of a martial artist to great effect, earning themselves a 70.5% Smash rating! By the way, did you know smashing is actually a decent form of exercise? So you know, you could call it "Training" and technically not be incorrect!

21. It's official: You dig Giant Robots, I dig Giant Robots, We dig Giant Robots! How do I know? Because of this next Pokemon, Golurk! But with Golurk being that big it's only fair their heart is sized to match. And at a 51.3% Smash rating, it's clear this Golurk isn't just for show.

22. Everybody crazy about a Sharp Dressed Man, so of course it stands to reason that Bisharp would make the list! Ranking at a 53.6% Smash rating, it’s obvious Bisharp is the Sharpest Dressed Pokemon of all.

23. Normally, with this Pokemon, there's a certain image that comes with saying they eat everything. But for many of y'all, I think Hydreigon's gonna be doing a different kind of eating. But hey, three mouths! That 61.5% Smash rating agrees with me there.

24. This next one, holy shit I actually had to keep checking over the poll period because this is the closest to a tie we've had since Persian! But it seems the sun has finally risen on this one's victory... Wait, that's not the sun, it's said victor, Volcarona! Coming in with a 50.2% Smash rating! Their smashability shines as brightly as they do, it seems.

25. With steely gaze, a heart of justice, and several literary references to The Three Musketeers, We move on to our first Gen V Legendary, Cobalion! Achieving a 50.4% Smash rating, Cobalion surely has some of the romance of the Original Three Musketeers in them.

26. But if you know The Three Musketeers, you likely know Athos (whom Cobalion is the closest equivalent to) was never the lady killer of the group. Who was, the uninitiated among you may ask? Well, that would be Aramis, whom Virizion stands in for! And indeed, Virizion seems to have definitely inherited the casanova trait from their literary inspiration, if that impressive 62% Smash rating is any indication!

27. And with this next one, the truth is obvious: Reshiram is Smashable! 69.9% Smashable, to be precise! But it's no surprise, this white dragon has much to offer, such as luxurious fur and a willingness to stand by their partner! Also this official trading card that gives them Bishōnen vibes.

28. But we can't have just Reshiram, we need to have their counterpart so as to maintain an ideal balance! Thankfully, we do! Zekrom has also made the list with a fine 68.4% Smash rating! Thus we do have both Yin and Yang here in the Sultans.

29. Did you know there's a term for a void of sorts relating to yin and yang? It's wuji, an absence of either element. And boy howdy do we have a Pokemon for that in Kyurem! That said, Kyurem is another case of "Only the Alternate Forms make it in". White Kyurem gets in with a 56.3% Smash rating, and Black Kyurem gets in with a 52.7% Smash rating. Still, it's good to know there's at least one form of Kyurem that won't leave you with a void in your heart.

30. And last but certainly not least, we have the final Sultan of Smash in Gen V, Meloetta the Mythical Muse! She dances! She Sings! She achieves a 66% Smash rating in Aria Forme and a 61.3% Smash rating in Pirouette Forme! She does it all for the joy of the people. Though we do still have one question regarding Meloetta... Will they ever bring back the mentions of her supposed red shoes she was mentioned to have lost in Gen V? We may never know...

And so, it is time to close the book on the Gen V Who's Who of Smashing. Having brought ourselves to an impressive total of 118 Sultans of Smash, I must say to keep a close eye on this blog, because Gen VI's list will hit sooner than you think!

#pokemon #pokémon #smash or pass #summary #The Pokemon Sultans of Smash

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princess-of-the-corner · 5 months

Note

One thing to note about RWBY is that it REALLY "grew the beard" over the course of its runtime.

Volumes 1-3 were animated in Poser (software that wasn't intended for use in animation), with rougher backgrounds and more simplistic writing related to complex themes. They were also only ever intended to be an extended prologue to the ACTUAL show, with the Big Twist of the Volume 3 finale being that the climax was actually just the inciting incident to the show's ACTUAL conflict.

Starting from Volume 4, the crew switched to Maya (software that's intended for use in animation), got better at writing more complex topics (the White Fang is treated more sympathetically than in the "Beacon Arc"), and Jaune was actually an interesting character for the entirety of the "Anima Arc" that lasted from Volumes 4-6.

Volume 7 is probably the best season of the show (I don't have a Crunchyroll account and so I haven't had the chance to watch Volume 9 in its entirety yet, even if I know what happens there). It deconstructs the whole "America Saves the World" trope with Atlas, and has some pretty good political satire that wound up being eerily prophetic. Also, Robyn Hill is one of the best characters the show has ever introduced.

Volume 8 contains both the best and worst moments of the series. V8C1-V8C11 features some of the best storytelling and most tense action from the franchise ever, but V8C12 has the overall message of "Okay but, the people who dehumanized Penny over her mechanical body KINDA had a point, let's fix what isn't broken!", V8C13 is a pretty descent villain episode, and V8C14 is by far the most offensive piece of media I've ever been subjected to. But still, up until those last three episodes, it was basically flawless.

I've heard Volume 9 is pretty good, but I'm side-eying everything involving Jaune because I honestly DESPISE the direction they took his arc in. But if we ignore EVERYTHING related to Jaune's role in the Volume, I like basically everything I've heard about it.

RWBY: After the Fall is a very good spin-off novel focused on popular side characters Team CFVY and shows what they've been up to since the Fall of Beacon in Volume 3. it also has a really interesting gimmick, as every other chapter is a flashback to something that happened in Team CFVY's past, further fleshing out their minor roles in the show.

RWBY: Before the Dawn is actual garbage. Sun's character arc (wherein his hypocrisy from the show is actually acknowledged and challenged) and Coco's and Velvet's shiptease are probably the only redeeming qualities. Taking this book into account actually makes Ironwood's reluctance to call Vacuo for help look REASONABLE. 2/10.

RWBY: Roman Holiday is a prequel novel focused on Roman and Neo, but Neo is the true protagonist here. The first few chapters leading up to their first meeting alternate between their perspectives, with the book being largely Neo focused after they finally meet.

RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant is an anthology of in-universe fairy tales. You can read it at any point in the series, but the further into the series you are when you read it, the more hints to RWBY's overarching plot you'll notice. While all of the Fairy Tales are works of fiction, some of them are dramatizations of actual events in the shadow war that RWBY's plot revolves around.

RWBY x JL: Super Heroes and Huntsmen is a 2-part film series wherein Team RWBY teams up with the Justice League. Part 1 features the Justice League visiting Remnant (kinda) during the events of Volume 7, and Part 2 features Team RWBY visiting DC Earth after the events of Volume 9.

There's also some ambiguously canonical comics published by DC, as well as 2 explicitly non-canon RWBY/DC crossover comic series. One features alternate versions of the Justice League cast who were born on Remnant, another features Remnant and DC Earth fusing due to Salem tricking Lex Luthor into helping her by playing off of his hatred of Superman. Neither of these crossovers are in continuity with the crossover movies.

Fascinating actually

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hippolotamus · 4 months

Text

fic writer interview

tagged by @stereopticons @jesuisici33 😘

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

47 (!)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

268,610 (!!)

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm weaker than a man should be [Buddie | 1.8k | T]

I could get used to having you around [Buddie | 2.8k | T]

My favorite color is you [Buddie | 4.1k | E]

There are some things you know (but things you can't understand) [Buddie | 15.1k | T]

i wish you all the love you're looking for, darling [Buddie | 1k | T]

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! (Unless they're hateful) It can take me a while but I do eventually. I think it's important to do so. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read what I've written and leave their thoughts.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

with eyes wide open i tore you apart [Buddie | 377 | G] just because of unresolved angst/tension

Warm Hellos and Our Last Goodnights [David/Patrick | 4.4k | T] for the MCD factor (though I still think of it as a love story)

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Uhhh, quite a few of them? If I had to pick one I would go with Whatever may come (your heart I will choose) [Buddie | 77.4k | M]

7. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't written one, but I'm not opposed if the right idea comes along.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not hate so much as some odd or rude comments.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! aslkdjfsld IDEK what to call it. There's always feels. No matter how much I try, it's impossible to write straight up smut. I think the closest I've ever managed is What's your Fantasy? [David/Patrick | 1.3k | E] or stay here honey (i don't wanna share) [Lutalia | 1.8k | E]

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd be open to it

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Could you love the ocean with me? [Buddie | 1.7k | T] co-written with my beloved @shortsighted-owl

Also planning some collaboration with @pirrusstuff for livestock vet!Buck/cowboy!Eddie

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

First of all, rude. I cannot choose between the ships I already write for so I'm going to say Carson Shaw/Greta Gill from ALOTO (2022 mini series RIP my broken heart)

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

IDK, I kinda stubbornly never say die on my WIPs because you never know when the right combination of inspiration and time will hit, suddenly enabling you to finish something.

15. What are your writing strengths?

People tell me they like the details I include. I also like to think I'm good at getting into a character's head and delving into the Feels.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Balancing dialogue and description. When I'm writing I feel like I can make the characters talk or I can get lost in their thoughts/get really in the weeds about their surroundings. It doesn't help that I'm not a fan of writing dialogue anyway.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Nothing I'm super ambitious to do. Writing dialogue in my native language isn't a favorite thing, so it would have to be a crucial part of the story for me to consider it.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Schitt's Creek

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I've done a few tumblr based drabbles, but I would like to officially write for Tim/Hawk from Fellow Travelers.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

My favorite??? As in just one? Jail! Jail for a thousand years to you!

High Like Heaven [David/Patrick | 2.1k | T]

all in the Jee-tails [married Buddie | 4.5k | T]

Secrets & Lies [David/Patrick | 7.6k | E] Series

Also very in love with 2 of my WIPs that I feel will become favorites when they're published:

you're where i wanna go [Buddie]

with my heart in my lap [Twylexis]

no pressure tagging mi amor @disasterbuckdiaz @blackandwhiteandrose @vanillahigh00 @shortsighted-owl @eddiebabygirldiaz @giddyupbuck LOML @lizzie-bennetdarcy @rmd-writes @apothecarose @ladydorian05 @watchyourbuck @jamespearce9-1-1 @wikiangela @honestlydarkprincess @pirrusstuff @spotsandsocks @monsterrae1 @buddierights @daffi-990 @thewolvesof1998 @heartshapedvows @loserdiaz and anyone else who wants to

#as usual if i forgot to tag you no i didn't #tag games #about me

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seyaryminamoto · 7 months

Text

The Shadows in her Reflection: Sokkla Saturdays 2023

One day, the moon that reigned over the skies darkened. Concerned by the rare phenomenon, the last thing Sokka expects to learn is that Azula, of all people, might be the key to solving this lunar mystery. By traveling the world together, the Water Tribe Warrior and the Fire Nation's Fallen Princess will seek to fulfill Yue's final wishes in what might just become a lifechanging, memorable adventure for the unlikely pair...

Rated: M

On FF.net//On AO3

A/N: Life's becoming very busy for me lately, so I went out of my way to start this one ASAP in the hopes of finishing it on time for the event. Alas, I haven't fully written everything for it yet, but here's my first entry nonetheless. Worth saying this is a comics-compliant story, a rarity coming from me, yes... it takes place around 10 years after the war ended. It's quite possibly my first attempt to fully write an Azula redemption story based on canon itself (Gladiator is, quite clearly, its own thing and her arc there isn't exaaactly a redemption arc, at least, not the one some people are looking for when it comes to Azula). While obviously Sokka and Azula are very important and at the core of this tale, there's one more connection for Azula in this story that's crucial for her development, and I really hope you guys will have fun seeing it develop and unfold.

Anyway, this is not a one-shot collection, for once: we're here for 8 chapters of a slightly unusual plot choice for my standards, but that I really hope many of you will have plenty of fun reading!

One day, a comet crashed into the moon.

It wasn't Sozin's Comet, which might have destroyed the cosmic body altogether with its power: it was smaller, but harmful nonetheless. The collision couldn't be seen from the planet the moon orbited around, either, for it happened on the dark side of the moon.

A cloud of debris, of filth, rose from the collision spot, where the remains of that comet embedded itself into the moon. It seemed to wish to merge with it, perhaps to take over the moon altogether: the exosphere grew polluted, and the debris from the collision didn't float away into space in due time. It remained locked around the moon, instead… it obscured it. The sun's light had once reflected powerfully upon its surface… but as bright as its rays might be, that noxious cloud muddled and impeded their connection.

And so, the moon started to fade from the sky, leaving but a vestige, a faded glimmer of white, to be seen in the night sky.

The shackled and restrained women wouldn't threaten the Fire Lord anymore. His patience had long run its course after ten years of sabotage by their group. He stepped up to the leader, chained and on her knees, merely a few paces away from the location of her last act of vicious cruelty. Hiding behind a mask of white and purple, she was responsible for the latest case of reckless arson in which he had finally captured them…

Zuko tore the mask away from the woman's face forcefully.

It was not his sister.

His shock, and the time he wasted standing near her without saying anything, emboldened Zirin sufficiently to spit on his face.

Zuko growled, pushing back and wiping the insult off his cheek hastily: his guards rushed in, as though to beat the woman up further, but Zuko raised a hand.

"Stop!" he exclaimed, glaring at the woman again. Zirin's fury failed to be disguised behind the dangerous smirk she offered him. "You… where is she? Why are you wearing her mask?!"

"Because someone had to," Zirin responded. "Because… she has matters to resolve. But she'll come back stronger… and when she does, she'll tear you to shreds as she always should have, Fire Lord Zuko!"

Zuko snarled: he had never understood why the false Kemurikage had joined Azula's ranks, or what kind of loyalty she elicited in them. But part of him suspected, even from some time ago, that it wasn't true loyalty to Azula… rather, it might be pure, unbridled hatred reserved for him. Why?

But he hadn't captured the group for the sake of understanding their grudges. While he certainly meant to make every last one of them pay for their crimes in due time, the main reason why he had chased them for so long was to find Azula.

"Where is she?" he hissed. Zirin scoffed.

"You're too late. She's going to find what she seeks, and with its power, she will destroy you. She's going to…"

"Do you realize that I could kill you right now?"

Zirin finally stopped talking. Zuko's glare froze her heart over for at least an instant: he elicited genuine fear out of her, as well as the rest of the women chained and crouching behind her. The Fire Lord scowled, making his point apparent even more effectively by raising a hand and evoking his flames in it.

"The last time you lot caused more trouble than you were worth, I told myself that another misstep of that magnitude would be enough. I'd do it. I'd execute you all. And you just went and outdid yourselves, of all things. Makes matters rather easy for me, doesn't it?" Zuko hissed. Zirin snarled.

"You wouldn't dare…"

"Azula wanted me to be a stronger Fire Lord, didn't she? The kind who makes the difficult choices, no matter how appalling they might be. Maybe it's time I live up to her expectations," he said: there wasn't a hint of falsehood in his voice. He meant every word he had spoken.

Zirin shivered as Zuko stepped closer to her, still wielding the fire dangerously.

"She's not going to come here to save you. She won't get here on time if I decide to deal my justice to you, right here, right now," he said. "The only way you get to live longer than a few more minutes is if you tell me, right now, where she went. I'm willing to go through each one of your friends, one by one, until I get my answer. Might as well start with you."

He had her. The fear in her eyes was genuine. No, this wasn't the Fire Lord he wanted to be… but they truly had forced his hand. He found patience and compassion at short supply whenever it involved his sister's terrorist group these days.

"So, now that we've established your life means nothing to me and I could snuff it out in a second… tell me: where is Azula?"

Zirin might have meant to continue fighting back… but when she opened her mouth, she spoke with words that Zuko feared might be a trick of some sort, for they were the last he had ever expected to hear as an answer to his inquiries:

"The Northern Water Tribe."

He had looked into the phenomenon in the sky: every astronomer he spoke to would reiterate that they didn't understand it any more than Sokka did. The Water Tribesman felt a worse pang of fear every time he gazed up at the moon these days: its brightness faded more each day, it felt like… was it drifting away from their world, for no reason? Would that make any sense? As much as it was harder to see it lately, it didn't appear to have shrunken in size…

The sun's glow hadn't changed, either: otherwise, life in their world would have also been impacted severely by a weaker source of sunlight. Everything was normal. Even the tides were normal. The moon was the only thing that wasn't.

"I don't know, Sokka. I've tried to communicate with Yue in the Spirit World, yes, but it just doesn't work that way," Aang sighed, after Sokka asked about it for the umpteenth time during dinner, in Air Temple Island.

"She has to look for you instead, is it? You told me she came to you once when you had run away from us, when we were only just approaching the Fire Nation," Sokka said, frowning. "Do you have to wait for her to do that again? Aang, I… I don't like this. I don't know if it's a spiritual thing or if it's something else, something more material, but it's freaking me out."

"It's not affecting my bending," Katara said. "Which, yes, I know isn't your primary concern, Sokka, but I think it means the moon is there. It very much is."

"But why is it so dim? Am I the only one who thinks something's got to be messed up here?" Sokka groaned.

"Well, I have no idea what's a bright moon or a dim moon, so you might just be," Toph said, wiggling her toes as she relaxed by the table, feet propped upon it. At this point, nobody even bothered telling her not to be so careless.

"Sokka, I'll keep trying, but…" Aang started, only for his words to be cut off by a squawking messenger hawk.

"What…? Zuko?" Toph raised her eyebrows, turning her head towards the sound. "Or are you expecting letters from someone else lately, Twinkle Toes?"

Aang rose to his feet, approaching the creature immediately. Sokka merely spared a moment's attention to the matter before frowning again at the food before him, on the table: what could possibly be wrong with the moon? He had looked into it everywhere, and nobody had ever registered a phenomenon like this…

"Uh… uh-oh," Aang grimaced, turning towards the rest of the group. "Guys? Zuko needs our help."

"Why?" Sokka said, with a grimace. "The hell did he get up to now? And hey, I asked for your help with this first! If anything, he can get in line…"

"I don't think he can," Aang said, eyeing Sokka with uncertainty. "Look, I'd love to help you, Sokka, but I'm not sure how to go about it to begin with. Aside from that? Well… Zuko's problem may be more immediate and more urgent. Didn't the moon start acting up a year ago?"

"It did, but it feels like it just gets worse!" Sokka exclaimed. "It is urgent!"

"Well, so is what Zuko told me," Aang said, breathing deeply. "I don't know, maybe it'll even help you find clues if you come with me. Maybe the Northern Water Tribe has information about the moon, they ought to be experts…"

"Wait… the Northern Water Tribe?" Katara frowned. "Why? What's going on?"

"Nobody really knows, but… apparently, Azula is on her way there," Aang said.

The room fell silent. Tension rose quickly, even if everyone remained silent: the Fire Lord's estranged sister, ten years on the run, wreaking havoc across the world, had been a sore thumb for Zuko ever since he had taken the Fire Nation throne. She turned up once in a while, but never for anything good. She continued to be a menace that terrified the bulk of the world population, a feared terrorist who mainly operated, however, in the Fire Nation itself… hence, the rest of the nations had never involved themselves in her capture. Some leaders, particularly those who still had not forgiven the Fire Nation for the Hundred Year War, appeared to thrive in knowing that the dangerous firebender was on the loose and causing chaos in her nation now, rather than in everyone else's.

They certainly would set aside such thoughts going forward, though, if she had finally started venturing into their lands.

"What the hell is she doing in the Northern Water Tribe?" Sokka asked, frowning. "She had nothing to do with that place. She wasn't even in the siege of the north…!"

"Whatever her intent is, it can't be good," Aang grimaced. "Come with us, you can investigate the moon there if you want, Sokka, but we have to go."

"Not a dull day in this life," Katara sighed, shaking her head. "Toph? Can you stay and watch over Bumi?"

"Pfft. Take him with you. I'm not babysitting no weird, loud kids," Toph snapped. Katara huffed, and Aang smiled a little at her.

"He'll be safe with us. Let's take him too, might as well…"

He was nervous. Fear guided their every choice: whatever Azula was up to, this was a profound change of behavior, entirely unlike her. Had she decided to return to the old Fire Lords' legacy after all? Did she intend to destroy the other cultures again, rather than solely focusing on sabotaging her brother's rule?

And with the moon being in such shape… Sokka didn't think he could do right by Yue when it came to that particular problem, but he certainly could help by keeping her people safe. As much as he wanted to learn more about the moon's condition, Aang wasn't wrong to suggest that he joined them. Even if he had no idea if he'd be able to help much against Azula, should it come to that, he meant to be there to offer whatever support Aang and Katara might need of him.

"Alright. Let's get going," Sokka said: his compliance, and the fact that they didn't need to say more to convince him, appeased and surprised his friends.

His mood hadn't been the brightest over the past months. Perhaps over the last year, altogether. It didn't suit the typically rambunctious man to grow withdrawn and thoughtful, but to most, it seemed to be a matter of guilt and fear pertaining the moon and its status. His constant investigations on the subject, his anguish, seemed to drive many people away from him… though no one had drifted quite as far from him as Suki. After making up her mind to move to Republic City, two years earlier, misfires in their relationship had resulted in their return to a long-distance relationship, though this time, one that hardly seemed to be a relationship at all. She was back in Kyoshi Island right now: Sokka hadn't seen her in over six months.

Katara often suggested that he ought to visit her again, trying her best to be supportive of her brother while also struggling to keep up with his fluctuating moods. After a first visit to Kyoshi Island after she left Republic City, Sokka never agreed to go again. His travels, as of late, solely related to meeting astronomers and researching whatever he could about a darkening moon. To this moment, he had found nothing.

Thus, he hoped things would change for the better once they landed in the Northern Water Tribe: local troops received them, standing in a rare alliance with a cluster of Fire Nation soldiers, too. That the day had come when they could work together rather than fighting each other certainly felt like a miracle, but it was one that Sokka couldn't even bother cherishing right now.

"We're expecting Azula to arrive by sea, on a stolen hot-air balloon," Zuko explained, once Aang, Katara and Sokka arrived – Bumi nestled in his mother's arms, sucking on his thumb. "It seems she took one from the Air Force's base…"

"What, she took it just like that?" Sokka asked. Zuko grimaced.

"She beat up everyone on her way in and out, if you really want me to specify that much…"

"Any deaths?" Aang asked. Zuko shook his head.

"Not that I know of. She just wanted the balloon, I guess," he said. "I have no idea if she even knows how to pilot them, but if she doesn't, then she'll take longer to arrive, or she might even…"

"You're not wishing an accident will stop her from getting here, are you?" Aang grimaced.

"Well… I'm not, not fully. A non-lethal one, maybe, but… who the hell can control how that kind of thing happens?" Zuko sighed, shaking his head. "At any rate, we'll keep watch over the skies. She'll be arriving in the shroud of darkness, we're in the dark period after all… so spotting her won't be easy. But we have to do our best to catch her once she shows up."

"We'll find her. Appa can patrol the skies, and if anything's amiss, we'll track her down at once…" Aang said. Sokka sighed, running a hand over his hair.

"It sounds like you guys have most everything under control, right?" he said. Zuko eyed him remorsefully. "I'm just going to go find a lunar expert, if there's any. It's the main reason why I wanted to come anyway, and… I think you guys will get her without issue, right? Right."

"Sokka…" Katara sighed. "Please, at least don't get your hopes too high. What's going on with Azula is manageable, at least, but…"

"Is it? Girl's been on the run for ten years and nobody's locked her down since we took her to look for their mom," Sokka said: his words hit square in the pride of his three friends. "I'm just saying…"

"If that's the kind of thing you'll be saying, maybe go find your astronomer after all," Zuko scoffed. Sokka shrugged, raising his hands defensively.

"Call me if there's anything I can do… though I rather doubt it," he said, turning on his heels and marching out of the Palace room where Zuko had been outlining their plans and strategies to capture Azula so far.

Sokka did exactly what he intended to do: the experts in the north were finally as concerned and eager to find a solution as Sokka was… but they had no idea what was going on, either. That discouraged the warrior at once.

After several hours of meetings with experts and visits to the local libraries to, as usual, find nothing on the phenomenon that concerned him so much, Sokka's patience was at an end. He felt demoralized, broken in ways he shouldn't be over what might just be some cosmic cloud of some sort hugging the moon…

But there more to his misery than that. He had failed Yue once, he hadn't been able to protect her from the terrible sacrifice she'd needed to make. She had been as good as a child, and she had given up her life to save her people. The magnitude of her sacrifice seemed to hit him harder and harder every time he thought about it…

His struggles with Suki weren't related to Yue, but the moon's state had certainly worsened matters further between them. His unwillingness to open up to Suki came from an obvious place: she didn't care to be second place to Yue in his heart, and no matter how many times he told her love didn't work that way, she refused to hear it. Suki's anxiety over the moon had nothing to do with his: she didn't care that it was obscured or not. She wanted him to have his head down on earth rather than up in the sky… and the more she had pressured him about it, the less he wanted to do that.

Memories of Yue shouldn't have been so painful, he had lost her so soon… they barely even had a relationship by the time she kissed him goodbye. He'd never know what might have been. Perhaps that, over all, tormented him beyond reason. But deep down, what hurt most was the knowledge that someone as valuable, as loyal, as true to her people was gone… the Northern Water Tribe would grieve her death forevermore, he knew they would.

His feet carried him aimlessly across the Water Tribe's streets until he reached a location he had approached by instinct: the bridge where he had met Yue for their very first private outing. Where he had given her a gift… where she had kissed him before running away from him. The mixed signals he got from her never made sense to him… perhaps that was why the moon's condition anguished him so. It certainly was much like Yue to show distress signals that simply didn't make sense and that he couldn't interpret, try as though he might…

The bridge finally came into view. He was of half a mind to step on it, to talk to the moon from there, in the abstract, irrational hopes that doing so would help Yue… when he realized that someone else, clad in a heavy blue parka, stood exactly where he had wanted to go.

He frowned: it was quite late by now. Was someone else meeting their beloved at the bridge that night? Maybe it was a popular spot for that purpose, and he just didn't know it…

But even though he could only see the person from behind, he had the feeling they weren't actually waiting for something. No, whatever they wanted, it was already there…

In the water, right underneath the bridge.

Had they dropped something? No, they weren't acting with the urgency of someone who had lost a valuable in the canal. Instead, they were… speaking. It was a female voice, he realized, as he approached it…

A familiar female voice, he thought, with a dark shiver.

It wasn't enough that she was speaking when there was no one else around: she was gesticulating in strange ways, too, as if... as if she were arguing with something. With someone. With the water? With the river?

Sokka's heart sank: Azula was already here. And from what he could tell, Zuko's claims that her sanity was somehow restored were entirely untrue, just as Sokka had constantly suspected.

"… You're entirely out of your mind if you expect I can get there just like that! He's already here, he brought soldiers, and if any of them spot me, I'll be done for!"

Sokka frowned, inching closer quietly: she knew Zuko was here, then. Of course she did…

"And no, I refuse to send the hot-air balloon away as a decoy. If I did that, I'd be stuck in this frozen hellscape unless your people so very kindly tossed me into the sea and I miraculously survived long enough to reach the Northern Earth Kingdom. And as powerful a firebender as I may be, I would not survive a dip in your terribly frozen sea."

Who the hell was she talking to? Sokka frowned. Before, she constantly spoke to someone, or about someone, who appeared to be her mother… but not this time. Now, she was talking to someone from the Northern Water Tribe…? Who had she ever even met from the Tribe? She wouldn't have come across anyone from the North Pole in the last decade, she only ever operated in the Fire Nation after all…

"Ugh, just… shut up. I brought you where you wanted to go, didn't I? Isn't this enough? Flow into this river and find your pathetic fish. Get back inside it and leave me be."

A pathetic fish? Sokka frowned. A northerner… and a fish? His heart pounded, and he frowned as he glanced towards the arguing Azula again.

It made no sense. It couldn't be.

But… could it?

Curses, was Azula connected to whatever was happening to the moon?

The idea made him see red for a moment. He snarled as he stopped hiding, striding up to the bridge with a heavy scowl: she didn't notice him, busy as she was scoffing at whatever she had just heard from the river now…

"I am absolutely unconcerned with your sad stories of failed romances, understood? What do I care if you shamelessly kissed that idiot here? Honestly, though… what kind of terrible taste in men did you have to do something like that, Yue?"

Sokka froze on the spot. His footfall startled Azula when he stopped abruptly.

She jumped, immediately taking up a defensive stance… and her eyes widened when they found his.

"W-what…? You…! Wait. Wait… oh! Oh, so that's it!" Azula exclaimed, lowering her hands again at the sight of him. Sokka gritted his teeth, taking a defensive kata of his own. "This is what you wanted! Yue, he's here!"

She turned towards the river: Sokka gritted his teeth, glancing at the water to find there was nothing there. Azula, however, spoke with such enthusiasm he was taken aback entirely.

"Azula…?" he called her, his voice trembling and uneasy.

"There you go! He came to see you! Aren't you happy now? He still loves you, congratulations!" Azula smiled wildly. "Now, would you so kindly get out of my head and leave me be?!"

The final declaration caused Sokka's confusion to increase… far more than his apprehension, though. He blinked blankly before stepping closer, startling the fallen Princess.

"You. Stay where you are. What do you think you're doing?" she said, her previous, near hysterical excitement shifting completely into wariness.

"I… need an explanation. Right now," Sokka said. Azula scowled, eyes scouring him and their surroundings quickly.

"You're… alone? Where's the Avatar? I saw the shaggy beast descending into the city," Azula said. Sokka grimaced.

"You… for how long have you been here, exactly?"

"I arrived about a day before Zuzu did. The wretch couldn't have taken residence in a more inconvenient place of the city for my purposes," Azula said, with a dry grin. Sokka scowled. "But I should be used to it by now. My brother's certain my entire life is a matter of inconveniencing him, but the longer this goes on, the more certain I become that it's the other way around, instead."

"No kidding," Sokka said, skeptically. "What, exactly, were you trying to do? You said something about… wait, Azula. You… you mentioned Yue. A fish, too. W-what were you…? Are you trying to kill the Moon Spirit too?"

"Ah. Of course you'd think that," Azula said, before letting out a derisive smile. "I would not be quite so self-defeating, mind you. If I did that, I might just cause a major catastrophe, where the ocean would go berserk as it tried to tear me to shreds, much as it did with Admiral Zhao. I wouldn't quite wish to share in his fate, you see… not to mention, that damnable fish is my only hope to get rid of the unpleasant stowaway I'm carrying in my head, so, mind you, I'd like to keep it alive and healthy for the time being so I can send her back there as soon as possible."

"Well… the experts said the fish, Tui, is alive and healthy," Sokka said. Azula shrugged.

"Good for it. Her. Whatever you want to call a fish," she sighed, shaking her head before glancing at the river again. "What do you mean….? I'm not going to do that. You haven't pestered me for a year just for me to play nice and greet your ex for you. Shut up."

"Azula… this is weird. I'm supposed to be here to help them capture you because evidently that's why Zuko came here, I don't need to tell you that…" Sokka said. Azula scoffed, glaring at him sideways.

"Indeed. And yet you're here, talking to me, not brandishing weapons, just… looking at me like you're a terrified puppy too curious for his own good," Azula said, eyeing him skeptically. "Why?"

"Because…! Because I've overheard what you're saying to the river and I…! Okay, you know what? Just… tell me: what the hell is going on?" Sokka asked, eyes wide and pleading. "Look, I should be raising alarms and telling everyone that you're already here and up to no good…"

"But you're not," Azula said, raising an eyebrow. "Which suggests you're either having a leave of your senses or… you don't trust them to help you handle me. Not that you stand a chance on your own either, but still…"

"You don't want to kill Tui, you said. But you're… talking to Yue? In the river?" Sokka grimaced. Azula huffed and rolled her eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better? I'd much rather not be doing that at all. Your adored favorite princess is actually a colossal pain in the ass," she said, with a dry grin. Sokka shuddered.

"I… I don't understand," Sokka said, shaking his head. "I don't get it. Azula… you're talking to Yue? You're seeing Yue? B-but… why? Wasn't it your mother you used to see before?"

"Heh. Funny. I thought you'd never realized what my problem was," Azula smirked derisively. "My brother certainly never did. Maybe I should commend you for having basic intelligence rather than lacking it entirely, as he and the rest of your friends do, but that's as far as I'll go with flattery in your direction. As for why am I seeing your ex? Beats me. I don't know. I didn't ask for this. It just… started happening. A year ago, or so."

"A year?" Sokka said: he raised his gaze towards the moon, darkened as it remained. "That's… that's when the moon started to darken, Azula."

"Oh?" Azula said, blinking blankly and glancing into the night sky as well. "Huh. So, this annoying fool decided she was bored of being the moon and took to hounding me about nonsense instead? Isn't that nice of her?"

"What nonsense? Azula, what is she saying?" Sokka asked. "I…!"

"Wait," Azula frowned, raising a hand as to slow him down. She raised an eyebrow slowly, inching away from him. "Mind you… if I had an ex, which I don't, and my worst enemy started saying they're seeing said ex in all reflective surfaces they come across, and even in dreams on occasion, I would likely assume they're lying because normal people don't do that."

"We've established that you see things since well over ten years ago," Sokka said, with a dry grin. "But usually, as far as I could guess, it was stuff related to you. Right?"

"Right," Azula said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Look… if this were anything else, if you were doing this at some other time, I'd assume you've lost it and that you're going crazy again. But… the moon is like this. It's been a year. Nobody has given me any answers! I've never been able to figure out what's wrong with it, and you're finally a way to unravel that, if just a bit? So… so, please, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what she wants. I-if we achieve it, maybe the moon will clear up again! And then…!"

"And then you'll appease your conscience and I'll somehow get rid of her?" Azula asked, with a dry grin. "I expect otherwise. She's fickle, annoying, childish…! Yes, you're childish! You are as good as a child to me! You're sixteen, aren't you? Learn your place and stop speaking up against your elders!"

Sokka froze on the spot: yes, Yue would be sixteen, stuck forever at that age… the age she was when she had sacrificed herself. He was ten years older than her right now. Somehow, the thought hadn't truly materialized in his head so far.

He leaned over the bridge slightly, glancing into the reflection of the river… to find nothing. Just his muddled reflection, along with Azula's.

"You can't see anything, can you?" Azula asked him. Sokka sighed and shook his head. "Well, she can see you right now. She says… that you were more handsome back when you were younger."

"She… what?!" Sokka squeaked, cheeks flushing. Azula turned up her nose, a devious smirk spreading over her face. "Y-you… take that back! She didn't say that! Even if it were true, she wouldn't have, and you…! Can she actually see me? Azula, can she really…?!"

"Oh, only vaguely. She mostly sees whatever's around me," Azula said, with a shrug, as Sokka approached her. "Or so she says. Anyway, you do believe me when I say that she speaks with me, even though it's uncalled for constantly, and that it's truly your former girlfriend, or…?"

Sokka was nearly in contact with her when she trailed off, glaring at him in disdain as she inched away from him. Sokka smiled awkwardly.

"I just figured, I need to stand closer for her to see, so maybe if I stand close to you, I'll see her too…?"

"Step back or I will send you to the next life faster than you can say 'Yue.'"

"Okay, fine! Damn, I just… fuck, you have no idea what this means to me," Sokka said, stepping back indeed and smiling slightly. "I've spent a year thinking she's… she's catatonic! That she's been attacked, maybe, or that she's in trouble…! But she's just… what, taking a vacation inside your head?"

"If only she could've picked a better head to spend time in," Azula growled, glaring at the reflection again. "Oh, shut up. Empty praises will get you nowhere."

"What? Did she… praise you?" Sokka blinked blankly. Azula scoffed.

"She does more often than not. Empty words, not unlike the ones I've spent my entire life hearing," Azula said, bitterly. Sokka grimaced.

"Yue was an honest person, though. If she has something good to say about you…"

"She might as well save it. I don't want to hear it, and I'll never believe it," Azula said, firmly. She shook her head. "I'm not here, however, to discuss my confidence, self-esteem or people's willingness to sing my praises. I brought this annoyance to the Northern Water Tribe because she missed her people and I figured I might be able to get rid of her, at last, if I brought her here. She's a deceptive little brat, though, and asked to come to this bridge first, only to reminisce on whatever nonsense you two shared as teenagers here, and then she told me that I'll have to enter this terribly secret and secluded oasis hidden somewhere behind the Palace she used to live in, because she might just be able to flow out of me and into the fish if I take her there. So… that's why I'm here. I do not care for this place, I don't have the slightest intention of bringing anyone harm unless they do it to me first, and all I really, truly need is to be free from voices and illusions and seeing things that aren't there!"

Azula's chest heaved as she finished her rant. Sokka listened patiently throughout it all, and she glared at him defiantly after she was done, waiting for an answer. Her flow of thought had gone slightly overboard, it was true, but…

"Okay," Sokka said. Azula frowned. "Look… I don't think I should trust you. I'm not sure I'd ever know how. But at the same time… you're bound to be the only way I'll ever find a solution for Yue, for saving the moon, outright. Maybe… maybe if you see her in the oasis's pond, you'll truly be able to set yourself free from this connection. Although, before that, could you ask her if she wants to connect with me instead? I wouldn't mind… I wouldn't mind seeing her again."

"You're disgusting," Azula said. Sokka shuddered, glaring at her after her words sank in. Azula turned over the bridge and scowled. "This fool has been with a face-painted Kyoshi Warrior loser for the past ten years and yet he wants to see you again, isn't that right? Not only was he disloyal to you by choosing her, now he's disloyal to her by being here, asking to see you. Is this truly the man you were quite so keen on, Princess Yue?"

"You already questioned her taste in men before, thank you very much," Sokka said, eyebrow twitching. "I want to see Yue again, and that's not a crime, damn you! I care about her, I always will! She was my first love. I'm not expecting for her to come back from the dead, she has a duty as the Moon Spirit and she has to fulfill it…! But I… I have unresolved business, okay? I have burdens and things I'd like to talk about with her. If there's anything she needs, anything she wants, I'd love to make it happen. And no, I don't mean I want a reward, or that I want two girlfriends…! I just want her to be at peace. I want Yue to be safe and sound. I want to look up at the sky and believe she's watching over me, and that she'll always be watching over her people, too. Is that so awful of me?"

"It… sounds embellished and far too idealistic now. Either you're not being honest or you're far more upstanding than I expected. And I would sooner believe it's the former," Azula said. Sokka scoffed, pressing a hand to his face.

"Leave it to my luck that the one person who can help me communicate with Yue would be you," Sokka hissed. "Look, you'll kill two birds with one stone if you can transfer her to me somehow! You won't have to take her wherever you go anymore, and I won't pester you constantly about how Yue is doing, which I would otherwise, so…!"

"Wait. Wait," Azula frowned, staring at him in chagrin. "Are you trying to tell me… that if I don't do whatever you want me to do, you intend on stalking me for the rest of our miserable lives in retaliation for my unwillingness to cooperate with you?"

"Exactly. That," Sokka said, with a proud, sarcastic smile.

Azula scoffed, rolling her eyes and glaring at him.

"I refuse to play anything by your rules. The fact that you haven't rushed off to tell my brother that I'm here is… alarming," Azula snapped. "You'll give me away to him whenever you've had your fill of talking to Yue through me, I'm sure…"

"Not that you've done any of that for me so far," Sokka said, with a raised eyebrow. "Can she hear me?"

"Somewhat," Azula said, and he couldn't gauge whether she was being truthful or not.

"And you won't tell me what she's saying, even if she's talking to me, or will you?"

"Don't take it the wrong way, but she's long learned that I'm the only one who hears her. She smiled like a fool when she heard your voice and when she could hear you, yes, but she didn't speak directly to you so far, and…" Azula's word were cut off by a most unwelcome interruption. Her nose twitched slightly with irritation before she rolled her eyes and said. "Fine. Never mind. She says 'hi.'"

Sokka, to his utter disbelief, actually blurted out a chuckle at Azula's frustration. The fallen Princess glared at him reproachfully.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you, Azula," he said, with surprising honesty. "I bet it's incredibly inconvenient. But… it feels like you and her are the most unlikely combination, doesn't it?"

"Tell me about it," Azula huffed, shaking her head. "But that's not my concern right now, is it? I'll happily break off the unlikely combination and set her free, but I need to get to that place and… and I need your word that you won't give me away to Zuko after that's done. There's that, too."

"Oh. Uh…" Azula glared at him fiercely, and Sokka grimaced. "Look, I… wouldn't really want to give you away to him, true, especially when you're the first chance I've had to talk to Yue in over ten years. But… Zuko's not in a good place right now, Azula."

"Well, he's freezing his ass off in the North Pole, evidently, but…"

"I don't mean literally, I mean emotionally, or psychologically, or… whatever," Sokka sighed. "Your antics have had him on his toes for a long time. Reforming the Fire Nation is easier said than done…"

"Why, of course it is."

"And international pressures are always gaining on him. My point is… he captured your allies, and he made them tell him where you had gone. He… basically threatened he'd kill them if they didn't cooperate, going by what he told me."

"Pfft," Azula smirked, shaking her head. "And they didn't call his bluff? That's…"

"It wasn't a bluff," Sokka said. Azula's mirth dwindled. "I'm serious, Azula. I think he wouldn't kill you, no, but… he doesn't want you causing trouble anymore, and he's becoming harsher, and colder, and… well, maybe closer to your father, in a sense."

"Well, that's… not good for me, now, is it?" Azula said, with a weak smile. "While I would gladly have him resemble my father in the respectable senses that he could…"

"Would you, really?" Sokka asked, with a distasteful grimace.

"I'm certain he's going to take after him in the worst ways. Such as… treating his sole sibling as a problem to be rid of. Which…"

"Which is exactly what you've been trying to be for him over the past years, isn't it?" Sokka asked. Azula's discomfort couldn't be more apparent. "Look, you're the key to sorting out whatever's going on in the sky. I can already tell that you are. But Zuko… he's going to be a hazard for you. So, whether you work with me, whether you get rid of Yue, whether the sky is restored or not… ultimately, your brother is going to hunt you down and…"

"And lock me up somewhere so I will no longer embarrass him," Azula recited, her voice muted. Sokka grimaced. "Someplace like… the asylum, I suppose. He did it once before. No doubt he'd do it again if he had the chance. More so if… i-if he knew I'm seeing and hearing things that aren't there again. I… Sokka, you…"

"Huh. We're on first-name basis, are we?"

"You've called me Azula, I might as well do the same," she hissed, staring at him intensely. "Swear to me you won't let me fall into his hands. Help me… and whatever the hell I need to do to fix your Princess and send her back into her fish, I'll do it."

"It's honestly quite messed up, isn't it?" Sokka said, running a hand over his hair as he scrutinized her with uncertainty. "It's like… like you're holding Yue hostage against your will."

"Or she's holding me against hers. Which is illogical," Azula hissed. Sokka sighed. "I may be wrong to think I'm a victim in all of this, but I swear to you, I asked for none of it. It was bad enough to see my mother in my head only to realize later that it was never her, and that I truly had lost my senses…"

"Azula…" Sokka said, eyeing her with compassion. She snarled, stepping away from me.

"Don't… don't pity me. That's the last thing you ought to do," she hissed. "My mind's broken state is my business. Hence why I'd much rather your former girlfriend stopped making it hers. But clearly… I'm at a standstill in a crossroads that I'd much rather not be in. So all I can think of doing, right now, is fixing this mess by returning her to where she's supposed to go. Either you come with me and help me do it, or…"

"I will."

Azula frowned. Sokka breathed deeply and nodded.

"I'll get you there. I know a way," he said, glancing back towards the cliffs that hugged the Water Tribe's Palace. "Just… will be a slightly long hike. But if you're up for it…"

"I'm ready for anything. Most of all, to stop seeing and hearing Yue," Azula said, with a dry grin. "If you're serious… then lead the way."

Sokka nodded: within moments, he and Azula, who hid her face under the hood of the parka she most likely had stolen at some point in her journey, had walked all the way to the outskirts of the Northern Water Tribe. A long climb uphill, exhausting and draining, more so under such low temperatures, eventually saw them reaching the cliffs, and from there, they had to walk the icy trek all the way to the back of the city: long ago, Zuko had escaped with Aang through the zigzagging trail that led into the oasis from the tall cliffs of the polar casket. It stood to reason that they would be able to enter the oasis undetected that way, too.

"Say… I've agreed to not hand you over to Zuko," Sokka said, walking by Azula's side: she was much calmer now, when there were no reflections from which Yue could peer at her. "But even though I did… are you going to keep causing trouble for him after this is said and done?"

"That's not your business," Azula answered, curtly. Sokka sighed.

"It kind of is. He'll kill me too if I help you keep messing with him," Sokka groaned. Azula smirked.

"He might. You could wind up stuck with me just as badly as Yue is, how about that?" she said. "A most unfortunate fate for you, peasant."

"You already proved you know my name. Use it," Sokka said, huffing.

"I'll call you whatever I please," Azula said, simply. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Either way, my point is… can you just do something else with your life?" Sokka asked. "It has to get old, trying to piss off your older bro-…"

"No, it really doesn't."

"Seriously?"

"It's better than anything else I can do anyway. It's not like I have anywhere to be, anywhere to go, I… I belong nowhere to begin with and he's sitting on the throne that might have given me a purpose otherwise," Azula said, with a careless shrug. "As bad as his situation might be, mine is certainly worse. He can have his throne all he wants, but he's not going to keep it without pushback of any sorts."

"You're way too smart to waste your life away doing something as nonsensical as being someone's… personal pain in the ass?" Sokka said, with a grimace. Azula scoffed. "Come on, now. You can't even tell me it's still fun for you. More so when your friends, or just allies, whatever they are, are in danger. I can try to help you break them out if you want, you know? Would be dangerous, but if you promised…"

"I'll make no promises of good behavior," Azula scoffed. "I couldn't care less to spare Zuzu from my worst…"

"And your friends from getting killed?" Sokka asked. Azula frowned.

"Are they even that?" Azula asked. "Granted, you think Zuko tried to kill them, but…"

"Threatened to, if anything…"

"It's not like they hadn't already stabbed me in the back before that, anyhow."

Sokka frowned as he stopped. Azula didn't slow down, stubbornly trudging on, her bag strapped over her shoulder.

"What…? They betrayed you?" Sokka asked, frowning. "And how the hell did they know where you would be, if that's the case? Did you ask them to come with you and they refused?"

"I'm only here now because they demanded that I came," Azula hissed. Sokka sped up, catching up to her again. "I was… distracted. Constantly scattered because of Yue popping up at every possible reflective surface around me. I was jumpy at first, when I didn't understand what was going on. I couldn't even look at poorly reflective metal without seeing a reflection of a silhouette, of something that wasn't there. She shows up in every liquid surface I see... and mirrors. Steel armor, anything of the sort. At first, when I realized what was wrong, I tried to hide it… but then, things got complicated. Zirin… she caught me talking to Yue more than once. She thought I was slipping again.

"I came clean about what was happening. They told me to get it together. I tried. Our latest operations, however, had been failures and… and yes, in part, because I'm hardly fully there. Yue is… is taking a real toll on me, damn her. And damn Zirin all the more for… for telling me to either sort this out, get rid of her, or get lost for good."

"She told you that?" Sokka said. Azula smirked, eyeing him with unrestrained deviousness.

"Funnily enough… she failed to pull off whatever it is she wanted to do when I was gone. When I was the leader? I only got a handful of us captured. One operation under Zirin's leadership and the whole group goes under. Serves her right for being so full of herself…"

Azula cackled without remorse, and Sokka raised an eyebrow as he watched her with uncertainty. In any other circumstances, he wouldn't have wanted to hear a single word Azula might say… and he found that was probably a terrible reaction now. He didn't truly understand the first thing about the woman walking beside him now… and because he didn't, now Yue was her unwilling hostage, or Azula her unwilling host, and he had no idea how to approach her. If he'd done better, tried harder to be as friendly to her as they'd been to Zuko, after he turned…

There was no denying that Azula didn't make it easy. But talking to her now revealed that her dangerously clever mind was nowhere near as hopelessly broken as Azula herself might think it was.

"Either way, it's just me and Yue, going forward. While I wouldn't particularly care whether my former allies are free or not, I certainly would rather they're not murdered," Azula said, after her amusement receded. "I understand I failed as their leader, anyway. I'm in no condition to lead the group at all, and I failed to deliver on my many promises. Nonetheless… it's a sore spot for me, as you may imagine, to so much as think of allowing my allies to turn their backs on me. I've had enough of that for a lifetime."

"Surprising that you didn't lash out at them for it, though," Sokka said. "Or did you?"

"Some insults were traded, sure. A bit of fire. Some lightning. Maybe a slap or two."

"Who landed those?"

"Me, of course. Not that Zirin didn't try, but she failed."

Sokka smiled a little, shaking his head. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"And that amuses you, somehow?" she asked.

"Sounds like you were giving as good as you got. Not much of a crime when you see it that way," Sokka said. "Look… there's just got to be a better future for you. I don't know what it could be, but…"

"Stop trying to fix my brother's messes for him. He doesn't deserve that much devotion or help," Azula said, shaking her head. "Hell knows how so many of you are so eager to eat off his hand, let alone to convince me to walk away and leave him be…"

"I don't eat off his hand," Sokka squirmed, looking at her in chagrin. Azula smirked. "But… he's my friend. And more than that, his role in the world is a little bit essential at making peace a reality, you know? But he's got, uh… quite the temper. And that means that, if he gets angry or anything sets him off, he might just end up derailing all our hard work at restoring balance so far."

"How is that any of my business?" Azula said, bluntly.

"Why would it not be? He's your brother," Sokka said. Azula scoffed.

"Ask him what that means to him. I give as good as I get, as you put it before," Azula said. "I don't need a brother who doesn't need me."

Her words struck deeply in Sokka's gut: truthfully, he had seldom tried to think of things from Azula's point of view. He had sympathized with Zuko over his struggles… but suddenly, standing on the other side of that ordeal revealed that maybe Azula acted out as she did for reasons beyond what was apparent.

"At any rate, you should shut up," Azula said, startling Sokka. "This is the first chance I've gotten for some peace and quiet for hours and you keep rambling. Be quiet."

"Well… I can't be quiet just like that," Sokka pouted. Azula huffed, rolling her eyes. "There's a lot of things I want to know, a lot of things I want to ask, and…"

"And I should be the least of your concerns. You're here for Yue, aren't you?" Azula scoffed. Sokka winced.

"Right. Uh. Thing is, it's hard to figure out what to do with that, but… say, you can see her, you said? In every reflection you look at? Like, in place of yourself, or…?"

"Behind my reflection, usually," Azula answered. "What about it?"

"Well… what does she look like?"

"Oh? Either you're finally questioning the veracity of my tales or you're being a creep. I'm not sure which one is worse," Azula said. Sokka winced.

"I just… well, maybe more the first one than the second?" Sokka admitted. "Though a part of me does wonder if she really is stuck at sixteen. I'm not sure why I didn't think about that ever before…"

"Because you've grown older and you foolishly assumed so would she. Not the case," Azula said, simply. "She's indeed a sixteen-year-old girl with dark skin, blue eyes, white wavy hair that seems to float, much like her fancy white robes. Frankly, that dress she wears is far more elegant than anything I've seen the rest of her people wear. Guess they left the good fashion for the royalty…"

"Or that's just her moon outfit," Sokka said, with a careless grin. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. I have no idea how spirits handle dress codes," she admitted. "But frankly, I doubt I'll ever understand the first thing about them. Spiritual matters are unnerving."

"Really? Says the girl who was masquerading as a spirit…"

"I assumed everyone else would think they were unnerving too, and they'd run away or die of fright if we presented ourselves as such," Azula said, simply. Sokka eyed her skeptically. "What?"

"You make no sense," he said, though he smiled slightly at her. "It's kind of entertaining, though."

"Why, I aim to please," Azula said, with a sarcastic grin that suggested the opposite thing, instead.

They reached the chasm then, and Azula glanced down at the oasis. From this distance, she couldn't see Yue… but she knew she would, once they were in the oasis itself.

"Come," Sokka urged her, approaching the entrance of the zigzagging trail that led into the oasis. "This way."

Azula followed him down, and they moved as quietly and inconspicuously as possible: they could see from afar how the military alliance between the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe happened to be in full swing. Numerous hot-air balloons were ready to intercept hers… firebenders, waterbenders, non-benders, everyone wanted a piece of her, from the looks of it. She sighed: it was a good thing that Yue had been able to navigate her into the city safely, and that she had lain low in it for as long as she could manage.

The oasis was a rare location in the Tribe, where it was warm enough that Azula finally stopped stoking her inner fire to get by. She sighed in relief as she followed Sokka, crossing small wooden bridges until she finally reached the pond…

Two koi fish, one black, one white, swam in its waters. Sokka sighed happily at the sight of the white one.

"Seems untouched. Good," he said, smiling kindly at the spirit. Tui and La continued swimming together, and Sokka turned towards Azula. "As you know, if you do anything you shouldn't…"

"I won't hurt the one thing that might just get me out of this mess, damn you. You don't need to say it again," Azula huffed, approaching the pond and glaring at the fish.

To Sokka's surprise, Tui broke formation from La… as though to stare at Azula. The Princess scowled… and upon looking into the water, she soon saw Yue.

"Well? Get going. Your ride is here," Azula hissed.

Youthful, kind and earnest, Yue smiled at her, and then at Tui.

"My manifested form upon the human world… it's good to see that it remains intact. This is the Moon Spirit, Azula."

"I can see that. Now, kindly get out of my head and into the fish, would you?" Azula scoffed.

Yue's smile soured slightly: the clueless expression on her face brought a scowl to Azula's.

"I… I'm not trying to say that I can't do it, but, uh, I… I don't really know how."

"You… what? You don't know how?!" Azula exclaimed.

"Don't be mad! I just…!"

"You brought me all the way here just to make fun of me? Get out of my head and into the fish, right this moment!"

"I would love to! But I don't know how, I said!" Yue exclaimed, flustered, tears in the corners of her eyes.

Azula's chest heaved as she glared at her. Yue's manipulative remorse would not affect her. It couldn't. It wouldn't. She was just…

"You miserable, irksome, spoiled brat!" Azula roared. Sokka gripped her shoulder, and Azula shook her off.

"Be quiet!" he urged her, startling Azula. She had expected a scolding over how she was treating Yue, instead. "They're going to notice you're here if you keep this up. So… shush. If you have to berate her, do it… quietly. Nicely."

"Nicely? Fuck off," Azula said, rolling her eyes, even though she didn't raise her voice again. "I've been stuck with this annoyance for a year. And she can't even figure out her problems and help herself out of my head! I'm quite certain it can't be a nice place to inhabit, even I would like a break from myself from time to time, so I sincerely doubt that she's…!"

"W-well… you're quite smart. I do like the way you think, even if you do things that aren't that nice. But you're so skilled at seeing through people, at devising plans quickly, and…!"

"Stop it! I want no pointless, ridiculous, empty praise from you!" Azula scoffed. Sokka grimaced.

"She was praising you again?" he asked. Azula snorted.

"I know! It's maddening," Azula shook her head.

"What… what was she praising about you?" Sokka asked, puzzled. Azula stared at him skeptically. "I'm just wondering…!"

"She said I'm smart. That she likes the way I see through people," Azula said, with a sardonic grin. "And I'll give her a new one right now: you're thinking there's nothing about me worth praising, aren't you?"

"What? No! I mean, there definitely are things I'd praise about you, but I'm just… surprised that Yue would pick up on them?" Sokka said, with a weak smile. Azula glared at him.

"You're a worse liar than she is."

"I'm not lying, though! You are smart as hell, that's why you're a menace to begin with!" Sokka squeaked. "And along with that, you're an incredibly powerful firebender, the strongest one alive as far as I know..."

"And don't you forget it," Azula said – somehow, his words were hitting the right place that Yue's seldom ever did.

"And you're…!" Sokka started, before freezing where he was. He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Anyway…"

"I'm… what?" Azula said, raising an eyebrow. Sokka grimaced.

"Can I tell you later?"

"Later, when?"

"Later when Yue can't hear it," he said. Azula scoffed.

"What? You're…? Oh, wait. You were going to praise my godlike beauty, weren't you?" Azula smirked, turning towards the pond again. "See how reliable he is? You're so stuck on him and hung up on the fool who can't see half a pretty girl without thinking…"

"You're much prettier than what you think you are!"

Azula froze: Yue's eagerness caught her off guard entirely as the reflection in the pond almost seemed flustered to say it.

"I wasn't about to say it because I knew you'd think I was lying, but it's not a lie!" Yue exclaimed, enthusiastically. "You're a very beautiful lady. Or, uh, well… runaway. I don't know what term you'd prefer for me to use…"

"Can spirits get hit on the head and lose all sense?" Azula asked. Yue blinked blankly.

"W-well… maybe? I don't know. Could they?"

"I'm asking because I'm starting to think that's what happened to you!" Azula exclaimed. Yue winced. "I'm taunting you, damn it: he's your ex! He's awkward about praising another girl's beauty in front of you! Why would you…?"

"Oh! Oh. Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, actually. A lot of girls are beautiful after all, many of whom I never knew, many of whom I never will. But I can see you very clearly sometimes, and I know that you're…"

"That's not the point, damn you!"

"Well, if you think I should be jealous… I'm jealous of a lot of things, actually. But that's neither here nor there."

"Oh, so you are jealous after all? Of… of what?" Azula said, frowning. Yue bit her lip and shrugged. "Yue…"

"Let's just say… I just want Sokka to be happy," Yue smiled, hands upon her chest. "I want him to live a full life, too. That I can't do it… it's no reason for him not to. And if he likes a girl, or loves one, well… I hope he'll find all the happiness with her that I couldn't grant him."

"You… you can't be this nice. That's ridiculous," Azula said, with a disgusted expression across her face. "Moreover, why are we discussing this at all?! Get into the fish!"

"I can't do it, I said. And with you being this cranky and constantly pretending I'm lying, I feel even more disinclined to stay in the pond forever."

"What, you're going to hound me until I decide your way of thinking and living is correct?" Azula asked, with a sardonic smile. "Well, yippie, then! Yue is right about everything, ever! Sokka is allowed to ogle every girl that crosses his path because she just wants him to be happy, like the absolute selfless koala-bear cub that she is!"

"Hey, don't talk to her like that!" Sokka huffed, though he frowned. "But… she said that? For real?"

"That she just wants you to be happy? She did. Isn't it ridiculous?" Azula said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Sokka frowned. "What? You're not going to tell me that…"

"I feel the same way about her."

Azula raised an eyebrow. Sokka's face shifted into a fierce mask… one that gave away his regrets and remorse far more profoundly than anything else might. She blinked blankly.

"Well, that's… good. Good for you," Azula said with a sarcastic smile. "But it has nothing to do with me. In fact, as you're both such selfless, pure, kind souls, maybe you should look into turning into the black fish. The ocean, right? Go on, do that, swim with her forever. Or, better yet, become her host in my stead. How about you do that? Then you can spend your life looking at your reflection in a mirror and telling Yue that you want her happiness while she tells you she wants yours and…! And I'll be free. Which is all that matters to me. How about it?"

"I… look, I'd take her off your hands if I could, but if she doesn't know how to go about it, neither do I," Sokka said, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "At best, maybe we could ask Aang if…"

"Not a chance. You're not involving the Avatar in this. Three's already a crowd, the Avatar would turn it into a full-blown party," Azula said, shaking her head.

"I don't know what to do, okay?" Sokka said, with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry you're involved in this because... well, technically, it shouldn't have anything to do with you. You never even knew Yue and you've already spent a year stuck in this situation…"

"Exactly," Azula said, raising her hands emphatically before running her fingers through her hair.

"But at the same time… you're the only chance I have to communicate with her directly and figure out what's going on," Sokka said. Azula scoffed.

"Why would I…?"

"If we sort out what's going on with the moon?" Sokka said, gesturing towards the grey sphere in the sky. "Maybe we can break the two of you free from each other. So ask Yue… or tell me her answer, anyway, if something changed recently. Or rather, a year ago. Ask her… if there's something wrong and we can fix it. Please."

Azula frowned but turned towards the pond again. Yue gazed at her helplessly, and Azula crooked an eyebrow.

"Well? Cat-owl got your tongue? You're a lot more chipper than that, usually," she said.

Yue sighed, lowering her gaze. Something immediately alerted Azula that Yue might be lying when she answered that question… but that was no one of Azula's business, even if that were the case.

"I… I don't really know," Yue said, nervously. "One day… something crashed into the moon. I think it was a comet? I'm not sure, I don't really know what it was. I just felt it, and it jolted me around violently. It felt like something loosened up in me, I guess. Ever since, I… I've been able to see you. Whatever happened that day, I… I can see you and only a little bit around you. I see you through every reflection. But as for why it happened, or how, or what it was, I… I don't know any of that. I also don't know how to fix it."

"So, in short, you're not much use," Azula said, cuttingly. Sokka frowned. "You don't know what happened beyond this strange cosmic collision or what you need to do to fix it."

"Cosmic collision?" Sokka repeated.

"Something crashed against the dark side of the moon, or so she says. After that, she wound up here," Azula said, pointing at her head.

She didn't say more. Didn't pressure more. She could tell that Yue was hiding something. She didn't know if she could trust Sokka to keep his cool if he realized Yue wasn't being completely truthful about whatever she had just explained.

"Then… maybe something loosened up?" Sokka grimaced.

"If you're about to wonder how does someone fix the moon, why, don't ask me. Get your earthbending friend to fly across space and do it herself," Azula suggested. Sokka grimaced.

"She wouldn't go for it," he sighed. "But… damn. Then something did happen. Something physical. And maybe… maybe she's here because of a bigger reason than we know. Like… you know how sometimes people say spirits haunt the living because they have unfinished business?"

"And she does?" Azula asked, glancing at Yue in the pond with utter skepticism. Yue's eyes gleamed upon hearing Sokka's latest idea. "I don't know about that. What kind of unfinished business are we talking about here, and how would she go about fulfilling it? Because so far, I'm carrying her around with me, but she isn't controlling me or anything of the sort. So, if you get any funny ideas of being with her through my body or so…"

"If she can't even go into the fish, how's she going to possess you completely?" Sokka sighed. "Look, I know what it looks like, but… I get it. She's the girl I lost years ago. But I'm not that boy anymore. I'm fully grown… and I just want to do right by her. I failed Yue, okay? Right here, in this very place, I couldn't stop Zhao from doing what he did, I couldn't save her from her fate. I've carried that with me from the moment it happened and I don't think I'll ever stop being burdened by that, so…"

"So… that's it. It's your fault," Azula concluded. Sokka winced. "She can't go back to business as usual because she has to fix whatever's fucked up in your head."

"Wait, what? No! It… it can't be about me! There's a lot of people here who loved her too!" Sokka exclaimed, blushing. Azula hummed, glancing about herself.

"True, to a fault. I suppose… she had her people's love. Her father's love," Azula said, bitterly. "You were but a footnote."

"I… hey!"

"He was much more than that."

"Oh, really?" Azula regarded Yue with a sneer once more. Yue frowned.

"Sokka… was my first true friend. My first chance at knowing something beyond the boundaries of the North Pole. He… he was fascinating to me. Him and his sister and the Avatar… they were younger than me, but they were heroes in the making. I looked up to them. I wanted… I wanted to know what it was like. If I hadn't died, I… I would have liked to join Sokka one day, maybe, traveling the world. But of course, that never could happen, so…"

"So, it is his fault for giving you false expectations."

"That's not true. And… actually, I know now! If Sokka is right and I have unfinished business… it's because of the dreams and hopes I couldn't fulfill. If that's why I'm still here… then that's what you have to do. Azula: I want to see the world!"

"Oh, really, now? And you think I'm some sort of magical entity that grants wishes willy-nilly?" Azula asked, hands on her hips. "You want to see the world? In case you haven't noticed, Yue, I'm not exactly welcome anywhere in this damn planet, I'm not even supposed to be here to begin with. I can't take you anywhere you want to go."

"Wait… she wants to see the world, then?" Sokka said, a slow smile spreading over his face. Azula scoffed.

"What's it to you?" she said.

"Azula… this might just be the chance to fix things," he said. Azula rolled her eyes. "I know, this all sounds stupid to you… but it's not. I never could do anything for her, but if I can help you do this, if the two of us can show her the world…!"

"Wait, help me do this? You'd help me travel wherever she wants to go?" Azula asked, amused and dismissive. "I doubt even you can pull that off, Sokka, and…"

"And what if that's the only solution for this?" Sokka asked. "What if she won't leave until she's fulfilled, happy, satisfied with everything she saw?"

"Then she'll be unfulfilled, unhappy and unsatisfied for as long as I may live, and then we'll just go our separate ways once I die. I'll just spend my entire life burdened with a spirit that decided to hitch a ride in my head," Azula snapped, glaring at the pond again. Yue pouted.

"I might just leave if it works out. If we see all the places I'd like to see, I… I'll at least shut up more often. Can I offer you that much?"

"That's hardly worth anything, as far as promises go," Azula grumbled.

"Well, beyond doing this, I don't know what else we could do. And frankly, Azula, you could do much worse…"

"Oh, I could? And what made you the judge of that?"

"I won't be that needy, I won't be that picky! I just… I just want to experience things alongside you. I could be asking you for far worse, like… like spending a year or longer folding paper cranes so that they can fulfill my wish to, say, gain a new body so that I can experience all those things myself! Would you rather do that, instead?"

"Don't get cheeky with me, you…"

"Then listen to me, please: you came this far. I love my hometown and I missed it and I'm glad that we came…"

"Just admit that you told me to bring you to the fish just because you wanted to come back and see everything."

"Well, yes, but I did think this would work. I never imagined it wouldn't. When I sacrificed myself, I just flowed into Tui's body myself. I didn't expect it not to happen now… which I think means some part of me is still there, maybe. Either way, though… maybe all spirits go through moments like these. Where you suddenly regain access to the human world, and you long for what you've lost…?"

"Like a midlife crisis, but with spirits?"

"Yes! I mean, maybe? Does that make sense?"

"None of this makes the slightest bit of sense, Yue, so that question is unnecessary at the moment," Azula huffed, shaking her head.

"I'm just saying… I'm not asking you to do anything that awful. And besides, we both know that you're not even sure what to do next. Your friends weren't very nice the last time you were with them. So… why not give this a chance? Maybe, by traveling, we can also learn more about this kind of thing, about spirits and their cycles, and even learn if there's legends about the Moon Spirit that preceded me. Might be that they went on a journey like this! Right?"

"Beats me," Azula sighed, shaking her head and glaring at Sokka skeptically. "You."

"Me?" Sokka said, arms folded over his chest. "What is it? What is she saying?"

"She's adamant that she wants us to go on this damn road trip you proposed. You say you'd go too," Azula said. "You want to do right by that girl, which means you'll be stuck with me for the foreseeable future. Do you love her quite so much that you'd bear with me for that long?"

"Uh… yeah. I think so," Sokka said. Azula laughed.

"I have the feeling you're going to regret that," she said. Sokka shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said. "But then… we're doing this? We're traveling the world together?" he asked. Azula sighed heavily, rolling her eyes.

"I'm all out of ideas. And I have nothing better to do. Getting pushed around and annoyed to death by this fool sounds like all I've got at hand at the moment," Azula growled. Yue, despite the insults, grinned giddily at her. "I'll just say it's rather inappropriate of you to say you love her or that you want to do right by her when you're taken, Sokka. What would Suki say, I wonder?"

Yue winced, eyeing Azula guiltily. Azula teasingly mouthed the word 'homewrecker' at her, and Yue pouted in her direction as Sokka sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't know what she'd say. She'll be fine, though," Sokka said. Azula raised an eyebrow. "I've spent the last year trying to figure out how to help Yue, she knows I have, and I'm not about to stop now. So…"

"Terribly trusting of her if that's how it is," Azula said, a pang of guilt, and even envy, blooming in her heart. To think Sokka had someone who trusted him to that extent, to the point where she wouldn't mind seeing him off on a journey where he would be reconnecting, possibly, with his first love… a relationship of that nature had to be incredibly strong.

"Yeah, well, that's neither here nor there. Where's your hot-air balloon?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged. "I'll get my things and meet you there. Is that too much to ask?"

"I left it in a cave right past the city's walls," Azula said. "Yue navigated us into the city from there. Somehow, she didn't lead me astray. Can you get there on your own?"

"I hope so," Sokka said, breathing heavily. "I'll leave a message behind for the others to know I'm okay. I won't tell them about you, though. They'd hound us and hunt us down if I did."

"Just for the record… do you think you'll be safe, traveling with me?" Azula asked, amused. Sokka huffed.

"I'm not so brittle or breakable as to be scared of you like that, Princess," he said. Azula's amusement increased. "Along with that… if you did anything that could hurt me, I'm sure Yue would be very upset about it too. And then you'd get scolded by her constantly for having hurt me. You wouldn't want to put up with that, now, would you?"

His words did give her pause. Her amusement receded and she sighed as Sokka grinned proudly at her.

"Whatever. Meet me at the balloon in an hour. If you take any longer than that, we're leaving without you."

"Well, now, damn! No need to be so grumpy! In fact… wait here. I'll come back right here, we'll climb out, then we'll get to your balloon much easier that way. I don't know if I'd lose my way otherwise…"

"Get it over with quickly, then," Azula sighed, shaking her head.

Sokka grinned and sprung off through the wooden door at the other side of the oasis. Azula watched him go at first, before focusing her gaze on Yue. The Princess in the water smiled warmly at her.

"What weren't you telling me before? I didn't ask in front of him, but I ask now," Azula said. Yue winced. "Something's wrong with you, isn't there? Something weirder than we know. What's your purpose, exactly?"

"I'm not lying when I say that I wish I knew. But I really, really don't," Yue said, gazing at Azula earnestly. "Moreover… you'll be better off just enjoying the journey."

"Isn't the journey about you? You're the one who ought to enjoy it, not me," Azula huffed. Yue smiled.

"Going on the road with Sokka… I barely even let myself imagine that possibility. You haven't really set out yet, but it already feels like you'll help me fulfill a dream, Azula. Thank you."

"Why on earth are you so hung up on him?" Azula grimaced. "Not that I can't tell that he loves you lots, but… you are a Princess. Surely there were other better catches for you…"

"He's very handsome. You know he is."

"That's not my point," Azula said, stubbornly. "He's annoying, obnoxious, rambunctious, sanctimonious, loud…"

"He's fun. He's caring. He's kind. He's loyal. He loves people with his whole heart."

"Don't you think maybe you idealized him a little much?" Azula said. Yue giggled and shrugged.

"Then maybe I'll get to know him better, his real self, thanks to you. I do want to know what kind of man he has grown into… what kind of person he has been ever since I lost him. You could be right, but… I won't know unless we travel with him, anyway."

"Say what you will… I don't like setting out on this journey when you have ulterior motives," Azula said, curtly.

"Funny thing for you to say, considering you've been up to no good and having ulterior motives with everything you do for as long as I've known you, and most likely all your life…"

"Sass doesn't befit someone who looks as delicate as you."

"Unfortunately, I have plenty to offer you even so," Yue said, stubbornly. "I know you don't want to trust me. You don't want to trust anyone. But I swear… I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Or to Sokka. I want this journey to be… well, liberating for all three of us. It might do you good, even beyond what you expect. Don't you think?"

"Beyond cutting you loose and out of my brain? Perhaps," Azula said, curtly.

A journey with no ill intent, no deeper meaning beyond… sightseeing. Traveling. Tourism, she supposed. The concept was odd, out of place, especially considering she was a wanted criminal in at least two nations. Then again, a devious part of her couldn't help but wonder if she could give people the slip… if she could escape notice and avoid capture by Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation forces alike. Mocking Zuko and King Kuei that way certainly had its appeal…

She smirked after that. The Avatar's friend as her companion might just be a boon rather than a curse too, provided he could give her access to places she couldn't reach as herself. She could very well go incognito, hide behind other identities…

"Maybe you truly were a blessing in disguise all along," Azula told Yue: the Princess's reflection in the water offered her a broad grin.

Five minutes later, Sokka turned up. Azula nodded in his direction, and he cast one last glance at the pond, at the place where he had lost Yue, before setting out, following Azula in the uphill climb out of the oasis, and towards her hidden hot-air balloon. Strange circumstances had brought them together, but for the first time in a year, Sokka had broken his standstill… he was ready to get going. If there was anything left for him to do to help Yue find peace, he'd endeavor to do it, without question.

They faded from view again. The light faded, once they did.

Yue smiled, tightly hugging herself as she sat in place, in that unsettling darkness with tendrils that wrapped around her legs, slowly rising. She simply wanted to wait for the next glimpse into Azula's world, for any sign of life, of wonderment… of the fulfillment she ever felt whenever she could see the woman she had connected with.

"Yue…!"

A deep growl, and afterwards, a devious chuckle. The smile froze over her face, and tears bloomed in her eyes.

"You still have hope, I see! Hope, hope, hope, you silly girl, you beautiful girl, you wicked girl…! You know they cannot save you. You know no one can save you. No one would care to. Not even that boy you crave so much…"

She didn't truly crave him that way anymore. It didn't matter if she explained: no one listened. They thought they understood her human needs… they truly didn't. She knew her fate had been sealed when she gave up her life to save the Moon Spirit, and that all hope of a future with him had died at that moment. There was but one thing she wanted anymore, and it was all she could possibly want…

"You are safe here, with me. You are mine here, mine! Mine alone! And you will never belong to anyone else again!"

The tear spilled. She covered her ears: it didn't suffice to keep the noise from booming inside her head, reminding her bitterly that she would never go free… never again.

#sokkla #sokklasaturdays #sokkla saturdays 2023 #sokka #azula #yue #I have no idea where this plot came from honestly #I had no idea what I was going to do this year #but lightning strikes sometimes #maybe it's DJATS's soundtrack's doing #I may have listened to The River an unhealthy amount of times before and after starting this #and without realizing it a lot of lines in the song actually can connect to what I wrote #funny things are funny that way #anyhow #hope you guys enjoy this one!#consider it yet another of my middle fingers at people pretending multiple things are impossible #shit's only impossible when you're a writer if you want it to be #redeeming Azula without cruelty or violence or sanctimonious selfrighteous crap to guilt-trip her into her growth #is 100% possible #and this story shall stand as proof of that #so have at it!

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