law-of-nines

[law-of-nines]

Sokka: You love me no matter what, right Zuko? Zuko: What did you do? Sokka: Nothing. Sokka: By the way do you know where Space Sword is? Zuko: . . . What will you do?

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"Philtatos," Achilles replied, sharply. Most beloved.”

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History, uh?

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“In the Darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.” [The Song Of Achilles- Madeline Miller]

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"My pulse jumps, for no reason I can name. He has looked at me a thousand thousand times, but there is something different in this gaze, an intensity I do not know. " [The song of Achilles- Madeline Miller]

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Regulus and Sirius: We listen and we don’t judge.

Regulus: I’m dating your best friend

Sirius:

Regulus: We listen and we don’t judge

Sirius: I’m dating your best friend

Regulus:

Sirius: We listen and we don’t judge

[law-of-nines]

“Use your gifts and your talents to greatest possible effect while you can. Spread joy wherever possible. Laugh at jokes. Tell jokes. Make puns and bugger the embuggerances. Read books. Read my books. You might like them. You might find something else you like even more than them. Look for these things in life.

Question authority. Champion good causes. Speak out against injustice. Do not tolerate bullies or bigots or racists or anti-intellectuals or the narrow-minded. Use your education to challenge them. Broaden their perspectives. Make the world you interface with a happier place.

These are your choices. Choices you have been fortunate to have been given, so don’t waste them while you have them. Don’t look back in years to come and wish you had grasped a fleeting opportunity. Grasp it now with both hands, Live. Strive. Love.”

from A Little Advice for Life taken from ‘Terry Pratchett: from birth to death, a writer.’

—Sir Terry Pratchett; April 28, 1948 – March 12, 2015

One of the greatest compliments I've ever received is that I resemble Sam Vimes.

Mind how you go.

[law-of-nines]

Wu and Mako have started dating. One day while Wu is off in Ba Sing Se, being king and all, Mako is really struggling with the distance. Korra, Asami, and Bolin take him out to distract him, and the conversation turns to “how did you and Wu even get to the point of dating.”

Cue, the whole love story, beginning with Mako as Wu’s bodyguard, and the long process of learning to see past the others facade and their (really only Mako’s) own annoyances.

Korra, Asami, and Bolin interrupt in the same way that Wu, Tu, and Grandma Yin do in S4 E8 Rememberences. Frankly this conversation does so much for the three of them understanding and befriending Wu—mostly bc they are roasting the crap out of Mako for how he handled falling in love and realizing/revealing his feelings. The next time they see Wu he is so confused bc they are so much nicer and closer to him than they were the last time he saw them.

Mako has to tell him that their newfound respect comes from the fact that Wu still loves him after he said thank you after their first kiss.

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My grandmother said be the change you want to see in the world. I'm not sure if she was talking about writing fanfiction for my new favourite rare pair but I have to assume she was.

Tw for mention of injury

...

It had been years since Bolins last attempt at metalbending. Sure, in his younger years he desperately wanted to be able to bend metal, but after discovering his lavabending developing that had been his primary focus for three years, and afterwards there never seemed to be much point with Wei nearly always by his side ready for any metalbending tasks they came across. Now, with his hands cuffed behind his back and Wei drifting in and out of consciousness he was cursing that decision.

Wei gave a grumble of pain from where his head rested in Bolins lap. "Hey" Bolin gave a weak smile. "How are you feeling?"

Wei slowly looked around thier small cell with unfocused eyes "How did we get here?"

"We were jumped." Bolin explained for the third time in what felt like days, but was probably only an hour or two.

"Oh." Wei slowly laid back down on Bolins lap. Bolin gently rubbed his arm as best he could with his hands behind him, trying not to show how worried he was. Head injuries varied in severity from "eh, you'll be fine" to "get medical attention NOW" and he knew that memory issues and difficulty staying awake were symptoms of the latter category. He really needed to get Wei out of here.

Bolin dipped his head and closed his eyes. He rested the tips of his fingers against the metal of his cuffs and focused. He knew that metalbenders didn't really bend metal, but instead the tiny impurities within the metal. Theoretically he should be able to do this. Theoretically.

Bolin thought of Suyin and what she had told him when teaching him seismic sense, that the first earthbenders, the badgermoles were blind and navigated by hearing and feeling and that sight was the least important sense in earthbending. He blocked out everything but him and the cuffs, feeling for the earth.

Bolin thought of Lin who so fully embodied the spirit of earthbending. To be stubborn and unmoving. To know that the earth would move because I told it to move. He pushed all other possibilities out of his mind. This metal was going to bend and he was the one who was going to bend it.

Bolin thought of Toph, without sight, but able to see so much more than anyone else. How she saw only the truth because your eyes can lie to you, but the earth will never lie. Bolin slowly began to tap on the cuffs with his finger tips.

Finally, Bolin thought of Wei. His boyfriend. The man he wanted to spend his life with. The first person he had ever loved like this. He thought of every moment they had ever spent together, from that first attempt at metalbending in zaofu, to rescuing him from kuvira, bringing down kuviras enormous mecha suit together, confessing thier love to each other and all of thier travels together for the past few years. He thought of Weis laugh, the way he always jumped to protect the ones he loved, his fearlessness in almost any situation.

Bolin focused as hard as he could on finding the impurities within the cuffs as he tapped on them. Tap. Tap. Tap. There! Slightly below his left pinky finger was a nugget of earth. It was tiny, a quarter of a grain of sand but it was earth. Just below it was another chunk, half the size again, and then another, and another. Bolin reached for every one of the pieces of earth and, pouring all of his love for Wei into his strength he pulled.

The cuffs dropped with a clatter. Bolin stared at them, dumbfounded for a few seconds before shaking himself out of it and moving to gather Wei in his arms.

"Guess what." he whispered into his boyfriends ear as he stood "I can metalbend."

...

This fic has been kicking my butt so I gave one of my characters a head injury as punishment (plus I hate writing dialogue so...)

It was supposed to be a cute story of Bolin bending metal for the first time and getting happy and excited about it. Somehow it turned into a study of his relationship with various members of the Beifong family. Honestly no idea how that happened

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cant stop thinking about bolin having the skill of fake crying and one time he whips it out in an argument with mako and mako is just standing there with his arms crossed bc he knows its not real while korra and asami are appalled that hes being so mean. but then mako tells him to knock it off and bolin just stops crying instantly and like has a completely blank emotionless face and korra abd asami are like what the fuck

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weilin adopting a cat 🥹

Aww I can totally see them taking in a lot of animals. I think Bolin would be especially receptive to stray animals, since he can maybe relate to them. So I can see him one day just coming into the house with a stray kitten or even a few like "They didn't have a momma, Wei 🥺" and Wei just CANNOT say no to Bolin's puppy eyes so he just sighs and starts getting together supplies.

Bolin would be an amazing cat dad lol. He plays with the cats and cuddles them and takes really good care of them. But I don't think Wei would slack off either. He's much more organised than Bolin, so he's usually in charge of feeding schedules and the more mundane stuff.

Pabu was at first suspicious of the cats, but ended up warming up to them. The kittnes probably saw Pabu as a big brother/parent and would follow him around and eventually break him down until he's like this lol:

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I watched Korra again for the Weilin but I still Don’t Get It even though I want to!!! Can you give me the rundown/pitch/Weilin 101??

Oh boy I am so sorry I made such a fuss to over weilin you felt like you needed to rewatch the show for it.

So basically, Wei and Bolin don't have many interactions in canon. In fact I would say that there are only two scenes that properly count as one on one interactions. Its also important to note that the only Beifong twin Bolin ever interacts with as a singular person rarher than a pair is Wei. He never interacts with Wing unless he is addressing both twins.

The first interaction between Bolin and Wei is during B3 when Bolin is trying and failing miserably to learn metalbending. Wei seems annoyed to be stuck with someone who doesn't know metalbending and decides to sandwich Bo between two metal plates. As you do.

He then claims that 'trial by fire' is the best way to learn metalbending. Since Wei is such a minor character, we don't know enough about him to be able to fully pinpoint where this action came from. Does Wei genuinely think that bodily harm is the best way to learn a martial art? Was he trying to distract Bolin from his constant failure to bend metal? Was this the equivalent of a puppy biting someone as an attempt to initiate playtime? Is he just a douche?

We will probably never know. Thanks nickelodeon.

Bolin does eventually return the gesture in kind, getting his own petty revenge. And hitting Wei in the head with a pebble.

I like this scene, because it showcases Bolin's pettier side. One that rarely, if ever comes out with his canon romantic interests. Bolin is a character that has a habit of reigning in his less palatable traits, in order to appeal more to the people around him. His petty and more sarcastic nature is reserved mainly for Mako, probably the person he feels most comfortable with.

I think it's a very fun thing to see this side of him flare up with this random guy and it gave me thought about how their relationship could incorporate this. Wei enjoying pressing Bolin's buttons, causing Bolin to showcase more of his more authentic self.

They so seem to both have a passion for sports and earthbending which is cute. They're both competitive which adds some nice flavour and potential spicy sparring scenes.

The next scene is the famed catch n' pat.

Youre gonna tell me this wasn't at least a bit fruity?

The prolonged eye contact? The damsel in distress imagery? Bolin's lil smirk that is soon replaced with bisexual confusiom?

Imo they have a lot of chemisrty in both these scenes and make me want more of their relationship.

I also think it would be very interesting to see Bolin develop feelings for a guy. We see that he puts his female love interests on a certain pedestal. Id assume this is due to a rather naive and innocent view of love, most likely due to the fact that he didn't get to emotionally mature enough to acknowledge that romance isn't like what the fairytales say it is.

It would be interesting to see Bolin not get to 'court' said male romantic interest like he usually does. Bolin wouldn't be as 'showmany' with a guy friend than with a girl he'd like to seduce. This causes an interesting dynamic to the relationship if Bolin were to want to seduce said guy, who has seen him with his guard down.

Also seeing comphet boy Bolin going through a crisis of sexuality because his (ex?) girlfriend's brother patted his face is very appealing to me

I think what entices me in weilin is being able to have a dynamic no other ship could fully offer Bolin. And the potential of character growth it could afford Bolin, a character whose complexity is often overlooked, much to my upset. Personally, I dislike all of Bolin's canon relationships, so when Weilin came chemistry guns a blazing I was very intrigued. And then I fell down the rabbit hole and now im here.

If you have any more questions on Weilin please feel free to ask! I'm over the moon to ramble about them to whoever will listen. Hope this was enough to start you off with.

Also, if you're interested, I have a concerningly long essay on the subject because I am very sane and normal about them:

Rest assured my feelings have since evolved and i now have more reasons to ship them.

I guess there's so much fun to have with this ship and the dynamics and stories they could have.

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Sure we can rag on Bolin for not realising he joined the Earth Kingdom equivalent of the Nazi party and call him an idiot for it (deserved) but honestly I can't really fault him for it?

Like the ostrich effect is a thing and we are watching it in full effect here. We've seen that Bolin is a character that deals very poorly with conflict. Like it's super obvious he'd avoid standing up to Kuvira as much as he could.

One of Bolin's biggest hurdles as a character is that he is looking for a purpose, the rest of team Avatar having 'found themselves'. So it's not out of character for him to join Kuvira.

I feel like he's also compensating for the loss of Korra, who was in recovery at the time by following Kuvira.

It's very obvious that Korra had a huge impact on Bolin's life, as she did with all of Team Avatar. But Bolin had definetly attached himself very strongly to her. He's been following Mako around his entire life, been a follower for most of his life. And then his first real friendship outside of family follows a similar pattern.

Korra is like the perfect character for Bolin to project his weird codependency thing onto. She's an effortless leader, very forceful, decisive and straightforward. Someone who he can easily listen to and carve out a path he can follow. And following the Avatar around allows him to do something worthwile and good. To actually help. With the added benefit that it gets him people's approval, something he so clearly desperately needs and craves.

Then Korra becomes so injured that she has to be placed in physical therapy for an indeterminate ampunt of time.

So Bolin projects that need and codependency on someone else. Kuvira. In his argument with Mako he states it clear as day: 'I mean, Kuvira is basically just like Korra. She might seem hard to deal with, but just because she's so passionate and believes in what she's doing.'

He gets to continue doing good and making people like him while under very clear orders he can follow.

I mean, this boy is traumatised. Clearly, Mako took the brunt of the horrors of their childhood, but it would be incredibly stupid to say that Bolin isn't fucked up as well. Clearly in a different way but fucked up nonetheless. I think this codependency thing is something both brothers benefitted from as kids but that's a conversation for another day.

And the events of the first three books are also traumatic?

Like he's just been part of a civil war/end of the world so excuse him for hoping to catch a break. I will once again refer you to the ostrich effect. Another war breaking out is probably like worst case scenario in his mind.

I feel like for him, if he opens his eyes to what Kuvira is doing is accepting that there is once again a 'big conflict' in his life. And that his loved ones are once again in danger. And worse, that he's contributed to it.

I can also see it all being a case of 'well ive waded neck deep into this swamp, now i gotta see this through'. Like he's sunk so much time and energy into this cause, it can't be all wrong, right?

Sure, ego is probably a big part of his behaviour. Everyone is telling him that Kuvira is bad and that automatically puts up the defences. Bit I can see how these warnings feel like a direct personal attack at Bolin himself. He was also incredibly isolated from most of his friends when serving Kuvira. Other than Zhu Li and Varrick, who aren't exactly peers.

So he's lonely on a train most of his time and when he does reuinte with his loved ones they start criticising his life choices . I can see him getting defensive and automatically resistant to critisism.

And Kuvira is also shown to be very good at emotuonal manipulation and threats and stuff. And Bolin, a chronic people pleaser whith a lot of trauma is, like, the perfect victim for those shenanigans. Bolin is canonically bad at reading situations that are detrimental to him (look at the entirety of his relationship with Eska)

You know, sure, he's an idiot for staying with her as long as he did. But it's not as black and white as a lot of people make it out to be?

[law-of-nines]

Reasons why YOU should ship Bolin and Wei Beifong:

1.Gay🏳️‍🌈

The Avatar universe has a lot of WLW characters, but not many MLM ones. And having another member of team avatar be comfirmed as queer is always a good thing (they're all canonicaly queer in my heart tho).

Also having Bolin be queer adds a lot of interesting dimension to the character, eapecially to his previous interactions with female love interests. I've always headcanoned Bolin as very comphet. Discovering you're queer is something I wish were more explored with Korrasami, but Bolin 'i have a new heterosexual love interest nearly every season' would also be an imteresting character to follow through that process. Feel like it would give him an existential crisis and I want to see that bisexual disaster happen.

Especially if contrasted by Wei, who comes from the very liberal Zaofu. Look me in the eyes and tell me Su doesn't support gay rights. Zaofu is like the gayest city in the Avatar universe. Just look at their slay outfits and Aiwei's cool nosering.

2.Good Chemistry

Between the cute little sparring moment with the pebble and the famed rescue scene, these two do have some excellent chemistry. Look at them. LOOK AT THEM.

The lil 'you impressed?' eyebrow raise and smirk from Bolin. Wei's smile. THE PAT PAT. Bolin's little confused bi moment. The fact that they're just CHILLIN with Bolin holding Wei bridal style while Toph is RIGHT THERE and the fact that they're in such a high stress situation and that the rest of Wei's family needs to be rescued. BUT NO, THEY'RE JUST STARING INTO EACH OTHER'S EYES BECAUSE THEY'RE IN LOVE, YOUR HONOUR.

3.Rivals to friends? to enemies to friends again to lovers???

Wei and Bolin's first interaction is a little squabble during sparring, where Wei sandwiches Bolin with 2 metal plates and Bolin smacks Wei with a pebble. They've got this whole cute little rivalry thing going on and i think it's adorable.

Assumedly, they start getting along more after Bolin and Opal start dating. This probably doesn't last long, since after Bolin joins Kuvira, his relationship with the Beifongs probably sours tremendously. Even outside of a shipping context I would wanna know what Bolin's relationship with the other Beifongs was at the time.

I imagine especially after the Beifongs get captured by Kuvira's forces, Wei wouldn't be too inclined to like Bolin. But when Bolin comes to rescue them, Wei is the first to get tossed over, which would require a lot of trust in both Lin and Bolin. And Wei's first interaction with Bolin after Bolin catches him is *ahem* very friendly. Which seems to imply that, at the very least, Bolin is somewhat forgiven.

I also think it's really fucking cute that Bolin brought metal wires for Wing and Wei to bend and I'm devastated that we didn't get the scene of him giving them to the twins. I am shaking my stick at the heavens as we speak.

Presumably, fighting side by side against Kuvira would have Wei and Bolin bonding more and perhaps striking up a genuine friendship. I love it when gays bond over traumatic events. It's the purest form of courtship.

Also whenever the twins are standing next to Bolin, Wei is always the one closer to the guy... like i know im grasping at straws here but i just... im not sane anymore

4.Lavabending/metalbending symbolism

Do I need to say more? They're both talented in two of the most prominent earthbending substyles. Also there is interesting symbolism to Bolin having struggled to learn metalbending his entire life and failing but then getting a metalbender boyfriend could be really cute. THEY LITERALLY COMPLETE EACH OTHER GUYS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

(also you can't tell me that Wei wouldn't find lavabending incredibly.... hot....)

5.Tension filled sparring

Their first interaction was a sparring session during which they were playing litte dirty tricks on each other. Also we all love sexually charged sparring sessions.

6.Detecting lies/performer symbolism

So I've kinda talked at length about how Bolin is a 'performer'. (Which @thenamescaba has pointed out could very well be masking. Bolin is very autism) Bolin often seems to act in a manner that would make people like him, rather than genuinely. Which is pretty in line qith his childhood. Assumedly being homeless didn't win him any perks socially, so now he's compensating by trying to garner as much positive attention as he can nowadays.

This can have an interesting contrast with Wei, who comes from a family with the ability to detect lies and assumedly also has this skill. I could totally imagine Wei calling Bolin out on contorting himself in order to be more likeable.

7.Height/Size difference

This is just self indulgent to be honest. I headcanon all the Beifongs as a pretty short family in general and while I'm pretty sure that Wei isn't very small, I have a soft spot for tall/average characters who are absolutely dwarfed by their giant, bulky partners. Also, how strong is Bolin because he is just holding a guy his age with apparently no effort???

8.Daring rescue/princess carry aesthetic

Listen, fairytales had this trope down pat for a reason. Sure it's cliche and overdone but it is a guilty pleasure for a lot of folks. Plus, I do think there's a lot of humour a usually capable metalbender having a major case of damsel-in-distressitis.

There is also the fact that the scene is unintentionally (or intentionally, i feel like SOMEONE in the writer's room has it out for me) paralleling the Nuktuk posters, for which Bolin posed with a love interest.

9. The Freedom/belonging contrasts

Now this here is a stretch, but an interesting and fun one. With Bolin we see a huge, underlying theme of him 'trying to find himself', practically feom the first season. He bounces from job to job, tries new things but nothing feels good enough. This probably stems from his childhood in the streets, he may be compensating for all the lost opportunities or something else. What does matter is that Bolin is 'untethered' and floating rather aimlessly, to his great distress. It's shown in book 2 that he envies the rest of team Avatar, who have already found their places in life.

Now, for Wei we can only use context clues and his siblings as reference but bear with me. We see that Suyin is a slightly overprotective mother, who would rather all her kids stay at home with her. We see this with Opal's hesitance to leave doe the Air Temples and with how harshly Su reacted when Kuvira nad Baatar Jr left Zaofu. This, paired with the fact that Wing and Wei are the only ones of their siblings who are 'upholding the legacy of their mother and grandmother ' might place them under a lot of pressure.

Therefore, Wei, in stark contrast to Bolin has a firmly set place in the world, one from which it would be incredibly difficult to free himself. This is completely different from Bolin, who , while he hasn't found himself yet has the freedom to be whomever he wants to.

One could set forth the idea that Wei and Bolin envy one another.

Bolin, envying Wei for having everything Bolin had wanted as a child. A stable family and life and a meaningful legacy. While Wei could be jealous of Bolin being able to forge his own path, instead of treading water.

10.Good angst potential

Being in love with your sisters boyfriend (why yes, I cannot look at Satisfied from Hamilton the same way, how did you know) is angsty even of itself, but then said boyfriend joins your fascist estranged siblings? Is this a greek tragedy? Especially that the twins and Opal seem rather close, so I think it would be unlikely that Wei would try to interfere in his sister's happiness.

Even as an unrequited romance, weilin provides a lot of potential for an amazing story. And we get to torture one of Toph's grandkids. As a treat.

On Bolin's side, realising you're queer can be a long and arduous process, especially if you've been taught otherwise. And I don't exactly believe the Triple Threats would be super accepting. This could also lead to some really sweet moments between Bolin and Mako, because Mako, for all his flaws is a very good big brother. And Korrasami could be the cool bi mentors. DO YOU SEE MY VISION. (Also Opal would be 100 percent supportive she's an absolute queen)

11.Good comedy potential

Just two himbos, dumb as the rocks they bend, tryna get together but both being too stupid and nervous to actually take the plunge.

Bolin is usually very forward with his advances, but perhaps trying to get with a guy the first time would feel like unfamiliar territory and make him even more nervous. And even so, Bolin's usual flirting is a sight to behold.

While we don't exactly know how Wei would react to this i can see him being a bit of a tsun. He just has that vibe. I could also see him not knowing how to react to being flirted with, since I can imagine that he spent most of his childhood isolated with his siblings.

I can totally imagine them both being much too awkward to make the first move and everyone around them being absolutely mentally exhausted by this weird little himbo mating ritual.

12.Because i said so

[law-of-nines]

I am a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of buddy comedies. And there are some fantastic fan works. And I have my own world of headcanon and thoughts. And one doesn’t even have to squint to see the subtext in Ruins of Empire. But what I love so much about Wuko is how well it works within canon and how well Wu and Mako actually fit together. Their character arcs and motivations blend together so well and they influence and care for each other in a way that I just think is really lovely.

Because Mako’s influence on Wu is fairly obvious and stated in the show. He’s there to help bring Wu down to earth and help him be ready to take over the Earth Kingdom. He’s the first person to treat Wu as a person and not royalty or fame and really makes him question his beliefs and values. And Wu relies so heavily on Mako in Book 4 and is so explicit in his affections.

But Wu is also so good for Mako and really compatible with his characteristics and arcs. Arguably the most important, or at least most obvious, character trait of Mako’s is Mako as protector. He raised Bolin and kept him alive on the streets. He joined a gang to protect Bolin. He did probending to have money to protect Bolin. His main motivation throughout the show is to protect the people he loves, the city he loves, and the rest of the world — in that order. I think his need to protect is one of the big things that led to the downfall of his relationships with Korra and Asami. For him, caring for and loving someone means protecting them — in a way that Korra and Asami did not need. But if you pair him with Wu, who not only needs but also wants this protection, then he’s not going to be in a place where he’s constantly undermining the independence and ability of his partner.

But even beyond that, Wu is a really good partner for Mako. Korra (and Asami to a lesser extent) showed care for Mako the same way Mako did for her, and in consequence they undermined and undervalued each other. But Wu takes care of Mako in a different way than Mako takes care of him. Forcing him to relax with smoothie breaks and encouraging him to talk and (and I can’t emphasize this enough) listening to his advice and opinions. Wu lets Mako give him advice and actually listens to his thoughts, something that Korra just didn’t do when they dated (not Korra slander — Book 2 was a lot). So even while Wu clings and plays damsel in distress, he lets Mako be more than his role as protector, without demanding that he abandon that core part of his identity.

And I just think that’s really neat. There aren’t many other non-canon ships that I think are so compatible within canon. Even with how underdeveloped Wu’s character is in Book 4, I think their characters work unbelievably well together. They just fit and lift each other up.

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Nimona (2023) + text posts

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I wish all my writers a happy new year. May all your stories finally be written, sentences be completed, emotions be evoked with beautifully crafted words, readers be moved to tears, the urge to create be satisfied.