#/calling ghazan strong

[bendingmuses]

@untoldwithin sent: " I can't tell you how glad I am to see you unbroken. you always were strong. " 一 zaheer to ghazan

"I'm an earthbender. We're as hard to break as earth itself," Ghazan replied with a self-satisfied smirk. "Besides, I had a feeling we'd see each other again. Call it stubbornness, or whatever you like, but I knew the White Lotus couldn't keep us all locked up forever. They'd run out of time eventually."

[idkjustletmescroll]

Why do we love the red lotus so much?

It’s no secret that among the avatar/lok fandom that the red lotus in season 3 are some of the legend of korra’s most beloved villains. I started to wonder why that is, and I’m writing down all my thoughts because of course I am.

1: Cool character designs

Visually, the red lotus are super-interesting, especially when you put them altogether. Zaheer’s all-gray monochrome look and his little change from long hair and beard to baldness, and his eyebrow scar. Ghazan and his tattoos and that mustache he grew when he was ten. Ming-Hua is small but mighty, waterbends without arms and uses said waterbending AS ARMS, another shining example of the avatar franchise’s portrayal of disability. And P’li being a seven-feet-tall combustionbender with a cool braid. They look cool. What more do you need?

2: They’re human

Probably part of what makes the red lotus so popular is that they feel pretty human. Obviously Zaheer is the leader of the group, and I’d personally have loved some more moments reminiscent of the “seriously? right now?” scene, but they’re clearly all besties. Ghazan, as mentioned above, complaining about P’li and Zaheer making out in the truck; P’li getting a piggyback ride from Ming-Hua on her way out of prison and calling her a show-off; Ming-Hua calling the boys ugly mugs; Ghazan commenting, upon seeing Zaheer fly for the first time, that “i guess [Zaheer] doesn’t need a ride”; etc. They have distinct personalities from each other, with Zaheer being the planner and leader, P’li being quiet and menacing (unless she’s with her friends and her man), Ghazan being the chill, laid-back one, and Ming-Hua being snarky and hot-tempered. P’li and Zaheer obviously have their romance, which is sweet even if fans (*cough* me *cough*) would’ve loved to see more of it. They work incredibly well together as a team and in battle. Ghazan worries about P’li when she’s injured at Zaofu, P’li gets mad at Zaheer when he gets discovered on Air Temple Island and alerts the city to their presence, Ming-Hua and Ghazan are visibly surprised, sad, and confused all at once when Zaheer achieves flight and they learn that P’li is dead, Ming-Hua has the odd habit of sitting in trees and the backs of chairs instead of the actual chair...there are plenty of little moments that drive home the fact that they’re people who care deeply about each other.

3: They’re badass af

I mean, seriously. Zaheer was arguably more feared than the other three even as a non-bender, and is beaten with airbending only by his overconfidence and airbending inexperience against strong bending masters. P’li is a combustion bender who can a) talk, and b) curve her combustion beams. Ghazan is the franchise’s first canon lavabender, and Ming-Hua is its first bender who’s missing limbs. She supposedly uses her torso and legs to waterbend, despite the popular fan theory that she also uses at least some psychic bending. They have unique abilities that expand the possibilities of bending, make for unique and interesting fight scenes, and give our heroes a genuine challenge. Neither side is ridiculously powered-down; Bolin and Mako put up a good fight against Ming-Hua and Ghazan, for example, given their two seasons of battle experience and previous pro-bending careers, but still get their asses kicked and are captured, because they’ve never fought these kinds of benders before! How the hell do you stop a lady who can basically waterbend with her mind? How can Bolin stop Ghazan when all of Bolin’s ammunition is thrown right back at him in an even deadlier form? 

4: No canon backstories

Hear me out here: I do agree that we could’ve gotten more hints of their backstories and how they all met, etc., but they don’t have a canon backstory like Amon, giving them that air of mystery. I love speculating on their pasts, which I couldn’t do if they had them in canon. But idk, I feel like this just depends on what you like in your villains.

In short, a large reason the red lotus is beloved is because they’re so different from anything we’ve previously seen in the franchise. They’re fresh, new faces who give us what is widely considered Legend of Korra’s best season.

[zuko-always-lies]

How would you change the prison's conditions of the Red Lotus into more humane while keeping them secure?

Well, I think the first critical thing to acknowledge when dealing with this issue is that fiction is created by people. You can't use Watsonian reasoning to refute a Doylist issue. It would have been easy for the writers to imagine a non-horrific way of restricting bending, like a drug which suppresses the ability to bend or some sort of technological device which does the same. Instead, the writers came up with the horrific and cruel "solutions" they could imagine, and the fact that ATLA specifically called out the methods used as awful and cruel only makes the situation worse.

Now, to give a more in-universe answer, what the Red Lotus members (particularly P'Li and Ming-Hua) were subjected to was so horrific that anything would be better. If we inserted the slightest bit of realism into the situation, their conditions would result in a slow and torturous death, so even just executing them would be more merciful. In fact, it would be relatively easy to confine Zaheer and Ghazan in more humane conditions. Zaheer was a good fighter, but he wasn't even a bender. Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, etc. were very skilled, but the Fire Nation had no real issue imprisoning them in fairly conventional prisons, and Zaheer could easily be held somewhere where he wasn't kept alone and in darkness 95% of the time. Likewise, Ghazan isn't a metal bender, so imprisoning him in an offshore rig with more humane accommodations shouldn't be difficult.

P'Li and Ming-Hua pose greater issues. I think putting a strong metal lock over her third eye is a fairly effective way to prevent her from combustion bending, but her firebending abilities pose a greater challenge. On the other hand, it worth noting that the Fire Nation of the Hundred Year's War was able to imprison even fairly powerful firebenders without much expectation of issues.

I can't think of any real obvious way to counter Ming-Hua, but it has occurred to me that some form of remote-controlled shock collar might be effective with all the Red Lotus benders. It does seem possible to chi-block someone without actually disabling their movements, so keeping Ming-Hua, P'Li, and Ghazan continuously chi-blocked could be possible. It isn't ideal for obvious reasons(!) but again anything is better than how they were treated in canon. I suppose you also might be able to individually maroon at least a couple members on some remote, deserted island.

And if the White Lotus "regretted" the "necessary" cruelty but were "forced" into it by a lack of alternatives, they could have always asked Korra to remove the bending of the Red Lotus members as a way to ease their confinement. Korra became able to energybend at the end of Book 1, and it was six months between that and the beginning of Book 2.

In any case, what it really comes down to is that the writers chose to write the "good guys" engaging in just about the maximum possible amount of cruelty.

[atalana]

[copied over from my cr blog, also this is gonna get long, i’d apologise but im not sorry]

okay, so

this is a rant probably about 7 years in the making, bc when i first watched lok i had not done any music study, i had not done any composing of my own, my knowledge of music theory was at a primary school level and i still thought tv soundtracks were just made by one person composing a whole cache of music and then the audio editors pick and choose what track to place where

(spoiler alert that’s not how film and tv scoring works, i have now done a music composition course where we had to score a short film, among other things, and i have so much more respect for tv composers jesus christ)

but this one stuck out to me even way back then, bc me barely knowing what a leitmotif was was like “hey this one little refrain keeps popping up whenever bolin does lavabending, and i like it, i’m gonna see if it’s on the soundtrack”

it was not, and that’s sort of where i left it back in 2014, but i actually did a rewatch of lok pretty recently out of nostalgia, and then noticed it even more

and to explain why (and this is also a little bit why five’s stuck out to me in tua, i’ll get to that in another ask), let’s cover, leitmotifs, and tv scoring in general

so a leitmotif is basically just a short musical idea that represents something in a piece of music. when i studied motivic development we were encouraged to make that motif four notes or less, and then develop it into something longer (aka a theme), because if you can constantly come back to a really short idea while keeping the piece moving, that’s what makes a piece of music memorable

(you can ignore those rules on purpose but that’s a different essay)

so the most common way that a leitmotif shows up in soundtracks is to represent a character or a location - you play the motif when that character shows up or when you’re in that location and boom, the audience associates that motif with that person place or thing, and you can then use this to tell the audience things without actually telling them. for example, star wars playing the imperial march whenever someone does something darth vader related - darth vader isn’t on screen, but you can feel his presence, because his music is playing

and if we were a film score, where we have two hours to show one particular character’s development, great! we give them a simple motif, and then as they grow as a person we change their motif to reflect what is happening to them, until we end up with something that communicates on a subconscious level how much they’ve grown. we toss in as much symbolism as we can, and we have a really great soundtrack that’s instantly memorable

tv scoring, is harder. partially because of time constraints (have you ever composed half an hour of original music a week, and had to make sure it fits perfectly with every beat of what’s happening on screen? these guys have), partially because there’s a much larger focus on ensemble casts

so what atla and lok do, for the most part, is not score individual character motifs for everyone. this is fairly common in tv soundtracks, instead we score ideas, concepts, and feelings - these’ll come up a lot more and give you more information than just “oh hey this character’s on screen”

the avatar state, for example, has the strongest and most recognisable theme across both shows. i’m linking an atla track in here because it has the best example but you’ll know this shows up with korra too - and with particularly important moments for wan, for kyoshi, etc. they also appear in the opening of both shows, four strong notes that start and end on the same note (in the case of what i’m linking, it’s an F#)

the first part of this track is the more uncertain, pensive theme that comes up when both avatars are feeling doubt/worry/sadness, but then it transitions into the more recognisable four. worth noting though, those are both basically the same motif. if i write them out back to back, you’ll notice they both have four notes and start and end on F#. if i had to guess, four notes four elements, and it comes back to the start because the avatar is a cycle.

korra has a theme for when she’s fighting, but not an individual character theme. the airbenders as a concept have a theme, republic city has thematic instruments, as do some big name characters, like iroh and his tsungi horn (this is also a cross-series thing, he’s always playing it in atla, it shows up when zuko has to make big moral decisions, and when we first meet iroh in the spirit world in lok, it shows up there too, to let the audience know who this is before we properly see him)

so, if korra doesn’t get a single theme and instead has several for different aspects of her life, and mako and asami follow along with the mood of the story like all the other characters, the fact that bolin has a personal leitmotif at all, let alone a solid, developing one, is pretty remarkable!

now, granted, it mostly starts with book 3, before then he was like every other character, but it has clear symbolism through those last two books! and, initially i thought it was related only to his lavabending, since that’s most of when it shows up, but since my rewatch, i’ve started calling it his hero theme

see, when people wanna criticise mako and bolin, usually the comments they get are that bolin’s too immature and mako’s too serious/uptight. but like, that’s how they work, you can’t analyse either of them without the context of the other. since they were little kids on the streets, bolin chases his heart and mako makes sure they don’t die from it, that is their entire childhood. and neither would have got here on their own because mako wouldn’t take the necessary risks and bolin wouldn’t take the necessary precautions. (like. remove either one from the equation and they’d still be working for the triple threats bc s1 and their flashback miniseries make pretty clear that bolin got them out and mako kept them out)

and then book 2 proves it! because it splits team avatar up, and what happens? bolin is totally taken advantage of by varrick and used as a pawn in his evil plan and mako ends up in jail

so what’s book 3, to them? it’s, being able to find themselves without having that codependency. mako no longer has someone to protect, which is what he’s based his whole life around so far - bolin’s doing fine and he’s no longer dating either korra or asami. and bolin’s trying his hand at some of that responsibility (look at how he immediately adopts kai who is explicitly them but younger because he wants to be the older brother for once). most importantly, they find the rest of their family, and stop being defined by being orphans. they don’t have to be that singular piece of a puzzle, they can just be themselves. and that’s where bolin’s character really starts to shine, because that’s when they bring in the bending plot, and bending, perhaps more than any other character, really gets to the heart of who bolin is

if you want more of my thoughts on that i have an essay here, but tl;dr: bolin’s an extremely powerful earthbender, but he’s not a metalbender because metalbending requires you to double down on the earth characteristics and think like an earthbender, and bolin doesn’t, he’s too fluid for that, which is one of his major strengths, so of course he can lavabend

and finally - to his motif itself! (as a note, i’ve put all of these in the same key to show where it repeats, but there’s a variety of keys used in the show)

as far as i can find, it first shows up in s3e8, when bolin stuns p’li with this well placed shot

[Edit: it first showed up in the s2 finale, but again in a simplified version and again with him doing something heroic with earthbending, so we can still start the analysis here]

mako volunteers bolin for that job, because he knew bolin was capable of it. why? because bolin landed an identical shot earlier in the episode, after trying to metalbend, getting frustrated he can’t, and cheating with some extremely well aimed earthbending. it’s just a short refrain and you barely notice it, but it’s the first connection of this motif with the theme of bolin’s bending

it looks like this, and it’s always played on a trumpet, which is part of why i call it the hero theme, because, if you’re looking at music from a western perspective, trumpets were used to herald kings, and then used to represent military glory, and then when superhero themes started happening, they used trumpets too - it’s basically western music shorthand for hero these days

(it’s also symmetrical so that helps with the good vibes)

and he’s saving everyone here, so it’s linked to his bending, but it’s also linked to his heroism

it ties the two together, and they are tied together.

when’s the next time it shows up? episode 10, when the brothers are in prison in ba sing se, and bolin tries to metalbend them out. again, he’s doing this to save people, and this motif gets a few notes added on to the end in a raising pattern - they’re inspiring, but they don’t go anywhere. which is exactly what happens in the scene, because he’s trying to go about this in the wrong way. mako believes in him, but it won’t (and doesn’t) work

it appears in episode 12 when bolin saves everyone from ghazan destroying the temple, in a more fancy orchestral remake of the first version - it’s impressive, but it hasn’t actually developed yet, it’s just his discovery of it

the book 3 finale already has its own fucking amazing soundtrack, i love that entire episode’s score, but it gets its own moment there too, and the first real development!

because what we hear is not what we’ve heard before. we know it’s the same theme, because it’s using those signature trumpets, but it’s the second part of this phrase, the answer to the question supplied by the first one. why? because bolin’s figured out who he is and he’s starting to use it. it still hasn’t settled yet though, it’s early days and he’s still just turning ghazan’s lava back on him, so again, it raises, leaving it on a question mark

it doesn’t appear in s4e7 when he lavabends as a warning against the escaped prisoners, because he’s using it as a threat, not to help people. but it does later in the episode when he uses lavabending to save them from kuvira. and that’s when we get the first full phrase, question and answer

it keeps the first motif identical, takes out the first note of the second, and ties them together - except now it’s not open ended, now it knows where it’s going - it’s been three years, at this point bolin is confident in both himself and his bending

and then that phrase appears all over the place in the finale, because all bolin does is save people - everyone from the exploding building, he slows the giant mecha with lavabending, he saves opal, he slows the giant mecha again by collapsing a building on it, and most importantly, he’s the one rescuing his brother this time, instead of the other way around (though that one doesn’t get a motif appearance bc admittedly a fuck ton of other things are happening in the soundtrack at the time)

so to that question asked in book three - who is bolin when not next to someone else? well, funnily enough, we saw it in book two as well, just in a warped way, playing nuktuk. it just wasn’t truly him because it was created by varrick, and he needed to get away from varrick too. the question put forward by the narrative is who is bolin, and the answer given by the music is, he is a hero. and i don’t know why bolin is the only one to get a theme like this, but i think it may have something to do with the fact that, while everyone in team avatar has been a hero and saved people, he is the only one who has, from the start, solely been motivated by wanting to help people. he follows his heart, and his heart cares, about everyone. it’s been the driving force behind almost everything he’s ever done. and i love him so much

[ruhrohimrorny]

What Subjects I Think LOK Characters Would Teach:

Lin: PE, obviously. Dating Kya and all the kids are happy cause there’s a noticeable shift in Lin’s mood once they start dating. She no longer forces kids to run a mile every day and instead does it once a week now, so the kids are hoping her and Kya stay together. She also coaches Golf and Lacrosse.

Kya: Waffled between MILF Math teacher, MILF Science teacher, and hippy/chill Music teacher, but decided on MILF Science Teacher. Getting strong Biology vibes. Very fun labs and not strict at all. Her and Zhu-Li are super passionate about leading the Science Bowl team. Seeing these young people be so passionate about STEM and helping their fellow teammates makes her hopeful for this young generation.

Tenzin: He kinda gives math teacher vibes, but a large part of his character in the show is about him keeping his history alive, and teaching others abut learning and respecting history, so I feel like he’s a History teacher. His class is a lot of notetaking but he plays quiet music and does a five minute meditation in the middle of class to encourage kids to relax, so students really like him and actually listen to him. Also, he’s kind of gullible so they make up fake trends to tell him. He once spent a week addressing people as “brony” cause students told him thats what people say now instead of bro. Kids got a good laugh out of that one. Him and Pema are another favorite teacher couple.

Bumi II: Def gives off eccentric/unhinged English teacher vibes. Very interesting and informative conversations in his class, but things get off topic very quickly. Whenever kids ask about Bum-Ju, he gets distracted and will talk the entire rest of the period about what to dress Bum-Ju up as for Halloween. Probably plays a lot of videos. And students don’t worry about if they read the books Bumi II assigns cause they don’t think he’s even read the books he assigns. When having discussions about the books in class, sometimes kids will make up stuff and say it’s in the book and for the most part, Bumi II goes along with it cause he doesn’t know what actually happens in the books.

Varrick: Also gives off eccentric/unhinged English teacher vibes, but because he’s a businessman/war profiteer, I’m gonna have to say he teaches Econ and gives students lots of unsolicited financial advice. Also supervises the Engineering and Robotics Club.

Zhu-Li: Science teacher, probably Chemistry. She’s very good at explaining and getting kids to follow her instructions. Not only is she a co-supervisor for the Science Bowl team, she helps Varrick run Engineering and Robotics Club, cause if it were only Varrick running it, no kids would come. His intensity and eccentricity scares them.

Iroh II: He’s definitely the young Math teacher everyone has a crush on. Very chill and doesn’t give a lot of homework. Kids love when he shows pictures of his dog to the class and eventually he brings in the dog cause admin think the dog is too cute to say no to.

Tonraq: Resident DILF History teacher. Kind of a hardass but also a nice dude so most everyone passes his class. Probably that History teacher that is also a football coach, so during fall he doesn’t give a FUCK about whether anyone actually turns anything in. Him and Senna is the teacher couple that seems like opposites but actually are pretty similar and balance each other out.

Senna: That English teacher that every mentally ill student becomes emotionally attached to. You know what I’m talking about. She’s so sweet, funny, and chill so all the kids love her class. Tries to include memes in her presentations to seem “with it” but they’re like, doge memes from 2014. But the kids appreciate the effort.

Pema: Definitely the sweet English teacher that occasionally has a mental breakdown when the students test her patience. Otherwise very chill. Also teaches the Childhood Education and Development class. Her, Senna, and Bumi II run the school newspaper.

Bataar: Drafting. Pretty chill, very skilled, and def smokes on the weekend. Also, him and Suyin are that teacher couple that everyone likes.

Suyin: Dance. Super nice and always has like to of those smelly plug in things going so her room smells good and has a “good vibe that evokes emotion”. Always plays EDM or weird 80s rock to get the kids moving. She runs the school dance team. When Bataar has prep period, he sometimes drops in to see Su dance, cause she’s mesmerizing to watch. All the kids think that, coupled with the fact that they eat lunch together every day, makes them the cutest couple ever.

Amon: Drama. He loves directing kids on how to totally live a role. If you can imagine, he sometimes gets a little overdramatic about drama, forgetting that these are just highschool kids, not Oscar winners, but his passion makes the class more enjoyable. Runs Drama Club with Tarrlok.

Tarrlok: Probably Physics. A difficult class, but he’s pretty good at explaining so most kids don’t struggle too much. His main focus is running student government, which he takes pretty seriously. Sometimes too seriously.

Unalaq: Teaches Psychology. The most pretentious teacher on campus. It’s literally so bad, that even other teachers avoid him. Amon abandoned his coffee still being brewed in the machine in the staff room cause Unalaq walked in and he didn’t want to be in a room with Unalaq again after he said that Amon’s outfit “looked like something stolen from the lost and found of a funeral home”. Unalaq sees it as “telling it like it is”.

Zaheer: Government and Politics. Tries to teach the class very well but also injects his own opinion into teaching a lot. The students find him scary but some also kinda think he’s hot. Also does Yearbook. Him and Senna run Mock Trial. Replaced the old Government and Politics teacher Hou-Ting after she retired. She was that one old teacher that made it a hobby to harrass students and constantly reminisced about when you could smack students.

P’Li: Math teacher. Much scarier than Zaheer. Plays her trash ass music very loudly while the kids work. Def yells at kids. She’s kind of funny when she’s in a good mood tho, and when she roasts kids it’s really funny cause it’s usually dead on. Her and Zaheer are those teachers that flirt a lot and you know they’re sleeping together.

Ming-Hua: Art. Loves drawing and, you guessed it, watercolor painting. Very chill and plays soft music but lets you listen to your own music. Super sarcastic and all the students eat it up. Literally a universal favorite. She runs Art Club and Fashion Club.

Ghazan: Guitar. Pretty cool teacher that definitely has some weird stories. All the students know he has a crush on Ming-Hua cause they flirt constantly, but he denies it. Runs E-Sports Club. Idk why I think that, it just feels right. Him and Ming-Hua are also the kinds of teachers kids become emotionally attached to.

Kuvira: Government and Politics also. Seems calm and reasonable, but is a total ass. Makes kids give up their phones, allows almost no talking, gives out more detentions a week than most teachers do in one year, and doesn’t allow for much discussion. Everyone wants her class cause she’s hot but most drop within the first week, to the point that counselors have to say no to some kids so they don’t have to get rid of the class altogether.

Bataar Jr.: Computer Lit teacher. None of the students respect him so they’ll play Minecraft the whole time or play inappropriate videos really loud. Doesn’t really put much effort into teaching, which for some kids is a dream, but for others is an annoyance. Him and Kuvira are the teacher couple that makes everyone say “wtf”. Literally no one knows why they’re together.

Izumi: Secretary/Attendance. Pretty much remembers everything and is super organized. She is the glue that holds the school together. Most students don’t know her name though cause she’s super quiet and works mostly behind the scenes. Whenever Zuko sends anyone her way though he reminds them of her name and to say thank you cause he recognizes how hard his daughter works to keep everything running smoothly. Izumi catches on to this and always manages to thank her dad with a nice tea and a hug.

Toph: Vice Principal. Scary as fuck. Doesn’t ever call kids’ parents cause she efficiently scares the shit out of every kid, so they never do whatever bad thing they were doing again. When she has to work dances, Katara always tries to get her to dance with her. She resists every time, but she always gives eventually. She’s happy to though, cause although she’ll never say it out loud, seeing Katara this happy at her old age warms her heart.

Katara: Health Clerk. Very sweet and everybody loves her. Sometimes kids pretend to feel sick just to talk to her. She doesn’t mind though cause a kid that has a tummy ache and a kid that needs to talk are both kids that need help, and she’s happy to offer whatever support she can. She also always offers to supervise dances when the school has them and always manages to bust a move.

Zuko: Counselor. Wants to be to students what his uncle was to him. Aang and Sokka were counselors too, some years ago. And while they could give some good nuggets of advice and offered the kids amazing support, they also would totally fuck up student’s schedules by accident cause those numbskulls were exactly that- numbskulls. So usually Zuko would have to fix that. He misses fixing their messes and, more importantly, he misses them (they aren’t dead, just retired). He hopes to retire soon too, cause he’s getting too old for this, but he secretly doesn’t want to retire just yet cause working at school allows him to see and spend time with Izumi. Since they’re both working, it’s not like they have too much time together, but even just her popping into his office to bring him tea or check in on how he’s doing that day brings a smile to his face that doesn’t leave for the rest of the day.

Raiko: Principal. After Toph stepped down cause she’s “too old for this shit” (her words), Raiko stepped in. The students aren’t a fan of him but he’s not terrible. And since Toph is still Vice Principal, she keeps him in check.

[thatsgay-writes]

Asami x DualBender!Reader

Summary: It’s the final battle with Zaheer and you’re the only one who can save Korra

Warnings: Umm... Sadness I guess😅

Your eyes widen in fear as you watched the poison seep into Korra's skin, immediately causing her to cringe and cry out in pain. "Korra!" You yelled desperately as you watched your best friend struggle with the avatar state, repeatedly going in and out of it. "What is it doing?! Korra!" You start pulling in your chains harder as Korra seemed to zone out. "This is taking a little too long. Administer the poison to the other one." Zaheer says. You start struggling again as the poison got closer and closer to you. "No, no, no..." You kept mumbling over and over angina trying to get away. "Ahhh!" You let out a scream as you get the poison enter your skin. It felt like a million metal needles poking and then stabbing your insides all at one.

You stared at the ceiling cringing and crying out in pain as you felt yourself being pushed into, what you called, your avatar state. You might have only been able to bend 2 elements but you still got a avatar state thanks to the small part of Ravaa inside of you. "Ah it's finally time." You hear Zaheer say and you look to the side to see Korra all the way into the avatar state. "No!" You yell out struggling against your chains again, trying to ignore the impending doom you're feeling. You watched as Korra managed to break out and chase after Zaheer. "I gotta help Korra!" You mumble yell to yourself as you start to burn and hopefully melt the chains that where holding you up.

You heard noise coming down the tunnel and got scared that it was Zaheer coming to brag about a victory but was pleasantly surprised when you saw Bolin, Mako, and Tonraq. "Watch out!" You yelled as you saw rocks being shot their way. "We'll handle them, you get y/n and go help Korra!" Bolin yelled before jumping down to fight Ghazan with Mako following behind him. You finish getting your hands out of the chains right as Tonraq cuts the chains on your feet with water. You manage to slow your fall with some air bending and land next to Tonraq. "Let's go hep Korra!" You say with determination but as you take a step forwards, you almost immediately collapse  and face plant. Luckily, Tonraq is there to catch you before you hit the floor. "Are you okay?" You shake your head at his question. "I'll be fine we need to go though. Korra is going to need help." Tonraq gives you a nod before throwing your arm over his shoulder and helped you walk down the tunnel and towards the exit.

"Y/n!" Asami yells as she sees Tonraq and you exit the cave, with Tonraq practically pulling you along. You get a shot of adrenaline and relief when you see Asami and momentarily forget the poison in your system as you reach the others. "Asami." You say with a smile as you let go of Tonraq and pull Asami into hug. The hug only last for a second however, before you feel the pain of the poison hit again harder than before. "Ugh." You let out as you crumple into Asami, who has to fall to her knees to support your all your dead weight. "Y/n! What's going on what's wrong?" Asami asks worried as your eyes flashed white before turning back to normal. "Zaheer did something... I need to help Korra... It'll put her into the avatar state and Zaheer will kill her." You say as you pull yourself up with Asami's help.

You listen in as everyone argues about what to do. "I can fly my bison up there." "You'd never be able to keep up with Zaheer." Lin responds to Kai, immediately shutting down his idea. You steal yourself for a second before standing tall and walk towards the group, ignoring Asami's worried gaze burning into the back of your head. You place a hand on Lin's shoulder as you enter the circle. "Whatever you think of do it fast... I..." You get cut off by a truck load of pain. You lean forwards and wrap your arms around yourself to keep from falling over in pain. Everyone looks at you worried and you feel Lin place a hand on your back. You unconsciously shake it off as you stand up, eyes shining a bright white. "I'll help Korra for as long as I can." You say before taking a few steps back and use fire bending to shoot into the air.

As soon as your reach the two fighting, you watch as Korra stands in water and throws ice at Zaheer. One of her shots hits Zaheer's foot and starts pulling him down. Korra seems to go for the final punch but her fire bending seems to go out mid air and she goes falling towards a ledge. Without thinking, you fly towards Korra and use your body to shield hers as you hit the ground and roll. You sit up with a groan before looking down at Korra. "Korra wake up!" You say hitting her face lightly. All Korra does is mumble in response. You lean her against the wall and stand to look for Zaheer. As you do, you immediately get hit with a strong gust of air and get tossed into another ledge.

"You know I must say I'm surprised." Zaheer says as he floats in front of you. You sneer at him and stay throwing fire balls at him along with blasts of air. "I didn't expect you to last this long. I know you only have a tiny piece of Ravaa in you but I clearly underestimated how much power that small piece gave you." Zaheer says as you two fight. You just grunt in response, trying to ignore the pain the poison is bringing you. "But I subdued the avatar and I will subdue you to!" Zaheer yells as he send a powerful blast your way, slamming you into the wall next to Korra. Your eyes flicker at the impact and watch as Zaheer stands in front of you. "You can't fight the poison and me." He says with a laugh.

You hang your head in submission, body completely worn out. You only start to struggle again when you feel your body being sat up and felt the air being snatched out of your lungs. You notice Korra struggling against the invisible restraints too and feel a little relief knowing that she was still alive. You lungs however, didn't get to feel the same relief and felt like they were seconds away from collapsing. After a few seconds of dying, you feel the restraints slip away and air come back your lungs. You look around confused as you gulp down air to see that you were stuck in some kind of wind tornado. You looked up to see Zaheer holding Korra's hand and trying to pull her out and away from the wind. With the last amount of strength you have, you manipulate some of the air currents to push you up and towards them. Only to give Zaheer a massive punch across the face causing him to drop Korra's hand and try to just escape himself. You watch in relief as you see one of Korra's chains grab him and start to pull him back down. As you fall back to earth, you feel the wind rush past you as your body starts to completely shut down.

It's peaceful for a second, the wind rushing through your hair reminded you of all those nights you and Asami would race through Republic City in her car. It remind you of all the times Asami would run her hands through your hair when you both cuddled or slept together. Or even the times where she would unconsciously do it before pulling you into a kiss after a long day of Avatar or  CEO business. That peacefulness immediately ended as soon as your back slammed on to the rock hard ground, causing all the air to leave your body for the second time that day. You looked to the side only to watch as Korra collapsed a few feet away from you. "Korra! Y/n!" You heard get yelled before you feel the top half of your body moved and propped up against someone. Your eyes slowly flicker out of light and turn back to normal as you see Asami's face hover over yours. "No... don't cry." You say weakly with a smile, "You're too pretty to cry." You say as you wipe tears away from her eyes causing Asami to smile and let out a watery laugh.

"Korra... Korra it's dad..." You hear and look to your right as you watch Korra attempt to lift her hand to touch her dad's cheek, only to seemingly pass away before she could. "AHAHA you are too late! The poison has done its job and soon the half baked avatar will be gone too!" Zaheer yelled out triumphantly watching the seen before him. "Wait the poison is metallic!" Jinora says as she grabs Suyin and Lin's hands and dragging them over. Everyone watches in silence as the two earth benders seemingly pull the poison up your body and out of your mouths. Both you and Korra's eyes flashing white before returning to normal. You still feel weak but don't get the waves of pain from the poison anymore. Korra on the other hand still hasn't moved an inch. "What? Why isn't she waking up?" Tonraq asks completely devastated. You hear Zaheer about to say something but he gets instantly shut up.

You're sad as well but realize that you have to do something. The avatar cycle and Korra can't end like this. "Do you trust me?" You whisper out towards Tonraq, who is holding onto Korra for dear life. "Of course." He responds immediately. "Y/n." Asami says in a low warning voice, scared about what you might do. "I love you." You say, flashing Asami the same goofy grin she fell in love with before turning to look back at Korra. Everyone watched as your eyes lit up and you went into your avatar state. You knew you didn't have that much of Ravaa in you but you hoped it was enough. You used the last bit of your strength and stretched your hand out to touch Korra's arm. As soon as you made contact, both you and Korra's eyes lit up a bright white and everyone watched as part of your body turned blue. The blue slowly traveled up your body and over the arm that connected you and Korra. As soon as the blue ring left your hand and went to Korra, your eyes stopped shining and your head fell back. Everyone watched as the blue light traveled up Korra's body and disappeared, a few seconds later Korra's body lurched forwards and she suddenly woke up gasping for breath.

While that was going on, all Asami could focus on was you. The love of her life, her soulmate's life was slowly slipping away. "I did good right?" You asked as you gave Asami the best smile you could offer. Asami gave you a small smile as well as she let tears drop off her face. "You did great." You smiled again and let your eyes close for a few seconds as Asami ran her hand through your hair. "I'll miss you..." You say, knowing that your time was almost up. "Don't say that..." Asami says as she pulls you closer. "I'm sorry we'll never get to grow old together like we planned... Promise me you'll move on. I know it won't be for a while but promise me that some day you'll let somebody into your heart the way you let me in." "Y/n, you know I can't-" "Promise me please." You say a desperately, you needed her to know that it would be okay to move on after you were gone. "I promise." Asami says as she pulls you face closer to hers. "I love you so much." You both whisper at the same time before Asami closes the gap. The last thing you feel is Asami's lips and a tear from her eyes.

"Dad you're alive." Korra said in relief as she looked up at her father. "I am and I'm never letting you go again." Tonraq says pulling Korra into a tight hug. They both pull away when they hear sobbing to the left of them. Korra looks to her left to see Asami crying into the chest of your lifeless body. Korra's eyes immediately fill with tears. "No." She whispers out as she reaches for your hand that was still stretched towards her body. "Y/n! No please!" Korra says letting loud sobs rip through her body. Her childhood best friend was dead.

*Time Skip*

Your funeral had been scheduled a few days after Jinora's arrow ceremony. It was also the same day Korra was shceduled to leave to the South Pole to heal with Katara. Korra looked like the shell of her old self as she said goodbye to her friends, who were all dressed in black. Asami wasn't looking any better either as she handed Korra a box filled with your stuff in it. "I think Y/n would want you to have this. It's filled with stuff that would remind them of home." Asami whispers as she leans down to give Korra a hug. "I'm sure there is more stuff, I just haven't been able to enter our room since..." Asami trails off, having flashbacks of the last night you two had in your shared room to watching the light fade from your eyes as you died. Korra nodded in understanding and grabbed Asami's hand, giving it a friendly squeeze. "I understand." She said before being loaded up into the ship and setting off.

Everyone slowly left the dock as the ship sailed out of sight till it was just Asami left. She stared into the water as she felt the circular object in her pocket. She took out the betrothal necklace she had made to give to you once everything was over. You might not have been a water bender, but you grew up in the South with Korra and followed a lot of the tribe's customs. She kissed the necklace before letting it drop into the ocean in front of her. "I'll keep my promise, Y/n. But once my time here is done, you better be the first thing I see." Asami says as she watches the necklace sink into the dark blue ocean. Once she can't see the betrothal necklace anymore she walks away and off of the docks.

[silentfcknhill]

AtLA + LoK Villains Evilness Rating

(If you wanna dispute my ratings I’ll be happy to tell you why.)

ATLA:

Ty Lee - 0.5 /10

Cinnamon roll. Too pure for this world. Naïve and will put her faith in you 100%. Kind of ditzy but can take you down with no hard feelings. Needs to be liked by everyone. Is very flexible. Can strangle you with her legs and giggle while doing it. Chooses bad friends. Has frustratingly good luck. 

Uncle Iroh- 1/10

Actual angel but could still open up a can of whoop-ass if necessary. Too supportive and forgiving. Loves tea, sitting around, speaking in proverbs and leading by example. Probably considers you a friend. Surprisingly powerful but mostly peaceful. Hard to provoke but if you do, just run. Fear the nice ones. 

Jet- 3/10

Misguided and extreme but also traumatized. Don't get in his way. Kind of twisted and obsessive af. Ends justify the means, until they don't. Needs a proper role model and has potential. Can be unreasonable and is still kind of a jerk. Will gaslight you. 

Prince Zuko- 3.5/10

Conflicted, violent and angsty but mostly needs a lot of reassurance. Has a major boner for his honor. Will freak out over nothing. Has been through a lot and will not be underestimated. Grumpy and willful af and won't listen to you until it's too late, then will blame you for misleading him. 

June- 4/10 

Might beat you up or kidnap you for money but it's nothing personal. Might insult you as a way of flirting. Looks pretty and delicate but don't be fooled. Can beat you up in a split second and not break a sweat. Will probably take all your stuff and never give it back. Lives for the tough girl aesthetic. 

Mai- 5/10

Is just bored and over it all. Throwing knives is something to do. Apathetic and will probably just follow along with whatever including murder but will complain the entire time. Emo af. Would risk it all for a quick nap. Prone to bite your head off. Too smart for you and will let you know. 

Wan Shi Tong- 6.5/10

A total dick. Tired of your shit and is judging you. Thinks humans are garbage and won't get involved with them until it suits him. Don't touch his books or he will literally eat you. Nerdiest bastard. Doesn't trust you so don't try any shit with him. Sees through your pathetic lies. Kind of an elitist.

Combustion Man- 7/10 

Thinks blowing shit up is a form of art. Doesn't believe in communication. Very serious and focused. Do not fight him. Probably gets crapped on more than he deserves. A mystery wrapped in a bald head. Probably has a tattoo of the names of all the people he's killed and he's ready to add yours. 

Hama- 7.5/10

Traumatized old hag. Created bloodbending but too crazy to do much with it now. May kidnap you and keep you in a dank hole forever. Seems sweet at first but is hiding a lot of secrets. Don't eat her cooking. Thinks sitting at home scheming is a job. Hates you for whatever small thing you did to her 57 years ago. Forgets nothing. 

Long Feng- 8/10

Conniving af. Will brainwash you, lie to your face and maybe make you disappear. Wants everything and will plot to take it all. Perfectionist and control freak, will stab you in the back and you won't see it coming. Is tired of taking everyone's shit. Thinks he deserves better but he doesn't. Kills children. 

Admiral Zhao- 8/10 

Explosive temper. Huge egomaniac and narcissist. Hates the moon. Has probably killed a lot of people and fish and you're next. Will do whatever it takes. Won't listen to anything you say. Punch first, ask questions never. Jumps to a lot of conclusions, is usually wrong. Frequently embarrasses self. 

Koh the Face-Stealer- 8.5/10 

Terrifying and will probably steal your face. Do not approach. Too indifferent to chase you but can be sneaky af so watch your back. Doesn't handle emotions well. A total loner. The guy who knows everything but nobody wants to talk to. Fear him. To know him is to hate him. Makes you question everything. 

Firelord Azulon- 9/10 

Will order your execution on a whim and maybe a relative or two first for the appetizer. Do not question him. Will play favorites and call you out on things that are his fault. Overreacts and you should probably not be around when it happens. Disapproves of all your choices and is very vocal about this fact. Forces parents to kill their children. 

Firelord Sozin- 9/10

Will commit genocide and take over the world while yelling at you for minor shit. Kind of a petty and jealous asshole. Even if you think he is your friend he isn't and is going to attack you. A big old bully with bad breath and a wonky beard. The original starter of all drama and certified instigator shitlord. 

Princess Azula- 9/10 

Unstable and manipulative. Sadist who thrives off of your fear and suffering. Will hurt you badly in all the ways. Avoid at all costs. Acts cold and calculating but really has no chill. Demands your respect but won't earn it. Trolling you gives her pleasure. The spawn of satan and loving it. Mommy issues to infinity. 

Firelord Ozai- 9.5/10

Second worst dad ever. No soul. Will burn every tree and face to a crisp. Child abuse for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Actual sociopath. Will kill someone and banish you for it. Goatee comes first. Will project all his insecurities on you. Will tell everyone your secrets. World's biggest megalomaniac. 

LOK: 

Varrick- 3/10

Will probably lie, try to con you out of money, order you to do things for him and tell bad jokes but that's as far as it's gonna go. Eccentric and annoying af. Doesn't know when to shut up. Needs to learn some lessons in life. Attracts more trouble than he's worth. Has all the good gossip somehow. 

Bataar Jr.- 3/10

The guy that nobody likes because he tries too hard and ends up ruining everything. Enjoys being a bitch. Wants to rebel but is bad at it. Do you love me now father? Tries to act like he doesn't care what you think but cares way too much. Will not kill you but might get engaged to your ex to spite you. 

Police Chief Saikhan- 3.5/10 

Will do anything you say for a price, except give a fuck. Doesn't really care about anything. Might arrest you just because he doesn't like you. The type to pretend he didn't hear you just to avoid responsibility. Likes to yell into things. Hates helping people. Is actually a giant rock in disguise. 

Tahno- 3.5/10 

A total prick. Has nicer hair than you and won't let you forget it. Very flamboyant and arrogant. Will gloat over being better than you at everything even though he cheated every time. Talks mad shit but can't walk the walk. Ultimately a big baby. Lowkey protect him. Wants to be the cool kid but isn't cool. 

Desna- 4/10

Couldn't care less. Actual inanimate object. Lurks around for no reason. Hates everything and that includes you. Listens to his elders and would probably leave you for dead. Just wants to sleep. Secretly goth. Might actually be two small robots in a trenchcoat pretending to be human. 

Councilman Tarrlok- 4.5/10

Attention whore with a savior complex. Smol bean who wants approval. Acts arrogant but is secretly depressed and self-loathing af. Stubborn and clingy emotional wreck with impulse control issues. Needs a hug. Will probably manipulate you through guilt or charisma. Wants to be Lucius Malfoy, but cries at night. 

Hiroshi Sato- 5/10

Has lost sight of what's important. Total extremist. Will get revenge on you for something you didn't even do. Well respected and seems innocent but is plotting your downfall. Can build a whole army and take you down. Kind of a traitor. Loyalty is volatile. Thinks he always knows what's best for you but doesn't know shit. 

The Lieutenant- 5/10

In way over his head. Wants to make a difference but has let bitterness take over. Will probably electrocute you. Puts his faith in the wrong people. Kind of snobby and will hold a grudge. 99 problems and benders are about 98 of them. Tired of being pushed around but still lets himself be pushed around. FLOPPY MUSTACHE. 

Aiwei- 5.5/10 

Thinks he's better than you and probably isn't. Wants to be sneaky but really is just too predictable. Boring af and tries to be unique but fails miserably. Lets everyone take advantage of him. Don't lie to him. Will harbor resentment and take it out on you at a random point in time. Discount Long Feng but not as smart or ambitious. 

Eska- 5.5/10

Will stalk you aggressively. Thinks slavery is a relationship. Eyeliner sharp enough to kill. Never betray her or she will destroy you. Might use you as a footstool. Seems emotionally dead inside, but don't test her dormant waters. Uses everyone and feels no guilt. Hipster trash. No concept of boundaries or social interaction. 

Ghazan- 6/10

Sarcasm game strong enough to fatally wound you. Doesn't say much. Has tree trunks for limbs and will probably use them to throw lava and rocks at you. Lowkey protective af. Don't get on his bad side. You can't get on his good side. Would rather kill everyone including himself than let you win an argument. 

Zaheer- 6/10

A wannabe hippie but will still fight the system and you too. Don't try to control him. Gets annoyed when people breathe too loud. Is kind of a contradiction. Will literally blow you away. Anarchy equals freedom. Fuck the police. Can sit in the same spot for a really long time. Probably a flat earther. 

Ming-Hua- 7/10

Has a significant disability but can still easily slaughter you. Innovative and sneaky af. As fast and agile as an actual lemur. A natural disaster wherever she goes. Doesn't listen to your advice. Overcompensates a lot. Probably her own worst enemy. Is quiet and likes to eavesdrop on your business. 

Kuvira- 7.5/10 

Wants to control everything. Who invited her to poop the party? Highkey evil and just plain mean. Will use your corpse as a decoration if you get in her way. Secretly petty and superficial af. Thinks social bonding is trying to seduce you in order to take charge of your life. Individuality punishable by death. Even other villains hate her. 

P'Li- 7.5/10

Can explode you with her mind. Her gaze will pierce you to the core. Strong independent and violent woman who don't need a man but chooses to have one anyway. Will shave you off just like the sides of her hair. Has no problem fucking shit up. Boss bitch. Loyal to only a select few, so too bad for you. 

Amon- 8/10

Charismatic but scary and mysterious af. Huge hypocrite. Will silently judge you. Powerful, selfish and cruel. Manipulative as hell and uses intimidation to get you to comply. Pretends to have empathy but really just wants control. Will cripple you physically and emotionally without warning. Knows all of your weaknesses but none of his own. 

Earth Queen Hou-Ting- 8.5/10 

The actual worst. Eats your pets for supper. Her yelling is the #1 cause of deafness worldwide. Will keep you prisoner and then have you killed for looking at her. The bossiest Drama Queen ever. Will be the cause of all your misery and will be proud of it. Bark is the same as her bite. Lots of daddy issues. 

Chief Unalaq- 9/10 

Religious extremist. Actually batshit insane. Wants to destroy the entire world. Has ascended from this pathetic plane of human existence. Loner whose only friends are invisible. Wants you to think he's just shy and misunderstood but NOPE. Knows what you want to hear and says it. Will sell you to satan for one cornchip. 

Yakone- 9.5/10

Worst dad ever. Will either bloodbend you, try to live vicariously through you or both. Absolutely no redeeming traits except for being physically human. Abuse equals tough love. Might beat your ass for no good reason and expect your gratitude for it. Criminal mastermind with no conscience and all of the entitlement. 

Vaatu- 10/10

Actually the devil. Literal incarnation of darkness and chaos. Ultimate troll and force of disaster in the world. Doesn't know any better, but still an asshole by choice. Will use you until you're no longer of value. Has a hard-on for destruction. Likes to play the victim. Will consume your soul and burp loudly.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Wrought Iron Machine (Part 23)

I swear to God I spell Ghazan’s name differently every single time but like who needs proofreading. *Shrug*

Azula thinks herself to be recklessly ambitious at best and something of a flat out fool at worst. She dresses herself in tribal wear. Around her neck and in her hair, she wears a splendid plume of bright red and yellow feathers with a dash of orange here and there. Equally adorned in feathers is a gold fringed bra with many beads and dangling gems. It is a risky apparel choice for a high scale event. But Fire Of Agni is high risk--everything about them. In way of a skirt she wears an authentic Sun Warrior piece--all four of them will wear such. They will all perform barefoot and with a simple golden band around their biceps.

Her hair is tied up in a high ponytail, fashioned into a golden cuff. In her bangs are a few wooden beads. Under her eyes are three horizontal  finger trails of golden face paint.

Zuko stands at the opposite end of the room, entirely topless, exposing his new chest piercings. Azula had questioned that decisions but ultimately it is up to him what he has pierced. He too has weaved some feathers into his hair. Alongside the vertical face paint over his unscarred eye is a similar trail down his chest.

Trying to use her voice as little as possible, Azula motions TyLee over. The girl skips over. She has gone overboard on the feathers. Azula pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “You’re going to have to pluck some of those feathers.” She instructs in a whisper. She helps TyLee pick a few feathers from her braid and her outfit. She replaces them with a wood-bead necklace.

“Can you give me a hand?” Mai asks from across the room. She instructs Zuko where to weave the shells into her hair, muttering something about how she’ll have the stylists fix it later. She waves off Zuko’s reluctance with a flick of a wrist decorated with a bamboo and palm leaf bracelet. She fingers the shark tooth necklace Zuko gifted to her.

After fussing a tad more with TyLee’s outfit, Azula turns her attention back to her own appearance. Her stylist finally emerges with overly large gold-plate earrings. With careful hands they fix them into her ears and begin brushing her hair. She watches the other members of their makeup artist team get to work on the other three. She instructs the man doing her hair to give it some waves.

“Oh you look so, so cute, Azula!”

She is going for fierce, perhaps even a little feral. But she doesn’t protest, she has to save her voice for more pressing things. Instead she nods in way of a thank you.

“You all look so cute!” TyLee claps her hands together. She fishes around in her personal bag and snaps a few photos. Azula frowns, she wasn’t picture read. TyLee throws her arms around her and snuggles her.

“Careful with my make up.” Azula says softly. “We don’t have time to do it all over again.”

“Oh sorry.” TyLee loosens her hold.

As soon as she runs up to Mai, Zuko approaches her. “Are you sure you want to do this? You can just play your guitar and TyLee can fill in for you.”

Azula shakes her head. “I need to do this Zuko.”

She sees him bite the inside of his lip. She is worrying him.

“I’ll be fine.” Azula insists as as one of the makeup artists adds a few final touches. “I promise.”

Their crew packs up their tools and Azula motions for her bandmates to stand before her.

When all is said and done, Azula is satisfied. She has worked hard to design their costumes and they have come together just as perfectly as she had planned. Perhaps, better, with their hair and makeup in order.

Her content smile fades.

She can’t help but feel as though they’ve gotten all dressed up for nothing.

.oOo.

Kuvira stands in her dressing room, her stylist just having finished fashioning her hair into a elegant and braided low side bun. It had been tricky to find the perfect outfit so last minute, having something custom made had been out of the question. So instead she wears something she found a second-hand store of all places. Deep forest green in color and with a high, black collar. She had handed it over to the band designer and let the woman and her team make tweaks and adjustments. To make it into something more unique. The woman hasn’t failed her. Her stitchwork is impressive with lovely embroidered patterns. She has taken it upon herself to adorn the hem and sleeves with black gems and sequins. All in all it is a rather ritzy gown.

Baatar chooses to wear the dress suit and top hat from the music video. Their designer pins a few broaches to the left chest area; their logo, a guitar, a saxaphone, and a music note among other small symbols.

She slips into the dress and asks Baatar to help her with the zipper. To her relief it goes up without a hitch. She smooths the fabric down and drapes her arms over Baatar’s shoulders. He kisses her on the cheek, sending her teardrop earrings swaying. “You’re going to do wonderful tonight.”

Kuvira rubs his shoulders. “As long as you’re here I will.”

The man flushes and rubs the back of his head. She intends to draw the small moment out.  But P’Li barges in. “Have you seen my monocle anywhere?”

“Have you tried your own dressing room?” Kuvira quirks a brow.

“That’s the first place I checked.” She grumbles, pushing at her conductors hat. The V shaped tail of her suit flap about as she picks her way through the room. Her dress shoes click loudly on the ground.

“I found it!” Ghazan calls. He gives P’Li a second to look over before tossing the eyepiece to her. The man standing in the doorway looks more suave than he has in a long while in his long tailcoat with his beard and long sweep of hair combed and styled nicely for a change. He has a few copper pieces threaded into his hair and beard, she could imagine that Ming fancied it.

The woman appears next to him clad in a pair of over-large goggles and a pair of loose fitting overalls. In the pocket are a faux wrench and a faux hammer, they will serve as her drumsticks tonight.

Fashion-wise they are at their best, they will match well with the mechanic, orchestral atmosphere they are trying to create while Kuvira does her best to represent the jazz side of the band.

With luck, they will bring their crowd into a new world, at least for the twenty or so minutes it takes them to play their introduction and sing their three songs.

Kuvira checks her makeup a final time and asks her stylist to highlight her beauty mark a little more as another works to curl a few more strands of loose hair. She inspects the other three and asks if they have any final requests.

“Make my face look more dusty.” Ming instructs. A good idea if she is going to be playing a mechanic.

The stylists take a step back and Kuvira takes it with them. She observes the band as a whole, finding herself satisfied. She goes to join them and motions for their photographer to do his thing. The camera flashes.

Kuvira picks up her decorative cane and leads them to the designated seating area.

.oOo.

They watched an hour’s worth of bands some of them more pleasing than others. Though she absolutely hated some of them, stylistically--Kyoshi’s Power Fist to name one--but regardless they were all undoubtedly talented. Kyoshi’s Power Fist, if nothing else had been unique with their corpse paint and guttural vocals. They were among the new debuts. It is the very same category Fire Of Agni are about to perform under.  

Azula is dissatisfied to know that, that meant she will be among the first few bands to perform. But they are the last of the newer bands. With luck the crowd has been warmed up enough.

Standing behind the curtain she is horrifically nervous, maybe even downright terrified. But they need this. They need this more than anything or they will have nothing. Nothing but a smug Ozai taunting them. She is a mess up away from having to resort to begging the man to take her back.

“You’re gonna do great.” TyLee gives her a quick kiss. On a normal day it would have washed the nerves away.

“I hope so.”

She hears the announcement and they are on stage. It puts a dismal pang in her heart to leave the introduction fully to Zuko. “It took a lot to get here.” He announces. “When we started out we could barely scrape together a simple music mover. We were just a small candle.”

The crowd cheers.

“Now we’re here.” He pauses. “And our Fire Of Agni can’t be extinguished.”

The knot returns to her belly; perhaps water and bad press can’t put them out. But a small cyst can smother them completely.

“Get ready Southern Air Sounds, because we…”

“Are the flame!” The crowd chants over him.

Without missing a beat, Azula tears into the first song that they have written. Normally she would save that one for last, but Agni forbid she can’t make it through the whole show. She wants to start strong.

The guitar wails in her hands, in tune with Mai’s bass. TyLee is surrounded by a collection of drums both standard and tribal. If all went according to plan, her drum display will be surrounded by a ring of dancing flame.

So far things are going well, she is forcing out her screams, powerful as ever while Zuko provides backing vocals and a steady flow of fire. Halfway through she sends a thin trail of flames in the direction of TyLee. The wall dances around their drummer as she wails on the cymbals. With each hit, Azula and Zuko flare the flames higher until the song fades out.

The crowd is frantic with cheers. So much so that Zuko almost can’t announce their second song. One of their newer ones. Azula passes her guitar to him so that she can move through a Sun Warrior traditional belly dance. It is something of a cop out, but she likes to think it a clever one. Fire Of Agni has never performed an instrumental version of any of their songs. Not until now. But it leaves a critical window of rest for Azula’s tortured vocal cords.

She tries not to dwell on the injury as TyLee begins. Instead she sets the scene, trying her best to imitate what her music mover had in terms of the haunting blue lighting. TyLee is doing a stunning job of creating a foreboding sound. It is a low and rhythmic pounding of a large fox-deer hide drum. TyLee beats upon it slow and steady with a single drumstick nearly as large as the drum itself. Next to her stands a newly hired woman. She is draped in a feathered cloak with a shekere. Every few beats, the woman gives it a shake. For herself, Azula occasionally gives her rainstick a shift. With each beat a new cloaked figure emerges. One stands with a kora gitar another stands with a small balafon. TyLee has worked tirelessly to teach others to play djembe drums and bongos among other things. TyLee ends the ominous intro with a hit on a gong. A moment of pause and Zuko and Mai begin with their guitar and bass respectively.

Azula has worked just as tirelessly as TyLee to learn this traditional dance inside and out. The beads in her hair smack against her neck and back as she goes through the twirling parts of the dance. The gems stones glimmer across her middle as she shifts and rolls her waistline. The crowd is wholly quiet, they listen more closely than they have in a long while. Towards the end of the song, the guitar and bass fall silent.  The song tapers off into a rhythmic beating of the drums. And Zuko comes to dance with her. A highly intimate dance. Close with his body pressed against hers and his hands trailing over her torso.

That is when she spies Ozai in the crowd. The man crosses his arms, his face the picture of disgust.

Azula ignores the man, her performance is better than it ever has been and she isn’t going to sabotage it just to make the man uncomfortable.

By the end of their dance the room falls into complete silence again. They leave no room for cheers and get right into their final song. The song Azula has been dreading. The one with the shrillest shriek midway through.

Her voice seems to have already reached its limit by the end of the first chorus. Her mind screams at her to cut the show short. But ambition takes over. She moves into the tricky climax of the song. She lets out a scream but it isn’t the one she had in mind. Her voice cracks and pain sears through her throat.  

It is instinct to try to cry out in pain.

She fights back tears.

And she makes a mistake.

She looks into the crowd.

The smirk on Ozai’s face is wickedly smug.

Azula’s stomach lurches. He has come to watch her fall and he is getting the show he paid for. Her voices has failed her.

She has failed her band.

Failed herself.

.oOo.

Kuvira cringes at the sound that tears from her rival’s throat. Reflexively, she grips Baatar’s hand. It isn’t normal. It is pained and horrible. And she feels some sort of secondhand agony.

There is something overwhelmingly unsettling about watching the poor girl get escorted by a team of paramedics from the stage. It is a wonder the girl is keeping herself together. Deep down, Kuvira knows that the girl will break behind the curtains.

She looks to Baatar who wears a sympathetic grimace.

But the fire isn’t extinguished. The band pushes on with the girl’s brother taking her parts and the drummer taking his. Kuvira is impressed with their quick thinking. Though it leaves her with a sneaking suspicion that they were well aware that the girl was having vocal trouble.

Kuvira is left with way too much time to dwell on it. She finds it hard to pay attention to any of the following bands. She can’t focus on Tears Of Yue, the new band she had been looking forward to. She hopes that she will calm by the time Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz, the very band that inspired her to start her own, took to the stage. They are on after her band, she is thankful for that. With luck she will be able to watch them and enjoy them in full without having to worry about her nerves.

For the time though, they are frayed and frenzied. She simply can’t get the sound of the Fire Of Agni girl’s faltering scream out of her mind. Out of her ears.

She forces it to the back of her mind as she is beckoned backstage.

Wrought Iron Machine is one of the last bands to perform. It is both intimidating and thrilling. She knows how these shows work, they start with lesser known bands to warm up the crowd and move into the esteemed and renowned ones. She is starstricken to be among them. Only Tui & La, Chong And The Nomads, and Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz perform after them.

It settles her anxiousness some to know that, even if they don’t win, they are famous enough to perform nearly last. They are on in ten minutes. That leaves her with ten minutes to sooth her baby. She is under the impression that her own anxiousness has reached the child-to-be. She rubs circles on her belly in an attempt to get the baby to stop squirming so much. It takes Baatar kissing her belly and murmuring something soft and cooing to sooth the babe. Baatar rests his hands on her waist and presses his forehead to hers until they are called onto the stage.

They have a few extra minutes as their full orchestra plays through an extended version of what will be their newest album.

“Let’s kick some fuckin’ ass everyone!” P’Li shouts, as Ghazan pops a bottle. He fills all of their glasses until he comes to Kuvira, “sorry, none for you.” With a boyish grin he skips over her glass and fills Baatar’s.

“Fuck you too, Gazhan.” Kuvira jests.

“Here.” Ming holds out one of her watery arms. “Drink.”

“Gee, thanks, Ming.”

Baatar chuckles.   

They set their glasses to the side. P’Li and Gazhan make their way on stage first. Ming waits for the claps to die down before following them. And then She and Baatar wait for round two to die off. She lets the venue go completely quiet before they walk, hand in hand, onto the stage. Her cane thumps on the floor and echos.

She skips the greetings and goes right into her operatic introduction. After another moment of quiet Baatar and P’Li start in with their lead and rhythm guitar and Ghazan follows with his bass and Ming with her drums. The orchestra doesn’t begin until the chorus.

The set itself is a chaotic flurry of moving cogs, wheels, and spokes. A fully functioning and whirring machine that spits smoke and sparks at designated intervals. It doesn’t take on a particular shape, it is more or less a collection of clanging parts that look aesthetically pleasing.                                                                                                            

The crowd is hyper with an energetic buzz that they had lacked since Baatar’s near departure. Kuvira grins at the crowd. Their first song comes to a close and her nervousness give way to exilheration. “It’s wonderful to be here again.” Kuvira leaves a pause for applause. “How long has it been, Baatar?”

“Ten years.” He replies.

“Ten years.” Kuvira repeats. “Ten years since we first came here. We were just a rookie group.” She runs her fingers through her hair. “Raava, I didn’t expect us to get this far.” The smile doesn’t leave her face. Because she has made it, they have made it. She wishes that her childhood self--even her teenage self--could see her. “For a second I thought that…”

Baatar rubs her back. “But we have. And of course we have the lot of you to thank for giving us enough attention to land a spot here.”

“And for supporting us despite our…” she considers her words. “Our mishap.”

The crowd gives another uniformed cheer.

“You guys kick ass!” P’Li announces.

Ghazan pulls out another bottle. “If you got a drink, you better drink with us. Most of us anyways, Kuvira still isn’t invited.”

This time the crowd gives a few light-hearted boo’s.

“Pregnant.” Ming points out.

Another round of cheering. “Congratulations!” She can’t place where in the crowd the booming voice has come from. Kuvira gives a soft laugh, looking down to cover a light blush, and wipes some locks out of her face. “Thank you.”  

Ghazan finishes his toast and they enter their second song. She scans the crowd for the frontman of Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz. It sends a pleasant trill up and down her spine to see the man nodding his approval at their new take on jazz. It is surreal to have her idol staring up at her with approval.

She unravels her braid and tosses her head back for the final note.

She doesn’t think too much of it, moving into their final song just feels so natural. She may not be able to dance with her baby bump in the way, but she can still give the crowd a show. She puts extra care into her vocals; working with flawlessly through more difficult vibratos.

She adds a flare of metalbending from shifting platforms up and down for she and her bandmates to stand upon to crafting herself a case of stairs to lean on when the baby started acting up.

Normally with a crowd so energetic and lively she would enter it. But her management and doctors had advised against so she leaves that to Ghazan and P’Li, settling for simply brushing fingers with front row attendees.

Ghazan and P’Li finish out the song from within the crowd. The last note echos about the venue only to be swallowed up by cheering and hollering. Kuvira is grinning rather uncontrollably. Perhaps even laughing. One hand falls to her baby bump and the other holds her microphone to her lips. She manages a few thank you’s before they are motioned off of the stage.

They have made it.

Victory or none, they have left an impression.

[ismybadday]

answering your post and some of the comments:

1. aang mastered 4 elements and avatar state in less than a year and he was super cool in all of them, he learned how to properly use all elements not just by “throwing” water/fire/rocks/air at enemies as korra does; it can work in sport, but not actual fight. everybody already forgot beautiful moves aang and all benders used to learn so hard in AtLA? u can’t just smash water/fire/rock/air and try compare yourself to any bender from first avatar team ffs; tensis is a real master, remember his fight w zaheer, that’s what air fight should look like;

2. plus aang was mastering his skills while war: when 50% of people tried to get him and bring to fire lord; and btw while hiding from fire nation; practicing magic; searching for teachers himself, he also helped everybody he met! while korra has all help and protection and provided with anything she needs. don’t talk about her being isolated from “real”world, that’s not an excuse she suck in magic! she can’t use lightning’s, metal magic(she learns later, but not while growing up), blood magic or even stay strong against it! and the thing about she is blamed in press or people are not always grateful? did people always loved aang?? many hated him, one village had holiday when they burned his statue? and that’s a small example; korra had an emotional roller-coaster? like when you find out your nation is destroyed and everyone you knew or loved are dead?

3. she didn’t save world 3 times:

3.1. amon tried to take over only ONE city and aang literally showed korra what to do to bring back magic+ she had 3 elements “mastered” by that time and still amon easily took her magic away? just like that?? even mako didn’t let amon touch himself, while being only a fire bender(and not as good as any of zukos family or aang); oh and btw she didn’t win over him, since he escaped easily the city, leaving her with no fire/water/earth magic, you call that a win??

3.2. unalaq: she doesn’t let her father explain anything, she acts like a child all the time, while screaming: im the avatar: it’s for me to decide! and etc; she 90% of time doesn’t try to listen to her teacher - tenzin(or anyone tbh), did aang ever disrespected his masters?? emm nope; when she can’t make air magic, she says it’s tenzins fault and changes teacher to unalaq, just cause:im the avatar: it’s for me to decide! well she fucked up herself and without jinora she would have lost tbh; cause she couldn’t reach light in “dark avatar”, while jinora did; and she got lost in spirit world, cause she tried to attack spirits and her emotions are taking over all the damn time; when aang meets spirit of forest and soka got kidnapped he tries to talk and understand spirit, not just burn him or scream at him as korra does; he doesn’t know how to turn dark spirit back to normal, but still stays positive and calm and t a l k s; btw van closed portals while they were connected, korra didn’t managed to do so while they were separated?? and i love her transformation into a 5 y/o, shows exactly what she is most of the time

3.3. zaheer: never tried to destroy world??? he wanted to destroy political leaders?? it’s not the same as world?? and wtf u mean epic battle w zaheer? he literally was just flying away from her and then tried to leave her breathless( not really a battle imo even tho korra showed good skill that one time, it’s still can’t be called battle since well zaheer didn’t fight??) and yeah, she didn’t win that time either, since air nation saved her ass, when zaheer was taking air from her, and even tho she was “busy” w poison, she still didn’t save anyone; mako finished ming-hua, bolin and mako finished ghazan, p’li died because of beifong sisters; i understand korra was “busy” at that moment, but don’t call it “she saved the world again”, cause well, she didn’t :)

4. lastly; you say that, korra never had time to recover after battles? aang was fighting all the time. he and his friends never were safe, they had to stay focused all the time and nobody gave aang time after azula almost killed him, or after he lost appa, or after he lost his nation and all friends; he was in the middle of war and he didn’t even have time for his own feelings, only time he was fed up, was when appa was kindnapped and still he did all he could to find him, not just sat on his ass saying shit like:i can’t do it, im scared and other shit korra saying all the time; aang is a child, surrounded with other children, and sometimes older masters or grown up people (rare occasions) trying to save world; korra is almost not a teen, surrounded with almost grown up friends, grown ups and old masters, first avatar team members,white lotus and fucking parents!! all the time, and she lives peacefully till 16 and 3 years after zaheer, nobody touches her too??

5. she lost connection with previous avatars and there is no one to lead her: who’s fault it was? she had 16 years to train and master it, since she knew shes and avatar since 5?? she could connect before, and she wouldn’t get her magic back without aang too and wouldn’t understand shit without van, almost all cool things she does were help of previous avatars and people around;

and i’m not saying she’s the worst avatar, since we clearly know only about few of them, but she def is worse than aang;

Korra is the weakest Avatar BS!

So I’ve come across the belief that Korra was the weakest Avatar!

(this isn’t it going to be an Aang v’s Korra post, just a defence of her)

The argument being that Aang mastered all four elements within a year, he learned how to energy bend, use sonic resonance and stopped a raging world war.

My answer to that it, up until his rather unusual circumstances, it was customary to notify the avatar of their destiny at 16.. Avatar Roku leaves the fire nation at 16 and returns at some point in his mid 20s, nearly a decade later.

Korra is found at the age of 5 being able to bend 3 elements already, with no training.

Even Roku and Aang needed to be shown the fundamentals of the other elements.

* Aang struggled with earth bending, due to it being the opposite element to his own.. Standing to reason that fire 🔥 would be the element Korra would struggle with, but she doesn’t, its Air, which makes her unique.

Korra also learned how to spiritbend and metal bend, being the first Avatar to do so.

Some people argue, Aang stopped a world war, Roku took on the Pompeii of volcanoes, prevented Sozin from starting the war.

Kyoshi created an island to save her people ( I have a lava bending theory but that’s for later)

We have very little to go off, what the previous avatars faced, but I got the impression that whilst Republic city was being created n civil unrest in the protectorates was on going, Yakone’s gangsta shit, the whole world was hardly in danger.

We know very little of what Roku faced in his life, other than keeping an eye on Sozin. And Kyoshi staight up wouldn’t hesitate to cut a bitch. We know the previous waterbender Avatar turned out to be a bit of a slacker..

In the space of Four years Korra saves the world on 3 separate occasions!

Amón,

Unalaq and the spirits

Zaheer and his revolutionaries

She does this n yet is blamed by the press, dragged through the mud, vilified and abused by the very people she’s trying to protect

Her biggest failing is her naivety, impulsiveness and keenness to help.

Up until this point she has lived a very secluded life. She barely knows how the real world works.

This is taken advantage of by the very adults who should be looking out for her, ie, her uncle unalaq, councilman tarloq. Both betray her, both helping to cause a civil war shifting the blame onto the shoulders of a very sheltered teenage girl

Barely 6 months passes between amon and the water tribe civil war. Immediately on the heels of that, Zaheer and his revolutionaries start their shenanigans.

In barely 18 months she has had her bending taken, been tricked into pissing off the spirits World. She’s had at least 3 attempts on her life and is still suffering the effects of being poisoned. Not to mention emotionally she has been on a roller-coaster, never having chance to address the ptsd she’s suffering from.

Even Aang had a long rest after defeating Fire Lord Ozai to recover and heal from the emotional and physical toil.

Korra’s been putting out fires constantly since she got to Republic city, all the while in the face of people chipping away at her confidence, and feeling all alone.

No wonder, at the end of book 3, she is emotionally and physically exhausted and abandons her post.

Some people argue that Kuvira wouldn’t not have happened if Korra had stayed. Korra was in no mental state, suffering from depression and ptsd.

Yes, Korra not being there gives rise to Kuvira stepping up to the plate in luí of the Avatar.

But once again Korra relies on adults to help take the load and is let down. Such as Sú Yin and Tenzin..

Sú Yin shirks her responsibilities, stopping Kuvira, pulling a Sozin. This is because Sú Yin is afraid to take the reins as she believes that she too, would turn into a tyrannical despot.

The difference is, Korra comes back and deals with Kuvira , where as Roku avoided Sozin entirely.

After dealing with yet another threat on the world, after 4 years of constant aggro, Korra deserved some R&R with her sweet girlfriend.

So, anyone else want to turn round n tell me she’s the worst and/or weakest Avatar…

Fight me!