#((she will! she'll go in completely underestimating them; their strength as a team; and their love and loyalty to emily))

[theheadlessgroom]

https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/717528183240540160/beatingheart-bride-theheadlessgroom

@beatingheart-bride

At the gentle murmur of the word, Randall was briefly captivated by her gaze, finding himself lost in the strange beauty of her face: Not just the golden glow of her eyes, but the glittering scales, seeming to shimmer in the dim light of the room, the sheen of her flaxen locks framing her face, the angular nature of her fins...it was all so beautiful, and it reminded him that he needed to add some color to that drawing he’d done of her the night before...

…but he eventually snapped himself out of his reverie, blinking a little as he touched his cheek, saying, “U-Uh, yes, p-pink, yes, uh, w-we humans, um, we sometimes t-turn pink, you know, um, it’s just, uh...something we do...i-it’s not a bad thing, just something we...we do...”

He smiled at her, his cheeks turning from pink to red at the notion of her noticing this change (which, again, only served to make him blush harder), wondering to himself if sirens ever did anything similar...did their cheeks ever warm upon looking up at someone they were enamored by, he wondered?

And if so, would her cheeks ever warm when she looked at him, the way his did when he looked at her?

[seyaryminamoto]

Thank you for answering all my weird questions about Gladiator VS fights and other odd topics coz I love stuff like that. Since that other anon expressed Sokka might be getting overpowered and you just smiling and nodding all smug, I must sate my curiosity and ask. Our resident non-bending god Sokka aside, what non-bender ranks 2nd place to him. I've read all the story in a few months and the toughest Sokka faced seems to be The Dark Rook. I almost chose Piandao, but he's "Technically" retired.

Well, being "retired" doesn't really mean Piandao isn't the second best xD so yeah, I think Piandao as #2 is a fair guess. He used to outdo Sokka because he had tons of extra experience that Sokka didn't quite have yet... by now, though, Sokka has sooo much experience and has the advantage of youth and being pretty much in top-notch shape. Piandao isn't likely slacking off completely xD but he's not bound to be training as often as Sokka does. So Sokka is most definitely a better swordsman than him atm (whether Sokka would accept it or not is another matter entirely, but it's still true xD). Still, he's a good choice for #2.

The Dark Rook is another great choice, he's definitely the second best non-bender in the League... but I think Rhone might be the best suited #3 here, if I'm allowed to say so xD yes, he has a power-up now, but I think combat-wise he's not in the same league as Sokka anymore. Even then, he'd likely outdo most anyone else, so #3 is a good idea for Rhone, and #4 for the Dark Rook. It's possible these two would even be more or less evenly matched in a fair fight, but I would still give Rhone a slight edge over the Dark Rook, if just a little one.

Next in the list... I think Suki would be a solid #5, you could presumably argue she's retired atm too, same as Piandao, but she's a force to be reckoned with and, if you don't mind the light spoiler, she's not putting her weapons away forever. We'll see some more Suki in combat in the future :'D while she hasn't been steadily improving across years the way Sokka has, she's still definitely not someone to underestimate in combat, not at all.

Right after Suki, I'd probably go for Haiyan, who mostly has had lots of bad luck due to being in bad circumstances, but she's one very good fighter too, and if given a chance to thrive she'd be a serious menace (and given a non-wooden sword?? She deliberately fights with a wooden one because she can let loose without as much fear that she'll kill her opponent xD). But then there's also Mei Xun, who has been in the army for ages and, while Sokka could beat her (at this point, who CAN'T he beat? xD), she's still a really powerful fighter. I'm not sure which of these two lady nonbenders is better, so I guess they're tied for #6 :'D

After them, I think it's likely that we'd have to go for a certain pair of non-gladiators, specifically Mai and Ty Lee. They could be stronger, but even if Ty Lee trains with Haru often, I don't think she's remotely as devoted to combat training as gladiator characters generally are, and Mai is even less given to training these days than Ty Lee is. Even so, Mai is very dangerous for obvious reasons, getting through her perfect precision is not something most people can achieve if she's serious. Ty Lee is highly agile and a master of chi-blocking, so I think they're probably tied for #8 :'D ironically their strengths are each other's weakness, so they're a very cool team of non-benders that nobody should underestimate, whether if they're together or alone.

There's a few other options but I don't know if I should mention them because it's spoilery territory xD So, for now I'll leave this list as it is and maybe ask me again once we're like... 80% into Part 3 (?)