#Exploring Heritage

[flameohotwife]

Here’s something I’d love to see you write:

Aang & Katara taking their child/children to the southern air temple so they can learn more about that side of their heritage.

Old Halls, New Life (rated G)

The air was eerily still as they climbed down off of Appa, setting foot on the stone balcony of the Southern Air Temple for the first time since the war. Katara hardly dared to breathe, lest she disturb the quiet. Aang’s face was unreadable. He stood still as the statue of Gyatso that she knew was just out of sight, staring blankly ahead. Katara bent the sweat off her palms and wondered if he was trying to mentally prepare himself for the carnage that was still to come. She wasn’t sure either of them would ever be ready. 

A lifetime later, Aang finally turned his face to her, and her heart broke at the sadness and guilt that were heavy in his eyes. He offered a small smile and held his hand out to her. She took it, walking towards the front door of the temple, hoping he couldn’t feel her own nerves. He had put off his own healing for so long, for the sake of healing the whole world. He needed her to be the strong one, right now.

The moment seemed too heavy for words, so she squeezed his hand as they approached Gyatso’s statue. He returned the squeeze just before releasing her hand to bow to his old master. Katara mirrored his action, offering her own respects to the man who had been Aang’s biggest support in his old life. When he moved forward to airbend the lock and pushed open the heavy wooden door, it looked just like it had the last time they were there. 

Katara had always felt a sense of awe at the Avatar, but now, knowing Aang the way she did, having spent the better part of a year fighting a war alongside him and another year trying to restore peace… Now the Hall of Avatars hit her even harder. Each of these men and women had had a life. They had loved, and been loved. They had fought battles and kept the balance of the world, but they had also been human and felt the full depth of that human experience. They had laughed and felt loss and suffered illness… 

Thinking of Aang’s statue in this very hall—sometime hopefully long, long in the future—she wondered what future generations would say about him. She wondered who had loved and lost these Avatars of old. How they had reconciled the Avatar’s humanity and their Spiritual duty. 

After a moment of respect, and, Katara suspected, seeking wisdom from his past lives, Aang led Katara through the curtains he had found Gyatso’s body behind the first time they were there. She struggled not to gasp at the number of Fire Nation skeletons that littered the ground around Gyatso, shocking red armor still firmly in place, and she squeezed Aang’s hand again to remind him that he wasn’t alone. No matter how hard the task that lay ahead of them, she was always and forever by his side.

She saw Aang press his eyes shut. He squeezed her hand back in thanks, but tears still leaked down his cheeks and his chin was trembling. A year or two ago, she might have feared him slipping into the Avatar State, but now she just pulled him into a hug and they fell to their knees on the ground together.

“I miss them,” Aang croaked out some time later, once the wracking sobs subsided. “I miss them so much.”

Katara rubbed his back and kissed the tip of the arrow on his head, completely lost for words. What could she even say? She knew how deep the pain of missing her mother was, and she was just one person. Aang had lost everyone and everything.

“Thank you for coming here with me,” he mumbled into her shoulder. “I don’t know if I could have done this alone. The temple is so full of memories.”

“Share them with me?” she asked, hesitant but hopeful. Aang had shared many things about his people, but they were all more general ideals, histories, ceremonies, and occasional anecdotes. He didn’t often share his personal memories. It was like talking about them would force him to remember. That they had been real—that they had lived and that they had died horrible, unfair deaths.

But this time, Aang did share. Over the next days and weeks as he and Katara cleaned the temple to prepare it for the Acolytes, he shared many memories. When they carefully removed the skeletons near the airball court, he told Katara about a particularly competitive game of airball which had caused multiple injuries to him and his friends. When they cleaned the kitchens, he told her about the time he and his friends had stolen a bunch of fruit pies and hid them in the elder monk’s beds, earning them all extra chores for a month. When they scrubbed ash stains out of the classrooms, he told her how hard it had been to be the youngest in his levels; how he missed his friends when they’d advanced him over and over again. 

As they carried skeleton after skeleton out of the tallest towers, he told her how bittersweet his tattoo ceremony had been. How excited he was to see his parents and his friends from the other temples and how proud he had been, but also how different he felt and how it was the beginning of him being ostracized from his friends. How much weight he already felt on his shoulders after that ceremony. How much heavier it had gotten since.

Aang shared his memories, and it brought so much life back to these empty halls. Katara smiled every time she walked into the kitchen now, picturing a small gaggle of seven-year-old boys sneaking out with their arms full of pie when the bakers weren’t looking. 

“I know they’d be proud of you,” she said one morning while she was cooking breakfast. Aang had been silently chopping up moonpeaches beside her to make a pie of his own, still trying to perfect the “gooey center” Gyatso was always so good at. He looked up at her, startled, and almost dropped the knife. 

“I know I’ve told you before,” she went on, “but the way you were able to end the war without taking Ozai’s life, and the way you’ve been bringing peace to all the nations over the years since the war ended… sharing your culture with the Air Acolytes and helping the world restore balance… I just know they would be so proud of you.”

Aang smiled sadly.

“I know you’ll always miss them too, but… they’re not gone. They live on in your stories. In this place. In the mischief you and Toph and Sokka get into all the time…” Aang looked affronted and she shoved his shoulder playfully. “Yes, I know you’re not just ‘going to the market’ when the three of you are gone for hours and only come home with a handful of vegetables and some mysterious sacks that clank.”

Aang full-on laughed then, possibly his first real laugh since they had arrived at the temple. He set the knife down and hid his face sheepishly behind his hands, leaning on his elbows on the counter.

“And one day,” Katara continued, blushing vibrantly, “they’ll live on in the next generation. In our kids. In the lessons you’ll teach them and the trouble you’ll get into together and the values you instill. Your people aren’t gone forever, Aang. I promise you that.”

Aang’s head snapped up to look at her so fast, and his face was filled with so many different emotions, but before she could truly look at him and figure out what he was thinking, he surged forward and kissed her.

Kissing Aang had always been one of her favorite things to do, but she had held back from kissing him on this trip, unsure of whether he wanted that sort of intimacy during such a difficult time. She had offered many kisses to his head or his cheek, and innumerable hugs where she had clung to him, and he to her, but hadn’t kissed his lips since before they left Cranefish Town.

Now, though, as his lips moved fervently against hers, it seemed obvious that this was exactly what he needed, and she melted into him. He wove his hands into her hair—it always made her smile that he seemed to love her hair so much when he had none—and she clung to his back, eliciting a happy sigh from him.

The smell of their breakfast beginning to burn to the bottom of the pot startled them away from each other. Katara nervously tucked her hair back behind her ears as she stirred the rice mixture, but she could feel Aang still staring at her. When she scooped their breakfast into bowls and offered one to him, he was grinning besottedly. She couldn’t help but smile back.

“Thank you, Katara,” he said, pecking her on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me keep my people alive, and for reminding me that they never really left. I know their love lives on, but now their memory will, too, every time I tell their story.”

“I love you, Aang,” she said. “I hope that wasn’t too much… I just…” 

“It was perfect,” Aang interrupted, placing a warm hand on hers and smiling. “It was exactly what I needed to hear.”

Read more on ao3

So, this turned out to be a doozy. What you see here is just the first of four ficlets which I combined into one fic, because I couldn't help myself. And this doesn't even cover what you actually asked for yet haha, but the rest will :) It's too long for tumblr so you can read the whole thing on ao3. I didn't do as much research as I probably should have for this, but there's a lot packed in here. I hope you enjoy the parenting segments, friend!

[readersmagnet]

E. Pluribus Unum: From Many, One by Marvin V. Blake

Set against the backdrop of 1861-1876, "E. Pluribus Unum: From Many, One" by Marvin V. Blake follows the intertwined lives of Jason Ruth, a former slave, and Rebecca Billings, a Southern aristocrat's daughter, as they navigate the challenges of a nation torn by Civil War. This novel illuminates a story about the culture and the exploitation of Native Americans.

Experience the past come alive. Grab a copy at www.booksbymarvinblake2.com.

[letsduneit]

thinking about paul saying "we're harkonnens. so this is how we'll survive. by being harkonnens" and about jessica saying "your father didn't believe in revenge" and paul replying "yeah well i do" and how things can die even as they continue to draw breath and how the harkonnens really did kill off all three of the atreides that night not just leto

[yorksnapshots]

Barns in the Yorkshire Dales, England.

[urbanrelics]

HAUT FOURNEAU 4

I adore visiting blast furnaces. They are the most spectacular sights I've ever got to witness. The intricacy of the engineering is quite simply astonishing. This particular specimen in Belgium, which has been under close surveilance since it was shut down in 2008, has been preserved in a remarkably good condition. Almost immediately after the closure, an interest group was established that wanted to preserve the blast furnace as an industrial landmark.

This blast furnace company, which is a defining feature of the city of Charleroi, was founded in 1836, during the heyday of the European steel industry. Like all other steel companies in the region, this blast furnace was also the subject of numerous takeovers and mergers. These mainly took place in the 1960s and 70s. It always remained a flourishing company, competitive on a global scale. However, the takeover by the Duferco group in 2001 heralded the beginning of the end…

The site was then operated under the name Carsid. After a fire in 2007, the furnace was temporarily shut down to carry out the necessary repairs. At the same time, capacity was increased and a number of environmental investments were made. The installation would now be operational for another ten years. Barely a year later, the blast furnace was shut down again, due to “poor prospects”. Due to the economic crisis and the declining demand for steel, the operation of the blast furnace company was no longer deemed profitable.

A “temporary” closure and the search for a buyer should bring relief. After more than three years of uncertainty and economic unemployment, the curtain finally fell for the blast furnace. Since HF4 is one of the best preserved blast furnaces in Europe, the Walloon government is striving to preserve the furnace as industrial heritage. Although a ministerial decree has been published to this effect, the demolition work on the site is progressing steadily…

Unfortunately Charleroi is one of the poorest cities in Belgium. There is no budget for the necessary sanitation and preservation works, which would run in the millions of euros. The futures is looking bleak for this beautiful piece of industrial heritage...

[magicaledford]

I will not pretend to understand my dreams, but this one in parcitular wouldn't leave me alone, where @patricia-taxxon invaded my dreamscape.

[alexiethymia]

With the reveal that Aduo didn’t actually want to be the mother of the nation, looks like we now have a concrete path to a happy ending for Jinshi.

Though I actually really want to see him as the Emperor one day (at least for a time), it would be thematically appropriate if Jinshi takes not after the Emperor, but after Gaoshun and becomes the retainer of the future Emperor.

[cinnamonsikwate]

speaking of racism in dm (both fantasy & regular), this exchange has haunted me since the first time i read this chapter

and regardless of actual origin within the eastern continent/archipelago, ofc she wouldn't recognize the name shuro bc it's not even his real name 😭

[witchofthesouls]

Can you explain how preening works on bots? For someone who new to the idea of it.

Preening is a real-life bird grooming behavior that extends the life of their feathers as well as waterproof them using an oil secretion from a gland and a bonding activity, too. Transformers fandom likens the Seekers to birds, so I'm doing my duty and expanding on it lol

For Seekerkin, preening is a grooming behavior that satisfies multiple functions: a social activity for the trine and flock, a necessary and vital part of maintenance to check out the responsiveness and state of their flight systems, and trains the very young or very new on how to handle environmental influx, both passive and active. It's typically guided by the more experienced hand: mentor to student, parent/guardian to child or newbuild, elder to newcomer, trainer to trainee. A pair of hands skims and go over the expanse and edges before using their talons to pick out the slag in the fine seams as they test out various sites and sensor response.

It's an activity that actively builds social cohesion as it takes a lot of trust to allow someone else around appendages packed with a variety of sensors. It feels good as well. Not a sexual pleasure. It's more akin to good massage or very nice body scrub. A great source of stress relief under an at-home health check. Of course, that also fosters relationships between kin, trines, cohorts, and flocks.

Arcee and Bumblebee have their own sensory panels to care for, and it's a job for a second pair of hands. Ratchet has similarities with his own servos.

Miko is too much of a young menace to realize others don't have her own War-Forged physiology, so she's allowed to go ham on the heavier armored Autobots because she's mimicking the care she's receiving.

[adriiivna]

Alina is Shu attire, inspired by traditional Chinese hanfu dress💛

[codacheetah]

My take on Rauru and Sonia's very unnamed and unmentioned probable daughter

[gromky]

Mary Magdalene would never let her loved ones down

insp @normalbrothers absolutely brilliant Pietà set

[frogaroundandfindout]

You remember when dick was in space (for the first time with the new teen titans) because komand’r took Kory back and they needed to save her? And you remember how he understood it was a war they were fighting and that they needed to do what they had to in order to survive it? And how when Gar told him he needed to control Kory, dick wondered if he even should try to stop her from killing her sister? And how he literally killed to save her (there’s some deniability but he’s literally hitting them with lasers described as deadly right in the head)? I do.

[yorksnapshots]

A Pack Horse Bridge.

Found in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, England. Built in Sandstone in 1672 with the aid of a £20 grant, which would barely by a brick nowadays!

[urbanrelics]

KRAFTWERK V

This monumental power station, originally a former brown coal power station, but later converted into a gas turbine power station, was built in 1937. It was active for over 60 years and was closed in 1998. The four large chimneys of the now closed brown coal power station, which were characteristic of the area for decades, were blown up in 2001.

The first half of the brown coal plant (6 x 35 MW) was built between 1937 and 1940. After World War II, the power plant's systems and equipment were dismantled between 1945 and 1947 as reparations to the Soviet Union.

From 1953 to 1959, the power plant was rebuilt and expanded with the second half of the plant (12 x 32 MW) in the west and high bunkers in the north. Gradual recommissioning took place from 10 October 1954 with the first trial operation after dismantling and expansion.

The power plant was declared an industrial monument in 1996. In March 2006, the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeology removed the power plant from the list of monuments without the owner having submitted an application. The reason for this was that the characteristic chimneys were being demolished.

Despite the loss of its monument status, the power plant is still considered a monument.