#FIRE LADIES AND EARTH QUEENS TODAY IS A GOOD DAY

[angrenwen]

"

No pretty colours, no overt magic... it was an Earth dragon, the commonest kind. Not even Stone, but plain Earth. It was curled up in the basket asleep, mottled in a dozen shades of dull brown - no horns, no wings, nothing. I would have sat right down and cried if it hadn’t woken up and looked up at me with big, soft brown eyes. I was still disappointed... but it was very sweet, and it was my dragon. By the time my nurse came in, I was feeding it and cooing over it just like everyone does. 

I wasn’t the only one who was disappointed.  My father had a particularly large and fierce Fire, my mother a lovely and delicate Leaf. My older brother had Ice, and he told me that my dragon was boring because I’m boring. He’d always been spiteful. 

I loved my dragon, who I named Umber for her colour, but for a long time there was a little disappointment mixed into it. She was sweet and affectionate, but not exciting. It wasn’t until I was older, into my teens, that I began to see more in her than others did. That she taught me the three lessons that made me what I am today. 

The first was Observation. She was never large, a slender little creature like a long lizard, with clever feet and a flexible body. She would ride on my shoulders, her hind-paws on one shoulder, her front on the other, her long head and bright eyes always beside mine. And she looked everywhere, and I found myself doing the same, following her movements. 

And I saw things. Important things, like a bribe passing between hands or the flicker of an expression that hinted at a lie or a secret. Little things, too, like a bird’s nest, red eyes that showed where tears had been, the first signs of coming rain. It took me time to realize that she was teaching me, that it wasn’t just a part of growing up, and longer to realize that I was more observant than anyone else I knew. I couldn’t think why people didn’t notice things that happened right in front of them. 

The second lesson Umber taught me was Patience. She was more obvious about that one - when I got restless, or didn’t pay attention, or made an impatient fuss, she would cluck in disapproval, or bump my cheek to make me mind, or - once or twice - even bite me on the ear. Like the lizard she resembled, she was as patient as stone. She taught me to be still, to wait for the right moment, until I was so good at it that the birds would come and sit on my shoulders while I sewed or read, and if I chose I could be so still and quiet that people forgot I was even in the room. 

It is astonishing how much one can learn bent over an embroidery frame, seeming not to hear. 

The third I have never been able to sum up in one word, and I cannot explain how she taught it, though it is very distinct to me.  Contemplation and Logic are both parts of it, as well as Intuition and Examination. Perhaps the closest word is Understanding. 

I learned that because I had an Earth dragon, like so many other people, I seemed more... approachable. Down to Earth, people say, meaning sensible or practical, and I discovered that an Earth dragon well-loved and tended is like a secret signal of sense. Wherever I went, I found myself welcomed. If I stopped to chat with a peasant, or a shop-keeper, or even a beggar, they would answer. When I sought out the steward, or the cooks in the kitchen, or the master gardener, they answered my questions, seeming to think it very sound good sense that I learn all about the business of keeping a castle. After all, as a princess, I would likely be a queen one day. 

I made friends, not only of the ladies of the court, but of my ladies in waiting and my tutors.  I learned to be kind, and considerate, and practical. I learned how to manage a castle, how to do business, even something about farming and the management of lands. And all the things I learned from all those people, I turned over in my mind and put together, like the pieces of a puzzle. 

I was sixteen when I realized that my father wasn’t a very good king. I believe he meant to be, but he was bored by dull things like discussing the crops, or maintaining roads, or the state of the treasury. Too much was left in the hands of others, and too often he dismissed as unimportant things that were anything but. My mother, dearly though I loved her, had been taught all her life to be pretty and silly and sweet, and was very good at that, and nothing else. 

And my brother.... my brother was going to be a terrible king. ‘Selfish, spoiled, and unkind’ as the fairy-tale says of the bad prince. He didn’t even have my father’s redeeming quality of being an excellent soldier... though he loved to fight, he lacked the patience and self-discipline he needed. 

When I was eighteen, a war began. Supposedly because the other kingdom had encroached on our borders, but I never really believed it. My father and brother liked fighting too well. And sure enough, within months they were both gone, protecting their kingdom, they claimed, with blade and bow and the blood of the common men they did not value. 

Their kingdom! Who did they think governed it, when they were gone? My dear, silly mother, who cried when confronted with a difficult choice? It wasn’t a year before I was ruling the country in all but name. I had spent years teaching my people to respect my sense and judgement. With Umber on my shoulder, I consulted with tax-collectors and the governors of provinces, merchant’s guilds and the noblewomen left behind to manage estates for husbands and fathers and sons. They came to me with dragons beside them, or on their shoulders, or fluttering around their heads, and saw a princess with Earth anchoring her and trusted me. Those who saw only a girl, and a dull dragon, who tried to intimidate or trick me, soon learned better. Earth is strong, and solid, and not easily frightened. 

I was not particularly grieved, when word came that my brother had been killed in combat, and my father wounded. Of course I did everything I should - arranged the Twenty Days of Mourning appropriate to the death of a crown prince. I summoned the finest doctors, with dragons of Earth and Vapour and Root, and prepared for my father’s return. 

When his fever broke and he was himself again, he and my mother bewailed the fate of the kingdom. They had no other sons. What would become of their kingdom without a king? 

It was the seneschal, summoned to my father’s chambers, who first raised the obvious point. “My king,” he said gravely, when my father had finished rambling about tournaments and quests to find a suitable heir, “you already have an heir. The princess - “ 

My father laughed at that. “The princess! How could a maiden, one unmarried at more than twenty years of age, rule a kingdom? Rule *my* kingdom?!” 

To my surprise, my mother didn’t agree with him. “She is very capable,” she said slowly. “Indeed, my dear, ever since poor Duke Caral fell ill after you left, she has been managing things very well.” 

He snorted. “Oh, she manages the castle well enough, I dare say - an old maid must be of some use - but that is not the same as ruling a kingdom.” 

I do not think he ever remembered I was in the room, in all the time he ranted about the incompetence of women until he tired himself, and went to sleep. His dragon, however, watched me uneasily. 

When he was asleep, we left the room, and it was my mother who turned to me first. “I am sorry, my dear,” she said, clasping my hand. “I will try to make him understand. You do so much more than run the castle, I do know it, even if I’m not much help to you.” 

I kiss her cheek, Umber and her dragon Lily nuzzling each other for a moment. “You do help, Mother.” Understanding has taught me that false compliments are empty things - and how to pay truthful ones, even if they require a little exaggeration. “You’ve been such a comfort to me, through all of it. I’m sure I wouldn’t have managed nearly as well if you hadn’t been there to encourage me and praise my efforts.” 

She brightens at that, and it is true that she’s a comfort, even if it isn’t one I really needed. “Well, I try, dear.” She turns to the seneschal. “I *will* try to make him understand,” she promises. “But... he is going to want to...” 

“To find a suitable man to marry me,” I say, not quite keeping the sour edge out of my voice. “And not one who’s a capable administrator or a good ruler, but one who’s like him.” 

The seneschal meets my eyes, and I am startled by the sudden fierceness in his gaze. “That,” he says grimly, “I understand very well.” 

I can truly say that I do not know how it happened, or when. All I know, all anyone knows, is that some time during that night, my father took a turn for the worse. Infection, said the finest doctors, and shook their heads. Spleen, said the priests and priestesses, and sighed sadly. Grief for his son, said my mother and the palace ladies, dabbing at their eyes. 

In two days, he was gone. By the time the news reached his male relatives, the cousins and second cousins in other kingdoms, I had been crowned queen. By the time they reached us to protest and demand the throne, I was already negotiating peace with our neighbours. 

I do not know who decided to put an end to my father. I hope I never know. That it was someone within the castle I am fairly certain, for only they had heard the rumours of his desire to replace me, queen in all but name for three years, with yet another man like him and like my brother, who would strip the treasury to pay for wars and let the roads decay and the poor starve. Someone in the castle decided to do what they thought best for the kingdom. 

I have been queen now for five years. The kingdom prospers, and so do the people. 

Not long ago I travelled to the coast to meet with envoys from an island kingdom considering trade with us. They sent one of their own princesses, having heard of me, and she and I got along very well, her Sea dragon playing with Umber while we talked. 

On my way back, we passed a farm, and I turned aside from the column and rode to the farmhouse. When I reached it, a middle-aged man came out to meet me. He looked deferential but, I was pleased to note, not frightened. My people know I like to stop and chat. “Your Majesty,” he says, bowing politely. “What can we do for you, this fine day?”

I smiled at him. “I just wanted to ask how your farm goes.” I dismounted from my horse and looked out over the fields, soft and green with spring growth. “And all the farms around here. I don’t often come this way, and I haven’t heard any news in a while. Not since the soil going sour two years ago... that’s all gone now, I hope?” 

“Yes, Your Majesty, there’s no sign of it this year.” He looks pleased that I remember. “When we sent to the capital, two men came back with our messengers, and they showed us as it wasn’t the soil at all, but a sickness that comes on the wheat after a wet summer, which we’d had and no mistake. They said it happens sometimes where they comes from, further east, and showed us what to do to fix it, and the crops last year were as good as ever.” 

“That’s good.” The fields certainly look healthy enough. “I’m glad you got help so quickly.” 

“Oh, we knew we would,” he says... matter-of-factly, not as if he’s trying to please me. “I will say, Your Majesty, and meaning no offense, I’m glad it happened two years ago and not ten. Not a word against the old king, of course, but he wasn’t a man for the land.” The slender Earth dragon on his shoulder lifts its head, and it exchanges a long look with Umber. “Soldiers are poor farmers, they say, and it’s true enough to my mind.” He looks at Umber too, and then at me. “He might not have understood as what the problem was, or why the taxes was late. But we knew Your Majesty would understand, being of the nature of Earth, as we say.” 

“Yes, I understood.” I stroke Umber absently, and smile at him. “I’m glad all is well now.” 

I think that the dragons we receive are the ones we need, even if we don’t know why when we’re young. Without Umber, without the confidence she gives the ordinary people in me, without the things she taught me, I would not be a queen now... not a queen regnant, at least, only the means by which another man became king. "

In the kingdom you live in a child’s 10th Christmas is a big deal because they receive a dragon in their stocking to care for. It’s always a mystery what kind of dragon they are going to recieve. As the kings child you expect one of the majestic winter beasts or the wild fiery dragons. Instead you get what is viewed as the most bland species: an Earth dragon. But you soon discover your Earth dragon to be anything but bland.

[brookston]

Holidays 8.2

Holidays

Airborne Forces Day (Russia)

Airmobile Forces Day (Ukraine)

Bonalu (Telangana, India)

Bunny Day

Day of Airborne Forces (Russia)

Day of Azerbaijani Cinema (Azerbaijan)

Day of Maiden Katrica (Elder Scrolls)

Day of the Water Nymphs (Macedonia)

Deez Nutz Day

Dinosaurs Day

Earth Overshoot Day 2023 (a.k.a. Ecological Debt Day)  [ website ]

Emancipation Day (Several Caribbean nations)

Escalator Day

Ewe Day (French Republic)

Fiesta La Patrona (Spain)

Greenwich Mean Time Day

Ilinden Day (Republic Day; Macedonia)

International Golden Lion Tamarin Day

International Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Day

Little Mix Appreciation Day

National Jacqueline Day

International Jewish Day

International Pony Day

Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

Lincoln Penny Day

Mark Lee Day (K-Pop)

Mindfulness Day

National Blockchain Day

National Boob Day

National CAD Day (a.k.a. National Computer-Aided Design Day)

National Children’s Day (Tuvalu)

National Coloring Book Day

National Ex-Girlfriend Day

National Hugh Day

National Rap Music Day

National Sisters Day

Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

Pantsu Day (Japan)

Paratroopers Day (Russia)

Republic Day (North Macedonia)

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (EU)

Take a Penny/Leave a Penny Day

World Anglo-Indian Day

World Feed the Poor Day

Yeezy Day (Adidas)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Some Old-Fashioned Lemonade Day

Miracle Treat Day (Dairy Queen)

National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

1st Wedneesday in August

International Play Day (UK) [1st Wednesday]

National Professional Engineers Day [1st Wednesday]

National Psychiatric Technician Appreciation Day [Wednesday of 1st Full Week]

Regatta Day (Canada) [1st Wednesday]

Independence Days

Declaration of Independence 1st signed (US; 1776)

Feast Days

Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Barley Day (Pagan)

Basil Fool for Christ (Russian Orthodox Church)

Chateaubriand (Positivist; Saint)

Dryads Day (Greek Wood & Water Gods)

Elias (a.k.a. Ilia or Elijah the Prophet; Christian; Saint)

Etheldritha (a.k.a. Alfrida; Christian; Saint)

Eusebius of Vercelli (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Our Lady of the Angeles of the Portiuncula (Franciscan Order)

Ilinden Day (St. Elijah Day; Macedonia)

Jan van Scorel (Artology)

Justin Russolillo (Christian; Blessed)

Khao Phansa begins (Buddhist Lent; Thailand)

Lady of the Angels’ Day (Costa Rica)

Monster Monster (Muppetism)

Peter Faber (Christian; Saint)

Peter Julian Eymard (Christian; Saint)

Perdono di Assisi (Pardon of Assisi), the plenary indulgence related to St.Francis of Assisi originated in the church of Porziuncola (Catholic Church)

Richard Wilson (Artology)

Robert Goddard Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Samuel David Ferguson (Episcopal Church)

Sidwell (Christian; Saint) [Farmers]

Stephen I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Vermicelli Day (Pastafarian)

Virgin of Los Angeles Day (Costa Rica)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

American Graffiti (Film; 1973)

Castle in the Sky (Studio Ghibli Animated Film; 1986)

Doc Hollywood (Film; 1991)

Don’t Look Back, by Boston (Album; 1978)

Emma (Film; 1996)

Europa Report (Film; 2013)

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Film; 2019) [F&F]

Follow That Bird (Film; 1985)

In the Heat of the Night (Film; 1967)

Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (WB MM Cartoon; 1931)

The Others (Film; 2001)

The Pebbles on the Beach, by Clarence Ellis (Geology Book; 1954)

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, “The Moonlight Sonata,” by Ludwig Van Beethoven (Piano Sonata; 1802)

The Suburbs, by Arcade Fire (Album; 2010)

Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain (memoir; 1933)

2 Guns (Film; 2013)

Weird Science (Film; 1985)

Today’s Name Days

Eusebius, Julian, Petrus, Stefan (Austria)

Anđela, Arnir, Euzebije (Croatia)

Gustav (Czech Republic)

Hannibal (Denmark)

Helger, Helgo, Holger, Olger (Estonia)

Kimmo (Finland)

Julien (France)

Adriana, Eusebius, Juliam, Julan (Germany)

Justinianos (Greece)

Lehel (Hungary)

Eusebio (Italy)

Norma, Normunds, Stefans (Latvia)

Alfonsas, Guoda, Gustavas, Tautvaldas (Lithuania)

Karen, Karin (Norway)

Alfons, Alfonsyna, Borzysława, Gustaw, Ilia, Karina, Maria, Stefan (Poland)

Stefan (Romania)

Gustáv (Slovakia)

Ángeles, Eusebio (Spain)

Kajsa, Karin (Sweden)

Alf, Alfie, Alfonsina, Alfonso, Alford, Alfred, Alfreda, Alfredo, Alonso, Alonza, Alonzo, Alphonso, Fonzie (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 214 of 2024; 151 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 31 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 23 of 28]

Chinese: Month 6 (Ji-Wei), Day 16 (Ren-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 15 Av 5783

Islamic: 15 Muharram 1445

J Cal: 4 Hasa; Foursday [3 of 30]

Julian: 19 July 2023

Moon: 98%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 18 Dante (8th Month) [Chateaubriand]

Runic Half Month: Thorn (Defense) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 43 of 94)

Zodiac: Leo (Day 12 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 8.2

Holidays

Airborne Forces Day (Russia)

Airmobile Forces Day (Ukraine)

Bonalu (Telangana, India)

Bunny Day

Day of Airborne Forces (Russia)

Day of Azerbaijani Cinema (Azerbaijan)

Day of Maiden Katrica (Elder Scrolls)

Day of the Water Nymphs (Macedonia)

Deez Nutz Day

Dinosaurs Day

Earth Overshoot Day 2023 (a.k.a. Ecological Debt Day)  [ website ]

Emancipation Day (Several Caribbean nations)

Escalator Day

Ewe Day (French Republic)

Fiesta La Patrona (Spain)

Greenwich Mean Time Day

Ilinden Day (Republic Day; Macedonia)

International Golden Lion Tamarin Day

International Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Day

Little Mix Appreciation Day

National Jacqueline Day

International Jewish Day

International Pony Day

Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

Lincoln Penny Day

Mark Lee Day (K-Pop)

Mindfulness Day

National Blockchain Day

National Boob Day

National CAD Day (a.k.a. National Computer-Aided Design Day)

National Children’s Day (Tuvalu)

National Coloring Book Day

National Ex-Girlfriend Day

National Hugh Day

National Rap Music Day

National Sisters Day

Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

Pantsu Day (Japan)

Paratroopers Day (Russia)

Republic Day (North Macedonia)

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (EU)

Take a Penny/Leave a Penny Day

World Anglo-Indian Day

World Feed the Poor Day

Yeezy Day (Adidas)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Some Old-Fashioned Lemonade Day

Miracle Treat Day (Dairy Queen)

National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

1st Wedneesday in August

International Play Day (UK) [1st Wednesday]

National Professional Engineers Day [1st Wednesday]

National Psychiatric Technician Appreciation Day [Wednesday of 1st Full Week]

Regatta Day (Canada) [1st Wednesday]

Independence Days

Declaration of Independence 1st signed (US; 1776)

Feast Days

Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Barley Day (Pagan)

Basil Fool for Christ (Russian Orthodox Church)

Chateaubriand (Positivist; Saint)

Dryads Day (Greek Wood & Water Gods)

Elias (a.k.a. Ilia or Elijah the Prophet; Christian; Saint)

Etheldritha (a.k.a. Alfrida; Christian; Saint)

Eusebius of Vercelli (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Our Lady of the Angeles of the Portiuncula (Franciscan Order)

Ilinden Day (St. Elijah Day; Macedonia)

Jan van Scorel (Artology)

Justin Russolillo (Christian; Blessed)

Khao Phansa begins (Buddhist Lent; Thailand)

Lady of the Angels’ Day (Costa Rica)

Monster Monster (Muppetism)

Peter Faber (Christian; Saint)

Peter Julian Eymard (Christian; Saint)

Perdono di Assisi (Pardon of Assisi), the plenary indulgence related to St.Francis of Assisi originated in the church of Porziuncola (Catholic Church)

Richard Wilson (Artology)

Robert Goddard Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Samuel David Ferguson (Episcopal Church)

Sidwell (Christian; Saint) [Farmers]

Stephen I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Vermicelli Day (Pastafarian)

Virgin of Los Angeles Day (Costa Rica)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

American Graffiti (Film; 1973)

Castle in the Sky (Studio Ghibli Animated Film; 1986)

Doc Hollywood (Film; 1991)

Don’t Look Back, by Boston (Album; 1978)

Emma (Film; 1996)

Europa Report (Film; 2013)

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Film; 2019) [F&F]

Follow That Bird (Film; 1985)

In the Heat of the Night (Film; 1967)

Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (WB MM Cartoon; 1931)

The Others (Film; 2001)

The Pebbles on the Beach, by Clarence Ellis (Geology Book; 1954)

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, “The Moonlight Sonata,” by Ludwig Van Beethoven (Piano Sonata; 1802)

The Suburbs, by Arcade Fire (Album; 2010)

Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain (memoir; 1933)

2 Guns (Film; 2013)

Weird Science (Film; 1985)

Today’s Name Days

Eusebius, Julian, Petrus, Stefan (Austria)

Anđela, Arnir, Euzebije (Croatia)

Gustav (Czech Republic)

Hannibal (Denmark)

Helger, Helgo, Holger, Olger (Estonia)

Kimmo (Finland)

Julien (France)

Adriana, Eusebius, Juliam, Julan (Germany)

Justinianos (Greece)

Lehel (Hungary)

Eusebio (Italy)

Norma, Normunds, Stefans (Latvia)

Alfonsas, Guoda, Gustavas, Tautvaldas (Lithuania)

Karen, Karin (Norway)

Alfons, Alfonsyna, Borzysława, Gustaw, Ilia, Karina, Maria, Stefan (Poland)

Stefan (Romania)

Gustáv (Slovakia)

Ángeles, Eusebio (Spain)

Kajsa, Karin (Sweden)

Alf, Alfie, Alfonsina, Alfonso, Alford, Alfred, Alfreda, Alfredo, Alonso, Alonza, Alonzo, Alphonso, Fonzie (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 214 of 2024; 151 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 31 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 23 of 28]

Chinese: Month 6 (Ji-Wei), Day 16 (Ren-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 15 Av 5783

Islamic: 15 Muharram 1445

J Cal: 4 Hasa; Foursday [3 of 30]

Julian: 19 July 2023

Moon: 98%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 18 Dante (8th Month) [Chateaubriand]

Runic Half Month: Thorn (Defense) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 43 of 94)

Zodiac: Leo (Day 12 of 31)

[renatedagmarmilada]

HE BLUE YELLOW SEA

The yellow sea which is indeed blue Gurgles around junks passing the message Moored to green creased steps sitting Watched by hazy silver grey faced rocks Peaking at the margins of the city Illuminating the background with dares Covering half the sky a burning ball of fire Fights for space with the moon festival maiden As crabs brace on green algae slabs The last summer days race into the distance they still keep on the tabs….......

Chinese fishermen and students gather crops seeping From plentiful rocks to fill their table buckets Echoing the forests of the northern toadstools Huge granite dropped into the endless sea peeping Doesn’t it bother you, a lone white, amongst so many chinese some ask….............

The rising waves smash against all protruding obstacles They sit at the other side of the world Breaking their heads on my destruction The moon almost full, in bloom, struggling to rise, reaches tranquility. Over the sea by the sea shore backed by mountains so high Over the yellow foaming blue seas in which the fireball has drowned once dreamed…..................

SEARCHING DEAN STREET

Sesame, peanut Apples the size of water melons Melons the size of a baby I kept searching

Hong Kong Street East Hong Kong Street West The Fishermens’ Markets I kept searching

It said Forest Island on the sign to the sea The moon watched minus an ear As the bamboo female walla punka punkaad Unbearable coffee withdrawal so I searched

At Jin Yuan Hai Xian Jiu Dian Two Christmas trees garnished two windows though it’s September Orthodox Christians from Ethiopia’s Christmas Enabling forgetfulness of Al who copies all Still I searched

It looked like a posh shop A fine shop as the restaurant boys called hi come for a drink, come for a meal Brandy and spirits I don’t drink, I found it The morning bottle of Nescafe………….

GOLDEN HANDS

your skin is yella said to me my fella I had thought my skin was biscuit Not that colour bothers me A gift from the east my ancestors The hairless arms and legs Accompany that yellow body his pink next to my yella Your skin is yella said my fella of over two decades And he left……….

As we sped in the sardine can Dark hands gripping for the safety rail Next to those plump pink and creams Into my pocket hidden quickly offending With this offence my eternal shame Hidden hands of the golden hoards…….

Sitting close next to me Chatting we laugh Forgetting we touch Shows up the darkened yellow skin Of my forebears Of seven hundred years ago the horsemen of the East Hands which can play with words Hands which instantly draw each line Hands which can create so much Hidden hands of the golden hoards….

Today living here a minor love affair In this maybe my new home Speeding in the local sardine cans Hands gripping the rail With other hands Pale lemon to dark nut brown Nobody cares It doesn’t matter over here With all the other yellow hands Hidden hands of the yellow hoards…..

THE PALACE OF THE UGLY FROG

their house was in the blue moon silver, bright  brilliant and full of bloom

he was a great man he was a special man

the emperor had a great need of him please return he begged, to rid the earth of evil

as the emperor bid the man in the moon did

his lady love so lone followed him on earth jealousy became dissatisfied with him

the queen, saddened to placate them gave a magic panacea to save them

this they both must take to exist until eternity

in jealousy to spite her important and good husband the spiteful wife swallowed without his knowledge

instantly she was lifted and soared into the sky short lived was her joy after she returned alone to pry

the good panacea was for two not one the panacea’s poison had turned her into a frog

and still we watch as she cries…….

THE BEAUTIFUL LADY OF THE MOON AND THE MOON TREE

The lady of the moon was indeed beautiful The lady of the moon was also very vain

The lady of the moon came to earth Lonely lady of the moon, followed her husband to work

Her husband became important His duties just for the Emperor he performed

The lady of the moon became bored She had now become ordinary She stormed She raged She would not stay With her obsessive, possessive personality She followed her emotions with never a thought She returned alone to the moon cold and blue The beautiful limpid lady of the moon….

With only a rabbit which ran, ran, ran And a tree which grew, grew, grew As companions for the beautiful, languid lady of the moon

A wicked man of earth whose crimes were plentiful Received for punishment due eternity Imprisonment with never a clue upon the moon cold and blue

Away he flew To fulfil his sentence To cut the moon tree With his sharpened axe for ever The tree which stands upon the moon so blue For ever…

He cut It grew

He cut It grew

He cut It grew

And so they continue to this very day Until eternity Upon the cold blue moon………

CHINA China arrived China reached Balance………

The last place left to run to Independent China, try Balance

Seen at thirteen, steps with the eyes of the inner-mind Balance

Walking across the Chinese soil so green and fertile Mountains monitoring from behind Balance

At four decades it was declared Maybe twice times eight Maybe twice times nine and so by the shore Some great and challenging change in time Balance

Maybe death, if only to you and the West Maybe an illness, if only for you and the best Maybe an alteration, spoken as nothing to the rest Maybe an eruption and silence, meant as everything And nothing will ever be the same to test Balance

Like the delicate willow Bow and bend with the wind unheeding Turned from the mighty oak unyielding Which cracks then breaks unwielding Balance

Mountains monitoring from behind Now walk across the Chinese soil so green and fertile First seen at a mere thirteen steps Independent China The last place left Balance………….

and DEAR ELDEST GRANDON JOSEF

On my travels again For a little peace If not total freedom Something more about China I discovered and cross my heart and hope to die This is true and they say there is proof…

There is a place called Guang Zhou Which is said totally differently to the way it is spelt But research keeps interfering with my sound systems So I find it difficult to familiarize myself with the language

This place called Gwang Joe Which is in the vicinity of H. Kong The city not Hitler’s favourite film Has mice which are five kilogram in weight Like a little pig says my favourite Li Fang These are mice not unlike the invasion from the sewers Of my London cottage were where you used to visit Down round the corner to Idi Amin’s restaurant Who was done for her mucky kitchen by the Council

Josef, Guang Zhou mice are eaten alive for lunch and scream but thrice they swore to me at Haier last night at lesson time and swore this was so – and who am I to disbelieve my Haier pupils the first time when dipped into salt the second time when bitten into and the third time I forget as I wasn’t listening anymore being a vegetarian No got it First when sliced Second when salted And third when bitten

And Josef all Chinese people everywhere say In Guang Zhou they eat everything on benches Except the benches!

As always fondest Love from your gran And tell my daughter dear Your dear mother when she gets back From deputizing School

Letters from China

NOT FORGETTING Dear Mum Before we go on I want to tell you They have Chinese bananas I think they’re made in China

When I came here I saw bananas And I thought oh dear The Americans have been here I think I thought that lazily Because they had brought bananas and food to us postwar, I seemed to think hazily As the Brits dragged all away Not that I saw any till after my twenties.

I know the American forces braved Our hosts that cold, old Brittanica And I think I thought those seven million slaves Not the sixty million who became fish food took yella bananas to the States Along with their thumbprints But I wasn’t sure

But there on the stall on the Qingdau fishermens’ market And they were proper bananas honest I thought, fancy bringing bananas here from Africa Or America with all this fruit made in China Must have been opium exchange You know Blighty its cold and its dark, but here?

Then some Professor laughingly told this to me we have sold And have had bananas for ages and an age These are Chinese bananas my dear Sunny, south China on a spear And I had to stop and think and pigeon hole And thought about lots of things I’d been told And knew from old So the G.I’s didn’t bring these bananas After all……….

And yesterday Professor Li told me Chocolate originated here and are sold, lots of And they had said, take chocolates to those poor folk And I took a whole suitcase full.. Like it was to us then, I think I thought.

And mum

The grapefruits are like water-melons

Honestly and not brought by the G.I’s

I think and now they say there was a world

Outside my refugee world then

But I don’t know any other world really

[wafflesandkruge]

my golden crown of sorrows, my bloody sword to swing

“Zoya,” Alina said, again in that strange tone. “Look at me.”

“Is that an order?” Zoya asked even as she tilted her chin up to meet Alina’s gaze. Her eyes were almost golden in the sun with darker flecks of bronze.

Alina reached out a hand and Zoya watched, transfixed, as she wrapped a strand of Zoya’s hair around her finger. “It’s not like you listen,” Alina mused. She tugged lightly and Zoya took a halting step towards her. She placed a hand on Alina’s hip to steady herself, not missing the way Alina jolted at her touch.

“I listen when you give me a good order,” Zoya retorted.

ao3

a/n: for @yennefer-nazyalensky as a (very late) gift for @malinalovebot​ bday! (even tho this isn’t malina hehe) i’m so sorry this took so long pls know i love and idolize you 🥺 loosely inspired by king and delilah from florence

When Alina smiled, people fell at her feet. It was a truth as obvious to Zoya as rain falling towards the earth instead of the sky, night following day, or fire burning her if she got too close. What she didn’t understand was why seeing Alina smile at others made her heart ache.

She shifted awkwardly in her spot at Alina’s shoulder, the clinking of her armor swallowed by the usual whispers and laughter of court. Alina was arbitrating several land disputes between various lords today, and as important as it sounded, it made Zoya want to stab herself. She wished she were Nikolai. Although he was similar in rank to Zoya, Alina hadn’t specifically requested his presence as she had with Zoya. That bastard was probably off flirting with another lady he shouldn’t have been flirting with while Zoya was stuck inside.

At least the view was beautiful. Ravka’s throne room was an impossibly tall cavern of gleaming white marble and gold, high windows letting in golden rays of afternoon sun. Courtiers milled about in the wings and balcony, each one dressed in bright silks so the crowd resembled a field of wildflowers. Zoya was standing beside the throne, Alina sitting serenely upon it with her hands clasped on her lap. She wore a gown of blue silk today, excess fabric pooling at her feet. Gold sparkled around her neck and fingers. Instead of the ornate crowns preferred by other royals, Alina only wore a thin golden circlet in her pale hair. She needed no other reminder of who she was or the power she held.

“That is enough,” Alina said quietly. Zoya’s gaze jumped up, thinking Alina had caught her lost in thought, but her queen’s stern gaze was leveled at one of the kneeling lords before her dais. Her smile had evaporated.

“You are wasting my time with this petty squabble. The borders between your lands were drawn ten years ago, there is no reason to change them now. Follow the mandate of the late king and do not bother me further.”

It was as clear a dismissal as any. The lords wisely did not argue further and bowed and scraped their way out of the throne room.

Alina let out a small sigh, heard only by Zoya. “Thank the Saints they’re gone. I was about to have them arrested just so I could have some peace and quiet.”

Zoya glanced around the room, still teeming with people. “You shouldn’t be saying such things where you can be heard, Your Majesty.”

“And what would they do to me?” Alina asked with a little snort. “You worry too much.”

“And you not enough.”

The two eyed each other, neither one willing to give an inch. It was a dance as familiar to Zoya as battle. In the late afternoon sun, Alina’s eyes were a bright, molten brown only a few shades darker than the crown on her head. When Zoya had left on a campaign against Fjerda years ago, she couldn’t help seeing Alina’s eyes everywhere in the soil of a freshly turned field, the bark of a tree that had sheltered her against the rain, the pelt of a deer that had run through the trees beside them, quick as a rushing river. 

Alina looked away first. She gathered her skirts in one hand and stood tall, only a few inches shorter than Zoya. A hush fell over the room. 

“I feel tired,” she announced, even though she looked the very picture of health with her rosy cheeks and bright eyes. A mischievous grin curved her lips, and Zoya knew it was meant just for her. “We’ll resume this tomorrow.”

“Your Majesty,” Zoya hissed as she trailed after Alina. After she’d feigned tiredness, she had plunged into the castle’s secret passages with an unspoken invitation for Zoya to follow her. The clinking of her armor echoed down the dusty stone passage along with the rustle of Alina’s skirts against the floor. Zoya winced when she thought about how much dust the hem must have been collecting. Genya was going to kill them later.

“Yes, General?”

“I had assumed you were returning to your chambers. Because you were tired.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Alina made a sharp turn into a branching corridor Zoya hadn’t even known was there. “I’ve barely done anything all day.”

“And where are you going now?” Zoya demanded. “Without any of your guard, no less.”

“You’re with me,” Alina pointed out. “You have a sword and enough spite to best any man.”

“I insist–”

Alina paused and looked over her shoulder with an amused smile. Zoya swallowed hard.

“Are you giving me orders, General?” There was no admonishment in her tone, but Zoya still felt a small jab of embarrassment. She’d stepped out of line.

“Apologies, Your Majesty,” she ground out, training her eyes on Alina’s train.

The blue silk of Alina’s dress moved closer to Zoya’s boots. “Zoya,” Alina said, her voice strange. It wasn’t the tone of a queen, or even a commanding officer, but something more. Something less. 

Zoya risked an upward glance. The expression on Alina’s face mirrored Zoya’s own emotions, something between exasperation and frustration. It had always been difficult for them to talk to each other truthfully. Zoya tilted her chin up and looked Alina in the eye. She’d always been a few inches taller than her since they were children, a fact she used to lord over her back when Zoya was nothing but a lowly squire and Alina an orphaned nobody. 

They weren’t the same people anymore. 

“My queen.”

“Don’t be so…” Alina stopped herself, indecision lurking in her dark eyes. Zoya held her breath. At the last moment, Alina seemed to decide against whatever she wanted to say. She shook her head. 

“Let’s go. We’ve been lingering here long enough.” She turned on her heel, clearly intending for Zoya to follow. 

And damn her, Zoya always would.

The lake was the last place Zoya expected to end up at. Its mirror-like surface reflected the bright blue sky above, not a cloud in sight. Wildflowers swayed in a gentle breeze. While the castle was only a short distance away, there wasn’t another person in sight. 

Zoya and Alina used to come here in the summers when they were children in an effort to beat the heat. She remembered the way they’d leave their dresses on the bank and swim together, their laughter cutting through the air as easily as their faces breaking through the surface to gasp for air. 

Alina sat on the bank, a pile of flowers gathered on her skirt. As Zoya watched, she wove the flowers together into the beginnings of a daisy chain, her fingers clumsy. She wondered when was the last time she’d been allowed to be a child.

Alina’s unspoken words in the castle passage still bothered Zoya. Alina rarely held back with her words, much less when they were alone. Zoya didn’t like it.

The sound of water splashing alerted Zoya. She looked up sharply to find Alina wading in the lake, her shoes and half-completed chain of flowers abandoned on the banks. 

“Your Majesty—”

“Alina.” An unspoken challenge gleamed in her eyes. 

“Alina,” Zoya tried, the name heavy and unfamiliar on her tongue. She hadn’t called her by her given name in years. “Get out of the lake, you’ll catch a chill.”

Always contrary, Alina waded out further. Her skirts floated around her like clouds. With the golden circlet still in her hair, she resembled the tapestries of saints hanging from the walls of the castle. Zoya’s breath caught in her throat.

“Come here,” Alina insisted, color high on her cheeks. Her smile was the sun itself. 

Zoya stared for a moment. She supposed if Alina started drowning, it would be easier to save her if she was already in the water. And it was rather hot today. Before she could think further, she unbuckled her armor and left it on the grassy banks of the lake.

The water was blissfully cool against her skin. An involuntary sigh left her lips. They had only gone far enough for the water to reach their chests. Zoya stood an arms length away from Alina, her skirt brushing her knees under the surface. She wanted to move closer, to see how the silvery reflections of the water cast patterns of light across Alina’s face. She clenched her fists at her side.

“Zoya,” Alina said, again in that strange tone. “Look at me.”

“Is that an order?” Zoya asked even as she tilted her chin up to meet Alina’s gaze. Her eyes were almost golden in the sun with darker flecks of bronze. 

Alina reached out a hand and Zoya watched, transfixed, as she wrapped a strand of Zoya’s hair around her finger. “It’s not like you listen,” Alina mused. She tugged lightly and Zoya took a halting step towards her. She placed a hand on Alina’s hip to steady herself, not missing the way Alina jolted at her touch.

“I listen when you give me a good order,” Zoya retorted. 

Alina paused, her hand abandoning Zoya’s hair and sliding to the side of her neck instead. Her skin was warm against Zoya’s. 

“Kiss me,” Alina whispered.

This time, Zoya was all too happy to obey. Kissing Alina felt as sacred as prayer, Alina’s lips soft against hers as they crashed together. Her hands tangled in Alina’s hair and knocked the circlet off her head. It could have sunk to the bottom of the lake for all Zoya cared. Alina’s nails scraped the back of her neck and Zoya couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

It was Alina. It was always Alina. 

[systlinsideblog]

Part 4

I still lived. 

I was, I thought, greatly in the minority. The woman Systlin had judged warrior after warrior, and warrior after warrior had met his end at a quiva's blade. 

A great many of the sentences were carried out by the hands of the freed slave girls of the warriors. The number of these astounded me, as did the ferocity with which many of the girls fell upon their masters. 

It is a Gorean saying that a woman cannot be free until she has been a slave. It is said that a woman wishes to be conquered, that she cannot respect any man save for the man who can reduce her to nothing. 

The girls fell upon their masters with a fury I have rarely seen, and blood flowed until the grass was slick and red with it. 

A few girls did not take up the quiva. These men, once sentence of death was passed, the she-sleen on the Ubar's robe killed herself. Her face was untroubled by this, unworried, and there was even a hint of vicious pleasure in those cold eyes as she swung the sword to remove their heads.

Those warriors who had taken Free Companions and who had children, the she-sleen ordered all material goods be split equally between the  Free Companions, the children, and the freed slave girls. There were many sour faces among the Tuchuk women at that, but to my shock many more who accepted it without question. 

When night neared, scarce three dozen warriors of the Tuchuk still lived, myself included. It was us and only us who had not admitted to owning slaves, and who had no slaves to call out our names. 

A very few men..two or three, in all...had been spared by the request of their slave girls. These men were whipped, and the she-sleen commanded ash be rubbed into the whip wounds. 

"I would have them remember." She had said, eyes cold and face passionless, even as the warriors held back cries of pain. "I want them to remember their crimes, and to remember me." 

Those of us who had survived the slaughter had been unchained and taken to wagons, and allowed to eat and rest. 

"So." Kamchak had survived the culling, and his face was set and cold. "We are free, then?"

"You are not slaves." Systlin had smiled a little, a cold smile that did not reach her eyes. "But if you seek to flee, or to move against me...well." 

Behind her, I could see women chaining hunting sleen outside the wagons. Each was given clothing to smell; I noticed with a start a discarded tunic of my own among the items. The sleen began to pull and hiss, eyes bright. 

"Say, rather, that you are prisoners for the time." Systlin continued. "I've much to do, and I've no time to be worrying about one of you burying a knife in my back in my sleep." Another humorless smile. "I'm not fool enough to think that all...or any...of you are paragons of virtue. I'll get the truth in time."

Kamchak spat. "You," he informed her, "Are the most disagreeable and wrenched wench I've ever had the misfortune to meet. There will come a day, where you meet a man to bring you to heel." A smile. "I wish to be there to see it."

I felt my heart sink; they were unwise words, but then Kamchak was Tuchuk. 

To my surprise, the woman Systlin threw back her head and laughed, as if at a wonderful joke. 

"Ahhh!" She wiped tears from her eyes at last, as I stared, stunned. "When I find my way home, I will tell Foicatch that." Another laugh. "A woman isn't brought to heel. We can choose to be a partner, or to bide our time and pretend until the time is right, but brought to heel? HA! You saw that, I think, today." Another terrible grin. "I saw your faces, when the women turned on your warriors. You did not expect that, did you?"

"Foicatch?" Kamchak, ever keen, inquired. 

"My husband." Systlin said this lightly, easily. "Father of my daughter."

"Good god, you are married?" The words were out of me before I could think better of them. I tried to imagine what bedding such a woman would be like, and thought to myself that it would be much like the risk taken by the male of the praying mantis of Earth; what sort of man would marry such a creature?

"Yes. Goodnight." She shut the wagon behind her. 

There was a moment of silence. Then, Kamchak spoke. 

"It is probably a bad time, Tarl Cabot," he said. "To mention that Kutaituchuk was not the Ubar of the Tuchuks." 

"What?"

 It was surprising, Systlin thought, how many of the Tuchuk women had been willing...eager, even...to take up weapons and stand guard at her wagon. 

Not to her. No. On Ellinon, the children of the Lady would have found the ideas of the men of this 'Gor' incomprehensible, unlawful, hearsay, and downright suicidal. But to many of the women of Gor themselves, Systlin thought, the sheer thrill that came when picking up a blade or spear was new. 

She tried to picture what would have happened had Stellead found herself in this shithole of a world. Death, absolutely; her aunt had little talent in any form of Power, but she had won her place as Arms Master of Stellas Keep and as a Commander of the Bloodguard through sweat and skill. 

Even now, Systlin could only best her aunt blade to blade perhaps two matches out of three. 

If anyone...man, woman, even the gods themselves...had tried to bring Stellead to heel, she'd spit in their eye and disembowel them. 

Systlin smiled to herself. It was a stubbornness and force of will that she herself shared, and that her aunt, mother, and father had always fostered. 

The women did not know quite how to hold a spear, of course. Systlin had tried to gently insist that she didn't need an armed guard, more because she knew full well that they'd not yet be up to a fight than because she believed that. But they had insisted, and in the end she had simply advised them to stick to knives for the time being. 

The rugs and cushions and furs in the wagon were quite comfortable, and she was quite tired, but sleep was elusive. 

All of this...the rugs and furs, the sound of animals outside, the sound of low voices from the camp, the smell of dried dung fires...it was too similar to her time with the Rabi, with Sura, before Sura had become Queen of the Sands, when she'd simply been the leader of her clan. 

Sura's laugh, bright as a bell, and the taste of pomegranate wine. The light of the brazier catching glints of copper and red off of Sura's black hair, which gleamed almost blue in sunlight. 

The rugs beside her were cold, and she suddenly felt very alone. 

Her throne would be empty. She'd held the North together through sheer grit, guile, charisma, and the edge of a sword, and beaten it back into working shape after the War of the Crown had nearly destroyed it. 

Her daughter was only a girl. Foicatch, dear Foicatch, would do his best, she knew, but he was at heart a soldier, not a monarch. 

Her sister would step in, at least. 'Sina was capable. But she didn't have the fear and respect of the lords of the realm and the love of the common folk the way Systlin did. 

"Why am I here?" She whispered this in the dark, at the roof of the wagon. 

No one answered. 

"I have my own place. People who will miss me." She scowled at the dark, and anger rose hot and furious. "Responsibilities! I've not got time for...this!" She waved a hand randomly, indicating everything about this strange place. 

No one answered. But Systlin had met gods in her time, and she knew that if they cared to, they could hear. 

"Send me back!" She hissed this at the darkness, not sure who she was angry with. "Have I not done enough? Send me home! I do not want this!"

Nothing. 

Exhaustion, at last, won out, and she slept. 

She was, in her dreams, not surprised at her visitor. 

The Lady's face could never be seen. The most that could be gathered was an impression of poise, of stately calm. It was impossible even to place what color Her hair was, or her skin, though the hair floated around her like a cloud and she was nude. 

"You?" In her dream Systlin could still feel her anger, though it was a hollow ghost of what she'd felt while awake. 

Me. It wasn't a spoken word; it was felt. 

"I should have known at once." Systlin growled. "Have I not done enough? Can I have no peace?"

A laugh, chiming and musical, but which shook the very bones. You were never made for peace. 

And that was true. Systlin knew it, felt the truth of it in her soul. It was impossible to deny it, not before the Lady. 

She felt an answering whisper in her soul, as the slumbering power of what had once been the Lord of Night and Void, the God of Endings, the Fallen One, God of Conflict, Lord of Justice and retribution, stirred within her. 

Sister. The word was pointed, and almost mocking. Who denies still that you are. 

"I saved my world. It needs me; you know that damned well. I don't want to be a god."

Want. This word was definitely mocking. There is no want, sister. There is 'must'. My brother failed his duty, and corrupted it. You hold it now. In time, you will realize. Goddess of War, Goddess of Justice, Goddess of Protection, Goddess of Night, Goddess of Death, Goddess of Endings and rebirth. I do your duties for now, sister...but not forever. 

Systlin clenched her fists, and pointedly ignored this. "My people need me, damn you."

They are safe. 

Systlin closed her eyes. "You'll not send me back until I finish here." It wasn't a question. 

You could send yourself back whenever you wished, if you accepted your new place.

Systlin glared.

Another smile. So stubborn. No, I will not. Good luck, sister.

She woke. 

Within her, the power of the god she'd killed stirred again, and was once more silent. 

It was morning. She could see the sunlight under the door, and could hear the cheerful bustle of camp outside. 

"Gods damn it all to the pits." She muttered.

 The hardest thing about training the women of the Tuchuk in combat, Systlin soon found, was ingrained survival habits. 

Her aunt, in the long-ago days when Systlin had been a lanky youth still growing into her arms and legs and new to a training sword, had always said that the hardest thing about training older students was fixing ingrained and detrimental habits. 

Stellead had been referring to habits picked up from lesser arms masters...letting your shield drop, footwork that was less than flawless. Systlin wondered how her aunt would have dealt with this, as she interrupted a woman to correct her form and the former slave cringed and dropped at her feet, begging forgiveness. 

"I am sorry!" The woman was almost tearful. Systlin had been angry since she came to this cursed place, and she felt that knot of red rage flare. "I am sorry, I forgot..."

"It's all right." Systlin squatted, propping her elbows on her thighs. "Hush. It's all right. Here now." She offered her hand, and the girl hesitantly took it. Systlin stood, drawing the girl back to her feet, and then bent, picked up the dropped wooden sword, and offered it back hilt first. The girl took it. 

"Do you know," Systlin said, keeping her voice light and conversational, "how long it took me to become good with a sword?"

The woman blinked. "I...no, Ubara." 

"I started training at thirteen." Systlin smiled fondly in memory. "I first killed a wraithen at nineteen. I first killed men in battle at twenty five. that was two and a half decades and three wars ago." She tossed her own wooden sword in the air; it spun precisely one turn before she caught it again by the hilt. "Training takes time, and practice. You will make mistakes. I will never fault you for them; you simply correct them and keep training." 

The girl nodded slowly. Systlin had given the same speech to many girls over the last three weeks, but the habits learned to survive the men of this Pit of a planet went deep. It would be slow going yet; she knew that. 

"Fifty?" The question was unexpected. 

"Hm?"

"You are fifty?"

"Close enough, yes."

"Your world then has brews of youth as well?" The girl seemed curious. 

Systlin blinked. "I...no. But we're descended from the Lady, the goddess and mother of all. We live long." She considered the woman before her; she appeared to be perhaps in her late twenties. "How old are you?" 

"Oh. Sixty, I think? My masters have given me the brews of youth three times." 

The yawning pit of cold fury in Systlin's soul howled. 

"How many years of that," Systlin kept her voice carefully level. "Were you kept as property?"

"Since I was...oh, sixteen?"

The world went abruptly white before her eyes. The yawning spectre of the power she'd pulled from the soul of a slain god roared; goddess of justice, goddess of protection....

Fury, she was furious, and for a moment she knew, knew that it would be so, so easy, to rise on the wind and come down on the people who had done this. To become a storm, a furious reckoning, to scour this world clean in a night...

...No. No no NO. I will not. I have to teach them. They must take it themselves, for all I might lead them. Or it will all be for nothing...

By the time she fought it down and came back to herself she was on her knees, clutching the trampled grass with white knuckles. Sweat was soaking her, as it never did even if she fought all day. Her breath was coming short and sharp. 

"Ubara!" The voices were panicked, and she realized dimly that there were at least a dozen women around her, patting at her cheeks, offering water. 

She looked up, and saw worry, and fear, and as the god-soul inside her stirred, she saw more. She saw desperation, and so, so much pain, oceans of pain, seas of injustice, rivers of innocent blood spilled. 

And as the women of the Tuchuk looked at her, worried, she saw deep in their eyes hope. 

"Ubara?" It was  Sabra , the brave girl, who'd taken quite well to a spear. "Ubara?"

"I'm all right." She wasn't, not quite; her voice sounded rough to her own ears. "I'm all right. Keep practicing."

The hovered until she got to her feet, but once it was determined that the Ubara was not about to die, they slowly went back to their drills. 

Systlin moved a bit away, absently climbed the nearest wagon, and sat cross legged, looking out over the makeshift training grounds without really seeing. 

She'd always been a protector. Since they'd been children, and her sister's dreams had driven little 'Sina to cry and scream in her sleep. Since her father had nurtured that, and taught her that a Queen's people were her children, that her sacred duty was to protect and serve them. 

Since she'd torn the North back from the hands of the greedy and the corrupt, who'd sought to carve it apart for power and profit. 

Since she'd faced a god, putting her own body and soul between her people and the Fallen Lord himself. 

Since she'd faced a second goddess, and demanded the Lady return her daughter from beyond death. 

It was who she was, in the end. She knew it in her bones, even as she looked down at these strange people in this strange world, and felt it, that what she must do. 

"Pitting hells." She muttered this softly, and somewhere felt the Lady smile. 

 For some weeks now, the routine had been much the same; Kamchak and I, and the other men, were kept chained and carefully watched. Some men, after a measure of time should they demonstrate a contrite enough demeanor, had their chains removed and were allowed to move about the camp; they did so, casting their eyes aside from those of us who were still chained. 

I watched one man brush a bosk one evening, and oil its hooves. A slave girl should do such work, and he was clumsy at it. A girl was watching, wearing the leather trousers that had become fashionable among the women. Her hair, which was very long, was braided up and pinned in a coil on the top of her head; it was unflattering, I thought. She corrected him, and showed him how it was done properly, and he meekly listened. She smiled at him, and I thought that in silks and with hair loose she must have been quite a beauty. He smiled back, a bit tentatively. 

I snorted in disdain. There are always men that are so, those that are more akin to women than true men. 

She heard, and turned on me. There was a fierceness in her eyes. 

"See." She pointed at me, mocking. "He thinks himself better than you, Sarthak. He thinks himself too good for work about the camp, thinks it should be done only by women in chains." She laughed, and spit in my direction. "And yet he is still a prisoner in chains, while you are a free man. So who, then, is the better man?"

Sarthak grinned at me. He wore no scars, and scant weeks ago he had likely been unregarded utterly by the Tuchuk. 

"You speak true words, Lena." He agreed, and turned his back on me. She gave another laugh, and she turned back to their task. I realized with some surprise that the looks Lena was favoring the unscarred young man with were warm. 

"Disgraceful." Kamchak was chained to the other axle of the wagon, and he too was regarding the young man with distaste. "Have they made a slave of you already, boy?"

"He's a free man." Lena didn't look around. "All free men and women of able body must do their share of work. You shall too, should you ever be trusted and set free." 

Kamchak spat again, and leaned his head back against the wagon wheel. 

"It was a sad day," said the Ubar of the Tuchuk, "That that she-sleen came to the Tuchuk, Tarl Cabot." 

"Yes." I agreed. I wondered still how many she had slain in that night, through sorcery. The pyres had burned for two days and nights. 

We watched the girl teach the young man to grease the axles of the wagon. We had little else to do. 

As the evening meal was brought, we were finally given some surprise to rouse us from the deadly tedium that had marked the weeks. 

The she-sleen had a cloak now, made of red larl-hide. She wore it pinned at a jaunty angle, thrown back over one shoulder. She was wearing a leather vest over her strange scale armor today. She regarded us for a moment, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. I'd examined that weapon many times now, and I still could not place the make of it; it was no Gorean style I knew of, and the silver-blue of the blade was unlike any alloy I knew on Earth. It was somewhat shorter than most blades I had seen, perhaps thirty-six inches in all in total length. A great polished amethyst was set into the pommel, the most darkly violet stone I'd ever seen. 

It was viciously sharp. I knew this. 

"You." She said to me. The word was said in Gorean; she was learning quickly, it seemed, for all her strange magic did seem to translate for her. "You'll come with me." She nodded at the girl following her...I recognized her, I realized, it was the girl Dina I had seen around camp before, the slave reputed to be the best at the running game...and Dina brought out a ring of keys. 

Dina's hair was braided, as was Systlin's. Dina wore leather trousers, as did Systlin. Dina wore a quiva, as  Systlin wore her long dagger, and had stood and rested her hand on the hilt of the quiva in conscious imitation of the strange woman. 

It seemed to be a fashion, I noted, that many of the freed slave girls and even many of the Tuchuk women had taken up. 

I said nothing.  It had not been a request, of course, and I had little choice. My leg was healing, but I was far from my top form.

My chains were let loose. I stood, with some difficulty, and Dina's help. She was, I noticed with some surprise, quite strong. There were muscles through her shoulders that I'd never before seen so developed on any Gorean woman, and her hands were tough. 

I knew that well; my own hands were callused thus from the hilt of sword and the haft of lance. It was surprising that a slave girl had developed such in such a short time. 

I was led to the great wagon that Systlin had claimed as her own; the wagon that I knew, now, was not the true wagon of the Ubar of the Tuchuks. 

Inside, a meal of roast bosk had been laid ready for us. Systlin sat cross legged on the cushions; the maleness of the gesture still grated at my sensibilities. Seeing it preformed by one who might look quite well kneeling in silks was wrong, quite wrong. Dina helped me, somewhat ungracefully and with some pain, to sit. 

Systlin did not touch the food at once. She was watching me, and the gaze was keen and direct. I said nothing, but examined her in return. 

I am an observant man. It is one of my strengths. But I could gather little from her, save that which I had already deduced; she was strongly built, for a woman, all solid wiry muscle. Her hands were tough, those of a swordsman. Her gaze was intelligent, and I could not place her origin; the bone structure and shape of her eyes was subtly foreign, but not of any place I knew. She could have been beautiful, perhaps, were she arrayed instead in silk. She never, I noted, let her weapons stray far from her hand. 

She was used, I thought, to fighting. Used even to being attacked in the most secure of surroundings. She had said before that many men had tried to kill her; what sort of creature was this that sat before me?

"You're wondering why I brought you here." She broke the silence. Her tone was crisp, and it was not a question.

I said nothing. 

"The answer is because you are not of these people. I know that the Wagon Peoples usually slay outsiders. That means you are unusual, and I'm wagering it means you're quite skilled at arms." She examined me again, much as I'd examined her, and I saw her noting the callus of my hands. "Your accent is not like that of these people, as well. They say you are Koroban, wherever the fuck that is. I've heard that you have, apparently, traveled."

I said nothing. 

"That makes you potentially useful." She informed me of this without a hint of emotion. "I know very little of this world, and while I'm learning, I suspect that you know more than most."

I had heard her say such things before. I am quite well acquainted with such matters, of course, being once of Earth. "Of this world?" I said at last. 

"Of this world." A horrible humorless smile. "You know full well I'm not from here. This whole place is a nightmare and a travesty. You're lucky my aunt Stellead is not here; she’s less merciful than I. She'd have castrated the lot of your slavers and rapists, slow roasted the genitals, and fed them back to you a bite at a time. And to be honest, I did consider that." 

I could not help but cringe at the thought. 

"From what I have gathered," she continued, "No part of this world is not at the mercy of monsters who hold humans as livestock and use them as they please. It's that, I think, that I've been brought here to end. And you, Tarl Cabot, are going to give me information as I do it." 

The shock of her words was immediate. "Sent? The priest-kings...."

The wave of a hand, dismissive. "I've heard of them. No. Gods, no. I don't care a whit for them. If they interfere I'll deal with them. No, it's a power higher than them that's sent me." 

I blinked at her in shock. The priest-kings are feared and worshiped as gods on Gor, with reason. They are advanced beyond any human designs, and are exceptionally powerful. Yet I saw not a trace of fear in her. 

"They are very powerful," I said. "And your powers may bring their wrath yet." I hoped it, of course. They can burn a man to ashes on a whim.

A laugh. Another cold, humorless laugh. "Maybe." She said. "But I've slain gods before. What are a few more? No. You are going to give me information, Tarl Cabot, on this world. And then I am going to conquer it. Every last damned corner of it."

I stared at her in horror, and she simply smiled in return.

[rebelwrites]

Home Isn’t A Place It’s You

Killian Jones x Reader

Summary: The reader realises that sometimes you need to follow the heart and stand up for herself.

Requested By: @buckyshattergirl // Ooohhh for the once prompts, maybe 2 with Killian. Reader could be the next in line to the wonderlandian throne, so they live with Cora, and run away with Killian... Yes yes!

Prompt: “Home stopped being a place when you entered my life.”

Join The TagList Here 💜 // Killian Jones Masterlist

There was a point in your life where you were thrilled to be next in line to be queen in wonderland. But somewhere along the line that fire burnt out, it was right around the time you and Regina had put your years of fighting behind you and rebuilt your relationship. Which meant frequent trips to Storybrooke where you fell in love with a certain pirate.

Every two weeks Regina would open a portal for you, you were still trying to grasp your magic and both decided it was too risky for you to try at the moment. As you were laid on your bed you felt the familiar vibration of the portal opening and you couldn’t help but grin as you rolled off your bed grabbing your backpack before taking the step into the portal.

Landing on the floor, you looked up at your sister grinning before she engulfed you in a hug.

“Not being rude but what is Cora making you wear?” she laughed, making you look down at your ridiculously puffy dress.

“Oh shit” you laughed waving your hand using your magic to change into a different outfit.

“Well you have definitely been around Hook too long” she smirked looking at your outfit choice.

“I guess” you winked looking at your outfit in the mirror. This was your go to, ripped skinny jeans, white vest top and battered black leather jacket, pair with your heeled boots.

“Speaking of, does he know that you are relinquishing your ties to the throne?” Regina asked.

“Nope” you laughed “was going to surprise him today”

“And I’m guessing Cora doesn’t know either?” She smirked as she started making coffee.

“Why should I Re, the way she treats me makes me so angry” you sighed “I get I’m the daughter she didn’t want but still”

“Prepare for war when she finds out” she laughed.

“Oh I am don’t worry” you winked as you heard the front door slam closed followed by the voice of your nephew Henry.

“Mom I’m home, Hooks here as well” Henry shouted.

As you leaned against the counter your heart started racing, you hadn’t seen Killian in two weeks and your heart longed for him. He didn’t know you would be coming so you couldn’t wait.

The moment Henry saw you he ran straight towards you, nearly tackling you to the ground.

“Aunt Y/N” he grinned hugging you tight. “I missed you”

“I missed you too kiddo” you smiled hugging him back.

“That’s it just forget about me” Killian smirked leaning against the door frame making you look up at him.

“Is my pirate getting jealous and babe I don’t think anyone can forget you” you giggled untangling yourself from Henry, making your way over to your pirate.

“How is it every time I see you, you look even more beautiful than the last” he smirked placing his hand on your hip pulling you closer.

“Such a charmer” you giggled fluttering your eyelashes.

“Come on Henry let’s leave the two love birds alone” Regina smiled ushering her son out of the kitchen.

Just as your lips were about to touch another portal opened, within a couple of moments Cora walked out, frowning at the sight she was seeing.

“Young lady” she scolded “ what on earth are you wearing”

“It’s called clothes” you sassed leaning your back against Killian’s chest.

“So this is what you get up to when you leave on your two week excursion” she scoffed “fooling around with this pirate”

“Watch your tone toward the people I love and maybe if you treated me better I wouldn’t want to escape wonderland” you hissed “at least here I’m loved”

“You seem to be forgetting that as future queen you will be loved” Cora laughed.

“Have you ever thought I don’t want to be fucking queen” you snapped “I have never wanted it, you are just forcing it on me”

“At least she has found love” Regina snapped walking into the room “unlike what you did to me”

“I don’t care. you coming home with me” Cora glared.

“I think the fuck not. I am not going back to that place so deal with it” you spat as Killian tighten his grip on you. “Come on Killian let’s get out of here”

Before any more words were spoken the two of you left the house and headed to Granny’s, you couldn’t help but smile as Killian rested his arm around your shoulder holding you close.

“I’m proud of you love” he said kissing the top of your head.

“It felt good to stand up to her” you smiled looking up at him.

“So you aren’t going back home then?” Killian asked with a boyish grin on his face.

“Killi” you whispered, stopping in front of him, placing your hands on his chest. “Home stopped being a place when you entered my life.”

“You really mean that love?” He asked, brushing his fingers down your cheek. “I am just a pirate at the end of the day”

“With all my heart” you grinned. “Yes you are a pirate but you are my pirate”

You swore the twinkle in his eyes shone brighter as he pressed his lips against yours, you couldn’t help but smile into the kiss as you wrapped your arms around his neck as you tangled your fingers in his hair as you deepened the kiss.

“Home isn’t a place it’s you and it’s always going to be wherever you are” you whispered against his lips. “I can’t be apart from you any longer”

[sixtyeightdays]

you reap what you sow

prompt from @mialuvscats : i hope this meets your expectations ! im sorry this took so long, i tried uploading it from my phone but it glitched and i could only get my hands on the computer today 

i’d like to say that i think if sabine and mari are there, damian and talia willl be relatively looser and not as uptight . mari and sabine are cold but loving and sunshiney. they keep talia and damian in check, essentially. which is why i wrote them in to be loose and free but able to be openly happy when they want to be, even if they are only happy around each other.

with sabine here i also thinkt hat talia will be slightly easier on damian, which also ties to the fact that he will not be as cold and uptight.

talia will be a good mother in this fic bc i want her to be and itll be ooc but its okay its my fic anyway

and the timeline is kinda messed up and all over the place sorry

that aside, have fun reading and i hope you enjoy!

--

talia and sabine are best friends, and before most of the class joins francois, marinette ruled the school after coming to paris with sabine. mari and damian are betrothed and the two are best friends. they can be icy one minute and sunshiney the next, although the sunshiney part is more mari than damian.

maybe the waynes come to paris, bc if theyre in gotham the others wont really know if the queen is back, and theyre kinda unsure why marinette is being timid and very unlike her ice queen demeanor she sometimes uses. mari is closest to jason in terms of batfam because firstly maybe she cleanses jason of the lazarus pit after helping damian using tikki's creation magic to counteract plagg's destruction one. since the waynes are here theres no point in mari hiding her queen status anymore and queue lila reveal

-

Talia al Ghul and Sabine Cheng were an unlikely combination, but worked perfectly well.

The two women were extremely close. Sabine was almost as deadly as Talia, but she made up for it with her devious mindset. She was the one who steered Talia away from doing anything wrong --well more wrong than usual-- and the one who was assigned to dish out punishments to usurpers.

The two could read each other like open books, and hence, when both Talia and Sabine became pregnant, Talia one month before Sabine, the two knew immediately.

They had debated whether or not to have their kids be betrothed, and eventually decided to let their children make the final call when their kids were old enough to understand.

Nine months later, Marinette and Damian were born. In the League infirmary, an hour after the two were cleaned and left there to rest while their mothers did the same, the two had already grown rather close.

Their baby cribs were next to each other, and somehow they were staring at each other through the walls of the crib, and were making small grabby hands to the other.

When Talia and Sabine were sufficiently rested and came to pick up their children, they were slightly shocked, yet gratified by their children. Sabine smiled and draped an arm around Talia’s shoulder, smiling lazily.

“I guess they’ll be as close as their mothers, non?” 

Talia smirked, and the two walked forwards, lifting their respective children in their arms and walking to their quarters.

-

The two mothers did not regret it. Their kids were enamoured with each other, practically joined at the hip.

By the time Marinette and Damian were 5, they had a very extensive vocabulary, since they had learned to speak Arabic, French and English. They were also extremely smart and skilled with weapons. 

Marinette was extremely adept at using a yoyo. It seemed weird, I know. But when the League was stormed when she was 3, she had taken out 4 men with her yoyo alone. Since then, she had been teaching herself how to use the yoyo effectively.

Damian preferred to use a katana. He looked much scarier than Marinette, even if the two were the same age. He had found a natural talent in using blades, knives, katanas and daggers included.

Marinette was the Rain to Damian’s Fire. 

She was the only one who could calm Damian down when he was mad, mad.

But make no mistake, Marinette could switch personalities in a heartbeat. She was one of the League’s most skilled interrogators at the age of 5.

After all, who would suspect a pigtailed 5 year old in pink to be scary?

Damian much preferred his stoic and icy attitude. The only people he ever let loose around was Marinette, Sabine, and Talia.

Talia and Sabine loved the children to an almost deadly extent, and the four were extremely overprotective of each other.

Marinette had taken to magic as well. She had been trained by many people in the League about sensing magic. Damian did not have the patience for magic and rituals. 

Marinette knew Damian was more of a ‘attack first ask questions later’ type of fighter, a stark contrast to Marinette’s ‘i will curse you and you will suffer in agonising pain for the rest of your life’ preferred type of fighting.

She’d never really liked getting her hands dirty, hence the magic. Killing people with magic was so much cleaner.

Sabine and Marinette had to leave for Paris when she was 9. For what, she wasn’t sure, but regardless of the distance, she and Damian constantly traded calls and letters. They would never go even a day without contact.

They were staying with one of Sabine’s old friends. His name was Tom Dupain, and he was an old wrestler and had worked with the League before. He and Sabine pretended to be married and Marinette’s name had hence became Marinette Dupain Cheng.

Damian and Talia stayed at the League, although all of them knew that Damian was to meet his birth father when he turned 10.

Marinette adapted her icy demeanor in Paris, never wanting anyone to get as close as she was with Damian. 

A few hours in, walking around Paris, she had met an elderly man in a red Hawaiian shirt, emitting the aura of magic. She had confronted him, and eventually, he opened up to her about the Miraculous. Tikki, the Ladybug kwami, and Plagg, the Black Cat kwami had taken a liking to her.

Marinette was apparently something called a True User, a reincarnation of the first Ladybug miraculous wielder. Plagg just rather liked the aura of death and chaos she apparently gave off, from the League.

She and the other Kwamis also had a rather amicable relationship, and she’d go to the ends of the Earth for the tiny gods, and vice versa.

The elderly man, named Fu, had also started to train her into becoming the new Guardian of the Miraculous.

Before, Marinette had been planning on laying low and not drawing atention to herself, but once she had beaten up two upperclassmen for bullying her classmate and somewhat accquaintance Nino, she had been fiercely regarded by both the students and faculty. 

As a result, she eventually grew close to Nino, and his friends, Kim, Alix and Chloe. She only ever let down her icy demeanour around them, showing the bright and bubbly girl persona she kept hidden. She wasn’t as close to them as she was to Damian, but they were all still quite close friends. 

It wasn’t long after that Marinette became the queen of her school, at the tender age of 10, earning her title as the Ladybug. Or, as Chloe liked to put it, the Lady, because she was lucky enough to ‘get a friend like her’.

Marinette didn’t protest. She rather liked Ladybugs, and besides, it was ironic and it reminded her a little of Damian, who sometimes liked to call her his Maribug. Because she was sometimes a pest, he deadpanned. Marinette had whacked him with a pillow. 

Everyone in the school feared the Ladybug. No one knew anything of her past. She was a mystery, an enigma that no one could solve. When new students came in after Marinette turned 14, everyone was slightly shocked to see their Lady change.

She was much more bubbly and approachable. Word had spread around that Marinette, the Lady, was trying a clean slate for the new kids. After all, not everyone should fear her.

Probably.

School eventually returned to what it was like before Marinette became the Lady, although she did still rule the school, she did it much more subtly, with more restraint and secrecy.

One of the new kids, Alya, had taken a liking to her. Marinette did not like her  very much, she was loud and clingy and drew a lot of unwanted attention. 

Marinette and her old crew, who had playfully called themselves her Consorts before the name stuck, had split up temporarily, to cover more ground and spread their branches.

Chloe was to pretend to be Marinette’s bully, Kim and Alix rivals, and Nino a shy recluse. They had had a good laugh about it beforehand, before watching Moana, because Kim wanted to compare the size of his muscles to Maui’s.

None of them had accounted for Adrien Agreste, who had tried to get the gum off Marinette’s seat like the naive, sheltered boy he was. Marinette had admittedly gotten mad at him for screwing up a perfectly good plan, before ramping up her ice persona to like, a 2/10, to get the newbies off her scent and scare Adrien away.

It hadn’t worked, because the boy was apparently as stubborn as he was naive. But besides that, Alya had been really grating on Marinette’s nerves, especially since she was convinced that Marinette had a crush on the model. It was not true, of course. 

Honestly, Marinette thought dryly, as Alya dragged her all over the place to.. somewhere, she wasn’t even sure anymore. But frankly, she didn’t particularly care. Honestly, the only boy she’d probably ever have a crush on would be Damian.

Not that she’d ever admit it.

-

When Marinette and Damian turned 10, she and Sabine had taken a plane to Gotham to meet up with Damian.

Damian had not been having a good time. He was very much unwanted here, that was clear. 

Grayson seemed to be the only one trying to interact with him. His father, had been trying his best to stay out of Damian’s way, which he reciprocated. Todd was flat out ignoring him and Drake just seemed to be busy all the time.

After all, who would want to interact with a grumpy 10 year old assassin?

He missed Marinette.

It was the day Todd finally tried to open up to Damian, that Marinette had arrived. No one had told him that she was finally meeting him again for the first time in a year. Sabine had left Marinette to figure out where Damian was on her own. She was more than capable of it.

With a quick scrying spell, she found him, and Kaalki opened a portal headed in the direction of Wayne Manor.

Meanwhile, Damian just appreciated the fact that Todd was finally extending an olive branch. He was lonely.

It hurt seeing his father care for everyone in the manor apart from him.

He had been walking along the gardens in the manor. Todd had joined him.

“Listen, I know it’s hard to feel accepted here. Sometimes, I do.” Jason gazed wistfully at the sky above him.

Damian was unsure of where the ex-Robin was getting at, so he just kept quiet. It wasn’t as if Damian didn’t know who Jason Todd was. Before he had come to the manor with Talia, he had read the Waynes’ files. In addition, Damian had known of Jason while he was affiliated with the League. They had never talked, or interacted, but he had known of the elder boy. 

“I just, uh, wanted you to know that if you ever need anything, you can come to me.” He finished lamely, running a hand in his hair.

Damian opened his mouth, then closed it, hesitating. “Thank you, Ja--Todd. I will.” He settled on saying dryly.

Jason visibly relaxed and cracked a miniscule smile. There was a sudden ‘swoosh’ sound, and both Jason and Damian turned around, bodies automatically going on the defensive.

Stumbling out of Alfred’s rose bushes, trodding on a few accidentally, was Marinette.

“Angel!” Damian exclaimed, moving forwards to help her forwards.

She brushed her shoulders off, looking around before freezing, staring at something behind him.

“Jay?”

“Pixie?” He asked, sounding incredulous.

Marinette rushed forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Jason laughed and hugged her back, chuckling.

Damian quashed down the bubbling feeling of rage in the pit of his stomach and settled for casting a frosty glance in their direction. Not that they noticed, since they were too busy embracing each other, Damian thought scornfully.

The two pulled apart after too long in Damian’s opinion, laughing.

“Angel? How do you know Todd?” Damian asked coldly, ever so protective.

If Jason noticed the sudden reversion to his surname instead of his first, he didn’t say anything.

“Oh, he came to Paris with Lia once and I cleansed him of the Lazarus pit madness, like I did with you.” She replied.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked. Damian had forgotten about that.

“Visiting, of course!” She winked. “Now, let’s give your old man a good scare.” She pecked Damian on the cheek before vanishing. (Thanks, Trixx.)

Jason and Damian looked to each other. “Did you know she could do that?” Jason questioned. Damian shook his head before pausing.

“Wait.. how did she get into the manor?” 

The only response was the faint echo of a laugh.

-

It was time for dinner anyway, and only Damian, Jason, and Alfred knew of Marinette’s presence. Marinette had voluntary evelaed herself to the elderly butler after noticing his aura. 

It was Miraculous tainted. If Marinette could guess, he had been either one of Duusu’s, Sass’s, or Nooroo’s.

When the butler had retired to the kitchen alone, Marinette had unraveled Trixx’s magic veiling her and waved at the butler.

To hi credit, he didn’t so much as bat an eye before his eyes widened as he took her in. Marinette cut to the chase.

“Who was your kwami?” Alfred had surveyed her for a second before seemingly trusting her.  

“Duusu.” He answered.

Marinette smiled. “I’m Tikki’s.” From her perch in Marinette’s left pigtail, the red Kwami pried open the folds of her hair, waving once at Alfred before sinking back into the recesses of the bluenette’s locks.

Alfred blinked. Once. Twice. “I’m presuming you’re staying for dinner?”

Marinette beamed. “I’m gonna scare the big bat.” Alfred nodded, accepting this. Marinette clapped her hands and she disappeared again. Alfred shook his head, smiling faintly.

Conveniently, it was one of the times where everyone was there. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian. Rare these days, what with Dick in Bludhaven, Tim at WE, and Jason off being Jason.

Bruce was currently on his way back from WE, although it would take around half an hour. He had told everyone to start eating first. Perfect. 

After Marinette’s encounter with Alfred, she had reappeared in Damian’s room, where she and Damian caught up. Just like old times.

She had disappeared again once she left the room, and Damian wasn’t entirely sure where she went.

Alfred set the the table as per normal, which Damian and Jason noticed right away. They looked to Alfred, who merely winked before stepping back into the kitchen and laying out the food.

There was a screech of a chair as Marinette, disguised as Bruce (Trixx in her right pigtail and Tikki in the left) sat down. Dick looked startled. 

“I thought you wouldn’t be back till later!” Dick exclaimed.

Mari-Bruce shrugged. “Faster than I’d expected.” She answered, securing the veil of Trixx’s magic around her vocal chords, making her voice sound exactly like Bruce’s.

Jason inched away slightly from Bruce, though she pretended not to notice.

Alfred nodded at her as he reentered the room.

Everyone dug in, occasionally talking. It had been about 25 minutes before the sound of the door opening could be heard. Damian and Jason’s head shot up, thinking it was Marinette.

Mari-Bruce smirked. Showtime.

Bruce entered the room, not noticing Mari at first. Until the batboys gaped at him. He looked confused. What--?

Mari-Bruce was a pretty great actress. “Who are you?” She thundered, internally laughing.

“Who are you? I’m Bruce Wayne.” He answered, looking befuddled and frustrated.

“Impostor.” Mari-Bruce accused. 

Bruce spluttered. “No! I’m the real Bruce!” 

Mari-Bruce scoffed. “That’s what an impostor would say.”

Damian and Jason seemed to figure it out, although they probably weren’t sure which Bruce was the real one yet.

Tim rubbed his eyes. “Am I seeing double, or?” 

Bruce said, “Ask me something the real Bruce would know.”

Dick looked torn, but did as requested. “Who murdered your parents?”

“Joe Chill.” They both said at the same time. Mari-Bruce and Bruce winced, selling the act.

“When’s my birthday?” Tim asked. 

“July 17th.” Both Bruces answered.

Tim looked surprised. “You actually know my birthday?”

“No shit, Tim.” Mari-Bruce said, rolling their eyes. She rather wanted to proceed to the next part of her plan. 

“Would I say that to you, Tim?” Bruce asked slightly desperately. 

“Maybe?” 

Bruce facepalmed. In the confusion, Mari took the chance to slink into the shadows where she rewrapped Trixx’s invisible magic around her.

Only Damian noticed. He smirked. “Where did he go?” He asked, placing a hand on the hilt of his katana for emphasis. He didn’t see Marinette smile at him.

Everyone looked panicked. “Search the manor.” Bruce ordered.

Jason still looked slightly skeptical but did as he said. Damian drew his katanas and tilted it in the direction he was going.

Amongst everyone, Bruce was the most attacked. While Jason and Damian paired off, Tim and Dick did as well, ("Don’t go alone!” Was Bruce’s admonished cry), Bruce had gone alone. 

If she were being honest, Marinette had always had a grudge against the billionaire. He hadn’t saved his son, he had tried to kill his son, even though he had a no killing rule --which Marinette thought was plain stupid--, and he had left Damian to suffer at the hands of Ra’s Al Ghul.

Talia could only do so much to save her son.

Yes, Marinette was aware that Bruce hadn’t know Damian existed, but now he was still treating Damian as if he didn’t exist. Marinette knew how much Damian craved affection, even if he never admitted it.

Yes, maybe Bruce was getting better, but maybe she could.. spur the process.

So Marinette retaliated in one of the many ways she knew how.

Messing with them.

So when the Waynes regrouped in the dining room, Jason, Damian, Dick and Tim came back unharmed, and Jason had been filled in by Damian of his suspicions. But Bruce? 

He came back covered in honey and feathers, drenched with water and covered in pink slime. 

“Why is he going after me?” Bruce had questioned in that annoying voice of his, after looking over his spotless sons.

Jason shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t like you. God knows he’s not the only one.” 

Bruce looked slightly hurt but Jason didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

“Maybe this person is infatuated with you and is vying for your attention.” Damian deadpanned dryly. Marinette had smacked him on the back of his head, still invisible.

But the damage had been done.

Bruce snapped his fingers and ‘aha!’-ed at Damian. “That must be it!” Bruce crowed.

“Are you that narcissistic, you arrogant plebeian?” Marinette’s normally cheery voice was dry and dripping with distaste as she unwrapped her magic.

Bruce, Dick and Tim immediately went on the defensive, shifting into a battle stance. Marinette only scoffed.

“If I wanted to harm you, I would have already done so.” Marinette waved a hand in their direction dismissively.

Dick looked confused. “You’re like, ten.” He pointed out.

Damian glared. “I am ten as well, Grayson.” 

Tim butted in. “Are we not going to acknowledge the fact that this tiny ten year old broke into the manor unnoticed?” 

That brought everyone to their senses.

They were suddenly surprised by Marinette running at Jason, full speed. They expected him to duck or whip out a weapon, but all he did was stand still as she flipped in midair to land on his shoulders.

To their utter shock, Jason grinned, even as she fisted her hands in his hair for a better grip.

Damian only smiled fondly at his Angel. She was as short as he remembered, Damian noted. 

He missed her. More than anything.

Marinette beamed, and slid off Jason’s shoulders.

“Why did you attack me?” Bruce asked.  “Isn’t it obvious, fool?” Marinette revamped her icy demeanor and glared at the civilian Batman. “I despise you.”

Bruce looked very affronted. But Mariinette ignored him, even as he continued talking and made her way over to Damian.

“Damibear!” Marinette sang, as if she hadn’t seen him less than an hour ago.

The Waynes looked as if they expected Damian to attack her just for calling him that. They were not expecting him to grin and say, “Angel.”

Mari jumped on his back, and Damian merely repositioned himself accordingly, used to this from all her previous piggybacks.

“Okay so Jason and Damian helped her get into the manor.” Tim deduced, only to notice Jason and Damian shaking their heads.

“All by herself.” Damian and Jason chorused. Marinette made bunny ears on top of Damian’s head.

She kissed Damian’s forehead lovingly, replying to his ‘i am older than you’ with a ‘yeah by like a week’, and looked to his family. 

She winked.

Then disappeared.

There was silence, and then, “Wait, we didn’t even get her name!” From Dick.

Damian and Jason were interrogated that night, and they refused to tell them anything related to Marinette.

Marinette smiled from where she had hidden in the shadows, and made her way back to Damian’s room. She curled up in Damian’s bed, drifting into sleep. She was almost asleep when Damian returned.

And when Damian pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “Goodnight, Angel”, a smile made her way onto her lips.

By the time Damian had slipped into bed with her, her head leaning comfortably on his chest, she had fallen asleep.

-

When the two turned 15, Talia and Sabine sat them down and told them about the betrothal. Damian had been visiting with Talia.

It had been almost two months since Lila had turned her classmates against her, not that she cared, of course. She still had her Consorts after all.

“Marinette, Damian, we’d like to tell you something. An offer? Of sorts. I’m relatively sure you will accept, however.” 

Talia smiled as Marinette dragged a grumpy Damian over to them by the head, beaming brightly.

“Oh come on, Mian! Don’t be such a grumpy banana.” Marinette reprimanded the older boy who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

The boy only smiled lazily, and ran another hand through his best friend’s hair, the girl making a small noise of protest. “Thats what you get for calling me a noodle, Angel.” (if you didn’t know miàn means noodle in chinese)

Sabine cleared her throat but looked at the two with amusement clear in her eyes.

They straightened. “Sorry, maman,” Mari muttered.

“Now, before you two were born, Sabine and I had an agreement. We are perfectly fine with this and the implications of it, so it is up to you to whether to accept or not.” Talia got straight to the point.

The two children looked to each other curiously before turning back to their parents. Damian nodded in acknowledgment and Sabine picked up where Talia left off.

“How do you feel about each other?” Sabine asked, watching the two closely for their reactions.

“If that’s your way of asking us if we’re okay to be siblings, since you and Lia are dating, Maman--” Marinette started but was quickly interrupted by a barely noticeably flushed Talia.

“No, not that, and we aren’t dating, Nette.” Talia aimed a playful glare at the girl, who grinned and blew a raspberry at her.

“How would you and Damian like to be betrothed?” Sabine asked, smiling at her friend and daughter fondly.

Marinette spluttered and Damian coughed. 

Talia and Sabine burst out into laughter.

After the adults got their laughter under control and after a few glares from their kids, Damian spoke up.

“Marinette is my best friend. If I had to be betrothed to anyone, I’m glad it’s her.” Damian looked away and Marinette coughed awkwardly into her elbow.

“You misunderstand us. You don’t have to be betrothed. The choice is yours.”

Damian felt slightly attacked. He really did like Marinette, and the betrothal was an easy excuse to ask her out (even if he was a 15 year old). He didn’t know if Marinette felt the same way, and he didn’t want to impose that on her, so he kept quiet.

Marinette, who was looking deep in thought, answered.

“Can I talk to Damian for a while, privately?”

Damian, despite his better judgement, winced. This was probably the first time in a really long time that Marinette called him by his full name. It was normally Dami, Damibear to annoy him, or some other weird nickname like Mr Grumpy Banana this morning.

Regardless, the bluenette hadn’t called him “Damian” for a very long time. Two years, maybe.

She walked out of the room, Damian trailing slightly behind, before stopping a few feet outside the room.

Marinette slid down onto the floor, her back pressed against it and head in her hands. Damian frowned. He didn’t want his best friend looking so.. dejected. He ignored the slight pang of hurt that the thought of being with him could get this kind of reaction out of her.

He sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder like he always did when any of them felt upset. He was happy to feel her lean into his side like she always did. 

She turned her head and buried it in Damian’s side, breathing in his comforting scent of paints and nature. He tightened his hold on her ever so slightly and she almost burst into tears.

It wasn’t that she was opposed to being in an engagement with Damian, it was just that she didn’t particularly want to be with anyone or love anyone, especially after her father died and Damian’s father abandoned him.

Her mother and aunt didn’t show it, but they were sad about their fathers. She had heard Talia interacting with her ‘beloved’ before, and it almost always ended up in tears or frustration. (Not that Mari blamed her, Bruce was kind of an asshole.)

She felt Damian’s chin press into her scalp and a hint of a smile grazed her lips. But this was Damian. Damian who was her best friend. Damian who supported her no matter what. Damian who comforted her and was there for her whenever she needed it.

Damian would never hurt her. And she was determined never to hurt him, ever, if she could help it.

She looked up and smiled at Damian. The smile he loved so much, the smile she always had on whenever she saw him, the smile that would unconsciously fly to her lips whenever she heard his voice.

Maybe it was then that Marinette should’ve known that she loved her best friend, but then again, she was only fifteen. She didn’t know what love was. But she would. Very soon.

“We accept.” Damian told Sabine and Talia when they reentered the room.

“We thought you would.” Talia replied.

-

When Marinette turned 16, her last year at Francois Dupont, six months since she’d made Lila’s time a living hell with her Ladybug (both in suit and in school), and fashion clients connections, the Waynes had visited.

Turns out, Damian and Jason got caught trying to sneak onto the Wayne private jet but instead of stopping them, they insisted they came along too, having pieced together that Damian and Jason were going to visit the mysterious tiny girl they couldn’t find the name of.

So they had no choice.

And os that leads to now, with the Waynes standing in the courtyard, elicting a growing crowd as they waited for Marinette, looking the part of scary rich people that can end your life without a problem.

Damian suddenly started running, and he hugged a girl. No one could see who the girl was because her head was buried in Damian’s chest and his body was shielding hers.

Not many people in the courtyard was surprised when they pulled away and standing there was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. After all, she was one of the most successful students in class that didn’t get fame from famous relatives. No, al her fame was hers alone.

In fact, the only people surprised were Marinette’s class, not-so-fondly referred to as the Akuma Class.  Her Consorts were the only one who knew of her betrothed, Damian. Other than that, Marinette had never been willing to share. 

When Marinette saw the other Waynes however, after hugging Jason, she rolled her eyes. Bruce, Dick and Tim stalked forwards, looking every inch the scary billionaires they were.

It was broken by Dick hugging the girl and gushing over how cool she was. Tim smiled at her and she had smiled back. Marinette flipped Bruce the bird.

“Why are you... so sunny? You definitely weren’t like that when you threatened us in Gotham. You were such an ice queen.” Tim mentioned, failing to keep the amusement out of his tone.

“What do you mean? Marinette’s always been like that, even if she is a bitch now. There’s no way she can be cold.” Alya remarked snidely.

Alix and Chloe stalked forward, raising thier fists threatningly. But Marinette only laughed coldly.

“You wanna see cold, Cesaire?” Marinette snarled, dropping all acts of being nice. 

The Lady was back. Publicly.

The silence was interrupted by Rose, who asked, "But Lila, don't you know the Waynes?"

Said Lila had been trying to slink away unnoticed, but when her name was mentioned, all attention diverted back to her, effectively keeping her in place. Her pale face and scared eyes were enough to tell that she had indeed been lying. 

Yells and screams broke out across the courtyard as the Akuma Class berated Lila for lying to them all this while. Until, Marinette interrupted, face set in a ice cold, stony position 

"Okay, blame her for lying." She started. "But why did you believe her?" 

The Akuma Class drew a blank and didn't respond. Partially because they didn't know what to say, and partially because Marinette's mere presence was overwhelmingly intimidating. Marinette sighed and pressed on. 

"Everything the Liar has said can be found faulty by a simple internet search." It was true, and the class knew it. When no one replied, Marinette shook her head sardonically. "You reap what you sow." 

She turned to her betrothed. In an instant, her icy mood was gone, replaced with the sunshiney-ness the Akuma Class had grown used to. 

"C'mon, Dami!" She gave him a quick peck on the lips, hoisting herself up on Damian's back. Damian grasped her legs tightly, as she continued to be piggybacked by him. 

"Onward!" She cried out dramatically, pointing to the school exit. 

Damian only rolled his eyes fondly at his beloved, steering themselves out, her Consorts and his family behind them. 

None of them looked back. 

If they did, they would've seen the expressions of disbelief and regret etched onto every one of her old classmates' faces. 

Not that they would care.

-

5k words yay

also uh yeah again, sorry this took so long, i kept hitting a mental block while writing this and it didnt manage to upload from my phone for no good reason :( 

but anyway its up now, i hope u find this acceptable! :)

[bloodbenderz]

humaniterations (dot) net/2014/10/13/an-anarchist-perspective-on-the-red-lotus/ this article from oct 2014 is very dense — truly, a lot to unpack here, but I feel like you would find this piece interesting. I would love it if you shared your thoughts on the points that stood out to you, whether you agree or disagree. you obv don’t have to respond to it tho, but I’m sending it as an ask jic you feel like penning (and sharing) a magnificent essay, as is your wont 💕

article

i know this took me forever 2 answer SORRY but i just checked off all the things on my to do list for the first time in days today so. Essay incoming ladies!

ok im SO glad u sent me this bc it’s so so good. it’s a genuinely thoughtful criticism of the politics in legend of korra (altho i think its sometimes a little mean to korra unnecessarily like there’s no reason to call her a “petulant brat” or say that she throws tantrums but i do understand their point about her being an immature and reactionary hero, which i’ll get back to) and i think the author has a good balance between acknowledging like Yeah the lok writers were american liberals and wrote their show accordingly and Also writing a thorough analysis of lok’s politics that felt relevant and interesting without throwing their hands up and saying this is all useless liberal bullshit (which i will admit that i tend to do).

this article essentially argues that the red lotus antagonists of s3 were right. And that’s not an uncommon opinion i think but this gives it serious weight. Like, everything that zaheer’s gang did was, in context, fully understandable. of course the red lotus would be invested in making sure that the physically and spiritually and politically most powerful person in the world ISNT raised by world leaders and a secret society of elites that’s completely unaccountable to the people! of course the red lotus wants to bring down tyrannical governments and allow communities to form and self govern organically! and the writers dismiss all of that out of hand by 1. consistently framing the red lotus as insane and murderous (korra never actually gives zaheer’s ideas a chance or truly considers integrating them into her own approach) 2. representing the death of the earth queen as not just something that’s not necessarily popular (what was with mako’s bootlicker grandma, i’d love to know) but as something that causes unbelievable violence and chaos in ba sing se (which, like, a lot of history and research will tell you that people in disasters tend towards prosocial behaviors). so the way the story frames each of these characters and ideologies is fascinating because like. if you wanted to write season 3 of legend of korra with zaheer as the protagonist and korra as the antagonist, you wouldn’t actually have to change the sequence of events at all, really. these writers in particular and liberal writers in general LOVE writing morally-gray-but-ultimately-sympathetic characters (like, almost EVERY SINGLE fire nation character in the first series, who were full on violent colonizers but all to a degree were rehabilitated in the eyes of the viewer) but instead of framing the red lotus as good people who are devoted to justice and freedom and sometimes behave cruelly to get where theyre trying to go, they frame them as psychopaths and murderers who have good intentions don’t really understand how to make the world a better place.

and the interesting thing about all this, about the fact that the red lotus acted in most cases exactly as it should have in context and the only reason its relegated to villain status is bc the show is written by liberals, is that the red lotus actually points out really glaring sociopolitical issues in universe! like, watching the show, u think well why the fuck HASN’T korra done anything about the earth queen oppressing her subjects? why DOESN’T korra do anything about the worse than useless republic president? why the hell are so many people living in poverty while our mains live cushy well fed lives? how come earth kingdom land only seems to belong to various monarchs and settler colonists, instead of the people who are actually indigenous to it? the show does not want to answer these questions, because american liberal capitalism literally survives on the reality of oppressive governments and worse than useless presidents and people living in poverty while the middle/upper class eats and indigenous land being stolen. if the show were to answer these questions honestly, the answer would be that the status quo in real life (and the one on the show that mirrors real life) Has To Change.

So they avoid answering these questions honestly in order for the thesis statement to be that the status quo is good. and the only way for the show to escape answering these questions is for them to individualize all these broad social problems down into Good people and Bad people. so while we have obvious bad ones like the earth queen we also have all these capitalists and monarchs and politicians who are actually very nice and lovely people who would never hurt anyone! which is just such an absurd take and it’s liberal propaganda at its best. holding a position of incredible political/economic power in an unjust society is inherently unethical and maintaining that position of power requires violence against the people you have power over. which is literally social justice 101. but there’s literally no normal, average, not-politically-powerful person on the show. so when leftist anarchism is presented and says that destroying systems that enforce extreme power differentials is the only way to bring peace and freedom to all, the show has already set us up to think, hey, fuck you, top cop lin beifong and ford motor ceo asami sato are good people and good people like them exist! and all we have to do to move forward and progress as a society is to make sure we have enough good individuals in enough powerful positions (like zuko as the fire lord ending the war, or wu as the earth king ending the monarchy)! which is of course complete fiction. liberal reform doesn’t work. but by pretending that it could work by saying that the SYSTEM isnt rotten it’s just that the people running it suck and we just need to replace those people, it automatically delegitimizes any radical movements that actually seek to change things.

and that’s the most interesting thing about this article to me is that it posits that the avatar...might actually be a negative presence in the world. the avatar is the exact same thing: it’s a position of immense political and physical power bestowed completely randomly, and depending on the moral character and various actions of who fills that position at any given time, millions of people will or won’t suffer. like kyoshi, who created the fascist dai li, like roku, who refused to remove a genocidal dictator from power, like aang, who facilitated the establishment of a settler colonial state on earth kingdom land. like korra! she’s an incredibly immature avatar and a generally reactionary lead. i’ve talked about this at length before but she never actually gets in touch with the needs of the people. she’s constantly running in elite circles, exposed only to the needs and squabbles of the upper class! how the hell is she supposed to understand the complexities of oppression and privilege when she was raised by a chess club with inordinate amounts of power and associates almost exclusively with politicians and billionaires?? from day 1 we see that she tends to see things in very black and white ways which is FINE if you’re a privileged 17 yr old girl seeing the world for the first time but NOT FINE if you’re the single most powerful person in the world! Yeah, korra thinks the world is probably mostly fine and just needs a little whipping into shape every couple years, because all she has ever known is a mostly fine world! in s1 when mako mentions that he as a homeless impoverished teenager worked for a gang (which is. Not weird. Impoverished people of every background are ALWAYS more likely to resort to socially unacceptable ways of making money) korra is like “you guys are criminals?????!!!!!” she was raised in perfect luxury by a conservative institution and just never developed beyond that. So sure, if the red lotus raised her anarchist, probably a lot would’ve been different/better, but....they didn’t. and korra ended up being a reactionary and conservative avatar who protected monarchs and colonialist politicians. The avatar as a position is completely subject to the whims of whoever is currently the avatar. and not only does that suck for everyone who is not the avatar, not only is it totally unfair to whatever kid who grows up knowing the fate of the world is squarely on their shoulders, but it as a concept is a highly individualist product of the authors’ own western liberal ideas of progress! the idea that one good leader can fix the world (or should even try) based on their own inherent superiority to everyone else is unbelievably flawed and ignores the fact that all real progress is brought about as a result of COMMUNITY work, as a result of normal people working for themselves and their neighbors!

the broader analysis of bending was really interesting to me too, but im honestly not sure i Totally agree with it. the article pretty much accepts the show’s assertion that bending is a privilege (and frankly backs it up much better than the original show did, but whatever), and i don’t think that’s NECESSARILY untrue since it is, like, a physical advantage (the author compares it to, for example, the fact that some people are born athletically gifted and others are born with extreme physical limitations), but i DO think that it discounts the in universe racialization of bending. in any sequel to atla that made sense, bending as a race making fact would have been explored ALONGSIDE the physical advantages it bestows on people. colonialism and its aftermath is generally ignored in this article which is its major weakness i think, especially in conjunction with bending. you can bring up the ideas the author did about individual vs community oriented progress in the avatar universe while safely ignoring the colonialism, but you can’t not bring up race and colonialism when you discuss bending. especially once you get to thinking about how water/earth/airbenders were imprisoned and killed specifically because bending was a physical advantage, and that physical advantage was something that would have given colonized populations a means of resistance and that the fire nation wanted to keep to itself.

i think that’s the best lens thru which to analyze bending tbh! like in the avatar universe bending is a tool that different ethnic groups tend to use in different ways. at its best, bending actually doesn’t represent social power differences (despite representing a physical power difference) because it’s used to represent/maintain community solidarity. like, take the water tribe. katara being the last waterbender, in some way, makes her the last of a part of swt CULTURE. the implication is that when there were a lot of waterbenders in the south, they dedicated their talents to building community and helping their neighbors, because this was something incredibly culturally important and important to the water tribe as a community. the swt as a COLLECTIVE values bending for what it can do for the entire tribe, which counts for basically every other talent a person can have (strength, creativity, etc). the fire nation, by contrast, distorts the community value of bending by racializing it: anyone who bends an element that isn’t fire is inherently NOT fire nation (and therefore inherently inferior) and, because of the physical power that bending confers, anyone who bends an element that isn’t fire is a threat to fire nation hegemony. and in THAT framework of bending, it’s something that intrinsically assigns worth and reifies race in a way that’s conveniently beneficial to the oppressor.

it IS worth talking about how using Element as a way to categorize people reifies nations, borders, and race in a way that is VERY characteristic of white american liberals. i tried to be conscious of that (and the way that elements/bending can act in DIFFERENT ways, depending on cultural context) but i think it’s pretty clear that the writers did intend for element to unequivocally signify nation (and, by extension, race), which is part of why they screwed up mixed families so bad in lok. when they’ve locked themselves into this idea that element=nation=race, they end up with sets of siblings like mako and bolin or kya tenzin and bumi, who all “take” after only one parent based on the element that they bend. which is just completely stupid but very indicative of how the writers actually INTENDED element/bending to be a race making process. and its both fucked up and interesting that the writers display the same framework of race analysis that the canonical antagonists of atla do.

anyway that’s a few thoughts! thank u again for sending the article i really loved it and i had a lot of fun writing this <3

[nova-is-a-writer-now]

Fools

[[zuko x reader]]

->next

Summary: Zuko and Y/N had liked eachother for a while even though neither of them knew it. Y/N tries to get over her crush for him, failing miserably. So just when she decides to let go and embrace her feelings, the new Fire lord finds himself feeling jealous and decides to take matters into his own hands

A/N: this is the first Zuko/ATLA fic i’ve ever written, so go easy on me plssss, i just finishes the show a couple days ago (a little late ik) and ever since then i’ve been OBSESSED with this man (if he’s too ooc pls let me know) . This is set a while after the coronation and it’s an AU where zuko and mai were never a thing. Hope y’all like this <3

ps: this may get a little long, i’m writting this before i finish it but i get a feeling it’s gonna be a long one so be prepared lol also it will most definitely have a pt.2 if y’all like it.

Warnings: Angst but it’ll end well i promise, swearing

-IF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS DONT HESITATE TO ASK-

Things after the war ended had been chaotically peaceful. Turns out that leading an entire nation, specially when it was the one that caused the war, and reuniting the lands that had for so long been against eachother was harder than all of you thought. The fact that a group of teenagers were the head of the operation wasn’t a big advantage either.

Sure, Aang and Zuko, who were the ones who had the most important positions when it came to politics and diplomacy, had advisors and people around to help guide them, but it was still a hard job. Nevertheless, without a war or fighting, you were sure it was good for the entire group to keep busy. They’d kept a lifestyle of always moving around and being on guard for so long it would’ve been a big shock to be forced to stay still after that.

Katara and Sokka travelled back and forth from the Southern Water Tribe to the Fire nation a few times, not too often though because of how far apart the two were. That was a shame because of how close you’d grown to Katara and her motherly self, her advice and her unconditional friendship, and even to Sokka and his bad jokes, his way of teasing everyone and how he could make you smile even when you weren’t in the mood, you even missed how mad he made you sometimes. Suki went with them to spend some time away from everything, she loved her life as a Kioshi warrior but she decided she needed a break after everything she had gone through.

Aang, on the other hand, was traveling all over but mostly between the Earth kingdom, were he would very often meet with Katara, and the Fire nation. You got to see him way more often than you got to see Katara, Suki and Sokka, although he tended to be busy with avatar business. He was doing a great job, you had to admit. The people loved him, he found a way to spread his teachings and the teachings of the Air nomads to the world and uniting others helping them put aside their differences seemed to be his thing now more than ever. But most importantly he seemed truly happy, one time he even told you he finally felt like he was making all the air nomads proud, wherever they were.

Toph still wanted to be away from her parents, so she refused to go back to the Earth Kingdom. She hated the cold, not being able to use her seismic senses in the snow and being bossed around by katara, so she refused to go with them too. So when you offered her to stay with you, she accepted. She made it seem as though it was her last choice because she had to keep her tough girl reputation, but actually she liked you a lot, she saw you kind of as a big sister. You took care of her in a way no one had before, not seeing her as helpless and weak but still being there for her when she needed you. Though she’d never tell this to anyone aloud.

And Zuko was still Zuko, just that now he was a Firelord. He took his job very seriously, determined to prove wrong everyone who had said he was too young or too weak for it. He knew the big responsibility he had in his hands and he seemed to be doing really well. He had his moments, of course, where he would have outbursts of emotion and anger, but he always found his way back to being who he needed to be for his Nation, and you always helped with that. He was the one who suggested you stayed in the Fire nation as a representative of the Northern Water tribe. You were hesitant at first, but after thinking the idea over you realized you had no business up in the tribe, you’d been away for a long time and you weren’t ready to go back just yet.

The two of you had never been incredibly close in the time since he joined the gaang, but you couldn’t denied there was a connection between the two. You got his humor and he got yours, you could tease eachother all day without getting butthurt, you could open up and talk about deep stuff under the stars on a sleepless night, and spending time with him seemed easier to do than with most people. You’d brushed this off as the two of you being good friends for a good while, even after you moved into the palace and started to hang out with him more, but for the past few weeks it’s been getting harder to do.

Every time Toph, him and you ate lunch together and he sat in front of you, you couldn’t help but end up staring at him, not in a weird, creepy way but in a ‘I’m mesmerized by you why am i mesmerized by you and since when are your eyes such a beautiful shade of gold’ way. You were in denial about it but deep down you knew you were starting to have a crush on him, and eventually Toph caught up to it too.

One night after diner she pulled you into her room, closed the door and said “Listen, Snow queen, I’m kinda tired of your heart going crazy every time mister flaming pants is around so you either get over your little crush, tell him how you feel or I will personally snitch on you directly to him, understood?” You didn’t even have the guts to deny it to her, specially since she’d know if you were lying, so you just heavily sighed and looked at the floor. She must’ve felt bad for you cause she took your hand and dragged you to sit on her bed to interrogate you about the situation.

“Out of anyone you could’ve ended up liking I never saw this one coming” she told you taking a seat on the opposite side of the bed

“Don’t get me started” you threw yourself back to the bed and stared at the ceiling for a second before speaking again “Like how dumb do I have to be to crush on someone who isn’t only probably the busiest man on all kingdoms right now, but also royalty and... well Zuko. He would never like a girl like me and even if he did, he probably has to end up with a princess or something.”

“I’m not letting you drown in a pity party here, ok?” Toph pulled your wrist and forced you to sit back up and look at her. “He’s lucky a girl as decent as you is willing to put up with that temper of his and how annoying he can get. Now what are you gonna do about it?”

“Nothing?” You replied in a low voice not taking a second to think about it. Toph punched you in the arm in response “Hey, what was that for?”

“What I said before still stands, I can’t deal with you being all flustered every time he’s around, so get over it or tell him how you feel.” She spat and all you could do was grunt and throw yourself back into the bed

So you were gonna get over it then. Easy task. Never done anything easier before.

It wasn’t.

Turns out that by trying to avoid Zuko at all costs you ended up stumbling into him even more. Around the corners, in the hallways, everywhere. The plan was to just avoid him as much as possible until eventually your feelings faded away, you couldn’t have a crush on someone you didn’t even see right? Wrong. Even when you weren’t around Zuko he was still on your mind. You tried to go to the palace library and distract yourself with literature, but reading romance books only made you feel more miserable and the only other option there was were war strategy books which you weren’t very interested in. The next distraction you chose was gardening, you loved nature and you were a water bender, it was the perfect task you thought, but once again you were wrong. You turned out to be such a bad gardener, Kya who was the one in charge of the royal gardens (and who was the sweetest lady) ended up banning you from messing with her flowers ever again. The last thing you could think of to stay away from Zuko was feeding the turtle ducks. It seemed like a good idea and on the few occasions you’d been in the pond before, the little animals seemed to be very fond of you. You couldn’t mess this one up, anyone could feed the ducks, but there was a little problem as it seemed to be the theme of that day, the Fire lord had forgotten to tell you that the pond was his place of choice when he needed to clear his head.

You didn’t even notice he was there until you heard his voice behind you. “Keep feeding them like this and they’ll get obese”

You jumped a bit out of surprise and turned around to face him with your palm pressed to your chest. “Spirits, Zuko, don’t do that to me, you’re gonna kill me one of these days” It was a bright and sunny day, the heat of the Fire nation weather made his face glimmer a little, his hair was up held by the royal Fire lord hair piece and he was wearing a version of his formal attire made for a hotter weather, leaving his muscly arms on display. As soon as you realized you were staring once again, you turned your attention back to the pond in an attempt to hide the blush that was slowly conquering your cheeks.

He took a sit next to you and waited a couple seconds before breaking the silence. “Hey... um... I don’t know if this is just me but you’ve been acting weird lately, is everything ok?” He asked looking at you.

“Everything is fine, definitely just you.” you replied not taking your eyes away from the shining water of the pond. The ducks had grown tired of waiting for you to keep feeding them and swam away.

“I... don’t think so. You didn’t come to breakfast today, everytime we’re together you seem to wanna leave as soon as possible and right now you can’t even look at me.” He paused before taking in a deep breath. “Did... did I do something to upset you?”

You finally turned around to look at him and the look you saw in his eyes was heartbreaking. Ever since he joined Team Avatar, Zuko had been making a huge effort to be good. You could see how sometimes he struggled to pick being kind and gentle over being erratic and explosive, and you also knew that had a lot to do with his childhood. But he had been doing such a good job at it, specially since he became Fire lord, he was so much more friendly, better at socializing and overall improving. And right now it was clear to you that you had made him feel like he was failing at being a good person and he’d somehow messed up with you.

You turned your body around slightly and put a reassuring hand on his knee before saying “Oh, Zuko, no. You haven’t done anything and I’m not upset at you, I mean that. It’s just...” coming up with lies and excuses had always been your strong point but having Zuko there making you ridiculously nervous wasn’t a factor that helped. “I.. uh...I’m getting a little homesick, you know? With Toph gone most of the day and you busy, I’ve been feeling a little melancholic about my home, but it’s nothing I promise. I’m just trying to find something to do with my time.” You we’re impressed with yourself with this one, it actually sounded pretty convincing.

You thought you had the situation handled until Zuko spoke again a few seconds later. “Y/N, I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized until now with all the chaos of being Fire lord but I asked you to stay here and represent the Northern Water tribe and I haven’t even given you time out of my day. I haven’t been the best host, have I?” Before you could even reply he widened his eyes and said “I have an idea, tomorrow I’ll take the day off and we can go on a small field trip to this cabin my family has on the ourskirts of town, there are some nice fields and it’s very peaceful, we’ll have a picnic lunch there and just relax. You can even ask Toph to come with. How does that sound?”

He looked at you expectantly and you started to look for reasons to turn him down, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. It was true that you hadn’t had much time to spend with him ever since he took his position, and in all honesty, crush or not you really did miss him. Your weakness for him won the battle and you ended up accepting the plan saying it was a great idea. The regent stood up from his place and assuring you he’d have everything ready for the next day he left.

You really had messed up this time.

—————

The next morning you put on a flowy, flower-print dress. It was classy but at the same time comfortable and light enough to handle the summer weather. You had nervously been looking at yourself in the mirror for way too long now. Before dinner the past night you at least had hopes that Toph would come with to the field trip and she would help you contain yourself when it came to Zuko, but of course that wasn’t the case. When he had brought the topic up at the table Toph limited herself to look at you knowingly and say “You know what? I happen to be very busy tomorrow, you know, I’m trying to get a name for myself in the Fire nation’s fighting scene and I have a fight tomorrow, sorry.” You knew she was lying because she had told you about her fight but instead of the next day it was three days from then. All you could do was look at the little devil and make sure you wrote a mental note of getting back at her as soon as you could.

So here you were, minutes ago from embarking in a field trip with the person you were supposed to avoid, and you had no idea how you were gonna get out of this one.

A knock on your door startled you and took you out of your worrying thoughts. A few seconds later a maid’s head popped in as she said “Lady Y/N, Firelord Zuko and the carriage are ready for you.” You took a deep breath and walked towards the door while replying with a soft “Thank you, Yun”

The carriage waited for you in front of the palace and so did Zuko. He was already inside, sheltering himself from the unforgiving sun, so you startled him when you hopped inside. “Y/N, you look...nice” he complimented you, a faint blush running through his cheeks making him gain a more childish and youthful look.

“Thank you, Zuko. Likewise.” You responded attempting to stay as calm as you could. You hated that he had so much power over you.

He ordered for you to be in your way before the carriage started moving swiftly. Your eyes flowed to the window, looking out at the capital city of the Fire nation. ��You’ve done a great job leading this people. They look... so happy.” You drew your eyes back at Zuko as he stared at you. It was you who was starting to blush now.

“I hope so. I’ve done everything I’m capable of to change the old ways of this nation. I hope I’m making the right choices.” A worrisome look took over his eyes as he let his own attention drift towards the streets.

“Hey” you called to him as you stretched your hand to cover his. “You’re doing just fine Zuko. You’ve done so much for these people and all the other nations as well, I’m sure you’ll do even more good.”

He faintly smiled at you as a response and you could tell that although he did worry about the future, your reassurance helped.

The rest of the ride was spent pointing out the animals you saw on the road, sharing childhood stories about when Zuko and his mom used to come here when they both needed to get away from everything, and a bit of teasing about how Zuko had no idea what to pack for a picnic and had to ask the head chef of the kitchen for help. Luckily you had become friends with chef Karou in the time you’d been living in the palace and he knew your taste rather well.

When you finally arrived there was no sight of the usual movement and noise proper of a big city, the air was filled with the peculiar scent of flowers you couldn’t recognize just yet and grass. In the distance at your left you could see a small cattle of Hippo cows and Komodo chickens. And at your right a long field of grass and flowers that seemed to go up in a small and almost unnoticeable hill.

You and Zuko stepped down the carriage just as a guard handed him the picnic basket. The tall regent turned to you and ordered “Follow me, I wanna show you something”. You did as you were told, being led by him all the way up the hill until you were at the very top. When the two of you got there your breath was taken away by the beautiful view you had in front of you. A huge field of flowers layed gracefully at the end of the hill and extended far enough that it connected to the horizon.

“This is...” you started but were so taken aback by the view you didn’t finish your sentence.

Zuko seemed to understand regardless and replied “I know.” Behind you he started to set up a cloth for the two of you to sit on. You forced yourself to remove your attention from the field and place it on what was going on behind you. Taking a seat on the opposite end of the cloth you helped him take out all the items chef Karou had packed for you. When you were done you looked at Zuko and said “Thanks for this. It’s really nice.”

“No need to thank me, I’ve been leaving you alone so much time lately. I know aside from Toph I’m pretty much all you have here so take this as a ‘Sorry I’ve been a terrible friend’ offering.” He smiled wide expecting you to do the same but that smile faded away as soon as he saw the expression on your face.

‘Friend’

The word echoed in your head as your eyes dropped to the food you had in front of you. Of course he saw you as a friend. You had almost convinced yourself you should confess your feelings to him and he goes on to call himself your friend. A knot in your throat started to form and you did your best to show it as little as you could. But you obviously failed.

“Everything ok?” Zuko asked tilting his head to catch your eyes.

You looked up and faked a smile. “Yeah... just thinking how far we’ve come.” You lied through your teeth before continuing. “Anyways, enough of all the cheesiness, I’m starving.”

“Agreed” He replies picking up something for himself. You chose a small salty biscuit with a mix of meats on top and decided to distract yourself with it. “Chef Karou said you’d like that one. He also said you hated onions and peas. What type of weirdo hates peas?”

You chuckled a little, the feeling that oppressed your chest fading away quickly. “I do. They’re disgusting and if you like them I don’t trust you.”

Zuko laughed loudly before remarking “Its not like I like them, Y/N. It’s just a weird thing to be picky over. They’re peas, they don’t really taste like anything.”

You widened your eyes and quickly swallowed the bite of biscuit you had taken. “What do you mean they don’t taste like anything? They taste disgusting and they are mushy and just... gross”

Zuko replies with another laugh. His laugh made you feel warm inside, it could make you forget about everything, Toph’s threats, your previous plans and even the now faint voice poking the back of your mind telling you to be careful or you’d get your heart broken.

The two of you kept eating and chattering at the same time. You’d finished the salty food and it came time for the desert. Chef Karou had made a type of cake and stored it inside a small glass jar. You tried opening the lid but it was too hard. You heard Zuko in front of you offering you help but you refused it telling him you could do it on your own. After a couple minutes of struggling , Zuko took your deep sigh as a sign of defeat and scooted closer to you. “Here, let me.” He took the jar from your hands and quickly opened the lid, handing it back to you. You looked up expecting to find a smug smirk that felt way to familiar to you at this point but instead you found his serious face dangerously close to yours.

You took the jar back and set in down. “Thanks” you muttered softly and quietly. His only response was to slowly but firmly raise a hand up to your face to put away a strand of hair that had fallen. His touch sent shivers down your spine. All thoughts of caution escaped your mind as you felt his face so close you could feel his warm breath mixing with yours. The tension between you seemed to almost be to much to handle when you thought you saw Zuko lean in a little. Before anything else could happen, one of the guards that had come with and stayed back where the carriage was spoke. “Firelord Zuko”

The golden eyed boy dropped his hand from your face and turned around to face the guard. “Have they not taught you to not interrupt people when they’re talking privately?”

“I am very sorry, Firelord.” The guard bowed in sign of respect. “But we have just received a messenger hawk with a letter from the palace. The Avatar and you other friends are here.”

[lily-blue]

To save a kingdom | step number two: make a plan with soobin

☆ characters: benders!txt & lady’s maid!you ☆ genre: elementals au, fantasy, action ☆ summary: Upon your arrival to Earth, you regain your consciousness in the company of two strangers who can’t seem to stop arguing about the portal that helped you travel to their dimension: was that real or it existed only in Yeonjun’s imagination? Yet, despite their arguments, you have a much more important question to get an answer for: are they the benders you are looking for or you’re in enemy territory? ☆ words: 5,2k ☆ also: this is a present for the lovely @restlessmaknae​ ♥ who is one of the most hard-working and loveliest humans I’ve ever met. I wish you an amazing day today (an even more amazing one than the previous was although our girl programmes are hard to outdo) and lots of love. Just know that I’m always here for you so feel free to lean on me, too, during the upcoming period of your uni life. You’re almost there, sweetie ♥

➼ chapter index

The first time when you had caught a glimpse of the five benders in the royal garden, the youngest one had only been a few days old, recently separated from his family. He had been brought to the palace weeks before he had been born because his mother had gotten especially weak during the last month prior his arrival and queen Eunha had been afraid that the woman might have had a miscarriage if she hadn’t been treated by the best medics in the entire kingdom. Hearing upon her request, your first thoughts had been hostile as you had known that giving birth wasn’t easy to anyone in particular, but then you had heard the queen’s reasoning and shame had washed over your entire body. You remembered how much it had shocked you when you had realized that the woman’s sickness had gotten worse due to the growing amount of magic in her system that her mundane organs couldn’t have handled accordingly. They simply hadn’t been designed for that purpose. Therefore, you had thanked all the spirits you could have named when you had heard the good news of both hers and the baby’s survival. She might have needed to say goodbye to her child once he would have been big enough, way too soon if anyone had asked you, but you had known that she could have visited the palace once in each year on his birthday at last. So you had been happy.

As you had sunk your rounded nails into the marble wall you had hid behind, your smile had grown wider when you had seen the eldest boy clinging onto the second eldest in line, their clumsy hug resembling a choking hold more than an actual hug. They had been so adorable, even when the fire bender had pushed himself on two feet and no one had paid attention to his poor attempts at taking his first steps that by the way, he had failed miserably. Luckily, his appointed nursemaid had been quick to pick him up and rock him back and forth when he had started to cry.

‘What are you doing here? You should be by queen Eunha’s side in case she needs you,’ a deep voice had addressed you and your shoulders had gotten more tense on instinct as you had turned around and casted your eyes down.

‘I…’ you had started, or would have done so if your words hadn’t failed you. But the thing had been that you had been aware that you hadn’t been supposed to be outside and when one knew that they were breaking the rules, it was hard for them to come up with excuses. Or so it had been for you when Eternally had been still a land of undisturbed peace. ‘I was just… looking for them,’ you had blurted out a complete nonsense which the royal guard had picked up on pretty quickly. Yet, even though he had raised one of his brows at you in a sceptical manner, he hadn’t called you out on your painfully obvious lie. Instead, he had tilted his head sideways and motioned at the inside of the palace with both of his hands.

‘Well, they are here. Now, go!’ he had asked you and you had gulped when his authoritative voice had reached your ears.

‘Understood,’ you had managed before you had turned your back on the giggling children and had walked back to the palace with the guard sticking by your side.

That had been the last time you had seen them together, too. And after the siege of Chi and his ruthless men, the news of their disappearance and their possible death, for decades, you had been certain that you would have never had the chance to catch a glimpse of them again. Little had you known how utterly wrong you had been and that one day, you would be the one who needed to bring them back home from another dimension.

You woke up for quiet and not so quiet whispers, something firm but comfortable under your spine and a flower scented cloth thrown over your body. And while these details made you unbearably curious, you forced yourself to keep your eyes closed and your ragged breathing as peaceful as possible since it was a golden opportunity for you to get to know these people a bit better. After all, you had indeed wished for death right before the portal had opened in front of your eyes and had brought you to this boy with the ocean blue locks. He could have been just as much one of the lost benders on Earth as your enemy.

‘Are you sure you saw it right? Like, are you a hundred percent sure that what you saw was a magical portal, hyung?’ One of the boys asked and you balled your fist when the realization hit you that you understood each one of the words he spoke. Didn’t it mean that you were still in Eternally? Didn’t it mean that you were in enemy territory? It should have done so and yet, something in the way he talked made you think otherwise. Because by then, you and princess Sowon were too familiar with Chi’s men and their attitude to believe that he was on his side. But then who could he have been?

‘Why are you doubting me so much when I was right last time, too? I told you that the river was acting strange when I was around it and it turned out that we have magic powers,’ another boy remarked and you didn’t have to open your eyes to assume that he crossed his arms in front of his chest, sulky. His tone was too high-pitched and maybe pouty as well to not be at least a tad bit honestly offended. ‘Come on Soobin! I’m telling you, it had to be a portal. How else could she be here in that,’ the same boy tried to reason and it made you wonder what exactly that “that” could have referred to. Did you look funny?

‘Maybe, she’s from the countryside,’ the previous guy with the soothing aura, Soobin as you reminded yourself, was desperate to come up with a less unbelievable scenario, but his reply did nothing but coaxed a snort out of the other.

‘From the previous century?’ He asked back without thinking too much into it and you had to admit that their dynamics were amusing. You didn’t have to dwell on it much to come to the conclusion that they knew one another for a long while. But whether they were just friends or comrades, too, well… that you still couldn’t have decided.

‘Her clothes aren’t traditional Korean,’ Soobin pointed out, which rendered his sulky friend speechless and would have most probably done the same to you, too, if you hadn’t been pretending to be asleep. Because from one moment to another it became clear that you were not in your country anymore. Because despite the knowledge you had proudly picked up on the street in the past decades, you had no idea what they could have meant by Korean. Could they have been Korean? Was that a nation on Earth, the one you had been looking for, or you had ended up in a completely different dimension? You were dying to put your hands on the answers.

As you were listening to their conversation about your identity, your heart beat faster than it usually did and a thin layer of sweat formed on your palms. The cogs in your head also span furiously since if you had been in another dimension shouldn’t have that supposed to mean that these people weren’t familiar with your language? How was it even real that you knew exactly what they were talking about? They were so tiny when they had been brought to this land and if what the old man had said to you was true, they had spent the past two decades on Earth all by themselves. So how? How was all this possible?

‘Look, her necklace glows when it’s near me. Maybe, it has something to do with our powers. Aren’t you curious?’ The sulky boy asked and processing his confident claim, you finally put yet another puzzle piece to the big picture. He was the one whom you had bumped into first thing you had travelled through the portal they had already mentioned several times. And you wanted to punch yourself in the face for not realizing it sooner as the boy with the ocean blue locks was supposed to be the only person who had seen you set foot on Earth.

Your nails dug into your palm more firmly when you noticed the unmistakable sound of his footsteps. And it took everything in your power to not brush his hand off of you immediately when he took the necklace from you. You should have protected it from everyone and yet, the fact that it glowed in his closeness forced you into submission.

‘Come on, Soobin…’

Your eyes widened in surprise at his next words.

‘Wait!’ You yelped and grabbed the first part of him that you could reach: his cotton tee that you accidentally pulled out of his pants.

The boy’s lips parted in bewilderment and you gulped, breathless, before you tore your gaze away from his face and used his surprise against him. On wobbly legs, you leaned forwards and stole the magical jewelry back from him, not realizing how much of your body weight you shifted on him unintentionally until his fingers dug into your flesh to support you more.

You pulled away and cleared your throat to make the unwanted tension disappear.

‘Speak again!’ you asked him, staring at the glowing medallion in your possession instead of him or his friend, Soobin. You had a theory and you needed to test it so that your mind could rest. ‘What did you…’ 

Unbeknownst to you, the two boys exchanged a wary glance before the one standing closer to you shrugged and turned towards you with his entire body.

‘I said, come on, Soobin. Are you…’

You furrowed your brows when his sentence suddenly made perfect sense again and cut him off with another question as you tried your best to figure out what was going on.

‘Do you understand what I just said?’ you inquired a bit doubtful by nature, although it was obvious that he was telling the truth. Otherwise he couldn’t have answered your question so fast without any trouble. As though you were speaking his mother tongue.

‘Yes. Why wouldn’t I?’ he asked back, clearly confused, and while it was a weak shot, you told yourself that it must have done something with their powers. Because at the end of the day, you were just another clueless being who could only dream to understand magic. Your brain looked for logical connections where there might haven’t been any. Since the unknown unnerved you and how else could they have been able to perform the same unexplainable miracle on their own that you did with the help of the jewelry in your hand? You could have lived with this explanation. With the assumption that maybe, just maybe, benders existed for a greater good and that they were meant to be for the whole world and not just for a nation as it was the norm in your home. 

You shook your head to clear it a little, but may it have been due to the aftereffects of your travel or because of how long you have been laying atop of the wooden bench in that small room you were currently at, you almost lost your balance after the sudden movement. If the blue haired boy hadn’t reached out for your elbow last minute again, just like he had done in the alley, you would have definitely fallen head first onto the floor.

‘Hey, easy. You just woke up. It’s only natural that your body needs a few minutes, hm?’ He said gently and stroked your wrist with his thumb once, twice and three times before he came to his senses and helped you take a seat on the bench right behind you. You were too shocked and at loss of words to murmur at least a polite thank you under your nose in return.

‘I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but…’ Soobin broke the uncomfortable silence with an unsure interruption which sounded more like an apology than anything rude so when you slid your gaze at his figure, there was no annoyance or malice in your eyes. You found him rather lovely when he let his hand fall back by his side from his nape. Not that you would have ever said that out loud, especially because you still couldn’t have been a hundred percent sure that they were who you thought they were. You had to see their powers in action with your own two eyes. ‘Could you tell us who you are?’

‘And what did you mean when you asked for my help?’ The blue haired boy butted on in, not wasting a moment more to get his answers, too, although a part of you honestly doubted that his friend appreciated his eagerness. Nonetheless, they both had pretty good questions for which you weren’t sure whether you should have answered so carelessly.

Taking a breath, you observed their features with great care: the fine line of their eyebrows, the lack of wrinkles on their forehead and their slightly parted or clenched lips. You wanted to predict their reaction to everything you were about to say the most accordingly so that they wouldn’t have thrown you out of this place or outright turned on you due to a few wrongly phrased words. Meanwhile, you held onto the necklace a bit firmer without realizing, trying real hard not to think of the old man and your princess. She had wanted you to turn your back on them and run. She had had faith in you when she had given you this mission. You couldn’t have afforded to have a weak heart when the future of your nation depended on your success. So you brushed aside your last memories of them and steeled yourself as your role demanded you to.

‘It depends. Are you the benders I’m looking for?’ You asked without batting an eyelid, your gaze not leaving Soobin’s dark orbs. Because based on the boys’ previous conversation, you were almost ninety-nine percent certain that his word would be the final one, no matter how excited the blue haired guy was due to your arrival. Not to mention that he didn’t seem like someone who would have needed too much convincing to join your cause if they had indeed ended up being not just the ones you were searching for, but willing to give you a few pairs of helping hands as well. It was definitely Soobin you needed to win over to your side.

However, your staring contest became rather short-lived and unfruitful when all three of you snapped your head in the opening door’s direction. You narrowed your eyes upon seeing the newcomers and took a tentative step backwards which didn’t go unnoticed by the blue haired boy. And honestly, you weren’t sure whether you were grateful for his attentiveness or rather annoyed by it. It obviously depended on his answer for your previous inquiry since you couldn’t have afforded to be indebted to another nation’s soldier. This idea alone sent a chill down your spine.

One of the newcomers, the boy whose hair colour reminded you of the unforgiving flames of fire, raised a brow in a doubtful fashion while his gaze slid from your eyes through your dirty clothes to your bare feet. 

‘Who is she?’ He asked which made your fingers clench around the medallion more firmly as though he could have jumped on you to take it away from you at any given moment. But you couldn’t have possibly been unconscious long enough for these guys to contact each other via letter, right? They weren’t supposed to know about the magical object in your possession, you tried to calm your stupidly racing heart.

‘What are benders exactly?’ The blue haired boy turned in your direction instead of giving an answer to his acquaintance and under different circumstances, you might have found the redhead’s eye roll amusing, but now the only thing you felt when you caught sight of it was gratitude due to your saviour’s attempt to channel the sceptical newcomer’s annoyance from you to himself. 

Hence, you were just about to explain to him and the rest of the boys the basics - something that had been once taught in elementary school to children in your home - when another guy from the new group let out a small chuckle.

‘Oh, hyung, but that’s easy. People who can control certain elements like in that cartoon… wait a moment!’ He snapped his head in your way after he swallowed back the second part of his explanation, realization suddenly rushing through him, his eyes falling on you in shock. But for the first time since you had arrived to this place, whatever that meant, your smile was genuine and wide when you locked eyes with the stranger. You might have had no idea what a cartoon was, but you were glad that at least one of these five people seemed to know what you were talking about. Finally! 

‘Are you a bender?’ You asked automatically and maybe a tad bit eagerly when you took a step towards him, making his eyes grow wide. Briefly, you wondered whether you came off as a little intimidating, but luckily, despite his surprise, he didn’t get rid of his friendly smile which encouraged you to put your faith in him. Because by then even your stubborn and doubtful self realized that you wouldn’t have had a chance to run for it if these people had indeed planned to capture, torture or rob you. You were already locked up in a shamelessly small room with them for heavens.

When the boy opened his mouth for an answer, you could almost feel the necklace in your hand warming up, but then the redhead lifted his hand in front of your hope’s face and made him bite back his tongue with a single grunt of his. You gulped when the harsh sound reached your ears, but held his gaze due to your newfound confidence. If the friendly guy behind him really had the answers you needed, a grumpy redhead wouldn’t stand in your way without you putting up a fight.

‘I asked you a question first,’ he reminded you and you gulped, paying close attention to your body language before it could have given your anxiety away. So what if his gaze was piercing and his whole face reflected massive displeasure? You had definitely seen worse. After all, you had been captured by Chi’s men not even a day ago and those soldiers were merciless.

‘Well, technically it was Soobin who asked her first, but yeah,’ the blue haired guy chirped in almost innocently, but no matter how much you wanted to steal a glance at his face to know just how serious he was with his comment, you didn’t take your eyes off the redhead. It would have been a fatal mistake as this whole situation felt as if you had been in the middle of a circle of wolves. You had to teach him that he shouldn’t have taken you lightly and that he wasn’t your king to order you around. The only person you owed your unconditional loyalty, obedience and life to was princess Sowon. She was your empress. ‘Who are you?’ He asked from behind your back and you took a bigger breath before you would have shown the smallest willingness to give him an honest answer. Someone had to take the initiative if you didn’t wish to beat around the bush for long hours if not for days. No, you couldn’t have done that, no matter how convenient it would have been if the boys had reassured you about their identity first. Sometimes some things just couldn’t go the way one wanted. And then, it was up to you whether you accepted your temporary defeat or made it a lot worse with your thick skull. At least this was what you had heard from Queen Eunha whenever she had reminded her husband that as a king, his options hadn’t always been as limited as they had seemed at first sight.

So you brushed aside your pride and closed your eyes momentarily. Then, you took another deep breath and turned towards the blue haired boy with your entire body.

‘I’m a royal servant from Eternally. Your turn,’ you told him and you would have lied if you had said that his wide smile didn’t take you aback. You had no idea why he was so happy all of a sudden. Did he even know what kind of place Eternally was nowadays? That people got more and more miserable day by day since Chi had taken the throne by force?

‘I’m Yeonjun,’ he answered and the moment you realized that he had just told you his name, you furrowed your brows in confusion. It wasn’t what you had meant by his turn since getting to know his name really wasn’t in your top priorities, but what were you supposed to do about his introduction when it had already been over? Pointing out that “royal servant” wasn’t your name, either, would have been unnecessarily rude. So you just sighed and waited for him to put two and two together slowly, on his own, to not offend him in the beginning of a possible alliance.

Lucky for you, Soobin seemed to be able to read the room more accurately and gained your attention with an awkward cough.

‘Did you come here through a magical portal then?’ He asked and you nodded which coaxed surprised yelps out of two members of the newcomers. So you lifted your chin a bit higher.  ‘Fine. As you could already hear from Yeonjun hyung, we have magic powers so I guess we are those benders you are looking for,’ Soobin claimed, hence it was your turn to fail to hide your emotions. Your lips parted slightly which made the boy smile. For the first time since he had laid an eye on your unconscious figure lying on the bench in the staff’s changing room at his hyung’s workplace, he found you approachable. ‘Your breathing changed the moment you woke up,’ he explained to help the stuck cogs in your brain start to spin again and while his confession earned a huff from the redhead, you were too excited to find out that you were talking to an airbender to care about his attitude.

Not until the quiet boy from the three spoke up did you take notice of your surroundings again. For Eternally! You hadn’t seen this boy since he had been like two and he had changed so much, you couldn’t have even recognized him from this close. It was absurd, but you were more than happy with the sudden turn of events.

‘Why are you looking for us?’ The quiet boy directed his question at you and the wonders in his eyes took your breath away for a sheer moment. He looked almost hopeful as though he had been waiting for this encounter just as much as you had had which was absurd. Up until a few minutes ago, he hadn’t even known that you existed. And you were pretty sure that they still didn’t know where your home - all of your home - was exactly.

While you had definitely not planned it like this, the moment you opened your mouth to give him a brief summary of your situation, it was as though a heavy gate opened inside of you. Therefore, you threw a lot more at the five boys than it might have been possible to process in such a short span of time by people who had never heard of your dimension, let alone knew that they had been born in that faraway kingdom.

‘Because our princess, our people need you to take the throne back from Chi, that ruthless tyrant from the South who killed almost the entire royal court twenty years ago. He doesn’t care about anything but power. People are trapped in unageing bodies, starving, because time stopped in our kingdom the moment he destroyed the Star Crystal and…’ you rambled with one breath, unable to notice the confused and doubtful glances the boys exchanged worriedly during your monologue.

It was Yeonjun who grabbed your shoulders gently to gain your attention and make you stop.

‘Hey, calm down. You’re talking too fast and none of us understands a word,’ he said with an apologetic smile, stroking your shoulders through the ragged textile of your clothes once and twice before he slowly let go of you and took a step back. You blinked at him, a bit bashful, before you slid your gaze from his face to the rest of the boys. They all looked kind of lost which made you feel a bit awkward. You really shouldn’t have told them so much so quickly, it was just… he asked and it had been such a long time since you could have spoken your mind when it came to this matter. Princess Sowon liked to approach it from a more hopeful aspect than you, thus you usually chose not to add your personal opinion on the topic.

‘Why don’t you take a breath and start it from the very beginning?’ Asked Soobin in his calm voice and you nodded on automatic as you let Yeonjun lead you to the bench where you had been previously lying.

You started at the very beginning, trying to reveal the truth to them bit by bit this time by following a logical structure: you told them about the dimension where you had come from, how there were different nations there with one bender in each generation and how Eternally had had five before the massacre. You had told them about the system in which they would have been raised if Chi hadn’t conquered your country, then you told them about that one time you had actually been able to lay your eyes on their carefree figures in the royal garden. When you got to the point where their families came into the picture and their original names, the three newcomers introduced themselves as well, although Taehyun, the redhead didn’t seem too happy about his friends’ trusting attitude with which you could resonate due to the past two decades behind your back. He didn’t know you nor princess Sowon, it was natural of him to be suspicious of your story. So you didn’t blame him a bit. You were just overly happy that the other four had more or less no problem with opening up to you and asking about your nation despite its people forgetting about their existence over the years.

‘We have to go back as soon as possible. Those guards, they… they have already captured the princess! Chi will execute her in front of her own people,’ you informed them, worry lacing your words. You might have tried to push this thought in the back of your mind, but it didn’t want to go away. With every answer you gave, it became more and more urgent. 

‘We will help you, don’t worry about it,’ Soobin, the boy with the soothing voice, said and when his palm stroked your shoulder blade in order to calm you, you shot a grateful smile in his way.

But the indecipherable peace in your chest couldn’t have taken longer than a few heartbeats, because hearing the older boy’s claim and no objection, Taehyun couldn’t stay still. He stood up from the bench where he had taken a seat somewhere between your detailed report on Chi and the unification of the five great nations, then threw daggers at Soobin with his eyes.

‘Will we really, hyung? Weren’t you listening? That man has an army of good swordsmen while we have nothing. Not even proper fighting skills,’ he claimed and while a part of you was angry with him for trying to win his friends over to his side, another part of you knew that he was speaking the truth. Earth was a world without barely any magic to believe in its existence while South Korea, where they had grown up, was a relatively peaceful country. They didn’t know how to fight and if what Beomgyu - the surprisingly talkative boy who had been so quiet at the beginning - had told you was true, they had discovered their magic only a bit more than a year ago. Logically speaking, your benders were no match for Chi. But since when was magic logical?

‘We have magic,’ Hueningkai reasoned, earning a snicker with his zealous exclamation. And you had to dig your nails into the edge of the bench to not stand between him and Taehyun on instinct to protect him from the older’s anger. It wasn’t as if you could have saved him if the impulsive boy had decided to use his power on him or something. Which he wouldn’t have done for real, anyway, right? You held back your breath.

‘That we can’t control properly!’ The redhead bit back.

Your gaze shifted from one person to another, trying to read the room, waiting for something, for anything to happen. But no object caught on fire and no lightning tore apart the space between the two. Not even after Soobin cleared his throat.

‘Look. We were saved by those people on the night of the massacure. We can’t turn our backs on them. We just, we need a good plan,’ he said, but in spite of his encouraging albeit small smile, Taehyun just rolled his eyes.

‘This is ridiculous!’ He said before he turned his back on your group and marched out of the room.

Truth to tell, you were grateful for what Soobin had said, but you were still in shock due to the happenings, so you couldn’t make yourself say thank you or to form a coherent sentence to begin with. Actually, not until the redhead came back to you with a mug of hot, herbal tea in his hands did your brain process the serious conversation around you. You shook your head when his gaze loitered over your frozen figure with the same, annoyed glint in his eyes. You briefly wondered whether he hated you or just the situation he was kind of forced into. Though, it was his decision that he stayed.

‘Tell us a bit more about the Star Crystal, please,’ Soobin asked you and you tore your gaze away from Taehyun’s drinking figure the moment he poked your knee. Right! You had a plan to make! A fool proof strategy that could have given you a chance to actually win and send Chi back where he had come from. You had no seconds to waste.

➼ next chapter

[cardest]

London playlist

London - since 43 AD it has to be one of the more fascinating cities on Earth. Such a rich history. From Shakespeare Theatre to the music from there today. I just had to put a London playlist together. From Soho to Brixton, from Highgate to Clapham  what a collection of songs! It’s over 350 songs and it could easily expand to 400. **I have a separate England & Wales playlist coming, so, stay tuned for that**.

To play the songs, hit the link right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1_ntP663JhZl-hvn9EwFp9L

ENGLAND & WALES playlist is coming soon! What songs have I left out? Let me know! Add your own songs! Cheers. Pip pip, tally ho!

LONDON 001 Generation X -  Day By Day 002 The Clash - London Calling 003 Austin Powers  - theme song (Soul Bossa? Nova ) 004 The Kinks - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 005 Killing Joke - Empire Song 006 Black Sabbath - Wicked World 007 The Who - Welcome 008 The Damned - Neat, neat, neat 009 GIRLSCHOOL - LONDON 010 007 theme song 011 Motorhead - Motorhead 012 Wire - Ex Lion Tamer 013 David Bowie - Maid of Bond Street 014 The Misfits - London Dungeon 015 Rolling Stones - 016 The Adverts - Bored Teenagers 017 Siouxsie & The Banshees -  Spellbound 018 Penny Dreadful - Soundtrack - Main Theme 019 Eurythmics - Love Is A Stranger 020 The Cure - Subway Song 021 Adam And The Ants -  Puss 'n' Boots 022 Iron Maiden - 22 Acacia Avenue 023 COIL - Fire of the mind 024 Public Image Ltd - One Drop. 025 LUSH - Breeze 026 Bliss Signal - Surge 027 The Pogues - Misty Morning, Albert Bridge 028 PhD - Won't Let You Down 029 Birthday Party - Hats On Wrong 030 Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue 031 Help Yourself - Reaffirmation 032 Grave Miasma - Gnosis of the summon 033 Roy Ayers - We Live In London Baby 034 Led Zeppelin - The Rover 035 Gang of Four - What we all want 036 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girl                 037 Sleaford Mods - 6 Horsemen (The Brixtons) 038 Paul Young - Love of the Common People 039 The Saint (original) - Theme 040 The Human League - Dont You Want Me 041 Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen 042 The Beatles - A Day In The Life 043 Def Leppard -  Love bites 044 The Stranglers - Another Camden Afternoon 045 The Kinks  - See My Friends 046 Elton John - Bennie and the Jets 047 Suede - Moving 048 Queen - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy 049 Cliff Richard & the Shadows - She's Gone 050 The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up 051 Loop - Fade Out 052 Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart - A13 053 The Magnetic Fields - All the Umbrellas in London 054 Wendy Carlos - Title Music From A Clockwork Orange (From Purcell's Music For The Funeral Of Queen Mary) 055 The Police - Every Little Thing she does it Magic 056 Cockney Rejects - The Greatest Cockney Rip Off 057 Spandau Ballet - Spandau Ballet Chant No.1 058 The Pretenders - Middle of the Road 059 The Who - Dogs 060 The Jam - London Girl 061 Cradle of Filth - Hurt and Virtue 062 Joy Division - Isolation 063 Nick Drake - At the Chime of a City Clock 064 Sham 69 - Cockney Kids Are Innocent 065 Deep Purple - Mandrake Root 066 Throbbing Gristle - Hit by a rock 067 David Bowie - Rubber Band 068 Roxy Music  - Do The Strand 069 Slaves - Cheer Up London 070 T. Rex - London Boys 071 Kirsty MacColl - Autumngirlsoup 072 New Model Army - Archway Towers 073 Scorpions - Lovedrive 074 Isaac Hayes - Doesnt Rain In London 075 Peter Tosh - Buk-In-Hamm Palace 076 The Slits - Typical Girls 077 Pharaoh Sanders - Midnight In Berkeley Square (Instrumental) 078 Blue Cheer - Girl From London 079 Sex Pistols - Satellite 080 Judas Priest - (The Hellion ) Electric Eye 081 UFO -  Lights Out 082 Joy Division - Digital 083 Muse - Uprising 084 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass 085 Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love 086 Fine Young Cannibals - Blue 087 New Order - Blue Monday 088 Würzel - Midnight In London 089 Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley 090 The Wildhearts - Down On London 091 Supertramp - Nothing To Show 092 Motörhead - Metropolis 093 Current 93 - Lucifer Over London 094 The Pogues - Dark Streets of London 095 The Cult - All Souls Avenue 096 The Jam - In The City 097 The Undertones - Teenage Kicks 098 Iggy Pop -  Play It Safe 099 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jack the Ripper 100 The Cure  - Lets Go To Bed 101 Suede - Animal Nitrate 102 Wire - field day for the sundays 103 Black Books  TV Show - Opening Theme 104 Paul McCartney & Wings - London Town 105 Madness - Primrose Hill 106 The Troggs  - No. 10 Downing Street 107 Iron Maiden -  Gangland 108 PJ Harvey - The Last Living Rose 109 The Rollers - Soho 110 Electric Wizard - Lucifer's Slaves 111 The Buzzcocks -  Just Lust 112 Doctor Who Theme Tune 1980 113 Cathedral - Fountain Of Innocence 114 Pretenders - Swinging London 115 Hanoi Rocks - Tooting Bec Wreck 116 Es - 'Chemical 117 Bee Gees  - Trafalgar 118 The Peddlers    - Under London Lights 119 Cliff Richard - The Young Ones 120 Big Audio Dynamite - Sightsee M.C   121 ABC - Tower of London 122 Accept - London Leatherboys 123 Pitchshifter - Please Sir 124 Portishead -  We Carry On 125 John Lennon - Whatever Gets You Thru The Night 126 The Lurkers - Ain't Got a Clue 127 Iron Maiden - Die with your boots on 128 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me 129 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity 130 The Jam - London Traffic 131 The Cranberries - Waiting In Walthamstow 132 The Kinks - Victoria 133 Heads Hands & Feet - Pete Might Spook The Horses 134 Whitesnake -  Long Way From Home 135 Queensryche - London 136 Concrete Blonde - Walking in London 137 Deep Purple - Fireball 138 The Ruts - dope for guns 139 Wham! - Bad Boys 140 Generation X - One Hundred Punks 141 Joe Jackson - Down To London 142 Anti-Nowhere League - Streets of London 143 The Wildhearts - Shandy Bang 144 David Bowie - The London Boys 145 The Human League - Human 146 Cockney Rejects - East end 147 Dire Straits - Eastbound Train 148 Ian Drury - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick 149 Sepultura -  Filthy rot 150 The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight 151 Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy 152 Purson -  Electric Landlady 153 Black Sabbath -  Tomorrow's Dream 154 The Clash - Guns of Brixton 155 Blood Ceremony - Lord Of Misrule 156 Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life - Penis Song 157 Gentlemans Pistols -  Hustler's Row 158 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax 159 Jethro Tull - Cross Eyed Mary 160 The Yobs - The Ballad of the Warrington 161 Cradle of Filth - Principle Of Evil Made Flesh 162 Bruce Hornsby - The Black Rats Of London 163 Inspiral Carpets - How It Should Be 164 The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Foxy Lady 165 PETULA CLARK - WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL 166 Lush - Olympia 167 Hunters & Collectors - Blind Eye 168 Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now 169 David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World 170 UK Subs - C.I.D. 171 Queen - Dont Stop Me Now 172 Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth 173 the clash - capital radio one 174 UB40 - Here I Am (Come And Take Me) 175 The Meads Of Asphodel - Guts For Sale 176 Horrible Histories: Savage Songs - Boudicca 177 Swallow the Sun - Labyrinth Of London (Horror Pt. IV) 178 Mad Professor  - Ben Gone Wrong 179 Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better 180 Genesis - The Battle Of Epping Forest 181 The Damned -  problem child 182 Squeeze  - Cool For Cats 183 Manfred Mann - Belgravia 184 The Bee Gees - Walking Back to Waterloo 185 Pink Floyd - Waiting For The Worms 186 Madness - Victoria Gardens 187 Paradise Lost - Soul Courageons 188 YES  - Roundabout 189 PJ Harvey - This Is Love 190 The Horrors - Jack The Ripper 191 King Crimson - Red 192 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now 193 Level 42 - Heathrow 194 Intaferon - Get Out Of London 195 Burt Bacharach - Bond street 196 David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust 197 The Clash - Londons Burning 198 Killing Joke - Follow The Leaders 199 Saxon - The Court of the Crimson King 200 Buzzcocks - Harmony in My Head 201 Fairport Convention - Fiddlesticks (Peel Session) 202 Napalm Death - Errors In The Signals 203 Empire  - Hot Seat 204 Anathema - Shroud of Frost 205 Pitchshifter - Condescension 206 The Beatles - Hey Jude 207 Affinity - Highgate 208 KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Pure Trance) 209 Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London 210 David Axelrod - London 211 The Wombles - Wellington Goes To Waterloo 212 EastEnders Theme 213 Cathedral - Hypnos 164 214 Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual 215 Alan Moore with Tim Perkins - The Highbury Working A Beat Seance 216 Transvision Vamp - Sex Kick 217 Elton John - Tell Me When The Whistle Blows 218 Firebird - Bow bells 219 The Jam - A' Bomb In Wardour Street 220 Caravan  - Waterloo Lily 221 Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends - Flashing Lights 222 David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things 223 Hot Chocolate - West End of Park Lane 224 Thames television ident 1984 225 Newtown Neurotics - Living With Unemployment 226 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up 227 Suede - Metal Mickey 228 Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer 229 Killing Joke - The Gathering 230 Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want 231 Kate Bush - Babooshka 232 Iron Maiden - The Prophecy 233 The Cure - Disintegration 234 The Damned - I Just Can't Be Happy Today 235 WIRE - Silk Skin Paws 236 Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets 237 Souixee & the Banshees - Cascade 238 Jethro Tull - Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square 239 AC/DC -  Rising Power 240 Alternative TV - Life After Life 241 Napalm Death - Deceiver (Peel Sessions) 242 Electric Light Orchestra - Last Train To London 243 Bucks Fizz - London Town 244 The Sweet - Blockbuster! 245 999 - Bent Cross 246 The Groundhogs - Split, Pt. 1 247 Bow Wow Wow - Go Wild in the Country 248 Blood Ceremony -  Half Moon Street 249 Ming Tea feat. Austin Powers - BBC One 250 Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song 251 Big Audio Dynamite - EMC2 252 Crass - Banned from the Roxy 253 Sleaford Mods - Chaos Down In SoHo 254 Big Ben Chimes of Westminster, London 255 PJ Harvey - A Place Called Home 256 The Ruts - Staring at the rude boys 257 The Times - Whatever Happened To Thames Beat 258 Quincy Jones - London Derriere 259 Lush - Hypocrite 260 PIL - Reggie Song 261 The Style Council - You're The Best Thing 262 UK Subs - Dirty Girls 263 COIL - Slur 264 Frank Zappa - Dead girls of London 265 Iron Maiden - Prowler 266 The Slits - Difficult Fun 267 Killing Joke -  Kings and Queens 268 Simple Minds - Chelsea Girl 269 Motorhead - Bomber 270 XTC - Towers Of London 271 Blitzkrieg  - Hell to pay 272 Gryphon - Opening Move 273 The Challengers - The Streets of London 274 Peggy March - In Der Carnaby Street 275 The Damned - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 276 The Pogues - London You're a Lady 277 The Lords Of The New Church - Portobello 278 Rolling Stones - Hot Stuff 279 Joe Jackson - The Evil Eye 280 The Deviants - Garbage 281 Benny Hill Show  - Wild Women 282 Suzi Quatro - Crash 283 Madness - day on the town 284 SHAKESPEAR'S SISTER -  I Don't Care 285 Whitesnake - Wine Women An Song 286 Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine 287 Rick Astley - Whenever You Need Somebody 288 Bauhaus - In the flat field 289 Dead Can Dance - In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated 290 Paul McCartney -  Old Siam, Sir 291 Lush - De-Luxe 292 AC/DC - let's get it up 293 Sophia Loren & Peter Sellers - Bangers and mash 294 Black Sabbath - Childfren of the grave 295 Psychic TV - The orchids 296 Miracle - The Strife Of Love In A Dream 297 Carter USM - Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over 298 Screaming Lord Sutch - Jack the Ripper 299 WIRE - the 15th 300 Mott the Hoople - Honaloochie Boogie 301 Soft Machine - The Camden Tandem 302 Are You Being Served Theme 303 CATHEDRAL - Serpent Eve 304 Booker T. & The MG's - Carnaby Street 305 Culture Club - It's A Miracle 306 Motorhead - Nothing Up My Sleeve 307 Killing Joke - Money is not our God 308 Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy 309 WIRE - Please take 310 Bananarama - Hey young London 311 The Jam - Carnaby Street 312 Catapilla - Charing Cross   313 The Shadows - Chelsea Boot 314 Ride - Chelsea Girl 315 The Damned  - Grimly Fiendish 316 Marillion - Chelsea Monday 317 Slowdive - Celia's Dream 318 The Clash - Gates of the west 319 Thin Lizzy - Half Caste 320 David Bowie -  I dig everything 321  VUUR - Days Go By - London 322 Elvis Costello - [I Don't Want To Go To] Chelsea 323 Uriah Heep - Walking in your shadow 324 Genesis - Invisible Touch 325 Amy Winehouse - Me & Mr Jones 326 Curve - Fait Accompli   327 Silverfish ‎- Crazy 328 Iron Maiden - Killers 329 Killing Joke -  Ghost Of Ladbroke Grove 330 Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK 331 Paradise lost - remembrance 332 The Fall - Leave the Capitol 333 The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset 334 WIRE - Keep exhaling 335 The Peddlers - raining in London 336 Motorhead - damage case 337 10cc - Shock On The Tube (Don't Want Love) 338 Swervedriver - Rave Down 339 Spike Milligan - Tower Bridge 340 Phil Lynott - Solo In Soho 341 Adam and the Ants - Plastic Surgery 342 The Who - Pinball wizard 343 Pulp - Mile end 344 Generation X - Running with the Boss Sound 345 OMD - If You Leave 346 PiL - Public Image 347 Monty Python's Flying Circus TV show - theme song 348 Hall & Oates - London, Luck & Love 349 The Horrors - Three decades 350 Cathedral - Midnight Mountain 351 Killing Joke - glitch 352 Judas Priest - The Ripper 353 Air Raid Siren London Blitz 354 Dragonforce - Fury and the storm 355 Elastica - Connection 356 the Psychedelic Furs - Dumb waiters 357 Samantha Fox - Touch me 358 Wang Chung - Dance hall days 359 Kim Wilde - Water on glass 360 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Overground 361 Atomic Rooster - Tomorrow night 362 Fleetwood Mac - My Heart Beat Like a Hammer 363 Rainbow - Self Portrait 364 Billy Ocean - Love really hurts without you 365 Art of Noise - Beat box (division one) 366 Eurythmics - Never Gonna Cry Again 367 Samson - Grime Crime 368 Go West - we close our eyes 369 Ultravox - Saturday Night In The City Of The Dead 370 King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man 371 Visage - Visage 372 Sandy Denny - Let's Jump The Broomstick 373 Brian Eno - Burning Airlines Give You So Much More 374 Fields Of The Nephilim - Blue water 375 Leftfield - Open Up 376 Blancmange - I've Seen The Word 377 Thomas Dolby - Flying north 378 Sisters of Mercy - Temple of love 379 Royal Orchestra - Royal Entrance Queen Elizabeth II 380 Pink Floyd - Goodbye blue sky 666 David Bowie -  London Bye Ta - Ta 

Play the songs here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1_ntP663JhZl-hvn9EwFp9L

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Glee Soundtrack Rating Project Results: angelhummel

@angelhummel

Favourite character: Kurt Hummel

Least favourite character: Will Schuester

Favourite season: Season 5

Least favourite season: Season 6

Mean song rating: 4.91

Mean song rating for favourite character's songs: 6.59

Mean song rating for favourite character's solos: 7.36

Mean song rating season 1: 4.93

Mean song rating season 2: 5.1

Mean song rating season 3: 4.95

Mean song rating season 4: 4.95

Mean song rating season 5: 4.92

Mean song rating season 6: 4.38

Songs rated: 702

[ID: A bar chart titled Number of songs assigned each rating by angelhummel, illustrating the number of times each score was assigned to a song by angelhummel. 10 was assigned 36 times, 9 was assigned 15 times, 8 was assigned 56 times, 7 was assigned 86 times, 6 was assigned 99 times, 5 was assigned 97 times, 4 was assigned 89 times, 3 was assigned 86 times, 2 was assigned 74 times, 1 was assigned 64 times, and 0 songs were not rated.]

About the Project | Results Masterpost

Ranking:

1. (10) - S1x03 - Bust Your Windows

2. (10) - S1x05 - Maybe This Time

3. (10) - S1x06 - It's My Life/Confessions Part II

4. (10) - S1x13 - And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going

5. (10) - S1x18 - Rose's Turn

6. (10) - S1x19 - Dream On

7. (10) - S1x20 - Bad Romance

8. (10) - S1x22 - To Sir, With Love

9. (10) - S2x04 - Le Jazz Hot

10. (10) - S2x04 - With You I'm Born Again

11. (10) - S2x06 - Teenage Dream

12. (10) - S2x06 - Start Me Up/Livin' on a Prayer

13. (10) - S2x10 - Baby, It's Cold Outside

14. (10) - S2x11 - Thriller/Heads Will Roll

15. (10) - S2x18 - As If We Never Said Goodbye

16. (10) - S2x22 - For Good

17. (10) - S3x04 - Candyman

18. (10) - S3x11 - Scream

19. (10) - S3x11 - Smooth Criminal

20. (10) - S3x13 - I Will Always Love You

21. (10) - S3x14 - Cough Syrup

22. (10) - S3x17 - How Will I Know

23. (10) - S4x04 - The Scientist

24. (10) - S4x06 - There Are Worse Things I Could Do

25. (10) - S4x08 - Home/Homeward Bound

26. (10) - S4x09 - Being Alive

27. (10) - S4x15 - Come What May

28. (10) - S4x20 - At the Ballet

29. (10) - S5x06 - Just the Way You Are

30. (10) - S5x07 - Nasty/Rhythm Nation

31. (10) - S5x09 - Brave

32. (10) - S5x12 - Defying Gravity

33. (10) - S5x14 - People

34. (10) - S6x02 - Home

35. (10) - S6x03 - It's Too Late

36. (10) - S6x07 - Somebody Loves You

37. (9) - S1x13 - Don't Rain on My Parade

38. (9) - S1x16 - Home

39. (9) - S1x18 - The Boy Is Mine

40. (9) - S2x04 - River Deep, Mountain High

41. (9) - S3x06 - Rumour Has It/Someone Like You

42. (9) - S3x13 - Love Shack

43. (9) - S3x16 - Disco Inferno

44. (9) - S3x17 - So Emotional

45. (9) - S3x18 - Shake It Out

46. (9) - S4x03 - Everybody Wants to Rule the World

47. (9) - S4x14 - We've Got Tonite

48. (9) - S5x10 - The Happening

49. (9) - S6x07 - I Know Where I've Been

50. (9) - S6x11 - Take Me to Church

51. (9) - S6x13 - I Lived

52. (8) - S1x01 - Leaving On a Jet Plane

53. (8) - S1x10 - Don't Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl

54. (8) - S1x11 - True Colors

55. (8) - S1x15 - 4 Minutes

56. (8) - S1x15 - Like a Prayer

57. (8) - S1x18 - Lady Is a Tramp

58. (8) - S1x22 - Don't Stop Believing (Regionals)

59. (8) - S2x02 - Toxic

60. (8) - S2x03 - I Want to Hold Your Hand

61. (8) - S2x05 - Sweet Transvestite

62. (8) - S2x09 - Dog Days Are Over

63. (8) - S2x09 - Valerie

64. (8) - S2x10 - Last Christmas

65. (8) - S2x14 - Don't You Want Me

66. (8) - S2x16 - Blackbird

67. (8) - S2x17 - I Follow Rivers

68. (8) - S2x18 - Somewhere Only We Know

69. (8) - S2x18 - Born This Way

70. (8) - S2x19 - Go Your Own Way

71. (8) - S2x19 - Songbird

72. (8) - S3x01 - Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead

73. (8) - S3x05 - Uptown Girl

74. (8) - S3x11 - Human Nature

75. (8) - S3x13 - Cherish/Cherish

76. (8) - S3x17 - I Have Nothing

77. (8) - S3x17 - My Love Is Your Love

78. (8) - S3x18 - Not the Boy Next Door

79. (8) - S4x02 - Boys/Boyfriend

80. (8) - S4x02 - 3

81. (8) - S4x04 - Don't Speak

82. (8) - S4x08 - Let's Have a Kiki/Turkey Lurkey Time

83. (8) - S4x11 - No Scrubs

84. (8) - S4x12 - Centerfold/Hot in Herre

85. (8) - S4x13 - Don't Stop Me Now

86. (8) - S4x13 - Nutbush City Limits

87. (8) - S4x16 - Cold Hearted

88. (8) - S4x16 - Bye Bye Bye/I Want It That Way

89. (8) - S4x17 - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

90. (8) - S4x21 - Higher Ground

91. (8) - S5x01 - All You Need Is Love

92. (8) - S5x02 - Hey Jude

93. (8) - S5x02 - Let It Be

94. (8) - S5x03 - Seasons of Love

95. (8) - S5x05 - If I Were a Boy

96. (8) - S5x07 - Into the Groove

97. (8) - S5x09 - I Believe in a Thing Called Love

98. (8) - S5x14 - Downtown

99. (8) - S5x15 - Not While I'm Around

100. (8) - S5x15 - Broadway Baby

101. (8) - S5x20 - Pompeii

102. (8) - S6x03 - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow/Head Over Feet

103. (8) - S6x03 - Hand in My Pocket/I Feel the Earth Move

104. (8) - S6x08 - At Last

105. (8) - S6x09 - Cool Kids

106. (8) - S6x11 - Chandelier

107. (8) - S6x13 - Someday We'll Be Together

108. (7) - S1x01 - Don't Stop Believing (Pilot)

109. (7) - S1x05 - Alone

110. (7) - S1x07 - Hate On Me

111. (7) - S1x07 - Ride Wit Me

112. (7) - S1x14 - Hello, I Love You

113. (7) - S1x15 - Like a Virgin

114. (7) - S1x16 - A House Is Not a Home

115. (7) - S1x18 - Jessie's Girl

116. (7) - S1x19 - I Dreamed a Dream

117. (7) - S1x20 - Funny Girl

118. (7) - S2x01 - Empire State of Mind

119. (7) - S2x02 - I'm a Slave 4 U

120. (7) - S2x02 - Me Against the Music

121. (7) - S2x05 - Time Warp

122. (7) - S2x06 - Stop! In the Name of Love/Free Your Mind

123. (7) - S2x11 - Bills, Bills, Bills

124. (7) - S2x11 - She's Not There

125. (7) - S2x12 - When I Get You Alone

126. (7) - S2x14 - Blame It (On the Alcohol)

127. (7) - S2x15 - Landslide

128. (7) - S2x16 - Misery

129. (7) - S2x21 - Some People

130. (7) - S2x21 - Pure Imagination

131. (7) - S2x21 - Try a Little Tenderness

132. (7) - S2x21 - My Man

133. (7) - S2x21 - Back to Black

134. (7) - S3x01 - Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do

135. (7) - S3x02 - Something's Coming

136. (7) - S3x02 - I'm the Greatest Star

137. (7) - S3x03 - Spotlight

138. (7) - S3x03 - Cool

139. (7) - S3x03 - It's All Over

140. (7) - S3x06 - Hit Me with Your Best Shot/One Way or Another

141. (7) - S3x07 - Perfect

142. (7) - S3x08 - Buenos Aires

143. (7) - S3x08 - We Are Young

144. (7) - S3x09 - Christmas Wrapping

145. (7) - S3x09 - Let It Snow

146. (7) - S3x09 - All I Want for Christmas Is You

147. (7) - S3x09 - Do They Know It's Christmas?

148. (7) - S3x09 - Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

149. (7) - S3x09 - Extraordinary Merry Christmas

150. (7) - S3x11 - Never Can Say Goodbye

151. (7) - S3x12 - La Isla Bonita

152. (7) - S3x15 - Rio/Hungry Like the Wolf

153. (7) - S3x15 - Somebody That I Used to Know

154. (7) - S3x16 - If I Can't Have You

155. (7) - S3x17 - It's Not Right But It's Okay

156. (7) - S3x20 - Because You Loved Me

157. (7) - S3x21 - Paradise By the Dashboard Light

158. (7) - S3x21 - Tongue Tied

159. (7) - S4x02 - Oops!...I Did It Again

160. (7) - S4x03 - The Way You Look Tonight/You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

161. (7) - S4x04 - Mine

162. (7) - S4x05 - Hopelessly Devoted to You

163. (7) - S4x06 - Beauty School Dropout

164. (7) - S4x07 - Some Nights

165. (7) - S4x09 - Don't Dream It's Over

166. (7) - S4x10 - The First Noel

167. (7) - S4x11 - Tell Him

168. (7) - S4x11 - I Don't Know How to Love Him

169. (7) - S4x14 - Getting Married Today

170. (7) - S4x17 - Wannabe

171. (7) - S4x17 - Mamma Mia

172. (7) - S4x21 - You Are the Sunshine of My Life

173. (7) - S4x21 - Superstition

174. (7) - S5x03 - Make You Feel My Love

175. (7) - S5x04 - Marry the Night

176. (7) - S5x04 - Roar

177. (7) - S5x08 - Mary's Little Boy Child

178. (7) - S5x09 - Every Breath You Take

179. (7) - S5x09 - Don't Rain On My Parade

180. (7) - S5x10 - Hold On

181. (7) - S5x13 - Don't Stop Believin' (Season Five)

182. (7) - S5x14 - You Make Me Feel So Young

183. (7) - S5x15 - I'm Still Here

184. (7) - S5x15 - Colorblind

185. (7) - S5x15 - No One Is Alone

186. (7) - S5x17 - Pumpin Blood

187. (7) - S5x18 - Doo Wop (That Thing)

188. (7) - S5x19 - Take Me Home Tonight

189. (7) - S5x20 - American Boy

190. (7) - S6x02 - Tightrope

191. (7) - S6x03 - So Far Away

192. (7) - S6x06 - Promises, Promises

193. (7) - S6x06 - Alfie

194. (6) - S1x06 - Halo/Walking On Sunshine

195. (6) - S1x07 - You Keep Me Hanging On

196. (6) - S1x09 - Dancing With Myself

197. (6) - S1x09 - Proud Mary

198. (6) - S1x09 - Defying Gravity

199. (6) - S1x11 - Bootylicious

200. (6) - S1x15 - Express Yourself

201. (6) - S1x15 - Vogue

202. (6) - S1x16 - One Less Bell to Answer/A House Is Not a Home

203. (6) - S1x16 - Fire

204. (6) - S1x18 - Pink Houses

205. (6) - S1x19 - Safety Dance

206. (6) - S1x19 - Dream a Little Dream

207. (6) - S1x22 - Any Way You Want It/Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'

208. (6) - S2x01 - Listen

209. (6) - S2x02 - Baby One More Time

210. (6) - S2x03 - Bridge Over Troubled Water

211. (6) - S2x03 - One of Us

212. (6) - S2x05 - Science Fiction Double Feature

213. (6) - S2x07 - Forget You

214. (6) - S2x07 - Singing In the Rain/Umbrella

215. (6) - S2x07 - Nowadays/Hot Honey rag

216. (6) - S2x08 - Sway

217. (6) - S2x09 - Don't Cry for Me Argentina

218. (6) - S2x12 - Silly Love Songs

219. (6) - S2x14 - Tik Tok

220. (6) - S2x15 - Animal

221. (6) - S2x15 - Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)

222. (6) - S2x16 - Raise Your Glass

223. (6) - S2x16 - Candles

224. (6) - S2x17 - Turning Tables

225. (6) - S2x17 - Ain't No Way

226. (6) - S2x19 - Dreams

227. (6) - S2x20 - Dancing Queen

228. (6) - S2x22 - Light Up the World

229. (6) - S2x22 - Still Got Tonight

230. (6) - S3x01 - It's Not Unusual

231. (6) - S3x05 - America

232. (6) - S3x06 - I Can't Go for That/You Make My Dreams Come True

233. (6) - S3x07 - Constant Craving

234. (6) - S3x08 - Control

235. (6) - S3x08 - Man in the Mirror

236. (6) - S3x08 - ABC

237. (6) - S3x09 - My Favorite Things

238. (6) - S3x10 - Summer Nights

239. (6) - S3x10 - Without You

240. (6) - S3x10 - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

241. (6) - S3x13 - L-O-V-E

242. (6) - S3x15 - Up Up Up

243. (6) - S3x15 - Fighter

244. (6) - S3x18 - Cell Block Tango

245. (6) - S3x19 - Dinosaur

246. (6) - S3x22 - You Get What You Give

247. (6) - S3x22 - In My Life

248. (6) - S4x01 - Chasing Pavements

249. (6) - S4x02 - Everytime

250. (6) - S4x02 - Crazy/U Drive Me Crazy

251. (6) - S4x02 - Womanizer

252. (6) - S4x04 - Teenage Dream (Acoustic)

253. (6) - S4x06 - Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee

254. (6) - S4x06 - You're the One That I Want

255. (6) - S4x10 - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

256. (6) - S4x12 - This Is the New Year

257. (6) - S4x13 - Diva

258. (6) - S4x13 - Girl On Fire

259. (6) - S4x13 - Hung Up

260. (6) - S4x14 - Just Can't Get Enough

261. (6) - S4x15 - You're All the World to Me

262. (6) - S4x16 - Closer

263. (6) - S4x17 - My Prerogative

264. (6) - S4x17 - Copacabana

265. (6) - S4x21 - For Once in My Life

266. (6) - S5x01 - Got to Get You Into My Life

267. (6) - S5x01 - Yesterday

268. (6) - S5x01 - A Hard Day's Night

269. (6) - S5x02 - Here Comes the Sun

270. (6) - S5x04 - Wide Awake

271. (6) - S5x04 - Applause

272. (6) - S5x05 - Wrecking Ball

273. (6) - S5x08 - Away in a Manger

274. (6) - S5x08 - Love Child

275. (6) - S5x09 - My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)

276. (6) - S5x09 - Breakaway

277. (6) - S5x10 - Gloria

278. (6) - S5x10 - Jumpin' Jumpin'

279. (6) - S5x13 - Party All the Time

280. (6) - S5x13 - I Am Changing

281. (6) - S5x14 - Rockstar

282. (6) - S5x16 - Love Is a Battlefield

283. (6) - S5x20 - All of Me

284. (6) - S5x20 - Shakin' My Head

285. (6) - S6x01 - Let It Go

286. (6) - S6x02 - Take On Me

287. (6) - S6x02 - Mustang Sally

288. (6) - S6x06 - Arthur's Theme

289. (6) - S6x06 - Wishin' And Hoping

290. (6) - S6x09 - I Want to Break Free

291. (6) - S6x13 - Daydream Believer

292. (6) - S6x13 - This Time

293. (5) - S1x01 - On My Own

294. (5) - S1x01 - Rehab

295. (5) - S1x02 - Push It

296. (5) - S1x03 - Mercy

297. (5) - S1x04 - Taking Chances

298. (5) - S1x05 - Last Name

299. (5) - S1x07 - Keep Holding On

300. (5) - S1x08 - Sweet Caroline

301. (5) - S1x11 - Papa Don't Preach

302. (5) - S1x12 - Smile (Lily Allen)

303. (5) - S1x14 - Hello, Goodbye

304. (5) - S1x17 - U Can't Touch This

305. (5) - S1x17 - Physical

306. (5) - S1x17 - Run Joey Run

307. (5) - S1x20 - Shout It Out Loud

308. (5) - S1x20 - Poker Face

309. (5) - S1x21 - Give Up the Funk

310. (5) - S1x22 - Faithfully

311. (5) - S2x01 - Telephone

312. (5) - S2x02 - Stronger

313. (5) - S2x03 - Losing My Religion

314. (5) - S2x03 - I Look to You

315. (5) - S2x03 - Papa, Can You Hear Me?

316. (5) - S2x04 - Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy

317. (5) - S2x04 - Sing!

318. (5) - S2x05 - Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?

319. (5) - S2x05 - Touch a Touch a Touch a Touch Me

320. (5) - S2x08 - Marry You

321. (5) - S2x10 - Merry Christmas, Darling

322. (5) - S2x11 - Need You Now

323. (5) - S2x15 - Afternoon Delight

324. (5) - S2x16 - Loser Like Me

325. (5) - S2x17 - All By Myself

326. (5) - S2x18 - I Feel Pretty/Unpretty

327. (5) - S2x20 - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You

328. (5) - S2x22 - Yeah!

329. (5) - S2x22 - As Long as You're There

330. (5) - S3x03 - Out Here On My Own

331. (5) - S3x03 - Fix You

332. (5) - S3x07 - Jolene

333. (5) - S3x08 - Survivor/I Will Survive

334. (5) - S3x10 - We Found Love

335. (5) - S3x13 - Stereo Hearts

336. (5) - S3x15 - I'm Still Standing

337. (5) - S3x16 - Boogie Shoes

338. (5) - S3x19 - Take My Breath Away

339. (5) - S3x21 - Starships

340. (5) - S3x21 - Pinball Wizard

341. (5) - S3x22 - I'll Remember

342. (5) - S3x22 - Roots Before Branches

343. (5) - S4x01 - It's Time

344. (5) - S4x01 - Call Me Maybe

345. (5) - S4x03 - A Change Would Do You Good

346. (5) - S4x06 - Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise)

347. (5) - S4x06 - Greased Lightning

348. (5) - S4x07 - Heroes

349. (5) - S4x07 - Holding Out for a Hero

350. (5) - S4x11 - Locked Out of Heaven

351. (5) - S4x12 - Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)

352. (5) - S4x12 - A Thousand Years

353. (5) - S4x12 - Torn

354. (5) - S4x12 - Love Song

355. (5) - S4x14 - Anything Could Happen

356. (5) - S4x15 - Shout

357. (5) - S4x16 - I Still Believe/Super Bass

358. (5) - S4x16 - How to Be a Heartbreaker

359. (5) - S4x16 - The Bitch Is Back/Dress You Up

360. (5) - S4x17 - Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

361. (5) - S4x18 - Say

362. (5) - S4x20 - Longest Time

363. (5) - S4x21 - I Wish

364. (5) - S4x21 - Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours

365. (5) - S4x22 - All or Nothing

366. (5) - S5x01 - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

367. (5) - S5x02 - Get Back

368. (5) - S5x02 - Something

369. (5) - S5x07 - You're My Best Friend

370. (5) - S5x07 - Cheek to Cheek

371. (5) - S5x08 - Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane)

372. (5) - S5x10 - Barracuda

373. (5) - S5x10 - Don't You (Forget About Me)

374. (5) - S5x11 - America

375. (5) - S5x12 - Toxic

376. (5) - S5x13 - Be Okay

377. (5) - S5x15 - You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman

378. (5) - S5x16 - Addicted to Love

379. (5) - S5x18 - Story of My Life

380. (5) - S5x19 - Memory

381. (5) - S6x06 - Baby It's You

382. (5) - S6x07 - Time After Time

383. (5) - S6x09 - Lose My Breath

384. (5) - S6x09 - Friday I'm in Love

385. (5) - S6x10 - Rise

386. (5) - S6x11 - Come Sail Away

387. (5) - S6x12 - Pony

388. (5) - S6x12 - Popular

389. (5) - S6x13 - Teach Your Children

390. (4) - S1x01 - Mr. Cellophane

391. (4) - S1x01 - Respect

392. (4) - S1x01 - I Kissed a Girl

393. (4) - S1x10 - Endless Love

394. (4) - S1x11 - Hair/Crazy In Love

395. (4) - S1x11 - Imagine

396. (4) - S1x12 - Smile (Charlie Chaplin)

397. (4) - S1x13 - My Life Would Suck Without You

398. (4) - S1x16 - Beautiful

399. (4) - S1x18 - One

400. (4) - S1x21 - It's a Man's Man's Man's World

401. (4) - S1x21 - Tell Me Something Good

402. (4) - S1x22 - Over the Rainbow

403. (4) - S2x01 - What I Did for Love

404. (4) - S2x05 - There's a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)

405. (4) - S2x05 - Damn It, Janet

406. (4) - S2x07 - Make 'Em Laugh

407. (4) - S2x08 - Just the Way You Are

408. (4) - S2x09 - (I've Had) The Time of My Life

409. (4) - S2x10 - Welcome Christmas

410. (4) - S2x12 - P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

411. (4) - S2x12 - Fat Bottomed Girls

412. (4) - S2x13 - Somebody to Love

413. (4) - S2x13 - Sing

414. (4) - S2x13 - Take Me or Leave Me

415. (4) - S2x13 - Baby

416. (4) - S2x14 - One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

417. (4) - S2x16 - Get It Right

418. (4) - S2x18 - I've Gotta Be Me

419. (4) - S2x19 - I Don't Want to Know

420. (4) - S2x19 - Don't Stop

421. (4) - S2x19 - Nice to Meet You, Have I Slept with You?

422. (4) - S2x22 - Bella Notte

423. (4) - S2x22 - Pretending

424. (4) - S3x01 - You Can't Stop the Beat

425. (4) - S3x01 - We Got the Beat

426. (4) - S3x05 - A Boy Like That/I Have a Love

427. (4) - S3x09 - River

428. (4) - S3x10 - Moves Like Jagger/Jumpin' Jack Flash

429. (4) - S3x10 - Wedding Bell Blues (Bill)

430. (4) - S3x11 - Bad

431. (4) - S3x11 - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

432. (4) - S3x11 - I Want You Back

433. (4) - S3x13 - Let Me Love You

434. (4) - S3x14 - Glad You Came

435. (4) - S3x16 - You Should Be Dancing

436. (4) - S3x17 - Saving All My Love For You

437. (4) - S3x17 - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)

438. (4) - S3x18 - School's Out

439. (4) - S3x20 - Flashdance...What a Feeling

440. (4) - S3x21 - Edge of Glory

441. (4) - S4x01 - Americano/Dance Again

442. (4) - S4x04 - Barely Breathing

443. (4) - S4x05 - Everybody Talks

444. (4) - S4x07 - My Dark Side

445. (4) - S4x10 - Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah

446. (4) - S4x10 - White Christmas

447. (4) - S4x13 - Bring Him Home

448. (4) - S4x15 - Old Time Rock & Roll/Danger Zone

449. (4) - S4x15 - Footloose

450. (4) - S4x17 - Creep

451. (4) - S4x19 - Outcast

452. (4) - S4x20 - Little Girls

453. (4) - S4x21 - Uptight (Everything's Alright)

454. (4) - S4x22 - Clarity

455. (4) - S4x22 - I Love It

456. (4) - S5x01 - Help!

457. (4) - S5x01 - I Saw Her Standing There

458. (4) - S5x03 - I'll Stand By You

459. (4) - S5x05 - On Our Way

460. (4) - S5x08 - The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)

461. (4) - S5x09 - Whenever I Call You Friend

462. (4) - S5x10 - Danny's Song

463. (4) - S5x13 - Loser Like Me

464. (4) - S5x13 - Just Give Me a Reason

465. (4) - S5x16 - I Want to Know What Love Is

466. (4) - S5x16 - Let's Wait Awhile

467. (4) - S5x17 - Lovefool

468. (4) - S5x17 - I'm the Greatest Star

469. (4) - S5x18 - Wake Me Up

470. (4) - S5x19 - Lucky Star

471. (4) - S6x01 - Suddenly Seymour

472. (4) - S6x04 - Thousand Miles

473. (4) - S6x06 - What the World Needs Now

474. (4) - S6x06 - They Long to Be Close to You

475. (4) - S6x08 - Our Day Will Come

476. (4) - S6x12 - Don't Stop Believing (Pilot/2009)

477. (4) - S6x12 - I'm His Child

478. (4) - S6x12 - I Kissed a Girl

479. (3) - S1x01 - Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat

480. (3) - S1x01 - You're the One That I Want (ver. 1)

481. (3) - S1x02 - Gold Digger

482. (3) - S1x05 - Somebody to Love

483. (3) - S1x08 - I Could Have Danced All Night

484. (3) - S1x08 - Thong Song

485. (3) - S1x10 - Lean On Me

486. (3) - S1x11 - Don't Make Me Over

487. (3) - S1x12 - Jump

488. (3) - S1x14 - Gives You Hell

489. (3) - S1x14 - Hello

490. (3) - S1x15 - Borderline/Open Your Heart

491. (3) - S1x17 - Total Eclipse of the Heart

492. (3) - S1x17 - Ice Ice Baby

493. (3) - S1x20 - Beth

494. (3) - S1x21 - Loser

495. (3) - S1x21 - Good Vibrations

496. (3) - S2x03 - Only the Good Die Young

497. (3) - S2x04 - Lucky

498. (3) - S2x10 - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

499. (3) - S2x10 - The Most Wonderful Day of the Year

500. (3) - S2x12 - Firework

501. (3) - S2x12 - My Funny Valentine

502. (3) - S2x16 - Hell to the No

503. (3) - S2x16 - Big Ass Heart

504. (3) - S2x16 - Trouty Mouth

505. (3) - S2x19 - Never Going Back Again

506. (3) - S2x20 - Isn't She Lovely

507. (3) - S3x03 - Run the World (Girls)

508. (3) - S3x04 - Last Friday Night

509. (3) - S3x04 - Waiting for a Girl Like You

510. (3) - S3x05 - One Hand, One Heart

511. (3) - S3x06 - Hot for Teacher

512. (3) - S3x07 - I Kissed a Girl

513. (3) - S3x11 - Black or White

514. (3) - S3x12 - Bamboleo/Hero

515. (3) - S3x14 - Stand

516. (3) - S3x16 - How Deep Is Your Love

517. (3) - S3x16 - Night Fever

518. (3) - S3x18 - The Music of the Night

519. (3) - S3x18 - Cry

520. (3) - S3x19 - Big Girls Don't Cry

521. (3) - S3x21 - We Are the Champions

522. (3) - S3x21 - It's All Coming Back to Me Now

523. (3) - S3x22 - Glory Days

524. (3) - S3x22 - Forever Young

525. (3) - S4x01 - Never Say Never

526. (3) - S4x01 - New York State of Mind

527. (3) - S4x02 - Hold It Against Me

528. (3) - S4x05 - Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

529. (3) - S4x05 - Born to Hand Jive

530. (3) - S4x07 - Superman

531. (3) - S4x08 - Live While We're Young

532. (3) - S4x08 - Gangnam Style

533. (3) - S4x09 - Something Stupid

534. (3) - S4x09 - All That Jazz

535. (3) - S4x15 - Unchained Melody

536. (3) - S4x15 - Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend/Material Girl

537. (3) - S4x15 - In Your Eyes

538. (3) - S4x18 - Your Song

539. (3) - S4x18 - More Than Words

540. (3) - S4x19 - You Have More Friends Than You Know

541. (3) - S4x20 - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

542. (3) - S4x22 - Hall of Fame

543. (3) - S4x22 - Wings

544. (3) - S5x01 - Drive My Car

545. (3) - S5x02 - Revolution

546. (3) - S5x03 - If I Die Young

547. (3) - S5x06 - My Life

548. (3) - S5x08 - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

549. (3) - S5x11 - More Than a Feeling

550. (3) - S5x11 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

551. (3) - S5x12 - Keep Holding On

552. (3) - S5x14 - Don't Sleep in the Subway

553. (3) - S5x17 - Who Are You Now

554. (3) - S5x19 - Werewolves of London

555. (3) - S5x19 - I Melt with You

556. (3) - S5x20 - Girls on Film

557. (3) - S6x02 - Problem

558. (3) - S6x03 - You Learn/You've Got a Friend

559. (3) - S6x05 - It Must Have Been Love

560. (3) - S6x05 - All Out of Love

561. (3) - S6x06 - I'll Never Fall in Love Again

562. (3) - S6x09 - Uptown Funk

563. (3) - S6x10 - The Final Countdown

564. (3) - S6x11 - Mickey

565. (2) - S1x01 - Can't Fight This Feeling

566. (2) - S1x02 - Take a Bow

567. (2) - S1x04 - Tonight

568. (2) - S1x08 - Bust A Move

569. (2) - S1x10 - I'll Stand By You

570. (2) - S1x13 - You Can't Always Get What You Want

571. (2) - S1x14 - Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love

572. (2) - S1x15 - Burning Up

573. (2) - S2x01 - Getting to Know You

574. (2) - S2x02 - The Only Exception

575. (2) - S2x05 - Planet, Schmanet, Janet

576. (2) - S2x06 - One Love (People Get Ready)

577. (2) - S2x09 - The Living Years

578. (2) - S2x10 - We Need a Little Christmas

579. (2) - S2x13 - I Know What Boys Like

580. (2) - S2x15 - Kiss

581. (2) - S2x16 - Only Child

582. (2) - S2x20 - Friday

583. (2) - S2x20 - Jar of Hearts

584. (2) - S2x22 - I Love New York/New York, New York

585. (2) - S3x02 - Somewhere

586. (2) - S3x06 - You and I/You and I

587. (2) - S3x07 - I'm the Only One

588. (2) - S3x08 - Red Solo Cup

589. (2) - S3x11 - Ben

590. (2) - S3x11 - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

591. (2) - S3x12 - Don't Wanna Lose You

592. (2) - S3x12 - Sexy and I Know It

593. (2) - S3x13 - Home

594. (2) - S3x14 - Fly/I Believe I Can Fly

595. (2) - S3x14 - Here's to Us

596. (2) - S3x14 - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)

597. (2) - S3x16 - More Than a Woman

598. (2) - S3x16 - Stayin' Alive

599. (2) - S3x18 - The Rain in Spain

600. (2) - S3x19 - What Makes You Beautiful

601. (2) - S3x19 - Love You Like a Love Song

602. (2) - S3x20 - Mean

603. (2) - S3x20 - I Won't Give Up

604. (2) - S4x03 - Celebrity Skin

605. (2) - S4x04 - Give Your Heart a Break

606. (2) - S4x05 - Juke Box Hero

607. (2) - S4x08 - Come See About Me

608. (2) - S4x09 - Being Good Isn't Good Enough

609. (2) - S4x09 - O Holy Night

610. (2) - S4x10 - Jingle Bell Rock

611. (2) - S4x11 - I Only Have Eyes for You

612. (2) - S4x13 - Make No Mistake (She's Mine)

613. (2) - S4x14 - You're All I Need to Get By

614. (2) - S4x19 - Don't Stop Believin' (Rachel)

615. (2) - S4x20 - We Will Rock You

616. (2) - S4x20 - Everybody Hurts

617. (2) - S5x02 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

618. (2) - S5x05 - Blurred Lines

619. (2) - S5x05 - You Are Woman, I Am Man

620. (2) - S5x06 - Honesty

621. (2) - S5x06 - Piano Man

622. (2) - S5x06 - You May Be Right

623. (2) - S5x06 - An Innocent Man

624. (2) - S5x06 - Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

625. (2) - S5x07 - The Fox

626. (2) - S5x11 - Vacation

627. (2) - S5x12 - Valerie

628. (2) - S5x14 - Best Day of My Life

629. (2) - S5x18 - Piece of My Heart

630. (2) - S5x20 - No Time At All

631. (2) - S5x20 - Glitter in the Air

632. (2) - S6x04 - Bitch

633. (2) - S6x05 - Father Figure

634. (2) - S6x07 - All About That Bass

635. (2) - S6x08 - I'm So Excited

636. (2) - S6x09 - Break Free

637. (2) - S6x10 - Rather Be

638. (2) - S6x13 - The Winner Takes It All

639. (1) - S1x02 - I Say a Little Prayer

640. (1) - S1x03 - I Wanna Sex You Up

641. (1) - S1x05 - Cabaret

642. (1) - S1x07 - No Air

643. (1) - S1x08 - What A Girl Wants

644. (1) - S1x10 - (You're Having My Baby)

645. (1) - S1x10 - Crush

646. (1) - S1x14 - Highway to Hell

647. (1) - S1x15 - What It Feels Like for a Girl

648. (1) - S1x21 - Another One Bites the Dust

649. (1) - S1x22 - Bohemian Rhapsody

650. (1) - S2x01 - Billionaire

651. (1) - S2x01 - Every Rose Has Its Thorn

652. (1) - S2x04 - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

653. (1) - S2x07 - Conjunction Junction

654. (1) - S2x08 - Ohio

655. (1) - S2x09 - Hey, Soul Sister

656. (1) - S2x13 - This Little Light of Mine

657. (1) - S2x14 - My Headband

658. (1) - S2x16 - Jesus Is My Friend

659. (1) - S2x20 - Rolling in the Deep

660. (1) - S2x22 - My Cup

661. (1) - S3x01 - Big Spender

662. (1) - S3x04 - Bein' Green

663. (1) - S3x04 - Take Care of Yourself

664. (1) - S3x05 - Tonight

665. (1) - S3x07 - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

666. (1) - S3x09 - Blue Christmas

667. (1) - S3x12 - A Little Less Conversation

668. (1) - S3x13 - You're the Top

669. (1) - S3x13 - Chapel of Love

670. (1) - S4x01 - Sister Christian

671. (1) - S4x02 - Gimme More

672. (1) - S4x08 - Whistle

673. (1) - S4x10 - Feliz Navidad

674. (1) - S4x11 - Baby Got Back

675. (1) - S4x19 - Fight for Your Right (to Party)

676. (1) - S4x19 - Next to Me

677. (1) - S4x22 - To Love You More

678. (1) - S4x22 - Rainbow Connection

679. (1) - S5x03 - Fire and Rain

680. (1) - S5x03 - No Surrender

681. (1) - S5x08 - O Christmas Tree

682. (1) - S5x11 - Mr. Roboto/Counting Stars

683. (1) - S5x11 - I Love LA

684. (1) - S5x12 - Raise Your Glass

685. (1) - S5x12 - Happy

686. (1) - S5x17 - NYC

687. (1) - S5x18 - The Rose

688. (1) - S6x01 - Sing

689. (1) - S6x01 - Dance the Night Away

690. (1) - S6x01 - Uninvited

691. (1) - S6x02 - Viva Voce

692. (1) - S6x04 - Rock Lobster

693. (1) - S6x04 - Whip It

694. (1) - S6x05 - My Sharona

695. (1) - S6x05 - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

696. (1) - S6x07 - You Give Love a Bad Name

697. (1) - S6x07 - Same Love

698. (1) - S6x08 - Hey Ya!

699. (1) - S6x10 - Far From Over

700. (1) - S6x10 - The Trolley Song

701. (1) - S6x11 - We Built This City

702. (1) - S6x11 - Listen to Your Heart

[renatedagmarmilada]

a letter from China

THE BLUE YELLOW SEA

The yellow sea which is indeed blue Gurgles around junks passing the message Moored to green creased steps sitting Watched by hazy silver grey faced rocks Peaking at the margins of the city Illuminating the background with dares Covering half the sky a burning ball of fire Fights for space with the moon festival maiden As crabs brace on green algae slabs The last summer days race into the distance they still keep on the tabs….......

Chinese fishermen and students gather crops seeping From plentiful rocks to fill their table buckets Echoing the forests of the northern toadstools Huge granite dropped into the endless sea peeping Doesn’t it bother you, a lone white, amongst so many chinese some ask….............

The rising waves smash against all protruding obstacles They sit at the other side of the world Breaking their heads on my destruction The moon almost full, in bloom, struggling to rise, reaches tranquility. Over the sea by the sea shore backed by mountains so high Over the yellow foaming blue seas in which the fireball has drowned once dreamed…..................

SEARCHING DEAN STREET

Sesame, peanut Apples the size of water melons Melons the size of a baby I kept searching

Hong Kong Street East Hong Kong Street West The Fishermens’ Markets I kept searching

It said Forest Island on the sign to the sea The moon watched minus an ear As the bamboo female walla punka punkaad Unbearable coffee withdrawal so I searched

At Jin Yuan Hai Xian Jiu Dian Two Christmas trees garnished two windows though it’s September Orthodox Christians from Ethiopia’s Christmas Enabling forgetfulness of Al who copies all Still I searched

It looked like a posh shop A fine shop as the restaurant boys called hi come for a drink, come for a meal Brandy and spirits I don’t drink, I found it The morning bottle of Nescafe………….

GOLDEN HANDS

your skin is yella said to me my fella I had thought my skin was biscuit Not that colour bothers me A gift from the east my ancestors The hairless arms and legs Accompany that yellow body his pink next to my yella Your skin is yella said my fella of over two decades And he left to play.

As we sped in the sardine can Dark hands gripping for the safety rail Next to those plump pink and creams Into my pocket hidden quickly offending With this offence my eternal shame Hidden hands of the golden hoards

Sitting close next to me Chatting we laugh Forgetting we touch Shows up the darkened yellow skin Of my forebears Of seven hundred years ago the horsemen of the East Hands which can play with words Hands which instantly draw each line Hands which can create so much Hidden hands of the golden hoards

Today living here a minor love affair In this maybe my new home Speeding in the local sardine cans Hands gripping the rail With other hands Pale lemon to dark nut brown Nobody cares It doesn’t matter over here With all the other yellow hands Hidden hands of the yellow hoards.

THE PALACE OF THE UGLY FROG

their house was in the blue moon silver, bright  brilliant and full of bloom

he was a great man he was a special man

the emperor had a great need of him please return he begged, to rid the earth of evil

as the emperor bid the man in the moon did

his lady love so lone followed him on earth jealousy became dissatisfied with him

the queen, saddened to placate them gave a magic panacea to save them

this they both must take to exist until eternity

in jealousy to spite her important and good husband the spiteful wife swallowed without his knowledge

instantly she was lifted and soared into the sky short lived was her joy after she returned alone to pry

the good panacea was for two not one the panaceas poison had turned her into a frog

and still we watch as she cries.

THE BEAUTIFUL LADY OF THE MOON AND THE MOON TREE

The lady of the moon was indeed beautiful The lady of the moon was also very vain

The lady of the moon came to earth Lonely lady of the moon, followed her husband to work

Her husband became important His duties just for the Emperor he performed

The lady of the moon became bored She had now become ordinary She stormed She raged She would not stay With her obsessive, possessive personality She followed her emotions with never a thought She returned alone to the moon cold and blue The beautiful limpid lady of the moon¦.

With only a rabbit which ran, ran, ran And a tree which grew, grew, grew As companions for the beautiful, languid lady of the moon

A wicked man of earth whose crimes were plentiful Received for punishment due eternity Imprisonment with never a clue upon the moon cold and blue

Away he flew To fulfil his sentence To cut the moon tree With his sharpened axe for ever The tree which stands upon the moon so blue For never¦

He cut It grew

He cut It grew

He cut It grew

And so they continue to this very day Until eternity Upon the cold blue moon-

CHINA China arrived China reached Balance sought

The last place left to run to Independent China, try Balance

Seen at thirteen, steps with the eyes of the inner-mind Balance

Walking across the Chinese soil so green and fertile Mountains monitoring from behind Balance

At four decades it was declared Maybe twice times eight Maybe twice times nine and so by the shore Some great and challenging change in time Balance

Maybe death, if only to you and the West Maybe an illness, if only for you and the best Maybe an alteration, spoken as nothing to the rest Maybe an eruption and silence, meant as everything And nothing will ever be the same to test Balance

Like the delicate willow Bow and bend with the wind unheeding Turned from the mighty oak unyielding Which cracks then breaks unwielding Balance

Mountains monitoring from behind Now walk across the Chinese soil so green and fertile First seen at a mere thirteen steps Independent China The last place left Balance sought.

and DEAR ELDEST GRANDON JOSEF

On my travels again For a little peace If not total freedom Something more about China I discovered and cross my heart and hope to die This is true and they say there is proof

There is a place called Guang Zhou Which is said totally differently to the way it is spelt But research keeps interfering with my sound systems So I find it difficult to familiarize myself with the language

This place called Gwang Joe Which is in the vicinity of H. Kong The city not Hitler’s favourite film Has mice which are five kilogram in weight Like a little pig says my favourite Li Fang These are mice not unlike the invasion from the sewers Of my London cottage were where you used to visit Down round the corner to Idi Amin’s restaurant Who was done for her mucky kitchen by the Council

Josef, Guang Zhou mice are eaten alive for lunch and scream but thrice they swore to me at Haier last night at lesson time and swore this was so twice and who am I to disbelieve my Haier Junior Manager Pupils the first time when dipped into salt the second time when bitten into and the third time I forget as I wasn’t listening anymore being a vegetarian No got it First when sliced Second when salted And third when bitten

And Josef all Chinese people everywhere say In Guang Zhou they eat everything on benches Except the benches!

As always fondest Love from your gran And tell my daughter dear Your dear mother when she gets back From deputizing School

Letters from China

NOT FORGETTING Dear Mum Before we go on I want to tell you They have Chinese bananas I think they’re made in China

When I came here I saw bananas And I thought oh dear The Americans have been here I think I thought that lazily Because they had brought bananas and food to us post-war, I seemed to think hazily As the Brits dragged all away Not that I saw any till after my twenties.

I know the American forces braved Our hosts that cold, old Brittanica And I think I thought those seven million slaves Not the sixty million who became fish food took yella bananas to the States Along with their thumbprints But I wasn’t sure

But there on the stall on the Qingdau fishermens’ market And they were proper bananas honest I thought, fancy bringing bananas here from Africa Or America with all this fruit made in China Must have been opium exchange You know Blighty its cold and its dark, but here?

Then some Professor laughingly told this to me we have sold And have had bananas for ages and an age These are Chinese bananas my dear Sunny, south China on a spear And I had to stop and think and pigeon hole And thought about lots of things I’d been told And knew from old So the G.Is didn’t bring these bananas After all we are sold¦.

And yesterday Professor Li told me Chocolate originated here and are sold, lots of And they had said, take chocolates to those poor folk And I took a whole suitcase full.. Like it was to us then, I think I thought.

And mum The grapefruits are like water-melons Honestly and not brought by the G.Is I think and now they say there was a world Outside my refugee world then But I don’t know any other world really Love you From China¦.

[bolintheturtleduck]

Song Ranking

So I did that song ranking thing and it took HOURS. literal HOURS. Don’t ever do it, I won’t even link it. I hated doing it. But here is my list. And dare I say my Top 130 is immaculate hjgkhg

Some of this is not really accurate though. Could be me or the generator. Like ‘Cold Hearted’ being 500 something???? Not in my house. 

Also don’t go looking for christmas songs. They are all somewhere down there lmao

Anyways! Let’s go!

1 Nasty / Rhythm Nation

1 Rumour Has It / Someone Like You

3 Be Okay

4 Love You Like A Love Song

4 Seasons Of Love

6 Mustang Sally

7 So Emotional

8 Tightrope

9 Barely Breathing

10 Cough Syrup

11 Shake It Out

11 The Boy Is Mine

13 Back To Black

14 Valerie

15 Paradise By The Dashboard Light

16 River Deep, Mountain High

17 Problem

18 Faithfully

19 Gloria

20 I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

21 How Will I Know

22 We Are Young

23 How To Be A Heartbreaker

24 Hand In My Pocket / I Feel The Earth Move

25 If I Die Young

26 I Feel Pretty / Unpretty

27 Bust Your Windows

28 Candyman

29 American Boy

30 I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) / You Make My Dreams

31 If I Can't Have You

32 It's All Coming Back To Me Now

33 Crazy / U Drive Me Crazy

34 ABC

35 Bad Romance

36 It's Too Late

37 Hungry Like The Wolf / Rio

38 I Wish

39 Need You Now

40 Landslide

41 Start Me Up / Livin' On A Prayer

42 Thriller / Heads Will Roll

43 What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)

44 There Are Worse Things I Could Do

45 Losing My Religion

46 The Edge Of Glory

47 Teenage Dream (Acoustic Version)

48 Make You Feel My Love

49 My Prerogative

50 Singing In The Rain / Umbrella

51 Songbird

52 Spotlight

53 Mine

54 Take Me Or Leave Me

55 Take Me To Church

56 No Surrender

57 Never Say Never

58 Constant Craving

59 Brave

60 Born This Way

61 Pumpin' Blood

62 Blame It (On The Alcohol)

63 Glad You Came

64 Give Your Heart A Break

65 It's All Over

66 It's Not Right, But It's Okay

67 Everybody Talks

68 Here Comes The Sun

69 Into The Groove

70 In Your Eyes

71 I Don't Want To Know

72 I Lived

73 I Kissed A Girl

74 Halo / Walking On Sunshine

75 You Can't Stop The Beat

76 She's Not There

77 Nutbush City Limits

78 True Colors

79 Can't Fight This Feeling

80 Breakaway

81 Dancing Queen

82 Don't Stop Me Now

83 And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going

84 Empire State Of Mind

85 Doo Wop (That Thing)

86 Arthur's Theme

87 Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy

88 Toxic

89 This Is The New Year

90 Last Name

91 3

92 A Change Would Do You Good

93 Got To Get You Into My Life

94 Tongue Tied

95 Smooth Criminal

96 Papa Don't Preach

97 Animal

97 Another One Bites The Dust

99 Don't Speak

100 Don't You Want Me

101 A Hard Day's Night

102 Some Nights

103 Somebody That I Used To Know

104 Superstition

105 Survivor / I Will Survive

106 My Life Would Suck Without You

107 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

108 Misery

109 My Love Is Your Love

110 Somewhere Only We Know

111 Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

112 Me Against The Music

113 I Follow Rivers

114 Mean

115 Here's To Us

116 Stronger

117 Summer Nights

118 Make No Mistake, She's Mine

119 Love Song

120 Waiting For A Girl Like You

121 We Got The Beat

122 We Found Love

123 We've Got Tonite

124 Love Shack

125 The Scientist

126 Love Is A Battlefield

127 Run Joey Run

128 Wings

129 When I Get You Alone

130 Uptown Girl

131 Roots Before Branches

132 I'm The Only One

132 I've Gotta Be Me

134 Hopelessly Devoted To You

135 Hit Me With Your Best Shot / One Way Or Another

136 Dinosaur

137 Dog Days Are Over

138 Hung Up

139 Everytime

140 Go Your Own Way

141 Every Breath You Take

142 Fire And Rain

143 Fighter

144 Not While I'm Around

145 Not The Boy Next Door

146 Fly / I Believe I Can Fly

147 Girl On Fire

148 Oops!... I Did It Again

149 Stop! In The Name Of Love / Free Your Mind

150 Stereo Hearts

151 Bills, Bills, Bills

152 Somebody Loves You

153 Hold It Against Me

154 Turning Tables

155 Wide Awake

156 You May Be Right

157 Cell Block Tango

158 A Boy Like That

159 All Out Of Love

160 Alfie

161 Jessie's Girl

162 I'm A Slave 4 U

163 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

164 I'll Stand By You (Amber)

165 I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)

166 Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)

167 Lovefool

168 Just Can't Get Enough

169 Just Give Me A Reason

170 Keep Holding On

171 Like A Virgin

172 New York State Of Mind

173 My Dark Side

174 More Than A Feeling

174 My Cup

176 I Want To Hold Your Hand

177 I Want To Break Free

178 I Want To Know What Love Is

179 I Want You Back

180 Teenage Dream

181 Take My Breath Away

182 America

183 Glory Days

184 I Say A Little Prayer

184 I Wanna Sex You Up

186 I Will Always Love You

187 A Thousand Years

188 Like A Prayer

189 Don't Rain On My Parade

190 Disco Inferno

191 Don't Stop Believin' (Regionals)

192 Dream On

193 Get It Right

194 Gold Digger

195 Telephone

196 Without You

197 You're The One That I Want

198 Tell Him

199 Let Me Love You

200 Good Vibrations

200 Raise Your Glass

202 Run The World (Girls)

203 Gimme More

204 Hey Jude

204 How Deep Is Your Love

206 Higher Ground

207 Vogue

208 Something's Coming

209 Footloose

210 Forget You

211 Gives You Hell

212 Everybody Wants To Rule The World

213 Far From Over

214 Fat Bottomed Girls

215 Hair / Crazy In Love

216 Hall Of Fame

216 Hello

216 Hello, I Love You

216 Somebody To Love

216 Time Warp

216 To Love You More

222 Last Friday Night

223 Hate On Me

224 Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

225 Locked Out Of Heaven

226 Rose's Turn

227 Everybody Hurts

227 Express Yourself

227 Loser

227 Shout It Out Loud

231 Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

232 Pompeii

233 Party All The Time

234 Our Day Will Come

235 Perfect

236 Old Time Rock & Roll / Danger Zone

237 Greased Lightning

237 Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

237 Live While We're Young

240 Firework

240 Love Child

242 Fire

243 You're All I Need To Get By

244 The Scientist (Acapella)

245 Afternoon Delight

246 Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)

247 Listen To Your Heart

248 Tik Tok

249 You Keep Me Hangin' On

250 The Rose

251 You Can't Always Get What You

Want

252 Let's Have A Kiki

252 Listen

254 Pretending

255 More Than A Woman

256 More Than Words

257 Hot For Teacher

257 No One Is Alone

257 Not The End

257 Nowadays / Hot Honey Rag 257 O Christmas Tree

257 One Hand, One Heart

257 One

257 Only Child

257 Proud Mary

266 Heroes

267 Hey Ya!

268 Getting Married Today

268 Happy

270 Hell To The No

271 Night Fever

271 Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club

Band

273 The Music Of The Night

273 The Only Exception 273 The Rain In Spain 273 The Safety Dance 273 Thousand Miles 278 Billionaire

278 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 278 The Happening

278 The Lady Is A Tramp

282 Borderline / Open Your Heart 282 Born To Hand Jive

284 Control

284 The Longest Time

286 Give Up The Funk

287 Chasing Pavements

288 Man In The Mirror

288 Say

288 Sexy And I Know It 288 Shout

292 Marry The Night

293 Mamma Mia

294 Loser Like Me

295 Don't Stop Believin' (Season 1)

296 Colorblind

297 Diva

297 Don't Cry For Me Argentina

299 Don't Dream It's Over

300 Let It Be

301 Don't Stop

302 Highway To Hell

302 Hold On

302 Holding Out For A Hero 302 We Will Rock You

302 What I Did For Love

302 What It Feels Like For A Girl

308 Take On Me

309 For Once In My Life

309 Good Riddance (Time Of Your

Life)

309 Hello Goodbye

309 Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love

309 Home

309 Homeward Bound / Home 309 Honesty

309 Human Nature

317 Drive My Car

317 For Good

317 I'll Remember

320 I'll Stand By You (Cory)

321 On My Own

321 Taking Chances

321 The Bitch Is Back / Dress You Up 321 Werewolves Of London

325 My Man

326 My Life

327 My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)

327 Never Going Back Again 327 No Scrubs

330 Creep

331 Come What May

332 Never Can Say Goodbye

333 Who Are You Now?

334 You Give Love A Bad Name

335 Womanizer

336 Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

337 Come See About Me

337 P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 337 People

337 Popular

337 River

337 Roar

337 Rolling In The Deep 337 Santa Baby

345 Boogie Shoes

346 At Last

347 I'm The Greatest Star

348 Jar Of Hearts

349 It's Time

350 It's My Life / Confessions Part II

351 It's Not Unusual

352 I'm So Excited

352 I'm Still Here

354 Don't Stop Believin' (Season 5) 354 Don't You (Forget About Me) 354 Dreams

354 Unchained Melody

354 Uptown Funk

359 Bohemian Rhapsody

359 Don't Stop Believin' (Rachel) 359 Lucky

362 Don't Stand So Close To Me /

Young Girl

363 Bridge Over Troubled Water

363 Bust A Move

365 Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee

366 Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee

(Reprise)

367 Longest Time

368 Applause

369 All Of Me

370 Any Way You Want It

370 Anything Could Happen

372 Red Solo Cup

372 Rock Lobster

372 Rockin' Around The Christmas

Tree 372 Rockstar

376 Saving All My Love For You

377 (I've Had) The Time Of My Life

377 Piano Man 377 Poison 377 Poker Face

381 A House Is Not A Home

382 4 Minutes

383 Black Or White

384 Blackbird

385 All By Myself

385 Smile

385 You Make Me Feel So Young

388 Wrecking Ball

389 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural

Woman

389 (You're) Having My Baby

391 Superman

392 Ain't No Way

392 Stayin' Alive

394 Still Got Tonight

394 The Most Wonderful Day Of The

Year

394 The Way You Look Tonight / You're Never Fully Dressed Without A

Smile 394 This Time

394 Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?

399 They Long To Be Close To You

400 All About That Bass 400 Sing!

400 So Far Away

400 Some People

404 Addicted To Love

404 Moves Like Jagger / Jumpin' Jack Flash

404 Sing

404 Someday We'll Be Together 404 Somethin' Stupid

404 Something

404 Somewhere

404 Stand

412 Scream

413 Rather Be

414 Next To Me

414 No Air

414 Papa Can You Hear Me? 414 Physical

414 Piece Of My Heart

414 Pinball Wizard

414 Pony

414 Rehab

422 La Isla Bonita

422 Lean On Me

422 Let's Wait Awhile

422 Little Drummer Boy

422 Little Girls

427 Light Up The World

428 Science Fiction Double Feature

428 Silent Night 428 Silly Love Songs

431 Le Jazz Hot

432 Out Here On My Own

432 Pure Imagination

434 School's Out

435 Hey, Soul Sister

435 I Kissed A Girl (Season Six) 435 Sway

438 I Believe In A Thing Called Love

439 I Have Nothing

440 I Am Changing

441 I Saw Her Standing There

441 I Was Here

441 I Won't Give Up

441 I'll Be Home For Christmas 441 I'll Never Fall In Love Again 446 Funny Girl

446 I Look To You

446 I Only Have Eyes For You 446 I Still Believe / Super Bass 446 Story Of My Life

451 I Love New York / New York, New

York

452 What Makes You Beautiful

453 What The World Needs Now

454 An Innocent Man

454 Bad

454 Because You Loved Me

454 Bein' Green

454 ByeByeBye/IWantItThatWay 454 IfIWereABoy

454 Take A Bow

454 Take Me Home Tonight

462 Barracuda

463 Beauty School Drop Out

464 Chandelier

465 Baby It's You

466 It Must Have Been Love

467 At The Ballet

468 Baby One More Time

469 Beautiful

469 Being Alive

469 We Built This City

472 Being Good Isn't Good Enough 472 I Just Can't Stop Loving You 472 I Love It

472 Isn't She Lovely

476 All That Jazz

476 Blurred Lines

476 Bootylicious

476 Extraordinary Merry Christmas 476 Father Figure

476 Fight For Your Right (To Party)

476 Flashdance... What A Feeling

483 I Don't Know How To Love Him

484 Fix You

484 I Could Have Danced All Night 486 Push It

486 Rainbow Connection 486 Rise

489 Promises, Promises

490 Oh Chanukah

490 Ohio

490 One Love (People Get Ready) 490 Only The Good Die Young 494 Baby

494 Dancing With Myself

494 Defying Gravity

497 Baby, It's Cold Outside

498 Cherish / Cherish

498 Christmas Wrapping 498 Closer

498 Downtown

498 Endless Love

498 Forever Young

498 Friday I'm In Love 498 Friday

498 Gangnam Style

498 Get Back

498 Safety Dance

509 Cold Hearted

510 Clarity

511 Centerfold / Hot In Herre

511 Just The Way You Are 513 Jumpin', Jumpin'

513 Kiss

515 Juke Box Hero

515 L-O-V-E

517 Jolene

518 Jump

518 La Cucaracha

520 Dream A Little Dream

521 A Little Less Conversation

521 Beth

521 Bitch

521 Don't Sleep In The Subway 521 Girls Just Want To Have Fun 521 Have Yourself A Merry Little

Christmas 521 Help!

521 I Dreamed A Dream 521 I'm His Child

521 I'm Still Standing 521 Ice Ice Baby

521 Imagine

521 In My Life

521 It's A Man's Man's Man's World 521 Lose My Breath

521 Memory

521 Outcast

521 Over The Rainbow

521 Same Love

521 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 521 Teach Your Children

521 Tell Me Something Good

521 The Final Countdown

521 Uptight (Everything's Alright) 545 Big Ass Heart

545 I Love L.A.

545 I Melt With You

548 Big Girls Don't Cry

548 Mary's Boy Child

548 O Holy Night

548 On Our Way

548 One Bourbon, One Scotch, One

Beer

548 One Less Bell To Answer

554 Maybe This Time 554 My Favourite Things 554 My Sharona

557 Marry You

558 Cool

559 Cool Kids

560 Celebrity Skin

560 Cheek To Cheek

560 Dance The Night Away

560 Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend / Material Girl

560 Don't Go Breaking My Heart 560 Don't Wanna Lose You

560 Feliz Navidad

560 Here Comes Santa Claus 560 I Know What Boys Like

560 I Know Where I've Been 560 Trouty Mouth

571 Total Eclipse Of The Heart

572 Don't Make Me Over

573 Call Me Maybe

574 We Are The Champions

575 Time After Time

576 Bring Him Home

576 Broadway Baby 576 Buenos Aires 576 Burning Up 576 Yesterday

581 Boys / Boyfriend

582 Mercy

582 You Get What You Give

582 You Have More Friends Than You

Know

582 You Learn / You've Got A Friend

582 You Should Be Dancing

582 You're All The World To Me 582 You're My Best Friend

582 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 590 Break Free

590 Jingle Bell Rock 590 Jingle Bells

590 Joy To The World 590 One Of Us

590 Tonight

590 You're The Top

590 You've Got To Hide Your Love

Away

590 Your Song

599 To Sir, With Love

600 Torn

601 Wake Me Up

601 Wannabe

601 Wedding Bell Blues

604 Touch A Touch A Touch A Touch Me

604 UpUpUp

606 All Or Nothing

606 Alone

606 Cry

606 Leaving On A Jet Plane

606 Let It Go

606 Mickey

606 Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) 606 Mr. Roboto / Counting Stars 606 Try A Little Tenderness

606 U Can't Touch This

606 Uninvited

606 Vacation

606 Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 606 What Kind Of Fool

606 Whistle

606 Will You Love Me Tomorrow /

Head Over Feet 606 Wishin' And Hoping

606 YouAndI/YouAndI

624 Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

624 Do You Hear What I Hear? 624 Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh

Yeah)

624 Lucky Star

624 Merry Christmas Darling 629 Damn It, Janet

629 Danny's Song

629 Daydream Believer

629 Deck The Rooftop

629 Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead 634 All I Want For Christmas Is You 634 Angels We Have Heard On High 634 Anything Goes / Anything You Can

Do

634 As If We Never Said Goodbye

634 As Long As You're There 634 Bamboleo / Hero

634 Bella Notte

634 Copacabana

634 Do They Know It's Christmas? 634 Last Christmas

634 Let It Snow

634 We Need A Little Christmas

634 Welcome Christmas

634 Whenever I Call You Friend

634 Whip It

634 You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

650 All You Need Is Love

651 Americano / Dance Again

652 Crush

653 Big Spender

653 Make 'Em Laugh

653 White Christmas

653 Yeah!

657 (Charlie Chaplin song)

657 (originally by Michael Bublé) 657 Away In A Manger

657 Baby Got Back

657 Christmas Eve With You 657 Come Sail Away

657 You Are Woman, I Am Man 657 You Spin Me Round (Like A

Record)

665 You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch

666 Starlight Express

666 The Trolley Song

666 The Winner Takes It All

666 There's A Light (Over At The

Frankenstein Place) 670 Take Care Of Yourself

671 Sweet Caroline

672 Ben

672 Best Day Of My Life 672 Blue Christmas

672 Candles

676 Starships

676 Suddenly Seymour 676 Sweet Transvestite

679 Thong Song

680 The Fox (What Does The Fox

Say?)

680 The Living Years

682 The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)

682 The First Noël

[cartoonfangirl1218]

I liked your ava post, do you have more aboout usm. The WHOle usm team?

I can’t say I have many many hcs but I’ll give you where I think they might end up after SHIELD, and two songs that fit them if that works. 

Peter: I don't know why but I feel like Peter would want to look for his parents once he leaves SHIELD and while doing so, he ends up in a lot of team ups and building up more of his rogues gallery. Basically I imagine stuff from the comic with spider clones, dating MJ, briefly rejoins the Avengers then leaves. Yeah I don't have much for him since comic history leaves people to choose what they want. Imagine Dragon's Beliver because he does have such a heavy pain inside, but that's the thing, he keeps it inside until he snaps them into his fight for justice. "First things first, I'ma say all the words inside my head. I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been, The way that things have been.Second thing second, Don't you tell me what you think that I could be. I'm the one at the sail, I'm the master of my sea...Taking my message from the veins. Speaking my lesson from the brain. Seeing the beauty through the pain!"

Danny: I'd like to think that he stays in NY to start Heroes for Hire with Luke as soon as they leave SHIELD. They're bros, and he justifies the absence that New York needs Iron Fist more than K'Lun for the moment. He also tries his hand at getting Rand Industries back on track. I also think he does return to K'Lun eventually as King and mystical head. After his work at Rand Industries, he feels more confident as a leader and is willing to stand up to the monks when it comes with changing some of the old ways. Allowing him to travel back to NY to see his friends while keeping the mystical origins of K'Lun sacred. I think Nature Boy rather fits him, soft and melodious and Danny learning he is not alone sort of. "There was a boy. A very strange enchanted boyThey say he wandered very far..Very far over land and sea. A little shy and sad of eye. But very wise, was he."  Les Miserables’ Who am I mainly because I imagine Danny has some identity issues between feeling worthy of the Iron Fist, feeling torn between the US and K'Lun. Ideally, he would end up learning being one does not give up the other part of himself. As one would say they can coexist in a balance. "Who am I? Can I conceal myself forever more.. Pretend I’m not the man I was before?....How can I ever face my fellow men? How can I ever face myself again?"

Luke: As said above, with Danny, when they leave SHIELD, they create Heroes for Hire, they ride or die forever.  Together they clean up their part of New York and Luke comes to terms with some of his past and the people he dealt with in jail. He also meets Jessica Jones during this time and she becomes his new partner (in more ways than one) when Danny leaves for K'Lun. He sometimes does freelance work for SHIELD, mainly at the behest of his parents, sometimes as a favor to Fury. He also sometimes comes by the Helicarrier to be a surprise mentor to whatever new hero they pick up. He is the main instigator of team reunions.

Adam Levine’s If I got locked away totally fits him after the time he spent in jail and scared of being seen as weak, it really fits him and his insecurities. "If I got locked away And we lost it all today. Tell me honestly, would you still love me the same? If I showed you my flaws. If I couldn't be strong. Tell me honestly, would you still love me the same?" One call away also fits him simply for his caring nature and how he'll do anything for his friends, "I'm only one call away. I'll be there to save the daySuperman got nothing on me. I'm only one call away/ Call me, baby, if you need a friend. I just wanna give you love...No matter where you go, know you're not alone. I'm only one call away."

Ava: I think once Ava leaves SHIElD, she has some trouble with the amulet whether form being on her own, knowing SHIELD isn't there watching her every move or just cockiness that she can handle it now. Either way, I see her as  taking a break from the amulet. Reasoning her father wanted her to keep it safe, it didn't mean she had to put it on and be a hero. Ideally, she goes to therapy to work through all these issues before ever putting it on again. I imagine she goes home to PR too. I think she could go into bounty hunting, it's more freelance, she helps put baddies away and she can put her investigative skills to good use. Eventually she'd be White Tiger again but for more superpowered threats than every day patrolling. Just breathe from In the Heights not only for the spanish influences but also the utter fear of returning a failure, "Straighten the spine. Smile for the neighbors. Everything's fine, everything's cool. The standard reply: Lots of tests, lots of papers. Smile, wave goodbye and pray to the sky, "Oh God!" And what will my parents say? Can I go in there and say, "I know I'm letting you down..."  Alyssa Greene from The Prom. The lyrics speak for themselves of the utter perfectionism and drive, "The hair has to be perfect. The As have to be straight...Trophies have to be first place. Ribbons have to be blue. There's always some competition or hoops for jumping through. Just have everything perfected by the time you reach eighteen" 

Sam: Admittedly I don't know much about Nova lore or backstory as the others but I think he'll go back to space. Not necessarily as part of the Guardians because honestly I think they had enough members without him. Maybe as a solo act before he finds the other Nova Corps. I definitely see him as becoming a trainer there, finally being the leader he always wanted to be. I also want him to reconnect with his family so he does travel back to Earth to visit them and then swoops by NY for some reunion with his old team before heading back to space. 

Bieber’s Lonely fits Sam because at the heart of it all, I think that's what he is. Lonely, he's still young and trying to navigate these powers and his place in the world and space and what his identity is. And no one else can quite get that. "Everybody knows my name now. But somethin' 'bout it still feels strangeLike lookin' in a mirror, tryna steady yourself and seein' somebody else. And everything is not the same now. It feels like all our lives have changed Maybe when I'm older, it'll all calm down. But it's killin' me now. What if you had it all, nut nobody to call? Maybe then you'd know me 'cause I've had everything. But no one's listening and that's just f- lonely." Shawn Mendes' Wonder works for similar reasons. Mainly I imagine him singing it to his missing father who inherited so much but knows nothing personally about him, "I wonder why I'm so afraid of saying something wrong, I never said I was a saint. I wonder, when I cry into my hands. I'm conditioned to feel like it makes me less of a man and I wonder if someday you'll be by my side and tell me that the world will end up alright. I wonder..I wonder."  And then a party song for each 

Sam: All I do is win by DJ Khaled "All I do is win, win, win no matter what. Got money on my mind, I can never get enough ('Nough) And every time I step up in the building Everybody hands go up And they stay there And they stay there, up, down, up, down, up, down 'Cause all I do is win (Win), win (Win), win And if you going in put your hands in the air, make 'em stay there" 

Luke: Finesse by Bruno Mars, "We out here drippin' in finesseIt don't make no sense Out here drippin' in finesse You know it, you know it We out here drippin' in finesse It don't make no sense Out here drippin' in finesse You know it, you know it" 

Peter: Another one bites the dust by Queen "nother one bites the dustAnother one bites the dust And another one gone and another one gone Another one bites the dust Hey I'm gonna get you too Another one bites the dust"

Danny: Normally, I don't think Danny would be into party music, too much cursing, too much noise to distort the mind, that stuff. But Rihanna is catchy. "I wanna take you away, let's escape into the music, DJ, let it playI just can't refuse it, like the way you do this Keep on rockin' to it Please don't stop the, please don't stop the music I wanna take you away, let's escape into the music, DJ, let it play I just can't refuse it, like the way you do this Keep on rockin' to it Please don't stop the, please don't stop the, please don't stop the music" 

Ava: Woman by Ke$ha "I'm a motherfucking woman, baby, alright I don't need a man to be holding me too tight I'm a motherfucking woman, baby, that's right I'm just having fun with my ladies here tonight I'm a motherfucker"  This other cool blog is much more into USM and has tons of hcs if you want more of this stuff, @im-rewriting-ultimate-spider-man