#I think it's the only Zuking ship ever?

[bunk-bed-blorbos]

2, 13, 16, and 20 for the ask meme

2. Big spoon/Little spoon?

Mayday is usually little spoon, since Zuke is much wider than her and just envelopes her when they cuddle and makes Mayday feel safe. But May's no stranger to big spoon, usually when she wants to bury her face in Zuke's hair or neck, or when Zuke needs to be comforted

13. Who reaches for the other’s hand first?

Zuke has made many, many almost grabs during his and Mayday's friendship. It never got further than stretching his hand out a little until one day when they were watching TV, some hokey romance drama, and May had her hand palm-up, inviting Zuke to hold it. He did, and they both melted over it like goobers.

16. Who wants to stay in bed just a little longer?

Mayday. Zuke tries to get up at a reasonable hour (Well, reasonable for Nocturnal people), but the bottom bunk is Cozy, and he's so comfortable to hold, and Ellie is still asleep, we can't wake her up just yet... ...And May just likes to look at Zuke, eyes droopy, bedhead all fluffy... and she can't help a little sleepy smile from forming

20. What do their family/friends think of their relationship?

Zuke does not hear the end of it from West. All of the big brother teasing from his relationship with Nadia comes back full force when he finally tells him that he and Mayday are Together Together. His mom, Onokoy is just as embarrassing if not more, and went out of her way to grant Mayday her blessing. His dad, Wade, is happy for his son, but has... trepidation about Zuke getting in a serious relationship with his bandmate. He supports him, but warns him not to let his feelings "cloud his judgement" ...To the massive confusion of Zuke. Mayday's family is a mixed bag as well. Her dad Augustus immediately sized Zuke up, but it was mostly in jest... Mostly. Grandmama pinched Mayday's cheeks and cooing that "Her Grandbaby brought home such a nice boy!" Mayday's Mom... Well, Zuke was a level-headed, talented drummer with a Master's Degree, so he was a fine enough man for Mayday. Phoebe (Momday): I just wish... Mayday: Great, here it comes.... Phoebe: You'd find someone a bit more... financially viable- Mayday: Oh THERE YOU GO AGAIN! And then Augustus separates the two and invites Zuke to dinner. As for friends, Mayday and Zuke share their friend groups, so the only surprise is the outcome of the betting circles: Of the Sewer Gang: Zam had been shipping the two ever since Mayday told the story about the gloves on the air. Bet 10 ringgit that they'd be an official couple by year's end. Won. Gigi knew they had deeper than friendly feelings for each other, but knew that they were both kind of. Stupid. Bet 20 Ringgit on them kissing before becoming a couple. Won. Yurik: Didn't think they were anything more than bandmates and friends. 15 Ringgit on them dating someone else and not being a couple. Lost. Hard. Robot: Robot Robot. 50 Ringgit on Ro Ro Robot. Won the pot.

[erigold13261]

Sorry in advance if I come off as rude, but can you tell me why you ship each member of 1010 with their S/Os? (You have great taste, and your takes are unique!) Have a great day/evening!

Absolutely not rude what-so-ever! I'm happy to talk about my little ship ideas and junk! Glad you are interested! You also have a great whatever-time-it-is-for-you! :D

(Also I will say, all of these ships are the ones that are for the standard OG versions of 1010. Depending on AU, I actually ship the 1010s with different people!)

Rin:

For Rin, I ship it with Zuke, mainly because of the fandom actually lol. I will say that Rin is probably my least favorite 1010 and Zuke is someone I never really truly care for until later on. Even with that I think the two are very kind and sweet, both being fairly laid back and relaxed until their siblings annoy them over the edge.

It also helps that I see them both as sex-averse asexuals (or -repulsed or whatever the term is used, I personally use sex-repulsed but I know others don't like that term because it puts sex in a negative light). So they just really find comfort in each other.

Basically their relationship is just pretty basic but wholesome, supportive, and loving. The only times I see them as having issues is when Rin and Purl get into fights and Rin is in the wrong (which happens actually quite a lot).

Purl-hew:

Purl is in a very open relationship with DK West and the lead singer of Ex-Jay (Cyril). The three date each other in a triangle and then have hook-ups with randoms on the side. Purl is the most active in hook-ups, then West, and sometimes Cyril will go out with a random person but he usually just dates Purl and West.

Now my reasoning for shipping these three can vary depending on the day, but the most consistent reasoning I have is them being enemies to acquaintances to kinda-friends to friends with benefits to "oh no I have feelings! Better push them away" to lovers.

Purl is the main reason West and Ex-Jay's music careers kinda fell short/stagnated. West and Ex-Jay ended up becoming friends thanks to Bunk Bed Junction, which made them have to interact with 1010 at times. West and Cyril basically bullied/teased Purl a lot for them ruining their music careers while 1010 pushed Purl to apologize.

It was just a mess of repressed emotions and isolation on Purl's part which ended in them having a small breakdown causing their vulnerability to be seen by West or Cyril, depending on the way I want the story to go. But either way showing this vulnerability is what caused Purl to start becoming friends with West and Cyril (also Ex-Jay).

Drugs and alcohol get in the mix later on pushing Purl to start separate relations with West and Cyril, which later turned out to them catching feelings for the other two. Then comes the trope of Purl pushing everyone away because they feel like they can't love properly and so they hurt the ones they love to not feel more pain in the future, until they are confronted by Zuke to finally just open up and stop being an emotionally constipated idiot.

In the end these three really are just a whole mess of problems. They are definitely not healthy when they first start officially dating, definitely have problems moving forward, but they communicate and help each other and just end up in a really good position for all three of them.

Zimelu:

I will say that at first I shipped these two just because of their looks. Both are very beautiful to me and that was my main reason I liked them together.

As I explored their relationship in my head though, I liked the idea of them being just friends at first. Probably because Eve was trying to get Purl some friends but it was actually Zimelu who hit it off with Celine and not Purl (those two do end up being friends at some point, but in the beginning it was Zimelu and Eve that were the only reason Purl hung out with Celine)

Zimelu definitely has a crush at first but doesn't feel like she is Celine's type because when they first met Zimelu was still identifying as a man and Celine identified as a lesbian. Though it was Mayday and Celine who helped Zimelu figure out she was actually a woman. Which only made Zimelu fall harder for Celine (while also developing a small crush on May).

Thankfully Celine saw Zimelu as the woman she was and started to develop feelings for her as well. They kept their friendship up at first, not really knowing of each other's crush and trying not to push too fast in fear of ruining something before it even starts. After some time though, Purl is able to help Celine and Zimelu break the bubble and officially start dating! (Depending on things either Zimelu and Celine are the first to start dating, or Rin and Zuke are).

Haym:

Haym🤝Mayday🤝Eve: Bisexuals.

Okay, so May and Haym are dating, and May and Eve are dating. Eve and Haym are not dating. So it's like a corner/angle type thing instead of a triangle.

May and Eve start dating because they find common ground in trying to understand each other, while May and Haym start dating because of their personalities meshing together really well.

I don't really know who starts dating who first, I kinda feel like Haym and May would start dating first and over time May and Eve start to fall in love making May worry about being unfaithful but Haym is just like "oh cool! You want to date her while dating me too? :D"

Definitely Haym and May's relationship is more physical and fun, while Eve and May are more emotional. Not saying that May and Eve aren't physical or that Haym and May never have serious moments, but that each relationship has it's own feel to it.

Haym is definitely there for Eve and vice versa, but they are more just friends. Sometimes they will go on a big date, or do something physical with all three, but it's mainly the two relationships between May.

Eloni:

Okay, so like at first I was just shipping them with Barbara and Joey just to ship them with someone. I know that is a stupid reason, and honestly I was thinking about just ending the ship between the three in my head.

However, I really REALLY like the idea of the three being a queer platonic relationship. It is definitely going to take some time for them to get really close, but when they do they really do help each other out a lot and even think about moving in together.

If any 1010 was going to move out of the mansion it would definitely either be Eloni to go live with Barbara and Joey (who are either already living together, or making the arrangements to do so with the help of Eloni).

I just really see them making a life together being critics: of music, games, architecture. They grow together and learn how to love each other and themselves. I can see Barbara as a workaholic who never takes care of herself, Joey as a cynical ass who needs to see the joy in life, and Eloni as a very self-loathing person who wants to make other's happy but can't make themself happy.

Together they just become a group that brings out the best in each other. Joey is laughing more, taking things less serious and enjoying himself. Barbara is working less with the help of Joey and Eloni and finally taking time to learn what she likes to do in life. And Eloni is coming more out of her shell and even talking because he wants to be close to the other two and shows she cares (Eloni has a hard time being verbal in uncomfortable situations or when not in his stage mode so him being able to talk around Barbara and Joey is a really good thing).

Final Notes:

So yeah, those are the main reasons I ship what I ship. I do have a lot more to say about Purl (maybe not a lot but I could get more in detail), but that's just because I've been rotating them in my head for months now, and didn't want to make this even longer than it already is.

I'd say the only relationship in here that I might change later is Eloni/Barbara/Joey, for reasons stated above. The others are pretty set in stone. If anything else were to change it would just be adding a another person onto Purl's open relationship, but for now I see them as just sticking to West and Cyril as main partners and then having one-night-stands with randos at a bar or something.

[jordanalane]

Zuki Week Day 3: Modern AU, Or...

The Yakuza 

First Part: Highly recommend you start there. Even if you’ve read it before a refresher is always good! After all, I first posted this 4 years ago. 

Six Months Ago

The exact number of people that had been killed by Iroh Kasai was unknown to almost everyone. It was lost to time and folklore, but most estimated it in the dozens. The government that put him away for life put it at 17. But to most the figure was simply unknown. 

The people who knew him the best knew the true number though: Zero. It was a long story. 

He was Zuko’s favorite relative. He’d not seen him in anything other than the worn out teal of his prison clothes since he was five, not talked to via anything other than a glass partition. It didn’t seem to matter though, as each visit seemed to bring a sense of peace and fulfillment. He made a trip out here every few months, and always looked forward to them. 

“What did you have for breakfast?” Iroh asked with a soft smile. It was the same thing he always asked. He missed the food on the outside and always wanted to know what it is that Zuko was eating. Which always made Zuko laugh. 

They caught up with one another, talking about Iroh’s life in prison, about what was going on with the family. Talking about the family was naturally dangerous, as everything they said was being recorded, so they talked in generalities and often in code, not using anyone by their name. 

There was one person that uncle always wanted to hear about, who Zuko always had a smile on his face while talking about. 

“How is the Mrs.?” 

“She’s good.” Zuko said with a content look on his face. “She’s doing well at work and I’m getting to spend more time with her.” 

“Excellent. I know how important she is to you.” 

“Yeah. There is one thing though. She won’t talk about the possibility of another baby. She’s still so hurt over what happened.” 

“It must be hard.” 

“It is. I love her and I want to try again but there is so much pain there.” 

“I’m sorry about what happened to him, Zuko. I wish I could have done more.” 

Zuko shrugged. “There is nothing that anyone could have done. It was just fate.” 

“Hardly.” Iroh snorted. “What happened to that baby was cruel.” 

“SIDS is cruel I suppose, Uncle.” 

“SIDS?” Uncle Iroh asked, tilting his head a bit. “You think the baby died of crib death?” 

“Well of course.” 

Iroh shook his head with a heavy sigh. “Zuko… People in our family don’t die of natural causes.” 

--- 

Present 

“Suki.”

It wasn’t the fact that Zuko Kasai had said her name, but more the way he said it that told Ayamu he was about to die. 

“What the hell is going on?!” He barked up at her. “You’re one of them?! How long?!” 

“Always.” She said simply, naturally like she’d never hidden anything. 

“And you’re willing to throw your life away for them?” 

“No, not for them.” She said quickly. “For him.” She motioned to Zuko who was still cuffed, looking up at her helplessly. 

“You…” Ayamu breathed. “That baby…” 

“Was mine. My father saw to it that there was no record of it, but yes, he was my son. My son that was murdered by his own grandfather.” 

“And so Ozai was killed for it.” 

Suki didn’t answer, but he knew that is what happened. Everything was starting to make sense now; her odd behavior at the graveyard, curiosity over his intentions, the fact that she would commonly drop out of contact on her days off. He felt like a fool. A few feet away Azula Kasai was running over the events of the past few months in her head, also feeling like she should have known better. 

Ayamu sighed heavily, looking around at the others on the ground,  the warehouse, the guns. “You really think you’re going to get away with this?” 

“I do.” Suki said with a little smile. “And I want you to know that you’re a good man and I’ve always respected you for that.” 

“But you’re still going to kill me?” 

“Yes. And I’m not sorry.” 

With that she pulled the trigger, a bullet hitting Ayamu between his deep brown eyes. He fell over dead before the echoing sound of the shot had dissipated from the vast warehouse. Suki froze, looking as his blood ran from his head, pooling on the concrete floor. 

Azula jumped to her feet, her hands never having been fully handcuffed. “I told you not to do anything stupid!” 

“What the fuck was she supposed to do?!” Zuko barked back, trying to roll himself over so he could get up, his legs flailing around a bit. “He found out and she protected herself!” 

“She killed a cop! This isn’t like killing another family member or a street thug. This is a COP!” 

Suki was still and silent as the brother and sister argued back and forth. She looked down at Ayamu’s limp body, thinking about the fact that she really had just ended his life. She’d meant what she said about respecting him. She liked the guy, and trusted him with her life. A twinge of guilt sank into her gut as she realized that up until a few moments ago he could have said the same thing about her. She didn’t regret what she did. But she was starting to feel like it was too sloppy, that this wasn’t just going to be as simple as blowing off his head. 

“Azula!” She called out, making the bickering siblings stop arguing. Zuko was on his feet finally, Azula having undone his cuffs and helped him to his feet. Suki handed Ayamu’s gun to the sister, who took it unknowing. “Shoot me.” Suki told her. 

Zuko looked at them both confused,“What?” 

Azula seemed to know more than him however, raising the gun and placing a shot in the fleshy part of Suki’s right shoulder. 

“What the fuck!?” Zuko yelled as Suki screamed, falling down into a heap only a few feet from Ayamu. 

“Let her bleed a bit.” Azula said with a flat, almost venomous voice, turning her attention to a clearly confused Sokka who was still on the floor. 

“Suki!” Zuko called out, kneeling by her as she held her injured arm, looking at the bleeding wound. “Are you ok?” 

“Yeah.” She breathed. “Actually no.” 

Zuko chuckled at her comment, taking off his button down and applying it as a tourniquet for her arm. “Thank you for that.” He mumbled. 

“Don’t say thank you yet.” She told him, motioning to a still very pissed off looking Azula. 

“Who knew that you were coming here?” She asked. 

“No one.” Suki insisted, wincing as Zuko tightened his shirt around her shoulder, “I didn’t even know that we were till we got here. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Positive! I had no idea.” 

“Right.” Azula sighed. “We have to get her out of here.” 

Zuko nodded, scooping Suki up in his arms and starting to carry her out to the car they’d arrived in. 

Sokka watched them walk away before turning to Azula. “I take it that was his source.” 

Azula nodded, looking down at the body of Ayamu. She’d taken care to remove or clean anything that might carry evidence of them being there, and was checking around more to see if there were anything else she might miss. They would call in the clean up crew to disinfect the area, to dispose of the body, but she still liked taking things into her own hands as much as possible. 

“Are we gonna talk about what she said about your father?” He asked in a soft voice. 

“Later.” She hissed, her face hardening. 

--- 

Katara’s healed Suki as best she could and tucked her away in Zuko’s bed, saying that she needed to rest. The wound wasn’t bad and would heal well. Suki had been given some pain pills and Katara had instructed that no one was to brother her as she rested. It was the only way she was going to get better. 

Zuko reluctantly agreed, but kept looking up towards his bedroom door, thinking that he should go check on her. 

“I still don’t understand why she needed to get shot.” He mumbled at no one in particular. 

“Because if they find that crime scene and find her blood mixed in with Ayamu, they will think they are both dead.” Azula explained. “Plus she needed to suffer a bit.” 

“Suffer? Why?! She didn’t do anything wrong!” 

Azula rolled her eyes, “Let’s recount how badly Suki fucked up today. One, had that damn phone on her when she shouldn't have. Awfully sloppy for someone who’s supposed to be ‘good’ like you always say she is. She then shot and killed her partner, a cop, who everyone is going to be looking for, along with her. They are going to be all over the news, and every law enforcement in the nation is going to be looking for her. That shouldn’t be too hard to combat, right? I guess she won’t be able to leave your bed like you always wanted. 

“And lest we forget that she blew her very, VERY important cover. This entire plan of your’s with the other families hinged on her feeding you information. She’s not exactly a cop anymore so she can’t exactly get information to give to you and for you to give to the others. So basically, because of your girlfriend we’re fucked and there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it!” 

Aang, Katara and Sokka were standing nearby, unsure looks on their faces as they looked from Azula to Zuko, expecting an answer from him. 

"Don't... don't be mad at her for this." Zuko mumbled. "She acted like she did for me. So it's not her fault it's mine, if anything." 

"So then it's your fucking fault!" Azula barked. "So now you have to deal with this AND you still have to give an answer to Hakoda and you don't have ANY idea." 

"I know." Zuko mumbled. "I'll figure it out." 

"Stop saying that! You won't figure it out! You just keep buying time and then fucking yourself over!" 

"So then what the hell should I do!? Give up!?" 

"YES!" 

Aang had heard enough from both Zuko and Azula. They were still talking, yelling really, with no end or resolution in sight. It was useless and he he didn't wanna hear it anymore. He left them behind, climbing the stairs of Zuko's loft that overlooked the main room. He knocked on the bedroom door twice before walking in, finding Suki laying on the bed. 

"I'm not interpreting, am I?" He asked. 

Suki looked up at him with a soft smile on her face. "I’m as busy as I look." She leaned her head back against the headboard. There were pillows all around her, placed there by an over-attentive Zuko. She had one of Zuko's robes half on, her bandaged shoulder exposed. 

Aang closed the door behind him, closing them off from the arguing downstairs. "How are you feeling?" 

"Well... I did just get shot. And everyone hates me so I guess I'm doing ok." 

Aang chuckled, pulling a chair up next to the bed and sitting. "I suppose that was a stupid question." 

"No, you were just being polite. I appreciate it." 

"It's nothing." He flashed her a grin. "You know I don't hate you." 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah. You did what you did to protect Zuko. I would have done the same thing so I'm the last person who would be upset about it." 

She nodded slowly, "But you have to admit that I didn't make things easier on him." 

"I don't think he'll really care about that." Aang mumbled, motioning downstairs. "He'd do anything to protect you, including taking all the heat for this." 

"I know." Suki whispered, using her good arm to pull her blanket close. "I don't why I feel so crummy then?" 

Aang stood up, pulling one of the pillows away and sitting next to Suki where it had been. "Well try and put it into words… Why are you upset?”  

"Cause I fucked up." Her eyes started to well up with tears. "He counted on me and I messed up and now I can't help him anymore. And because of that I might get him, you, me, all of us killed. So yeah I'm gonna be upset! And I think I’m pretty damned well allowed to be.” 

After saying her name in a soft, comforting voice Aang reached out, taking her good hand into his. She resisted for a moment, stuff against him. After a few moments she sighed heavily, allowing herself to relax against him, her head laying on his shoulder. He kissed the side of her head, laying his head on her’s. 

They could still hear the arguing from downstairs, Azula and Zuko yelling at one another. They just sat together in the stillness of the bedroom, holding one another for a little while.

“I think I have an idea.” She whispered finally. “I’m not sure it it’ll work but....” 

“But it’s worth trying.” He said with a smile, turning towards her. “And I believe in you, I think that we can make it work.” 

Suki gave him a small smile and a nod, “Alright. I’ll… need some help getting dressed.” 

Aang nodded, “I think I can help with that.” He flashed a grin, “You know you’re much prettier in real life than you are in pictures.” 

This made her giggle, cheeks tinting pink. “Here I was thinking the same thing about you.” 

Aang chuckled, reaching out and taking her chin into his hand gently, placing a soft kiss on her lips. 

---

They'd taken a break from arguing to get something to drink. If they kept going like this they would lose their voices and they wouldn't be able to yell. Azula was drinking water, as was customary for her. Zuko opted for something stronger, pouring a stiff mixed drink for himself. 

Katara and Sokka were sitting around the small table in Zuko's kitchen area, talking about what the next move. However this talk was cut short by Suki and Aang walking down the steps from the loft and into the big, main room. 

"You should be resting." Katara scolded. "You'll never heal unless you do." 

"I know." Suki mumbled. "But this couldn't wait." 

"Suki has an idea on how to make your father happy and fix everything." Aang said in Sokka and Katara's direction. 

"Oh?" 

Suki nodded as she walked to them slowly. Zuko noticed how he was handling her delicately, a hand placed at the small of her back as he sat her down at the table, a content and loving smile on his face. 

"So what's the idea?" Sokka asked, arms crossing over his chest. 

"The BeiFongs." 

Azula damn ear spat out the water that she was drinking when she heard the name. 

"You're joking, right?" Sokka laughed. 

"You'd think I shot her in the head." Azula mumbled from by the kitchen sink. 

"I think it'll work." Suki defended. "There is no one else who'd want the Ishida out as much as they would." 

"Wait." Katara cut in, "Who are the BeiFongs?" 

"They are an old Chinese crime family. They were big a generation or two ago, but haven't done much of anything in the past 50 years." Sokka explained. "I assumed that they were all dead." 

"Close but not all." Suki said. "The daughter is looking to get back into the game and I think that if you give her the chance to take out the Ishida she'd jump on it." 

"What even makes you think that the Ishida CAN be taken down?" Sokka asked. 

Suki gave a small smile, like she was divulging a hidden gem of information. "Cause they're broke." 

"Broke?" 

She nodded, "The move away from the mainland has cost more than they expected or planned for. They are pouring money into this new territory while ignoring their existing businesses. They have no money in reserves and can't even pay their underlings. 

"You take out Long Feng and the other heads and the rank and file will flock to whoever's willing to give them a paycheck, no matter who the family is. They are all hired goons anyways. No one is related by blood unlike the other families, so the loyalty is shaky at best. It'll remove them from Japan and then the Beifongs can take over their dealings in China. 

"And then your family can work the drug market here in Japan. They will supply you and you can use the new members to help with the dirty work. You’ll get rid of the Ishida and make more money, what’s not to love?” 

Katara and Sokka looked at one another with an impressed shrug, “I suppose it’s something.” 

“We should at least bring it to our father. I think he’ll be down for the idea.” 

“And the story checks out.” Zuko added. “We were thinking that the Ishida had something to hide. Now we know what. If Bato got in he’d find out that they were all bark and no bite. No wonder they shut him out.” 

“But then why kill him?” 

“Ayamu thought it was in part to cover up that they were out of money. But he mostly thought it was a message the the other families." 

"What kind of message?" 

"A declaration of war. That he saw the writing on the wall and took a preemptive strike." 

"But we weren't planning on going to war with him, so Bato died for nothing." 

Suki nodded slowly, "I'm sorry to say." She gave them a sad smile. 

Katara's head hung, "Damn." She mumbled. 

"So... where do we go from here?" Zuko asked. 

"Wait." Azula interjected, having not said anything in awhile. "Are you guys buying this?" 

"Yeah." Katara told her. 

"Why wouldn't we?" 

“Because this is the same girl who blew away a cop like three hours ago! She started this entire damn mess with her cover and now it’s her that’s in charge?!” 

“I never said I was in charge.” Suki barked. “I just had an idea and it seems to be the best one that anyone can come up with. Unless you have something else in mind, Azula?” 

Azula didn’t have anything to say and she knew it, so she kept her mouth shut. 

Zuko stood tall, the serious look covering his face, “Then it’s agreed.” 

“Agreed.” Sokka and Katara echoed. 

“Whatever.” Azula mumbled. For the first time in recent memory she wasn’t happy that Zuko’s plan worked out. 

--- 

“We have to get you out of the country.” Zuko told Suki as he put her back in bed. “They will be looking for you.” 

“I know.” She sighed, settling herself back amongst the pillows and blankets. “I hate it that I can’t go to my house and get my things.” 

“What do you need?” Aang asked as he sat at the foot of the bed, “We can replace it.” 

She shook her head, “It’s momentos and stuff, nothing that can be replaced.” 

Zuko gave a heavy frown, “I’m sorry.” 

Suki shrugged, “It’s nothing. I lived light anyways. I had the feeling that this would happen sooner or later so I didn’t get attached to things.” 

Aang and Zuko exchanged sad looks before turning their attention when back to Suki. “We can make new memories with new momentos.” Aang said with a soft grin. “Together.” 

“Yeah.” Suki breathed, relaxing against her pillows “I’d like that.” 

“You can stay with me at the temple until we can get you out of the country.” Aang offered to her. “The police won’t look there and there is plenty of room.” 

“That’ll work.” 

“We can get you all the new clothes and things that you need.” Zuko offered. “Just think about what you’ll need and we’ll get it.” 

“Thank you.” Suki said with a sleepy smile. “Both of you.” 

They all exchanged smiles, Zuko finding a seat between Aang and Suki on the edge of the bed. “Sooo.” Zuko said, an unsure look on his face. “How are we gonna, you know, do this.” 

“Do what?” Suki asked, tilting her head a bit. 

“This.” Zuko motioned to the three of them. “I mean I’ve been in a monogamous relationship with the two of you and-” 

“You can’t be in a monogamous relationship with two people.” Aang pointed out. 

“It’s true.” Suki added with a grin. 

Zuko rolled his eyes, “You guys know what I’m talking about.” 

“We know.” Suki smiled. “We just like to mess with you.” 

Aang nodded in agreement, “It’s so much fun. It’s like you’re hot AND entertaining.” 

“Here, here.” Suki said with a soft giggle, the action drawing a blush to Zuko’s face. 

“Well thank you but we still don’t have an answer to this.” 

“To what?” Aang asked. “I don’t see anything that needs an answer.” 

“Same.” Suki said with a smile. 

Zuko looked back and forth between the two of them, his face gathering in confusion. “What the hell are you guys talking about?” 

Aang gave Zuko a smile, climbing to his knees and crawling towards Zuko on the bed. He kissed him quickly on the cheek before moving past him and to Suki. He settled himself in next to her, cuddling up against her sweetly. Suki bit her lip, her head laying against Aang’s shoulder. Aang took her hand into his, his eyebrows raising at Zuko. 

It took him a few moments to realize what what going on, what they were saying. His face lit up when he realized it, an actual, real laugh rolling from him. “Hot damn.” He mumbled. 

“Any questions?” Suki asked in a soft, distinctly sultry voice. 

“None.” Zuko said, joining them in their embrace. 

---

He's moved from the cot in the closet to her bed, giving her the space that she needed in the morning. Azula no longer cared if he slept in either. In fact after all the action that happened during the night she felt like letting him sleep in. He needed it. 

Azula also needed the time alone. She was busy punching the hanging bag in a rhythmic pattern, each time she hit the bag it feeling like part of her worries and anxiety were leaving her. She figured that if she hit hard enough and enough times that she'd stop feeling like this. 

Feeling like a fool, like she'd been a willing participant in scam that'd been committed at the expense of her own family, her own father. Feeling like she should have known, that she did know and did nothing about it. 

"Did I know?" She asked her bag. 

It didn't answer, it didn't have to, she already knew. 

It was known that the Aihara family was behind the death of Ozai, her father. While they didn't take credit for the death, the style of the excitation had them written all over it, there was no need to take credit. Normally Azula would have nothing to connect her brother with the death, except for the fact that her brother just so happened to be the lover of the family's heir-apparent. She knew deep in her that Zuko must have had something to do with Ozai's death. He simply MUST have. She just didn't know why. 

Until yesterday. 

She'd been 14 when she held her nephew, and only seen him twice before his death. Even though she was an oddly un-emotional girl, she couldn't deny the strong connection she felt to him. He had red hair like his mother, but there was something that reminded her of photos she'd seen of her and Zuko as babies. He'd been such a sweet thing, and even though he was a big baby, he still seemed so tiny and fragile to her. So perfect. 

Azula mourned him, privately of course. She hated that his life had been taken so soon, before it even got a chance to start. He didn't deserve the short life he had, nor did the family deserve the lingering pain that his death caused. 

So when she'd heard that Ryo's death had been murder and not crib death like she's always been told, she really did feel like the air had been momentarily sucked out of her lungs. The fact that all that pain she felt, both them and since had been artificially, inflicted by her own father, was like losing the baby all over again. 

There was another lingering feeling that she was having issues with, and was hoping that with each punch of her bag it would go away. 

She hit it until she felt like her hands would start bleeding. She lunged against the bag, holding onto it with a weak hug head resting on it. 

"You know you're gonna break your hands doing that." 

She growled to herself, remembering for a moment that part of having a room mate was that they talked sometimes when you didn't want them too. Boyfriend or not. 

"I'm fine." She mumbled to herself, pulling herself up off the bag. 

"Why are you upset?" He asked, reading the hard lines in her chin and shoulders. 

"It's nothing." She turned towards Sokka who was standing in the door, going to walk past him. 

"Hey." He said in a soft voice, hands going to her shoulders. "You know you can talk to me about stuff that's bothering you, right?" 

"I know. But nothing's wrong with me." 

Sokka sighed, giving her a sad little smile. "But we both know that's not the case." This made Azula roll her eyes, but only made Sokka more insistent. "We're together now Azula, for better and worse. And part of that is that you get to talk to someone else about what it is what's bothering you. That's what I'm here for." 

Azula looked down, nodding slowly. "I know." 

"I love you." He told her with a soft smile, brushing some sweat covered hair out of her face. "And I'm here for you." 

"Thank you." She breathed. 

"So?" He asked with a smile, "What's on your mind?" 

Azula swallowed hard, looking into his deep blue eyes. "It's all fucked up, ya know? About my dad and my brother and the baby."

"It's very fucked up." 

"What's worse is that... If what Suki said yesterday was true, that Ozai really did kill Ryo, then.... he deserved to die. I would have done the same thing if I were Zuko." 

Sokka frowned heavily, but nodded slowly. "Anyone would have." 

"Then why am I so angry at him?" Azula whispered in a harsh voice, tears swelling up on the bottom of her eyes. 

Sokka sighed, wrapping her arms around him and holding her close, lips pressing to the side of her head. 

--- 

His scar vanished, the red light that flooded the hallway almost matching the color of the abused skin. He walked with a proud swagger that you didn’t see with many japanese men, let alone Yakuza. Most of his peers in the underworld were older men. Grizzled by years of the war between the families, and they acted as such. But not Zuko. He walked and acted more like a soft spoken rock star than a Family boss. He had no idea of any of this, which more or less added to the appeal. 

Behind him, in the crimson coated hallway, walked two men who knew this better than anyone. Azula wasn’t the only muscle in the family. Mak was a distant cousin and had been around all of Zuko’s life, and been in his corner all the while. He was Zuko’s closest ally outside his sister and lovers. 

When Zuko was unreachable, or otherwise busy, Mak was in charge of things. Not only did he do the dirty work, but he was trusted like few others in the family were. He was the only one outside the siblings who knew about Suki. Not only her true identity but aided Zuko is his visits to her.

Mak was a keen and powerful ally, however it was the last man in the line that arguably was the most powerful and useful. Almost no one knew his real name or where he'd come from, even Zuko just knew him by his moniker, Damien. He was one of the few known Combustion benders. 

He'd been trained by the Aihara family in his youth, for his rare Fire Bending ability was powerful but hard to control. Even under Gyatso's tutelage he was uncontrollable, always problematic in nature and attitude. He was on the verge of either being kicked out, killing himself, or leaving. That's when Aang introduced Damien to the Kasai son, Zuko.  

They understood one another. Damian carried many scars on him, results from his failed attempts at combustion bending.  And much like Zuko's own scar they were reminders of his past, both for better and worse. Zuko had helped him before a better bender. He no longer hurt himself by mistake, and had a much keener use of his ability. He owed his life to Zuko, and he'd been devoted to him and the family ever since. 

Aang had asked Zuko once if he'd befriended Damien for the sake of the friendship, or to have a combustion bender on his side. Zuko thought about it for a moment, then simply smiled behind a lightly clenched fist. 

He always took Damien on things like these, things that he knew would require some back up. And Mak was the one who brought the issue up in the first place, so he was naturally going to be there. 

The effect was specific and powerful, as apparent by the woman in her 20s scampering away from the front desk. 

"Where is she?" Zuko baked at her, not adding anymore context, not needing to. The woman coward, pointing in the direction of a back room. Zuko nodded to Damien, silently giving the man his orders. The almost seven foot man nodded, dipping down another hall way with no further explanation. 

Zuko and Mak disappeared into the room the woman had told them about, going through a few more doors till they arrived at a back office. They meet an older woman, dresses sharply with her hair pulled back in a tight bun. Zuko needed to say nothing as he walked in, she knew what was about to happen. 

"I will pay you!" She barked, standing. 

Zuko and Mak stood shoulder to shoulder, looking at the woman. 

"Things have been slow! The girls are lazy! I can pay you now!" She continued, clearly frantic. "Double what I owe!" 

Mak was the first to move, reaching into his breast pocket to pull out a small notebook, reading over it for a few more long moments where the woman pleaded for another chance. 

"You're three months behind." Mak finally said, interrupting. "And, as if that wasn't enough, you recently bought a new car for yourself. A new BMW, if my notes are right." 

Zuko broke from his potion beside Mak, starting to circle the room, observing the area but still listening to his cousin. 

"A new Audi for your husband too, and a holiday in Hawaii for the both of you and some of your girls." 

"Always wanted to visit." Zuko mused to himself, flipping over some papers on her desk. 

"Seemed to enjoy herself too. A two week holiday turned into six." 

Zuko nodded, picking up a framed picture of her husband. 

"Boss!" A deep voice yelled, rolling back into the office. Zuko looked up, knowing Damien's voice anywhere. He hardly ever spoke, and when he did there was a good reason. He left the office, following the voice to another room towards the back. Damien  was standing in the door, and motioned for Zuko to enter. 

There was a room like this and everyone of these establishments. The girls usually stayed in the back rooms, huddled together, living together in a small space while they were not actively working. It was to be expected. However what Zuko saw had nothing to do with the room, and everything to do with the women in it. 

"Take any you want!" The madame called from behind Mak and Damien. "Free of charge!" 

All of the girls were standing in a line, as if waiting to be presented to him. Zuko walked to one of them, taking her face into his hand. He studied her intently, the girl flinching at the contact. He looked over over, finding a smooth face covered with skin that was fresh, young, too young. He frowned. 

"How old are you?" He asked, knowing the answer, even though she wouldn't say it. 

"They are all LEGAL!" The madame yelled. 

Zuko let go of the one, moving onto the next and then the next, finding that each one looked just as young, if not younger than the next. 

"All of them?" Mak asked, his voice not sad but matter-of-factly. 

"Enough of them." Zuko replied. He stepped back, looking over all of them with his arms crossed over his chest. 

He saw Suki in them. Not the Suki that was back at the temple that he wanted to get back to desperately, but the one he'd known tucked away in the home of their tutor, with flushed cheeks and skin too young to know the kind of touch he'd given her. Years ago when she told him that they’d been victims of one another he hadn’t believed her. How could he when all he felt was love? But now, over the years, looking back on it as an adult, his mind had changed, and he believed what she had said. 

Without another thought he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a switchblade. He went back to the first girl, taking his knife to her face. 

The girls all screamed, including the one in his hand. Because of her movement his cut wasn't perfect, but it was there. It wasn't deep enough that it would need medical attention, but deep enough that it would scar, deep enough that they would never lose her mark. 

The action was repeated one by one to all the girls. It didn't matter if they were of age or not to Zuko, he knew what needed to be done. Damien had to restrain a few, even Mak held one that was crying hysterically as Zuko cut her. But in the end they were all done, all marked. 

"Listen to me." Zuko told them all, standing before them as he wiped his knife clean with his silk kerchief. "I've marked you today for one simple reason. If I ever see you, or your mark, in a place like this, ever again, I will kill you." They all shrieked a bit. "I will not hesitate. I will not show mercy." 

He held his blade and kerchief in his hand loosely a he spoke to them. "Go home to your mother. Marry a man who works hard. Have children. And never let me see your mark again." 

He turned on his heels and quickly made his way to the Madame. He held her face with one hand, the other taking the blade to her throat where he slit it in one quick motion. She gasped, but not quickly enough to stop blood from spitting out her lips. 

The girls screamed in horror as she hit the floor, dead. Zuko looked back to them, eyes fixated on all of them and none of them at once. With that he turned and left, stepping over the body of the Madame in the process. Mak and Damien followed, leaving the girls alone with the madame. Zuko's blame was once again cleaned and tucked away before they reached the car. 

"I thought you weren't going to kill her." Mak asked Zuko, sitting in the backseat with him as Damien drove. 

"I wasn't." Zuko admitted. "The plan was to rough her up a bit, send a message. But then..." 

"The girls."

Zuko fell silent, but nodded. He wanted to get to the temple, where he knew Aang and Suki were waiting, where things made sense, even as fucked up as they were. 

---

She was the last piece of her mother that he had, and much like the water she bent her presence was cooling and calm to him. He didn’t care about her past, or about how many she killed, all he cared about was the smile she wore every time they saw one another. 

The loss of Bato had been hard on him and the presence of his beloved daughter helped to calm him, even if the news she bore wasn’t the best. 

“I don’t understand why Zuko let her blow her cover. For a man that seems to in control it feels sloppy.” 

“I agree.” Katara shrugged, sitting on the lush chair of the sunroom of her father’s house next to him. “He can’t even control his own woman.” 

“Right.” Hakoda shrugged, looking over at Katara with a sheepish grin. “But then again, I can’t control you, does that make me a bad leader?” 

Katara chuckled, “That’s hardly the same thing.” 

“Isn’t it?” Hakoda smiled. “I also can’t be too mad about it. It seems like she was protecting him, and in this business it pays to have people who are willing to protect you.” 

“Even at the cost of losing a cover like that?” 

“A cover, a life, a future.” Hakoda nodded slowly, “Sounds like love.” 

Katara rolled her eyes, looking at the glass of water she was holding on her knee. “Whatever. I have to go shopping for her after I leave here. She has nothing so I need to go and get some things for her.” 

“That should be fun, I know how much you like to shop. Just don’t go crazy with all that fancy stuff.” He made a motion to her clothing. 

“Fancy stuff?” 

“Yeah, fancy stuff. I get the credit card bill you know.” He laughed. 

“You’ve never had to problem with it before.” Katara smiled, 

“Well I don’t have a problem with it. I want you to have those things after all. But it might be a little much for a woman who’s not as fancy as you.” 

“You know I’m not sure if you’re insulting me or not.” 

Hakoda reached over, patting her on the shoulder. “You know I love you, Katara.” 

“I know.” She mumbled. “So I guess I need an answer for what to do with Zuko’s plan.” 

Hakoda looked out through the open walls of the sun room, eyes scanning the horizon. The house was placed on a large land area that he and Kya had bought before the kids were born. It was away from the hustle and bustle of the city, of the Yakuza. He had an apartment in the city that he stayed in, but he mostly stayed here in the estate. It made him happy, it brought him peace, it helped him think. 

“If I say no��� then the alliance will be broken and we will be thrown back into war. You’re brother is involved with a Kasai, who I happen to like even though you don’t trust her.” 

This drew a groan from Katara, but another dry chuckle from Hakoda. 

“I like her killer edge.” His lips curled into a smile, tone light. “Reminds me of someone else I know.” 

“If you say so.” Katara mumbled, lips twisting in an annoyed frown. “Go on…” 

“I can’t see your brother throwing her to the side at this point in time. So even if we go back into war, he’s not likely to choose a side. Doing so would alienate her and he won’t have it. I don’t think Azula would be so idealistic. She won’t turn her back on her brother, but that’s not to say she’ll stay out of the fight. She’ll offer him support, that much I know.” 

“Which would be problematic.” 

“To say the least. The biggest problem lies not with the Kasai’s, but with the Aihara’s. They are and have always been the most dangerous of the families and I was always personally grateful for their neutrality. I had been under the hopeful assumption that Ozai’s death was an anti-Kasai movement, retribution towards the family. However knowing what we know now, about Zuko and Aang’s relationship and the baby that was supposedly murdered, I see now that it was a pro-Kasai, a pro-Zuko move. He may not control the family, but he might as well.  

“So fact of the matter is that if we say no, we go to war against the Aihara and Kasais, as well as the Ishidas, all without your brother.” 

Katara nodded, “And the other option…” 

Hakoda nodded. “We accept their offer. We work with the Bei Fongs. Expand our business. Make more money.” 

“Seems cut and dry. But It may not pan out though. The Bei Fongs may get cold feet, may not be interested.” 

Hakoda shrugged, “And if those things happen we’re back where we are now. So what do we have to lose?” 

Katara sighed, “I suppose you’re right…” 

“I know I’m right.” He smiled. 

“Right.” She groaned again. “I’ll let them know…” 

--- 

“Come mer’ you!” Aang growled, lunging for her. 

“Stop it!” She laughed as he tackled her softly, pressing her down on the bed before placing a string of kisses along her collarbone. 

“Come on, you know you like it.” He mumbled into her skin. 

“Yeah.” Suki sighed, wrapping her legs around his hips. “I think I’m partial to it.” 

His kisses lead a trail up her neck, hand groping and caressing her as he did so. He’d never get over how good she felt. He’d only been with Zuko for the past decade or so, and had grown used to the hardness of his body, the lines that jut and cut against his own. So to hold Suki, who was flesh and curves, was a refreshing change to him. He saw the benefits of having two lovers, really. 

“I just got dressed.” She sighed into his lips. 

Aang withdrew the hand he’d placed in her shorts, a disappointed pout on his face. “But these are my clothes.” 

“You’re point?” She pushed him off her so that they were both in a sitting position. Aang kissed her again, this time with a sad little sigh. “I’m gonna get new clothes today anyways, so then you won’t have anything to hold over my head. Even though I don’t think I’ll like what she picks out for me. She’s much too… frilly for me.” 

“Well I think you could also be frilly if you wanted to.” Aang kissed her on the shoulder. “Frilly would look nice on you.” Aang looked at the clothes she had on; a pair of his old shorts, and a ripped t-shirt that was one of the one’s Zuko left here at the Temple for himself. She’d been wearing more or less the same thing since she’d gotten here a few days ago. He thought she looked so beautiful, so perfect. 

With daily healing sessions from Katara her shoulder was healing well. She was resting comfortably in Aang’s room, with him constantly checking on her. She slept mostly, watching TV between naps. Truth be told she felt like she’d gone through a mental and emotional marathon. Killing her partner was never something she thought about doing, let alone planned to. She mourned for not only him but for her old life and everything that she’d worked for. She took pride in being a cop, and now it was all gone. 

It was a lot to take in and a short amount of time to do it. It’s why she’d spend most of her time at the temple curled up in Aang’s bed, crying from time to time. 

Zuko was taking care of things around town, coming back to the temple when he could. He, along with Aang, soothed Suki’s fears and dries her tears. They both supported her, doing everything they could to make her feel better. They’d make love, the three of them, and kiss away all the fears that they could. The best thing for her to was just to be held by them, her body lovingly cradled between their strong figures. It was the only time that she felt right, that she truly felt things would be ok. 

“You’re beautiful no matter what.” Aang whispered to her, kissing her on the cheek softly. 

“Yeah.” She sighed. “Me and my frizzy hair and loose morals.” 

“Hey.” He scolded gently, kissing her on the lips softly. “I think you’re great. And I don’t care about those things.” 

“I know.” She said with a soft smile. “It doesn't matter to you.” 

“No.” He took the side of her face into his hand, turning her to face him. “The only thing that matters to me is that you’re here, and that you’re safe. And you’re both those things, right?” 

“I am.” 

“So I know that things kinda suck right now. I know that you’re frustrated. But things will be ok, they will work out. I know it.”

Suki leaned in and kissed him quickly, pulling away with a soft smile. “Thank you.” She breathed. 

“You’re welcome…” Aang nodded. “We should have sex again.” 

Suki let out a roar of laughter, falling back down on the bed with Aang following her down, kissing her as many times as he could manage before there was a knocking at the door. 

“Yes?” Aang yelled back at the door. 

Katara’s voice replied, “It’s me. I have clothes.” 

Suki snarled, looking at Aang. He gave her another kiss, lifting himself up off the bed and to the door. Suki sat up in the middle of their mussed up bed, legs crossing in front of her. Aang opened to door and Katara came through it, huffing as she carried a half dozen large bags. Suki knew right away that her fears had been founded. The bags read Burberry, Guuchi, Christian Louboutin, Michael Kors and Barney’s, all not the kind of places that Suki would even think about shopping at. 

“Are those my clothes?” 

Katara nodded, sitting them on the bed by her. “I wasn’t sure what to get you, so I got you things that I would wear.” 

“I was worried about that.” Suki mumbled, opening one of the bags and finding a shoe box. She popped it open, pulling out a pair of insanely high, white heels with red soles. “Well these would be good for self defence.” Aang had sat next to her on the bed, Suki pretending to jab the heel in his neck. Aang laughed, pulling out another shoebox that housed an equally impractical pair of heels. 

“Well they will add a few inches to you.” 

Suki put them back in the box with a shake of the head, “You’ll have to return these. I can’t wear them.” 

“Why not?” Katara asked, popping a hip. “Those are great shoes.” 

“Yeah for you. I can’t do anything with a heel.” Suki started inspecting the rest of her new things, each thing worse and more impractical than the next. The things were frilly and delicate, the kinds of things that she’d never be able to move around in. Sure the things were pretty, lovely even. But they weren't for her. “All of these have to go back.” 

“Even the jewelry?” 

Suki looked at the bag from Barney’s, looking at the few pieces that she’d been given. Suki sat a few aside, but put most of them back in the bag. “They just aren't for me.” Suki said with a shrug. “What the hell am I gonna do with a diamond studded choker?” 

“You wear it.” Katara snapped, pulling the bags away from her. “At least normal people do.” 

“Well then I guess I’m not normal.” 

“I’ll say.” Katara snarled. "At least tell me that the underwear and bras are ok." She gave Suki a pink bag which the women looked at. 

"These might be..." Suki pulled out a very small, very lacy thong. "What the hell?" 

"Now those I like." Aang said with a grin. "As one of your boyfriends I say you should keep them." 

Suki gave a soft smile, looking through the other things. "They are nice and fancy but... didn't you get me anything normal?" 

Katara reached into the bag, pulling out a lace see-through bra. "This is everyday." 

Suki rolled her eyes, looking at Aang. "These will work for... special occasions." She blushed a little bit. "But I will need some other things. I'll make you a list before you go out again." 

"You ok to go shopping again?" Aang asked Katara. 

"I'm always up to go shopping." She said. "Oh, and I have some good news. My father is good with the new course of action." 

"He was alright with it? I thought it would take some convincing." 

"Well, he had to convince me." She shrugged. "I still don't think it'll work but he's convinced." 

"I'm sorry you feel like that, but I'm glad that the family is onboard." 

"Whatever." Katara said with a sigh. "I guess we'll see what happens." She was packing the clothes and shoes up in the bags. "I suppose I have to go back and return these things." 

"I'll make a list of things for you to get." She looked at Katara, lifting herself off the bed. "And stores that you can find them." 

Katara cut a glare as Suki walked from the bed room and into Aang's small sitting room. Aang closed the door behind her, saying that he needed to talk to Katara. 

"Leave the underwear." He told her. "And that one blue-green dress with all the shimmery stuff on it. It'll look nice on her." 

"But she hated it." 

"Yeah I know. She's just preening her feathers." 

"She's what?" 

"You're more glamorous than her and you come in with clothes that are above her and she got defensive. She’s… wanting to reject that." He gave a shrug. "It happens." 

"Sure." Katara looked at the door where Suki was sitting behind. "Do you really love her?" 

Aang blinked at the question. "I... never said I did? I just meet her." 

"Then why are you doing this with her and Zuko? I mean you could be with anyone and you choose to have to share your lover with someone else." 

He shook his head, "I don't see it like that. It’s true I just meet Suki, but I still feel like I have a connection with her, through of Zuko. I love him and have gladly shared my life with him for the past decade and want to be with him forever. She'd part of him and has been long before I was. I couldn't think about asking him to leave her for me. What kind of partner would I be if I did that? And I care about her, I know her through him and I have a connection that's not something to be taken lightly." Aang smiled to himself. "And I know that I'll love her in time, I have no doubt of that." He hadn’t expressed his feelings on the matter out loud yet. Doing so banished any relinquishing fears and reservations that he had. 

“Sounds dumb.” Katara sighed. “But… as long as you’re happy.” 

“I am.” He grinned. “And the sex is… unique.” 

Katara fought a blush, letting her curiosity taking control of her mouth. “Do you all kinda... “ She made a motion with her hand to the bed. “Pile on and go for it?” 

Aang laughed, running his fingers through his thick hair. “It’s a bit more…. Elegant than that but yeah.” 

“Weird.” She mumbled. 

Aang shrugged, "If I put in a good word for you you might be able to watch." He wiggled his eye brows, turning on his heels and walking though the door and back to Suki. He, oddly enough had started to miss her and wanted to be near her again. 

---- 

"I'm gonna show you what's up so hard." Sokka snarled down. "When I'm done with you, you're going to be BEGGING for me to stop." 

Azula tilted her head, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "What?" 

"Oh. You heard me." He smirked again. 

"You're so strange." 

Sokka let out a menacing laugh, attacking the plate he had in his hand with the scrub brush, mania in his eyes. 

"There is something kinda sexy about it." Azula said to herself, watching her boyfriend do the dishes. He had light blue on gloves on as he cleaned, the textures finger tips of the gloves tight around his own fingers. Except for the two pinky fingers, those hung loose, the rubber grips having lost their usefulness. 

"Can I ask you about them?" 

"About what, babe?" Sokka asked, glancing over at her. 

"Your fingers." 

Sokka looked over at her surprised. It was a common thing for members, mostly males, of most families to have these wounds. It started back with the old Samurai families, when masters would order their students to cut off tips of their fingers as a way to be punished for a transgression. The idea was that the shorter your finger was, the less powerful grip you’d have on your weapon, the more dependent you would be on your master, the less likely you’d be to leave the group. As times changed and the elegant katana was replaced by a brass knuckles and pistols, the tradition stuck. Hakoda had the tips of his own small fingers missing, more so than Sokka did in fact. 

"Why do you wanna know?” He asked. “I thought you'd be used to this kinda thing." 

Azula shook her head, "Kasai's don't cut fingers, they burn." 

"Ah… That explains your brother's face.” 

Azula leaned against the counter, facing him. “That was a whole thing. Usually the punishment will be something minor, a burn on the arm or the like. But my father...” She swallowed hard. “He went overboard with it. Burnt half of his face off, nearly killed him, no one was ever the same.” She rolled her eyes, batting away the onslaught of honesty with a sarcastic brush of the hand. “Ozai Never gave Zuko a punishment after that.” 

“Makes cutting off fingers seem a bit more reasonable.” Sokka mumbled from the cup he was washing. “I actually think of them as a badge of honor. If not for them I wouldn't have grown as a man and as a leader. I would never have gotten the respect that I have.” His strong shoulders shrugged. "Much like your tattoos." 

Azula had on a tank top, and looked down at her heavily tattooed arms. She had never really thought of the correlation. For her the tattoos were expected and natural for her. Her own father had them, had her entire life. Zuko started getting his when he was only 15, boys were usually allowed to get them young after all. So by the time Azula turned 16 she was eager and ready to get her’s. She’d been so excited to get her first ink. 

However the sight of the grouping of needles going into the skin on her arm proved to be too much for her. She passed out cold. 

She woke up after a while, the female tattoo artist tending to her. Azula was annoyed with herself actually. She’d been all excited for this tattoo, for years even. And she passed out like a bitch. She told the tattoo artist to keep going, even if she passed out under her. It was a weird tattoo session to say the least. The sessions after that were better, and Azula had arms, shoulders and a back to show for it. 

“Did you pass out when you got your fingers chopped?” Azula asked. She’d told Sokka about her tattoo experience the other day, which he’d listed to but laughed at a little bit. He found it cute and endearing, in an Azula kinda way. 

“I didn’t.” He told her with a sott smile. “I didn’t cry or anything. I actually watched it happen.” 

She squirmed, imaging the thought of watching an appendage being cut off like that, “Did you have to?” 

“Watch it?” 

“Your finger being cut?” 

“Nah.” He shrugged. “Just wanted to.” 

“So you’ve always been into pain.” 

“It’s not so much about the pain as it is the thrill.” Sokka chuckled, taking his gloves off and sitting them to the side. “Well in a way. When I was a kid it came out in risk driven behaviors. Fast cars, guns, fighting, you know the like. But as I’ve gotten older it’s become more… established you could say.” 

Azula raised an eyebrow, “Is that so?” 

Sokka nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. “They are very… specific in nature.” 

Azula moved towards him, slowly picking up a towel that was sitting nearby, twisting it into a rope. “I see.” He purred, going to stand behind him. Sokka turned away from her and towards the sink, glancing back at her with a smile. “I wonder whatever it is.” She took the rag, ying it around Sokka’s wrists. She wasn’t gentle, she didn’t need to be, never with him. 

“We shall just have to find out.” Sokka mused, smiling almost slyly. 

Azula tighten the bounds, smiling as she put a hand on his back, bending him over the sink. She followed him, leaning in and nipping at his earlobe playfully, “We shall.” 

---- 

The next day Suki was in normal, respectable clothes, and she'd never been happy to be so. She would have been in her fitted jeans and hoodie, lounging in bed and eating ice cream, but today there was a mission to be had. She smoothed her green lace top over her fit figure, stealing a glance from Zuko who was fixing at his tie. 

"You look nice." He said over to her, smiling softly. "You look like yourself." 

"I feel like myself." She said, looking over at him, "In many ways." 

"Oh?" 

She nodded, her eyes soft as she looked at him. "I feel like I belong here, by your side." 

Zuko reached out, taking her hand into his and kissing her on the side of her head. "You do belong here, you always have." 

Her entire body sighed, grinning happily. 

"You guys ready?" Aang asked, walking in the door to the small side room that they'd changed in. 

"We are." Suki said with a sure nod. 

Aang nodded, walking to them and taking each of their hands into his. They stood together, the three of them linked. "I want you both to know that no matter what happens out there we will have one another. And we will figure this out together, no matter what “it” happens to be." 

They all nodded in agreement, knowing before he said that that it was in fact the truth. They dropped hands, but walked through the door together, as one. 

They meet Sokka, Azula and Katara already in the room. They were all dressed in their suits and ties, proper attire for a meeting of this caliber, of this importance. This was after all not just about the current alliance, but about the future for everyone involved in their world. 

“Is she here?” Azula asked, tone impatient. “She was supposed to be here half an hour ago.” 

“She’ll be here when she’s here.” Suki assured her, standing between Zuko and Aang. “She’s a bit of a…” 

“A free spirt.” Aang added, smiling over at Suki. They were the only two that knew anything about her, the only two who knew what to expect. 

She eventually arrived, only being introduced to the group after surrendering her weapons and being searched by some of Sokka’s men. She came in escorted on the arm of a man looking much larger and powerful than many in the room. Toph Bei Fong was tiny, and rather unassuming because of her size, statue and dress. In fact Sokka had to hold back a laugh upon seeing her. Azula cut him a glare for it. 

Zuko took the lead, as he usually did. “Toph Beifong.” He bowed. “My name is Zuko Kasai, thank you for agreeing to meet with me and my associates.” 

She just gave a shallow bow, her eyes wide and blank, evidence of her blindness. She pulled herself away from her escort, just enough to be able to take a step forward on her own, the escort leaving the room with a bow. “You should be thanking me. After all you have found yourself in quite a predicament and I seem to be the only person that can help you.” 

Zuko made a small noise of consideration, his brows creasing. It was true, in a way, but it wasn’t the ony side of the story. 

“I beg your pardon, ma’am. But you find yourself in an equally problematic position. Yes, we need your help. However you need us as well.” 

“Oh?” She tilted her head just so, her expression curious but amused. “I do?” 

“No one gives a shit about the Beifongs.” The statement rang in the quiet room. The gathered group looked between Zuko and Toph, tension clear and quickly mounting. “Your family hasn’t been anything in decades and now suddenly you want to be part of this? You don’t juet get to walk into everything that we’ve worked towards for years without being invited. Without being allowed in. So yes, Ms. Beifong, we need you, but you need us even more.” 

Things held still in the hair for a long moment, no one sure of what was going to happen. 

It was Toph who first laughed, first broke the silence. “Normally I kill people who disrespect me like that... “ 

“But you’re not going to kill me.” Zuko said quickly. 

“No, unfortuniatly not this time” She sighed, “I can read the room better than that even if I am blind.” She motioned to the gathered crowd. “And if anything I’d say you are well on your way to your goal, even without my help. So I will be glad to add to it.” 

“How so?” Zuko asked. 

“Well… As far as I can tell this is the first time, in a long time, all the families have been under the same roof with no hostilities or threats of violence. And I would hate to break up such a love fest.” She said this with a bit of a dramatic flair and roll of her pale eyes. 

Zuko cleared his throat, bringing the conversation back to himself, “Well… I welcome you to our alliance then.” 

“Whatever.” Toph sighed, pulling her hand away. “Who’s got the booze?” She asked. “I don’t trust anyone till I’ve drank with them.” 

Zuko let out a break he didn’t even know he’s been holding, turning to Suki and Aang, who both assured him with small smiles and nods of approval. 

[gamebunny-advance]

I’m Feeling Saucy...

Time to post some *really* old NSR/Desynchronized comic sketches.

I’m putting them under a readmore because they’re *especially* bad and weren’t posted for a reason, but I feel like the only way I ever look at my old sketches is if I post them. So hopefully doing this will motivate me to actually finish one of these.

Contains Potential Spoilers For: 1010 Desynchronized

“Mug”

From a comic about Kerinting breaking one of Kliff’s mugs by mistake. I never got the layouts down for this one (that’s gonna be a running theme for most of these). I don’t think I ever finished the script for this one because I think it’s way too sappy, but I’m scrapping it anyway because I don’t want to write White as being physically abusive anymore.

Captions:

Kliff: I mean, yeah. I liked that mug, and now I have a mess to clean up.

Kliff: But I’m not going to hit you over it. It was a mistake.

Kerinting: I made a mistake... but I’m not being punished?

Kliff: Hey, this isn’t an inviation to break all my mugs. Just be careful next time.

------

“Untitled”

This is from one of the earlier rewrites of Desynchronized B Plot. Since I’m scrapping that version, I can talk about it a bit more.

Since I scrapped the original kidnapping plot for being in bad taste, the new idea was that during an unauthorized getaway into the city, Kerinting got separated from the main group and wound up in the trash (in most versions of that script, they accidentally got caught up in a fight, but since 1010s can’t retaliate against humans while in civilian mode, Kerinting became the distraction to let the others escape, but he didn’t make it out).

Coincidentally, on the same night, Kliff was coming home from a night of drunken karaoke and had noticed him in the trash. Joey (his neighbor) had forced him to go out since Kliff had gotten extremely depressed after the events of the game and had just been moping around his apartment for the past month or so.

Thinking it was just a bootleg that was tossed and against his better judgement, Kliff takes Kerinting home with the intention of gutting him for parts. The following day, Kerinting was able to reactivate himself, shocking Kliff who had no idea that Kerinting was a genuine 1010.

There are two different routes that I wrote for this version of the incident:

One was that Kliff just tells Kerinting to leave, but Kerinting refuses to since he was out past curfew: any 1010 not back home by a certain time will be destroyed, no questions asked.

The other was that Kliff physically takes Kerinting back to Barraca mansion, but gets into an argument with NJ about it, causing them both to flee back to Kliff’s place.

In either scenario, Kerinting is essentially abandoned by the others and is taken in by Kliff out of pity/spite. In most versions, this backstory was revealed through a conversation with Joey. Joey was actually a lot more prominent in earlier versions since he more or less served as the “voice of reason” to the other two’s nonsense. He might still be, but I haven’t thought of many other scenarios where he’s really “needed”.

Captions:

Joey: So... this thing...

Joey: Just lives with you now?

Kliff: Yep.

Joey: And you’re okay with that?

Kliff: It wasn’t my choice to make.

----------

“Routine”

I really liked the idea of a comic comparing and contrasting what the daily routines of the Green 1010s were now that Kerinting is living with Kliff.

Despite how bad they are, I do feel like the scribbles speak for themselves about what’s going on. But I did want to make an aside about how they sleep: In earlier drafts Kerinting just slept next to a cabinet in the living room because it’s visible and doesn’t take up much space (Kerinting used to stay in Kliff’s closet, but he kept getting scared by him). In more recent stories he sleeps in a suitcase next to the cabinet. The other 1010s sleep in what I call a “standing bed”. It’s a dock that they hook into so they can charge and upload their memories for the day. In earlier drafters this had to be done physically instead of being remotely uploaded.

----------

“Memories”

One of my “dream pieces” is to draw “Kliff’s Photo Album” where he keeps all of the pictures from his younger days. Top left would have been him and young!NJ. Bottom left is NJ recieving letters/gifts from his classmates before he gets shipped out. Top mid-right is a young!Tatiana. Below that was supposed to be Kul Fyra. Far right was a strip of one of those photobooth things with all 3 of them.

I had an idea for a comic where he takes one of those with Mayday & Zuke in one of the Sayu Photobooths as a celebration of him helping them take down one of NSR’s artists. When he came home, he would have put that one with the ones he took with Tatiana and NJ all those years ago. I might still do that one day because I still think it’s a cute idea, I just don’t think I can execute it that well XP.

----------

“Pet”

I think I’ve posted the script for this one already, though I’m not sure which one would have been the most recent iteration.

Anyway, this comic is mostly about Kliff comparing the ways that Kerinting behaves more like an animal than a full-fledged human. The 1010 AI is fairly advanced, but it’s still very predictable.

Captions:

Voiceover Kliff: It likes getting treats.

Kliff: Here, I found another mixtape for you.

Kerinting: Yay! Thank you!

Voiceover Kliff: It needs constant affection or it gets lonely.

Kliff: You did good today! *pat pat*

Kerinting: Really? I did good today?

Voiceover Kliff: It’s good at learning new tricks.

Kerinting: I cooked it just like you taught me!

Kliff: Yep. Looks good.

Voiceover Kliff: And no matter what it does, I can’t stay mad at it because it’ll hit me with those [puppy dog eyes].

Kerinting: I’m sorry. I broke it again.

----------

“Daddy”

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before, but it’s a personal joke that 1010 calls anyone who even vaguely has some authority over them “Dad”, including each other. NJ is a dad for obvious reasons. DJSS is a dad because he’s dating NJ. Kliff is a dad because he helped design the MKI OS. And I don’t think I had considered it at the time of writing this one, but they call Tatiana “Dad” too because she’s NJ’s boss.

Captions:

Kliff: How many “dads” do you things even have?

White: There’s the Captain, you, DJ Subatomic Supernova, and me.

Kliff: What do you mean “me”?

White: I’m a first gen 1010, so that makes me their dad.

(White is an upgraded MKI. Red & Blue are upgraded MKIIs. Yellow & Green were born as MKIIIs.)

[volvolts]

Zuke-

Sexuality: pan

Fav ships: zuke/white is kinda cute ngl

Brotp: mayday/Zuke hell yeah. I love their dynamic it’s really sweet and just love how supportive he is of her

Notp: Zuke/Eve mostly because I just can’t imagine them ever getting back together

Random headcanon: Zuke is ambidextrous and I also like the idea of him liking 1010’s music but only as a guilty pleasure

General opinion: I think he’s pretty cool but in the grand scheme of things I don’t really think much of him sorry,,,

[mindareadsoots]

So. Peridot.

sigh, this is gonna be a mess.

So, in case you hadn’t heard, Maya Petersen said on twitter this morning that Peridot is aro/ace according to “Word of St Paul”

My opinion, honestly, is that it’s not really evident in the show so you can headcanon Peridot however you want, and that could be the end of the post right there. Full stop.

As for Lapidot, I don’t see how this post changes anything. Lapis is also adverse to fusion, so accepting that Peridot is aro/ace doesn’t even change their dynamic all that much (although put a pin in that for later, because we’re going to have to come back to that). And anyways, Word of God can not and does not stop people from shipping things.

But much like Peridot’s character development, ending things there would be abrupt and unsatisfying, so we’re going to go deeper than that.

Asexuality and Fusion

The big elephant in the room that I want to get out of the way first is that I don’t have a problem with Peridot being aro/ace. There’s some evidence for it (and some against it, but we’ll get to that later), and overall I like it as a character beat for her. It’s a fairly rare bit of representation, so it’s nice to see.

However, I have a HUGE problem with them tying asexuality to Peridot’s disinterest in fusion.

Fusion has always been much more than an analogue for sex. If it wasn’t, then we’d be talking about how Steven and Connie are too young for fusion, and Steg is incestuous. And we don’t want to go down that road. That’s a dumb road.

Fusion can represent loving (Garnet), platonic (Smoky Quartz), or familial relationships (Steg). It can represent budding relationships (Stevonnie) or alliances of convenience (Bluebird Azerite).

Fusion is a versatile metaphor, but it’s that very versatility that works against it when connecting it to asexuality. Because now you’re basically saying that aro/ace people can’t have any meaningful relationships, and that’s clearly not the message that they want to send with Peridot. This could be cleared up if Peridot’s stance on fusion and what it means for her relationships with others was actually examined in the show, but it hasn’t been.

Word of God vs The Work Itself

So is Peridot a good representation of asexuality within the show itself?

On the whole? Maybe, but at best it’s unclear.

That’s why I can’t say whether or not Peridot discovering her asexuality is a good or satisfying character beat in the show. It’s not in the show at all! If you’re looking for representation, we can do better than this. This show has done better than this.

The only scene you can really point to where Peridot shows an aversion to fusion is in Log Date, when Garnet offers to show Peridot what fusion is like with a firsthand experience. 

This moment later got a callback in one of the children’s books talking about fusion, complete with the alien boxers she wore in that same episode.

The problem is that this scene happens very, VERY early on in Peridot’s character development. Log Date was a flashback episode to before Message Received, so Peridot still considered herself loyal to Homeworld at that point. That whole scene - indeed, that whole episode - was about Peridot experimenting and learning how to be more than just a tool for Homeworld. She didn’t have her meep morps yet. She didn’t have her metal powers yet. 

In fact, after Too Short to Ride came out, I remember seeing speculation that Peridot was afraid that she couldn’t fuse and so she broke off with Garnet out of embarrassment.

More importantly, it would have been wrong for Peridot to fuse right at that moment, regardless of her sexuality. She was still getting to know the Crystal Gems. She didn’t have an established relationship with Garnet or really anybody in the cast at that point, so seeing her fuse then would have been meaningless. The scene very clearly set up fusion as something for Peridot to explore later, once she has found somebody who she is ready to fuse with.

And shortly after that episode, Peridot would meet...

Lapis

Let’s call a spade a spade. The real reason why people are upset about Peridot being labeled ace is because of Lapidot, and I think that’s a perfectly valid reaction. It isn’t ace-phobia or erasure to say, “Word of God tried to sink my ship, and I don’t like it.”

I’m not going to go through all of the moments hinting at a romantic interest between Lapis and Peridot, but, ya know...

They’re there.

And they were clearly put there on purpose, as expressed by storyboarder Jesse Zuke back when they were working on the show. 

In truth, I’m not interested in re-litigating whether or not their relationship actually became a true romance, because it’s irrelevant. Either way, the most important relationship the two of them had was with each other. Peridot being ace doesn’t take way from that, but it does leave Lapis in an awkward spot in one specific way.

As I mentioned at the top of the post, Lapis has displayed an aversion to fusion, which could make her perfectly compatible with an aro/ace Peridot. However, there’s one very important difference. Unlike Peridot, who came into her asexuality from thoughtful introspection (or so we’ve been told) Lapis’s problem with fusion comes from a traumatic experience. She isn’t aromantic by choice, it’s a wound that’s still fresh.

So - and again, this question applies whether you ship Lapidot romantically or not - if Lapis is working through the trauma of a bad fusion experience, but the character she’s closest to doesn’t want to fuse, then where does that leave her?

This comes back to that first big problem with the tweet, which is that this shouldn’t be a problem. There is no reason why Peridot can’t have a platonic fusion with Lapis while being aro/ace, but it’s clearly not going to happen in SUF, and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen ever.

There are other candidates, of course. Lapis also has a very close and trusting friendship with Steven, she seems to be getting along well with Bismuth in the limited time we’ve seen them together, and in Why So Blue, she even made a potential new friend in fellow Lapis “Freckles” Lazuli. 

But even so, the most on screen relationship development she’s gotten has been with Peridot, and now that character development is just kind of in limbo.

In Conclusion

I don’t really have a conclusion.

I just wanted to convey that this whole situation is kind of a hot mess.

I really would like to see more aro/ace representation, and if any character in SU was going to get that label, then Peridot would be a good candidate, but this was just a bad way to get there.

It’d be one thing if we actually had an episode about Peridot exploring her asexuality. Then we could actually judge how well it plays out. Now it’s just sort of vaguely unsatisfying and it’s left a lot of people arguing about what they think it means for Peridot and the characters around her.

That’s almost certainly intentional on the part of the writers. The crew has said that they don’t want to lock down any canon ships (besides Garnet, obviously) because they don’t want to ruin headcanons. And the whole point of the episode Little Graduation was that Steven (and by extension, the audience) is not necessarily privy to every character development that happens off-screen, but you can’t say that, and then also put your thumb on the scale with tweets like this.

Honestly, I’m expecting the followup tweet any minute now of, “Don’t harass people for shipping/not shipping Peridot,” because tweeting out character details after the fact is just kicking the hornet’s nest. Maybe we’ll get a graphic novel or something where Peridot outlines what fusion means to her, but until then, let people ship what they want, and be good to each other.

[nekoladyproductions]

Ramble on guns and cons and fandom

With all of these shootings, it's only a matter of time until it happens at a convention. It already happens in places where we should feel safe, like schools and businesses. It won't be long until some fuck like one of Foxler's ilk or Ryan Hill comes and shoots people, the latter being the culprit for the MFF gas attack and the former being the leader of a fandom Nazi movement (irony at it's finest--he's a gay furry.)

Anime, sports, sci-fi, furry, whatever it may be--something will happen, people are going to die. The worst part is? Completely preventable. After the Sandy Hook and Las Vegas shootings, however, I don't think change will ever come. There will always be the guy thumping his chest about "muh guhns, control don't work reeee" but they will never listen. They made up their minds already, and no amount of evidence contradicting their points will ever change that. It's best we ignore them--they're in the minority anyway.

A few years ago there was already an in-community triple homicide, but that's just keeping in mind of my own culture. Think about how big the comic cons are, anime conventions, sports games, for God's sake, there was a deadly assault on an e-sports event in Florida that happened last year! Don't think it won't happen again!

No matter what people say, fandoms are politically charged because humans are politically charged with few exceptions. Our whole lives are dictated by politics, and what we like usually is an indicator of such. There is always a fandom war going on, an argument, a disagreement--and everyone knows what kinds of people these spaces attract. Vile, belligerent people. Remember zamii0, SU fans? Because a sketch she made wasn't bodily accurate? Or Zuke, because of a ship they wrote for the show? Remember the razor blade sweets, because a fan artist drew an Undertale ship that the sender didn't agree with? Remember the threats and stalking with Voltron staff over a fucking noncanon ship? Don't even get me started on bronies, FNaF and HS fans and the shit they've sent to their creators. There are a lot of disturbed individuals who latch themselves onto an idea and who will lash out violently when they feel like they've been slighted in some way. This is almost always triggered by a disagreement on one of three levels; within context of the fandom, within context of the creator, or with political motivations. All of it? Petty bullshit, but petty bullshit that people die over or feel like they /are/ going to die.

What I guess what I'm trying to say is, when there is a tragedy at one of these events that is supposed to bring like-minded people together, don't be surprised. We were granted vanilla change that did jack-diddly squat that the Republicans still hated, and the only good thing the Trump administration has done for the common good is ban bumpstocks. There will be another shooting like the tournament. There will be more death. Hell, it may even be worse than Las Vegas, considering the wide yet enclosed space of convention centers and hotels. Don't expect the media to show much sympathy either. We are still freaks to them, we are still geeks and losers and "the other", and this applies to all fandoms not just mine. The victims will be seen as nothing more than weirdos in a grave and the perpetrator will be labeled and shown as a direct representation of your interest and the people around you, the group as a whole. People will die and no dignity will be shown by anyone outside of their own. Remember the triple-homicide? Every single video's comment section about the matter was filled to the brim of people celebrating the deaths of a husband and wife and their friend due to their fandom. Celebrating!

Be prepared for when it happens, and be prepared for disappointment. Washington will be underwater by the seas of climate change before they would even dare think about the safety of their citizens over NRA money.

[wierdkid20]

Why I think Mystery Pearl Could be endgame

So I will be the first to admit that none of these points are original and have been stated many times before but I felt like I should get it out

One of my favorite tropes in media is a “History repeats itself” kind of thing and the Crewniverse also seems to love playing with it, while not quite to Generation Xerox level but pretty freakin’ close. We’ve already seen parallels between Sadie and Lars to Greg and Rose (a gimmicky Stage musician falls in love with a pink criminal of an alien empire) but I would gather that an even better parallel is going to come from Pearl and the ever elusive Mystery Girl.

“Wait!!” I hear you shout into the void “On the podcast they said that Mystery Girl wasn’t going to come back”

I will take this moment to point out that actually what was said that Mystery Girl was not created specifically to be a love interest for Pearl. Which doesn’t really mean much. She could still come back and I don’t think it’s a big a torpedo for the ship as people make it out to be.

You know what would really bring this parallel together?

Steven: Kevin 

In Kevin Party we got that lovely set of lines.

Kevin:...but I need those old people to whisper my name when they die. And if you don't pull it together, you're gonna regret it. And it'll be Sabina all over again! Steven:Wh-- Who's [Sniffles] Who's Sabina?

All kinds of speculation has been flying around sense the name Sabina was dropped. The chief among them being that Sabina is Mystery Girl. I support this theory because, once again Paralells and because “The Law of Conservation of Detail” I mean, you don’t just give us a character who we know has a name that starts with S and then give us a name that starts with S that’s untied to a person.

“Wait!” You call from the void again “Lauren Zuke said Mystery Girl’s Name was Sheena”

She said it was the Crews working name or some such (if anyone could find a screenshot of that information it would be much obliged)

“Wait a minute!” You shout again. “This still doesn’t work! Kevin’s a teen! That means mystery girl is one too! either that or it’s weird!!”

“Eh....” Is what I say to you. I will give you that Kevin is a teen, he seems to be in the same age group as the beach city “Cool Kids” (I mean come on he’s like the antithesis of all of them). The Cool Kids are pretty clearly out of school, with Lars maybe being the lone exception, and with the exception of Jenny it seems like none of them have jobs. I would conservatively put them in the 18-19 age which would then make it completely conceivable for Mystery Girl, or Sabina, in her early twenties and still have her and Kevin's relationship (if such a  thing ever existed). And to bring this post back around to the whole parallels I will point out that Greg was 22 when he met the gems.

So now that we’ve established that Mystery Pearl isn’t dead and could be made even better with everyone’s new favorite character, lets look at the parallels.

So in Greg and Rose’s romance we saw Greg commit a crime (hopping a fence and trespassing) to chase a mysterious pink haired woman he had only met once.

In Last One Out Of Beach City we see Pearl commit a crime (running a red light) to chase a mysterious pink haired woman she had only met once.

This one’s the obvious one. 

We also have that both humans in these relationships are a little out of the main stream 

And that the two aliens involved are complete dorks, er I mean totally threatening alien rebels.

And then we have Kevin, sweet sweet Kevin, er something like that. Some one who went after the pink haired woman first and was passed up for another.

That makes Kevin Pearl in this relationship.

Or I guess if you want to make it heartbreaking instead of amusing and you’re also on occasion Pearlmethyst  trash. You could say that Amethyst is Pearl. 

But.... hopefully the Crewniverse won’t break my heart like that.

Now lets get to the other reason I love all this. It brings Pearl’s character arc full circle. You take a gem who fought for a planet full of inhabitants she doesn’t seem to be particularly fond of with a few exceptions. Then you have her go through heart break and all the growth she has already gone through in this series so far. Then you have her fall in love with a human? and truly come to understand humanity and all their little idiosyncrasies? Sign me up for that shit.

[digamma-f-wau]

The problem with fandom criticals and why it’s not really the criticals’ fault

If you’re reading this you’re probably familiar with a recent tumblr trend: Fandom Critical. Specifically SU critical (the only other crit tag really gaining traction is ok ko critical: I think star vs critical tries to be a thing, but it doesn’t have much traction). People complain about the show of choice, often setting up side blogs to complain about it. In essence, they’ve become a loose knit group dedicated to hating a piece of media. I don’t like it one bit, and as the quasi-clickbait title indicates, it’s not for the reasons you’d think.

Now here’s a history lesson: SU’s always had some critics with opinions akin to the criticals these days (I had an unhealthy negative obsession with one of them; those were dark regretful days for me), but the trend what I call “proto-crits” didn’t start popping enough to become visible until the Sardonyx arc, and they didn’t really start crawling out of the woodwork until the show came out of hiatus in the spring of 2016. Meanwhile, popular browser add ons for tumblr have the option to block tags, and the site itself has the option to set up sideblogs. Some of the bloggers with criticisms for SU were like “I keep getting hate for my criticisms, maybe I start a sideblog to keep my SU dislikes off my dash and draw away hate” or “maybe I’ll start a tag so followers who don’t want to see me being critical of SU can use their add on things to block my critiques and hate”. A little bit after Bismuth came around, SU Critical crystallized into its final state

(Honestly a chunk of SU Critical’s complaints I agree with (or at the very least, I can see why it makes them mad), and another chunk of the complaints make me go “hang on I think they’re going somewhere with this” and if the show were drop the ball in regards to it I’d end up agreeing with them.)

Now one accusation I’ve seen lobbied towards crits is that they harass people. I have seen some examples myself (like some of the tasteless comments added onto the comic Zuke made before deleting her tumblr), but only occasionally. In contrast, I’ve seen critical blogs receiving hate tons of times. 

(Heck on the topic of Zuke, I think most of the online harassment they got was from shippers, not crits, and we all know the nth of circle of hell that is shipping wars and how horrible they can get. Basically the only big problem with crits that I have that lines up with the usual complaints people have with them is that they can get disturbingly personal with their negativity towards the crew (makes me think back to Mr Enter fans harassing Casey Alexander on twitter). And honestly the 4chan side of the SU fandom and hatedom can also get pretty bad in those regards, making jokes about Zuke that get get pretty horrific, and there are those on tumblr that wouldn’t identify with crits that would do the same, like the aforementioned shippers.)

Now the actual main problem that fandom criticals pose, tying back to the title of this post, is that it divides fandom. It ends up making an us vs them situation, forcing people into the boxes of “the show is the best thing ever and can do no wrong” and “this show is literally a blight that singlehandely has a negative impact on humanity”. I’m certain you wouldn’t get nowhere near as many people going “’ok ko critical’? Why you gotta hate the show, there’s no problems with it” if they weren’t already wary of SU critical existing. And a lot of that is on the people discouraging critique back in the SU fandom, thus encouraging the tag and sideblogs to show up in the first place. While what I’m saying can sorta boil down to “why can’t we all just get along”, the main obstacle to that “getting along” is those shutting down critique instead of discussing it, leading to the crits to make their little subculture, not the ones with critiques themselves.

[jenhedgehog]

(Part 1) I know you're not a fan of drama, but I feel like I need to say this just once. I noticed you saw L. Zu//ke's post about letting their work consume them so that they wouldn't have to deal with their real life issues. I read the comments, & was happy to see 99% of them were support. However, there was still a few people trying to be say "Look, this is proof Zuke forced lapidot!!" It's bad enough that these people have no understanding of how cartoons are made. It's bad enough...

(Part 2) that they use 4chan rumors, and lack of understanding animation, to shit on Zuke for over a year now. But for them to read a comic like that, and to have the only take-away be "This is great anti-lapidot fuel!!"... It's honestly the saddest, most disturbing thing I've ever seen on this website. Your hatred of a fictional ship/story is so obsessive that you think it's ok to spread lies about a real life person...   

(Part 3) Your obsession with "proving" something "not canon", or whatever the hell, outweighs your ability to view someone as a human, and show them compassion. Even if all the 4chan crap was real (which it isn't, but I digress) there is absolutely no reason for a person to act this way. It is a sign of a much deeper mental problem, and I sincerely hope the people that continue to go after Zuke turn the computer off someday, and seek professional help.

[nothing-is-ever--still--on-earth]

I just want to talk about this. I see So Many backhanded compliments to The New Crystal Gems saying like, “it’s nice to have some realistic Lapis and Peridot interaction without Lauren Zuke’s shitty writing cramming the ship down our throat” or something like that, and, like, it was not bad writing?? It was not out of character or anything. As somebody trying to recover from depression, I found that one of the best things you can do for yourself is to surround yourself with positivity and go through the motions, and even if you don’t feel anything, you don’t feel bad, and you start to get better, and that is very clearly what Lapis is trying to do. She’s just riding the wave of Peridot’s genuine excitement of exploring every intellectual inch of life she never even knew existed before and, sort of hoping that if she plays along, some of that happiness may rub off on her. She’s watching her Earth show, making meep morps with her, helping her decorate the barn, even making music with her, and she smiles. There are moments where Lapis just smiles, and that’s her trying. I love the toilet meep morp scene in particular, because during this scene, the same dark ominous music that always plays when Lapis uses her water abilities plays, but what she’s using them for isn’t something out of rage or desperation, she’s funneling that same power she only ever associated with negative things into something silly and pointless that Peridot thinks is beautiful and makes her excited. This is Lapis healing. Peridot is the medium by which Lapis is healing herself, and that is beautiful writing.

[multi-muse-transect]

A Hunter and an Apprentice

AU: A botched mission to steal an Imperial experimental slip gate device goes awry and former bounty hunter Mira Wren Bridger is paying the price in the form of a teenage version of herself. Mira belongs to @meldy-arts

Mira Wren Bridger didn’t know what to think. She never believed in the bending of space and time but after what she saw, she doesn’t know anymore. After all, she took on a cult of dark side users with a legendary Jedi and a Jedi who would become her girlfriend. But this takes the cake obviously. Standing in front of her is a teenage version of herself. She never imagined herself with long hair and armor that is tactically compromising in terms of color. When she was her age, she was shooting blasters in the VR room and doing exercises while listening to her music player in break time. It was Kanan’s idea to let her stay in the Ghost since her ship, the Poltergeist, has too much dangerous equipment in it.

(Padawan) Mira looks around the ship to see that nothing has changed much. Sabine’s room is still her room alongside her father’s and uncle Kanan’s as her counterpart silently observes her. Her communicator goes off to show that Blare is calling causing her to pick it up.

“So how’s the little sister go?” Blare asks her.

“She stopped panicking after she was spooked to see me. Her gay version of her.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira replied and snickered.

“Of course, so I take it she’s wandering the ship and checking our stuff out?” The Jedi asks again.

“Yeah of course. She isn’t surprised though. I guess there’s things that are the same in her world.” She replied. (Bounty Hunter) Mira notices that her counterpart is in her room.

“Hey I gotta go, see around....Tonight~” (Bounty Hunter) Mira flirted causing Blare to get flustered.

“S-Sure.” The Jedi logs off as (Bounty Hunter) Mira follows herself into her room. She hears a dark saber discharge causing her to turn to see (Padawan) Mira holding and raising it.

“This.....This is my mom’s.” (Padawan) Mira observed.

“Well currently it belongs to me.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira replied.

“You know what the dark saber symbolizes right?” She asks.

“Yeah though I didn’t know what it meant fully back then and I just thought it was a present.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira answered remembering how she received it from Captain Phasma as a gift for her birthday.

“Where did you get from?”

“An old friend gave it to me and I kept it ever since. I guess that was the first warning that I would become a Jedi or a foreshadowing.” The woman replied. (Padawan) Mira looks around her counterpart’s room. On the wall is an old imperial propaganda poster and also a old stormtrooper helmet on (Bounty Hunter) Mira’s desk. Then turns to her.

“Huh....You seem to like to collect trophies.” She observed them.

“Oh I have a butt load of those in my ship. This is a tiny fraction you get.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira bragged.

“You have a ship?! My dad would never give me a ship until I’m older!” (Padawan) Mira excitedly asks.

“Well my parents were pretty awesome and let me have a ship when I learn my flight lessons. Perks of becoming a bounty hunter! Besides no resume, just need a gun and a certain set of skills.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira replied.

“Jeez, you’re pretty awesome.” (Padawan) Mira complemented.

“My training didn’t come from my parents though, they came from someone else.” She explained.

“Who?” The question irks her. How would she react that she was raised by the First Order? How she was stripped away from her family and forced to become a stormtrooper then rescue and intelligence agent? She can imagine it now and the thought isn’t pretty. But she can’t lie to herself at all. (Bounty Hunter) Mira sighs and walks towards the stormtrooper helmet then picks it up and looks at it.

“.....Kid, do you know how stormtroopers are recruited to the First Order?” She asks.

“Yeah, they’re kidnapped and forced into recruitment. Undergo rigorous training and then they are inducted.....” (Padawan) Mira replied before her eyes widen up realizing what she once was. A silence falls upon them both as the padawan’s eyes are full of sadness as she can feel her sadness and holds back her tears thinking of the pain she went through. (Bounty hunter) Mira sits down on her bed.

“I was a stormtrooper or at least, started out as one. But I was different from the others and treated differently too. I was raised by captain Phasma who was basically my parent. She treated me like a daughter and a soldier. Even I was given special privileges like having a relationship. Something no trooper has. I didn’t feel special though, I felt like every other trooper and did my routine things while living a somewhat normal life.....” (Bounty Hunter) Mira explained her past.

“I participated in training while listening to music on break time, hung out with officers even Kylo Ren, even did semi-missions like breaking up a protests. Heck I had a girlfriend once when I patrolled back at Jakku until I was put into a special weapons facility where a coup happened....It was started by my parents and I didn’t know. Heck I almost killed Zeb for kriffs sake!” She softly spoke and half laughed as her counterpart looks in pity and sadness.

“But everyone who had something to do with my parents, those who saw my face tried to talk to me saying how they missed me. I never believed in any of them cause if I let myself believe my folks were alive, if I somehow believe that they may come back and save me? I’d never have learned to survive or learn the lessons I learned.”  (Bounty Hunter) Mira looks deeper into the mask.

“I got back to Jakku and that’s where I jumpstarted my relationship with the girl there. Heck, we were even planning to run away together but...I realized I was going to be the death of her. I would get her in trouble so...I broke up with her.”

“All for the sake of....Keeping her safe.” (Padawan) Mira muttered.

“Believe me, everyday I couldn’t bear the thought of thinking about her. Our meeting. Our friendship. Our love. Our first time....It was burned into my head. But I kept on going, acting like it never happened, quite sure she did the same too. The coup though from last time....I ended it. I formulated a plan to warn First Order command and it got the attention of the First Order Rescue and Intelligence division. The most elite of the order, only a handful of the finest and unique stormtroopers can be chosen and revoke their title as trooper....turned agent. They specialize in civilian rescue and many other things. I was chosen by director Thrawn himself during the on-sight decision day.” She sighed.

“I guess the First Order does care people....”

“Have you seen our base in Aqualae? It’s a paradise. Order has been brought. Anyhow, I became an agent or at least an agent in training. Us agents are given a choice to decide what we are. Agents come in different forms and once they become an agent, their names are given back to them to have that sense of identity. One agent can destroy an entire base in hours. I wanted to make the dark saber have a purpose so I decided to pick my major in being a super commando and minor with saber training with drill sergeant Saim Qua’Deesh, a cyborg Kaleesh similar to Grievous. I graduated and was given the option to have a team so I did choose. Agents like to work alone sometimes but I like to have company. So I was assigned to a team of two people consisting of the son of agent Kallus and the daughter of Maketh Tua who is a pilot. It was only Kallus and I though who took care of things on the ground while she shot anything that flew towards us. But our team began to grow with Zuke and Blackjack, a demolitions specialist and the daughter of the Seventh Sister who is a sniper. We were the best. We fought a murderous cell hellbent on subjugating the citizens as we protected them.....” (Bounty Hunter) Mira softly smiled but her smile turns into a sad frown.

“But with their tactics.....It takes a toll on you. You see unspeakable horrors and atrocities. Losses become common. I’ve fought for years on end as the war went on. But something caught me off guard. I was called in by command to have a session with the supreme leader....And I knew my life was going to get worse from there. He told me that I was....Honorably discharged from the First Order after years of service. Said I needed a break.....At that point, I was scared now. I was offered many recommendations but most of them were desk jobs, most of which I can’t do anything. I had no one to go back to, the girl probably didn’t want to see me again and I would be left jobless. We had a private party obviously. Thanks for your service, see you again....I was even given a ship. A Mandolorian ship known as the Poltergeist and stored many of momentos and weaponry I got there. With a smile and a hug, I left. I decided to use my talents elsewhere. I became a bounty hunter and did my business in Umbra but I had a certain set of codes: No killing of children, trafficking, no murder of Imperial officials, no stormtrooper killing, and most certainly-No business with Hutts.” She remembers how easy it was compared to the insurgents, she would walk through them like they were nothing because of her gear and dark saber also her training.

“I came in quick and fast like nothing. But some people don’t like my code, some like to lie. The only one who did that was a certain Phindian named Moralo Eval. He was involved in the kidnapping of Twi’lek’s and I didn’t know. He got under my nose saying it was a crate full of Relby rifles. I wasn’t until I took a peek when he retrieved it was a bunch of female Twi’lek’s, mainly female, in stasis. So I did what I do. I gave him a refund.....” The moment (Bounty Hunter) Mira clenched her teeth while speaking was that (Padawan) Mira realized she did something horrible.

“I hacked his PA systems, played some easy street on loop then lured him outside....Before I beat him with my fists then kicked him around and finally executed him with my dark saber. He was scum. No one would miss him. I stole his money and freed the slaves before I gave them the money next before I left.” She continued.

“......You’re a monster.” (Padawan) Mira growled.

“I told myself that. I felt my humanity fading away.....I felt like I was becoming something I wasn’t and I accepted it in someway but I hated it. At times I find myself looking straight at the barrel of my own gun knowing I’m living a pathetic and useless existence but somehow I stop myself for some reason. I felt alone....But Kyle Katarn found a way.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira’s voice sounds hopeful. She could feel pity for her, even she wouldn’t last alone by herself.

“Jedi master Katarn?”

“Yes, him. I didn’t care who he was but he gave me a job. To extract a Jedi who was frozen since order sixty six really. At first I saw this as a simple extraction and I didn’t like her pompous attitude to me. But....She was the first to see me as a person not some ruthless killer that parents tell their kids about to make them behave and I...Began to respect for that. Funny thing is that I began to like her and it was scary.....I always feared that if I get close to someone, I’d end up hurting them and I tried my best to distance myself from her also. I guess its her Jedi charm.” She chuckled.

“Maybe that explains why she’s your girlfriend.” (Padawan) Mira joked.

“Probably but get this: I attracted a dark side group that ended up hunting us down. It wasn’t until she kidnapped I actually cared about something in my life and then the truth was given on why Kyle chose me. I was the daughter of....” She makes a gun gesture at her.

“Ezra and Sabine Wren Bridger.”

“Yep! Found out through a force vision, the reason why he didn’t tell was that he feared in my mental state, I would end up killing my parents. So we went off to save the princess.....With help from a group of Mandolorian Jedi’s called the Mandolorian Knights. A secret clan of force sensitives Mandolorians who follow both the Jedi and Mandolorian ways. You could’ve seen it. It was the most epic thing I have ever seen in my life. So we killed the bad guy and saved her. But Kyle had other business and left us though gave us the location of my parents in Lothal. Thus here I am. Mira Wren Bridger, stormtrooper, agent, bounty hunter.....Jedi.” (Bounty) Hunter Mira smirked as (Padawan) Mira is silent and looks at her in awe.

“Any thoughts?” She asks.

“.....I. Am. Awesome.” (Padawan) Mira gasped.

“Yes you are...You know, Kanan told me not to bring to my ship nor I let anyone near it but...You’re an exception. Wanna see my collection?” (Bounty Hunter) Mira asks. (Padawan) Mira’s eyes shine with her jaws dropped and nods.

It’s pretty strange for having two families. Especially for Ezra and (Meldy) Ezra who have no difference in each other except an artificial arm. There is no difference between them whatsoever really except they’re younger. (Meldy) Hera walks towards the ghost.

“I seriously hope she didn’t bring her to her ship.” Sabine sighed.

“She brought her to her ship.” Kanan said while walking out.

(Padawan) Mira looks in awe. Below the ships deck is a room full of old weaponry and armors encased in a glass case for display. Armor ranging from shoretrooper, deathtrooper, imperial stormtrooper, first order stormtrooper, Mandolorian armor, clone trooper you can name it. It was always (Bounty hunter) Mira’s hobby to collect old wartime relics from the past. On the walls are numerous blasters, heavy blasters, rocket launchers, and even swords too.

“Speechless?” (Bounty Hunter) Mira smirked again.

“Woooow.....” Soon (Padawan) Mira’s family heads down alongside (Bounty Hunter) Mira’s too as (Meldy) Zeb whistles.

“Jeez, your kids packing heat. She ever uses’em?” He asks Sabine.

“Nah, there just collectibles....I think......Yeah, collectibles.” Sabine replied.

“So what do you think about yourself?” (Meldy) Ezra asks causing (Padawan) Mira to turn around.

“She is so cool! Like first she was stormtrooperandthenshefellinlovecauseshewasdifferentand-”

“Okay, okay, you can explain it to us when we get back home. Alright kiddo?” (Meldy) Mira asks.

“Sure thing dad.” The family leaves.

“Wait, I have something for you.” (Bounty Hunter) Mira called as she opens a case nearby. Inside is the armor is Shae Vizsla as her family awes.

“I want you to have it. As a momento.” She offers the case to her counterpart with a smile.

“A present from me to you.” (Padawan) Mira accepts the case before smiling then placing it on the ground then hugs her older self before picking it up.

“May the force be with you Mira.” The family leaves as they head outside as a portal opens with Resistance members circling it as they enter before it vanishes.

[volvolts]

1, 5, 9 for the salty ask!!!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

i dont think i necessarily have one for nsr honestly? all the ships are cute and i havent seen gross depictions of one character or another yet so im glad!

5.  Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

I dont have any for nsr (i dont think the fandom is here long enough for the rot to set in lol) but when i was into rwby back in the day the fandom was so rabid about bumblby and whiterose where they were so rude and bitter and smug against other ships (like constantly badmouthing the fans of other ships and the characters) under the guise of “gay rights” that i can’t bring myself to like those ships as much as i used to anymore which kinda sucks because i was rooting for them to be canon but now i couldnt care less

9.  Most disliked character(s)? Why?

dk west. zuke loved and admired his bro and the guy just assumed zuke had it out for him and just...cuts him out of his life. zuke said he tried to contact him for a whole year and got no response and when west comes back he expects ZUKE to apologize for the supposed times zuke hurt him. and when zuke disowns him (which admittedly was harsh) it’s ONLY zuke’s fault theyre not close anymore even tho west was the one who refused to swallow his pride and talk and let their animosity go this long. and when they finally patch things up west still never apologized for letting his own insecurities ruin their relationship like?? dude?? its your fault! 

[jenhedgehog]

su crits are saying that stuck together was a good ep but they're doing so in a way that's like "i think zuke is a bad writer but this was SURPRISINGLY good" like...how is that surprising, zuke has always been a decent writer even if they may have a few weak spots. like I did some research and zuke has boarded 13 episodes of the show so far, most of which people enjoyed. there's 3-4 I've seen su crits not be that fond of, but you can't act like all their eps are bad when you only dislike a few

>implying the S/U c//ritic//al brigade are ever logical/sensible/fair about these things ;p

Seriously though, I stopped paying attention to them a loong time ago.  They’re obviously very against the show - and against Lauren because of something that they didn’t even do (”sneaking ships into the show” - lolwut) - so they’re always going to have a bias. 

I agree that this attitude is wrong, Anon; but it’s best to just let them get on with it.  If they want to be bitter about these things, then that’s their problem.  We still love the show and shouldn’t let anyone spoil it for us :)

[jenhedgehog]

Lauren Zuke posted a promo for this week's episode on her Tumblr, but she said there are only 4 or 5 episodes left that she worked on... Do you think this will have a negative affect on whether or not Lapidot will ever for sure be canon? I mean yeah, I already think it's pretty much canon but their relationship is not quite as obvious as Rupphire. I'm dying to see Lapidot actually show how canon they really are by having at the very least one extremely intimate moment like Rupphire has shared.

No, not at all.

Despite what some people in this fandom might try and say, it’s actually impossible to “sneak” things into the show.And as you very right said, it’s almost canon now anyway - this is because the show’s higer-ups have allowed it, not because someone wanted to “force” it in or whatever, because they wouldn’t be allowed to do that.  Everything has to be apporved several times before it gets animated.

Lauren’s never been the only one to storyboard Lapidot, or to tease/support the ship, in any case.

From the top of my head...

Shelby Rabara and Jennifer Paz, for example, have blatantly teased the ship before.  Rebecca Sugar has drawn “Lapidot” artwork.  The concepts for the “Camp Pining Hearts” scene, which appears to be unsubtely hinting at Lapidot, were originally drawn up by Rebecca. There’s merchandise just featuring the two of them.  Back To The Moon, the first half of Gem Harvest and the entirety of The New Crystal Gems - all of these featured at least one Lapidot scene, and none of them were boarded by Zuke.

[jenhedgehog]

[Just to clear up any potential confusion before we start - I understand that Lauren goes by "they/them" rather than "she/her", and so these gender-neutral pronouns are the ones I'll be using when referring to Lauren]

Ok, so...

First and foremost, I completely understand that you're upset. I do have some advice for you, but before we get to that, I'd just like to try and allay some of your concerns about Lauren - or, at least, perhaps help you to better understand the situation.

(aaand the rest of this is going under a “Read More” - don’t worry, it’s a respectful answer, it’s just a bit wordy and slightly “discourse-y”)

Here’s the thing: despite what some people in this fandom seem to think, storyboarders don't actually have the "power" to single-handedly determine the fate of characters.  They'll be given guidance on what each episode is about, and all of their work has to be checked and approved multiple times before an episode is sent to be animated (please see this post, from a friend of mine who actually works in the animation industry: http://jenhedgehog.tumblr.com/post/156412052598/working-animator-here-to-suggest-a-single).  

I'm so sorry that you feel baited (and thank you so much for not using the term "queerbaiting" - the constant misuse of that expression really irritates me). But this really isn't Lauren's "fault", as Too Far wasn’t solely their work.  Rebecca Sugar et al would have not only provided them with guidance on how the episode should play out, but also 100% approved the content of the episode.  Again, I understand that you feel cheated by all this, but please don’t point the finger of blame just at Lauren.  It won’t solve anything, and it’ll only make you feel pissed off.

I know a lot of people around here enjoy vilifying Lauren specifically, but please don't listen to them.  The people who spout this "sneaking L//api/dot into the show" nonsense honestly don't understand how the animation industry works.  Everything that is put in this show is a team effort - and the only one person with more power over the show than anyone else is (as I understand it) Rebecca Sugar herself.

Also, I notice that you're referring to Too Far (of course) - by which I assume you must mean the infamous drill scene? But if you look closely at that scene...

...it was actually boarded by Hilary Florido, not Lauren Zuke.  Because they both worked on this episode, together.

I had a conversation with a friend about Too Far a little while back, incidentally. After some discussion, we decided that another fundamental issue is the fact that it was the last episode to air before a long hiatus. What I mean to say is that ending the run on the "A//me/dot episode" fuelled rampant speculation about the ship and, in the long absence of any more episodes, allowed people's expectations to reach absolute fever pitch - with many people even declaring it "canon" on the back of one scene. Whereas, if the episodes were shown more frequently, the gap between Too Far and, say, Barn Mates, would have been significantly less and therefore would have given people much less time to stew over A//me/dot.  I don’t feel that the Crew were deliberately leading people astray with Too Far; but rather, the network-specified timing of the episode really screwed with the show’s pacing and that this contributed to people getting their hopes up for A//me/dot (if that makes sense).

Please do bear in mind that the show's (frankly ridiculous) scheduling is totally out of the Crew's hands - they would have had no way of knowing that Too Far was going to lead into a hiatus at the time of writing the episode.  So any “false hype” that Too Far generated is solely CN’s fault, not the crew’s.  Please don’t think that they’ve “baited” you out of spite or anything like that, because I honestly don’t think that’s the case at all.

One final point before I move on – Lauren’s post about shipping was just them stating their own intention as a writer (and they even said in their post that people are free to interpret the canon however they want to).  Admittedly, the show in general does very much seem to be heading in the direction of canon L//api/dot, which is perfectly in line with Lauren’s vision; but that’s just it, the show doesn’t belong to Lauren.  Look at all the times the cast and other crew members have hinted at/teased L//api/dot – A//med/ot, on the other hand, never gets a mention.  And I think that’s them deliberately not wanting to get anyone’s hopes up unnecessarily, rather than them trying to mislead people.

Ok, so now that’s all explained, here’s some advice for you.

You want to know what you should “do now”.  Well, really only you can decide that. 

I noticed that you said you don’t have interest in ships if they’re not canon, and this is where you’ll need to make a decision really: do you love A//med/ot enough to keep shipping it regardless of what may or may not happen in the show’s canon? If the answer to that is “yes” – then please keep shipping Am//edo/t!  Seriously, if a ship makes you happy, then it really doesn’t matter whether or not it’s gonna become canon.  Hell, if L//apido/t doesn’t become canon, I’m not gonna stop shipping it! Because it brings me a lot of joy and I just love the pairing so much.  Perhaps you feel the same way about Am//edo/t?

And if you can’t continue to enjoy it if it’s not canon, then that’s a real shame :(  Perhaps you could have another look at some different ships, to see if you can find any happiness in them instead?

If people are gonna be assholes to you about this, then just block them.  This “shipping war” is really sad and pathetic, I know.  I’ve been targeted by trolls myself, on multiple occasions, so I get how you must feel.  But please don’t let the fandom ruin something that you love; it’s not worth it. Block people and even use a blacklist if you have to.  Even step away from the fandom for a little while in order to continue enjoying the show in your own way, if you need to.  The larger a fandom gets, the more toxic it becomes - and I do feel that the SU fandmon is now heading in that direction, sadly.  Please don’t let the posionous people in the fandom get you down.

Also, I’m not a fan of A//me/dot so I can’t confirm this, but I’m sure there must still be a thriving A//me/dot community on here, right?  If you wanna stick with A//med//ot, then perhaps try looking for some more blogs to follow that post positive content for that ship?  I’m sure there are plenty of like-minded friends out there to be found :)

I hope this helps you, Anon.  Keep doing what you enjoy and don’t ever let anyone stop you, ok?