#Illegal Elemental Masters

[kemetic-dreams]

Repost from @moyoafrika

•

#repost• @whatsculture History Class: Tracing the roots of Capoeira. The Afro-Brazilian martial art form incorporates acrobatics, dance, folklore, and music. Two opponents play each other inside a circle (Roda) formed by the other players, who create rhythm for the game by clapping, singing, and playing traditional instruments. It’s the second most popular sport in Brazil and is practiced in different parts of the world today. To understand the significance, we look at how it is a phenomenon born out of migration.

“Capoeira was conceived in Africa and born in Brazil,’’ Mestre Jelon Vieira once said. As a colony of the Portuguese Crown, millions of Africans were shipped and sold in Brazil. There, enslaved Africans shared their cultural traditions, including dances, rituals, and fighting techniques, which eventually evolved into capoeira. Many elements and traditions that would inform capoeira are said to have originated in Angola. At that time, 80% of all enslaved Africans in Rio de Janeiro came from Central West Africa from countries that are now known as Gabon, Angola and both Congos.

People from Angola were prominent among the enslaved Africans who played the game on the streets and squares of Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and other Brazilian port cities at the beginning of the nineteenth century. With many enslaved Africans revolting against slavery, they would soon form communities in villages called quilombos in which they could sustain different expressions of African culture. They used capoeira to defend themselves and resist capture, disguising its martial intent with music, song, and dance.

Capoeira became illegal after the abolition of slavery in 1888. Practitioners were socially ostracised for more 40 years, until the legendary capoeira master, Mestre Bimba, opened the first capoeira school in Bahia in 1932. From there, the martial art would reach all parts of the world. At its core, capoeira is born out of a mix of African and Brazilian indigenous cultures and it represents resistance and resilience 🇧🇷🌍

#moyoafrika #brazil #angola🇦🇴 #africanculture #africanculture #africandiaspora #african

[thusspoketrish]

Hiya, I'm Trish! Below you'll find a list of my completed Drarry fics + a gist of the story + a handful of tags. All of my stories are postwar, EWE, and rated E or M. I will update this list as I complete more stories! Wooo!!!

MOST RECENT FIC:

Netflix and Chills | E | 20K Halloween might be over, but the tricks, treats, and heat between the sheets are just beginning for our favorite dynamic duo! Humor. Post-Second Wizarding War. EWE. Drarry in the Muggle World. Established Relationship. Snarky Draco Malfoy. Muggle Technology. Slice of Life. Humor. Romance. Domestic Fluff. Pop Culture References. Shenanigans. Halloween Night. Netflix and Chill. Banter. Mystery. Idiots in Love. Light Dom/Sub Elements. Dirty Talk. Blue Ball Hell.

Summary: When Draco innocently asks what "Netflix and Chill" means, Harry simply can't pass up the opportunity to impart some knowledge while demonstrating a masterclass in the art of seduction. Now, if only those plans weren't constantly interrupted by trick-or-treaters—some of them far more trick than treat.

The Art of Getting By | E | 149K Recovery fic set in a psychiatric hospital. Mental health Issues. Trauma/Traumatic Experiences. Heavy Angst. Harry and Draco admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Therapy. Fastburn. Co-dependency. Falling in love. Draco's + Harry's POV. Please read warnings. Dead Dove.

This Year's Love| E | 84K. A Drarry slowburn inspired by When Harry Met Sally! Humor. Light Angst. Draco in the Muggle world. Lovable Disaster!Harry. Enemies to Best Friends. Modern Dating. Layabout!Harry. Medical Student!Draco. Draco Dates Zaddies. Harry Is Living His Best Heaux Life. Sex (or no sex!) Positivity. Idiots In Love. So Much Pining. Harry's POV.

Everything That Happens Is From Now On | E | 42K. A sensitive story that explores the aftermath and recovery from a stranger SA. Established relationship. Secrets. Supportive/Loving Partner. RTS. Living Together. Body Positivity. Enthusiastic Consent. Hope. Draco's POV. Please read warnings.

Lemon Colour, Honey Glow | E | 67K. A love story that takes place over a series of unfortunate nights at the Leaky Cauldron. Enemies to Lovers. Falling in Love. Auror!Harry. Potion Master!Draco. Secret Relationship. Emotional Hurt/Comfort. Possessive Harry. Flangst. Beer Gardens. The Leaky Cauldron. The Slytherin Trio. Bullying/Violence. Spoilers Left Untagged.

Super Rich Kids | E | 81K. True crime meets wild government conspiracies when Draco becomes a twisted sort-of Robin Hood, robbing the badly behaving rich to give to...well...you'll have to read the story to find out! Angst. Murders. Coverups. Enemies to Friends to Lovers. Bisexual Draco. Lush descriptions of glamour. Humor. The ULTIMATE Slytherin ensemble. Mental Health Issues. Drug Usage/Addiction. Pureblood Elitism. Social Season. Angst with a Happy Ending. Draco's POV.

On The Last Day | E | 53K. Draco's role as an Unspeakable, Harry's untimely death and ghostly return, and conspiracies bind them in a quest for truth and redemption. Mystery. Angst. Hurt/Comfort. Grief/Mourning. Horror Elements. Science. Neurology/Neuroscience. Slowburn. Memory Loss. Draco's POV.

My Best Friend, the Serial Killer | E | 37K. Ride or Die BFFL Draco finds he's tired of moonlighting as a serial killer's accomplice. No matter how much he loves Pansy, he draws the line at helping her dispose of a sexy, flirty Harry Potter. Dark Humor. Campy/Kitsch Elements. Serial Killer!Pansy. Healer!Draco. Femme Fatale Trope. Falling in Love. Self-Love. Jealousy. Everyone is seriously morally grey. Draco's POV.

A Ferret, a ScarHead, a Weasel, & a Baby | E | 91K. The ultimate bromance takes centre stage (alongside a sweet and tender Drarry romance) in this Three Men & a Baby inspired story! BAMF Auror Draco. Protective Draco. Healer Harry. Capable and Emotionally Intelligent Ron. Illegal Potions Ring. Orphaned Baby. Roommates. Nothing to Something to Everything. Draco's POV.

Seven Days | E | 8K. It takes seven days for the Malfoy-Potter family to unravel. Grief/Mourning. Child Abduction. Death of a Child. Implied Mpreg. Alcohol Relapse. Coming to Terms. Harry's POV. Please Read the Warnings.

Portrait of a Young Girl | M | 8K. Navigating the complexities of love, marriage, and child-rearing, Harry and Draco face a new challenge when they suspect that four-year-old Teddy might be transgender. Married Drarry. Young Couple. Inexperienced Parents. Marital Problems/Disagreements. Stay-at-Home Dad Draco. Fluff. Acceptance. Love. Family. Happy Ending. Harry's POV.

A Day at the Park | M | 6K. Draco discovers that love has its own timing, and sometimes, that means returning to the place where he once lost it all. Estranged couple. Flashbacks. Pining. Postman's Park. Exiled Draco. Draco's POV.

Long for Bliss! | E | 9K. A random night out takes a dark and thrilling turn when Harry, after taking MDMA, encounters Draco Malfoy, looking like something straight out of his wildest dreams – or nightmares. First Time Drug Use. Nightclubs. The Perils of Ennui. Mildly Dubious Consent. Rooftop Sex. Light Dom/Sub Elements. Harry's POV.

Idiot Boys In Love & More | Various Ratings | 18K. Here you'll find a collection of one-shots, drabbles, and poems about Harry and Draco that are all standalone pieces! Each story is centered on a prompt provided by @drarrymicrofic and said prompt will be listed in the summary of each story (Series I completed). Harry + Draco's POV.

[hawkflame999]

Ninjago Secrecy AU

So in this AU, it’s basically the same as canon, EXCEPT, the ninja stay secret.

it's not JUST their identities. It’s also their literal existence and history.

FSM didn’t want humans, who often misunderstood and killed Yōkai-kind, to know about the Elementals. So he kept himself secret, his two sons secret, and the people he’d later choose to become the first human-ish Elementals secret. Those people were street orphans and abused kids he’d rescued from other humans.

Elementals have basically been behind the scenes (and doing illegal stuff like underage driving) for several millennia, they’ve managed to keep secret all this time and continue to do so in this AU. 

When something big comes, like the Great Devourer, the ninja fix it but there’s only eyewitnesses and no camera footage and most of the time they somehow aren’t seen by humans.

Or Jay causes a blackout to make things harder for them to be seen.

Oh, yeah. And Elementals aren’t sure if they’re Humans with powers, something between Yōkai and Humans, or just full-blown Yōkai. 

They just don’t know, but they have the senses of Yōkai and they can see very well in the dark- they also have a keen sense of smell, they can follow trails. And their eyes glow, but they can control the glow when they need to. Among other things, like feeling vibrations.

Elementals also have feral instincts, though they can ignore those instincts and act human when the circumstances demand it. Lloyd, his father, and uncle all have Dragoni features like in my Headcanon #1, and they're the most feral.

If you saw my HC about the Elemental Bond, that applies here too.

The Elementals just tell people who ask that they’re a clan. They’re kind of common amongst the Realms, and to help the ninja, their clan is tiny, and sort of IS a clan, just a special one. 

Said clans that do exist either live off the land or live modernly now but they all started back in old times, and they keep touch and all nowadays. 

The Serpentine often receives a similar reception that Yōkai get, just less than that, so they don’t give the game up- they keep silent about the ninja. 

After meeting the ninja, the Formlings, the Geckles and the Munce, and others were asked to and agreed to keep quiet about the Elementals. So does Vania, (idk how that part of Master of the Mountain works but yeah).

In the AU, other Yōkai, (Kitsune, Kappas, Tanukis, Bakenekos, ect.) are more apparent and present in this, and even most of them don’t know about the ninjas, just a few friends know. 

The Elementals frequently attack and ambush Yōkai Hunters, and free the trapped Yōkai. 

There’s also more mountains around the Monastery, it’s a literal mountain range, and many Yōkai live in them. Years ago they all combined their magic to create a barrier, so humans can’t get in (they just get turned around and all,) unless they’re led, and it's really hard for someone to just find their way in, but it happens occasionally. 

IN THIS AU, THE SIX SEE EACH OTHER AS SIBLINGS, EXCEPT MAYBE JAY AND NYA, I CAN'T DECIDE.

Arin knows about the ninja ONLY because he’s from a village near the mountain of the Monastery, and his family is one of the few that the ninja trusted with the knowledge of their existence, because one of Arin’s ancestors, a few generations back, accidentally found a way into the mountains, and got caught in a storm, so the ninja of the time saved him. 

Also all the Elementals speak Yōkai. It’s their second language, and their first language is Japanese, English is their third language.  

Yeah, that’s it really.

AND IF YOU HAVE AND QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO ASK!

[batboyblog]

I frankly think a lot of the problems that plague the far left and their honestly downright abusive behavior towards anyone they deem "liberal" is the same thing that's caused so many problems from the far right in general:

The master/servant dynamic.

I saw an interesting post somewhere that posits that people interpreted the American ideal of social movement and the like in a deeply warped way, in that rather than seeing it as a chance for one to gain and move up the world alongside their fellow human being, that they instead just see everyone as an obstacle for them to step on to reach their own heights, all while sneering down on those same people when they get what they want.

I think there's a similar element at play with the master servant dynamic, in that I think many of the people shouting down on liberals for "failing" subscribe to a deeply warped understanding of what liberal leadership are supposed to be:

Namely, on paper, the ideal situation is that voters and leaders both have their own responsibilities and roles in the social contract between them, where voters must hold the leadership accountable, but the leader is also the result of the voters' own choices regarding them. Hence why a bad leader is partially the fault of the voters and the latter must bear responsibility for that leader coming into power.

What I think instead happened is the warped master/servant dynamic is at play: namely, certain leaders and certain voters instead believe that their relationship is basically all take and no give, that THEY are the masters who can abuse, brutalize, demonize and generally mistreat the other part of the social contract, while the latter is expected to take the abuse and do whatever the "master" wants them to do without complaint, and that their own lives and agency and humanity are essentially forfeit.

And this is the root of a lot of the anti-liberal behavior I've seen as of late: They don't see liberals as people who are trying their best under bad circumstances; they see them as worthless servants who aren't giving their "superior" master exactly what they want while getting nothing in return, or outright dying with a smile. There is no equal responsibilities, no acceptance of the complexities each face; only the expectation of submission from their victims to feed their need to feel dominant.

interesting,

I for sure agree that there's a element to American success that people view their personal success as purely personal, no matter what help they got, and often bitterly resent anyone having an "easier" time of it than them.

I remember reading about a Mexican illegal immigrant who was "proud" of her two American sons voting for Trump. The thrust of it was she found the wallet of a Nicaraguan refugee who had TPS, so a legal immigrant, and she was outraged that he had some different aid money (the article didn't say but I think she robbed the poor guy's cash, and it wasn't clear she gave back the wallet) But basically she was so mad about this legal immigrant getting help she never did she was happy to have her son's vote for Trump even though she still doesn't have legal status. So now the Nicaraguan lost his TPS (Trump has set Nicaragua to expire in July, basically all TPS programs are shutting down in the coming months) and she'll still get deported, and Trump wants to take her sons' citizenships away.

idk if I see the relationship between voters and electeds as a master-servant dynamic though

hm, how to articulate, one dynamic you see all over, though its particularly clear in dictatorships, is much of the public give up on "politics". The idea is that politics is for other people, "we're not political" the not only are you personally not "political" political is for a totally different type of person, a different class of person, from you, you are utterly removed from it.

I think in America, one there's just a lot of people who feel that way, thats why about 40% of the people didn't vote at all in the 2024 election. Also I think that view, or at least the idea that all politicians are the same, corrupt, self enriching, dirt bags, who are again an "other" removed from normal society and not like you or anyone you know, helps Trump bigly, because one he's "not a politician" and two if you say "my god he's so corrupt!" to a certain set of supporters the answer is "so what? all of them are"

where was I going? oh okay, I think this idea has entered a new and strange evolution in America, where there are people who aren't disengaged from politics and the news about politics, they aren't apathetic, which is the usual "we're not political" view, they would say "I am political" "I'm a leftist/progressive/socialist" HOWEVER they maintain the politician as other view. Like with rightists and Trump they have a handful of anti-politicians, Bernie Sanders or AOC they like, I think thats why you sometimes get overlap.

I remember a Bernie volunteer in 2016 telling me that a popular phrase in the Bernie field office was "A Trump voter is just a Bernie voter who hasn't been educated yet"

so you have a weird disconnect, that politics is done by some other class of men, and not for "you", but also deep rage at the "system"

finally I think, we just live in a lazy age? with the internet its easier than ever to sit and home and do nothing and not be bored, I have half a dozen tv shows I've been meaning to watch and 3 movies on my laptop, I have an audio book on my phone I've paused to type this, Bluesky is open if I need to make a pithy remark about the politics of the day, I'm answering you. So in that context effort, going to boring meetings and hearings, traveling to your state capital or DC, knocking doors, making phone calls, writing letters, post-cards, emails etc for your politics, its effort and no one wants to be asked. You can tweet in 30 seconds get the "rush" like you did something and then watch 10 TikTok videos. It's why you see so many protests, or boycotts that seem to have no meat to them, going out and marching with a sign for a couple hours with friends is fun, did you sign everyone there up to volunteer? no? well nonetheless... And boycotts well everyone seems to have decided how they interface with capitalism, and particularly entertainment media is the ultimate moral and political litmus test, again because I think "politics is for other people" so "I don't watch TV shows with problematic characters" is more meaningful to a lot of people than "I'm a member of my local Democratic committee" when clearly the latter does a lot more good for the world than the former.

Also I guess that also nets back to American individualism in the influencer age. Everyone wants to be famous for being themselves and, like.... hmmm in 2016 I lead a campaign field office, in a swing state, we knocked tens of thousands of doors. The difference between our Democratic Senate candidate and the Republican? 1,017 votes, we knocked 100 times that number of doors out of my office, the volunteers I trained 4 shifts a day for the last 2 weeks? they brought that election home. And in 2017, Republicans tried to repeal Obamacare the ACA, it failed by a single vote, the Senator I helped elect made all the difference. I'm not going in the history books, no one will ever credit me, but there's a very direct line between me getting up at 5am on Election Day to put door hangers on hundreds of doors, and millions of Americans having health coverage.

People don't want that, a part of a collective story that matters, they want to make a video that gets a million likes or whatever, they want to be the star and get the credit.

[itsjustpolyester312]

OMG A NINJAGO JAY FAN?!

Got any Jay fic recs to share?

OMG YES!!! thank you for asking, wonderful anon!!! here's a couple of my favourites :)

The Illegal Elemental Masters AU (by my bestie @traveleroffarawayplaces) - honestly one of the best AUs i have ever read (and I've read a LOT of AUs!)

Stormbound - this is a very cool fic that explores a lot about Jay's identity and powers i really enjoyed reading it!!

Skybound Explained - a bit of a canon divergence from s6 explaining the aftermath of skybound, i love it sm!

if you want some more you could check my ao3 profile, my bookmarks are FULL of Jay fics and I've written some myself!!

hope this helps!!! :D

[nya-defense-club]

The Main Players of Imperial AU

Cole:

Master of Earth

Hand of The Emperor

19

Cole was raised within the Imperial City due to being the son of an Imperial performer

Blasian (Japanese/West African)

Hopes the Imperial Palace has records of his mother, as he never really knew her due to his parents marriage being forbidden and illegal.

Zane:

Master of Ice

Hand of The Emperor

18

Zane was raised/built in Ninjago City due to [redacted]

Blasian (Chinese/Southern African)

He's aware he's a nindroid, but is unaware of why he was created, hopes that his position within the Royal Household and Imperial Army will allow him to investigate the mysteries of his past.

Kai:

Master of Fire

Hand of the Emperor

17

Kai raised Nya in Ignacia, looking after their parents' blacksmith

Southeast Asian (Filipino)

As he got older, he became more aware of the mysterious circumstances around his parents disappearance. With all the knowledge locked away in the Imperial Palace, he is beginning to wonder if there is more to the story than he knows, and if they may still be alive.

Jay:

Master of Electricity

Hand of The Emperor

16 (and a half!)

Jay was raised in his parents' scrapyard in the sea of sand

Wasian (Japanese/American)

Is terrified of his powers after an accident left both him and his father scarred and injured, which incidentally was also the reason he was recruited so young.

Nya:

Master of Water

Hand of The Emperor

15

Nya was raised by Kai in Ignacia, pursuing her education to better her family's circumstances

Southeast Asian (Filipino)

Is upset that her elemental outburst caused both her and Kai to be enlisted early, thus completely derailing her plans to help Kai. She does not want to be here.

Lloyd:

Master of [redacted]???

The Imperial Prince of the Ninjago Empire

8 (and a quarter!)

Raised in the Imperial Palace by his father and uncle

Japanese

Is irritated at the prospect of new minders, but excited for ones closer in age- possibly friends. He is very wary of his unstable powers.

[little-robin-h00d]

Happy Halloween! :D a Halloween Town Ienzo for your viewing pleasure!

I was able to do art for the first time in years recently, and I absolutely WENT OFF! The muses put me in a headlock and didn't let me go until they were satisfied, so this boi got done just in time for Halloween!

The amount of detail i put into this guy is INSANE! But the glazing and light filters messed up the small details that were only really visible anyway at 800% zoom, so i'll be including those under the cut.

Embroidery

Almost every embroidered symbol is unique, only mirrored on the other side of the coat. From top to bottom: the Nobody symbol, the Heartless symbol, a symbol found in the old mansion in Traverse down combining the fleur-de-lis heart and a crown, the symbol of Ansem the Wise, the Kingdom Hearts symbol, a stylized rose, an eight pointed star, the player pin from The World Ends With you and the one from the sequel, a symbol found in Scala ad Caelum, a rounded star, a book, scales of justice, a beaker, Sephiroth's symbol with the wing inside the meteor, Shinra's logo, the buster sword from Final Fantasy 7, a chocobo, a cactuar, a moogle, fleur-de-lis, Red XIII, the Unversed symbol, Nobody symbol, Heartless symbol, Kingdom Hearts symbol, Roxas’ symbol, Eraqus’ symbol, numbers 1-14 in roman numerals.

The general mirroring stops here, and the symbols on the right are: a sun, moon, pentacle, meteor, hidden Mickey/lucky emblem, demon and angel wings on a heartless symbol representing Riku, sea salt ice cream and a thalassa shell for Xion, and Roxas’ symbol and a cut-off Oathkeeper keyblade.

On the inside of the coat’s embroidery are funny easter eggs to fill out the space because I ran out of ideas, from right to left: Sans, Loss.jpg, Amogus, Anarchy symbol, the cool S, the symbol for pi, Bill Cipher, Kirby, Ali from “Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun”, Elmo, a rat, a bat, the Palestinian flag and a watermelon (free Palestine!), two band-aids, the Pokémon type symbols for ghost psychic and dark-types, and the Genshin Impact element icons in order as they appear on the loading screen.

The text inside the Lexicon reads…

Page 1:

Once upon a time, a young boy became a prince. However, this story is not a fairytale…

This is a tragedy.

[This is the story of] Radiant Garden, and the [events that led to its] fall. It all began with [a man with amnesia, and a] series of experiments [by the apprentices of Ansem the Wise,] students of the Heart. [The amnesiac man, only remembering his name was Xehanort, was taken in by] Master Ansem.

… it is unclear when … point of no return.

Page 2: Little Ienzo rarely spoke, but [that certainly didn’t mean he] didn’t understand. The edge of the book reads: see every atrocity, hear every rumor, never shut up.

The rest is illegible.

Page 3: … Heartless because Xehanort had… body…

Page 4: Ignis Fatuus: fool’s fire, will-o-wisp. … illusion, delusion.

There is also text on all of the floating pages!

First floating page:

Design (and art) By: Little Robin Hood 1 Halloween Town Ienzo Wizard/Blue Mage + Will-O-Wisp Fanart encouraged, but please credit [the design]! I have lost so much sleep over this boi… Record: 22 hours awake TToTT

Second floating page:

I hereby relinquish my heart to Xehanort. In order to [successfully] achieve the goals of Organization XIII, I shall be given the number VI, and the title of Cloaked Schemer. I shall apprentice under lord Xemnas directly, and pledge loyalty to the Superior of the In-between. I shall don the cloak and a new name, and act as the Superior’s eyes and ears. None shall be above Xemnas, and my loyalty shall be his alone. Until our goals are finally achieved, my name shall be…

X Zexion

Third floating page: an abridged short version of the “Fresh Prince” theme song

Fourth floating page: T’was the Nightmare before Christmas And all through the streets, every monster was preparing for next Halloween! But good ol Jack had another idea - why not invite Sora and friends? And thus, Ienzo let his magic work, now ready for fun and festive fright! What fun forms might his friends take..?

Fifth floating page: dictionary definition of Wizard and its etymology

[lwjsbedtime]

I thought about this a while ago, but in an ATLA universe, LWJ would be the only waterbender in a clan full of air nomads. His mother is also a waterbender, which wouldn't usually matter much, as the clans have ways to influence elemental persuasion inside the womb. Except, Mama Lan thought if she had a little waterbender baby, they might let her keep him longer, so she didn't announce her pregnancy until it was much too late to do anything about that without harming the child.

It was still a 50/50 chance LWJ would harmonise with air anyway, but (much like his mother), he's much too disobedient to make LQR's life that easy. And so, several months later, the Lan clan found themselves in possession of a small, screaming, water blessed child.

Unfortunately, they neglect to obtain both waterbending scrolls and tutors, making LWJ's education hellish.

LWJ has to work four times as hard to adapt the water he resonates with to air-based techniques. Due to his clan's strict rules regarding discipline, he has been denied a non-Lan tutor, though his uncle does give him an allowance for purchasing any relevant educational text he may find (not many, in Gusu, the largest state of the air kingdom).

Rather than be dissuaded, however, he counts himself lucky to at least have one point of reference for how he might control his powers. As a child, his mother taught him some small tricks to entertain himself with whenever he missed her company - petty acts of water manipulation meant only to excite, or catch the eyes of anyone close enough to see. But whenever LWJ actually tried them outside of her home, he was scolded for mischief, until he stopped playing altogether. He waited eagerly for the days he could see his mother in person, when they would practise their bending together. Little LWJ loved his mama so much. 🥺

Sadly, when he turns six, Mama Lan dies, and with it LWJ's last connection to his waterbending roots. He almost loses hope of ever living up to her wish for him - to become a bending master, so he may have the strength to freely choose his own path in life.

Unwilling to spurn his mother's efforts to teach him, he pushes himself harder to utilise airbending techniques - and to some surprise, he excels. By his sixteenth year, LWJ is well known throughout the land as one of the most accomplished young masters the current generation has to offer. However, he is also unsociable and - not counting his brother, the pheasants he keeps birdseed out in his garden for, and an assortment of illegal rabbits - friendless.

So ofc, when WWX arrives at CR and takes an interest in LWJ, Lan Xichen is more than willing to push them together. WWX (not surprisingly, for a Jiang) is also a waterbender. He could help LWJ open up more; let him feel like he really belongs in this world - that he isn't just a defective airbender, like XC knows he fears. Maybe Wei-gongzi will even teach his brother some of the Jiang clan's more basic techniques! LXC is thrilled.

...WWX is mainly super impressed that LWJ can fly by manipulating water in the clouds. So cool! No other waterbender can do that. He begs for his - clearly superior, gifted, handsome - gege to teach him his tricks. LWJ misinterprets this as showing WWX how to make spinny balls of water, and little arching fountains like his mother taught him.

LWJ has never been readier to demonstrate something in his entire life, so ofc, he has to call WWX ridiculous and huff about it a bit first - he cannot come off too eager. That would be weird.

Anyway, LWJ eventually shows WWX his tricks:

(Like this, but with better posture, and a straighter expression.)

WWX is...still impressed, somehow? He copies LWJ's technique, turning it into a raging offensive attack capable of wiping out many enemies at once.

LWJ does not find that attractive, at all. ...Still.

The boys spend the rest of the afternoon attempting to turn children's games into dangerous weapons, and end up returning from the back hills utterly drenched in water. LXC is a little concerned, but mainly happy his brother seems so content to play with his new friend. LQR is less pleased, but with a little careful redirecting from his eldest nephew, LWJ never has to know by just how much.

Going forward, WWX and LWJ continue to meet after class to spar, drawing the curiosity of the other disciples, and starting all sorts of strange rumours, such as WWX using bloodbending to manipulate Lan er gongzi to his will, and LWJ taking WWX away from CR main to punish him sadistically.

When he hears the rumours, WWX laughs.

Wwx: Jokes on them! LZ and I go out there to get each other wet!

Nhs: ...

Jc: ...

Wwx: What? 🤨

The next day, significantly more rumours have popped up, about WWX taking poor, innocent Lan er gongzi into the back hills to corrupt him. Most of them still involve bloodbending and sadism to some extent. LWJ and WWX - painfully oblivious - go about their usual routine together without change. (It should be said, this is only because the disciples are too afraid to gossip around LWJ, leaving him constantly out of the loop, whereas WWX all but confirmed the rumours early on.)

Disciple: Hey, do you really get LWJ wet everyday? I didn't think that was possible with a man.

WWX (obnoxiously proud): Well, someone has to do it. He's way too stuffy to get himself messy.

Disciple: ...

Entire class: ...

LQR: ...😨

Thus begins LQR's master plan to get that devil WWX away from his precious nephew's remaining virtue. Unfortunately, the beating he gives them both for staying out dilly-dallying after curfew only ends with the pair splashing each other in the cold spring, nude.

He next tries sending them off in a group to deal with water ghouls in Caiyi - in order to focus their attention on something other than being promiscuous - and the pair come back with WWX hanging all over LWJ's shoulders! Apparently, they worked in tandem to raise a waterbourne abyss out of the lake, encased in a swirling torrent of water. While that is an impressive feat - no doubt possible only due to LWJ's familiarity with airbending - it most certainly does not excuse the way that Wei brat is pressing up against his WJ's side.

And why is WJ blushing about it! Teenagers are truly going to be the death of him, LQR swears it.

But it gets worse.

Nearing mid summer, the pair of boys seem to actually realise that since they both like each other, they can act on it (LWJ may or may not have finally heard the rumours about WY sullying him). This leads to a series of increasingly strange waterbending peacocking on WWX's part, reciprocated - to everyone's surprise, despite the raunchy hearsay - by LWJ. Their courting rituals only grow harder and harder to bear the more confident they become in the other's affection. NHS swears he caught WWX kissing up LWJ's arm in the library pavilion once, and LWJ actually giggled when he reached his elbow.

...LXC is still ecstatic. You can't bring him down with excessively sweet romancing; not when WJ finally looks happy for once. He jumps the gun a little by sending a betrothal request to YMJ, but thankfully it's well received on both ends - even if WWX's face did go a startling crimson colour when the match was announced, and WJ appeared for a moment to stop breathing.

LQR is at his wits end. XC betrayed him! Now that marriage is on the horizon, those brats have grown even more bold, if possible. Yesterday, he heard his nephew spouting poetry about WWX being the 'boisterous river' leading to his 'calm pond'. What nonsense! Don't even get him started on what he hears at night! When he and the rest of CR is trying to sleep! If he wasn't so embarrassed about it, he'd definitely confront those hooligans and have them spayed!

...LXC is still ecstatic, and that's why he pointedly drops off a bundle of silencing talismans at his brother's home the day after WWX moves in (unofficially. Officially, he knows nothing, saw no nude bottoms, and has nothing else to say on the matter, thank you very much).

A few years later, after marrying and travelling for a while, Wangxian adopt a young firebender toddler, whom they name A-Yuan. When it comes time for A-Yuan to learn to control his element, LWJ splurges on the very best of Wen tutors. He knows from experience, the child will learn better from someone of his own element, as he did with his mama. Fond memories rest in his heart as he sends his baby boy off to his first day of classes, a proud husband sniffling at his side.

All is peaceful and happy.

The end.

----

The past, probably:

QHJ, minding his business, meditating: 😑

Mama Lan: Hey, cutie!

QHJ: E-excuse me? 😳

Mama Lan: Watch this!

QHJ: Uhh...

Mama Lan: Bloodbended the fuck outta your Elder Mu, by the way. Want to help me escape? 😉💋

QHJ: I've never felt more concerned, nor more aroused in my life. Please, marry me. 🥺

Mama Lan: Okay?

----

Edit: I'll probs mention this again in another post so it doesn't get buried, but I've updated my fic masterpost to hopefully be more informative/easy to navigate. Fics are now labelled based on whether they're Bottomji/Bottomxian, and additionally, there are new notes regarding things I thought worth mentioning re:this blog/tropes/content warnings ✌️🌸

[c-art00nish]

Oh no Kai died!

So. I saw a post here on tumblr (I didn't save it :c) saying "what if kai died trying to provide for nya and she took his place in the series" and smth took over me and I drew this

More info below

So I took the premise of him dying and Nya taking his place but that's it, bc the og post said Nya would inherit his elemental power, but since Morro kept his being dead I'd imagine Kai could too.

So this changes a lot of stuff, in this au Kai "discovers" his elemtal powers early on, but they just manifest as being inmune to burns and fire which helps since this kid works at a forge.

One day he goes deep in the town to buy food, but there is an accident and a house is set on fire, he was just about to go home and ignore all the chaos when he hear someone still inside, against his better judgement he went in and helped knowing his resistance to fire. He saves the person trapped inside.. but instead of a 'thanks' the whole townspeople just go 'A witch!' since he didn't suffer any burns.. And you can imagine what happens next

Either way Kai does not arrive home, when Nya goes to town to ask where he is she is told he ran away by lady and that she should leave aswell (Quick tangent. The lady told Nya that to avoid explaining that they basically unalived her brother and so Nya doesn't get the same fate)

She moves away and years down the line she meets a nice old man saying he is looking for something special.

Okay so here goes the timeline from Nya's side all up until season 5:

• Pilot:

She works in a small shop doing repairs and is very agrressive towards Wu since instead of asking where are her parents he asked if she had any siblings, so yeah open wound. Anyway there is no kidnapping motivator here, the skeletons steal the map and destroy the only home she had, she goes with Wu in order to get revenge. He sees she is lost and in need of family so he trains her, everything goes about the same, Jay's line changes to inmediatly be "Do you like blue?", and she proceeds to ignore him since letting people in her life hasn't been an option in a long time (also here Wu assumed she must have the fire element). They get the weapons and Garmadon still tricks Nya with Kai's voice, when she arrives she is so mad she attempts to lift the sword to attack Garmadon, but she can't, seeing she has no use to him he sends some skeletons to attack, but apparently out of nowhere the sword lifts itself up and lands in Nya's hands (she was fighting the skeletons at that). From there Wu arrives, leaves, Garmadon is free all that stuff.

Nya wants to leave since she feels she failed since she is not the master of fire, but everyone just doesn't care and want her to still be part of the family. And so we go on to rise of the serpentine

• Rise of the Snakes:

Okay so here everything goes about the same, Samurai X is still Nya but it isn't a secret (she does this bc still feels like she can't be a ninja). Jay's true potencial happens bc he is like "I can't show you who I am becaussse you're ssso cool! I mean you are Sssamurai X and a Ninja!" which to she responds that she likes him as he is and even if she didn't he shouldn't change for others.

And the fangblades stuff is bc if Nya can't be tha master of fire, and samurai x isn't a ninja (she wants to but feels useless without an element) she might as well be the green one right?

She still saves Loyd over the fangblade, creating a dome of water from seemingly nowhere, unlocking her true potential as the master of water. And everything carries on the same

• Legacy of the Green Ninja & Rebooted:

Everything is pretty much the same.

Nya loses another brother

• Tournament of Elements:

All the ninja are split up like in the series with Nya doing vigilante stuff instead of fighting in an illegal fight club. Loyd attemps to reunite his family and everything goes about the same.

Skylor and Nya definetly flirted much to Jay's dissmay

Nya "betrays" Loyd just like Kai did with Nya in the series except Garmadon is left alone with the snake pet and Loyd is taken to the ritual. When Nya lifts the staff she does go a little power crazy, not for wanting to be the green ninja but bc she wants this power to protect her family.

Anyways season ends. RIP Garmadon

• Possesion:

All goes the same for the first 5 minutes. Then after fighting a possesed Loyd a ghost with fire in his hands arrives to the Bounty, asking- no, begging, for the Ninja to help him

Nya recognizes him and the world stops

Gonna do the Kai timeline in other post with Morro art :)

[marronje]

FINALLY, 13 hours and I'm doooone... The process was tough but the result is pretty satisfying. As I always say (I don't), if ya can't come up with a fan oc, you can insert some canon characters into your story instead 👌

And while I can share my lore... (some text and more pics below, text is google translated but I tried to edit this into something decent haha)

The story centers on one of the outstanding feudal families (the European influence in this setting is more pronounced).

Lore (raw, very raw): an alternative Russian Empire of the 18th-19th centuries, where the aristocracy seized power due to outstanding magical abilities.

The magic of the Ilyinsky family is one of the most unsettling in this regard, to the point of other families barely having any interaction with them. Since ancient times, there has been a traditional ritual in Ilyinka - each family in service must give the Ilyinskys one deceased person once every 100 years for eternal service in the estate (in fact, it only lasts until the death of the owner, so when the head of the family dies, an urgent cleaning and replacement of personnel is carried out in the estate).

Seeing a long-dead relative in the costume of a maid or a footman is not at all surprising for the locals. The magic of the aristocrat who rules here allows to 'revive' a voluntarily given body — it will behave plausibly and even retain parts of the personality of the deceased. You can recognize such a puppet by a faded eye — necessarily the left one. Each member of the Ilyinsky family also has this feature.

An example of such a connection are my main characters — Katie (the left one, some old peice if ya wanna see more of her) and 'Mistress' Ilyinsky (the tired gorgeous woman, a recent art yeah).

The old reference pic is so ya can understand the general aesthetics of the universe

Wearing black clothes is a sign of noble origin or service to a noble family btw

Reference pic yeah (Himiko looks pretty proud of herself and Ochaco is kinda judging us all, I like it :3)

Now to what Himiko does here – she is in the service of this family, but the case is unusual — often outsiders are not taken into service, but this exception was unexpected and pleasant. The foreigner who's died as a result of a mystical incident retained most of her character and magical powers and it let her save the connection with her cursed weapon — Ochako.

'Satellite' is a magical contract of the infamous Japanese Toga clan, from whose grip Himiko tried to escape by illegally making a deal with the soul of the deceased daughter of the Uraraka clan. The contract works on the principle of being a sacrifice — the weapon helps to quench the insatiable thirst for blood of the carrier, while receiving a semblance of a corporeal form (and imperceptibly shifting the master's moral orientation). If initially Himiko thirsted for blood out of pure lust for murder, now it has become a reflection of her love for the world and people in such a... particularly twisted manner.

With Himiko practically dead, the connection begins to fail, and she stays with the Ilyinskys not only out of lack of choice, but also out of a need to receive valuable help from the hands of unfriendly (or not) Russians.

Role in the plot — minor character-element of chaos.

Tarot card — Two of Pentacles, Page of Swords.

Ah, and a more lore-fitting version (the mask and the eye are IMPORTANT)

[chaotickasugaicrows]

Tied with the Kaigaku art on the recent poll was the Avatar AU. So here is some stuff on our Avatar the Last Airbender AU for Demon Slayer which we are calling Sticks and Stones.

Zenitsu is a blind orphan born in the Earth kingdom who unfortunately lives in Ba Sing Se. He’s also the Avatar. He spends a good amount of his childhood on the streets before the Earth Kingdom authorities finally get their directional geomancy to work and figure out who the Avatar is. Then he gets brought (cough kidnapped) to the Upper Ring and is protected (watched) by the Dai Li. The Dai Li impresses on him that it's essential he learns the elements in order according to the Avatar cycle so he learns Earth bending first. The Dai Li stall on getting him a proper Earth bending master never mind the rest of the elements. Once he does learn a bit of earth bending, he uses it alongside his enhanced hearing to navigate the world better. His animal companion is a badgermole by the name of Maru who he made friends with at age 10. Eventually Zenitsu realizes that something isn’t right with the Dai Li and escapes with the help of Genya who he sorta made friends with when he was on the streets. The two of them are framed for the death of the Earth King, making them fugitives.

Genya is a non bender that lives in the Earth Kingdom. His entire family, sans Sanemi, was killed by Fire Nation soldiers. Sanemi left him behind so he helps Zenitsu with the condition that they find his older brother on the way. Genya has some things to say and maybe some frustration to unload (a punch in the face). He starts out using a sword then switches to several long range weapons and finally settles on smithing his own gun. 

Sanemi is a non bender that eventually figures out he’s an air bender. He runs an illegal fringe resistance group focused on revenge against the fire nation. He’s a little too black and white and not the best about reducing collateral damage. He left Genya behind in the Earth Kingdom for safety reasons.

Inosuke is a water bender from the swamps so more like a vine bender. He likes covering himself in vines and making a swamp monster to destroy enemies. He has a catgator pet named Shine [she-neh] that he sometimes also covers in vines and rides into battle. His weapon of choice is a big club which he acquired from Giyuu (after much bugging). Makomo taught him how to wield it. He’s also covered in henna. He joins the Avatar’s little road trip on the way.

Aoi is a water bender from the Northern Water tribe and a healer who joins the Avatar’s group on their journey. Inosuke drives her insane because he didn’t know water could heal and is basically a self taught menace. She refuses to use water bending to attack but she does end up learning defensive moves in secret, affected by the rest of the group. Eventually she learns blood bending too. 

Giyuu, Sabito, Makomo, and Urokodaki are all from the Southern Water tribe. They are all water benders except Sabito. Urokodaki adopted the three of them after they lost their family to Fire Nation attacks. Giyuu uses a water tribe club, Makomo fights with an ice shiv that she creates with bending, and Sabito has a boomerang and a short sword. 

We have more but that will be for a future post. The state of the Fire nation and fire benders like Tanjirō and Nezuko requires quite a bit of explanation. 

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

selected moments from orchestra

greeted the two older ladies in the back of my section before rehearsal and one of them asked me "can you fix tile?" and i thought she had said "tire" so i was asking if she had car problems and she clarified "no, can you come and redo my tile grout? i can pay you!"

the other older sectionmate said with more than a little alarm "why are you asking her to do that?!" to which the first said "well, em's like a tomboy! she looks like she can fix anything!" 😭😭😭😭

i swear the second lady was trying very hard to decide between being offended on my behalf or laugh out loud LMFAOO like no worries bestie. this is quite possibly one of the most affirming things ever said to me

principal oboe saw me as she walked in (she stopped in the middle of giving a salsa lesson last week because she saw me in passing and T-posed at me) and apologized for trying to rope me into the salsa lesson (i would have joined had i not literally just gotten out of a meeting with my advisor and wanted to decompress i.e. Go Home) to which i was like nahh man it's fine i was just genuinely happy to see you to which she was like aww!! 🥺

when concertmaster was ready to tune principal oboe wasn't looking at him so he called her name in a very sing-song voice and me and viola friend lost it

we worked on the second movement of the dvořák again and i was looking up at a part where the seconds are one of the few moving things underneath the famous EH solo because. i was NOT moving my ass until tita conductor told me to move it

she looked up from her score at the same time i was, locked eyes with me, saw i was looking up at her already, and beamed from ear to ear at me 😭😭😭 i could not resist smiling back 😭

tita conductor told the winds to bring some call-and-response element of the music, "like those parrots on facebook reels," to which everyone in the orchestra must have given her a genuine What The Actual Fuck, Girl? look, so she elaborated "in my spare time i am on facebook watching parrots singing at each other." tita, my beloved, do you see how this begs more questions than it answers.

concertmaster's antics during rehearsal are genuinely so entertaining. he is normally so well-behaved and he does do his job well but he has the mischief of a youngest sibling to whom not enough attention is given.

when tita conductor's back is turned working with another section he looks straight at me and does an interpretive dance to their part with his eyebrows

today when tita conductor's back was turned to him he turned around and lowered the stand of the players behind him while, i kid you not, sniling so sneetly. i really wonder how his stand partner keeps a straight face because i sure as hell can't

when we switched from the fourth movement of the dvořák to the grieg concertmaster stared warbling the tune the firsts had in the first of the dances, to which tita conductor turned a genuinely delighted look down on him as she switched out her score on her stand

after rehearsal the second violin who was moved to the firsts greeted me with "em! my principal!" to which i was like "you are a first violin now though!" and she replied "you're still my principal!" 😭 i don't think that's how it works love 😭

me, associate principal viola, ex-second, and concertmaster were standing outside the hall chatting when tita conductor came outside, saw us, stopped in her tracks, and began rummaging for her keys as she asked "do you need the room open?" off our answer to the negative she asked "just hanging out?" and then smiled at us and trundled off.

when she returned she slid into the group and asked concertmaster and i to make new master copies of the mendelssohn (previous users had overmarked them to the point of illegibility, which associate principal viola had been complaining about for ages)

as i was finding it in my folder, i accidentally showed tita conductor my 7-page list of spots and she made an expression of such euphoric glee that concertmaster said "let me see", leaned over, and shoved his face into my folder, and ex-second violin asked her "what did em do?" to which tita conductor said "em is a principal second sent straight from the heavens to earth" let's cool it there just a bit, girl 😭😭😭

presently the concertmaster, associate principal viola, and i were left outside the hall to review my spots and see how heinous my fingerings were

concertmaster said "i'd go straight for fifth from first" to a part i had directed to shift to third before fifth and i had to be like. My Guy You Went To A Conservatory For High School.

and then he kept suggesting 4th finger extensions and saying "well i can do it and my hand's small" to which i had to be like. buddy. hold up your hand. look at my hand against yours. do you see how all your fingers are half an inch longer than mine. tita conductor was on the floor

[oneatlatime]

City of Walls and Secrets

I am also once again saving the commentary for a rewatch.

I still think rock trains are neat but their inefficiencies hurt my brain. The friction! They should at least install dynamic braking.

That's big. This show has really confined itself to the hinterlands so far, so this is really novel. I had no clue anything this big existed in the Avatar universe.

Complete nitpick time! Given that earthbending is a thing that exists, why bother making things out of stone with individual tiles like this?

Single most threatening musical sting of the whole show so far goes to an overly smiley tour guide.

Wow! I hate this lady already!

"Oh, Ba Sing Se has many walls! There are the ones outside, protecting us, and the ones inside, protecting us from smelly poors!"

"In case someone brings home a lady friend!" Do you know your nephew AT ALL?

Both Iroh and Zuko are right. Life does happen everywhere and without your permission. But, the city is also remarkably prison-like.

He got them jobs in an afternoon. AN AFTERNOON. Stop it Iroh, you're making me feel inadequate.

Once a fuckboy, always a fuckboy. This particular leopard can't change his spots, no matter how he tries to dress up his actions in a new law-abiding veneer. I feel sorry for Smellerbee. Her faith in her leader isn't exactly being rewarded.

So... is there a law on the books that makes being a firebender illegal in Ba Sing Se? Because the head-in-the-sand vibe I'm getting from Judy makes me think that the average citizen doesn't even know there's a reason to dislike the Fire Nation. Iroh and Zuko could probably bend as openly as a waterbender or an earthbender could here.

This whole being handled thing must be dredging up some pretty nasty feelings for Toph. This is specifically what she left behind.

Speaking of precisely targeted torture, Judy is engineered to be as irritating to Sokka as possible. Man of action versus Lady of script.

What a productive use of time! What an exemplary case of turning over a new leaf!

Iroh buddy I have news for you regarding the ingredients of tea.

That's like the nicest thing a member of the Fire Nation royal family has said all year.

How to get Iroh's ass in gear: Step 1: Make insulting tea. Step 2: There is no step 2.

I thought that little thingy in the background was one of those electricity things.

The attention to detail in this show is stupid. There's a moving reflection of the carriage in the water as it goes past.

Hi forbidden city!

Ba Sing Se has a morality police?

I've already run out of patience with the city and I'm 7 minutes in. I haven't even made it to a commercial break yet!

Their house is cute but the veranda is so substantial that it's probably really dark inside. Also there's a pumpkin hood ornament on the roof.

I don't think you can stop there for a month. Have you guys forgotten the now-doubled ticking clock? Eclipse and comet?

Oh ok we're doing 1984 now. Damn. This show goes places.

I stand corrected. Everyone knows about the war and would be appropriately non-welcoming to firebending. But not openly. This could be like one of those Bugs Bunny bits where he traps someone in societal rules. If someone told a firebender not to bend, all they would have to do to get the guy off their case would be to ask why they aren't supposed to be firebending. What's the guy going to say, because there's a war on?

Shout out to Pong for doing the Gaang a solid and providing the only useful info since they've arrived.

There is something very Gollum-like about Jet, crouched in laundry on a roof in the dark, talking to his stolen spark rocks.

Sokka. Feet off the artwork.

Time for Toph to weaponise her oppressive upbringing and out-fancy the fancies in the name of ending the war.

Aang can master an element in a couple of months but a qualified expert declared manners to be beyond him.

I just realised that Sokka and Katara don't have a last name.

Sneaking into a Bear's (JUST Bear's) birthday party may be the single least violent infiltration attempt in the show so far.

Smellerbee is very articulate, and it's rare that this show spells out its themes so obviously. No metaphors, just "you're obsessed. It's not healthy." And Jet still doesn't get it. Maybe Smellerbee should have tried metaphors.

Normally glowy green stuff is bad news, but all of Ba Sing Se's green lighting is surprisingly cozy.

Sometimes, rarely but sometimes, Zuko has to put up with a lot of nonsense.

A raise? Did I miss a timeskip?

Busting in to a local business, yelling about the enemy, pulling out a lethal weapon: How to Look Sane, A Guide by Jet.

Customers, amirite?

I guess the Bei Fongs are too minor as nobles?

"You don't know what I had to do to get seats this near the bear!" but I want to.

I know this guy's voice from something.

Momo ghost plan. I want it.

Pretty funny that the busboys plan works better than the fancy ladies plan. Goes to show you should always play to your strengths.

Get de-wheated punk.

I'm not sure I've rooted for Zuko this wholeheartedly since The Storm.

Jet be like.

Judy is not good at her job. Like really not good. Her insistence on getting out of there before they cause a scene caused the scene. Nice going!

The music slowing down when Judy's face falls is really effective.

You ever get the feeling that it should be Aang who ran away to the circus rather than Ty Lee?

Actually a travelling circus would be a great way to be, and remain, an incognito airbender. Aang should have done that rather than frozen himself. Ok I'm not sure how much say he had in that, but you know what I mean.

For the first time in his life, Zuko has people take his side. It's too bad that it's based on a lie, but it must feel nice.

I would have preferred if Zuko had a clean win against Jet - they're both great with swords, but I thought Zuko was better - but an assist from the funky hat police works too.

I'm getting some funky vibes from the funky hat police.

Bye! I won't miss you!

The face on the guy on the left is the funniest part of this episode.

Now these are some funky hats.

I know this scene is supposed to be scary and tense and action-packed, but I can't get over the fact that the king just did a drive by. They carried him in one side and out the other. This concludes the King's presence at his Bear's birthday party. He's a very busy man, you see.

Long Fang's title keeps getting fancier.

Brain washing crops up quite a lot in kids' cartoons. This is not the first time I've seen this plot beat.

Forget the Fire Lord. Forget the Fire Nation. Long Fang just threatened Appa. Long Fang has to die now.

The Judys are replaceable. Given everything else this city seems ok with, they're probably disposable too. Yikes!

Final Thoughts

This episode was probably the most expository I've seen this season. Maybe even the whole show. It was a big infodump with barely any humour. Actually that's wrong; there was humour, but not to my taste.

Jet is infuriating as usual. I think the writers are going for the villainous decay trope, because smooth-talking season one Jet hasn't reappeared once.

I feel really sorry for Smellerbee and the archer guy. I wonder if they even wanted to go to Ba Sing Se in the first place.

Once again, for the third episode in a row, Zuko is one of, if not the, most reasonable character. Season one shouty Zuko is gone. Is this what I think it is? Has Zuko really turned a corner? If so, I'm liking (rather, disliking less) this new Zuko. This is good. I'm also surprised, because in my experience, if you want to domesticate someone, you don't put them in a customer-facing role. That will have the opposite effect and make them turn feral.

Iroh is having too much fun. It's good for him to have something of his own going on. I think he's been in Zuko wrangling mode 24/7 for the last two? three? years, so he definitely deserves to pursue his own interests for a bit. But I can't see Zuko being a tea boy for long before he's back to needing wrangling.

What's the long term plan though? Are Zuko and Iroh going to live the rest of their lives in Ba Sing Se? Are they waiting for something? Are Iroh and Zuko functionally dead, with Lee and Mushi taking their place?

I will give the show credit for finally coming up with and antagonistic force that Aang & company can't just bend or talk into submission. Bureaucratic tomfoolery covering for authoritarian censorship and information suppression and re-education was not something I'd ever have expected in this show, because it's a little too much like the real world, if you know what I mean.

I don't like seeing our heroes unable to triumph, so this episode was kind of uncomfortable to watch. It felt off the whole way through, which I credit to that creepy music box tune that played throughout. The soundtrack of this episode was a cut above what I usually hear in this show. I noticed it more than I usually do, and I mean that in a good way.

As someone who'd be lucky to pass as a busboy, upper class intrigue and social games stuff doesn't do it for me, so this wasn't an episode I was going to enjoy anyway. I preferred the B plot with Zuko and Iroh, for the sheer absurdity of the concept. Imagine you're in 1950s London, having barely survived the Blitz, and you come across Himmler working in a pub. It's so odd that it almost wraps back around to normal again.

I didn't find this episode very enjoyable. I don't like the forced inactivity that's been imposed on the Gaang. The humour was not to my taste. The worldbuilding was substantial, but - probably thanks to Joo Dee, whose name I've definitely been misspelling - it felt inorganic, like a lecture. Which the writers do lampshade by making Joo Dee sound like one of those audio guide things you rent from tourist attractions. But lampshading a fault does not make a fault go away.

Thanks to what happens to Jet, I know that the people of Ba Sing Se don't dare even think about the war, for their own safety. But after spending more than half a season being shown every type of refugee and victim of war in other parts of the Earth Kingdom, I could not bring myself to give a flying fuck over Pong's concern for keeping his house. The city is frustrating, the officials are frustrating, their priorities are beyond frustrating. Zuko was right when he said he didn't want to make a life there, although I did find the lower ring where Zuko and Iroh are to be far more comfortable than the high ring where the gaang is.

This episode makes me want to bite something.

And still no Appa.

[penofwildfire]

OKAY! SO. I illegally accessed Peacock (my computer now thinks I'm from Oregon) and am just starting the fourth episode of this half! My beloved boyfriend and my roommate are taking a smoke break so I thought I'd take the time to go through my thoughts on the season so far! Spoilers ahead!

-Okay, first off, HOLY SHIT THEY KILLED OFF THE MATRIARCH RIGHT OFF THE BAT THAT'S INSANE. JUST A FUCKING ON-SCREEN DEATH IMMEDIATELY. AND SHE HAD A BABY. WHAT THE HELL.

-This seems to be an unfinished cut of the season. The editing is sloppy, I assume (hope) it'll be more polished in the Netflix release

-There is SO MUCH HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IT'S ACTUALLY CRAZY LIKE WHAT

-Roby is definitely gonna be an antagonist at some point, the parallels to season 4 kailor are too strong for him not to be. Wyldfyre really is taking up that Red Ninja mantle.

-SO. MANY. ELEMENTAL MASTERS. WOW.

-I think the new master of shadow might just be Shade post-transition ngl she looks just like him but a girl. I will stick with this theory til it is proven otherwise.

-Jordana is struggling I feel so bad for her. Still deadnaming Sora though, she should work on that.

-Arin's childhood bestie is such a cutie I love this kid. So glad to see a serpentine that isn't a Hypnobrai for once. I think he's probably Constrictai? Based on the colours and the Earth-related element.

-Snail is new master of nature. Wonder what happened to Bolobo. Eh, he probably just died lol.

-BONZLE WAS ON SCREEN BRIEFLY MY GIRL IS OKAY AUGH I'M SO HAPPY YAY YAY YAY HOPE SHE AND KAI DON'T DIE OR SOMETHING IDK BUT YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

-Nya finally has an idea that Jay might be close by!!!!! Yay!!!!!

Anyway that's my thoughts for now I'll add more later !

[murderofravens]

the amount of times ive read baby im right here since uve posted it shld be illegal but it’s gen my fave squid game fic now and it’s opened my third eye. so im just gonna word vomit ab how much i love this fic!!

in-ho being so in possessively in love but angry at himself for even being distracted at all (i love how u showed he really was paying attention when he said the guards wld only bring the reader chocolate milk). the twisted fatherly connection was so good (every time inho referred to himself as an old man i almost called an ambulance for myself). i love love love how u stayed so true to his character and didnt shy away from his dark side. this is the game master afterall and it was so great how u showed hes still always doing that in the back of his mind. and that moment at the end was so cathartic and reaal. breaking down in a hot older mans arms wld real smth deep within me 😔

you dont know the amount of times i've read this ask and just sat there blushing. this is so special to me and im so happy you noticed all these little details! he's definitely very frustrated with himself and i didn't want to make him lose himself completely in love— because realistically even in the show, he shot his brother despite loving him so much. there's this element in being loved by him that comes with sacrifice and darkness, and i wanted to incorporate that into the fic.

as per the last part... anon you are so real. breaking down in a fatherly older man's arms would fix me, truly. and i know it would fix you all too 😋 thank you so so much, this ask just motivated me soo much. i would frame it.

[watermelinoe]

don't say that i want to read your isekai opinions

i feel like i am being buttered up here but i will allow it bc i do love talking abt isekai hehe ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

so for context what made me think more abt isekai as a genre was finishing the main story chapters of saving my sweetheart, which i think is really strong for the first two thirds and then loses it in the last third for reasons i will explain shortly

and i've had this issue w other isekai/regression manhwa (i pr much lump these together under the isekai umbrella even though it is not technically the same thing) where things are just too easy, one that comes to mind off the top of my head is i shall master this family, which has great art and i like that it's less focused on romance but i ended up getting bored bc the protagonist just. never loses. she can always use her past life experience to perfectly predict what will happen and completely curbstomp whoever her opponent is.

"but isn't that the appeal of an isekai??" you may ask and you would be INCORRECT, yes the wish fulfillment element of isekai is about getting a do-over, but more than that my favorite thing abt the genre is how it plays with expectations and the idea of fate/any kind of higher power that decides how things are "supposed" to be. and oftentimes this force is an active character and antagonist. i've seen several manhwa now where the characters essentially have to beat "god" in order to get their happy ending. there are no predestined endings and true love is the love you make with the person you choose, not someone who is chosen for you. soulmates are made, not created. these are all themes that are extremely important to me and why i think isekai as a genre works so well. i'm someone who LOVES tropes - as tv tropes always says, Tropes Aren't Bad. isekai plays with tropes like i used to play with my dinosaur toys. it's supposed to be self-aware, it's supposed to subvert expectations, it's supposed to be fun and genre savvy and meta. it's really a treat for people who care a lot about the mechanics of storytelling.

the working isekai formula relies on establishing the wish being fulfilled - why is this person being reincarnated? and the answer to that question generally determines how the story first plays out, which is typically one of two ways, where the female lead either has to claw her way up through obstacle after obstacle, or the female lead is immediately welcomed and loved in her new life (but often there is still some underlying conflict that keeps her from being at ease and embracing Happily Ever After, such as her knowledge of what's "destined" to happen in the future). the latter is more of a hurt/comfort trope usually following a depressing first life. in either case, at the beginning the female lead can rely on her insider knowledge to score some wins early on, but the essential key is that there comes a point where her past knowledge means nothing anymore because the story has changed too much. and usually there will be an additional twist as well. this is to keep things from being too easy for the female lead, because even in a revenge story, it's not actually satisfying to watch someone win over and over with no meaningful conflicts. the archvillain's daughter-in-law also has a female lead who seemingly never misses, but the difference is that she thinks her father-in-law is planning to kill her so his son can remarry the royal princess (divorce is illegal), and honestly at this point in the story without spoiling anything that still seems like a reasonable fear. so the story isn't boring because you have this conflict of interests, she's attached to her new family but also knows she needs to be dead for her father-in-law to accomplish his overall goal. i shall master this family doesn't seem to have that extra layer, everything just goes her way.

saving my sweetheart does a great job with challenging the female lead for the first ~90 or so chapters and then in the last third, i swear literally every single obstacle is squashed before you can even start to worry about it. including the main looming death flag introduced at the very beginning of the story. it just no longer matters at a certain point. and obviously as readers we know that these types of stories will work out in the end, but for some reason this story decided that the characters should know that, too. in the third act. they literally solve things by showing multiple characters the future. sorry but if the main characters already know it's going to be okay... why am i here exactly lol it was like the story said yeah yeah you know what it's gonna be like huh??? what a baffling choice

and it's dangerously easy for stories that use gods as major players to eliminate any real challenge for the main characters because they literally have the power of god and anime on their side. there has to be some excuse why whatever divine power can't just stomp the bad guys with a giant foot monty python style. it's also just.... less satisfying for a story to have the Ultimate Objective Good on the side of the main characters. Good is often Boring. i liked how flirting with the villain's dad portrayed its god as more human and flawed, like a greek god.

what really left a bad taste in my mouth by the end of saving my sweetheart was that fate was never against them in the first place, it was the villain who upset the balance, and the two Good gods just give the main characters the answers because fuck it, you all know how it's gonna turn out anyway, who are we kidding. there's an especially laughable moment at the end and this will be a spoiler, but when a major character has to go to the land of the dead at the end to persuade another character to come back to life, this character worries bc in the happy future he originally saw, he wasn't in it. and for a split second you think there's going to be a nice message because the major character says smth like "i can't guarantee the future but i know we would be less happy without you in it" BUT THEN the goddess literally just fucking SHOWS the dead guy the future with him in it to prove it will all be fine and i am still not over it because WHAT WAS THE POINT THEN, what was the point of any of it, no one had to be uncertain for a single fuckin second because yknow power of god and anime

and i feel like an insane person bc everyone else was just like "this felt kinda rushed" but i had this whole rant built up inside me lmao i am aware i'm too into this genre but i think there's interesting parallels you can make here to like, christian media and why it's boring...