#Tenzin eats very well

[yukaro353]

How sweet is the calamity

The sea has decided your destiny

Love will be the last thing you feel

🐚

This could become an AU But my brain is fried jsjsjs Admire him as "foolish monk fell off the boat and was hypnotized by a hungry creature".

[hadesisqueer]

I like Zaheer as a villain but he is so overrated tbh. Not only because he's not as smart as neither him or people think he is —if he were, he wouldn't have prevented facing Korra in a fair fight only for at the end being like "Oh, Korra, we're poisoning you so we can force the Avatar State and kill you in it; I'm sure that straight up telling you that and therefore giving you a heads up instead of taking you by surprise —like Azula did with Aang— will not matter at all because you totally won't be able to defend yourself after we trigger a literal defense mechanism that gives you the power of a God. Yeah the chains will totally stop that from happening because they're platinum so you totally won't break free even though the Avatar State also enhances your already impressive physical strength." Definitely that was not his smartest move.

It's because they put him as one of the top Airbenders in the franchise and like. That's not true lmao. Zaheer was a good Airbender compared to most of the New Air Nation but tbh you can't compare a guy who was already a skilled martial artist and who was adapting his skills to Airbending to a random guy from Ba Sing Se named Wang who's 38 years old who just got Airbending and hasn't done any martial arts before in his life. Most of Zaheer's advantage in fights comes from 1) him being already a skilled figher 2) people being taken by surprise because they didn't know he was an Airbender 3) people not being used to fighting Airbenders 4) him not holding back unlike most Airbenders. You think he's impressive for suffocating the Earth Queen? All Airbenders with a bit of training probably have the ability to do that (Gyatso literally did that against a whole battalion of Comet Firebenders), they simply choose not to because it goes against their ideals.

Airbending Zaheer could deal with average and a bit above average-good benders/fighters (like White Lotus members or Kya; Kya was a healer, not actually a fighter, and the White Lotus are talented and all but you can't compare those guys in Korra to the main crew lmao) due to his martial arts skills that adapt well with Airbending. He was talented, okay. He defeated Tonraq on top of a mountain while Tonraq had a limited access to water, cool. Now, him being one of Top Best Benders of the franchise? No lmao, most actual Top Benders TM like Iroh, Jianzhu or Amon could probably deal with him pretty easily. The rest of his Red Lotus pals could beat him. He is not even one of the best Airbenders, so don't put him in that top; he just got Airbending, he's talented but there is no comparison. You really think this guy is anywhere close to Gyatso? Kelsang? Aang?! Zaheer wasn't even at Book 1 Aang level. Zaheer needed to gang up with the rest of the Red Lotus against Tenzin because he was kicking his ass and Tenzin wasn't even breaking a sweat while doing so lmao. You put him against an actual Master and he gets bodied. Book 3 Korra would mope the floor with him with Waterbending and she could probably deal with him with just Airbending. Post Book 4 Korra could probably mope the floor with him with just Airbending. The only thing Zaheer does that makes him stand out against any other Airbender with more experience than Random Guy Wang or literal children is that he doesn't hold back like most Airbenders and that he learnt how to fly. And the flying thing, as impressive as it was, was less of a talent thing and more about that he could do it because he didn't have any earthly attachments anymore.

Zaheer was a great antagonist. I really liked him as a character, he was very interesting, his philosophy was interesting, to me he was the best antagonist in all of TLOK along with Amon and just behind Azula and Yun as my fave antagonist in the franchise. And he was talented and skilled, and a threat. But he is just not as powerful as some people make him out to be imo and that's it. Actual Top Tier Benders could eat him for breakfast.

[roseeycreates-blog]

I AM IN MISERY

Whenever I think about a new Avatar after Korra, it makes me sad, If Korra was gone... and so is Lin 😭😭😭 And since we are on this topic, It's a hard pill to swallow, but I think Lin would probably be the first one to go among the Gaang kids.

I'll base this on their line of work, lifestyle, environment, and traumas (since trauma can affect physical health too).

Let's start with who I think would be the last to go.

Suyin Beifong

She's the youngest among them. Traveling the world gave her happiness and an opportunity to work on her traumas (like her conflicts with her mom and sister). As the Matriarch of Zaofu, she's surrounded and cared for by the best healers and physicians. We also see how active she is with dancing and other hobbies, which makes her the healthiest.

Firelord Izumi

Before you comment "Izumi is the oldest," I know, but hear me out: We saw just a bit of her in LOK, but have you seen how fit she is for her age? As a monarch, she's been cared for by servants and healers/physicians since birth. I bet she hasn't eaten a rotten meal in her life. While she can fight, as long as Zuko is alive, he'll protect Izumi at all costs. Not just him, but the whole army of the Fire Nation will as well. So yeah, LONG LIVE THE FIRELORD! We don't know much about her, so I don't have an entry with trauma...

Tenzin/Kya

These two are tied. Let's start with Kya. She's one of the greatest healers, and if she's ever injured, she has Katara to heal her. The only trauma of hers that I know of (same with Bumi) is that Aang favored Tenzin and neglected them. Knowing her personality, she doesn't seem to mind it a lot. For her, she still has her mom, Uncle Sokka, and Bumi. As for her lifestyle, she can be a bit reckless at times, but her nature as a healer always prevails.

With Tenzin, he eats a healthy diet (Air Nomad diet). Like Kya and Bumi, Katara has him covered. He doesn't have many injuries because he doesn't fight often unless it's necessary. The main trauma he faced was his father's death and the pressure of being "the last Airbender." He worked through that by getting married and having kids. Additionally, as the leader of the Air Nation, his health is cared for by the air acolytes.

Bumi

To be honest, I almost made him tied with Lin because of their line of work and their recklessness at times. He got fighting injuries like Lin and often faced near-death experiences. They just differ in terms of trauma. Bumi handled his trauma very well; we can see how bubbly his personality is. Like Kya, despite Aang being absent, he had his mom, uncle, and sister. "You always know when I need a hug," Bumi once said to Kya, implying that they had each other's back. Oh, and he's also retired now and got bending, so yeah, his lifespan got extended.

LASTLY *sighs*

Lin Beifong

It's incredibly tough to admit, but her job is one of the toughest, and she didn't even like it. She took it to seek approval from her mom, who wasn't even happy about it. She endured numerous injuries from fighting triads, being electrocuted by chi blockers while wearing metal armor, and facing near-death experiences. Her traumas include conflicts with her mom and sister, her breakup with Tenzin, and having her bending taken away. She also has the worst way of handling these issues—bottling everything up until it's overwhelming. Her lifestyle and environment haven't been favorable either; due to work demands, she likely doesn't eat proper meals, often relying on instant noodles or beef jerky, and I bet she even skips meals. Perhaps the saddest part is that for a long time, she didn't have anyone to take care of her. Lin definitely got the short end of the stick. 😭😭😭

[creampuffqueen]

Let’s see the college au!!! :3c

okay so for starters check out this post by comradekatara for the basics/inspiration. gotta give credit for the main inspo!!

this au is where the female avatars are roommates in college and just like. hang out and have shenanigans and whatever lol. their love interests are also included as 'main' characters

so for everyone's majors and sports and stuff:

korra: kinesiology major. she plays several intramural sports (for those who don't know, it's like a club team for colleges) such as soccer, wrestling, and various martial arts

kyoshi: literature major. attends the school on a basketball scholarship

yangchen: international relations major, ends up minoring in philosophy, psychology, and political science. she plays for the school's volleyball and track teams

asami: mechanical engineering, also part of a sorority

rangi: pre-law, aiming to specialize in criminal justice. part of the school's ROTC, army branch. plays intramural soccer

kavik: pre-med, aiming to specialize in emergency medicine. attends the school on a national merit scholarship he got for his math skills

and yeah the other avatars are also here as well (don't think too hard about the timeline or you'll go crazy) but the girls are my favs so here we are

some other random things about the au:

korra was homeschooled for her entire life. so when she goes to college she has ZERO social skills or street smarts

korra's freshman roommate was opal beifong. they met online and decided to room together. they're great friends, but since they were both super sheltered they don't know how to do anything. they dyed all their clothes pink the first time they did laundry and almost burned down the dorm kitchens like three times attempting to cook

this college (it's not any specific college that i picked out it's just like some random made up school. i do feel very strongly that it's in new england tho) was not korra's first choice. originally she was scouted to swim for a big important school. but at the beginning of her senior year of high school she got into an accident that left her paralyzed for six months and in rehab for another six. the school dropped her offer and she was forced to reconsider her options

she ended up going to this random college because tenzin, a long time family friend, is a professor here

kyoshi was in the foster system most of her life, but ended up being adopted by her foster dad, kelsang, when she was 14. they aren't very wealthy so the only way kyoshi is able to attend school is because of her basketball scholarship, even though she doesn't care about basketball that much

kyoshi's freshman year roommate was randomly assigned, and she roomed with kirima. they didn't get along at first due to very differing lifestyles but eventually kirima helped her loosen up a bit and they became good friends

how everyone met: korra and rangi play on the intramural soccer team together. rangi and kyoshi were already dating when they went to college, so kyoshi met korra through her. basketball practice is right after volleyball practice. perfectionist yangchen always stays after to rep things on her own, and chronically early kyoshi is always like twenty minutes early to every practice. they keep running into each other and eventually start chatting, and become fast friends. kyoshi brings rangi and korra with her to cheer yangchen on at a volleyball game, and after the game the four go out to eat where, once again, they become fast friends

when the time comes to find housing for their sophomore year, the three girls decide to get an apartment together, and they live together for the next three years

korra meets bolin on the wrestling team, and then meets mako through him. mako and asami are already dating. korra judges asami as 'just a typical sorority girl' but quickly realizes she was wrong. there is some love triangle drama with those three but it wraps up wayyyy quicker in this au. korra and asami start dating in the spring of their freshman year

funny enough, korra actually meets kavik before anyone else. kavik is on the wrestling team for a little while, but drops it after winter break. kavik and yangchen meet totally separately, and when yangchen introduces him to her friends korra and kavik share a laugh because they've already met before

yangchen and kavik don't start dating until their sophomore year. but it takes like a whole six months for anyone to figure it out because 1) they didn't make any kind of announcement about it and 2) they don't really act that different anyway. so there's a very funny moment where kyoshi and korra come home to find them making out on the couch and are like 'hello???? when did this start??' and yangvik are like 'what do you mean when did this start we've been dating for six months 😭'

naga is korra's great pyrenees and yangchen has two siamese cats, pik and pak. kelsang has a surprisingly sweet tibetan mastiff called pengpeng that kyoshi dogsits sometimes

basically the vibe of this au is 'five of the hottest women you've ever seen - and this one guy that they drag around everywhere'

yangchen, korra, and rangi like to play sand volleyball together at the rec center. yangchen always wins but the other two don't make it easy for her

even though their partners are over so often they basically live there, the three girls have a 'residents only' night once a week where they all hang out together and gossip

the flying opera company is a band that does small gigs on campus/around town. kyoshi does backup vocals for them

yangchen is still pushing herself to insane levels At All Time in this au. girl is playing two sports, triple minoring, and is a member of like half the clubs on campus (she joins any club with volunteering opportunities). one semester korra and kyoshi start 'yangchen's redbull wall' which is exactly what it sounds like. not that they're any better lmao

the other avatars are also here in this au. kuruk is part of a frat but should be on like. suicide watch or something. bro is Going Through It. but he's actually like best friends with all the girls in the apartment. idk what roku is doing. aang is a philosophy major, he and yangchen are study buddies for philosophy classes. and uh. idk about wan either lmao

anyway that's some of the basics + random fun facts! i have lots more but writing this out has made me realize i probably need like a timeline or something haha. feel free to send more asks about this au!

[wilcze-kudly]

No please I am so ready to have the Bolin-Suyin and Mako-Lin foil discussion, please you have no idea how ready I am for this. I am now craving this. I have literally been thinking about this for four years since I first watched the show

Ok. So. This is an idea I've touched on but I don't know how to fully put it into words?

Like to start off. Both pairs of siblings grew up in pretty tough environments.

But where Lin and Suyin's upbringing directly pitted them against each other in order to gain their mother's attention, Mako and Bolin's brought them closer, since they had to rely on each other.

However, their personal coping mechnisms parallel each other much more.

The similarities between Mako and Lin are pretty obvious. Emotionally constipated workacholic who puts their duty over anything. Also. Boatload of failed relationships.

Both also have a strong theme of protecting others about them.

Mako, of course, acted as Bolin's guardian through most of their childhoods. He lowkey parents the rest of the Krew. His job led him to act as a bodyguard to Wu.

Lin Beifong has been carrying Republic City on her back for DECADES. She acts as a protector to the city on multiple occasions. One of her most notable scenes in B1 is when she sacrifices herself so Tenzin and his family can escape.

Huge theme of self sacrifice here as well. Both Lin and Mako seem to be ready to jump on any opportunity to die heroically.

I think both these characters deal with their trauma by providing servitude and protection. Its the only way they can feel worth anything.

Lin originally did it to, most likely, please her mother (a misguided attempt in my opinion) but now its the only thing in her life that hasn't left her. While Mako... well, he's been a guardian for so long, it's most likely all he knows.

Servitude and protection feels like all they can offer the ones they love. All they're good for.

As for Bolin and Su. Well, I personally find the parallels even more fascinating.

Here we have the younger sibling who grew up alone, feeling unloved. In the shadow of their older sibling.

The child that now, when they have the opportunity, tries to build relationships as much as they can. Reaching out blindly, desperately for that connection they craved so ravenously in their younger years. Often, in their neediness, they latch onto someone who would use them or manipulate them to their own gain.

The themes Bolin and Suyin share are: performances, family and the lack of belonging.

The performance aspect is pretty self explanatory. Bolin is an actor and Suyin leads a dance troupe. But it runs deeper than that. Both characters try to project only the best parts of themselves into the world. The most plausible reason for this is them wanting to be seen as likeable and attract more friends.

Suyin presents her perfect family and her beautiful city first and foremost. She sweeps imperfections under the rug. After Baatar Jr and Kuvira, she hastily does her best to stitch her torn family back into its untarnished perfection.

Bolin's 'performance' feels less intentional. He just wants people to like him and more or less knows what makes said people like him.

Varrick: Look how these people love you, kid! They're eating that cornball spiel right out of your hand.

Bolin: The trick is, whenever I get confused, I just say "Republic City" or "fans", and then everyone cheers.

I've touched on the theme of family just now with Su, but to elaborate on it, both Bolin and Suyin value family very highly. Pribably because neither of them had much of one growing up. Sure Suyin had Lin and Toph, but neither of those two seem like the super 'family affection' types.

The second Bolin learnt he was going to Ba Sing Se, he immediately set his heart on finding his father's family. He also seems to have a tendency to insert himself into other people's families. Trying to make up for all that he lost.

While Suyin simply gave up on fixing her messed up family and built a new one from scratch. Five lovely kids. Adopt another, call your advisor family. She's gathering 'family' left and right to compensate for what she didn't have growing up.

The lack of belonging thing is something I only recently noticed, but it's interesting. Suyin had a turbulent young adulthood. She lived on a pirate ship, in a circus and a sandbender commune. Similarly, Bolin seems to switch his job and calling every single season/comic. Athlete, movie star, soldier, cop, secretary... the boy can't find stability to save his life.

Bolin also expresses a lot of distress due to this fact. He sees that the rest of the crew have found their callings, while he remains stagnant or lost.

It makes me wonder if Bolin will have to, like Suyin, carve out his place in the world in order to feel like he has a place.

Anyway.. that's all i have for now. I may add more thoughts onto this but it is late. Thanks for the ask love! You're a peach!

[goodluckclove]

RANDOM EXCERPT TIME

the cool thing about migration patterns is that ollie exists now, a character who's magic comes from her arfid. so i actually have an entirely new way to conceptualize food and nutrition.

as someone who struggles with disordered eating i really related to writing this sequence between her and tenzin (thanks to @godsmostfuckedupgoblin for inspiring me to set it in my real-life favorite park in portland). i'd love to see if anyone else in a similar place finds some joy in this!

it's not sad by the way it's very cute. i like ollie a lot.

By the time they finished the bag of peas was half defrosted. Ollie tore open the top and was tossing loose handfuls ahead of them, which quickly summoned more ducks than Tenzin was able to fully process.

“Touching peas like that doesn’t bother you?” Tenzin asked, watching form her corner of the bench.

“Hm? Ah. No, why?”

“You used to freak out about eating anything that popped in your mouth. That was probably one of your biggest icks.”

Ollie grinned and shook her head. “No, no. Eggs are my biggest ick. Uh, yeah – I’m not about to eat any of this trash. But it’s better for the birds than bread or crackers. And you gotta be nice to birds,” she leaned down slowly until she was far enough for a larger beige duck to snap some green bulbs from the palm of her outstretched hand. “I am growing, though, Like, as a person. Had a big win the other day.”

“Yeah?”

“Ate an olive.”

She wiped some moisture off her palms, slapping them together in a grandly dramatic fashion before leaning back against the bench and idly rubbing along the edge of her bad knee. Ollie cast Tenzin a look of bemused pride, the type of pride that was an actual sense of accomplishment masked as humor in order to deflect potential mockery.

Tenzin put the groceries back in the bag and set it on the concrete at their feet, where it was quickly inspected by their horde of hungry ducks. She turned on the bench, crossing one leg on the seat of it. “Like, a whole olive?”

“Straight out of the jar,” Ollie smirked.

“On purpose? I mean, did you know –?”

Ollie waggled her brow. “Oh, I knew. Knew the whole time.”

“Holy shit.”

That got a pleased laugh out of Ollie. She made a dismissive, joking gesture, but as the amusement faded Tenzin saw a slight flush simmering along her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

“An olive,” it’s funny how one small act could take precedence over years of unspoken resentment. “That would’ve killed you when we were kids,” Tenzin leaned forward and lowered her voice. “How’d it happen? What’d you think afterwards?”

At first Ollie said nothing. She broadened her grin slightly, though tinging it with a hint of suspicion. Or maybe embarrassment? It was hard to tell. Finally she broke from her line of sight and snickered sheepishly at their audience of wandering ducks.

“I was in the Mess Hall,” she began. “Renja left a bottle on the counter. I saw it, and – I don’t know – something broke inside of me. I was just like fuck it and I ate one. It really isn’t –”

“Did you like it?” Tenzin cut in.

Ollie looked at her. She scoffed again. “Not really. The texture was fine, and I liked how salty it was, but it kind of tasted like blood.”

Tenzin stared at her friend. Her curls were well maintained. There were strands of silver that now stood out among the occasional ringlet of chestnut brown. She had smile lines starting to form in the corners of her mouth. Because she smiled a lot. Ollie always smiled a lot.

“You ate an olive,” Tenzin whispered in astonishment.

Ollie looked like she was going to laugh, but didn’t. She locked eyes again with Tenzin, searching her face, seeing something in Tenzin the same way she saw something in Ollie. When she smiled again it was surprisingly gentle.

“I ate an olive,” Ollie murmured proudly.

[nyamadermont]

Tea in the Snow

@flashfictionfridayofficial

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

661 words

TW: referenced torture

Katara held open the door to the large lodge, and Zolt marched inside, Rohan cuddled close to his chest. When Tenzin bent down to give his mother a hug, Zolt stepped around him to let the rest of the crew through the door. He felt Lin come up along his other side, her arm reaching behind his back.

Tenzin straightened, saying, “Mother, this is Rohan.”

Zolt extended his arms to the baby’s grandmother. When the crying started, Zolt felt himself having to fight off tears. Lin squeezed him. Tenzin cooed into the baby’s ear, bringing him up against Katara’s chest.

“And this is Zoltan. Amon took his bending, as well.”

Katara looked up, and he could see the flash of recognition. “Zoltan is an unusual name. You were a firebender?”

Silently, Zolt nodded.

His hands fell to his sides, his arms feeling so painfully empty.

Lin spoke up. “Rohan was given to Zoltan to take care of when Pema died.” She glanced at Tenzin, continuing, “They stopped torturing Tenzin a little bit before they gave up on me.” She dropped her hand to lace her fingers with his. “Zoltan is why all three of us are still alive.”

And then Tenzin gave him a brief hug at the shoulders.

A small, giddy, part of him felt cuddled, his shoulder fitting neatly under Tenzin’s arms.

Rohan chose that moment to whimper again and Zolt reached for the child.

Katara smiled at him as she transferred the baby to him. “Thank you for taking care of them. It can’t have been easy. No matter what you did before, you have my gratitude.”

His eyes watered for real.

Tenzin folded closer to him, his other arm reaching for Lin, who slid her free hand along Tenzin’s waist. Rohan opened his eyes and reached for his father’s beard.

It was as if there were no other people in the world.

Zolt looked up at the gentle touch on his shoulder, seeing Asami, looking as tired and drawn as she had the entire trip. Behind her, he saw Mako and Bolin helping a younger couple set out a tea service.

“Senna has some tea and snacks for us. I think she’d really like it if people tried to eat. It sounds like she has been cooking since we called to say we were coming.”

Zolt exchanged glances with Lin and Tenzin, and they pulled apart just enough to move over to the seating.

Later, Zolt would notice that only Bolin and Tonraq were able to hold little Rohan for very long. Senna looked somewhat relieved, but Asami just looked a little more forlorn. Poor Bolin felt like he had to sit very, very still, but Rohan smiled at him more than at anyone else.

Mako and Lin went for a walk out in the compound, but when they came back, Rohan fussed until she picked him up. Mako got a spooked look and went to help Senna in the kitchen. He reemerged with a tray, carrying a pot and two small blue cups. Bolin hopped up and slid the door open long enough for Mako to pass the tray to Katara.

With Rohan content with Lin and Tenzin, Zolt took a teacup and slipped out through the front door.

The nearly unrelenting white expanse was overwhelming. It was so completely different from his native environment that he knew he would be a dead man in minutes, left to his own devices. The shivers didn’t take long to start, and soon, he was shaking too badly to keep his hands on the teacup, and it spilled on the snow at his feet.

The cup itself landed in the snow with a soft sigh.

He leaned over to pick it up, but his muscles cramped and he fell against the railing. He couldn’t fill his lungs with enough air

Breath of life Life of breath

He repeated the words to himself, but they faded away.

His vision blurred.

[risingsoleil]

since we have au linzin and canon linzin meet i'm just curious what a possible scenario would look like if modern linzin got mixed in as well

that would be so complicated haha

AU and Canon Lin would see Modern Tenzin with his hair and miss it so much. They're jealous that Modern Lin gets to grab his hair while he's eating her out and cumming against his mouth.

But they think that his hairstyle seems a little...feminine? Is that the style in the future? People def have strange preferences in the future... However, his fashion gets them 👀 looking like a CEO

Modern Tenzin already thinks that Lin is hot at her age. But seeing milf version of Lin in her 50s has him going through different fantasies. He wouldn't mind a dominatrix Lin and being on his knees while she tells him what to do (eat strawberries off her boobs). Since AU and Canon Lin both have shorter hair, it looks very sophisticated and mature and that also makes Tenzin fall harder for her.

AU and Canon Tenzin miss Lin with long hair. It brings back nostalgia and memories of their youth and the days when it was Linzin vs. the world. Modern Lin's clothes look veeery good on her especially because they're form-fitting 👀 Clothes in their universe is more conservative, but not in the future 🤪 They're jealous that Modern Tenzin gets to see Lin's cleavage, waist, hips, ass in form-fitting dresses or skirts at work. They want one visit to the modern world to dress AU and Canon Lin in modern clothes so they can check her out

[chiefbeifongcanrailme]

DVD COMMENTARY (It's Time to Make Time)

“Chief there’s a massive hickey the size of Ba Sing Se on your neck and it’s really hard for all of us to imagine you having a sex life all of a sudden. Just the sight of it paints a very vivid picture of the kind of sex you’re having and the kind of person you’re having it with. Spirits, Chief! It’s purple in color- how are you not in pain? What was he trying to do to you? And no, we know you didn’t sleep well or sleep much last night- because you were having some really wild sex and that mark was not there yesterday and today it’s the first thing anyone can see when they look at you! No but really- what was he- trying to eat and swallow you? Please ask me to stop talking, Lin?” Mako pants. 

Lin gawked at him, thoroughly shocked at his guts to it to her face and even more so that everyone now knew that she was probably involved with someone. 

“Ha-has everyone noticed?” She managed to get out meekly. 

“Yes Chief. Everyone. People are placing bets on who they think you’re sleeping with.” Mako exhales sharply and finally looks her in the eye. 

Have fun!

Ah, It's Time to Make Time, my dearest.

This fic was written to be just a one-shot, and second chapter that followed were also supposed to be one-shot that happened to occur in this universe. The third chapter was just because this fic deserved to be wrapped into that perfect little bow with a cherry on top.

So, coming to the very first chapter where this excerpt is from: I believe I wrote this very early on in my fandom writing carrier- I had all these "need to hide our relationship from Tenzin" ideas for Linumi and I was playing around them.

One such idea, that I borrowed from real life events is- Lin getting caught with a hickey. Canonically, I think Lin would be totally intolerant if a lover left a mark on her- unless, they're in a serious relationship and it was an accident and neither party intended on it/realized it. With Bumi and his nomadic wildness, I can imagine him having a hard time taming himself- especially if he's as in love with and attracted to someone like Lin.

In the backdrop of the plot, Lin is seemingly extremely busy. She's been spreading herself pretty thin and being as sedulous as her, she won't half-ass anything- her job or her "casual" relationship.

I wanted to depict a couple of things here:

From personal experience, I know that being the kind of busy where you don't even have the time to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror doesn't bode well. Sooner or later, there'll be an eruption. Lin does come across as someone who'd be that kinda busy. There comes a time in everyone's career when they're asked to "take it slow" because of their age and such- and I wanted to show that, irrespective of age, if someone's still kicking, they don't have to slow down for that. They could easily slow down to live their lives on their terms- because they've earned it. I've seen a lot of headcanons that Lin retires because of her injuries, or her age- etc, and knowing Lin, I don't think she'd let things like that hold her back. If she does decide to slow down, it's going to HAVE TO be because she wants to and not because she has to. Establishing both these points were a good two birds with one stone.

Being a woman with power at the workplace. It's really sad when a woman at a higher position is reduced to vapid gossip for having something as basic as a personal life. It's only because people fear Lin that they won't treat her the way that one criminal (Raj) did. Lucky for Lin, her subordinates both respect and love her and so she isn't quite subjected to that- which is something very positive about this phenomenon that I got to portray.

Mako and Lin's friendship. I can draw so many parallels between the two: from being the ever-sacrificing, traumatized older sibling to drowning yourself in work to avoid your personal life. I think Lin sorta sees him as her mini me- and she's both proud of and scared for him. It's one thing for him to emulate good qualities, but she hates that she sees her bad qualities in him too. In coming clean about her personal life to Mako, she's showing him that he need not minimize his life in order to serve. Having love in your life doesn't diminish your power.

Lin handling herself. Lin likes to face her problems head on. Everyone has reached a moment in their lives when they're totally humiliated and it's no different for Lin. She learnt the hard way the price of not accepting things coming your way with grace- that if she tries to fight everything that doesn't go her way, it's going to be her down fall in the end. After reconciling with Tenzin, then Suyin, and then her mother, she realizes that had she just accepted circumstances(Pema, scars and mommy issues) for what they were back when they arose, she wouldn't have had to spend all these decades feeling alone and bitter. She didn't need to isolate herself, and guard her emotions with such high walls if she just accepted the situations(move on, forgive and mommy issues). Having likely being subjected to terrible press in the wake of her breakup with Tenzin, I can see Lin wanting to keep this new relationship- one with Bumi, no less- on the downlow. The last thing she needs to relive is the cruel gossip columns and paparazzi outside her window. So, she decides to take it one step at a time.

Sorry, I kinda got carried away there. Now, coming to excerpt itself: Mako is always a little nervous around Lin. He has very confusing feelings about her- he thinks she's cool and hot and he has that "do I wanna be her or do I wanna be with her?" dilemma. But either way, keeping those feelings at bay, he has a lot of respect for Lin as his mentor and cares for her like family. Lin knows he's the only one who'll give it to her straight- that he could be a confidant of sorts and that he is not to be judged by the company he keeps. She trusts him to the fullest, and we see here how it only substantiates that trust when he's the only one to tell her what's really going on, and return, is the only one to learn of her big secret.

Mako kinda gets lost in his rambling of course, because Lin makes him nervous and the idea of her having a sex life only further escalates the "do I wanna be her or do I wanna be with her" dilemma since he gets to view her in a sexual light for the first time. Either way, Mako's a serious guy, and pointedly conveys his exact thoughts until he realizes, physically, he needs to stop talking.

Lin's shock has more to do with the contents of his ramble as well as some to do with the length of his chatter. She knows he can't look her in the eye, but appreciates when he finally does as he tries to sound more comforting. Lin doesn't do well with feeling embarrassed, and Mako knows that- very few people can sense that about her.

I think it's somewhat in this moment, when Lin makes a decision. Old Lin would've immediately broken up with Bumi, without any explanation and sent him running. But as for new Lin, who 1) cared about Bumi and 2) wanted him to know that she cared him, she had to be better. So she not only admitted to herself that she cares for Bumi, but also to Mako that being in love and having a relationship is not a weakness or a vulnerability.

I hope you enjoyed this commentary!

[tickle-bugs]

Hi! I had this super cute Korra idea and was wondering if you could write a fic for it. So like basically she and Bolin are earthending training, and he beats her and is like super gloaty about it, so she gets him back by encasing him in rock and well y’know…tickling him lol. I’d also love if you could throw in a raspberry or two!

Rock and Roll

Summary: After traveling the Spirit World, Korra returns home to the Air Temple. Familiar grounds beget familiar habits and she soon finds herself returning to her favorite hobby: pro-bending. Well...semi-pro, anyway.

Spoilers for the end of The Legend of Korra and the comics that follow the end of the series!

Korra’s reunion with Air Temple Island brought her a peace she hadn’t known she needed. Traveling with Asami had given her time to quell the one remaining tempest in her brain, the one that wrestled with the mint newness of her sexuality. It meant that when they finally arrived at the temple doors, Korra had only her friends on her mind. 

“Do you think everyone looks different?” Korra whispers to Asami, linking their fingers together. They step into the main courtyard. Korra breathes in deep. Still smells like home. 

“No. But I think you should go check, just to be sure.” Asami kisses her on the cheek, taking Korra’s bag off her back. “I’ll get our room together.”

“I love you.” Korra squeezes her hand. Asami beams. 

“Love you too.” She hefts Korra’s bag easily, having grown stronger during their travels, and wanders off towards the temple interior. Korra’s so occupied with watching her go, she doesn’t even notice Bolin and Mako stepping into the courtyard. 

“Korra!” Mako shouts with a laugh. Bolin gasps himself into a coughing fit, gesturing wildly. Korra sprints towards them and scoops them clean off the ground, cracking something in both of their spines with the force of the hug. 

“I told Mako something cool was going to happen today! I could feel it.” Bolin punches Mako’s shoulder and he grunts. 

“It’s good to see you guys. I missed you.” Korra tilts their foreheads together, tossing her arms around their shoulders. 

“Are you hungry? Mako was just about to make lunch.”

“Was I?” Mako deadpans. Bolin employs his absolutely lethal puppy dog eyes. Pabu scrambles atop his head to assist. Mako sighs deeply and waves for them to follow him.

…

Tenzin had been gracious enough to round up his family, promising every whining child and adult that they’d have a meal with Korra another time. Though Ikki and Meelo’s begging tugged on her heartstrings, she had the rare comfort of knowing they weren’t going anywhere. She could take a moment to relax with her friends without sacrifice. 

“Tell me everything. What did I miss?” Korra drums her hands on the table. Bolin stares very pointedly at Mako, who starts to hem and haw. He eats a dumpling instead of answering. 

“Mako started training with Fire Lord Zuko.” Bolin nudges him with his shoulder. Mako sighs. 

“You what?” Korra leans forward. Bolin does the same, batting his eyelashes at his brother. Mako glares at him. 

“That’s incredible, Mako. He seems like he’d be a great mentor.” Asami plucks a dumpling from the steamer basket. 

“He is. He’s seen and done so much! It’s incredible.” Mako gestures a little wildly, starry-eyed, and Korra chuckles. 

“Well, so have you.” Asami smiles. He turns a little pink and ducks his head. 

“You’re such a nerd. That’s what you were all nervous about?” Korra narrows her eyes teasingly, taking a dumpling. Mako scoffs and steals it from her hand. Before she can fight to get it back, he takes a triumphant bite and leans back in his chair. She loosely considers vaulting over the table, but she decides to save Pema the headache.

“No, he thought I was gonna tell you that he’s totally got a crush on Princess Ursa.” Bolin stretches innocently.

The room erupts into shouting. Mako busies himself with strangling Bolin while Asami and Korra pepper him with questions. Bolin paws at Mako’s face and chokes out a protest. Asami manages to pull them apart. 

“I don’t have a crush on her! She’s a smart, capable tactician…with pretty eyes…and nice hair��oh god.” Mako drops his head into his hands. Bolin pats his shoulder. 

The conversation flows from Mako’s love life--hopeless--to events in Republic City. Spirits don’t have a fantastic grasp on human affairs, but they seem confident in Zhu Li taking the Presidential helm, which is nice. As they chat, the stack of empty bowls in the sink grows more and more precarious. 

“Okay, what else…oh! We made another mover.” Bolin feeds small vegetable pieces to Pabu, who perches comfortably on his head. 

“What? Why?” Korra frowns. 

“Now that Varrick’s First Gentleman, he’s picking up a lot of his old hobbies. He told me he was struck with urgent inspiration to make his magnum opus.” Bolin gestures excitedly. 

“Beifong’s tired of babysitting him, so he’s on informal house arrest,” Mako snorts, leaning towards Korra. She snickers. 

“What’s the story?” Asami pinches Korra’s knee so she stops laughing—counterproductive, as it just forces her to stifle a yelp. 

“Nuktuk has laid down his arms as the hero of the south and taken up…wait for it…pro-bending coaching! He invents it! Turns out, his dad was one of the best benders in the world and Nuktuk wants to preserve the legacy!” Bolin gestures even bigger. Pabu nearly slides off of his head as he moves around. 

“Wait…isn’t that the plot of The Pebble’s new mover? The one about The Boulder?” Asami collects the empty bowls from the table and dumps them in the sink. As she comes back, she kisses Korra’s forehead. 

“Uh, noooooo. The Pebble’s grandfather was the pro-bender. For Nuktuk, it’s his dad. Totally different.” Bolin nods resolutely. Asami opens her mouth to argue, but Korra pinches her knee. Asami glares. Korra gives a shit-eating grin. 

“Right, sure. You two up for a friendly match, now that you’re a double pro-bender?” Korra leans on Mako’s shoulder.

“Oooh a Fire Ferret reunion? Count me in!” Bolin gasps excitedly. 

“Count me out.” Mako stands and stretches. 

“Aw c’mon, Mako! Where’s your competitive spirit?” Korra socks him in the arm. He returns the favor. 

“Knock yourselves out.” He laughs fondly, ruffling Bolin’s hair as he passes. 

“Guess it’s you and me then. Nuktuk, Hero of the Arena, versus…the Avatar.” Bolin makes a noise like a crowd cheering. 

….

“Come on, Bolin! Put your back into it!” Korra throws a boulder at his head. He pulls his hands apart and the rock shatters, submerging into the earth. 

“Taunting me isn’t gonna work. While you and Asami were out frolicking, Tenzin and Jinora showed me the path to inner peace. I’m totally chill now.” Bolin butchers a few Air Nomad forms and then nods, satisfied. 

“Is that right?” 

“Yep. I’m super zen.” Bolin closes his eyes and takes a meditative stance. Korra throws another rock at his head. He yelps and deflects at the last moment, scattering it to dust.

“Would you stop doing that?!”  

“Are you going to fight me?” She puts her hand on her hip. 

“Alright, you asked for it. No holding back.” He smirks. 

As she flips out of the way of a chunk of earth the size of a Satomobile, she’s quickly reminded why he was a pro long before she ever met him. She’s used to earthbenders with squat techniques. Bolin is fast. He moves earth like water, adapting quickly to shifts in gravity without breaking a sweat. 

She takes a rock to the torso and goes flying, skidding to a stop on her back. She narrows her eyes at him, flips back on her feet, and resumes her stance.

“Oh yeah, I’ve still got it.” He flexes. 

“Whatever. Lucky shot.”  Korra rolls her eyes. Bolin continues to flex, striking new and irritating poses. Pabu scampers out onto his bicep and copies him. Bolin turns unexpectedly and Pabu squeaks, scampering back to the solid ground of his shoulder. The poor thing slips and tumbles right into Bolin’s shirt with a terrified shriek. 

Bolin makes the exact same noise, followed by a string of frantic, high-pitched giggles and shouts. Pabu skitters around his waist and Bolin tries to grab him. Korra muffles her laughter into her hands. 

“P-Pabu!” Bolin squeaks, finally wrangling the fire ferret into his grasp. He starts sternly lecturing Pabu, but Korra’s long past listening. She’s too busy sowing the seeds of a plan. 

“Let’s go again.” Korra grins. 

“Best of five? Let’s do it.”

Korra and Bolin circle each other, locked in tense concentration. Korra moves first, launching stone after stone to where she thinks Bolin will be, rather than where he is. She breathes with each shove, doing her best to root her body to the earth. 

To Bolin’s credit, he easily manages her aggressive assault. He complains about it, sure, but he deflects or redirects every blow before it can break his stance. He splits a large boulder and pelts her with the pieces. She slides and flips out of the way, curving with the air rather than through it. Even though Bolin strikes her from beneath with a stone, Korra still manages to bend a bucket’s worth of water directly into his chest. 

Korra clenches her fist and the water flash-freezes. As it crackles into a solid up his body, Bolin stammers up a protest and wiggles fruitlessly against the ice. He strains every which way, the muscles in his neck tensing, but he doesn’t budge.

“‘Kay, so this definitely isn’t competition-legal. How about you let me go and we call it even?” Bolin blows his curl out of his face. 

“Mmm, nah. Best of five, remember?” Korra smirks, cracking her knuckles. She makes a big show of stretching. 

“I can’t fight you in ice. Ohhh, you’ve got a real scary face right now. Like…like Eska levels of scary—“

Korra bends away a chunk of the ice, leaving a perfect window for Bolin’s stomach. She pinches him there and he giggles once, sweetly. They blink at each other. Korra breaks out in a smirk. He starts to babble, shaking his head fervently, but he collapses into nervous snickers and incoherence when she gets closer.

“Tickling is cheating, c’mon--KorraKorraKorraaaah!” He squeals, bubbly giggles pouring forth faster than he can hope to speak. He wiggles as much as he can—not at all—and tries to suck in his stomach away from her fingers. She follows easily, poke-poke-poking at the softer parts of his stomach to make him jump. 

“This isn’t even a fair f-fight!” Bolin whines, shimmying like his life depends on it. 

“It’s not fun if it’s fair.” Korra shrugs. She bends away some ice from his ribs and plucks her fingers across them. His giggles somehow find more urgency, making his whole torso tremble. His voice rises in time with her fingers, cracking beautifully when she decides to tickle under his arms. He lets out a tumble of desperate syllables and hiccups.

“Ohmygod, move!” He snorts, oh wow, and keeps trying to escape. He attempts wide, pleading eyes but his nose keeps scrunching and preventing his progress. 

“Move, huh? Not stop?” Korra raises her eyebrow. Bolin buries his face in his shoulder. 

“Alright, tell you what. Surrender your victory and maybe I’ll let you go.” Korra tickles mockingly under his chin and Bolin snorts again, slamming his chin down. She spiders across the skin she can reach, avoiding his scrunching. She brushes his ear by mistake. 

Bolin’s voice leaps at least two octaves. He wrenches so hard that he actually cracks some of the ice around his shoulders. Korra grins like a demon. Bolin’s eyes widen. 

“I’m so telling Opal.” She snickers. 

“Don’t you dare!” His cheeks and ears burn bright red. She chases the blush with her fingers. Bolin cackles, whipping his head back and forth to no avail. She pokes at his collarbones and he yelps, hiking his shoulders as far up as he can. 

The ice crunches, then crumbles. Bolin stumbles forward, clutching his torso through the tail-end of his laughter. Korra backs up and starts awkwardly chuckling with something like remorse. 

“Hey, Korra?” Bolin narrows his eyes, deathly serious. “Run.”

“Threatening the Avatar?” She jokes weakly. 

Bolin sprints at her like a train as a reply.

She yelps and takes off, bending air to launch herself onto the temple roof. Bolin uses earth to follow suit, his serious demeanor melting into the giggly little ‘I’m gonna get youuus’ that one would expect from someone like him.

She misses her jump onto the next roof and Bolin catches her by the waist. Her loss of balance translates to him, unfortunately, and they both crash to the ground. Bolin pulls her close and rolls to break the fall, but he doesn’t release her from the bear hug. He giggles evilly in her ear. 

Oh shit. 

“Bolin, hang on—“

“Gotcha.” He grins, vibrating his fingers into her stomach. “Now, time to defend that championship title.” 

Korra squeals loud enough to send birds and spirits flying from the temple trees. 

[deafmangoes]

Why Legend of Korra Breaks Avatar's Worldbuilding

Part 3: Politics

The last in my three-part rant about Legend of Korra. This one is the most excuseable because who really wants to put complex international relations into a kid's show, right?

(Look, I was one of the kids who enjoyed the trade dispute arc in Star Wars, sue me)

Avatar's worldbuidling as applies to politics is... pretty simple. There are basically only two "nationstates" as we'd understand them, in TLA, and a handful of "nations" who are not states, as well as some local and indepedent territories.

LoK expands that to three nationstates but gets a bit muddy about the rest.

"Anarchy Bad"

This is more a generic look at the way the series treats politics. It makes it look complex on the surface but it's really very shallow. Again, kids' show, fine.

Season 1 and Season 3's antagonists are both anarchists of a sort. Amon is, on the surface (before he's revealed as a fraud), a sort of socialist who decries the (actual, displayed) inequality shown towards people who can't bend elements. He's the bad guy, of course, because this is an American TV show so we can't have any of that.

Season 3's Zaheer is explicitly an anarchist of the very stereotypical "no gods, no masters" type. Unfortunately there's a lot of mixed messaging going on, because the writers go out of their way to show three nations with incompetent leaders (the Republic City President, who only cares about ratings; the Earth Queen, who exploits her people as property; and more subtly Suyin Beifong in the semi-independent city of Zaofu who is shown to be a bit out of touch with the common folk and running a bit of a dystopia.

Despite these examples, Amon and Zaheer are still definitely shown to be "wrong"... even when their core grievances are upheld as legitimate. The writers don't really seem to know what to do there.

How is this related to the worldbuilding, you ask? Because it shows there isn't much, under the surface. The Earth Queen is assassinated and Ba Sing Se is explicitly stated to fall into utter chaos immediately. Apparently the Dai Li can't do jack shit. The greater Earth Kingdom is also stated to be in a bad state, which could be chalked up to generations of mismanagement from the kingdom's government and warfare with the Fire Nation, but this isn't really discussed or displayed either except for mention of "bandits" in Season 4. Instead we're fed this idea that although the Earth Queen is objectively a bad ruler, without her in place everything falls apart. Don't eat the rich, kids, just... I dunno, go blog about it.

Obviously this isn't how things work IRL. Yes, we have the narrative idea that once you overthrow a dictator things go to shit (see: any war in the last forty years), but this is an overly simplistic look at things. Infrastructure and statehood are complex, messy things that don't flip like a binary switch.

In 'reality', Ba Sing Se may have been a bit loopy for a few days but the Earth Queen's successor would have taken over, the Dai Li would have kept order (like they had been for a century already), and most of the kindgom's bureaucracy would keep ticking over without issue.

Prince Wu

A bit of a basebreaker character, Prince Wu of Season 4 is the Earth Queen's nephew and designated heir to the throne (selected and supported by the Republic City President, the Fire Lord, and Tenzin... which shouldn't be how that works, either, and smacks of other political corruption). He's shown at first to be a whining, pampered, buffoonish dandy but grows over the season to become more connected with the people to the point where he indicates he wants to dissolve the monarch entirely and replace with a federal democracy.

So... wait, last season overthrowing the monarchy was bad and led to complete chaos, followed by three years of a military dictatorship, and now it's all good actually don't worry about it. Again with the mixed messages; also the implication that the people of the Earth Kingom can't do anything unless the God-King allows it, as if they're simple peasant morons who need careful shepherding and guidance.

All in all, it leaves the worldbuilding feeling very insubstantial and empty.

The World Leaders

On that note, it seems that every major decision is delegated to a council of five people: The Fire Lord, the Republic City President, Master Tenzin representing the Air Nomads, the Earth Monarch, and Korra's Dad.

In Season 1, Republic City was more complicated and run by a council that had a representative from each bending nation and a token non-bender. We see in the comics/novels that Aang and Zuko set this up to resolve the issue of Fire Nation colonies in Earth Kingdom territory, and it's overall a pretty okay way of doing things. Very early democratic experiments, I guess.

It gets replaced with a singular President later because... Honestly I don't really remember, but it smacks of "this is too nuanced, make it simpler".

These five people - of whom only one is an elected representative, it's worth adding - meet a few times in Seasons 3 and 4 and are hinted to form a sort of "united nations" analogue. After the Earth Queen's assassination, they seem to be the ones who 'decide' on Prince Wu as her successor... rather than, you know, her government? Or the pre-established line of succession?

It's not really surprising that Kuvira decides to go do her own thing.

How Does the Earth Kingdom Work, Anyway?

Firstly it should be noted that, looking at the world map, it's implied the Earth Kingdom is the size of Eurasia. It doesn't take a lot of knowledge about history to know that this isn't very realistic and is generally considered a big "no-no" in worldbuilding.

From what we can glean from the show, it seems to be a sort of feudal monarchy, with the Earth Monarch ruling from Ba Sing Se (as a city-state) and accepting the vassalage of the rulers of other states - Season 4 shows us briefly the 'Great State of Yi', as well as Zaofu, which is nominally part of the Kingdom but seems to do whatever the hell it likes. Suyin said she "purchased the land" - from who? The King, I guess? Never really cleared up.

From TLA, we know that Avatar Kyoshi previously protected a peninsula - later Kyoshi Island - from becoming part of such a kingdom, so we can infer from this that there are fully autonomus and independent groups around. The Great Desert and the Sandbenders seem to bow to no one's authority, and the Swampbenders are the same.

So really, it looks like the Earth Kingdom is more like a very loose grouping of states who all pay nominal lip-service to Ba Sing Se. This definitely shouldn't lead to the "full anarchy" that supported Kuvira's rise to power.

So... maybe that's actually an in-universe lie, or Republic City scaremongering. Certainly it looks like Kuvira just spent three years going around each of the states in turn and subduing them into her Empire, but apart from the one display of bandits attacking Yi, we have no knowledge of how well or badly the others were faring.

The "Air Nation"

Just as a side note, I love that Tenzin gets an equal seat on this whole world leader council thing when his entire 'nation' is about thirty airbenders and a couple of hundred fanboys.

The Water Tribes

Finally I just want to highlight that in TLA, there are two water tribes - one at the north pole, one at the south, which makes sense because they're literally a world apart from eachother. in LoK we see them "reunited" and Korra's Dad is in charge, but like... There's still the geographical distance, dudes. It's not easy to run a nation as one thing when both halves are separated by the entire planet.

Anyway... That's probably enough of all that. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[findmeinthefallair]

@fangirling-heart thanks to your comment, I've put some puzzle pieces together!

It's parallels time, with more therapisting.

Now, I dislike most of LoK's writing but for once, the episode "Korra Alone" wasn't written by Bryke and they brought in a waaaay better guest writer - one of the original A:TLA writers in fact - Katie Mattila, in to portray trauma and trauma recovery pretty well.

I basically found more evidence to back up my metas (how did I not sit down to do this before??). Here is a list Korra's important scenes in more or less chronological order, while I add on some more pre-timeskip Hunter commentary.

First of all, Korra's basic needs have to be met before any other breakthroughs can be reached:

Her parents (*cough cough Camila and Darius anyone?*) keep watch over how she eats, sleeps as comfortably as possible, and connects with others, while Katara does her best to restore her mobility.

Hunter would want to help with rebuilding, go to school, play flyer derby, and most of all carve palismen. And at his core he wants to learn and explore more than anything. But as I've said before, I suspect both his mind and body will collapse from awful depression as was the case with Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, who has C-PTSD just like Hunter.

He would also have increased irritability and frustration due to simply not being able to carry out whatever tasks he knows he wants to do, like Korra in this scene:

With Korra at this stage, it was a largely physical issue (being unable to stand and walk), while Hunter's arc would be about tremendous psychological impact e.g. the depression causing him to oversleep and physically slow down.

We see Korra being overwhelmed and experiencing emotional "flooding" when coming in contact with swamp water or when Toph tries to bend the liquid metal out of her body. The Hunter version would mainly involve touching palistrom wood. It's about a sensation so powerful that it can time travel you back to reliving the original event, as if it were in the present here and now. Both Hunter and Korra experienced a "big T" event: possession and poisoning respectively.

But the consistent love and community around him, despite his initial isolation, is what leads him to what I think will be the first breakthrough: seeking therapy. There's no way he would be doing that so soon after leaving The Collector's palace, and as counterintuitive as it sounds, one actually has to be a certain level of "well" in order to reap the benefits of therapy.

In parallel to starting with his therapist, he would be able to start paying some attention during Hexside classes, insisting on taking initiative with some rebuilding efforts, and practising flyer derby, though I think he may refrain from accepting Dell's tutelage this early due to that area holding the worst memories.

Speaking of flyer derby:

If anyone in a practice match uses Abomination Magic, it might be very bad for him. For all you know, even the sight of his friends' and opponents' palismen might set off intense irritability in him. I don't even know if holding the flags will be bad because he might have a mental image of clutching poor Flapjack again.

Korra had the freeze and then fight response with an opponent rushing at her during firebending training, which was her next main hurdle after she could walk and run again. She had a visceral intrusive image of Zaheer charging at her in battle.

But just like how she is no longer wheelchair-bound, Hunter would have begun undertaking some tasks, hanging out with friends, and importantly no longer isolating or oversleeping intensely like before: this is because he starts to feel like there are a few things that he can still control.

But an example of something that is beyond control is:

Korra being overwhelmed by her past just as she was going to enter Republic City to train with Tenzin like the old times. She vividly sees her poisoned self standing on the rocks, and makes a U-turn to then train alone by herself on her own terms. Things simply cannot be just like the old times ever again.

Perhaps the Hunter parallel of this would be when he first experiences unpleasant sensations and emotions in therapy, yet is able to not be flooded badly - this matters, no matter how small the moment seems to be.

And as Dana said, he chose to have his hair cut short again. Just like:

Korra did this after she right before she went off on her own to use fighting rings as a substitute for Tenzin's training and supervision.

Perhaps around the time Hunter gets his new haircut, he has agreed to see Dell and be open to whatever Dell wishes to share. Maybe he'd be ready to start conversing with the Bat Queen too, and start to learn how to carve.

It's kinda like how Korra finally went into the Spirit World again to make further efforts to regain her Avatar State.

ohmygod the spirits are like palismen in these shots

But being in this much close proximity to palismen would still bring back his darkest memory in a visceral way. This is where helping Camila at the vet would be incredibly beneficial as exposure therapy because the larger human realm animals provide enough "distance" from smaller palismen, yet the tasks of tending to their needs can bridge the gap between him and calmly interacting with palismen. At this point, he is still not close to carving Waffles.

I think Hunter's therapist would, after a few months, recommend the fantasy version of EMDR therapy as an intervention a bit later on, after he has stabilized to enough extent to give this a shot. Without getting really technical, EMDR scenes could easily play out like Eda's vivid dreams of fighting and then befriending her owl beast: because this technique is said to replicate REM sleep and its positive effects. It allows a person to process trauma in a controlled environment with an equipped professional.

This would look a lot like Hunter actually taking on Belos in a fight, in his own mindscape - like Eda wrestling with her owl beast in her own mind. We would probably see all sorts of memories from the palace, of monster Belos hurting him. The toughest battles would revolve around Flapjack's death, whereby we would see possessed Hunter all over again in Hunter's mindscape.

It happens to Korra in a similar way, where she (and us viewers) sees her old poisoned self instead of the fighting ring opponent:

At some point, a spirit beckons her to go to the swamp which Toph lives in (idk, I have a cute image of Stringbean helping her witch's adopted brother get out of the house to go to therapy...? It might parallel moments Luz had with Flapjack):

Her old self appears again in the swamp fight scene:

the swamp water has turned to the same kind of metallic poison she is terrified of, and it pulls her in.

You literally just need to change this imagery to Hunter versus his old possessed self, in his mind. This represents his subconscious fighting his conscious mind. But all the while, his therapist will be making sure he is stabilized if the EMDR gets too much.

Him progressing through the EMDR sessions can allow him to bond with Dell as he was meant to, parallel to Korra's many battles with herself leading to meeting Toph and receiving Toph's help.

Above, Korra is unable to tolerate Toph's efforts to bend the remaining poison out of her body, because the trauma sensations are too visceral.

She is frustrated when Toph is upfront about Korra's fear and isolation (as a parallel, I can see Hunter being so frustrated with trying to carve that he seriously considers abandoning palismen-carving for good):

Later on, Korra enters the swamp alone while having to run errands for Toph:

And is pulled into a flashback after the swamp's spooky aura has taken effect (Interestingly, Toph later says that the swamp is trying to get Korra to face her fears):

The shift that happened was that Korra was thrust back into reliving the memory accurately, instead of her traumatized subconscious fighting against her. Notice how her old self is now chained up and hanging from the ceiling just like what originally happened, instead of rushing at her for another fight.

What would be the Hunter equivalent? I think that instead of seeing him fighting his possessed self again, this time we'd only see his current self witnessing the original memory - watching his possessed self, and Flapjack's death - play out. And this shift happened because Hunter is healed enough at this point, to take a full look at this worst memory. He would be devastated all over again, but not flooded like he was all those months ago. Previously, his subconscious served to protect him from being overwhelmed by the pain of the memory, until he was ready to take a good look at it and accept that it happened.

Korra became more open to more of Toph's advice, making her way out of excessive isolation and fear. Toph even had her own version of Dell's "let the past stay in the past" to say to Korra.

Last year I talked about an eventual breakthrough that Hunter can have via the EMDR, where he can say farewell to Belos and integrate his complex grief about Belos's death (link is here), and I feel like he would've needed to do this before being able to carve Waffles.

As Dell so rightly put it in Elsewhere and Elsewhen, the past can stay in the past and that's what EMDR therapy champions.

Being able to complete the carving of his very first palisman must have been a moment of collective joy and connecting with the people he loves at a whole new level, like what happened with Korra when 1. she was receptive to Toph's metaphor of the banyan tree, and then 2. chose to be found by Jinora, Ikki and Meelo:

After this comes yet another amazing breakthrough where he gets his sigil removed, or replaced with the Flapjack tattoo (depending on how you voted in this poll):

It will no doubt be scary. This will be a bigger version of how he stepped over Belos's goop form in King's Tide, to walk through the portal door into the human realm.

But as was the case with the beautiful LoK scene above, Hunter will have connection (family and friends) and courage to see him through it. Both those qualities are exactly what Toph implored Korra to seek out in order to heal. His friends also went to get Flapjack tattoos, after all.

And that's a wrap.

What do you guys think? Hope you enjoyed reading this spontaneous very hyperfixative meta.

I never asked before --

Do reply/comment and elaborate! I'm curious to see people discuss this

[light-miracles]

Loppy babysitting newborn lin and suyin after their births bc i have loppy and momma!toph brainrot

!!!! The brainrot is real!!!

When Lin was born, Toph was totally prepared for the fact that she'd have to hire a babysitter to take care of her when she was at work. And it wasn't a big deal, Katara had even recommended a couple of nannies.

Four days later her father is on her doorstep (how the hell did he get here so fast Gaoling is on the other side of the continent) saying things like 'Oh Earthen Fire needed me here I guess I'll have to spend more time in Republic City' or something like that. He's talking very fast and Toph isn't very good at paying attention to him (old habits die hard) but then her dad says something like 'If you have to go to work, don't worry, I will take care of my granddaughter' 'Actually I was going to hire a babysitter' and Toph can swear she heard the moment her father *went pale*. After fifteen long minutes listening to a thesis about the downsides of babysitters, which included arguments like 'You can't trust babysitters because they're basically strangers', 'Would you trust a complete stranger with all your savings? Then why would you trust them with your baby?' 'You didn't have babysitters and turned out pretty well', 'Spies from Ba Sing Se', 'Inflation on the rise', Toph is ready to give up and let her father take care of Lin for a few hours. Anything to shut him up.

But oh boy Toph didn't expect him to be the perfect babysitter. Lao laid his eyes on baby Lin once and *fell in love*. He has what Katara calls *baby fever*. To Lao, Lin looks like if someone had shrunk Poppy and he can't help but adore this tiny human who has Poppy's beauty and his last name. He hasn't felt like this since Toph was a baby, but this time there's no war out there and he's older and wiser. He's not afraid and he can enjoy the wonder and the warmth of having a baby in his arms.

Toph thinks he's senile, but Poppy tells her that he's just Like That™ with babies. He has always liked children much more than adults.

So Lin's birth marks a new beginning for the family, the happiest they will ever be. Lin is loved by everyone, and having the help and support of her parents and her friends makes being a single mother not as difficult as Toph first feared. Lin is a happy baby and then she becomes a happy child. She likes to play with Tenzin, study with her grandfather, practice Earthbending with her mommy and have them tell her stories or sing to her at night.

When Suyin is born, the family has to make a little adjustment and organize better, because since the city is growing, and that means that both the police and Earthen Fire have more to do, Toph and Lao have less free time. But since some of them are still strongly nannyphobic (*Lao*) then Poppy is the one who helps Toph take care of Suyin when she has to go out to chase down dangerous criminals.

Unlike Lin, Suyin is a difficult baby, who cries a lot and doesn't eat things she doesn't like. She doesn't sleep easily either, and many times Poppy has to rock her for hours before she falls asleep. Yet she loves every second of it. Nobody ever talks about it, but before Toph was born she suffered some miscarriages, and her trauma over it affected her relationship with Toph for most of her childhood. Somehow, holding Suyin in her arms had finally healed that wound that she had insistently ignored for nearly forty years. And when Suyin smiles *that* way for the first time (Toph's smile, Lao's smile), Poppy realizes that her granddaughter has probably become her favorite person. That Suyin later turns into such a fun and charming girl is a direct result of imitating her grandmother's negotiating skills. Suyin loves Grandma Poppy and Grandma Poppy loves Suyin.

Bonus: Toph is also spoiled more often, despite being almost forty years old. Her father invites her to lunch on Mondays because their schedules coincide (and if he always buys her favorite desserts, Toph doesn't complain). Poppy likes fashion and is always buying her new clothes. Toph doesn't complain either.

[randomwritingguy]

The Myth of Y/N (Korra x Reader UNREQUITED) Part 10

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY...

Korra's POV

I weakly open my eyes as I begin to awake from my slumber. I'm still so exhausted, I've never felt so tired before in my life. I feel my hand being gently squeezed and I look to its origin.

It's Mako, his face flashing to a warm, gentle smile and his eyes becoming full of life again.

"Hey," he says softly, "you're finally awake."

I hum to his comment. "I'm still so tired...and hungry."

My stomach coincidentally grumbles right afterwards, making the firebender chuckle.

"I can tell." he replies with amusement. "Do you wanna get ready and get something to eat?"

I nod. "Yeah...thank you, by the way, for being with me."

Mako's warm smile grows even more wide. "Anytime. I'm always there for you if you need me. I'll let you get ready,"

I send him a gentle smile back and he walks out. After getting dressed and headed to the dining room, I see Mako, Bolin, Asami, Kyuni, Tenzin, Pema, and Lin already there waiting for me. On the table there is a plate of food already waiting for me and I dig in, hoping to satisfy my hunger. The food is absolutely delicious.

"The food tastes amazing, Pema." I tell her, showing my gratitude. "I'm finally starting to feel like myself again."

Pema sends me a small smile. "We're so thankful you're home safe."

After I finish my food and Asami and Pema come to pick up the plates, I see Tenzin and Lin gazing at me with curiosity and concern.

"Korra," the airbender begins, his eyes full of sympathy, "I realise you've been through a lot, but I need to know everything that happened."

I really don't want to think about last night, but I guess I have no choice in the matter.

"Well, first off. Tarrlok isn't who he says he is. He's Yakone's son."

Tenzin and Lin's face flashes with surprise, their jaws dropped.

"It all makes sense now." the former Chief remarks. "That's how Tarrlok was able to bloodbend us without a full moon."

Tenzin turns to me again, his surprise still evident. "But how did you escape? And where's Tarrlok?"

Oh no...no not this moment again. It's making me think of...Y/N.

Still, I owe them an explanation. I take a deep breath to prepare myself. "Amon captured him and took his bending."

"What?!" Tenzin blurts out, his surprise intensified.

"Yeah." I confirmed, "He showed up out of nowhere. He took Tarrlok...and Y/N. He...he almost got me too."

Tenzin frowns in concern and worry. "This is very disturbing news. Amon is becoming emboldened. Taking out a councilman, capturing Y/N and almost capturing the Avatar. I fear Amon is entering his endgame."

I grimaced at the idea. That monster is stepping up his game all right. It won't be long before he tries capturing me again. I need to find Y/N before its too late. If anything happened to them...

"I had a vision."

I gasp and look back up to Tenzin, everyone's eyes on me now. "Something else happened too. Y/N had a vision."

Everyone gasps in reaction, with Tenzin's eyes widening in particular. "A vison?! What was it?"

"They told they couldn't remember anything other than a distorted voice." I explain to the rest.

The airbending master frowns slightly. "What did the voice say?"

I sigh melancholy. "They were about to tell me but Tarrlok showed up."

Tenzin strokes his beard as he goes silent for a few moments, thinking about the situation. Then he finally speaks up. "Is it possible the vision had something to do with Amon?"

I sigh again as I think about the possibilities. "Maybe. But...I've never seen Y/N so terrified. They looked like they were gonna be sick."

We all stay in silence for a few moments. Thinking about Y/N has gotten me sad again. The guilt has come back, stronger than ever. I can feel tears threatening to spill.

"I'm gonna get some fresh air." I wearily tell the rest and I get up and leave the room.

When I finally reach outside I can finally feel tears stroking down my cheeks.

This is all my fault! If I paid more attention I could have saved them! I'm so sorry, Y/N.

"Are you okay?"

I quickly wipe my tears and I turn and see Mako, his eyes full of concern.

I tell him the truth.

"No. This is all my fault."

The firebender rushes to me and pulls me into a tight hug. "Nonsense. None of this is your fault, Korra. You hear me?"

I return the hug with equal passion. "But if I paid more-"

"-No buts." he interrupts me. "This isn't your fault, Korra. And if Y/N were here, I know that they would be telling you the exact same thing. We're gonna find them, Korra. I promised you that last night, and I'm gonna keep it."

I nod frantically whilst burying my face into Mako's chest. "Thank you, Mako."

I hope you're alright, Y/N. We're gonna save you. I promise.

Y/N'S POV

I awake in a flash as a bucket of water is dumped on me. I ignore the sudden coldness as I look around my surroundings. The room is almost completely dark with the exception of small green bulbs emanating some light into the place.

I look downwards and see my arms and chest are tied up. Dammit. I can't move my arms at all.

"I hope you've had a good rest."

That voice. I know that voice.

I look back up and see Amon standing really close to me, appearing out of nowhere. His eyes are barely visible through the mask, giving him a ghoulish appearance.

I ignore the sudden fear swirling in my chest and put on a tough act. "Mock me all you want, but I'm not telling you anything, you monster!"

Amon doesn't react to my insult. In fact, he's silent for a minute. What is he doing?

"Well?" I bark out, "Aren't you gonna torture me? Interrogate me? Come on, you said you were gonna make me talk! Why aren't you saying anything?"

He remains silent a few seconds afterwards...and then finally speaks up.

"Why are you on their side?"

I lean backwards out of confusion. "Their" side?

"Whose side?" I ask him.

"The benders." he growls out, his hatred evident.

I frown at his choice of words. "I'm not on the benders side. I'm on the side of the innocent lives you're terrorizing, benders and non-benders alike!"

Amon growls again in anger. "Innocent? You think the benders are innocent? The benders who threaten and abuse their non-bending brothers and sisters? The same benders who thought it was acceptable to place a curfew for all non-benders, restricting their rights and freedom? They are innocent?"

I stare at him in bewilderment for a few seconds from his response. He really hates benders.

I frown at the man, glaring at him with all my rage I can muster up. "Those benders you are angry at are the minority! And yes, what Tarrlok and the other council members did was corrupt, but you escalated it to that point! You think you're doing good for non-benders? You think attacking the pro-bending arena and taking bending away is gonna help? You're just making it worse!"

I can see Amon's eyes squint slightly. I think I made him angry.

"This is the only way to make benders listen." the extremist confidently replies.

"You don't know that!" I shout at him, my frustration growing and growing.

"Oh, really?" Amon asks me. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that if my followers and I led a peaceful protest or brought the problem to the council they would have listened."

I stare into his cold eyes. I open my mouth, about to tell him that they would, only for it to close. My mind flashes back to these past few months.

I think about Tarrlok's task force and how all of them were benders when I was with them. If I didn't ask to join, it would have just been full of benders. Spirits, the force is full of benders now.

I think about Lin's officers and how none of them were non-benders.

I think about how the council members besides Tenzin introduced the non-bender curfew without hesitation.

And I finally think about how Tarrlok, the task force, and the police were willing to arrest innocent non-benders without due process under the law.

And I come to my conclusion.

I sigh, and drop my head in shame. "I can't."

I expect Amon to laugh in victory, or mock my defeat...but he doesn't do any of those things.

I look back up and despite only seeing his eyes, I can see...sadness. He isn't happy about my answer either.

He finally speaks up after moments of silence. "Exactly. And the one time the council actually listened was when I told them to cancel the pro-bending finals."

I glare at him. "You wanted them to disobey you."

"True." he admits, "But my sources tell me that if it wasn't for Chief Beifong then they would have cancelled the finals. Don't you see? Violence is the only thing benders understand. I've heard a lot about you, Chi-Blocker. You are an inspiration to many. Which is why I wish to offer you an opportunity."

I tilt my head in confusion. "And what would that be?"

He leans forward until his mask is a few inches from my face. I can see his eyes completely, and the sadness from earlier is gone. Now they are so cold and so lifeless.

"Join me. Join me and become my right-hand. Together we can finally vanquish the evil and corruption of benders and bring peace to Republic City and the world."

Join him? He really thinks I'm gonna join him after what he did to Korra?! How he made her break down and cry right in front of me? How he made the woman I lo-care for feel so helpless, so terrified?

Never. I'll never join him.

I glare right into his eyes, my anger burning inside of me. "If you think for a second that I'm going to join you, you're delusional. You're right, the council is corrupt and many benders take advantage of non-benders, but violence is not the right way to go about this. Stop this and I can help! I'll talk to Korra and her and I can fix this! I'm sorry about what happened to you and your family, but this is wrong!"

He stays silent for a few seconds, his eyes now full of anger and disappointment.

"How unfortunate." Amon finally says, standing back straight.

Before any one of us can say another word, someone else enters the room.

"Amon, we have finally arrived."

Wait, that voice-

"-Excellent, Hiroshi. It is time to take back our city."

Hiroshi Sato.

"Hiroshi." I spit out, sending him a glare.

Sato's lips form a mischievous grin. "Ah, Chi-Blocker Y/N. Long time, no see. How's my daughter?"

I send him a teasing smile of my own. "Better now that she is far away from you!"

The man growls at that and walks closer to me. "Watch your tongue!"

I chuckle without humour. "Let me guess, you telling me that I was "the perfect representation for us non-benders" bullshit must have been really hard for you, huh?"

"Indeed." Hiroshi confirms. "You're not a hero. You're a traitor to all non-benders!"

"Like your daughter, right?" I shoot back. "Do you really think your wife would have wanted this?!"

A split second later and large hand slaps me across the face, my head sent flying to the right and my left cheek burning like the sun.

"I AM AVENGING HER FROM THESE BENDING SCUM!" Hiroshi shouts at, his spit landing on my face.

He moves to strike me again, but Amon grabs his arm before he could land another hit.

"Enough." the extremist commands. "Leave them, we must witness our revolution."

Revolution?!

"What are you talking about?" I quickly ask, my panic rising.

Hiroshi recovers from his rageful moment and chuckles at my confusion. "We are taking back our city. And you will be right in the action."

My panic now at its peak, I lean forward, desperate for an explanation. "What do you mean "right in the action?"

The engineer grins. "Haven't you wondered where we are? We are on one of the airships I designed for the Equalists. You are getting a front row seat to the main event."

NO! THEY CAN'T DO THIS!

"No!" I shout at them. I turn to Amon, completely desperate now. "Amon, please! Stop this before its too late!"

Amon looks at me for a few seconds...and begins walking away.

"You made your choice, and so have we."

Two Equalists enter the room and get close to me.

"Take them to the holding area. We'll take them to the pro-bending arena when we have finally reclaimed our city."

Both of them grab me and begin carrying me, despite my attempts to escape from their grasps. On my way there I hear explosions going off outside. Hearing that their attack has already begun, my attempts to break free grow wilder. Growing tired of my antics, they knock me unconscious. When I finally wake up, unaware of how much time has passed, I realise I'm at the holding area.

I let out a groan of frustration. They didn't even have the decency to untie me. How am I supposed to-

"-You're finally awake. I take it you're talk with Amon didn't go so well?"

Wait a second...that sounds like...

I whip my head to the back of the room, and there I see a slumped back, messy, and tired Tarrlok.

"Tarrlok?" I ask him, my confusion evident.

"Y/N." he shoots back.

We sit in silence for a few seconds, me processing what's going on.

"What...what are you doing here?" I ask him, finally breaking the tension.

Tarrlok sighs. "Same reason as you, I'm getting a front row seat to the revolution. After that, I'm getting transferred to Air Temple Island."

I tilt my head in confusion. "Hold on, I'm being transferred to the pro-bending arena. Why are you going to the island?"

"Because no-one can interact with me while I am there. I am going to be the only prisoner there." the former councilman explains, his head dropping down slightly.

That makes me confused even more. "Why are you going to be the only prisoner there? What makes you so unique?"

Tarrlok looks back up at me with a neutral expression, impossible to read. "I'm Amon's brother."

WHAT?!

I gasp in surprise. Amon and Tarrlok are brothers?!

"Seriously?" I spit out, my brain still trying to process the revelation.

Tarrlok sighs and brings his attention to the floor. "Yes, it's true. Amon is from the Northern Water Tribe. He is a waterbender and a bloodbender, just like I was."

Seriously? If that is true then Amon's entire backstory about his family getting killed and being scarred was a lie! He's been lying to everyone!

"How long have you known?" I ask him. Did he know about this all along?

As if he read my mind, Tarrlok shakes his head. "Not long. I only realised the truth after he captured me. When he took my bending, the sensation was somehow familiar. Soon afterwards I recognised it as my brother's bloodbending grip."

Wait...does that mean?

"Your brother bloodbended you before?" I ask him with horror. "Why?"

Tarrlok sighs again. "It's best I start from the beginning. You already know about my father, Yakone. He was a notorious crime lord in Republic City for years. His bending was taken away by Avatar Aang and he was sent to prison. But with the help of his former gang, he escaped and underwent surgery to change his appearance. He assumed a new identity, and started a new life in the Northern Water Tribe. That was when he met my mother. She was always so loving and caring. Not too long after that, they started a family together. Amon was the firstborn son, where he was named Noatak. I was born three years later. Noatak had a good heart, he was always there for me. They were the good old days so to speak."

I stand up to get closer to him and sit down across from him. "Sounds like you two were happy."

Tarrlok nods in agreement. "We were happy. But that all changed when we discovered that we were waterbenders. At first we were excited, I was excited, but our training brought out a different side of my father. A bad side. But my brother still defended me from his verbal abuse, even back then he wanted everyone to be treated fairly and equally. When I was seven, my father took us to a hunting trip where he told us that his true identity was the crime lord and bloodbender Yakone. He told us that we were bloodbenders too, and that we must avenge him and take control of Republic City. It was at that moment Noatak and I realised that the good days had come to an end. Every full moon, our father took us on another "hunting" trip, where he secretly trained us in bloodbending. We never told our mother what we did. A few years later, my father taught us to bloodbend anytime without the full moon at all. We practiced constantly, and I hated every minute of it. I had no stomach for manipulating helpless animals. On the other hand, Noatak seemed to revel in his power. He was a prodigy, in fact by fourteen years old he was able to master my father's psychic bloodbending technique."

My heart breaks as Tarrlok tells me everything and a massive wave of sympathy hits me. "I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you two."

Tarrlok nods at my comment. "Yes. I often faced my father's verbal abuse for not being as good as my brother. And although Noatak was the favourite, it wasn't any easier for him. He carried the burden of all Yakone's expectations and demands. Something changed in him over the years. The loving brother I once knew became cold and detached. Our father pushed us to extremes. And one day, he made us bloodbend each other. My brother bloodbended me, but I refused to bloodbend him. After I told my father I never wanted to bloodbend again, he was about to strike me. But then Noatak intervened, bloodbending him into submission. He told me to run away with him, to leave our father behind, but I refused. I didn't want to leave my mother behind. After that, Noatak ran away, leaving my father and I alone. We searched for days, but we never found a sign of him. We thought he perished in the storm. The loss of my brother changed my mother, she was never the same after that. My father stopped training me, his hopes for revenge withered, and he passed away a few years later."

As he finally finishes, the room goes silent.

He and his brother should have never gone through that abuse.  And I feel so sorry for their mother too. She didn't know what was really going on and one day she is told her son died? Yakone is a monster.

I lean forward. "Tarrlok," I say sympathetically, "I am so sorry for what you and your brother went through."

Tarrlok sighs, and his eyes are focused on me again. "And I am sorry for everything I did to you. I thought I was better than my father, but his ghost still shaped me. I became a soldier of revenge, just like he wanted me to be. And so did my brother. Amon's story may be a lie, but I think he truly believes that bending is the source of all evil in the world."

"And he is going kill the source...with his bloodbending." I add on. "He uses his bloodbending to take people's bending away."

Tarrlok nods in confirmation. "Yes. I don't know how he does it, but then again, I've never encountered a bender as strong as Noatak."

I sigh in melancholy. How can anyone beat Amon now?

Wait.

His whole backstory is a lie, right?

That means...

"We can expose him! We can tell everyone that Amon is a bloodbender! He will lose his support!"

Tarrlok doesn't seem enthusiastic about the idea as he frowns and shakes his head. "That won't work. To the Equalists I'm a corrupt councilman and you're a traitor to all non-benders. They won't listen to us."

That doesn't stop me though, my determination rising. "Maybe, but if one of us tells Korra they might listen to her!"

Before one of us could say anything else, the door unlocks and opens. There I see the Lieutenant. I guess the Equalists busted him out of prison. Dammit.

"We meet again, Chi-Blocker." the Lieutenant mockingly comments as he grabs me and pulls me upward. "You're going to be transferred to the pro-bending arena. Let's get a move on."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." I tell him. I send Tarrlok an apologetic look as we both leave the councilman alone in the room.

We finally exit the airship and enter the arena. Once full of pro-bending posters and equipment now full of Equalist propaganda. As we walk towards to the newly-installed cells, I speak up.

"You're leader isn't who he says he is you know."

"Be silent." the Lieutenant immediately tells me, having no patience for me at all.

Despite his command, I continue with what I have to say. "It's true. Amon's a bloodbender. He used his bloodbending to take people's bending away. He's been lying to you all!"

The Lietenant growls at my claim. "Don't be ridiculous. Like I would believe you, traitorous scum!"

When we finally reach a cell he shoves me right in and I fall to the ground in pain.

"You and the Avatar have lost." he continues, taking pleasure in my pain. "Republic City now belongs to the Equalists. It won't be long before we equalise it, and as soon as that is done we will continue our quest to equalise the world. The Avatar doesn't have the power to stop Amon, and neither do you!"

After his speech he walks away, leaving me alone in my thoughts.

He's right about one thing: I don't have the power to stop Amon.

But Korra does.

I believe in her.

I know she can stop Amon. And she will.

I close my eyes in an effort to get some sleep.

The Equalists may have won this battle.

But Korra will win the war.

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And that's it! Hope you enjoyed it!

Constructive criticism is appreciated!

See you all in the next chapter! :D

[goodluckclove]

hi again ! i read your hot dog scene and the way you describe food with such love and detail is honestly wild and so fun to read, and i was wondering if you had any tips on writing about food/experiencing a new food for the first time ? one of my characters (ava, who just found evangelion on the cloaked web and binged it, btw) has had a very small variety of food before she broke out of the lab she was raised in, and the initial part of her my other protagonist's storyline is centered around food and candy to some extent. i want to really encapsulate the joy that new tastes and textures bring to ava but every time i try to write about food itself and not the fun of the process of making it, i sound really cringy. i'm personally a casual food enjoyer, no gourmet by any means, so that's on my part. anyways sorry for this huge fucking paragraph lmao if you have any quick tips i would really appreciate it!!!! i hope you and Wife and the cats are doing well :))))

Quick tips. That's funny that you think I'm capable of that.

So when it comes to food descriptions my main focus for my own writing is perspective. Different people focus on food in different ways, and this is showcased in the Songbird Elegies between each POV.

Edgar's a chef, and he grew up going hungry often because of parental neglect, so he has a deep passion and love for food. He knows how to detect distinct ingredients in a meal and can acknowledge how textures mix to create something new. He wishes he had the money to go to a molecular gastronomy restaurant back when that was a thing. He can distinguish mushrooms by taste and smell. Edgar can talk to you for about ten minutes on the uses of saffron. It is beyond what is reasonable for someone in his industry.

Scott also loves food, but he isn't nearly as educated about it. He can sort of cook, but he grew up mainly with lovingly-crafted home cooked meals prepared by his mom and the other adults of the community. Food is emotional for him. If he is having a bad day, a three-dollar cup ramen and a gourmet soup will have the same effect. He just appreciates a hot meal. When Edgar makes him a Japanese curry in chapter one of Blind Trust I think he says that the smell "inspires without intimidating", or something to that effect. His view of food is much more abstract.

Tenzin does not think about food that often. She knows when it's good and when it's bad, and can gauge the general temperature of it. I think she's probably the worst cook of the three, but she does still try to cook. She thinks food is just a thing you eat to live, but it's nice to eat stuff that's good, and her mind doesn't go much farther than that. When she eats something it reflects that.

The only actual tip I have is that if you're describing a meal you've never had, I get a lot of use from referencing the novels before recipes for that meal. That's what I did when describing some moussaka Scott's mom makes in book two. I've never had moussaka, but I was able to break it down into things I do have reference for (cream, potato, beef, tomato), and sort of jam out from there.

I tried to think of what I think of when I eat food and realized my first reference point is texture and then emotion and THEN flavor. I'm more Scott than Edgar in that sense.

Hope that helps???

[mysticaltora8276]

1. Wait I have to explain? You really don’t understand media literacy do you?

2. oh no, he kissed her without her consent twice. And she’s kissed him multiple times without his consent. Doesn’t that make her awful? Or does it only count when Aang does it?

3. Favoritism towards Tenzin. He just took him on trips and it comes off less of blatant favoritism and more of him trying to impart the last of his culture to someone who can truly empathize with the fact that he’s an Airbender. Bumi and Kya even admit that he was a great dad, even if he was flawed.

4. Oh no, he doesn’t eat any of the meat provided. It’s almost like they are equally respecting the fact that Aang doesn’t eat meat and find alternatives for him to eat that are still linked to their culture. Does that mean that if you don’t eat piece of food that is integral to the culture that you’re disrespecting them? Well then don’t ever eat any foreign food whatsoever. Because you’re disrespecting your culture then…. Your logic makes no sense and fun fact there are vegetarians in northern Native American tribes. For whatever reasons. Epic fail with understanding, cultures or character building.

5. Oh no, showing that thing true to your beliefs and morality is somehow bad? It was made of abundantly clear that Aang wasn’t going to kill the FireLord. Roku said, beating the fire Lord everyone else assumed that meant killing him. And sticking to your guns is a very mature and selfless and brave thing to do. I don’t know if you follow with faith but sticking into your faith and following it regardless of the fact that everyone’s tells you that you shouldn’t be doing this is an incredibly difficult and hard thing to do and I applaud anyone who does it. Clearly you don’t understand what truly means and I feel sorry for you.

6. The comics are written by a variety of authors who interpret the source material. The actual creators have maybe like a slight handed it. In the nation, it seems as they get the characterization and the cultures down much better. Probably because they learn from their mistakes and trusting people who have a, interesting viewpoint about certain relationships.

7. Trophy wife? Being the healer of the southern water tribe is somehow bad? Look, I wasn’t thrilled about the older guard being sidelines so that way they are kids could make stupid mistakes, but it made sense for Katara to settle down to be a healer. She wanted to end the war and she made her mark on the world and she taught the next generation of water benders. That is what she wanted to do preserve her culture. And I’m not sure why getting married to the man she loved and helping him through struggles and help raising children is somehow bad. So so let me get this straight if she were doing that with Zuko it’s OK but Aang somehow it’s not?

7. Well, yeah, he feels guilty about it because he’s a decent person. Also, it makes sense. He lost his entire culture in his family. Katara and Sokka are the only ones he has left so of course he wants to hold onto them. But when he realizes that he was wrong, he makes amends for it, even if it has a negative consequence on him. You know people say that he had lacks empathy, but I’m getting the impression that it’s projecting your own lack of empathy for a genocide survivor. Fun fact, emotions make people act irrationally and sometimes people get hurt. That’s human not something to demonize someone else for. But yes, that’s right. It’s OK with Zuko gets emotional, but Aang never get emotional.

8. We’re getting on the subject of relationships did neither of you people notice that Zuko literally is possessive over Mai so much so that he picks a fight with her that pisses her off that she breaks up with him? Why is it OK when Zuko messes up, but when Aang messes up his flaws are magnified and exaggerated to the point of parody?

What I adore about the idea of Katara ending up with Zuko instead of Aang is that in Zuko she would have someone who would support her in her righteous anger. Had he been there when Katara challenged Pakku for her right to learn how fight, he would've backed her up. He would never have tried to tell Pakku that she didn't mean it. And he would've offered to help her dispose of his body if it came to that.

That's the energy that Katara needs. Someone who understands that she's not jumping into a fight for nothing. If she kills someone, she had a darned good reason.