#cos that man will in fact be on a bender if they go back to back

[killa-trav]

listen i get why there's so much fuss about the whole will taylor make it to the super bowl shit but like is it really that deep? cos ngl there's wayyy more important shit to be worrying about n i just don't think this is headline worthy at all

[staranon95]

there’s a comment Dutch makes when he and Arthur are headed to Lagras to bargain for a boat. Dutch is on his loyalty bender and basically gaslighting Arthur the entire time but then he says something about John and that woman. Abigail. and how John’s being turned away from him by Abigail and how he’s seen this before

and i can’t help but wonder what he means by this.

does he mean when Arthur left and had his son Isaac with Eliza? even if they were more co-parents then not? or when Arthur nearly ran away with Mary? did Dutch get suddenly jealous that his pseudo-son was going to leave him and start a life away from all the violence?

or does he mean when Hosea married Bessie? and quit the gang for a while and didn’t fully come back into it after she died? did Dutch quietly delight in the fact that Bessie was no longer between him and Hosea?

it makes me wonder about the type of man Dutch is and how he sees women. because we all know he uses marginalized people and their communities for his own gain. it wouldn’t surprise me if he had some disparaging thoughts towards women either

[fanficsforfun]

Guts (re-writed)

Paring: Merle Dixon x female reader

Word count: 3,3k

Warnings: shooting, racism, violence, hard language, sexual content (cuddling, kissing, dry humping), the reader has conflicted feelings towards Merle

Summary: TWD s1e2 re-writed so that Merle doesn't get left behind; you're the one who makes sure of it

---

When the others went downstairs, you stayed on the roof with Merle. He seemed to be on something and you were afraid he’d get himself hurt or killed if he’d be left alone. Maybe it wasn’t too smart of you though because when it was just the two of you there, Merle tried to get you to sleep with him. What a surprise.

“Come on, sugar”, he persuaded. “It’s just ya an’ I here. Ain’t nobody will ever know.”

You had blushed and kept your gaze away, a small embarrassed smile on your lips. His behavior didn’t really bother you like it bothered everybody else, not even now when he was high, but you surely weren’t going to do anything here on a damn rooftop. And not when he wasn’t fully here anyway.

“Oh, don’t be shy, honey”, Merle kept trying but you just glanced at him, not replying.

“I’m a safe guy to be around, ya know. I’ve done military service, and I'm not a bad shot even if I say so myself. In fact, I used to be one of the bests”, he continued to show off, trying to impress you. And truth to be told, you were impressed despite everything. He was a good hunter, that much you knew for sure. He always brought back a catch and these times that was a vital skill to have.

“Wanna see? I swear I’ll pop any of ‘em walkers down there!”

“I- I don’t know if that is such a good idea”, you said carefully, not wanting to piss him off. You knew noise was like a dinner bell to them, but there were so many of them already, how much worse could it even become?

“Ah, don’t ya worry darlin’. They can’t get to us.” 

With that, Merle grabbed the rifle and got up on the edge of the roof. You followed, leaning against the railing next to him. You couldn’t help yourself, you were a bit curious. You had managed to convince yourself to believe Merle and decided not to try to stop him.

“Watch this”, he grinned and raised the gun, rested his cheek against the stock, aimed carefully and squeezed the trigger. Headshot. The walker dropped from its feet. You looked up at him in genuine impression and he flashed you a smug grin.

“How ‘bout this? I hit ten of ‘em fuckers in a row and ya’ll give me kiss?”

“Um”, you said but the look on your face was that much interested that Merle decided to interpret it as a yes. However, he managed to shoot only a few times before the others came back running.

“Hey Dixon, are you crazy??” Morales shouted to him. You flinched but Merle just laughed.

“Ya ought to be more polite to a man with a gun! Only common sense”, he stated and jumped down from the railing, taking a few steps closer to the others. You stopped leaning on the railing but didn't approach them. You were alert, because although Merle looked amused, his mood could change in an instant.

“You're wasting bullets we ain’t even got, man!” T-Dog shouted at him, sounding both shocked and angry. “And you’re bringing even more of them down on our ass!”

Merle started walking towards him and clearly was getting annoyed.

“Hey, bad enough I’ve got this taco-bender on my ass all day, now I’m gonna take orders from ya? I don't think so, that’ll be the day.”

“Merle…”, you tried, carefully walking closer to him but he simply ignored you.

“That’ll be the day?? You got something you want to tell me?” T-Dog snapped. He had got enough of Merle’s bullshit. The others tried to calm him down but he was as pissed as Merle and wasn’t listening either.

“Ya wanna know the day?” Merle asked.

“Yeah!”

“I’ll tell ya the day mr. Yo. It’s the day I take orders from a nigger!”

Oh no, you thought and were precisely right as the next thing you knew, T-Dog tried to punch Merle, only leading to Merle hitting him with the stock of his rifle. Then the scuffle started. Some new guy, a cop, tried to get in the way, but only got to make acquaintance with Merle's fist. In no time T-Dog was on the ground and Merle kicking him. Everyone tried to get him to calm down, but he didn’t give a damn. Even your desperate cry for him to stop got no reaction from him other than a quick glance. 

For a moment it really looked like Merle was going to kill T-Dog, but then he just spit on him and got up on his feet. 

“Yeah, all right! We’re gonna have ourselves a little pow-wow, huh? Talk about who’s in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time y’all!”

The others helped T-Dog away from Merle, not responding to him. You stood apart from them, shuddering and your eyes wide open. Merle was terrifying with his pistol raised and an amused look on his face. He wasn’t like this normally. Or well, he was, but not this bad. And he clearly wasn't stopping until he got what he wanted; he kept up the pressure until all but T-Dog had put their hand up. 

That's when you noticed the policeman was on his feet and before you could make a sound, he knocked Merle to the ground with the rifle and handcuffed him on the ventilation duct or whatever it was.

“Who the hell are ya?” Merle gruffed, though the look on his face was rather indifferent.

“Officer friendly. Look here now, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There’s us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart!” The cop scolded Merle.

“Screw ya, man”, came Merle’s uninterested answer.

“I can see you make a habit of missing the point.”

“Yeah? Well, screw ya twice!”

“Ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense”, the cop mocked Merle by using his own words while pressing the pistol against his temple. You gasped and took a step closer, fear in your eyes. Merle surely wasn’t the nicest guy around but he didn’t deserve to die!

“Ya wouldn’t. Yer a cop”, Merle pointed out, and you really hoped he was right.

“All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I’ll give you a moment to think about that”, the cop said, but lowered his gun and patted Merle down, finding his drugs and throwing them off the roof. Merle didn’t like that too much and shouted insults at him without getting a response.

He was so angry you didn't dare approach him. Instead you went to take a look down the street like Andrea and Jacqui. The view wasn't too encouraging. The streets were full of the dead and you didn't think there was any way to get past them.

“How’s the signal?” Morals asked.

“Like Dixon’s brain. Weak”, T-Dog stated and got Merle to flip the finger to him. You couldn’t help but smile, but made sure Merle didn’t see it. He would have got really pissed off over it.

Your smile soon faded as the others tried to think of a way to get out of the city, but no one seemed very hopeful. Merle's comment about the streets being dangerous didn't help either. And when Merle tried to talk Andrea into letting him out of the handcuffs, you suddenly felt a rush of jealousy. Sure, you knew he flirted with everyone, but it still didn't feel too good. At the same time you felt rather embarrassed over your emotions. Were you really jealous over some asshole-drug addict-redneck??

“How ‘bout ya, darlin’?” Merle shifted his attention to you, his voice flirty and rather… soft.

You flinched and turned to look at him. 

“I know I didn't have time to take down ten walkers because we were so brutally interrupted”, he gave an annoyed glance towards the others, “but would ya mind helpin’ out a bit anyway?”

However, you didn’t have the time to answer as the others came up with a plan that might work, namely the sewers. Merle's attention also moved to them and for a moment he showed no interest in you. And in no time they were off the rooftop again, going to take a look at the sewers. Now it was Merle, T-Dog and you left on the rooftop. T-Dog tried to reach anyone on the walkie-talkie, but quickly became frustrated. Merle, of course, took the opportunity to make dumb-ass comments, as usual. You looked away and pretended not to hear their words.

Then Merle tried to make T-Dog to let him free. That bait didn't pull so Merle gave up. He had an easier target.

“So, honey, where were we?” Merle’s attention was undividedly yours again. “Get me out of these and I’ll make it up to ya. Huh? What do ya say?”

“I… um”, you didn’t know what to say. You kind of wanted to free him, but T-Dog was probably right about him only doing stupid things if that would happen. You had seen him acting violently before, and not just earlier that day.

“What, ya believe what he’s sayin’? I ain’t gonna kill nobody, don’t ya worry”, Merle smiled.

You shifted restlessly, glanced at T-Dog who looked at you with an expression that you'd better not agree, and then at the toolbox.

“Yeah, gimme that hacksaw, and I’ll do whatever ya want me to do”, Merle kept trying. “Come on, be kind to ol’ Merle, would ya?”

Your expression became increasingly distressed since you couldn't stand Merle's pleading, despite the playful, teasing tone of his voice. You took an uncertain step closer to the toolpack, then another.

“Yeah, that’s it girl, go on”, Merle encouraged you, but then T-Dog snarled at you: "'Don't fucking do that!”

"But..." you tried, but he wouldn't listen. Instead, he stood up and picked up a toolbox for himself so you couldn't take anything from it to Merle.

You turned your gaze to Merle with an apologetic look in your eyes and shifted restlessly again.

“I’m sorry”, you said quietly.

“Whatever”, Merle grunted and you felt bad.

Soon the others showed up again with a new plan which involved disguising themselves as walkers. It made you almost throw up but luckily you were allowed to stay on the roof with Merle and didn't have to chop up any walkers. The very thought disgusted you so much that you were merely glad you didn't have to go along. Now it was just you and him up there again.

“Fuck, did he take the toolpack with him?” Merle asked after the door was closed.

“Yeah”, you replied after a quick look around. 

“Great.” Merle looked really pissed. Then the look on his face changed. "See if the key to these damn handcuffs is around here somewhere, I'll give ya a kiss as a reward.”

You nodded, not having the guts to decline especially after how disappointed he had looked earlier, and started going through the stuff despite it feeling wrong to do so. But nothing was to be found.

"I'm sorry, Merle, it's not here."

“Fuck”, Merle cursed again, trying to pull his hand free. 

“Well”, he then breathed out. “We ain’t got much of a choice ‘ere other than to wait for ‘em to come back, huh?”

You nodded slowly.

“Let’s make some use of that time then. Come back ‘ere, hun, and sit down.”

Merle was clearly flirting with you again, and as crazy it was, you found yourself wanting to play along. He was in handcuffs, he couldn’t do anything way off, unless you’d let him. And to be real honest, he actually looked pretty damn cute there. So you sat next to him on the hot concrete rooftop.

“That’s it, good girl”, his voice came out low and raspy, and something about it made your heartbeat quicken and breathing deepen. 

His free hand settled on your thigh and he started stroking it, slowly up and down. His hand was so warm, the touch felt good, better than you had though. You felt flush rising to your face and realized you were getting aroused. Suddenly, scared by the intensity of your feelings, you wanted to move away, to stop this, but instead you leaned closer. You couldn't deny you had missed gentle touch, nor could you deny your rather questionable attraction towards him.

“Ya like that, don’t ya?” Merle kept talking and when you almost moaned as a response, he moved his hand between your thighs, rubbing you through your pants. You flinched and tensed up, before letting out a shaky breath and relaxing again. You hadn’t expected him to do that, but it felt… great. Your own hand reached down to Merle's thigh and you began stroking it in turn. You wouldn’t ever had the guts to touch him, well, there.

Merle chuckled and told you to sit on his lap. And so you did. You carefully crawled into his lap and he pulled you against him. You couldn't help but flinch again at the feeling of his already hard cock against you. You closed your eyes and breathed. Was this really happening??

“Rock yer hips, girl”, Merle commanded, and that’s exactly what you did. His free hand moved down to your butt while he kissed your neck. You took support from his shoulders and could no longer hold back your moans. Merle's soft lips teased your sensitive skin, and you clearly could feel your arousal growing. His touch felt too good but none of this was right. You had to do something.

"Merle, we can't...", you tried, but he just laughed.

"Why not? Ya sure seem to be enjoyin’ this.”

“The others, they can come back at any minute”, you explained almost hysterically. You couldn't stop this, you couldn't move away, you wanted him too badly. But you couldn’t do this, not like this anyway. 

And then the others came. You scrambled away from Merle's arms and tried to steady your breathing even though you knew you were deeply flushed and trembling, and hopefully not visibly wet. Merle almost laughed at you, but the others running like the devil was on their heels drew his attention away from you.

“Hey, what’s happening, man?” He shouted, turning to look at Morales who was the first one coming. 

No one responded.

“Hey, come on! Talk to me, y’all!” His voice suddenly became worried.

The others rushed to the edge of the roof and peered down. You followed the example, trying to find the ones who had gone out there. Then you noticed two very much alive people among the walkers, Glenn and the cop, and shuddered in terror. It wouldn’t be too nice to be down there. 

Merle had figured out the situation on his own and asked in disbelief: “That asshole’s out on the street with the handcuff keys??”

You turned to look at Merle but then T-Dog lifted out the key. Thank God, you thought but Merle didn’t look too happy. 

It had been a cloudy day, but you were still surprised by the sudden onset of rain. Although Morales assured it was just a short downpour, things started going all to hell down on the street. You walked away from the railing, you didn’t even want to see. If they’d get eaten, you’d be stuck on the roof forever. You tried to banish the thought, but it refused to leave. 

After a while you heard Glenn over the walkie-talkie telling everyone to get downstairs to the roll-up doors. Relief washed over you. They had pulled through the crazy stunt after all!

“Come on! Let’s go, let’s go!” Morales shouted.

Everyone, including you, rushed to get their belongings but then Merle's panicked voice reached you.

“Hey, you can’t leave me here! I’m not fooling, man!”

You stopped dead in your tracks while the others rushed to the door, and shouted for T-Dog to give you the key. To your surprise, he stopped and turned to look back at you two. Merle's desperate pleas almost brought you to tears and you felt a cold grip on your chest, but you extended your hand insistently towards T-Dog.

"Give me the damn key!" You almost cried but T-Dog didn’t seem to know what to do.

“We gotta go!” Morales shouted from the door before disappearing down the stairs. Now it was just Merle, you and T-Dog there. You knew that if T-Dog would decide not to give the key, there was nothing you could do. You had no gun and all he needed to do was to lock the door. That would be it.

“You can’t leave me like this, man! You can’t leave me here, not like this! Come on, man! It’s not human!” Merle’s voice became increasingly scared.

“The key, give me the fucking key!” You shouted, dropped your stuff and ran to T-Dog, who took a few steps closer and then actually gave it to you. You clenched the key in your fist and rushed back to Merle. Hands shaking, you unlocked the handcuffs. Merle immediately jumped to his feet in rage, showing no sign of fear anymore. 

"What the fuck is wrong with y'all, ya can't do that, ya fuckin' assholes!" He snarled.

You just picked up your stuff and grabbed Merle by the forearm.

"Come on, hurry up!" You rushed him and forced him to follow you down the stairs after T-Dog where he had disappeared in a flash as soon as the key had been handed over to you. You ran down the stairs together and reached the others barely in time. They had already climbed in the back of the truck when you two showed up.

“Wait, wait for us! Please!” You screamed, and thank God they did.

You quickly climbed aboard and at that very moment walkers started to appear from somewhere in large numbers. The cop pushed the pedal to the metal right away. You staggered and grabbed Merle who wrapped his arms around your waist. Fortunately, Morales rolled the door down so no one could fall out of the truck. Merle, on the other hand, turned the other way and let his rage out freely.

"Y'all are fuckin' pricks, ya can't just chain anyone up like that, leave behind without a fuckin' second thought. Just one, one fuckin' person, sacrificed a single thought for ol' Merle. Yer all idiots, I'll fuckin’ kill y'all!"

The others backed away from him if at all possible, as everyone was already packed into the front of the truck.

"Merle please, not now," you sobbed with your arms tightly around him. Merle leaned against the wall in the corner, mostly because you were clinging to him and refused to let go, and he had to somehow keep his balance.

"It was your own fault, you know. Nobody told you to be such an ass", the cop pointed out from the driver's seat.

"Who the fuck do ya think ya are?? Ya have no fuckin' right to decide anyone's fate!" Merle continued as if he hadn't heard.

“Merle, please”, you tried again, “please, stop it!”

Merle shook his head with a heavy sigh and dropped down on the floor, pulling you with him. You snuggled up against him and buried your tear-stained face against his neck. You were downright trembling and held on tightly to him.

"This ain't over", Merle grunted, but then concentrated on caressing you, not saying another word which was… unusual, to say at least.

[sunflowerandstrawberryspice]

Zane: cause y'all really seem to like him!

Okay so as you all can probably guess Zane is pretty much my favorite character and I don't see this man getting enough love so how would you like some of my head cannons and such (reminder I've only watched through season nine + one episode of season ten)

-He's a really smart idiot like he can do extended algebra in his head, recite the entire history of Ninjago and analyze any problem with ease, but at the same time he'll forget not everyone can just do a google translate in their head and he'll casually say things like "Salt sugar same difference "

-He built in the appearance changer thing cause people (especially kids) were afraid of his really robotic look

-To go along with the last hc he only really shows what he really looks like in front of people he's really comfortable with

-He's either a really good or really bad flirt, it differs from day to day like one day he'll be like "Dang and I thought fire was hot" and the next he'll be like "You have very colorful eyes"

-He and Pixel have more of a sibling dynamic than anything else, people thought they were dating but they're both just like "Ew no that's my emotional support borhter/sister" (cause honestly in the show the last relativly romantic thing they did was in season three with the whole "comptable secen" and after that they're just kinda been buddies, like literally all hugs and fits bumps, it's honestly really sweet)

-He and Pixel dare each other on pretty much a daily basis to eat things that they really shouldn't, this ranges from small pieces of paper to literal glass, they do it purely to scare everyone else (I just learned it's Pixal btw, but I'm honestly not changing it I'm in too deep now)

-Zane often has trouble verbally displaying his emotions even when he has strong feelings about things, so most times it results in him doing something to show it whether it be stomping off, giving the silent treatment or just generally trying to display his emotions in other ways (the other ninja and co are pretty good at getting the signs)

-He has to be really cautious when freezing people because surprise surprise if you entrap someone in a full block of ice they WILL suffocate and die

-His power makes it so he can freeze or unfreeze most things so he could potentially freeze the water in someone's body, kinda like a water bender in avatar (cause honestly I feel like it would be more likely he had powers over temperatures since ice isn't really an element, but over time maybe people forgot what the power actually was, idk yo)

-He's probably stronger than your average person due to being a robot , not as strong as someone with super strength like Cole but still impressively strong

-He likes animated movies, and he's irritated by the notion they're only for kids

-He likes rock and metal music, in fact him and Cole share a lot of music taste and no one really understands how Zane likes that kind of music but they're not inclined to question it

-Lloyd has called him mom/dad on multiple occasions, he's honnored

-He never came out to anyone cause for him he just kinda existed and didn't really think much of it (for reference I'm a fan of the pan/trans hc's that I've seen around)

-He's the tallest member of the group and he's no allowed to join when they compare heights cause he towers over everyone with Nya being the closest

Zane's a plant mom, simple as that

-He has the coolest socks ever, like patterns colors you name it

-Ever since season 4 he's been terrified of loosing his memory cause it happened when he forgot his father than again in season 4 and so now he's terrified of loosing his memories again, in fact getting hit in the head or back (where his switch panel is if I'm remembering correctly) is something that stresses him out a whole bunch.

-Zane is literally the worst car driver ever, like seriously there's a reason he's always got a mech or the ship or literally anything other than a car

-He doesn't get hot or cold so it'll be the middle of the winter and he'll be wearing shorts

-Zane couldn't dance but Cole most definitely taught him

-He and Cole go on dates to museums cause Zane's a nerd and Cole's really nostalgic for it

In conclusion I think robot man deserves more love and affection and I have more head cannons for more of the characters cause this silly little ninja show has indeed become my hyper fixation.

[jetspikepub]

Part one - A Lone Predator

Bright reflections of street lights and billboards danced on the black river surface. At the wharf, like a giant rock, there was a space trawler. Motorboats and long barges made waves as they passed by, creating splashing sounds that surrounded the huge vessel. Hangar gates opened, and a tall man dressed in navy-blue jumpsuit, fuchsia T-shirt, and knee high boots with metal trim appeared on the deck. The lighter clicked, and the flame illuminated his face, reflecting in the smooth surface of the curved titanium plate under the right eye and long scar that started on the forehead and ended right on the cheek.

Jet Black inhaled on his cigarette with delight and sent a puff of smoke into the chilly night skies. Smoking outside was a pleasant and soothing thing to do. And it reduced hunger too, which was more important.  According to Jet’s calculations, the money left after repairs was enough to buy food and fuel for a month or two. The prognosis wasn’t that bad, but no bounty meant no chance to grab that ficus macrocarpa for his bonsai collection and fresh meat with vegetables for dinner as well, because spare parts costed him a fortune. A wrecked ship wasn’t something extraordinary for a space cowboy. However, in the midst of a dead season, unforeseen expenses were a true headache that made survival more difficult. Getting stuck on Mars wasn’t so bad, though. Murders, robberies, gunfights that occurred here almost every day were a huge benefit. For the bounty hunters, of course. At the same time, it was like living in hell. All cowboys across the Solar System were attracted to this planet like moths to a lamp, and they threw a spanner in the works for their own colleagues rather that criminals, and this happened to Jet.

Like a pack of hyenas, waiting in the canopy of trees until a cheetah finishes dirty work and gets exhausted so they scare it off and take away its prey, Jet’s rival suddenly appeared in the sky when the cowboy almost caught up with the outlaw’s damaged ship. Jet didn’t lose courage, fought back, giving his opponent a worthy rebuff, and emerged victorious in a battle that, fortunately, left no casualties. The triumph was overshadowed by the fact that almost all the money was spent to fix the Hammer Head, a small but very significant "breadwinner" apart from the trawler.

"Where do these imbeciles even come from?" Jet thought, "The number of bounty hunters recently surpassed two hundred and forty thousand. And how many there’s gonna be in the next few years? Looks like anyone who held a gun at least once and has no idea of normal life can become a cowboy now."

Even though he had all the symptoms, Black tried to not compare himself to these people. He believed that, unlike many others, he embarked on this path in order to continue doing usual things, just bringing some good and justice to this cruel world, but outside the ISSP and its corrupted, decayed system. What else was a retired cop supposed to do after he'd been dumped by his girlfriend and then lost his left arm in a gun battle? Going on a bender, maybe, but he wasn’t satisfied with such uncreative solution.

It wasn't too difficult to restore the limb by replacing the living tissues with a mechanical prosthesis, and Jet got used to the new look and feelings surprisingly fast. His one regret was that a broken heart could not be replaced just as easily, and it wasn’t only about relationship. Jet noticed that many co-workers gave him the cold shoulder and were truly surprised at his perseverance and endurance. Someone admired, others sympathized, the rest felt jealous of him. The last straw to break the camel’s back was a sharp-tongued rookie who dared to demonstrate his "real black humour" skills in Jet’s presence, saying that if a man loses a woman and on top of that a backup, i.e. his arm, it is a serious reason to think about the meaning of life. The guy had been flying under the radar ever since Black nailed him to the wall and said, "You're damn right, now I do have a serious reason to think if I should stay in this shithole any longer."

After experiencing all of this, an old punk-style motto "Stop the world, where do we get off?" seemed more relevant than ever. Instead of nice apartments in a better neighbourhood he got a second-hand fishing trawler, changed the name from some kind of Good Ol’ Betsy to the Bebop, after his favourite music style, and no one ever saw the officer they called Black Dog on Ganymede again.

If someone asked Jet what was the first year of cowboy adventures like, he would call it a music to his ears. He managed to catch many bounties, see amazing places, meet new people, and finally get rid of distinctive dead fish fragrance that was lingering in the air almost everywhere on the ship. As time passed by, Jet’s attitude to this lifestyle began to change. The way of the cowboy freelancers, glorified in the Western, a symbol of adventures, romance and splendid solitude, was actually far from perfect, and Jet was aware of that but fully realized it only when he calculated his current income, compared it to his previous one in ISSP, and was appalled by the numbers he got. He realized it even more when he earned new trophies in the form of a scar and a deep crack in his cheekbone while hunting down a gang of bomber psychos. This couldn’t stop Black Dog from doing his work, just reminded him once again that he was no match for organized gangs. Sadder but wiser, he tried to plan operations more carefully and collect as much information as possible (thankfully he had right friends in right places), however, a feeling that something was missing, something that guaranteed success, pricked the heart. He worked with a partner as an officer — maybe that was the whole point?

"No," he told himself for the umpteenth time. "That's out of the question. It’s just another pain in the arse. Many guys work alone in peace and quiet and never complain. Look at Jonathan or Fatty River. They’re good guys to deal with… Yet Jonathan is a weirdo and River eats like there’s no tomorrow. Not to mention the faces they make every time I offer to hunt together. Of course — nobody wants to share the reward. Why am I surprised? I’m not the only one who learned that relying on others is more trouble than it’s worth. Fuck them all."

Jet tossed the smouldering cigarette butt into the water and headed back to the hangar. He glanced at the patched up Hammer Head — a T-shaped spacecraft with a manipulator that looked like a huge scorpion tail — and went to the lower level, where the living quarters were located. In the living room he took a seat on the yellow couch, his feet against the metal table, and began to think out loud, ticking the points off with his mechanical fingers.

"Alright… Food for me, water for plants, laundry, gun cleaning — done. It’s too early to go to bed. What else should I do? How about sorting out that mess in the warehouse?"

He imagined a gloomy room full of boxes and other junk left from the previous owners and his enthusiasm faded away. "Some other time", he gave up on the idea. That went on for four years.

He reached the table to turn his computer on and went to the galley for a warm tea pot, enjoying the scent of freshly brewed oolong. After filling his mug and taking a sip he continued to study the database of criminals from the moment where he'd stopped. All the bounties, even with the trifling sums for capture, sold like hot cakes, but Jet couldn’t give up just yet. If searching for worthy bounties on Mars was a waste of time, he thought, maybe travelling to Jovian system would do the trick. Even if he had to be on a strict noodle cup diet to make it.

Utter silence was broken by Jet's fingers tapping and quiet rasp of the ceiling fan. He got used to this sound, but it became extremely annoying lately and got of his nerves. Ten minutes later, the man gave up and went upstairs to the captain's cabin, rearranged as his bedroom. He reached the top shelf, pulled out a worn cardboard box with silver wireless headphones in it and carried it back to the living room. He dusted off the surface and crumbling eco-leather ear pads, put the headphones on and pressed a tiny play button. Now we’re talking! It's been a while since he heard his favourite Charlie Parker. Tico-Tico, a Brazilian song performed by him. He heard this song for the first time long ago when he was a kid. It was a soundtrack of an old movie that was made more than a hundred years ago.

While skimming through the web-pages, Jet began to recall random long-forgotten things: his parents' apartment, the odour of mother's perfume in the hallway, songs from grandmother's rustling vintage tape recorder and a corner in the common room filled with father's fishing rods.

The front door creaked softly, and a teenager cautiously stepped into the lobby. The coast was clear — the water was running in the kitchen, the TV was on in the living room. He closed the door, approached a small table near a full-length mirror and began to rummage in his mother’s makeup bag.

"Where does she keep those blasted foundations… Ah, there it is!" He put a small tube in his pocket and quietly headed to his room at the end of the hallway.

"Jet, is that you?" a woman's voice called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Mum," he replied timidly.

"You're late today."

"We... helped to decorate the gym for the Navy Day."

"Oh, I see. The soup's still warm. Go get some."

"No, thanks, I'm good. I've got two tests tomorrow, gotta prepare."

"What do you mean no?!" another voice came from the living room.

"Shit, grandma’s here too!" said Jet to himself and hastened to the door. "Please, don’t look, please…"

The armchair creaked, and elderly woman appeared in the lobby.

"Where do you think you’re going? Wash your hands and go the table! Been hanging around all day, eating that cancerogenic stuff from vending machines instead of real food..."

“Alright, Gran,” said Jet, standing by the door. “Just let me leave the bag and take a shower…”

 "Wait, why is your shirt so dirty?" her eyes narrowed. "And what is that?! A hole on the elbow! Come here, quickly!"

"It’s nothing, I just…"

"Come here. Right now."

He sighed, let the door knob go and dragged himself back, trying to avoid the eye contact. One could find this scene ridiculous — a miniature silver-haired woman, her arms akimbo, was about to lecture a sturdy tall boy. But when she got mad, her menacing look put a chill even on adults. Her hand, dry and sinewy, reached for the chin, covered with rare dark hairs, and old lady began to turn grandson's face, studying it carefully.

"So many grazes! And… a shiner under the left eye! Were you fighting?!"

"No. I was in a hurry, tripped over a rebar and…"

"Don’t lie to me! Who hit you?"

Mother turned off the tap and appeared in the doorway, "What's the matter?"

"Here," angry granny showed her a torn sleeve. “Take a look at this cowboy!”

"My God!" she gasped and rushed to them. "Jet, what happened?"

"Meow," called someone from Jet’s backpack.

"And, of course, he brought the animals," grandmother flung her arms up.

Jet immediately put the backpack down on the floor, opened it and carefully pulled out a grown-up spotty kitten with mangy tail, pressed tight to the body, and crippled hind paw. The animal trembled while picking up unfamiliar smells and looking around, green eyes wide open.

"I was on my way home and noticed the guys from high school abusing him," Jet petted the cat. "Those bastards…"

"Jet," said his mother sternly, touching his shoulder. "You know that a fight is not a solution.”

"I told them to stop, but they didn't listen! They laughed like idiots and shoved me. I hit them back."

"Them?!" grandmother exclaimed. "How many were there?"

"Two. Well, three, actually, but one of them ran away as soon as we started kicking each other’s butts," said Jet with some sense of pride but then saw women’s faces and realized that the details were unnecessary.

"Are you out of your mind?" grandmother shouted. "What if they put your eye out? Youth is completely insane nowadays, walking around with knives or even guns. Do you want to become disabled at the age of thirteen?"

"I do not," muttered Jet, holding the frightened cat tight.

"If you think that girls will swarm you once you get prosthetics all over your body, then you are totally wrong!"

"It’s not about that!" his cheeks flushed. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry about me so much. I just… I couldn’t tolerate this atrocity. You would’ve done the same if you were me."

Mother and granny exchanged glances.

"Mamá," the younger woman turned to the older. "Go get some rest, I’ll deal with it."

The old woman slowly went back to the armchair, grumbling, and mother approached her droopy son and whispered, "Jet, I'm proud that you can protect yourself and the others, but you have to appraise the situation, you know. You could’ve been seriously hurt! If anything like that happened to you, I..."

"I know, Mum. Sorry. This won't happen again, I promise. Can we keep the cat, please? I'll take care of him."

"Honey, father's allergic."

"Don't worry, I’ve got a plan. I’ll keep him in my room, and when he gets better, grandma will take him. I hope so. I drove her to frenzy… Just promise you won't say anything to dad when he gets back from the sailing, okay?"

Mother looked into her son’s eyes, gray-blue, just like grandmother’s, and full of hope.

"Fine," she sighed. "And you promise me that you won’t pick a fight."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. Now go take care of your new friend and change your clothes, I’ll make a cold compress for you."

Jet nodded, took the kitten to his place, wrapped him in an old warm sweater, and then went to the bathroom to get everything he needed from the first-aid kit for an injured paw. Later, he gave his pal chopped meat from the soup while nobody was looking.

"Now we’re talking," he said with a sigh of relief, looking at a sleeping furball, and pressed a piece of a frozen fish wrapped in a towel to the face. "No one will ever hurt you again, Charlie."

"Now that's interesting," Jet’s tired eyes lit up when he focused on the numbers above the criminal's face. "Tex Britten, the smuggler. Two million. That will do!"

Jet spent the whole night investigating. Soon he found out that the target was spotted in Alba City, right here, and a wide grin appeared on his face. He almost felt that ficus and natural food in his hands. He couldn’t miss that chance. Jet stretched his back and leaned on the couch, smiling and nodding his head to the beat. It was one of those wonderful moments of his cowboy life when he got all three favourite things at once: jazz, inner peace and money. The last point, however, was a long shot, but Black Dog didn’t want to give in or give up. Once he sank his sharp teeth into the prey, he never let it go.

[nightswithkookmin]

Hi Goldy! I kneeeeeeeew you were a libraaaaa. The energy is just coming off the screen. OK at this point I agree with Twitter that Tae decided to fully claim Jimin for himself, after Hobi went H.O.T. I mean the fact he spelt it out like J.I.M.IN. has done at the last LA gig is just a little icing on the cake for me>> lol back to the thing I was going to ask. I predict Tae about vminkook on his IG next lmao. I’m just super high on gender bender so excuse me trippin’ love, D. PS: hope you got that sweet lovin’ and your coochie is happy AF.

My coochie is thriving and throbbing as shud

Can't hide that scale huni, it swings like a pendulum tiktoks like a grandfather's clock.

I want to kiss this mans ass for this child listen, i spent all morning click clacking away at my keyboard chatting shit bout him not participating in that whole Vminkook agenda Jimin has going on. Then he gon swear JM is his soulmate but didn't post him on his IG 😒... yea it hurt my vmin heart won't lie.

He must have heard me. Probably tripped and realised someone on the other side of the globe was cussing him the ef out

I was gonna go on strike and start my Yoonmin soulmate agenda while plotting legos along his path🙄

And yes, since he is normalizing posting other members on IG and Kook is simply following his footsteps... come now.

That's Smooth criminals

My faith in Vmin is restored😌

He better get on his Vminkook agenda too cos Jimin and I worked so hard on that trio dynamic to have them mess it up.

Jungkook better hop on it too while we are at it and they all better act civil when it's Tae's birthday 😫

The ghetto is too much.

Now... when that is done I have a taejin agenda to push🤓

WE LOVE IT HERE🤣

WHOOP WHOOP!!!!

LET'S GO PREDICTIONS!!!!!!

[ultranos]

NOS WHAT DO YOU MEAN AZULA HAS A WIFE. THIS IS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED PLEASE ELABORATE

Oh, you mean you want me to talk about this OC? :P

She’s the older one, by about 2-3 years. Her mother is from the NWT and left the North Pole to work as a trader. Eventually, she was good enough that she got her own ship and crew and formed a small trading/shipping company out of the Earth Kingdom. She met an EK man, they got together and had a kid. Then when she was young, her dad went off to sea and never came back. So she was mostly raised by her mother, and inherited the relatively-successful company when her mom retired.

(Her mother retired to the village, and is very much enjoying it. Azula is smart enough to stay on her mother-in-law’s good side.)

So yes, Azula’s wife is, in fact, half-Water Tribe, half-Earth Kingdom (non-bender) owner of a small shipping company (kind of more of a co-op, she’s just the one that has to sign the legal documents) and part-time ship captain. (Zuko nearly has another heart attack when he finds that one out, because does. not. compute.)

They met when this certain socially-awkward journeyman smith/glassblower took over the village’s abandoned forge and set up shop. Azula was going to need to sell the things she made, and well, this was an opportunity knocking. They became friends, despite Azula’s initial wariness (her track record is bad) and then...well, things happen, feelings get involved, other things happen, feelings REALLY get involved, and someone finally makes a move.

They both can be a bit hypercompetative. On the flip-side, Azula takes great joy in being As Dramatic As Possible at completely mundane things. So board games? Might involve utter ruthlessness, “Villainous Gloating”, and Declarations of Revenge.

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Tea Shop Part One - Zuko x female reader series

Imagine being an air acolyte searching for the avatar in Ba Sing Sei and instead finding yourself working beside the dragon of the west and the banished prince of the fire nation, but of course you know them as Mushi and Lee. From the start you and Zuko clash, you hate his angry rude attitude and he hates how often you call him out on his poor behaviour. Your dislike grows until it’s almost unbearable and then his life is suddenly placed in your hands. After that and things change...

Part two here

Part three here

Part four here

(Note, in the readers view Zuko = Lee and Iroh = Mushi but when it’s from Zuko’s or Iroh’s pov they will be Zuko and Iroh. Hope that’s not too confusing!

Prologue: You were descended from air benders and were one of the last air aceloytes in the world. Your family was not in the air nation when the fire nation attacked a century ago, by luck your grandfather was in Omashu. When he heard the news he was devastated but crippled with fear he stayed and hid in the Earth kingdom. He married your grandmother and tried to assimilate into the earth kingdom. Your grandparents were terrified of the fire nation and therefore keeping the air nation traditions alive was not something they were focused on. So by the time you were born only your Uncle Pathik made an effort to keep the air nation traditions alive, even becoming a monk to devote himself to the cause. Your family was under the belief if they kept quiet the fire nation wouldn’t find them but of course they did. The fire nation arrested your family for the suspicion of practicing air bending, despite the fact none of you could actual airbend. The association enough was worth a life long imprisonment and so your family we’re shipped away to the deepest prison known. Your father managed to smuggle you out of the city but he wasn’t so lucky. You were devestated but after your escape headed to the only family you had left, your eccentric uncle’s home at the eastern air temple. You managed to avoid warrants for your arrest with shows of earth bending, a skill inhertited by your grandmother. Fire nation guards couldn’t comprehend someone being an air aceloyte and an earth bender and so the gift saved your life. You finally tracked down your uncle and decided that day to dedicate yourself to the air nation in spite of the fire nation. They’d taken your family but they wouldn’t take your culture. You asked your uncle to teach you all he knew and worked hard to become an air acolyte like your grandfather. It all seemed pointless, you and your uncle against the whole fire nation and then you heard the avatar was back. You made it your mission to find him and help him rebuild the air nation. You told your uncle your plan and he told you to go to Ba Sing Sei, always allusuive, he told you nothing more than you’d find what you needed there and so you set off. You expected to find the avatar quickly but had been there a whole year with no sign of him. You we’re giving up hope you’d ever find him and you’d be stuck working as a waitress in the lower ring forever when two new staff members changed that.  

Your POV

You showed up for your shift at the tea shop to find your boss had finally hired some more staff. You were thrilled and eyed the two newcomers with interest as your boss discussed the basic tasks with them while you ran the tea shop, eventually the tour brought them to you and you were introduced. "This is my main waitress" your boss said to the two men "y/n these are your two new coworkers". You nodded looking them over, the older man smiled at you but the younger one stared at the ground, or more accurately glared. He definitely did not seem pleased to be here. "Nice to meet you" you offered and the old man smiled and told you his name. You looked to the younger one expectantly and the man nudged him. "’I’m Lee" he replied flatly barely glancing at you. “Well welcome” you smiled and Mushi smiled at you but the boy, Lee, didn’t even look at you. “Now on with the tour” your boss cried and you watched Mushi talk to him while Lee sulked. Great your new co-worker was a pouty angry teenager. He’d be fun to work with.  

1 week later

Your prediction was true, you were an easy going person who could usually get along with anyone...expect this new boy. The boy was miserable and moody. He was inconsiderate and obviously didn’t work well in teams. His customer service poor and his tea making skills only just adequate. The fact he was so rude prompted you to mess with him, rude people were fair game as far as you were concerned and so you made sure not to help him. If the waiter couldn’t show common courtesy than neither would you. This resulted in a lot of shared glares and bickering between the two of you. You knew it went against your air nomad roots to pick on people but when the person was a moody rude immature man who never got your name right, surely the monks saw that as an exception right?

You arrived at the tea shop for your afternoon shift and saw Lee was leaving. That was nice. Things between you had gotten worse over the past week and shifts with him were almost unbareable. Being mean didn’t come naturally to you but something about this man made your blood boil. Lee noticed you come into the shop and held out an apron to you. Suprised you went to take it when he dropped it on the floor with a laugh. You rolled your eyes at him and snatched it up off the floor. Lee smirked and you glared. You watched him place his belongings on the counter as he prepared to leave, something you’d told him not to do many times as it wasn’t sanitary and got an idea. A glass of water was also on the counter and you smirked, because your manager was such a cheapskate the counter was made of earth. You flicked your hand and knocked the glass over onto Lee’s stuff. Lee cried out and groaned as it soaked his bag and coat. Lee looked around and caught you smiling. “You....” he started when Mushi appeared “y/n I need three jasmine teas”. You nodded “on it” and grinned at Lee’s angry glare that was glued to you as you walked past him.

Iroh’s POV

Iroh noticed Zuko pouting about something and paused as you left to go make the tea like he’d asked. Zuko was angrily shaking his jacket and Iroh frowned “Lee are you...”. “She! She is the worst! Did you see what she just did to me” Zuko cried holding his bag out to Iroh who frowned. The bag had a tiny wet stain. “Ow yes this is very serious...the sun might not even dry it before you reach home!” Iroh cried. Zuko rolled his eyes “y/n did this! Did you know she’s an earth bender?”. “No but we are in the greatest earth city in the world...it’s not suprising”. “She can’t treat me like that” Zuko carried on ignoring Iroh’s comment “she can’t get away with this, who does she think she is?”. “Hasn’t she told you numerous times not to put your stuff on the counter?”. “She...I don’t know! I don’t listen to her! She’s always telling me how to do stuff like i’m a...”. “New employee?” Iroh asked with a smile and Zuko scoffed. “This is ridiculous i’m sick of this” and he stormed from the tea shop. Iroh laughed and glanced to where you stood serving customers, you’d certainly gotten under his nephew’s skin and it was entertaining if nothing else.

Your POV

When the afternoon rush finally died down you got a chance to chat to Mushi. Thank god he was nothing like his nephew, there was a down side though. Despite not be liked him he loved talking about his nephew and seemed to constantly mention him to you, like today. “Y/n do you think you’d be able to work the late shift with me tomorrow night?" he asked "it was supposed to be Lee’s shift but he has a date". "Really?" you asked more than fairly suprised, "is it that girl who’s always in here?". Mushi nodded "yes!" and you laughed "i knew it! She asked for Lee to serve her even though his waiter skills are awful!". Mushi laughed "love is blind, she’s hopefully seen past his moody exterior to the man he is beneath” Mushi smiled at you but his hint went right over your head. "I can cover his shift" you agreed and Mushi grinned "Thank you y/n!". You told him it was fine and smirked, just the idea of Lee on a date was enough to make you laugh.

2 days later

You probably shouldn’t have offered to work that late shift for Mushi when you were opening in the morning too but you needed the money so you dragged yourself out of bed way earlier than you would’ve liked. The idea of teasing Lee about his date motivating you and when you saw him waiting outside the tea shop you smirked. "Morning" you called loudly making him jump. He swore and you smirked unlocking the door. "It’s your shift?” he complained “why are you always here?". "Because i work here idiot" you said going to roll your eyes before you calmed yourself, Lee wouldn’t ruin your good mood...or stop you teasing him about his night out. "So how was the date?" you asked smirking. Lee didn’t look at you, he didn’t even show he’d so much as heard you. It made him so much harder to annoy when he didn’t respond so you tried again. "Hey i covered for you I expect some payment" you informed him but he just shrugged "i didn’t ask you to cover for me". "Yeah but i was still the person who did so you could run around on a date" you said annoyed. The man always managed to do this, you’d start messing with him and come off angrier than him somehow. Lee only shrugged "not my problem" and you glared. Your good mood was slipping.

All day Lee’s attitude annoyed you more and more. He was in a worse mood than ever and it showed. He was rude to customers, he mixed up orders and refused to correct them, he spoke back to you when you were only trying to help him. So by the end of your shift you were ready to strangle him. When Mushi and another worker showed up to relieve you, a sigh of relief escaped without you even realising. You let all your anger go, prepared to move...and then you turned around and tripped over the rubbish bag you’d asked Lee to take out 3 times. From your crumpled position of the floor you spotted him already ready to leave and your anger flared back up. You marched to him and pressed the bag into him “here”. “Why would I want this?” he asked and you glared “it’s the rubbish you forgot to take out”. “I didn’t forget I just didn’t want to” he shrugged and you twitched. “Wow that’s a great attitude, take it outside now”. “No, you’re not my boss, you can’t tell me what to do”. He opened the back door and sauntered out and you followed him seeing red. You threw the bag at him hitting him on the shoulder and let out an angry groan. “What’s your problem?” you cried. “What’s your problem” Lee replied squaring up to you but you wouldn’t back down. “My problem is you’re an awful waiter and an intolerable human”. “Wow that hurts me so much” Lee said sarcastically and you balled your fists. “What is wrong with you?” you called “nobodies making you work here, if it’s so awful find another job! It’s not my fault you’re miserable all the time so stop acting like it is!" you yelled "you’re mad at the world? Well get in line! Nothing gets better by you acting like a jerk but if you hate it here so much leave!" and you slammed the door in his face.

Later that day

Your day hadn’t gotten much better as it went on but the end was finally in sight. You'd just finished your shift at a nearby restaurant you also worked at when you noticed two men fighting. You frowned but turned the other way. Sure it wasn’t the noble thing to do but you'd learnt to only seek trouble in certain situations and in back alleys at night was not one of those moments. The trouble apparently didn’t want to leave you alone however and you heard sounds telling you the fighting was following you. Suddenly one of them crashed past you, the other following with a sword. You glared and then gaped to see Lee was one of the men fighting. It didn't suprise you he’d be in a street fight but to be fair he seemed to be the one getting attacked. Shocked you watched, impressed by how skilled the two men were. Lee was obviously not a tea maker and according to the other guy he was actually a fire bender.

The man managed to disarm Lee and he smirked. "you’re defence less, you’ll have to firebend to stop me doing this" and swept his sword towards Lee. Lee closed his eyes unable to get out of his grip and just accepted the swing. You couldn't. Call it the airbender roots in you but you wouldn’t watch senseless violence and just do nothing, even for someone as annoying as Lee. "No" you shouted and sent a rock hurtling towards the man. You knocked him off Lee and stepped forwards "leave him alone". "Who’s this your body guard?" the boy asked and you raised an eyebrow "actually i’m a waitress". Lee stood beside you and you both faced the attacker when you heard yelling. Suddenly two Dai Li agents arrived and looked between you and Lee to the boy. "What’s going on here?" they asked and you turned to them. You’d gotten pretty good at maniuplating the authorities in your hidden life so knew how to play the Dai Li. “Officers thank god you’re here! This man attacked me and my friend for no reason, he was going to hurt him so i had to earth bend! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone I swear". "She’s right" a man who’d been watching called and the Dai Li fixed their eyes on the other boy. He tried to resist but they forced him into a cart and it disappeared down the road. "I’m sorry this happened to you" the agent told you and Lee "please go on and enjoy your night". You and Lee nodded and turned to walk away, when you were out of ear shot Lee spoke. "You didn’t have to help me" he started and you rolled your eyes sick of this and started to walk away. "No!" he said catching you up "i didn’t mean it like that, i just meant...after today i figured you hated me". "I don’t hate anyone" you replied "but you come pretty close sometimes". You thought his mouth almost curved into a smile and he nodded. "What were you doing out here?" he asked "and are you in a uniform". "I work at a restaurant near here" you explained. "You have two jobs?". "Three" you said embarassed "rent’s hard". Lee nodded his head down and you were pleased he didn’t give you sympathy. "I’m not you know" he said suddenly and you frowned “what?”. “A firebender...i’m not one" he clarified. "I wouldn’t care if you are" you shrugged and Lee frowned "really i assumed because of your..." and he trailed off. "Because of my what?" you asked turning to face him and Lee paled. He looked to your arm without meaning to and you knew he’d seen the scar that lay there. "i didn’t mean to, your sleeve was pushed up the other day..." he rushed to explain reading your expression "’i’m sorry for mentioning it". You touched your arm self consciously, the place where your burn crisscrossed it and frowned. A fire nation solider had give it you on your trip to the eastern air temple, he was annoyed your earth bending proved you couldn’t be the run away air acolyte and so he burned you as punishment.  "It’s okay" you said after a while "but no it doesn’t change things, i don’t blame all firebenders just because one burnt me". Lee looked shocked at that and you got a feeling he didn’t have that same view about the person who burnt him. "It doesn’t matter to me if you're a fire bender or the earth king himself, we’re all just human". Lee paused suprised to hear you say something so philosophical and nodded. "’I’m sorry, for earlier not this" he said softly "i have been...difficult". "Just difficult?" you asked and he shot you a glare. "Sorry...you were saying?". He sighed and glanced back at you "i’m working on my anger" he told you "i’ll try and be less of a jerk". "I’ll believe it when i see it" you replied but smirked to let him know you were joking.

You walked the rest of the way in silence and reached the tea house quickly. Mushi was cleaning up damage that must’ve been caused by the fight but dropped his broom when he saw Lee. “Z..Lee you’re okay” he cried rushing over “what happened?”. “It was fine, y/n helped me and Jet was arrested”. “You helped him?” Mushi asked smiling between you both and you and Lee rolled your eyes simultaneously. “It was nothing” you said quickly “i’d have done it for anyone”. You thought Lee’s eyes narrowed at that comment and so quickly added “but i’m glad you’re okay”. Lee looked at you suprised but nodded “thanks”. You nodded awkwardly and turned “so i’ll be going home, see you guys tomorrow”. “Bye y/n and thanks again” Mushi called after you.

Zuko and Iroh’s POV

As soon as you were gone Iroh smirked at Zuko “so...the two of you seem to have bonded”. “Don’t” Zuko replied pushing past him. Iroh’s smirk grew as he noticed the slight blush on his nephews cheek, he knew he’d sensed chemistry there. Thank god the two of you finally were realising it too.

____

I made a new Zuko series! I always love how angsty and stroppy season 2 Zuko was so thought I’d write a series around that. Hope you like it!!!

[shimmershae]

My thoughts on Episode 3--Hunted.

 Most of you lovelies already realize this, but my thoughts tend to zig and zag quite a bit, lol.  So.  To save some of you the headache and spare you from seeing spoilers you’d rather not see yet, I’m again placing them behind a cut.  

First things first.  I have totally turned into Yvette Nicole Brown with her TWD notebooks, lol, and I’m not even sorry.  I just felt like it would be fun to go back when the final episode is in the books and see how well my thoughts from these early episodes line up with what I’m feeling when we say our (not-so) final goodbyes.  

But that’s enough about that. Let’s get to this thing.  

It really is insane how very much I love Melissa McBride.  Just hearing her doing the previously on TWD recap voiceover makes me ridiculously happy.  

Cole!  Dude!  We hardly knew ya.  

Not gonna lie.  That first shot of Maggie in all the chaos reminded of a shirt I’ve seen.  It says--”Well, well, well.  If it isn’t the consequences of my actions.”  

I have to hand it to Angela and the rest of her team.  These opening scenes--on all 3 episodes--have been BOMB so far.  They really hook you in right away.  At least IMHO.  

I realize I’m behind the game on this little tidbit, but how much do I adore the fact that Dog is now in the opening credits?  

Okay.  Alexandria might look like it’s been on some kind of post-apocalyptic bender but all our girls are looking beautiful as ever.  Maybe it’s Maybelline, lol.  

I love to see Kelly and Carol still gravitating toward each other.  It really speaks to each woman’s heart.  Carol wants to make amends so badly and Kelly just has the most lovely, warm, forgiving heart.  

Carol’s point about Alexandria still needing the horses to help with the heavy lifting and pointing out the walls and rebuilding won’t matter quite as much if they’re limited by their  hunger and what they can physically lift on their own isn’t wrong.  But I’m sure the same viewers that were okay with Daryl and Co. going out on Maggie’s suicide mission (using the same reasoning) and saying it made sense for the bigger picture will pretend not to recognize that the same element is there in Carol’s desire to go out there and look for the horses.  You know.  Because it was Carol’s idea and not that of their fave(s).  

Aaron, Man.  Or maybe I should say Angela.   You just had to put a pit of dread in my belly mentioning Buttons like that.  RIP, Buttons.  You deserved better.  I’m still traumatized.  

Look at all the babies bonding.  Look at RJ getting to sit at the big kid table.  

“My mom always comes back.”  She damn well better.  Those babies need her.  Until she does, though, Uncle Daryl and Aunt Carol (and Aunt Rosita and everybody else) are going to be there.  

Anyway.  Poor RJ.  He barely ever gets any lines, lol.  

Hershel and Judith are obviously the mini-adults in this group and baby Rhee is already more cynical and jaded than his sweet daddy was until they reached Alexandria and the wheels started to come off.  

So.  Does Maggie just think everybody’s already dead here or what?  Hmm.  

You know.  Any building can be creepy AF when the lights are off and it’s dark, lol.  Any building.  

So much darkness so far this season.  I’m going to have to invest in some blackout curtains.  I just know it.  

Where are all those stairs leading?  Why am I thinking of Hitchcock?  Am I mixing up my scary, suspenseful movies?  Probably.  

Of fucking course, Maggie dropped her flashlight.  Thank goodness she had that lighter at the ready just before Ghost Face Reaper took a swipe at her.  

Is that Father G with a screwdriver impaled in his thigh?  Listen.  These people deserve a Mega Bottle of pain killers and a week just vegging out in a soft, luxurious bed.  

All these horror movie tropes.  Some of them are cheesy, yes.  But I’m totally here for it.  

LMAO.  That’s it, Maggie.  A good old punch in the nuts works every time.  

Alden really is having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  

Negan is still Negan.  Self-serving and looking out for number one.  But I believe the man really does feel the group is his group too.  He’s like that long lost, sketchy uncle nobody wants to acknowledge much less invite to the dinner table, but that bond?  However thin?  Is there.  

I am both hating that Maggie is being forced to work with the man that murdered her husband (my baby Glenn) and finding it fascinating the lengths she’s willing to go to survive.  This your plan, Angela?  

Rosita and Carol!  How sad is it that the last really significant scene I can remember the two of these women sharing was way back?  Before Rick and Co. attacked Negan’s outpost and Maggie and Carol were subsequently taken?  If only the show had done more of these kind of scenes.  

How much do I love all the girls working together?  Gimps would never.  They’d all be stuck back at Alexandria minding the kids and the community.  

Shallow aside--Rosita is so pretty in this scene.  

Rosita being worried about Carol honestly makes my heart hurt, because it’s about damn time more of them actually did.  Her saying Abraham is trying to tell her something in her dreams is interesting.  Angela sure loves her dreams, doesn’t she?  

Where are Daryl’s dreams, hmm?  No.  Seriously.  I guess they want to give some viewers plausible deniability until the bitter end.  

“Really?  We’re just gonna go toward the screaming?  Cool.”  Hahaha.  You know.  Even the smart people in horror movies sometimes bite it, Negan.  Just saying.  Maggie really does need to “stop running up the staircase” when she could just run out the front door though, lol.  

Poor Duncan.  I think you could have been another Tyreese, Jerry type for me.  

WTF does this show have against horses?  Those poor creatures.  

Kelly is totally me right now.  I’d be freaking inconsolable.  

Carol needed that hug.  Thank you, Magna.  From the bottom of this tired fangirl’s heart, thank you.  

Why give us that beautiful, golden shot with the horses when you’re planning to stab us through the heart later and twist the knife.  Oh.  Yeah.  That’s exactly why.  

Oh snap!  Father G’s delivery when he tells that Reaper “I’m not.  God isn’t here anymore.”  Cold as ice.  

Judas.  That the Reapers’ work.  Or.  Damn.  Either way, that’s harsh.  

Back to what Alden was saying.  All these oprhaned children.  Who’s going to take on Adam if he dies?  That poor kid has had a rough go of it.  Knowing that, makes you wonder what Alden was thinking volunteering for the suicide mission.  

Omigosh.  There went Agatha.  Terrible way to go.  Right, Beatrice?  

I’m sobbing.  Carol with the horse.  That hurt my baby so much but she hurt herself for her family the same way she has been doing since the Prison.  Melissa Mcbride?  When she cries, I cry.  Every effin’ time.  Aaron being there just made it hurt more.  But at least someone was there to see how and really take in how she continues to break pieces of herself off to keep her family as whole and safe and happy as she can.  

Rewinding a minute--that Magna and Carol conversation.  I get Magna’s reasoning too.  I do.  But Angela is just making everything so dire right now so that the sun when Connie is ultimate found shines a ltitle brighter.  

Those babies know they’re eating horse.  I could never.  

That’s got to be a different Coco.  She’s even smaller.  But she’s gorgeous.  

Fucking finally.  Angela having the other characters notice after an eternity of being blind to it, just how much Carol sacrifices of herself for them.  It’s so long overdue and I imagine Rosita’s even more worried for Carol now.  It’s a shame it’s taken 11 seasons.  My baby’s had blood on her hands trying to keep her family safe and whole and happy and fed for a long damn time.  So heartbreaking watching her try to scrub the blood away.  

Sweet, sweet hug that Kelly gave Magna.  She’s such a sweetheart kid sis to all of them, isn’t she?  

Interesting place of refuge.  A gutted church.  A visual symbol, Angela, of where Maggie and the rest of our people are now perhaps?  

“It’s easy for you, isn’t it?  Being reckless with sombody’s life...”  Maggie.  Maggie.  Those words would have hit so much harder if we hadn’t spent the majority of the last 2.5 episodes watching you ignore sound advice just because it came out of the mouth of somebody you (justifiably) hate.  

But will Alden be there when Maggie and Negan get back?  That is the question.  Or will he eventually Lucille himself?  

That little bit of lineup Negan music to remind the audience of Negan lovers and sympathizers that he once took great pleasure in murderously swinging a bag at people’s heads was a nice, subtle touch there.  Like agree with her or not, Maggie  is literally left to rely  on the hope, however small it is, that Negan has changed just enough that he won’t try to finish a job he taken on years before--killing what’s left of her.  

Oh lawd.  Next episode sees the return of a character literally nobody asked for.  How excited am I not?  

Dog better not be harmed or so help me.  

Now for Angela’s weekly explanations of WTF she/there were thinking because they been doing this plausible deniability thing so long some people out there watching with biased, muddy stan glasses can no longer separate head canon from canon.  

Is Maggie worried at all about Daryl or does she just assume his superhero powers are in full effect in this episode?  

“You can’t really say it wasn’t going to happen anyway.”  Not Angela pointing out that simply laying the blame for literally everything bad that ever happens at Carol’s feet isn’t the answer.  Say it louder for those in the back.  Alpha was going to do what Alpha wanted to do.  

“There is love there.  There is respect there.  However, there’s also frustration...”  You damn skippy.  Friendships and human relationships are complex AF.  Like Carol. She’s honestly one of the most complicated characters on this show and any show, IMHO.  That’s what makes her so memorable and such a lightning rod for discussion.  

I know I might be in a minority, but I really feel like they need more of those little scenes between the kids to keep things real.  

Kang saying she always feels like she’s going to get murdered in a staircase or parking lot is relatable, funny, and sad all at the same time.  It’s a girl thing.  

Why is Carol’s story giving me Dark Knight vibes?  Like I feel like she’ll gladly shoulder the burden of their distrust, their hate, or their judgment as long as the hard choices she makes keeps them safe.  And she’s still ultimately going to come back to save their asses even when they forsake her.  Just like Bruce Wayne/Batman.  Am I reaching too far, lol?  Because sometimes I do that.  

Anyway.  This is the third episode of the season and the third episode in a row that I mostly enjoyed.  I don’t know if I’m just so relieved and happy to have all the characters and my show back or what, but overall?  I’ve been pleased with the episodes and found something to love in all of them.  

There’s a much stronger horror vibe woven throughout Season 11 so far.  I feel like it’s a return to the roots of the show and I like that.  Literally none of the characters are making perfect choices and this viewer is here for it.  My only complaint so far is there hasn’t been enough Carol but what we’ve been given has felt like a gift and significant in a way that Gimps’ version was not.  Also?  I really hope the trend of the ladies working together and supporting each other continues because they rule the TWD world, lol.  

Hope you enjoyed at least some of my TWD word vomit.  

Until next episode.  

[crashingmeteorz]

jinjetsongko headcanons

in other words i love the idea of the jinxjetxsongxzuko brotp and want it to be real, desperately (based off of @azenkii’s awesome post)

first and foremost, jet never spots iroh firebending his tea. he simply does not see it. this prevents a whole host of other disasters.

jet visits zuko c o n s t a n t l y. he’s desperately trying to start up a ba sing se chapter of the freedom fighters, which ticks off longshot and smellerbee, who wanted a new life.

jet stays friends with longshot and smellerbee by pretending he’s cool with that, but by night he’s meeting up with zuko, sharing conspiracy theories about the dai li and ideas on how to break into the upper ring undetected. zuko flat-out rejects the ideas at first but he starts itching for something, anything to do, so he goes along with it.

jin thinks they’re both cute but is also pretty sure they’re in love with each other (they’re really not sure, tbh. jet is into zuko but in the way that everyone is - zuko’s hot, guys. zuko’s still figuring out how to be a normal teenager and all this attention is weird. either way, it’s something they need to figure out and jin absolutely does not want to get in the middle of it.)

zuko seems like the more stable one between the two of them, though, so jin asks him out. jet hypes him up the night of, so right before he meets jin zuko’s just bombarded with proverbs from his uncle and a lot of inappropriate advice from jet. the date goes pretty much the same since zuko chooses to ignore both of them.

jet absolutely loses it on zuko when he finds out that he actually managed to kiss the girl and then just ran away. jet believes this reflects poorly on him, and he begs jin to give zuko another chance.

jin can read the room, though, and, frankly, does not care to get in the middle of their homoerotic tension. after all, she’s pretty sure zuko cut the date short because he’s not ready for a relationship, and she’s basically right.

it should also be mentioned that at this point, jin’s figured out zuko’s a fire bender, and she kind of assumes his uncle is, too, and even though she doesn’t give a shit since they’re clearly refugees, she can tell there’s some weird backstory going on there and she is NOT going to be the fix-it girlfriend, no way.

so she tells jet she’ll hang out with them as friends.

“okay,” jet says easily, sliding into the booth across from her. “friend, do you ever want...i don’t know, more than the lower ring can offer?”

from behind the counter, zuko audibly groans because if the failed date wasn’t enough, now jet’s gonna recruit this girl into their stupid gang which zuko didn’t even want to be part of in the first place, JET!

jin doesn’t have any particular skills, but she’s quick on her feet and knows basic hand-to-hand combat. i headcanon she’s grown up in ba sing se, maybe coming to the lower ring as a little girl, and, since it’s not exactly a safe city, most kids either learn how to fend for themselves, or they disappear.

most importantly - she knows the city like the back of her hand, and she knows how to avoid the dai li.

around the same time jet’s cajoling her into joining their “stupid goofy not cool gang” as zuko calls it, even though he’s basically a co-founder, a quiet girl and her mother move into the same tennement building as jin.

i imagine jin lives alone or with distant family, so song and her mother are a welcome pair. song and jin immediately strike up a friendship, with song being impressed by jin’s outgoing nature and worldliness, and jin being endeared to song’s kindness and hopeful attitude, despite the fact that her home was burned down for a second time.

(something about the fire princess herself on the hunt or something, song and her mother didn’t really stick around long enough to find out.)

jin really wants to introduce song to her other friends, but hanging out with zuko and jet is shaping up to be something very dangerous, and sweet song doesn’t strike her as the type to be interested in that kind of thing.

until, one evening, jin is followed home by a strange man. she doesn’t even notice, she’s too busy laughing at some idiotic stunt jet had pulled and thinking maybe his stupid gang would be kind of fun, and she’s about to reach her door when the stranger grabs her.

she screams, but it’s quiet and dark and no one’s around to care. she struggles, bites at him, but he’s stronger and he’s dragging her away. just as she’s certain this is the end, the man collapses behind her and his hold is released.

there stands song, a long, thin needle in her hand, a terrified expression on her pale face. the two girls stare at each other, illuminated by the light of the open door to their building. suddenly a tall shadow pours over them, and song’s mother is there, looking deadly serious. she checks on jin and song, checks the man’s pulse, and then looks between the two girls.

“we’ll need to get rid of the body” song’s mother tells them. “jin, you know this city. where can we dump it?”

jin’s mind is blank for a few seconds, and then all at once is starts working again.

“stay here” she tells song’s mother, as they drag the body inside, for now. “in case we need an alibi, we were with you. i know a place”

the place is the tea shop, where zuko and jet are fortunately still loitering. jin barely explains the situation and the boys are running after her and song. it’s dark, and the situation is urgent so they don’t really take the time to get acquainted with song or bother to look too long at each other.

it’s not until they’ve wrapped the body up that zuko looks at song properly, and song looks at zuko, and they both freeze.

“what’s with you two?” jin asks, desperately trying to act normal and needing her friends to do the same. there’s a beat of silence. and then-

“nothing” they say at the same time, and get back to business.

in the end, the four teens dump the body in the sewers, strip it of any valuables which they toss across the city, and hope the anonymity of the lower ring will keep them safe.

they’re in this thing together, now. jin is in shock that she just covered up a murder, song is grappling with the fact that she just committed a murder, zuko is freaking out that song’s gonna out him as a thief to his new friends (which is a whole other can of worms because he has friends now?), and jet’s just excited that he has a new gang.

they start hanging out regularly, switching between the tea shop and jin’s and song’s building, and one evening zuko finally can’t take the tension anymore and privately asks song and her mother why they haven’t said anything. song and her mother look at each other, and seem to have a mental conversation.

finally song’s mother says “you helped my daughter. your debt is repaid” and she leaves the two of them alone.

“and besides” song tells him, patting his cheek on the unscarred side, “it’s always good to have a deep dark secret to hold over your friends!”

“you have no idea” zuko thinks.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  masterpost

[spookyseraphs]

supernatural and the x-files (specifically destiel and msr) parallels

this was intended to convert my spn friends to txf and my txf friends to spn and then it got out of hand. i got tired of finding sources for everything, so you’ll just have to trust me, i’m an expert on both subjects.

cas=scully

cas/scully's faith in god vs dean/mulder being non-believers (but believing in the other) (spn) (txf)

cas being the healer, scully being a doctor (spn) (txf)

cas is supposed to guard the michael sword but falls in love vs scully sent to debunk the x-files but falls in love (spn) (txf) 

cas and scully are both immortal (spn) (txf) (also)

cas/scully's families hate dean/mulder (spn) (txf)

cas/scully coming to believe in humanity/the paranormal (spn) (txf)

i'm an angel vs i'm a medical doctor (spn doesn’t have a compilation)   (txf)

they’re not like... the best drivers

hello dean vs mulder it’s me (spn) (txf)

dean=mulder

dean/mulder's fucked up fathers (spn) (txf)

dean/mulder's eldest child syndrome and their unhealthy need to protect their younger sibling (spn) (txf)

dean/mulder being the best in their respective fields (hunting and criminal profiling) and being well known for it

dean/mulder and their porn habits (spn) (txf)

no one has ever hated themselves the way dean and mulder hate themselves (spn) (txf)

dean and mulder both have issues with fire (spn) (txf)

both die, get buried, and then come back

sunflower seeds vs pie

also they both hate nazis (spn) (txf)

yellow fever vs war of the coprophages  (spn) (txf)

ship parallels

blue and green eyes (hazel is close enough)

for some reason theres a pizza man parallel? (spn) (pt 2) (txf) (pt 2)

mulder/krycek vs dean/crowley (spn) (txf) (also)

cas/hannah vs scully/pendrell (poor hannah and pendrell never stood a chance... and died)

also cas/scully get laid ONE TIME (april/ed jerse) and they almost die because of it and then never do it again (spn) (txf)

vs dean/mulder having plenty of love interests/hookups

cas/scully have never done anything wrong ever

dean/mulder... sigh... i love them... but they've made some questionable decisions (i'm looking at you mulder: fucking the vampire THE EP AFTER SCULLY'S ABDUCTION AND WHILE WEARING HER CROSS and dean, kicking cas out and locking jack in the ma’lak box?? really guys?) (spn) (txf)

creators who think their relationship is platonic despite everyone with eyes saying otherwise (spn) (txf)

also the way that neither were ever written or intended to be romantic

the fandoms were split heavily between shippers and non shippers 

they also both had to have scenes changed because they were being played too romantic

a kiss was cut from the episode memento mori and gillovny were always trying to hold hands (x)

jackles forever wanting to cradle misha's face and the cut i love you from the crypt scene (x)

just... gillovny vs cockles in general, i am not a real person shipper, HOWEVER they are both messy (spn) (txf)

their first meetings? iconic. chemistry? immaculate. dean/mulder are super defensive but tbh cas/scully fell in love at first sight (spn) (txf)

they also had no concept of personal space pretty much immediately (spn) (txf)

they have a baby (that has magic powers) together that they lose twice (jack dies and becomes god, william/jackson is adopted and then as far as they know he dies) (spn) (txf)

cas/scully also have a kind of kid (claire/emily) that dean/mulder are willing to co-parent regardless of the fact that they definitely aren't theirs (spn) (txf)

we get an i love you that still doesn't get taken seriously or make them canon (stuck in the middle (with you) and triangle) (spn) (txf)

dean keeping cas's trenchcoat vs mulder keeping scully's cross (spn) (txf)

they go absolutely batshit when the other is in danger or dies/is dying (spn) (txf)

they're also known and used by their enemies as each other's weaknesses (spn) (txf)

msr being mistaken as a couple vs every angel and demon cracking jokes about destiel being a couple (spn) (txf)

skinner and sam just off to the side looking frustrated while msr and destiel are having a couples moment (spn) (txf)

eating each others food (spn) (txf)

appreciating each others interests (spn) (and this one) (txf)

parallels except the roles are swapped

dreamland/small potatoes vs casifer, i just think scully/dean should have realized IMMEDIATELY (spn) (txf)

mulders fight the future speech vs cas's confession (spn) (txf)

they should have kissed and didn't

it almost ambiguously canonizes them both

AND THE SECRET TAPES, the most famous msr kiss isn't an actual canon kiss, it's a blooper of gillian and david making out in front of the camera (two different times) and it wasn't scripted it was literally just them messing around (x)

this is me manifesting jackles dropping the tapes and those tapes having the same energy

they just really love each other (spn) (txf)

non ship/general parallels

leyla harrison vs becky rosen being fandom stand ins (spn) (txf)

they were supposed to end on season 5

Good but bad (absolutely iconic) sci-fi shows

they both had two finales which both sucked

they shared soooo many cast and crew and both filmed in vancouver

they're such similar shows, motw/story episodes, the funny and serious episodes, dealing with the paranormal, they're basically siblings

also siblings in the way that they handle racism, misogyny and consent/rape/bodily autonomy

the supernatural book series vs the movie made about mulder and scully (spn) (txf)

mystery spot vs monday (spn) (txf)

tall tales vs bad blood  (spn) (txf)

 the benders vs home (spn) (txf)

why did both shows use live bees??? (spn) (txf)

the fbi's most wanted and the fbi's most unwanted (also everyone involved looks cute as fbi agents) (spn) (look how cute!) (txf) (cuties!!)

the syndicate vs heaven and the cigarette smoking man vs god

the bunker vs the basement office

every single side character on both shows deserved better!!! most of them literally didn't need to die!!! and i'm still angry!!!

the poor brothers adam milligan and charlie scully existing and then being literally forgotten about until the last season

the fandoms living for things cut from the scripts (spn) (txf)

team free will vs mulder, scully, and skinner

these ones are shippy, but more my opinion than factual

both pairs just keep getting traumatic events dumped on them for absolutely no reason

cas/scully both have major exasperated why do i love this man vibes

absolutely most iconic and slowest slow burn romances of all time and are just the longest games of will they/won't they, baiting, and were never INTENDED to be slow burns

they're always willing to die/kill for each other, however they WILL NOT talk about their feelings under any circumstances

in the field where i died, mulder says that he and scully have been around each other in past lives but never romantically and according to chuck, every other universe's castiel just pulled dean out of hell and listened to his orders

SO in these other lives/universes they were always linked to each other but only in this life/universe do they fall in love

the last seasons really fuck up my favorite characters

dean should not be that shitty to jack OR cas for that matter

and mulder shouldn't have left scully and william (and dearest dana?? DANA?)

and, controversial opinion, but cas/scully could do so much better and deserve so much better but dean/mulder... it's the best they'll ever get

HOWEVER, i feel like their love is MORE powerful BECAUSE cas/scully could do better but they don't want better or normal they want dean/mulder and they will fight to the death for it, it's not the easy choice, it's just what they want

and i say this with all the love in the world for both dean and mulder, but cas could have just followed his orders and returned to heaven like every other version of himself did. scully could have easily found a normal man to settle down and have 2.5 kids with. dean was always going to be stuck in chuck's plans, and mulder absolutely could not just go find a wife to settle down with.

cas/scully put up with SO MUCH SHIT from dean/mulder, while being ALWAYS FAITHFUL to them, it was never the easy option to love these men and stay by their sides, it was hard and they worked for it!!!

they’re both the greatest love story ever told, they tied

[gloves94]

Sunburn [Prince Zuko] 5

Warnings: None   Rating: PG-13   Pairings: Zuko/OC   Summary:  “You have everything you’ve ever wanted.” “No.” He said softly. “Not everything…”  His golden eyes looked at her with a melting intensity she had never witnessed before. “I guess not.” She responded with glassy eyes as tears welled up threatening to break the dam of her eyes.

My fanfiction: M A S T E R L I S T

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area." A soldier from Commander Zhao's fleet had stepped into Team Zuko's. He had basically barged in an demanded that the prince hand over all information in regards of the Avatar. And here Iroh the ever optimistic thought they were here for a game of Pai Sho.

"I've got nothing to report to Zhao," Zuko stated coldly as he looked at the floor and then glared at the soldiers that stood before him. "Now off my ship!" He roared casting Tsai to jump slightly as he pointed them out.

'Who is this Zhao?'

Tsai knew that it wasn't hard to get under Zuko's skin, but there was something about this man that seemed to really irritate him. Or maybe it was the fact they had been sailing northeast without a single sighting in the past couple of days. Not knowing much about the war or its generals or commanders she remained clueless to his man's identity, but would he would he have to crawl over her dead body if she was just going to let somebody take her destiny of bringing peace to the Fire Nation world. Approaching the table she read over a wanted poster that some of the soldiers were looking at.

"It says here that the Avatar can create tornadoes and run faster than the wind," one of the soldiers read aloud in awe. "Pretty amazing!" Another said.

Tsai blinked twice taken aback when an image of a boy no older than twelve which was painted on the poster. He was just a child, a bald child with eager eyes and a tattooed arrow pointing down the middle of his forehead. "But he's just a child," she gaped in surprise. All this time she had been imagining a very old man. But if he was a child- why on Earth hadn't Zuko been able to capture him?

She didn't know much about air benders. No one did, after all they had been extinct for the past one hundred years. Part of her wished the ship had a library where she could research information about the Avatar, but wait maybe there was something she could do...

"Tsai, care to join us for a game of Pai Sho? I think they are getting better," Iroh called. "I'll pass for now. I have to write to my family," it wasn't a complete lie. "Good luck gentleman," she smiled sweetly at the men making some of them swoon.

Xxx

'Brother,

I hope you are well. I know I have been gone less than a week. I hope you don't miss me too much. I also wish I could tell you where I am, but it is hard to pin point. We are presently sailing northwest hot on the Avatar's trail. Can you believe it?

Iroh has been a most gracious host. I enjoy spending time with him, he really reminds me of grandpa, and the prince well- tell mother not to get too excited, but he does have some redeeming qualities (and a terrible temper as well).

Mecha, I need to ask you yet another favor. Please send me all information you might have on air benders or air bending. Turns out the Avatar is only a child! A slippery one that is if he's had Prince Zuko chasing him all over the world with no success.

Lots of love to the family,

- Your Sister Tsai'

Tsai came down from the commander tower after having sent out a fire hawk home to her brother. Coming down she encountered a fire show of the prince angrily kicking and punching bold strokes of dangerous fire in all directions. He even appeared to be radiating anger.

"Hey, you O.K.?" She found herself asking once again. She put her hands on her waist as she eyed him carefully barely dodging a fire blast which headed in her direction. Part of her suspected that had not been an accident. He wore a maroon training tunic that showed off his toned arms.

"Perfectly fine," he grumbled. Obviously not pleased. "Is it because of that man Zhao?" She pressed on. "We can't give up yet! We can still find the Avatar before him," she said in a determined tone. "We?"He scoffed incredulously.

As far as he knew Tsai brought nothing to table except for maybe tea and Pai Sho. She nodded holding a fist to her chest a determined glint in her honey brown eyes. "I know we can do it!"

"She's right Prince Zuko," Iroh suddenly appeared. "I was becoming worried when you hadn't ordered your men in the past hour."

"How? With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the Avatar," he stated upset. He turned and lowered his voice into almost a whisper, "My honor, my throne, my country... I'm about to lose them all." A somber gust of wind passed by.

Seeing him like this. Seeing anybody like this broke the girl's mushy heart. She looked at him sadly.

"But you have something Zhao doesn't have!" She said animatedly.

Both Iroh and Zuko turned to look at her with expecting eyes. "Something worth fighting for!"

His fists clenched at his sides in fury. "That's absolutely useless!" He roared in frustration. She flinched a little at his tone. I mean she was only trying to help...

"Prince Zuko, a word from Zhao's men. Apparently the Admiral has the Avatar on his compound grounds."

Tsai closed her eyes not wanting to witness the volcano that was about to explode in front of her. 'Talk about bad timing.' Her hair was whipped wildly by several heat waves.

Shutting her eyes even tighter she set her mind to it, she was determined to do something about this. If Zhao had the Avatar that meant that the odds of her having a chance at achieving her grandfather's dream would be destroyed.

Xxx

It was already the evening. Zuko braced himself for the battle that he would encounter tonight. He put his twin blades on his back and shed his princely identity becoming a Blue Spirit of the night. He was ready to sneak out when a gentle knock made him freeze on the spot.

"H-Hey," a voice said softly.

It was Tsai.

"I'm really sorry about today. Just know I'm going to try my best to help out more from now on. I understand if you're still upset. Well, have a good night then." He hadn't realized that he had been holding his breath all of this time. He slowly released it when he heard her foot steps trail off.

Meanwhile Tsai tip toed around the ship until she reached the deck where some of the soldier's were currently lounging keeping their night guard.

"Gentleman," she coed in a soft voice.

Their jaws dropped at the sight. One wolf whistled inappropriately. They were basically salivating at the sight of the lady before them. Her eyes were coated with cleverly applied dark make up, more than she usually wore. Perfect for an evening look. Her lips were rogue and her features had been professionally contoured. Crimson hair cascaded down her back in full waves. "Anybody feel like taking me ashore?" She popped her hip to the side dramatically batting her eyelashes.

A few moments later Tsai was ashore standing outside the gates of the Pohuai Stronghold  She noted the way it was heavily armed and had no trouble batting her eyelashes getting inside. One of the few advantages of war was that these men hadn't seen a woman in ages.

xxx

"Tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left?" Zhao taunted the Avatar as he rounded him in a chamber. "Do you miss your people?" He pressed on leaning maliciously close towards the boy.

Taking in a massive breath the Avatar blew the man hard against the metal door making him lose his balance and ungracefully fall on his face. "Blow all the wind you want. Your situation is futile. There is no escaping this fortress and nobodyis coming to rescue you." He scowled.

"Admiral Zhao," a soldier suddenly entered the chamber. "You better come quick Sir." he urged, "Y-You've got an important guest," he adjusted his helmet his face slightly turning scarlet.

Zhao raised an eyebrow with intrigue. He had not been expecting anybody. Could it have been that Fire Lord Ozai had sent a personal gift to him? He ran a hand through his hair combing it down in a narcissistic matter.

Xxx

Tsai had been brought to a waiting room which wasn't nearly as elegant as the one in her home. She sat comfortably with a relaxed expression on her features, her poise and feet had been placed in a strategic way which she knew highlighted her best features. (She had also stuffed her bra with two apples although she would never confess that to anyone). She wore a flattering emerald green kimono dress that fit her in all the right places a jade butterfly clip held half of her hair up elegantly.

"I wasn't expecting any company tonight." A man whom Tsai assumed to be Admiral Zhao walked in. He air of arrogance seemed to follow him. He was a middle-aged military man with dark gray hair and sharp sideburns that made his features appear more angular. A smug smirk twisted on his lips. "Ms. Haru of Hu Xin," his eyes scanned her body tracing every curve and inch of her visible skin.

"I had heard tales of the man, the myth, the legend-"

Tsai almost threw up in her mouth. She could not believe she had just said that. It was official she had been reading way too many cheesy plays. As disgusting as this was, she had a plan, and a part to play if she wanted to succeed. She rose to her feet slightly draping one of the sleeves down to display a bare shoulder. "Had to come see it myself. Meet the infamous Admiral Zhao." She spoke as she rounded him. His eyes followed her, enjoying every minute of having his ego stroked. "Congrats on the promotion," she spoke lowly in an attempt to sound both older and more mature. How old was he anyways?

"How old are you Haru?" He said with an edge of suspicion raising up an eyebrow. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to ask a lady for her age?" She let out a throaty chuckle as she flirted. "I'm almost twenty," she lied with skill tossing him back a look.

Tsai lied through her teeth the entire night. She had managed to convince a high ranking military officer, an admiral, that she was around town visiting her cousin and upon hearing the news that the now 'famed' admiral was in town, well she just had to visit. It was such an absurd lie and Zhao appeared to be such an ego maniac that he totally ate it up. The two were currently sitting on one of the sofa seats. Both were drinking some wine that the admiral had been reserving for a special occasion. With every minute that passed he inched closer and closer to her wanting more than just hand holding or gentle strokes. Tsai's ruse was beginning to collapse. She had to get out of here and fast. She chuckled nervously as the man stroked her waist and slowly inched his hand lower and lower. He was also leaning in closer-

"Ah-I'm-Um.. I need to use the restroom!" She declared jumping to her feet. The Admiral collapsed on the sofa and turned to look at her with an elbow propped holding his head up. "Don't be long," he purred.

Knowing him he probably found his intimidation to be 'endearing' or something twisted amongst those lines.

The girl tiptoed out in to the hallway and let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding once she was out of his sight. Great- now she had to find the Avatar. If she was Zhao were would he keep the Avatar? Probably close by, tall in this tower. She rushed up the stairs running as fast as she could. She really had no time to waste.

Xxx

The Blue Spirit had successfully infiltrated Zhao's compound base. He snuck in floor by floor until he reached the top of the tower. However, he was surprised when he did not encounter any soldiers. Only evidence of a conflict. Abandoned helmets rolled down the empty hallways. Marks of conflicts, stains of blood and slashes had scarred the walls of the military compound.

There was also water in the floor and a wooden bucket which had been smashed to bits and pieces.

'Just- what happened here?' Zuko thought to himself. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. Somebody had beat him to it. There was somebody else here.

xxx

Aang heard what sounded like punched being thrown followed by painful screams. He brazed himself and kept his eyes focused on the steel door that was across from him. It was then that the door opened and a beautiful woman walked in. She exhaled sharply quickly running her hands through her wavy red colored hair combing it back into place. His jaw dropped as she ran towards him. Her emerald dressing robes fluttering behind as she did.

"There's no time," she stood before him and upon closeness Aang realized she was only a teenager. One in a very poor disguise. "Who are y-" He began to ask. "No time," she hissed glaring and pulled an apple from the inside of her robe slamming it against his open mouth silencing him. She appeared to be picking at the locks with the back of her hair pin. It was then that the door behind the two was once again shut.

xxx

Both Aang and Tsai couldn't believe what they were seeing an individual wearing black with a Blue Spirit theater mask entered the room. Aang bit the apple hard the fruit collapsing on the floor as he swallowed almost choking on the piece of apple.

Xxx

Zuko blinked twice, shook to his core. He was thankful for the mask for it hid his expression of shock and disbelief. Was he hallucinating?

'How had- there was no way- but- it had to be.'

Pulling out his twin blades be began an elaborate display of mastery over the blades. The Avatar let out a loud scream. The lady wearing the emerald dress kimono stood before him pushing him behind, shielding him with her body.

"Shh!!" She hissed as the Avatar screeched for his life. The masked individual came closer and evenly sliced the Avatar's hand restrains. Aang felt his arms drop as the blood rush back to them. The Avatar and his lovely savior looked at the masked individual in shock.

Xxx

Zuko stood mere inches away from her. Now he was more certain than ever. It was most definitely her. It was Tsai and she appeared to be wearing some type of disguise. Regardless, she looked-

He shook his head. He snapped back to reality realizing that both his uncle's royal guest and the Avatar were starring at him with their eyes the size of golf balls. He lowered his weapons also freeing the Avatar's feet. Tsai and Aang exchanged a look as Zuko walked towards the door. "What's going on?"

The red-headed beauty slowly walked over to the Blue Spirit. Her light brown eyes were focused on him. Friend or foe? She measured her opponent. There was something familiar about his stance, about his posture, something that she couldn't put her finger on.

It was impossible. Zuko remained in shock. Not a single hair out of place, her clothes remained impeccable with no signs of struggle. He looked at her hands both resting at her sides without a weapon.

Also- how on Earth had she even gotten of the ship?

"I think he's here to save you," she spoke after making a decision. Sticking a hand into her dress she pulled out an apple from her chest, her expression serious. "Listen here," She reached for the spirit's dark shirt and fisted it pulling the mask close to her face. She paused for a moment attempting to catch a glimpse of any notable feature underneath the mask. "I have important things to do, places to be-" she hissed out. Her grip becoming tighter.

Zuko had never seen her like this, had never seen her eyes hold such darkness in them.

"I'm entrusting you with the Avatar Blue Spirit and I've got news for you. If anything happens to him. If there is a scratch on his bald head, a broken limb, if any harm comes to him-" Her hand trembled slightly before the apple she had been holding in her hand was crushed into a juice mash just with her grip strength. The message was loud and clear. "Got that?" She finished menacingly before letting go pushing the masked individual slightly.

"Wait!" Aang called out. "Who are you?!"

It was too late. She was gone.

xxxxx

FIRST https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/621142853126602752/sunburn-prince-zuko-1

NEXT https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/621233046237184000/sunburn-prince-zuko-6

PREV https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/621143805670948864/sunburn-prince-zuko-4

CHAPTER MASTERLIST

[mst3kproject]

The Navy vs the Night Monsters

Of course, it’s not like bad things stop happening now that 2020 is finally over… we just get to start counting again from zero. Kind of like how I’ve started counting thirty-six Episodes that Never Were per year, beginning with this one. It was co-directed by Wyott Ordung from Robot Monster and features familiar faces like Russ Bender and Mamie Van Doren, the latter for once not playing a teenage delinquent.  It also has one really obscure MST3K connection: it was based on a story by Murray Leinster, which the sharp-eyed will remember as the name of the ship attacked by Evil Count Zarth Arn’s lava lamp weapon at the beginning of Starcrash!

A plane carrying specimens of Antarctic flora and fauna makes a rather rough and unexpected landing at a naval base on remote Gow Island in the south Pacific.  There appears to be nobody on board except the pilot and a few penguins – the former is in a catatonic state, and the latter are... well, penguins... so what happened to the rest of the passengers and crew is a complete mystery.  Did the pilot go mad and kill them?  Did the penguins?  Or did it have something to do with those mysterious ancient trees discovered growing around a geothermal spring in the heart of the frozen continent?

The first ten minutes of this movie are spent trying to be a comedy.  Before we get anywhere near the plot, we first have to listen to the guys on the plane try to be funny about their lunch and their tastes in women.  Then on the island, we watch a guy who can’t seem to figure out how to inflate a balloon, followed by a dude talking to his dog, and then a really icky bit where two women convince a man he had sex with both of them, which he buys because he was too drunk to remember.  Only then do we finally establish what’s actually going on.  The impression one gets from this beginning is that The Navy vs the Night Monsters is going to be peopled entirely by Jackass Comic Relief characters, and I actually turned the film off and sat on it for a couple of days to psych myself up to watch the rest.

When I finally turned it back on, to my relief the movie turned out not to be quite that bad, but it’s still pretty damned bad.  The dull and unfunny opening is followed by an abrupt shift of tone, as a man maddened by terror jumps from the plane to his death!  The only thing set up by the opening that turns out to be relevant is Spaulding the meteorologist’s crush on Nora the nurse, when she’s in love with the base’s second in command, Lieutenant Brown.

I complain frequently about useless love triangles in movies.  This one is very useless, and all the more so because the script totally forgets to resolve it.  Spaulding hates Gow Island but stays because he’s in love with Nora – he wants her to go back to Miami with him and marry him.  When he puts this idea to her, however, it becomes obvious that Nora can’t stand him, and it’s clear enough why: Spaulding is an asshole and he treats Nora not as a partner but as a possession.  Never does he show any sort of tenderness towards her.  Every time they speak to each other, he seems to end up shouting, and his jealousy of Brown repeatedly leads to violence.

Brown, on the other hand, treats Nora with respect and actually shows vulnerability around her.  He’s been left in charge while the base’s commander is on the mainland attending an important meeting, and he’s really feeling the pressure as the base is surrounded by tree monsters in the dark.  He talks about his anxiety and Nora comforts him, and the audience rolls their eyes because it’s perfectly obvious which of these guys she’s going to pick.  And sure enough, at the end she’s in Brown’s arms… but nothing about the whole situation is exactly resolved.

Brown and Spaulding did get in a fist fight, though it wasn’t explicitly over Nora, but nobody ever talks about the problem. Spaulding never realizes that he’s treated Nora badly, and it never seems to even occur to him that she might prefer Brown over him, or even that she has emotions or preferences at all.  He definitely never seems to understand that he’s lost.  Brown and Nora seem to feel a need to hide their love affair from the other base staff, but we’re never given a reason why (although I guess ‘Spaulding’s a dick’ is reason enough).  Nora never tells Spaulding that she prefers Brown… maybe she’s afraid he’ll assault her?  I hate everything about this situation, but nothing more than the fact that as the movie progresses we get hints that Nora may be warming up to Spaulding, as if she’s supposed to consider these two guys equal contenders for her affections!  Fuck everybody who wrote this, seriously.

It’s kind of sad to see Mamie Van Doren in a role like this after meeting her in things like Untamed Youth and Girls Town.  Those movies were gross and exploitative, but Mamie’s characters were central to their plots and she filled those shoes reasonably well.  She wasn’t Oscar material but for what the films were, she was enough to carry them.  The Navy vs the Night Monsters is a little closer to being a ‘real movie’, but in this respect it represents a step down for her, as she is relegated to being something for two men to fight over.  Furthermore, Silver from Girls Town and Penny from Untamed Youth were both characters who required some range – Nora the nurse mainly spends the whole movie being annoyed with the men in her life.  Van Doren could have done much more if anyone had bothered asking it of her.

Let’s see… what else do I hate about this movie? I hate Private Chandler, the guy who stays a Jackass Comic Relief character once that opening is over. Shockingly, The Navy vs the Night Monsters actually kills him off, but he’s not nearly as annoying as Dropo or the guy from Outlaw, so his death merely feels mean rather than having any entertainment value.  The guy was just about to actually get laid by one of the women who’d made fun of him earlier – though she, like Spaulding, showed no sign of being sorry for past jerkitude.

I hate the monsters.  Normally I have a soft spot for plant monsters.  They’re a cliché in their own way, I guess, but they’re a fun idea.  The ones in The Navy vs the Night Monsters kill and digest people with acidic sap, and a character theorizes about how and why such a thing would evolve, which is cool. The execution, however, sucks. While the poster for the film shows us a humanoid Treebeard-looking thing, the actual monsters in the film are dumb-looking stumps that waddle along like a couple of guys trying to move a piece of furniture corner-by-corner because it’s too heavy to lift.  The result reminds me of The Creeping Terror, in that you have to want to get eaten by these things.  At one point a guy walks right up to one, inspects it, and escapes its clutches merely by backing away slowly!

The trees reproduce using insect-like larvae that are, themselves, lethally venomous.  This is also a neat idea which is, once again, ruined by the execution. The tiny ones are being pulled along the floor by a sometimes-visible string, and then they grow into stumps that look like they should be stools around a boy scout campfire, which move even slower than the adult trees!  There’s a scene where the characters are holed up in the base under an onslaught of these, with planes arriving to napalm them just in time, and it is ludicrous in its attempt to feel threatening.

I do like that Gow Island is a bleak middle-of-nowhere rather than a tropical paradise.  The landscapes kind of remind me of the Falkland Islands, though the weather on Gow is evidently better.  You can see why some of the characters hate it here, surrounded by barren scrub inhabited mostly by ten thousand smelly, raucous seabirds. Unfortunately this backdrop makes the ‘comedy’ opening seem even more out of place, though it’s also kind of nice that they didn’t give us any stereotyped ‘natives’ as either comedy or monster fodder.

As for a theme… well, The Navy vs the Night Monsters is clearly about an invasive species.  The biologist, in suggesting how the tree monsters evolved, points out that they are suited to the hostile environment of Antarctica in ways that make them nearly unstoppable anywhere else.  We’re told that they devoured all the penguins the scientists were bringing back for study, and as well as eating the people, they wreak havoc among the Gow Island seabirds and reproduce out of control.  The parallels to things like cane toads in Australia, or housecats just about anywhere, are obvious.

This isn’t something the characters care about, though, even the ones who profess to be scientists.  At the end, enough of the trees are destroyed that the humans can safely evacuate, and what happens after that is clearly Gow Island’s problem, not humanity’s. I really would have liked to see the script go into this a little more, but then, The Navy vs the Night Monsters is not a movie that wants to go into anything, even stuff it sets up in some detail.

At the end, The Navy vs the Night Monsters feels pretty half-assed.  Somebody wanted to make a movie, and then put in the bare minimum effort possible to have all the parts present.  They clearly understood how movies work, but they didn’t have the money and didn’t want to go to the trouble.  The result is deeply mediocre.  There’s a few laughs out of the dumb stump creatures, but mostly it’s just bad.

[kassies-take]

Freak Turned Legend

Whilst on a mission, Sara and Ava save reader. They very quickly start to form a bond with reader and eventually ask to adopt them!!! thanks:))

A/n: I’m going to mix in a bit of Legends of Tomorrow 5 x 03 and Batwoman 1 x 10. Hey look at it this way, Avalance is getting another kid.

Warning: Homophobia & Hate

Avalance, Sara Lance x Reader, Avalance x Reader

Word Count: 1118

“We’re in 2014, a mysterious murderer roaming the halls of another school dance.”

“Babe, is now really the time to get intel for your murder board?” Sara harshly whispered.

“Right sorry,” Ava put away her recorder.

“I don’t think it’s an encore this time, nothing like this has ever happened in history.” 

“Crisis may have changed some things.” 

“Wait Wait Wait,” Ava pulled Sara against the lockers.

“What is it?”

“I think someone just went into the restroom,” Ava whispered.

“Aves, it’s a school dance people are bound to go to the restroom.” Sara rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, but not alone. No girl goes to the restroom alone, not even on prom night.” 

As Sara and Ava neared the restroom they overheard a conversation. 

“I don’t need you to kill anyone, just scare them... you can hurt them but you can’t kill them.” You said on the phone.

“Look I’m not willing to take the blame for you, if you want something done you have to do it yourself.” 

“Fine,” The call ended but you kept the phone at your ear as a presence made themselves known. 

Sara looked at Ava when the automatic paper towel dispenser went off.  When Sara looked back towards your direction you were gone. Sara marched towards the last stall as her eyes darted all over the place to find you. 

“Where did she go?” 

The room slowly flooded with darkness, with that, you slid behind Sara’s leg and slashed at her calves. Sara hissed in pain as Ava tried to get to Sara. You took your escape. Once you left the lights turned on, Ava supported Sara as they both went to go find you. 

They were not that far behind you when Sara threw a dagger past your biceps. Ava and Sara gasped at the white and yellow glowing that replaced the usual dark red liquid. With the power to absorb and create photons of light, heat and energy, a powerful ray of light blinded the Captain and Co-Captain. 

The two covered their eyes as you made another escape. It wasn’t hard to follow once their eyes adjusted, as your blood trailed towards the gym and the fact that it was glowing. 

The dance decorations began to burn which caused a whole gym of idiots to run out screaming. 

“Behrad! We need your totem in the gym. NOW!”

Behrad couriered in using his totem to put out the fire. You planned to make your escape when you ran into a metal man. He had a lot of confidence for someone who didn’t know your powers. He grabbed your wounded shoulder and pulled away his hand at the burn. You grabbed his forearm as your hands glowed, letting Nate fall to the ground from the heat. 

The Legends returned to the Waverider defeated. 

“Do all missions turn out this badly?” Zari asked from the control center.

“Pretty much, not a Legends mission if there’s no mishap, Z.” Charlie explained

“I’m having Gideon track the blood sample, from Sara’s dagger.” 

“Captain it seems our suspect is, (Y/n) (Y/l/n). Not much is known about her.”

“Isn’t she like super hot?” Zari asked as the Legends gave her questioning glances. Zari rolled her eyes. “Her powers or whatever. Can’t you use a thermal scanner?” 

“That could work,” Ray smiled. “Her blood glows at the same light as her powers do. We can have Gideon search the city for it.”

“What about all the other metas that got their powers earlier this year?” Nate asked. 

“Well we have her blood, can’t we just track that?” Charlie asked. 

The process worked and now Sara and Ava were walking into an abandoned workshop. You ran when the two spotted you, but like the great partners they were they trapped you on both sides with a meta dampener on the perimeter. 

“You burned a whole school full of innocent kids,” Ava crossed her arms behind you. 

“I wasn’t going to burn the school.”

“My air-bender friend says differently.” Sara stated. 

“I was there, controlling the fire with my bare hands. I was gonna stop it, absorb the heat. But you stopped it first. Whatever, it doesn’t even matter anymore.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Ava growled.

“I’m sorry okay.” Sara stalked closer to you. “Look I really am sorry. I just thought that if I could scare the school, that they would forget that I am a freak.”

“You’re not a freak.”

“I am to them, I’m uh... gay. And these powers don’t help me with that! I wanted to be out, I didn’t want to hide this from my mom anymore. We were close, and when I decided to tell her she told my dad and it all changed. THEY ERASED ME FROM RECORDS. PAID PEOPLE OFF TO CHANGED ALL THEIR PHOTOS. THEY BURNED MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE, SOCIAL SECURITY CARD AND THEY EVEN TRIED TO BURN ME! Then there was the school, this is a safe zone, no bullying here, you’re accepted here.” You mocked. 

“That sucks and that’s not fair, but that does not give you the right to put innocent lives in dan-” 

“Society wants me to be someone I’m not! Do you know how that feels? I hate myself okay. So spare your ‘it’s going to get better speech’ because we know that I am going to grow up hiding who I am, if it isn’t my sexuality then it’s going to be my powers. And you were probably the cool kid in school, and now you’re here being a hero,” tears clouded your eyes.

“We’re more in common than you think.” Ava spoke. “That woman behind you, that’s my girlfriend. We might not know what it’s like to be discriminated against  because of an accident that gave you powers to make a difference. But we know what it’s like. I more than anyone can relate to how you’re feeling. I am a clone from 2213, factory made. Set to be perfect. There are hundreds like me but the one thing that makes me, makes us different is choosing to live the life we want.” Ava grabbed both your hands as you sniffed. 

Sara moved to caress your back. “A friend of ours, is a fairy godmother. Yes, they exist. She once stated ‘Being yourself is more powerful than any wish.’”  

“Being comfortable with myself, scars and all, is how the right people found me.” Ava smiled at you. “I know you’re going to be okay kid.” 

You smiled back at her. 

“You’re definitely going to be okay kid, cause we have room for an intern Legends” Sara smiled. 

“Legend?” 

“Don’t worry kid we got all the time in the world to tell it to you.” 

[ihaspoorgrammer]

Legend of Korra: Alternate Season 2

In honor of LoK coming to Netflix, I’ve decided to vomit all my feelings towards that show the best way I can - creative writing - In a “What I think Should’ve Happened” essay for your reading pleasure. For those who don’t have the time, I’ll just come out and say it -- Legend of Korra was created with one season in mind, and that’s how it should've stayed.

All the concepts and ideas they introduced in the first season (and The Last Airbender) were more-or-less abandoned by the sequel so they could flounder and come to a deflating end.

So, I wrote this as a way to actually make use of them in a meaningful way that the creators so casually disregarded:

A few months after the battle with Amon, the Equalists have splintered into different cells throughout Republic City. Amon being revealed as a Waterbender weakened them, but that doesn’t take away from the larger points they championed about Bender/Non-Bender inequality. As a consequence, the United Forces soldiers are still a presence in the city, and Chief Biefong has made use of them as additional keepers of the peace, working with the Metalbending police to help rebuild and establish order, and has benefited greatly from the leadership of General Iroh and Commander Bumi.Korra is still airbending training with Tenzin as well as learning about the Avatar State, and she seems to have done a complete 180 in terms of her training; now dedicating herself to it full time to it. Tenzin is naturally happy about this development, but cautions her that the training will have to come naturally and it’s not something she can force, and is wary of how deeply her fight with Amon affected her.   The Fire Ferrets are preparing for their first match since last season against the Polar Leopards, Mako and Bolin steel their nerves while their new waterbender - Tahno - tells them to "relax" and "prepare to be amazed." After putting up a spirited fight, the Fire Ferrets and their opponents are tied. After ganging up on Tahno - who is at a disadvantage, being more accustomed to cheating - is saved by Mako. With seconds left, Tahno subtly bends the water on the opposing team’s side, and creates an ice-patch, causing an opponent to slip. Tahno takes advantage of this, and wins the match with a “Korra Special.” Only Mako notices the cheat.  After the match, Mako approaches Tahno about the cheating, but lets it slide. At Bolin’s suggestion, the two brothers go out to celebrate and invite Tahno along, but he opts out for "training” (after this, we see that Tahno has a picture of Korra in his locker, hinting that he only joined the Ferrets to make it up to her for restoring his bending).Asami has taken full control of Future Industries and personally oversees the production of new satomobiles and has saved Future Industries from bankruptcy with new airplanes designs. However, the company can't shake the black-eye her father gave it and her name, so business contacts have become scarce and shareholders have started pulling out. Worse, the board of directors have begun flexing their muscles to try and squeeze her out. She needs to come up with something good and fast.Mako, Bolin, and Tahno are in the middle of free-for-all sparring, when Tahno accidentally makes ice and headshots Bolin (which makes his vision comically go double). Mako scolds Tahno about it, causing Tahno to storm off.   Later that night on Air Temple Island, Mako brings Korra a meat dinner (Tenzin has put her on a vegetarian diet), but she declines. They begin to discuss Tahno’s participation in the team, which Mako believes was a bad idea, but Korra reminds him that Tahno has cut back on cheating, worked hard, and overall been a good addition (or stand-in for Korra). They share a nice couple-moment and laugh. We see Asami in the distance looking at them longingly, showing that she is still hurt over Mako leaving her for Korra. She starts to walk back to her room when she hears a strange noise in the distance. The source is Commander Bumi throwing his boomerang back and forth. After talking for a bit (and Bumi revealing that the boomerang once belonged to his uncle, Sokka), Bumi allows Asami to give it a throw. After a successful first try, she accidentally throws it through Tenzin's window. Bumi tells her "I didn't see anything if you didn't see anything." As he hops in the bushes to hide and Asami runs away. Laughing.  Meanwhile, a group of once-small time Triad gangs (they were "little people" before Amon "de-bended" the major families), are attacked by members of the Triple Threat. After a small battle, the Triple Threats win, and take with them a powerful bloodbender (or they start interrogating someone), leaving behind a message: “Lightning strikes twice.” ------

After that, Season 2 is in full swing. The Triads are the major Big Bad of this season because the purpose of the show was to be the opposite of Airbender, narratively speaking. So, that means keeping Korra and the cast firmly in Republic City and no more globe trotting.

This puts a bigger emphasis on the characters and their interpersonal relationships (which was the big draw of the show to begin with), rather than having to build up and explain the geo-politics of a new setting.

If they did stay for at least one more season, it probably would have emphasized a larger untapped well; the city was designed to be a 1920’s New York-style “melting-pot”, a place where all cultures come together and mix (Mako and Bolin are a product of a Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom union, and Tahno seems to be the a product of a Fire Nation and Water Tribe union). So, essentially, it’s the architectural equivalent of the Avatar. Just as the Avatar is the synergy of the four nations, Republic City does the exact same thing, just on a larger scale. One more season would better emphasize this fact, and show that despite what people think, it is possible for the four nations to co-exist as long as it’s based on mutual respect and sharing of differences, not domination of differences. This imaginary second season could also be used to address multiculturalism in any number of ways. 

Maybe the new Big Bad could’ve been a terrorist group dedicated to keeping the nations separate and "pure," and see the City as an affront to the Avatar’s “true responsibility.” And maybe Korra can see that, despite its flaws, the city and what it represents is worth saving. It also would have emphasised the “super-hero” aspect of the show; Korra being a Superman-figure who constantly has to protect her Metropolis from ever-constant calamities.  Another aspect that could’ve been added, was that the people of Republic City could’ve helped the Krew. You see, the citizens of Rep. City are constantly infantilized to the point of helplessness until Korra and co. show up to help. The opposite approach would have emphasised the multicultural aspect of the city, and how when push comes to shove, they are all one big family.Maybe even having a scene like from the original Spider-Man movie where the citizens actually help the Krew out, saying “you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

From my perspective, there’s no better way to kick this off than introducing this monkey-wrench into the Krew’s system -- the return of Lightning Bolt Zolt, Mako and Bolin’s adoptive father.

See, in the backstory that the show never did anything with, after their parents died, Mako and Bolin became part of the Triads. Though Mako stresses to Korra that he only "ran numbers" for them during his time there. . . So either Mako is a mathematical prodigy, or he's lying. Because I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say he probably received no formal education on the streets that would enable him to work for the Triads in that capacity. So that begs the question: why would he lie? What did he do during his time working for the Triads, that would make him leave and never speak of it again? It’s because he was specially trained by Zolt personally. Learning Lightningbending in the process.

Now, Zolt will use this connection to manipulate Mako for his own purposes, which involves getting his bending back, which will of course drive a wedge between him and Korra.

Zolt may be a bastard, but he was arguably more of a father to him than Mako’s actual father, and that kind of emotional connection is hard to ignore. In fact, it’s such a shock to his system that his Lightningbending stops working.

Which brings him in contact with General Iroh.

When we first meet Mako, he’s determined, blunt, stubborn, and reserved. Understandably so, seeing as how his parents were murdered in front of him Batman-style and was forced to basically raise his little brother on his own, on the streets. As a consequence, one of his most defining characteristics is his inability to relax. He’s constantly trying to fix everything, constantly trying to help everybody, and constantly trying to remain in control. So, Avatar-style development demands that he gradually realize that he can’t control everything and learn to relax, allowing Bolin to become his own person, and learning to go with the flow. Which is something they actually didn’t do in the fourth season. He was largely extraneous to the story and they actually took every opportunity they had to show how useless he was.

Meanwhile, Bolin starts being approached by Lin Biefong, who believes the young man has the potential to be part of the Metalbending police force, despite his claims that he can’t Metalbend. However, Lin eventually realizes why he never could; he’s never had to apply himself. You need to have an unrelenting drive to force the minerals within to move, and that’s not something Bolin has ever needed. In Season 4 of the actual show, I almost applauded it for having Bolin sign up for the army because I thought that’s exactly what he needed -- a place to apply himself. Mako being such a mother-hen accidentally stunted Bolin’s emotional growth, never allowing him to mature and become independent. Which could lead into a very Sokka-like confession:

B: “Do you want to know something really terrible; I don’t miss them. Mako was the one that really knew them. I remember bits of things, but … They’re just … People I didn’t get to know. Mako’s the one that’s always been there for me.”

So here, Lin takes it upon herself to be his teacher and actually show his true potential. They grow closer as a result, and she and Bolin start developing a mother-son relationship. When we first meet Bolin, he’s immature, a show-off, something of a womanizer, a shameless flirt, and a goof-off. The unifying detail with the Bending Brothers is that Mako was sort of holding them both back; Mako’s over-protectiveness never allowed him to choose what was best for himself, and stunted Bolin’s emotional growth into becoming a more independent adult. What they could’ve done - if they wanted to save time - was to have their character arcs work off of each other -- while Mako becomes more relaxed and free-spirited, Bolin becomes more responsible and goal-oriented.

The only other place that the phrase “wasted potential” belongs besides in association with Tahno we’ll get to in a minute, but for now let’s focus on him. The creators once said that they “care about all the characters … except Tahno,” which should show the lack of imagination that was rather systemic in the thinking process there (and what liars they are).

From the start, Tahno is clearly deeply affected by Amon stripping him of his bending, even if Korra gave it back to him. And while he still resorts to cheating now and then, it’s not entirely because he’s a natural cheater … it’s because his bending hasn’t completely come back, and neither has Korra’s for that matter.

They’re both so traumatized by Amon’s Bloodbending that they’re experiencing “hiccups” in their powers.

Korra has tried to deal with it by doubling-down on her Airbender training to “find inner peace,” while Tahno is just trying to ignore it.

Eventually, their arcs cross paths, and they bond of their attempts at healing, having to come to terms with the fact that the “body heals only after the mind heals.” Which further draws a wedge between her and Mako.

Now, there is still a love-triangle here, but it’s in service to why Mako and Korra were brought together in the first place: they aren't supposed to be like Katara and Aang, where it was love-at-first-sight. They’re supposed to be the more realistic couple that have problems and have to make compromises because they love each other.

Love isn’t something that just happens, you have to work hard at it and make the other person happy without looking for the advantage. Relationships - both platonic and romantic - need to be built on mutual trust and understanding, and with understanding means taking a person for both their good and bad qualities.

Infatuation is the kind of love that is more shallow and doesn’t last.

Under direct orders from Fire Lord Zuko himself, General Iroh has started staying at Air Temple Island to watch over the Avatar, which leads him to becoming an unofficial therapist to the people staying there, namely Korra, Tahno, and Mako.Iroh is unique among the cast because he’s inherited Uncle Iroh’s position of someone who already has everything figured out themselves.

He grew up with loving parents and loving grandparents, and we learn that he had the honor of being one of the first firebenders taught by the Sun Warriors, who Zuko spent most of his life helping reconstruct (where he gained the nickname, “The Young Dragon”).

This new living situation makes him a part of the Krew later on, and brings him closer contact with Asami, who he develops a rapport with. And finally, we come to Asami, who is still dealing with losing her father and potentially losing everything else.

You don’t have the founder of a company be linked to a terrorist organisation and expect that company to survive, no matter what financial magic you can conjure. Which is something Asami is learning all too well.But in this madness, she meets two people -- Commander Bumi and General Iroh (who’s under an official Fire Lord order to watch over the Avatar).

She soon becomes Bumi’s ward, eventually, Bumi will act as a surrogate father for Asami, and she will help him organize, and win, a blimp race. From then on, she starts exclusively referring to him with the honorific, "commander."

They become so close that he starts teaching her everything Sokka taught him. You see, because Aang spent more time with Tenzin and Katara more time with Kya, that meant that Bumi ended up bonding with his non-bending uncle, (who later in life became master Piandao’s best student).

That’s why Bumi carries around Sokka's boomerang; Sokka was probably more of a father to him than Aang was.

So Sokka, never having children of his own after Suki tragically died, taught Bumi everything he knew, including how to recreate Space Earth Metal.And, after they grow closer, he decides to trust Asami with this sacred technique. … 

Which she immediately tries to patent and market in order to save Future Industries. However, when she learns how deeply she hurt Bumi by doing this, she finally cuts her losses and sells the company. After that, she decides to pursue a different career, perhaps by joining the United Forces. 

And, while all of this is happening, Tenzin is informed by the White Lotus that global bending birth rates are going down with the modernization and mechanization of the world. Signifying that people's disconnection with nature and spirituality is robbing them of their bending.

Just like what happened to the Fire Nation.

And if this rate continues, in a few generations, bending might completely disappear.

------

Avatar: The Last Airbender was aimed primarily at children and early teens, because those are big transitional times in young people's lives. But late-teens and early 20's are also big transitional phases in young people's lives. Perhaps even more so, because those are the times where you have to learn how to be an adult. A very alien concept.

So, Legend of Korra seemed primed to tackle the challenges of this time, but for one reason or another, they never did.

Despite having a golden opportunity to say some meaningful things about interracial families and multiculturalism, they instead, did nothing.

This is a quote from a Tumblr post who I sadly can’t track down, but it speaks volumes to what AtLA represented to people:

“You need ALL these things to survive and grow, to hold up your community and push yourself forward. You need to unlearn myths and lies, reform them to fit new realities. You need to respect the past but mold it for the future. In short, you have to “draw wisdom from many different places” while keeping true to who you are and where you come from. IDK if the creators of AtLA thought about these things when crafting this story; I think when a story is well told, with authenticity and love, it has the potential to illuminate many perspectives and strike empathy in many different people. Diasporic consciousness is incredibly valuable because it teaches us a different way of being, a way of interconnectedness and mutual love. The Gaang symbolizes this perfectly: it took all of them with all their different skills, to end the War and restore peace and balance. A diasporic consciousness has the same power: to model a newer, more just, more empathetic way of life.”

Tying into this, I think all the Avatars were wrong in their assertion that the four nations needed to be separated. Think about it. Every single nation failed, in their own way, because they were isolated: the Fire Nation became too proud of its own accomplishments, and became a fascist regime. The Air Nomads' loose and "free" nature allowed the Fire Nation to easily wipe them out. The "go with the flow" attitude of the Southern Water Tribe - similar to the Air Nomads - made them easy targets for the Fire Nation; while the Northern Water Tribe "froze over," becoming rigid in their doctrine and tradition, and could never stand against the Fire Nation alone; and the Earth Kingdom fell too far into its "virtue" of endurance, and became a military dictatorship with a puppet king, cutting off any ties to the outside world. 

“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations, will help you become whole.”

While the "separate, but equal" stance towards the Four Nations may have been a good idea in the past, in recent years, it's proven to be a recipe for disaster. Most, if not all, of these failings could've been avoided if there had been more open dialogue between the Nations. There is a saving grace in the form of the Order of the White Lotus, but seeing how they all kindly fucked off until the shit really started to hit the fan, I can hardly see how they were a solution to the problem. Now, I really don’t know what else to say. I wrote this entire thing as an exercise to show how Legend of Korra failed in its duties to be an equal to its predecessor, because I was a fan.

Not just of AtLA, but of Lok as well. I watched it, I invested in it, and I was disappointed by it.

Others may have had all their hopes answered by the ending, but I was left with a pit in my stomach over how far the mighty had fallen.

And I don’t look forward to the show being adapted into live action because I don’t think I can take seeing all the lapses in creativity and common sense all over again.

[bokunowritingacademia]

Original Character Corner: Lilith, Samael + Dad

@humanransome-note: Okay so I actually made a little OC family, and I’m not all that active in BNHA at the moment but I still love them. Five whole pages

-

First there’s the dad. Dishonorably discharged and court martialed, former US Army officer. He’s 36, and was SUPER OP when he was younger. His quirk was basically alchemy from FMA mixed with the fluidity of bending from ATLA. Contact with whatever he was moving was how it worked, but he figured out how to transfer his quirk through /atoms in the air/ so he was just hoping around bending the physical world to his will. (Like I said, super op.)

He can’t do much of that anymore though, because after the army used him, and a few others, to test out a long term low dose quirk enhancement drug, that he was told were vitamins, he accidentally OD on them. 

He wasn’t taking them everyday, and he thought “whatever their vitamins” he never thought it was weird that they’d get their pills counted out every month. But, ya know, hindsight. 

So when he realized inspection was coming around and he had too many pills, he just popped them all, expecting an upset stomach at worst. 

He nearly leveled the equivalent of about 10 city blocks, he was giggly, a bit high on power, and suffering from delirium caused by heat sickness. One side effect of overusing his quirk was his body overheating because (something something, physics, something something transfer of energy produces heat)

It took getting smacked by a live power line to put him down. He’s got a chunk of flesh missing from his left shoulder, and some gnarly Lindinburg figures projecting out from it. His left hand is considerably weaker and he’s blind in his left eye. 

He came to, in a public hospital. Some paperwork issue or something prevented him from being transferred back to base. 

(He doesn’t know this, but one of docs’ quirks was being able to tell the chemical composition of anything he tasted, a bit of a biohazard, but useful in a pinch. He threw up after getting just a small lick of blood, so they ran some tests, and found an unidentified chemical cocktail. They intentionally stalled to get the results and to see if he knew what he was taking)

After finding out that he was being used as a guinea pig for something that messed with his quirk (he tries not to see a person’s quirk as a judgement of their value, but a huge portion of his self esteem rested on his own quirk) he threw a fit, demanded to see his CO and promptly punched said commanding officer as hard as he could in the nads.

On paper, he was court martialed for assaulting a commanding officer, but in truth it was an excuse to discredit him so anything he said would be met with skepticism. 

That didn’t entirely work though, the amount of damage done to himself and the areas around him after having a squeaky clean record made a bunch of people think something was up. 

They were right. 

So that left him with two options:

keep fighting tooth and nail to blow the whistle on this thing, ruin his life, publicly and financially, and probably not have anything happen. Because something this dangerous and unethical had to be approved from pretty high up the food chain. 

Sign an indefinite NDA, get secretly subsidized by the US government and live out the rest of his life wherever he can find himself in relative peace. -also work as an on call black coat operative, his quirk may be jacked but he can still get some damage in from close range, and he’s pretty handy with a handgun-

He spends the first few months or so, just losing himself in drugs and alcohol. They had left him alone with his morphine drip, he got addicted and switched to opioids but quit when he found out he was pregnant. (Did I mention? My mans is trans!)

He didn’t want kids, but he couldn’t get a procedure in his current state, (both the actual state and coming down from a probably days long bender) and by the time he’d cleaned up he was ready to pop. 

So he had the kids. Yep, twins. A girl and a blob. Literally, the one he’d start calling his son when the little goo ball got a concept of gender was born with his quirk. Shapeshifting, down to the cellular level (with enough practice) unfortunately little dude had to know what he wanted to change it and having no experience besides swimming in embryonic fluid, and wiggle to irritate sister he was just kinda there. 

That was fun, 13 hours of labor, followed by the panic of a room full of doctors freaking out because they realized that thing was not the afterbirth but in fact another child. 

The doctors freaking out made him realize he’d do anything for those kids, so that’s when he decided to keep them.

The first few months were a lot. He spent more time in the hospital than at home, they had to put the kid in what was basically a sensory deprivation tank that was set up to be a pseudo womb. 

He couldn’t name them yet. The little girl got a name, Lilith, but he was scared that if he’d name them, something would happen, and they’d be filling out a death certificate immediately after the birth. He knew it wasn’t rational, but it made him feel better. 

Speaking of Lilith, either she was born with her quirk as well, or it came in a few months after being born. 

He was curled up with her, against the tank, when suddenly alarms started going off. 

He looked inside and saw her, and for a fleeting, terrifying, exhausting moment he thought he had a teleporting infant on his hands. But she was still in his arms. 

Puppeteer is what he called her quirk after things settled and some more testing could be done. Controlling people via contact through skin, (or conductive material, apparently)

And since all she knew how to do was be herself, she’d inadvertently made her brother a clone. 

It took a lot of talking with specialists and pediatric Quirk scientists to approve, under intense supervision, that Lilith use her quirk on her brother and hopefully teach him to inadvertently stay human shaped and functional.  

Almost their first birthday to the day was the first time that he stayed human shaped, on his own, for a whole day!

Baby blob’s first birthday present was a name, Samael (Sam or Sammy for short), and going home for the first time.

(are these OC’s named after biblical figures, both of which said fuck this, gave god the finger, and did their own shit? Yes, I’ve got a personal philosophy about names and that showed up here)

The first roughly three years, he’d been on call for some super shady shit before he realized that a lot of the places he was called to were pretty far from East Asia.

So with minimal planning, a favor, and a phone call to a friend they made working black coat, they had passports, plane tickets, and a decent apartment in the Mufastsu prefecture of Japan.

Elementary school was okay, Lilith (no you don’t get to call her Lily, you don’t have the friend privileges) and Sam (just Sam, maybe Sammy if he likes you) had the novelty of being from America to outweigh any bullying that may have been thrown at them because of their Quirks.

That would come later.

Middle school was bad, kids saw the two of them as scapegoats because of their “villainous Quirks” 

“It wasn’t me! Sam did it while looking like me!”

“Lilith made me do it!”

Samael turned inward and started getting into tech, robotics, and support equipment, theoretically, you need permits for that.

Lilith got violent, only in instances of defense, but still violent. The two of them went to a different middle school for every year of it. Their second to last year they actually went to the same school as Midoriya and Bakugo.

Sam had a bit of a crush on Midoriya, and Lilith was ready to throw down with Bakugo the second she got the opportunity, this isn’t some tsundere thing, she just wants to see him eat dirt. 

Their last year of middle school was pretty okay, considering the first two, and Lilith redirected her anger into helping Sam with his tech. Herself finding an interest in it as well.

They both applied for UA’s support course, (“You just wanna go cause Midoriya wanted to.” “I do not-”)

Lilith got in by the skin of her teeth, her record of fighting put her on a six month probation and prevented her from participating in the sports festival that year. She was devastated when she learned she lost an opportunity to make Bakugo do the chicken dance.