#fields of fire

[retrocgads]

UK 1998

[iloveyoudie]

[rastronomicals]

11:58 PM EDT April 1, 2024:

Lydia Lunch - "Fields Of Fire" From the album Honeymoon in Red (1987)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Non-Stop Sleazo-Erotic Dark Noise/Hot

--

[muffinlance]

Consider: Post-canon Zuko wakes up in the body of his childhood self, the morning of That War Meeting. Would he still speak against the plans, knowing his fate? What do you think he would do differently the second time around?

"Turned away at the doors, Zuzu?"

"Shut up, Azula," her brother sulked. But sulked weirdly, after staring at her too long and too wide-eyed, not like she'd surprised him but--

But like he hadn't expected her to be there. At all.

He turned away. ...He turned back. "Hey, Lala? Do you think you could help me practice that one set?"

He didn't meet her eyes.

She narrowed hers. "Which set?"

"The one I'm bad at."

She scoffed. Pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning against. "That's all of them, Dum-Dum."

He didn't shout or stomp or yell about the nickname. His lips twitched.

"It's okay," he said. "If you're afraid you won't be a better teacher that my instructor..."

It was the most obvious manipulation ever.

Perhaps if he proved an adequate firebending student, she'd work on his courtly survival skills next. Honestly, it was good that not even Uncle Gets-Cousins-Killed had been fool enough to take Zuko into that war meeting. She could only imagine how terribly that could have gone.

"Keep up," she said, and turned her steps towards the training grounds.

He did. There, and during the katas she ran him through.

Azula kept her eyes narrowed.

"Hey," he asked, "do you know how to bend lightning yet?"

As if he could have missed it, if she'd been able to get more than sparks. "I will soon," she said.

"You will," he agreed, and flowed through his next set. The one she'd only just mastered.

Father didn't notice how weird Zuzu was being. Uncle never noticed anything. Zuko ate dinner and asked a servant for seconds and didn't stutter or flinch or lose his appetite when father asked, coolly, what he'd done with his day. Azula's shoulders tensed, because one mention of how she'd squandered her own training time teaching him--

"Azula hogged the training grounds. For hours," Zuzu scowled, exactly like a petulant thirteen year old.

Exactly like he hadn't been acting all day.

By the time Father was looking her way, Azula had her usual smirk in place. "I'm sure there would be room for both of us," she said, "you're not afraid of a little friendly fire, are you, brother?"

Zuko sulked. And ate his seconds, like he was enjoying each bite. There was something in his eyes, like a joke no one else was getting.

---

Father died that night. A heart attack. There were the faintest of burns to either side of the treacherous organ; the royal physician hypothesized that he'd grabbed at his chest, fingers burning hot in his final moments; so hot they'd only exacerbated the problem.

The royal physician would never have been brought any victims of lighting strikes. Those that occurred in the capital did not generally require a doctor in the aftermath.

Zuzu ate a hearty breakfast.

He didn't order seconds. Azula gave him points, at least, for not being tacky.

---

The sages named Iroh as regent.

They named Zuko as Fire Lord.

"No," the tiny Fire Lord in his perfectly miniaturized Fire Lord robes said, sitting at the head of his war council. "We're not doing that. And I'll be reviewing all recent battle plans, as well. What's this I hear about a division of new recruits being deployed to the front?"

He did not mention how he'd heard of the 41st Division. No one asked.

"Prince Iroh, surely--" one of the generals tried to appeal.

The young Fire Lord's regent was looking as startled as the rest of them, for a moment. Then he sipped his tea, and smiled.

"Your Fire Lord is correct, of course. A change in our leadership--a change the other nations may mistakenly view as weakness--will necessitate a change in our strategy."

"Now," said their lord, "what, exactly, is our overall objective in this war?"

War, the new Fire Lord decreed, was not an end unto itself.

---

The new Fire Lord continued to have time, to pretend to be trained by her. Azula watched him. Adjusted her footwork. Did not tolerate, and was not offered, any commentary on who was teaching who.

"What did you do with my brother?" she asked, as they flowed from one set to the next. As her hands, poised to throw fire, just so happened to be pointed his way.

He missed a step. It didn't look like an act.

"I'm, uh. Right here?"

She didn't bother to dignify that.

He didn't bother to look worried about her hands, one movement off from a true attack.

He looked around, then grabbed her sleeve, and tugged her further from any walls that may hide ears. The royal family's private training grounds were wonderfully large, and wonderfully open.

"It's me," he said. "It's still me. Just. More of me? Longer of me?"

She narrowed her eyes. A familiar expression, by this point. "Explain."

"...I found the Avatar," he said. "And this is definitely his fault, but--but I guess it started at a war meeting, when I was thirteen."

Azula listened. It was a very Dum-Dum story.

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

Friday's @LangleyRoofing #WeatherWindow #PictureOfTheDay: #FieldsOfFire - #Wildfires along the #OcoeeRiver. Picture taken by Dillon Hopper, submitted to @WDEFnews12 by dad John Hopper.

Got weatherpix to share? Email them to Pictures@WDEF.com

[cicimellie]

severance continues to get wilder. gretchen cheats on her husband with her husband; don't let her husband find out! ham-based throuple gets significantly more ominous. helena convinced mentioning local depressed alcoholic widower's dead wife by the wrong name is a surefire way to get him to need her carnally. somewhere markhelly is wasting company time getting freaky under a table. milchick beefs with child and paperclips.

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Nissera Chronicles

Author: Hannah West

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2016

Genres: fiction, fantasy, retelling, romance, adventure

Blurb: Orphaned kitchen maid Bristal lands in a gritty fairytale gone wrong when she discovers she is an elicromancer with a knack for shapeshifting. An ancient breed of immortal magic beings, elicromancers have been winnowed down to merely two - now three - after centuries of bloody conflict in the realm. Their gifts are fraught with responsibility, and 16-year-old Bristal is torn between two paths. Should she vow to seek the good of the world, to protect and serve mortals...or should she follow the strength of her power, even if it leads to unknown terrors? She draws on her ability to disguise herself as a man to infiltrate a prince's band of soldiers, and masquerades as a fairy godmother to shield a cursed princess, but time is running out. As an army of dark creatures grows closer, Bristal faces a supernatural war. To save the kingdoms, Bristal must find the courage to show her true form.

[nap0fastar]

march was found dead shortly after

[highly-flammable]

Peeta really was the most delusional person ever because he saw Katniss’ reaction to his possible death TWICE and still thought she was gonna turn out alright if he just died in front of her at the end of the Quarter Quell, like IDK what to tell you my guy you are blind

[unhinged-soapbox]

Me: *grinding for days on end in-game to find dozens of gems and ingots to get the fourth item I need to unlock the next section of mines*

Balor and Juniper: Wow. She sure is determined. It's inspiring and concerning.

Me, frantically breaking rocks: MY HUSBAND IS BEHIND THIS PLOT WALL I JUST KNOW IT!

[rastronomicals]

3:49 AM EST December 23, 2024:

Lydia Lunch - "Fields Of Fire" From the album Honeymoon in Red (1987)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Non-Stop Sleazo-Erotic Dark Noise/Hot

--

[flamingspud]

Hello School Bus Graveyard fandom

[deerspherestudios]

hmm, Mychael likes earth-toned clothes, and green and brown are cool, but does he have a favorite color?

With confidence I can say I haven't answered his favorite color yet; something in me says: yellow 💛🌻☀️!

[forsapphics]

Happy National Coming Out Day! ⚢🌈

[walloruss]

Zutara 💜

It’s after the war and they get hitched! [Fire Nation Style] 🔥🔥🔥

[radarchives]