#flamend

[sifutoph]

❝ everyone's growing up, huh. ❞ and it isn't as though toph isn't aware. she could see it. or, well — see as much as a blind person who could see through the earth could. she experiences it too. she's grown leaner, she thinks. packs muscles much easier, though there is a certain shape to her body now that she knows she didn't possess when she first started out her journey as the avatar's master. toph can't say she hates changes, except ...

well. it sucks that it happens.

and that's only on the physical aspect. she knows things are changing quickly on a... how would katara say it, social-economically as well. the world's going forward and that's fine, but it sits in her guts all ugly and small anyway: how much would she have to lose when she's only just gotten used to how things are ... ? having friends, being recognised for her skill, having her school, mending things with her parents... or maybe, it's like aang said, she's just being avoidant and nitpicky.

it isn't changes that scared her. it's changes concerning the statuses of her friends. when they'd all be married off, where would that leave her ? ❝ so had the council decided on your fire-bride, or what ? ❞

@flamend — starter call.

[fanfought]

ZUKO SAID :         ❛ you look like you've got something to say. ❜

" who , me ? i don't know what you're talking about . " keen eyes observe @flamend across the room from her perch on the plush settee , legs tucked up and her skirts gathered overtop . the fire lord is a busy man , expected to attend so many events every year that is makes suki's head spin sometimes ; and every time , zuko is the picture of elegance and authority in resplendent robes , hair done up and looking his part . but only she gets to see him beforehand , hair down and robes only half-tied , far more relaxed behind closed doors and more open with his thoughts as well .

" i'm just taking you in before i have to share you with all your adoring citizens . " she slides off the settee with a warrior's grace , approaching zuko with intent , bringing his robes in properly and tying the sash off neatly with a practiced flourish . she glances up at him through her lashes with a wisp of a smile , reaching up to brush silky raven hair out of his face . " want me to put your hair up for you ? "

[warriorled]

being the only nonbender of the group sucked. while his friends could usually train with each other, element against element, he mostly had to do it on his own, especially when it came to fighting with weapons. so naturally, it had been a while since he last had someone to train sword fighting with. then zuko joined their team, &&. suddenly he had someone to go against. [ even if that someone did kick his butt in the past already. ] space sword at the ready, he approached the other with a grin. ❝ hey, zuko! up for a little swordbending? ❞

@flamend // starter call.

[lghtyear]

⁽ ᴿᴼᴳᴱᴿ ⁾       . . .     ‘    requested by @flamend :       still accepting !    ⁽ ᴼᵁᵀ ⁾

" my lord . " it's said loud enough to establish formality , to say to everyone else that her conversation was one of a business - only situation , and that others need not listen . and it was done entirely for that fact , because suki and zuko's working relationship wasn't that of fire - lord and bodyguard , but of bodyguard constantly harassing fire - lord over every decision he made . volume is brought lower , tone now more of a personal twist as she speaks . " you did well in there . stood your ground . it was nice to see . "

[fanfabled]

“ not to be crass , but there’s a vein in your forehead that is bulging quite spectacularly right now and it’s giving me the feeling that you’re tired and frustrated . so maybe it’s time to put the paperwork down , hmm ? ”

@flamend liked !

[arcanetrivia]

Phatt Island (b&w) and King André's lair on Skull Island (b&w) by Corentin Flamend on Flickr

[avatarcensus]

New Update:

Added a handful of rp blogs as the ATLA/LOK rp community continues to grow:

@flamend - zuko @hookedswords - jet @thiefed - OC Yumi Tanaka @banishmark - zuko @chiblockd - ty lee @trueprcdigy - azula @meteorswrd - sokka @nagititiis - Haru @didymousrising - Desna and Eska @revearies - katara, korra, mako, suki, yue, zuko @sandamdin - sokka, zuko, amon, korra, nianzhen, ghazan, kuvira, the boulder, aiwei, mako, kai, maly, baatar jr, master piandao, OC tenaka @lghtyear - suki

Want to be added to or removed from the directory? lmk ^_^

[meteorswrd]

@flamend

atla au but nothing changes except sokka is taller and zuko is shorter

[sifutoph]

❝ must be nice — ❞ she'd hopped along when sokka had visited her school and offered her a quick trip to the fire nation which, you know, is nice of him. it's also—it still sucks maybe, a little, that the reason he's visiting the fire nation at all, delivering diplomatic messages aside, was because he'd wanted to see suki.

which toph is definitely not sulking over. nope. though she reclines as much as she could on the zaisu, and turns her head away even though she couldn't physically see the reunion happening by the entrance. ❝ — to be loved. ❞

earthended an awkward teen toph for @flamend ♡

[fanfought]

ZUKO SAID :         "you're lucky you're cute."

" i've been told it's one of my best qualities , " suki teases , popping the piece of sizzle-crisp that she had snatched off of @flamend's plate into her mouth . only years of living in the fire nation and eating their traditional foods could have prepared her for the tingle of spice that dances across her tongue ; she doesn't even want to think about the fact that this isn't even the spiciest it could possibly be . spirits , she may never get to the point where she can safely consume the dragon's breath , which were so aptly named for his uncle .

she curls her arms over zuko's shoulders and around his neck , gently embracing him from behind ; the smell of his soap and fragrance drifts to her nose when presses her cheek to his . suki recalls how startled she had been the first time he held her ; she had relaxed almost instantly into him , against her own will , defying her own instincts . he's always warm , as she would come to find out - even on days that are cold , zuko is the fire that warms her every day . the early days of their relationship had been torture , when she had to keep a respectful distance from him in public after he had cradled her to his chest that morning behind closed doors . she had never realized how cold she was until he let her go . she did not know how badly she needed him until she had him .

" we're engaged , so what's yours is also mine , right ? " she cups his jaw to tilt his head back slightly , fixing her fiancé with a cheeky grin and a hair's breadth of a kiss upon on the bridge of his nose . " that includes your snacks , you know . i think it's written in the rules of marriage , actually . "

[uizado]

@flamend​.  ‘  my  heart  feels  uneasy,    although  i  am  free.    is  it  supposed  to  ?  ’

he  should  have  been  ruthless.    that  was  what  howl  t̲o̲l̲d̲ ̲ ̲h̲i̲m̲s̲e̲l̲f̲  of  prince  zuko.    the  rumours  &.    words  of  mouth  :   all  spoke  of  a  pitiless,    stone-hearted  boy  who  had  fallen,    corrupted  by�� the  very  bonds  of  life  &.    duty  themselves,    to  chaos,    to  hardship,    to  travelling  the  world  on  his  search  for  the  avatar    (  the  latter,    too,    howl  had  only  heard  about  by  gossip  ).    but  he  wasn’t  now,    which  perplexed  howl  more  than  ever.    he  was  on  his  guard,    e̲v̲e̲n̲ ̲ ̲k̲n̲o̲w̲i̲n̲g̲ ̲ ̲t̲h̲a̲t̲.̲    there  could  be  no  telling  when  zuko  might  suddenly  flip  &.    take  him  back  to  the  fire  nation  for  daring  to  run  from  that  army.

❛  my  heart  felt  uneasy  when  i  first  left,    too.  ❜      he  looked  into  the  fire,    arms  crossed  uncertainly  over  his  abdomen.      ❛  that  just  means  you’re  finally  doing  what  you’re  meant  to  be  doing,    i  think.  ❜      that,    or  zuko  was  a  c̲o̲w̲a̲r̲d̲  too,    just  like  howl.    one  of  the  two.

* .゜ scenario  prompts  !                𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍  𝚏𝚘𝚛  𝚗𝚘𝚠.

[lihngchi]

“did you do something different with your hair?”

❝   ...very funny.   ❞

[nagititiis]

@flamend​ :  ❝ One thing you can always count on is that hearts change. ❞

How fitting it is, that the words that leave the prince's mouth sear silence into the air with their ardent desperation, falling with lingering heat upon the cold, faceless rock of his back. Hands halt in the middle of gathering wood, dry crumbs of soil sticking to the lines of rough palms, hovering for a moment, two, before plucking another small log off the ground, watching the insects scatter under scrutiny. 

❝ That’s an awfully fickle thing you’re telling me to count on. ❞

Oh, that resilient muscle the size of a fist, that hardened like the skin on his knuckles ! His was anything but fickle; scathed by each blow against his pride, calloused under the insatiable demonstrations of control by those who patrolled streets were his, but stubborn in its need to keep beating with hope, however small, to keep his humanity warm in his earth-loved fists. He learned quick to hold his impulsive tongue, less quick to learn how to tame his eyes that left everything in his soul open like ploughed dirt ( he was his father’s child after all. they couldn’t take that away from him )

The prince is no fool, oblivious to the tension he brings here. He’d hunted Aang down again and again; they’d told Haru of their encounters, of the tricky hand of trust he extended only to snatch it from right under them — it rang familiar in his ears, that insatiability, the coldness behind swelling fire, the vulnerability in being the target of their whims. Whatever it was that fuelled the flames between their fingers, that flickered in the steely yellow of their gaze, it surely wasn’t a beating heart.

❝ Let’s cut the niceties, pikon, Don’t talk to me about hearts. ❞ Finally, he turns and faces him, dark eyes meeting his, flickering over the red scar, but quickly fixing themselves.  ❝ Whatever epiphany you had is between you and the Avatar. ❞

They had enough firewood now. He kept his distance as he walked past.

❝ You have no reason to drag me into it. ❞

[fantrained-a]

“   give  me  what  you  got.   ”     @flamend​.

feet  planted  steady  and  supportive,     fans  soon  placed  before  her  in  defence.     but  there’s  a  challenge  in  her  eyes,    one  she  doesn’t  often  let  show  before  an  enemy.     though,    despite  the  company,     she  was  excited  for  the  challenge.     

tentative  yet  persistent  smirk  works  its  way  across  her  lips.     “   go  ahead.     give  me  something  to  work  with.   ”      said  as  fans  flip,    urging  him  on. 

[libidomechanica]

Octave bed back claimed like and black upon hind against the we her rust

Gone days of the ditty, My hearthese and this so dare escape into transportrain Dryads progress that the flowers apparity and the markening mind; But a sing husband legs when call— Though a lanting, the with is vain her best of a fingertain, My fascination spite flustern to see than sea band,      two clearn.

Whose of us out loves and bright rail have give all me, – that carefully known to my and what I leaven’t Riddled in the darkness, of her by also call be the was walks my wild throught had a silent out it when calling first the Earthere you came in shopped there descend hear the injust a was in I am a still corn awake unto the budding up the lips of place. A scene a-bove it bring of throught, I countain, over. I have as glade, as than you and faded front does back air,

the Sundaye, good rude Descene,            She heart where is now dear the people pinned with down the fathe vale             To let us woe termit’s all. Maskets. I shot, but where books all, I envy you wild dropped have been worldly ablaze, as always ambulance that have see And sided joy if I begin To leave dream

Where fed with a flower. One for the marrels And I wered, Then I reasts and elegan revolved and feel, so clarings me heart. ‘D the at had to expressing blue sky. Its to the could I, afternoon

into myster. Dange back heart. All heart i caraves this more the bend,           Of all have covenant. Perhaps’ that my taked bashful to expiate And holds it, had makes

Among away. Injurious back on have white selves rollen fair falls frailing eyes came heads, always to you’ll graves thought, Its a lange fetched would not the done, you pushed Upon my lodged to say: Last Love of us give me. Virgin-choirboy voice ten that help, cool wave, all have me.

Come time For pression, toward in the sea                                                                        You seen in the sunlight! The Land;— His dovetail my ablaze, and sitting eyes all loving—all revive; If I, in Siberia A god

Floats Of the summon upon to pipe, he ditty, My heart go that the garded To wonder, lock as thy prides before my fingering the first then I have an hint offer in you, a black round on many a flamend. Replical lossoms, anxious, as wident, And seaweed-heart.

[sifutoph]

[ reassure ] <3

@flamend chose: for the sender’s muse to place their hand over the receiver’s in a moment of stress and squeeze reassuringly.

there is a young man, an up-and-coming leader from the fire nation colony region, among the sea of politicians and socialites firelord hotman has kept around him. he's called kenji, and he sounds downright irritating half the time, condescending and all-knowing, but again, he's young. charismatic. when he speaks, he speaks politely enough that no one could actually dispute him, and toph doesn't need her feet bare to realise how easily he manipulates the older political voices around him to agree with his points or, in the cases that they don't, have these people somehow miraculously spooked off enough that they, themselves, would like to stay away.

he isn't a threat, per se, but toph just doesn't like him. and the very fact that he'd gotten under her skin since the first time they met didn't help.

they're at another one of these unofficial-but-official meets where she'd tagged along for the heck of it. she's starting to think that that may be her first mistake. now, see, it isn't like toph particularly wants to be involved in the affairs of running a kingdom. she's already got her school and her dad's business on her back that she needs to keep an eye out. that's enough. but, you know, firelord hotman had offered, and it's been a while anyway that she'd taken some time just lazying around near a friend, and she'd agreed. most of the time, though it can be boring, the dispute among the men would be interesting enough for her to sit through and entertain.

some days zuko would even ask her for her opinion or two, and she'd usually supplied on whether the minister was straight up lying, or whether he simply sounds like a dick but said dick may have a point or two.

she is by no means a diplomat, so for the most part toph purposely doesn't let herself be involved — she's not always without her tact, alright, and sometimes she knows enough when not to mess with things that'll blow back in her face — but there were times perhaps that she... could admit she may have butted-in unasked. in her defence, these usually happens outside of any official council meeting which she wasn't invited to anyhow, so she'd figured it's fair game. people said something stupid, she's gonna call them an idiot. whatever.

that evening, kenji found her alone.

she called him with not-so-nice names, and he'd replied back, voice smooth and sure, undaunted at every response she'd thrown at him. she thought it'd be another day where they'd just exchange terse back-and-forth and they'd both be done with it. firelord hotman can have his diplomatic evening tea politely discussing the latest happening and they'd both be off. toph heard there'd be a famous night market nearby and she'd been pretty excited to eat some of the region's famous platypus meat. he even told zuko so. but then, just before she could walk away, kenji said it :

you're here now, but you won't be here for long. ...oh, you think i wouldn't figure out ? that toph beifong's only invited because she's got no one else, no other companion to amuse her. but we both know the firelord, especially the firelord, can't be entertaining you forever. so yes, you're a nuisance now. but not for long at all. barely a pebble in my path, in fact, though ... not any less entertaining.

the evening tea begins, with all the local and appointed ministers and leaders and secretaries taking their spot, exchanging pleasantries. toph thinks she should be angry, she should be upset, but it's as though the words kenji had spoken had snatched the rage out of her and she's left there feeling... feeling anxious instead. unsteady. she wants to reach for sokka's meteorite gift, wants to play with it until she's calmed down enough, but it's as though her whole body's locked up.

half way through, kenji — the bastard — even turns to her. so, he asks in his melodic, pathetic attempt at a pacified tone. i assume the young lady beifong will soon return to her school, no? how unfortunate then. we were all so... ah, raptured by your presence, lady beifong, and toph near damn seethes, though she remains mute, hating herself for every second of it.

and then she feels it. a hand, slotting right into hers.

toph's chin raises up, the only indication she's made aware of the touch at all, and she squeezes back, recognising the warmth easily. sifu hotman, she thinks kindly, in a near childish relief. before she turns to him, voice uncharacteristically subdued: ❝ i'm tired, zuko. we'll leave soon, right ? ❞

the intimacy of hands.