#i am not used to write such grandiloquent stuff

[madou-dilou]

Viren and Soren : sacrifice for the realm

Both of them are bound to this notion more than any of the other characters.

Viren first refuses to die to save the king, because he knows his dark magic makes him too valuable. Sarai, the queen, died so he could perform it. Plus, dying for the king is the job of a soldier, not that of the High Mage.

But Soren, being a Crown guard, immediately agrees, so much that no one even thinks of asking him his opinion, not Viren, not Harrow, not even Claudia, not even the show. It's obvious.

Viren then agrees to die to save everyone including the king, and tells it to Soren, not Claudia, because he knows he will understand, not her.

When King Harrow dies despite their best efforts, Soren and Viren's paths eventually diverge. They have different definitions of "the right thing", of Harrow's legacy. To Viren, it's the realm. To Soren, it's the princes.

They think that they have no choice when Viren decides to have the boys murdered, and when Soren decides to kill Viren, stabbing him in the heart, to protect them.

Viren is so obsessed with sacrificing himself that he thinks it gives him the right to sacrifice everyone else, including Soren. Soren understands this, he understands Viren's position that one's own life is less valuable compared to the realm. Soren decided to be a Crownguard and is loyal to a fault.

The problem with Viren's attitude is that he gaslights Soren and completely devaluates Soren's sacrifice. And that is because he devaluates himself as well, thinking he's only worth as much as what he can do with dark magic.

That's why all though Viren is trying to protect and save Soren by casting on him the fire-proofing spell, Soren is afraid it's just yet another way of dehumanising him, and leaves Viren.

Before stabbing him through the heart, thinking he was about to kill the princes.

And then, in season 6, Viren is trying to make amends with Soren. He tells him he is so proud of his good heart. But it's too late. Soren rejects it, not believing him, because Viren used to gaslight him.

Then Viren is put in the position he thought he was in, in s1-3, where dark magic is the only thing keeping the innocent safe from the monstrous dragons.

Viren, now terrified of dehumanising people as he used to, is forced back into this way of thinking. And Soren, ever the Crown guard, immediately proposes himself as a sacrifice to fuel the spell he once ran away from. Viren has just praised his good heart, but Soren is taking it literally. Just like Viren had ordered him to, years ago, in that very same cell.

In season 5, Viren told Aaravos he would never sacrifice Soren, which made all of us laugh back then since he did it in season 3. But back then, it was for the realm. In season 5, Aaravos was asking Viren to kill his son so he could live. Which Viren can't possibly accept.

But now, Viren is horrified. Not even the safety of the realm is worth the death of his son.

"You do anything for your children. Not the other way around."

So he stabs himself in the heart.

I can't help but thinking the reason why Soren immediately offered himself was a symptom of a low-self esteem he got from Viren's abuse. And Viren realises it. That's why Viren uses himself instead.

Both have self-destructive tendancies : Soren is a crown guard, Viren is a dark mage. Soren is happy to be paralyzed because it means he can no longer do anything, least of all hurting the princes; he kills his dad; he lets himself be beaten up over and over by Elmer; he tells Viren to kill him as a sacrifice. Viren helps the queens of Duren, performs dark magic, destroying his own health, he wants to die to save Harrow, he commits treason against the realm, which sentenced him to death, he sells his soul to worse-than-death-Aaravos and lets him violating his boundaries over and over as he pleased in absolutely gross ways.

Soren's abusive upbringing probably had a hand in it. And we don't know what trauma Viren went through, but it most likely wasn't fun either.

Viren wrote this letter before he died so that Soren would understand that if Viren became a monster, it was not his fault. It is Viren and Viren alone who chose to become a monster by hitting Kppar then Lissa, causing her departure, then making Soren pay it all throughout his childhood. The letter was meant to release Soren from all guilt. Because when you get given the cold shoulder by your father all through your childhood, you’re confusingly thinking it must be your fault. And, as is well known, all children of a divorce think it’s their fault.

It’s a parallel to the letter that Harrow wrote to Callum just before he committed suicide. It also aimed to free him from the past and from the wrongs of the previous generation.

The problem is, reading this could just as well ("just as well", we see this as Kosmo is talking about the potential futures and the multiverse) make Soren feel worse.

Because this letter confirms that it was to save him that Viren destroyed the family, even if it was a choice that Viren made. Soren remembers that he was sick, his grandfather disappeared, his father saved him and his mother left, but he could never make the connection between all these events.

This letter means that the mere fact that Soren is alive was the first crack that eventually brought down the whole house.

Viren chose to burn the letter, because he hoped to spare his son such a burden. He chooses to die alone, misunderstood and reviled. No one will see the blood that he’s spilling on the floor.

Viren's corruption journey started with saving him as well, since it involved dehumanising Lissa by transforming her tears as a component. And now, at last, he closes it, stabs his own heart, saving Soren with the same spell he once ran away from.

All in service of the realm.

[narratingvoice]

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Ahhh, writer's block. The most relatable and universal of terrors. Is there anything more frightening than staring down at the white abyss of the empty page? Is there any pain more acute than being unable to wrest the words out of your head and into a story? No, surely not. (In fact, you'll never believe why I took several days to respond to this ask.) But I have been a writer for a long time, so by necessity I have devised a few methods of coping with the looming dread. Here are a couple of tips:

Write as if you're talking

One of the most common reasons for writer's block is that you want your writing to be perfect. Of course you do, why wouldn't you? But you keep going over the words in your mind over and over before you even write them down, and that's the problem. You need to think of it like you're having a conversation with a silent companion. When you chat with a friend, you don't look back at the sentence you just said and think "that was rubbish". You just let it be part of the conversation. And I for one am certainly known for my grandiloquence when speaking orally; in fact I'd say it's one of my best features. So just write down something, anything, that says the thing you want to say. Then once you've said it, you can rewrite it over and over again until it's perfect. Don't move on to the next section until you've polished it to a mirror sheen.

2. Have a punching bag

I don't mean a literal punching bag, although you certainly could use one if you so desire. I mean you need to have something harmless that you can unleash your built-up frustration on. One cannot craft a thrilling narrative when one's mind is clouded by self-doubt. My punching bag is a large plush tyrannosaurus I call Muriel. I like to take her to a nice dark out-of-bounds area where no one can see me, and hug her tightly to my chest while I let out an uninterrupted scream for as long as I possibly can. (This is usually several hours.) If I am feeling especially angry, I will punch her, bite her, and throw her at a wall until I calm down. And if that still doesn't work then I will drop Stanley into the void for a quick laugh.

3. Re-read your old stuff

If you ever have doubt about your ability to create believable dialogue and character, all you need to do is take a trip down memory lane. Simply read something you wrote in the past, and if you're anything like me, your heart will fill with a swell of pride and accomplishment. You can write! You've done it before and you'll do it again! I recommend making a binder, file folder, or shrine containing all your past works, so you can easily find them and remember them whenever you want. Oh, and if you published them in a place where you can get comments or reviews, save and print out all the good ones. That way you will know that it's not just your ego; other people enjoy your creative ability as well.

Do not save the bad ones. That will not lead to anything good. Trust me on this one.

If this is your first time writing anything, make up some imaginary good reviews that you think should exist once the work is finished, and look at them.

4. Use spite

It may seem counter-intuitive, but spite is actually a fantastic motivator for getting work done. What you need to do is find an author you really hate and read a bit of their work. In no time at all, you will be thinking to yourself, "I can definitely write something better than this dreck. If this can get published then so can I!" For me, all it takes is a couple of chapters of any Tom Clancy novel. Just be careful you don't read so much that it drives you into a murderous rage; if that happens, revert to tip #2 above.

And that's all I can think of for now! Good luck, and know that I believe in you! You have a story worth telling!

[sol-tinyrayofsun]

Zutara Week Day 6 - Affirm:  It Was Always You (Falling For Me)

This little story has been on my mind for quite some time now and I somehow made it work with the prompt. It’s really fluffy, ridiculous, and features a lot of Toph’s brilliance to mess with her friends yet always meaning well. I just had a good time writing it, it was honestly a fun ride.

I hope you enjoy it! As always, thank you for reading! Feedback and comments are always appreciated! <3 In case you prefer it, also on AO3! Title: It Was Always You (Falling For Me)

Rating: G

Summary: When Katara let Toph convince her of giving Zuko a love potion to make him fall in love with her, she knew the chances of the plan going sideways were extremely high. Still, the last thing she expected was for Zuko to act normal. Painfully normal. Operation “Sparky Falling For Sugar Queen” turns out to be a little too complicated. (Set after Ember Island Players but before Sozin’s Comet).

----- “Pst! Katara!”

The waterbender tilted her head. The kitchen appeared to be empty. Still, she could hear someone calling for her, loud and clear. She had been busy making sure they had everything ready for lunch around Zuko’s holiday house at Ember Island. 

“Katara!” There it was, that voice again. “Listen up, Sugar Queen!”

Wait for a second, that was Toph’s voice. Definitely. 

“Toph?” She asked, walking around the room. “Where on earth are you?”

“Inside the broomstick closet!” Toph chuckled. “Come here for a sec.”

Katara did as she said. Once she opened the door, she found Toph mischievously smirking, holding a little bottle in her hands. 

“So, what is it?” 

“This!” Toph replied, showing off the bottle with a grin on her face. “This is what I wanted to show you!”

“And you were hidden with all those broomsticks because…” 

“Dramatic effect, Sugar Queen, never underestimate it,” she said, stepping into the kitchen hall. “Now, aren’t you going to ask what this is for?”

“Sure, Toph,” Katara let out an amused sigh. “Why is it so important?

“How do you feel about having some fun at Sparky’s expenses?”

In all honesty, the idea sounded tempting. After the dreadful night Katara had endured with that stupid play just days ago, she could use more than a little fun. Although Toph’s idea of fun could sometimes be questionable, at the very least.

“Hold up. What do you have in mind?”

“This little thing,” Toph shook the bottle up in the air. “It’s a temporary love potion.”

Katara broke down in a scandalous laugh. “Yeah, and where did you get that from?”

Toph made a defensive frown. “Hey, it’s the real deal! I bought it from a weird old lady in town. She wasn’t lying, I swear.”

“Alright, I believe you. And what do you suggest we do with it?” 

“Yes, that’s the attitude!” she celebrated. “According to the weirdo, two drops of this stuff and you can make anyone fall at your feet. All you need is for the other person to consume it while looking at you. And I just thought, wouldn’t it be hilarious if Zuko just happened to suddenly be crazy in love with you? That play inspired me, that’s all I’m saying.”

Well, that sounded like a recipe for disaster. Especially considering the way that play had contributed to her latest confusion regarding her feelings for two very powerful - and very different - benders. Still, it was a tempting offer. 

“Toph, that’s insane!” Hesitation could be heard in her voice. “Trust me, pranking Zuko would be entertaining, but we cannot force him to be forever in love with me! I mean, what on earth would we do then? Seems a little cruel to me.”

“See? That’s the catch. It’s temporary. Two drops would only make him fall in love with you for a couple of days, tops. Come on! I thought you had been introduced to the concept of fun.”

Spirits, screw it. Two days of some harmless fun, how bad could it be? She could use a little distraction from the constant stress they were all under.

“Are you sure the effect will wear off?” 

“Absolutely. Say yes, please! You know I can always do it without you. Or to you.” A mischievous smile framed her face. “You know you want to torture Sparky a little bit.”

“Alright… Let’s do it. But if anything goes sideways it’s your responsibility.” 

“Heck yeah! That’s the spirit!” Toph gave her an affectionate punch in the shoulder. “Oh man, this is going to be too fun to watch!”

And so operation “Sparky falling for Sugar Queen” was put into motion. The two girls would prepare some tea - which would undoubtedly bribe Zuko in there - and make sure he was left alone with Katara when it came to drinking it. Toph would oversee everything from a cautious distance. It was the craziest, most random idea ever. But it sure sounded like fun.

 Once everything was ready, Katara waited for Zuko in the kitchen. Needless to say, she was feeling a tad nervous. Waiting by the countertop, staring at the two teacups in front of her, she felt her heart racing on her chest. 

It was just for two days. And it would certainly be nice to laugh with Toph about Zuko’s ridiculous lovey-dovey attitude. Most importantly, she wouldn’t even dream to risk Toph giving her the concoction. No, her feelings were already messy enough without the help of any love potion. 

“Katara, are you in here?” Zuko’s voice interrupted her overthinking. “Toph said you made tea for me…?”

Time for the show. She put on her brightest smile as Zuko sat down in front of her. 

“Yes! You seemed so tired this morning, figured you could use a little boost.” 

She handed him the cup with the two drops mixed in the tea. 

Zuko gifted her with a thankful smile. “Thank you, that’s very nice of you.”

Nice of me… Yeah, sure. Just drink the tea and look at me. 

He started drinking, only to stop after a few sips to have a little chat.

“So, Aang’s training is looking decent,” he started saying. “But I can tell he’s getting increasingly anxious. We might need to keep an eye on him, I wouldn’t want him to start avoiding our sessions.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Katara intervened. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t slack on his training. Drink your tea, it’ll get cold otherwise.”

“Alright, alright,” he complied, looking into her eyes. “Thanks again for making it.” 

Katara observed him as he drank the whole thing in one go. Her golden eyes staring at her with an amused shine to them. She wondered how Zuko being in love with her would be like. He didn’t exactly give off the cheesy type vibes, though she knew how much of a dork he actually was. If you fall in love because of a potion, you’re pretty much doomed to grandiloquent gestures and infatuated declarations, right? Well, she wasn’t an expert on the subject. But she did know a thing or two about having feelings for someone.

Toph sneaked into the kitchen, placing her hands on Zuko’s shoulders and giving them one tight squeeze. “Hello there, Sparky, how are you feeling on this lovely day?” 

“Hey Toph,” he greeted her. “Much better after that tea, actually.”

Despite the perfectly normal response, Toph continued with her attack.

“You know what? Sugar Queen over here confessed to me this morning that she felt she looked terrible. I’m clearly not the best judge when it comes to looks.” The vicious smile on her face was a little too obvious. “How is she looking today, Sparky? Isn’t she stunning as usual?”

Oh, no. Katara felt herself blushing. The whole operation had quickly turned into Toph having fun at the expenses of both her and Zuko. But in all honesty, how could she had ever expected otherwise?

“Um, well,” Zuko mumbled, his eyes glued to the countertop. “She looks just the same to me. Like you said, um, she’s got her usual look.”

Katara wished Toph could see the look of utter confusion in her eyes. That was not the response she had imagined. 

Zuko abruptly stood up. “Alright, I think I’ll get back to training. See you two later,” he greeted them. “Oh, and Katara. Thanks again for the tea.”

‘Thanks for the tea’? So much for romantic gestures. 

Toph grasped her arm as soon as Zuko was out the door. 

“What on earth? That was the least romantic interaction ever.” The earthbender exclaimed, looking frustrated. 

“Hey, let’s give it some time. Maybe the effect hasn’t kicked in yet.” 

“Okay, we’ll wait. Man, what a bummer. I was fully expecting him to start a rant about how beautiful you are.” Toph threw her hands up in the air, grunting.

“Patience, we’ll get there,” Katara reassured her.

But am I even sure I want to get there? 

Deep down, a part of her was hoping for it.

The rest of the day was spent with Toph trying her best to get Zuko to do anything remotely romantic regarding Katara, in an attempt to kick off the love potion effects. Much to her frustration, nothing seemed to do the trick. Katara wasn’t sure what to think of it. Did she feel relieved, disappointed, or maybe even bored? Truth be told, it was kind of a mix of all three. 

Katara witnessed as Toph did everything she could. From suggesting they paired up in training all the way up to making them meditate together. All she got from Zuko was radio silence. Well, at least in the sense they were expecting. 

“Are you sure you don’t feel a little weird, Sparky?” Toph asked him for the millionth time during dinner. 

“Um, no? Why?” Zuko had a look of complete confusion on his face. 

“You sure you don’t feel a little more sparky than usual? Don’t you sense some new emotions?” Toph continued. “Anything different?”

“Alright, that’s enough Toph,” Katara interrupted. “You’re scaring the poor boy.”

“Yeah, Toph, what’s all that nonsense about?” Sokka asked. 

“Why should Zuko feel different?” Aang’s voice showed a tad of concern. 

“Nothing, nothing,” Toph replied. “Calm down, you all. I was just wondering.”

Katara noticed the annoyed frown on her friend’s face. She seemed pissed off by the lack of results, the whole plan had been her idea after all. 

After the meal, Suki stayed with them doing the dishes. 

“Are you two going to tell me what’s going on already?” she asked them, with her hands on her hips and an inquisitive look in her eyes. 

“Going on with what?” Toph played the innocent. “We’re just scraping plates.”

“Oh, come on! You have been acting weird all day! Especially you, Toph, asking Zuko the most random questions.”

“What do you say, Sugar Queen, should we tell her?” Toph asked.

“Sure, maybe she’ll even know why it’s not working,” Katara replied. “But Suki, promise not to tell any of the guys, alright?”

Suki let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, just spill it.” 

“Okay, let me see. We made Sparky drink a love potion with his tea so he would fall in love with Katara. For two days. And before you ask, yes, it’s legit. Oh, but nothing’s happened yet.” Toph´s explanation was accompanied by a playful grin on her face. 

“You’re joking, right?” Suki asked with a sarcastic smirk. “Katara would never be on board with that.”

“Actually,” she said, blushing. “I thought it was kind of a fun idea.”

“Yeah, so much for fun since Sparky hasn’t shown any signs of love and it’s been hours! He should be acting all lovey-dovey already.”

Suki burst into laughter. “Spirits, that’s hilarious! You gave him a freaking love potion and he’s acting as usual?”

“I don’t get what you’re laughing about! Something’s seriously wrong with him! Or us!” Toph complained. “Katara, are you sure you didn’t drink the potion yourself?”

“Yes, Toph, I’m absolutely positive I gave him the cup with the two drops,” Katara replied. 

“Are you telling me you two don’t realize what’s going on?” Suki asked, an amused expression framing her face. “For being the ones to come up with this plan you seem rather clueless.”

A suspicion started to take shape into Katara’s mind. She couldn’t help but ask. “Suki, what are you talking about?” 

“Yeah, come on!” Toph urged her. “Do you know something that we don’t?”

Suki let out a soft giggle. “Well, let’s think about it. You gave Zuko a love potion to fall for Katara, right? Toph, you say it’s a legit one. But Zuko is acting painfully normal. Even though he is under the effects of the potion.”

“Your point is?” Toph was sitting down on the countertop with a desperate expression on her face. 

“If Zuko acts just as usual when he is supposed to be artificially in love with Katara… What do you think it’s the reason?”

“His heart is missing?” 

“The dose wasn’t strong enough?”

“No!” Suki exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “He was already in love with her!”

Wait. What? That doesn’t make any sense.

“Spirits, Spirits, Spirits!!!” Toph jumped down the countertop, hands on her head, and on the verge of screaming. “That’s it! Suki, you’re a genius.”

Katara hadn’t even blinked. She was not even entirely sure she was still breathing. Zuko in love with her? It couldn’t be. He had even looked embarrassed by the way the play paired them together. Although she had acted embarrassed as well. And a part of her knew very well why. 

“Sugar Queen, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner.” Toph poked her cheeks. “His heartbeat is all over the place whenever you’re around but again so is yours, and I thought it was just all that love/hate dynamic you’ve got going on. I had actually started to suspect he liked you, but Spirits, I didn´t realize he loves you.”

Love/hate, what? This can’t be happening.

Suki raised a brow. “Hold up, Toph, are you saying Katara’s heart beats faster when Zuko is around?”

“That’s a lie!” Katara exclaimed, snapping out. She couldn’t let her friends figure out the truth. “My heart is perfectly fine, thank you very much. And Zuko is not in love with me!”

“And I suppose you have unlimited access to his mind and that’s how you know that?” Toph deadpanned. 

“No… I - That’s unfair Toph,” she managed to mumble, feeling her heart starting to race on her chest.

“As unfair as the fact that you’re heart is betraying your words in this exact second,” Toph replied. 

Katara wished with all of her strength that the ground opened up and swallowed her. The entire operation had gone sideways. But not in the way she had originally expected. No, it was worse.

“Alright, alright,” Suki intervened. “Enough torturing with Katara, this was supposed to be about Zuko.”

“Thank you. Can we please go back to the point?” 

Toph let out an exasperated sigh. “The point is Zuko is in love with you, Sugar Queen. But not because of the love potion, it seems like he’s been head over heels for you way before drinking that tea.”

“I seriously can't believe you didn’t figure this out sooner,” Suki said. “The question is, what are you going to do about it, Kat?” 

That was a very good question indeed. One she had no answer for. 

“Why should I even do something about it?” Katara asked, a confused look in her eyes. 

“Because I think deep down you want to.” Suki’s tone got serious all of the sudden.

Toph placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sugar Queen, I’m sorry if my prank ended up bringing you a headache. But Suki’s right, you should confront him.”

“Confront him? We’re in the middle of a war! I don’t need any distractions.” Her head was spinning a little too fast.

“Says the girl who complied to give a love potion to Sparky,” Toph remarked.

“Katara, would you seriously prefer to have a lump on your throat until Aang has taken down Fire Lord Ozai?”

Truth be told, she would hate that. A part of her knew she had feelings for Zuko. For that poor firebender she had given a love potion to. Only to have the whole scheme backfire right on her face. Now, she had to stand up to it. 

“No.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t prefer that.” 

“Then hear me out because I have a plan!” Toph exclaimed, enthusiasm written all over her face. “I know how to get one last bit of fun out of this failure of an operation.”

——

The next day went out according to what the girls had planned. Still hoping for at least a bit of extra romance on Zuko’s behalf - which, unsurprisingly, never occurred - the three of them acted normal all the way until the afternoon. 

After training, Toph cornered the poor Zuko on his way to the beach. Katara and Suki stayed at the shore, discreetly listening. 

“Sparky, this is your last chance!” Toph exclaimed.

“My last chance for what?” The look of sheer confusion on his face was priceless to say the least. 

“Come on! Please tell me you are feeling extra lovey-dovey and maybe I’ll let you walk away without making you even more uncomfortable.”

“Toph, I swear I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“You’re telling me you don’t feel any special romantic feelings today?”

“Um, no?” His voice had a strain of nervousness to it.

“And what about regular feelings? Got them for anyone? Maybe for someone you drink a lot of tea with?”

“Uh - No? Um, Toph, can I please go now?” Zuko stuttered. 

“Ha! I knew it, you sneaky little bastard! That’s a lie.” Toph threw her hands up in the air. “I can tell you’re lying. I was right, heck yeah!”

Zuko anxiously tried to get past her. “Alright, sure, can I please go down to the beach now?” 

“Don’t you want to know why I’m asking you this?”

“Do I have to?”

“We gave you a love potion, Sparky! A love potion mixed with that tea you drank yesterday. And you were supposed to fall in love with Miss Sugar Queen!” Toph’s was grinning from ear to ear. 

Katara and Suki exchanged a concerned look. That was not part of the plan. Katara was supposed to be the one to tell Zuko about the love potion. After Toph had made sure whether he was lying or not. Then, and only maybe, she would mention the tricky subject of actual feelings. 

“What on earth, Toph?” Zuko’s face was pale as a ghost. “Why would you do that?” 

“Because I've been suspecting for forever that you liked her! And when I got that love potion it was just too tempting not to go for it. I thought it would be a fun experiment! Katara was also on board with it.” 

“But?”

“But it only made me reaffirm my theory! What I didn’t expect is that you don’t just like her, you’re full-blown in love with her!”

“Toph, can you please tone it down? I wouldn’t want anyone else to hear this conversation,” Zuko pleaded.”

Katara was cursing Toph, Suki, Zuko, the moon, the stars, the Spirits, and herself. Toph playing matchmaker as subtle as an elephant trying to fit into her sleeping tent.

“Sparky, don’t you see Katara and Suki over there in the corner? They’re already listening!” Toph waved at the two of them, she had the most amused look on her face.

“What? Toph!” Zuko’s face was now entirely red. “You’re insane.”

“Sh, let me get to the best part,” she shushed him. “I think our dear Sugar Queen has something very important to tell you.”

Toph grabbed him by the wrist and started marching up to them. 

Toph, you’ll pay for this, Katara thought as she found herself in front of Zuko. 

“Now, I think Suki and I have to go do literally anything else but being here,” Toph resolved. “Alright! Everyone’s happy? See you!

“Kat, I’m sorry,” Suki mumbled. “I had no clue about this but I’ll better go.”

The two girls sprinted back to the house, where Aang and Sokka were probably taking care of dinner. 

Her eyes met Zuko’s, and she felt her heart racing inside of her chest. The awkwardness of the situation was remarkable. 

“So… I’m taking it you heard everything Toph said?” Zuko asked, sitting down on the shore next to her. 

“Yeah,” she replied, nervously playing with the sand that surrounded them. “I’m sorry about the love potion thing. It was stupid of me.”

“I just didn’t understand the logic behind it. Were you going to let me be in love with you for all eternity?”

“The effect was supposed to wash out tomorrow…” She let out a sigh. “But I guess it’s the same now.”

“Because you realized that I acted normal around you even with the potion?”

“Exactly.” Katara took a deep breath. “Look, Zuko, I had no clue-”

“Katara,” he interrupted her. “It’s okay. I don’t mind you know.”

“So it’s true then? Are you…”

“Am I in love with you?” He rubbed the back of his neck, his whole body seemed anxious. “Yeah, I am. I guess even more than I knew.”

Silence. Just sheer silence. 

Zuko rushed to continue. “It’s perfectly okay if you don’t feel the same way.”

But she did feel the same way. 

“Look, I think I’m in love with you too,” she blurted out, feeling her cheeks turning bright red.

“You are?” His voice was tinted with astonishment. 

She nodded in agreement. Then, she proceeded to say something else. “The night of the play, Aang felt terrible about the possibility of us being together. He kissed me and… and I pulled apart. I was horribly confused. A part of me knew he has always expected to be with me. But it didn’t feel right.”

Katara made a pause. She couldn’t believe she was actually saying those words out loud. 

“Go on, I’m listening,” Zuko encouraged her.

“Well, I knew I felt something for you for a long time already. But with what happened the night of the play, and now this whole love potion thing… I realize I’m in love with you too.”

Zuko brushed his fingertips against the back of her hand. “Thank you, for being honest with me.”

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you for not wanting to kill me for giving you a love potion.”

“Now what?”

“I don’t know. We still have a war to win.”

A moment of quietness invaded the space between them. Their fingers were intertwined, both of their hearts racing. They were savoring the confirmation of their feelings - and embracing the uncertainty - together. 

“Do you want to wait?”

“Wait?”

“Yeah, until this whole mess is over,” he explained. “We can figure out things slowly, I don’t mind. It’s not like I’m suddenly going to stop having feelings for you.”

“So you would still be in love with me… And I would still be in love with you…” 

“But we focus on winning the war first.” 

Katara tilted her to look straight at him. “Can I occasionally do this, though?”

He made a slight frown. “Do what?”

She didn’t give him much time to wonder. In a split second, she leaned onto him and placed a kiss on his lips. It was sweet, quick, and a little timid. But it was still the first kiss they shared. 

“So?” Katara asked, a light smile framing her face. “Can I?”

Zuko placed his arm around her shoulder, allowing her to rest her head on the creek of his neck. 

He squeezed her hand, chuckling. “Yeah, I think you can.”

“You know  what? I’m really glad Toph convinced me to give you that stupid love potion.”

---- I hope you enjoyed this fluffy little thing I wrote! Feedback is always appreciated! <3 Thank you for reading! @zutaraweek

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: Memoirs of a Superfluous Man

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

Rating: 1/5 stars

This is a very enjoyable, sanguine, and at times even entertaining book. But it is very poorly written, with a bizarre and overwrought style which would not look out of place on the pages of some late 19th century novel. The author seems to be saying to himself, in effect: "I am a writer; if I am going to write, I might as well write like a real person; I will write as though I were Conrad or Joyce or Tolstoy; if I am going to write, I might as well write something enjoyable and pleasant, even if it is nonsensical and overblown; I will write as though I were affected by serious social or philosophical topics and so forth." His style, while often melodramatic and grandiloquent, never rises to the level of being actually enjoyable.

In consequence, the book reads like something hastily jotted down on a napkin while out with friends, with perhaps some research thrown in for good measure. It is at most a very good book.

The style is so different from the stuff that comes out of academia or other literatures that I had always imagined that Harari came from a totally different literary tradition than the one I'm used to. Instead, this is an unusually bad, cliquish imitation of that tradition. If anyone out there likes this stuff, there must be some deep reason they like it, some reason that is not just "it's Conrad or it's Joyce or it's Tolstoy or it's Dostoyevsky or something." It is gratuitous, superfluous, like the guy in a bookstore questioning the value of some book by saying things like "it's a novel, isn't it? It's like a novel." Granted, literature doesn't tend to overshare like this, but it's still something I had never thought of before.

The guy in the bookstore was right: Memoirs of a Superfluous Man is a novel. Many of the concepts expressed have an element of the like of which no novelist has ever dreamed. The book is a collection of short stories, many of which feel like they could have been novels, had they been less melodramatic and more conventional in their subject matter. Most of this book's sentences read as though they could have been written by Joyce or Dostoyevsky:

Harari's novel, he wrote, was to have been titled The Kingdom of Indo-China. This is, of course, an astonishing claim. As far as I can tell, nothing similar has ever been written before. It is not clear what cultural context this figure is filling in: did he have some insider's knowledge of India, central Asia or Chinese history? In any case, this sounds like an amazing claim for a novel which has never been written.

Rather than being a straightforward historical account, the novel would have pursued two distinct storylines that had been in flux for several centuries, which Harari would have depicted as the rise of India as a great global power and the rise of [the Hindu king] Chandragupta as a great statesman and administrator of his vast Indian empire.

In terms of its content, the story would have been at once the story of the emergence of Hindu civilization and the story of Chandragupta's efforts to build an imperialist world empire, his counter-reformation, and the coming-of-age of his son, whose name was Manu and who became responsible for the construction of the Indus Valley Civilization.

He wrote this, Harari says, so that he could provide a 'new history' that would 'correctly depict the rise of Europe as well as the birth of 200 million Jews, and so that the world can be better informed about the nature of the world's religions and, by extension, the relationship of these religions to world history in the modern age.'

In order to construct a world in which the rise of Judaism was not seen as inevitable, he invented a story in which the Jews were the chosen people of God, destined to rule the world within the next few thousand years. And he invented a new religion, Christianity, in order to make those claims politically feasible.

He doesn't really explain where these ideas come from, but in addition to inventing his own invented history, Harari adduces many other snippets of apparently reliable information, like:

Plato believed that there would be three great empires by 2600 BC, one of which would be called 'Christ the Saviour' because it would be the last, final empire, and because the Messiah would rule from that kingdom.

Many people in China at the time held this belief.

Many Indians of his time believed in a final, ancient empire named 'Theocracy,' whose capital was going to be in a place called 'Vrndavana.'

The term 'Mundus Dominus' was a popular name for a king, and his name was known as 'Mahavira.'

By the 4th century BC, one of the names commonly used for a 'religious leader' was 'Dakshinaya.'

The name 'Dakshinaya' was specifically applied to him by the historian Umarkas, as a derogatory epithet to describe him.

There is a mention of a king named 'Dakshinaya' around the time of Krishna's death. He is said to have ruled at the end of the 5th century BC.

Many Hindus in ancient India believed in a final, ancient empire named 'Theocracy,' whose capital was going to be in a place called 'Vrndavana.'

In addition to reciting this litany of historical inaccuracy, the prose is also very difficult to read. I'm not sure if it was written by someone with dyslexia, since it sounds like an objectively terrible book.

A tedious, confusing, florid, and often self-congratulatory book.

[blahblahblaw18]

Overview of what’s on my mind :I

Namaste! I don’t know who you are and you don’t know me either. Let’s break the ice and get to know each other. Me first.

First of all, why the fuck is Grammarly not working here?! Do I have to become a premium member or something??

Anyhoo, my name is not really Indira or Lakshmi it is something else but I don’t want to reveal it so you will have to make do with those two names. Now I can’t tell you what my real name is or why I am not using it here but what I can tell you is why I have chosen the name I have chosen for a pseudonym. Indira Gandhi was a lady who is considered to be the most powerful Prime Minister India has ever had. She was honestly not a very good Prime Minister unlike her father, but even with the little knowledge that I have about her, I can tell you that she was certainly the best leader and the most convincing demagogue ever. I know that sounds paradoxical. How can you call someone a demagogue and then also say that the person is a good leader? Well, I think a good leader is someone who knows how to make the masses rally behind her and who can elevate herself to a cult status in the eyes of her people irrespective of the ideology of the person or the path the person chooses to follow. So, do I also think Hitler was a good leader? Yep. I do think Hitler was a successful leader... more so because he was able to persuade so many others (his followers) to live a life devoid of heart and brain and was even successful in convincing many of his era (some even to this day) that what he was doing was actually evangelical work. (P.S. I am NOT saying he was a good human. He was and will forever remain an arse who died like the coward that he was.) Applying the same principle even leaders like Narendra Modi, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump (up to a certain extent), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi can be attributed to being doyens. You must understand that the filter that I am applying here to classify them as good leaders is not whether they have done good or bad work but whether they were able to make the general public believe in them and their work just as much as they themselves did or not. So, in short, demagogues employing good rhetoric and having the ability to appeal to the hearts of the people, according to me, ARE fine leaders. Again, don’t confuse it with fine HUMANS. 

Gosh! that was quite a big explanation!! I am going to keep the next one short.

 So, Lakshmi. Now if you, who is reading this blog, are my ex-Boyfriend (I seriously don’t even want to bring that topic up cause even reminding myself that I was stupid enough to subject myself to that suffocating experience makes me want to retch.) you might want to think that Lakshmi is some kind of an eponym. If you were foolish enough to think that, then I am sorry to burst your bubble but NO! So, who is Lakshmi? To put it in a sentence (cause she is of a stature that is beyond being explicable in even a paragraph; that calls for a separate blog in itself.) she was a great freedom fighter, and I feel a much unsung one too, who gave up her life fighting for our freedom. But that is not what made me choose her name; there have been, as a matter of fact, many other leaders of equally gargantuan stature who’ve laid down their lives for us, their privileged future. But, many other aspects of her made me chose her in particular and as you may have guessed it already, her gender IS one of them though not the only one. Wait for my blog about her (or probably even a book, if and when I write it), which I assure you I will write as soon as possible, to know why I consider her as my idol.

Now, coming to the question of what this blog is going to be about and why I am writing it... 

This blog is not really a blog, I don’t intend to market this blog in any sort of way I am not even going to publicize it for certain obvious reasons (I am using an alternate identity here). The thing is off late I am going through some turbulent times and things haven’t really been, let’s just say, a cotton candy meal. I was feeling extremely lonely, (don’t misinterpret that; I do have friends and some very fine ones indeed but I just don’t feel like calling them every single day and rambling stuff into their ears) and the loneliness gave way to substance abuse... again do not be alarmed... it’s not so much substance abuse as it is internet addiction. Yup. I got myself hooked to the internet during the COVID induced lockdown and though the lockdown got over loooong ago my addiction didn’t vanish in a similar fashion. NETFLIX, YOUTUBE, INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE, TWITTER BUT MAINLY YOUTUBE... so to break that addiction and to make myself feel heard I’ve decided to engage myself by blogging ‘bout my thoughts and feelings. Here you may expect blogs on any topic that falls under the umbrella of my interest, i.e. I am going to write a little bit ‘bout my life, politics, history, my very very valuable opinion about anything and everything that goes on in this world, books, Benedict Cumberbatch, food, my friends and family, how and why my life sucks, cricket, Netflix series, Youtube videos, people I see around me, and just life in general.

And since this is only to fill the vacuum created by the lack of human interaction, or may I say lack of conversations where the other person is ready to only sit and listen to whatever I want to say, in my life; the blogs are going to be supremely candid and won’t involve grandiosity of any sorts. (Nope, not even grandiloquent words like grandiose unless they just slip off in the flow of writing like how grandiosity did in the last sentence and grandiloquent in this one.) 

You may at this point be like “WTF Indira as if our own thoughts weren’t enough! Why the fuck should I read about what you have to say?” and to that I can only say one thing... you really don’t have to read my blogs. They exist more because I want to write and need a medium where I can successfully be anonymous and vent out what goes on in my mind and less because I want you to read them. And since I am not advertising these blogs in anyway if you are reading this, then it means that you already want to read them... and I frankly don't have any objection to that. So now that you have read all the way till the end of this blog (or even if you have skipped most of it and reached here cause, let’s be honest, you in all possibilities have no better an attention span than that of a goldfish, which is very much my attention span too after all these days of internet addiction.), you may as well go ahead and indulge yourself, albeit vicariously, in the thoughts of my mind.

Oh, and by the way, I got this idea of writing blogs as a form of therapy from the Sherlock series on Netflix (starring the hot AF Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman). It is uhh-mayy-zingg! You should watch it too if you haven’t already.

My next blog is probably going to be about what is happening in my life and you will read more about why I chose to blog what’s on my mind.

See ya!  

26.8.20                                                                                                                    :I

[toukenra]

Merry Christmas Angels! 🎄💕

I wish all of you a peaceful and happy Christmas with your family and beloved ones and that you get to stuff your stomach with the most delicious Christmas roasts, cookies, gingerbreads and of course mulled wine hehe! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

I hope everyone will have a wonderful Christmas filled with a lot of joy and happiness and nice presents, after all all of you’ve been very good this year, right? (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

Hopefully none of you will have to work all night long on Christmas Eve just like me, but at least I get to see my sweet little brother’s smile on Christmas Day again because we will be watching my all time favourite Christmas movie “A Nightmare before Christmas” oh I just love this movie!

Of course I haven’t forgotten about you, so as a little Christmas present from me, here are some Christmas headcanons on how Christmas would be celebrated in my citadel.. oh and trust me, there will be a lot of tears and chaos involved, because what’s a real Christmas without some chaotic mess right? ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ∗)

To end this on a sweet note: Merry Christmas to all of you angels out there and a Happy New Year, I love all of you and hope you have a jolly Christmas! ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭*

This got quite lengthy again so under the cut as not to blow up your dashboard..

A long time ago in a certain citadel far, far away (my nerdy self couldn’t stop herself from including this smol Star Wars reference forgive me) certain Sword Warriors were preparing for the most important holiday ..

being your attendants for the day Tomoegata and Hasebe forced you to stay in your room while everyone else was buzzing around the citadel to prepare for the evening

‘Aruji, please leave the preparations for this festive event to the other Touken Danshi. Your only task for today is to relax until tonight.’

even though you were more than thankful for this offer you couldn’t help but worry a little knowing them all too well 

…

… and rightly so because getting to celebrate a peaceful Merry Christmas in your Citadel? Dream on it’s more like a Merry Crisis

when the evening broke on they finally allowed you to leave your room and led you down the dining hall where a festival of dazzling lights and a Christmas Banner spelling something like ‘Marri Kurismas’ was awaiting you

your heart nearly lept out of your chest when everyone rushed forward and scream-yelled ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS ARUJI!’ at you

‘You did all of this for me? Oh my –thank you so much - everyone– I – just - Merry Christmas to you as well!’

you were nearly crying of joy when you realized just how much effort everyone must have put in decorating the Citadel for you

‘How much trouble did all of you went through to prepare this for me?’

Swelling with pride Hasebe grandiloquently waved your worries away ‘It really wasn’t that much trouble’ 

cue angry stares from everyone else and a more than grumpy Oodenta whispering ‘Yeah well not for you Mr. Loudmouth’ under his breath

now let’s rewind to the morning of Christmas Eve and what was happening while you were cooped up in your room wrapping your Christmas presents for everyone

…

…

let’s go back to the first crime scene: The Kitchen

it was quite obvious but calling the kitchen a chaotic mess was way understated

chocolate frosting and powder sugar was splattered everywhere but on the cookies (meaning on everyone’s faces)

Souza and Kousetsu were tasked with baking and cutting out cookies and Sayo decorates the most delicate and beautiful snowflake, flower and tanuki cookies fight me on this

Azuki was smitten with this tradition from the start, because now he could give everyone sweets and mother them to his hearts content and went into full sweets-making-mode while Kenshin was eagerly buzzing around him

being the Citadel’s own Grinch Ookurikara tried to escape just on the mentioning of another celebration but got hold back by a dangerously smiling Shokudaikiri who was holding a dough roll like a battle axe 

‘Kara-chan of course you’ll help too, will you?’ 😇 😇 😇

Translation: ‘Get in the fuck*ng Christmas spirit or I’ll cut you down’ 

Micchan vs. Kara-chan 1:0

cursing under his breath he and Yamanbagiri were tasked with hanging up the fairy lights 

which brings us to the second crime scene: The Dining Hall

poor men just wanted to be left alone but instead had to help hanging up chain of lights and garlands while some drunk on eggnog Fudou, Nihongou and Jiroutachi were singing some very disturbing Christmas canons they had composed themselves

cue Yamanbagiri muttering to himself: ‘Maybe I should hang myself instead of these Christmas lights’

bby no 

‘Even though I’m somewhat renowned as a sword who can cut through ghosts I’d rather not have to cut down your vengeful spirit on this festive occasion’ Nikkari was laughing cheerfully at him while reading ‘A Christmas Carol’ to Akita and Kenshin

way to get in the Christmas spirit darling

bigger swords like Tonbokiri, Oodenta, Otegine and Hachisuka were tasked with logging a fine Christmas tree and mistletoes in the woods (’Really? You’re making an original Kousetsu like me do something unspiritual like that?’)

If you’re asking what Jiji was doing then I can tell you that this lazy old man was sitting far away from the hustle and bustle and got himself pampered and entertained by Kogitsunemaru and Shishou

man just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can just ditch work to everyone else

i’m just kidding i love them very much and it’s probably good that Jiji wasn’t helping he’d probably just be in the way anyway lol

as usual Gokotais tiger cubs had escaped again and were leaving flour footprints everywhere, cue Ishikirimaru running like a madman to clean up behind them while poor Gokotai was bawling his eyes out again

they even left some on Kuniyuki’s face when they trampled over him but that lazy bastard was so busy sleeping he didn’t even mind that (how can anyone be so lazy, honestly? i am so in love)

meanwhile Kasen was in his room trying to write an elegant and refined Christmas banner but just couldn’t remember what this festivity was called like

‘Marri Kurismas. Yes yes, that’s what it was called like I’m sure of it!’ (almost honey, almost..)

after the Christmas tree had been installed in the dining hall (it only took 15 attempts to even get it inside and that one time where Kane-san and Mutsu nearly got buried under the tree because they were bickering who was stronger again) the Toushirous, Monoyoshi, Hyuuga, Aizen and Hotarumaru were decorating the tree with self-made ornaments out of little gems, shells, pie cones and candles

Ichigo and Yagen carrying every Tantou on their skinny shoulders through the whole citadel so they could hang up ornaments everywhere, can we agree on that?

they’re the best brothers in the world i’m sobbing why are they so perfect? 

in the meantime busy bees Horikawa and Urashima were running around and motivating everyone by serving Hot Chocolate whenever someone seemed tired out (these boys are angels guys, angels)

Namazuo and Honebami doing a leg-up so Honebami can be the one to put the star on the Christmas tree.. yeah that’s the kind of imagines I’m living for

sounds wonderful doesn’t it?

well it nearly ended in bloodshed when Tsurumaru and Taikogane who were throwing snowballs at each other nearly knocked down the Christmas tree the children had lovingly decorated

which leads us to crime scene number three: The Garden

unlike Germany for the last 10 years your Citadel had been blessed with a white Christmas and the Garden and roofs were covered up with a beautifully glistening blanket of snow

and what could be better than having a real snow fight and go sledding right?

since Tsurumaru got banned from helping he immediately had the glorious idea of having a snowball war in the garden

Tsurumaru, Sada-chan, Aizen, Hotarumaru, Koryuu were on one side while Kashuu, Yams, Yamabushi, Iwatooshi and Imanotsurugi were on the other team

and there were only some minor casualties like the snowball that flew right into Hasebe’s face when he was screaming out of your window

…

whoopsie  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

run guys.. run as fast as you can, leave the country, get yourself a new identity but RUN 

.. yeah no big trouble at all ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ∗)

back to Christmas Eve and handing out of presents

You had knitted everyone something warm like gloves and scarfs and little beanies for the Tantous so they wouldn’t get a cold when they have to battle in winter, and even stitched everyone’s crests on their scarfs

let’s skip the tearful and cheesy speeches of thanks everyone was throwing alright?

well but one moment was worth mentioning, and that is Hizamaru crying over Higekiri giving him a present even though he wrote his name wrong on the gift tag cue Iwatooshi patting both of them on their back ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ∗)

at least he tried

of course Micchan surpassed himself by light years and made you the most beautiful yule log you’ve ever seen 

(my self indulgence is showing I’m sorry angels)

“You told me this was the season of giving your loved ones gifts right? So I hope you’re going to enjoy this I tried to make it based on your desciptions but it may not be sweet enough .. though nothing could be as sweet as you anyway.’

geez save the cheesy lines for someone else

I’M JUST KIDDING MARRY ME MARRY ME MARRY ME

maybe Touken Danshi aren’t the best at celebrating Christmas but they always have good intentions and it became a happy Christmas with a lot of laughter (and eggnog) because being with your loved ones is the most important thing on Christmas after all

..but wait, who’s going the wash the dishes ok i’m outta here ~

I hope you enjoyed it and Merry Christmas angels! (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡

-Mod Pancake 🥞

[3dsfireemblemheadcanons]

(OC Anon) care to share one with us? ^^

Sure! This one is based of a friend of mine with a rad blog!

Phoebe

Background:Phoebe is a grandiloquent noble woman from Ylisse. She is a duchess in her county, but is overwhelmingly loved by her constituents due to her kind nature. She is a powerful mage and healer, and has a dutiful heart with no tolerance for wrongdoing.  She speaks in a noble disposition like the heroines of her novels, but resorts to plainspeak when excited. The most likely to to be nose deep in a book. Born March 4th.

Upon recruitment:

Nile: Hey! Excuse me!

Phoebe: Yes?

Nile: Hi, I-oh! Duchess Pho-

Phoebe: Shhh! I’m not a duchess here, I’m just a normal person.

Nile: A normal person...on the battlefield?

Phoebe: I’m...afraid I got.sidetracked on the way to the library. These thieves were attacking this young man, you see.

Nile: You’re very noble, to jump in like that.

Phoebe: Nonsense. Helping an individual in need should be a norm, not an exception.

Nile: Fair enough. Perhaps you’d like to help a few more people?

Phoebe: In what way?

Nile: You could join our ranks.

Phoebe:You’re inviting me to fight alongside your….ragtag volunteer army?

Nile: Yes, um, well-

Phoebe: I’d be delighted to serve such a noble cause.

Nile: Really? T-thank you!

Phoebe: Let’s hold off on the celebrations until this fight is over. Just to make sure we all..survive.

Nile: If you’re itching to fight that bad, you should have just said so.

Phoebe: P-preposterous! I just want the people to be safe!

Nile: Riiiiight.

*Nile exits into battle*

Phoebe:....This is so cool! Fighting alongside an army! It’s just like the book I just finished!

Nile: Milady?

Phoebe: Eh? Yes! I come apace, my stalwart ally!

Phoebe:

Class: Strategist

Can reclass into:MaidMaster NinjaMechanistSwordmaster

Signature Weapon:

Phoebe’s Research Notes: Does increased damage to an enemy if it was already used on them in the battle.

Phoebe’s Personal Skill:

Idea 1:

Cataloguer

If supported by someone who has the same weapon type equipped as her enemy, takes -4 damage.

2.

Bookworm

Does +1 damage for every tome or scroll in her possession.

3.

Unbound

Has +2 defense when supported and +2 attack when alone.

Lines!

Upon switching classes:

“A change of pace is required for...for...ugh forget it! This is exciting!”

Upon Leveling Up!

0-1 stat goes up: “This is...embarrassing.”

0-1 stat goes up, almost all stats capped: “Have I...become too strong?”

2-3 stats go up: “All progress is good progress.”

4-5 stats go up: “This work merits celebration!”

6-7 stats go up: “Wow!! I can’t believe this!!”

Barracks

“Writing everyday is the only way to improve.” (exp)

“Who leaves such an item lying about?” (item)

“Hard work is indispensable when it comes to self-betterment.” (weapon exp)

Asking: Allies

“We all need things to aid the dull of the day. What do you do?” (free time)

“You look positively elated. Did you finish a particularly good book?” (happy)

“Logic dictates that working together bolsters our joint success” (team up)

“We all need motivation for our goals. What do you dream of?” (dreams)

Answering: Allies

“I read. Books are wonderful! I mean...novels are very compelling.” (free time)

“No! I just read a great book! I can’t believe-oop! I won’t spoil it. Take this and read it” (happy)

“Of course! I love making new frie-*ahem* A stalwart ally like you is always welcome!” (team up)

“My dream is to be a true hero! Um, by that I mean bring peace to the world.” (dreams)

Barracks:

“The army’s library is so sparse. I’ll have to do something about that.” (misc)

“This strategy tome gave me some amazing combat ideas!” (surge)

Asking: Spouse

“I can’t mince words with you! I love you!!” (love)

“This is for you! I found it in one of my catalogues.” (gift)

“You look dashing today!.” (compliment)

“Stay safe out there, ok? I couldn’t bear to see you hurt” (promise)

Answering: Spouse

“Oh, thank you! You’re grandiloquence has, *sigh* I love you too.” (love)

“A gift? For me? Ooh it looks book shaped!” (gift)

“You’re far too kind! Thank you!!” (compliment)

“I’ll stay safe. I promise.” (promise)

When aiding another in battle:

“Allow me to help.”“We can fight together.”“I am here for you”“We are mightier than the sword!”

When protecting a teammate:

“Careful!”

“Don’t let your guard down!”

“Writer’s block!”

“Stay alert”

When attacking with a teammate!

“Entering: Stage left!”

“Poetry in motion!”

“Don’t forget me!!”

“Plot twist!!”

When you defeat a foe:“Perfect.”

“Cest la vie.”

“Fin.”

“A worthy ending!”

When a teammate defeats your foe:

“Fabulous co-writing!”

“We work well together.”

“Phenomenal!””

“Excellent collaboration!”

Critical Hit:

“Surely, you jest.”

“The. End!”

“Your final chapter is at hand!”

“The plot thickens!”

Defeat Line: “Thus..cracks...a noble…..heart...”

Retreat Quote:“I can’t die here! There’s a million things I have to do! Sorry! I have to withdraw..”

Death Quote:

“Heh. I’m catching glimpses of the other side. It’s too late for me..I hope history remembers me. Farewell...friends...”

Running the staff store:

“Welcome!”

“Anything else you need?”

“Come back soon!”

Running the lottery corner:

“Care to try your hand at luck? Or do you believe fate to be scripted?”

When receiving a bad prize:

“How awful! I mean...perhaps next time.””

When receiving a decent prize:

“Not bad, but nothing to write home about.”

When receiving a great prize:

“Mercy me! One for the books!!”

When running the mess hall.

“I’ve got my cookbook right here! Ready to go!”

When making a normal meal:

“Every meal tells a story! Enjoy!”

When making a great meal:“Wow! I outdid myself!”

When making a terrible meal:

“I think I had my cookbook upside down..”

When eating a normal meal:

“This was an enjoyable meal. My thanks.”

When eating a great meal:

“This meal is the stuff of legends!”

When eating a terrible meal:“Ugh...would you give the cook this letter I wrote? It has my review of the meal.”

When running the accessory store:

“Look at all of these clothes. I’m getting inspiration for my research!!”

When running the weapons store:

“Steel. A universal language amongst humanity that conveys the messages of- wow! Look at that one!!”

When running the smithy:

“To name a weapon makes it more than a tool. It transforms it into a stalwart ally, and a really cool name to yell in battle.”

General Store Line:

“Come in, please, friend.”

When in the hot spring:

“The water is perfect. This is so relaxing. These are optimal writing conditions.”

When on ore duty:

“I mined this ore today. I used it to add pigment to my ink, but you can have the rest.”

When on milk duty:

“Milk is good for growth. And it’s also delicious! Why wouldn’t you drink it?”

Arena:

When selected:

“Is it my turn? I suppose I can tear myself away from my work for a bit.”

When partnering:

“This is a collaborative piece!!”

When winning:

“Was there ever any doubt?”

When losing:

“That was...daunting. I’m going to train harder for next time!”

Accessory:

Asking:

“What’s this? Do you have something for me?!”

Receiving a good accessory:

“Really, for me? How very kind!!”

Receiving a bad accessory:

“What..do I do with this?”

When receiving a birthday gift:

“My birthday? Most people thought it was yesterday! Thank you so much!!””

[thatsnotcanonpodcasts]

Lucubration

Salutations, logophiles! A warm welcome to today’s installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Now, I am going to ask those of you with a mischievous penchant to please, keep your mind out of the gutter! - as we discuss today’s word: lucubration. 

Yes! It sounds the same! But it is not! For lucubration means writing or study, often lasting late into the night. For example, ‘after several hours of lucubration, I was able to finish writing this interesting episode.’ See? Not the same at all. It usually refers to the activities of ‘night owls’, and although often used facetiously today, really has no comparable synonym. 

Lucubration is the noun of action from the past participle stem of the Latin lucubrare, which means ‘to work by artificial light’. Lucbrare comes from the stem of ‘lucere’ meaning ‘to shine’. All of these derivatives come, of course, from the original Latin ‘lux’ meaning light. Today, lux is a unit of illuminance, equal to one lumen per square metre. Whatever that means.

Lucubration itself has evolved through many iterations of definitions. In the 1590s, lucubration specifically referred to a ‘close study or thought’, but by the 1610s it had morphed to mean ‘a product of such study or thought, literary work showing signs of too-careful elaboration.’ Quite the ‘glow up’, you might say. In the 1800s, the term had been broadened to refer to any intensive study, day or night, or a composition, especially a weighty one, generated as a result of such study. Today, lucubration is most often used as a plural and implies pompous or stuff scholarly writing. I always find it fascinating that older words with such clear, concise meanings often evolve to such blunt and negatively connotated definitions. Ah well. There shall be no lucubration on the subject from me.

Isn’t language wonderful?

Written by Taylor Davidson, Read by Zane C Weber

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[bakechochin]

The Book Ramblings of March

In place of book reviews, I will be writing these ‘book ramblings’. A lot of the texts I’ve been reading (or plan to read) in recent times are well-known classics, meaning I can’t really write book reviews as I’m used to. I’m reading books that either have already been read by everyone else (and so any attempt to give novel or insightful criticisms would be a tad pointless), or are so convoluted and odd that they defy being analysed as I would do a simpler text. These ramblings are pretty unorganised and hardly anything revolutionary, but I felt the need to write something review-related this year. I’ll upload a rambling compiling all my read books on a monthly basis.

The Princess Bride - William Goldman When I purchased this book immediately after having finished watching the film (which is amazing, as everyone other than me already knew), I was certain I’d be giving it a book review instead of a book rambling. But this book honestly surprised me with its interesting approach to storytelling, so I’m going to ramble about it. That being said, it would be remiss of me to not quickly summarise my opinions on the book by, before getting into the more academic thoughts, saying that this book is really fucking good; amazing characters, amazing story, quality humour, all the rest of it. The book employs a frame narrative of sorts; the book that you hold in your hands is presented as an abridged edition of a pre-existing text by some bloke called Morgenstern, altered to include only the ‘best bits’ by Goldman. The original text was said to be a satirical piece on royalty, and the few comments from the author reveal that this omitted text was often made up of hilarious hyperbole. This story, on account of these omissions, is transformed into a fairy tale, where simplistic plots are expected and accepted; I do find it awe-inspiring that Goldman has managed to essentially get away with only writing what he wanted to write about, and yet his methods of doing so are equally as interesting as the story’s content. I am somewhat torn on what I think on Goldman’s additions to the text, describing his own experiences and memories of his first read-through of the book. On the one hand, it does a great job at centralising the book in Goldman’s fabricated backstory, and it emphasises the way that the book ought to be read, as a delightful childhood memory that you get attached to and enthralled in. (As a quick side note, this book emphasises this perspective a hell of a lot better than the film did). On the other hand, Goldman is essentially interrupting the reading experience every now and then to give away plot points and tell you how you ought to be feeling. This book is oddly more meta (as much as I hate the term) than I was expecting; when I went into the book I assumed that it would be a standalone fantasy fairy tale with a few real world bits thrown in just to give the book’s existence context (an assumption which perhaps stemmed from my observing that, unlike The Neverending Story, the 'real world' and the fiction world in this book didn’t appear to be intrinsically linked, and could probably function well enough on their own). But this book is pretty much defined by Goldman’s ‘own’ experiences with the book, and constantly refers to the real world goings-on regarding the making/editing of this book. This is employed to justify certain edits in the text; for example, there is a scene in which Westley and Buttercup reunite, but the actual scene is not included in the book because Morgenstern supposedly didn’t write it. And so instead of that scene, we are given an address of a publishing company to send a letter to requesting Goldman’s supposed newly-written version of that scene. I find it all good fun, if a tad baffling regarding why it is here (other than centralising the story in Goldman’s version of reality, as said above). It seems like it could be construed as attempting to streamline the story, because obviously in a story about true loves getting repeatedly separated, there will no doubt be a veritable fuck tonne of reunion scenes filled with tears and heartfelt confessions of love, of which it may be wise to skip; however, this explanation for not writing this scene is somewhat juxtaposed by the fact that you spend just as long reading Goldman’s explanation for the absence of the scene as you would have done reading the scene. This ties in to another aspect of this book’s storytelling that I quite like; Goldman’s opposition with Morgenstern. The obvious example of this is the whole existence of this ‘abridged’ book, edited down as a response to the preponderance of dense satire in Morgenstern’s original work, but it continues in other aspects; the book is full of daft parentheses, seemingly to elucidate where and when the book is set but in reality muddying the waters even further, and Goldman frankly admits that he doesn’t know why they are there and that if you don’t like them, you don’t have to read them. Whatever Goldman’s reasoning for putting in these bizarre and constant parentheses, be it an actual literary device or as a whimsical fancy as befitting the genre, I do have respect for him for not only not explaining why he includes them, but flat out denying having any knowledge of said information. The ending toys with two different versions; Morgenstern’s version, in which things start going wrong and everything is left uncertain, and Goldman’s version, where everything is left happily ever after. I can appreciate both endings, and find them very interesting for the purpose of analysis, but I’m going with Goldman’s ending. Call me a reductionist if you must, but I want the happy fairy tale ending, because that’s how I want to think of this book when I’m talking about it casually. There’s even entire extracts from a supposed sequel to this book, but to tell the truth I didn’t even bother to read them, because said snippets are deliberately written to seem like fragments of a lost manuscript, and I want to read this book as a fairy tale, not as a text for literary analysis or criticism. Maybe I should have just given this book a normal book review after all.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Stories - Edgar Allan Poe I was biased going into this, as I’ve read Poe before and was already a firm believer that he is the master of the short story, but after having read pretty much all of his well-known short fiction collected in this anthology, I can’t say my opinion’s changed all that much. I think it was Huxley who described Poe’s writings as being shitty because it was ‘too poetical - the equivalent of wearing a diamond ring on every finger’, and though this is delightfully eloquent, I consider myself better than Huxley so here’s my take; Poe’s stories are some of my absolute favourite writings, eloquent without being too pretentious and grandiloquent without being too dense (for the most part). Poe is the indisputable master of writing stories that deal with the contrasting themes of the fantastic and the real (I’ve gone on enough about Todorov’s definition of the fantastic for you to know what I’m on about here), and his fantastic stories are absolutely fucking brilliant. There isn’t much to be said about the storytelling other than that it balances its inclusion of the fantastic and the real excellently (so as to allow the reader to make up their own minds as to if the events of the stories are actually supernatural or just the result of madness), it is excellent at building up tension, and the twists are always amazing (if occasionally a tad variable in how predictable they are). My favourite stories, by the way, are ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘William Wilson', both of which epitomise my aforementioned praise excellently. I also absolutely love Poe’s versatility to apply the fantastic to other settings and to interesting subject materials (even some subjects contemporary to the times Poe was writing); I was expecting an abundance of settings similar to ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, with gothic mansions and the like, but we get Italian carnivals and the Inquisition and incorporation of themes such as mesmerism, which keep the stories continually fresh and interesting if you were to read them one after the other, as I did. I do believe that Poe’s writing style is best suited to his fantastic stories. This collection sheds light on the fact that Poe has written a fair amount of diverse stuff, despite the fact that he is best known for ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ or ‘William Wilson’, the generic ‘Poe’ stories. ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, for example, is a detective story (admittedly a very fun one), but Poe’s grandiloquent verbosity does not lend itself well to quick snappy deductions and conversations; instead, we get long streams of dialogue from our detective character, followed  by a very fast and somewhat anticlimactic resolution of events that really ought to have been staggered throughout the story a tad. (I am willing to cut the story some slack, since it is among the earliest detective stories and, as mentioned above, it is great fun). There are some of Poe’s stories that tackle the theme of love, like ‘Ligeia’ or ‘Eleanora’, but then the language seems at odds with the tone of the story, as its incessant formality makes the love seem rather disingenuous. Of course I wouldn’t want to devalue how Poe’s work has inspired some other excellent genre pieces - for that they deserve some praise - but, whilst not saying that they are terrible, said stories, with the possible exception of ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, are not very memorable when placed alongside Poe’s short stories that are more obviously recognisable as Poe. No one’s favourite Poe story is 'The Golden Bug’. And that’s not just because it’s quite racist.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Bottle Imp - Robert Louis Stevenson I probably ought to have read this story aeons ago, considering how prevalent it is in modern media due to its creation of one of the archetypal British literary ‘icons’; because of this aforementioned prevalence, I went into this book with an abundance of preconceptions as to what to expect from this book, and I was surprised by how few of said ideas were actually involved in the book. Most of the things I have to say about this book revolve around how it went against what I would have expected. Everyone knows the character(s) of Jekyll and Hyde, and so I was surprised as to how, for the most part, the narrative was told from the perspective of someone else entirely; it honestly really helps the building of mystery, and if it wasn’t for the fact that a) everyone knows the twist of this story, and b) even if you didn’t know the twist, the fucking blurb spoils it, I would have absolutely been taken by this story’s enigmatic plot - convinced by its posited rationality to justify the weird goings-on, and surprised by the ending twist. This does, however, raise concerns of mine regarding how this novella is structured; obviously the grand reveal that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person needed to wait until the end of the book, but consequently this results in one incredibly lengthy explanatory chapter from Jekyll right at the end to elucidate matters. Considering that a lot of this book’s themes revolve around this final chapter, I wonder if the novella would have been better suited as a narrative entirely told by Jekyll. Arguably the main theme of this novel, the duality of man, is of course told excellently, and unlike other stories which revolve around the theme of ’the double’, the explicit explanation of where this double comes from and how it ties in with Jekyll’s own character makes for, in my opinion, a more compelling read (especially since this explanation revolves around pseudoscience, and I love the whole ‘man playing God’ malarkey that comes with said subject). For a story that is essentially gothic, featuring a character like Hyde who has been depicted as a vile little villain in many different adaptations, I was expecting a tad more penny dreadful-esque gore and violence; instead, the violence that Hyde carries out is often described matter-of-factly and succinctly, which seems at odds with the hysterical eyewitness accounts from which these events are reported from, but certainly makes sense when considering the professional detached perspectives of the narrative voices Utterson and Jekyll, law and medical professionals respectively. However, I am less inclined to believe that this was a deliberate decision in the writing style than I would be with something like A Clockwork Orange, wherein that’s the whole point; I reckon it’s just Stevenson’s own writing style, which is, don’t get me wrong, bloody great. The Penguin English Library edition of this story (i.e. the one that I read) also comes with Stevenson’s short story ‘The Bottle Imp’, which I very much enjoyed for its amazing titular concept and for its somewhat anticlimactic and yet still satisfying ending, but, despite what others have said to me, it’s not as good as Jekyll and Hyde.

Autobiography of a Corpse - Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky The blurb of this book described Krzhizhanovsky’s stories as ‘mind-bending’, and I cynically assumed that this was nothing more than a hyperbolic marketing ploy, like when people call 1984 a ‘masterpiece’ when in reality it’s a bit shit. But by fuck is this book legitimately mind-bending. I bought this thinking it sounded reminiscent of Gogol, who I love, but I also had it recommended to me by a pretentious friend who reads all the Booker Prize nominations just so he can have contentious opinions about them, which should have probably notified me of the Mieville-esque air of self-satisfied pretentiousness that this book has with its very clever and very wanky themes. Though used for roughly the same ends, there is a difference between cryptic writing and abstract  writing, and this book is certainly more of an abstract read. The stories take seemingly mundane or simple concepts from fields of study like philosophy or geography or what have you, and adapts these simple principles into complex ideas to reflect the story’s fantastic elements. In some cases this makes for some absolutely genius writing, with such simple ideas being utilised with such versatility to create some truly fascinating and amazing stuff, but in other cases it comes across really quite annoying, jumping sporadically from subject to subject and taking away from the mystery of the story’s fantastic elements with its constant need to explain said elements (often poorly and with a heavy reliance on tenuous links). This is especially evident in the stories that aren’t so much stories as they are a compilation of unrelated ideas, the main example being the story ‘Seams’. The few stories in the anthology that do not rely on long-winded verbose ramblings about abstract philosophical content (musings on the ‘I’ being an especially prolific example in the collection) were in most cases my favourite, indeed putting to mind Gogol to some extent as I had first hoped when I bought the book. All of the stories from ‘The Runaway Fingers’ to ‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’ are absolutely amazing, because they had a base concept that Krzhizhanovsky excellently built upon; it’s a great sign when an already great concept that I wouldn’t have thought of is then elaborated on in interesting directions that I wouldn’t have thought of. These stories are amazing not just because they aren’t entirely reliant on abstract wankiness, but that certainly helps their case. The eponymous story ‘Autobiography of a Corpse’ has its base concept, and doesn’t really elaborate on said base concept as much as it does add on additional abstract ideas, but arguably this works well enough because said abstract ideas link, in a weird and abstract way, to the original concept. Honestly I can’t keep on attempting to explain this; I’ve written the word ‘abstract’ too many times and it’s starting to lose meaning.

The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde Yet again have I been tricked into reading a novel that I thought would be gothic but instead just has one central vaguely gothic plot device. Indeed, a brief Google search describes this book as a ‘philosophical’ novel, which is certainly not my usual fare, but because I’m a fan of Wilde and needed an actual novel to read instead of another short story collection and am vulnerable to chicanery regarding what constitutes a gothic piece, I picked it up. I didn’t really read this novel as being especially reflective of Wilde’s own sexuality, because whilst there is something of paiderastia to be seen in some of the relationships between the male characters, such relationships hardly persist through the entirety of the book and end up being somewhat forgotten as relationships move past first meetings or characters change their standpoints on certain matters. What I did see in the book was some excellent commentary on the fin de siecle, aestheticism, and of course the theme of appearance versus reality; I’ve realised that I’ll happily read a philosophical novel so long as the philosophies it is spouting are interesting enough to read (although an interesting premise and plot also really helps, which is all well and good because this book possesses that too). I am for the most part a fan of Wilde’s wit. I’ve heard it criticised because a lot of it is just Wilde reversing statements of common wisdom or perverting cliches, and when you realise this, you see it absolutely fucking everywhere. Lord Henry is basically a mouthpiece for every melodramatic stereotypically ‘Wilde' quote you can think of, and I do think that the fact that we even have a preconception of what a stereotypical ‘Wilde’ quote ought to be is part of the problem. Despite Wilde's statement (in this book, even) that ’there is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about’, exactly how prolific and prevalent Wilde’s witticisms are in modern culture, with bags and mugs and little tiny books full of his most well-known wit and all that shit, is part of the reason why it seems so saturated and perhaps even a little bit stale. We know all of his wit, we can see the common trends behind it, and that somewhat diminishes it’s worth. Despite that big fuck-off rant, I still really enjoy Wilde’s wit, and even if you are aware of how he comes up with this shit, it’s still a great joy to read. Hell, even if you’re tired of that, there’s still some great banter from Wilde about aristocratic haughtiness to enjoy, so take your fill of that. There’s a lot to enjoy about this book. I like it a lot.

Stuff I read this month that I couldn’t be arsed to ramble about: Fantastic Tales (edited by Italo Calvino) and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. In it’s fucking entirety. Fuck you Milton.

[sol-tinyrayofsun]

Zutara Week Day 6 - Affirm:  It Was Always You (Falling For Me)

*Alright, I´m reposting this because it´s not showing up in the tags.*

This little story has been on my mind for quite some time now and I somehow made it work with the prompt. It’s really fluffy, ridiculous, and features a lot of Toph’s brilliance to mess with her friends yet always meaning well. I just had a good time writing it, it was honestly a fun ride.

I hope you enjoy it! As always, thank you for reading! Feedback and comments are always appreciated! <3 In case you prefer it, also on AO3!

Title: It Was Always You (Falling For Me)

Rating: G

Summary: When Katara let Toph convince her of giving Zuko a love potion to make him fall in love with her, she knew the chances of the plan going sideways were extremely high. Still, the last thing she expected was for Zuko to act normal. Painfully normal. Operation “Sparky Falling For Sugar Queen” turns out to be a little too complicated. (Set after Ember Island Players but before Sozin’s Comet).

----- 

 “Pst! Katara!”

The waterbender tilted her head. The kitchen appeared to be empty. Still, she could hear someone calling for her, loud and clear. She had been busy making sure they had everything ready for lunch around Zuko’s holiday house at Ember Island.

“Katara!” There it was, that voice again. “Listen up, Sugar Queen!”

Wait for a second, that was Toph’s voice. Definitely.

“Toph?” She asked, walking around the room. “Where on earth are you?”

“Inside the broomstick closet!” Toph chuckled. “Come here for a sec.”

Katara did as she said. Once she opened the door, she found Toph mischievously smirking, holding a little bottle in her hands.

“So, what is it?”

“This!” Toph replied, showing off the bottle with a grin on her face. “This is what I wanted to show you!”

“And you were hidden with all those broomsticks because…”

“Dramatic effect, Sugar Queen, never underestimate it,” she said, stepping into the kitchen hall. “Now, aren’t you going to ask what this is for?”

“Sure, Toph,” Katara let out an amused sigh. “Why is it so important?

“How do you feel about having some fun at Sparky’s expenses?”

In all honesty, the idea sounded tempting. After the dreadful night Katara had endured with that stupid play just days ago, she could use more than a little fun. Although Toph’s idea of fun could sometimes be questionable, at the very least.

“Hold up. What do you have in mind?”

“This little thing,” Toph shook the bottle up in the air. “It’s a temporary love potion.”

Katara broke down in a scandalous laugh. “Yeah, and where did you get that from?”

Toph made a defensive frown. “Hey, it’s the real deal! I bought it from a weird old lady in town. She wasn’t lying, I swear.”

“Alright, I believe you. And what do you suggest we do with it?”

“Yes, that’s the attitude!” she celebrated. “According to the weirdo, two drops of this stuff and you can make anyone fall at your feet. All you need is for the other person to consume it while looking at you. And I just thought, wouldn’t it be hilarious if Zuko just happened to suddenly be crazy in love with you? That play inspired me, that’s all I’m saying.”

Well, that sounded like a recipe for disaster. Especially considering the way that play had contributed to her latest confusion regarding her feelings for two very powerful - and very different - benders. Still, it was a tempting offer.

“Toph, that’s insane!” Hesitation could be heard in her voice. “Trust me, pranking Zuko would be entertaining, but we cannot force him to be forever in love with me! I mean, what on earth would we do then? Seems a little cruel to me.”

“See? That’s the catch. It’s temporary. Two drops would only make him fall in love with you for a couple of days, tops. Come on! I thought you had been introduced to the concept of fun.”

Spirits, screw it. Two days of some harmless fun, how bad could it be? She could use a little distraction from the constant stress they were all under.

“Are you sure the effect will wear off?”

“Absolutely. Say yes, please! You know I can always do it without you. Or to you.” A mischievous smile framed her face. “You know you want to torture Sparky a little bit.”

“Alright… Let’s do it. But if anything goes sideways it’s your responsibility.”

“Heck yeah! That’s the spirit!” Toph gave her an affectionate punch in the shoulder. “Oh man, this is going to be too fun to watch!”

And so operation “Sparky falling for Sugar Queen” was put into motion. The two girls would prepare some tea - which would undoubtedly bribe Zuko in there - and make sure he was left alone with Katara when it came to drinking it. Toph would oversee everything from a cautious distance. It was the craziest, most random idea ever. But it sure sounded like fun.

Once everything was ready, Katara waited for Zuko in the kitchen. Needless to say, she was feeling a tad nervous. Waiting by the countertop, staring at the two teacups in front of her, she felt her heart racing on her chest.

It was just for two days. And it would certainly be nice to laugh with Toph about Zuko’s ridiculous lovey-dovey attitude. Most importantly, she wouldn’t even dream to risk Toph giving her the concoction. No, her feelings were already messy enough without the help of any love potion.

“Katara, are you in here?” Zuko’s voice interrupted her overthinking. “Toph said you made tea for me…?”

Time for the show. She put on her brightest smile as Zuko sat down in front of her.

“Yes! You seemed so tired this morning, figured you could use a little boost.”

She handed him the cup with the two drops mixed in the tea.

Zuko gifted her with a thankful smile. “Thank you, that’s very nice of you.”

Nice of me… Yeah, sure. Just drink the tea and look at me.

He started drinking, only to stop after a few sips to have a little chat.

“So, Aang’s training is looking decent,” he started saying. “But I can tell he’s getting increasingly anxious. We might need to keep an eye on him, I wouldn’t want him to start avoiding our sessions.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Katara intervened. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t slack on his training. Drink your tea, it’ll get cold otherwise.”

“Alright, alright,” he complied, looking into her eyes. “Thanks again for making it.”

Katara observed him as he drank the whole thing in one go. Her golden eyes staring at her with an amused shine to them. She wondered how Zuko being in love with her would be like. He didn’t exactly give off the cheesy type vibes, though she knew how much of a dork he actually was. If you fall in love because of a potion, you’re pretty much doomed to grandiloquent gestures and infatuated declarations, right? Well, she wasn’t an expert on the subject. But she did know a thing or two about having feelings for someone.

Toph sneaked into the kitchen, placing her hands on Zuko’s shoulders and giving them one tight squeeze. “Hello there, Sparky, how are you feeling on this lovely day?”

“Hey Toph,” he greeted her. “Much better after that tea, actually.”

Despite the perfectly normal response, Toph continued with her attack.

“You know what? Sugar Queen over here confessed to me this morning that she felt she looked terrible. I’m clearly not the best judge when it comes to looks.” The vicious smile on her face was a little too obvious. “How is she looking today, Sparky? Isn’t she stunning as usual?”

Oh, no. Katara felt herself blushing. The whole operation had quickly turned into Toph having fun at the expenses of both her and Zuko. But in all honesty, how could she had ever expected otherwise?

“Um, well,” Zuko mumbled, his eyes glued to the countertop. “She looks just the same to me. Like you said, um, she’s got her usual look.”

Katara wished Toph could see the look of utter confusion in her eyes. That was not the response she had imagined.

Zuko abruptly stood up. “Alright, I think I’ll get back to training. See you two later,” he greeted them. “Oh, and Katara. Thanks again for the tea.”

‘Thanks for the tea’? So much for romantic gestures.

Toph grasped her arm as soon as Zuko was out the door.

“What on earth? That was the least romantic interaction ever.” The earthbender exclaimed, looking frustrated.

“Hey, let’s give it some time. Maybe the effect hasn’t kicked in yet.”

“Okay, we’ll wait. Man, what a bummer. I was fully expecting him to start a rant about how beautiful you are.” Toph threw her hands up in the air, grunting.

“Patience, we’ll get there,” Katara reassured her.

But am I even sure I want to get there?

Deep down, a part of her was hoping for it.

The rest of the day was spent with Toph trying her best to get Zuko to do anything remotely romantic regarding Katara, in an attempt to kick off the love potion effects. Much to her frustration, nothing seemed to do the trick. Katara wasn’t sure what to think of it. Did she feel relieved, disappointed, or maybe even bored? Truth be told, it was kind of a mix of all three.

Katara witnessed as Toph did everything she could. From suggesting they paired up in training all the way up to making them meditate together. All she got from Zuko was radio silence. Well, at least in the sense they were expecting.

“Are you sure you don’t feel a little weird, Sparky?” Toph asked him for the millionth time during dinner.

“Um, no? Why?” Zuko had a look of complete confusion on his face.

“You sure you don’t feel a little more sparky than usual? Don’t you sense some new emotions?” Toph continued. “Anything different?”

“Alright, that’s enough Toph,” Katara interrupted. “You’re scaring the poor boy.”

“Yeah, Toph, what’s all that nonsense about?” Sokka asked.

“Why should Zuko feel different?” Aang’s voice showed a tad of concern.

“Nothing, nothing,” Toph replied. “Calm down, you all. I was just wondering.”

Katara noticed the annoyed frown on her friend’s face. She seemed pissed off by the lack of results, the whole plan had been her idea after all.

After the meal, Suki stayed with them doing the dishes.

“Are you two going to tell me what’s going on already?” she asked them, with her hands on her hips and an inquisitive look in her eyes.

“Going on with what?” Toph played the innocent. “We’re just scraping plates.”

“Oh, come on! You have been acting weird all day! Especially you, Toph, asking Zuko the most random questions.”

“What do you say, Sugar Queen, should we tell her?” Toph asked.

“Sure, maybe she’ll even know why it’s not working,” Katara replied. “But Suki, promise not to tell any of the guys, alright?”

Suki let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, just spill it.”

“Okay, let me see. We made Sparky drink a love potion with his tea so he would fall in love with Katara. For two days. And before you ask, yes, it’s legit. Oh, but nothing’s happened yet.” Toph´s explanation was accompanied by a playful grin on her face.

“You’re joking, right?” Suki asked with a sarcastic smirk. “Katara would never be on board with that.”

“Actually,” she said, blushing. “I thought it was kind of a fun idea.”

“Yeah, so much for fun since Sparky hasn’t shown any signs of love and it’s been hours! He should be acting all lovey-dovey already.”

Suki burst into laughter. “Spirits, that’s hilarious! You gave him a freaking love potion and he’s acting as usual?”

“I don’t get what you’re laughing about! Something’s seriously wrong with him! Or us!” Toph complained. “Katara, are you sure you didn’t drink the potion yourself?”

“Yes, Toph, I’m absolutely positive I gave him the cup with the two drops,” Katara replied.

“Are you telling me you two don’t realize what’s going on?” Suki asked, an amused expression framing her face. “For being the ones to come up with this plan you seem rather clueless.”

A suspicion started to take shape into Katara’s mind. She couldn’t help but ask. “Suki, what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, come on!” Toph urged her. “Do you know something that we don’t?”

Suki let out a soft giggle. “Well, let’s think about it. You gave Zuko a love potion to fall for Katara, right? Toph, you say it’s a legit one. But Zuko is acting painfully normal. Even though he is under the effects of the potion.”

“Your point is?” Toph was sitting down on the countertop with a desperate expression on her face.

“If Zuko acts just as usual when he is supposed to be artificially in love with Katara… What do you think it’s the reason?”

“His heart is missing?”

“The dose wasn’t strong enough?”

“No!” Suki exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “He was already in love with her!”

Wait. What? That doesn’t make any sense.

“Spirits, Spirits, Spirits!!!” Toph jumped down the countertop, hands on her head, and on the verge of screaming. “That’s it! Suki, you’re a genius.”

Katara hadn’t even blinked. She was not even entirely sure she was still breathing. Zuko in love with her? It couldn’t be. He had even looked embarrassed by the way the play paired them together. Although she had acted embarrassed as well. And a part of her knew very well why.

“Sugar Queen, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner.” Toph poked her cheeks. “His heartbeat is all over the place whenever you’re around but again so is yours, and I thought it was just all that love/hate dynamic you’ve got going on. I had actually started to suspect he liked you, but Spirits, I didn´t realize he loves you.”

Love/hate, what? This can’t be happening.

Suki raised a brow. “Hold up, Toph, are you saying Katara’s heart beats faster when Zuko is around?”

“That’s a lie!” Katara exclaimed, snapping out. She couldn’t let her friends figure out the truth. “My heart is perfectly fine, thank you very much. And Zuko is not in love with me!”

“And I suppose you have unlimited access to his mind and that’s how you know that?” Toph deadpanned.

“No… I - That’s unfair Toph,” she managed to mumble, feeling her heart starting to race on her chest.

“As unfair as the fact that you’re heart is betraying your words in this exact second,” Toph replied.

Katara wished with all of her strength that the ground opened up and swallowed her. The entire operation had gone sideways. But not in the way she had originally expected. No, it was worse.

“Alright, alright,” Suki intervened. “Enough torturing with Katara, this was supposed to be about Zuko.”

“Thank you. Can we please go back to the point?”

Toph let out an exasperated sigh. “The point is Zuko is in love with you, Sugar Queen. But not because of the love potion, it seems like he’s been head over heels for you way before drinking that tea.”

“I seriously can't believe you didn’t figure this out sooner,” Suki said. “The question is, what are you going to do about it, Kat?”

That was a very good question indeed. One she had no answer for.

“Why should I even do something about it?” Katara asked, a confused look in her eyes.

“Because I think deep down you want to.” Suki’s tone got serious all of the sudden.

Toph placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sugar Queen, I’m sorry if my prank ended up bringing you a headache. But Suki’s right, you should confront him.”

“Confront him? We’re in the middle of a war! I don’t need any distractions.” Her head was spinning a little too fast.

“Says the girl who complied to give a love potion to Sparky,” Toph remarked.

“Katara, would you seriously prefer to have a lump on your throat until Aang has taken down Fire Lord Ozai?”

Truth be told, she would hate that. A part of her knew she had feelings for Zuko. For that poor firebender she had given a love potion to. Only to have the whole scheme backfire right on her face. Now, she had to stand up to it.

“No.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t prefer that.”

“Then hear me out because I have a plan!” Toph exclaimed, enthusiasm written all over her face. “I know how to get one last bit of fun out of this failure of an operation.”

——

The next day went out according to what the girls had planned. Still hoping for at least a bit of extra romance on Zuko’s behalf - which, unsurprisingly, never occurred - the three of them acted normal all the way until the afternoon.

After training, Toph cornered the poor Zuko on his way to the beach. Katara and Suki stayed at the shore, discreetly listening.

“Sparky, this is your last chance!” Toph exclaimed.

“My last chance for what?” The look of sheer confusion on his face was priceless to say the least.

“Come on! Please tell me you are feeling extra lovey-dovey and maybe I’ll let you walk away without making you even more uncomfortable.”

“Toph, I swear I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“You’re telling me you don’t feel any special romantic feelings today?”

“Um, no?” His voice had a strain of nervousness to it.

“And what about regular feelings? Got them for anyone? Maybe for someone you drink a lot of tea with?”

“Uh - No? Um, Toph, can I please go now?” Zuko stuttered.

“Ha! I knew it, you sneaky little bastard! That’s a lie.” Toph threw her hands up in the air. “I can tell you’re lying. I was right, heck yeah!”

Zuko anxiously tried to get past her. “Alright, sure, can I please go down to the beach now?”

“Don’t you want to know why I’m asking you this?”

“Do I have to?”

“We gave you a love potion, Sparky! A love potion mixed with that tea you drank yesterday. And you were supposed to fall in love with Miss Sugar Queen!” Toph’s was grinning from ear to ear.

Katara and Suki exchanged a concerned look. That was not part of the plan. Katara was supposed to be the one to tell Zuko about the love potion. After Toph had made sure whether he was lying or not. Then, and only maybe, she would mention the tricky subject of actual feelings.

“What on earth, Toph?” Zuko’s face was pale as a ghost. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I've been suspecting for forever that you liked her! And when I got that love potion it was just too tempting not to go for it. I thought it would be a fun experiment! Katara was also on board with it.”

“But?”

“But it only made me reaffirm my theory! What I didn’t expect is that you don’t just like her, you’re full-blown in love with her!”

“Toph, can you please tone it down? I wouldn’t want anyone else to hear this conversation,” Zuko pleaded.”

Katara was cursing Toph, Suki, Zuko, the moon, the stars, the Spirits, and herself. Toph playing matchmaker as subtle as an elephant trying to fit into her sleeping tent.

“Sparky, don’t you see Katara and Suki over there in the corner? They’re already listening!” Toph waved at the two of them, she had the most amused look on her face.

“What? Toph!” Zuko’s face was now entirely red. “You’re insane.”

“Sh, let me get to the best part,” she shushed him. “I think our dear Sugar Queen has something very important to tell you.”

Toph grabbed him by the wrist and started marching up to them.

Toph, you’ll pay for this, Katara thought as she found herself in front of Zuko.

“Now, I think Suki and I have to go do literally anything else but being here,” Toph resolved. “Alright! Everyone’s happy? See you!

“Kat, I’m sorry,” Suki mumbled. “I had no clue about this but I’ll better go.”

The two girls sprinted back to the house, where Aang and Sokka were probably taking care of dinner.

Her eyes met Zuko’s, and she felt her heart racing inside of her chest. The awkwardness of the situation was remarkable.

“So… I’m taking it you heard everything Toph said?” Zuko asked, sitting down on the shore next to her.

“Yeah,” she replied, nervously playing with the sand that surrounded them. “I’m sorry about the love potion thing. It was stupid of me.”

“I just didn’t understand the logic behind it. Were you going to let me be in love with you for all eternity?”

“The effect was supposed to wash out tomorrow…” She let out a sigh. “But I guess it’s the same now.”

“Because you realized that I acted normal around you even with the potion?”

“Exactly.” Katara took a deep breath. “Look, Zuko, I had no clue-”

“Katara,” he interrupted her. “It’s okay. I don’t mind you know.”

“So it’s true then? Are you…”

“Am I in love with you?” He rubbed the back of his neck, his whole body seemed anxious. “Yeah, I am. I guess even more than I knew.”

Silence. Just sheer silence.

Zuko rushed to continue. “It’s perfectly okay if you don’t feel the same way.”

But she did feel the same way.

“Look, I think I’m in love with you too,” she blurted out, feeling her cheeks turning bright red.

“You are?” His voice was tinted with astonishment.

She nodded in agreement. Then, she proceeded to say something else. “The night of the play, Aang felt terrible about the possibility of us being together. He kissed me and… and I pulled apart. I was horribly confused. A part of me knew he has always expected to be with me. But it didn’t feel right.”

Katara made a pause. She couldn’t believe she was actually saying those words out loud.

“Go on, I’m listening,” Zuko encouraged her.

“Well, I knew I felt something for you for a long time already. But with what happened the night of the play, and now this whole love potion thing… I realize I’m in love with you too.”

Zuko brushed his fingertips against the back of her hand. “Thank you, for being honest with me.”

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you for not wanting to kill me for giving you a love potion.”

“Now what?”

“I don’t know. We still have a war to win.”

A moment of quietness invaded the space between them. Their fingers were intertwined, both of their hearts racing. They were savoring the confirmation of their feelings - and embracing the uncertainty - together.

“Do you want to wait?”

“Wait?”

“Yeah, until this whole mess is over,” he explained. “We can figure out things slowly, I don’t mind. It’s not like I’m suddenly going to stop having feelings for you.”

“So you would still be in love with me… And I would still be in love with you…”

“But we focus on winning the war first.”

Katara tilted her to look straight at him. “Can I occasionally do this, though?”

He made a slight frown. “Do what?”

She didn’t give him much time to wonder. In a split second, she leaned onto him and placed a kiss on his lips. It was sweet, quick, and a little timid. But it was still the first kiss they shared.

“So?” Katara asked, a light smile framing her face. “Can I?”

Zuko placed his arm around her shoulder, allowing her to rest her head on the creek of his neck.

He squeezed her hand, chuckling. “Yeah, I think you can.”

“You know  what? I’m really glad Toph convinced me to give you that stupid love potion.”

---- I hope you enjoyed this fluffy little thing I wrote! Feedback is always appreciated! <3 Thank you for reading!