#i hope she becomes an ally

[linusbenjamin]

Person of Interest 1.23 | Firewall

[widowshill]

If you're still doing character bingo and haven't gotten her yet: Laura Murdoch Collins <3

a few people requested her and i think it's because everyone knows that i'm batshit (ha) insane about this woman. what if bertha mason was a blonde femme fatale in the middle of collinsport's most toxic manslaughter polycule. i'm in love with her. laura collins wants to grill me to a crisp? medium or medium well my beautiful beloved terrible wife?

[seyaryminamoto]

The Shadows in her Reflection: Sokkla Saturdays 2023

Day 6: Fall

Rated M

On FF.net//On AO3

News from the Fire Nation seldom offered any positive revelations, and it was no different this time. Zuko never seemed to write just to say hi – it was no surprise that was the case, seeing as the Fire Lord went from one problem to the next, and he never seemed to have enough time to simply enjoy life as it came. Thus, the messenger hawk would bear unwanted tidings as it ever did, and Aang received it warily, vainly hoping it might just be better news than expected, for once…

And that was how he had learned that Zuko was on his way to Air Temple Island, bringing a wounded Sokka and Azula along with him.

That he'd found them, and that they were both alive still, was a relief… but Aang tensed up as he worried about the meaning of this new development: were they on their way to Air Temple Island as prisoners, or as the Fire Lord's guests?

"How could he bring her here?!" Katara exclaimed, fretting frantically in the corridors of their home. "Zuko's lost his mind! We're talking about Azula: Azula! He was calling for her head on a stake the last time we saw him, and now he's just… hanging out with her? Traveling with her and bringing her HERE?!"

"Katara… calm down," Aang sighed, taking her shoulders in his hands. Katara's fury didn't dwindle upon hearing that.

"I'm perfectly calm," Katara said, her voice failing to convey her words' sentiment, no matter how she stifled her emotions.

"We don't know what's going on exactly. But Sokka is coming and that's a good thing, right?" Aang said, with an awkward smile. "Let's focus on that, maybe?"

"He's injured," Katara scowled. "Zuko didn't explain why. How do we know it wasn't her doing?"

"Well, he said they were traveling together willingly…"

"Yeah, sure. Bet Azula told him that," Katara huffed, rolling her eyes and walking off irritably.

Aang sighed: his wife had been in an abysmal mood ever since the North Pole and, particularly, after her suspicions that Sokka had been taken by Azula against his will had begun.

It only occurred to the Avatar now that perhaps she would be even angrier to know that her brother might have left with Azula by his own volition.

The question of why they would have done such a thing certainly troubled Aang plenty.

The last auburn leaves still held onto the tree branches of Air Temple Island, the home he had worked hard to build for himself and Katara. It was still a small building, perhaps one day he would expand it further to fit new acolytes… but for now, it was his home. And as much as he didn't feel as strongly about Azula as Katara did, a part of him certainly was apprehensive over letting someone that dangerous and difficult anywhere close to one of the few places meant to be a haven for himself and the people Azula usually looked down on. He could only hope that Azula might just not be the person they always had thought she was, or that she had changed for the better somewhere down the line…

The dread over who she might be nowadays didn't recede once a Fire Nation airship began descending on the island, merely a day after the missive alerting them of their visit arrived. Aang swallowed hard, smiling as kindly as he could while Katara fumed beside him, outside the temple, glaring daggers at the vehicle as it landed carefully by the island's bay.

Her fury decreased only slightly once she saw her brother climbing out of the airship: his torso appeared to be covered in bandages, and he wasn't walking with his usual, strong gait. Instead, he was clearly in pain: he ambled strangely, reaching for support on…

On Azula's shoulder.

A new kind of dread dawned on Katara, countering her impulsive urges to rush over to her brother and ensure he was fine while asking what the hell had happened. Instead, she remained paralyzed as she watched Azula holding Sokka upright, no sign of madness or danger in her features. Her hair was neat, orderly… her clothes were perfectly smooth and decent rather than old and tattered.

And Ursa was there too. Right by Azula's other side.

Of course, Zuko had been the first to descend from the airship, awkwardly waving at them as they watched them from a vantage point deeper inside the island.

"W-what… what is going on?" Katara gasped, eyes wide. Aang blinked blankly.

"I… don't know. I really don't know," he said.

"Da! Da!"

Bumi's laughter behind them gave away that their son was up to his usual mischief: he was highly active often, and right now, he had picked out one of his favorite kites, no doubt eager to have Aang cast it into the air and use his bending to boost the toy into the skies.

"Bumi, go play in the backyard, okay?" Aang smiled awkwardly, kneeling before his son. "I'll be right there to help you with the kite once I'm done talking with grown-ups, okay?"

"Grown-ups…?" Bumi repeated: Aang nodded, and Bumi stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry at his father. "Boo!"

"You don't have to boo grown-ups," Aang laughed, patting his son's wild hair. "It won't take me too long, okay? I'll be right with you."

"'Kay, Da…" Bumi pouted: he kicked a small rock in light retaliation for his father's decision to leave the games for later, and he scurried off without another word.

"You sure you'll have time for that? Because I doubt we'll be done with this anytime soon," Katara said, her glare fixed upon the Fire Lord.

"Better if Bumi's not here for it, though," Aang said, with a sigh. "He'll just get upset if things get out of hand. Which… they might."

"You're not implying I'd be the one to make things… uncivil, are you?" Katara asked. Aang laughed guiltily, unwilling to answer his wife's question.

By then, Zuko had finally marched up the road, progressing far enough to reach them. He offered his married friends an awkward smile before bowing reverently in their direction.

"I'm sorry I came by at such short notice, and I know this is very inconvenient, but…" he said, rising fully to his height again. "Well, I'm sure you'd like to help Sokka yourself. As you can see, he's here after all and…"

"And he got hurt. Badly, from what you explained," Katara huffed, turning her attention to her brother, who had only just slowed down behind Zuko. Azula loosened his arm around her shoulders, letting him stand on his own. "I can't help but wonder who's to blame for that."

Azula tensed up: meeting Katara's glare shouldn't have been foreboding or off-putting, but having grown to cherish blue eyes of that same hue as much as she had, Azula certainly didn't thrive in seeing a similar gaze charged with such contempt towards her.

"It's not… it's not Azula's fault," Sokka said, raising a hand. Zuko crooked an eyebrow.

"What he means is, it wasn't Azula's fire," Zuko clarified unnecessarily, and Sokka glared at him. Katara scoffed.

"Was it yours, then?"

"W-what? No!" Zuko winced. "I…! I won't deny there were many errors of judgment involved…"

"Including on Sokka's part," Azula said. Sokka scoffed, bumping her hip lightly with his own.

"But Sokka took that wound because he was trying to… protect someone," Zuko said, leaving the identity of the object of said protection entirely vague, on purpose…

Only for Sokka himself to scoff and reveal it himself:

"I was protecting Azula. Zirin attacked her, she was wounded, couldn't fight back properly so I took down Zirin and saved Azula too. I'm just efficient that way," Sokka said, with a proud grin.

"Right," Katara said, blinking blankly. "And now the real story is…?"

"Hey! That's the real story!" Sokka squeaked, though he winced afterwards as the burn on his back reacted to his exclamations.

"Sokka," Azula warned him, glancing at his back warily even if there was no way she'd see anything when he was dressed up and covered in bandages, underneath those clothes. Sokka groaned.

"Stupid inconvenient burn. Can't even argue with my sister properly…"

"Guys… I know this is a very confusing and troubling situation?" Aang said, stepping forward, between Katara and the newcomers. "But I think you guys really ought to explain things more thoroughly than that. The last we knew, you were leading a manhunt after Azula and Sokka was her captive…"

"Oh, that final bit was a figment of all of your imaginations. Seriously, a guy can't even go on a road trip with, uh…"

"A firebending menace and wanted criminal?" Azula finished, helpfully. Sokka winced.

"Not how I was going to put it, but sure," he said. "Anyway, point is I was just going on a journey with Azula and there's nothing wrong with that!"

"There's something wrong with it when she is, indeed, a wanted criminal," Katara hissed. "Not to mention giving us no real information on what you were doing…!"

"You would've overreacted if I'd told you all along," Sokka pouted. Katara huffed, and Aang raised his hands as though to mediate between them. Azula, however, nudged Zuko with an elbow.

"They want to give us a run for our money as far as conflictive siblings are concerned, looks like," she said. Zuko scoffed.

"Well, if that's how it is, I'd rather they win and learn how to get along with you," he said, between gritted teeth. Azula gasped in outrage.

"But that'd be so boring…!" she said, accusingly. Despite himself, Zuko was smiling when he rolled his eyes.

"Look… let's just talk things over?" Aang pleaded to Sokka and Katara, who glared at each other with varying degrees of goofiness. Sokka scoffed, breaking his pout and shaking his head.

"Fine, we'll talk. But I get to say my share of stuff and you get to listen, Katara. No pretending I'm too stupid to understand what my own choices or experiences were, alright?"

"If you're already warning me that way, I'm sure this tale is going to be rich," Katara huffed, shaking her head.

"And… uh, sorry," Aang said, glancing at Azula with unease. "But it might be better if you're not there for this conversation."

"Wait, what? Why?!" Sokka exclaimed. Katara snorted.

"No real need to ask. Goes without saying," she grumbled.

"They're worried that I might be influencing your judgment in my favor, of course," Azula recited. Sokka yelped in horror. "Worth noting that, if I had intended to do that, it would be effective whether I'm around or not…"

"True! Wait, that's not the point!" Sokka winced, cheeks flushing. Azula smirked, though, raising her hands defensively.

"Mind you, I have no problem with waiting out here. Someone would like to see the look of these trees in the fall, I suspect," Azula said. Sokka's behavior shifted upon hearing those words. "But it's also worth noting that, if I were part of that meeting, you'd most likely have an ally rather than an enemy in me. Just saying."

She addressed the statement at Katara with a dry grin. The waterbender glared at her, unable to interpret her words properly. Azula turned towards her mother, who smiled reassuringly.

"We can stay together, enjoy the sights," Ursa decided. Azula nodded in agreement before sighing heavily.

"Just need… well, maybe a cup of water would do. For now, at least?" Azula said, glancing over at Sokka. He nodded, but Ursa held a hand up in his direction.

"I think I have a solution," Ursa said. Both Azula and Sokka appeared startled to hear that, but the older woman simply smiled kindly, taking Azula's arm. "Go on, now. Both of you."

Zuko nodded, clasping Sokka's shoulder and leading him indoors now. Katara glared at Azula scathingly one more time before following them, quick to bicker with Sokka over whatever he'd done to get his back in such bad shape. Aang glanced at the Fallen Princess wistfully: it was as though he wanted to forgive her, to overcome the heavy burdens that hung between them and Azula, but he didn't quite know how yet. Azula didn't shrink under his gaze, and she glared at the blue stripe of his arrow, over the back of his head, as he marched into the nearest building with the rest of his friends.

"Zuko and Sokka will be good advocates for you. I know they will be. But, in the mean time…"

Azula raised an eyebrow as Ursa smiled a little, withdrawing an object delicately from her pocket. It was covered in velvet fabric for its protection, but Ursa pulled it back quickly…

And Azula saw Yue again.

The Moon Spirit appeared dejected for just a moment before she brightened up at once, meeting her gaze with her own. Azula smiled back even before properly processing what she was looking at:

It was a mirror. A pristine, golden, regal mirror that Ursa urged her to raise her hands for.

"This… this was a gift I was given during my marriage to your father. For the life of me, I cannot remember who gave it to me at all," Ursa laughed. "It's a beautiful mirror, however. I was pleased to retrieve it once I came back to the Palace… but I struggled with looking at myself just as much as I used to, back in the day. The adornments of the frame are far better to admire than simply looking at oneself, wouldn't you say?"

"I'd likely agree, in other circumstances," Azula laughed.

"Do you like it?" Ursa asked. Azula raised an eyebrow in her direction. "You don't have to keep it if you'd rather not… maybe you hoped Sokka would give you another one. But, if it's just until you can replace it with a better one, I… I wanted you to have it."

"Mom…" Azula froze: a rather new, unexpected feeling burst aflame in her chest, as torrents of emotion arose inside her. Ursa smiled kindly at her, taking her hands in her own.

"It's nowhere near enough, but… I wanted to give you something meaningful, something you would value," she said. "And after I heard about the mirror, how it broke…! I figured I would give it to you sooner too, but, well… I wasn't going to invade your space with Sokka while we were on our journey here, it felt like a bad idea."

"Well, we weren't doing anything inappropriate anyway…" Azula mumbled, cheeks flushed.

"You still spent most of your time with him. I'd rather not get in the way of that," Ursa smiled. "Anyway… it's yours, if you want it."

Azula gritted her teeth: again, she couldn't possibly remember the last time she received a gift from her mother. She wasn't even sure Ursa had given one to her personally this way.

"Thank you. I… thanks. This really is valuable," Azula smiled, trying to contain the foolish tears that dared bloom in the corners of her eyes. "You didn't have to, but… but you did it anyway."

"You can see Yue properly in it?" Ursa asked. Azula nodded promptly, and her mother grinned. "Wonderful."

"Guess you'd like to see the fall, wouldn't you?" Azula asked the girl in the mirror, who smiled brightly and nodded.

"I'm so happy to see you again!"

"I can tell," Azula laughed. "I'm sorry I couldn't fix things any sooner, but we're okay. Sokka's supposed to be healed soon, by his sister."

"That's good," Yue smiled kindly, hands joined by her chest. "I hope she will help. Did she give you a hard time, though…?"

"Tried, but I didn't really let her," Azula smiled. "Anyway…"

She turned towards the trees, raising the mirror so Yue could see the hues of gold and auburn across the leaves… but her attention was quickly seized by something, just as Yue's was:

"Is that another airship?"

"A… police airship, apparently. I had no idea they had that kind of budget," Azula said, blinking blankly as the dark airship, having stealthily approached the island, descended by the shore right by the Fire Nation airship they had arrived on.

Evidently, the sole person who climbed off the vehicle wasn't the one in charge of steering: Toph Beifong marched in their direction with strong footing, and she raised her chin in acknowledgement at Azula once she finally reached the spot where she and Ursa stood.

"'Sup?" she said, bluntly. Azula raised an eyebrow at her casual, careless greeting.

"You were invited to the party too?" she asked.

"More like I figured I'd crash it when I heard Sparky's fancy ship had been sighted," Toph smirked. "They're all here?"

"We arrived just a moment ago, ourselves," Azula said. "I'm not welcome in their meeting. Apparently Katara thinks I'll beg and plead for mercy…"

"Pfft. You have too much dignity for that, for better or for worse," Toph laughed. "Of all people, you, groveling at her feet? Not a chance."

"I wouldn't particularly want to do that, no," Azula acknowledged, grinning dryly. "But I'm sure you're allowed to go in and tell them what a nightmare I am if you wish…"

"You're a nightmare now? Says who?" Toph smirked, stepping forward and passing between Ursa and Azula: she raised a fist, however, launching it towards Azula, only for the Princess to catch it firmly. Toph smirked. "You're fun, is what you are. I'll see if I can piss off Katara enough to make her rage more at me and leave you be."

"Guess that could be a tall order… but go on ahead," Azula smiled slightly, releasing Toph's hand. The earthbender offered her a cheeky grin, patting Ursa's shoulder too, before marching into the building.

"Then… shall we go see the sights?" Azula said: Yue smiled in the mirror, and with that, Azula and Ursa set out to wander the island.

Neither one knew much about what kinds of trees they were looking at, nor could they answer most of Yue's questions pertaining the location they were only just visiting for the first time. The sea was also beautifully colorful, and Yue appeared to cherish that, perhaps even more than the trees around them…

"It's restless, though," she said. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"It tends to be, in my experience," she said. "Some rather harsh waves rolled me and Sokka back when…"

She froze halfway through her statement, cheeks heating up when she remembered what, exactly, had followed their battle against the violent waves. Tingles of ghostly desire rushed inside her, reminding her of just how pleasant the experience had been… of how much she wanted to try it again, as soon as Sokka was in shape for it.

All of which she certainly didn't want to talk about with her mother, much less with Yue.

"Oh? You visited the beach in Ember Island, then?" Ursa grinned. "I hope you had fun."

Azula smiled and nodded as calmly as possible – she had the bad feeling that her mother wouldn't take too long to understand just how much fun they'd had indeed…

But before Ursa could pry into it some more, or poke Azula about it any further, a rustling sound and a childish cry caught their attention: Bumi, Katara and Aang's child, appeared to be jumping and pulling a string desperately, but whatever he was doing, it was to no avail…

"Oh, dear! What's the matter?" Ursa gasped, approaching quickly.

Azula studied the scene before her with a frown: the boy's string went upwards, into the treetop above him… all the way to where a kite was tangled in the tallest branches.

"Kite stuck…" Bumi said, nervously, approaching Ursa with wide eyes. "I call Da…!"

"Your father's busy right now, I'm afraid. I doubt he'll be able to come fetch it," Azula said, stepping closer and studying the situation with a slight frown. "What did you do, exactly? Did you airbend it into the tree by mistake?"

"I… don't know how," Bumi said, shyly. Azula eyed him with uncertainty.

"You don't?"

The boy wasn't an airbender? How surprising if the last airbender's child hadn't inherited the skill… weren't Air Nomads supposed to always be benders? Had the combination of two different ethnicities diminished the odds for the boy to be born a bender?

He seemed self-aware at her question, though… as though he had tried to bend and failed. As though his father had tested him to find out whether he could do it or not. As though he was already pressuring himself to be as good as Aang was… and he couldn't ever hope to measure up to the Avatar.

Azula gritted her teeth: she should not feel any manner of responsibility or empathy towards the boy her mother was currently speaking to reassuringly, letting him know she'd get his father as soon as the meeting ended…

"I could try and get it myself," Azula said: Ursa raised an eyebrow, looking at her in surprise while Bumi squealed happily. "Though be silent as I do it, understood? No ridiculous, noisy squealing or I'll climb right off."

"Quiet!" Bumi exclaimed, covering his mouth with his hands. Azula nodded.

"Good."

"Azula, are you sure about this?" Ursa asked, gripping her arm: Azula nodded, handing the mirror to her all over again. Ursa clasped it nervously.

"I've had to do menial, strange, mundane things far more often than you might imagine since well over ten years ago," Azula said. "I'll be fine. Just… wait there."

The Princess frowned as she began assessing what to do: the kite's string had gotten tangled in more than one branch, stuck in smaller branches, looping around some of them. It seemed that the boy's attempts to fly the kite, wherever they had happened, had resulted in a most unfortunate outcome where too much string had been loose and ripe to wind up in the messiest shape possible.

Thus, Azula started by climbing the nearest trees, untangling whatever she could of the string, always on her way to the kite that nestled near the top branches…

"Be careful!" Ursa called out.

"That one!" Bumi exclaimed, unhelpfully pointing at whatever new tangle Azula was due to undo – she wasn't about to glance back at him to confirm what direction he was pointing her towards.

"Kids…" she grumbled softly. "Definitely not going to get any of my own. Definitely…"

Though, if Sokka wanted some, she might just have to think about it. A little.

Her cheeks flushed at the thought: amending her bond with her mother, even if it was far from a done deal, might have also brought about foolish thoughts that she might just be a decent mother one day… though maybe she wouldn't be that bad at it. Maybe.

Oh, but this was a bother. After the fifth tangle, and still many more complicated ones to go, all willingness to ponder procreation certainly had fled her mind. She'd have a word with the damn Avatar, once she was finished with this ridiculous, self-appointed mission…

Inside, matters weren't going any more smoothly than Azula's retrieval of the kite was: Sokka rolled his eyes a thousand times, it seemed, as his sister healed his back while ranting endlessly about what a fool he had been, running off on a random adventure without explaining what was happening, especially with that kind of company, complaining about his lack of communication, his irresponsibility, his carelessness…

And then Toph shoved the doors open, startling everyone with her sudden arrival.

"And hello there, Team! What did I miss?" she smirked, proudly.

"Toph!" Zuko gasped, looking at her in surprise. Aang blinked blankly.

"You didn't have to come here…" he said.

"That's not a great way to greet your friend, Twinkle Toes. What a jerk you've become. That's what fatherhood did to you, huh?" Toph said, punching his shoulder. Aang winced at the impact.

"I'm not saying you weren't welcome! Just… I'm surprised you wanted to drop by at all," Aang said, with a small smile.

"Guess I felt responsible for a thing or two around here," Toph said, rubbing the back of her neck before raising her chin at Sokka, stretched across a futon where his sister was healing him thoroughly. "How's the trip been, Sokka?"

"Was fine until Katara decided to chew me out for having a life," Sokka pouted.

"A life? You're saying you took an indefinite leave from the council because you're having a life?!" Katara exclaimed.

"Exactly!" Sokka rebuffed her. "They're fine without me for now, I'm sure…"

"You were due to become the chairman! Aang's been doing your work when it wasn't even his turn!" Katara scolded him. Sokka sighed, glancing at Aang apologetically.

"It's okay… though I'd rather you were back, too. You're better at handling politics than I am," Aang said. Sokka sighed and shook his head.

"It was impossible for me to focus on that while dealing with, well, all of what I was dealing with! So excuse me for being efficient about resolving my main problems so that I could go back to work properly once that was done…"

"What, exactly, were you trying to resolve?" Katara scoffed. "You were worried about the moon, but last I knew, you hadn't figured anything out with that…!"

"That's… not exactly the case anymore."

Katara froze, the water dripping out of her control and spilling down Sokka's flanks. He winced at the sensation, glancing over his shoulder at the sister who eyed him skeptically.

"What… does that mean, exactly?" she said, pointedly, softly.

"Means Azula's got some mystical wonky connection with Yue."

Sokka froze: Toph made the statement carelessly, relaxing against a wall, arms folded over her chest… Zuko stared at her in disbelief, mostly over her nonchalance, whereas Aang and Katara gaped in utter confusion.

"She's… what?" Katara said. "Connected to…? That can't be!"

"It is true," Zuko said: Katara scoffed, glaring at him next.

"You're actually believing something your sister said? Zuko, you always said she's the biggest liar you've ever known!"

"Doesn't mean this isn't the truth," Zuko sighed, shaking his head. "She knew things that… that only Yue would've known. Well, you would've known too, you were there, but you wouldn't have told Azula about the things I said to you when we met in the Northern Water Tribe's Oasis, or would you?"

"Zuko, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have talked to Azula about anything at all, why would I talk to her about…?!" Katara started… then she froze. "Wait. She… she knows what you said that day?"

"What? What did he say?" Aang blinked blankly. Toph snickered.

"Zuko's heart is racing! Someone's nervous…!"

"Shut up!" Zuko squealed, cheeks flushing as Toph cackled. "No one needs to know what I said…!"

"He called me a 'big girl' and mocked me for being sure that I could protect Aang with my bending," Katara finished. Zuko winced, covering his face with his hands as Aang gasped in horror, and Toph, naturally, snorted and laughed with wicked delight. "You're telling me, though… that Azula knew that? Sokka, you didn't…"

"I wasn't there. Literally learned about it just when Azula said it out loud," Sokka said, pushing himself upright. "Moreover? She knew things about my relationship with Yue that… well, none of you would have known. Like the place where we first kissed, or the first gift I gave her. Or the weird way in which I tried to flirt with Yue… though Katara overheard that too, but evidently she wouldn't have told Azula about that either, right?"

"Clearly I wouldn't have told her a damn thing. I mean, when would I have done that, to begin with?" Katara said, frowning as she took her seat near Sokka, frowning. "I… no. I don't understand. How would Yue… connect to Azula spiritually in any way? Why would she choose Azula?"

"I'm not even sure that she did. But maybe she did and… maybe it's a good thing," Sokka said. Katara's confused glare made him sigh. "Look… I know it's weird to fathom after all these years that maybe Azula was only ever, well, someone who went through things she couldn't really handle. She came from the same environment as Zuko, and we gave him a chance…"

"Yeah, because we had no choice," Katara said, bluntly. Zuko scoffed. "It's true! We let you join us so you'd teach Aang firebending: it's not that I'm saying it was a mistake, I'm just saying we weren't doing it because we took pity on you or something. We needed you: I don't need Azula, and I don't know who of you does, but…"

"Yue does," Sokka said. Katara frowned, but this time, it was Aang who spoke.

"Why's that?" Aang asked, quietly.

"I… I don't really understand why Yue's only started doing this now," Sokka said. "But she has wishes, dreams she couldn't fulfill. Why is Azula the one to fulfill them? I have no clue, but… maybe she feels a kinship towards her. They're both princesses who went way too far to serve their people: Yue did it to save them, and she paid a price she never should have. She made the right choice, but… it wasn't fair that she'd have to do that. Meanwhile, Azula's every awful choice throughout the war was for the sake of fulfilling what she was taught as her duty to the Fire Nation. Doesn't mean it was okay, but it does mean that… that doing all those things destroyed her. She's been lost in life for a decade, pretty much. She didn't have a purpose until she started seeing Yue."

"How… exactly does she see Yue?" Aang asked, crooking an eyebrow.

"It's… kind of how she was seeing her mother's mirages, before," Sokka explained, breathing deeply. "She thought it was her mental illness acting up again, at first. But I'm sure it's the real Yue. There's no way this is just her subconscious mind speaking. So… she sees her in reflections of all kinds. Water, mirrors… I got her a mirror so she could talk with her more easily. It broke in the fight we had in prison, when she was talking to Zirin, trying to get through to her. Didn't really work, Zirin went ballistic on her and in the fight, well…"

"Wait… that's how you got hurt?" Katara asked, frowning. "Did you jump between them or something?"

"Well, only after I threw my boomerang and knocked out Zirin?" Sokka smiled awkwardly. Katara raised her eyebrows. "I just jumped in front of the last flames she threw at Azula. She couldn't move because she was wounded, so…"

"Ah. So, she couldn't move. That's a totally logical and reasonable motive to jump in the path of incoming danger," Katara said, with a dry grin. Sokka shrugged.

"Sounded like a reasonable choice at the time. Still does, actually," he said. Katara scoffed.

"Sokka… you're losing it," she determined. Sokka rolled his eyes. "I get that maybe this whole thing wasn't about Azula but about Yue, which is honestly a bit of a relief to know? But at the same time, what exactly are you expecting will happen here? How do you know Azula didn't do something weird or messed up to cause Yue to connect to her…?"

"When I came across her in the North Pole, Azula wanted nothing but to get rid of Yue. That's very much why she was there, she assumed Yue would sort of… flow out of her once she reached her hometown," Sokka said. "I even… well, took her to the oasis. Hoped it might help Yue return to the koi fish, kind of? Still didn't happen."

"So… she doesn't want this?" Aang asked. Sokka shrugged.

"Didn't at first. By now, though… they're friends," Sokka said. "We didn't give Azula a chance, guys: Yue did. And I only started doing it because Yue did. What I've found since then is… Azula is so much more than any of us ever imagined she was."

"So much more… what?" Katara asked, with a dry grin. "Dangerous? Unpredictable? Dishonorable? Twisted?"

"Strong. Intelligent. Profound!" Sokka nearly squeaked, glaring at Katara. "Could you stop pretending you have all the answers to everything for ten seconds and listen to me when I say that Azula has value you couldn't possibly fathom? You believed in Aang blindly when we met him and I refused to listen, and you proved me wrong! Why is it impossible to imagine that this could be a similar situation, just, the other way around?"

"Because this is ridiculous! You're talking about Azula, Sokka!" Katara scoffed. "Why the hell are you trying this hard to defend her and stand up for her and…?"

"Oh, I know that one: it's because he's banging her, right?"

Sokka froze, paling immediately: Katara was left mid-sentence, and she turned her head slowly towards the careless Toph with utmost disbelief. Aang blinked blankly… and Zuko gasped.

"Toph…?!" Zuko exclaimed. Toph scoffed at his reaction, shaking her head.

"You knew that already, you doofus. What're you getting all worked up about? Not news for you, I told you so in Ba Sing Se…"

"I wasn't sleeping with her in Ba Sing Se!" Sokka squeaked: by now, his cheeks had flushed instead… and Katara turned an outraged set of cerulean eyes on him.

"Oh, not by then? When, then, did it start, exactly?!" she bellowed. "Sokka, is this true?! Is it?!

His silence spoke for itself this time, and Katara gasped as she rose from her spot, no longer healing his mostly patched-up back.

"Sokka…! Hell, you've lost your damn mind! You can't be serious…! Toph is joking. Tell me she's joking!"

"Toph… is messing with me. Like she loves to do!" Sokka growled. Toph snickered.

"I mean, yeah, but… I can feel that heartbeat, Meathead. It's not the same as before," she smirked. "No more 'I wanna but I don't dare', more like 'if I weren't in this dumb meeting I'd be pinning her to a wall and having my way with her right now', right?"

"You…" Zuko said, turning towards Sokka with a raised, pointed finger. "You… you lied! You weren't just sleeping naked in Ember Island because you sleep naked in the Fire Nation, were you?!"

The Fire Lord's grand declaration left everyone in the room stunned in utter silence for a good five seconds… then Katara yelped, and shortly afterwards, Aang and Toph burst out with laughter. Zuko's cheeks flushed, and he glared at his laughing friends reproachfully.

"He…! He said he was only doing it because the Fire Nation weather makes him…! Ugh! Why the hell did I believe you at all?!" Zuko roared, stomping up to Sokka, who grimaced and raised his hands defensively. "Are you involved with my sister?! Answer me!"

"Where the hell is this nonsense even coming from…?" Katara said, eyes wide with horror. "Sokka, are you nuts?! Azula?!"

"I… fine! Yes! I'm involved with her!" Sokka exclaimed, cheeks flushed even when his face was a mask of determination. "It hasn't been that long since I started traveling with her, but I've never felt the way I she makes me feel before, okay?!"

"What the hell is that supposed to even mean?" Katara winced. "What, are you aroused upon being… scared?"

"What? I'm not scared!" Sokka squeaked. Katara glared at him skeptically. "I'm not! I… I know you are, sure, but…"

"I'm not scared of Azula! I could put her in her place if I wanted to…!"

"Sure, and that's why you're so pissed at me, first for traveling with her, then for being her friend, and now…"

"For doing her in," Toph finished for him. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Love how helpful you're being, Toph! Nice work!"

"I do try…"

"I'm not scared of her!" Katara exclaimed, again. "I'm just…! Sokka, what the hell is the matter with you? An affair with Azula behind Suki's back? I know things between you haven't been great, but…!"

"Things between us are better than ever right now, actually, because they ended," Sokka said, with a dry grin: Katara's jaw dropped. "And you know what? It's been… liberating, even. I can't believe how much better I feel now that we've cleared the air, talked things through and fully grappled with the reality that… that we're not each other's future! And we don't need to be! Sure, yes, she's pissed at me and probably will always be pissed at me, but…"

"So, you… rebounded with Azula?" Katara asked, with a grimace. Sokka huffed.

"I didn't rebound. You don't get it, nobody is likely to, and you know? That's kind of it," Sokka said, shaking his head. "What's going on between us defies anything I've ever known, okay? It's not like Yue, it's not like Suki… it's something else entirely. I don't know where it's going to go, if it'll go anywhere at all…! But I never imagined that I'd tell her I loved her as early as I have. But… I said it anyway. So… there. That's how it is."

"You… love her?" Zuko repeated, blinking blankly. Toph whistled.

"That's a taller order than I thought. You sure went in fast with the feelings, bud. Should've enjoyed the no-strings-attached period a bit longer, if you ask me…" Toph chuckled. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"I don't think that period really happened here," he said. "After we figure out how to fully help Yue, get her to see the world, all the seasons, experience everything she can through this bond with Azula… well, Azula and I will most likely stick together after Yue is back to her lunar duties, okay? And I have no idea on what terms we'll be together going forward, no idea if it'll last a lifetime or two months, though I really hope it's a lifetime instead…"

"Sokka, you had a chance to spend a lifetime with someone who wasn't a known criminal and terrorist, and you just happened to pick her?" Katara said, dryly. "Suki was perfect for you!"

"Pfft. I have no idea what makes you think that… but maybe I don't mesh well with perfection if you're right to say that," Sokka said. Katara's eyes widened. "I nearly proposed to her, Katara. I backed down when I knew it wasn't the life I wanted."

"And Azula is the one you'd want forever instead?" Aang asked. "I mean… if you're not thinking about it that way, I guess it's one thing, but…"

"Look, it's up to her if she still wants me after all is said and done," Sokka said. "But… the more I've gotten to know her, the more I'm convinced this is the life I've always wanted. I'm not joking around, this isn't just… banging, the way Toph puts it. Yue connected to Azula spiritually… and I think I connected with her too in just about every sense that counts. It's crazy that we've been traveling together for only a few months, and I already can't imagine my life without her in it. They say you don't know what you've got until you lose it… but sometimes? Sometimes you find what you didn't know was missing in your life and you know better than to let go. And that's what happened with us."

Katara blinked blankly before shaking her head, pacing inside the room. Zuko stared at Sokka in confusion: Sokka held his gaze defiantly, and the reality of what he was saying seemed to sink in then.

"You… love my sister," Zuko whispered. "That's… that's a new one."

"I know. But… was about damn time someone did," Sokka said. Zuko gritted his teeth, lowering his gaze.

"You could've… said that's how it was. I mean, I didn't really like the idea, but… I don't even know why I didn't. Still, if you love her…"

"You're still out of your mind," Katara said. Sokka sighed and shrugged.

"Well, not so far out of it that I ever expected you'd change yours, so I'm still not that crazy…"

"Sokka: you can't love Azula. Even if you do, you'd better stop doing it quickly," Katara said. Sokka scowled. "She's a menace! She's a hazard! You're entertaining her for now, but what about once she gets bored? She'll go right back to bad habits the minute she can't get what she wants from you anymore, and then you'll have been aiding and abetting a known criminal and terrorist who might just murder half our family if anyone looks at her funny!"

"That's not who Azula is!" Sokka exclaimed.

"You're sure of that, no kidding!" Katara said, with a dry grin. "But she's manipulating you, like she manipulates people all the time, like every single person who knows her ever said she did! Mai, Ty Lee? They said so too, and so did Zuko before he started being all… brotherly! If that's what this is!"

"Hey, I don't think Azula is doing that right now, okay? She's… acting a little different than usual," Zuko admitted. "If she weren't, I would've stuck it out with the same attitude I had the last time we met. But something's… changed in her."

"Or maybe… something that's always been inside her has finally been allowed to bloom?" Sokka said, with a dry grin. "And mind you: it's not because of me that it's blooming. It's because of Yue."

"Sokka, the more you try to convince me of that, the more I'm convinced, instead, that she just figured out something about you that you didn't expect and now she's using it to take advantage of you…!"

"Why is it so damn hard to fathom that…?"

"She killed Aang! Or nearly killed, anyway…!"

"Zuko nearly killed us too! More than once!"

"Sokka, I know I fucked up a lot of times, but there's no need to…"

"She deserves a chance as much as you did!"

"Look, you all know that I'm an advocate for giving people second chances, but…"

"Is there anything to eat? I'm kinda hungry right now…"

"TOPH!"

"Ugh! Everyone just shut up!" Katara exclaimed, hands going up to her head in confusion and desperation. "I… I don't want to listen, Sokka, because this makes no sense to me! I refuse to believe it because if anything happens to you because of her, if she hurts you or hurts anyone I love, I…!"

Her rant was cut off by a sudden, familiar scream in a childish voice.

The blood slowed in Katara's body: Aang leapt to his feet.

It was Bumi.

"AZULA!"

As fast as the Avatar might have been with his bending, Sokka, shirtless and almost fully healed, ran out the door before anyone else could.

He followed the voices, the noise, and everyone else followed him in turn: anxiety rose inside Sokka's chest: was she in trouble? Was she in danger? Had Bumi done something stupid to her somehow, or…?

While most his friends dreaded that Azula was the danger herself… the truth was a lot less flattering than that.

Sokka gasped at the sight of her once he reached the house's backyard: the Princess snarled… as she hung upside down at a tall tree, her right leg awkwardly tangled in a kite's string.

Bumi, near the trees, kept screaming in a panic, further convincing Azula that he couldn't possibly be an airbender – he might just have helped her out of this pointless, stupid ordeal otherwise… and her mother had rushed into the temple a moment ago, perhaps looking for something to help her out of the tangle she had wound up caught in.

She frankly couldn't believe she was dangling off the damn kite's string this way. She had tried to undo the string's every knot… only to wind up entangled in it herself before long. She was moments away from tearing the damn string up, from setting it on fire... and then she had fallen off the branch upon attempting to break herself free.

She wrestled with the damn thing in midair, guessing the blow against the ground would not be pretty if she burned it off, but it was far better than to dangle here forever, the blood rushing to her head while the annoying boy screamed…

"AZULA!"

Sokka's voice: her stomach sank.

Of all people, she certainly didn't want him to see her in such a stupid, embarrassing, preposterous situation…

But he did. She grimaced, glancing at him and waving briefly, upside down, as Sokka raced towards her eagerly…

Then, the ground rose to meet her body.

Azula gasped when she felt support on her back: an earthbender, most likely Toph, had raised a block of earth to help her find some stability. Moments later, Sokka climbed up the earthen block, taking her into his arms.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it was a stupid mishap…" Azula sighed: Sokka grimaced at the sight of the tangles of string up her body.

"What the hell is that?" he asked.

"Your nephew may have gone overboard flying that kite and getting it stuck in this tree. It defies any scientific explanation, what he did. Spiders could learn from his ability to weave webs that nobody can escape from…" Azula growled, back to work at undoing the knots…

She didn't need to do much more work to that end when Sokka pulled out his boomerang and cut the string.

"There. I'll restring it for him later, it's no problem," he sighed. Azula blinked blankly.

"Really? Just like that?" she asked. Sokka smiled.

"Won't be a big deal, I said. Getting new string for a kite is nothing out of the ordinary," he whispered. "For how long were you hanging there?"

"Uh. For however long the boy was screaming. Thank goodness he shut up by now," Azula said, eyes wide. "I'm never doing any favors to children again. They're on their own forevermore."

"Uh, yeah, sure thing," Sokka laughed, helping Azula by undoing the rest of the string's knots around her body. "You okay, though?"

"I'm fine, I said," Azula pouted.

"I didn't really mean… physically. Your pride?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, my pride? Why, your nephew stampeded over it, took a dump on it, and then cast it into the deepest pit of lava in any volcano known to civilization, but sure, I'm fine," Azula said, with a dry grin. Sokka laughed, hugging her to his chest and kissing her brow. "Yue's going to have the time of her life hearing about this one."

"She might just," Sokka smiled warmly at Azula, cradling her in his arms briefly to offer the support she seemed to relish in, right now. She might just shove him away later, but for now, while she didn't realize she was in plain sight…

But there were plenty of eyes upon her indeed: Aang and Katara froze in place, watching the pillar Toph had raised, with utter confusion. Even after hearing about Azula's relationship with Sokka, it was remarkably difficult to believe it could ever be real, no matter if they were seeing it for themselves right now…

"This isn't happening," Katara said, with an awkward smile. Aang swallowed hard, watching as Azula began wrangling herself out of the string too, helping Sokka with the tricky deed. He laughed as he assisted her, too. "It can't be."

But there was no denying that Azula's latest stunt, with its lack of dignity, hadn't resulted in a wild outburst of fire and lightning in retaliation, which was what they would have expected from her, normally. Aang leapt with his bending into the treetops, pulling out the kite without as much difficulty, now that the string had been cut, before landing next to Bumi with the kite.

"Sorry I wasn't here to help, Bumi," Aang said, handing the kite to his son. "I'll, uh, fix this in a bit, okay?"

"No string?" Bumi pouted. Aang smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

"I'll mend it, okay? But, for now, maybe…"

Aang bent the stringless kite into the sky, and Bumi squealed with joy as he watched his toy rising under his father's power. Aang smiled fondly at his son, just as Sokka and Azula finally climbed down from the earthen platform Toph had raised for them. The Avatar cleared his throat, stepping towards them.

"Sorry, I… I don't know how he did that. You're okay? Did the string burn your skin, maybe, or…?" Aang asked Azula.

"That's a good question: did it?" Sokka asked, grimacing. "If it did, Katara, come heal Azula…!"

"No!" Azula scoffed. "I said I'm alright, I just… didn't expect that outcome. It was my own carelessness, nothing more. You don't need to worry about me."

"You can't ask me, of all people, not to worry," Sokka said, nudging her lightly. Azula sighed… then she frowned, inching away from him, growing increasingly aware of everyone else's presences only then.

"Uh… this isn't, well…" Azula said, eyeing the Avatar warily. Aang blinked blankly before smiling carelessly.

"It's okay, Sokka already told us everything."

Azula froze. Sokka grimaced as she turned her head slowly, threateningly, towards him.

"What did he just…? What?!" she smiled dangerously, and Sokka stepped back, raising his hands defensively.

"Honestly? Wasn't my fault! Toph's the one who went and blurted out that…! W-well…! I tried to keep it cool at first but after a while I couldn't keep on denying it!" Sokka squealed, cheeks flushed as Azula scowled in his direction.

"You couldn't keep denying it," she repeated.

"Didn't you say I'm the worst liar you've met, or something like that?" Sokka sighed, lowering his hands. "They got me and since Zuko looked like he was moments away from beating me up, I kind of went and told them that it wasn't just a physical thing, so…"

"What's it to him, whatever it might be?" Azula growled. "None of his business either way… but curse you, couldn't you at least hold it in for a couple of hours?"

"Eh, I tried. Guess I love you too much to do that," Sokka declared smugly, raising his head as he finished his statement. Azula's jaw dropped.

"Y-you utter… ugh," she groaned, covering her face with a hand… and glancing at a smiling Aang, who shrugged at her.

"It's not a bad thing if you two are in love, I think? It actually makes me more willing to…"

"Sorry…"

Azula frowned, eyes falling on the child that stood beside Aang again, holding the kite that had finally landed again. He bit his lip but smiled at Azula.

"My kite… I got it now," he said. Azula huffed.

"So I see," she said. "Make sure not to lose it again."

"Okay!" Bumi grinned.

He finished off his latest exchange with Azula by rushing in to hug her leg.

Azula heard Katara's horrified yelp in the distance: it was far more satisfactory than it should have been. If just for the sake of annoying her, she simply leaned down slightly, patting the boy's head.

"It's quite alright, quite alright…" Azula said, her voice ringing with arrogance. "I wasn't even hurt by it, not truly… though, ensure to be more careful about who you ask for help in the future, when it comes to such matters. I'm far from the best candidate for the task. As for you, Avatar… keep an eye on your child?"

"I will, I will. Thank you for trying," Aang smiled awkwardly as Bumi let go of Azula's leg: he offered her one last broad grin before running off, carrying the kite over his head.

Azula smirked in Katara's direction: the waterbender appeared moments away from losing her mind to panic. She dragged her son towards herself once he passed near her, checking multiple times to ensure he wasn't injured in any way… naturally, finding that he wasn't. Frankly, being a good person paid off, above all else, just because of all the people who were betting everything they believed, everything they knew, on the expectation that Azula would never be able to change. Proving them wrong was shockingly invigorating.

"You sure you're okay?" Sokka asked, taking her hand in his. The instinctive urge to yank it out of his hold nearly overcame her, all be it to keep matters hidden… but Azula swallowed hard and nodded, squeezing his fingers back – more petty revenges, such as showing herself affectionate and kind to Sokka, would continue to unnerve his sister profoundly. She wouldn't feel comfortable doing this in front of other people if she weren't finding such a solid payoff from it.

"I'm fine. I'll just never talk to another child again," she concluded. Sokka laughed, leaning close to kiss her brow.

"Azula…! Oh, Azula…!" Ursa's voice reached them: after screaming Azula's name, she had rushed inside the temple and now she scrambled back out again, carrying a ladder with her. She had taken a different door in than the one the group had used to get out in the first place, so no one had seen her until now. "I was going to find a way to help you, but…!"

"Help found me before you found it," Azula said, with a smile and a shrug, as her mother dropped the ladder and approached her. "I'm fine."

Perhaps she was, indeed… but nothing prepared her to wind up in her mother's embrace next, as Ursa desperately hugged her upon ensuring she was safe.

Sokka let go of her hand, a small smile upon his face as Azula froze in Ursa's grip. She hardly knew what to do, for it was one thing to receive affection from Sokka… it was a whole other matter for it to happen with Ursa. She raised her hands tentatively, unsteadily, and placed them on her mother's back…

Tears suddenly flooded her eyes as she pressed her face to Ursa's shoulder – she didn't want the rest of them to see that part. Curses, she shouldn't get emotional over something so simple, so casual, so… so needed. Something she had been desperate for all across her life and… and suddenly, it was really there.

For once, her mother was embracing her and Azula held her, right back.

"Not what you would expect, now, is it?" Toph said, nudging Zuko's ribs with an elbow. He had watched the scene in confusion all around, but now he watched that embrace from afar… realizing only then that he had no recollection of witnessing a sight like this one before.

"Not really… but I'm glad it's happened," Zuko said, with a small smile. "There are a lot of things I didn't know, I guess. Lots of things I can't fix… but maybe others can."

"And you're not mad at those two for being naughty anymore?" Toph asked, amused. Zuko scowled. "What? You jealous or something? Want to be naughty too?"

"Stop it," he growled. "Nothing happened between us."

"Because you ran away. Chicken."

"I'm not going to…!" Zuko huffed, glaring at her to find Toph beaming proudly. "You realize just how crazy this nonsense of yours is? It's hard enough for me to wrap my head around all that's changing lately and now you're… throwing yourself at me?"

"Just for one night, what's the big fuss? I'm not asking you to marry me, I wouldn't be that dumb," Toph smirked. "Who'd want to get married at all?"

"Pretty sure Katara and Aang did," Zuko said. Toph made a grimace of distaste.

"Well, they're weird. You're too cool for that kind of boring nonsense, aren't you?" she said.

"What if I'm not?" Zuko pouted.

"Then maybe you should take me up on my offer and learn why it's better to be free like I am," Toph smirked proudly. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"You're free to do whatever you want, but I'm not joining your parade. To think you tried to cajole me into that kind of thing just to give me… what? What information were you going to give me about those two that I couldn't have found out through any other means?" Zuko scowled. "I found them without your help in the end…"

"Oh, I wasn't going to give you anything even if you went for it," Toph smirked. "I don't turn my back on my friends, not even for my other friends."

"That's…" Zuko said, frowning. Toph shrugged.

"You weren't ready to hear Azula's not who you think she is. Might be you're finally ready now. I had nothing to say, didn't really know where they were going or what they'd do next," she admitted, with a careless smile. "Was just easier to screw you over by pretending I did."

"You… ugh. Now you've definitely convinced me that you and I are never going to happen," Zuko huffed. Toph chuckled.

"Sad. Guess my imagination will have to be enough…"

"Stop imagining weird things! Ugh, Toph!"

"Prude."

Ursa sighed, pulling back and smiling at Azula while still holding her shoulders gently. The fallen Princess swallowed hard, offering Ursa a pained smile as the woman cupped her face.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more, but…"

"You didn't have to. You… I mean, what could you have done?" Azula asked, with a slight smile. "You did the right thing, they just got here before you could get them. It's… it's okay."

"I… I hope so," Ursa said, with a gentle grin. "I'm glad you're fine. That… that he came to your rescue."

She smiled knowingly at Sokka, who stood awkwardly behind them. Sokka grinned nervously, unsure of how to feel about Ursa's approval… knowing it was probably not a full, done deal, let alone a complete acceptance of Sokka as Azula's potential partner, but a greater step towards that direction than he had expected possible, quite so soon.

"He has a knack for doing that, looks like," Azula said, smiling a little. Sokka's gut fluttered happily upon hearing those words.

The conversation he was holding with the others before Azula's mishap had been cut off too abruptly, and it appeared that nobody was all that eager to return to it, most of all, those who believed Azula wasn't as bad as they had initially assumed she would be. To the Princess's surprise, a whole outdoors cookout was organized shortly after she had been saved from the throes of the kite's wicked string, mostly comprised by roasted vegetables, but Sokka managed to find some fish that everyone besides Aang could eat, too. It seemed as though their tense, suspenseful arrival had already smoothed over into perfect calm and peace… even if Katara still glared at her on occasion. Even so, glares were meaningless if she never acted upon them… which she certainly didn't, not after Sokka approached her with a grand idea to distract her from her spite towards Azula.

"Say, say. Azula and I were talking some time ago…"

"Do I need to hear this?" Katara grunted. Sokka nodded.

"It concerns you, so of course you do. Remember when you beat her back at the end of the war?"

"You… were talking about that?" Katara blinked blankly. "Why?"

"We talk about anything and everything, that's what couples do," Sokka smirked. Katara scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Though we weren't really together back then, but still! Point is… Azula shared some curious information about Fire Nation culture with me. She told me the winner of an Agni Kai is the one who burns the loser. And because of that, Zuko didn't actually beat her that day."

"Is that right?" Katara grimaced. "She'd obviously try to twist laws to her convenience…"

"Oh, no, no, no: you see, I realized that, by the logic they were using, YOU are the true Fire Lord because you defeated Azula after she defeated Zuko!" Sokka smiled brightly.

Katara, halfway through chopping some vegetables to roast, froze on the spot before staring at Sokka in utter confusion. He grinned still, hands behind his back.

"See? It was something that concerned you," he said, happily. Katara snorted.

"Fuck that," she said, eloquently. Sokka burst out laughing. "I'm not the…! Just the notion makes me sick! Don't ever say that again, Sokka! I'm not the Fire Lord, never would be…!"

"Even if that means you get to boss Zuko and Azula around because they're Fire Nation people and you're their rightful leader?" Sokka smiled mischievously.

Katara stopped, shooting a glance towards the other set of siblings. Both Zuko and Azula, busy by the grill at the moment, stared at her in chagrin, having overheard the conversation so far.

"T-that's not true! She's not…! Sokka, where the hell did you come up with that idea? Azula, you didn't…! Surely it was his idea, not yours, you wouldn't lead him to think something like that makes any sense!" Zuko squeaked. Azula rolled her eyes.

"Evidently, I told him it was unreasonable, so this isn't really… well, maybe it's partly my fault for thinking he'd have a logical reaction to things, but it is Sokka after all."

"Actually… I think this is great now: Azula, I command you to break up with my brother," Katara smirked at her: Sokka yelped, and Azula offered her a deadpan glare.

"In case you haven't noticed, I've spent a long time being a wanted criminal by Fire Nation authorities for defying the Fire Lord… do you really think I wouldn't rebel against your commands if I did against my brother's?"

"W-well…! I guess you would, but I had to try, didn't I?" Katara groaned.

"Tough luck," Azula smiled. Sokka snickered, approaching her and wrapping her in his arms. "Seriously, Sokka, what kind of trouble are you trying to stir, telling her something as ridiculous as that?"

"I was just trying to help her lighten up, nothing more to it…"

Despite the strange conversation hadn't resulted in Azula and Sokka's break-up, as commanded by Fire Lord Katara, the waterbender couldn't help but smile slightly as the other two ambled away, her brother still locked around his new lover, marching behind her as she berated him for putting weird ideas in people's heads. As much as his way of going about his goal had been rather strange, Sokka had achieved it nonetheless, ensuring that Katara had something to smile about.

Once they were sitting together by the steps that led back into the house, waiting for more food to be ready, Azula pulled out her new mirror, which Ursa had returned to her earlier, to Sokka's surprise.

"Your mom gave it to you?" Sokka asked, smiling warmly. Zuko continued tending to the grill nearby, refusing to give Toph any fish and constantly giving her the vegetables that she disliked the most.

"Yeah… I wasn't expecting it," Azula smiled at him before glancing at Yue. "But fortunately I didn't break this one when I fell from the tree like an idiot. My mom was holding it for me."

"You… huh? You mean, when you were trying to help Aang's son?" Yue winced. Azula smiled and shrugged "I couldn't tell what was happening because you weren't the one holding the mirror then…"

"I'm afraid it was quite chaotic. But we've survived worse than winding up entangled in a kite's string, haven't we?" Azula said. Sokka smiled.

"Maybe I should've been entangled in it with you, like when we hung underneath that bridge…" he suggested. Azula snorted and shook her head.

"I'm not sure the kite's string would've held us both, so I doubt it," she pointed out. Sokka snickered. "And no, I wasn't high enough that you could have or should have rescued me on a hot-air balloon like you did in the Fighting Cliffs… not that it was really a rescue, but…"

"You were being hunted down by Fire Nation soldiers, so I think it kind of counts," Sokka smirked, nudging her slightly. Azula rolled her eyes, smiling.

They had shared far too many strange experiences, far too many instances of camaraderie that had turned into much more than that: the peace they had found together had eluded them for the years through which they had never so much as fathomed each other as potential matches, partners. Now, that peace was finally within reach, at last, in the mysterious but fascinating future that lay ahead for the two of them.

And what was more, that future suddenly seemed promising in more fronts than the most obvious one: it wasn't merely that Azula had found someone worth spending her life with, shocking as the revelation was, most of all due to how sudden, how as good as random it had been… but having made peace with the people who had hunted her, the people who had resented her. Even if Katara wouldn't budge easily, she didn't get in the way of her conversations with Sokka, and she even eyed them with curiosity once Azula was holding Yue's mirror. As for the others, they appeared to have relaxed around her… Zuko no longer treated her as a bomb waiting to burst. Her mother offered her gestures of affection, even, and wanted to spend more time with her, getting to know her better, wishing to be part of her life.

As she sat where she did, Azula placed her head on Sokka's shoulder, suddenly taking in the landscape before her, with those darkened, brown leaves fluttering to the ground, as laughter and amusement lined the strange serenity of Air Temple Island. Half a year ago, she had been a fugitive… today, she was part of a family. She had chosen to be in one, too.

Her heart clenched at the thought, tears surging in the corners of her eyes: was this truly the life she would have? Had her unspoken hopes and longings been answered this way?

Her eyes fell upon the mirror, and Yue offered her a kind, heartfelt smile. Azula smiled back, retaining her immediate urges to pull back so as to not disturb Yue with her closeness to Sokka… she held her place there, unafraid, knowing Yue wanted her to be exactly where she was. Knowing she was finding happiness by Sokka's side, the way Yue might just have, if only the world had been kinder to the Water Tribe Princess…

They had a bonfire that night, impromptu as it was, enabling the whole group to rejoice in this unexpected, strange reunion. Aang staged a dancing competition, in which all Fire Nation-born folks declined to participate, while everyone else tried to show their best moves – Toph, naturally, did so by bending and messing with her dancing friends by making them trip or raising the earth under their feet before they knew what was happening. The amusing situation was not lost on Azula, sitting with her mother and brother… feeling content. Feeling alive.

Despite Katara's grievances, Azula was allowed to sleep in Sokka's room that night, if just due to Aang's leniency. Zuko's horror at such decision was deigned as irrelevant as Katara's, and Toph simply laughed while urging them to be careful not to turn Katara and Zuko into aunt and uncle, respectively, just yet… Ursa only smiled kindly, bidding her daughter good night.

"You're terribly self-aware about all this, aren't you?" Sokka asked, once they were safely behind the walls of their room. Azula huffed, running a hand over her hair.

"About a lot of things, I'd say," she whispered. "Aren't you? Or are you just used to being with someone in front of your family? I certainly cannot relate, if that's the case…"

"I'd say I am, but… it's different now," Sokka said, with a silly grin. He approached Azula, stroking her hair and kissing her nose softly. "I'm sorry I couldn't hold back the truth until we settled on what to do together, though. Wasn't the plan."

"I know," Azula said. "But… didn't turn out so badly, in the end. Guess your weakness can be a strength in disguise, sometimes."

"Heh, looks like it can be," Sokka smirked. Azula laughed softly, placing a hand upon his chest.

"Feels like this is way too real, way too fast," she whispered. "The things you're making me do, or even think of…"

"Good things or bad things?" Sokka asked, taking her hand in his.

"Sometimes both," Azula answered. Sokka snickered. "I… I never imagined this. A life like this, well… it was out of my reach until you found me. It hasn't even been that long, not really, but… you've changed my life in that time. You, Yue… I never believed anyone would think I was worth any of this."

"Guess it's nice to know that you're not always right if it's proven in this way, huh?" Sokka smiled. Azula laughed and raised her gaze to meet his.

"As if. I'd rather be right about everything, curse you," she mocked him. Sokka laughed, taking her face in his hands to kiss her lips warmly.

They should have shown restraint, but they lacked it direly with a relationship as new and fresh as theirs was: the futon received them without a hitch, and Sokka plunged into Azula's naked body after she stripped his clothes off, too. Their intimate embrace lasted longer than it should have, surely… but there was no letting go just yet. Not until the candles had run out, not until the sole light drifting into their room was that of the stars in the autumn sky…

Azula lay awake for a while longer as Sokka rested beside her, lying on his stomach, face turned towards her. He might just start drooling on the pillow, and she'd close his mouth for him if he did… but for now, Azula simply lay beside him, marveling at the fact that someone she had thought next to nothing of, not long ago, would have become such a crucial element to her happiness as Sokka had. It was a miracle, in the end… one she cherished deeply.

One she owed to someone else, too.

Despite wanting to lie in bed next to the man she loved, above all else, Azula pushed herself off the futon and picked up the sleeping gown she had been provided back in the Fire Nation airship, on their way to Air Temple Island. Dressing in it, she stepped towards the dresser – there was a mirror above it, from where Azula deeply hoped Yue wouldn't have been able to see what she and Sokka had done…

Azula smiled nervously at Yue when she spotted her in the mirror: the Moon Spirit offered her an awkward smile of her own.

"Hey, I… I don't know why I decided to talk to you rather than staying there," Azula admitted, nervously. "Just… w-well, you didn't hear that, did you?"

"Would it matter much, if I had?"

"I… I guess not," Azula acknowledged, running a hand over her hair absentmindedly. "I have to work on that self-awareness, I guess. Anyway, I just… I just wanted to say a few things now, as I had the chance."

"Things?" Yue said. Azula blinked blankly at how anxious the girl looked suddenly.

"It's nothing about Sokka… in any sense you might find distressing, I hope," Azula said. Yue gritted her teeth.

"It'd be okay if that's what it was…"

"Then… what wouldn't be okay?" Azula asked, puzzled. Yue smiled and shook her head.

"Nothing. Tell me. Just… tell me what you wanted me to know."

Azula breathed out, folding her arms over her chest. A thrill, or a goosebump, rushed up her back.

"I just… wanted to say thank you."

Yue's eyes widened. Azula shook her head, determined to keep going until she finished saying what she had to:

"Look, I… I wanted this. All of this. I didn't want to admit I did, but the truth is I was lost because I didn't think anything like this could be in the cards for me. You proved me wrong with your sheer stubbornness and strength of heart and I… I owe you so much more for that than I'll ever be able to say."

"Do you, really? Azula…"

"I know you might not want to hear it. I'm having the life you deserved, aren't I? It should be you here, not me, enjoying all these bonds, all these strange moments of joy and bliss and… and I can't really help but feel that I'm taking it from you, somehow. But… I'm growing to find peace with myself somehow, too. Suddenly, it's… it's possible to feel that, even if this life should have been yours, it might just be okay for it to be mine, too. And that's such a new feeling for me…"

She sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes as she smiled at the stricken girl inside the mirror.

"Thank you," Azula whispered. "Thank you for bringing back my… my will to live. For helping me learn that maybe I… maybe I could be more than what I thought I was. From thinking you were a pain, an obstacle in my way, a punishment I didn't deserve, I… I find myself thinking I would've gone nowhere in life, found no way out of hell with my old allies if you hadn't turned up when you did. For whatever reason you were with me for all this time, Yue, I… I'm grateful. You've… you've taught me how to live. You weren't even trying to, but you did it, nonetheless. A-and I know it's… it's self-congratulatory and embarrassing for me to say that I'll try to repay that favor by making Sokka as happy as I can possibly make him. For both our shares, I'd dare say, but…"

"For… whatever reason?" Yue said, with a sad smile. "So… you still don't understand why I did it?"

"I… well, you never told me," Azula frowned. "I didn't really understand because you refused to say, didn't you?"

"You know, we had more in common than we ever imagined possible," Yue said, smiling sadly. "But… I wasn't brought to you because I wanted to help you find this life for yourself."

"I guess not. It'd be awfully conceited of me to presume that, but…" Azula frowned. Yue laughed.

"That's not what I mean. What I mean is… this wasn't intended for your benefit. It was a punishment."

Azula frowned: Yue's gaze suggested her words were genuine… but the way she phrased them gave her pause, nonetheless.

"A punishment…" Azula repeated, eyes narrowing. "But… not for me?"

Yue smiled sadly… then she nodded.

"I never told you. I never wanted to. I never thought it would matter… but it does now," Yue said: tears bloomed in her eyes, and Azula's placid demeanor shifted abruptly. "This… is the last time I'll ever see you."

"What?!" Azula gasped: Yue held up her hands as though to pacify her, but that didn't stop the Princess from scowling heavily. "What does that mean? Yue…!"

"I would stay, Azula. I would, but…" Yue said, pleadingly. Azula's face was a mask of heartbreak that even the Moon Spirit was moved by it. "A… a comet struck the moon. Remember?"

"I remember," Azula said. Yue gritted her teeth.

"I… I didn't tell you the truth about a lot of things. That's why you always thought I was lying. I was, but not in the matters that you believed I was," Yue explained. "I… I can speak now. I have to speak now, because… this is the end. Azula, I… I've been a prisoner, for all this time."

"What? You… wait," Azula frowned, raising a hand towards the mirror. "Wait a fucking second, you… in my dreams. Yue, I saw things in my dreams, but every time I woke up…!"

"I was fine? I… I was. Because you were showing me your light," Yue said, with a sad smile. "Every time you looked in a mirror, every time you saw me in a reflection, it was… it was a window that opened in this darkness, allowing me to see something more than this nightmare. I…"

"The moon has been darkened," Azula recited, frowning. "It was… it was dark for you, too. You were trapped in darkness. What happened to you wasn't some mystery, you knew what was going on all along was because of…!"

"The comet that struck the moon, yes," Yue whispered, closing her eyes. "I'm… haunted by it. Another spirit has taken hold of me. I… I can't break free. I don't know how. The only way to keep it from draining me into nothingness was… you. You've… you've been saving my life constantly, Azula, without knowing you were doing it. I've… I've used you to stay tethered to reality. It didn't really matter, at first, what you might do, whatever you were up to… because the nightmare within this darkness only ever stopped if you were there for me to see."

"I… don't understand," Azula said, trembling. "Yue…!"

"At first I only wanted… the moments of respite from darkness that only you could provide. But the more I got to know you, the more I grew to see that I… I wanted you to have a better life than you did," Yue said, with a watery smile. "My captor let me see you, I think… because he believed that you would be my downfall. He let you be my last hope for safety, just for his sick, twisted enjoyment, I think… he thought that, if I wanted to be saved, I'd lose myself to despair because you'd never wish to help me. Because you…"

"Because I was… a selfish monster who took and took and would never give back?" Azula asked, scowling. Yue laughed.

"Isn't it funny just how wrong he was about you?" she said: Azula froze on the spot. "I… I wanted for nothing. I expected nothing. But you've given me everything I could have hoped for… you've given me a chance to experience your happiness with you. You showed me the world! I… I never thought I'd get to see it as I did, by your side! You helped Sokka find peace, closure, happiness…! And you found hope and strength for yourself, too. I don't… I don't care what happens to me now. I never did. I… I gave up all hope of salvation long ago. The one thing I still wanted… was your peace and happiness. I wanted you to have everything neither of us ever did. And now that you finally have it, well…"

"You… no. You can't be serious…" Azula said, scowling. "Well…! I'm not at peace, nor am I happy now, with everything you've said! You lied to me! You've been lying to me about my dreams for all this time…!"

"I never wanted to alarm you…"

"You did anyway!

"I had no power over what you saw. Every time you crossed over into this world in dreams, I… I was terrified that you might not be able to go back. That he would notice and entrap you too, so… I never wanted you to chase a solution. I only wished for you to live your life… to live it right. You have the chance to do so much I never could…"

"That's… that's no reason to resign yourself to some cursed fate!" Azula hissed, striking the wall beside the mirror. "You… You didn't make me give a damn about you, you didn't make me care as much as you did, only for you to leave now and expect me to do nothing! To say or feel nothing about this…!"

"There's… there's nothing you can do," Yue said. Azula snarled. "I'm sorry. I know this isn't the way you'd like for things to be, but…"

"You're so infuriating," Azula hissed, tears spilling down her eyes. "You…! I'm not going to forsake you just because you ask me to! Tell me this is all nonsense, that you just can't stand to see me being happy with Sokka, that this is all just a fabrication and that you just hate me for…!"

"I could never hate you," Yue said, earnestly. Azula snarled.

"You did all this… for your benefit, you said? That makes no sense. That… if it had been for your benefit, you'd have found a way to come back to life through me, maybe, or something like that! How's it to your benefit if the only one who got her dreams fulfilled was me?!"

"It's too late for me, it has been since I became the Moon Spirit. My life ended years and years ago. Yours didn't. I don't know if you would have done this for me, if our roles were reversed…"

"Oh, I wouldn't have, that's for sure…!"

"Right," Yue said, with a sad smile. "I… I didn't need you to change, Azula. I didn't ask you to. I didn't try to make you anyone else… I just liked you as you were. I grew to cherish you as you are. I'm sorry if I've… if I've ended up being a disappointment. But just know that… that I loved you. I loved Sokka. I hope… I hope for the best for you two. Please…"

"You… don't you dare leave. Don't you dare…!" Azula exclaimed, snarling at the mirror fiercely. "We're not done here! You wanted to see the seasons? You're still missing one, damn you! You can't just…!"

Yue smiled sadly: of course she had seen the last remaining season. She had lived in perpetual winter all her life, after all… but Azula's desperation manifested itself in her pleas and demands, nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Azula."

"You're not! You're…! Stay here. Stay. Yue, for crying out loud, tell me it was all a lie, all a joke, just tell me everything you just said was…!"

The Fire Nation Princess began crumbling emotionally: her hand touched the mirror… and so did Yue's, touching right against hers.

"He…" Yue said, eyes widening slowly. "He's coming."

"No. No one's coming. Nothing's wrong, Yue, nothing's…!"

The Water Tribe Princess froze: her tearful eyes widened: her features darkened, and she drifted backwards.

"No! No! YUE! COME BACK…! YUE!"

The darkness wrapped itself around her body: her features faded, one by one: the last to vanish was the hand pressed against the mirror, against Azula's own.

"Goodbye, Azula."

"YUE!"

The Fire Nation Princess's eyes snapped wide open: she sat up in bed abruptly, and the arm draped over her shoulders rose awkwardly.

"Azula…?" Sokka grimaced, pushing himself back as his lover's bare chest heaved. "What got into you? Are you…?"

"I'm…" Azula said: she hadn't gotten up. She hadn't approached the mirror by the wall…

There had never been a mirror there, to begin with.

A gripping fear surged inside her heart as she kicked the covers off and jumped out of the futon. Sokka, groggy and confused, grew more alert over her behavior slowly.

"Azula…?"

The Princess rushed through their nightstand's things until she finally found the mirror Ursa had given her. Her trembling hands turned it towards herself, careless about showing Yue any parts of her naked body…

But said bare body parts were all she got to see.

There was no one standing over her shoulder. Not the right one. Not the left one. Nowhere.

"No… no…!" Azula gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Azula, what's going on?" Sokka asked, crawling towards her with uncertainty. "What…?"

"She's not there," she said. Sokka froze.

"Wait… what?" he frowned. "You… wait, that can't be. That…"

"I can't see her, Sokka. I can't see her. I…" Azula said, turning towards him, her face a mask of horror and distress, tears spilling down her cheeks.

He shook his head: not again. He couldn't lose Yue again, not this way. Azula couldn't have been as helpless to save Yue as he had been…

But the aghast, desperate expression across her features spoke for itself:

Once again, Yue was gone.

[destinygoldenstar]

If I had a nickel for every time I found a piece of media in the 2020s with breathtaking imagery and inspiring storytelling for writers everywhere, but ended with such a DREADFUL CLIFFHANGER that pushes my buttons in the right ways…

I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

[fifteensjukebox]

11, 20, 23 <3

hiii tysm dani im sorry it took me so long to answer iI wrote my answers in the order of hat I thought of and i think they make the most sense in the order i wrote then:

20. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

it wouldn't have meant as much at the beginning of he year iirc but i think my current mental health journey became very real for me the day of some unrelated appointments on april 18th in that people were touching me and my stuff (actually feb 15th appts definitely apply to

anyway new paragraph now that im actually getting to the point which is that i wish i had seriously considered an ssri earlier, im only couple weeks in so idk if it'll work but i have so much hope and i wish i'd gotten here sooner but new year new me will have to do! it's mostly taken so long bc i keep thinking i want to see if fixing my sleep schedule fixes my brain but. my brain the ay it is i can't seem to fix my sleep schedule so.

11. Something you want to do again next year?

oh i definitely said this when this ask game went around last year but travel!! we'd started planning this year's trip by the time i last answered this and while it was hard bc i was trying to stay soooo clean physically which is impossible while travelling, im learning to let go and get clean when get home (will get to apply this plan on our tropical trip in. holy shit 9 days single digits i have to pack ??)

anw it was so much fun portugal and spain (aka spordugal per my brother's typo when he made a folder for my photos) are soooooooooo beautiful and we were hoping to go back to italy next year but we may not have n opportunity in good weather bc my brother's going to catch up from part time uni so he can go full time next year and be on pace w his new gf

(have i mentioned hannah on here? wore a v cool burgundy velvet dress w combat boots to a school formal (which i did not expect in uni??) and she and matt organically started something at the dance anw i just met her bc they're doing a studying sleepover at our house and i already love them (hannah they/she im sure i will mention her plenty more oh one more thing i followed them on ig and they follow zac oyama and ally beardsley but interestingly no one else i follo interestingly.... must discuss tomorrow... they went down to matt'sroom to play video games w his projector oh actually i hear pool table activity v fun)

20. Whats something you learned this year?

im answering this one last and both of my other answers relate to learning about my mental health and cleaning stuff so i desperately want this answer to be unrelated... oh in an indirect way this is related but isn't everything : i learned that my way of over preparing and making packing lists for travel is super worthwhile bc i did not have time for europe bc i as too busy cleaning stuff i didn't end up using and ended up packing my suitcase the day we left and forgetting so many important things (really just everything related to my period including pain meds)

i really wanted to think of a fun new skill orsth but i don't think i have any from this year so this'll have to do! still rly enjoyed answering even thought there's like 0.5 fun answers in here thanks again dani for asking!

[quietlyblooms]

we’re taking a lil break from building furniture, so i’m thinking about chiyo’s m.ha verse how she’s likely had to kill a person here and there before she ever had to kill her friend. sometimes a situation goes sideways. sometimes a plan doesn’t work out, and it can’t be resolved peacefully or with subduing someone. chiyo doesn’t have qualms about taking a life if it means protecting herself or others — it is what it is, and does she feel a lil ill about it sometimes? yeah, but she’d feel worse if someone innocent died because of her hesitation.

so her friend’s death has nothing to do with chiyo’s general guilt towards killing. it’s not a big problem for her in this verse. her friend’s death has everything to do with the betrayal and death of someone cared deeply about and feels she should have saved. and yeah i’m still not over it

[mars-rnr]

I’m reading ‘Lagam’ by Marta Grabowska on Tapas. It’s a really great action webcomic and reminds me alot of shonen mangas.

I’m excited to see how Sildari achieves her dream, and if Captain James gets a good pay from his job with all the trouble he has to handle

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

David Tennant interview at the British LGBT Awards, June 2024 (x)

Int: You being an ally to the community isn't something new. You've been doing it, but recently you've obviously really stepped up for trans and non-binary people in a time that's so, so needed. What made you do that?

David: I don't know that I feel like I've done anything that I wouldn't just sort of be normally doing. I mean, it's for me it's just common sense that there's there should be any suggestion that people aren't allowed to live the life they want to live and and to be who they want to be with and to express themselves wholeheartedly. I mean, as long as you aren't hurting anybody else, everybody else just needs to fucking butt out. I don't really understand why...

Int: ...it's controversial.

David: Yeah, there is and the thing... the thing, if there's something that's particularly sobering and depressing, it's that certain debates are being weaponized by certain elements of the political class, often for no... it seems it's not ideological so much as opportunistic. And I just think that's pretty disgusting, really.

Int: I couldn't agree more. What message would you like to send out to trans youth?

David: Please don't feel like you're not loved and that you're not accepted and that you're not... you know, most people in the world are good and kind and just want you to be able to be who you are. Most people in the world don't really care. I mean... you know what I mean?

Int: We're all narcissistic.

David: Exactly. Everyone's so self obsessed that really, the sort of noise that comes from a certain area of the press and of the political class is... it's a minority. It really is. And please don't let that make you feel diminished or dissuaded or discouraged, because, you know, you just... you have to be allowed to be yourself, and you are, and you are yourself and you must thrive and flourish, and we're all here for it.

Int: Amazing. I think, yeah, it's so important .I think sometimes it feels like there's so many people, but it is a minority. It's such a minority.

David: It's a tiny bunch of little whinging fuckers that are on the wrong side of history and they'll all go away soon.

Int: Like what happened with gay people 20 years ago.

David: When I was a kid, when I was a kid, exactly. You know, I was at school when Clause 28 came in and it all felt like being gay was something to be terrified of. And gay men in particular were demonised as paedophiles and now that just feels historic and ludicrous and, I mean, I don't see all those... all those battles aren't won, but we're in a very, very different place. And I feel like.I feel like history is on a progressive trajectory and it might get knocked sideways now and again by people for all sorts of reasons, which are often quite selfish and quite, as I say, not coming from a place of any sort of genuine belief system, but other than a place of opportunism. And that's something that we... I hope that in 20 years time, we're talking about, you know, these culture wars as something of the past.

Int: I believe we will. I'm a huge Doctor Who fan, so.

David: Oh, good, me too!

Int: You are my Doctor.

David: Oh, thank you very much.

Int: But recently, obviously, you came back for the 60th anniversary and you got to work with Yasmin Finney.

David: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Int: What was it like working with her?

David: Oh, she's brilliant. She's fantastic. Yeah. And she's in the show again now, she's back in it, so that's fantastic to see. She's lovely, talented, cool as a cucumber, articulate, brilliant. I learned a lot from her as an actor and also as someone who, you know, who's become a sort of de facto activist just because of who she is and where she is, and she becomes a sort of symbol of hope, and she's wonderful.

[kaidatheghostdragon]

Found this while going through my fanfic files, and i absolutely had to share.

Danny: i want in

Red robin: …what?

Danny: your bat family. I want in.

Red robin, blinking in surprise: i dont know what you think you know about my associates, but we're not-

Danny: dont be obtuse. I know youre the smart one. And i also know that your all one big relatively happy family. I want in.

Red robin: …why?

Danny: because you guys are the first people ive found that are wealthy, intelligent and powerful enough to take on my fruitloop godfather and win AND are decent enough human beings that i can be assured that when all is said and done, my well-being will remain a top priority.

Orphan, appearing out of nowhere: new brother!

Danny: *stares in shock*

Danny: *sudden uncanny grin* well that's one convinced. How do i win over the rest?

Orphan: no need. New brother!

Red robin: *pointed glance of betrayal* fine. Who is your godfather?

Danny: vlad masters. He's a fruitloop.

Red robin: for real? B's been investigating him for years! Tell me everything! *genuinely excited for a new lead*

Danny: well, he's tried to murder my dad and marry my mom, gained his wealth illegally, committed voting fraud to become the mayor of my hometown, has a secret underground lab where he does unethical experiments, and he's abducted me more than a dozen times even before my parents disowned me to make me his evil apprentice or whatever. Now that im homeless, he's literally out to get me. Oh! And he's cloned me too! She's cool though, we're buddies now.

Batman, who just arrived but heard everything over comms: hn. (Translation: who are you?)

Danny: my name is Danny. No last name anymore, but im hoping itll soon be Wayne! *winking suggestively*

Batman: hn? (how much do you know?)

Danny: enough to know that youre a much better alternative to vlad.

Batman: …hn (i dont know anything about you. What if youre a spy for vlad?)

Danny, giving his salesman pitch: i was a teen vigilante in amity park before i had to run away from home for my own safety. Vlad is one of my rogues. I know how to fight and defend myself, how to minimize collateral damage in a fight, and ive gotten really good and escaping kidnapping attempts. Ive also managed to reform and/or make allies out of approximately half of my rogues and can talk down about 30% of all rogue confrontations before they turn into a messy fight. The other things i can bring to the table are: one, i can teach all of you guys proper liminality self care; two, i can probably minimize and possibly cure red hood's anger issues; three, i can get along with stabby robin because i consider fighting a friendly social interaction - he can even stab me and i wont be injured by it; four, i can be your go-to guy for supernatural cases so you no longer have to deal with that sad trenchcoat man; five-

Red robin: *blurting* youre hired.

Batman: hn (i am deeply concerned)

Danny: if youre concerned now, wait until i tell you about the anti ecto control act

Nightwing, who showed up in the middle of the sales pitch: ive never seen anyone crack B's grunt language so quickly

Danny: grunt language? He's just using ghost speak - which will be covered by the liminality self care lessons

Robin, who arrived with batman: what is a liminal?

Danny: all of you, of course! Otherwise you wouldnt need to learn about it, obviously

Robin: and why would we trust you?

Danny: did i mention i have a pet ghost dog?

Robin: …you drive a hard bargain

Danny, fist pumping: yes! That's three!

Nightwing: four, you got me when you could understand B's grunting

Red Hood, arrived with nightwing: five, assuming you arent lying about the pit rage

Danny, hand to his chest: i would never!

Orphan: honesty. Earnest. New brother.

Oracle, over comms: six. The anti ecto acts are legit and im terrified for his safety, assuming he's phantom, who is the vigilante of amity park

Spoiler, arrived with orphan: seven, as long as youre down for a few pranks

Batman: hn (ive been outvoted)

Batman: hnn (i dont wanna hear any jokes about adoption habits when you all forced my hand)

Batman: hn (that said)

Batman: welcome to the family

Duke, the next day: man, i miss out on everything exciting.

Duke, blinded by danny: and who the fuck told bruce he could adopt the fucking sun?!

[hellothisisangle]

Relationship status: it’s complicated

Gortash is the only person during Cae’s Bhaalist era that he slept with and didn’t kill. In fact, Cae wouldn’t have slept with anyone until embracing Bhaal for fear of hurting them

I imagine the timeline went something like this

Cae became aware of Gortash as an ambitious political figure on the up and up. He wasn’t too interested, but kept his name and face in the back of his mind

Gortash, being the cunning man that he is, introduces himself after seeing Cae as a possible beneficial ally. He catches wind of Cae and Orin’s wild benders that they go on. He gains even more information about just who Cae actually is, and is now really interested in forming an alliance

Gortash attempts to professionally cozy up to Cae while Cae is still unconcerned with his advances. With enough pestering, Cae decides he’s going to murder Gortash and be done with the fool

One thing leads to another and they’re in the bedroom. But Gortash isn’t just another one of Cae’s unsuspecting victims. Gortash has had experience in extreme torture and pain within the House of Hope. He doesn’t tell Cae about this right away, but his sheer willpower surprises him. Gortash gets to live

Cae becomes infatuated with Gortash, pushing his buttons whenever/however he can. He calls him “Gortie” and “ Envie”. He shows up to his meetings unannounced, likely in scandalous outfits. He leaves him cute bloody presents. Cae’s having the time of his life, while Gortash is mildly pulling his hair out

*note: Orin hated Gortash from the beginning, but she especially hated the fact that her blood kin was sleeping with him and “wasting his time being around him”

Gortash miraculously catches feelings over time. Possibly when Cae shows him moments of vulnerability. They do relate to eachother with the expectations that are on their shoulders

Gortash confesses his feelings to Cae. It gives Cae The Ick(tm)

Orin finally approves. Everything is right in the world again

Gortash and Cae would still work and even sleep together after this, but Cae would treat him with more reluctance than enthusiasm, only getting excited if Gortash was angry/reprimanded him. And he’d plug his ears if any serious talk came up

[cinnamorollcrybaby]

The Reader gets jealous/upset because Sukuna gets Concubines, with a happy ending though. pleaseeeee

Wish I didn’t care

Tags: true form!Sukuna x fem!Reader, king!Sukuna, royal au (?), angst, hurt/comfort, happy ending i promise

An: Ooo, this was such a good idea. Thank you for requesting it from me!! I hope it’s everything you wanted!!

Sukuna never felt the need to give you a title for being in his life. To him, titles were superficial… There wasn’t a title in the world that could explain or encompass the complexities of his relationship with you.

However, you, coming from the mortal realm, wanted a title. It’s not that you wanted the power that was associated with being the betrothed of the King of Curses. You just wanted to feel.. irreplaceable to him.

So, to make you happy, you were his wife.

Kings rarely ever are allowed the luxury of marrying for love. Most kings marry daughters of other powerful kings to create allies between nations. However, Sukuna didn’t need allies. He didn’t need to marry for power when he had more power than he knew what to even do with.

Everything was simply child’s play for him. He even stopped trying to conquer the mortal realm because it was just too damn easy for him. The “sorcerers” could barely even put up a fight. It was embarrassing.

Life was truly becoming boring for him.

That was, until a female curse was delivered straight to his chamber. He was confused and honestly pissed that Uraume would simply guide this harlot into his chambers without his permission. Only you were granted such luxuries.

He was leisurely splayed in his bed with no cloth to cover himself. He truly appreciated the concept of being completely in his own skin at all times, and he often encouraged you to do the same. Though, he also learned to appreciate your more modest approach. You didn’t have to show any skin to get Sukuna riled up.

“State your purpose.” His voice was low and menacing as he spoke to the woman. He slipped his robes on over his shoulders, tying it in the front so he was no longer exposing himself.

“My father sends his regards. Says that a newly wedded king deserves a ‘fresh’ concubine.” The girl spoke with no humility towards him.

Sukuna’s face twisted in disgust that her dad would even suggest such a thing. He was even more put off that she described herself as ‘fresh’ as if she were a type of vegetable in the garden.

“Your father can kindly go fuck himself. I’m not interested.” He responds coldly, and his large palm grabs onto her shoulder with the intention of throwing her out of his chambers. He knew that if you saw her here, you’d probably be devastated.

“My lord-“

“I am not your anything. You address me as Lord or King, but make no mistake. I am not your lord.” He rudely cuts her off, not letting her think she has any sort of claim to him.

“Okay, Lord Sukuna, when’s the last time she’s fulfilled her wifely duties? I can see she’s not in here tending to you now, right? She’d probably feel grateful that you’re being satisfied around the clock.” The concubine’s voice was like a purr, and she looked up at him with eyes that’d rival a siren’s.

And for a split second, Sukuna almost considers her offer.

“You’ll never believe it, Kuna!” Your happy voice fills the air, and the door swings open to reveal you holding a small flower in your hand. “I got a jasmine to bl-“ Your eyes fall upon to scene in front of you.

Sukuna’s towering over an unfamiliar woman. His hand is touching her neck and shoulder area, while she has her hand leisurely pressed against his bicep.

“Who’s.. this?” You quietly ask, and immediately, Sukuna can feel a strange feeling pour into him. It feels like… guilt? He regrets even momentarily entertaining the idea about this harlot occupying his bed.

“Nobody-“

“Oh my lady, it’s nice to meet you. I apologize. Lord Sukuna and I were just getting aquatinted with each other since we’ll be seeing each other a lot from now on.” The serpent of a female cuts him off, and he immediately realizes just what this is. Whichever king decided to send her is hoping to ruin his marriage. She’s quite literally a snake in his garden, trying to ward his wife away from him.

“I don’t… understand.” The way your voice sounds so small. The small pout upon your lips. The way the flower you were once carrying with such confidence is now sagging in your hand. Fuck. Sukuna felt like a complete imbecile.

“Oh, come on now. You know he has needs that are beyond your abilities. I’ll lay with him when you’re too-“

“Enough.” Sukuna’s voice snaps. His teeth grit together as he practically drags the woman out of his chambers. “Go fuck off for a while. I’ll deal with you later.” The door immediately slams in her face.

After a moment of trying to comprehend what just happened and how it all happened so quickly, Sukuna slowly turns to you. It feels like a gut punch once he sees the tears brimming in your eyes.

“That wasn’t…”

“You took up a concubine?” You ask in a sniffle. Your hands are barely even holding the jasmine that’s you were once so excited to show him. Flowers rarely ever bloom in Sukuna’s desolate kingdom, but with hard work and determination, you had gotten a jasmine to bloom in his kingdom.

“No, she was sent to me. I didn’t seek her out.” He tries to dispel the claims while he slowly approaches you. His chest aches as he watches you take a step back away from him. “Do not cower from me, woman.”

“Was I not good enough? Was I not doing enough for you..? I thought… I thought it was good, b-but I can try harder.” Your voice is so shaky, and you won’t even look him in the eye. What has he done?

“Silence. You will not speak of yourself like that to me.” Sukuna orders, and he takes another step forward. You take another step back with another sniffle. Your tears are streaming down your cheeks.

“Please…” The word sounds foreign on his tongue. He’s never ever pleaded for anything in his life. He could simply take what he wants, but he doesn’t want to hurt his delicate flower. He wants her to seek out comfort in him. “Please don’t cower. It was not like that. She showed up at my door, spoke of lies and filth, and I was trying to throw her out when you walked in.”

“So you didn’t even con..consider taking her on as a concubine?” You ask while you rub the tears away with the back of your hands. Hopefully, this was all just a poorly timed miscommunication.

Sukuna takes a moment before responding. He has two options. He could tell you a white lie that would instantly comfort you, but it would be a lie. Or he could tell you the truth and face the consequences of his actions.

“It was one moment of weakness.” He replies carefully.

He instantly wishes he just lied from the way your face immediately twisted in disappointment and pure hurt. The jasmine falls from your hands, and your footsteps trail away from his chambers, leaving him dumbfounded.

Sukuna is immediately on your trail, unable to let you be. He needs to fix this. His dear wife is upset, and it’s all his fault.

A pair of hands slither up his arm as he walks. He already knows who’s touching him based off the nasty feeling from their contact. “My lord, let her be. She needs to-“

“Dismantle.” The concubine’s body drops to the floor in two, split directly at her waist. He had warned her already about referring to him as her lord. She didn’t deserve to speak of you so carelessly, and she didn’t deserve to live after causing this rift in his marriage.

Sukuna continues on his hunt for you without another hitch, leaving the harlot’s body right where she once stood for one of the servants to clean up.

He searches for you in all your usual spots: the gardens, the kitchen, the library, the rooftop. You’re no where to be found. You don’t want to be found. He starts to wonder around his perimeter. The longer he goes without finding you; the more his heart starts to race.

Did you leave him? Did he lose you for good?

The thought of not having his delicate flower by his side makes his body feel ill. You must’ve placed some sort of binding curse on him, but he didn’t necessarily mind.

He’s close to waging war when he finally sees your small human body tucked underneath a weeping willow on a bed of grass. His body moves on it’s own: running to you. When’s the last time he’s ran like this?

Crouching over you, he can see no visible injuries on your body, but he knows he’s wounded your heart with his foolish actions. How could he ever have a wandering eye when you were the real prize?

His four arms carefully scoop you up and cradle your body as he takes a seat underneath the willow. Your poor cheeks are flushed and tear stained. Your eyes and lips are so puffy. You must’ve tired yourself out from crying.

“I’m sorry, flower.” He whispers softly, even if your eyes are still resting. He pulls your body closer to his chest, and he contemplates when he started becoming so soft for you.

A part of him hates it. That small unconscious voice of his telling him that he shouldn’t concern himself with the feelings of a mere mortal, but the bigger part of him knows that he can’t just ignore you. He cares far too much for you.

“Kuna..?” You murmur as your hands rub your eyes. You’re immediately met with remembering just why you had fallen asleep. “I do not wish to see you right now.”

Sukuna chuckles quietly from your defiant little comment. It reminds him of when you first arrived to his estate. “Then close your eyes.” He simply states as one of his hands start to comb through your hair. “Woman, tell me what to do to fix this.”

You shift your gaze away from him with a small huff. If he wasn’t so much bigger than you, you’d try to wiggle away from him. However, you know it is of no use. “I don’t know, Kuna.” Your words are sharp and still so full of emotion. “Imagine how you’d feel if I told you I contemplated sleeping with someone else… in a moment of weakness.”

The sheer thought of it has Sukuna’s anger burning up like an inferno. You’re his delicate flower. No one would even know how to take care of you like he can. His arms subtly tighten around your frame. “I’d kill every man you gaze at.”

“Well, men can rest easy because I only have eyes for you.” You mutter while rolling your eyes. “I love you so much that the thought of being with someone else repulses me, and it… just really hurts that you don’t feel the same.”

“Flower, I took you for granted. It was a brief moment of contemplation, but I instantly decided against it. I did not desire her in the slightest.” Sukuna tries to explain, and his hand gently brushes against your soft cheek.

“You still don’t deny that you don’t feel the same for me.” You respond quietly, still not giving him the satisfaction of you looking at him.

“You are everything to me. I will not lose sight of what’s important again.”

“Kuna.” You finally look up at him, and you frown slightly. Sukuna secretly adores the little nicknames you have adorned him with, but he’d never admit it.

“What is it, woman?” He asks, titling his head to the side a bit to get a better look at your face. You’re so pretty in his lap like this.

“Do you love me?” You quietly ask, even if you can already hear his voice telling you ‘do not ask questions you don’t want answers to’… because even if he’s the incarnate of evil, Sukuna will not lie. Liars are weak cowards who can’t get jobs done by being upfront. Sukuna isn’t afraid of what the truth is.

Your husband contemplates your question for a moment. He thinks about how disgusting that wannabe concubine was. He thinks about how you preoccupy his mind majority of the time. He thinks about the weird mix of feelings he has felt today in your absence.

“What I feel for you… is probably the closest to love that I’ll ever get.” Sukuna responds, carefully choosing his words. “You, my flower, are the only thing that keeps me grounded to the mortal plains.”

You give him the best smile you can muster despite the disappointment that you feel since he won’t tell you that he loves you. You suppose you have no one to blame other than yourself. Sukuna told you when he married you not to get your hopes up for love, but you still can’t help but crave that sort of affection from him.

“I don’t like seeing you upset, flower.” He speaks tenderly as his thumb brushes against your bottom lip. “If I could, I’d snap my fingers and assure you that I love you whole heartedly. It just not in my genetic code.”

“I know… I’m grateful for your effort at least.” You murmur as you wrap your arms around his neck.

His arms wrap around you, cradling you to his chest. He inhales deeply, savoring your sweet scent that he enjoys so much. “Am I forgiven, woman?”

“Mmm, no.” You smile cheekily in his embrace, and Sukuna chuckles heartily.

“Oh? Is someone going to use this blunder to her advantage?” When you nod in his shoulder, Sukuna lays back against the soft pillowy grass. “That’s my girl. Go on. Make me work for your forgiveness.”

On a completely unrelated note, Sukuna had that harlot’s body mailed back to her father as a ‘thank you’ for sending a whore to his kingdom.

[captainamericasmotercycle]

Hiiii. I hope you are well. I would like to request a Cregan Stark x reader where they’re newlyweds and Cregan is doing everything he can to get reader to like him as she barely talks to him and keeps to herself because her mother basically told her to not expect him to be a kind gentle husband like the ones she’s read in books. The two slowly grow close once reader sees the effort Cregan has been putting in. Thank you!

i've never written for cregan before so i hope i did him justice <3

warnings: uncomfortable talk of women? (from your mother and sisters), you are his first wife (rickon doesn't exist yet), canon divergent, reader's family is not specified

a/n: this could possibly have a second part... all feedback is welcomed!!

When the news broke that Lord Cregan Stark was looking to take a new wife, your father was not hesitant to offer up your hand.

Your family resided close to the North, and your father needed Lord Stark as an ally in case any conflict arose suddenly. Within only a single moon, Lord Stark agreed to take you to wed.

It was not in your plans to be forced into a marriage, but rather find someone to love and live a long and prosperous life with.

"You know he is not going to be kind, not like the silly tales you read of," your mother, of course, prepared you for your impending doom of a marriage, as she implied.

You wanted to die. If only you were not a high-born lady, you could choose your fate.

"You cannot expect him to tend to you every moment of the day, at all even," you remember your older sisters joining the two of you, helping you to know what will become of you.

"He will take you as he wishes, and you will comply."

"You will lay with him until he finds pleasure and discards of you."

"But.. will I find pleasure?"

They laughed at you, both of your sisters and your mother. You did not wish to be trapped in a loveless marriage.

"No, if anything, he will find some cheap whore to busy himself with, until it is time for you to give him heirs."

"You mustn't talk to him unless spoken to first-"

"And you mustn't speak your mind, ever."

They filled your head with their advice until the day of your wedding. It was a small gathering just within the walls of Winterfell. Your family attended, as well as Cregan's uncle, a couple members of his council, and his half siblings.

During the post-ceremony celebration, you stayed timid, smiling gently whenever Cregan looked at you, or when your mother sent a pointed expressed to you.

You watched your brother, brothers-in-law, and father, eager to drink, but Cregan refrained.

Cregan tried to hold your hand, or lay his hand over your knee, succeeding in doing so, but you shied away from his touch, your body freezing up.

At the end of the night, the celebration winded down and you retreated to your new chambers, apart from Cregan's. You knew that he would be in to consummate the marriage soon, so you prepared yourself, trying to find a place in your head you could go to escape.

As your maidens dressed you for the night, a soft knock was heard on the door, one of your maids scurried to see who would come at such a late hour.

"My Lady Stark, it is your lord husband."

Lady Stark. Quite the title.

"Let him in, and leave us."

She and the other maids left the newlyweds as requested. He stood at the door, quite the ways away from you.

"Did you enjoy the celebration?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Please, call me Cregan, I am your husband now."

"Yes, my- Cregan," he moved slightly towards you.

"Have I done something to offend you?"

"No, my lord."

"Cregan. And are you sure?"

"Yes, Cregan. I apologize, husband if I have not been attentive enough. I can be better, I promise. I can be a good wife," you begged him.

He said your name softly, seeing the utter fear in your eyes, "You have been perfect; there is no need for you to upset yourself."

"Have you come to consumate the marriage?"

"I figured you were too tired. Do you want to?"

You were taken aback by his question, you hadn't expected him to ask about you.

"I- I think I would prefer to rest," you bowed your head at him.

"As you wish, wife. I will see you in the morn," he walked to you and gently kissed the top of your head, then retreated to his own quarters.

-

The morn came and you were still not talking to him. Maybe you were just nervous to be away from your home is all and you just wanted some time to adjust to your new life.

Weeks passed and he tried to talk to you, but you only answered him with short responses. This worried him, what had he done to hurt you?

He decided to send you a new pelt, incase you wished to explore the gardens or the outside walls of Winterfell. He hoped to hear from you about the gift, but no word came back except for a thank you from your maid.

He did not understand why you would not talk to him. He began sending flowers almost every morn with your meal, he gifted you a horse, (which you had not even attempted to see since the first time he showed you), and he even went as far as obtaining you a direwolf pup as a wedding gift. The pup became as reclused as you.

He became frustrated with his failed attempts to connect with you, sulking around Winterfell, and it was very apparent in his commands.

He hadn't taken a trip to the wall in weeks, and he commanded his men to finish outrageous requests; lashing out at anyone who questioned him or seemed to breathe the wrong way.

You had not been eager to seek him out or talk to him, not even trying to leave the walls of Winterfell to explore the nearing city; just staying in the comfort of the castle's library and your chambers.

He wanted to see you, to build a bond with his new wife, but most of the time he was unable to find you; it seemed that you were hiding from him.

After almost a moon of short interactions and dodging his every move, he was ready to beg, luckily he finally cornered you in your chambers.

Instead of a maid coming to fetch you for supper, Cregan insisted that he go instead. He pushed open your doors, finding you sitting with a book near the window, your much larger direwolf pup at your feet

Your head shot up at the sudden noise, louder than you were used to at this hour. You set down your book, ready to stand at his presence, but he stalked over to you rather quickly.

He dropped to his knees at your feet, startling you, he stated your name, "Please tell me what I have done, I wish to see you, to speak to you."

"You have done nothing, husband. I will speak if you wish it."

"No! I want you to speak freely, what has made you shy away from me? I am trying to know you, to love you. Please, just tell me!"

Your gaze softened, "You want to love me?"

His face changed to confusion, "Of course. Have I dont something to make you assume otherwise?"

"Not you..."

"Who. Tell me. I will have their tongues."

"My mother... and my sisters. They spoke that you would not be kind, that I should not speak freely near you... that you would be too busy with cheap whores to notice me until you wanted an heir."

He set his large hands on your knees, "Every word of that is so untrue. I married you because I want to love you. Let me."

You looked at his eyes, yearning in them, "I want you to love me."

He pulled you to stand with him. He tugged you by the waist into him, peppering you with kisses, one near your eyebrow, one on your cheek, one on the tip of your nose, and finally one at the corner of your mouth. You smiled at him and his actions.

"There's that smile I so desperately have been wanting to see for over a moon."

You set your hands on either side of his face, kissing his lips softly, "I'm sorry that I have been so distant, I should have seen your efforts."

"I hold no grudge against you wife, I am just happy you are giving me another chance," he kissed you again.

"Shall we go to supper?" You nodded as he took your hand.

"Good. I think my men will be pleased to hear of our reconcile. I fear I have been more than unpleasant," you kissed his jaw.

"Well, we owe them an apology don't we?"

[shewolfofvilnius]

I feel sorry for Orin

repurposed from an old Reddit post of mine

Edit: Wrote an epilogue fic where my Durge, Sofija, seeks redemption for her sister with the Gods

Raised from birth in the Bhaal cult and has never known ANYTHING else. Literally the result of incest between her mom and Sarevok (her father AND grandfather) - and for her entire life is actively manipulated and groomed to worship her "Grandfather" second only to Bhaal (leaving a disgusting implication that Sarevok might eventually try again). Literally every single day of her life spent in a murder cult, never knowing anything else.

Her mother is actively manipulated when Orin is seven to try to kill her daughter, only for Orin to reflexively kill her first, at which point Orin was briefly possessed by Bhaal himself (per some Sarevok dialogue). AT AGE SEVEN. And even from a young age, Orin's true gift is her artistry, a talent that outside the Bhaal cult probably could have been nurtured into something phenominal, but inside the cult is twisted into a sinisterness in the kill that, when she's out of earshot is decried as wasteful.

She eventually rises through the ranks (never have had any choice), having never felt a meaningful moment of compassion or kindness and, desperate to be cared about, sees the power and fear and respect her bloodkin (The Dark Urge) has gained and uses their hubris to take them out.

Ironically, in the timeline where Durge lives, they get a gift Orin couldn't even dream of - a 2nd chance. With their brain scrambled and the tadpole present but being interfered with, the Dark Urge got a chance to be someone new. (Whether they accept or reject that 2nd chance, they at least got a choice this time).

What did Orin get for her troubles? Her (grand)father openly coveted to either take her out, or worse, take her out - when the time was right, her own allies both detested her (Gortash openly revels at the idea of working with the Dark Urge again)

and most brutally, if you manage to confront her with the truth, any of it? About Sarevok, about her mother, etc? She immediately believes you. And for one (1) moment, maybe there's hope for her.

Hope that Bhaal immediately rips away; an Orin confronted with the truth and showing even the slightest hesitation is immediately forcibly transformed into the Slayer by Bhaal himself, with a strong implication that the core of the old Orin is gone forever win, lose, or draw. "No more doubts, no more fears, no more Orin. Become murder.". Seeing what Bhaal's reaction was the moment Orin had one (1) instant of hesitation also confirms that she'd likely have never had the chance to choose differently, either Bhaal would always step in or else she'd eventually meet her end.

Imagine the AU where Orin takes her CLEAR flair and artistic talent to become a truly great artist. Where she gets the same second chance that Durge got - If she'd been able to use her talent for impersonation and desire to great to do something powerful instead of being forced by her family from childhood into the family business of murder.

She literally never had a chance. Even Bane and Myrkul and their respective cults were never so unfathomably cruel, and she never knew anything else.

At least for my own first game, though, my Durge recognized that without her "sister," she'd have never gotten the chance to save the world, never met Shadowheart, never stopped a century worth of Ketheric's torture on Dame Aylin, never set in motion the liberation of the Githyanki...In the right world states, Orin unwittingly saved the world, but it's a world she'll never get to see or know, and probably never could have.

That's tragic as hell.

[pascaloverx]

STARVE

Summary: You lost your husband some time ago while he served as a gladiator for Emperors Geta and Caracalla. General Acacius saved you from becoming an object of pleasure for the emperors. Since then, he has taken you as his mistress. In your free time, you became a disciple of Ravi, the healer, dedicating yourself to tending to wounded gladiators. All seemed to be in perfect harmony until Hanno, a gladiator driven by a thirst for vengeance, crossed your path.

Author's Note: And the gods said: Starve will be a multi-chapter fanfiction (I hope readers will follow it all the way through). Without further ado, the characters belong to Ridley Scott's Gladiator II universe, though there will be significant deviations from the film. Historical accuracy regarding life in the Roman Empire may not always be strictly observed, so I hope you can overlook that. Yes, this story revolves around a love triangle, but I will strive to satisfy everyone. This fanfiction will include adult content, violence, and potentially coarse language. Enjoy!

one three

TWO

Days, perhaps more, have passed. You and Hanno have been meeting in secret, seizing moments when there was no sign of General Acacius. All that you were permitted to know was that he was recovering in the company of his beloved wife, Lucilla, who made it clear she wanted no trace of your presence near her husband. The absence of Acacius weighed upon you more than you cared to admit. To be denied access to him felt akin to holding your breath for far too long. Yet, your clandestine encounters with Hanno had proven to be a welcome distraction, enough to keep your mind from lingering too deeply on what you could not change.

"Your gladiator is requesting your care, Y/N. And while we are on the subject, your encounters under the pretext of physical care will soon spark rumors," Ravi remarks as he steps into the chamber where he keeps his healing tools. "General Acacius will be the first to rage if he learns of your escapades. Should Emperors Geta and Caracalla grow suspicious, they may presume you are seeking a new lover. Not to mention the possibility of Macrinus taking offense at your growing closeness with his gladiator." You remain crouched, organizing a collection of herbs, a faint smile tugging at your lips. Hanno needs you—or rather, he has summoned you for yet another session of personal defense training.

"Ravi, believe me, I am well aware of the risks I take in daring to draw close to Hanno. Yet, I choose to take them—something no one of sound mind would do. General Acacius will not always be there to save me in the future. Lucilla has made her stance on my involvement with him abundantly clear. You do not see him here, concerned for me, do you? Precisely for that reason, I must think of the future." You speak as you search for the garment General Acacius once left at your disposal, should you ever need to fight.

"Since you are so determined to take such risks, be cautious. The guards will bring Hanno to be treated, and you will have only that time to practice—whatever it is you two practice," Ravi warns, much as he does each time you and Hanno meet, repeating the same cautions.

"I shall change my attire. If you would, dear friend, make Hanno comfortable until I return," you say, rising and moving toward the exit of the space where you and Ravi have tended to countless gladiators. "If all goes well today, I shall be one step closer to becoming more than a healer or a lover. I shall be the closest thing to a warrior I can aspire to be." Ravi nods, though a hint of worry lingers in his expression. He is the closest thing to an ally you have.

Time rushes by when one is on the brink of doing something forbidden, but you no longer concern yourself with the consequences. You are resolute to take control of your destiny, even if that control is but a sliver. Once dressed, you secure the dagger Acacius once gifted you in a hidden compartment of your attire. It is your small but vital secret, and you are steadily improving in its use.

With purpose in your stride, you make your way swiftly to where Hanno is awaiting you. When you arrive, his eyes brighten at the sight of you. "I see your delay is justified; you look prepared for battle. Let us see if you can land a blow," Hanno says, advancing toward you with a predatory gait meant to intimidate.

You meet his gaze with an unflinching smile. "Save your words for when we’re truly facing off, gladiator," you reply, following him to the familiar training grounds. It is the very arena where countless gladiators sharpen their skills, preparing for the moment they will stand before the emperors in the grand coliseum.

As soon as you step into the center of the training grounds, Hanno strikes without warning. His sword arcs toward you, narrowly missing as you instinctively step back. At the start of this combat practice, both of you wield swords, though your grasp on its use remains novice.

"Have you lost your sanity, Hanno? I wasn’t ready," you exclaim, fixing him with a glare of irritation. He advances on you again, silent and relentless, as if transformed into a stranger intent on attack. His gaze is unwavering, his resolve sharp.

"When you’re defending yourself, no one will wait for you to be ready, nor will they show you mercy. I want you to see me as you would see any foe who dares strike at you," Hanno declares, his sword slashing toward you again. You react, relying on your defensive maneuvers, retreating step by step until a strategy for counterattack begins to form in your mind.

"I’m not so sure; you seem to be enjoying this far too much," you retort, timing your movements before landing your first offensive strike. It catches him off guard, a flicker of surprise flashing across his face. The gap between you narrows, charged with the thrill of the fight and something deeper, more electrifying.

"I am enjoying it just as much as you enjoy patching me up with that brute strength of yours, healer. Now, focus," Hanno says, parrying your blow with unnerving precision. It’s like a dance—each movement perfectly countering the other. You attack; he defends. He strikes; you block. The rhythm between you is almost hypnotic, an eerie harmony born of tension and skill. But then, in a risky maneuver, Hanno manages to disarm you. Your sword flies from your grasp, landing far out of reach. Now standing mere steps apart, your eyes meet, both of you breathing heavily. It feels like the end for you, so why not take a chance?

With a surge of reckless determination, you rush toward him, channeling all your strength into an attempt to topple him. In your mind, it isn’t Hanno you’re facing—it’s an enemy, someone who would do you harm. Your unexpected move catches him off guard, and he falls to the ground. By sheer luck or fate, his sword slips from his grip as well. Now, you find yourself on top of him, both of you unarmed. The air between you is charged, your breaths mingling as silence envelops the space.

"It seems I have bested the great gladiator of Macrinus," you say, pressing your body lightly against his, a triumphant smile on your lips. Hanno smirks, his hands firmly gripping your waist as he swiftly reverses your positions, pinning you beneath him with effortless strength.

"Do not be deceived, healer," he murmurs, his piercing gaze locking with yours. But you are not so easily subdued. With a practiced movement, you draw the hidden dagger from your vestments and press it against his neck, the blade gleaming in the dim light. "Your presumption is touching, gladiator," you retort, your tone both teasing and sharp.

"What will you do next, healer?" Hanno asks, his breath warm against your face. The tension between you ignites instantly, palpable and undeniable. Before you can respond, he pulls your face closer to his, his lips capturing yours with a fervent intensity, as though he means to consume you entirely. At first, you almost resist Hanno’s kiss—it feels forbidden, a boundary you should not cross. Since your husband’s passing, Acacius was the only man you had kissed. Yet, as Hanno’s tongue ventures into your mouth, you find yourself surrendering, the kiss quickly becoming mutual.

In truth, Hanno is devouring you, but you refuse to let him take the upper hand so easily. You tug at his hair with force, pulling him closer, demanding his full attention. The kiss deepens, its intensity increasing to the point of no return. You want him to feel your hunger, to know that you wish to consume him just as much. For all its forbidden allure, you crave this moment—not because of duty or obligation, but because you want it. You want to know what it feels like to kiss someone you shouldn't, to rebel against every expectation tethering you. Your husband was not forced upon you, but your marriage had been a safeguard. Becoming Acacius’ lover served a similar purpose. But with Hanno, nothing feels safe. And perhaps that is why you let this moment unfold. There is no security here, no veil of protection. If you and Hanno are caught, Acacius could kill him, both the Emperor Geta and Emperor Caracalla could execute you, and the repercussions would be endless. Yet, none of that matters as your lips clash with his in this reckless, intoxicating dance of defiance.

The kiss is all-consuming, so intense that, for a moment, it steals your breath. You pause, pulling away to recover the air you desperately need. Yet Hanno seems unsatisfied, his eyes locked on you with an intensity that threatens to unravel your resolve.

His hand cups your face, fingers tracing over every detail as if committing you to memory. When his thumb brushes over your lips, he murmurs softly, "Your lips remind me of hers, my beautiful Arishat." Reality strikes like a sharp blade. He is with you, yet his mind lingers on his late wife. The weight of that truth is unbearable. As he leans forward, seeking your lips once more, you push him away, creating the distance you now desperately need.

"I will not be her replacement," you think, your resolve firm. "Nor Lucilla’s substitute." Avoiding his gaze, your shame and frustration burn within you. Rising quickly, you make your way toward your quarters. You and Ravi must always be prepared to tend to the wounded, so your rooms are close to where the gladiators train and where Ravi keeps his healing tools.

"Healer," Hanno calls out behind you, his voice firm yet laced with something softer. He follows after you, refusing to let the moment end so abruptly.

"Gladiator," you say, turning to face Hanno. Your body nearly collides with his, but you take a step back, halting the chase that had ensued. "Our training is done. I think it would be wise for us to part ways now, so as not to confuse..." You pause, searching for the right word to define what you might be confusing, only for Hanno to step abruptly closer, almost closing the space entirely.

"I am not confused about anything, healer," he says, his tone firm yet sincere. "I was lost momentarily in a memory, but I assure you, I knew exactly who I was kissing." He takes another step forward, his presence overwhelming.

"The act itself is already a problem, gladiator," you reply, struggling to maintain composure under his intense gaze. "We should not have kissed." Before he can respond, both of you hear footsteps approaching. In an instant, Hanno’s hand moves to your waist, pulling you behind him as though to shield you from whatever danger may come. Ravi appears, nearly running toward you, his face etched with worry.

"General Acacius has been seen heading this way," Ravi announces, his voice hurried and panicked. "The guards are murmuring that he’s coming to see you, Y/N. I suggest we get Hanno out of here immediately, and you prepare yourself to receive him."

The mention of Acacius sends a cold dread through you. Him encountering Hanno now would spell disaster. "Tell the guards who brought Hanno to retrieve him from here," you instruct, your voice steady despite the storm brewing inside. "Hanno and I will change out of these combat garments, and I’ll distract Acacius while the guards take Hanno back to his cell. Ravi, I’ll need your speed."

Without hesitation, Ravi nods and rushes off to summon the guards. You, in turn, push Hanno toward a secluded area where he can change out of his training gear. "Change in there and wait for me," you instruct firmly. Noticing the swords in his hands, you swiftly take them from him despite his protests. With no time to spare, you carry the weapons back to your quarters while Hanno remains in the area where you and Ravi usually tend to injured gladiators. In the quiet urgency of your chambers, you hastily change your attire, your mind racing with the precariousness of the situation. Hanno waits silently, the gravity of the moment clear to both of you.

"Do you fear what might happen should General Acacius discover your association with the gladiator who recently sought his life?" Hanno asks as you enter the room where he waits patiently to be taken back to his cell.

"I do not fear for myself," you reply, adjusting your tunic with calm precision. "I fear that if you and he meet, there will be unnecessary bloodshed. As I’ve told you before, if you wish to kill him, do so in a duel—before the people of Rome. Sate the appetite of Emperors Geta and Caracalla as they watch you strike at each other in a frenzied battle for glory in the name of the gods."

Hanno listens intently, his expression thoughtful as he steps closer. Without a word, he helps you smooth the folds of your tunic, his touch deliberate yet gentle. "Will you tell him of our association, then?" he asks, finishing his adjustments and letting his hand linger briefly as it grazes your cheek.

"What is there to tell?" you counter, meeting his gaze with resolve. "Our association is no one’s concern." A smile spreads across Hanno’s face, slow and satisfied, as if your answer pleased him greatly.

Moments later, Ravi appears, his expression tense. "The guards are near," he informs, his tone clipped. His gaze shifts between you and Hanno, briefly noting the closeness between you, though he chooses to remain silent. With a small nod, Ravi turns to Hanno, gesturing for him to follow. Hanno casts you a lingering look before allowing Ravi to lead him toward the guards, leaving you behind with the weight of the encounter still pressing on your chest.

You wait patiently for General Acacius to arrive, though his delay stretches longer than anticipated. The thought suddenly strikes you—he might already be in your quarters, as he has been on previous occasions.

"Would you care to explain," his voice calls out, smooth and laced with quiet reproach, "what reasons led my beloved healer, whom I hold in such high regard, to abandon me to the care of Ravi instead of tending to me herself?" Turning toward the source, you find him stepping into view, pulling back the mantle that had concealed his face and form. His approach is measured, deliberate, and his gaze briefly flickers to the swords you had left behind without considering they might draw his notice.

"You should have sought explanations from your wife, General Acacius," you reply, your tone calm but firm, though the effort to keep it so is greater than it seems. "It was she who instructed me, in the presence of the guards no less, to withdraw from tending to your care." His footsteps pause near the swords, his attention drawn to their gleaming edges. The air between you grows heavier as his eyes shift back to yours, narrowing slightly as he regards you. You remain steadfast, though the distance you keep from him feels tenuous, as if he could close it with the simplest of steps.

"I was not informed of such a decision; I would never have allowed my care to pass from your hands to another's," General Acacius speaks softly, his tone a mixture of calm and yearning as he moves toward you with deliberate caution, yet there is a palpable hunger in his eyes.

"General, whether you authorized it or not is irrelevant," you reply, holding your ground though the weight of his presence begins to press upon you. "Lucilla no longer wishes for us to remain close. Surely, you remember that when all this began, you told me that if your wife were ever to object to our association, even if it was merely for appearances, it would end."

Your words are firm, yet the truth they carry sinks heavily into your own heart. You know now, with certainty, that the chapter of your life entwined with Acacius is nearing its inevitable conclusion.

"Those words were spoken before we became what we are today," Acacius responds, his voice steady yet filled with a quiet intensity. "Surely you know I have no intention of abandoning you." He steps closer, his gaze unwavering, his nearness suffocating in its allure.

"Do not worry for me. Your pity is no longer necessary, Acacius," you say, though the ache in your chest betrays the pain these words bring. Deep down, you have long feared that what he felt for you stemmed from nothing but pity.

"I have never pitied you," he murmurs, his voice low and filled with conviction. "Perhaps I felt empathy for your pain in the beginning, but after that—everything was real. Your presence makes me a better man." His hand reaches up to touch your face, tenderly tracing its contours as if to soften your resolve. He presses a gentle kiss to your cheek, an intimate gesture meant to draw you back to him, to coax you into his embrace once more.

"You owe your loyalty to your wife, not to me," you say, your voice faltering slightly under the weight of his gaze and the warmth of his touch. "We must no longer allow ourselves to feel anything beyond what is proper, Acacius." Even as you speak, your resolve weakens beneath his touch, his words a balm and a temptation all at once. He seems heedless of your protest, intent only on closing the distance between you.

"Lucilla has my loyalty, but you... you have my protection. I will not leave you unguarded," Acacius says, his lips almost brushing against yours, his voice weighted with emotion.

"Then you should know that my loyalty is no longer yours exclusively," you reply, steadying yourself as you deliver the words. You feel the sharp recoil in Acacius as he steps back, his expression hardening, though disbelief flickers in his eyes.

"I am involved with another," you continue, forcing the lie to your lips with a strength you did not know you possessed. "It may mean that I will no longer require your protection in the future." Your words are a dagger you wield with precision, for you know that to continue as his lover would jeopardize his marriage—a risk you cannot allow, no matter the desires that linger within you.

"Who would dare attempt to claim you, knowing that you are mine?" General Acacius demands, his voice edged with irritation that betrays a rare crack in his calm demeanor. His gaze narrows, his presence no less imposing, but the fury brewing beneath his words sends a shiver through you. You realize the fire you have kindled within him may burn brighter than you anticipated.

"Someone who does not fear the wrath of General Acacius," you say, your voice steady despite the undeniable pull of his proximity. You desire him, undeniably so, but you know you must not have him.

"It is clear that our involvement must end—now. Before it concludes in disaster," you declare, watching as Acacius processes your words, his gaze shadowed with an intensity that seems both pained and unyielding.

"Then let it be clear to you," Acacius responds, his tone laced with an unwavering authority, though no threat lies in his words. "Whoever dares to encroach upon what is mine will meet the edge of my sword without delay. Our bond will not be severed while either of us draws breath, Y/N. Keep that in mind." His declaration is resolute, not spoken as a plea but as a statement of his immutable commitment to you. It leaves you breathless, the weight of his words pressing against the fortress of your resolve.

"You cannot protect me forever, Acacius. Just as I cannot heal you forever," you murmur, stepping closer, your desperation palpable as though silently begging him to release you—to let you go before you both reach a precipice from which there is no return.

"Mea domina," he whispers reverently, stepping closer and pulling down the fabric covering your shoulder with deliberate care. His lips press softly against the exposed skin, lingering as if to seal a silent vow. The tenderness in his touch conveys more devotion than desire, a gesture that leaves you caught between longing and regret.

"I would die if necessary, but I will not abandon those I hold in the highest esteem. You and Lucilla are my priorities, and I will relinquish neither of you. If you place so much faith in this new interest of yours, let him come to me bearing a sword, and he shall find his end," he declares, his voice unwavering and resolute, his words resonating like a solemn oath.

Acacius lifts his hand to gently cradle your face, his thumb brushing your cheek as his lips trace a path of soft kisses along your temple, down to the curve of your jaw, and finally your forehead. His lips linger as if memorizing each contour of your face, avoiding your mouth deliberately—a clear boundary, or perhaps his way of expressing silent reproach for the words you have spoken. The kisses feel like a claim, yet also a farewell—his way of both cherishing and punishing, of reminding you of his commitment while withholding the one intimacy he knows you yearn for. The intensity in his gaze as he pulls back speaks volumes, as though he is willing you to see the depths of his resolve. "At times, it feels as though battle is all you truly understand, Acacius," you say, holding his gaze with a penetrating look, as if unraveling the depths of his thoughts.

"I am a man of honor," he replies, his tone firm yet measured. "I will not seek out the man who dares to involve himself with you, but neither will I stand idle should he attempt to take what is rightfully mine." His presence remains close, commanding and resolute, as though he seeks to claim not just the space but the moment itself. With deliberate care, Acacius reaches out, his hand brushing your face in a touch that is at once gentle and laden with unspoken meaning. It lingers, as if he wishes to commit every contour of your features to memory.

Without another word, he steps back, retreating from your chambers with the disciplined stride of a general accustomed to carrying the weight of empires. His departure leaves the room heavy with unresolved tension, the air thick with the echoes of what cannot be spoken. Alone, you are left to ponder the tangled web of emotions and loyalties binding you to both Acacius and Hanno. The weight of your entanglement bears down upon you, as inevitable as the arena’s call to blood and glory.

[strawberry-halla]

something so amazing about solas is that he is very good at predicting his enemies and his allies moves. he’s always thinking 5 steps ahead, even varric says this. (long post incoming!)

but when it comes to lavellan, he could never predict her. when he first meets her, solas thinks she’s just another dalish elf that is unwilling to listen to his advice. nope turns out she can be willing and not only that but asks him about what he knows so she can better understand the fade/spirits/ancient elves.

and then the haven dream kiss! she’s the one who initiates and solas is once again thrown off guard because he never expected that. and then he just gives into it with so much passion and fade tongue.

in all new, faded for her, solas is once again surprised lavellan agrees with his plan to free his friend, the spirit of wisdom. because nobody in the entire inquisition (except cole) would be down for this?? like all the world knows about spirits is that they don’t ever come in contact with people unless very rarely. they’re an enigma, something to be feared even because they can become demons. but nah lavellan is like ‘yep sounds good let’s go save your friend!’

and solas after this tries to rationalize lavellan’s bizarre behavior as something the anchor changed about her. because he has always known how to read people. he can’t understand her. he thinks her ‘spirit’ has changed due to magic’s influence.

but no, lavellan surprises once again by pointing out that her choices are her own or that if the anchor did change her, wouldn’t she notice? like no wonder solas is so fucking down bad. lavellan subverts everything he thought about the modern people, not just exclusively elves. she’s constantly showing him new points of view and challenging his whole mission. and so the cracks start to form.

“you show a wisdom i haven’t seen since…*pause* my deepest journeys into the ancient memories of the fade.”

“your mind, your morals, your… *pause* spirit.”

“it would be kinder in the long run. but losing you would- *cuts himself off*”

and then if lavellan drinks from the well, this conversation and the previous quest itself (what pride had wrought) just cracks solas wide open (even if she didn’t drink). he’s visibly upset because he’s afraid the well will change lavellan and he knows first hand what it’s like to do everything for someone who made the wrong choices! so solas asks what she would do with the power of the well and he’s ONCE AGAIN thrown off guard by her answer. i really like the “help the world move forward” option because it almost aligns with solas’s plan but it doesn’t.

s: “you would risk everything you have in the hope the future is better? what if it isn’t? what if you wake up to find the future you shaped is worse than what it was?”

l: “i’ll take a breath, see where things went wrong, and then try again.”

s: “just like that?”

l: “if we don’t keep trying, we’ll never get it right.”

you’d think this would be an affirmation that solas’s plan is right, but it’s not. lavellan is wanting to fix things now and shape a better future with the well’s power. it’s eerily similar, but once again a path solas didn’t consider. she surprises once more. using the wisdom from the well to help, rather than command. sound familiar? this conversation just solidifies solas’s want. to be himself and to be solas, not fen’harel, with lavellan.

so he takes her to crestwood. somewhere intimate and quiet just for the two of them. a place where the veil is thinnest because it’s easy for spirits to cross and be comfortable. solas is going to tell lavellan the truth. he’s going to abandon his plan. but then solas gets in his own head. he fights with the possibility of her rejecting him because why wouldn’t she? he’s the very god in her culture that ruined everything. what if lavellan sees him for the monster history painted him? and then he realizes why he even wanted to tear down the veil. to avenge his oldest friend and right the wrongs he did to the elves. and it all comes crashing down in not even a second.

“then what i must tell you… *pause* …the truth.”

solas backpedals so fucking hard. the reality of everything just hits him. so he quickly redirects to the vallaslin topic because it’s familiar as he looks down at lavellan’s face and sees the markings of the very gods he locked away.

remove the vallaslin or not solas still loves her no matter what. and the sad option is still my favorite here because once again solas is slipping.

s: “you have a rare and marvelous spirit. in another world-“

l: “why not this one?”

and then at the end of veilguard, lavellan does one more thing solas doesn’t expect. after hurting her, betraying her, leaving her alone without any answers, killing one of her friends, and almost succeeding in his plan, she forgives him. lavellan abandons thedas and everything she knew to be with him. to the very end, she is subverting his tragic expectations.

“this journey is not yours alone. we make it together, always.”

[introverting-rn]

THE ESSAY IS HERE

fell first fell harder

first thing is to define this trope. i remember reading a very good tumblr post explaining it which i can no longer find, so i’ll just give my own summary of it: character A fell in love, and it was something constant and growing. they have felt that love every day and held onto it, to the point where it has become almost a background noise - it’s just part of who they are. character B has known and loved them for years, but it hasn’t been a realised, romantic love, until one day they get punched in the nose with it and are suddenly head-over-heels and proposing marriage immediately.

i’ve seen this go both ways in narumitsu but the larger consensus seems to be that phoenix fell first, and i’m here to argue against it with a random deep dive into their childhoods

the thing about phoenix wright is that he makes families. everywhere he goes he finds people (or they find him) and they just stick together until they become a finely gelled unit, and phoenix has always worked as the backbone of these families. i believe this is because he didn’t have a particularly close family as a kid - whether he lost parents, faced neglect, or got caught between a split in the family, i don’t know, but i don’t think home was ever really HIS safe space even when it was safe.

for little phoenix, those family units came through his drawings. he used to sit at his bedroom window and look out at the people and try to sketch them, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth and eyebrows furrowing. sometimes he’d sit in comic book stores and try to make the characters or experiment with style, and sometimes he’d stare at whatever came on tv and try to figure out what shapes and frames things were made of. through all this he found some people he liked the best, and he redrew and redrew and redrew them until they became his close companions in life.

he says in the flashback to the school trial that he’d never felt truly alone until that moment, and i believe him! he’d never really had people-friends, but he always had those friends in his drawings, and was never isolated from all others until the fateful lunch money was stolen. then, not only did he feel alone for the first time, but when he was saved he also had those stars in his eyes of family family family and he made sure they all stuck together.

but do i believe that he fell for miles? no, i don’t really. i’m absolutely ready to concede a crush, but that was never the important thing for phoenix - the important thing was that he now had a unit, and he would hold onto them with white knuckles and bleeding fingers.

and, well, he tried. he really did. he sent letters and letters as often as he could, and drew for miles those same characters that had once been his only refuge. but at some point, he must have thought that miles was done with him, and as he grew up he also moved on, keeping miles as a promise of family in his heart.

(while i’m here, i want to mention larry - i read the fic “christmas with the wrights” by stardustsolitude on ao3, highly recommend, and really enjoyed what they wrote about him in chapter 3: “Larry Butz was kind of an unreliable guy… but Phoenix knew better than that. They had been friends since he was in elementary school, and Larry had been loyal to him and stuck by him through some tough times… That, and Phoenix understood why Larry was the way he was. He’d come from a very unstable background. Even now, he often had to bail his mother out of jail, and his father was an alcoholic who hardly remembered what day it was. When one considered that, it made sense that Larry had turned out a bit flaky and reckless himself. He’d lacked the structure and safety that most kids grew up with and took for granted.” banger fic and rly nice characterisation, 10/10.)

miles’ life was the inverse of nick’s. as a kid, he already had that family unit in gregory edgeworth, and he’d never needed anything else for a family. however, he quietly wanted friends closer to his age, despite not knowing how to relate with them because he’d never wanted to talk to anyone but his dad before he hit primary school.

then came phoenix, and when he saw the stars of family in phoenix’s eyes, he latched on in the same way. he took the opportunity with both hands and whenever he looked over to see phoenix do the same, his kiddy crush got bigger and bigger.

but i’m not going to act like seven year olds are capable of falling in love, because that’s just weird. no, the love didn’t come until later - not until he had nothing else.

gregory died, and miles lived in total isolation. fransiska showed moments of sweetness and childhood and miles adored her when he could, but von karma pitted them against each other to such an extent that he could find no true family in her (yet). thinking about gregory brought back memories of the elevator, the gunshot, that horrible scream, and so instead he held on to phoenix with the same white knuckles and bleeding fingers.

von karma only let him read phoenix’s letters when he performed better than fransiska, and when he saw the spark of rebellious spirit this grew in mikes, karma burnt all of them and said he’d stopped writing. the only solace that miles had was the memories from their short time together. miles cradled them close to his heart as he grew, and somewhere along the line fell slowly in love with the boy who had stars in his eyes and light in his smile and warmth in his easily given hugs.

then more time passed. in this time, each of them became to the other a representation of justice and good: phoenix meant the joy of a job well done and a person saved, and miles meant that fervour of belief and hope. also in this period came dahlia, another reason why i don’t believe phoenix fell first - he would never date someone if his thoughts circled back to another whenever they were near.

phoenix made another family unit in mia, this time not with stars in his eyes but with determination to become a lawyer.

then they met again.

and they were both cruelly let down. fighting against the person who means justice will do that to you, especially when phoenix no longer had stars but stone in his eyes, and miles seemed to have turned away from what he himself said was right.

then miles started to see everything he had once believed of phoenix, and as much as he fought against himself, he fell back into love without any choice.

phoenix was still just trying to save his friend, to rebuilt their family unit. he started to learn what had happened, to see why miles had changed, and started to see the ways in which he continued to change. he admired miles deeply as he began to focus not on the change, but on the incredible ways that he managed the remain - just like cinderella, he survived.

everything miles went through drove him into a panic and a need to get away. he deserves better than me, he thought, and in doing so almost proved it fact. but he returned, because as he grew this time in maturity rather than age, he could only love more and more hopelessly. he could do nothing except come back, and he did.

of course, phoenix was going through a similar shitshow throughout all this, and i don’t think i need to explain why. it was only at the end of it all, when he’d learnt the truth of dahlia and misty and mia and godot and everything was together, he held one hand each of pearl and maya and looked across the room and saw stars in miles’ eyes, and for the first time in so long felt the same stars in his own, and he smiled so largely that it stretched his face, and he fell head over heels in love.

thank you for listening <3

hottest take i have at the minute: when it comes to narumitsu, edgeworth fell first and phoenix fell harder, not the other way around.