#it's hard to explain to people but this is what I'm talking about

[menacingpolkamusic]

I think many women and queer people fall into the trap of treating men nearest to them as a stand-in for the patriarchy they truly hate, because the men closest to them can actually be hurt. The alt-righters threatening to rape them can't.

Unless you're like, Catholic and/or really want to, you're not required to love someone who hates you. I'm sure there's a different strategy to getting through to that person, and that's probably something male allies should take on.

But as for men who truly want to be allies but are intimidated because of women's frustrations (no matter how valid!), such as this man on the Chewed Gum show asking how to model positive masculinity + his feelings on the man/bear question, Alyssa Ljub had a great response (abridged version):

[[READMORE]]

[...] My brother [...] struggled a lot with being a very like sensitive, emotional kind of guy and that manifested as being angry and defensive when he was a teenager and through his more younger adult years, now he's 32 and a full adult and he's really understanding that what he's wanting to express is a more full range of emotions, but he didn't feel comfortable doing that because he was falling into that same mental pattern of that's not manly, men don't cry [...]

In the process of writing the TED Talk, I had given it to my brother to read and he went over it and [...] he encouraged me to look at it again and every time I referred to these like really atrocious things that had happened to women throughout time [...] he encouraged me to look at it and really consider [...] is "man" the word that I want to use, is it because men did this or is it the patriarchy, is it this system that we've created.

And at the end of the day, he was right because we all are victims of this same mentality, like this patriarchal mind space is the reason why [...] you are not super comfortable expressing a full range of emotions or it took you a long time to get there, similarly with my brother and similarly with how we all [choose the] bear and then we have a hard time understanding how men can't see it.

It's all the same system, it's the same machine and so there's a part of me that's always sort of like, it feels good to join in other voices that are able to say "bear and fuck the men who don't understand and that's not my job to teach them" and blah, blah, blah, like there's part of it that will always feel like turning the knife and it feels good for that moment but that's not actually a productive conversation and [...] that's not helping anybody.

And so the other part of it is, okay, [...] we're in this dialogue and [...] oh my gosh, men don't actually see it, they don't really understand why we feel that way and if they can't really understand it and they're in the same system that we are, it kind of is our responsibility to explain because if we don't, we're leaving them to their own devices to figure it out and when they're left to their own devices, they're at the hands of the same system that's telling them to shut down their emotions, be defensive and ignore what we're describing as physical risk that we feel with with strange men and that's not helpful, that's not helping anybody grow.

And so it's frustrating to some women, [...] "I shouldn't have to explain that" and I 100% get that, that's so valid but I think in this conversation, when we talk about how we move forward from how we have pushed men into being a specific type of person that is fitting into [...] this prototype [of] being really tough and minimizing emotions and unable to be vulnerable so that they can appear strong, when we've put men into that space, what pulls them out of it is vulnerability and softness and care and saying it's actually okay for you to want to be emotional in this time and it's actually completely okay that you're hearing this argument where people are saying bear over and over and you're like, "what the hell, I worked so hard to be the kind of man that people would be comfortable around and [...] I worked so hard to undo everything that I was inundated with as a child, like, and you still said bear?"

[...] I would encourage anybody who's listening who has that reaction of like, "I don't want to have to explain it to people. And if they don't get it, that's on them." I would encourage them to also consider how productive that conversation is. And if you, in that very moment, wanted to be productive. Sometimes we're like, "this is not worth it, I don't feel like having this conversation," whatever, that's fine [...]

I feel like that's the biggest thing that is inhibited for so many men in this system. They're not given the permission to feel everything that they want to feel and have a safe space where there might be an adult or a therapist, whatever, whoever is around them to say, "it's okay that you feel that way. And at the same time, the reason why women are saying bear is because even though you're a safe space, the information that we have, the statistics that we have about how many men are not is enough to make me say bear."

[...]

But I think at least in the way that I've experienced this conversation, especially with someone close to me, like my brother, where I've grown up with him obviously, and I've known him my whole life and seeing what made the biggest difference for him was allowing him to feel vulnerable and feel the full range of his emotions and actually process them through. Like actually see [...] "these are all the things I'm feeling and this is how we're gonna resolve it. And now I've learned something because I've actually resolved this feeling."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

I think before we try to discuss the gayness of historical figures, we do need to ask where we locate gayness in someone's life.

Is it having the attraction? Or is it kissing and having sex with someone of the same sex? Is it being in a same-sex relationship?

If we couple it exclusively to being intimate with another person, well then you are going to have a hard time saying much about historical people without a public scandal or very revealing personal correspondence to know.

Is a gay person only gay if they've had a relationship ?

The contentious follow up question to "historians will say they were friends" is "what if they were?"

What if someone is attracted to their friend but doesn't necessarily act on it for a whole myriad of reasons? Does that invalidate their expression of those feelings?

And I know this isn't an uncommon gay experience because there used to be all sorts of jokes in LGBT circles about being in love with your friend who you aren't sure would ever return that affection. There are still jokes about having "I'm jokingly flirting unless you're into it" banter with friends.

Having a secret relationship with a friend who goes on to get married is the whole premise of a Chappel Roan song. And that's not even taking into account historical pressure to marry for economic or political reasons instead of attraction.

And when historians say "we can't say that this person would have identified this way" it can also mean that this person may have never acted on an internal attraction that we can nevertheless see in the ways that they try to explain their feelings to themselves or others. They simply may have never understood that as an option.

Tldr: I don't think we can have a meaningful conversation about whether historical figures were gay without talking about the wide variety of gay and bisexual experiences with friendship and attraction.

[starberry-cupcake]

We're back! again, if these silly recaps help lift your mood in any way, it makes me very happy ♥ I baked chocolate chip cookies for this so imagine I'm sharing them with you 🍪

previously, in harrowcita del 9:

this happened

also @unexpected-tigers linked me to an official house quiz and I did it so, if you want to know what I got and how I answered, I'll add it under "read more" after the recap

CHAPTER 44

listen, I need to start listing things I got right and things I got wrong but I forget at this point what I said

you're gonna have to remind me if I got something right and I didn't catch it because I remember what I got wrong more easily than what I got right

such is life

I'll do my best to try to tally but

I got wrong the narrator, I assumed that, because they were insulting harrow, it might be harrow too

but I forgot about gideon also being a pro at insulting harrow so, guess what?

IT WAS GIDEON

WELCOME BACK, BABE, WE MISSED YOU

CRYING TEARS OF JOY

of actual joy, not mercygirl-joy

to be fair, the narration was very different from gideon's perspective, to account for 1) the twist and 2) the fact that gideon's gideon-ness came out more and more as she got closer to the surface of perception in harrow's body

something she kind of explains later

but yeah, I got that wrong

however, I did get the purgatory situation of canaan house somewhat right and I forgot to mention it last time

ANYWAY, BACK TO GIDEON

CUE 'I AM THE BEST' BY 2NE1 IN THE BACKGROUND

someone stabbed harrow from the back, which is very shitty behavior from whoever it was

so gideon comes back into the real world with the immediate danger of her vessel, necromancer and partner in crime having been stabbed

and she was "left behind" because harrow is back in her canaan purgatory river bubble

with her ghostie ghoulie friends

gideon immediately finds out that harrow can't fight for shit

she's determined to kick the stabber's ass but it's gonna be hard when she's used to her massive guns and ninja warrior disposition and she's inside the body of a baby kitten

gideon's very eloquent commentary is "Fuck. Oh, shit. Oh, fucking hell. Help. Yuck. Aaaargh."

it's so nice to have her back :')

she's talking to harrow in the second person, as she's been doing all this time unbeknownst to those of us who didn't catch it

"which proves that you can put the swordfighter into the necromancer but you can't, wait, hang on"

god, I missed her

gideon is also coming to terms with the fact that harrowcita has regenerating abilities now

she is very angry at the awful state in which her two handed sword is

if you knew, gideon, about the relationship between harrow and your sword and how layered it was...

"Harrowhark, I gave you my whole life and you didn't even want it"

so gideon starts taking control of the situation because the beast is chasing them

absolutely no chill over here in the emperor's bolthole

and by "them" I mean gideon and harrow because idk where the everliving fuck everyone else is

I know the emperor is hiding in weenie hut jr but the rest are supposed to be fighting

except for whoever was going around stabbing people

and idk where not!dulcinea is at this point either

maybe someone's using her to stab harrow idk, I'll never stop blaming her for things, even indirectly

gideon is doing a great job with what she has available because she's "a good girl and you're an evil nun"

she's also still going on about harrow leaving her behind and saying "you never got rid of being so absolutely fucking goddamn sad"

chisus christ gideon, tell us how you really feel about her

gideon looks at herself in the mirror and sees harrow with her eyes and her expressions, which is very uncanny valley

"This was your shell, but it was all filled up with me. God, the double entendres were hard to resist"

yandere twin would appreciate that one, I think, maybe

gideon proceeds to taunt harrow to come back by using her voice to say things like "Oooooh, Palamedes. I am measurably less intelligent than you. Put your tongue in my mouth and I'll flop my tongue against it."

"Ohhhhhrr, Gideon. I was so dumb to think a tub of ancient freezer meat was my girlfriend. Please show me how to do a press-up. Also, I'm very obviously attracted to y—"

no no, by all means, go on

please, gideon, go on with that idea, let's see where it takes us

in other important but not as spicy events

gideon cuts the beast thing in two with her own sword

but now we've got the heralds to go through

"Don't worry, honey. I'll keep the home fires burning."

same energy as

CHAPTER 45

we're back in hotel california canaan house au river bubble

I'm sure that description makes it all super clear for anyone reading

abby and her hubby are taking harrowcita to the secret hideout of the lost boys aka the room behind the tapestry that is now untouched by the body horrors going on in this version of canaan house

and where all our ghostie ghoulie friends are hanging out

it was a person's room, says harrow, and I think we all know it was alleged gideon's aka ortus, but we'll get to that

I need to point out the fact that harrow says she always thought not!dulcinea showed signs of "suppurating ego" but that she could never convince gideon to "see past the appealing eyes and softly clinging dresses"

I KNOW, GIRL, IT DROVE ME FERAL TOO

apparently harrowcita's invite also got to the kids of the fourth but abby sent them back to the river with a kiss in the forehead and their lunch packed

because she had adopted them, as we all know

she said "if only Silas had asked me, what has happened to his soul worries me horribly"

of course I didn't remember that silas was mayonnaise uncle and had to do math for a while in my head

maybe he's out there looking for duracell bunny nephew's soul that is still travelling through the river

abby learned a way to send them back into the river but everyone present wants to help deal with this haunt situation harrow's got going on

honestly, props to martita for hanging around, judith is a lot less cooperative

abby also thinks there's something wrong with the river and that the emperor is unaware of it because he doesn't know about the river beyond

she has studied a lot about it

and that the fact that the "beyond the river" concept has been looked at with scorn by everyone for so long has made the potential studies of it stagnant

I love her a lot at this point

I mean, I'm still 100% a camilla girlie, I'm putting camilla's photo in one of those glittery clear files and covering it with heart stickers, don't get me wrong, but this woman is fierce af

abby, you know more than the emperor, you're more worthy than he is, please murder him

NOW IT'S TIME TO GET EMOTIONAL

GRAB YOUR TISSUES

IT'S ORTUS TIME

man, ortus won me with this chapter, he's great, let's keep him

let him be happy in the infinity of time with his fifth polycule

harrow tries to tell him that he doesn't have to apologize to her, that she owes him for crux murdering him and his mom

(interlude for "her unconscious gracelessness to Camilla Hect; a girl whom, in reality, she should have taken by the hands and thanked her profusely for every time she tried to save her cavalier")

(glad we're in agreement there)

they talk about how gideon died and ortus tells harrow that gideon never did anything without intent

"she had been outplayed by Palamedes Sextus, outgunned by Cytherea the First, undone by Gideon Nav"

damn, harrow

LISTEN TO THIS PART YOU FOLKS

"I should have offered help. I should have died for you. Gideon should still be alive. I was, and am, a grown man, and you both were neglected children."

ORTUS, MY MAN

THIS MADE ME SO EMOTIONAL

"she and Gideon had become women before their time, and watched each other's childhood crumble away like so much dust. But there was a part of her soul that wanted to hear it —wanted to hear it from Ortus's lips more, even than from the lips of God. He had been there. He had witnessed."

"I will hope better for heroism in my death"

ORTUS I'M HOLDING YOU TIGHT AND CARESSING THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD LIKE A PUPPY

harrow finds the "g&p" note

GUESS WHAT

GUESS WHO WAS RIGHT ABOUT THAT

ALLEGED GIDEON IS ACTUAL GIDEON THE FIRST

AND HARROW THINKS OUR GIDEON WAS NAMED AFTER HIM

I mean I had trust in my alleged gideon theory BUT I CAN'T BELIEVE I CALLED THE OTHER PART MAYBE TOO???

sixth house please accept me

she also finds another note, similar to the rant notes she had been finding, which reads: "the only thing our civilisation can ever learn from yours is that when our backs are to the wall and our towers are falling all around us and we are watching ourselves burn we rarely become heroes"

are the letters clues on the angry spirit that's haunting harrow?????

does it relate to gideon???

but when harrow is about to ask ortus about gideon ("less like tragedy and more like carelessness" 👀) abby interrupts

abby, interrupting me again when I'm getting to the good stuff

but I can't be angry at her because she says she'll exorcise the Sleeper

YOU GO ABBY, YOU LORRAINE WARREN THAT STUFF

And that's where we leave it for today!!! my willpower is strong and I know I can't make these too annoyingly long. Which is why, if you wanna know how I did with the House quiz, look after "read more". If not, see you for the next one!!! Super soon!!! Sending you all hugs in these difficult times ♥

So, this is the quiz that I did, the official author-made one.

I GOT *drumroll* A TIE BETWEEN THE SIXTH AND THE FOURTH

The author said that, in the event of a tie "Pick the House descriptor most like yourself, or most like the person you secretly wish you were, or with the colours you like best."

We all absolutely know where I'm going if I'm left to pick between those two.

To be totally transparent, I'm gonna show you my very messy notes, which I wasn't initially planning on showing, so I apologize for them not being neat and tidy. I added the skull I have in my desk as aesthetic compensation for the messy handwriting.

I picked 1st the pen and flimsy because, if I'm doomed and this is it for me, I want to go out writing. The bottle, because I considered a vessel for separating things or for keeping something in safely would be useful. The rapier, because I always take a swiss army knife in my purse with my keys and the rapier was the closest thing to that. The flare gun, because I might as well try to signal somehow, at least some of us could get saved. And the raft not to try to escape, like the answer said, but because if we're more than one person in the boat, having more space, even if somewhat leaky, could help out for different situations.

I did consider every potential option that could be turned into food but I'd rather die of something else than food poisoning of any kind.

I got the Fifth in second place, and I wouldn't have minded if I got the Fifth, honestly. In 3rd place I got Seventh and Eighth as a tie, I'm not gonna ask about that. The Second got fourth place, the Third got fifth and 0 points for the Ninth, I'm so sorry.

You should have seen my face when I saw a portrait of the Emperor was an option to take with you lmao

[system-to-the-madness]

Heart Aflame (1/3) - Zuko x Reader

Word Count: 6 738 Warnings: kidnapping, slavery, human trafficking, colonialism, mentions of: torture, physical violence, death Summary: You learn about a camp where your kidnapped sister might be held, so Zuko and you head out to find her   A/N: Part Six of the series Perfect (10 times Zuko thought you were perfect and the first time he told you)

Zuko knew his heart shouldn't beat quite as hard as it did when you turned around to him with a smile. He had called for you after all.

"What's up," you asked, waiting for him to catch up with you, where you had been strolling along the beach.

Just yesterday had he returned from his little trip with Katara to avenge her mother, and on the way there he had overheard news that he had a feeling you might want to hear, even if it would doubtlessly be hard for you. How was he even supposed to start telling you he had an idea where to search for your little sister? After your village had been destroyed and your parents killed, you had no idea what had become of her, and since there was no proof of her death, you clung to the hope that she might still be alive. He didn't have confirmation of the one or the other, but he might have a way for you to find out.

"You're from a village close to Yu Dao, right," he began hesitantly.

"I mean, I lived close to Yu Dao before the Fire Nation destroyed everything, yes. What about it?"

"When I was traveling with Katara, I overheard some people talking," he explained. "They were talking about a camp, sort of like a prison, where the children from around Yu Dao are being held prisoner." He had to watch your smile slowly melt away and be replaced by a serious, almost hurt expression. "If anyone knows what happened to your sister, it might be the people there…"

"She might be there," you corrected, your eyes not focused on him any longer and instead staring straight through him, your jaw set tightly. "This is the first time in almost two years that I have a chance of finding her. Where is that camp?"

Zuko bit his lip. "I don't know if it's a good idea to-"

"Zuko, I'm gonna ask just once. Where is the camp."

How the hell had the knife appeared in your hand? Zuko swallowed. He should know better than to underestimate the desperation of someone searching for their family.

"It’s on a small island, just a couple of kilometres to the southwest of hot spring cove," he answered. "Hey, where are you going?" Quickly he sprinted after you, catching your hand.

"I'm going to find a boat that can take there," you answered, tearing your hand out of his hold. "I'm going to find my sister and you're not going to stop me."

"I don't want to stop you," Zuko disagreed. "If I didn't want you to go, I wouldn't have told, or would I?"

“What’s going on?” Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph poked their head past a nearby boulder, curiously taking in the sight of you and Zuko. It was unusual for you to fight; so far you had been the one who had always shown the most compassion towards the Fire Nation Prince, speaking up in his defence or listening to him when he was trying to explain himself.

“I might know where my sister is,” you explained.

“I told you not to tell her about the camp,” Katara sighed, stepping out further.

“Why not,” you asked, clearly getting more upset by the minute. “Actually, why didn’t you tell me earlier? You knew this since you came back yesterday, why didn’t you tell me?”

“There’s only a little more than a week left before the comet,” Katara explained. “We can’t afford to break up the group now just to go searching for your sister. She’ll still be there when Aang’s defeated Fire Lord Ozai.”

“But you could afford to go looking for your mother’s murderer? He also would’ve still been there when everything’s over,” you shouted. “And it’s not like your mother would have minded waiting two weeks longer, right? But my sister- we know, we all know how the Fire Nation deals with their prisoners. You can’t expect me to-”

“Katara’s right,” Sokka interrupted you. “You can’t leave the group now.”

“But you could go looking for your father,” you asked. “You all pretend that just because you don’t know Xiang, she’s not as important as the people you want to see saved or avenged!”

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Toph interfered. “Nobody’s saying you shouldn’t go saving her!”

“Don’t you listen? That’s exactly what they are saying,” you cried. “They expect me to sit back, watch how they’re celebrating their little family reunion, while knowingly letting my sister rot in some kind of messed up Fire Nation children’s prison! My sister is 6 years old! I haven’t seen her in almost two! Chances are she might not even recognize me when I finally find her! And you expect me to wait? Every day, every minute, I can’t get her out of there, there’s the possibility that the Fire Nation hurts her, traumatizes her, makes her suffer! But you want me to stand by idly, watching this happen?”

“We don’t even know if she’s really in that prison,” Katara reminded you.

“Sokka wasn’t sure about his father being on Boiling Rock either and went either way, that’s no excuse,” you shouted. “I’m not asking anyone to come with me, I’m not asking for your help, and I’m not asking permission either. You might be selfless enough to save the world not for the people you love but for everyone. I’m not. I can’t imagine living in a world that has been saved but without my sister. She’s the only one I have left. Sokka, wouldn’t you give everything to save Katara if she were kidnapped? How can you ask me not to do the same?” Silence settled over the group. “If you’re standing in my way, I’ll treat you no differently than whoever else is going to try to stop me from getting to Xiang.”

“Take Appa,” Aang’s voice cut through the threatening silence and made you look up to him in surprise. “If you promise to be back within a week, you can take him. Or send him back if you don’t make it in time.”

“Aang-”

Katara and you had spoken up at the same time.

“You can’t just let her take Appa,” Katara protested.

“I can and I will,” Aang decided. “She’s right. If you or Sokka would be kidnapped, the other would turn the world upside down just to find the other. And all of us would help. Why should we try to stop her from doing the same for her sister?”

“Thank you, Aang,” you mumbled.

“You should leave as soon as possible,” he continued. “The island isn’t too far away, if you hurry, you can make it by nightfall and approach it without being seen.”

“I’m coming with you,” Zuko decided, surprising everyone. “You might need someone who knows about the Fire Nation customs.”

“Thank you,” you bowed to him slightly.

“Aang, there’s not much more I can teach you at the moment,” Zuko continued. “I don’t think showing you any more complicated forms would be of much use against my father. It would be better if you trained the ones that I’ve taught you so far until they come naturally.”

“I agree,” Aang nodded. “Just be careful out there. Both of you.”

Not even an hour later, you were ready to leave. Zuko and you had both packed whatever might come in handy: your weapons of course, some clothes with which you could disguise yourself as Fire Nation, food and a blanket.

You hugged everyone goodbye, Katara hugging you a little tighter than usually and you knew it was her way of apologizing for earlier.

The sky was clouded, making it easier to hide a flying Sky Bison in the lower hanging clouds while still being able to see the coastlines you were following from one island to the next. Aang had been right. You were making good progress, and just as it got dark, you made out the silhouette of the island you had been looking for. Its coast was harsh, filled with caves, and in the disappearing daylight it took a while until you found one big enough to hide Appa inside. He was apprehensive about hiding underground, but with the cave’s wide entrance he seemed to finally accept his fate, being able to look out over the sea instead of feeling trapped under the stone ceiling.

This was where the easy and comfortable part of your journey ended. After dressing into the Fire Nation clothes you had brought, you began your assent to the main part of the island. At first you had to climb up the cliffs, a dangerous undertaking, even if it would not have been dark. But Zuko occasionally used his Fire Bending to light up a part of the way, and together you found the safest route to climb. After than you had to make your way through thick bushes, made up of plants you had never seen before. Their leaves were thick and full of thorns, which left scraps in your skin and tore at your clothes. Luckily it didn’t take you long until the bushes were behind you, and you had found a road. Following an instinct, you turned left, until eventually a huge complex of buildings came up, surrounded by high fences. Hiding in a ditch at the side of the street, Zuko and you began closing in on whatever facility you had discovered. Even from afar you could hear the demanding voices of guards, but once you had almost reached the fence, you could see that they were not commanding around prisoners, but instead children, who seemed to be cleaning up a yard.

Zuko could tell that you tried to spot your sister, but from this distance it was impossible. He couldn’t even make out the children’s hair colour from here. You had to get closer, which meant you had to enter the facility.

While you were still watching the children and the guards, Zuko began analysing the area. The fence was pulled up between separate houses, which had windows that opened to the outside. Apart from the fact that they were pretty high up on the wall, this seemed to be the easiest way in.

“The windows,” Zuko gestured, drawing your attention away from the yard and towards the buildings instead.

“We can try to break one of them with a stone, tie Sokka’s rope to my sword and use that as an anchor through the window,” you suggested.

A few minutes later, the rope was tied to your sword and after several attempts Zuko had managed to break the glass of a window behind which it was dark. The guards in the yard seemed to announce the end of day to the children, which drove up your heartbeat. You had no idea what kind of room you were breaking in. For all that you knew, it might be the guards’ break room, and they would discover the broken window immediately. It didn’t help that it took you almost ten minutes until you managed to throw the sword through the broken window in a way that it didn’t get pulled back out when you put weight on the rope. Still Zuko sent you to go first and waited until you were sitting on the windowsill to climb up behind you.

The room before you was dark, so you could barely make out anything, which made the way down from the windowsill almost as unpleasant as the way up. Four meters separated you from the floor and your first thought was to simply use the sword again, put it outside the window this time, and climb down the rope into the room. But that meant you were leaving behind your sword and the rope which would be a save give-away that someone had broken into. In the end, you ended up using the sword, which Zuko retrieved before he jumped down from the window, cushioning his fall with a fire blast. Finally with solid ground under your feet, you began looking around the room. Along the walls, vats were lined up, reminding you of the big common laundry room in your village. But before you could explore them any further, Zuko waved you over.

“This door’s unlocked,” he told you. Drawing your weapons, you carefully creaked the door open, light falling through the growing gap into the dark.

Slowly you stepped forward, your eyes hurting in even the dim light, but you got used to it quickly.

“Is this a laundry,” Zuko asked, stepping through behind you.

His deduction made sense, considering the countless bed sheets and uniforms that were hung up on clothesline. You reached out, grabbing the fabric of one of the red shirts and nodded.

“Still damp.”

“Who’s there?”

The thin and scared voice of a girl cut through the silence, making your heart almost stop. As fast and quiet as possible Zuko and you hid behind a heavy stone collum.

“I’m not scared of you,” the child declared bravely, although her tone of voice indicated the opposite. “Listen, lovely wash-kitchen spirit,” she continued. “My name is Xin Yan, and I’m just folding the bed sheets for tomorrow, okay? Can you let me do that? I’ll be out of here in just a few minutes!”

Xin Yan? Zuko watched your forehead furrow at the mention of the name.

Hesitant steps sounded through the high room, and a shadow appeared on one of the sheets close to where you were hiding. Zuko pulled you backwards, further behind the column, and a moment later the sheet got pulled aside, revealing a little girl, around Aang’s and Toph’s age.

“Xin Yan,” you asked, stepping out of your hiding place, causing Zuko to almost get a heart attack. Had you gone mad?

The girl squeaked in surprise before clasping her hands over her mouth, effectively dropping the basket she had held, which clattered to the floor.

“Shhh, it’s me (y/n),” you whisper shouted. “Do you remember me? We used to be neighbours, back in the village.”

“(y/n),” the girl asked in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for my sister, Xiang,” you explained. “Is she here?”

“Not here, but-” the girl interrupted herself at the sound of a key turning in a lock on the other side of the room. “Put on some of these red and black uniforms,” she rushed out. “Wait until I’m gone, and in 20minutes, come find me on the second floor of this building. Nobody will question who you are if you wear the uniforms.”

With that, she quickly slipped past the sheets and out of sight. Just a second later, the sound of a heavy door opening sounded through the room.

“Where are you, hm? Bedtime,” a rough, male voice boomed.

“I’m here,” Xin Yan rushed out, “the sheets are all ready and folded for tomorrow.”

“I sometimes think you’re the only one who actually does their job around here. We’ve had another group of rats who-”

The man’s voice got inaudible once he had thrown the door back into its lock. With bated breath Zuko and you waited for the sound of a turning key, but it seemed like the door stayed unlocked. Still, you waited for another few minutes before you dared making your way out from behind the column.

“Can we trust her,” Zuko asked quietly, leaning so close to you that you could feel his breath fanning over the shell of your ear.

As much as you hated admitting it, you had asked yourself the same question. Xin Yan had always been a reliable young girl, and even though you had never been close to her, you had often heard the elderly people in the village praise her for her diligent and hard work. She had always fiercely opposed the Fire Nation, but if she had been in this camp since the village had been destroyed… over a year was a long time to try and turn around someone’s opinion, especially when they were as young as Xin Yan.

“I hope we can trust her,” you mumbled. You waited another few minutes before finally slipping out from behind the column. Xin Yan had advised you to put on red and black uniforms, so Zuko and you began searching for fitting clothes. A loosely fit black trouser, a red shirt and a red and black vest.

“Bind your hair back,” Zuko recommended, already pulling his own short strands back into a small bun.

“Can you help me,” you asked, watching as he fumbled around with a band to secure his hair in place. “Katara always did my hair when we went under people…”

Zuko nodded and when he was done with his own hair, he stepped behind you. His fingers brushed over your neck as he gathered your strands in his hands, the contact of with his warm and rough skin sending a shiver down your spine.

“Sorry,” he whispered, before pulling your hair up high enough to make it look like one of the hairdos all the Fire Nation women were wearing. You could feel him fumble around with the hairband, accidently tucking a little too harshly at your hair.

“Ow,” you mumbled, more to yourself than him.

“I’m sorry, sorry. I’ve never done anyone else’s hair… at least not since Azula has been old enough to Fire Bend at me if I ended up doing it not exactly like she wanted it.”

“You did your sister’s hair?” The image of a younger Zuko doing his sister’s hair was as entertaining as it was disturbing. Somehow you had a hard time imagining the girl sitting still for long enough.

“I wanted to anyway,” Zuko admitted, and you could hear his clothes rustling behind you, indicating that he had shrugged. “As I said, she always had very specific ideas about what her hair was supposed to look like, and when I didn’t do it perfectly, she threatened to burn me. Eventually I stopped offering.”

“I used to do Xiang’s hair,” you recalled. Zuko was still playing with your hair, but you didn’t question it. The little touches and careful tucks felt nice. “Every morning before I went off to school I’d braid her hair. She always wanted me to braid daisies in her hair, but she picked them so close to the blossom, that the stem was always too short.” You trailed off, staring absentmindedly into the dimly lit room filled with drying clothes. “Zuko, what if she doesn’t recognize me? She’s still so little, the last time she saw me, she wasn’t even five years old-”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Zuko assured you, dropping his hands to your shoulder. “She’ll remember you. How could she forget an older sister like you?”

You swallowed thickly. A part of your mind wanted to disagree with him, tell him that to such a young child more than one and a half years was as long as an eternity, and that the chance actually was low that she would remember you. But you knew Zuko was trying to comfort you, something he wasn’t extremely good at and aware of. Still, you appreciated his effort, so you nodded.

“Right,” you sighed, “because I tried weaving daisies into her braids.”

“Exactly,” Zuko nodded. “A braid that probably looked better than this one.” He reached up to your head and draped a small braid over your shoulder. Bringing your hands up, you felt for the tight structure and smiled.

“Thanks, Zuko,” you mumbled. “And thank you for coming with me. It… it helps, not being alone.”

“I’m just glad if I can help,” he answered. “Come on, the twenty minutes are almost up. Let’s see if Xin Yan is going to have us arrested.”

Together you made your way towards the door, listening for any sort of footsteps outside, but when everything stayed quiet, you carefully pressed down the door handle. The door swung open with little effort, allowing you to slip into a brightly lit corridor.

“Walk proudly,” Zuko advised as you immediately stood close to the wall. “We’re Fire Nation, and these uniforms look like they don’t belong to the lowest in the rank. Walk with your back straight, chin up, shoulders down and slightly pinch your shoulder blades together.”

Quickly you imitated what Zuko had told you, watching him do the same. It was strange, seeing how the boy you recently had only seen walk almost hesitantly whenever someone from the team was around suddenly turned into someone who seemed more like the person you would usually fight, with his hair up like that, dressed in the red and black uniform.

“And walk in the middle of the corridor,” he added. “We have no reason to cower. We’re no criminals, after all.”

The last addition came with a wink, and for a moment you stared at him surprised. Had he been like that before his father had exiled him? Funny and proud, looking like… well, like a prince?

Snapping back into the moment, you followed him until you found a staircase. Xin Yan had told you to find her on the second floor, so you were about to begin climbing up the steep staircase, when suddenly someone approached from the top. Following old habits, you were already trying to turn around to hide behind the next corner when Zuko grabbed your sleeve.

“Walk proudly,” he reminded you, “and hide in plain sight.”

Biting your teeth together you nodded, and walked behind him as the steps coming from the top came closer. They sounded hurried, and then they stopped right in front of you.

“Are you some to the new tutors,” an authoritative female voice asked, making a shiver run down your spine. You knew that voice, somehow you knew it.

“Yes,” Zuko answered, sounding both unbothered and still submissive. “We arrived just today.”

“Good, I need help. The rats on the third floor have started with their smearing again, and they won’t listen to me. Come along!”

The woman began climbing up the steps again, Zuko and you following her.

“What’s your names,” she asked, although she sounded rather uninterested. Where did you know her from?

“I’m Lee,” Zuko lied skilfully. “This is Haru.”

The woman hummed in acknowledgement, before she kept speaking. “Lee, you go with me. Haru, make sure the girls on the second floor are all in their beds and not up to the same havoc as these worm rats on the third floor.”

You had a distinct feeling when the woman was talking about rats, she didn’t actually mean worm rats.

Hesitantly you glanced up to Zuko who was walking in front of you, reaching out your hand and brushing it against his. He seemed to understand your silent question of how you were supposed to find each other again, the same way you understood his short squeezing of your fingers: I’ll come and find you.

On the second floor, you turned into the corridor, while Zuko followed the woman up the stairs. Hoping she wouldn’t look back to you, you quickly lifted your head, trying to sneak a glance of her face- and froze. Yes, you knew her. She had been a teacher at your school, Miss Guo. the meanest person you had ever encountered. Maybe even worse than Azula. She was from the earth kingdom, but for as long as you could remember, she had always talked about how amazing the Fire Nation was, how powerful, how strong. She had punished each little mistake severely, every wrong step, each misbehaviour. It wasn’t hard to guess that she admired the Fire Nation’s discipline and tried to install it in her students as well, with violence if necessary. How many nights had you hid the bruises on your fingers from her ruler from your parents, scared they would scold you the same, or even worse, for doodling on your papers? How often had you lied to your mother, saying you were too cold to wear the shorter skirt to school, just to hide the bruises on your shins from the punishment for running in the school’s playground? You could only hope that Miss Guo had not recognized you, otherwise you were in deep, deep trouble.

When she had disappeared from sight, you turned to face the corridor before you. Dozens of doors lead away to the left and right. What were you supposed to do? Right, check that the children were in bed.

Carefully you approached the first door, but then hesitated. Were you supposed to knock? If the kids were already asleep, knocking would wake them, but entering without knocking was impolite. What had Zuko said? You weren’t of the lowest rank. Chances were that with your uniform you outranked whoever was behind this door. So, you simply pressed down the door handle. The room behind it was almost completely dark, only a single candle burning on a table in the middle of the room. Along the walls, beds were lined up, a total of eight, and in all of them a small body seemed to rest.

Suddenly a loud bang from the floor above you, followed by some screaming made you flinch.

“What’s going on,” asked a small voice from the bed closest to the door.

“Nothing, just checking in that you’re alright,” you answered gently, pulling the door closed again before moving onto the next room.

You had made your way almost all the way down the corridor, only interrupted by occasional banging and screaming from above while checking every room, and already started to doubt you would find Xin Yan, when you saw the brighter shimmer of light coming from underneath the last door.

This time you knocked before opening the door, and the scene that presented itself was quite different from the other ones so far. This room was smaller, only four beds instead of eight, and instead of only one candle burning, there were four, one on each bedside table. The children were not laying in their beds, covered by blankets either, instead they were all sitting on one mattress, staring at you with wide eyes. They already moved to scramble back to their own beds, when Xin Yan spoke up.

“It’s okay, she’s my friend.” The girl poked her head out from behind her friends, waving you over. “Come in and close the door.”

Quickly you did as she had asked, standing by the door awkwardly.

“What is this place,” you eventually asked, fully aware of the four pairs of eyes trained on you.

“A re-education school for children from the earth kingdom,” Xin Yan explained, getting up from her place on the matrass and walking over to you. “Come, sit down with us. Where’s your friend?”                   .

“With Miss Guo, checking up on the third floor,” you answered.

“Oh wow, the boys are keeping them entertained this time,” one of the girls on the bed snickered, making the others laugh with her. Her hair was bound back in a ponytail.

“Keeping them entertained,” you asked, hesitantly walking to one of the other beds and sitting down on its edge. “Actually, you know what? Start from the beginning. What happened after the village got burnt down?”

Xin Yan took a deep breath. “How much details do you want?”

“How much can you give me?”

In that moment the door got opened, and a tall figure slipped in. The girls immediately tried scurrying back to their beds, but you did not even flinch. Somehow, even in this low lighting with the unusual hair and the enemy’s uniform you still recognized Zuko instantly.

“Why are you back already,” you asked confused.

“They’re getting the guards to shut down the boys on the third floor,” Zuko answered, his eyes scanning the room.

“Uhm, everyone,” you directed your words to the girls on the bed. “This is my friend, Zuko. We’re here to find my sister, Xiang. Xin Yan was about to explain what’s going on.”

“Right,” Xin Yan answered. “So, after the Fire Nation raided the village, they gathered all of us kids up. Anyone over the age of three and under the age of ten. We were traveling for days, and we still don’t really know where we are, but we travelled over land and then by boat-”

“This is an island in the Fire Nation territory,” Zuko quickly interrupted, causing the girls’ eyes to widen, but Xin Yan quickly continued her story.

“We were brought here, into this… kind of school, along with children from other villages that have been raided. The four of us-” the pointed between the girls sitting on the bed, “are the oldest girls here. It got obvious very quickly what they were trying to do here.”

“They’re trying to make us forget our families,” another girl explained. Her hair was cut to shoulder length. “We’re not allowed to talk about them, about family, pets, our villages or anything related our past to the earth kingdom.”

“We go to school, learn about the history of the Fire Nation and how great they are, and if we break one of their rules, the punishment is hard,” the last girl, one with a scar over her cheek explained.

“They’re trying to turn us into their perfect little Fire Nation soldiers,” Xin Yan seethed. “The older ones of us saw through it pretty quickly. Most of the younger ones just missed their parents but started forgetting them pretty quickly. The others… many of them just give in. I think they’re too small to really understand what’s going on. But us and some of the boys, we started getting together, mostly at night and we try to remember and talk about our families so we don’t forget their names and we draw pictures so we can try to remember their faces and then burn the paper before sunrise, so the teachers won’t find them. The four of us decided to play the perfect student, all of us got special freedoms, like being allowed access to the library unattended, getting to do the laundry without a guard in the same room and things like that. Whenever we have something important to talk about, the boys stir up trouble to keep the teachers and tutors busy for a while so we can talk safely.”

“They did too good of a job this time,” Zuko mumbled. “The teacher seemed really serious about having the guards intervene.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Xin Yan shrugged. “The boys know to quiet down when the guards come. They’re really good at looking like a bunch of uncontrollable idiots, but they’re very clever and controlled in what they’re doing.”

“You said there are tutors, and Miss Guo also called us that,” you recalled. Who exactly are these tutors?”

“They’re teenagers from the Fire Nation, or young adults,” the girl with the ponytail explained. “They were brought in to lessen the gap between the teachers and us. We believe they thought if we had younger people as role models, that we’d adapt their opinions. But some of them are just as bad as the teachers when it comes to handing out punishments.”

“And why did you come together tonight,” you asked. “You said the boys only distract the teachers when you need time to talk uninterrupted.”

Xin Yan sighed. “Recently some of the younger students have been acting up. Like us, they remember home, but they’re too small to hide it. It all started with your sister.”

“My sister?” Alarmed you sat up. At your side Zuko reached for your arm, but you shook him off. “What happened to her? Do you know?”

“She got into a fight with one of the teachers, about a month back,” Xin Yan recalled. “It was during class, so I don’t know what exactly happened, but we’ve been told she questioned the Fire Nation’s authority and claim to power.”

“Which is never a good idea,” the girl with the shoulder length hair sighed.

“She got the whole classroom to rebel,” Xin Yan continued, “and from there it spread through half the school. There was chaos for several hours, but when the guards managed to get the situation under control, they took her away.”

“Took her away- where to? Do you know?”

Xin Yan shook her head. “We have a suspicion that she’s held in one of the cells for misbehaving students. We call them the Mould, because there is mould growing everywhere. Usually, you only have to spend the rest of the day, in the worst case a night there, but none of the students who have been to the Mould since have seen her, or heard of her. One of her classmates tried asking about her and was sent for a whole day to the Mould.”

“So you think she’s still here, in the school,” you asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Xin Yan answered, “we do, but we can’t be certain.”

“Where is the Mould?”

“I have lunch duty there tomorrow, I can show you,” the girl with the ponytail offered.

“Lunch duty,” Zuko asked, “Didn’t you say students don’t stay longer than the night?”

“Trust me,” the girl with the scar said, “half a day is more than long enough for the Mould to fill up with students again.”

“What do we do until then,” you asked. “Is there a quarter where the tutors sleep?”

“You can’t go there,” Xin Yan denied, “They’d immediately notice you’re not one of them. And you wouldn’t have an assigned bed…”

“They can sleep in the laundry room,” the girl with the scar suggested. “I have first shift there tomorrow; I can let them out.”

“And after that you can go to the library. There are always some tutors there, reading up and studying.”

“You just have to come to the kitchen before lunch time, so you can claim you’re supposed to supervise me while I am on lunch duty in the Mould. Nobody will question it with the new tutors,” the girl with the ponytail finished.

“Sounds like a plan,” you agreed. “Thank you all, for helping us. I just hope we’re not getting you into any trouble.”

“You’re not, nobody knows we’re connected,” Xin Yan assured you. “You only have to make it back to the laundry room unseen. Do you remember where it is?”

“Down the stairs… third door to the right?”

“The fourth,” the girl with the scar corrected.

You nodded and got up from the bed you had been sitting on. “Fourth door to the right. Understood.” Walking back to the door, followed by Zuko, you turned around to the girls one last time. “You don’t know how much you have helped us. I promise you, the war will be over soon. I’ll come and find you after that, and we’ll put an end to this school.”

The light of the candles reflected in the girls’ eyes, and you could tell that no matter how bravely they were holding up, they were beginning to run out of strength. They were only children, battling the enemy without the enemy having noticed yet. Their strength and courage were humbling.

“See you tomorrow,” the girl with the scar said, echoed by the one with the ponytail.

“Good luck finding your sister. Make sure to get her out of here,” Xin Yan grinned. It was the same grin Toph always put on when she was about to face a fight she knew would be challenging.

“Thank you. Good night,” you nodded. “And stay safe.”

The trip back to the washroom happened without interference, and just a few minutes later, Zuko and you had curled up on a few freshly washed sheets in the furthest and darkest corner of the room. The thin fabric did little to keep the cold of the stone tiles away, but it was better than nothing. Not wanting to be visible from the door, you had been forced to move close together, so close that you were almost laying in each other’s arms by the time you had settled down. Had the circumstances been different, you would have been unable to sleep from how nervous it made you to lay so close next to Zuko. Just a few weeks ago he had still been your enemy, and enemy who never quite had felt like one. Ever since he had saved Aang and you from Pohuai Stronghold, ever since the short exchange he and Aang had had in the forest afterwards, you had felt like maybe he wasn’t as evil as he pretended to be. This had of course turned out right, eventually. But still you had never shared these thoughts with anyone, and all this time you had fought the thoughts in your mind that tried to tell you he was worth saving, worth trusting. Until recently anyway. When he had shown up at the Western Air Temple, you had been tempted to give in easily to his request to join. But it hadn’t been just about you and him, it had been about Aang, so you had been reluctant at first. Ever since that day, seeing him almost all the time, getting to talk to him, learning about his past, his family, his journey… it made one thing very hard: ignoring the way you heart seemed to leap into your throat at even the faintest thought of him. But now, even laying so close that you could feel his body heat through the uniforms you were wearing, there was none of that nervousness left.

“How are you feeling?”

Zuko’s voice interrupted your circling thoughts and in the dim light you turned to look at him. His amber eyes were watching you attentively, as if he was assessing whether you were fit to do the job.

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “I mean… the whole time I thought they had put Xiang into some sort of prison, where she would be forced to work in a mine or screw together war machines, but… I guess on the one hand something like a school isn’t that bad. But what they’ve been teaching here, the way they’re treating the kids-”

Zuko nodded. “It’s cruel.”

“I know we can’t free all the children here,” you sighed, “not now anyway. But Zuko, when the war is over, when Aang has defeated Ozai, I’ll come back here and make sure we get all the kids out and back to their parents. As good as possible anyways.”

“I’ll help you,” Zuko promised, his eyes glimmering with determination. “The pain and suffering the Fire Nation had caused is beyond imagination. I need to find a way to put things right after my father has been taken care of.”

“You won’t be alone,” you told him. “You have all of us, we’ll work together to right as many wrongs as we can. I promise.”

“Thank you,” Zuko sighed. “But that’s still a long time away. First, we have to find your sister and make sure we get her out of the Mould and back to Ember Island with us.”

“Yes, we have to find her,” you agreed. “I just have a bad feeling that it’s not going to be as easy as we’re hoping it to be. I don’t like that Miss Guo is here.”

“We’ll make it,” Zuko assured you, reaching his hand up and gently squeezing your shoulder. “We’ll find her and make it out of here, unharmed. All three of us. I know it.”

You nodded with a sigh and closed your eyes. “I wish I had your confidence.”

“If you don’t have that confidence, you just need to trust me,” Zuko shrugged, and a smile tucked at your lips.

“You know? The weird thing is, I do. A few weeks ago, I would have tried to kill you on sight and now…”

Zuko shifted under the thin sheet you used as a blanket before answering. “I mean, this isn’t so bad, right?”

He was warm at your side, his hesitant voice having become familiar enough to lull you into safety, his small movements making the foreign darkness around you not as frightening with him next to you.

“No, it’s not,” you agreed with a yawn. “But we need to sleep now. Good night.”

Zuko nodded in the dark. “You’re right. Good night.”

And a few minutes later you had both fallen asleep.

Heart Aflame Part 2/3 - 09. Nov. 2024

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[orangepanic]

Why do you think that Asami has no friends at the beginning? With Korra it’s because she grew up in isolation and with Mako and Bolin it’s because they were homeless- but why doesn’t Asami have any friends? A girl like her should’ve had a million friends

First of all, bless you, anon. I'd literally opened up a window to talk to some friends about how alone in fandom I feel these days because so many people have moved on or stopped creating and interacting. Then I saw this message! Don't underestimate how motivating it is to get asks about characters and headcanons, or even just to know someone else is interested in your thoughts and wants to talk about mutual interests. You really brightened my day. I hope I can do the same.

As for Asami, I have three theories. The most likely and most boring of these is that it's simply convenience on the part of the writers. In book 1 we didn't see much of her personal life outside of interacting with the Krew so there was no need to waste precious screen time on Asami's other friends. After the show got renewed the writers had to scramble for reasons Asami would still be around - because let's face it, who winds up hanging out with your ex and the girl he left you for as your main friend group? IMO there's zero reason for Asami to be in the show after the first season if she has other friends and sources of support.

A more interesting proposition and the one I mostly go with in my own fics is that Asami did have other friends initially, but that they all abandoned her after her father's arrest. She'd have gone to a fancy private school full of other rich kids with other rich and important parents who'd know that a connection to the daughter of a convicted felon was now social suicide. Suddenly nobody returns her calls, everyone is busy, that invite to Su Li Lim's party happens to go astray, etc. With so many social doors now shut to her, hanging out with the former Fire Ferrets makes more sense. She might even do it initially out of spite in a "well FINE, I'm gonna go be important to the Avatar and go fight crime and be awesome" kind of way.

My last theory is that Hiroshi Sato didn't really let Asami have friends. Acquaintances, sure, but he wouldn't want her growing too close to any dangerous benders and there wasn't an easy way to do this without it being obvious that's what he's doing so he didn't let her grow close to anyone. I think of this as the Victorian novel scenario where Asami is disincentivized from doing kid stuff to "take care of father" and from an early age assumes some of the duties her mom had taken on in terms of household management. She's somehow always too busy for friends. When the class field trip comes around her dad needs her for something important. This might also explain how an 18-year-old thought they were qualified to be CEO of a huge company. She's already managing half the staff at the estate as well as the vendor contracts. How hard could it be?

But what do you think?

[achilles-rage]

good luck charm: bonus drabble

come and get your love

summary: after a hard day, you do something to cheer evan up.

word count: 1.6k

series masterlist

a/n: this might be stupid, but it was fun to write and i think it’s cute so sue me!! sigh, i miss good luck charm evan, and i'm sorry this took so long, i just couldn't think of any scenarios i really wanted to tell. if you have any drabble ideas for this series, i'm happy to hear them! enjoy<33

warnings: none, no use of y/n, fem!reader, plus size!reader, race inclusive!reader

You’re in the bedroom putting away some laundry when you hear the front door slam, and you jump in surprise, a frown making its way onto your face immediately. You know exactly what that door slam means; Evan has had a bad day. 

“Hi, baby.” you say, peeking your head over the railing and looking at him in the kitchen getting some water. You offer him a small smile when he looks up at you, and although he gives you a smile back, you can tell it’s fake even from up in the loft. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and you sigh sadly.

When you make it to the bottom of the stairs and walk towards him standing near the fridge, you wrap your arms around his neck and raise up onto your toes to give him a kiss. You feel the way he melts into your embrace, and it’s almost as if you can feel all of the stress radiating off of his body; it’s practically suffocating you, and you can’t even imagine how he feels.

“Rough day?” you ask, and he nods once, jaw clenched.

He’s been working extremely hard the past few weeks at the LAFD training academy, and while he comes home most days exhausted but content, there’s some days where he can get overwhelmed.

“You have no idea.” he tells you, his hands finding their way to your hips. You give him a sad smile, then pull him down for another kiss, hoping to get him to relax a little bit more.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He huffs at your question, thinking for a moment. He knows it would be better to get it out of his system, but he doesn’t want to dump it all on you. He knows how hard you’ve been working at your new job, and he doesn’t want you worrying about him as well.

“Hey, we don’t keep stuff in, that’s not what we do. You told me that.” you urge him softly when he doesn’t reply right away. He sighs, a smile fighting its way onto his face at your reminder. He nods after a moment, looking into your eyes and rubbing his thumb across your cheek.

“The physical stuff is fine, I’m passing everything easily. Just- The instructors say stuff; try to get into your head. It just got to me today.” he explains with a frown. You nod your head as he speaks, keeping your gaze locked with his. When he’s finished you tilt your head to the side, waiting for him to continue, but when he doesn’t, you raise your brows.

“Do you want to tell me what they said today that got you so worked up?” you urge. You don’t necessarily want to push him, but you know that he needs to talk it out, so you keep your eyes on him, as if pleading with him to tell you.

“We were doing this drill today, and there were a bunch of dummies. They gave them all back stories to make them feel real. I don’t know, I guess I just got caught up in it and in my mind they were real people, because they will be one day. I tried to go back into the building even when some of the other guys let the fire get out of hand because there were still a few dummies left in the building, and some guys had to hold me back.” he says in one big breath, and you follow along with furrowed brows, hoping he’ll continue.

“Well, they know I have you, and I guess they picked up on the fact that I was thinking about you the whole time; thinking about you in there. They were just saying stuff about me not being able to save you because of my mistakes, and about you having to plan my funeral because I got reckless on the job and I got myself killed.” he continues after a moment. He chews on the inside of his cheek as he waits for you to reply, and your eyes soften at his admission. 

You shake your head, bringing his head down to rest your foreheads against each other with your hand on the back of his neck. You keep him there for a moment in silence, trying to gather your thoughts before you reply.

“My love, your heart is what will make you a good firefighter. You care so much about people. And I have no doubt that you’d be able to save me if you had to, because you’re smart, and capable, and you love so deeply. And I’m not gonna lie, the thought of you getting hurt on the job has crossed my mind, but I know that you’re gonna fight to come home everyday, aren’t you?” He nods immediately, brows furrowing.

“Of course, I will. You know I will.” he replies, and you smile.

“Then I’m not too worried. Worry about actually finishing your training first, and then we’ll talk about you dying on the job, okay? Because I guarantee that when you start at an actual station, you’ll trust your team a lot more than the recruits. You can’t even imagine all the stories my dad has told me about the people he had to train with.” you tell him with a small laugh. You can still see a bit of hesitancy in his eyes as he tells you that you’re right, so you lead him to the couch and sit him down.

“I know exactly what you need.” you tell him when he sits down, then turn and grab your phone off the kitchen counter.

A small, real smile finally makes its way to his face when he sees you scrolling through your phone, knowing exactly what you’re about to do. When one of you has a bad day, the other always does something to make the other smile. He doesn’t even remember when or how this tradition started, but he does know that it always makes him smile regardless of how many times you do it.

His smile widens when he hears the beginning to Redbone’s Come and Get Your Love from the speaker connected to the tv, and you turn from your spot in the kitchen to face him.

You walk over to him as the beat starts, moving your shoulders in time with each step and fighting back a smile, and when the singing starts, you grab the tv remote off the coffee table and begin to lip sync into it.

He watches as you dance to the music with a wide smile, watching the way you move your hips in time with the music, and he can already feel himself start to feel better. He chuckles when you grab one of his hands and duck down to spin under his arm, and when you turn back to face him, you drop his hand and back up a few feet.

When the chorus starts, you continue lip syncing as you raise your hand in a “come here” motion, rolling your body in time with the beat. He gets up off the couch, keeping his eyes locked with yours, then grabs your hips, pulling you against him. 

You both sway to the music with smiles on your face. You can tell that he feels better, and you’re extremely grateful. You know how stressful the job can be, and you only hope you can help him through it as much as you can. 

The song finally ends, and he lifts you up with his hands going to the backs of your thighs, and you giggle as you wrap your legs around his waist.

“You always know what to do, princess.” he says with a grin, and all you can do is lean down to press your lips to his. 

“I know what else I can do to help you feel better.” you murmur against his lips. You feel his grip tightening on the back of your thighs, and he groans, pulling back from your lips to look at you with blown pupils.

“I’m keeping you in bed until tomorrow morning.” he teases, then sets you back down onto the ground. He then grabs your waist and turns you towards the stairs, then pushes you forward gently, but not before giving your ass a firm smack. You yelp at the contact, turning your head to look at him over your shoulder as he speaks.

“Go upstairs, princess. I’ll be right up.” 

“What are you doing?” you ask, but obey and walk towards the stairs.

“I’m ordering takeout, gonna see what I can do before it gets here.” he teases, and you laugh softly, rolling your eyes.

His eyes dart between your ass as you walk up the stairs, and his phone, and when he’s finally placed the order, he races up the stairs two at a time. 

He grins when he sees that you’re already naked, sprawled out on the bed and sitting up on your elbows waiting for him. He groans as he takes off his shirt, then unzips his pants, and then he’s on you in an instant, lips attaching to your neck.

“How could I do this without you, princess?” he whispers against your neck, goosebumps erupting on your skin as his hot breath hits your neck.

“You’d be lost without me.” you tease as you tilt your head back. You feel him grinding against you as he chuckles, and you lower your chin to meet his gaze when he leans back to look at you.

“Damn right, I would.”

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[goldsnek]

So, I saw the question about tips for aspiring comic artists and it actually reminded me that I am curious about the topic as well😅

I like to write stories and I like to draw so it seemed logically for me to try my hand at comics as well but I'm struggling extremely with the layout.

It's seems very daunting when you sit in front of the empty page and you have to consider how to arrange the panels.

I'm the kind of artist that sometimes does big changes to almost finished works, so the idea of having to make a final decision before I even start with the actual drawing process, is kind of terrifying for me.

Long story short, how do you put your drawings into panels?

Do you really have to make a final panel layout at the beginning, the way I've been attempting to, or are there other possibilities I simply haven't thought of?

Last but not least, I want you to know that I absolutely love your comic, both because of your spectacular art and the amazing story! ❤️

Hello! Okay this is going to be long but I'll try my best to explain and be concise (and truly sorry for the english!) So, the first rule you need to have in mind is that you don't imagine the scene PER PAGE but PER SEQUENCE. What I mean is, you don't have to imagine a comic (like ''what I'm putting in this page'') but you have to imagine it as a video in your head, like you're directing a movie ( movies and comics are a lot more similar than we think as a media) For example, try to imagine someone waking up and going to open their window, that's a full sequence. it can be done in various ways, depending on what your character is doing and what's the ''mood'' of the scene. Remember always that your character emotions sets the mood for the entire scene. A thing that helps me a lot is ( like I said XD) watching movies, I focus on the mini sequences, a kiss scene, a fight, I pause the movie and rewatch that scenes various times, trying to understand the mood of the scene and how is shot. A sequence can even take 3 or 4 pages or even 10, it depends from whats happening, even more if it's a fight! But like I said the number of pages comes later. another importart thing to remember is that your characters needs ''a place to live'' If you make a story and never show a single panel with a background, the story is gonna lack something 100%; and I know... backgrounds are hard (I hate them) but you need at least 1 panel where you show the places your characters are living in. That is called establishing shot and it needs to be used when your character are moving to other locations. (or if you're talking about other characters in your comic and they are somewhere else) I'll show u some establishing shots now:

Took 3 different comics (narratively and stylistic speaking) Bone, Batman and TinTin to show you that even if the setting of the panels is extremely different, they still all have an establishing shot. Now, of course you don't have to put this in EVERY page, but like I said at least at the start of your comic, or when the characters are moving somewhere else, it's very important to show that. Also remember that the biggest panel you need to have in your sequence is the one where the most important action is happening. For example, if two people are fighting and someone gets slapped, that's the most impactful scene, so that's the scene that will need the biggest panel on your sequence, because it's the most important. Another rule is to make the camera breathe. Let me explain this properly, you, as a comic artist, are like a movie director with a camera. You need to turn the camera in various ways, up and down left and right, but always remember this : Never make a page of faces only. example, here are character A and B having a conversation, a page like this is extremely wrong, because the camera is basically attached to the character face and the viewer/reader is going to feel like they're suffocating in the room with the story characters :

You as an artist have the power to zoom the camera in and out, showing extremely tiny details or making a big panel that shows how Idk... beautiful or eerie or mysterious the background is. The biggest advice I can give you is to read a lot of comics, try to find series you love and study them, see how they make the panels, how the sequence are shown etc. The last rule (there are a lot more so if you have more specific questions just ask) I can give you and this is about your question in specific is that: Yes. Unfortunately you have to make the structure first and that has to be your final decision, if you make a 10 pages comic for example and you decide you don't like some stuff anymore and decide to change all the pages, you're just gonna end up in a endless cycle of always fixing and fixing and never be satisfied. Remeber this: The sketches and layout of the pages are the MOST important thing in a comic. The coloring, lineart, etc... it's just decoration. So hang on and start making layouts, and focus only on those for a period of time and then when you're 100% satisfied with the structure, you go and start adding the ''decorations'' Hope this helps! I'm not very good at explaining , especially in another language, but I tried my best XD

[tlbodine]

Tips for Talking to Conservative Friends & Family

In the wake of the election, with the holidays around the corner, some of you may be wondering how to deal with friends, family members, coworkers, etc. who voted for Trump and/or who espouse his policies.

This guide is by no means meant to be authoritative and won't work in every circumstance. I accept no responsibility for what happens if you use any scripts and it goes horribly awry. But I did want to share some of my personal experience in this vein, as someone with a great deal of conservative people in my life whom I generally love and respect and would like to maintain a civil relationship with (and, hopefully, bring them back to center if not my side). I've had decent luck with these strategies in the past.

First: Only engage if it is safe to do so.

Do not get into political discussions that might endanger your job, your living situation, your access to care, or your physical and emotional safety. However, do engage if you are able to do so safely and your doing so might help someone in a more vulnerable position. What the fuck is privilege for if not using it to protect people?

Second: Identify your goal.

Do you want to de-escalate a situation so someone can get out of immediate danger? Do you want to establish a boundary? Or do you want to actually attempt to convert someone over to your side? Each goal has different tactics. Be realistic with yourself about what you're going to accomplish. If you do not have a close relationship with the person, you are extremely unlikely to change their mind about anything, and it's frankly not worth the effort. Let someone who is close to them do that work. De-escalate, set a boundary if possible, and gtfo.

But if you do have a close relationship -- if this person generally likes and respects you -- then you might have a shot at challenging their views.

We're going to assume a scenario where you're dealing with people you know and who you can generally count on not to be immediately aggressive. Somebody else will be better-equipped to talk about strategies for dealing with protests and people on the street etc.

De-Escalation & Setting Boundaries

This is your first line of defense against family members acting shitty. If someone tries to start a debate, makes an off-color joke or comment, or is otherwise behaving inappropriately, try:

Let's not talk about this over dinner.

I don't think this is appropriate conversation right now.

That's an awful thing to say.

I don't understand that joke, can you explain why it's funny?

I'm sorry, I won't listen to any more of this (leave the room)

That's not okay.

What you want to do here is make an appeal to correct standards of behavior. You want them to feel ashamed for acting out of line. In order to make this work, it is essential that you:

Remain calm and keep an even, light-but-firm tone of voice. It needs to be clear that you're not joking around, but you also cannot sound upset. (Yes, this is really hard. I'm sorry.) Practice your very best "I'm not angry, just disappointed" tone for maximum effect. If you can manage it, eye contact and a neutral or even slightly concerned or sad expression will make it even better.

Avoid insulting or attacking them. Do not say things like, "Stop being an asshole" or "I can't believe you're acting like this" no matter how much you want to. Do not say "That's racist/sexist/ableist/homophobic." These types of replies, no matter how accurate, will make them defensive, and defensive people shut down and stop listening. If you come off as angry, that gives THEM permission to be angry right back. But if you come off as the normal one, them getting angry makes them look like a dick.

Do not laugh. Avoid the urge to chuckle nervously or joke it off. It WILL feel uncomfortable. It WILL be awkward as fuck. That's the point. They are misbehaving by violating a standard of appropriate behavior, and you are setting down a boundary. The awkwardness will fade and, frankly, they'll often start behaving better pretty much immediately.

Follow through on your consequences. If you say, "Dad, if you continue to bring up Trump, I will not call you anymore," you have to stick to it. Holding firm to your boundaries is HARD AS FUCK but if you don't do it then all you do is teach them that they can wear you down. Think of it like training a dog. Consistency is key.

You're not going to change anybody's closely-held beliefs with this strategy, but you WILL make a case for what is allowable around you. If you model this behavior, and encourage and embolden other people you know to do the same, you might be surprised. A lot of times, people's inappropriate behavior is a boundary-testing mechanism -- they tell the racist joke because they want to see if they can get away with it -- and if you shut them down, they often just...stop. Or at least retreat into their little hole to talk to fellow gremlins instead of you.

Challenging Views, Changing Minds

Okay. You actually want to engage them in conversation. You want to challenge their views and help them change their opinion. How do you do that?

Again, it's essential that you remain calm. If you can't have this discussion without getting heated, it's not the time to have the discussion. If they start to get heated, be prepared to de-escalate and walk away: "I cannot continue this conversation with you right now. Let's talk again some other time when we've cooled off."

But if you can keep calm, here is what actually works (sometimes):

Listen to them. No, really. Hear them out.

Help them feel heard by empathizing with them. Repeat back your understanding of what they said and how that must feel.

Remind them that for other people, THEY are feeling xyz emotion, too.

Ask them questions. Instead of telling them they're wrong, ask questions that will lead them to draw that conclusion themselves.

Make appeals to emotion rather than starting with facts and logic. You'll know what kind of emotion to draw on because you've been listening to them and empathizing. Hint: almost always, bigotry (at the personal level) is rooted in fear.

If this is going well, THEN you can start citing some sources, statistics, and facts.

Invite them to share THEIR sources with you.

Thank them for doing such a good job at being calm and discussing this with you, reaffirm your close relationship, and encourage them to come talk to you about this at any time. It's very possible that you are the only person they might feel safe bringing this stuff up to now and you want to keep that channel of communication open.

Very often (not always, or often), conservative-leaning individuals are people who lack the education or knowledge that left-leaning people do. They may be accustomed to being insulted, yelled at, and made to feel stupid. They are conditioned to believe that folks on the left are smug, holier-than-thou, stuck-up assholes. Whatever you can do to poke a hole in that perception will simultaneously make it easier to talk to them AND cause them to question that rhetoric the next time they encounter it.

This tactic won't always work. It probably won't work at all the first conversation. It's something you'll have to chip away at over time. But sometimes, it's worth it.

And if it's not? Well. As they say.

[darkfictionjude]

I definitely prefer fewer ROs personally. I don't want to say you can't have games with loads of ROs, but there is definitely a balance where either ROs subsume story or story subsumes RO. Trying to write a non-romance story with 8 ROs does make me give a bit of side eye.

Gender selectablity i always tend to support the uptmost. I reckon in part because I am Agender so I really struggle to understand ehat authors mean when they write a character as "female" or "male" like I understand there are factors which would determine character but they appear to me as totally external enforcements (I know this isn't the case and people do feel some internal identification to the genders presented by society but I struggle to get it.)

In particular from what friends have told me the ROs I select as female and non-binary were written mostly male (can't confirm that obviously).

I do find (certainly there are exceptions, as per usual the best works usually are exceptions) female ROs tend to be the cheerful bubbly ones and the non-binary tend to be the friendly but secretive ones.

So it's no absolute but I think gender selectable ROs might at least make some author's think about what making a character ditzy and empathetic if the male counterpart has to be equally so, but maybe I'm too optimistic.

“In particular from what friends have told me the ROs I select as female and non-binary were written mostly male” that’s something I’ve talked about how sometimes in gender selectable ROs I’ve seen how the characters feel like they are meant to be one gender specifically and the only thing that’s changed is the pronouns and name. Given how you explained it to me I can see why it’s confusing for you to understand what more “rigid” genders feel like. I really think it has to do with body language and traditional tropes certain genders fall into that makes it easier to spot

I really do admire authors who do gender selectable ROs with similar personalities but make them feel like the gender the player selected it’s hard to do

[lavender-butterfly-cookie]

Hey if you could can you write for the Ancients comforting a fellow ancient reader who got kidnapped by their beast and chat with them? (I don't know how else to work this I'm not good at explaining things)

Plot suggestion: basically it's kind of just the scene from Sam Remy Spider-Man from Peter Parker getting kidnap to Green Goblin giving them a proposition then flying away saying "THINK ABOUT IT "HERO"" but with some alterations

Here's the scene that I'm talking about

https://youtu.be/sAfxBXAQCZM?si=LfuEqW_z1cqA9uqp

Brother, I had to go watch that scene- I will gladly do it. Side note, most likely going with the light of patience Y/N cookie because that's currently the only Y/N ancient cookie I've created.

Comfort after the chaos

After a long lasting series of VERY unfortunate events, you were back in your kingdom and exhausted. You just endured what seemed to be a forever lasting trip to and from Beast-Yeast and you had a lot on your mind. Especially after your encounter with the beasts. You have no idea how, but you had to travel there 5 times. And in all those five times you found yourself held captive. You were doing this to help your fellow ancients, NOT BE KIDNAPPED 5 TIMES IN THE TIME SPAN OF FIVE WEEKS!

Speaking of the ancients, they were all worried about you. You didn't have a previous holder of the light of patience, so there was no particular beast who was after your soul jam. But that was more of a reason to help your companions in defeating their beasts. However, you seemed to be targeted more than your allies, and no matter how hard you tried you found yourself in the same situation. In the clutches of the beasts.

The Beasts didn't harm you physically, but the mental trauma was far from ceasing anytime soon. Everything each of them said correlated to the conclusion that you'd be better off joining them and giving in to the corruption. Because there's nothing more the people love more than to watch a hero fall. In the end they'd all grow to be bitter to you, grow to hate you despite how much you've done for them. They'd hurt you and part of you knew it was true. "So why not hurt them fiirst?" That was always the question. All those interactions ended with them leaving you to think about it and you had never quite recovered from the experience

Your discomfort and unease did not go unnoticed by the other ancients, oh not at all. Every time you returned from beast yeast you seemed more shaken up and all of them felt guilty for having you tag along only to return traumatized. With this in mind, they all tried to comfort you as best they could. Though you never actually told them what had happened during your time being a hostage, they were determined to soothe any discomfort.

"Do not allow Shadow Milk cookies words to get to you, Y/N cookie. Anything from that Beast can not be trusted." Pure Vanilla cookie stated as he pulled a placed a tea cup on the table in front of you. He walks behind you and pulls a blanket over your shoulders as a means to make you feel at ease. And it's working. "I promise you that he will never be given the chance to disturb you so much. I will always be here to stir you in the right direction if he ever tries to get in your head again"

"I apologize once again that you had to be dragged through that issue, Y/N cookie." Dark Cacao said, he had grown a bit soft after he saw how being kidnapped had effected you. Despite you reassuring him that it wasn't his fault, he couldn't just leave it be. Though he wasn't exactly... best with comfort, you could see he was trying. Caramel Arrow Cookie and Crunchy Chip cookie were doing more of the direct comforting for him, CA occasionally hugging you and making sure you were ok whilst CC had his cream wolves huddle around you to comfort you. Both methods worked quite well. They did this because Dark Cacao himself genuinely wasn't sure of how the best way to console you would be after encountering Mystic Flour cookie. But you did appreciate the effort.

"Go on Y/N cookie! I insist. Anything you want shall be yours" Golden Cheese said. She had a plan, and that plan was to spoil you filthy! Anything you had taken an interest in was immediately yours. And even if you didn't want anything she'd still buy you things she knew you liked or gave you comfort. She would take you on flights around the kingdom too. She had also grown a habit of hugging you and wrapping her wings around you as though to protect you. And she was protecting you. Protecting you from Burning Spice cookie, as she should've done when you were still in Beast-Yeast. She's got you, and she ain't letting NOBODY try taking you away from her. They'd have to catch these hands first! And that gave you a sense of security

"How are you feeling, Y/N cookie? You doing better?" Hollyberry cookie asked as she prepared another cup of juice. You were both outside and she had been more of an energetic comforter than the previous three. A bit of fresh air and exercise should be a good distraction from whatever the heck Eternal Sugar cookie had said to you. She had also gotten you a lot of juice. Like- A LOT. You weren't sure if she was trying to get you drunk or something but fortunately none of them seemed to have alcohol. At least not the ones she had given you. She was also quite insistent on a bit more training so you could better prevent such situations, which was something you expected more from Dark Cacao but for some reason it didn't happen. Regardless, she's wants you to be protected, even if it's not by her.

"Please don't stray too far away, Y/N cookie. I still have yet to fully adjust to the forest myself." White Lily cookie requested as you both took a stroll under the night sky. She had been a lot more cautious with you after having lost you to Silent Salt cookie. She tried everything that usually made her feel better with you. Taking you to flower gardens, having a cup of tea whilst reading a good book, cuddles, any and everything. She also had the faeries take care of your needs when she couldn't be near, which they did gladly since they were aware of your contribution to their queens victory. White Lily will make sure you are as comfortable as possible and having her around is comforting in itself.

[dawnbreakerluna]

i was inspired by many creators talking about this but here are some of my formal criticisms of l&ds because no matter how much i love this game and find it near-perfect, there are still flaws!

zayne's english voice lines. while it didn't bother me on the level that it did most in the past, i do think infold could do a great service of rerecording the interaction lines. they finally found the right footing for his tone and how to capture his character with the later affinity content and the recent events / main story chapter. please! i beg! (i'm already aware the localization isn't top tier but i feel this is a somewhat doable fix, though tedious.)

the timing of banners. in this economy? insane. also i'm gonna be real, i'm unemployed right now (it was an unfortunate circumstance) and my means of finding a proper job is honestly difficult with my full load of classes. it's hard being a f2p player especially when the rewards for grinding isn't as hefty as i'd like it to be. i think it's decent for what it is right now, but it could be better. also... they need to space this shit out. LMAO. i've played my fair share of gacha and otome games, yes, but with how fast-paced the updates for this game is, infold could at least offer some more in-game benefits or rewards. (ex. giving out free 10 pulls... if you're going to do a quad banner, i wouldn't mind 40 free pulls as i could just grind the rest during the duration of that event.)

increasing rewards for daily tasks/challenges/etc. because what am i gonna do with 30-50 gens per card upgrade, and so on and so forth. i also would like a new update to the abyssal chaos deductions. maybe upgrade the rewards cap since so many of us (i assume) have already maxed it out. unfortunately as a girlie who fucking loves hack and slash games, abyssal chaos is my favorite game mode and it doesn't stress me out. (a bitch is STRUGGLING with her protocore levels right now.)

infold's stance on lgbtq+ fan content. i already wrote a post here somewhat related to this. while i'm talking fans specifically, infold's stance is what i feel significantly influences the homophobic behavior. yes, we know it's an otome game. yes, we know what otome means. but i just call it what it is and i think the love interests are not confined to strict heterosexuality and the norms of it.

the characterization and treatment of the LIs. i'll be honest one of the huge turn offs for me for rafayel is the way the mc's responses are programmed towards him. while i don't mind banter in the way that it's done for zayne/sylus, i don't like how snarky it is on the player's end for rafayel. also, i know i'm a pervert on the main but i do think infold could chill a bit on the hypersexualization in certain instances (sylus). because there's no way you're gonna give me 50% and then not fulfill the rest. this is the worst kind of foreplay.

i've seen a few instances of people from cn explaining that there's setbacks due to cultural norms, etc. that would prevent something like a card with fully explicit sex being made. that's why there's only sexually implicit content. (if anyone could provide context on this or confirm, do add!) ((yes, i've seen the car sex card from mqlc... need that with zayne actually.))

every day i'm thankful for the misty invasions event, but i still have hope for more. i guess what i'm trying to say is that infold is already on a good run with making this game as to appeal to a more mature audience, yet... THERE COULD BE MORE. idk.

[rat-detector-24]

Rat lore detected. I could be wrong, so please don't take this as the official lore or me dismissing your version of the lore. There is talks of Mu in the ancient scrolls. That much is 100% true. The rest of what I'm going to tell you is speculation on my behalf, based off what I've seen in the scrolls as a rat detector. Some of the scrolls vary in their accounts of our history, so I will just tell you what parts I personally believe.

I've heard Mu was a beautiful place built for the first rat king, Remy the 1st. The culture did flourish, he was a loving king who cared for his people. He created the many temples of Rat. However there are many rat detectors (what you call priests) and I can't imagine any of my dedicated brethrats sinning against one of the big cheeses. I sure wouldn't and we also believe in a few different gods and goddesses. Some don't believe in any god and still do the work of the rat.

Now I will admit there was a huge flood, but that was honestly just a leaky sink that got out of hand. Mu was built for rats, so the leak caused a lot of damage. The citizens of Mu did climb to the top of the counters and hid in a box, but I wouldn't call that a sky temple. Things kind of get embellished after countless retellings. Mu was unfortunately considered a total loss. They later went on to build Nu Mu which was ruled by Remy the 1st for about another year. Remy died valiantly defending the city from a calico cat. There is no mention if the cat survived or not.

Remy ll took his father's place as a ruler. He was not as kind unfortunately and many innocent rats suffered under his grueling reign. The oppressed rats rebelled and executed Remy ll. The brutal fighting left the city not only virtually destroyed, but also emotionally, there were too many bad memories for them to stay. So they started building the city of Rattopia. Remy lll was exiled from Rattopia as a child, for fears he would end up like his father (this plays a very important part in our history at later point).

The citizens picked Queen Rattana to lead them. She built a beautiful city of solid gold, 4 to 5 times the size of Mu. Everyone was happy and there was so much hope in the air. During the Cheese Moon Festival, one of the tower guards came running in with a look of panic on his face. He shouted in horror to the queen "MY QUEEN THERE IS A SNAKE APPROACHING THE CITY".

Queen Rattana never really faced any direct challenges like this and was relatively still young. She was overly confident in her golden walls. The walls were sadly breached by the snake almost instantaneously. The queen froze in shock. The guards fought the snake off the best they could, but most of them didn't make it. The queen snapped out of her trance and attacked the snake herself and mortally wounded it. However she was bitten by the snake and could feel the venom coursing throughout her veins. Laying in a pool of her own blood, she reached out to her only child, Prince Rattus, who saw the whole ordeal. She asked him to lead their people. He nodded and said he loved her. He begged her to stay but she explained she couldn't. He was still too young to understand.

So King Rattus began to rebuild. At first he was a loving king. He tried really hard to respect his people. Something in him craved more though. He lead Rattopia into many wars with other kingdoms. The people of Rattopia couldn't handle many more wars. He was demanding too many crops from the farmers, too many weapons from the smiths, they had no money left after the taxes raised. That all changed when a mysterious figure approached the still golden gates. Rattopia would never be the same.

considering one of your tags is ‘rat detectors mad scribblings on an abandoned wall’ I feel like you have lore. and if you don’t I will make it up

I am what you make of me. My only confirmed lore was…the sandwich incident…everything else is smoke and mirrors. Let not everything that lies linger. Be swift little mutual, before it’s too late.

[docholligay]

I don't often share my morning long reads but this is both information worth reading and is funny as hell

[icewindandboringhorror]

Some fantasy traveler inventory details (like what they would carry in their bags), based on two of the recent costumes I did.. love finding random little scraps and items and putting them together lol

[byfulcrums]

i've been thinking about lesbian scott summers because the other day i made a jeanscott drawing where scott was a girl and like. how would it affect her, as a character, and how would it affect her relationship with other people (namely jean)?

scott's already canonically 'nervous' when it comes to his attraction to women. he's always like, "is this safe? it's not, it's not safe" until actively proven otherwise and EVEN THEN he's still like that (whyyy), and sure it might be because of his deadly eyes but add the lesbian into it. this shit takes place in the 60s, 70s, add the lesbian into it

[masterfuldoodler]

girlbossed too hard.... unless...