#like the literal ruler of the nation

[ceramicbird]

the belobog history and culture museum event is so funny because i don’t want to do anything else. why would i want to do simulated universe or calyxes or whatever when i can play Museum Management Simulator

[shadelorde]

Why do so many people unironically think the Fire Nation is the misogyny-less “girlboss” nation. What the fuck.

[orcelito]

dying. dying. dying. the oracle's been going around Asking Questions. and i got cornered by her. and i relied on my past experience with her & her sister which Did Not Go Well for reasonable reason to refuse to let them peer into my mind again.

so instead, they cast zone of truth. and i had to lie the FUCK out of this without actually fucking lying. relied on the fact that there's this dude i could use as a scapegoat and the fact that i Never actually saw the prince die (i was on the other side of a wall lol). holy fucking shit that was so fucking nerve wracking.

and IIIIIIIIIII GOT A NAT TWENTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY for persuasion lmfao. that's TWO times we got a very good timing nat20 for avoiding suspicion from the oracle's questioning.

holy fuckin shit y'all im like trembling. that was so scary.

[harmoonix]

🍄 Retro - Astro 🍄

(Astrology Observations)

ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯

🍄 - I love to stare in the eyes of the natives with Neptune - Asc aspects, most of my friends have such aspects and they truly have beautiful eyes

🍄 - Pluto in Sagittarius Generation is really meant to give and normalize things back to normal, and for example bringing things that were used in the past and to normalize them again

🍄 - Wanna know why so many Aquarius Suns may act so different and unique? Sun is ruled by Leo and Aquarius is its opposite sign so sun acts different in Aquarius

🍄 - Neptune and Mercury aspects can indicate love for music and most times for old music or old music style, you know liking those songs from the 90's

🍄 - One fast way to learn your sign houses in your birth chart is to know the order of the zodiac signs, this method worked with me for example you have Gemini Rising and Leo Sun > Your sun will be in the 3rd house because Leo is 1 sign (Cancer) apart from Gemini

🍄 - 8°, 20° degrees on the Midheaven attract jealousy really fast, envy too and sometimes can even get hate without a reason, on the other hand people can become obsessed with them

🍄 - Sagittarius in your 4th/12th house axis can come from more nationalities/ethnicity/race like having more than 1 background country ancestry (or your ancestors/family members)

🍄 - Lilith in your 9th/12th or 4th house can indicate ancestors or family members working with the occult/witchcraft/magic/tarot etc...

🍄 - Sun in the 12th house natives have an ongoing karma, basically they are working on their karma constantly

🍄 - Virgo Moon's beauty is underatted, they are so beautiful and they can actually look younger because of the Mercury's youth effect

🍄 - I remember once checking on google about Jupiter in Virgo husband (my sidereal Jupiter placement) and I got this:

I can't tell if this is real or not tbh 😭😭

🍄 - Neptune aspecting Chiron will literally empower your subconscious with a lot of intuition, spirituality like you really have the chance to heal your subconscious in case is hurt with those placements

🍄 - Everyone I know with Cancer Placements gets so DEPRESSED based on the weather, and omg I'm not joking or something if the weather outside is bad they're gonna be depressed or in a bad mood

🍄 - Every time I see someones chart with 10th house placements especially Sun and Venus there I know they got the cash bag 💰💰

🍄 - Not gonna lie knowing how organized Virgo placements are, I think natives with Virgo in the 4th house have the most most most most most most organized house-castle ever just like in Cinderella and everything looking perfect

🍄 - You can spot health problems in a chart by looking at their 6th house sign (both in tropcial and sidereal) looking at the ruler/lord of the 6th house and of course the planets (if there are) in the 6H house

🍄 - Stelliums play a very big role in a chart (A stellium is when you have 3 or more than 3 planets in a house) and indicates a big focus in that area

🍄 - Empty houses play a very big role as well, and an empty house is not a bad thing or something but spirituality talking it indicates an area you already completed in your past life

🍄 - Let me tell you how tricky Venus in Capricorn can be to make you fall in love with matured enough people and sometimes the karma comes and strikes and says "They're not the one for you"

🍄 - Moon in the 9th house is another tricky placement to have because in harsh aspects it can indicate a religious trauma and sometimes it can indicate love for religion/beliefs you understand what I mean...😭😭

🍄 - A lot of people who happens to get betrayed have Pluto/Saturn Lilith and sometimes Neptune in the 11th house, (I know all the people can get betrayed but these are just some indicators

🍄 - Sagittarius/Jupiter in the 11th house can be blessed with friends or in general having luck with their friendships and social networks, sometimes their friends can come from a different background than them

🍄 - Mercury at 10°, 22° degrees really can have a deeper voice than others (depends on aspects) but their voice is so damn attractive

🍄 - Uranus and Lilith in the 5th house can get confused if they will want or not to have kids like is difficult and in the same time draining for them (Lilith in general in that house natives don't want kids but is just my thoughts on it)

🍄 - Sagittarius Midheaven/Midheaven in the 9th house or in Sagittarius Degrees 9°, 21° really need to chose something the job/career they're passionate about because it grants them luck

🍄 - Midheaven at Aries Degrees 1°, 13°, 25° or MC in Aries have a big chance to get a leader position at their job or having the main character energy

🍄 - I tell you Gemini Moons and Moon in the 3rd house natives have the best tea ("Tea" as a gen z slang means gossip) like gossips stories i honestly wonder from where or who they know so many things im so invested y'all 😭😍

🍄 - 2nd house and the Moon Sign represent food in the birth chart, and I know water/earth ones love sweets so much

🍄 - If you want to know more about your true self check your Ascendant ruler persona chart, AND if you have 2 planets rulers check both persona charts for ex if you are Scorpio Risings check your Mars and Pluto persona charts, sadly for Leo Risings their natal chart is pretty much their true self (There is no Sun persona chart😭)

🍄 - Leo in the 7th house can have the same problem like your natal chart pretty much tells you about your future spouse because there is no Sun persona chart to look for in case you wanna look for your 7th house ruler persona chart 😭

🍄 - Cancer Risings in your D9 (vedic) chart can indicate a nurturing spouse or in general your partner has a very nurturing and kind energy

🍄 - I admire 6th house Placements for how much they want to keep themselves healthy like is a top priority and i respect that so much, because your health matters so much in life ♥️♥️♥️🙌🏼

🍄 - Aries Placements especially Aries Juno I love their energy. They just give that leader and confident/powerful vibe (boss vibe) in the chart also someone very bold and funny I love them

🍄 - Draconic Chart is the chart of your soul before reincarnation/coming to earth and the placements are indicating how your soul expected to be on earth (like their life), and im gonna cry I have Saturn in the 7th house in this chart as well. my soul knew I will have to wait for that specific person to come 😭 I'm done...

🍄 - Mercury in the 11th house makes socially open natives they get along so good with most people because of their social skills, they're also smart, creative and very open minded too

🍄 - Pluto in the 12th house has a chance to become very powerful in this life because this placement usually indicates an painful karma, you will certainly experience a lot of good and bad things in your current life

💝 This post was more like at a spiritual level 💝

Be blessed you all who read my observations 💝

ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯ྉ☯

[mayaree-darling]

mastermind

from aree: The Harbinger Trailer has consumed me yall are getting a brainrot. (I made this when the trailer first came out and have never posted it so here it is).

tw for yandere content

Yandere!Harbingers with a "darling" who is the right hand of the Tsaritsa herself. Not a Harbinger, but nonetheless important because they're the main strategist of the Fatui. I can just imagine the pain for the Harbingers because although darling is within arms reach, they're not allowed to make a move lest they anger their ruler.

Childe who first sees you akin to a younger sibling amongst the Fatui - you're no underling, on par with a Harbinger in importance if not more, protected almost as much as the Archon Herself - it would be hard not to be protective of you. And yet as you fix his wounds after another fight he started, telling him off in place of Her Majesty, giving him tips on how he could've fought better in whispers in between, his growing need for your attention consumes him. When he kisses your cheek (as thanks, he says) in front of the other Harbingers he's already looking forward to you treating the injuries they're sure to beat into him.

Scaramouche who grins when the Harbingers bristle as you walk side by side in the halls of Zapolyarny Palace - he says you should consider it an honor to walk with him, and it inflates his ego when you reply with a small nod and a smaller smile. Behind the others' backs, he follows you like a lost child, always walking behind you, gripping on to the back of your clothes like you might slip away if he's not careful. He's obsessed with the way you look at him and ask him questions about his creation. He fails to see that the adoration you hold for him is as hollow as he is.

Signora wonders if you know when she is at her lowest, that would certainly explain things, wouldn't it? She thinks she has lost her mind when she sees glimpses of her lost love when turning corners too quickly, haunting her when she lets her guard down but then you're in front of her, greeting her with a soft smile that feels all too familiar and she realizes she has gone mad in other ways (she welcomes that newfound madness like the lover that it is, finally coming home).

Pantalone who believes that one of life's greatest pleasures is to own what others cannot - to collect the rare, the exquisite and the hard to obtain - and to have you, a person of great mind and ranking, be dangled right infront of him on a piece of gold thread held by the Tsaritsa, who was he to resist the urge to make you his? (after all, he deserves only the best) The longer he does not have you, the more your worth rises in his eyes.

Dottore who initially wants to pick apart your brain (quite literally) but his interest shifts and doubles when he reaches an epiphany that what he truly lacked from the Akademiya was someone who shared his intellect, a genius to match his own. Maybe you don't share his affinity for biology, but he loves the way your conversations keeps him on his toes (if you weren't a being close to perfection for him before, then you certainly are now.)

Arlecchino who watches as you care for the children in the orphanage, checking in on them even long after they've joined the ranks of the Fatui and compares it to the frigid ways of the other Harbingers. For the first time since being a part of this cold nation, she is envious of the warmth you give (why must you have so much love to share?) She thinks that should the day come she turns her back on this frigid country, she would surely take your hearth with her.

Marionette who finds herself being drawn to the way you move around a room and hold yourself up in front of people, marveling at the intricacies of each part of your body and the way they make up the being that is you (you could trip and fall and she'd still sigh in awe). Her fascination turns you from muse to future subject. Surely such a specimen must be preserved, right? Not to mention, there would be no greater honor than to turn the Tsaritsa's best into a perfect unchanging doll.

Damselette who usually goes quiet when you're in the same room as her, always eager to hear you talk, almost hissing when a Harbinger tries to speak over you. She finds your voice is the one in her head who speaks reason to her when she gets a bit out of control (Does she listen? No, but your voice is always ever so lovely). Wouldn't it be so nice if you're the lone voice she hears always, the same way you're already always in her thoughts?

Capitano who is thankful his mask covers the fond look he gets when you turn to him - not with fear like the lower ranking Fatui or haughty like the Harbingers - but as an equal, leveling him with a gaze that leaves him fooling himself that it means something more. He's less thankful for his mask when someone calls your attention away from him and he can't control the glare he sends their way (maybe if they saw the way he looked at them, they'd finally be put in their place).

Pulcinella is quick to put you in a pedestal - you are someone to be respected and someone to be kept at a distance. And yet as he watches the Harbingers fall deeper and deeper into obsession, he takes it upon himself to protect the Tsaritsa's favorite and the Fatui's brain from whatever his co workers are plotting. As he spends more time with you (making sure the others do not occupy all of your time), the pedestal he keeps you on crumbles until all he sees is another child to keep under his wing. He fails to see he has only fallen into a different hole as the rest.

Strategist!Darling who may pretend to be oblivious to the Harbingers' feelings but is actually letting it all happen to make sure they all stay under the Tsaritsa's rule one way to another.

Does Pierro know what you're doing? Maybe. It's not like he is blind to how the Harbingers act around you, subtle as they try to be. If you spend enough time with him, you might be able to tell that he enjoys watching you play the part of a fool, dancing around the others and making them dance for you, too. He might even step in once he thinks the other Harbingers are stepping out of line, but it all depends on what he gets out of sticking into your business.

I also like the dynamic where although the Harbingers cannot make a move to claim what is "their's", darling is just as trapped. Although they always sometimes want to leave, they know as much as anyone that the Tsaritsa is the only thing standing between them and the others. The moment they try to leave the Tsaritsa's side or they lose her favor, it's all fair game for the Harbingers.

Everyone is stuck in a stalemate until someone makes a misstep.

✨ Masterlist ✨ 

Taglist: 💛@anime-allover  💛@faeriessky  💛 @prksolon 💛 @dai-tsukki-desu 💛 @wonpielle

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine and belong to their respective creators. Their portrayal is merely my own interpretation of them and may not be accurate to their intended characterization. I stake no claim to the original works, only to the ideas and plot of the fictitious stories I’ve written them into.

[qqueenofhades]

I understand how important it is to be able to criticize the President, and am not at all of the belief he should be beyond critique, but the critiquing of Biden makes me so nervous. (That's not to say I agree with every decision he's made - I absolutely do not). But I feel like people see things he's done wrong and decide they won't vote for him because of it. I'm not sure if enough people have the ability to see that he's done things wrong but also is our only hope of staving off literal fascism.

So many people talk about how sick they are of it constantly being a lesser of two evils situation, constantly having to vote for a candidate they hate because the other side is worse (I heard it in 2020, 2022, etc), and I guess I just- I don't really get it? We're here because they didn't do that in 2016. All of this could've been avoided had the result been different then. I just feel like people don't comprehend how different of a place we'd be in if Hillary won and engage in all this cognitive dissonance to make themselves feel better about being part of the reason she didn't.

Like.... this has been a long-running topic of discussion on my blog, not least because it is so inexplicable and maddening. It also shows how terribly shallow most people's understanding of the American political process is, and how toxic the "I can only vote for a candidate if every single personal belief/position of theirs matches mine" belief is, as well as how much damage it has done to American democracy even (and indeed, especially) by people who technically don't identify as right-wing. Yell at Republicans all you like (God knows I do, because they're the worst people on earth) but they vote. Every time. Every election. Every candidate. Whereas the Democratic electorate still holds out for Mister Perfect, and it very definitely is Mister Perfect. The amount of "evil HRC!!!" Republican-poisoned Kool-Aid that so-called progressives drank in 2016, and then afterward when they insisted they could have voted for someone like Elizabeth Warren and then didn't do that in 2020, is... baffing.

Frankly, I don't care if Hillary Clinton's personal positions on XYZ issue were the most Neoliberal Corporate Centrist Shill to Ever Shill (and Online Leftists' intellectual skills being what they are, I seriously doubt that they were using any of those words correctly and/or accurately). American policy is not made by "personal dictate of the ruler," or at least it shouldn't be, because we are not an absolute monarchy. We rely on the operation of a system with input from many people. As such, if Hillary had been elected, we would have 2-3 new liberal justices on SCOTUS and have secured civil and environmental rights for the next generation. Roe would be intact, and all the other terrible rulings that SCOTUS has recently handed down wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't have had January 6th, the attempt to stage a coup, all the tawdry scandals, our national security being at risk because of Trump stealing classified documents and probably selling them to Russia and/or Saudi Arabia, etc etc. If you think that's in any way an equivalent amount of evil to what would have happened if Hillary was elected, or if she was "still evil!!!," then I honestly don't know what to tell you. She could fucking murder puppies in her spare time if she had preserved SCOTUS for us, WHICH SHE WOULD HAVE, BECAUSE SHE WARNED US EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

(Hoo. Sorry. Still steamed. 2016 war flashbacks, again.)

In short, Hillary would have been a solid continuity Democrat and she would have signed whatever legislation a Democratic House and Senate passed, not to mention been hugely inspiring as the first female president. But because it's so important to the Online Leftists' moral sense of themselves that BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME!!!, they can't possibly acknowledge that ever being a factor, and/or admit that they have any culpability in not voting for her in 2016. It's like when you read the British press about any of the UK's equally numerous problems, and they BEND OVER BACKWARD to avoid mentioning that Brexit might be a factor. They just can't mention it, because then that means they might have made the wrong choice in pulling for it as hard as they did, and blah blah Sovereignty.

Basically, if HRC had been elected president, everything would be so much less terrible and terrifying all the time, we would be talking about her successor in 2024 as someone else who could be the "first," we could explore handing the reins over to Kamala as a Black/Asian woman, we could promote Buttigieg as the first gay president, etc etc. But because 2016 was so catastrophically fucked up, we are in damage control mode for the immediate future and every election is just as pivotal. And yet, because people think that the only thing that matters is a presidential candidate's personal views, we're stuck having the same old arguments and desperately begging people over and over to please vote against fascism, since that somehow isn't self-evident enough on its own. Yikes on Bikes.

[riddlerosehearts]

thinking about how people who watch the emperor's new groove and somehow come out of it shipping pacha and kuzco, or thinking yzma only became evil when kuzco fired her and that she would've been a better ruler than him, are both so wrong in so many different ways and are also missing one of the things that i absolutely love about the movie. which is that, the way i see it, pacha and yzma are counterparts. as parental figures to kuzco.

like, just to get this out of the way first, yzma was a dismissive asshole to a peasant whose family was starving. and yeah, if kuzco had been in her place he definitely would've also done that, which... is why she would not be a better ruler than him. she'd just be the same because they're both horrible people in the exact same ways. her reaction to being fired is to plot murder, and as soon as his funeral is over she sets everyone to work on replacing paintings of kuzco with paintings of herself and covering the palace with imagery that makes it clear that it's all about her now. i'm not even sure why this is a discussion tbh.

and also, kuzco is literally a teenager. he's barely 18 years old. source: in the movie, yzma says at his funeral that kuzco was "taken from us so tragically on the very eve of his eighteenth birthday." she also claims in the movie to have "practically raised" him, to which kronk replies "yeah, you'd think he would've turned out better". and sure, she could be exaggerating, but what evidence do we have that she is? we learn absolutely nothing of his parents, who are never mentioned even once in the movie, or of anyone else who could've raised him, and she's his advisor who for some reason sees no problem with attending to royal duties in his place. most likely because she's his regent. also, i'm not exactly a fan of the sequel tv series "the emperor's new school" but it does have something that backs up my point: kuzco is revealed to be an orphan and just before his father went and got lost at sea, he asked yzma (who was also his advisor) to take care of kuzco if anything happened to him. so, yeah, the writers who worked on the series clearly thought that yzma genuinely did raise kuzco, and nothing in the movie contradicts this.

and i find the idea of her being his only parental figure for pretty much his whole childhood incredibly interesting because, and this also goes back into why she wouldn't be a better ruler than him--she mirrors him as a reflection of what would've become of him if he'd never met pacha. they're both incredibly arrogant, power-hungry, selfish, and cruel, with a tendency to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. yzma was even originally going to have her own reprise of kuzco's theme song "perfect world", which i really wish had been kept:

[ID: Lyrics that read:

I'Il be the sovereign queen of the nation And the chicest chick in creation I'm the cat with all the cream and ooh-la-la This deadly concentration Will put an end to my frustration Now this perfect world begins and ends with moi

What's my name? Yzma, Yzma, Yzma Yzma (what's my name?) Yzma, Yzma (What'd you say?) Yzma (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!) Yzma. End ID]

(this song can be fully heard in "the sweatbox", the documentary about the making of the movie, and is also on youtube btw)

anyway, i'm sure yzma would not exactly have been the most nurturing or hands-on guardian, especially given that she and kuzco don't exactly treat each other like family. but it makes a lot of sense to think that her behavior influened kuzco's throughout the years. and for the entire movie, she remains determined to kill him. when he tries to reason with her and admits that he should've been nicer, she says the same thing to him that he originally said when he fired her. she never grows or changes and in the end, she hurts the one person who was willing to stand by her (and even then, kronk had never fully been on board with her plan) and he ends up trying to crush her with a chandelier. kuzco on the other hand is able to realize the error of his ways, come to regret who he was in the past, and start taking steps toward being a better person. his theme song gets a reprise where it's changed from a song about one person being the center of the world to a Power Of Friendship song. why? because, as i've already mentioned, he has pacha.

pacha, who similarly to both yzma and kuzco is in a position of authority as the leader of the village but unlike either of them is gentle and humble. who isn't afraid to stand up to kuzco and be honest with him even though he's the emperor, who agrees to take him back to the palace but has no obligation to be so helpful, kind, and caring toward him--and just about every reason not to be--and still chooses to be anyway. pacha who is 45 years old (also stated in the sweatbox documentary) and can see that kuzco is practically still a kid, not a single day over 18, who has time to grow and change. pacha, who already has a wife and two kids with another on the way, but practically treats kuzco like one of his own. who acknowledges that if kuzco dies all his problems will be gone and then still worries about him and goes out of his way to rescue him after he wanders into the jungle. who sees kuzco shivering at night and covers him with his poncho, who carries him when he's genuinely too weak to keep walking, who refuses to give up on him even after repeatedly being betrayed by him because he believes there's good in everyone.

also, while yzma ends up repeating kuzco's harsh words of dismissal as she tells him of her plans to kill him, kuzco had previously repeated pacha's words that "nobody's that heartless" after he saved pacha's life. and as the movie progresses kuzco and pacha's relationship becomes more and more equal and is constantly contrasted by moments of yzma being cruel and unappreciative of kronk's kindness. a good example of this is how kronk is constantly being forced to carry yzma everywhere on his back while yzma literally walks all over him and steps on his hands when she gets down, whereas when pacha briefly carries kuzco after the latter collapses he tells him he'll have to walk the rest of the way later and kuzco doesn't even protest.

idk if i'm even explaining well what i'm trying to say here. but basically, if yzma actually raised kuzco and contributed to his current behavior, then she and pacha both are figures who guided him and helped him grow. only yzma helped him become the tyrant that he was at the start of the movie, who was selfish and callous and saw everyone else as beneath him. whereas pacha helped him see the value in being selfless and considerate of others. and in the end, yzma is stuck as a cat and nobody is concerned about her. kronk has found a new job that makes him genuinely happy, while kuzco has decided to build a hut on the hill next to pacha's and effectively joined his family. in the sweatbox documentary it's even mentioned that chicha and the kids were at risk of being removed from the film, but it was decided that they needed to be there because having just pacha as a single guy who lived alone wasn't interesting enough--kuzco needed to go from having basically an empty world where he had nobody to being able to come together with pacha's whole family. and i just think that's incredibly satisfying and beautiful. it also leads up to one of the few things i really do enjoy about the emperor's new school, which is the fact that during the show kuzco moves in with pacha and chicha and pretty explicitly thinks of them as basically his parents while he's like a son to them.

idk. i feel like my mind went in a million different directions while i was writing all this. but i guess i just think that for all of the praise the emperor's new groove gets for its comedy and for how hilarious yzma and kronk in particular are as a duo, the movie also has a lot of genuine heart that gets overlooked. kuzco's character growth and his unique dynamic with pacha is, for me, really what elevates the movie from just a funny movie that i like to one of my favorite disney movies. and i wish more people appreciated that aspect of it and saw it as a found family story in the same way that treasure planet, brother bear, and lilo and stitch are all found family stories.

[jiilll]

Pjo atla au! Was comtemplating on who should be the avatar and I went with nico just because he’s my fav. I feel like the au wont go exactly as the plot of atlau due do drastic changes like the air nomads never getting wiped off, given that the new avatar during kronos’ reign was from the earth kingdom, but i also didnt want the plot point of nico being the *last* earthbender because if i do expand on the au, id want some characters like hazel or grover to also be earthbenders (sue me for adjusting stuff to my liking), so lets just assume kronos didnt went as far as completely annihilating an entire race of benders cuz he thought the real avatar is already dead, and based on the cycle, the next avatar should be from the fire nation, and he probably would not destroy his own homeland, which leads to the next fire lord, zeus, sending jason to search for the supposedly 100 year old fire nation native avatar, that is until they eventually figured out nico’s status

Also! I thought about making jason an actual fire bender at first because, well, lightning. But i figured that in the hoo books, jason was more adept on the flying/sky/storm related aspects of zeus, so i thought, what if hes from the fire nation BUT an airbender? Boom.

And as for percy, hes kinda like an outcast after being banished from his tribe for practicing blood blending. Even if it was in an urgent scenario like the fire nation army attacking the place with no mercy. so he just wanders around until he eventually found nico. Certainly, if he helped the avatar in defeating their tyrant ruler, his tribe would let him return and be with his mom again right??? But maybe he should consider recruiting other people in team avatar eventually if him and nico kept getting chased around due to the big bounty on his head (other than the fact that he is with, literally, the avatar)

lmk if u want more of this au!

[notaplaceofhonour]

In the decades leading up to the formation of Israel, there were multiple pogroms against Jews in Mandatory Palestine

Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini (the Arab ruler in Mandatory Palestine during the Holocaust) literally collaborated with the Nazis

Palestinian Arabs revolted against Britain because they hated how Britain had allowed so many Jews to flee Nazi Germany to Palestine after Hitler came to power, and to appease them Britain adopted a policy that ended practically all Jewish immigration during the deadliest years of the Holocaust

None of this history in any way justifies violence against the innocent civilians of Palestine, nor should it EVER be used to paint Arabs, Muslims, or Palestinians with a broad brush, much less to demonize them

And there were exceptions: there were Palestinian Arabs who were friendly to Jews in Mandatory Palestine, just as there were Jews who were friendly to Arabs—there was even an antifascist association in Palestine during the 30s (one of the oldest know organizations to use the name “Antifa”) built around antifascism, Arab-Jewish solidarity, & bi-national zionism. Just as there are still to this day Israelis & Palestinians working together against their respective governments’ actions for a mutually beneficial peace.

But just as it would be offensively dishonest to use the modern peace movements to ignore the atrocities being committed in Israel-Palestine today, it would be dishonest to do the same with atrocities in 1920s-40s Palestine. To portray that era’s Palestine as welcoming a fledgling Israel with open arms, willingly “sheltering” it—in fact nurturing it like a loving caretaker looking after a defenseless cub he took in—is such a cartoonishly obvious distortion of reality it would be hilarious if it weren’t preying on so many people’s ignorance to simultaneously revise & deny Mandatory Palestine’s role in the Holocaust and compare Israel to Nazi Germany (itself a form of Holocaust Revision called Holocaust Inversion)

[fuckyeahisawthat]

i rewatched Dune Part Two recently and one of the most striking shots for me was the one of the Fremen attacking the Sardaukar on wormback, while holding the Atreides flag.

Like, we just saw the Sardaukar forming up with their numerous flag bearers, even trying to maintain their flags raised after the nuclear detonation (in a shot that mirrored the famous "Raising the Flag in Iwo Jima" statue to me btw, nice nod to imperialism).

And then the Fremen arrive, but they're not bearing their colors, their flags, not fighting in their own names, instead it's the Atreides colors. The colors of their new, imperially appointed rulers. New pawns in the warfare between Great Houses, soldiers instead of freedom fighters. Urgh. Wish i could make gifsets.

Yeah yeah yeah it's horrifying!! You are watching a national liberation movement get successfully co-opted by a superpower and it's awful!

They did such a good job making it feel creepy and foreboding when the Atreides symbols and motifs start re-appearing in the last hour or so of the movie. The second Gurney shows up he immediately re-introduces the Atreides way of looking at the world, and it's disturbing how easily Paul falls back into thinking like that, seeing the planet and its people as tools to be used in an inter-imperial power play. (It's right after Gurney tells him about the family nukes that Paul has the signet ring out for the first time since the beginning of the second act and we're like OH NO.) This is before he drinks the Water of Life; he is already starting to think like a colonial duke again some time before he declares himself one.

After the opening montage where we see the piles of bodies being burnt, we don't see the stylized Atreides hawk symbol for most of the movie. The next time it appears is on a vault of nuclear weapons, which are never treated as anything but a curse. It's so important that Stilgar and Chani are with Paul and Gurney when they open the vault so we can see their horror at these weapons and the gleeful, casual way Gurney talks about them. Chani is also seeing an aspect of Paul that she hasn't really witnessed before--Paul, the Future of House Atreides--and she does not like it.

And then of course the whole ending battle is making the point over and over again with repeated imagery that Atreides and Harkonnens are exactly the fucking same. All the imagery from the initial Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen in Part One--which at least shows the Atreides as brave in the face of overwhelming odds--gets inverted into something that's supposed to make us shudder. That scene of Gurney hacking his way through the crowd of soldiers with someone carrying the Atreides flag behind him? Nightmarish.

All of this stuff is super important to what the movie is trying to say because it is very very easy for us to buy into the Atreides' propaganda about themselves being the good guys. If we're paying attention to what Chani tells us in the literal first 3 minutes of the first movie, we already know we should be viewing them with a bit of critical distance. And while I think there is plenty in the first movie to make us side-eye their noble image (Leto saying we will bring peace to Arrakis?? fucking yikes dude), it's easy to forget that because Leto generally seems like a good dude to the people close to him, and he dies tragically so we never get to see much of what kind of colonizer he would have become. And I think it's easy to start thinking well if only Leto the more reasonable parent had lived then things wouldn't have turned out this way.

But fucking desert power?? That was Leto's idea. This is Leto's dream being realized. The plan was always to use the Fremen as pawns in the power struggle between the Great Houses. Maybe not quite in the way that Paul does cause he definitely goes off with it, but the end result is just as much a product of Atreides imperialism as it is of Bene Gesserit religious colonialism. The Atreides aren't inherently any more noble or benevolent than the Harkonnens in their intentions, they just have better PR. But the end result is exactly the same: a pile of dead bodies being set on fire.

[comradekatara]

What if Aang and Gyatso ran away together, allowing them to avoid the genocide but still confront Azulon twenty years later after Aang has mastered every element and win the war? 80 years later what would the world look like, and (in this unlikely AU scenario where all the rest of the main cast is still born) how would Sokka, Katara, Toph, Zuko, Azula, etc be different?

I mean it wouldn’t take aang 20 years to master every element he’s literally a prodigy. he mastered all four elements by the time he was 13. but yeah. if gyatso had found him in time. oh man. the inherent tragedy of poor timing, magnified by one hundred years. it’s unclear exactly how long after aang getting frozen sozin’s comet arrived (it was within the same year, but certainly not on the same day, as natla suggests), but it was probably sometime between a few weeks and a few months later. so I don’t think aang would’ve been able to prevent the initial attacks on the four temples, but obviously there would’ve been survivors who weren’t at the temples at the time, since yknow. they’re nomadic (natla also has them conveniently gather for “the great comet festival” as a way to explain why they were all killed at once but like. they weren’t. that’s not how genocide works). and so if aang and gyatso were together, away from the southern air temple, during the attack, that would definitely spur aang to fulfill his responsibilities as the avatar. he’d still feel the same crushing guilt, the ignorance of not heeding the threats of war, the responsibility on his shoulders of repairing his culture and ending an imperialist regime before it’s too late. but obviously, to a far less extreme extent, and with gyatso there to guide him, instead of temporally displaced and utterly dispossessed and bereft of his mentor, with no air nomads (besides appa) left. there would still be air nomads immediately after sozin’s comet, who were eventually captured and executed (or forced to hide and assimilate, hey ty lee’s family) over a century of imperialist conquest and violence. but if aang never time traveled, he would have still defeated sozin at the age of 13 and ended the war under a massive time pressure. roku would still be on his ass trying to get him to correct his mistakes, and aang would still feel the crushing burden of being just one kid tasked with saving the world from disaster.

so based on aang’s lifespan as indicated in lok, the next avatar would be an adult from the southern water tribe by the time the rest of the gaang are kids. and maybe the avatar is kya (im not gonna do the exact math here, because who cares). and kya is tasked with maintaining balance in a world where there are fewer air nomads than there should be, but due to aang’s influence, there are far more than there otherwise would be, as he spent the rest of his life ensuring that the world was a safe place to live in and keeping the rulers of the fire nation in check. and the world has never really forgiven the fire nation for what they did to the air nomads, but the extent of their imperialism was never fully realized because aang stopped sozin before he could oppress and attack more populations. so kya is constantly working with various nations and peoples to maintain balance, but she’s basically just a diplomat because aang did most of the work of putting out fires and now she’s just facilitating and ensuring that the peace he established continues. so she has time to like. start a family. and sokka has a complex about being the nonbending son of the literal avatar (and hakoda’s like “try being the nonbending partner of the literal avatar” but it doesn’t really make him feel better because that’s so obviously not the same) because obviously he can develop a complex about anything (still a much better complex to have than his actual deal, tho, so we’re counting this one as a win) and katara has a complex about having to be the best waterbender ever because her mother is the avatar. and their home life is kind of unstable because their mother doesn’t have a lot of time for them, but she’s still a very loving parent and eventually she takes them on trips with her and they love being able to see the world and help their mother with her diplomatic duties (katara is very justice-oriented, sokka relishes in getting to help kya with the more administrative and bureaucratic side of politics). so it’s better.

katara and sokka meet toph on one of their diplomacy fieldtrips, since the beifong family is incredibly powerful in the earth kingdom, and as much as they try to hide toph’s existence from the world, it’s kind of hard to ignore a whole twelve year old girl in a fancy hanfu just running around your mansion. sokka and toph immediately get along, and she takes him to the earth rumble where he becomes obsessed with the entire spectacle of it. katara finds toph kind of obnoxious, and is glad for them to finally leave gaoling. then of course toph stows away with them, and sokka has to somehow keep that a secret from both katara and kya until the beifongs come aknocking like “did you by any chance KIDNAP OUR DAUGHTER?!?” and toph’s like “NO. I KIDNAPPED MYSELF.” and katara is just so fucking fed up with the whole thing someone please return this tiny aristocrat back to her mansion dear GOD. but ultimately toph is just so cute that she gets her way and kya agrees to show her the world before then returning her to her family (at which point toph assures sokka that she will simply run away again). toph is just so happy to have relative freedom that she doesn’t even mind that katara is [checks notes] bullying her for being blind. and so she kind of just tags along on their travels throughout the earth kingdom. but then, once they go back home, she realizes that there is simply no way that is agreeing to live in the south pole, so she and sokka reach a compromise and she moves in with suki on kyoshi island, who sokka goes to visit all the time.

oh yeah. he obviously knows suki. their introduction is far more formal, what with them actively knowing the avatar will be visiting them in advance, and he doesn’t antagonize her (he also doesn’t need to learn any grand lesson about patriarchy since gender roles were not being reified by colonialism in this world. fwiw) but he still asks her to teach him what she knows (even though he did receive formal training from hakoda as a child, not for any life-threatening purposes, just because it’s a part of their culture) because he’s obsessed with learning every single thing he can about the world. suki finds it really cute that this nepobaby is so humble, and they have a fun time getting to know each other without the threat of war looming over their heads. yue similarly gets to know sokka on a diplomatic trip to the northern water tribe and there’s immediate chemistry and they’re infatuated. but obviously she’s also engaged, which is an issue. since there’s no siege, both hahn and yue survive and eventually get married, which is as tragic for yue as it sounds. eventually yue gets so sick of hahn that the next time she sees sokka she’s just like fuck it and just straight up enters her infidelity era (which is fully morally justified btw). sokka knows that if anyone ever found out that the princess of the northern water tribe was having an affair with the avatar’s son, it would cause an international scandal, so he’s incredibly careful not to do anything that might expose them. and it’s very bittersweet, but it is what it is.

haru and jet’s respective villages were never occupied so they both grow up in pretty normal households. haru is still kind and brave, and jet is still obnoxious (sorry), and katara is still infatuated with both of them, but jet never like. tries to kill sokka or flood a village, and she never helps haru liberate a prison camp, so they kind of just have normal teenage relationships that last for a brief while and then end naturally. of course sokka still cannot stand jet, but it’s purely vibes based so he just chooses to ignore him while katara sews him the ugliest hat you have ever seen in your life. and eventually haru and katara will reconnect when they’re slightly older and get into a more serious relationship. because they’re cute together. also they meet aunt wu and the events of “the fortuneteller” just play out exactly as they do in the episode. idk why but that’s important to me.

as for azula and zuko, they both grew up hearing from their father that “the fire nation was robbed of its glory and humiliated by the avatar, and that one day it is their destiny to take back their honor and finally realize sozin’s vision, restoring their glorious bloodline to the true throne once and for all.” and ursa’s always like “oh well you know your father has fanciful notions because he was descended from the firelords, but that’s a totally outmoded system of government, and ever since avatar aang instated a republic, the quality of life for all of our citizens has improved tenfold. that’s just evidence-based data talking.” so zuko believes ursa, because she’s nicer to him, and azula believes ozai, because he has his claws in her. kya knows that ozai and the rest of the old royal bloodline still pose a threat to the stability of the fire nation and the world at large, so she is always attending to that family just to ensure that they’re not doing anything insane. and sometimes she takes her kids along with her. and well. for one thing, a better-adjusted sokka hanging out with azula (still being abused, albeit to a lesser extent) is kind of just amazing to me. she explains why the fire nation is ontologically superior and that’s why they’re being nerfed by his stupid lib mom and he’s just like “you’re so smart so how are you so stupid.” he’s deeply enthralled by her cognitive dissonance and just her whole deal in general.

meanwhile katara is infatuated with zuko, and ursa, who immediately adores katara because she’s such a cute and friendly girl, is kind of quietly encouraging him to date her, because the waterbending prodigy daughter of the avatar is really an ideal match for her son. and zuko really likes katara too. they get along really well, and they agree on a lot, are both really passionate about similar things, and go on fun little adventures together, and help each other with their bending, and make each other laugh. but every time katara tries to kiss him he interrupts her by being like “does your brother think im cool?” and katara’s just like “what.” until eventually even she realizes that the idea of actually dating this boy is simply impossible. and for a while she’s crushed that the guy she likes is obsessed with her stupid loser brother (can you imagine anything worse. truly. i cannot) but eventually she comes around because she’s always wanted a gay best friend who she can carry around in her pocket. and then she makes him go shopping with her and paint her nails and go to plays and at first he’s like “this feels kind of offensive” but eventually he realizes that even though she IS stereotyping him he actually DOES really like all those things so he’s just like FINE. I GUESS. katara meanwhile is trying to oh so subtly figure out whether or not sokka even knows that zuko exists and sokka is just like “oh yeah he seems nice enough. his sister though. well she fascinates me.” and katara is like “what the fuck nooooo” but then sokka keeps talking and she realizes he’s discussing her like an abnormal psych case study or something he would dissect in a lab and she’s like “oh. okay. thank god he’s not into her. he’s just some kind of freak.”

katara crowns herself queen of the gays and vows to zuko: “i am going to get my brother to fall in love with you if it’s the last thing i do.” but all of katara’s attempts to make zuko attractive to sokka backfire because she’s exclusively making him do things that she finds attractive and sokka simply has the exact opposite taste. he goes to katara like “i don’t know why i never noticed it before, but zuko’s vibes are kind of rancid. he even kind of reminds me of that guy jet who sucked so bad.” and katara’s like FUCCKCKKKKCK. eventually katara is out of options so zuko’s just like “fine i guess i can’t sink any lower..” so he just knocks on sokka’s door and when sokka opens it he just gets on his knees and clasps his hands together and goes “pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease just one chance PLEASE” and sokka is just like “ummmmmmmmm???? lmfao???? okay….” and goes on a very awkward date with zuko where all he does is just answer every single one of zuko’s somewhat invasive questions about his life in the most detached, impersonal way possible and then at 9pm on the dot sokka yawns and is like “wow im so beat…. this is my bedtime so. goodnight” and zuko is just like scribbling down in his little diary “sokka goes to bed at 9pm on the dot every night because he is regimented and responsible…” sokka gets home and katara’s like, eyes all sparkly “how did it goooo???” and sokka’s just like “man. i don’t know how i didn’t see it sooner. i thought azula was a freak, but zuko is just as much of a freak, if not more so! i definitely need to go out with him again. he’s such a fascinating test subject.” and katara is just like “fuck my life why is he like this.” and then goes to zuko and is like “yeah!!! sokka said he had sooooo much fun!! he really wants to see you again!!” and zuko just lights up like “REALLY??!!?” and katara just doesn’t have the heart to tell him the reason.

anyway. katara and sokka travel the globe. katara establishes some water tribe healing centers in other parts of the world, works as a liaison between the air nomads and the southern water tribe, gets back together with haru, goes on countless adventures, and builds a beautiful life for herself. sokka starts attending ba sing se university because he’s sick of people assuming that his diplomacy skills are purely due to nepotism. so he decides to major in polysci so that he can point to his degree as a qualification. but pretty quickly he realizes that polysci is a stupid field of study and everyone in his classes (including the professors) are completely incompetent and have no actual field experience. so he starts taking different classes, shopping around to figure out what it is he really wants to study. turns out that a lot of different subjects interest him, and maybe being a diplomat isn’t his only possible career. he spends a good decade in academia, just contributing research to all kinds of different fields. then he gets sick of academia and goes into engineering. he starts working with an inventor in the earth kingdom (the mechanist) and basically revolutionizes technology. then he’s like “im sick of inventing cars and computers and smartphones and falafel” (his most important invention) so he goes back to his physics research. but then he gets kind of sick of how insufferably arrogant physicists are so he’s like “maybe it’s time to revisit my favorite case studies” and goes back to the fire nation. katara tags along purely for damage control.

sokka, katara, zuko, and azula are all having dinner together. azula was eventually able to extricate herself from ozai’s abuse and moved to a more rural part of the country to heal. she got really into spiritualism and started working with air nomads taking care of sky bison. zuko moved to a different city in the southern fire nation where he became a herpetologist who primarily works with dragons, and also got really involved in theater. by the time sokka and katara revisit them they are both really happy and thriving. sokka has even read some of zuko’s plays, and has to admit that they’re quite good. which is disappointing, because he was hoping to use them as case studies in his research. at some point during their dinner, zuko’s like “i can’t believe we used to date. i must’ve been so annoying back then, i don’t know how you even put up with me.” and azula’s like “hang on. no. you weren’t dating sokka. i was dating sokka.” and they both stare at each other and then turn to look at sokka for like five minutes of total silence. katara gets so fed up with this that she just bursts out, “NEITHER OF YOU WERE DATING SOKKA. HE WAS USING YOU AS DATA FOR HIS ABNORMAL PSYCH PET PROJECT.” another five minutes of silence. and then azula is just like “oh that actually makes perfect sense. in hindsight that really explains a lot.” and zuko’s like “but kataraaaaa why wouldn’t you TELL meeeee” and katara’s like “well i didn’t want to hurt your feelings and destroy your ego forever. but now that you like. ride dragons for a living i figure that you’ll be fine.” and zuko’s like “yep. haha. im fine! totally fine.” he wasn’t at all living under the illusion that sokka was returning to him after all these years because they were going to reunite and get married and ride his favorite dragon into the sunset forever. his ego definitely isn’t destroyed by this fact at all. he’s sooo good don’t even worry about it. sokka’s just like “well anyway, im very glad that you both seem to be doing a lot better now. that’s really great news. big mazel to you both. okay bye.”

anyway. as for kya, she lives a long and happy life, and is so proud of both her children. she dies at a very old age, completely content. the next avatar is of earth kingdom heritage, of course. and it’s mako :)

[heedmywarnings]

One last time

(Full Chapter)

In which you insult them one last time. (Aka me insulting pixels even tho I'm on Hiatus)

(Written when I was on Hiatus lmfao)

Warning: Cursing, lots of them.

》 - Chapter 2

Masterlist

♤~-~♤

You were finally captured. It took three months to get where you are, standing before you are the Archons who participated in the hunt, and now they will execute you.

"Before you here, is the Impostor that stole our beloved deity's face" Barbatos started, looking down upon the people, "As if you didn't" you said, barely a whisper "Would you like to repeat that, thief?" The Goddess of Justice whispered on your ear as she pulled your hair, "I SAID, AS IF YOU DIDN'T" you repeated, the crowd gasps because they are very very shocked because they gasped.

Also this moon cake im eating doenst taste good.

"What?"

"You were born from the desires of people, meaning if Decarabian wasn't a tyrant then you wouldn't even be born!" The crowd screams defending the Wind God, "Oh come on! He stole the face of his DEAD friend!" You yelled, "Don't get me started with how he abandoned his nation for the tyrants to just invade Mond. Lady Venessa freed Mondstadt from the Lawrence clan!" Technically, Venti did help but you need to get the crowd on your side.

"That's enough," Ei said approaching you as she unsheath her sword, "You also abandoned your nation! What? because your sister, THE TRUE RULER of Inazuma died?" At this point everyone is appalled.

"T-"

"Don't even get me started with you, you rat tailed motherfucker. You literally made a deal with the fatui, you knew Childe was gonna summon Osial and you let it happen. More so, you faked your own death because you didn't feel like ruling over Liyue? Or was it because you finally understood that you're just incapable of being an Archon? The only reason you survived the Archon War was the adepti and yaksha that you expended!"

"..."

"And who's to say you didn't commit any crime?" Ei said after the shock had dissipated, "What crime!? How do you think a mere mortal were to steal a God's face!?" You screamed through a horse voice, now you've got everyone talking, (like the jury in the Ace Attorney.)

"Is your god suffering from sever little-bitchitis to the point you'd hunt anybody who look REMOTELY similar to them?"

The Archons were stunned, it seemed like you made everyone hold their breathe. "Such blasphemy won't go unforgi-" "I don't need your forgiveness, you cockroach arthritis-suffering bitch," you cut Zhongli off.

"Hey now...let's not say something will regret, huh?" Nahida said, through the familiar gentle voice, "I won't regret anything that comes out of my mouth." You replied, not finding any reasons why Nahida should be insulted.

"By far, the only Archon that ever helped the Traveller was the Dendro Archon! And she was even locked up!" You said, "You, Barbatos, you just avoided any talk about traveller's twin. Morax, why did you sign a contract that silences you about their twin? Do they scare you that much? Are you really that weak and pathetic?" You said apathetically and sarcastically.

"I am under a contract, and I must abide by that contract," Zhongli replied with a more... confident form, you can't wait to crush it, "Didn't you also sign a contract with the mortals of Teyvat that you'd never hurt them? WELL WHAT ABOUT ME? WHY AM I AM EXCEPTION?" Technically, he didn't, but if they were gonna use lies and deception to win this argument, you might as well do the same.

"Because you're nothing but an Impostor, not even worthy to be called human" Ei said, striking her blade on your thigh, you gasped in pain. "Hah! And what are you? You were an Impostor that created another Impostor because you can't handle the guilt of being one!" At this point it was useless to argue, they were pissed off but the people? They don't believe you, but they've also lost faith to their Gods.

And so, what did you achieve? Death and your name on the history textbooks saying that you were the reason that Teyvat rebelled against their Gods...

So, are you ready to resurrect later in life to attack the Archons (verbally) once more?

Next chapter coming out idk when

[unfriedough]

Hello! Fem reader and Zuko?

- Reader had a scary experience during the day and when night reaches she asks Zuko to spend the night with her

- Zuko says something like “Alright, i’ll stay with you” he’s all awkward standing watching her

- Reader is something like “I can’t feel safe if you’re not close to me, Zuko, please”

- His knees nearly give way and he feels a blush creep up his neck slowly

- He finally gives into his temptation and snuggles up to reader, wrapping his entire arms around reader waist and neck

- Reader sighs in comfort, whispers a quick thank you, places a soft kiss on Zuko’s wrist and they just sleep (No devils tango!)

‘Bandits’- Zuko x female!reader

Masterlist <3

An: Summer is already almost over?? WHY??? Anyways, THIS REQUEST WAS LIKE SUPER DUPER CUTE AND the brackets u added at the end were so cute idek why 😭

Summary:

You get attacked whilst out and about, but maybe it was for the better.

Warnings: half of this is Zuko admiring you LOL, violence.

Zuko was the best fire lord, you think. Perhaps you were a little bias, but letting you stay in the palace rocked. Apart from visiting your hometown, you didn’t exactly have a plan for after the war. You bounced around a little, and then, a golden offer came. Zuko wanted your assistance with royal matters, you’d be the royal advisor. The title was already enough for you to be on board, but it also offered you a place to stay for a while. You just couldn’t pass that up, and hey, maybe since he’s been at this for a few months, the workload would lessen.

You were none the wiser.

You see, his life was nothing but a dumpster fire. From meetings to paperwork to arguments to rebellions to assassins to training and so on so forth, his life was a mess of schedules and poorly planned breaks.

The fire lord confided to you a lot about this, the absolute look of despair on his face as he entered another meeting, or the slow steps from the weight of his armour. He would rest his head on your lap in the library, and whilst you read the latest addition of your favourite book, he dozed off into a 15 minute nap. It was the perfect crime. They couldn’t yell at you, he was asleep right there, and they couldn’t yell at him, he was the ruler.

On a particular day, Zuko suddenly opened the door of your room, which he intentionally planted right by his.

“YN!”

“ZUKO! HASN’T ANYONE EVER TAUGHT YOU TO KNOCK?”

“Uh-“ he flushed immediately, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight,”

“What brings you to my quarters, your majesty,” you rolled your eyes, adjusting yourself in the mirror on your vanity.

The boy stuck his tongue out at you, “I don’t have anything to do today let’s go out,”

“In this weather? Are you insane?” It was the prime of summer in the fire nation, death by heat stroke at the mere thought of going outside.

“You’ll live,” he mumbled, walking out.

Begrudgingly, you got up, stretching as you picked out the lightest outfit.

The sun burned the top of your head, you groaned, realising you forgot your hat. Zuko offered you his. He was always like that with you. So chivalrous, and yet, so childish.

“M’lady,” he bowed as he passed the large hat to you, moving to grab his spare. He kept it loosely around his belt.

“That seems excessive, but thanks,” intrigued were you, why was there another hat there?

“Maybe, but you literally always forget yours,”

“Cute,” he blushed, “But what kinda belt just has a hat hook?”

“I had it tailor made,” he played with his fingers, this clearly embarrassed him.

You were stunned to silence. Zuko tailor made a belt for me.

“Dork.”

You heaved heavily as you finally reached the market. See, the former prince had no intention of visiting the popularised shops, he opted for the small town one west of the castle. He tipped his hat lower, and you pushed your sunglasses up higher on the bridge of your nose.

“Wow you’re so different and not like other guys,” you mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“This place looks abandoned,”

“Give it a shot, the stuff they sell is actually nice,”

“Zuko,”

“You’re so close minded, trust me for once,” he looked off to the side, where a few suspicious men were grinning at you two, he grinned to mask his worry, “Just stick close to me and we’ll be fine,”

“If I die I’ll kill you,”

“I’ll take you up on that,”

Despite your ‘friends that work together’ relationship, sometimes you felt he was being a little touchy. Especially around another man, he’d make sure there was distance between you two and him. You chalked it up to this place being shady.

“Just go I’ll be fine,” just as humans do, Zuko really needed the bathroom. Of course, you couldn’t exactly join him, gendered bathrooms are a thing, so you told him you'll just wait in the nearby stores.

“Don’t talk to anyone don’t look at anyone don’t buy anything-“

“You’re not my dad Zuko, chill,” you pushed him lightly, he rolled his eyes and left to do his business.

You were humming quietly when a woman tapped your shoulder. She wore a mask which concealed most of her features, and had a hat almost as big as yours on.

“Hello,”

‘Don’t talk to strangers’ you replayed. You pretended not to understand. You tilted your head to the side, shrugging animatedly.

“Are you a foreigner?” You continued the ‘deer in headlights’ act, and that’s when your eyes finally landed on her left arm. It rested in her pocket, and seemed to be flexed. A funny feeling rose in your stomach.

“Guys, she’s a foreigner,” she yelled out behind her, a few men and women coming up. There were about 4 or 5.

Your eyes kept snapping to the bathroom, willing Zuko to sense the situation. You were severely outnumbered, and judging by the looks of the people in the back, there were for sure a few benders. You thought to use your own powers, but due to the extensive work you perform, you rarely had time to train.

“Just give me your money and we’ll let you go princess,” one of the boys mumbled, coming up to threaten you.

You furrowed your brows, still pretending to be confused. You thought to pretend you were oblivious might actually help. You smiled brightly, turning around and buying a small souvenir for the man. You grinned as you passed it to him, a weirded-out look crossing his barely showing features.

“Is she stupid?” He peered forward into your open wallet, showcasing no money. Zuko was the fire lord. Why would you need anything aside from loose change?

“Probably, look at her, she’s dressed like a tourist,”

“That necklace looks expensive,” a woman remarked, nearing you inquisitively.

“Ah you’re right,” the leader smiled, leaning closer to you, she signed with her hand a necklace around her neck, pointing at yours afterwards, “Nice necklace, where buy?” She dumbed her words down.

You took it off, silently panicking as you removed Zuko’s handmade pendant. It was a gold encrusted heart locket, and inside was a tiny mix of your nation and his’ shades, making a gorgeous concoction. It was a thank you for joining him. The metal that crafted it seemed dainty, but was strong and durable.

You used it to your advantage.

As the mystery lady’s eyes lit up at the sight of it, you spun her around, placing the jewellery on her neck, restricting her airway.

“Nobody move,” you scowled, looking around.

The woman signalled with her hand for them to stay still. She then turned around quickly, using her pocket knife to gnaw at the metal. It didn’t work, but it did leave a few nasty scratches on it. She used the same blade to attempt to cut you, but you dodged, pushing her to the ground under you. You stood in a standstill.

“You’re not a foreigner,” she mumbled.

“You’re trying to rob me,” you narrated.

“Doesn’t take a genius,” some guy yelled. Most tellers hid at this point.

“Just give me the necklace, and all will be good,”

She pounced, pushing you into a pole. Another woman restricted your arms behind it. She walked up to you again, grabbing the jewellery harshly. Using her knife, she guided your chin to look at her.

“Tell me, how much did you buy this for,”

“It’s handmade,” you frowned, wincing as she dug the knife further into your neck, not quite breaking skin.

“It’ll pawn for a pretty penny,” a man rasped, getting closer. Both the bandits were now right in your face.

Thankfully, legs are good for kicking. You sent them both back flying, twisting around to free yourself from the other lady. During the process, your hat fell and sunglasses followed.

“She works with the fire lord, RUN!” As you tried to locate the lady, they scrambled away. You were left without a necklace, and with hurried steps.

You ran up to the stalls, talking to the nearest man.

“Hey!”

“Women’s bathrooms are over there,”

“Cool I need the men’s,”

“You’re not allowed in there,” he looked concerned.

“I know, I’m looking for a man about this tall, wearing a ridiculous hat.”

“Oh, is that him?”

“Hey YN, where’d your hat go?”

“Let’s go home,” you tugged on his hand.

“But you said you wanted to get food?”

“I’m not hungry anymore,”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Whatever you say…”

He continued to try to probe for more information, and you continued to shut him right back down.

When you finally got home and got changed, you were dunked right into another meeting. You sat next to Zuko, resting your head on your palm. Your non dominant hand rose to fidget with the necklace, only to be faced with the intense heartache that its absence brought forth. You sighed.

After what felt like an eternity and a half, the general- admiral(?), whoever, finished his speech and let you all excuse yourself. You matched your friend’s pace.

“Where’d your necklace go?”

You frowned, “probably at some pawn shop by now,”

“Okay ouch,” he furrowed his brows.

“I didn’t sell it,”

“Huh?” You reached your quarters, the moon dominating the dark sky. You pushed your door open.

“I was robbed earlier- at the market,” your feet guided you in, and towards your closet.

“Wait what? Is that why you wanted to leave? Why didn’t you tell me-“

“Zuko there was nothing you could do.” Pyjamas placed on the bed, you flopped on the mattress next to them.

“I could’ve had them imprisoned. I could’ve protected you,” he seemed hurt.

That angered you. You got up suddenly.

“I’m not some damsel in distress Zuko,”

“That’s not what I meant!” He stuttered.

“Oh yeah? Then what did you mean?”

“I just-“

“Forget it.” You pushed him out of the room, locking the door.

He knocked harshly. “Hey! You can’t just do that!”

“Why not?”

“B-BECAUSE?”

The soldiers and staff in the hallway tried to conceal their laughs, they really did, but seeing the fire lord begging his advisor who he’s totally not in love with to open the door was the funniest thing ever. Especially since he was so flustered.

“Yn please,”

“I’m changing don’t be weird,”

“When you’re done,” he rolled his eyes, resting his head against the door.

He practically fell on top of you when you opened it again.

His breath caught in his throat. Seeing you look so peaceful made him feel things. The way your face was illuminated by the dull- almost dead- candle you refused to replace. And how it made your eyes sparkle. And how yo-

“Zuko?”

“Sorry, lost in thought,” he flustered.

“It's okay,”

You stepped back, and he entered your room. It was decorated beautifully, much better than his room, Zuko never quite had the eye for design. And oh, it reeked of you. How the sheets were slightly dishevelled, the curtains weren’t quite closed all the way, the carpet had imprints of where your slippers were, and how all the decorative pillows were strung around the floor, your favourite ones still finding home on your bed.

“Sorry it’s kind of a mess,”

A mess? Surely this was an art piece. A painting of your room should be displayed in a museum.

Maybe you were a little more than his adviser. Just a little though. You sunk into the sheets, covering yourself in the warmth of a weighted blanket.

“Sooooo,” he dragged.

“Yeah Zuko, I got jumped.”

“I don’t understand,”

“What don’t you understand, I was attacked, and since I had basically no money, they took my necklace,”

“Oh,”

“Yeah,”

He paused. “Well are you okay?” He’d notice you looking out of your window frequently, and paranoidly checking your room and halls before entering.

“I’m fine,” you lied, for you were scared. Scared of being pinned with a knife to your neck, with the wrong move being the invitation to your funeral.

He tilted his head.

“Fine I lied. I'm not Fine Zuko,”

He smiled softly, a look of pity on his face. You got up out of bed, going near the window. The boy followed.

Again, your hand went up to play with your necklace.

Zuko kissed his lips. “What happened to you really sucks,”

“I really liked that necklace,”

“I’m not talking about the necklace Yn,” he wrapped an arm around you, pulling you into an embrace, “You were attacked, why're you trying to brush that away?”

You resisted tears, reluctantly replying, “If I think about it too much, it’s like I’m there all over again.” You refused to meet his eyes, until a gentle hand guided your face back to his.

“Yeah, but you can’t just suppress it. You’re safe here, I’m with you,” despite the words being just that, words, they comforted you.

Your eyes were locked with him, bodies intertwined. He hardly clocked in what he was doing, until you pulled away. You crossed your arms, putting distance between you and him.

“I should probably get going- it’s late,”

“Do you have to?” And all his resolve faded, how could he say no?

“I-I mean. I-“

“If you don’t want to it’s okay I just-“

“No I get it it’s j-“ you continued to cut eachother off.

“It’s up to you,” you concluded.

“I’ll stay if it helps you,”

“It does,”

“Alright, I’ll stay here. I’ll be here.” He stayed next to the window while you sunk into the bed.

You hummed as the cool pillow kissed your skin.

Still, you couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling in your stomach. You put a hand on your chest, eyes snapping to where Zuko is to both make sure he was there and that he was asleep. The fire lord was slumped on your desk chair, head falling back.

“You okay?” He asked.

You gasped, not aware he was awake in the first place.

“I’m fine,”

“Then why are you breathing so heavily?”

“Is a girl not allowed to breathe anymore?” He laughed, not because it was funny. Well, everything’s funny when it’s past 12.

“No seriously what’s up?”

“I just don’t feel safe, even if you’re in the room,” you sat up, pulling the other side of the blanket away to show the empty bed.

If your light was burning, you’d see the bright red that burned Zuko’s face, and no, it wasn’t his scar. The thought of being in a bed with you, that close. It shocked him to his core. He knew he was kind of an idiot in the love department, if it was a job, he’d be fired. But what he did know is that he’d stumble on his words and forget how to speak if he got into the bed.

“Please?” You gave him that smile, and how his knees almost buckled below him just at the sight of it, how could he resist?

A different colour of blush gnawed carefully at his neck, tinting the already present one a darker shade of red.

“Yeah okay,” stiffly, he joined you under the sheets. Engraving the image of you next to him, nightwear making you look like a movie he’d spend eternity watching. He clenched his jaw, trying to stay focused.

Again, all efforts simply ditched him as you laid your head on his chest. You used your arms to guide his around your waist, the other your lips. You gave him the gentle-est of pecks, almost just a touch, on his wrist, resting it against your cheeks. The spot burned with warmth, a trail of goosebumps exploring the rest of his arms.

“Thank you Zuko,” but it wasn’t just a thank you Zuko. See, maybe he was delusional, but something was different.

Maybe it was the way you were looking at him, if you gave him those eyes more frequently, he’d bend to your every will. The sweet smile you dawned pushing against his arm, he wished it would leave a mould, a mark, anything, to remember this moment.

Gently, you put his hand onto your neck, and sighed. As you drifted off into a safe, sound slumber, Zuko wondered what it would take for it to all happen again.

An: I love him sm ydu

[bimboficationblues]

being a young liberal or socialist student of political philosophy trying to learn outside of your comfort zone, you decide to read some conservative writings because you want to read the best version of the thing you oppose, not just swipe at the low-hanging fruit of the numbnuts pundits of the world.

and then it is all insane troll logic. critically thinking about why and how our societies exist in the way they do, and if they could be different, is going to cause Literally 1984 (<- this is what Friedrich Hayek actually believed). real socialism would involve making absolutely zero changes to the structure or policies of the economy and is just about feeling good about your place in the abstract concept of the nation (Spengler, most fascist thinkers). rulers are kind of like your dad and political constitutions are divinely inspired (classic early modern reactionaries like Filmer and de Maistre - the OGs if you will.) socialism neglects “spiritual needs” - what those are is an exercise for the reader to figure out, but it probably includes business owners not having to pay taxes (Bozell, ghostwriting for Barry Goldwater).

[decolonize-the-left]

This is Red Scare propaganda in 2023.

Did you know that a few days ago Democrats and Republicans voted to join sides against socialism and "socialist policies"(good welfare programs)?

According to Axios:

More than half of House Democrats sided with Republicans on Thursday in voting for a GOP resolution denouncing socialism. [...]

• The resolution denounces “socialism in all its forms” and opposes “the implementation of socialist policies in the United States of America.”

• A total of 106 Democrats voted for the resolution, while 86 voted against it and another 14 voted "present. "

What they're saying:

• “This [was] very much about politics and political messaging, and you saw that with some of the people voting present,” said Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), the chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, which supported the resolution.

• Kuster said leadership was attentive to swing-district members' needs: "It was very much open-door conversations this week ... just conversations about where our members were coming from and how they felt about this. They had strong feelings about this."

What we're hearing:

• House Republican campaign operatives are already sharpening their knives against Democrats who voted against the resolution.

• "It’s certainly a potent hit we’re excited about," Jack Pandol, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Axios. "If you can’t vote to denounce the horrors of socialism, yes, we will be letting your constituents know about it."

The other side:

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Progressive Caucus, told Axios that her faction recommended its members vote against the resolution and she advised colleagues “however you vote on this bill, they’re going to use it against you, so it doesn’t really matter.”

• Jayapal also argued the bill's sweeping rebuke of socialism conflates historical despots with modern entitlement programs and Nordic social democracies: "They're trying to tie those successful [welfare] programs ... to [former ruler of Cambodia] Pol Pot."

So Democrats and Republicans can unite over what's important to them: Capitalism.

More than half of Democrats in office right now would side with Republicans against your well being. Over half of them.

What we're witnessing is an abuse of power that Only serves to keep Democrats and Republicans as power players in politics.

Coincidentally this comes after a historic rise in union membership, calls for higher wages, protests, and it's also right before presidential candidates have started campaigning!

They didn't sign a resolution like this over Trump supporters literally attacking capitol hill. They haven't made Any reform or agreement that could stop another Trump from winning an election again either. They literally expose people to right-wing candidates on purpose just to help themselves win elections.

But this? Good welfare programs and left-wing ideas being spread before an election? That was a priority. That needed to be stopped. That's dangerous.

Let me ask y'all something: if you feel comfortable showing regular people a bunch of far-right ideas on primetime tv but you wouldn't show them any left-wing ideas at all... Wouldn't that make you right-wing? At the very least you've chosen a side, haven't you?

Democrats don't want to challenge the status quo. Apparently that's the ONE thing they can agree on with Republicans about. That's it's staying here and not going anywhere. That's what this tells me.

If you caught yourself thinking I'll vote for a democrat,at least they won't make things worse please consider that keeping things awful on purpose absolutely counts as making things worse. And also being comfortable with far-right ideology but not far-left ideology means Democrats are closer to being fascists than fighting fascism.

This year spend some time researching candidates that are listed as independent, green party, socialists, or communists. The only people worth entertaining are people who actually care and actually want to change things for the better.

[rontra]

they literally are so real though. God of light is like “hey your wife killed a whole load of people and if you go hang out with her you will Not have a good time” and the first thing she says to him is “what if we took over the world by violent force and installed ourselves as the gods of the world” and he goes “ok :)”. and hes right.

[INCORRECT BUZZER]

->HE SAYS<- "hi i'm back. anyway apropos nothing i want to unite the world under one banner. for. um. undisclosed reasons". and SHE says "ok :)" <- their actual conflict has very little to do with this*

the thing he has a problem with (and which ultimately tears the rift between them) is her religious stance, because she is an unyielding apostate and he is on a mission from the joker of gods. and he spends his life guiltily withholding that information from her, because if she knew this was a mission from the joker of gods, she wouldn't be helping him do it

anyway ozma's sudden wish inherently carries violence with it and salem is smart enough to understand that and articulate it back to him. religiosity aside, they are on the same page about that; there is no world where "making the entire world bow to the same worldview/ruler/ideology/(sotto voce: and religion)" does not imply violent conquest of existing nations and cultures. she makes clear to him what needs to happen for him to get what he wants, and that she is willing to do it with him, and he's like "epic, i love my cool wife. let's not discuss religion at the dinner table 😬"

violent conquest was not even remotely on salem's itinerary but it is what he's suddenly talking about post-reincarnation, and she's willing to do it with him. SHE said "ok :)". We're All In This Together ❤️

but yea they're so real. i wish them a very merry "soulmates being twisted and used against each other so severely that they can no longer recognize each other's hearts". and a happy new year