#they died rlly young and i wanted to capture that here

[l0verseyes]

they should've been at the club

[webkinz-05]

a different tommy here! (fictive this time 😏) could i request a shufflemancy with my XD and Philza?

hi tommy! i ended up only doing the relationship with XD as i got a lot of… mixed messages whenever i attempted to shuffle for Philza.

your relationship with XD: tw for murder, ignored consent, stalking/creepy or possessive behavior, implied abuse in a romantic context, adult attracted to a minor

The Willow Maid- Erutan

welcome to Mod Innit’s Music Taste Is Weird. this song is a story song based off the legends of faeries in Celtic culture, though as far as i know it’s not based off any specific myth. it tells the story of the willow maid and a human man who is in love with her- and refuses to take no for an answer. i do genuinely recommend giving this song a listen outside of shufflemancy purposes if you like folktales or songs that make you feel like you’re listening to a story around a bonfire. anyways, on to the lyrics

A young man walked through the forest / With his quiver and hunting bow / He heard a young girl singing / And followed the sound below / There he found the maiden / Who lives in the willow

dreamXD is known for watching over the lands of the SMP, which you would think would point to him being the maiden, but rather he’s the hunter here, the one wandering and stumbling upon you.

He called to her as she listened / From a ring of toadstools red / ‘Come with me my maiden / Come from thy willow bed’ / She looked at him serenely / And only shook her head

he made his interest in you clear pretty early on, but you didn’t reciprocate or particularly care. you were doing your own thing, why would you want him getting in the way of that or suddenly changing your plans? so you rejected him.

'See me now, a ray of light in the moondance / See me now, I cannot leave this place / Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest / Don't ask me, to follow where you lead'

you made that rejection about as clear as his interest! you had a life that you weren’t going to just drop for him. there were things that mattered to you, things you were a part of. so you turned him down hard.

A young man walked through the forest / With a flower and coat of green / His love had hair like fire / Her eyes an emerald sheen / She wrapped herself in beauty / So young and so serene

he wasn’t used to being rejected, so he tried coming back. after all, he was interested in you, clearly viewed you as something ethereal, possibly even on his level.

He stood there under the willow / And he gave her the yellow bloom / 'Girl my heart you've captured / Oh I would be your groom' / She said she'd wed him never / Not near, nor far, nor soon

the attempts to buy your love were frequent and unsuccessful. he tried to convince you, to cajole you, to do whatever it took to change your mind, but you just… weren’t into him. again, you made it clear. the chorus is repeated here, making it clear that the rejection was repeated.

A young man walked through the forest / With an axe sharp as a knife / ‘I'll take the green-eyed fairy / And she shall be my wife / With her I'll raise my children / With her I'll live my life’

he didn’t know how to take that rejection and, being god, was willing to go to some pretty drastic lengths. which included ruining your life if necessary. after all, you wouldn’t go with him because you have connections, right?

The maiden wept when she heard him / When he said he'd set her free / He took his axe and used it / To bring down her ancient tree / 'Now your willow's fallen / Now you belong to me'

so he would just cut those connections off. likely through exile, he got you away from those that were keeping you rooted in your life. XD took over the role of dream, being the only thing you had. which is fucked! and he was rlly gross

She followed him out the forest, and collapsed upon the earth / Her feet had walked but a distance / From the green land of her birth / She faded into a flower / That would bloom for one bright eve / He could not take from the forest / What was never meant to leave.

how it happened isn’t necessarily clear nor does it really matter here- point being, you weren’t meant to leave everything behind. ripping you away from your life didn’t give him what he wanted, in fact it just screwed him over more. you died, a testament to his greed. if you were revived, he did leave you alone- if only because he didn’t want you going down again.

your relationship with XD was a bad one, one that could hardly be called a “relationship,” because he was really just a stranger suddenly demanding your attention and affection. you were given no choice, as he was willing to do whatever it took to have you for himself- regardless of consequences.

i hope this brought you some insight!

☽ Mod Innit ☽

[flameohs-blog]

Can you do a meta for Zuko on his Uncle Iroh, and the most significant lessons / pieces of wisdom that he learned from him?

META    ↪ ACCEPTING / @proditeur​​

ohh boyyy… i’m gonna have to do yet another rewatch to answer this to the fullest. i honestly don’t have the time to do that right now but i do want to answer this question since my muse for atla seems to be really strong these days. i’m gonna start by splitting this into different sections because i feel like there’s A Lot i could say. i hope everything flows and ya’ll can understand my ramblings lol

zuko & uncle iroh’s relationship

obviously when we’re introduced to the series, one of the first relationships we see is the one between zuko and iroh. u can tell right off the bat that they care about one another a lot, mostly u can tell from iroh more than zuko in the beginning until that changes later on. it’s def one of the strongest relationships we see throughout the series. i don’t rmr if the series explained why iroh had left with zuko after his banishment like whether that was thru iroh’s own volition or if he was driven out by ozai as well. either way, we all know that iroh thinks of zuko as a son after his own died.

i think that’s because zuko and iroh share similarities and iroh sees that. iroh sees the potential zuko has. in the beginning, zuko is an angry individual. he gets mad easily. he gets upset easily. he gets frustrated. we do see other parts of his personality and eventually we do see him change and he becomes more like iroh in a way. here’s the thing, though. while i do believe that zuko learned a lot from his uncle…

i’m going to argue that zuko learned a lot from everyone he ever interacted with as well. not saying that his relationship with his uncle isn’t important because, i mean, it IS. their relationship was introduced to us from the very beginning so of course it’s important. the thing i’m trying to get at is that although it was iroh who was there to guide zuko in a way on his journey, it was actually zuko who helped himself. iroh never rlly told zuko what to do with his life, it was zuko who figured it out on his own. it was zuko who realized his mistakes and learned from them and grew as a person.

zuko as an individual

i’ve written this on my other blog and i’ll say it again: zuko’s redemption arc works because he was never truly a bad guy despite his mistakes with the gaang in s1-2. zuko is written as the initial villain but that’s only cos he’s hunting the avatar who has been established as the protagonist of our series. he treats aang & co as his enemies BUT he treats other people just fine for the most part. and we see that from the very beginning like in the very first episode where he promises to leave the water tribe alone if aang goes with him or in a few episodes later where he foregoes chasing appa (+ aang) bc the most important  task at hand is getting his ship and his crew out of the bad weather and into safety. 

the only reason he’s chasing the avatar is bc in his mind that’s what’s gonna gain his father’s approval. and zuko in the first 2 seasons wants nothing more than his father’s love & acceptance & approval esp since his mother is no longer in the picture. and, you know, i’m sure zuko knows from an early age that his father isn’t the best person and nor is he the best parent but… all that is put aside simply bc of the fact that ozai is his father. they are blood related. and ppl can pretend like that doesn’t matter but when you’re young, when that’s all you have, it fucking matters. i can’t explain it well atm but children want the love & acceptance & approval from their parents. it’s normal. toph is another example of this, she wants those things but doesn’t have them. their situations in a way are similar yet manifests in different outcomes.

zuko’s drive to find the avatar and take him to the fire nation is only because of his desire for his father’s approval. but the thing is that zuko was always torn between his allegiance to his father and, idk, his allegiance to be himself. zuko is not like ozai or sozin or azulon. he isn’t like azula either. he doesn’t rlly share the same ideals they do in regards to the fire nation being #1 in the world or superior to other nations or however u wanna describe it. even if he didn’t get banished, i rlly don’t believe he’d turn into the type of person the previous generations of firelords were. i think ozai saw this in zuko and that’s why he favored azula over him. it was azula who possessed the traits ozai thought was important, not zuko. but what ozai considers weakness in zuko turns out to be his greatest strengths.

underneath all that anger in the beginning, zuko was always… kind in his own ways. and he learns to be open to change and growth. in season 2 when we see him free appa from underground and throw away his blue spirit mask, it’s supposed to symbolize this awakening/change in him. but in the end of season 2, he chooses to side with azula again because like i’ve said before his desire for his father’s approval is greater than his desire for… idk… whatever else. he’s still confused. as much as i wanted zuko to join the gaang earlier, it wasn’t time for him to. we had to wait until literally halfway thru book 3 to see that and it was a lil annoying cos i would have loved to see him join earlier so they could have all had more interactions but!!!!!! i truly don’t believe that zuko throwing away the blue spirit mask was enough, hence the betrayal at the end of s2. someone could be there to guide you or influence you but ultimately your decisions in life are your own. 

lessons zuko has learned on his journey 

a) episode 2x09 - bitter work

there’s a scene where iroh is explaining all four elements to zuko and how each element contributes to different nations’ idk personalities or culture or whatever. and i always thought that scene was beautiful bc iroh isn’t insulting other nations, he’s describing their strengths. and then iroh says: 

“it is important to draw wisdom from many different places. if you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. understand others–the other elements–and the other nations will help you become whole.”

like i honestly think zuko kinda already knew that but it was never worded to him that way. we see him also learn it on his own when he parts ways with his uncle and he’s off traveling on his own. zuko has also traveled the world for years after his banishment. there’s no way he’s out there thinking the fire nation’s beliefs are the only ones that matter. he’s learned a lot from his travels imo. about himself and about others. 

this is also the episode where iroh teaches zuko how to redirect lightning so, yanno, there’s that. in one of the earlier episodes, iroh reminds zuko about the breath and how that could save his life in the cold and also another time where he instructs zuko to break zhao’s root during a duel or whatever. so def iroh not only offers advice/wisdom thru words but also thru teaching zuko firebending.

b) episode 2x17 - lake laogai

imo this episode was Wild to me mostly cos of the confrontation between zuko and his uncle. zuko’s still thinking of capturing the avatar even though at this point he and iroh are fire nation fugitives and on the wanted list. zuko is still confused and torn between being true to himself and being the son his father wants him to be. it’s iroh’s words that honestly hit a lil too close to home for me too lmao. zuko says smth about how he knows his destiny and iroh says:

“is it your own destiny or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you? it is time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions: WHO are you and what do YOU want?”

like i’ve said before, zuko isn’t thinking about what he wants. or maybe he has but it’s not rlly a priority for him. his priority is still pleasing his father and the only way he knows how is to capture aang. he thinks that’s what’s gonna make him happy but…

c) episode 3x06 - the avatar and the firelord

obviously zuko isn’t happy. at this point he’s returned to the fire nation and finally has what he’s wanted for years: ozai’s approval. i’m not gonna say love cos i don’t believe for one second that ozai loved his son lmfao! and nor did he love azula but that’s another story for another day. anyways, zuko thought that “killing” the avatar would make him happy and being back home would make him happy but uh. he’s changed over the years. he’s still confused about what he wants vs what his father wants. 

it’s hard for people to break away from their families, man. it rlly truly is. we as the audience know that that’s what zuko has to do but honestlyyy how many of us irl are kind of in similar positions???? it’s hard to breakaway from family (the ppl who r supposed to support u) when you don’t have other strong connections and lbr zuko doesn’t. he had his uncle and he fucked it up. but anyway this entire episode was WILD and i loved every moment of it. it goes thru the story of avatar roku and his friend sozin. but the plot twist is that roku is zuko’s great grandfather which, tbh, i was not expecting at all LMFAO. maybe it was obvious to every1 else but, man, was i in shock lol. 

the lesson in this episode is that everyone is capable of being good or evil (as aang learns) but the other lesson is that this is kind of what finally pushes zuko to change. i mean he was never truly evil as we’ve seen in the past and he’s made bad decisions but it’s this moment that drives him to come to the goddamn epiphany that, no, he isn’t happy in the fire nation. 

d) episodes 3x10 & 3x11 - the day of black sun

zuko isn’t happy in the fire nation.his father needs to be stopped cos what he’s doing is wrong. and it’s a big fckn risk to defy the firelord and leave the comfort of your home behind… like what if the avatar & co don’t accept zuko into the group? it’s a risk but zuko knows what he has to do and has probably known it for a long time. it’s hard to BREAK AWAY BUT ZUKO FINALLY DID IT. and you know what!!!!!! when zuko stood up to his father and told ozai that now it’s his (ozai’s) turn to listen to zuko……… it was literally the BEST thing ever lmfao. here’s a part of what zuko says:

“i’ve come to an even more important decision. i’m going to join the avatar and i’m going to help him defeat you.”

zuko says “I’VE come to the decision” and i think that’s important cos he came to the decision on his own. like ya his uncle was there for him but honestly like… no one told him to do any of that!!!!! underneath that anger, this is who he is: a kind, compassionate person????? now i don’t even know what i’m trying to get at anymore but i guess just the way he says “but i’ve come to an even more important decision” just gets to me like. it’s important that he made his own choice and wasn’t coerced into it bc that makes his choices more real and genuine. if zuko wasn’t a good person underneath all that anger and bitterness then would he have done this? no, lol. the audience loves zuko’s redemption arc because he never truly bad on the inside, he made mistakes, realized them, made the active decision to do better and be better for others, and does that continuously thru s3 and we can assume after the series ends as well. zuko in s3 isn’t the zuko in s1 and we SEE that and that’s what we love abt his arc.

e) tea

isn’t zuko seen serving tea to every1 in the finale at the very end. like i’m sure iroh taught him how to brew the right cup of tea lmfao!!!!! idk much about diff types of tea but uh there’s diff temperatures u heat the water and how long u steep it and idk guess it’s an art huh