#they're living breathing creatures and you need to learn how to properly care for and be in the right mindset

[discordiansamba]

Having Zuko around is... weird.

It's not even just because they're more used to the guy trying to hunt him down, or even because it couldn't be more obvious that he doesn't want to be here. No, they could probably deal with that.

Zuko's not alive. That's what makes it weird.

He doesn't breathe. He doesn't eat. He doesn't sleep. Toph says he doesn't have a heartbeat. He just exists. He's like a creature out of one of Bato's spirit tales- like one of the shambling corpses that drag themself out of the sea and return home, unaware that they're dead. Except Zuko's not shambling- and he's very aware that he's dead. He almost looks normal, except for the way his eyes are too bright when the sun is out, and too dull when it's not.

(He's powered by his inner flame now, he explains.)

His attempts at teaching Aang firebending haven't gone so well thus far. It's obvious that they're both getting frustrated- Aang's too hesitant, and can barely make a steady flame. Zuko has no patience. Watching it is kind of disaster, but someone has to be on Zuko babysitting duty just to make sure he doesn't back out on his end of his weird spirit deal. Zuko at least seems to be trying, which is more than any of them expected.

(There's a part of the deal he hasn't told anyone but his Uncle about yet. Aang optimistically thinks Agni might properly restore his life if he does well. Sokka thinks of Yue, and is a lot more skeptical.

What do the spirits do, but play with human lives?)

Zuko tries to ignore them when he isn't teaching Aang, but his Uncle is always trying to curtail his efforts. They learn some insane things about Zuko in the process- namely, that he managed to sneak into the North Pole using turtle-seal tunnels while he still had a working set of lungs. Oh, and apparently Zhao tried to blow up his ship with him in it, which was why he was so beat up back then.

(They learn that his scar isn't from a training accident. Zuko cuts off his Uncle before he can tell them more.)

Perhaps the most unexpected thing is that his presence becomes... normal at some point. He takes Sokka's terrible jokes about him being undead with nothing more than a roll of the eyes. He doesn't exactly open up to them, but he avoids them a little less. They learn nicer things about him- like about how he likes turtleducks, and that his favorite play is Love Amongst the Dragons. For being something out of a spirit tale, he starts to feel a little more like a person.

Aang somehow talks Zuko into helping them look for Appa. Turns out the guy is really good at evading the Dai Li. He's even better at gathering intelligence. He tells Aang that someone definitely saw something that looked like Appa fly over the wall, but he's not sure where the bison went.

...at least until he shows up one morning with Appa in tow.

They all look at him. Zuko shrugs. The Dai Li had him.

...also apparently they're brainwashing people under Lake Laogai?

They all exchange a look. If Appa is free, it probably won't be long until Long Feng tracks him back to them. Sokka gives Zuko an inquisitive stare. You didn't by any chance get any evidence of while you were there...?

Zuko did. He thought they might need it. He's not interested in helping them overthrow his father, so he doesn't care if they meet the Earth King or not... but he does admit the brainwashing thing Long Feng is doing is fucked up and should probably be stopped. He won't help them get to the Earth King, but he won't try and stop them either.

(If they didn't know any better, it's almost like Zuko's warming up to them.)

[e-melanorhynchus]

14, 17, 38 and the elusive Number Eight

14. [what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do?] Oh this one's got a lot of answers; for one, doing literally anything with my hair. I really.. just don't know what to do with it. It's too long for me to care for properly at this point, and I know cutting it the way I'd like would send my family into a riot lol. Also dying it, but to be fair, I'm not too keen on that either. I'd also really like to try doing more things related to heights.. roller coaster rides, rock climbing, hiking up mountains.. I'm very notoriously bad with handling those things BUT! with experience I will overcome the hardships... 17. [name 3 things that make you happy] Being alive, my friends, and nature. Being alive; This counts for a lot of things. It is the act of surviving and breathing, but it also means more. It means living out all the basic animal needs I need.. sleeping well, eating good food, making art.. It's all so important to me. My friends; Without my friends, I wouldn't be alive, I think. They are my world. Nature; You know me and you know my love of nature, but the world fascinates me. I'm so happy to be able to witness it. It's just very inherently innocent to me, everything from birth to death, all so fascinating. It's like a well structured machine, or a pulsing system of organs, or a beautiful gem with a thousand facets. And I'm always learning more about it. 38. [fave song at the moment?] Igaku [Medicine] - Sasuke Haraguchi 8. [any reacquiring dreams?] Hey look! my lucky number. how funny. Anyway UNFORTUNATELY NO. I barely remember my dreams and the days I do They're so bizarre. When I was younger though, a common thread of my nightmares was something repeating and multiplying over and over, and me being powerless to stop it. Maybe it was a little creature on TV bleeding out into real life The Ring style, or maybe it was a tissue box that would just never empty. Really scary to me.

[rodentblood]

rant time cause even tho I saw this video a while weeks ago it’s still bugging me and keeps popping up in my recommended and I just have to say something but I’m scared of saying something in video’s comments cause I’m scared their fans will come at me for criticizing them 

but anyway 

I know life’s been p rough for many of us and quarantine sucks and many many folks are in immense depressive slumps 

but

that does not give you the excuse to decide ‘oh I’ll get an animal to make myself feel better! Self love uwu’ 

you should /never/ get /any/ pet if you are not in the proper mindset to care for them getting an animal on a whim is already bad enough but to throw in an unstable mindset is even worse

Always be in the right headspace so that you can care for the creature you’re bringing into your life. This is a life you are taking care of not just some decoration to hang up on the wall or display on a shelf and be like ‘yay ~aesthetic~’  It’s a living breathing animal and it deserves to be treated with respect and properly cared for properly

With that in mind it’s also EXTREMELY irresponsible to also go ahead and get an animal without doing the proper research ahead of time Many if not most of the things this person did as explained in their videos could have been so easily avoided had they done basic research on how to care for their new pet If you struggle with a learning disability and can’t take in a lot of info via reading cause it’s hard for you to follow along/absorb it all maybe... I don’t try using a /visual/ type of learning that makes it easier for you to understand and figure out! Maybe that method of learning is even readily and easily accessible on the same platform you currently host your own videos or heck maybe it’s accessible via one of the sponsors you promote in your own videos. Ok I don’t actually use skill share so idk if they have any videos about animal care or something but /still/ how can someone on youtube who can’t figure out how to take care of an animal through reading and research not think about just looking up videos? Like ok maybe it’s not 100% obvious but seriously it’s not hard to just type in the search bar ‘how to take care of x animal’ and be bombarded with videos and be able to reference check with other sources. 

Hell I’m almost 100% certain you could even just reach out to the individuals posting these animal care videos and ask ‘hey I’m getting [insert animal here] got any tips on how to care for it?’ And if /they/ don’t know they might even be able to refer you to someone who might actually know! These people making animal care videos obviously care about people taking proper steps to ensure their pets are happy and thriving and I’m sure are more than happy to answer your questions or concerns when they have a moment to spare 

I just...I don’t understand how this person could let the situation spiral so massively out of control like it did and just have people accept it and feel bad for them?? Like the majority of the comments on the video are just ‘oh you poor baby I’m sorry you went through that feel better soon! unu’ They did this to themselves, they’re a grown ass adult who willing decided to take in animals without knowing how to properly care or house them and let them fucking die because they had no self control  Yes they were depressed and sad but that’s not an excuse!! You don’t get pets when you’re depressed cause this type of shit can happen.

No animal deserves to die like that and throwing shade at massive chain pet stores for not properly informing you about how to house certain creatures together/giving you incorrect information is not an excuse (I mean it’s not good on their behalf either but that’s an entirely different topic don’t trust big chain pet stores folks get your info from reputable sources ) 

It’s not some, likely underpaid, employees’ fault they have no idea if x animal can live with x animal they aren’t being paid to know this shit and aren’t being trained to know this shit either. They’re there simply to stock shelves, sell animals and animal care products while smiling that’s it 

I’m still super mad this person just tells this entire story and people just seem to gloss over it simply because the animals in questions weren’t something ‘more important’ like a dog or a cat or a bird

It just really rubs me the wrong way and yea I know stuff happens but it seriously could have been so easily avoided This person still ended up keeping the same species of pet just a different breed which they’re doing better with from what they say in video but still I just.....it doesn’t sit well with me I guess idunno I’m not like super angry at this person or anything I just think their actions were not super great and while I don’t want them to like burn on a pike over it I still think people need to be a bit more critical and not just gloss over the situation as tho it was just an accident or entirely the chain pet stores fault which is how it’s made to sound like in the video

overall I hope they learn to not get pets when depressed and to do proper research when getting new pets and I hope that their current ones continue to thrive 

always do your own research when getting a new pet, get them from reputable sources and never get a pet when you’re in a bad emotional state 

ok I’m done.

[anngersmy]

Changing Our Reality Easily by changing our CORE.

It seems to me that the only way we can rapidly change all the horrors that have been happening in this world since time began and seem to be increasingly more hellish and apocalyptic is to change our whole mindset, our acceptance of this reality, our emotional attachment to it, our selfish ambitions, our core set of values and beliefs.  Our core is the part of us that is central to the existence of our character, our central part where everything that is us eminates from. We need to examine it consciously knowing that all that is around us is connected to how it works and what we do with it.

All of us, at the same time, or near as damn it, now, need to wake up. Everyone needs to realise they, themselves, are important but also that everybody else is important too, just as much. Every encounter, every thought, every word, every action should be done with the awareness of who and what it effects. We need to snap out of the unconscious mindsets and see all those around us, near and far, and be aware of how what we see, hear, do, create, destroy touches so many.

Imagine each and every one of us is on our own path and that path starts as we leave the womb, it spirals outwards. It spirals because we cannot go straight as we are constantly learning and relearning the vast aspects of each part of our existence and reality. As a baby the spiral is tight and to a human eye the distance between each ring on the spiral is invisible but it is there. That is because the intensity of what we need to learn and achieve to keep going on our spiral journey is so great in the first few years. As we journey on, the gaps widen and sometimes narrow again as we forget or lose consciousness and need to relearn. Imagine that spiral is you and your path until it fades when you leave this earth or does it ever fade? It is a spiral.

Now, imagine each and every person has their own spiral and they are all squished up together on this planet we call home, in the earth, air, water, atmosphere of the world, invisible to the eye but all around us. Each time a spiral touches, hits off, caresses, bruises, tears into another spiral it changes the journey of the two, three, millions it touches, None of us can see or hear it but it is there, our own unique spiral that changes as it gets influenced by other spirals through touch, sight, hearing, taste,smell, thoughts, emotions, life.

Now imagine every living creature and plant also has this spiral journey and every physical movement, every action, every thought, every breathe each of us take on our own spiral, bumps into, bruises, crushes, tears, caresses another spiral or many, each and every nanosecond that we live and breathe. That is how much we are all connected, that is why everything we do effects the world, that is why we must protect it, love it, because everything is us and we are everything. Everyone is important, you are important. Love yourself and your world.

Yes, everybody is important, every living creature and  every species is important, every plant, every word, every breath, every thought, every action and until we realise this our reality is going to become more horrific than we could ever imagine, worse than any horror film, end of the world book, in fact it already is for so many. Do you really think that children dying of hunger over the other side of the world is not effecting your own spiral journey? Are you so unaware to not notice that the tiniest change in your day has a rippling effect for the whole day, week, month? Everything effects everyone. Everything,

We all have endless possibilities of realities and we are responsible for them but we are also responsible for each others. That kind word you gave without a thought made someone stand taller and stronger for the day ahead, That brutal punch you gave in anger knocked more than a tooth out of that person and all connected to them. That book your wrote that reached billions of people all over the world didn't just give you a comfortable life, it entered the spirals of many and changed lives everywhere albeit the change was so tiny we cannot see or touch it but the more who saw it the bigger the change. The hedge you cut so brutally snuffed out the lives of so many creatures. That warm, loving hug you gave your child this morning spread out and touched those who met them later. Each good or bad thing that we do does not just change our own journey, it changes the journeys of all we come in contact with, however we come in contact with them.

Consider the many crises of the world, let's pick the current virus that is rapidly spreading. Each sneeze not contained spreads it, each unconscious act of travel brings it out to the world, each hand not washed, each person not told of the fever their neighbour is having spreads it further and further. This is unconscious reality, people acting without thinking or noticing how they effect those around them. Consider the homeless numbers ever increasing. Each person who buys up a property they don't really need, they're not going to live in, they want for their own personal economic growth is adding to it albeit not as much as the vulture funds snapping them up for as little as possible to pass on to investors far away and how did they get to do that and who has shares in their companies? Everything is connected and everyone effects everyone else.

We all need to move away from the thought process that self profiteering, self gratification, selfish deeds are the way, none of that is really putting yourself first, it is destroying your core, your inner goodness, it is a distraction from reality. In fact for all of us to really achieve self- actualisation, realise our full potential, utilise our talents and be fulfilled properly we need to understand that we are all part of the one beautiful world, one wonderful eco-system, each and every part as important as the next. We need to accept our responsibility to the world and know that all that we think and do effect so many more than we can ever imagine.

It is everyone's responsibility and even if you insist on remaining selfish about it and consider only yourself first your spiral, your journey, is still being caressed and loved and touched by everyone else so it will change even if you try to stop it. More and more people are waking up to this and acting on it. If your spiral can effect others so can theirs and hopefully there are more willing to care and change than not.We can consciously change our reality easily if we so wish all we need to do is remember always that everything is us and we are everything. Everyone is important, you are important. Love yourself and your world.