#to be part of korras group

[lyriumsings]

i always forget how much i love korra she lights up my soul the only bisexual woc icon to exist for me in my teens in like a super popular media like atla like the space she has in my heart is so!!! she’s so perfect to me!! i just wish her story and supporting cast had been as good as aangs her villains and like tenzin and lin were mwah chefs kiss but ooooo if i could do it all over again i have so many opinions

[shiftinghoesblog]

yapping about my drs ❕❕

okay so this was a request from one of my moots to do this so yeah!!

i have no clue where to start but i’ll talk about some of my desired realities that i shift to but probably mainly non group shift ones so personal ones 🫦

INFLUENCER

- this is one of my most recent drs i’ve been scripting and not gonna lie the main reason i’m shifting here is because of my man 🤭 he cosplays gojo... so you probably know as to why but besides the point, i was raised a nepo baby and younger sister to meghan thee stallion. i am a content creator, influencer (duh), fashion designer and i live with my s/o in the upper east side of new york🗽. i scripted that my first shift will be during christmas eve because who wouldn't wanna experience the city that never sleeps during the festive season and with your partner 😩 it’s gonna be the dream. i have a mad crazy friend group but i love them all because we’re so hot, cool and sexy. i did script that megan’s parents are still alive in my dr so let’s not worry about that. 💀 i dreamt about this dr a couple of times actually and about my s/o 😍, a couple of my friends. really looking forward to this dr.

OUTER BANKS

- i think i shifted here like twice or a couple of times but didn't realise it because i did mention to y’all about chilling with kiara and sarah, another time i did find myself surfing like literally just living the life through the waves and my ass thought it was a dream. looking back i doubt it was, in many instances to be honest. in this dr i am the sister to kiara and my s/o is pope 😌 i grew up a kook but i transitioned to a pogue when i joined the others. i’m the reason behind kiara and sarah making up and i’m close with rafe since kiara and sarah were best friends and probably would have sleepovers together. i scripted that cleo’s lesbian lmao 😭 you know why. i wiped the plot out a little and also made everyone graduate already so that school is out of the way when hunting for the gold.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

yep, i have an atla dr yay! in this dr i’m the oldest sister to kiara and sokka. i’m a waterbending master and my s/o’s zuko??? enemies to lovers kinda vibe. definitely part of the gaang and i’m shifting here because atla is part of my childhood. i have the ability to also create ice and other powerful combat skills so i can't wait to experience this universe.

LEGENDS OF KORRA

i also have a lok dr because why not, i’m the little sister to korra the avatar but i’m gonna prove to everyone that i’m also capable to make a difference and i scripted that i can blood bend.. so ain't no one gonna touch me as well still being able to water bend. my s/o is bolin because he’s so underrated for real.

THE ORIGINALS

in this dr, i’m a hybrid so vampire and werewolf and an adopted mikealson. i live in new orleans and my parents are rebekah and marcel even though their not my bio parental figures because they are already dead 💀. also hopefully i can survive when dahlia comes in because i scripted that my first shift will be during season 2 😓 well shit wish me luck y’all. at least i’ll get to see baby hope aw.

FAME

i have a fame dr because i love attention 🥰 my main profession is being an actor and i’m known for my role in the vampire diaries. i also play robin in the one piece live action and act in many more projects, a nepo baby in this dr too because almost all my family members are well-known. my s/o is caleb mclaughlin? he plays lucas in stranger things and our characters in the show dated so that’s how our relationship sparked.

TWILIGHT

i love talking about drs so yeah i have a twilight dr where when i first shift, i’ll be human but i get turned by a villain in order to send the cullens (my friends) a warning like it’s “game on” so i’m gonna have to mentally prepare myself because i’m gonna basically die 😭 lmao. my s/o is jacob because i’m team jacob simple and it’s a slow burn 😀 woop woop.

ROYAL

I guess this blog will be updated regularly because I have a new and quite recent dr I just finished scripting like the other day. this reality is basically me being a soon-to-be queen princess and thinking about if the one piece live action × royalty had a mashup?? yeah, it's that. I'm shifting back to the 1600s-1800s which is where this dr is set, so I'm really excited about this one.

SOME OTHER DRS

waiting room - i plan on permashifting here, chill, script, feel free, play with my cat, breath fresh air.

better cr - a better version of my cr and my s/o is jiung from p1harmony, i live with jenna ortega, i attend a boarding school in london, i also model.

wednesday - i’m the sister to bianca and my s/o is kent, i’m a siren and psychic medium.

fate: the winx saga - it’s so underrated i see no one shift here but it’s like the winx live action adaption on netflix, the only dr where i didn't script an s/o.

ateez - my s/o is san and i’m the only female and 9th member, main rapper, performer and maknae.

streamer - i go by lemonpie and my s/o is cory kenshin 😚.

victorious - grew up watching it and i’m andre’s sister.

soloist - i’m a k-pop soloist in this dr and my s/o is blackpink jisoo (yes I’m wlw) she’s so 😍😍😍.

singles inferno - this is a dating reality tv show but at the end of it i end up with wonho (ex. monsta x) i’m besties with song jia.

GROUP SHIFTS

not gonna lie they piss me off if they don’t put the damn effort

one piece (anime) - so far my most enjoyable one is the one piece (anime) shared dr because we talk almost everyday. anywho my s/o is sanji ahhh my vinsmoke baby! i’m the little sister to the asl brothers and my devil fruit is similar to aokoiji so ice ect. i am part of the straw hats and joined them during the alabasta arc.

kard - the k-pop co-ed group basically, me and the person barely talk so you see why i prefer my personals drs.. yeah. my s/o is enhypen’s jay 😍 and my positions are sub-rapper, sub-vocalist, producer and maknae. i’m always a maknae in k-pop group drs for some reason 😭.

the legacies - person dipped on me and didn't even fill any of their sections so! i’m poly with hope and josie, i’m a werewolf and witch.

harry potter - i’m the head girl of slytherin and my s/o’s draco, i scripted fred’s death out. also shifting to the half-blood prince era.

teen wolf - i’m a tribrid in this dr so i’m gonna be unstoppable!

the vampire diaries - a bennett witch, cousin to bonnie.

one piece (live action) - i’m a phoenix hybrid in this dr and also part of the straw hats, grew up around shanks.

romance - umm this dr ticks me off low-key because the person that i’m group shifting with ghosts me 😝 i didn't script an s/o for a reason i’m just gonna ditch them for jonathan daviss 💀💀💀 like imagine fumbling manon (I'm shifting as manon from katseye in this dr) i don’t want that person as my s/o anymore and like we’re “friends” here, miss me with that shit.

my hero academia - the group shift is dead bro no one is fucking talking in the group chat, one of them quit shifting, the other i was pfp matching with changed their damn pfp without telling me. script ain't finished too, they all called it a day. and y'all wonder why i don't wanna join no group shift no more.

this was lengthy but y’all asked to yap about my drs other than jujutsu kaisen which you already know about that dr and spill some tea so i did exactly that, i hope you enjoyed and this better not flop, i spent hours typing this 🥳.

@angelic-daiquiri

there has been minor positive changes to some realities that i shift to i.e the romance dr is now a shared one with my platonic soulmate who does put effort in the group shift (i kicked the inactive one i complained about out) and i didn't end up with JD (jonathan daviss) that is my best friend, my s/o is currently the love of my life (dominic fike) and i couldn't be happier.

[angelltheninth]

Loved the Avatar imagines! Could you do them reacting to their S/O putting their leg up while kissing? With same group of characters as before.

I love when that happens!

Pairing: Sokka, Zuko, Korra, Asami Sato, Bolin, Mako x Reader

Tags: fluff, established relationship, cuteness overload, kissing, teasing

Ko-Fi | Rules | Fandoms and Characters | Commissions

A/N: I get all giddy when I see that happen, especially if it's between my favorite ships. Enjoy, comment, reblog, all that good stuff.

SOKKA

Notices you putting your leg up so he does it too, mirroring you perfectly. It's not to tease you or make fun of you at all, he just thought the gesture was a cute one so he wanted to do it too. From then on he did it every time the two of you kissed each other. Even if it was in front of all of your friends, since it means they know he likes kissing you very much.

ZUKO

Chuckled when he was that your leg was still in the air when your lips parted from him. Since that's the case you must have really been caught up in that kiss. If anything he finds it very flattering that his kisses, small as that single kiss was, has that much power over you. He would never tell you not to do something that makes you happy, don't be embarrassed for it.

KORRA

Thought you were about to fall over so her arms tightened around you, leading to a deeper kiss than it was initually. Not that you minded that and melted into it easily, holding her closer too. Later you had to explain why you popped your leg up like that and that it was sign of you enjoying the kiss. Ah, well you could have just said so, she was worried for a moment.

ASAMI

Was the first one who did it, quickly followed by you and neither of you noticed until you broke the kiss. Both of you looked at each other and started laughing at how silly you must have looked. Hopefully no reporters passed by right then and took a picture. As a CEO she wasn't so lucky because the next day thay very picture was on the front page of the newspapers.

BOLIN

Picked you up and spun you around when he saw your leg popped up behind you. Being the romantic that he is he always dreamed of making someone have that reaction to his kiss. Now you made his romantic dreams come true and he couldn't be happier. However since this is him he will also occasionally tease you about it, and hope that he gets to see you do it again.

MAKO

Knew he could make you swoon easily but he didn't realize it was to that extent. A smile spread against his lips, still pressed against yours before he pulled away and pointed out the gesture. He doesn't really see himself doing the same, he's not the type but you can do that all you want. In fact it would be very helpful if you did, that way he knows his charm works.

[whatifitookalilnap]

Korra, in an Equalist Asami universe: okay, someone else is going to need to interrogate the Asami girl

Mako: why? She uncooperative?

Korra, blushing: actually, she's a little too cooperative

Bolin: how is that even possible?

Korra: she keeps trying to ask me out on a date okay?! She's somehow super into me!

Mako: don't you think you're exaggerating a little?

Asami, getting guided out the interrogation room by cops: hey pretty girl, does this Saturday work for you?

Korra, blushing: I mean I don't have any plans

Mako: KORRA SHE IS PART OF A TERRORIST GROUP TRYING TO ERADICATE BENDERS

Korra, defensively: LOOK SHE WAS VERY COOPERATIVE AND SHE'S RICH IT'S NOT LIKE SHE WAS GONNA STAY IN THAT JAIL CELL ANYWAYS

Bolin: you know what I'm rooting for you two

Mako: AM I THE ONLY SANE PERSON HERE-

[heartilywrites]

hi hi!! can i req a kuvira x fem!waterbender reader where the reader is on team avatar and they met in s3 and we’re all flirty, what would kuvira do to r in s4?? ty!!

،، Everlasting love ; Kuvira

resume: where Kuvira and you started something you didn’t know how it could end.

content warning: fem!waterbender reader x Kuvira ; description of eye color ; you're part of team avatar ! ; time skip ; kinda long os ; no use of y/n ; open ending

wc: 3k

a/n: I'm sorry I took too long to write this one, but I was trying to get everything I wanted to explore in just one post and apparently I can't do that in under 2k words🧍🏽‍♀️ HOPE YOU ENJOY :D

“ Once upon a time, I was falling in love, but now I’m only falling apart.

Blue eyes wandered around the landscape with such fascination, you were so immersed in your own thoughts about the city that didn't realize when the group stopped by a big salon, your body bumped with Mako.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Shit, sorry...! Where are we?” you asked to the bender, clearly you didn't pay attention to anything said before.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Meeting the mother of the airbender.” he said making you face the other way were some metalbenders were doing a choreography.

Now you stood still watching the dance unfold right infront of you. You were so amazed at the way they used the metal to catch people and how easy it looked to bend.

At the final stand, your sight got caught by one of the girls at the very top, even from afar you could spot a little dot below her left eye.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Let's take a break, everyone!” you heard the matriarch say and giggle a little bit at how fast everyone scatter.

Your eyes followed the girl and Kuvira could feel your gaze in her, so when she turned around to get a glance of who was looking at her your hand waved timidly.

Korra called your name when she saw you distracted, her head made a movement about going out of there and you were quick to follow.

It was safe to say that now the metalbender was all you could think of, you went with the team to the city in a mission to meet the new airbender and take her to the north with the rest of the nomads, but that was all. You couldn't do much as a waterbender in a city made of metal, so you went wandering around the place, still mesmerized with the architecture.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Hey!” you smiled at the captain when both paths bumped each other. “You're the one in the dance group, aren't you?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Kuvira.” the soldier presented herself, you said your name back. “You're the one that came with the avatar.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I am, she's with Su's daughter right now.” you explained, tilting your head to the left. “And I wanted to explore a little bit...” both your hands went to your back, you didn't lose anything trying to shoot your shot, right? “Do you know any good guide that could show me around?”

Kuvira looked confused for a good second, she couldn't seriously don't catch that. “I thought Aiwei showed you around.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I mean... Not really, he showed us like two places at best.” you said, shrugging. “Just if you can, maybe you can show me around?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Oh...” you saw the girl's cheeks change to the most subtle tone of pink, her head moved trying to hide it. “Well, right now I'm on duty, but..”

She stood in silence, thinking for a bit while your bottom lip was trapped between your teeth for what felt almost an eternity.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “How about at dawn we meet at the door of your dorm?” she finally said, you nodded way too fast for your liking.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Would love to!” your smile grew being met with one smile of hers, a little bit smaller. “See you at dawn, then.”

She made a little bow which you reciprocated and both continue each respective way. 

The rest of the day you were humming a melody while walking around, sitting down or even just existing. Your friends were quick to catch up your change of acting. The first one to point it out was the avatar.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Spill it, what got you so happy?” she asked once your group was alone, Asami giggled.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Not what, who got her happy? Is the real question.” the inventor corrected the girl, Korra opened her mouth surprised looking back at you after looking at Asami.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “No one!” you started, trying to hide a smile, a couple seconds where needed for you to get closer to the girls. “Okay, there's this girl in the guard team...” your friends assemble with you, Bolin taking place beside the non bender, interested too in what was said about your new crush.

Mako rolled his eyes funnily before getting pulled in by his brother.

Now that your friends knew, you totally regretted it when the time came and you were waiting for Kuvira... with the rest of the team at your back. At the very sight of the metalbender, you were so quick to get water out of the container you always carry on you and threw it at them gaining a small scream from the earthbender and some grunts from the fire nation pair. A mufled 'bitch!' was said by the avatar in a friendly way, everyone went inside to hide giggling when they heard the captain greet you. Clearly peaking out the window, fighting each other in whispers and dropping to the floor when Kuvira almost got them in the act.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I'm sorry if I made you wait too long, there were some matters I needed to take care of.” she excused herself, you were quick to shake your head.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Don't worry!” you almost shouted, blinking a couple times before clearing your throat. “I mean, uhh, it's okay, let's go.”

Almost in a desperate manner, you took Kuviras wrist and made her walk with hurry away from your friends, you already knew they would make fun of you.

The first ten minutes were a bit uncomfortable for both parties, Kuvira would point a spot and tell you the history behind it and you would nod while looking at her instead of where she pointed, but you making questions about them was what made the metalbender relax in your presence and once you felt that from her, you relaxed too.

At one point of the night, Kuvira led both of you to a viewpoint in the city, the moon was starting to rise in-between the mountains surrounding the valley and the captain stopped right at the handrail.

She stopped your talking about how the night started to feel cool and pointed for you to look: they were closing the domes, your mouth opened amazed at the view of big pieces of metal rise on your surrounding and close on top like a cocoon would. While looking up you walked backwards and bumped into the dark haired making her laugh in low voice, her arms got you so you wouldn't fall.

Once the show was over you turned to the body next to you and took a step back from her almost embarrassed, Kuvira stopped her hands from looking for you again. “Sorry, heh, I don’t have good balance while looking up.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “It's okay...” she murmured smiling a little bit, her hands rubbed against each other before putting them behind her back. “I think that's all the history and places of Zaofu that I can teach you so far.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “It was great,” you confessed, your body looked to sit on the handrail, moving your feet in the air. “You should be a tour guide, it suits you.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I'm okay being a captain.” she said after laughing at your idea, you smiled big. “Want me to walk you back?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Let's stay a little bit more, yeah?” you requested leaning on your hands. Kuvira nodded before starting a new conversation.

The next couple of days were mere chaos for everyone since the infiltration of the Red Lotus, so you and Kuvira saw each other less and less, but everytime both were in the same area she would wink at you and you would smile back or vice-versa. Before leaving the metal clan to follow Aiwei on his plan you left a note for Kuvira on her hand on your way out and waved her goodbye without saying a word.

“I had fun with you this days, call me when all of this is over. ;)” followed by your land-line number and your name as signature.

If you were honest, the following days were a big blur in your memory. Fighting some crazy powerful benders and seeing your best friend so close to dying got the best of you, but you were so glad to have all of your friends alive and well.

A couple of weeks passed and after Jinora's ceremony and Korra's departure to the south, you received Kuvira's call.

You were so happy when you heard her voice again, the feeling was the same from her side. The first call would be filled with silence and some other typical question from the other, but both of you dragged it as much as you could to not hang up so quickly.

The next calls were more interactive, she would tell you about her day and you would tell her about yours, the thoughts on your mind, her descriptions about training or dance practice, both promising to visit the other as soon as possible.

But it didn’t last long.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “You... You want to unify the Earth Kingdom?” you asked stopping your pace in your apartment, on one hand you had the phone's base and the other the phone close to your ear.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Someone has to.” she said, on her end you could hear noises of people walking and talking about loading stuff. “Bataar and I are going to take the role on that since Suyin is too self-centered to do so.”

Your body had moved to the closest sofa and you sat down in there while bitting your nail. “Are you sure about this? It could... I don’t know, be a bad idea? There are way too many bandits in every state. They will eventually choose a monarch, no? They can handle it.”

A deafing silence filled the line, Kuvira sighed.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I knew you wouldn't understand it, your nation is not the one on the verge of falling apart.” her voice hardened, you blinked surprised. You tried to call for her by name. “I have to go, there are things I need to do.”

And she hung up leaving you with a frown while looking at the phone.

That was the last you knew about her, you tried to call her back but only got through Bataar and when asking about the metalbender he would just say she wasn't there and hang up.

Weeks passed, everyone started on their own things and you could only get more worried about the girl. You knew Bolin got into her team and you thought that if maybe he was there it meant that the situation couldn't be that bad, right?

Wrong, as the time passed by you only heard bad to worse things about Kuvira. They called her the great uniter and with that name you heard about the way she would make the states surrender to her. After three years you had totally gave up on having contact with her, but you continue to have contact with Bolin, after all he was one of your best friends and you wanted to know about him.

He would tell you about the train, the destinations and how Kuvira was doing in a "discreet" way since he knew about how you liked her, Bolin was lucky to not be near you when you read those parts.

On the day of the coronation, you were in the north water tribe with your family; you've been living there after the second year with the excuse that your parents needed help at home and it would also give you time to breath familiar air with the whole team dispersed, but your peace wouldn't last much as you heard on the radio news about how Kuvira named herself the leader of the new Earth Empire.

It took a call from Mako saying how they needed all hands on deck to stop Kuvira to get you back in Republic City. Bolin was in charge to update you with everything after you greeted everyone with a hug.

You couldn’t believe how the ex–captain got so power-hungry to the point of initiating a dictatorship, you felt as she was a completely different person to the one you met at Zaofu.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “You need to talk to her.” you heard the detective say, snapping you out of your thoughts.

After blinking for a moment and digest Mako's words, you frowned. “Why me? Korra should try to talk to her again.” you pointed to the shorthaired one.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Because she's crazy about you.” Asami said in a almost funny tone. “Bolin told us how she would ask him all the time how you were doing.”

Your eyes shot to the earthbender, clearly he hid that from you, the boy tried to shrink himself in his place.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “She used to say she wanted to talk to you and try to make you part of the army somehow, I used to tell her that it was a crazy idea because you are a waterbender and the army was all earthbenders... and Varrick, but he was the engineer and she would say that you could be her right hand at everything and–” his word vomit got interrupted by the avatar.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “See?” the other waterbender took your hands into hers. “Try it, for us... For the city, we don't have too many options and I know you still care about her.”

Korra said that last part with such caution, trying to not get a bad reaction from your side, expectant to your gestures and face. You were static in your place, how could you do that? It was true, you didn’t disagree with the avatar, you still cared for Kuvira. After all, the time shared with her was one that you always thought about when you felt nostalgic, she made you feel good, you had discovered feelings you didn’t thought you ever had with anyone ever and it did hurt seeing how the earthbender changed for worst.

Your hands squeezed the ones holding them and a faint smile appeared on your face.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Okay, I'll try it..” a cheer burst in the room by your friends.

You were amazed at how fast they got Kuvira on the line ready to talk to you, with everyone at your back you took the radio on your hand and cleared your throat. She talked first, calling you by your name.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Hey, you.” you said, nervously and bitting your inner cheek. You would never know, but she softened at the sound of your voice, thankfully she was alone. “It's been so long, huh?”

A small giggled left her mouth and you got goosebumps at the sound. “It has... I'm sorry at how I ended things.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “You don't have to apologize, Kuvira, I'm just glad you're okay..” you said in a whisper, there was silence then, you were thinking and she was waiting for you. Korra poked your side making you wiggle a bit, saying non-verbally that you needed to start. “But you are in time to stop your plan.”

She sighed exhausted, shaking her head a little bit. “I knew this was about the unification.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Kuvira, you need to stop.” the avatar tried to jump in, your arm stopped her from taking the radio off your hand.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “...Can we talk privately? Just the two of us.” she talked to you, saying your name at the end. You turned to your friends who were looking over your shoulder expectant.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I got this,” you assured the group with a smile. “Please leave us alone, it will be fine.”

Everyone was hesitant about leaving, but finally let you by your own with only the radio.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Kuvira, please, think this through.” you started once they left the room.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Join me.” she spat suddenly, taking the words out of you. “Be my right hand in the unification.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Kuvira... I don’t—”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Rule the Earth Empire with me.” she interrupted. “There was not a day I didn’t imagine us together ruling the empire, of us being together.”

Your mind turned blank at what was said, she didn’t stop thinking of you. Just like you didn’t stop thinking of her...

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I would give my army if that means you will be with me in this new era for my nation.” Your eyes were dancing everywhere, looking for something that could give you answers. “Please, primrose, be my consort. Rule with me.”

The nickname and title said threw you out of yourself.

You were ashamed to say there was a part of you considering the offering, but how could you do that to your friends? to Republic City? Your feelings for Kuvira were strong, but were they that intense to betray everyone else? To betray the friends who lend you their hand when you needed them? Those who you have gone through hell and heaven with, the ones on the other side of the door waiting for you to have an answer for them, the group of people that wanted to save a whole city and called you in because they knew it would work out with you there as well.

After giving her your answer you stopped the communication and went to open the door, making the four fall at your feet as they were over the door trying to listen. “Oh, hey, how are ya?” Bolin asked like nothing.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “And? How it went?” Korra asked once she got back on her own feet, one look at your expression and she knew something was wrong with you. “What happened? Are you okay?”

You nodded and breath in deep before breaking the news. “We need to get ready to defend the city.”

Even though your feelings for the girl were strong, they didn’t blind you to follow her in the dark. With the hurt of your heart, you had to stopped her, even if that meant that what you two had would disappear.

[beifong-brainrot]

I saw this post about mako. What are your thoughts:

“in books 1&2 he comes off as an entitled prick. It's taken years for me to get over how much I disliked him in the first two books.

The way he only treats Korra with respect when he finds out she's the Avatar, the way he talks about both her and Asami as objects for him to make decisions about, the cheating, the gaslighting Asami when she calls him out for cheating, PUSHING LIN BEIFONG. Man I'm getting mad just thinking about it all lol.

Honestly I guess I understand? Mako comes off as a little mean in the first 2 seasons, especially the Book 1. And yeah I can get why some people would be annoyed by that.

But then I also kinda wanna give Mako the grace that he didn't really get as an 18 year old kid who grew up in an incredibly volatile enviornment, with probably very few positive role models in his life.

I think Mako's initial hostility towards Korra feels so upsetting to us, because we are seeing him from Korra's perspective. So we are immediately like 'dude what's your problem'. But like, let's put ourselves in Mako's shoes here.

He's about to go into a match, to essentially do his job, and his horny brother is bringing unknown women into the dressing room, and we can infer this isn't the first time he's done so. And frankly, he's not actively hostile, just vaguely dismissive, at least from what I remember.

If we wanna take this a step further, we need to also remember that Mako and Bolin do have a past with some dangerous people, so maybe strangers shouldn't be welcomed with open arms. His priority is keeping himself and Bolin safe and afloat, and he doesn't trust others, with, from his perspective, good reason.

I wouldn't say Mako's attitude towards Korra changes drastically when he learns she's the Avatar. I guess he could be a little mollified by the fact that she's probably not someone dangerous. But he's still snarky and aloof when Bolin is teaching her to probend.

Mako : [Aloof.] Not bad. Korra: [At Bolin, gesturing at Mako. Irritably; slightly down.] What's it take to impress this guy? Mako : What? I said "not bad". [Close-up of Korra pouting at him. Cut back to Mako shaking his head; annoyed.] You know what, it's getting late. [Overview shot of Mako sauntering off with his hands in his pockets.] I think I'm gonna turn in. You kids have fun. Nice to meet you, Avatar Korra.

You know, I assume the "treating Asami as an object" thing is referring to this conversation Mako and Bolin have?

Bolin: So, what do you think of Korra, in a "girlfriend" sort of way? Mako : She's great! But I think it makes more sense for me to go for Asami.

And yeah, I guess you can see this as a more utilitarian view of his relationships with Korra and Asami. But, this is the least charitable interpretation possible. I think it's more likely that Mako cares deeply for both Korra and Asami, and has probably never had to deal with this type of conflict before. Add to this that Asami is literally the reason the brothers can take part in the championship and potentially better their position in life, Mako probably feels not only a lot of gratitude, but also probebly would be wary of upsetting her.

And after he commits to Asami, he still has feelings for Korra. But, Mako seems quite averse to conflict, despite being a bit standoffish. He doesn't want to date within the team, as that could cause friction within the team. He doesn't want to rock the boat by switching from one parter to the next.

Now, the cheating? Yeah, he should've absolutely pushed Korra away and probably told Asami. But once again, he has some feelings for Korra, so momentary lapse of judgement. And, once again, he doesn't want to cause drama in the group by informing Asami of the kiss.

Is it objectively a bad thing to do? And awful judgement of a situation? Cowardly? Yeah.

Do I get why he acted the way he did? Yeah.

And, to Mako and Korra's credit, they did not do anything afterwards. Was there emotional cheating? Um, I guess you could say that, but that's shaky.

I also think we tend to act like Mako's very emotional reaction towards Korra getting kidnapped is purely due to his romantic feelings to her.

But like, also, he's an 18 year old who lost his parents tragically at a young age and then became the primary caregiver to his younger brother for 10 years, holding sole responsibility over his loved one's wellbeing. And we don't think that one of his first close friends going missing (when she's already a traget of an extreminst terrorist organisation) wouldn't get the anxiety beans cooking?

And "push" is the overstatement of the century. He nudged Lin and she immediately gave him the space of like 2 meters like the mimosa plant of a woman she is.

Like, even Mako didn't seen to genuinely acknowledge his doting on Korra as romantic, probably because he's used to focusing his attention on someone's wellbeing.

Asami: I've noticed how you treat Korra. How you acted when she was missing. You have feelings for her, don't you? Mako : What? No! She was taken by a crazy bloodbender! How did you expect me to act?

I wouldn't really define this convesation with Asami as gaslighting. Is it well handled on Mako's side? No. He's being very evasive, and doesn't want the confrontation of discussing his and Korra's kiss with Asami.

I genuinely think he cared for both the girls, but he also most likely didn't know how to handle both romance and conflict. Mako is a character who very much built himself around taking care of others, and at the beginning of tlok, he is still very clearly in that mode. Like He's just trying to live off measly sports with his brother and then literally god barges into his changing room and then Henry Ford's daughter hits him with a motorcycle and suddenly he's cornered in a love triangle cut the man some slack.

Like, don't get me wrong, Mako's flawed, but so is the rest of the Krew. They're messy teens, and that's ehat makes me love them. Singling Mako out feels unnecessarily mean, since he has a lot of good reasons to be the way that he is. Like mans is just trying to survive.

[alpaca-clouds]

Let me talk Anarchism

Okay, let me quickly talk about it, because I am so annoyed with this. For once in the way how it relates to Solarpunk, but also in relation to media. And yeah, choosing good old Hobie here, because while it was kinda played for humor with him a lot, he was one of the few characters in media I have seen, that are actually kinda a positive representation of anarchism.

You know, media in general misrepresents anarchism all the time. Sometimes for propaganda purposes, and sometimes because the creator does not know any better and has grown up with said propaganda themselves and just believe it. Most of the time, media hence represents Anarchism as "Society without rules!", which is most certainly not what anarchism is.

The word Anarchism comes from the Greek An Arkhos, which translates into "Without Rulers". That is exactly what Anarchism means. Anarchism is a political philosophy that aims to get rid of all unjustified, involuntary hierarchies.

This is, by the way, why Anarcho Capitalism might use the word, but can never be anarchist, because capitalism aims to build unjustifiable hierarchies. It is exactly the goal of the system. So Anarcho Capitalism is a contradiction in itself.

An anarchist society will still have rules. We know that, because there have actually been societies in history, that today we would call anarchist. It is just that instead of a sort of some group of people ruling over everyone else deciding on those rules, everyone would get to have their say in it. That is, why those historical examples of anarchism for the most part have sprung up in smaller, close-nit societies, because before the age of the internet it would've been rather hard to make everyone's voice heard.

If you are wondering: "But isn't democracy already doing that?" The answer is no. Because democracy is not working, due to the politicians having all the power and the populus not being able to force them to stick to whatever they promised during the election. We cannot recall politicians, who have lied to us. So for the most part, it is the people with big money, who influence the politics. People, who were not even elected, but who the politicians will try to please more than the average joe, who has voted for them. 

It is another reason, why a lot of anarchists are against the police. Not only do they use police violence, but they are in a position, where they are allowed to use it against people, often without much reprecussions. And all of that, without the people having any say in who does and does not get to be a police(wo)man. It is another unjustified hierarchy.

And, yes, it is also why anarchists tend to be against the concept of nation states. Because internationally some states rule over others. Colonialism might've ended on paper, but it has not ended in practice. The reason some nations are poor, while others are rich, is that the poor nations get exploited by rich nations. An unjustified hierarchy. And that is without starting on the fact how many borders have been drawn by people, who had no right to do so.

On the small scale, though, anarchism first and foremost is about helping people. Mutual aid is one of the core principles of the anarchist movement. Helping people, who got left behind by the unjustified state and the people who are in power. It is also about empowering people and allowing them to find their own voice.

See, here is the fact: One of the core believes in anarchy is, that people are actually not terrible. If the state stopped existing tomorrow, people would not run around, murder and pillage. They would still help one another. We have seen this time and time again when through war or natural catastrophies systems of power have failed. People help each other. Because we are actually a pretty social species.

This is also why I absolutely loathe the depiction we see in a lot of media. Most of all in Legend of Korra. Where not only the Red Lotus, as an anarchist group, does not do jack shit in terms of mutual aid and things like that... We also see basically the Earth Kingdom go to ruins and violence within minutes of the Earth Queen having been killed. Like, no, that is not how people would react in that situation. There would not be instant riots or some shit. Jesus. What made them think that?

And yes, sure. Some anarchists might riot on the streets, because they riot AGAINST the unjust system. But always remember: Usually, when there is police violence for example against a protest, it is your friendly neighborhood anarchist, who will be willing to put themselves between you and the police.

[reneesghostinthelivingroom]

Gifted with Impurity // part 2

|| Avatar Korra x fem!reader!

|| Warnings: reader uses blood bending, fight with equalist members, angst then comfort-ish

|| Summary: You and Korra are attacked by Equalist chi blockers after your date. She defends you, you save her with blood bending.

Read part one here

Requests open!

~~~

You and Korra had just finished watching a mover together, the two of you laughing and discussing what you had just watched. Overall just really enjoying each other's company on your date.

The two of you turned a corner, hand in hand as you walked around the city for a bit. It was late but neither of you were worried about anything bad happening. After all, if something did happen you had the Avatar there to protect you. You were sure you couldn't be any safer.

You would quickly regret those words.

Before you even realized what was happening, a fight broke out. Korra reacting faster than you as she fought off against Equalist chi blockers. You tensed at the sight of the masks, memories immediately flooding to the front of your mind.

Korra blasted fire at them, defending attacks left and right. Keeping you guarded and protected. She would do anything to make sure you were safe, even if you weren't the main target.

You watched as they got in some good hits on Korra, effortlessly dodging her fire bending attacks. As she punched the air with a blast of fire. The Equalist moved out of the way; swiftly headed for her side, hitting all the correct points and blocking the chi flow. Korra grunted and swayed. Throwing an attack of fire with her opposite side and kicking the chi blocker away from her. A second quickly swooped in and dodged a blast of fire, hitting up Korra's side and blocking the chi. Making it impossible for her to fight with either arm. Korra staggered back. A finale equalist coming up behind her; moments away from electrocuting the Avatar with those damn gloves. They've learnt it's easier to overwhelm the Avatar as a group if they hope to have any chances of defeating her.

Your eyes widened and your body reacted before your mind could catch up and question what you were doing. Hands raised as if controlling puppets. The three Equalists movements stopped. Body's twitching, limbs moving against their will as you blood bended them away from Korra. Taking a step forwards. Adrenaline flowed through your body. The rush overwhelming you but in a way you... enjoyed? You'd never felt this in the past when you used blood bending. The thought of doing it always terrified you. This time? You thrived in the adrenaline. Maybe because it was done on your own choice, rather than your Father's force. A smirk formed on your lips as you forced the chi blockers off the ground, raising your hands. You were moments away from flicking them into the nearest wall...

Faintly you could hear someone shouting your name. Pulling you from your thoughts as you looked to see Korra, who was staring at you with wide fearful eyes.

"Y/N!" She yelled, the fear in her voice and eyes making you pause. The Equalists dropping to the ground, the force of the impact knocking them out cold as you stood there. Hands still held out in front of you in a puppeteer like gesture.

Korra seemed to almost hesitate before she took one step, then another before full on sprinting towards you. Her hands clasp against your own and pull them down, hands linked and held between the two of you.

"We talked about this. You... you can't use blood bending." Korra's voice was low, you looked away from her.

"My body reacted before my mind." You explain, your voice even quieter than Korra's. She frowned and hesitated before moving her hand to your cheek. She didn't mean to be fearful of you, but after seeing that? Who wouldn't be at least a little scared?

"But you enjoyed it. Didn't you?"

You stayed quiet. Which confirmed everything Korra needed to know. She bit her bottom lip, debating where to go with this now. The Avatar felt torn between her morals and her heart.

"I couldn't let them hurt you." You tell her, though you knew there was no taking back what you'd done. You messed up. Korra had warned you weeks ago that you only got one chance. Would she really give you a second?

Time seemed to stand still. Dragging on as you waited for her to say something. Anything. Korra had tried to respond many times, but couldn't seem to find her words. Ultimately she decided to let go of you and you feared the worst.

You held your breath and looked away, though she made you look back at her with a soft touch to your cheek.

"I know when you had first asked for my help, I told you you had one chance. I never expected to come to care about you in the ways that I do so... I'm willing to give you another. Just- promise me you won't use blood bending again." Korra pleaded with you, you sighed out the breath you had held. You'd prepared to hear her break up with you before you even got the chance to go on a second date. You weren't prepared to be given a second chance. At first, you didn't know how to react. But your body reacted for you.

You pulled the Avatar into a tight hug and she hugged you back, gripping at the clothing that covers your shoulder blade as she holds you tight. Head buried into the crook of your neck. The two of you stayed like that for a long while before the sound of movement caught your ears. You looked down and noticed one of the Equalists were starting to wake up. Sharing a panicked look with Korra, she gripped your hand and the two of you ran for it before they could fully gain consciousness.

[kataraslove]

how do you feel about people saying Katara post the show was just a “house wife” and a “baby maker”? I personally think it’s super stupid and fucked up…while I do understand the criticisms for the comics ESPECIALLY the promise. TLOK criticisms for her character are pretty damn dumb to me…honestly the only thing I can get is the critical for her not being at Jinoras ceremony.

something that the original show does really well is present the dichotomy of katara; she's hot-headed, stubborn, determined, argumentative, protective, a fighter and a warrior. at the same time, however, she's presented as compassionate, kind, caring, nurturing, a healer. atla does an incredible job to avoid caging katara into one facet, unlike other media that tend to restrict their female characters who present feminine personalities into the group's resident healer/mother teresa figure. fighting and healing are core tenets of her identity. she uses both of these aspects of her identity to win the war, to save the lives of her friends and family, and most importantly, connect to and honour her decimated culture.

i don't think tlok makes an attempt to capture the fighter aspect of her identify, hence where the argument that "she was reduced to a healer" comes from. yes, she's incredibly old. yes, she deserves to rest after a lifetime of fighting. however, you could make the argument that toph and zuko are still in active combat mode during their old years. it's an all or nothing scenario; either everyone in the remaining gaang deserves a fight scene or no one gets one. so i can see where that criticism stems from. however, much of the criticism also stems from the fandom's refusal to correlate power with healing; to see how being a healer is an honour in it's own right, especially in the atla world where it's the equivalent to being a doctor (and katara would be the most renowned doctor there is).

katara does not deserve a shoe-horned fight scene where she's going to be tossed down in the snow five seconds later (like zuko) or where she's going to complain about her back problems (like toph). i can go on and on about how toph’s depiction in tlok is another form of sexist writing, but i think this post highlights it perfectly well and captures everything that i wanted to say.

if it were up to me to write tlok katara, i would:

have spent more time exploring her role in the white lotus. how much input did she have on korra’s training during the south, because i doubt caging her up until she’s 17 and delaying her spiritual journey is something that katara necessarily would have agreed with. i imagine that she would have (should have, at least) a lot of sway in the decisions surrounding korra as a world leader and legendary hero [per avatar legends]. if not that, even as korra’s waterbending master, the companion and spouse of the previous avatar, and the mother of the only airbending master in the world, would be enough to earn her decision-making title.

actually have her take part in the council of elders, especially during the civil war in book 2. no bryan konientzko, a tumblr post explaining that you can see her on the council of elders while your show is airing isn’t enough. we should have gotten katara’s perspective on the independence war currently happening with her tribe. particularly, it would have been an excellent opportunity showcasing her leadership abilities that we saw in imprisoned and the painted lady, encouraging her tribe to fight for their justice and independence.

expand upon her relationships with her children and grandchildren. yes, the legend of korra isn’t about katara or any of the former gaang members. but jinora, tenzin, kya, and bumi are all important characters that should be defined by their respective relationships with katara, much like how they’re defined by their relationships with aang. bryan and mike shy away from featuring former members of the gaang to avoid nostalgia bait, but there comes a point when deliberately avoiding the presence that your original characters play on their successors ends up hindering the success of your show. i think katara should be a critical character in the subplot between her and aang’s children, providing her perspectives on her husband’s parenting and relationships with their children.

have her actually leave the southern water tribe. if toph can leave the swamp to stop kuvira, and zuko can leave the fire nation to stop the red lotus, then why was katara constantly portrayed in the southern water tribe? there was an excellent opportunity to have her attend her granddaughter’s air mastering ceremony. i actually disagree with claims that the writers were avoiding having katara and zuko in the same scene specifically because of zutara; i think they didn’t want any of the former gaang in the same place. hence why we don’t ever have zuko and toph meet, or katara and toph (i know toph mentions katara by name, but i truly believe that that was a throwaway line serving as a substitute to appease the audience’s thirst for old gaang interaction. kind of like a, “here you go!! toph mentions her. now shut the fuck up.”)

give her a statue representing her bravery, courage, and determination. this one’s self-explanatory.

she didn’t need to be present at the bloodbending trial if the focus was for the avatar to take away yakone’s bending (and her being a bloodbender, i mean.. there’s NO WAY for anyone else to suspend yakone if she’s there). but i do believe the show should have mentioned something about katara not being able to there last-minute, due to tensions in the south or whatever, and how they cannot delay yakone’s trial even by one week.

i disagree with criticisms that katara became a “baby-making machine” for the air nomads. there’s no substantial support that katara and aang had children solely to repopulate the air nomads. there’s contrary evidence, in fact:

tenzin was the only airbender. if katara’s purpose was to serve simply as a baby maker, aang would have tried to have more children. from a writing standpoint, i think the narrative would have gone out of its way to portray kataang’s family as only having airbenders, or having more airbenders than non-benders or waterbenders.

we would have seen a lot more children in a relatively short time period. bumi, kya, and tenzin have sporadic age gaps, indicating that their conception wasn’t really at an urgent pace, but something that katara and aang took their time with, due to life events and circumstances.

as for whether the show turned katara into a “baby-maker,” by highlighting her family relations over her career prospects, i disagree. i don’t think we’re shown anything about katara in the legend of korra; i think we’re presented with limited information about her on all aspects. from a family perspective, all we know is that she had three children with aang. the narrative goes one step further to even separate her from the family conflict, such that the cloudbabies do not pull her into their grievances with their father and childhoods. kya and bumi’s overall arcs are about embracing their father’s legacy, while tenzin’s arc is about moving away from his shadow. from a career perspective, we know that katara at some point banned bloodbending, became one of the best waterbenders and the greatest healer in the world, then trained korra. in fact, katara’s relationship that is given the most narrative weight is her relationship with korra. i can understand if people’s criticisms are her being reduced to korra’s mentor and a healer, but i will not be able to understand the baby-maker or housewife claims simply because there is no proof.

if we’re examining tlok katara, i think there are many criticisms to be held, many missed opportunities and abandoned threads, but i do not agree with fandom extremes that she was ever presented as a “baby-making housewife turned healer.” i disagree with claims that tlok emphasized katara’s legacy as only having children (particularly her one airbender child). especially because tlok goes out of its way to separate her role in her children’s life, instead emphasizing her role in korra’s life. narratively, we get more exploration of toph’s storyline with her children than we get with katara.

as for the shitty gene yang comics that mischaracterizes just about every member, even momo and appa, i’ve got much to say on that. i think the only comic worth exploring is north and south, and katara’s portrayal in that. rather, there’s a particular criticism of katara’s portrayal in north and south that i want to rebut.

[incorrect-multiverse]

Bolin: Okay happy campers! If you were a fruit what would you be and why?

Wu: I'd be a tomato because no one accepts me as part of the group.

Korra: ...

Asami: ...

Mako: ...

Bolin: OKAY HAPPY CAMPERS-

[sophieinwonderland]

The Plurality of... Avatar: The Last Airbender

Major Spoilers For Avatar: The Last Airbender ahead! And minor spoilers of related properties.

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

Welcome to the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. A world where some people are born with the gift of bending, an ancient art that allows them to control one of the four elements. But only one. Even if they came from parents who were different types of benders, each bender only gets a single element.

But there exists a single exception to this rule. The Avatar. The one person in the world who can master all four elements.

But we're not here to talk about the Avatar's cool bending powers. We're here today to talk about…

The Plurality of The Avatar

Plurality: A state of multiple self-conscious agents, or "headmates," sharing a single body.

The Avatar isn't merely a jack of all trades bender. Simply knowing how to use the four elements is only a small part of their toolbelt. And perhaps one of the least important. Despite the series placing a strong focus on the need to master all four elements, perhaps the actual most important thing about the Avatar is that they reincarnate and are connected with their past selves.

This allows each Avatar to speak to and learn from the experiences of past avatars. This is most prominent in what's called the Avatar State, a sort of super form where their eyes (and downvotes) glow as they channel the skills and abilities of all the past avatars through them.

(Art by @joeyscomics)

Aang's avatar state is a sort of blending of the avatars without a distinct identity of its own.

Additionally, there were also a couple instances through the show where Aang, the current avatar, switches into other avatars.

During the season 1 mid-season finale, The Winter Solstice, Aang first contacts Avatar Roku, his firebending predecessor. Trapped in a temple with no way out, a group stands outside the door prepared to strike as soon as the avatar steps through. They expect to see a small child walk through the doors. But what they see instead is Avatar Roku.

Once the enemies have been defeated and fled, Roku turns back into an exhausted Aang, who drops to his knees.

In season 2, this happens again with Aang switching into avatar Kyoshi. Again, sure to spirit magic, Aang physically transforms into Kyoshi.

(Obviously, real plurals don't physically transform, as cool as that would be. But spirits in the avatar universe do have shape-changing capabilities, being able to alter both their own forms and the forms of others. There are many examples in Legend of Korra and the comics, but one big one we see in A:TLA is Koh The Face Stealer, who as you can guess, steals people's faces, physically transforming their bodies. Simply put, we can accept the Avatar Spirit as having the ability to naturally shapeshift.)

So there's the basics of the Avatar's plurality. We have multiple people sharing a body. We have system-like internal communication. We have switching. And we even have a state that could be best described as blendy.

In the plural community, a system that's formed from past lives is sometimes called Fenigenic or Phoenigenic, drawing its name from the phoenix; The mythical bird that dies and is reborn from its ashes.

From Pluralpedia:

Fenigenic is a system origin that describes systems who formed from past lives in some way. They may believe they left their past life and were reborn again as a system, came into the system from a past life into the body (causing plurality), were a system in a past life and were reborn again with the same one, and/or various other scenarios. This is an intentionally broad label that can describe many different experiences.

With these established facts, without a doubt, the avatar would qualify as a Pheonigenic system.

But I want to delve even deeper. Because at its core, Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't just a story about a kid who happens to be plural. It's a story about plurality. It's a story about dissociation. About connecting with and building connections with parts of yourself. And about taking responsibility for those parts, even when you aren't actually them. And all of this is what make the series so fascinating from a plural perspective!

The Avatar State as a "Self-Defense Mechanism"

At the beginning of season 2, Aang enters the avatar state while scared of losing his friends, and talks to Roku again. Roku explains to Aang what the avatar state is.

The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skill and knowledge of all the past Avatars. The glow is the combination of all your past lives focusing their energy through your body. In the Avatar State, you're at your most powerful... but you are also at your most vulnerable.

At this point, Aang learns that if he dies in the Avatar State, the cycle breaks and the avatar will never reincarnate again.

Let's take another look at that wording though. "The Avatar State is a defense mechanism." It's a word choice that you wouldn't expect to find in a fantasy cartoon. "Defense mechanisms" are more a psychological term, having their origins in psychoanalysis.

Why does this matter?

Because the avatar state, at its core, is a dissociative state. And dissociation has often been described as a defense mechanism itself. From Wikipedia:

In mild cases, dissociation can be regarded as a coping mechanism or defense mechanism in seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress – including boredom or conflict.

And later when talking about traumamatic dissociation, it goes on to explain:

Symptoms of dissociation resulting from trauma may include depersonalization, psychological numbing, disengagement, or amnesia regarding the events of the abuse. It has been hypothesized that dissociation may provide a temporarily effective defense mechanism in cases of severe trauma; however, in the long term, dissociation is associated with decreased psychological functioning and adjustment.

What's interesting about the avatar state is that, while there are some times Aang goes into the Avatar State to protect himself, often he enters it as a response to stress in general.

The first couple times we see Aang go into the Avatar State, it's to physically protect himself. Once to freeze himself. Then again to fight Zuko. But the next time he enters the Avatar State, there's no danger. There's no need to use it.

This is when he's at the Southern Air Temple, and sees his old friend Monk Gyatsu. It's when he really learns and has to process that he's the last airbender and everyone he ever knew is dead.

Aang doesn't use the avatar state as a physical defense mechanism here. Rather, he enters the avatar state as a psychological defense mechanism.

It takes over because he's disengaging. He just learned something traumatic and he can't come to terms with it. He shuts down, and his friends have to reach him through the pain.

This becomes a pretty common theme throughout the series from then on. Sometimes, it's the physical danger that causes him to transform. But other times, he's triggered into this state by his friends being in danger, or from losing Appa.

Time and time again, we see the Avatar State as being triggered by extreme mental stress more often than by any sort of physical stress.

A big part of Aang's journey though the series then becomes learning to master the Avatar State and the dissociation that comes with it. To take control of it instead of letting it control him.

Avatar's Take on System Responsibility

"System responsibility" is the concept in the plural community that if one headmate does something, then the entire system of headmates is responsible for it. Some feel this is unfair, but for practicality, it makes sense. If someone steals something, then obviously you can't send only one headmate to prison. So a big part of being plural ends up having to accept that if someone else you share a body with does something wrong, even if you don't agree with it or don't even remember it, you're responsible for it.

And Avatar has its own form of this, where all Avatars have a single spirit that is reincarnated, and are therefore responsible for the actions of their past lives.

This is most exemplified in the episode Avatar Day.

In this episode, the Gaang wander into a town that's celebrating the titular Avatar Day. They see a parade with massive wooden floats of the past three Avatars. Aang, Roku and Kyoshi.

What appears to be a nice festival that the Gaang is enjoying is quickly turned on its head when a villager sets fires to the figures and the crowd begins chanting "down with the Avatar" while the figures burn.

It turns out, this town believed Avatar Kyoshi murdered their leader, Chin The Great.

In order to prove he wasn't a murderer, Aang volunteers to stand trial. Even though Aang and Kyoshi are separate people in a way... in another, they aren't. And Kyoshi being a murderer is something that would continue to follow Aang around.

So he agrees to go on trial, and refuses encouragement from his friends to escape. And he could escape if wanted to.

When viewed through the lens of a plural system, what we see here is a demonstration of system responsibility, where Aang is showing himself willing to take responsibility for the actions of past Avatars.

Later in the episode, Katara decides that they need to call Kyoshi herself to prove their innocence, and dresses Aang in Kyoshi's clothes to "see if it might trigger something."

And it actually does! This stunt causes Kyoshi to take front! (With a full body transformation because spirit stuff.)

In the end, Kyoshi confesses to killing Chin, who she calls Chin the Conqueror, and Aang is willing to accept the outcome of the trial.

It's not just this one episode though. It's a running theme of the series.

The franchise even.

In season 3, Roku reveals that the whole reason the world was in danger was because of his connection to and weakness in stopping Fire Lord Sozin, who went on to wipe out the Air Nomads. Aang is left with the responsibility of making up for Roku's mistakes.

In the books, it's revealed that Avatar Kyoshi's earliest trials were a direct result of the failings of Kuruk, the avatar before her. And his were a result of Yangchen's mistakes. And in the sequel series, avatar Korra is left to make up for the mistakes of not just Aang, but also Avatar Wan who started the cycle.

The Avatars are people who share a single soul. Each new avatar can be viewed as a new host in the same system. And each one therefore is responsible for making up for the mistakes of those that came before.

This is what the avatar franchise, at its core, is about. A single system making mistakes through life after life, and having to fix those mistakes in the next, hopefully making the world a better place and keeping balance along the way.

A Story of Connection and Balance

With all of this in mind, Aang begins his journey is a system cut off from his headmates.

A central theme of the story is restoring that connection. This story really begins with Aang entering the avatar state in the Southern Air Temple. This is the first time he loses control and nearly hurts the people he cares about.

The avatar state here is something powerful, yes, but also something to be feared, making him a danger to his friends. He doesn't understand at the time what that state is exactly. It's something that leaves him confused and scared.

Through the series, he gradually learns more about the avatar state and his past lives. He begins to learn from avatar Roku. Then from Kyoshi. He learns about their lives, and has to reconcile their past mistakes. He also has to learn to accept himself as the avatar. Something which he struggled with throughout the series, and led to him fleeing his people.

At the end of season 2, Aang nearly dies in the avatar state. In a canon webgame called Escape from the Sprit World, while unconscious, Aang enters the spirit world and goes on a journey where he has to reconnect with the past avatars in order to prevent the avatar cycle from being broken, going back all the way to meet Avatar Yangchen, the airbender before him.

After meeting and learning from all these avatars, he's able to awaken with a new connection to them. (Albeit with no memory of this side quest.) Although he's told he won't be able to enter the Avatar State for the time being.

After this, on the Summer Solstice, he was able to meet with Roku once again to learn about Roku's own past, and his history with Fire Lord Sozin.

All of these events laid the groundwork for a final realization in the series finale. That the past avatars were always with him. He's able to meditate and reach out, and commune with each of them.

Finally, Aang has become a fully-realized avatar, tearing down barriers that kept him separate from the rest of his system!

And in the final battle, Aang is able to access the avatar state with full control over it for the first time.

Some would say that this was because of a conveniently-placed rock. Which, yes, that might have been the literal trigger that unblocked his chi. But narratively, I would argue that it was the connection with the past avatars that truly allowed him to access the avatar state again. That finally connecting with them all was how he truly earned this ability!

Conclusion

So there we have it! The story of Avatar: The Last Airbender is not just an incredible story, but an incredible story of plurality and connection between headmate.

This was really fun to write about, and I enjoyed talking about the plurality of the Avatar.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read!

I think with that, I've covered everythi...

Oh... right...

I guess I didn't cover everything about the plurality of the Avatar, did I?

Guess I need to plan for a Plurality of The Legend of Korra in the future! 😁

(And if you're interested in more of my ramblings about plural representations, you can check out my post about the Plurality of Batman. Or you can read about The Plurality of The Hybrid Chronicles: What's Left of Me, where I analyze a novel about a world where everyone is born with two souls.)

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

The ask about fandom drama regarding gore of a female character had me thinking about something me and my sister talk about all the time; where we have noticed that a lot of fandoms have what we have just been calling “The Only Girl” (only girl that matters/“truest girl”, we don’t have a better name for it). This is when fandom chooses a specific female character to be sort of Thee Character to represent women, and if she doesn’t get everything, and if you don’t love her, or have even the mildest criticisms of her, you’re a misogynist and you hate women. Notably these works have other women, who apparently are allowed to be, and often are, torn apart by the same individuals who love The Only Girl. The other women often being more well written and consistent doesn’t matter, the Only Girl must be crowned Queen and given everything by the end of the story or else the writers are evil. You as a viewer can have a different girl as your favorite and love all the other women in the cast, but that’s not good enough; your favorite Must be Her. They act like She is the only female character that exists in the whole of the work and are stanning her for that reason. You don’t even have to hate The Only Girl, just not think she’s the best, and now you hate women. And of course it doesn’t matter if you are a woman yourself, you will get harassed in the name of feminism and defending The Only Girl. Some examples we’ve noticed are Danaerys Targaryen, Rey Palpatine, Captain Marvel, Korra (Azula to a lesser extent) and Tauriel from the hobbit movies.

I've noticed similar things. And it's really annoying when different parts of the same fandom have different Only Girls and when your fic or meta breaks containment you suddenly have a whole new group of people you've never interacted with telling you to kill yourself, XD

[angelltheninth]

Hello! May I please request a Mako x reader (established relationship) where it's like, they had a mission with the others (Korra, Bolin, Asami) but temporarily got separated, then when reader gets back to the group and they go back home he's desperate for her bc of how scared he was to lose her? Could end up smutty if you'd like, but I don't mind if it ends up pure fluff too

Writing this after seeing the premise for the new Avatar show. I don't know how optimistic I should feel, but I'll TRY to keep a positive attitude.

Pairing: Mako x Fem!Reader

Tags: nsfw, smut, kissing, reunion sex, post-mission adrenaline, cuddlefucking, slight temperature play

Ko-Fi | Rules | Fandoms and Characters | Commissions

A/N: Even if the new show isn't the best, we'll always have Korra and her Krew!

Got hurt a few times because he was reckless and focused on getting back to you

None of his injuries are that serious, he's more focused on you

As soon as you reunite he kisses you, so suddenly, that even your friends are surprised, but you won't complain about it

Stays close to you the whole ride back home

The two of you are constantly touching each other, asking if you're hurt, if anything hurts

Bolin tells you both to get a room

Which you do, as soon as you get home

It doesn't start with the two of you wanting to have sex, just checking each other for injuries and being genuinely worried about each other

However as you get rid of the layers of clothing one by one your eyes and touches linger

Before long you're kissing, holding each other close, being thankful that you're both okay

Mako is even apologetic for getting horny when he's supposed to be making sure you're not hurt

You're just as guilty of that and you don't want to stop

At the same time you're both tired, so many parts of your bodies hurt, so as desperate and horny and you are for each other you're not too keen on doing anything too fast or rough

He pulls you against him, the two of you laying on your sides, holding each other close, he kisses your forehead, runs his hands up and down your sides

As you swing your leg over his hip you moan when his cock slides against your clit

It doesn't matter that you're still in slight pain, you want something else to focus on, and his cock is the perfect distraction

With care and gentleness he pushes his cock inside of you, his arms locking tighter around you as he does so

Neither of you move too much, but you're hugging each other, kissing and constantly telling each other how much you love each other

His warm fingers find your clit, a little awkwardly, but he manages to rub it just enough to get some of that extra slick on his cock so he can sink in balls deep

Panting warm breaths of air against your neck he promises to always find his way back to you, no matter what it takes

[winter510]

FINALLY POSTING ABOUT MY VAT7K AVATAR AU‼️‼️

There’s gonna be a lot of yapping so imma put that under the cut

Story-wise, I don’t really have anything (yet????? No promises), but I know for sure that it takes place sometime after the events of Legend of Korra. Could be anywhere from 1-10 years, I don’t think it matters too much. It takes place during Korra’s time partially for plot reasons (Nuru) but mostly just because I LOOOOOVVEE 1920s-inspired settings aesthetically.

Character-wise, however, I think I’m seriously cooking.

Varian is a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. He didn’t discover he was a waterbender until he was around 13, he struggled a lot at the beginning. He was looking at it too analytically and scientifically. He didn’t realize it at the time, but instead of observing as if he were in second-person, he had to be more connected to himself and his emotions. So I’m sure you can imagine his surprise at 14 when - during a particularly heated argument with Quirin - he accidentally encased his father in ice. Even though the village was able to get him out, it was still a very dark time in his life and he hasn’t fully gotten over the guilt. He’s gotten better at bending since then though.

Hugo is an earthbender and was very poor, being born in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. I imagine his backstory is pretty much the same as usual. Doing crime from a young age to try to get a better life (probably similar to Kai in that one episode lol) & eventually getting taken in by Donella. He was very naturally gifted at bending, but Donella helped him hone it.

Donella is an earthbender who lives in Zaofu. She tried teaching Hugo how to metalbend since he kept begging her to, but he just couldn’t do it no matter how hard he tried. Sure hope she isn’t disappointed in him in any way.

Yong is a firebender from Ember Island. He lives to entertain people, he loves fireworks and hopes to do full shows with his fire bending one day. At the moment he has trouble controlling his powers, it kinda flip-flops from either being a very very small flame (like a lighter) or wayyyyy bigger than expected. The former lasts longer, is good for small tricks, and he can handle it pretty easily. The latter is sudden and uncontrollable and doesn’t last very long luckily, but that doesn’t undo the damage.

Nuru used to live in the Northern Water Tribe as a non-bender, but after Harmonic Convergence she became an airbender and decided to move to Air Temple Island to master her bending and learn more about this new culture she found herself a part of. She visits home on a pretty regular basis. It took her a little while to adjust to the new environment, but once she was settled she actually picked everything up very quickly!

I know in Avatar there’s usually one non-bender in the group but I just really wanna see all the sillies with cool powers. Sue me.

I made little prototypes of what I want their designs to be (image at top), but hopefully sometime soon I’ll get the energy to actually draw them in full.

[btheleaf]

Chief's day off

read it on AO3 words: 954 fandom: Avatar: Legend of Korra @flashfictionfridayofficial

content warning: alcohol abuse/alcoholism, implied/referenced torture

Please, Lin.

“No.”

Please, he’s sulking around. Throwing rocks at people. Bolin is doing damage control. Bolin. I’m desperate.

“This isn’t an emergency, Tenzin.”

Please, just make a small appearance before—

Lin slammed the receiver down.

The bottle of gin scraped across the marble countertop as she dragged it towards herself and chugged for a few seconds. It burned on the way down, and the burn turned to warmth that spread from her stomach through her tense muscles to every inch of her skin. She took some steadying breaths as she stared at the phone. The image of it became blurry and she angrily wiped away the tears that she would not allow to fall.

It’s been three years.

Get a grip.

One more time tipping back the bottle. Courage, she told herself.

Courage.

She dialed the number and picked at the label on the bottle while she waited for the line to connect.

Saikhan.

“Come pick me up.”

Oh- alright. You okay, chief?

She hung up the phone instead of responding and went to go put her uniform on. Saikhan was knocking on her door within minutes and she was ready for him, presentable as ever, not a hair out of place. It was only the redness of her eyes that betrayed her.

“Let’s go.”

She made sure Saikhan went down the stairs first, otherwise he might have seen her struggling to walk in a straight line. He was obviously concerned about why he was summoned to her house, hailed like a private taxi for her on her day off.

Her one day off.

This day.

Annually.

Like clockwork.

She let go of the railing to rub away the phantom sensation of pressure in the middle of her forehead and almost tripped, but by the time Saikhan turned around she had righted herself.

“Eyes front,” she barked.

Saikhan turned back around and opened the door that led to the street. It was a sunny day, but she could still feel the cold rain on her face, trickling down her skin under her armor. The fear.

Why?

I don’t understand.

I don’t understand.

“Where to?” he asked once they were in his squad car.

She didn’t remember getting in the passenger seat. “The docks.”

She wished she had brought the booze with her. Saikhan drove like a grandmother.

“Where is the avatar?!”

Blood stained her tongue and teeth. All she could taste was iron.

“Where are the airbenders?!?”

Were those snapping sounds her bones?

“Stop the car.”

“Chief, we’re in the middle of a bridge.”

Lin reached up to flip the emergency lights on and started opening the door. Saikhan skidded to a stop, much to the chagrin of the single lane of traffic behind him. Lin bounded out of the car and over the sidewalk to put her head through safety bars below the handrails and began to vomit.

“Spirits in all hell.” Saikhan got out of the car and ran over to try to hide her with his larger form. If news of this got out, the press would have a field day. He put his hand on her back and she shoved him away before continuing to wretch off the bridge. Cars started honking their horns.

“Chief…”

“Shut—shut the fuck up and get back in the car.” She heaved again.

Saikhan hovered until she pulled her head back through the bars. They got in the car and continued on.

“You sure you should be getting on a boat—”

“Do you want to get demoted?”

He remained quiet and dropped her at the docks without so much as a parting “see you tomorrow.”

Lin boarded the next ferry to Air Temple Island and stood like a pissed off statue the whole way there.

People got out of her way as she made for the steps and started marching up to the temple. Towards the top she could already hear Pema poorly singing one of those nomad tunes for children.

“Auntie Chief!!”

Little Rohan perked up from the group of children and sprinted over. Rocks he had been bending clattered on the ground, forgotten as he ran to Lin. She braced herself just in time to catch him. His bright eyes, excited laughter, and face smeared with something multicolored was enough to make Lin crack a smile.

“Happy birthday, rookie. Did you have cake?”

“Yeah!” He threw his arms up in excitement and then wrapped them around Lin’s neck and started tugging. “You eat cake too!”

Lin laughed. It was surprising how genuine it felt. She started walking towards the rest of the party. “Are you sure what’s left of the cake isn’t all over your face?”

Rohan smiled and shook his head. “I left some for aunt shief!”

“Thanks, rookie.”

She put Rohan down by his mother and the brief eye contact they shared was enough to recognize that Pema was not having a good day either. Pema looked away first, her voice still bubbly for the young children she was trying to entertain, but Lin saw that her eyes and nose were pink. She assumed it was probably from wiping her face. Rohan had no intention of letting her dwell on it, though. He grabbed her hand and took off. She was turned abruptly and smacked into something both hard and soft.

“Oof.” Tenzin stood there rubbing where her metal shoulder caught his chest. The bags under his eyes made him looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.

Rohan kept running. So much for needing her presence.

“Watch where you’re going,” Lin snapped.

Tenzin’s bushy eyebrows raised and slowly lowered as he regarded her. “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure you’d get here before the party was over.”

[beifong-brainrot]

Jinora really should've been a part of the Krew and I'm genuinely upset that she wasn't. Like, I live Tenzin. But he's old and he doesn't really even hang out with them as much. Leaving the Krew severely lacking one element- air.

I mean, she's younger than the Krew, but not to the point where she can't find a common language with them, and have her own opinion on the struggles they face. If it's such a big problem, bumping her age up to 14 in B1 would have her fitting in more, while not changing much of her character.

She could either already have her tattoos at 14, or not yet have them, but already be worthy of them, sharpening her and Tenzin's conflict over him refusing to give he them.

I think she could have an interesting dynamic with the Krew too, if given the opportunity. Of course, her relationship with Korra is already so sweet and meaningful, especially with Jinora's similarities with Aang. Seeing more to that would be cool

I think she'd get along with Bolin and Mako as well, especially Mako, since they canonically share books lol. Nerds.

Mako: I bet they're under Lake Laogai. [Everyone stares at him.] What? I've been reading some of Jinora's books.

Though I think Jinoras idealistic mindset, and her sheltered upbringing on Air Temple Island might clash with how Bolin and Mako grew up on the streets. [Basically the dynamic she could've had with Kai, if he weren't completely screwed over narrativewise.]

We already saw Jinora and Asami get along in "Patterns in time" and I think they'd definetly both be the group's brincell holder.