#to relate to the ground better

[lukazade]

They're helping each other out!

Just a sketch or whatever bc I'm trying to finish every wip in my folder,,,,,, whew,,,, some of this stuff is gonna be lackluster

[northstarscowboyhat]

is clover's a mama's boy?

Honestly, I'd say Clover is preeeetty equal in terms of their affection for their parents? They have a lot more in common with Starlo and they're two peas in a pod, so they just naturally get along great and it's easy to spend time together, but I think as they grow up they do get a lot closer to Ceroba. Losing their biological mother at such a young age really impacted them, and Ceroba helps fill in the void left by not having a mother figure, and they really get close once they're able to work out some of the issues they faced post Pacifist ending.

As a kid, Starlo's definitely their favorite, but I think when they're older they also get a lot closer to Ceroba. So they're a bit of a mama's... kid? Whatever the gender neutral term is?

[cream-and-tea]

oh pallas and agnes power dynamic you really are SO unbelievably fucked,,,,,

[cienie-isengardu]

Zuko & Azula and the importance of Ember Island

As I’m not done with talking about ATLA: The Beach episode, so here comes additional observations about Zuko and Azula and how important Ember Island is to their relationship.

There are three major episodes that explore Zuko’s background and his relationship with family.

“The Storm”, told from Iroh’s point of view, focuses on physical and emotional damage done by abusive father

“Zuko Alone” gives us better insight into Royal Family’s dynamic, with a great focus on loving and supporting mother that one night disappeared from Zuko’s life 

while “The Beach” is primarily about Zuko and Azula on the rare occasion when they are far away from Ozai and aren’t forced to fight against each other.

The Beach is also the episode that introduces us to Ember Island, a place that Zuko fondly remembers as a time when his family was truly happy.

In the same episode, after he got in an argument with Mai at the party, Zuko is seen walking toward his family’s old vacation house. The first memory that comes to his mind?

Him and Azula running together, while we can hear children laughing in the background. There is an adult figure seen a few steps behind the happy children, but the shape is not detailed, so it could be Ozai or someone else. 

This is an interesting choice on creators' part, to make the first memory not about Ursa, the undoubtedly source of comfort and love in Zuko’s life, but about Azula with whom he currently has a complicated relationship due to father’s abuse and favoritism that shattered their childhood bond. What is even more interesting, this is not the first time we see young Azula and Zuko happily chasing each other, as such a memory was already shown in “Zuko Alone”.  

And mind you, this memory was presented after flashback how Azula asked Zuko to play with her, Ty Lee and Mai so she could make fun of her older brother. What implies that despite how annoying she could be, Azula and Zuko still enjoyed each other's company and genuinely liked spending time together.

Let's back to "The Beach" episode and the scene when Azula sought Zuko, figuring out the old vacation home is where he would come to calm down.

Azula: I thought I'd find you here. Zuko: Those summers we spent here seem so long ago. So much has changed. Azula: Come down to the beach with me. Come on. This place is depressing. 

This is one of three moments in the same episode, when Azula allowed himself to openly admit being emotional and/or upset about something. The house (past) is depressing. She is jealous how Ty Lee is liked by all boys while she has no clue how to interact with them. Her own mother thought she was a monster and how it still hurts. 

Azula’s way to talk with Zuko is much more direct and less confusing than how she talks with him in the palace. There is no Zuzu nor dum-dum nickname, no making fun of his scar, no sentences that in theory answers his questions but in reality does not set him at ease. Here Azula invited him to go with her to the beach because she doesn’t want to be close to their summer house (the place where they were happy once but none visited for years).

Both Zuko and Azula are influenced by the past and this is a rare moment when they allow each other to be vulnerable in a way they can’t be around Ozai and themselves at the palace. In a way they won't be around the campfire (for example, during Zuko's rant about his anger because he doesn't know anymore what is good and what is bad, Azula will call him pathetic. Here there is no insult, no anger, just some sort of understanding between siblings).

A supplement book, The Legacy of Fire Nation adds another layer to the importance of Ember Island. I won’t lie, I’m disappointed that Iroh did not provide that much insight into Zuko’s family and how little there was about Azula, besides some few remarks about how difficult it was for Zuko to grow up in the shadow of younger sister. In contrast, Zuko’s memories about Ember Island are, again, directly connected to Azula first and foremost. In his list to Iroh (who already passed away many years ago), an old Zuko wrote:

Dearest Uncle Iroh, Do you remember when I used to write you letters? It must be this place, having its effect on me, but here on Ember Island, I find myself introspective and thinking back about my life. I think I used to write to you to buy me presents. Such a cheeky child. I’ve retired now, given up my throne for the peace of this place, to be warmed by the sun and my own memories. I think of you often here. My good memories wash over the bad ones like waves on the shore, clearing the old sand and resetting. I remember summers on the beach, playing with Azula. We didn’t want to kill each other then, though sometimes we acted like it. But the island brought us together. It did that again, one time, in our teens. It was a golden time. One I never felt again until Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and I had finished our journey and had a moment to enjoy each other’s company. [...]

I can't stress enough: Old Zuko compared his short stay with Azula at Ember Island to the joy he felt when war was officially over and he spent time with his best, beloved friends. A golden time indeed.

We sadly have limited insight into Azula's mind, even less the older version of her, and how she felt about summers spent on the beach with her brother or the one vacation presented on screen. In the episode, she clearly enjoyed some things, like winning the game (with such nice teamwork between Azula and Zuko) or devastating Chen's house where the fateful party took place. Here, on Ember Island, Azula bonded with his brother and admitted to being hurt because mother thought she was a monster, something she internalized as a truth (“My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt.”). But above everything else, the fact she finds the summer house - where she and Zuko were happy once but her family does not visit anymore - a depressing place implies Azula was no less affected by the past than Zuko.

Similar impression comes from "Azula in the Spirit Temple" comics, in which runaway Azula imagined all her family together, chilling on Ember Island:

The vision of a happy family is not just about Azula, Ursa, Ozai and Zuko but was extended to Iroh and grandfather Azulan and great-grandfather Sozin(?) - a people she wasn't that close to in the first place. It speaks a lot about Azula that her idea of a happy family, because it is connected to her childhood memories, not the Fire Lord's Palace that in itself representing the Royal Family's status and power. So I dare to say that Ember Island holds a special place in Azula's mind, the same as it does for Zuko.

All of the above makes me think that when Zuko talks about Ember Island, how once his family was happy here, he specifically means his relationship with Azula, before Ozai’s abuse shattered their bond.

[itspileofgoodthings]

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[nostalgia-tblr]

I have finished the 9th chapter of the sylki car fic, which assuming I stick to the rest of the outline means I have written half of it. Hurrah! That half is about 15k words long btw, they are not long chapters.

[eyes1nthewoods]

i will say one thing i don't like about lann's romance is how passive the kc's dialogue options are if you're trying to be nice to him. let me call him hot PLEASE

[eclaire-went-bam]

self-dx npd culture is being like "yeah maybe i thought a lot about it and ruled out other options and looked into this and it has affected every aspect of my life for years now & maybe i settled on this but also consider i'm not narcissistic i'm actually just THAT good and THAT deserving of doing the stuff i do and thinking the things i think and THAT entitled to everything i say i'm entitled to. i'm not professionally diagnosed so consider there is nothing wrong with me. i just Am better."

[uncanny-tranny]

I think multiple things can (and are) true and important to recognize:

1. Cis people are trans people will more often than not have a ton in common. Trans women and cis women, for example, can have a ton of experiences in common as women

2. Trans people oftentimes do have very different experiences from cis people, and it can be irresponsible to say that trans people have to have the exact experiences as cis people of the same gender identity. The experiences of transness can overlap with experiences of cisness, but by no means does that require them to overlap in every instance. Trans people don't need to be the same as cis people in order to be authentically their gender.

3. Trans people aren't solely responsible for "saving" their gender, or for making people better men/women/people.

4. For the love of all that is holy, cisness is not the default. It is simply one human experience of gender and/or sex, and transness isn't an anomaly - it is just as much a human experience as being cis.

These are complex conversations, and I know it can be hard to navigate sometimes. I'm not here to condemn people for not being the most Nuanced about trans topics, in fact I want to invite more people to the table. We all have something to contribute to making the world a better place for trans and cis (and those beyond or inbetween) people

[allsortzofcrap]

i feel like for the rest of my life i will be walking around totally normal and then periodically, i will be absolutely brained with a metaphorical anvil falling off the side of a building that represents the absolute bafflement i have towards modern adaptations of sherlock holmes and their treatment of irene adler. bbc's most recent adaptation in particular.

im so sorry. please repeat. she was stupid u say??? and i'm sorry, IN LOVE with him u say??????

i'm a feminist so i think women are capable of being in love and also of being stupid. they can do anything they put their minds to ofc ❤️. but this is too far even for me.

it's just that i can't understand why you would choose to write a narrative that is more mysoginistic than the source material when the source material was written in 1891.

was it intentional? did they somehow not pick up on the implications? was it random?

i can't fathom it. it keeps me awake.

[edge-oftheworld]

when I was in high school there was a tendency whenever there was an attractive boy to simply fan over him. in a way that talked over everything he might say for himself and created a narrative that completely ignored, the fact in some cases, that he was really struggling—or if he was struggling, to pin all the blame on the girl he’s dating and completely ignore the thousands of other factors (no it can’t be mental illness or unaccommodated disability or systemic abuse or exploitation and if he is in an abusive relationship we won’t ever consider the factors that put him at risk for that)

and I’m not saying this fandom is like that. I get the need for privacy around some things and how in public conversations sometimes it’s a lot more respectful to stick to the positives (everyone who does that, I admire you) or even the struggles that are talked about publicly, show respect by not reading too far into them. there’s a time and place for that. but sometimes I feel like our only options are shitty and ableist gossip or totally ignoring the systemic and structural issues we know exist in something like the music industry until someone dies and then we’re looking for someone to blame. friends, there is a point where the respectful thing is to listen to what someone says and come together to make things better. and you can learn how to have that conversation respectfully. please do

[boimgfrog]

Went to the doctor to follow up on some concerns and to go over test results and after i explain the problems im having for the third time that month my doctor sits down smugly and says, "let me guess, you're thinking you have POTS or something?" Dog i don't know what that even is PLEASE just give me a referral to a specialist like I asked for

[bunnyboy-juice]

honestly. being able to be honest with my loved ones about when i am Mentally Unwell but also Dont Want To Talk About It has done wonders for my mental health

[invisiblemelonmoose]

Thinking about how I rarely get the yuri I want in non-yuri specific media that has canon queer characters or a least a sizable yuri fanbase

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent ones of these even though they all look the same lol.. forcing myself to document progress..

[candycryptids]

I should get up and work on that revamp of the mod but TTATT I slept so weird I’m just gonna lay here for a bit instead 😵‍💫