#who has LoK memorized as much as I once did?

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Sick in bed working on something for Hei-Ran and Rangi. Can you guess what it is?

[luna-rainbow]

a blast from the past?

As much as there are flaws to blogging, I'm so glad it exists because I don't have the patience for handwritten diaries. Electronic blogging lets me revisit my posts years down the track like a time capsule.

So back before the first Avengers movies came out, the characters I found the most interesting were Tony and Loki. I enjoyed the Avengers, because these two guys were the focus of the show. It's interesting that I said this in my review:

If anything, I thought the most slighted hero of the lot was Captain America. Played with blue-eyed sincerity (daheck?) by Chris Evans, he's just so unbending that in a pool of quirky characters he gets overlooked. But it's nice to see him take command in the end, the way he should.

So if I, a non-Steve fan whose impression of Steve at the time was bland, complained about Steve being even more overlooked and bland in the movie...I can only imagine what it felt like to be a Steve fan going in.

(Snip for length - comments about Cap movies under cut)

I didn't even write a review for the first Cap movie, presumably because I watched it pirated and couldn't see enough in the blurry pixelation to leave an impression XDDD I'm not even sure I watched it before the Avengers, although I did watch it before Cap 2 because I said this for the CATWS review:

Personally I thought Captain America was a weaker outing for Marvel. Something about him just didn't quite connect with me, and while the underlying message echos with anyone who had ever been bullied, the rushed and perfunctory 3rd act left behind a generally sour taste. Added to that, while all of the characters were cheerfully likeable, none of them were all that memorable.

(Huh so I guess I didn't like Peggy as much as I thought I once did.)

I did love Captain America 2 though, although according to my own review I said "I actually garbled a lot about this after watching it yesterday, so I'm in a bit of a word-drought regarding it."

My only disappointment is that I feel I still don't have a grip on Steve's character. He's selfless, yes, but he also has very personal attachments. It won't be the first or second time he's run after Bucky into danger. But at the same time he's also the person who can detachedly tell his comrades that he was going to 1) crash his ship, 2) shut off the space portal with Iron Man still stuck outside or 3) bomb the ship he's still on. I feel there's some sort of conflict in this, that in crisis he can make these noble, difficult and somewhat emotionless decisions - and yet he seems very much driven by compassion and emotion.

I'm sure my 2014 me will be delighted to know that I've figured it out by 2021 that 1) Steve loves Bucky and 2) Whedon doesn't get Steve and 3) Steve still loves Bucky XDDDD

I ended with this, which I will include because it's hilarious how the wheel turns:

I think the Winter Soldier could have been more, yet at the same time I don't think they could have fit any more without slowing the pace down too much. I hope this is addressed in the next movie because it would make up for what's lacking in this movie - the dynamic between Cap and Winter Soldier, the tragedy and disbelief and the see-sawing between trust and mistrust that made the Thor-Loki dynamic so magnetic. The Winter Soldier was a terrifying menace, and Sebastian Stan did bring a hint of vulnerability in the rare moments that his character was exposed, but there was not much more. That said, the Steve-Bucky bromance is probably the least convincing of all I've seen. Oddly, the Steve/Sam dynamic is the most natural brothers-in-arms of the lot.

The irony of fate aside, to a degree I still agree with it. For a relationship that defined a large chunk of Steve's character, and almost the entirety of Bucky's existence, their onscreen interactions were very, very limited in CATWS (and now with the view of hindsight, in the entirety of the series). Sebastian Stan was given such a short length of time (compared to Loki) to work through the shock and betrayal and grief and horror of Bucky waking up to the reality what he had been turned into. While Bucky was effective as a narrative foil for Steve, the actual buildup of their relationship was patchy at best, and a lot of what we do have now is by filling in the large blanks in between brief moments of tenderness we do see.

I do wonder about the comment about "bromance" though. In reflection, I wonder if the Steve-Bucky bromance was least convincing because it was so...exceedingly devoted and magical (breaking spells of brainwashing and all that). As someone who gets squicked by watching sappy romcoms, the end of the line scene(s) tripped all sorts of wires and I think I was reacting to that. It felt more than a bromance, and that was why it was less convincing. Sam/Steve felt like good bros, Steve/Bucky...something else entirely.

And wow yeah did I have hopes for a better Cap 3 movie, even though I wasn't a Cap fan.

[atalana]

[copied over from my cr blog, also this is gonna get long, i’d apologise but im not sorry]

okay, so

this is a rant probably about 7 years in the making, bc when i first watched lok i had not done any music study, i had not done any composing of my own, my knowledge of music theory was at a primary school level and i still thought tv soundtracks were just made by one person composing a whole cache of music and then the audio editors pick and choose what track to place where

(spoiler alert that’s not how film and tv scoring works, i have now done a music composition course where we had to score a short film, among other things, and i have so much more respect for tv composers jesus christ)

but this one stuck out to me even way back then, bc me barely knowing what a leitmotif was was like “hey this one little refrain keeps popping up whenever bolin does lavabending, and i like it, i’m gonna see if it’s on the soundtrack”

it was not, and that’s sort of where i left it back in 2014, but i actually did a rewatch of lok pretty recently out of nostalgia, and then noticed it even more

and to explain why (and this is also a little bit why five’s stuck out to me in tua, i’ll get to that in another ask), let’s cover, leitmotifs, and tv scoring in general

so a leitmotif is basically just a short musical idea that represents something in a piece of music. when i studied motivic development we were encouraged to make that motif four notes or less, and then develop it into something longer (aka a theme), because if you can constantly come back to a really short idea while keeping the piece moving, that’s what makes a piece of music memorable

(you can ignore those rules on purpose but that’s a different essay)

so the most common way that a leitmotif shows up in soundtracks is to represent a character or a location - you play the motif when that character shows up or when you’re in that location and boom, the audience associates that motif with that person place or thing, and you can then use this to tell the audience things without actually telling them. for example, star wars playing the imperial march whenever someone does something darth vader related - darth vader isn’t on screen, but you can feel his presence, because his music is playing

and if we were a film score, where we have two hours to show one particular character’s development, great! we give them a simple motif, and then as they grow as a person we change their motif to reflect what is happening to them, until we end up with something that communicates on a subconscious level how much they’ve grown. we toss in as much symbolism as we can, and we have a really great soundtrack that’s instantly memorable

tv scoring, is harder. partially because of time constraints (have you ever composed half an hour of original music a week, and had to make sure it fits perfectly with every beat of what’s happening on screen? these guys have), partially because there’s a much larger focus on ensemble casts

so what atla and lok do, for the most part, is not score individual character motifs for everyone. this is fairly common in tv soundtracks, instead we score ideas, concepts, and feelings - these’ll come up a lot more and give you more information than just “oh hey this character’s on screen”

the avatar state, for example, has the strongest and most recognisable theme across both shows. i’m linking an atla track in here because it has the best example but you’ll know this shows up with korra too - and with particularly important moments for wan, for kyoshi, etc. they also appear in the opening of both shows, four strong notes that start and end on the same note (in the case of what i’m linking, it’s an F#)

the first part of this track is the more uncertain, pensive theme that comes up when both avatars are feeling doubt/worry/sadness, but then it transitions into the more recognisable four. worth noting though, those are both basically the same motif. if i write them out back to back, you’ll notice they both have four notes and start and end on F#. if i had to guess, four notes four elements, and it comes back to the start because the avatar is a cycle.

korra has a theme for when she’s fighting, but not an individual character theme. the airbenders as a concept have a theme, republic city has thematic instruments, as do some big name characters, like iroh and his tsungi horn (this is also a cross-series thing, he’s always playing it in atla, it shows up when zuko has to make big moral decisions, and when we first meet iroh in the spirit world in lok, it shows up there too, to let the audience know who this is before we properly see him)

so, if korra doesn’t get a single theme and instead has several for different aspects of her life, and mako and asami follow along with the mood of the story like all the other characters, the fact that bolin has a personal leitmotif at all, let alone a solid, developing one, is pretty remarkable!

now, granted, it mostly starts with book 3, before then he was like every other character, but it has clear symbolism through those last two books! and, initially i thought it was related only to his lavabending, since that’s most of when it shows up, but since my rewatch, i’ve started calling it his hero theme

see, when people wanna criticise mako and bolin, usually the comments they get are that bolin’s too immature and mako’s too serious/uptight. but like, that’s how they work, you can’t analyse either of them without the context of the other. since they were little kids on the streets, bolin chases his heart and mako makes sure they don’t die from it, that is their entire childhood. and neither would have got here on their own because mako wouldn’t take the necessary risks and bolin wouldn’t take the necessary precautions. (like. remove either one from the equation and they’d still be working for the triple threats bc s1 and their flashback miniseries make pretty clear that bolin got them out and mako kept them out)

and then book 2 proves it! because it splits team avatar up, and what happens? bolin is totally taken advantage of by varrick and used as a pawn in his evil plan and mako ends up in jail

so what’s book 3, to them? it’s, being able to find themselves without having that codependency. mako no longer has someone to protect, which is what he’s based his whole life around so far - bolin’s doing fine and he’s no longer dating either korra or asami. and bolin’s trying his hand at some of that responsibility (look at how he immediately adopts kai who is explicitly them but younger because he wants to be the older brother for once). most importantly, they find the rest of their family, and stop being defined by being orphans. they don’t have to be that singular piece of a puzzle, they can just be themselves. and that’s where bolin’s character really starts to shine, because that’s when they bring in the bending plot, and bending, perhaps more than any other character, really gets to the heart of who bolin is

if you want more of my thoughts on that i have an essay here, but tl;dr: bolin’s an extremely powerful earthbender, but he’s not a metalbender because metalbending requires you to double down on the earth characteristics and think like an earthbender, and bolin doesn’t, he’s too fluid for that, which is one of his major strengths, so of course he can lavabend

and finally - to his motif itself! (as a note, i’ve put all of these in the same key to show where it repeats, but there’s a variety of keys used in the show)

as far as i can find, it first shows up in s3e8, when bolin stuns p’li with this well placed shot

[Edit: it first showed up in the s2 finale, but again in a simplified version and again with him doing something heroic with earthbending, so we can still start the analysis here]

mako volunteers bolin for that job, because he knew bolin was capable of it. why? because bolin landed an identical shot earlier in the episode, after trying to metalbend, getting frustrated he can’t, and cheating with some extremely well aimed earthbending. it’s just a short refrain and you barely notice it, but it’s the first connection of this motif with the theme of bolin’s bending

it looks like this, and it’s always played on a trumpet, which is part of why i call it the hero theme, because, if you’re looking at music from a western perspective, trumpets were used to herald kings, and then used to represent military glory, and then when superhero themes started happening, they used trumpets too - it’s basically western music shorthand for hero these days

(it’s also symmetrical so that helps with the good vibes)

and he’s saving everyone here, so it’s linked to his bending, but it’s also linked to his heroism

it ties the two together, and they are tied together.

when’s the next time it shows up? episode 10, when the brothers are in prison in ba sing se, and bolin tries to metalbend them out. again, he’s doing this to save people, and this motif gets a few notes added on to the end in a raising pattern - they’re inspiring, but they don’t go anywhere. which is exactly what happens in the scene, because he’s trying to go about this in the wrong way. mako believes in him, but it won’t (and doesn’t) work

it appears in episode 12 when bolin saves everyone from ghazan destroying the temple, in a more fancy orchestral remake of the first version - it’s impressive, but it hasn’t actually developed yet, it’s just his discovery of it

the book 3 finale already has its own fucking amazing soundtrack, i love that entire episode’s score, but it gets its own moment there too, and the first real development!

because what we hear is not what we’ve heard before. we know it’s the same theme, because it’s using those signature trumpets, but it’s the second part of this phrase, the answer to the question supplied by the first one. why? because bolin’s figured out who he is and he’s starting to use it. it still hasn’t settled yet though, it’s early days and he’s still just turning ghazan’s lava back on him, so again, it raises, leaving it on a question mark

it doesn’t appear in s4e7 when he lavabends as a warning against the escaped prisoners, because he’s using it as a threat, not to help people. but it does later in the episode when he uses lavabending to save them from kuvira. and that’s when we get the first full phrase, question and answer

it keeps the first motif identical, takes out the first note of the second, and ties them together - except now it’s not open ended, now it knows where it’s going - it’s been three years, at this point bolin is confident in both himself and his bending

and then that phrase appears all over the place in the finale, because all bolin does is save people - everyone from the exploding building, he slows the giant mecha with lavabending, he saves opal, he slows the giant mecha again by collapsing a building on it, and most importantly, he’s the one rescuing his brother this time, instead of the other way around (though that one doesn’t get a motif appearance bc admittedly a fuck ton of other things are happening in the soundtrack at the time)

so to that question asked in book three - who is bolin when not next to someone else? well, funnily enough, we saw it in book two as well, just in a warped way, playing nuktuk. it just wasn’t truly him because it was created by varrick, and he needed to get away from varrick too. the question put forward by the narrative is who is bolin, and the answer given by the music is, he is a hero. and i don’t know why bolin is the only one to get a theme like this, but i think it may have something to do with the fact that, while everyone in team avatar has been a hero and saved people, he is the only one who has, from the start, solely been motivated by wanting to help people. he follows his heart, and his heart cares, about everyone. it’s been the driving force behind almost everything he’s ever done. and i love him so much

[chaoticallysapphic]

the great divide part one

summary:  Who knew that eight words would be your undoing. If you had known then what you know now you wouldn’t have signed up for Suyin’s dance troupe, you probably would have left Zaofu just to be safe. But you didn’t and fate had branded you with a path that chained you to someone who would break your heart. 

a/n: so uh just a few things to note, I came up with this idea before watching the last three episodes of lok (which I feel like really show who Kuvira truly is) and it’s not a healthy relationship. Please note that no one should treat you like this, and if so either ditch them or go to therapy with them (altho I’d advise you ditch them). Also a massive thanks to @medeliadracon​ the first chapter was rough because I wrote it at like 3 am and they helped me work out the kinks by being my beta reader.

word count: 4k

“Would you mind helping me memorize the routine?” You ask one of the dancers that Suyin had pointed you to. You recently joined and unfortunately, they were already in the middle of rehearsing a routine they’d been perfecting for weeks. Usually, Suyin would help you after class but with Avatar Korra visiting she was too busy. Thankfully she had pointed out one of your fellow dancers, a woman named Kuvira. “Suyin usually helps me but she said you would probably be happy to take her place." 

Kuvira stands in shock as she stares you down, you’d just said those eight magical words that she used to dream about when she was little and you seemed to have no clue what you’d just done. You’re staring at her expectantly and as time lapses on you start to look a little nervous under her gaze. 

“It would bring me great pleasure” Kuvira replies and takes a step closer, your eyes widen in shock, a flush dusting your cheeks as she replies with your six magic words. Kuvira toys with a strand of your hair as she looks deep into your eyes. Her voice is deep and traps you like honey. “We should begin.” 

After that day, Kuvira always volunteered to help teach you after class, neither of you spoke about the elephant in the room as she’d place her hands on your body to correct your position and brush herself against you any chance she got. You’d leave every session a flustered mess who’d go home to flop onto your bed with a massive grin on your face 

In the last session before the big performance, you were dancing in sync with one another. You were each on a metal flower petal directly across from the other and were meant to be the final act. With the class, you had performed the whole thing and aced it but alone you could only practice half the routine as the ending needed other metal benders to move the petals for you. 

So instead you and Kuvira practiced the aerial portion of the routine that would take place directly before the petals would move. With just the two of you instead of the whole class, you spun closer together and once you were within reach Kuvira grabbed your waist with her free hand and pulled you in close so she could lock you in a passionate kiss. 

You widen your eyes in shock, staying still for a moment as you process this overwhelming moment before pressing your lips against hers in return. You both gently land on the floor but Kuvira doesn’t let you go, instead, her other hand grabs the back of your neck to steady you as she hungrily kisses you like you might just disappear any moment and it takes your breath away. 

Slowly, Kuvira pulls away from your lips but keeps you pulled close to her body, she stares deeply into your eyes as if searching for something, maybe disapproval? She won’t find any though because you want to stay here in her arms forever. 

Her hand that was originally holding the back of your neck pulls away and bends the petals of the flowers upwards so they surround you both and offer cover from the outside world. “Do you want to stop?” She leans down to nibble on your earlobe and whispers those words to you. Her hand that was on your waist and traveling up your body, skimming the underside of your breasts as she waits for your answers. “Well?” 

“N-No, Kuvira please” you beg, something inside her is unleashed at your words and she pulls you back into a crushing kiss while she slides a hand under your shirt to feel your bare skin. 

“Lay down,” she says in a commanding tone that leaves no room for argument, you happily oblige and immediately pull away from her. The chill of the metal against your warm skin sends goosebumps down your arms and the look Kuvira is giving you from above makes you feel even hotter. 

She straddles your hips and slides both of her hands underneath your waist, running them up to your sides and under your breasts before pulling them away to pull your shirt off, you lean up off the metal to make it easier for her and she flings somewhere behind her. Kuvira puts both her hands on your shoulders and gently pushes you back down so your bareback and shoulders are against the cold metal. 

She threads her fingers through your hair and scratches at your scalp as she leans back down to kiss you once more. You moan at the blissful feeling of her warm body against your own and her nails on your scalp, giving her perfect access to your open mouth. You’ve never felt anything like this before, you’d decided to wait for your soulmate to share your first kiss, your first time and the wait was entirely worth it. 

You give yourself to each other in the dance studio that night, whilst Kuvira doesn’t coddle you she does gently guide you and give you praise when you do something right. You feel so in tune with her now as you curl your naked body against her own. She wraps an arm around your waist to tug you closer as you both try to catch your breath from the mind-blowing activity you just partook in. 

You’re about to tell her how much you like her, how excited you are to discover more about her when she beats you to the punch, “I think we should keep this to ourselves for now.” You sharply pull away from her, your brows pinched together in confusion. Your heart feels the first pinprick of heartache Kuvira will give you. “What? But we’re soulmates, why should we keep this a secret?” 

Kuvira rolls her eyes and sits up to face you. “I just want us to be able to cherish this thing between us as it grows. If we tell everyone suddenly we’ll be bombarded with questions that will only stress us out.” 

Your shoulders sag as you think about it, you don’t want to keep this a secret. All your life you dreamed of the day you’d meet your soulmate, the day you could have someone to hold hands with in public and go on dates with, maybe even kiss in the botanical gardens. 

“I guess…” you gulp, “if it’s only for a while then I guess it can remain a secret.” 

Oh, how you wish you could take that back after everything that is about to happen.

———————————————————————————————————–

A few weeks later is the grand opening (which had to be postponed whilst Suyin and her army were gone to help Avatar Korra) of the dance troupes performance, you feel like you might vomit and suddenly the last thing you want to do is go up there just so you can mess it up. Especially since you and Kuvira are the final act, twisting your legs together in the air as you each balance on your other foot so the flower can unfold around you. 

That flower has caused you so much trouble since that night with Kuvira, throughout the dress rehearsal the night before you kept messing up anytime you so much as touched the metal because your thoughts became consumed by her and what you both had done. 

You hadn’t had many moments alone since but in the locker room after the dress rehearsal, Kuvira had let her hand brush against your naked back as you changed into clean clothes after your shower and suddenly you were set alight with that same fire she ignited the other night. 

You must look like you’re unwell because Suyin comes into view and she places her hands on your shoulders to give them a reassuring squeeze. “You can do this y/n, I believe you,” she says in an encouraging tone. 

“I wish you didn’t, what if I mess up?” 

“People mess up sometimes, all you have to do is pick yourself back up and try again. You can’t be too hard on yourself y/n, I’ve seen how you’ve really changed these last few practices. Those private lessons with Kuvira must have helped” she drops her hands from your shoulders and gives you a bright smile before rushing off, claiming she has to check on the lights. 

You flush at her words, Kuvira’s lessons did help… sort of. One of the stagehands calls out that it’s time and you walk over to the stage entrance. On the other side of the stage stands Kuvira with half of the dancers behind her. She simply holds your gaze for a minute before the curtain draws and the dance must begin. You force down any thoughts you get of that night as you perform the routine and it’s going so well, when it gets to the part where the flower closes around you guys you suddenly feel too exposed and scandalized. Despite your thoughts Kuvira still hooks her foot with your own, she sends a small smile your way that calms you just a bit as the flower begins to bloom once more. 

The crowd erupts into applause and whistles as flowers are thrown onto the stage, you and Kuvira unhook your feet and bow with the rest of the troupe before exiting the stage for the next talent to take the stage, it was some new instrument a student had metal bent, something called a harp.  

Everyone begins to hug one another and congratulate them, Suyin pulls you into a quick side hug and softly says “I told you that you could do it.” It feels good to have her say that, to know that she’s right and despite being new to this you did well enough to not humiliate yourself. Other people begin to crowd the backstage as dancers’ family members and friends come to congratulate them and offer them bouquets. 

Your parents rush up to pull you into a tight hug that knocks the wind out of you, they shower you in praises and your mom kisses the top of your head before pulling away. “You did amazing, y/n. We’re both so proud of you” your dad says as he hands you a bouquet of lotuses. You’re about to call over Kuvira to introduce her as a friend and to tell your parents about how much she helped you but the sight in front of you kills the words that were on the tip of your tongue. 

Baatar Jr. has his arm wrapped around Kuvira’s waist as he offers her a bouquet and gives her this wide smile. “Junior, why didn’t you tell us?” You hear Suyin say in a betrayed tone. Baatar Sr. has a hand on Suyin’s shoulder as he looks disapprovingly at the couple in front of him. 

“I knew you guys would overreact! Kuvira and I are in love. I hope you both realize how important she is to me.” Baatar Jr. spits out, Kuvira places a hand on his chest to settle him down and flashes the two parents a smile. 

“I was hoping you both would approve of us.” You can’t stand there and watch anymore as she flaunts her relationship in front of you like you don’t matter. 

“I’m a bit tired from the performance, I think I’m gonna head home,” you tell your parents, trying not to let them know how badly you’re hurting.  

“Oh well, we wanted to take you out to dinne-” 

“Maybe tomorrow, I think I just wanna take a shower and go to sleep,” you say before walking off. Your parents share a look of concern as they watch your retreating figure. In a matter of seconds, your once overjoyed demeanor turned to something melancholic. 

Once out of the building you walk to the botanical gardens knowing that at this time of night no one is there, your parents will probably return home soon and you don’t want to worry them with your crying. You find a spot tucked away from sight behind a bunch of sunflowers and lean your back against the tree. 

You’re so confused, she’s your soulmate and yet she’s with someone else. Baatar Jr. said they were in love which must mean they’ve been together for some time. She never mentioned him to you. Suddenly the desire to keep your relationship a secret makes sense and you feel stupid for playing along. 

At least an hour passes as you cry out all your emotions until you’re just sitting there numbly trying to figure out what to do next. A crunch of a leaf can be heard from in front of you and your head snaps up and away from your lap. Kuvira is standing there, she’s changed out of her dancing clothes and is in a casual outfit now, you look away from her, unable to look at her first without crying again. 

“He wasn’t meant to tell them tonight,” she confesses and you scoff. Is that supposed to make you feel better?

“What are you doing Kuvira? W-We’re soulmates and yet you’re with this guy despite telling me I had to keep us a secret.” You stand from your spot and your muscles ache from sitting in that uncomfortable position for so long, you try to ignore her as you go to walk away but she grabs your forearm as you go to pass her. 

“I don’t love him,” she admits “but I need him for something and the only way he’ll do it is if he thinks I do.” You rear your head back in shock, what in the world is going on. 

“What could you possibly want from him? A seat at the Beifong family table!?” You shout and Kuvira aggressively shushes you. You rip your arm out of her grasp but stay still as you wait to hear what she’ll say next. 

“After the earth queen’s death the earth kingdom is in disarray and Suyin won’t step up to help those who are suffering. Junior has inventions that can help us rebuild these impoverished towns and cities so we can bring them back to their former glory.” Kuvira sighs, her palm going to rub at her forehead “he won’t go against his mother unless we’re together, I can’t let those people have their homes ransacked by raiders and be left to starve when we can make a difference.” 

“So you’re… manipulating him” you murmur, Kuvira’s eyes narrow a bit at your words and she takes a step closer to you, you stumble back until your back hits the tree behind you and Kuvira keeps walking until she’s against you. Her hands go to rest above your head as she looks into your eyes. 

“I’m pushing him in the right direction. I want to leave soon to start and I want you to come with,” she moves one of her hands to grasp your chin when you try to look away from her and says “we all have to make sacrifices for this cause, y/n. Mine is playing pretend with him and yours is having to keep us a secret.” 

Your eyes water at the idea, you don’t want to leave Zaofu behind. Your parents are here and you think you might want to pursue a career in dancing. Kuvira grips your chin just a fraction tighter and brings her lips to yours. It’s a deep, slow kiss and suddenly you’re consumed with her just like the other day in the dance studio. You moan as she lightly tugs at your bottom lip as she pulls away from you, she lets go of it and you can feel it swell a bit from her actions. You slowly open your eyes back up and she’s giving you this intense look that has your knees weak. 

“Please, I want you there with me,” she says in a husky tone that has you nodding in agreement, she grins before pulling you back into a kiss, this one is far more heated than the last.

You wish you’d said no. 

———————————————————————————————————–

 “I think we should keep this to ourselves for now.” 

For now turned into a year, once the train tracks were built Bolin along with Varrick and Zhu Li joined your cause. In front of everyone, Kuvira played the role of not only being the compassionate leader but also the love of Baatar’s life. Yeah, he no longer went by Baatar Jr. Kuvira convinced him to drop the honorific. 

Behind closed doors, late at night when everyone was asleep Kuvira would come and visit you, most times you guys would passionately make love as she took charge but sometimes, and these times were your favorite, she’d lay in bed beside you and talk about all you guys would do once your mission was over. “We could get married,” you whispered one night and Kuvira pulled you in a slow, sweet kiss before murmuring against your lips “you’d look good in white.” 

Right now those sweet moments are far from your mind though as Baatar hands Kuvira a file in the main cabin of the train where meetings are held, he places a hand on her waist and you look away as you try to push down the anger bubbling within you. You were about to stop in a rather large town that had fallen on hard times, as all had. And if all goes well you might need to take a moment for yourself. This train was starting to feel suffocating and you were this close to metal bending the roof open.

The train lurches to a stop, sending Bolin almost off the couch opposite you, he grips the back of it to keep from falling flat on his face and you grab the armrest to your right. As always, Kuvira is the only one who seems to remain unaffected, she stumbles back two steps before regaining her balance and squaring her shoulders. 

“We’re here,” she says in her normal calm voice before heading to the door to step outside. The town is surrounded by lush greenery and towering trees. The buildings tower to three stories and market stalls are lining the streets. It looks like it was once a hub, maybe a stopping point for travelers, but now there are holes in some of the buildings from raiders and the market stalls have been torn apart. All of the citizens are waiting for them at the entrance of the city and you note how tired and thin they look. 

“Woah, looks like we are definitely needed here” Bolin mutters beside you. As Kuvira talks to the mayor in private, you all begin to load up carts and trucks with crates of food, they always give into her eventually so there wasn’t much point in waiting. The meeting between the two takes an hour and a half, when the mayor walks off the train he wears a look of defeat and Kuvira saunters out with that same air of confidence that makes you wonder if she was born with it. 

She walks over to you and signals for the men beside you to start giving out the crates of food and supplies. “Another small victory,” she mutters. 

“If anything I’d say it’s a big one, this is a large province and this town is the only one in it. Not only that but it’s a hub for trading and travelers, having this under our belt is helpful.” You look into her eyes and notice that same dissatisfied look she gets any time someone praises her. “This is good, Vira.” 

“I told you not to call me that in public,” her tone is scolding and she looks away so she doesn’t have to see the disappointment in your eyes. Whilst everyone thought you two were close friends she was still worried about someone figuring it out and telling Baatar. He was too oblivious to figure it out himself but quite a few times she caught Zhu Li looking between the two of you when you’re deep in conversation. “Besides, I won’t be happy until we’ve united the entire earth kingdom. “ 

You bite your lip as another one of those oh too familiar aches in your heart. It feels like someone has gotten a needle and aggressively stabbed at the center of it. “I’m going to go help,” you say before walking away, she doesn’t call after you or even say goodbye 

Later, once all the supplies are given out, the townspeople decide to celebrate in the main square, live music is being played as everyone dances and laughs. Kuvira usually makes a short appearance to things like this just to make everyone happy before heading back to the train. Usually, you trail behind her along with Baatar while Bolin and Varrick tend to stay for an extra hour or two. Most of the time they stumble in drunk and loudly shush one another. 

“C’mon y/n, just stay a while longer!” Bolin shouts over the music, he gives you another cup of alcohol, a part of you doesn’t want to. You’ve never stayed behind to celebrate after Kuvira heads back and you wonder if that means she won’t show up in your room as per usual. But it’s just one extra hour… 

You take the cup from Bolin’s hand and down it, causing him to cheer. The alcohol burns down your throat and you cough from taking it all at once. Varrick saddles up beside him and slaps his hand on the young earth bender’s shoulder. “What are we getting excited about?” 

“Y/n’s actually gonna stay and party!” Bolin shouts, you fill the cup back up and take a sip. You haven’t been drunk since Zaofu, you deserve this break. “Wait, you’re telling me y/n isn’t a stick in the mud? Well, that’s the shock of the century!” Varrick replies you roll your eyes at his comment, trying to not let it bother you. You could be fun, you were fun before everything happened. 

“Let’s dance!” You shout and finish up your drink before setting it on the table to head to the designated area for dancing. You thought of the studio back in Zaofu, how freeing it felt, and how you had felt like you’d finally found your calling. Bolin cheers you on as he dances beside you and Varrick keeps making ridiculous comments about the parties he used to throw back in republic city. You make out the words platypus bear and skiing at one point but decide to not ask him to explain what the hell he’s talking about. 

An hour passes, maybe two, before the three of you are stumbling back to the train. You haven’t had this much fun in so long and your cheeks hurt from laughing. You’re warm from the alcohol despite the cool breeze brushing up against your skin and at some point, you took your jacket off to keep from sweating. You weren’t meant to be out of uniform when out of your room but it was late at night and you didn’t think much of it. 

When you guys climbed up the steps to the train and entered the main compartment Bolin began to loudly talk about how much he missed his soulmate, Opal. Suddenly your bright mood dimmed at the fact that you couldn’t talk about your soulmate to anyone, but your mood was truly ruined when Bolin said, “y’know one-day y/n, you’re gonna meet your soulmate and it’s gonna feel amazing just you wait!” 

You forced out a chuckle before softly bidding them goodnight and walking off to your room, you heard Bolin ask Varrick if he said something wrong but you were too far away to hear his reply. When you opened your door a part of you hoped Kuvira would be inside, but she wasn’t. Your shoulders slumped as you kicked off your boots before falling into bed. You didn’t bother with undoing your updo or changing into proper sleeping clothes. 

When you wake up you are alone, usually, Kuvira would wake up before the sun rose and leave but not before kissing your forehead and whispering that she loved you. It was always a great way to start your day but today you were alone. You got dressed and fixed your mess of hair before exiting your room to head down towards the dining cart.

 Your room was right beside Kuvira’s which was beside Zhu Li’s and then it was Baatars, Bolin’s was on the other side of your room. Thankfully the walls were thick though so you didn’t have to worry about him hearing you and Kuvira late at night.

The door to Baatar’s room opens, but instead of the young engineer walking out, Kuvira does, she’s in her uniform from yesterday which you can tell because there’s a few wrinkles and her hair is down. She makes eye contact with you before heading to her room and without thinking you follow after her. Technically you aren’t allowed in her room for appearance reasons but your heart is racing and you need her to reassure you that what you just saw wasn’t what you thought it was. 

You close the door after you, trying not to slam it but you desperately want to. “What were you doing in there?” you ask and part of you internally cringes at how you sound. It’s obvious in your tone how hurt you are, how confused. Kuvira simply begins to undress from her old clothes and takes her time formulating a reply.

“He was getting suspicious of my lack of affection for him,” is her reply. You back up until your knees hit the edge of her bed and fall into a sitting position. “So you…” you gulp, “slept with him?” 

“I did what needed to be done. Besides, you weren’t here last night,” she spits out. By now she’s in her underwear which would usually cause you to flush but right now your vision is blurring from tears and you feel bile rising from your throat but it’s not due to last night. “So what, it was some kind of way to get back at me for letting loose for once?!” 

Kuvira whirls around to glare at you, she has a pair of pants on now and she stalks over to you like you’re her prey until she’s between your legs. She roughly grabs your chin to make sure you keep eye contact with her and she says “so me fucking you senseless isn’t enough to alleviate the stress from the day before?” 

Your heart races, “Vira…” You aren’t sure if you like this part of her, in a fucked up way it’s kind of hot but it’s also terrifying and you feel so small. “If you disobey me or humiliate me again you’ll be punished the same way you were last night. If you are to one day become my wife you’ll need to start working on your image and getting drunk in public isn’t a good look.” 

She lets go of your chin and swiftly walks back over to her closet to finish getting dressed. “You may leave.” Her tone doesn’t leave any room for argument so you blink away the tears threatening to spill from your eyes before promptly leaving your lover’s room. Suddenly you’ve lost your appetite so you head back to your room where you plan on spending the rest of your day, As you go to open your door, Bolin sluggishly opens his own and walks into the bright hallway with a groan. 

You look away from him but not in time as he notices your red eyes and the tears threatening to spill, he steps forward, a look of concern taking over his features but you quickly enter your room and slam the door shut behind you. 

You miss home. 

[diaryofabeautyfiend]

Small Time Witch (10)

M I S S I O N D A Y

When you arrived at camp you were instructed to find Tony. The message read: “Do not pass go. Do not look at your boyfriend. You come directly to me.” You rounded up your gear which, compared to everyone else, was basically nothing. Director Fury wanted you to “fit in” with the rest of the agents. You got a weapons bag which had a gun and ammo in there but was filled the rest of the way with snacks. Some of the other girls were going to find their bunks. “Hey y/l/n! We’re this way!” Agent Ridley shouted.

“I’ll catch up! I’ve been summoned.”

“Yikes! We’ll see you later.”

You didn’t want anyone to know what your role here was. No one knew what division you came from. Fury sent out a blanket statement that you were from tech. He didn’t totally lie.

You found where the Avengers suites were. Everyone on the plane called them prima donnas and bitched about how they had to clean up their messes. Now seeing where they were staying versus the other SHIELD agents, you understood their ire.

“Oh look! She can follow basic instructions. Come on in, kid. How you feeling? I don’t want to put too much pressure on you but the whole plan basically hinges on you. Let’s run though again.” Tony was in the middle of a projection of the building schematics.

“No pressure though.” He laughed and patted your back.

“So much pressure. Come on. One more time for the old man. Humor me.” He pulled up the schematics and you did your thing.

“Generators are offline. FRIDAY any alarms?” FRIDAY’s voice played in your ear.

“No alarms.”

“Ok. Security system offline. FRIDAY?”

“All good here.”

“Camera battery back up off. How are we looking?”

“The security system is dark.” Tony clapped his hands.

“Hot damn! Y/N do this tonight and you’re our hero. So listen. If you wanted to tell me about the other night with you and the girls, I wouldn’t tell another soul. It’ll just be for me:” You rolled your eyes and smacked him with a folder. He tossed you a bottle of water and you stayed to talk for a few minutes when Steve came in.

“Hey. I’ve been looking for you. Can I steal my girl?”

“She’s all yours. Y/N, just for me.”

“Get out of here, pig.” You threw a pencil at Tony over Steve’s shoulder. Steve raised an eyebrow to question what just happened. You wrapped your arms around Steve’s neck to distract him. “Hey stranger.” He leaned in to kiss you. He didn’t intend for it to be so passionate but he really missed you.

You paid more attention to your own body rather than his feelings. You felt the tingle of electricity traveling up your arm but pulled it back. You mentally high fived yourself.

Every now and then you would stop to take a breath but then you would go right back to kissing. His hands roamed the peaks and valleys of your body. They traveled over your ass and squeezed a bit. It was firm yet pliant just how he imagined. Even through your tac suit he could feel your soft curves and he wanted more.

“Let’s get out of here” he whispered in your ear. He held your hand and guided you through to his room. You barely made it inside before he was unclasping your vest. Why did these things have so many hooks and buttons? He slipped your top over your shoulders and went to undo the front closure of your bra when Bucky cleared his throat.

You tried to cover up but Steve covered you. “Bucky! What the fuck?! Get out!” Steve shouted.

“I was meditating.” He picked up his boots and smoothed out the bed. “It’s quiet in here.” He edged around you turning to catch a glimpse. “I could stay. I’m very helpful.” You buried your face into Steve’s back giggling uncontrollably.

“Buck I swear. Get the fuck out.”

“Ok. I’m going. Have fun you two.” He winked as he shut the door.

Steve turned back to you. “Is the moment ruined now?”

“Hell no. Where were we?”

“I believe right here.” He lowered the zipper letting your breasts spring free. He stood back a little to admire them then let out a low hum of appreciation and pushed you onto the bed. You undid the rest of the suit took off your boots and tossed everything to the floor. He crawled across the bed planting kisses and nibbles up your body until he got to your lips. The tip of his tongue dragged across your upper lip and then nudged its way in.

You reached down to stroke his cock just teasing the tip a little but then your grip was firm. You spit in your palm and wrapped around him once more. He sucked his breath in sharp through gritted teeth. “Fuck, baby.” He panted thrusting hard in your hand. You opened your legs wide and guided the tip inside of you. He buried himself in you with a grunt. Your foreheads touched and you stared into each other’s eyes. He slammed his hips down hard. With a back breaking pace he brought you through your first orgasm. “Do that again, sweetheart.” He pulled out and you rolled over to get on all fours. You were so wet he had no trouble slipping in. He held your hips with one hand digging in his fingertips. With his free hand he found your clit and worked it over. You clenched around him and he smacked your ass bringing you over the edge. “One more. I know you can do it.” He moved faster and harder. Your bodies slapped together. The squelching sound your cunt made was driving him crazy. Your orgasm raged through your body. You could feel him getting close too. Your body was thrumming in time with his. “Steve. It’s too much.”

“I’ve got you, baby. Let go.” When you did he did too with a roar. You both collapsed onto the bed. He rolled off of you onto his back. You held hands and tried to catch your breath. “You’re amazing. It’s not often I find someone who can keep up with me.” Your mind was blank as you tried to fight off sleep.

“Can we take a nap before we roll out?” He chuckled and kissed the small of your back.

“No time. Come shower with me then we have to get moving.”

You groaned and put the pillow over your head. “Already? You wore me out, sir.”

“Oh, Princess. That was nothing. Just wait until after I’ve cracked a few skulls. You won’t be able to sit for a week.”

“Is that a dare or a double dare?” He smacked your ass hard.

“Be careful what you wish for, Princess. Up.” He pulled you up and set you on your feet. You were so aroused by this side of Steve that you nearly took him in the shower. But, he said no time so you decided to be patient.

You got to the site and Steve walked to the front to remind everyone of their orders and give a pep talk. You beamed with pride watching him so in his element. He was the picture of control. His voice was commanding yet thoughtful. Bucky stood next to you with a similar look on his face. You could feel how much he cared for this man. He winked at you and you flushed crimson.

Everyone was told to get to their respective vehicles. You jumped in the van with the rest of the IT guys. Loki got in the van and sat in the seat next to you. You exchanged pleasantries and sat listening to the agents talk. He kept glancing over at you. He looked slightly annoyed. He leaned over to whisper, “Have you no control? Honestly, mortal.”

Your eyes widened and you hit his arm. “Seriously! Get out of my head.”

“I’m not in your head. You stink of sex.”

“Well that’s not your business.”

“What a truly special day this has been for you. You had me this morning the soldier this evening. Who is next? Perhaps he and the other soldier would like to take turns.” The five point harness tightened around him making it hard to breathe. Once he realized what was happening and that the belt was beginning to crush his testicles he apologized. “Ok. Enough. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t ever speak to me that way again Loki Laufeyson. If you really loved me you would never disrespect me that way.”

He turned his head to look out the window. It was several minutes before he was ready to speak. “Pet, I was out of line. Can you forgive me?”

“Let’s not talk right now.” The rest of the ride was short but tense.

You arrived at your position and started just like you planned. Generators off line. Check. Cameras offline. Check. Security system offline. No dice. You tried again. Nothing. “Y/N what’s the hold up?” Steve called. One more time. Still on.

“Something’s wrong. The system won’t respond.”

“Cap, I can get an areal view if the cameras are down. How long do we have, y/n?” Sam was perched and ready to go.

“I am blind here, Cap. I need Sam on the east side of the building. Sam, you are looking for a gray box with four green lights on the front panel.” You memorized the wiring and the way it looked. You knew exactly where it would be.

“Copy.” You waited a few minutes and then Sam was back “That’s a negative on the box.”

“These must be old schematics. Rhodey when was this intel gathered?” Tony asked in a panic.

“Just a couple of weeks. Not enough time to completely reroute their security system. It can’t be far. Sam?”

“I have have a visual. You need to be about 100 yards south of where you are. I’m sending you a picture.” You went back to the van to look. There was something different. You studied it for several seconds. “I see it. Stand by.”

“Lok. Do you see what I see?” There were markings all over the box. Runes maybe.

He looked closer mouthing the spell that he saw printed on the casing. “Shit. It’s warded. They must have been preparing for Wanda.” You thought for a spell and then formed a new plan.

“Can you get me there? Like you can teleport. Can you teleport me?”

“Y/N no way. That’s dangerous. They’ll kill me if you get hurt. Plus I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.” You were impatient. You took some pliers and a flashlight from the van.

“Y/N what’s going on?” Steve asked rather impatiently.

“I can do it but you aren’t going to like what I have to do. The box is warded. I’m going to have to do it manually.” You switched off your comms and grabbed on to Loki. “Beam me up, Scotty!” He shot you a look. “Star Trek. Just go.”

Meanwhile, Steve was trying to get your attention when FRIDAY pinged in, “Agent y/l/n’s comms are offline, Captain. Shall I try Loki?” He cursed and started running towards you.

“Cap, we should abort if she can’t do this.” Tony said.

“Well her comms are off. Sam do you have a visual?”

“Yeah, Cap. She’s umm. Shit. She’s going into the facilities gates.”

“I’m sorry. Besides witchcraft what qualifications does your girlfriend have to rewire and shutdown a very sophisticated security system?” Tony chided

“She’s an electrical engineer. Loki? Loki, if you can hear me get her out of there.” No answer.

“Captain, she says she’s almost got it to stop worrying. I will do my level best to hurry her along.” After the message was delivered a high pitched sound went through Loki’s ear piece. “Ow! Ow! You could have let me take it out first.”

“Shhh. We’ll get caught. Hold that flashlight up.”

“Pet, I know I don’t have to tell you how monumentally stupid this is.”

“Good. Then don’t. Got it! Let’s go.”

“Security system offline.” FRIDAY responded.

“Thundercats are go, Ladies and gentleman.” Tony fired up his suit and they went to work.

“Sam? Can you see her?!”

“They’re back at the van driving away, Cap.” Everyone let out a sigh of relief and did their thing.

The driver was instructed to bring the two of you back to base camp. Once you got there you went with Loki back to his room. You stripped down to your leggings and a t shirt. You didn’t say much. You didn’t have to. Not out loud anyway. You crawled under the covers and put your head on his chest. He put an arm around your shoulder. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?” he asked in a low voice.

“I can’t stay mad at you.” You yawned loudly and drifted off to sleep. You were so at ease with him.

Loki was growing tired of being your comfort dog. He certainly didn’t enjoy being second to Steve. He thought it might be time to move on for a while. You seemed fairly confident in your abilities. Stephen Strange was already a more trustworthy partner to the Avengers and would be a much better teacher. When you return to the compound, he’ll tell you. For now he was content holding you. He whispered in your ear how much he loved you. Half asleep you kissed his chest, “Love you too, Loki.” He smiled against your hair and waited for Thor’s warning text that they were back.

[cottage-babe]

Burning Scars part VIII

Previous | Chapter 8 | Next

Masterlist

Awww im watching LOK and why do people hate it so much?? I get that its different than ATLA but on it’s own its pretty good. anyways they just talked abt the first avatar and hmm, i didn’t really think abt who the first would be

Summary: Y/n, a werewolf from a hidden village, comes across Zuko and Iroh after being exiled. How has fate intertwined the wolf into the avatar’s destiny?

*****This chapter takes place on Season 2, Episode 14*****

___

It's been a week since they'd made it to the beloved city of Ba Sing Se. 

It was rough at first; they learned about the sections of the city and had to find a home in the Lower Ring. Although Zuko hated the city, Y/n found it quite beautiful. Of course, some parts of it weren't flattering, there were dirty animals around and some of their neighbors weren't the nicest, but there was something mystical about it. 

Maybe it's because it's the first city she'd been in or the fact that the culture was so different, but she couldn't find it in herself to hate anything in Ba Sing Se. The crowded streets just seemed cozier and full of life; their run-down home above a shop just had personality! The wolf couldn't help but love even the worst parts. 

The only thing that couldn't ease itself out of Y/n's mind was the feeling of being watched. It sent shivers down her spine whenever she was out in public and she thinks she knows why they're staring. 

It's the scar on her leg, of course. 

She stopped covering it up the day they came to the city. Something about having to hide it for their entire time of residence just seemed so inauthentic. If she was going to be here for a while, then Y/n was going to be her truest self, scars and all. 

They were walking through the marketplace, buying the last remaining essentials that they needed for their new place. Iroh had wandered off somewhere when his eyes set on a furniture store, but Zuko, not wanting to accept the fact that they were actually living there, just stormed off angrily in the opposite direction. Y/n followed the teen to make sure he didn't do something he’d regret. 

“You know,” the wolf began, “this city isn’t that bad when you stop judging everything about it.”

He glared at her harshly. “I’m not judging it.” Then, Iroh appeared next to him, the pot of orange flowers he was eyeing in his hands. The boy’s stare somehow got meaner as he looked at the bright flowers. “This city is a prison.”

Y/n rolled her eyes and moved to stand in between her two friends, smelling the ends of the flowers and letting the aroma surround her. There was hardly any nature here, another thing that she had to look past, so seeing any sign of greenery was welcoming. 

“They’re so pretty!” Y/n smiled at Iroh. 

“I know,” the uncle smiled back at her, “they were a little expensive, but its fine because I found us new jobs, and we start this afternoon!”

Zuko and Y/n blinked at him in surprise. Neither teens had ever had a job before, much less one that they were thrown into without a warning. So they all traveled back to their apartment and left the things that they had bought that morning. The time to go to their new ‘jobs’ was approaching, so they made themselves presentable and set off. 

Iroh had, of course, gotten them a job at a small tea shop. When they entered, it was nearly empty, except for the man that introduced himself as their boss. 

The people in Ba Sing Se probably only drink their tea in the mornings! That must be why it’s so empty!

It turns out she was wrong. 

After doing their introductions, the owner, whose name turned out to be Pao, left to the back room so he could find a string to extend the back of Iroh’s apron. He left them three cups of tea while they waited. 

Y/n took a sip from her steaming cup, happy to be offered some tea that’s actually warm. Unfortunately, just as it had happened before, the tea was spit out onto the floor. 

“Ugh!” She exclaimed. “What’s wrong with all of the tea in this city!”

Iroh took a sip, but, with way more control than her, swallowed it quickly. He looked at his cup disgustingly. “This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!”

Zuko deadpanned and looked between the two, “Uncle, that’s what all tea is.”

Suddenly, right there in the moment, a long shiver reached Y/n’s spine and spread throughout her body. And it definitely wasn’t the tea. The werewolf tugged on Zuko’s sleeve.

“Someone’s watching us.” She whispered and cast her eyes around. 

She had been feeling this, how could she be so stupid? She misjudged it and thought the attention was on her leg, but now? They were in a completely empty shop and she could hear Pao digging through boxes in the other room. Someone is looking at them from the outside. 

The boy looked around cautiously as well. “From where?” 

“I don’t know.”

Iroh was talking while they whispered, something about needing to make some major changes in this shop. He threw the tea pot out a window and the feeling drained from the wolf. Y/n sighed in relief.

“They stopped, maybe it was just someone passing.”

Zuko hummed, but still looked at her curiously. 

Pao came back with the string and helped Iroh tie his apron on. Once all three of them were in their attire, the man trained them on their new job; waiters and waitresses. They learned the basics of their job; collect orders, give customers their cups, then collect the cups. It was a lot simpler than she thought it would be. They barely had any customers, but the few that did come sat quietly and didn’t really disturb them. 

Then, their shifts ended and they turned in their aprons. When they left the shop, the sun had already set and the sky was dark.

The citizens had lit lanterns to glow on the street. It was quite pretty to see the contrasts; it almost reminded her of the rebellious times with her siblings. Y/n pushed that thought out of her head, though. 

The entire walk back home was filled with Iroh’s complaints on the tea. He started talking about how starting tomorrow, he was going to tell Pao that he was going to make the tea. He thought that Pao’s tea was lacking and Iroh was going to fix that. Zuko let out a few sarcastic comments here and there, but Y/n was quiet. She was focused on the roof tops, the dark alleys; any place where someone could be hiding. Just in case, of course.

Then, they made it home. The apartment was empty and Iroh lit candles with matches so they could see. He probably would’ve used his bending, but Zuko had warned him many times against using it. The boy was so paranoid. 

As soon as Y/n entered though, she smelled something off. 

She never mentioned this to the boys (in fear that it would freak them out), but the wolf had memorized their scents. Each had a distinct smell and it had grown very mixed and strong throughout their week of living here. It was another werewolf thing that transferred to her human skin. 

But what she was smelling now definitely wasn’t one of them. 

It smelled strangely familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The scent was so minute and faint that it eventually blended away into the other smells. 

Well, that’s weird.

So they all settled down to relax, tired from the day’s work. Y/n laid on the bed by the windows and Iroh went straight for the teapot.

“Would you both like a cup of tea?” 

“We’ve been working in a tea shop all day!” Zuko groaned out. “I’m sick of tea!” 

Y/n laughed at his antics and watched as the boy sat at the foot of the bed. This wasn’t her bed; the boys decided that the one room in the apartment should belong to the only girl. She wasn’t totally against getting her own privacy, but she still felt incredibly spoiled. 

Zuko lifted her feet and moved back against the wall, placing her legs in his lap. The werewolf blushed at his intimate touches, but just looked off at Iroh and stated that she would like a cup, just to try and ignore her feelings. Y/n had decided before that she would never fall for Zuko, ever. 

“Sick of tea? That’s like being sick of breathing!” Iroh looked over at the two and smiled softly before searching through the cabinets. “Have you seen the spark rocks to heat up the water?” 

Y/n shook her head. “No. Do you want me to go ask the neighbors for some?”

She almost began to stand up, but the old man quickly declined her offer. 

“No, no. You stay there.” He smiled, “I’ll go ask.”

Iroh walked out the front door, leaving Y/n and Zuko alone. They were silent for a moment before, surprisingly, the boy broke it.

“So,” he began. “What was up with earlier?”

She knew what he was talking about; how she could sense that someone was watching them. She didn’t really have much of an answer, so she tried to explain it the best she could. 

“I don’t know... it’s just a feeling I get sometimes. Most of the time it’s just random people looking for no reason, so I ignore it. But it felt a little different today; it was weird.”

Zuko nodded and started playing with the fabric of her socks. The light touches tickled her slightly. 

“Can you always feel it? When someone’s looking at you, I mean.”

“Well yeah,” she spoke. “But it’s feels different when I’m in danger or when it’s about nothing. I don’t know how to describe it; it’s just a werewolf thing.” 

Y/n covered her eyes with her arm, hoping to cover her warm face slightly. The pink in her cheeks never seemed to disappear when he sat next to her. 

His fingers stopped moving and she was so so thankful for that. The poor girl didn’t know how much she could take. 

“And now?” Zuko whispered, “What does it feel like now?”

Y/n removed the arm from her face and met his auburn eyes, the iris’s staring deep into her.

Spirits, how was she supposed to describe this feeling? 

Everything about Y/n, her hearing, her smelling, her brain, it was all muddle with him. Was this danger she felt? Or something else? Her senses didn’t seem to work; the scent of him just overcame ever-.

“I borrowed from our neighbors!” Iroh happily spoke as he waltzed into the room. “Such kind people!”

Y/n cleared her throat and sat up, removing her feet from the boy’s lap. She almost shook her head to wipe the fogginess from her brain. Iroh looked between the two teens, wondering if he should say something, but instead turned toward the wood under the teapot and used the rocks to light it. 

Y/n and Zuko didn’t talk much more that night.

During the next few days, they set out to work in the early afternoon and made it back by nightfall, when the shop closed. Iroh had taken over the tea making; something Pao had fought against until he tasted the uncle’s delicious cup of tea. Slowly, more and more people started to fill up the tables, just waiting for the notorious cup. Y/n didn’t mind. It only meant that she’d see more faces and meet all kinds of people (she also got a lot of tip money, but that’s beside the point). Zuko, on the other hand, only saw it as more work. 

“This is the best tea in the city!” One customer stated as he sipped Iroh’s tea.

Iroh smiled and held the pot up. “The secret ingredient...” He paused to waft the scent up into the air with his palm. “...is love.”

The uncle walked back to the main tea table where Pao was standing. Y/n bumped arms with Zuko, who had to quickly try and grasp the cups in his hands tightly so they wouldn’t fall.

“What’s with the face?” The werewolf smiled at him. “You know your Uncle is just having fun.”

The grimace from hearing Iroh’s ‘secret ingredient’ was still engraved on his face. “I know, but he’s having too much fun.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “You’re such a-”

The front doors of the tea shop burst open. Zuko instinctively dropped the porcelain cups and jumped in front of Y/n.

Standing in the doorway, Jet glared at Zuko menacingly. 

“I’m tired of waiting! These two men are firebenders!” Then, Jet pointed at Y/n. “And she’s a werewolf!”

The lunatic boy unsheathed his two swords, right in the middle of the tea shop. Y/n’s eyes widened and she shared a look with her fellow waiters. How does he know? 

Jet took a step closer to the trio. “I know what you are! I saw the old man heating his tea!”

“He works in a tea shop,” A random customer muttered bleakly. 

“And I heard her say what she was one night in their apartment!”

Y/n gasped; so that’s why nothing seemed right. The smell, someone watching them; it all must’ve been Jet. 

“Did you say you’re stalking her?” Two customers stood from their seats, both having a sword attached to their belts. They must be guards of some sort. “Drop your swords boy, nice and easy.”

However, Jet didn’t bother listening to them. “You'll have to defend yourself. Then everyone will know. Go ahead, show them what you can do.”

“You want a show? I’ll give you a show.” Zuko growled. 

Y/n reached out to stop him, to tell him to let the police handle it, but the boy already walked toward one of the standing customers. Zuko grabbed their swords and clashed them against each other, signalling the start of the battle. 

The werewolf ran toward Iroh and clung to his arm, scared of what was going to happen next. She shouldn’t interfere; she could get badly hurt from their swords and she shouldn’t reveal her identity. The safest bet would be to watch from afar and hope that Zuko made it out of this okay. 

Zuko had kicked a table at Jet, but he sliced it in half and pushed it to the side. He charges at Zuko, who dodges the attack by jumping onto a nearby table.

Y/n sees a family near the side and runs over to grasp onto the mother’s hand. The woman looks at her in fear before relaxing. The werewolf slowly guides her and her children around the battle between the boys; using her instincts to guess their next moves. Eventually, they all make it outside and the mom lets out a shaky breath.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” The mother says in relief, her children clinging to her legs in fear. 

“Your welcome, just try to get away before-”

She was interrupted by the thing she tried to mention; both boys jumping through the tea shop doors and out into the open street.

The family ran away to safety as Y/n turned to see what was happening. Iroh and the rest of the customers joined her to watch the outcome of the fight.

“Please, you’re confused! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Zuko’s Uncle shouted in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. 

Instead, they just kept fighting. 

They swung their swords at each other, never quite hitting, only getting close enough to be parried. The closest Zuko got to Jet was when he swung at his head, only for Jet to bend backward, the tip of the sword inches from his face. Jet jumped backward to a platform and stood on top of it. 

“See that?” Jet yelled out to the audience that had formed. “The Fire Nation is trying to silence me! But that’ll never happen.” 

Jet jumped back into the fight and they repeated a lot of what they were doing before. It was odd to Y/n, but it almost seemed like Zuko was... holding back? Jet’s techniques were good, but definitely not the best, so there’s no way Zuko could lose. Maybe he was just waiting until the crazy boy gave up.

Something that also stood out was the taboo around the Fire Nation. All of this was because her two friends were Firebenders? Why? After all of this cools down, she was definitely going to get some answers. 

Iroh grabbed onto Y/n’s shoulder and gently steered her to the right. She looked to see why and saw two men with hats parting the group. They both were decked out in green and had a circle across their chest. 

“Drop your weapons.” One stated authoritatively. They must’ve been some high-ranking police men. 

Zuko and Jet stepped away from each other and lowered their swords. Still, however, Jet didn’t settle down. 

“Arrest them!” He yelled. “Those two are Firebenders and she’s a Werewolf!”

Okay, this is getting a little annoying...

What’s so wrong with werewolves, anyway? These people don’t even think they’re real. 

Y/n was pouting, she knows she was. Iroh looked at her with an amused look before returning to the scene.  

“This boy is confused!” Iroh explained to the police. “We’re just simple refugees!” 

He was playing a pretty convincing part, so Y/n decided to join in. 

“Yeah, and he watched me while I was in the privacy of my own home!” 

“This young man wrecked my tea shop, and assaulted my employees!” Pao defended from behind them. 

One of the customers from before spoke out as well. “It's true, sir. We saw the whole thing. This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city.”

While Iroh blushed and thanked the man, the two police men walked up to Jet and arrested him. The boy struggled at first, but they put him in handcuffs to still his movements. They took him away and the crowd slowly dispersed. 

There were so many people walking around that Y/n didn’t see Zuko at first. She left go of Iroh to pushed past the group toward the spot he was before, but came up empty handed. Then she looked off to the side and saw him as he returned his two swords to the customers that he took it from. 

“Zu- err, Lee!”

Zuko turned around confused, but let out a small ‘oof’ as Y/n jumped at him and wrapped him in a tight hug. He couldn’t even process what was happening before she mumbling into his chest. Y/n didn’t even fully understand what she was saying; only snippets of how worried she was peeked through.

Her mind was jumbled again, just as it had been a couple nights ago. After Jet had gotten arrested, the reality of it all set into her. Jet had actually followed them for who knows how long, listening to every conversation and watching every movement they took. Iroh and Zuko were in real trouble for a moment; she didn’t know why Fire Benders were so bad, but it was enough to get arrested for. And then her... what if she had been alone? Would Jet have ambushed her? Would she have defended herself? What about Iroh; would he? Would Zuko, if there was no weapons around?

Everything was so complicated, so overwhelming, that she didn’t even know that she was crying. It wasn’t until Zuko wrapped her arms around her that she became aware of her surrounding and felt the wetness on her face.

And so they just stood for a moment, wrapped up in each other’s arms as the girl’s sobs rang out into the night.

___

Previous | Chapter 8 | Next

Masterlist

Taglist: @bucky-blogs @hopefuloperaangelnerd @simplyfandomish @oddlypointlessescapes @lozzybowe @woohoney @whalerus @cece-lives-here @bwndito @kiaoizz @lrmilikepie

[cobraonthecob]

A Character With Chronic Running Away Issues Paired with a Character With Abandonment Issues????

For those who have seen my reblogs with RWBY and A:TLA, you all know that I adore Bumbleby but despise Kataa/ng, even though both pairings have one character with chronic running away issues and the other has abandonment issues.

GET READY FOR THE META NO ONE ASKED FOR

So why do I support one and not the other? (warning: I am not friendly to Kat@ang here)

Well...it’s because they’re in way different ballparks. Kataan/g happens when both are still 12/13 and 14/15, while Blake and Yang are about 19 by Volume 7. So for starters, there’s a massive maturity gap that almost shoots this comparison in the face right here and now. But wait! There’s more to this!

which is why i don’t like Ka/tara and A@ng getting together at such a young age, but then again, I don’t like the pairing at all, but we can talk about that another time

Now that we’ve addressed the maturity gap, let’s get into it!

For starters, Blake and Yang’s relationship started as good friends and then progressed into love interests and possibly girlfriends by the time of S7 (they haven’t quite jumped out with “we’re dating” but I personally think they’re taking it slow lol, ask me for my thoughts about it), so they kind of have the advantage of time on their side while Kata/ra and A@ng have only three seasons of development.

That being said, Kata@ng had 3 seasons, which is more than enough time to get both sides of their relationship but nooooo. We only see Aa/ng’s side of the romance, and Kat@ra for the most part acts like a mom, is uninterested, or straight up tries to let him down gently, and after the disastrous Ember Island Players kiss, which happens to be their last one-on-one interaction before the epilogue I want to pretend doesn’t exist, Katara and Aang’s friendship plumments badly. Heck, their last interaction ever ends badly, with the entire Gaang arguing with A@ng about how to end the war! 

what I’m saying is that Kat@ra and Aa/ng had a strained friendship before they did that cursed kiss while Blake and Yang’s friendship continued to build and then blossom into romance

“But Nightfalcon, what about the abandonment issues?!”

I’m getting there, be patient!

Now for the actual getting together - how do we make these two characters fit together?

By making both characters recognize their faults.

Blake herself knows she’s in the wrong, she addresses her chronic running away issues, starting in Volume 2, in Mountain Glenn, where she says it herself: “But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!” (taken directly from the RWBY Wiki). She feels guilt for running away in Volume 3 after the Fall of Beacon, but she internalizes this anger, which pops out at bad times, and she takes her guilt, buries it in anger, and isolates herself. After Sun is injured, Blake believes she’s the one at fault, and when she explodes at him and tells him why she isolates herself, Sun tells her that she’s in the wrong for isolating herself, but then tells her that he would always be there to protect her and be there for her, and that Yang would too (OK I’ve got a whole meta about Sun and Yang and Blake and why they’re amazing relationships but that’s a whole ‘nother meta).

By having Chronic Running Away (CRA bc that’s getting to be a mouthful) character openly address their faults (and others calling them out on it), you’re one step closer to making a ship sail much more smoothly.

Then there’s Yang.

In Alone Together, Yang talks to Weiss that she’s not upset solely at Blake, she’s upset that Blake didn’t feel safe enough to trust them to stay by them, and that they (whether if Yang was referring to just herself and Blake or herself, Ruby, and Blake [as Weiss was taken to Atlas]) could’ve been there for each other. She gets to address her anger and explain why she feels that way, and Weiss lends a listening ear and some advice for her. 

Eventually, the two are brought back into the same space, and spend the next few volumes patching up their relationship, or at least, the best they can, up until the fight with Adam, which puts everything on the table, and in the aftermath, Blake promises Yang she wouldn’t leave her and Yang understands and assures her that she already trusts/knows that Blake wouldn’t leave her.

TL;DR: Blake recognizes that her CRA issues are bad, and tries to make amends, Yang gets to vent her issues with Blake’s CRA issues and gets emotional support from Weiss and Ruby. Blake promises not to run, and Yang tells her that she’s not worried about Blake running away because she knows that Blake knows that team RWBY will always be there for her and that there’s a support system in place for Blake that she probably won’t feel the need to run. (seriously if you haven’t watched this show already, please do. It’s really great)

A:TLA, as wonderful as this show is, doesn’t do that for Kat@ra and A/ang.

From memory, The Storm is the episode that really touched on Aan/g’s flightiness, but Katara coddles him in that one, trying to tell him “it’s not your fault, if you hadn’t run, you might’ve died as well” which can be taken either way (IMO she’s right and wrong at the same time. Yes, Aa/ng might’ve died, but also, he needs a solid kick in the pants sometimes, I’ll talk about it later)

The next time his flightiness rears its ugly head, it’s in The Desert. After Appa is stolen, Aan/g runs off to go look for Appa, and Katara is left with Toph, Sokka, and Momo to try and get out of the desert on foot. The entire day turns into a trainwreck, as Toph has extreme guilt for failing to keep the sandbenders from taking Appa (it isn’t her fault but that’s another meta) and Sokka (and Momo) drink cactus juice and is as a result, mentally incapacitated. With the dire mission of getting the news of the eclipse to Ba Sing Se, Katara’s the only one clear-headed enough to lead the way through the desert. Once A/ang does come back, he’s still upset from his inability to find Appa, and lashes out at the others for not caring to look for Appa (even though he’s far away and that no one has a means of transportation to find Appa). Tensions are already high in the group - with dwindling water supply, they have to make it out of the desert fast, but the rest of the team is losing hope - Toph because she feels like a failure and Sokka shaking off the effects of the cactus juice, and Katara looks so tired. When Aa/ng snaps at her, she doesn’t snap back, only quietly telling A/ang that she’s trying to keep this group together enough for them to survive. A/ang running away this episode is not addressed in favor of the team getting out of the desert alive. 

Finally, in the finale four-parter, Aan/g runs away again. This time she can only hope that he’ll come back and do his job, but she’s got other stuff to worry about, like the upcoming fight with Azula. 

Afterwards...

they don’t talk about it.

YEAH YOU READ THAT RIGHT. They don’t talk about it. They don’t address the running away issues, they don’t address when A@ng kissed her without her consent twice, they just hug on a balcony and then kiss symbolizing a marriage, because I definitely signed up for East Asian Jesus making out with his mom! Definitely! They don’t talk, Katara becomes a silent character and it gets even worse in LoK ~

*Nightfalcon proceeds to take a few minutes to scream*

And of course, no one else really calls out Aa/ng, except for Toph in Bitter Work, but that was more on his fighting/bending style and not on him in general.

The only other really memorable time where Katara’s abandonment issues are brought up is when she’s ranting at her dad in The Awakening, where she takes issue with both him and A/ang leaving her, and for the most part, Hakoda does give her the support she needs.

Heck, in the finale arc, Zuko tells her that it’s probably for the best that Aang is given some time alone to run to his room and meditate. probably because the last time Katara and A/ang were alone, A@ng kissed her without her consent and I’m going into full speculation territory but what if Zuko knows and doesn’t want that to happen again?

So Katara is repeatedly told by the narrative that Aa/ng is the type to run away when things get tough, and that she should let him.

I see both sides of the issue, and I get it, but when it comes to pairing people off in a relationship, well, they shouldn’t have gotten together.

Anyways, Aan/g is also twelve and has proven numerous times to be unable to support Katara emotionally, and has kissed her without her consent twice, while Katara is 14 going on 28 because of the war, losing her mom and stepping up as the mother figure for her entire family, and later because Aang isn’t allowed to grow up at all, along with other symbolism that shoots Kataa/ng in the foot. 

TL;DR: Katara and A/ang never really talk about A@ng’s running away issues, and no one comes up to support Katara (they do validate her but it’s not a whole support system she can fall back on fully), and Aa/ng is way too immature for a full on relationship at the time of the show’s end. 

So what was the point of this rambly mess? It’s to show how to write a relationship where one character has a tendency to run away while the other one has abandonment issues. I like Bumbleby because Blake acknowledges that it’s a flaw of hers and she actively works to toning it down and Yang has a whole support system and both get to talk about it and aaaahhhhh the communication between them, while you have Katara and A@ng never addressing the issue because Katara’s so gosh darn afraid of stepping on his feelings (see: The Waterbending Scroll) and no one fully provides support for her (Hakoda keeps getting separated from the Gaang and she and Zuko became friends at the end of TSR, and only had an episode between that one and the finale arc so it left a lot unexplored of their friendship) and Aan/g is therefore taught that it’s a-OK to invalidate the feelings of the person you like because you’ll get them in the end!

[flerkenkiddingme]

Okayyy i promised @sen-raq another oc post (thank you for being the kind soul who asked, ily), so here comes Team Avatar OCs 2: Electric Boogaloo.

This time, we��re actually getting into the friends in the squads, since I covered the avatars’ siblings in my last one. Each one will get 6 headcanons, just like last time. And the first one for tonight is the underappreciated yet iconic Ta Min. (get it? cuz she’s my blog icon? i might have a problem lmao)

1. She’s the nonbender daughter of two fire sages. Based off what we know from LOK and Shadow of Kyoshi, they have a deep connection to the spirits. Her parents believed having a nonbender daughter meant that their spiritual connection was diminishing, so to prove she wasn’t totally useless, she studied everything fire sages could do that didn’t require firebending. She memorized every astral calendar, learned the names of all kinds of spirits, and even made attempts to enter the spirit world, but they never batted an eye.

2. One day when she was almost 13, she was heading home from her job at the palace and walked into a sword fighting practice session by accident. Instead of sending her away, the instructor invited her to try. She ended up joining for good, and became extremely skilled with two daos, much like a certain descendant of hers. This was how she met Kami and her best friend Asha.

3. She got along great with Gyatso, since he was fascinated by the fire sages’ techniques, and with each other’s help, they entered the spirit world for the first time. They also bonded over her being demisexual and Gyatso being aro-ace.

4. The way she and Roku met was her almost running him through with one of her daos on her way to her sword lesson, hastily apologizing, and disappearing down the corridor with an internal monologue that can be summed up as “shit shit shit shit shit that’s the prince’s best friend oh fuck did he see my face? he saw my face, i’m so fucked, i’m busted, my parents are going to pull me out of here and then things are going to suck again, mother fucking shit.” That didn’t happen, as the only thought in Roku’s head then was “oh crap she’s cute.”

5. Picture a group mostly comprised of reckless dumbasses, and imagine Ta Min as their one brain cell. Now throw that idea out the window. She's what I call the Trick Braincell, aka the one you think would be the functional one until a situation arises and you realize she’s just as bad as the others. 

This group’s braincell happens to belong to my next oc, Asha, the best friend and eventual girlfriend of Kami.

1. She is half Water Tribe on her mother’s side and happened to be born a waterbender. To cover this up, her blue eyes were turned brown and she wasn’t to do any bending outside of her home. This was effective for 15 years of her life.

2. She’s mad good at pai sho, and showed her strategies to Gyatso, who used to fail horribly at it. The White Lotus tried to invite her, but she told them unless changes were made to the misogynistic bending rules, it wasn’t happening.

3. Once, in a moment of blind panic, she reached for the water in the body of someone who attacked her and, with a sort of bloodbending move, made them hurt themselves instead. Asha never figured out how it happened, as she didn’t want to try it on any of her friends to find out.

4. Her bending specialty is plant-bending, like how the Foggy Swamp benders did. She likes it because no one expects anyone to bend vines and branches, and it really catches people off-guard.

5. She’s the reason no one else in the crew has died yet. She learned to heal in secret as a kid, and until Roku and Kami figured out heat-bending, was the one helping patch up the others when something went wrong. 

Now I’m changing gears and giving you something on one of Yangchen’s closest friends, Rianak.

1. She’s the daughter of Yangchen’s waterbending master from the Southern Water Tribe. They were a bit more chill with women waterbenders learning to fight, but she struggled a lot with it initially.

2. She has a long scar under one eye from getting too close to a baby walrus moose and facing it’s mother’s wrath.

3. She was pansexual and kissed Yangchen once in the middle of sparring. Whether Rianak and Yangchen will be a couple, I’m not totally sure yet, but just know they had this little moment.

4. She loves to dance, and often does when home alone, humming songs played at Water Tribe festivals and holidays.

5. She can tell when someone is lying. Not in the way Toph can, but she can sense their blood rushing in their body and how fast or slow it goes. About seven times out of ten, she’s right.

That’s all for tonight, and if anyone wants more deets, all you have to do is ask. The ideas build up like a dam waiting for an escape.

[crescentmoonrider]

Fics I sorta want to write, sorta don’t want to, probably never will (a non-exhaustive list)

A:tla/LoK

Of the inequality of palindromes

What it is : A canon divergence in which Noatak and Tarrlok leave together, build the Equalists much earlier, and the world once more descends into war. Avatar Aang is killed, Equalists occupy most of Earth Kingdom and spread the mercy of the Spirits-sent brothers who will make all equal, and a young Korra is raised behind the walls of the Northern Water Tribe. Also Jet is here, somehow, and would probably be one of the PoV characters, maybe along with Tarrlok ?

Why I want to write it : Lots of potential here for a lot of stuff, I’ve always loved Tarrlok and Noatak’s story, I already made a few sketches after the inciting dream and I kind of like what this all looks like. Lots of situations, lots of characters, lots of trauma. I feel like it could work with a non-chronological storytelling - or at least less chronological than A viper-lizard’s tales - and I’m curious to see how I would go about structuring that.

Why I don’t want to : The Timeline Is Fucked !!! I seriously have no idea what would be going on with the dates and ages of most characters and just trying to figure out and make sense of that stuff is killing me. Also, it would be Long, and Viper-lizard will probably have exhausted me by the time I finish it, so starting another long fic would be. HHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Ace Attorney

I will fill your thermos with Worcester sauce or so help me

What it is : A canon divergence in which bratty prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and Diego “I think I am a good person but I’m barely there” Armando somehow join forces to take down Dahlia. They’re both douchebags who despise each other. It’s a great collaboration. They meet one young and innocent Phoenix Wright at the legal library and it’s all downhill from there.

Why I want to write it : Douchebag duo !! Reluctantly working together !! I want these two to interact and to barely resist kicking each other in the shins like the little brats they are. And well, I’ve already made Content(TM) for this, so I’d say it speaks to how much I like the idea. There is a scenario somewhere in my mind and in the sketches I did.

Why I don’t want to : I’m barely in this fandom anymore (if I ever really was) and I don’t like research. What the fuck is a legalese and do I need to know it to write about lawyers ? Whatever the answer may be, I’ll have to look shit up, and it will take time, and I’ll get distracted, and the fic will never write itself.

Hannibal (NBC)

Ode au pêcheur (long ver.)

What it is : A role-reversal AU, in which Hannibal is not a cannibal but still a psychiatrist, and Will is a teacher and profiler with a, uh, taste for uncommon meats. They still meet during the Shrike case, which is what the current Ode au pêcheur is about, and this would be the following events.

Why I want to write it : For one, I already wrote a short piece for this verse, so jot that down. But also I want to explore the change in dynamics, and also Hannibal being completely fucked up but in a different way. And writing Will as this kind of mysterious and fascinating being through Hannibal’s eyes... yeah, that’d be good.

Why I don’t want to : I spent hours reading the scripts, deciding what I would and would not keep, how to phrase it, for a 878 words standalone. I do Not want to know what I’d do with a long fic.

Six Sibylline Books (oracles willfully blind)

What it is : A Psycho Pass AU, with Will as an Enforcer specializing in profiling, having been declared a Latent Criminal since he was 6, because of his high empathy. He lives in fear of the day his Coefficient will reach 300. Hannibal is, of course, criminally asymptomatic, and working as a therapist for the government.

Why I want to write it : Let’s be honest, these two in the Sibyl System would be a fucking mess, and I for one am here for it. Mostly I want to see Will struggle with his place in this world, and watch what his Becoming would be like. Hannibal as a worse version of Makishima who just does shit for fun is terrible too, I love it. He probably wouldn’t even try to do a revolution and pretend to help people, the asshole.

Why I don’t want to : I Would Die. Two very complicated shows with literary references and philosophy mixed in just about every sentence, and a very well-rounded world as the setting ? Instant death. Or a very slow one, induced by the constant need to reference every little detail.

Kekkai Sensen

Fallen Hellsalem

What it is : A noir AU in which Daniel Law is a hardboiled detective who has been looking for answers regarding the disappearance of his younger twin brother for the past three years. A two-parters (by which I mean, two fics of consequent length, or a Huge fic with two very long main arcs), with the first case introducing the world through Steven A Starphase being accused of murder and needing Daniel’s help to find the real culprit. Turns out he didn’t do This murder but is also a crime lord involved in the disappearance of many other people, reigniting Daniel’s quest for answers. The second case is actually much more focused on the actual investigation surrounding Marcus’ disappearance, with Daniel gaining an apprentice in the person of Leonardo Watch, and learning to let go of the past a little.

Why I want to write it : I made a 5 page comic of the very first scene in 20 days. I just really like the noir aesthetics, and also Daniel. I have something resembling the beginning of an actual plot. I love Daniel. Did I mention I love Daniel ? It would be very interesting to have to actually think things in advance and build a case that makes sense.

Why I don’t want to : It would be so much work !! Two parts ?? Two fics for one story ? Or even just a Mega Fic - I would just fucking die. Also, while having to figure out how to build a case that makes sense is a fine challenge, it’s also a Lot of work, especially when I’m more the type of writer to figure stuff out as it comes, or to plan for Big Emotional moments and then turn the plot around it so that it all works organically. I’m not really a planner of plots, more of scenes. Plots kinda just happen. And that doesn’t fly for detective stories if you want it to be decent.

----------

Psycho Pass

The blind Sibylla (long ver.)

What it is : A canon divergence directly following the events of The blind Sibylla (in which Akane shot Makishima during episode 11). Makishima didn’t die but is injured, still somehow escapes ; meanwhile Akane is kind of scouted by Sibyl because she shot a guy with the intention to kill him and her Crime Coefficient didn’t rise, and she considers the offer. Kogami gets a phone call that leaves him sick to his stomach, and he too has to make a choice.

Why I want to write it : I mean, I already wrote two short chapters on impulse, so it’s more of “why I want to continue it”. Anyway the answer is that I’ve got ideas and I want to see where they go. Also if I can get Kagari and Choe Gu Sung to stay alive that would be swell.

Why I don’t want to : Psycho Pass Is Complicated. The worldbuilding is on point, but that also means fucking it up is incredibly easy. Also the literary references. It would be a lot more work than I am used to putting into my writing and I really don’t feel like memorizing the wiki and constantly rewatching the series just to get everything as accurate as possible.

Reborn

The illusion of love and the reality of hate

What it is : A TYL 186918 story about Hibari and Mukuro navigating their hate-relationship and trying to make it work. Especially after Mukuro was thought to have been killed by Byakuran. Would involve Mukuro asking Ryohei for advice because he is literally the only person in a stable relationship who has any idea what he’s doing, and also he knows what Hibari is like. A contract is drafted. I’m not saying Mukuro and Hibari get hate-married but. They get hate-married. Kind of.

Why I want to write it : I’ve wanted to explore a full-blown, healthy blackrom for a while now, and these two are one of my oldest ships, and also one I’ve written a lot for in the past. Love me a good mix of fucked up shit and humor. And boy would there be fucked up shit between these two.

Why I don’t want to : Two words : Sex Scenes. I can’t imagine this story (or this relationship, for that matter) without sex, as it would be one of the most primal way they have of communicating with each other, along with fighting. But I’ve never written smut in my life. Also I barely remember the TYL arc (better than the later ones, but not by much) so I’d have to look that up again, and probably more (likely re-reading the whole thing), but that’s a minor issue.

Red Raven

Cave Canem

What it is : An early canon divergence in which Ricardo gets lost in the panic of the five days of blood and is believed to be dead, while Walter meets Calogero at Castor Arte and decides to follow him around out of a mutual hatred of the Scaggs. Anyway Ricardo joins the Red Ravens because he believes he was abandoned and can’t trust the mafia anymore, while Walter more or less gets adopted by Calogero and becomes Laura’s right hand.

Why I want to write it : I just. I love this manga so goddamn much,,,,,,, Also Walter and Ricardo are very similar while being pretty different, and the changes in dynamics a switch would make are. Pretty darn interesting. I made sketches. I want to see what would stay the same and what would go differently. I want to send more Red Raven content into this world.

Why I don’t want to : This fandom is comprised of three people and a crow, and I know myself well enough to be certain I’ll have trouble staying motivated in these conditions. Also this would be Long, I can feel it. And I don’t really have a scenario planned, so that’s that.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

Snow blossoms

What it is : A canon divergence (?) in which Fai (the dead one, not our Fye) is a dream-walker and meets child Kurogane a few times this way. At one point, Kurogane promises to find Fai and Yui and to help them, no matter what. Later, the then grown Kurogane is eternally confused by Fye’s presence for one more reason.

Why I want to write it : It’s an old headcanon of mine that Fai is a dream-walker, I figured I might as well do something with it. Also I want to write this kid !! Give him some life !! And of course the KuroFye angst might just triple from this. Also, the truth is that I started this one (in January 2018...), and it looks promising. I already have a structure for the first arc, so that’s neat.

Why I don’t want to : For one, it would be Long, and as mentioned earlier in this post, I don’t think I’d have the strength to go through this again. For two, TRC is a cool story that I like a lot, but I hardly think about it anymore most of the time.

W.I.T.C.H.

Whispers under my skin

What it is : A canon divergence in which Cedric (still in his kind librarian skin) seduces Matt as a way to get to Will, and it backfires horribly when he realizes he is loved by this human and Phobos will never love him like that, and he will never get what he really wants. So at the final battle in Meridian, instead of going full Super Saiyan Lizard, he betrays Phobos. He gets badly injured, but he also gains a half-freedom as thanks from Kandrakar, in the way of a human life (plus some minor magic if the girls allow him to) and a duty to help the Guardians in their mission.

Why I want to write it : Like many of my dream-inspired things, it is very weird, and for once I think it’s a very good thing. Yes I had a dream in which Matt and Cedric had A Thing, no don’t ask me how that happened I don’t control my brain. Anyway, I’ve always liked Cedric and I want to explore his character, and the dynamics he could form with the girls in such different circumstances. Also, I’d get to play around with the magic system, which is very cool.

Why I don’t want to : I re-read my w.i.t.c.h. comics maybe once every two years, and while some of them still make me cry (why did you have to die you filthy lizard man), it’s probably not enough of a basis to start a Long Fic. Also it would be Long and I am tired. And ! I don’t have nearly enough references at home and that means I’d have to look shit up, and the wiki is Not Great, from what I’ve seen.

[poolenick-blog]

Hong Kong is a treasure trove of sorts given its culinary delights, bustling skyline, dynamic culture, rustic charm, and rich landscape among many others. With that in mind, you would need a lifetime in order to experience just about everything — however, with just this post, I can get you started with the top 10 fun things to do in Hong Kong to help make your stay a memorable one!

Naturally, I won’t be discussing most of the typical must-do’s in the city such as visiting Victoria Peak, Victoria Harbour, Lan Kwai Fong, etc. because you can refer to my Hong Kong itinerary guide for that.

» MUST-READ: DIY Hong Kong Itinerary (with Macau Day Trip)

Instead, I’ll be listing below some exciting city activities that you, your friends or your family can enjoy for the remainder of your stay! .title-bar:after, .title-bar:before, .title-bar:after, .title-bar:before, h2{ border-color: }

Things to Do in Hong Kong

1

Say goodbye to dark, skewed or ‘out of focus’ vacation photos that are taken by strangers! With SweetEscape, you can finally capture your travel experiences perfectly with the help of professional photographers — no matter if you’re traveling alone, with your friends or with your family.

To date, if you book via Traveloka, you can choose between an exclusive 2-hour or 1-hour photo shoot session. Once that’s done, you will receive up to 40 high resolution photos that you can download online!

If you ever need some location ideas, other than the typical spots, do consider the following ‘Instagrammable‘ places in Hong Kong:

Yik Cheong Building or ‘Monster Building’ and Montane Mansion at Quarry Bay

Cho Hung Estate’s rainbow-colored estate buildings

Western District Public Cargo Pier, often called as ‘Instagram Pier’

Street art at Graham Street, Sheung Wang, or Rich View Terrace at Tank Lane

Lok Wah South Estate’s round structures

2 .

Renting traditional dresses is an activity that has been gaining popularity in the recent years. In fact, Japan and South Korea are well-known for their respective kimono rental and hanbok rental shops.

Nowadays, Hong Kong has a similar service through a shop called ‘Yan Shang Kee‘. For a fee of about HKD 400, they rent out qipao or cheongsam — a tight-fitting traditional Chinese dress — for a whole day. This price already includes hairstyling, accessories for rent, as well as the freedom to choose your qipao of choice.

It helps to note that the shop offers qipao in different sizes, lengths, patterns and number of buttons. True enough, this will certainly be one of the fun things to do in Hong Kong that you must NOT miss out on!

3

What better way to explore Hong Kong’s nightlife scene than to go on a pub crawl with experienced local guides, right? The best part is that you’ll get to enjoy this all with like-minded people from all over the world who are also looking to have some fun!

Hong Kong Pub Crawl is the top provider for this; after all, their ‘crawl’ is famous for its off-the-beaten track venues and excellent drink deals. Basically, their signature LKF (Lan Kwai Fong) Crawl in Central runs every Thursday and with it, you’ll get to try free shots at different bars, enjoy free VIP entry to the hippest club in the city, as well as be accompanied by a professional photographer who will document the epic night!

So gather up your friends — it doesn’t even matter if you’re going solo — and enjoy the night away!

4Photo from nomadsteam/Shutterstock Not a lot of people know that there’s so much more to the city’s urbanised center because 2/3 of Hong Kong is actually made up of the countryside, countless small mountains and several islands. As such, hiking is a must that you should do on your list of things to do in Hong Kong!

Lion Peak Hill is one of the most popular hikes and this website even sums up all of the trails in the country (labeled accordingly with difficulty, time, etc.). But if you want something that’s out of the bustling area, head on over to the famed Dragon’s Back.

With this hiking tour, you can go through the trail with a professional guide. You will get to witness mountain ridges and forest trails as it leads up to the white sands of Tai Long Wan (Big Wave Bay) — where you can also try surfing!

5Photo from SAHACHATZ/Shutterstock The vibrant city is a paradise for foodies, that’s why dining out is a must on your things to do in Hong Kong — better yet, you must go on a guided street food tour!

With the help of a local, you can try out authentic dishes and fare as you wind through culinary places, bustling markets, and dai pai dong (food stalls) in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai among many others.

Some of the many things you’ll get to try are Hong Kong’s well-loved puffy egg waffles, milk tea, clay pot rice, and youtiao (deep-fried breadsticks) — food choices that will surely leave you wanting for more!

6

Tai chi or taiji is a Chinese martial art that’s not only practiced for its defense training but also for its health and meditation benefits. More recently though, it is mostly practiced as an elegant and peaceful form of exercise that can be enjoyed by just about anyone.

So, why not give it a try? After all, it will surely be one of the most fun and unique things to do in Hong Kong that will make for a memorable experience for you!

For this, I highly recommend signing up with Taichi Place. All of their instructors are certified local masters with more than 10 years of teaching experience and they have developed an easy way to help non-Chinese people discover the essence and history of tai chi. In just an hour, you will learn beginner hand forms, proper stances, and Qigong breathing exercises that will leave you feeling better in both body, mind and spirit.

(NOTE: Classes will be done outdoors and the masters can all speak English).

7

Step into the spotlight and meet over 100 incredibly lifelike wax figures in the 10 interactive zones that are found at Madame Tussauds™ Hong Kong! Besides, the personalities are not only limited to Western stars but also those who are famous in the East as well such as Jacki Chan, Yaoi Kusama, Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach, and more.

Found on top of Victoria Peak, you just can’t miss out on this attraction when you’re already riding up the Peak Tram or visiting the Sky Terrace 428. After all, this might just be the closest we can get to these famous people! (*fingers crossed*)

8

As the largest theme park in the city, Hong Kong Disneyland is definitely one of the top fun things to do in Hong Kong! To date, it features seven (7) themed areas namely Main Street, USA; Fantasyland; Adventureland; Tomorrowland; Grizzly Gulch; Mystic Point; and Toy Story Land.

Of course this isn’t just a place for children because it caters to people of all ages with the number of attractions, rides, shows and parades that the park offers. Just always stay on your toes though when you’re up and about because a lot of Disney characters are open for meet-ups and pictorials!

9

If you rather want crazier rides, Hong Kong’s OceanPark is your next best bet! It helps to note though that this is an amusement park, animal theme park, marine park and oceanarium all rolled into one — so there is LOTS to do in this place.

Some of the usual favorites are the the Polar Adventure, Old Hong Kong, Thrill Mountain, Rainforest, and Aqua City among many others. If you’re one for views, don’t forget to cross OceanPark via a cable car to get an amazing bird’s eye view of it all.

10

Step it up a notch and do a helicopter tour in Hong Kong! It’s quite luxurious, I know, but if you’ve got the budget for it or if you want to celebrate a special occasion, then this is a must on your itinerary.

The Peninsula Hotel currently offers varying packages for helicopter tours in Hong Kong such as the following:

18-minute Group Tour: You will share a 6-seater helicopter with other booked passengers and it will fly over the Victoria Harbour skyline and the beaches or bays at South Hong Kong Island.

18-minute Private Tour: For something more personal, this can be a private flight for two (to a maximum of six persons) and it will already include lunch or dinner. The route will be the same as the former.

30-minute Private Tour: Want to do it longer? This option goes to Kowloon City, Sai Kung, and the Hong Kong Geopark on top of the former stops.

45-minute Private Tour: If you also want to head over to the New Territories, Big Buddha and Lantau Island, then this should be your choice of tour.

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Overall

There are absolutely a ton of other top things to do in Hong Kong that you must include in your itinerary, but like I said, this is a start.

All in all, I hope that this will help make your trip an experience of a lifetime.

How about you?

What do you think of these things to do in Hong Kong?

Which activity would you like to try the most?

Or have you done any of these before? How was it?

Did you like this article? Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube and be notified about my newest posts and updates!

The post Top 10 Fun Things to Do in Hong Kong appeared first on I am Aileen.

[soupwillsaveyou]

That get to know me ask thing- just fuckin do all of them that'll keep you busy for a while. Gotta keep u kids off the streets

u have no chill and u probs dont even care lmao bye

1) What images do you have set for your desktop/cell phone wallpapers?here’s a beautifully cropped out compilation of my desktop, phone and laptop wallpapers

2) Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? i convinced myself i did in primary school but?

3) What was your last text message? I sent my mom a text asking to pick me up

4) What do you see yourself doing in 10 years? Hopefully just drawing a lot and having my life slightly more together than rn

5) If you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be? with my gf and you damn well know it

6) What was your coolest Halloween costume? we dont rly do halloween over here,,,,

7) What was your favorite 90s show? either rugrats or (if that one counts) rocket power

8) Who was your last kiss? my gf bro

9) Have you ever been stood up? ??

10) Favorite ice cream flavor? cinnamon! Definitely, it’s so good!!!

11) Have you been to Las Vegas? my dude i have been no where near america

12) Your favorite pair of shoes? are u rly making me choose fuck. 

13) Honestly, have you ever cheated on your significant other? ,,,dude

14) What is your favorite fruit? idk i like a lot

15) Have you talked to anyone on tumblr that you could see yourself dating/having sex with? If possible? I am dating someone currently that I’m talking to on tumblr

16) Are you into hookups? Short or long term relationships? long definitely

17) Do you smoke? If so, what? no

18) What do you do to get over your anger? rant lmao also like let it out on someone who doesnt deserve it hahaHA FUCK

19) Do you believe in God? idk

20) Does the person you’re in love with know it? uhm…

21) Favorite position? go away

22) What’s your horoscope sign? cancer

23) Your fears? spiders, rejection from loved ones, failing doing what i love

24) How many pets do you have? What kind? currently one bunny! 

25) What never fails to turn you on? justice

26) Your idea of a perfect first date? bro tbh i dont rly care we can just chill at home watching cartoons that’d be amazing. also going out for a movie or food or whatever its all cool

27) What is something most people don’t know about you? everything regarding gender and sexuality really

28) What makes you feel the happiest? chilling with friends, also hugs, god damn, hugs.

29) What store do you shop at most often? if we’re talking about where I legit buy something the most and not like, clothes stuff or whatever. Well. Uhh. Either AH or Hema because I have no self control whatsoever and I will damn well buy food all the time

30) How do you feel about oral? Giving and/or receiving? no

31) Do you believe in karma? kinda? Depends on the situation I guess

32) Are you single? no 

33) Do you think flowers or candy are a better way to apologize? consider an actual apology

34) Are you a good swimmer? I mean? Yes? Maybe? I’ve got my first three diplomas and its not like im super good but im a decent swimmer?

35) Coffee or Tea? I only sometimes like coffee (and mostly like, cappuccino and stuff like that) so tea. Tea is Good.

36) Online shopping or shopping in person? that rly depends but i spent a fortune either way

37) Would you rather be older or younger than your current age? I’m. Chill with my current age actually. Maybe older but only like a year so YOU can shut the fuck up for once about how im so young

38) Cats or Dogs? both are gr8

39) Are you a competitive person? kinda yeah :’)

40) Do you believe in aliens? yes

41) Do you like dancing? my dude i cant dance for shit but i like goofing around sometimes if that counts

42) What kind of music to you listen to? everything and nothing. im a mess

43) What is your favorite cartoon character? dont make me choose you know i cant do shit like this

44) Where are you from? the netherlands

45) Eat at home or eat out? depends

46) How much more social are you when you’re drunk? ive never been drunk

47) What was the last thing you bought for yourself? like the very last thing was a tube of pringles lmao

48) Why do you think your followers follow you? dude i have no idea im a mess

49) How many hours do you sleep at night? that really depends but usually not enough hah

50) What worries you most about the future? having to take care of myself wtf i cant do that

51)  If you had a friend that spoke to you the same way you speak to yourself, how long would you be friends? I have a hard time cutting people off so longer than would be healthy

 52) Are you happy with yourself? not really no

53) What do you wish you didn’t know? idk man

54) What big lesson could people learn from your life? do your damn homework kids

55) If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be? do you know how many awesome tv series houses there are wtf dude

56) What’s your favorite Website? this hellhole sadly

57) What’s the habit you’re proudest of breaking? i dont recall breaking any tbh lmao bye

58) What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles? visiting my brother for his graduation presentation that was a little over 50 miles

59) What’s the best bargain you’ve ever found at a garage sale or thrift store? dont think ive ever had a particularly good buy there

60) What do you order when you eat Chinese food? lots of different stuff but i always ask to include egg foo young cuz im a sucker for that shit

61) If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be? wyoming simply cuz ive never heard of it before and it sounds ridiculous

62) If you had to teach a subject to a class, what would it be? art or history or english probably. Those have always been the subjects i’d choose when i was thinking of maybe becoming a teacher

63) Favorite kind of chips? either regular or paprika probably so basically the basic ones.

64) Favorite kind of sandwich? talking special stuff i love salmon yo

65) Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus? i didnt even know the thesaurus was a thing

66) Have you ever been stung by a bee? i mean i stepped on one once 

67) What’s your favorite form of exercise? none

68) Are you afraid of heights? kinda? someitmes i am sometimes not idk man

69) What’s the most memorable class you’ve ever taken? boy ive had quite some memorable classes,,,

70) What’s your favorite breakfast? light crackers with cheese or smthng

71) Do you like guacamole? not rly

72) Have you ever been in a physical fight? im not sure

73) What/who are you thinking about right now? im still trying to remember if ive ever been in an actual fight

74) Do you like cuddling? yes its so good

75) Are you holding onto something you need to let go of? Other than my cluttered ass room and secrets?

76) Have you ever experienced one of your biggest fears? where do u think that fear of spiders came from my dude. also im half experiencing the rejection rn? idk

77) Favorite city you’ve been to? I love Prague!

78) Would you break the law to save a family member? that depends what kind of rule breaking and everyhting we’re talking about,, but probably

79) Talk about an embarrassing moment? my life

80) Are there any causes you strongly believe in? does feminism coount as a cause?

81) What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had? okay so i mightve broken my nose once but im not sure. Also i almost cut of a toe once. 

82) Favorite day of the week? currently wednesday cuz no school

83) Do you consider yourself sexually open minded? i do but yeah

84) How do you feel about porn? theyre sure having a lot of The Sex

85) Which living celebrity would you like to know? Do Not Make Me Choose

86) Who was your hottest ex? i only have one kind-of ex so uhhh

87) Do you want/have kids? i most definitely do not have any and im not sure if i woudl want any. I dont think so but??

88) Has anyone ever told you that they wanted to marry you? yes

89) Do you get easily distracted? FUNNY THAT YOU ASK THAT

90) Ass or titties? im just letting you know that the first time i read this i read it as ash or titties and im still not over it

91) What is your favorite word? snoekduik and i blame @bleubudgie 

92) How do you feel about tattoos? they can be rly cool

93) Do you have any pets? this is p much the same as question 24

94) How tall are you? 173 cm

95) How old are you? 19

96) 3 physical features you get complimented on a lot? nothing lol

97) Is there anything you’re really passionate about? hah yeah Squadbase and atla/lok and voltron and if we’re gonna go a little serious feminism *whispers* fckng hyperfixations

98) Do you have trust issues? not rly i think

99) Do you believe in love at first sight? im not sure but id like to

100) What are some words that you live by? Why? I don’t thikn there’s something i actively thin kabout and live up to all the time but ‘’do no harm but take no shit’’ is one of my favs (and i have a lot of favs lmao oops)

THERE YOU GO ARE YOU HAPPY NOW