the-bender-and-the-thief

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

((Just a lil’ update:

I am working on the last part of the update trilogy (finally, after all this time ;>;), it’s just very very slow going. I’m getting out abt 1 page of sketching a day :/ But I’m halfway through, and it’s pretty long.

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

Hello hello. How are you and how have you been N?

((Mostly, anyway. I’m a month into summer break now so hopefully I’m gonna get around to working on stuff for this blog soon.))

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

Hello

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

Hello

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

((So fyi that last update is probably going to be the last one for a while because I don’t have the rest done yet and it’ll take me a while to get everything sketched and colored and all. Also I’ll be starting classes again this week so that’s less time to work on the last part of the update. So in the meantime if you guys have any questions about the update or anything, feel free to send them in!))

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

((So fyi that last update is probably going to be the last one for a while because I don’t have the rest done yet and it’ll take me a while to get everything sketched and colored and all. Also I’ll be starting classes again this week so that’s less time to work on the last part of the update. So in the meantime if you guys have any questions about the update or anything, feel free to send them in!))

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - The Old Lotus

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

ask-earthbender-arthur replied to your photoset: The Flowering Lotus- The Old Lotus [Part 1]...

[ N … . you’re killing me with this story ]

(( ;)

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus- The Old Lotus

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - The Old Lotus

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - The Old Lotus

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - Pre-attack

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - Pre-attack

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - Pre-attack

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

The Flowering Lotus - Pre-attack

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

((Greetings....long time....

Anyway, I’m still working on the last part of the update but it’s very slow going! I’ll probably just get started on putting out the beginning of the update in a few days if I don’t make any good progress, just so I can get it out of the way! So watch for it!))

[the-bender-and-the-thief]

Askearthbendermexico: a ♔

(I got the song Twice by Little Dragon. If anyone wants to get a better understanding of the interpretation I’m going with, feel free to ask)

@askearthbendermexico​

It wasn’t a situation he was familiar with. Everything wasnew – his feelings, his experiences – he wasn’t sure how to handle it all. Itwas overwhelming.

He almost brought the subject up to his brothers beforethinking better of it. They’d take too long teasing him rather than giving himactual advice, and for once his patience was limited. Mei would squeal and pepperhim with questions, but that was if he went to talk to her. Writing a letter toLien would take too long. Ludwig didn’t even know how to handle his feelingsfor Feliciano, so he couldn’t ask him. Feliciano and Lovino would take toolong. He didn’t think there was anyone else who could help.

He’d just figure it out on his own.

For a while he’d had feelings for his friend Maria – well,“a while” was an understatement. About almost the entire time he’d known herhe’d been slowly developing feelings. It was a long process, but a comfortingpace. The only problem was that he had no idea how she felt about him. Well, hehad a little idea, maybe. They’d been going back and forth with…flirting? If itcould be considered that. Long stares and bright smiles and brushing the backsof their hands. They’d even actually held hands once! That was a form offlirting, right?

And, well…there wasn’t just one problem. There was never just one problem.

Yes, they’d flirted and all, and he had fun with it, butneither of them tried to do anything more than that (or maybe Maria had but ithad just flown right past his head). In all honesty, he was afraid ofrejection, so he never tried, but…things were starting to die, he thought. Itwas his fault, of course, because he was so weird about everything. If thingsstayed the way they were, no matter how comfortable it was, she’d eventuallyget bored and move on.

And then came the other problem.

Nerine crashed into his life with a barreling fury. Theirrelationship was a rocky start, but once Nerine (who liked to come and go asshe pleased and often got herself in trouble as she did) settled down enough totry and get to know Kiku a little better, things got smoother and they gotcloser. Close enough that Nerine started dragging Kiku out after he was doneworking and taking him to all sorts of odd places that he’d never been before.The place they most frequented was a small park a half-hour’s walk away fromhis house where they would just stay and stargaze, Nerine telling Kikuoutrageous stories (he was certain many of them were made up). It was duringone of these sessions that he got a very sudden and now familiar feeling…

And he realized that he was beginning falling for her, too.

There was his biggest problem. He liked Maria, he really,really did, but he also liked Nerine. Maria was comforting and he felt, in away, safe with her. Nerine was an entirely different change of pace and he feltsort of alive with her (though being alive was quite tiring sometimes). He’dknown Maria the longest of the two, but his feelings for her had developedslowly while his feelings for Nerine in comparison hit him about as fast as herpresence in his life did. But then he had some idea of how Maria felt about himand he thought that they had mutual feelings whereas Nerine would playfullyflirt with him and he could never tell if she thought about him as anythingbeyond a friend. It was confusing and a little frustrating and recently he’dfound himself wanting a relationship more than ever. It seemed everyone in thecity had someone. He didn’t want to be alone.

“Copper for your thoughts?”

Kiku blinked, returning his attention to Maria. His mindwent blank for a moment before he remembered that she’d been saying somethingto him and he’d completely tuned her out.

“Oh – Oh, no, I’m so sorry!” he quickly said, but Mariastopped him before he could go on a long, repetitive apology.

“It’s alright,” she said with a giggle. Kiku blushed. “You’vebeen very distracted lately. What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he said quietly, but Maria gave him a knowinglook. “Just…Nerine.”

“Ah.” She nodded, understanding immediately. After all, shewas the first person he’d tell about their adventures. “What happened thistime?”

“We went to a bar,” he said quietly, remembering howmortified he’d been last night when Nerine took him to a hidden bar full ofpeople who looked like they could kill him with one punch but actually turnedout to be some of the sweetest he’d met. Still, his head had been spinning whenthey left. Maria patted his shoulder, though she seemed amused by his silenthorror. A giggle escaped. She looked away when Kiku pouted at her.

That night Kiku found himself stargazing with Nerine again.They laid by each other in silence, Nerine occasionally breaking it to pointout odd shapes that the stars made, but there were so many of them and shealways had trouble getting him to see the shape that at this point he justagreed so she wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of trying to figure outhow to get him to see it. That he saw the sky upside-down from her point ofview didn’t help either.

“You seem quieter than usual,” Nerine said at one point. “Whichis saying something. You’re always so quiet.”

“You say that all the time.”

“Because you’re quiet all the time. But seriously, what’sup?”

Kiku shook his head, though she couldn’t see him do it. “It’snothing.”

She snorted. “It’s never nothing. Seriously, what’s up?Family problems? Relationship problems? I can help.”

“You can?” he asked skeptically.

“Oh yeah. I deal with this kind of stuff all the time. Layit on me, Kiku.”

Kiku didn’t lay anything. No way. That was too uncomfortableto talk about.

…

He wanted to, though. Not explicitly! He wouldn’t give hernames or anything, but it’d be nice to talk to somebody about it. He wonderedwhat Maria would have said. Oh, no, but that would be even more awkward! He mighteven hurt her feelings bringing that up!There was no way he could ever have asked her about that!

Nerine on the other hand did not know how he felt. Or, atleast, he didn’t think so. He hoped not. No, of course not, she would have beenobvious about it surely. She would have teased him, right? Would she tease himnow? Probably.

Oh – whatever! Whatever! He was tired of holding it in! Itwas so tiring! He just wanted to know what to do!

“Relationship problems,” he finally murmured.

“Ooh, interesting,” she said. He could hear the smile in hervoice. “What’s up? Got a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Oh, is it that girl you’realways with? What’s her name…Mary?”

“Maria.”

“Hey, I was close. So, is she your girlfriend?”

“No,” he hastily responded. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Mm. So what’s going on?” He heard her shift and looked upto find that she’d rolled onto her stomach and was watching him, chin restingon her palms and feet kicked up behind her. “Go on.”

Kiku sighed, but he did appreciate that she was making ashow of listening to him.

“I, er, I like two women –”

“And you don’t know what to do!” Nerine interrupted. Hewould have been more annoyed if his situation had been less obvious. “Classic.Oh, but go on.”

He cleared his throat. “Right…um…” He stalled, her outbursthaving thrown him off. Not that he really knew how to go on. Thankfully Nerinecaught on quickly.

“Who do you like more?”

“I don’t know…”

“Okay, well what do you like about one of them?”

“Um…well, she’s very sweet and I’ve known her for a whilenow…I feel comfortable with her. And, um…we know each other very well…” Hetrailed off. Spirits, this was so awkward. Maybe he shouldn’t have done this…

“Aw, jeez, that’s not a lot to go on. But whatever,whatever. So what about the girl who isn’t Maria?”

Kiku’s cheeks turned pink. “How do you know I was talkingabout Maria? I-I mean, if I was talking about her at all. Don-Don’t look at melike that!” he snapped when Nerine’s grin widened.

“Gotcha,” she teased. “Okay, but go on. What about the othergal?”

Kiku cleared his throat before speaking. “She’s different.And, um, bold and brave. Not that M – the first girl isn’t, it’s just she’s so,uh, outgoing…” Oh, now this was difficult. How did he talk about Nerine to herwithout giving away that it was her? His blush was getting worse by the minute.

Then Nerine said, “Ooh, is it me?”

Now his cheeks were scarlet. “No!”

Nerine snickered, rolling onto her back. “Okay, okay, I won’ttorture you. Serious questions, I promise. Okay…you said you knew Maria – don’tlook at me like that, I outed you already – for a while. What about this othergirl? Have you known her as long?”

“No.”

“How long ago did you realize that you liked her?”

“Not very.”

“Why do you like her? Are you sure you really like her and it’s not just some ‘she’s different than what I’mused to and I think I’m attracted to that but later I found out that I’m not,it was just a silly crush’?” Kiku hesitated, giving her a curious look. “Look,it’s happened to me. So, why do you like her?”

Kiku opened his mouth, then hesitated and close it. He wasalmost horrified. Did he really only like Nerine because she was such a drasticchange of pace? Was that all?

Nerine reached up and gave his head an awkward pat. “’S okayif you can’t come up with a reason, Kiku. It happens.”

“She’s pretty,” he decided to say. “And she’s kind in an oddway. And she cares. Also in a bit of a strange way sometimes, but I like it.”

Nerine hummed. “Maria now. Why do you like her? Samereasons?”

“Um…yes, but it’s different…she’s kind, of course. Shealways listens, she’s patient. I feel safe and comfortable when I’m with her,and like I can be myself, I think. She doesn’t think I’m weird for being quiet,o-or I’m pretty sure she doesn’t…she’s got a beautiful smile, and her laughmakes me smile…” He trailed off with a wistful sigh.

Nerine sat up and gave him a warm smile, not a hint ofteasing in her eyes, and it was at this that he blushed the most. He hadn’teven payed much attention to what he was saying. It was all true, of course.Saying it out loud was a little embarrassing, but also so relieving.

“Go on.”

Surprisingly, he did. He gushed about Maria, something hehadn’t known he’d wanted to do for so long. He just wanted to tell someoneabout her without having to deal with any ‘awww’s or ‘Kiku you’re so adorable’or someone blurting out everything he said to Maria in an attempt to ‘help’that would really just humiliate him. He felt like he could trust Nerine withthis, though. She’d tease him, sure, but it was different than Yao teasing him.Though as he talked, she just gave him a warm smile. There still was one ‘oh, you’reso cute’.

“What should I do?” he asked once he’d said all he could. “Idon’t know what to do. I’ve never…you know.”

Nerine nodded. “Get her flowers and ask her out. Or just gether flowers. Simple enough, right?”

Kiku thought on it for a moment and nodded. “Right.”

And so the next morning he bought a bouquet of gardenias,then made the trip to the Jin Zhu estate on trembling legs. Maria met him atthe door, her grin growing wider when he presented the flowers to her.

“Would you like to take a walk with me?” he asked, holdinghis hand out to her.She took it without hesitation.

“Of course.”