#tiny bolin and mako

[heartilywrites]

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀،، 𝓜ine ; Korra

request guide | masterlist

resume: where Korra finds herself wondering about you.

content warning: comfort ; Korra x fem!reader ; Mako and Bolin being wingmen ; no use of y/n

wc: 1.1k

a/n: HI HELLO 👋🏼 i reappear here with a short tiny spontaneous korra fic to thank you for 100 followers and also to thank all the love you give to my writes you have no idea how it melts my heart knowing you all like what i write <33 i had my doubts since english is not my first language, but you all really make me want to keep writing !!! this os goes also for the ones asking me for more korra content and for the ones that have requested and i haven't posted your request, know that i am working on them. HOPE YOU ENJOY AND I'LL REOPEN REQUEST SINCE I'M BACK <33

“ I can't help it, I'm just selfish, there's no way that I could share you.

Mako was almost sure he could hear the way Korra's teeth were grinding. Her blue eyes were fixated in one specific point and her jaw clenching, he followed her gaze and his own eyes met your silhouette laughing with some other girl who was a little bit touchy with your arm

Korra and you didn’t have a romantic relationship... yet, she always says, it's only a matter of finding the right time and place to tell you and it definitely wasn't in a party celebrating the probending championship.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “You'll hurt your teeth if you keep doing that.” the firebender called for the avatar, cutting her thoughts on how she could fight the girl for you. “You should maybe do something about it and stop killing people in your mind when they're with her.”

Korra looked back at him, he knew about the girl's crush on you, just as Bolin and Asami did. Everyone in the group were well aware of how she ogled you at every chance she had to look your way.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I don't think here is the correct place, you know.” her eyes went back at the two of you, you now looked very interested in whatever the hell the girl was saying and that made her heart dropped.

That should be her making you laugh, that should be her having you look fondly and interested in anything she said. The avatar crushed her cup of water in her hand, Mako watched with his brows raised.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I'm just saying, you should start working before someone else make a move on her.” he finished taking a sip of his drink.

And for you... Just one person was aware of how you would ogled her when she was distracted.

Bolin gave you the idea on making Korra jealous so she could action, you tried to be the one to take the first step before and were met with a one-sided flirt or an interpretation of a friend outing instead of a date, so you gave up.

You didn’t know if your flirting was just bad and sad or Korra was ignoring it since she didn’t feel the same way about you, but it was the earthbender accidentally being a wingman saying how Korra didn’t stop talking about you and how pretty she found you on one of your dinners with him that made you decided that maybe you would wait for her to make a move when she felt comfortable enough... But it felt eternal.

You knew the plan your friend gave you was working when in a quick glance of the place while the girl was talking about some weird bending move she claimed to create your eyes bumped into Korra's for a second and the way her blue eyes looked cold and electric sent chills down your spine, so you continued with the plan.

Your hand looked to caress the firebender's arm with what would be interpreted as a second intention which made the girl move closer to you and Korra stood up from her seat scaring Mako who looked at her.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Uhh, Korra, I need you to think with a cold head what you'll do.” the guy at her side said and she moved her hand to shush him.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I got this, fuck time and place.” she said before making her way to you.

You were way too focused on not looking away to not give another impression that when the avatar took you by the arm and pulled you away you stumbled a little bit with your own feet.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “What the fuck!? Who–” your exclamation stopped mid sentence when your eyes met the blue ones and your legs almost failed you. “Korra...” the calling of her name left your mouth as if you were out of breath.

And you kinda were; the avatar had this serious grimace painted on her face and her aura felt intimidating. You heard the girl you were talking with protest to the avatar on how she was speaking to you, her eyes shot at her and Korra straightened her posture.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Yeah, well, she's going with me now.” she said tilting her head to the side. “Any problem with that?”

The firebender looked for help on your side but you were way too concentrated on Korra to notice anything else. She shrugged and went back to the bar.

Her eyes got back at you and you could actually see how they softened at your sight, non-verbally Korra requested to be out the place with you and you agreed.

The walk out was quiet, once the talks and music sounded distance you two took seats in the concrete stairs outside the place. Your eyes never left Korra, it was clear at how mesmerized and stunned you were at the scene, you imagined everything but that.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “I'm sorry if I was too harsh on you, I just...” her words mixed in the wind, she stopped to think of how to follow. “I was, uhm, I was jealous.”

Your heart skipped a beat, it worked.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “It's just... I couldn't bear to see you with anyone else that isn't me.” she continued, her gaze was avoiding yours until that sentence. That electric blue that made your legs shake met your curious eyes. “I've liked you for quite some time now... And I know this isn't the time or place to say it–.”

Your lips didn’t let her finish whatever she wanted to say as they were pressing hers, at first it was a shy tiny kiss which had Korra stunned at the action. When you pulled away, a flirty smile was growing in your face.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “You like me, you think of me, you couldn't see me with another girl, you were sooo jealous.” you teased her speaking over her lips. That gave Korra the courage to take you by the waist and place you on her lap, your eyes opened with surprise.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “What if I am? You're mine now, I don’t have to share you with anyone else.” she attacked back, feels of tingles at the brush of her lips on yours. “You're mine, aren't you? Can I call you mine?”

It definitely felt almost like a dream, one which you didn’t to wake up anymore. A big smile began to grow in your own mouth. “Of course, I'm yours all yours.”

You had so much to thank Bolin the next day.

[risingsoleil]

I hope you don't mind another question about Xue? What would be the relationship between her and the Krew? What cute moments could there be with them? Would they go for walks with her? Play with her? Would Linzin mind this? After reading a lot of cute things about Xue, I'd like to know a little more :3

I don't mind at all! Xue is a shy cutie :3

Xue gets along really well with people who are much older than her. She's an old soul in a tiny body. She struggles to connect with people her own age because most people around her are a lot older lol

With that said, she has a great relationship with Krew. They're like the cool big brothers and sisters who are basically aunts and uncles. Her siblings boss her around and are like "I'm telling Dad!" But not the krew lol

The Krew love Xue and are very protective of her. Linzin thinks Korra has grown up a lot so that she's not a bad social influence on Xue, but they are weary about Bolin. They know he means well, but he doesn't think things through and they don't want that rubbing of on their daughter.

Mako is the most like a parent to Xue lol he can be awkward around her because he's just not used to kids in general. He doesn't know how to smoohtly handle awkward or random questions

Asami is motherrrrrrr and Korra learns a lot about mentoring kids with her. Xue loves her because she's so pretty like Mommy, dresses pretty, and smells pretty

Some cute things the Krew and Xue do together

Go to the zoo

They carry her when she can't see over the guard rails. They eat shave ice together. They test Xue on which animal is which, and what sound does each one make.

They take her to the park to have fun and they gotta keep an eye on her bc she usually runs off after the birds

They draw with her on the island

They have water fights during summertime

Because of Bolin, they take her to the movers to watch one of the first animation movers in history

Xue is extremely shy with kids her own age because she seems so mature. She's surrounded by older people in general and she has a hard time making friends bc she doesn't connect with the "in" thing amongst her peers.

The Krew helps her by introducing her to other kids her age and building up the skills to survive elementary school

Linzin is thankful for that becaus they know they outdated in modern society lmao

[orangepanic]

In light of some of the previews we've seen of the upcoming Avatar series, here are a few of my own headcanons of what my favorite characters get up to in their peaceful old age.

Korra: Korra still loves bending and loves being the Avatar, but as her hips don't move the way they used to she now focuses on balancing her time between teaching her skills to others, keeping up with her network of world leaders and offering her advice and counsel, and hugging her many grandchildren so hard they squeak. Everyone's favorite grandma.

Mako: It took a while, but Mako finally sorted himself out. After a few turns at Chief of Police he realized he didn't much care for administration and retired. However, he still likes the puzzles, so he takes a few clients through his private detective agency where he can be the grizzled old gentleman with street smarts solving the cases the RCPD couldn't. It keeps him entertained and in slightly but not too much danger. His kids roll their eyes when he's on a case but the grandkids are enthralled by the idea that grandpa catches bad guys.

Bolin: Bolin realized at some point that he could balance his desire to help people with his love of fame and fortune and became a truly magnetic fundraiser. Eventually he starts his own fund for street kids. Three of his six boys took over management of his charity long ago but that doesn't stop Bolin from making the occasional cameo. Even at 88 he still looks good in his Nuktuk outfit.

Asami: Asami worked hard her whole life and loved every bit it. The classic career mom, she pioneered efforts like bring your child to work day and women not taking a back seat to their careers just because they wanted a family. But decades of having it all still take their toll, so she eventually retired and realized there was so much more to the world than improving or saving it. She spends her golden years balancing luxury travel with family time. Asami's postcards feature photographs of cocktails with tiny umbrellas on a backdrop of white sand or vistas from the tops of the old air temples.

Kuvira: After her prison term is up, Kuvira opts for a quiet life in an obscure part of the central Earth Kingdom. She doesn't try too hard to re-connect to the Zaofu crowd and instead channels her energies locally. She offers earthbending to anyone in the village in need of a helping hand, gives free bending lessons to the local kids, and takes an interest in gardening. When her dahlia irises win first prize at the county fair she's surprised to realize that she's happy.

Iroh II: Iroh II leans in hard to the Fire Nation's transition to democracy. Learning from Wu's mistakes he takes his time about it. The process gives him more gray hair in a shorter amount of time than he'd hoped for, but he wears it well, and eventually he makes himself irrelevant. Now in his 90s he's enjoying being little more than an ordinary Fire Nation citizen. He goes for long walks along the cliffs in the mornings with his dragon no matter the weather and has taken an interest in building scale models, which he lets the first of his great grandkids help with during his frequent visits even if his fingers don't quite have the coordination yet. Every time Iroh opens a newspaper and reads about the new administration he smiles broadly at the idea that it's not his problem.

[jade-of-mourning]

jobs

Mako is five; Naoki puts her hands on his shoulders and tells him that Mama and Baba are both busy today, and can he do a job for her? Yes! Mako is small and eager and so determined to be serious and responsible. Your job is to take care of your brother today, okay? And Mako nods and Naoki leaves, and he reaches on his toes to grab the jook off the counter when Bolin wakes and cries, and methodically shovels the food into his tiny baby brother's mouth when it drops open, and watches him while he's sleeping to make sure he doesn't choke on all the drool slipping out.

Mako is six; San and Naoki dress him up in a too-big uniform that will soon be well-worn and grow stitched-over tears again and again, and tell him it's his job to go to school — to learn, to get the education he needs to go further in life than they ever did. He applies himself to this job with dedication, swallowing the knowledge spewing from his teacher's mouth like iced babaozhou on hot summer days, turning the numbers in his head and marveling at how they fit together so perfectly.

Mako is eight; San hastily wraps his scarf around Mako's neck and tells him his job is to run away from this alley and find help and to not look back. There are tears in his eyes and he's scared, but Baba told him it's his job, so he turns away and he runs away from the alley. The screaming starts and Mako looks back, mesmerized by the flames lighting up the dark narrow walls closing in on him and framing his parents' silhouettes as they hit the gravel, frozen by the scent of burning hair carried to his nose by the smokey wind, terrified by the way the man grips his mother's limp body and groans.

(It's the first time Mako fails a job. The consequences are ceaseless. He resolves to himself that he will never, ever fail another job, because he will never unsee this night.)

Bolin is sobbing as they stand in the police station, shaking in Mako's arms. The police officer hauls his little brother off of him, tells him that he needs to recount what happened in a metal room that echoes too much. Mako can't bring himself to speak, his voice caught in his throat, and every time he tries to open his mouth, he chokes and feels like he might vomit all over these pristine floors, so he can't get anything out. Eventually, the officer gives him a sheet of paper and lets him attempt to write out what he can in shaky characters, and sends him back to his brother, still sobbing in the lobby. He holds onto Bolin like it's the first time he's ever touched a person, and remembers what Naoki told him when he was five: Your job is to take care of your brother.

Mako is nine; he is thin and small and alone, putting his food on Bolin's plate when the orphanage staff doesn't watch and holding Bolin at night when he cries. He fights the kids who make fun of Bolin's inability to stop crying at the right times — always with fists, never with fire, but the matron still tells him that he needs to control himself, because firebenders are dangerous. (Mako already knows that.) He's silent and detached, but it's enough for Bolin, until the day a couple comes to take Bolin away from him. Mako can't take care of his brother if Bolin is adopted, so that night, he takes Bolin and runs, and does not look back.

Mako keeps Bolin safe on the streets. He finds places to hide at night, away from the police that might come to take them away, away from the gangs that might try to recruit them. He collects newspaper and cardboard that they can sleep on, begs for scraps during the day and steals from the dumpsters during night to keep them fed. He teaches himself to learn apathy as fire sprouts to life in his palms for the first time in a year, learns to fight other street kids who are just as desperate as them and willing to do whatever it takes to survive, rust on his tongue and gold in his eyes. He fights and fights and fights to stay alive, to keep going despite the temptation induced by weariness — to take care of his brother.

Mako is ten; the cotton mill is always hiring kids to spin and weave to make the clothing that the people of Republic City wear, and searching in the dumpster isn't enough to feed their starving stomachs turned inside-out. The job cuts his fingers open on the vast machines, leaves him sweating like he's in the sweltering heat of the Fire Nation despite being the midst of winter; sends him crawling into the spaces between all the deafening, rattling creatures, because he's one of the smallest kids there, lanky bones and hollow skin and utterly pathetic. It's the first paid job Mako ever works, and every yuan dropped into his palm at the end of the week goes into the layers of his ratty clothes or into feeding their starving stomachs turned inside-out. At night, he bends the heat off of his body to keep them warm inside earth tents erected in the back of narrow alleys, slipping out of himself and forgetting.

Mako is eleven; Bolin is thin and sick and won't get better no matter how hard Mako tries to keep the fever down, and Mako sells himself. The job at the factory doesn't pay enough fast enough for him to afford help, even with the yuans he's been saving up since getting the job, and he can't do two jobs at the same time because there's not enough time in the day. Naoki has always told them to do good, to never get involved in crime, because Mako can't afford that if he ever wants to be someone. He hears about it from the other desperate street kids who say that there's decent upfront pay, and he's desperate. Afterwards, he doesn't limp back to the alley where he told Bolin to wait, instead hiding behind a sleazy bar and digging the heels of his hands into his eyes as he throws up bile and cries and tries to not lose himself to the haze. He hates himself more than he's ever hated someone in his life, aches. It doesn't pay quite enough for him to justify. Every minute now, Bolin is closer to death, and Mako's job is to take care of his brother. He turns to the triads.

(And he feels selfish, because he knows that it's because he can't bear the gross feeling crawling all over him, but. But.)

Mako's first job for the Triads is to run numbers, the delivery boy intermediating the transfer of drunkards' bets. He collects the slips and money, sliding between cigarettes and alcohol and sex, heady from the money dropped in his hands after reaching headquarters. Bolin is finally sleeping inside of walls and breathing easier and Mako feels a stark relief inside of him at the sight of his little brother's peace.

He bookkeeps when Shady Shin smokes too much and slips the numbers over to him, crunches numbers in an instant to ensure that odds are best turned in the gambler's favor if they're in the Triple Threats. People take notice of the way numbers flow in his head and slide some cash his way to use him, and Mako is filled with shame as he remembers his parents sending him to school to get the education he needs to go further in life than they ever did, filled with shame for using that education to fall further in life than they ever did.

He runs messages during drug transactions, stands on lookout during late-night raids. He fights fire with fire when he's told, a fierce intensity burning in his bones, vicious and biting until Viper takes the man out. He refuses to let Bolin get too involved, because there's a roof over their heads and real food in their stomachs, and Mako can handle keeping it this way alone.

Mako is twelve; lightning courses through his fingers and burns through his veins. Zolt catches the bolt and shoots it into the sky, matches his eyes to the seriousness and utter determination in the grimy kid's eyes. Mako is twelve, unrelenting and tenacious to take care of his brother, and all-too-easily forgets to be a person when his brother's safety comes into question. The separation of chi is easy, and Zolt laughs as he conjures up the lightning again and again and again, throwing it back and forth like a dangerous game of catch. He is unparalleled in age, but unknown to the world above the dirt he grew up as.

Mako is thirteen; he closes his eyes and sends cold fire into cold water.

(The scent of burnt hair is floating through the air over the dying screams hitting his ears, but Mako will not be sick.)

Mako is fifteen; he and Bolin are living in the attic of the pro-bending arena, under a conditional that demands them to fight and win. They sweep the arena floors each night after all the dizzy spectators have poured themselves out onto the streets like fish into the bay; they scrub the bathrooms and sinks and inspect the hundreds of seats for remnants of their ever-changing occupants. His job is to become a pro-bender — one that can win the tournament by the time they meet the age qualifications. He trains day-in and day-out; batters back the urge to fight low and dirty; learns to use the distance called for on the floor; refines his flame to be more precise, less raw.

He finds another job at the lightning-bending powerplant, where he can make money while they train up to enter the tournament. They hire him promptly, Mako fulfilling the criteria of performing the relatively uncommon task, and despite the exhaustion weighing down his bones at the end of each shift, he's paid more than he ever was as a ten-year-old spinning cotton between deafening factory machines. They still need to buy groceries, still need to eat and save up money — because even though they currently have a place in the arena while they clean and train, nothing stays.

Mako is seventeen; his job is to win the pro-bending tournament, and Hasook doesn't turn up. They can't participate if they don't have a waterbender. Mako bites his tongue until he tastes rust and narrows his gold eyes and feels a panic crawling up his spine; there are consequences for failing to do the job.

And there is a girl, bright and blazing and clad in blue, and she fights for them without gravity. She's the Avatar and she's terrible at following rules she doesn't know, and they are beaten down, and Mako thinks that it's over — until something clicks within her.

(Mako's life will never be the same.)

The first time Mako has a job that he truly loves without reservation is when he joins the Republic City Police Force, a job that means something more to him. Something he feels redeems himself as a desperate kid on the streets, unable to do anything to help himself, something he feels can help the desperate kids on the streets he used to be. Lin Beifong offers him an application after seeing his work with Korra despite knowing his past in running with the Triads; tells him that he's a good fighter, that he's got a good head on his shoulders and that she'd like him to stay on the right side of the law for it. Tells him that the job pays well, searching his eyes, and he knows he needs a steady way to take care of his brother. Deep down he's always known that pro-bending isn't sustainable, just an opportunity to be something more than the orphan, the scrappy firebending street-rat, the lightning-bending gangster. He applies himself to the job like he's done with every job in the past, a vigor and determination coursing through his veins to do right, and for once, he feels that he's succeeded.

(Mako is twenty-one; his arm is wrapped in a sling, and the city that chewed him up and spat him out is in absolute ruin around him. He's indefinitely suspended from the police force because Beifong refuses to let him work while he's still healing, and there's a gaping hole in his life that he's always filled with needing to do one job or another. Bolin looks at Mako shut in his empty apartment's bedroom, losing himself after his suspension.

You've made it your job your entire life to take care of me, Bolin tells him, swallowing hard. But I'm okay now, don't you see? You can rest now. You don't need to work right now.

But —

No. Bolin is firm. It's my turn to take on this job. Let me take care of my brother.)

my ao3 (not posted there… yet?)

i accidentally spontaneously manifested this in three hours. um. i dunno if i want this on ao3 or not cuz i was planning to just write a silly tumblr post going "do you ever think about how mako has been working his entire life" and it accidentally became 2.1k words. it's a little bit scuffed. it's almost 3:00 AM and i haven't proofread. hope it's cohesive! apologies if not lmfao

(i wrote one completely different paragraph last night, then i was suddenly fixed by a need to write more just now :P)

[nyamadermont]

Bolin's Inadvertent Observations

#FFF284 Noticing Small Things

@flashfictionfridayofficial

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

834 words

That’s interesting, Bolin thought. 

He felt his face pinch a little as he tried to remember the last time Lin had thanked Pema for anything. 

***

Bounding up the last few steps, Bolin checked his little bouquet of weasel-daisies. Opal was back from her trip to the Eastern Air Temple, and the tiny yellow flowers with red… centers (whatever they were called) had been blooming around the fence at the edge of the pier back in the city. 

The growl he heard behind him was enough to make him skitter to one side to make room for Beifong, who hadn’t spoken a word to him the entire ferry ride over. Looking back, he could see Mako much further back from his boss than usual. When their eyes met, Mako waved at him, and - for once - Bolin understood to give Lin space and not talk to her. 

So when he heard Tenzin’s voice coming down from the plaza, he was in position to see Lin…

Smile?!

***

Bolin set his basket down and pulled his list, the way Mako had taught him. He fished the stubby little pencil out of his pocket, and re-checked every item in his basket. When he got to the package of ramune, he imagined Mako’s exasperation and Opal’s excitement. 

He thought he could afford to make Mako mad if Opal was happy. 

Behind him, he heard the shopkeeper greet a new customer… whose responding voice made him turn around. 

“Hello, Tan. I wanted to introduce you to Pema,” said the Chief. “We had lunch with Kya at her clinic, and she wanted to see your store.”

Was Pema holding Lin’s elbow?

***

Bolin jogged out of the kitchen and wrestled his shirt off, hoping there was a dry spot to wipe his face with. Sister Xijing had shooed him out of the kitchen to the laundry, telling him to hurry before the stain set. 

Just as he got the shirt over his head, he collided with…

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

Ikki. 

They picked themselves up in the middle of a flood of clothes. Ikki shoved the basket off of herself and boosted herself on a gust to stand. “Bolin! You’re going to help me clean all this up! Mom told Meelo to take this to the laundry but then he disappeared with Uncle Bumi and Mom told me I had to do it because the basket is too big for Rohan and Jinora is a master so she doesn’t have to do stupid chores like the acolytes do and I might be an airbender but I still have to do all the work and Meelo is going to be hearing from me!”

Bolin gaped, hoping he’d understood half of what he’d just heard. But he clamped it shut again when she started picking things up. He scrambled to his feet, and started pulling up various brown, saffron, and ochre linens. 

But when he got to the black pants and plain white sleeveless shirt, he held them up. They didn’t look like anything else there. 

“Oh, that's Lin’s,” Ikki said nonchalantly. “She sleeps…”

She cut off and he glanced at her.

“Over, sometimes. Gimme.”

Was that a blush on her face?

***

The ball sailed far over his head, and Bolin whirled around to grab it before it got lost in the bushes behind the family quarters. 

He rounded the back of the house and watched the ball roll right under said bushes. 

He glanced behind himself and reached out with his earthbending, creating a little trench for the ball to roll back to him. 

He bent down to grab the ball, and straightened again… only to be met with a sight that froze him in place. 

Lin had been dressed more casually at dinner than he remembered ever seeing her before, with a short, light green tunic that reached just past her elbows. She had chatted amicably with Mako and Kya and Ikki all through dinner.  

Over on the bench at the side of the patio behind the kitchen, she was still chatting amicably, he thought. 

He just hadn’t expected her feet to be in Tenzin’s lap. 

Or for him to be rubbing her feet. 

He started to slowly back away from what he didn’t quite understand. The sound of the kitchen door opening made him freeze again, hoping no one would notice him.

If her feet are off the ground, I’m probably safe, he thought.

Pema emerged from the kitchen with a tea tray. He was close enough to realize she was bringing out three cups. Which made sense.

And it made sense that Pema gave Tenzin a kiss when she handed over his cup of tea.

What didn’t make sense was when she kissed Lin, too.

***

Opal stomped her foot in frustration. “Bolin, you haven’t been to the Island for dinner in a month. What’s going on?”

Bolin rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.

“Have you spent much time with Lin recently? I’ve been noticing some small things…”

[beifong-brainrot]

Tlok Lord of the rings au because i'm squishing my hyperfixations together like a crazy lil 5 year old.

Korra- I'd say dwarf... she matches the stereotypical dwarf personality to a T. Notoriously stubborn, loyal and hardy. The most resistant to the corruption of evil as well. Also, controversial opinion... out of the Krew, Korra deserves a beard most. Also. Give her an axe. Or a sledgehammer. Let her wreak havoc. I think her family would come from Khazad-dûm and be directly related to the line of Durin. Though I feel like she'd reside in the Blue Mountains and unlike most of her kin, she'd have an appreciation for water and the sea.

Asami- Elf. Elf. With her glorious hair and agility??? Hell yeah. She'd be descended from the Avari and live in Mirkwood. I think the moral ambiguity and hostility of the Mirkwood elves touches nicely on Asami's original role as a villain. Also coming from such a combative area would have her learning combat as well, if even better, than her canon counterpart.

Also korrasami would be super cute as a dwarf/elf relationship lol. Korra's already canon shortie. And it would replicate their little rivalry in season 1. Just instead of fighting over Mako, they're fighting over centuries of mutual racial animosity.

Bolin and Mako - ok. Im getting real controversial here. Hobbits. Fucking hobbits. Now. Hear me out. More Brandybuck/Took coded hobbits I'd say. Probably grown up in Bree... tiny orphans in a big world. So sad.

Bolin is an easy pick. Although he's pretty big and bulky, his character has a lot in common with typical hobbits. Not a coincidence that my two fave characters are him and Samwise Gamgee... I love my dirt himbos. Bolin has that gentle, cheerful hobbit vibes. And he likes food too lol.

Mako also has hobbit vibes, I'd argue. However he has a lot of that hobbit typical caution ans suspicion towards the outside world. I could see him valuing a home and prosperity...give this man a hobbit hole He's so stressed he deserves it.

Tenzin, Kya and Bumi. - half elves, Rivendel. Tenzin is basically Elrond, ok? Bumi chose humanity good for him. Kai is the scruffy human they adopted à la Aragorn.

Lin and the Beifongs- honestly was stumped at this one... but I kinda think humans, particularly Dúnedain of Arnor. A noble people, now acting as Rangers, protectors of the land... matches Lin, our favourite chief of police, huh?

[miloscat]

[Review] The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins (3DS)

A cromulent companion game.

Platinum's console/PC Korra game was accompanied by a 3DS release. Well I say accompanied; unlike that game, Activision only bothered to release this one in North America. Now I finally have a chance to play it thanks to custom firmware! I know developer Webfoot Technologies best for their Legacy of Goku GBA games, and now here they are with another handheld game based on an animated licence. But how does this tactics RPG stack up against its action sibling?

Despite the new subtitle, this game is built on the same story as the console game. Creepy old guy blocks Korra's bending, the alliance of Triads/Equalists/dark spirits, returning to the Spirit World via the South Pole. But this version has some additional details, like the inclusion of Amon's lieutenant as a miniboss, Korra seeking the advice of spirits in Republic City's spirit wilds only for them to turn dark and attack, or visiting Wan Shi Tong's library for help relearning spiritbending (complete with a boss fight against the big owl himself!) I also enjoyed entering the cosmic universal energy dimension for little puzzle challenges when Korra was regaining her bending powers. In addition to these additions, a big change in how things play out is the extended cast joining her on the adventure, an upside to the shift in genre.

From the start, Bolin and Mako are with Korra, then Tenzin and Kya join in, and finally Lin making for a team of six bending powerhouses. Bumi and, sadly, Asami are still conspicuously absent. But the extra tag-alongs make for actual conversation and more convincing bridging exposition in cutscenes, more appropriate elemental tutelage as Korra relearns her bending styles, and some choice quips. For example, we learn that Bolin named his fists Juji and Roh-tan after Nuktuk's animal sidekicks, and that he has become genre-savvy as a result of his mover career: "when there is fog, something bad happens."

There are understandable presentational drawbacks that offset this. Gone are the full animated sequences, replaced by brief motion comic-style cutscenes. There’s no voice acting either, which is fair enough. And gameplay just cannot look as flashy when you’re just moving sprites around a grid.

To be fair, the sprites look very good. And you get an adorable graphic of Korra riding Oogi on the menu screen. When it comes time to make an attack, the game cuts to a short (and skippable) 3D sequence showing the results, complete with decent little models doing mocapped martial arts moves. The spirits and the main antagonist Hundun can look a bit goofy in these but the mecha tanks are pretty cool if low-detail. The latter in particular have hilariously tiny sprites on the battle map, a stark contrast to their humongous chungus depiction in Platinum’s game.

The tactical gameplay is competent for the most part with decent map designs. The controls and interface can be a bit clunky but they get the job done. There’s a shield mechanic that’s a neat twist, as well as an elemental weakness system that lets you bypass the shields. I liked how each character had their own niche: Mako has many ranged attacks, Lin and Bolin get area effects, Kya can heal, and Tenzin can replenish mana energy points which I had him doing almost every turn once he learned it.

Any attack or even healing and support moves get you experience points which is nice, and every other level-up you get to choose between two skills. These can be new moves or passive bonuses but choose carefully because you can’t change them later! I found myself with a Korra who only knew waterbending for the vast majority of proceedings, and you only get one shot at each other element. Everybody was max level (15) a few stages before the end, but if you’re having trouble with a battle there’s a training stage you can do freely for some extra XP and money (used for buying healing items). You can’t replay completed levels though, even though you get graded on side objectives.

I was pleased by this little tie-in. I’m not a huge expert on tactics RPGs but this one seems good for intermediate gamers like me, not too punishing. There’s some amount of crunchy depth to the elemental system and using each character effectively. And as a Korra fan it’s nice seeing the characters and world rendered in a different style, especially those cute sprites. Not to mention the slight expansions to the storyline. If you’ve got a 3DS, there’s no reason not to head to your local flea market hShop to pick this up!

[gaybd1]

Thinking about how Mako and Bolin grew up on the same street as the Triple Threats and their parents always taught them to keep their heads down and spot triad activity.

Thinking about how Bolin was too young but Mako kind of made a Detective Game out of it. He knew they were dangerous and he kept his distance but he could always tell who was who and when something was going down.

Thinking about the boys losing their parents (we never talked about it but were they killed by a triad member??) and Mako using all of his tiny resourcefulness to keep Bolin alive but it’s Not Enough

Thinking about Mako putting Bolin to bed and pulling himself up to the door to the Triple Threat’s’ hideout, not having eaten properly in weeks or months, starvation burning just as much of a hole in his stomach as his shame, knowing this is the opposite of what his parents wanted for him but knowing there’s no other way, knocking on the door, telling them he knows exactly what their business is, and demanding food and a job in that order.

[litsnobconfessions]

A Year of Animation Day 45: Your Name/Cinderella

Date: February 14, 2025

Day: 45

Content Watched: Your Name

Year: 2016

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Disney Double Feature: Cinderella

Year: 1950

Rating: G

Run Time: 1 hour 19 minutes

I watched Your Name and Cinderella back to back because Valentine's Day, and I can tell you that without a doubt, Your Name is my preferred movie of the two. This is not to say that Cinderella is bad by any means. On the contrary, I think Cinderella is superior to both Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty, and representative of why Disney became so popular. Like the others it is beautifully animated. I was particularly impressed with the lighting. I love the way Cinderella is "imprisoned" behind bars of shadow as she enters her stepmother's room after Anastasia finds Gus in her cup. I do think the lighting is not as impressive as the lighting in Your Name, which, in turn, I think is not as impressive as the lighting in Nimona. But when you consider the release years of these films, it's clear that this is because our ability to light animated movies has improved and is no slight against any of the animators.

But what really makes Cinderella stand out is the physical comedy. This movie is incredibly funny, and virtually none of it due to the central characters. Without the mice, this movie would be the most boring thing on the planet. You know how I kept talking about these tiny expressions that Zuko and Iroh and Mako and Bolin give each other that say a lot? Well, Cinderella does that with the mice, who, quite, frankly, are more expressive than the humans, who, in my opinion, look kind blobby and featureless, especially after watching the crisp, detailed characters of ATLA and Korra (almost certainly an effect of improved technology with which to produce and view animation.) 

Cinderella also benefits handily from the music. It's been ten years since Fantasia came out, and someone realized that pairing animation with musical hits was the forte of Disney animators. Every beat is perfectly aligned with what's happening on screen, and it's what adds to the comedy. Considering I'm not half as interested in the human characters (except the duke, the king, and footman--increasingly minor human characters who add increasingly more physical comedy), I kind of wish they'd just done away with Cinderella all together and told a story about the mice. Oh wait. Somebody already did that. It's called Tom and Jerry.

There is a little bit of comedy among the human characters--Druzilla singing off key and Anastasia declaring, "I'm so elligible." As mentioned before, they also do a good job with visual symbolism, and Cinderella losing her shoe on a staircase is a rule of three (girl needs some straps on those shoes!) She is also better dressed than Zuko (she has six different outfits, some with different hairstyles), but she's the only one. All this is pointing me to the conclusion that while Disney has great animators, it was lacking in storytellers. Maybe the animation took too much time, or maybe our idea of what makes a good story has changed over time, which brings me to Your Name.

I watched Your Name knowing nothing about it, and I'm so glad I did. I think that this is a great way to watch it the first time because the story is so unexpected. Nevertheless, I'm about to spoil it for you. The movie opens with the female lead, Mitsuha, who does not remember the previous day, during which she apparently behaved very much out of character. We see Mitsuha's day, her problems, and her desire to leave her small down in the country for a big city. At the end of the day, she says she hopes to be reborn in the next life as a boy in Tokyo. And in the next scene, that's exactly who she is. Only, she's been dropped into the middle of a new life, and has no idea what's going on. I loved starting in the middle of this mystery the same way she was, and trying to figure it out, especially after the male lead, Taki (the boy in Tokyo) showed up. It reminded me of the experience of reading The Will of the Empress for the first time and trying to decipher all the narration around Briar coming home. I figured it out only a scene or two before they did--they were switching places.

But that's not all! Halfway through the movie, they stop switching places, and when Taki goes looking for Mitsuha, based only on his vague memories of the landscape around her town, he discovers that their lives were not only in different places, but also three years apart, and her village was destroyed when the nucleus of a comet broke off and struck the town. At this point, the cute body-swap rom-com turns into a sci-fi in which Taki must find a way to swap with Mitsuha one more time so he can save her. And I am here for all of it.

If you've been following me, you may have noticed that I've read several romance novels lately, and I hate all of them. I am very picky about my romance stories, and I find with many, such as The Keeper of the Stars, which I read most recently, they are very mundane. Boy meets girl and then nothing else happens. Which leads a lot of authors to create convoluted plotlines that don't even make sense (like my mother and your ex-girlfiend worked together to keep us apart for six weeks, and though we saw each other again, you still didn't propose as you had originally intended because... reasons.) Furthermore, the lack of any other action feels like there's not a lot to the characters. They're just carboard cut outs that were made to smooch. This has led me to wonder if this is just how romance books are. Because once you add in another plotline, doesn't it just become a different genre with a romantic subplot? Your Name answered that question with a resounding no. 

This does not feel like a sci-fi story with a romantic subplot. It feels like romance with a sci-fi subplot. In my opinion, modern authors could learn a lot from this movie's storytelling. Also, the way they interfere with one another's lives makes them feel like real teenagers who have things going on, even though this is a montage and we don't see all that much of day to day living. Furthermore, when they fall in love, it's believable because they've gotten to know one another via the body swapping. It's not like Cinderella singing "this is love" about a dude she's known for five minutes. Taki's boss even notes the shift when they have a date together and she tells him, "you used to have a crush on me. But you're different now. Now you like someone else." Love doesn't happen instaneously, and this movie awknoledges that.

Of course, I just like a good time-travel story, and Your Name reminded me a lot of Arrival, which is one of my all-time favorite films. Furthermore, once I started looking for information on how Your Name was made and skimmed other reviews of it, I discovered that like Arrival, there are a lot of hints as to what is going on. There are scenes of the two characters scolling through the calendars on their phones, and if you look carefully, you'll notice the same date on different days of the week. And there are posters and wall calendars that show years that don't match up. The attention to detail, once I saw this, blew my mind. 

And this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to details in the animation, none of which I noticed on a first watch. Mitsuha has a hair ribbon which she gives to Taki after the swap in her timeline, but before the swap in his. He wears it as a bracelet, but Mitsuha doesn't wear it when she's in his body. Likewise, he doesn't wear the ribbon in Mitsuha's hair when he's in her body. Therefore, you can tell who's in control of the body based on whether or not they are wearing the ribbon. The animators also gave the two characters different body language, which they use even in each other's bodies. So Mitsuha, while eating lunch with Taki's friends, sits primly on her knees, and Taki, used to sprawling his legs, doesn't understand the implications of what this means for a girl wearing a short skirt.

And while we're in the neighborhood, let's address Hypothesis 4 and look at a scene of Taki walking through Tokyo (or maybe it's Mitsuha. I didn't think to look for the bracelet.) Tokyo looks like Tokyo. It looks like a bustling city. There are other people walking up and down the street. There's a lot going on. By contrast, Cinderella looks completely empty. Even at the ball, we have shots of the prince meeting individual girls, and we never really see a crowd. The closest we come is when Cinderella and the prince begin their waltz. There are other party-goers on the edge of the frame, but they are static. Then we zoom in and pull a literal curtain over the scene, giving an excuse to draw only two characters, who are seen from a distance for most of the sequence. Don't get me wrong, the dance in the garden is beautiful. But it doesn't have a lot of motion.

Compare this to the dancing scene from ATLA. Yes, when Aang and Katara are dancing, the background characters are usually static. But there are some shots at the beginning of their dance which focus on the background characters, reminding us that there are other people at this party. And none of this is to mention that before and after Aang and Katara's dance number, there are lots of shots of other party goers dancing. Furthermore, Aang and Katara's dance uses more camera angles, and the moves are more complicated. (Also, Katara's hair moves. Cinderella's doesn't.) If you're definition of good animation is based on motion and complexity, ATLA is clearly superior.

Your Name also uses an interesting technique to make places feel populated, even when the animation is focused on a single character: dialogue. In one scene, Mitsuha is in her classroom, uncovering a message Taki left in her journal. But in the background, the lesson is still going on. The teacher is asking questions. Students are making jokes with one another. Because we started with a classroom shot that showed us the teacher and other students, the filmmakers are able to cut to simpler animation while maintaining the feel of a busy space by continuing the background dialogue. Cinderella doesn't even employ this tactic, but I think this kind of a tecnique wasn't really being used, even in live-action, until M*A*S*H came out twenty years later.

I want to end by talking about my favorite scene from Your Name, when Taki and Mitsuha finally meet face to face, due to the magic of twilight. Alan Seawright of Cinema Therapy claims that you could take an enitre class on this one scene an come out a better filmmaker. But the part I want to talk about is at the end. Taki tells Mitsuha they should write their names on each other's hands so they don't forget each other. She takes the pen, the romantic music swells, she puts it to his hand, and... the pen falls to the ground. The music cuts abruptly. Twilight is over. They can no longer see one another and interact. Once again, they are three years apart. I love this moment because it felt so daring. It's not the kind of thing I'm used to seeing in a film. And it worked. I felt the same way that Taki did at that moment. And that's why it's brilliant. 

And so they forget each other's names. But Mitsuha is still able to save her town (of course), and years later, when they see each other, there's a deeper recognition. And the dubbed version of the movie ends with them asking, in unison, "what's your name?" And thus, the last two words are the movie's title.

[heartilywrites]

hello!! can I request a kuvira x fem!r where reader worked for kuvira but was apart of team avatar like bolin and a prompt "I know that this is not what you want to hear..." thank you!!

،، 𝓐lways Forever ; Kuvira

resume: where you were Kuvira's right hand but... are you really?

content warning: Kuvira x metalbender and fem!reader ; s4 set ; baatar jr jumpscare (i don't like him, sorry-) ; no use of y/n

wc: 3.2k

a/n: HI HELLO 👋🏼 i feel that I'm missing stuff in here, but at the same time i think it's good how it is??? HOPE YOU ENJOY :D

“ Don't make me cry, though I still got love for you and haven't got over you yet.

Hands covered with white gloves moved around the map to corroborate your binnacle.

Northwest, near Zigan Village... wait, didn't the military already helped that village...? No, you would've registered it when—

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “HEY, MISS GEOGRAPHY!” Bolin screamed walking to you, giving you a tiny heart attack. “Watcha doin'?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Fucking spirits, Bolin...” you said out of breath, turning fully his way. “Do you need something?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "The boss wants us all reunited, we are close to the town." your friend let his arm rest on your shoulders. "Should we go reunite with Mako and Asami while we are there?"

A sound of consideration vibrated in your throat while your face made an expression of thinking. “I don't think they can, Bo, Mako is occupied being a detective and Asami has a whole company to run, remember?”

You felt how your friend got discouraged after that, a small sigh left his lips.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Maybe you're right..” he said in a small voice.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “But maybe we can reunite with them after the coronation. Who knows? Korra could be back in the city by now too.” you tried to encourage the lavabender back, poking his side. He smiled.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Oh! I wish! She hasn't answer any of my letters to her, you know? And I wrote to her with dedication.” Bolin ranted making you laugh.

After the avatar left Republic City to heal in the Southern Water Tribe, Bolin had found out Kuvira's plan to save the Earth Kingdom from chaos herself and he decided to walk in the team as he really wanted to have his and his father's nation back to peace. One week later, he came to you talking you into joining too, assuring it would be to have the nation united until the new king took possession of his place.

You did take a couple days to consider his proposal and ended up showing to the train with your stuff, being met with a big hug from your friend and a welcome speech from the leader.

The team was small when you joined, so you had the honor to see Kuvira recruit more people for the good cause... At least that was what she made everyone believe, even you.

You were able to take a good position in Kuvira's circle, you managed the villages reports for her and that made you be close to her. She remembered you from the team's visit to Zaofu where you would be kind to everyone, she taught you some new metalbending moves you didn't know and that was also part of the reason you joined: Kuvira herself.

Having to be almost every single hour of the day by her side gave you the opportunity to meet her in more depth than how it happened back in the metal clan's city and in a blink of an eye, there wasn't a way anyone could see one without the other. Everyone started to notice how important you began to be for the young leader. Unofficially, you were her right hand, but even with such a high rank there were stuff Kuvira kept from you.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Everyone has a room assigned, we'll take the presidential suite.” Kuvira informed, pointing at you and then back at her. “We'll meet outside before the event.”

Baatar looked at you with narrow eyes before walking behind his new roommate Bolin. The metalbender and you made your way to the suite and began to settle; since the presidential suite had two connecting rooms she took the principal one and you the small one.

After leaving your stuff, you walked to her room and sat on the bed while she was getting ready for the coronation.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Are you sure to go on with your plan?” you asked after a small talk took place about the room being pretty, her sharp eyes looked at you from the mirror.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Of course, this new little king they want on the throne is nothing but a buffoon.” she answered, her eyes went back to her reflection. “And the Kingdom needs someone strong and respected to keep it together.”

You sighed and nodded with a little 'I guess' coming out of your mouth. The black haired walked to you, sitting by your side she took one of your hands.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Trust me, this is for the best. The new Empire will be stronger and far better than the previous Earth Kingdom.” her eyes searched for yours and when they met, her gaze softened. “You trust me, don't you?”

A sweet smile began to creep in your face, your head nodded once more. “I do, I trust you blindly.” your free hand reached for her cheek to leave caresses on it.

The door opened without any warning and the engineer walked, freezing after seeing you two close. He cleared his throat making the two sets of eyes turn his way. “All set, we need to go.” and he left.

You looked back at Kuvira with a funny smile, she shook her head. “Let's go, new leader.” A quick kiss on her cheek was left before distancing from the girl and walking to the exit.

At the coronation, everything went like you thought it would: People opposing, people showing support and Wu looking defeated at the border of a tantrum.

Bolin looked at you confused and you shrugged a little bit, like saying he needed to talk to her directly about it and that's what he planned to do after the ceremony.

When you came back to the room after having lunch with some of the soldiers to make time, you saw Suyin leaving the same, she looked at you and shook her head almost with disappointment before continuing her way.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Hey, what happened? I saw Suyin leave.” you asked directly coming in, Kuvira was standing with her arms crossed.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “We are leaving to Zaofu.” she limited to say, going to her room for her stuff.

You knew what was going to happen, she have been thinking about getting Zaofu into the new Empire for quite some time now, it was almost all she spoke about while talking about not letting the king rule.

Near the city, Bolin was called and told to be of company to both her and Bataar in a negotiation reunion with the matriarch of the city and her family, you were requested to stay on camp to keep working and that's what you did.

While looking through some paperwork that you knew got mixed up with Bataar's in his tent, you found blueprints for weapons you've never seen before, notes on the weapons about them being deadly and how each one could help in different areas. Your brow frowned and then, the dots connected.

Trying to look calmed you took your papers and walked back out like nothing. Bolin was also walking out of Kuvira's tent with a pale face, when he spotted you his feet almost ran your direction and took you by the shoulders.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Kuvira is not what we think she is!” he screamed in a whisper, your eyebrows raised, he knew too.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “What? Why–” he pulled you to your tent so you could talk. “What are you talking about, Bolin?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “She just threatened me,” your eyes widened. “She wants to take the city by force, that's what we have been doing all this time! Taking cities by force and apparently making them work like slaves too!”

You blinked to all of the information. “Holy fuck, so that's why...” your sentence stopped, now you understood why there were documents with censored information being delivered to you instead of the official ones.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Yeah, holy fuck that's why!” he backed up, pulling down his face. “We need to do something, there's no way we'll leave it like this.”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Let me... Let me talk to her, you need to go for Varrick, I know he can help us, he was captured because of the vines I heard.” you said, spaced out on your spot, you looked back at him. “Try to get out of here with him and talk to the team, I know they can help us, Korra will help us.”

The guy nodded before going out like a man on a mission, you stayed to clear your thoughts and try to come with a way to persuade her. After collecting a couple of documents that needed approval, you made your way to her tent, Baatar was there.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “You can leave.” she said to him, the man left with a grimace, you rolled your eyes at him. “Hey, I was about to look for you, want to eat dinner?”

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Oh, sure.” you smiled, standing still with your folder, Kuvira raised an eyebrow.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ “Is... something wrong? Something happened with the reports?” she asked meticulously, almost like fearing any discoveries you had made.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "No, sorry, I just... I feel tired." you walked to her and handed the folder. "I need your approvals here so I can send these."

The girl nodded and took the paperwork to start the process, you bit your bottom lip before breathing in deep.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Listen, I talked to Bolin..." her hand stopped and she froze. "Kuvira, I know you want to have the whole Kingdom united, but taking the city by force is not a good idea."

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Sometimes you need to do whatever it takes to make a greater good." her response left a bad mouth taste, she looked back up at you. "I know this is something you don't want to hear, but we need to make them join to our cause so we can move forward as a nation together. I'm doing this for us."

You stood in silence, that was definitely a different Kuvira talking and it scared you a little bit.

It took you that conversation to come up with a plan, you'd stay with her to try and stop everything from the inside and fortunately you weren't alone. Zhu Li had a similar idea with the canyon they were building and so you relied on her, both had meetings from time to time to discuss progress, but it was until the Beifongs were freed and she left with them for her safety that you were all alone. You trusted she would tell everything to the team.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Okay, you can look now." your own hands moved from your eyes, confused you looked up to see a giant robot and now both eyes were wide open. "Do you like it? It's to take Republic City back."

Your blood froze in your veins at the view you were having, it was not only the giant robot, it was the fact that you could see a canyon on its right arm. "I thought... I thought we were going to do a big canyon."

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "That was the first plan, but Baatar came up with this new model and it would be easier to mobilize around the city." you nodded still hypnotized by the weapon.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I think this is going to be such a great idea." you said what she wanted to hear, Kuvira smiled satisfied. "What will I do?"

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "You will be with me on the main control room." your mind was running miles trying to devise a plan to let the team know.

With the luck against you, you found yourself at the control room without being able to warn anyone about anything. Horrified at the sight of the canyon destroying everything in just seconds, you were grieving silently what had been your home for all those years alive.  When the president surrendered the city, you felt your soul fall to your feet, but her instructions to them gave you an idea.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I'll go!" you almost screamed at her, she turned your way confused. "With Baatar, Korra is my friend, she trusts me, I know she won't try anything with me there. You'll have the city, the army and the avatar." You nervousness made your hands twitch a little bit, you hid them in your back.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Okay," she said after a few seconds of silence, Kuvira walked up to you and cupped your face in her hands.‍ "Be careful, I'll wait for you so we can rule together." She left a kiss close to the corner of your lips.

A soft smile was your response while your eyes scanned her face one last time, trying to burn the image of her in your brain and after that, you left to meet the engineer.

The first half of the journey was quiet, both of you were walking towards his office, but with healthy distance between the two.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "She likes you, you know?" he spoke out of the blue, catching your attention, you looked up from the floor and back at him for a second.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "What...?"

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Kuvira, she likes you." he continued, you stopped a second in your steps, confused.‍ "We were trying something at the beginning of all of this, but after Bolin got you on the team she had been distant to me and this morning she said we needed to talk after this is over, I know she likes you, I've seen the way she looks at you."

You blinked in awe to what was said, that explained why he always looked at you with some type of resentment, you laughed a little bit to the thought of him hating you for ruinning his 'chance' with the leader.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "The destiny is such a funny thing." you murmured, it was almost relieving to know that maybe you did had your chance with the metalbender, you wished the situation was different so you could maybe be with her dispite all, but now you had one mission: stop her.

Once at the door, you unlocked it and walked in, as soon as Baatar walked you heard him grumble. In an automatic way, you adopted a defensive position, however when the avatar looked at you, a smile as big appeared on your face.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Korra!" you exclaimed walking towards her to embrace a hug, she giggled.‍ "I'm so glad to see you here."

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I'm glad to see you too," she said smiling, a couple seconds later, she distanced herself.‍ "Zhu Li told us everything, we're taking Baatar, are you coming with us?"

Without a second thought you nodded and followed the girl out of the airship.

Once at Asami's factory you greeted everyone with joy, feeling like a weight was lifted up your shoulders and when you saw Bolin your eyes watered a little bit.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I thought you did die!" you said while hugging him with a little strength, he was giggling with pauses.‍ "I didn't have any way to communicate and then Zhu Li left and I was all alone."

The older woman patted your back with a comprehensive smile, while everything went down you stood at the back with your friend, waiting for a conclusion. When the engineer talked to her, your stomach felt fumbling and it didn't get better listening to her answer him. She asked for you and the man told her that you were with him, they had taken you too.

Seeing how the leader shoot at the factory without considering if any of you two would make it out alive somehow made you feel sad, but there wasn't time for any of that as everyone got to action trying to stop her. Lin had given metal string for you to move around and a quick tutorial on how to use it, it took you a couple of falls for you to have the transportation managed.

The fight was intense, there were times were you thought you would not make it alive in one piece. All your muscles were aching in pain at the overwork with your bending, sweat was dripping off your face, but when everyone got into the suit you took the time to rest a little bit with Asami by your side when you went to look for her after she was ejected from the hummingbird suit. Your arms were around her, giving her comfort in her now grieving time.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I hope they can defeat her." she said, resting her head in your shoulder. You looked to the robot's way and saw fire reflecting, a tiny smile appear.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I'm sure they will." you said back.‍ "I just wish things were different... I don't recognize Kuvira anymore."

Asami was attentive to you, she gave you a comprehensive gaze.‍ "Things happen for a reason."

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I know that, but-" your talk was interrupted by an explosion, Asami and you covered your head with your hands and looked up afterwards.

The giant robot was halved by the vines power, with no time to waste, you ran to the scene. Before you both arrived, another explosion took place, Asami was quick to pull you to a train entrance for cover. When that one settle, your eyes shined with the new spirit portal in the heart of the city.

A small call for Kuvira left your mouth unconsciously, so you joined the rest of the group to look for the avatar while also you looked for the leader. Your mind was going a thousand per second until you saw the southerner walk out of the portal with the metalbender by her side, you sighed.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "Wait," you called to the Beifongs before they could take her farther.‍ "Can I... talk to her? It will be quick."

Lin and Suyin took just a step back, always vigilant to the leader.‍ "I'm sorry," she started, not allowing you to say anything.‍ "For everything, I'm so sorry for making you go through all of this."

One of your hands look to get one of hers, a melancholic smile was drawn in your face. "You'll do better from now on, I can feel it."

Kuvira let a couple of tears fall from her eyes, you took a step closer to her and your lips met hers in a delicate kiss. The leader was shocked, but tried to reciprocate as fast as she could. You could hear a couple of gasps at your back, but that wasn't your main focus at the moment.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "I'll wait for you." you told her, trying to sound calm. Kuvira's eyes shined with concern.‍ "Just know, I have always loved you... Always."

She smile a little bit and murmur a little 'I love you too' before she was taken away. Turning around to your friends, they all had a shocked face.

‍ ‍ ‍ ‍‍ "So! Korra saved the city!" you tried to sound as happy as possible for your friend, Bolin gave you back up and cheered for the avatar.

The whole team did a group hug as a celebration, knowing you could also need a hug from them, things will get better with time.

[mskoreodyssey]

[TLOK] Book Four: Balance (Fix)

Part 1 // Part 2

Fix Book 4 by Tim Hickson

[Episode 7: Reunion]

Korra, Asami, and crew make it back to Air Temple Island across from Republic city. Mako and Prince Wu are hiding out together. It comes out that Korra wrote to Asami, but not Bolin and Mako. Asami defends Korra, but Korra doesn't know how to explain it, why she felt the way she did. She apologizes, but Mako walks off. Feeling betrayed after he wrote all those letters to her too.

(One difference with our version of Season Four is that Asami's father doesn't play a role, he doesn't really exist. See, in our version of Season One, Asami was the Equalist owner of Sato Industries. Which, by the way, was the creator's original intention before they backed off from it. So we don't have Asami's conversations with her father. And Asami also still has ties to the Equalist factions who help rule Republic City. It's only with those connections that Korra is temporarily allowed back in. See, in our version the Equalists weren't sort of wiped out. They were sort of incorporated into the government.)

Asami, the air-benders, and Korra talk about Zaofu. And what Kuvira has become, a dictator. Korra feels ashamed and guilty for not stopping her. And even though everyone tells her not to worry, she still feels it, that it's her responsibility. Prince Wu was kidnapped by Kuvira's forces, and they chased them across the city. As they do, Korra blames Mako for losing him as the king's bodyguard, but this only inflames the distance between them. They managed to rescue Prince Wu, but only just. At the same time Varrick and Bolin are sneaking past an empire checkpoint. They learn that Kuvira is coming for a Republic City.

(Now, there's a weird detail at this point on the show. We also learned that Kuvira is rounding up fire-benders and water-benders into camps. It's pretty clearly meant to be a Holocaust parallel, if you didn't get the Nazi comparison yet. But this always felt really out of place for me, because they don't really do anything with this, it never comes up again. And even though Kuvira has a nationalistic streak, we never see that paired with prejudice towards non Earth Empire citizens. Like, she never blames them for the Earth Empire falling apart, which is a common fascistic scapegoat tactic, right? Like this group of people of why our country is in chaos. It's a tiny detail, but I'd probably just replace it with a prison camp rebels or something. In the show stands, I think this is a pretty clumsy bit of commentary, even if you are doing the fascist thing. Because if you're going to do a Holocaust parallel, I think it should be done better than this. But we don't really have the space in this series, so instead, we should just probably cut it.)

[Episode 8: Beyond the Wilds]

(Now, okay. Technically, Episode Eight is “Remembrances”, which is a flashback episode. It's not very good, it's not important. It doesn't do anything to further the story. So I'm not going to bother with it. Keep it if you want, I'll discard it. I don't care, I thought it was annoying.)

In our version, Varrick and Bolin arrive and explained that Kuvira has set up this Schwerer Gustav super-weapon. Which we're going to call the Colossus, and they're planning to take Republic City, too.

(Now, the show kind of makes the sound like this is purely about law and order and power for Kuvira. And see,  while fascist governments did rise with populist promises of law and order, their expansionism is usually justified, by appealing to reuniting or liberating the “P” People or “L” Land. That they feel entitled to, because of historic ties, see Russia today. Now, the show does pay lip service to the land idea once. But if the show wants to comment on nationalism or fascism, then I think it should have delved more deeply into the sentiments that are behind them. Especially given this kind of expansionism,  doesn't come from just one person's desire for power. Which, again, the show kind of suggests it does, but a dangerously widespread cultural belief. That's why we're going to have Kuvira emphasize these ideas in the historic Earth Kingdom lands, and reuniting their people, it's a small tweak. Even then, it's not a perfect parallel, right? Like, fascism exists almost inherently in opposition to democracy. And we don't have democracy here, we've got a bunch of monarchies. I still think, though, that this change in focus does do the original intention of her character more justice.)

Asami, Tenzin, and the Republic City Council reach out to the Water Tribes and Fire Lord Izumi.

(Who I always wanted to see more of. I wanted to see what the Fire Nation had become.)

They asked for help to take the fight to Kuvira. But Izumi, as in the show, insists that the Fire Nation has made war too much a part of its history and intends to stay out of it”. Once again, people pressure Korra to go fight Kuvira. But Korra says, “She can't”! And sort of breaks down, and leaves. Tenzin says, “Leave her”. But hours later, Asami finds Korra in the forest outside the city. “I don't know what's wrong with me, I thought the poison was gone. I thought I'd go back to normal, but I still see him... Zaheer. It's like I'm not in control of my own body.”  “Maybe it's not as easy as that.” “I'm over people telling me it'll get better. It hasn't, it won't. Tenzin is tired of me being like this. Mako is angry at me.” “Tenzin isn't angry.” “Mako is.” “Mako is just being Mako. Look, sometimes there's a big difference between what we know and what we feel. Maybe you know you're safe, maybe you know that your body is okay again. But you don't feel it, and that doesn't mean that those feelings aren't real.” Korra looks up, “Yeah, I think I want to face Zaheer”. Tenzin takes Korra to Zaheer's prison and asks her, “Do you think you can do this?” They have a touching moment of mentor to apprentice, and she goes in to face Zaheer.

(Honestly, this episode is a little bit of a mess in the series. Jinora gets taken by the spirit vines, so they need to get her back. But to do that, they need to go into the spirit world, but Korra can't, and that's why she goes to face Zaheer. But it all feels a little bit contrived and distracted and weirdly paced from the main story.)

I think this is a more intimate exploration of Korra’s trauma, and a more meaningful reason to go talk to Zaheer. Bolin tries to make up with Opal, but she will not have any of it, he worked for Kuvira. Mako comforts Bolin, but doesn't have any great advice on women, it seems, and neither does Prince Wu, making the whole situation worse. At the same time, Varrick and Asami enter a tense, unfriendly working relationship. To help stop Kuvira and shore up the city's defenses. Korra faces Zaheer in the same way that she does in the show. I think it's a really great moment, good visuals and dialogue, and it holds a lot of meaning. Zaheer hates Kuvira, this tyrant who has risen up in his wake, and he offers to help Korra bring her down.

(In the show, this moment is all about reconnecting with Raava. But personally, I just don't put that much stock in Korra and Raava's relationship. You can go watch my video on Beginnings to understand why further.)

But she faces up to Zaheer, this person who has caused her so much trauma. And in doing so, she regains a sense of control over herself. After that, he helps her meditate into the Spirit World. Connecting with the past avatars, and understanding her own pain better than ever before. Letting go of her guilt, and hopefully giving her the ability to face Kuvira as well. This episode closes with Opal and Bolin making up, but only when Bolin promises to help rescue the Beifongs.

[Episode 9: Operation Beifong]

The crew tracks down Kuvira's huge ass super-cannon. Toph turns up to help, but things are tense between her and Lin. During the fight, Korra and Mako have to rely on each other, and together they rescue the Beifongs. But they have to leave when Kuvira and her army close in. Just as the super-weapon test goes off, and they can see it blow apart a mountain.

(I gotta be honest, I always felt like Toph was underutilized in this scene. That they kind of held her back because she was so OP. But that's really a little bit contrived, isn't it?)

So we're going to have Toph fight Kuvira while the others get away, and Kuvira is going to have to make a calculated retreat. But even Toph is going to have to escape too, when the rest of the army arrives and it becomes just all too much, and she vanishes into the ground. In the aftermath, Lin and Toph make-up and talk about the past. Mako and Korra apologize and admit to their wrongs. Back in Republic City, Varrick and Asami are inventing some kind of machine, though we don't get to see what it is.

(In the show, it's these weird humming-bird machines, but we're going to do something a little bit different with it. One detail about this episode that I always kind of hated was Zhu’li, okay? It turns out she was faking the betrayal and actually loves Varrick unconditionally, no. See, it was more interesting to have Varrick's constant mistreatment of Zhu’li turn her against him, motivating him to reflect on his behavior afterwards. Whereas this just kind of says, “Oh, Varrick can actually get away with anything”. So, no!)

Zhu’li is going to stay with Kuvira in this episode.

[Episode 10: Kuvira’s Gambit]

Prince Wu and Mako evacuate the city, and Republic City calls up its navy. Now, Prince Wu does have an arc in the series. He has to live amongst the common people, and he learns to see what really matters in the world. His character is fine, he's kind of in the background, and so he's going todo all the same stuff that he does in this episode. Kuvira has already seized much of the surrounding land in our rewrite. So they haven't been able to sabotage the railways and prevent the Colossus from moving forward. Because of this though, they do set out to destroy the super weapon before it ever gets into range of Republic City. They go with a few airships, a sky-bison, and bombs. And just like in the show, it goes wrong. The airships are shot out of the sky by this huge cannon. None of the bombs make it, and they flee back to Republic City. Luckily, though, in the chaos, they managed to kidnap Bataar Jr., Kuvira's lover and her second-in-command. When Kuvira arrives at a Republic City, she obliterates the navy from a distance, taking out the ships one by one. It's all a display of force and power, a warning. The ships fire in return, but they simply don't have the range. Kuvira issues an ultimatum to the city. “These lands”, she says, “were Earth territory many years before, for as long as history remembers. Till they were taken from us (and our people), by war and tyranny. And even in our victory, our people were kept from them and their birthright. The United Republic is the stunted child of politicians and monarchs who know nothing of what it means to lose their home, their families. We offer you now a chance to return home, to join your brothers and sisters. Those who rule you might resist for selfish reasons, but we come here as liberators. Lay down your arms”. The Republic City council, partly made up of Equalists after Season One. Sees this as just more bender, war, and expansionism, just like Amon said, and they refuse to surrender. Korra intervenes and tries to calm everyone down, “Just give me one more chance to talk to Kuvira”. They allow her that, and Korra asks Kuvira to leave. She even allows Bataar to talk with her. But the man communicates their position through coded language. And Kuvira tearfully orders to fire on their location, killing Bataar and severely injuring Asami. The council, urged on by Asami, says that they will not surrender, not after everything the Equalists fought for.

[Episode 11: Day of the Colossus]

After the explosion, everyone is separated. Asami and Korra together, Bolin and Marco, Tenzin and Lin, the kids too.

(Now, this episode in the show is mostly centered around trying to destroy the Colossus. Till Hiroshi Sato, Asami's dad, sacrifices his life so that they can get inside. But we have neither the Colossus nor Hiroshi Sato. By the way, one other thing about the Colossus, I could just never buy that it was a threat. It was such a clumsily built thing, and when it's like getting tripped up, it looks so inept. No!)

So anyways, Kuvira's forces into the city and the fight begins. The leadership evacuates with Tenzin to Air Temple Island. Every so often, the Colossus-cannon will take out their positions. Leveling the city, before Kuvira's soldiers move in. Mako and Bolin decide that they need to take out the Colossus, they find a sky-bison, and fly off. Meanwhile, Varrick sets off a number of traps of enemy forces passing through the city. Electrical tripwires and bombs, that sort of thing. Insisting that they just need to lure the enemy further into the heart of Republic City. Korra points out that Kuvira always stays on the front lines herself, and the two sneak past the lines, hoping to take Kuvira out. Asami is injured, and Korra has to support her the whole way. But Asami insists that she wants to stay with her. She manages to point out enemies several times, saving Korra's life. They manage to find a quiet ruin of a building, and take a break from the fighting to help wrap up Asami's leg. Explosions echoing in the distance, “It's my turn to take care of you”, says Korra. “You've got more important things to worry about than me.” There's silence for a moment. “All those years writing me letters. Why did you come to find me in the swamp?” “I told you, Kuvira just declared she was in charge, and I was worried.” “Everyone else came looking because they needed the Avatar back.” “Yeah, we all did. I guess.” “I was just wondering if well, you could have waited. You could have waited until Jinora found me. So maybe you came because I missed you.” “Yeah, but I missed you in that way. In every way.”

(This is basically them both saying that they care about each other, but more than that, it's romantic. There's also a symmetry between the Banyan grove and here, when Asami helped Korra heal.)

In this moment, they'll be found and attacked. Korra will beat them off and get Kuvira's location. Korra insists Asami stay behind while she's injured. That she has to do this herself, and she can't worry about Asami if she's going to fight Kuvira. The episode ends with Korra finding her enemy. “Kuvira, I'm here”, she declares.

[Episode 12: The Last Stand]

Kuvira talks to her straight, “We've already done this, Avatar. I beat you”. Korra bids her one last time to stand down, and let the other nations decide her fate. But Kuvira says she'll have to take her down herself if that's to happen. “Nobody can say I didn't give you a chance”, says Korra, entering the Avatar State. Kuvira orders her soldiers to stand back, “I've done this before”. At the same time, Mako and Bolin are trying to take down the Colossus-cannon. They fight their way past lines of Kuvira's soldiers, and their movements flash between the past and present. A symmetry between their fine now, and how they trained alongside each other for pro-bending when they were younger. Varrick, the air-benders, and Lin all find each other in the city. Varrick insists they have a plan, grinning a covered machine in the city square. Korra is holding her own in a way that she couldn't before at Zaofu. But it's relatively evenly matched between the two of them. Even with all the elements and the Avatar State, Korra is well out of practice. While Kuvira is battle hardened and isn't injured, she didn't just get out of a massive explosion. She mostly avoids Korra's blows, hoping to wear the Avatar down. Bolin and Mako fight their way up to the super weapon. They can see it being ready to fire once more. We get more of these flashbacks between the two brothers as they fight all the time, as Mako defended Bolin when they were younger on the streets of Ba Sing Se. Bolin pushes a spread of lava underneath the Colossus-cannon, but it's not enough. The two break inside into its inner workings, and Mako begins unleashing a torrent of lightning, just like he kind of does in the show. Kuvira's forces are taking the city street by street with tanks and mechs. But for every tank they destroy, it feels like two more rise in their place. Lin says, “You'd think I shed enough blood for this damn place? Maybe it's waiting till I die here too”. “Hopefully not today, sister.” By this point in their duel, both Korra and Kuvira are injured, stumbling through the city ruins. But Korra does have the upper hand, Kuvira insists that Korra will have to kill her. “I'm not going to kill you”, she says, “You're going to call off your army and surrender. We can end this, Kuvira”. “If you want to end this, then come do it yourself”, Kuvira attacks Korra. But Korra brushes it aside, approaching her slowly. Back with Mako and Bolin, the super-weapon is sinking into the lava, overloaded and about to explode. Mako is still blasting it with lightning, trying to stop it before it goes off and kills more people. But he realizes it won't be enough, he looks to Bolin. He orders him to go, to get out. He says that it's his job to take care of his little brother. Bolin insists that he won't leave him, but Mako blasts him out of the machine. Right as the super weapon explodes, killing Mako in the process. But not before it lets off one last shot. That last shot fires directly at Korra and Kuvira. And Korra, sensing the huge caliber bullet coming for them with her air-bending, spins to protect Kuvira. She enters the Avatar State, rending the metal from metal and controlling the inferno around them. a blazing storm of red and gold and white. We still get that iconic chorus scene that so vividly encapsulates Korra's character arc. She goes from someone who is just looking for the right person to punch, to someone who puts her life on the line to defend even her worst enemy. At that same moment, Varrick reveals what he and Asami were working on. As Kuvira's army is drawn into the city square, an EMP goes off and deactivates a lot of Kuvira's tanks and mechs. This gives the Republic City forces just enough of an advantage to turn the tides, in the confusion.

(See how the laser went off in the original version of Korra and Kuvira's fight, always felt a little bit clumsy to me.  That Korra walks into this place, and then there's a giant gun in front of her, and Kuvira is up at the top and pulling it. It just felt a little bit contrived and odd. I don't know what it was about it. But I do like the conversation that kind of follows in its wake.)

So they're sitting in the ruins of Republic City in the wake of this blast.

(There are some lines that I didn't really like all that much. Kuvira basically confesses that her own parents abandoned her, and it's implied that this is why she turned into a dictator. That she wouldn't stand by when her nation needed guidance, just like she needed guidance as a kid. Again, this seems to diminish the role of the people, and the land in nationalistic and fascist ideas. And instead focuses on one person's childhood insecurities, when that wider cultural context is so important. It's odd, it's a clumsy comparison. And then there's this ham-fisted stuff about Korra being poisoned, when Kuvira wouldn't know about any of that.)

So this conversation is going to just focus on the other parts of that, something else. Kuvira is going to say she didn't want war, that the Avatar was gone and someone needed to do something, so she did. Korra empathizes with that, like she does on the show, and she admits that the two of them are similar. They both have that drive to take action, to protect others when they have the power to do so. “It's a responsibility”. “Not like this though, Korra insists.

This is the culmination of Korra's arc in our rewrite:

In Season One, she learned that sometimes it's better to empathize and listen and fight.

In Season Two, she learned that it wasn't always up to her to decide how the world organizes itself. Even as the Avatar, she can't just choose to kill Kuvira.

In Season Three, she saw the importance of self determination.

And this brings us here at last, to this moment.

Kuvira calls off the last of her forces and is taken into custody. Prince Wu is inspired by Mako's sacrifice and does the same as in the show. He abdicates with the regions, becoming loosely connected democratic states. Bolin is heartbroken with the death of his brother, but he's comforted by Opal, the city begins to rebuild itself.

(Now, unlike in the show, we don't have that new spirit portal, which was an interesting idea with beautiful, fantastic visuals. But ultimately doesn't really work in this rewrite, not without the spirit vines or super-weapon, the way the show does it. Mako's funeral kind of replaces Zhu’li and Varrick's marriage, which I do realize makes it a bit of a more somber ending. Though maybe they reconnect after Kuvira's fall.)

Tenzin and Korra have the same conversation they do in the show, about how she's transformed more in the last few years than many Avatars did in their entire lifetime. Korra remarks how the pain helped her understand people, even Kuvira or more. Bolin and Opal decide to travel the world together. That Bolin needs to be away from the place that he and Mako spend so much time together. So maybe the happiness streak kind of comes from their relationship working out. Korra and Asami meet up a few weeks later. Asami is healed, and the two openly talk about their feelings. Korra says she thinks the Avatar just needs to go back to being the bridge between humans and the spirits. That in all her travels it's always the spirits who lose out. That things could have gone very differently in another world. She says she needs a vacation, that Asami should come, and they should call it a date. Asami blushes and asks where, Korra asks if she's ever wanted to see the spirit world. The last shot is of them at a South Pole, entering a brilliant beam of light.

[Series Conclusion]

This is fundamentally the same, right? It keeps the integrity of the story, but I think we do it in a more thematically cohesive way. With more narrative build up to the beats that really matter, like Korrasami.

(Now, I got to be honest. I thought for along time about how I was going to do this, because there's something really interesting to me with Korra.)

See, Legend of Korra has a thematic undercurrent about the place of the Avatar in a modernizing world.

Season One: We reflect on class status as a bender, and she is the ultimate bender.

Season Two: Conflicts being so complicated that the Avatar can't solve them not on their own, and that's the Water Tribe civil war.

Season Three: The Avatar's institutional authority, and whether or not she actually deserves it.

Season Four: Could have had Kuvira be the good guy, with Korra reflexively defending the monarchy or the states. The people who have been in power for so long, because that's the way things are meant to be, and supposedly she's meant to keep the world in balance. Only to realize that Kuvira is democratizing and modernizing the places she's taking over. And that Korra, she's actually on the wrong side of history this time. And then at the end, deciding the Avatar should be a spiritual figure again, which we kind of did at the end there.

It'd be a real full circle if it played out like this. From Korra being an Avatar who just wants to fix the world through raw power, to someone who understands the nuances of power and restraint to minimizing her own role. But, I mean that would have required a greater rewrite than I felt was fear for the series. So here we come to the end, we've done all four seasons, it was a lot of fun.

(I really didn't think I would get through this so quickly, but my goodness, there we are. Especially because it's taken me years to do the other series on the world, building the different nations. I've done three of them in like four years or something like that. And people are going, “When are you getting the last one?” “I will, I'll get to it. In the meantime, have a completed series that I did in the last few months.” What did you think of the series? I think looking back, Season Two is probably the best rewrite. Thinking back, I don't think I quite address the Amon conflict as well as I could have. Or the Equalists more broadly, and the ramifications of what happened afterwards. But, yeah, it is a really hard story to do. I think it required more time than we really and I just couldn't quite figure out a way to work around it. I still think it's pretty good. It's got a lot of really good beats in it, a bit of focus, maybe. But yeah, no, I mean, it's not perfect. But I do like this version do I like Season Two. And then Season Three is just, of course, amazing because of course it is. Anyway, stay nerdy, and I will see you in the future.)

📖Hello👇Future👇Me✏️’s Legend of Korra

[hanasnx]

aang: seems vanilla and is a little bit but he can be persuaded into the lighter shades of gray in sexual deviancy.

sokka: a romantic, but he is a freak. not only is he perverted enough to tell you dirty shit in your ear during the day, but he’s an agoraphilia driven exhibitionist.

zuko: he wants you to hurt him. at his most vulnerable and basest desires he wants pain. it takes him a long time to rewire his brain but you help him do that. it’s all worth it when he grins at you the next day in a room full of people because only you two know the debauchery you got up to last night.

jet: there isn’t a lot he won’t do. in essence you are a goal to complete, and there’s nothing that’ll stand in his way. you want him to treat you like he hates you? sure. why not.

haru: he, like aang, are basic in their needs. for haru he’s content in the good old-fashioned, but he’ll have a lot of fun trying out whatever you’ve asked. with a little convincing.

mako: he likes them small. he likes them tiny and pretty and breakable. a more powerful woman doesn’t intimidate him, but he’s got a bad habit of throwing you over his shoulder when you get fussy. he also likes to be run like you’ve got a leash on him. “whatever you say, dear.” type, and he’ll complain but he’s lying.

bolin: he’s hard to pin down. he’s everywhere. he’s up there he’s down here he’s a vanilla love-making missionary enthusiast one day, and a coal-miner returning to his wife after a day in the caves with a powerful thirst the next.

desna: less of a sex drive but that doesn’t stop him from controlling your every move. if you’re in bed with him, he’s got you on a tight leash. he’s vocal, and he’s direct, and he has no trouble telling you exactly what he wants.

[avatar-state-kate]

I think a lot about Naoki, coming all the way from the fire nation to republic city. Who she could have been before she was San’s wife, Mako and Bolin’s mother.

Maybe she grew up in a small fishing village, and she’s in line a hundred times before to collect her pay cheque from the cannery. The sea breeze is so salty familiar rolling off of the black rocks, she heard that the earth kingdom was covered in thick green trees, the same sea connecting them. And she has her cheque in her hand, she has two weeks pay right there, she could buy a ticket, since her parents died there is nothing tying her to this place. So she packs a bag and she’s leaving. The girls she works with think she’s crazy, who’s to say she’ll even make it as far as republic city, connected by the same ocean but a whole world away.

But if she can make it there she can make it anywhere, that’s what all the songs say, and she will make it there

[jade-of-mourning]

guess whooooooo

so I don’t want to be agitating and I noticed you said you’ve been busy but I genuinely do not remember if I sent you an ask recently or if that was a dream?? so if I’ve been bugging you pls just ignore me I will not be offended 😭🙏🏼

the reason for my presence in your inbox today is because I was looking thru the mako tag and saw ur avatar mako snippet. I then began to experience Thoughts and decided you might enjoy if I shared them :33

what I’ve been thinking about is the possible dynamics of this au because. tragic backstory x avatar is something we didn’t quite get w korra because all her Avatar Trauma happened during the show. however,,, mako and bolin got that orphan swag

so for one I wanted to reference one of your older posts about mako and lin having a history across each other at an interrogation table. just imagine how she feels seeing the little brat (who she’s almost certain is zolt’s little prodigy) turn out to be the avatar who she now has to tolerate and work with to protect the city that never gave him shit.

and besides the early momboss and detectiveson feelings (linzin reconciliation?? kyalin reveal????) the other dynamic is just mako and republic city as a whole. this was actually kind of touched on in canon w how korra had to acclimate to the entirely different world of a revolutionizing industrial city, but instead it would be mako learning to cherish the streets that had chewed him up and spat him back out.

another reason this would be cool is bcuz it already happens in the show as well. despite mako’s character being completely abandoned after the love triangle, his becoming a cop kind of shows that he has grown to want to protect his city. being a police officer in the atla-verse means you have a real devotion to your city—under a boss like lin, you just get replaced realll quick if you don’t (eg, those two guys who pissed on mako when varrick framed him for domestic terrorism or whatever was going on there).

it also can’t be only for money, because if it was he would’ve gone back to probending; something he was just indifferent towards. anyway, what I’m trying to say is that somewhere offscreen he had that development in view as he grew to want to protect the city for more reason than that it would keep he and his brother safe. so essentially, in the avatar mako au, he goes through that development earlier, when he’s still a kid.

this would probably also affect his personality. if he was taken care of earlier on, he wouldn’t have stonewalled himself away out of distrust for the rest of the world. so basically he’s a snappy, sarcastic little bitch by canon because he never taught himself to bite his tongue or die—it also parallels him to korra (cough and katara cough) a bit more which I thought was nice.

I just totally lost my train of thought but uhhhhh,,, sorry for the long ask. hope you’re doing okay :)

much love

🐌

HI SNAILON!! i'm sure you saw my very late response but yeah dw you did not hallucinate that ask kjsdffgkjfsdh

anyway!!! i'm enjoying your avatar mako thoughts so much omg. mako and bolin really do got that Orphan Swag:tm: and i do love a good trauma backstory avatar. (still no one could ever compare to korra but shh we all know she's the most superior avatar of all time in our hearts…)

woah i forgot to think about the potential of lin & mako's relationship in the context of the au as a greater entity. aughhhhafjkhafdhk she's probably be pissed as hell at the start; i feel like tiny avatar!mako is absolutely the stiff bitter kleptomaniac sort specifically designed to get on lin beifong's nerves like no one else and that would agiatate her SO MUCH. but i think that over time as she starts to see him for what he really is and sees a little more of the good in his heart, she'll… actually she'll still treat him pretty harshly because now she doesn't like that she sees herself in him, but she has a greater amount of empathy for him and in vulnerable moments, i think that she would actually turn out to be the adult figure that mako would be most willing to seek out, surprisingly.

also yes i'm really excited to explore how mako rekindles an actually kind relationship with this halfway awful city. i really want to steep it in culture and i think i'll project my experiences in taiwan onto it because it's such a place of all time. the idea of hole in the wall restaurants that could not possibly meeting the hygiene standards and the owners are tough and impersonal but also they're the most natural people to be around, and the food is the best you've ever tasted for the cheapest price possible as you hop from sagging overhang to sagging overhand, never sitting down for a full meal but something about the perpetual motion is so comforting. anyway. republic city taiwan allegory. just really want to write about that, roughly.

i agree about the point of cop!mako :P even though i have complicated feelings about his assumption of a role that had been one of the primary institutions that enforced the system of how he and bolin lived as kids, i also think that he views it as a twisted form of redemption for himself as a child that i frankly think he doesn't have to assume moral culpability for, but i also understand that it's the sort of tangible thing that i think a guy like him would need to ever feel worthy enough of living. i have a lot of thoughts about this that i will have to condense into actual words sometime later…

i'm a big fan of mako actually getting to express his salt. i think that canon mako (and bolin, to an extent) takes a great amount of effort to restrain the Absolute Heathen that he was raised as in order to fit in with this impossible to understand high class society. (it's actually a point i'm going to explore in the fic with this version!) but yeah i feel like there's a lot of carefully trained-out language and habits that must exist in both mako and bolin who are trying so hard to not be perceived as the children they were, because their public images are very dependent on the exterior that they put out to the world. they need to be passably proper to get a fanbase which might land them support from higher up people which might land them a sponsorship which might enable their team to actually rise above as underdog which might lead them to win the pot which might let them finally build a lives for themselves. anyway. honestly avatar!mako would absolutely be hypermonitored by tenzin about his vocabulary and habits (coughing at this excerpt i wrote some time back: "He forces his breath to settle in his chest and forces himself to be grateful that he doesn't have a cigarette that he can lose himself in; he doesn't need Tenzin catching one more of his bad habits to take away from him."). but i think that in the presence of korra who will piss him off SO MUCH he won't have the same qualms about trying to fit into high class society because he'll have settled into this actual protection and stability provided to him by adults for the past several years, and he'll allow himself more to slip back into cussing her out with the vehemence of a Trained Asshole. it'd be funny trust.

i dont think i enunciated that very well but i have also had many thoughts on language and habits that mako and bolin forced themselves to eject for the sake of their precarious position in society. i think that it's also an ingrained part of them that when they're older along in life and have more stability, i like to imagine that they might end up casually incorportating back because their lives don't depend on their manners LOL. older mako would be only half the foul-mouth that his younger self was but asami would still be extremely mortified tbh. and bolin would just be COMEDY ohh

[rasnak2]

Dinner Time

"Mako! What are you doing?" Bolin whisper shouted as he saw his brother chopping up the vegetables.

"Preparing the ingredients daddy asked, of course! You know daddy asked the both of us to do it, Bo!" Mako said, chopping up the chillies.

"Daddy asked us to take out the seeds in the chillies before putting it in the pot though" he stated with a frown.

"But mama always does it this way!" Mako said, taking up the deep green chillies he had chopped and put it into the oil.

"Mama doesn't put 10 chillies in the pot though. And this is daddy's recipie, not mommy's" Bolin said.

"What's done is done. I can't pick up the chillies right now! It'll be too hot!"

"Yeah, too hot for us, not you" Bolin muttered.

And rightly so. No one commented when bars of chocolates disappeared without a trace. They all knew where it went.

[toranoya]

Kai watched the blur that was his sister-in-law go by and finally got out of Bolin's grip with Mako's help as he shared a hug with them both before going inside.

Otaku was defending Jinora and her baby like a doting librarian. After all Jin was important to Kai and they were all together. "One at a time please! Master Tenzin, please wash your hands!"

Jinora smiled and was showing the baby to Ikki when her father came in. "Hi Dad, may I present Kalsaang, your grandson?" She asked as she held up the tiny bundle. "After you wash your hands of course."

The tiny baby let out a stretch and yawn as he looked at the newcomers. He really did look like a tiny Kai with light brown skin and green eyes.

Kai smiled slightly, it seemed Tenzin hadn't heard the whole message before coming, or only heard the bit about baby and rushed over. "Jin's fine., and so is the baby. Otaku is with them." Kai said as he bowed politely. "Welcome to Western Air Temple Master Tenzin, Pema." Kai said and winked as he fist bumped Rohan before getting swept up in a big hug by his big brother Bolin.

"Ack. I think you know the way Tenzin." Kai said as he tried to wriggle away from Bolin's grip.

"No Ikki today?"

@airteacher