#Long Distance Trips

[humans-are-tasty]

[ash-and-starlight]

I see the fandom’s “Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe” Sokka and raise y’all “Emerging Technologies Advisor, Sokka of the Water Tribe.” Working with all the nations as a emissary for scientists and engineers, introducing these new techs to world leaders and brainstorming ways to integrate them helpfully into society — really, he just gets to travel a lot and mess around with machines and I think these are two things that Sokka would excel so so very much at

thiiiisss this so much this his ass would Not settle in the fire nation permanently!!! he travels all over the world!! he sees and learns all the things he couldn’t experience while ending the war!! he fixes things everywhere he goes as easy as breathing. he’s the one behind the southern water tribe cultural center in republic city and behind this huge ass ‘fuck you zuko try to destroy this now’ watchtower/lighthouse in the swt capital.

he has a traveling food critic column and a published haiku collection and fifteen new inventions patents and is just as fundamental for bringing on an age of peace and prosperity as anyone else. so yeah emerging technologies advisor, poet, swordsman, inventor, councilor, storyteller, warrior, artist, white lotus member, food blogger, pai sho champion, trendsetter sokka of the southern water tribe ftw forever amen

[hauntingofhouses]

(concept art of young taigen - source ; art credit: @abigaillarson)

i cannot get over this concept art of young taigen. god.

just look at this angry bratty boy, too many feelings that he doesnt know what to do with! an abused 9 year old kid in poverty always playing with sticks in the dirt, obsessed with greatness and dreaming to escape his decrepit village—and he does!

he does escape. he runs away. this angry little boy, all claws and teeth and biting words uttered with a lisp, going on the run into a world he's never seen before until he makes his way to kyoto. and knowing him he probably forced his way in to be accepted by the dojo, growling and kicking even as he's thrown out, back into the streets, too stubborn to take no for an answer and never knowing when to give up.

taigen calls mizu a dog, weak, an orphan, a scrawny street urchin. but i can't help but think that he feels so bold to use those words because he had them spat at him too.

because taigen had the idea of "this is how the world is" beat into him from birth. he learned quickly that if you couldn't beat the world you could join it. but that meant losing your way, your values, your principles. and isn't that what true honour is? not just titles and status and glory?

we don't get to see what taigen, as a child surrounded by peers encouraging and goading him on, would've actually done if that meteor hadn't fallen right in front of them at that very moment. would he have really tried to throw that stone on mizu, killing her? we don't know.

but we do see what taigen (his true self, with no one around) does, when presented with the same opportunity. when mizu passes out in front of him, unconscious and near death, vulnerable, the path to restoring his honour lays itself out for him on a silver platter. and he wants to take it, wants to kill mizu, to claim what is his and return to kyoto and get back everything he'd worked tooth and nail for. he feels like it's what he should do. but he doesn't.

and later, again he is presented with the chance to betray mizu, likely offered by heiji shindo to get his rank reinstated within the shindo dojo. and again, taigen doesn't take it. he refuses. "stupidly loyal," fowler calls him later. loyal, like a dog.

because now, pulled away from the sneering looks and jeering words of people around him, telling him that this is what the world is, taigen had met ringo and mizu, two outcasts who refuse to follow a predetermined path to greatness. and so inside something blooms in him. something like hope. a chance to live in a world that doesn't kick you down every chance it gets, to live in a world where genuine kindness and and love and friendship and even weakness is possible, allowed to simply exist without fear.

because he'd been running away from the very idea of it the whole time. when he ran from kohama, he never looked back, never wanted to remember what it was like to be a child, afraid and hungry and angry and hurting, without the words to make sense of it, desperately wishing for something. something more. he doesn't know what. but he hears stories of great swordsmen and decides, yes, this must be it. this is what i want: glory, greatness. the twisted seed gets planted and thrives in this barren land.

and when he returns to kohama with mizu and ringo, he at last is forced to stop running. he must face the child within him again, and he tells that child to put down the stones in his hand, tells him to stop barking at anything that moves or looks at him wrong.

the child drops the stone, and taigen buys dumplings instead, gives them to mizu. the child within him, wide-eyed at the prospect of friendship, moves him to pick up a hammer and toss it to mizu. he's smiling inside even as he does it; giggling like a kid hiding a silly prank. as soon as mizu drops the hammer after him, he leaps at her, tackling her to the ground and they wrestle and laugh unbridled like two children playing while the adults aren't around to barge in and yell at them.

and then his gaze catches on mizu's lips, he stares into mizu's eyes, a sparkling blue, inviting like the open sea in good weather.

it's a man's desire that takes hold then, the child in him sinking away again, and he curses himself for it, because it ruins the moment.

everything goes to shit from there, and then it's back to being a man, back to putting on his grown-up's armour to play hero.

it fails. the shogun dies. fowler's beatings reopen all the wounds left by heiji shindo's torture. "honour is meaningless," mizu tells him. "nothing comes from being a samurai but death."

the words follow him, and he follows the words.

as everything burns down, he runs, leaving the fire behind him, and sees akemi, as well as the verdure of spring behind her, calling him. he does not hesitate then to hold his hand out to her, inviting her to come with him. "i don't want to be great," he says. "i just want to be happy."

what is happiness to him? perhaps he doesn't know it yet, or perhaps he does. but really, i believe happiness is what the child in him always wanted but never received. happiness is a home.

[canisalbus]

I noticed you've been making more art of Machete and Vasco after they met again as adults - is this canon? Do they get to rekindle their friendship after all, or is it still brief and bittersweet? (I love your characters and art, btw!)

Thank you! I'm glad you like them!

It's canon, I believe. After their confusing and apprehensive friends-to-lovers involvement ended in their early 20's, their paths end up crossing again unexpectedly in their mid 30's and things gradually grow from there.

[dumblr]

[bigothteddies]

want to pick them up and finally turn them into my property and nothing else forever

[hotasfahrenheit]

one of the most universally relatable conversations i've seen in a BL:

Venus and his bestie Tong just missing each other 😭😭

almost every single one of my closest friends, including my two besties and my dearest beloved soulsibling @poetry-protest-pornography all live 5-15 hours away from me, and it sucks. i feel this whole conversation so hard. it's my own fault, i have a penchant for moving around the country, but it can be rough.

and planning to see each other can be hard.

anyway their friendship is precious 💖

[outlanderalien]

Not sure if I'm sabotaging my relationship or not but I feel like I'm in the right ? Perhaps ?

[dandyshucks]

i think im going to just let my art style do whatever it wants for a while 😅 I have been trying to nail down a consistent style so I could one day do comms but,,,, there was an issue with applying for disability last week so now I have to not receive any income for two months (to prove some bullshit to the govmt), so I won't even be able to take comms for this stretch of time anyways, therefore I've got time to just have fun and play around and figure out what I'm doing with art :) <- desperately trying to see the silver lining in this all LMAO

[bluesidedown]

Yknow what's pretty magical? I spent like 10 hours with The Boy today AND I get to see him again tomorrow. Unheard of.

[profoundbondfanfic]

with a sea view

with a sea view by stayawake (@9x20) Rating: teen Word Count: 34k

Set in 1997, Dean is the son of world famous rock star, John Winchester. After a few run-ins with the law, Dean's probation officer forces him to join a pen pal program. His pen pal, Jimmy, is eccentric, weird as hell, and recovering from a drug problem. He also quickly becomes Dean’s best friend. Even though they’ve never met, their email exchanges are one of the few lifelines Dean clings to during the last leg of his dad’s world tour.

The summary for this fic grabbed my attention right away, the twist being that John is the rockstar in this fic versus Dean (which is a favored trope). In this story, like in the show, Dean follows John around the world as he tours, living a life of recklessness and luxury, but one that's equally lonely. Ending up on probation, he's paired with another young delinquent to exchange letters. They communicate via email and under pseudonyms and quickly, "Michael" and "Jimmy" become best friends. 

This story is told from nineteen-year-old Dean's pov and it's an entire treat, witnessing the changes and the growth he goes through in this fic—it's simply *chef's kiss*. He comes so far and you're rooting for his young self to have a chance at chasing his own dreams, which start to include his strange but amazing penpal. 

[nightfallsystem]

kinda wanna go to the aquarium but its like 2 hrs away via public transport so i guess i can just stare longingly at the ocean

[minotaurfemme]

why cant they just make the 99 toyota corolla forever that car should be made in perpetuity because it simply cannot be killed and that would likely be better for the environment than filling every car with lithium

[fitzrove]

Its ok maybe if you look up the lyrics to was für ein grausames leben and read them in english you will be okj<3

[enigmasandepiphanies]

in this day and age, my urban fantasy is sharing a bowl of pasta in my friend's apartment in pink lighting