#There's so much you can read into this! LoK is so good it actively makes me upset

[cosmic-navel-gazin]

The way every lieutenant in Legacy of Kain has a different colour for each of their clans except Raziel, who shares red along with Kain...

[seyaryminamoto]

Any thoughts on the upcoming atla movie featuring the gaang in their adult years? I’m clinging to the idea that if I don’t like it, I can pretend it never happened and find solace in fanfiction, just as some people do regarding the comics and even LoK. But it’s not doing much to comfort me. I just wish they’d leave this characters and this universe alone and move on new things. But if you’re optimistic about it, please don’t let my skepticism ruin your excitement. It might be a good movie.

Oh, anon... me, optimistic about canon? There's a handful of franchises where I do trust the canon direction and where I do believe the authors/writers/showrunners/creators have a proper purpose in the content they're making. As active a fic writer as I may be, Avatar, I'm afraid, is not one of them.

This doesn't mean I believe the upcoming movie is guaranteed to suck... but it does mean that I'm hardly the most optimistic person when it comes to any post-ATLA content. To this day, I can't say I've been happy with anything they've created after the first show ended. I have a lot of gripes with ATLA's canon as it is, but as I find it so engaging and I think its potential is immense, I still can cherish the original show while acknowledging quite often that it's not perfect. Meanwhile... I can't really enjoy the comics. I enjoyed LOK Book 1 when I first watched it... the rest of the show soured the entire concept of the sequel series for me later. I haven't touched the novels because I'm afraid I won't like what's in there either, and I feel like me and the fandom will be better off if I don't read them because, if I find stuff there that sits ill with me, I'll probably criticize it for a long time and everyone who loved it will be upset at my criticism, while I'll just be upset at having things to criticize, and everyone will just be miserable...

Anyway. This movie, and Avatar Studios as a whole, have to achieve one thing in order for me to have even a smidge of hope for its future:

I need to know they have purpose and direction.

This is fundamentally what I've found lacking in everything that has followed the completion of ATLA. I really don't know what the purpose and direction of most post-canon content was, it felt like most of it didn't have any (and when they did have purpose, they didn't necessarily fulfill that purpose in a satisfactory way, either). If there's no purpose and direction? Then slice-of-life shenanigans would be perfect! Give me glimpses at how people live their lives after the war ended, simple plotlines that are character-centric and that allow those characters to have agency, to evolve as individuals and to make the most of a world where the war is finally over!

Without purpose and direction, there's no point to attempting to tell epic tales because they'll fall flat, especially when they're following up something that DID have purpose and direction, as in, the entirety of ATLA. Sometimes, stories feel complete because they are. When they're extended further just for the sake of making a bigger profit, the risk of breaking open that sense of completion means that what may have worked at first might stop working in the future. If you add too many pieces of machinery that just weren't part of the original design of a device, the once-smoothly-working device will get cluttered and eventually stop working: that's how it feels for me when I see stuff that gets extended without purpose and direction, be it in this fandom or any others.

I can't have blind hope for these movies. I won't have any real expectations from them until I actually understand what their purpose and direction will be. If that purpose and direction happens to be something like witnessing how our ATLA heroes built Republic City in the era of peace they've brought forward, and how they protect that peace from realistic and reasonable threats against it? (... as in, no spirit shenanigans, no exaggerated benders that retcon things that were established in canon, among other things that appear to be the bread and butter of post-ATLA storytelling) I'll be good with that. But if that purpose and direction is actually "let's make up a sudden, new, BIGGER threat than the Hundred Year War, a threat that was never referenced in LOK and that had no impact on the ATLA characters' story because there's no actual consequences to it in any of our other post-canon content, all be it so we can prioritize big, flashy and epic bending battles over story quality!" then... I don't need that in my life, simple as that.

In short, if I don't sense that there's purpose and direction, I'll just not watch the movies or anything Avatar Studios releases. Again, it will be for the best for the fandom and for myself if that's the case... because I think we all have more fun when I'm having fun too rather than just raging about canon's choices :'D feels like that should be the point of fandom after all...

So, I'm basically on the same boat as you. I don't really think they HAVE to stop producing content for the franchise, but I don't think I can genuinely enjoy what they do unless they actually commit to telling stories worth telling again. Evidently, I have no power over whatever they may do, neither do you, so they'll just do whatever they feel like doing... but if canon goes nowhere with these movies, I'll just wish them well and stick to what I love. It's what I'm participating in fandom for, to begin with.

[niyogreatandsmall]

i actually have a couple requests if that's okay, sorry if its too much work for you

frog therian tips

whale shark therian tips

enderman kin tips

bingo (from bluey) kin tips

service dog therian tips

red fox id pack

im so sorry ik I'm asking a lot, you can do it all in one post or one post for each thing, whichever you prefer

thanks, have a good week!!

It's alright! This is a bit long, so everything's under "Read more"!

Practice your froggy noises! Find a quiet space and experiment with different frog calls (research different frog species for inspiration!). There are even fun videos to help you learn.

Take a relaxing bath with some calming scents like lavender or chamomile. You could even add some green bath bombs for a full froggy spa experience.

Frogs love bugs, so why not have a fun fruit salad full of colorful berries? Pretend they're juicy flies for an extra froggy twist.

Fill your room with calming ocean sounds or a nature documentary playing on mute with soothing ocean visuals. Breathe in deep and imagine yourself gliding through warm currents! Get creative! Design a shirt with a cool whale shark pattern or try face painting gentle giant spots on your cheeks.

Endermen are often seen as Endermen isolated and withdrawn creatures. But that doesn't mean they don't have a creative side! Designate a space in your room or home that reflects your enderman side. You could hang purple tapestries, add some glow-in-the-dark stars, or decorate with blocks reminiscent of the End dimension.

Endermen are known for their ability to teleport by placing blocks. Have some block-themed fun! Build a tower out of pillows or blankets, have a block-sorting challenge, or get creative and build your own enderman out of spare boxes.

Bingo loves cuddles with Bandit. Make sure to schedule some comfy cuddle time with your loved ones, whether it's reading stories together or just watching the clouds go by. Bingo is always curious about the world around her. Ask lots of questions, explore new things, and be kind to everyone you meet. Bingo loves to sing and move. Put on some music and have a dance party in your living room, or make up your own silly songs.

Engage in some fun "doggy" activities! Play fetch with a stuffed animal, tug-of-war with a rope toy, or chase bubbles in the backyard.

Snuggle up with a big fluffy blanket or pillow and imagine curling up in a sunny spot like a happy pup.

Do some light stretches that mimic dog poses – downward-facing dog, cow pose, or a good old-fashioned doggy shake.

Names include:

Vixen

Renard

Fennec

Kitsune

Tod

Rena

Foxley

Zorro

Marfox

Vulpecula

Sionnach

Loxley

Reynardine

Akela

Fen

Roxy

Lok

Volpe

Reyn

Shapeshifter

Pronouns include:

Fox/Foxself

Kit/Kitself

Vix/Vixself

Fenn/Fennself

Ren/Renself

Rena/Renaself

Tod/Todself

Zor/Zorself

Mar/Marself

Vul/Vulself

Sion/Sionself

Lox/Loxself

Akel/Akelself

Fen/Fenself

Roxy/Roxyself

Lok/Lokself

Vol/Volself

Reyn/Reynself

Shift/Shiftself

Shapey/Shapeyself

I hope you liked these, friend!

[sunandmoongobrrr]

Korra and her Brutalization: A Legend of Korra Meta

In honor of International Womens’ Day, I want to talk a little bit about Legend of Korra and the treatment of Korra (and to a small extent other women) throughout the show. Content warning: there's some disturbing scenes that I show here, but if you've watched all of LoK, you should be fine.

Korra starts off confident; she is a young avatar who is eager to learn and feels suffocated from the isolation she is kept in from a very young age. But that doesn’t stop her, and like the headstrong girl she is, she moves to Republic City to make a difference and step into her role as the avatar.

Korra immediately starts to doubt herself; she becomes unsure of her abilities and frustrated with herself, and through that she learns to become emotionally vulnerable with Tenzin. To me, this was really great. It showed that you can be confident and vulnerable, and that the two aren’t necessarily independent of each other.

(I’m going to be honest, the 2nd season I didn’t really remember much of, so I’m just going to skip over that. Because what I really want to talk about is season 3.)

In season three, Korra faces the Red Lotus, an “anarchist” group that essentially wants to kill her. And they get pretty close. First, I want to talk about how Tenzin is beaten by the Red Lotus. This has been brought up in Lily Orchard’s (in?)famous LOK video, and while I disagree with her on many many topics of the show, I really think she has a point here. When Tenzin is being brutalized by the Red Lotus, the camera pans away. It is SO painful to see him like this, and the directors know it. It’s TOO painful to see it, so they don’t show you it, and the episode ends before we can see him be defeated.

Contrast that with Korra. They show you every detail of this. And I mean every detail.

It’s disgusting, and they refuse to treat her with any sort of decency or respect like they do Tenzin. It’s almost like they want us to enjoy her torturing. It’s genuinely gross.

People will often refute this by saying “LoK is just a darker show! Look at what they did to the Earth Queen!” And while yes, it is marketed towards an older audience, there’s still no point in brutalizing Korra this way. The main difference between Korra and the Earth Queen is that… well, Korra’s the protagonist. We’re supposed to be rooting for her, and while the Earth Queen being suffocated was definitely dark, it wasn’t unprecedented. The audience was never supposed to like the Earth Queen—she exploited and kidnapped her own people, so of course we wouldn’t care THAT much if she died. But we’ve been with Korra since the beginning. We’re supposed to want her to be happy, and why on earth would we want her to be tortured brutally in such a disgusting way that gives her absolutely no dignity? If we want her to succeed?

(here Zaheer uses the same technique used on the Earth Queen to suffocate here on Korra. for some reason)

In Season 4, the main focus is on Korra and her healing from the brutal things the Red Lotus did to her. She is clearly still struggling, and it could have been another great way to show how being physically strong and confident doesn’t mean you can’t be vulnerable. But they make a lot of bad choices in this season.

One of my main gripes is that in order to heal, she has to return to her abuser, Zaheer, and HE has to teach her how to feel better.

I don’t want to compare LoK to ATLA, although it’s very important to mention that a show that’s a direct sequel, uses its old characters, and banks off of references, should be able to be compared to its predecessor. But I think it’s important to compare Korra’s arc here to Zuko. This doesn’t come out of nowhere; Korra has a lot of similarities to Zuko. The chopping of her hair is a significant turning point in her arc, and there’s an episode called “Korra Alone” (which is clearly a direct callback; shown below).

The difference between Zuko and Katara is that, a. Zuko never had to accept his abuser, and b. Zuko started off as a villain.

One of Zuko’s major points is when he confronts his father—his abuser. He does not bow to him and give in, saying that maybe he had a few good points or his heart was in the right place, but he directly says that Ozai was wrong for what he did. This isn’t the case with Korra. For some reason, Korra has to learn to trust her abuser. The person who did this to her:

And she has to hear him out.

This leads me to my second point, and what’s basically the complaint I have; despite being a protagonist, the show treats Korra like a villain. It frames her torture scenes as if we’re supposed to be excited that she’s being brutalized, as if we’re supposed to think she deserves it. And it’s not even handled properly as one of the villains we know so well—Zuko, who was able to overcome his abuse and become a protagonist who we root for. Again, Zuko and Korra aren’t directly the same characters, but there are parallels between the two and the show encourages their comparison. When it comes to Korra, however, we’re supposed to believe that she deserves everything that comes to her; the brutal scenes and the lack of dignity, even if she is a protagonist.

And in the end, that’s what we’re meant to believe; that Korra deserved what happened to her. In the finale, Korra says, “I finally understand why I had to go through all that. I needed to understand what true suffering was, so I could become more compassionate to others.”

This is, to put it short, ridiculous. I hate this so much I can’t even begin to say how much I hate it. No, Korra did not have to go through the torture she went through. She did not have to go through the mercury poisoning. She did not have to go through every hardship she did. This “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is so harmful because Korra’s healing revolved around accepting her abuser and thanking him for the awful things he did to her. Korra wasn’t even that cocky by the end of the first season, so what it’s essentially indirectly teaching girls is that if you’re confident, you’ll pay. It’s disgusting.

Zuko got a banishment to the Earth Kingdom, got to have his ideas and practices challenged, but he never got physically tortured. I truly, truly believe that one of the main reasons why Korra is quite literally villainized by the show is because she was a confident, brown teenage girl. None of the male characters are treated with such disrespect and we never get told that they need to be “humbled” by abuse.

This is not completely resolved to LoK; there are some aspects in ATLA that I think could’ve been fixed had there been more women in the room. I tag her a lot (bc her metas are awesome), but I really recommend you read @araeph 's Katara: Consumed by Destiny series. I also have a meta here about how Katara is treated in ATLA, specifically in “The Fortuneteller.” (I want to emphasize that while I am anti-Kataang, I don’t believe that Katara’s treatment had to do with the ship itself or that kataang is inherently anti-Katara. It’s just a note about how her character is treated in this episode and beyond.)

I’ve heard a lot of people say that they’re ‘glad’ that LoK didn’t feature Suki or Mai or Ty Lee, because they can’t imagine how poorly they’d be represented. And honestly, I can’t blame them.

This isn’t to say that we need to stop watching LOK or even ATLA. I think the internet has this weird problem where we’ve been told that the way to get rid of problematic media is to just stop consuming anything even remotely problematic altogether. But certain aspects of media will always be relatively problematic, since as content creators we sometimes input our biases into the things we create. The solution, then, is not to banish anyone who puts any harmful stereotypes into their content from society, but to actively and healthily criticize it. Bryke are not God, but they’re also not demons put on the earth to suppress woc. They’re white guys that have implicit biases that have worked their way into the content they produce. I think the lesson learned here, is to have women, especially BIWOC, in writing rooms, to prevent atrocious acts from happening to future Korra's.

Happy International Women’s Day, y’all.

[kingwuko]

Wuko in the comics

Welcome to my first post discussing Wuko in the LoK comic books!

This first post will be discussing Turf Wars- which unfortunately does not feature Wu. But there are lots of excellent Mako moments, and there are some major plot points that carry over into the next comic trilogy.

Turf Wars is the first LoK comic trilogy released after the finale. Though it was released two and half years after the finale aired, it picks up right where we left off. While the creators confirmed after the finale aired that Korrasami was canon, the last moments of the animated series were a little ambiguous (on purpose, since this was a time when queer representation was just not considered "acceptable" in children's media-it was truly the only way they could get away with it). The comics definitively remove all ambiguity. Turf Wars features multiple frames of Korra and Asami kissing, holding hands, and coming out to their friends and family. 

The overarching plot of Turf Wars is a conflict over the land upon which the new spirit portal sets. There is also conflict between rival Triad gangs, the Triple Threats and the Creeping Crystals, over turf in Republic City following the chaos of Kuvira's invasion. These two sets of turf wars overlap when a business tycoon hires the Triple Threats to secure the spirit portal for him by driving others off. The new Leader of the Triple Threats, Tokuga, is attacked by a spirit defending the portal, causing him to gain a dragon-like appearance and a new agenda-seizing control of all Republic City. In the midst of all this there is a refugee crisis, a presidential election, and Korra and Asami trying to navigate their new relationship once they return to the real world with all their responsibilities.

Notable plot points and character developments:

Korra and Asami canon is confirmed (repeatedly)-They come out to family and their friends

Business owner Wonyong Keum, who owns the land upon which the new portal sits, demands everyone vacate so he can turn it into a tourist attraction for profit-prompting Korra to enter the Avatar state to temporarily drive him away.

An unhappy spirit requests Korra closes the portal to prevent exploitation of the spirit world.

Bolin joins Mako as his rookie detective partner.

Zhu Li is running efforts to care for refugees who lost their homes during Kuvira’s attack and teams up with Asami to begin rebuilding homes for everyone displaced.

Tokuga is introduced as the leader of the Triple Threats, fighting for control of the streets with Jargala, the leader of the Creeping Crystals.

Kya reveals she is queer and gives us a history lesson on the context of LGBTQ+ history in the world.

Tokuga is attacked by the afore-mentioned spirit and his right arm and half his face become dragon-esque.

Raiko is a colossal idiot. He is way too focused on getting reelected and making his decisions based on what his campaign advisor suggests, rather than just, you know, governing his city. He calls the military to occupy the portal, prompting the Airbenders to peacefully protest.

Zhu Li runs against Raiko for the presidency. She rallies more protesters to protect the spirit portal while her husband films her for his newest project- a “docu-mover” which he presumably uses to influence the election. 

Asami and Keum are kidnapped by Tokuga and forced to make a poison gas device bring the city under Tokuga’s control.

The Krew manages to save the day of course, thanks to Asami’s wit, Korra’s unstoppable stubbornness, and back-up from Bolin and Mako. Except Mako, bless him, says he’ll “take care of Tokuga”, and then promptly loses him.

Tokuga mysteriously disappears into the spirit world.

Zhu Li wins the presidency.

Korra and Asami share a lovely, romantic moment where they exchange their first “I love you”s at the conclusion of the comic.

Mako scenes

There is no Wu in the Turf Wars comics (Unless you count one line of dialogue where it is mentioned that the Earth Kingdom is sending supplies to help the refugee situation) - however, there is plenty of Mako! Mako’s primary role in this series is as a detective trying to find and stop the Triads from waging their turf war in the city.

Our first scenes with Mako shows him back to being a detective- and his brother is his partner. He doesn’t seem super thrilled to be working with Bolin, but I think it’s just because he knows how his brother is- not that he doesn’t want to spend time with him. They are trying to track down the new leader of the triple threats and control gang activity. Mako’s arm is still in a sling, he’s got his usual brooding grumpy facial expression, and his hair is spiky again! He and Bolin arrest two-toed Ping and try to interrogate him. Two-toed Ping is weirdly proud of Mako and Bolin for rising up from being “nobodies” to a couple of “bigtime cops”.

They catch up with Korra and Asami, and the four of them are alerted by Jinora that the Triple threats are attacking the Airbenders that were meditating at the portal. Asami gets hurt in the battle and she and Korra share a kiss in front of everyone:

Look at Opal’s sweet face. She looks like she’s barely containing her excitement and is maybe squealing a bit, and she’s looking directly at Bolin which I think is a sweet moment to show their relationship. Bolin calls dibs on the first double date.

Mako probably needs time to process the information....

Mako and Bolin do some detective work to try and find Tokuga. There is an interesting scene where they are questioning Scoochy (We saw him in the first season, he’s the kid that told Korra and Mako the Bolin went to do some work for the triple threats before getting captured by equalists) Bolin tells Mako they should do “good cop, bad cop”, with Bolin being the good cop. Mako gets annoyed, and Bolin asks if he’s grumpy because his exes are dating. Mako insists he’s cool with it- though he’s got a distressed look on his face. They catch up to Scoochy and Bolin actually loses his temper and is rather menacing. Mako pulls Bolin back and genuinely connects with Scoochy- relating to his past, pushing him to do the right thing and help others. I really liked this moment because it shows how much character growth he’s had when you compare the way he treated Kai in season 3. (They are ultimately unsuccessful and Scoochy’s tip leads them to a room rigged with explosives- but I don’t think Scoochy knew that, I think he was fed false info).

There’s another touching scene, after Asami is kidnapped, where Mako notices how upset Korra seems as everyone is trying to form a plan to stop Tokuga. He steps aside to check in and see how she’s feeling. He comforts her’ empathizes with her, and reassures her that they are going to find Asami. At this point he seems to have fully processed that they are together and seems to fully accept it and is very supportive. Not easy considering the awkward position he’s in as both their exes. In this scene, Mako also informs Korra that he can’t firebend with his injured arm.

Mako and Bolin helps Korra to find Asami by requesting help from Jargala- in spite of the fact that Chief Beifong told them not to… They show up for Korra and Asami even if it means risking their jobs. They team up and fight the bad guys together, just like the old days.

We see many examples of how bad the damage is from Mako��s injury in the Colossus. He can’t bend with his left arm, it’s in a sling almost the whole comic, and he really doesn’t seem to be at the top of his game. He told Bolin he would take care of catching Tokuga, but apparently couldn’t and lost him. Mako’s injury is pretty bad and it’s probably really frustrating.

At the end, Bolin decides to quit the force (surprise. The guy loves to hop from calling to calling!). He makes a big dramatic speech to Mako, talking about how it’s time they go their separate ways. Mako is like “Um I’m going to see you at home in like two hours”, so it sounds like they are living together.

What all this might mean for Wuko

So now I’m going to try to tie things back into how all this affects the potential of Wuko- whether that’s for headcanons or fics or whatever- and just try to give you an idea of what this comic means for Wuko shippers.

Wu is governing in the Earth Kingdom right now. It is mentioned by Zhu Li that the Earth Kingdom sent supplies, so one can assume Wu has taken his place on the throne and the Earth Kingdom is in a stable enough position to be sending supplies to aid another nation. Nothing is mentioned about efforts to transform the Earth Kingdom into a democratic nation (we’ll get to that in the Ruins of the Empire comics).

Mako’s primary relationships that are explored are with his brother and with Korra. His relationship with Bolin is just as it always is. He loves his brother even if he is a little exhausted by his upbeat, enthusiastic attitude. We build up on his final interaction with Korra from the animated series and continue to firmly establish them as friends and amicable exes. Interestingly, we don’t get any meaningful Mako and Asami interactions. When he is comforting Korra, he relates to her by remembering how worried he was when Korra was kidnapped by Amon. He doesn't try to say “Yeah I’m really worried about Asami too”, which, to me is bizarre because he and Asami are friends too, right? I don’t know if we should read too much into it though- most likely it was just a writing choice that we aren’t meant to psycho-analyze- but it could also mean he is being careful with his words so that Korra doesn’t wonder if he still has feelings for Asami. The love triangle is completely resolved and Mako is out of the picture romantically with either of them and has no lingering romantic feelings. In other words, he is 100% ready available for a relationship with someone else.

The scene where Kya gives us a history lesson establishes how LGBTQ+ people are viewed in the world of LoK. In short, Korra and Asami are fully supported by their friends and family, and even their enemies acknowledge their relationship without any homophobic tones. The closest we get to homophobia is Korra's father, who, after expressing his happiness at their relationship, warns Korra to be cautious going forward because not everyone will be as understanding. Kya gives us a quick lesson on how same-gender relationships are viewed across the nations: The water tribe, being a patriarchal culture, expects discretion. The Earth Kingdom is not particularly accepting-Kya says that Avatar Kyoshi was bisexual but couldn't affect "real change" and that the earth kingdom is the slowest to accept change and is also militarily repressive (full disclosure I have not read the Kyoshi comics, maybe there is additional insight in those?). And in the fire nation, Sozin made same-gender relationships illegal when he took power (I hope Zuko undid all that when he became Firelord). The air nation is the only one that seems truly accepting-Kya paints a picture of total acceptance and says that Aang was supportive when she herself came out. Korra is worried that maybe her father was right, but Asami points out that a lot has changed over the years and everyone seems accepting, especially in Republic City. 

I think what we can take away from this as far as Wuko goes- is that in Republic City, same-gender relationships are not much of an issue, while in the Earth Kingdom it could be viewed negatively. One could make a case that Wu might have cause to be closeted, while Mako might not. (Feel free to reject this history canon and substitute your own. I’d just as soon say that no one in the avatar-verse cares if you aren’t cis or het).

In conclusion. Mako is just a guy trying very hard to be a good, supportive friend to his exes who are now dating each other. He loves them (platonically) he loves his brother, he’s kind and has matured a lot, but he still always has a grumpy look on his face so it’s time for him to move on and get together with Wu.

Well, that’s Turf Wars. I did cram the plot of three comic books into one post, so I certainly did not hit all the details. If you feel I missed something crucial, feel free to reblog with your own takes. Next I’ll discuss Ruins of the Empire, in which we get lots of Wu and potential Wuko moments, a sizable helping of angst and even some Wu & Korra friendship! RotE is a really fun comic trilogy and I’ll be breaking it down into multiple posts. Thanks for reading everyone!

Wuko In RotE part 1

Wuko in RotE part 2

[meeko-mar]

Can I just compare Bakudeku to Korrasami for just a moment

Not as in, their relationship, but in terms of fandom experience, perception and how it became Canon.

So, some years ago, LOK was on it's 4th and final season. So of course, shipping discourse was high. Who would Korra end up with? Would she end up single, be back with Mako?

Or....there was a big calling for the couple Korrasami, that is, Korra and her female friend Asami, to get together.

Now, up until the point of the finale, (and grant that I haven't watched in a while so I'm speaking in an overall sense and recalling my experience) Asami and Korra had been teaming up more and more. Korra had been really, badly, injured in the last season, leading to her isolating herself in the SWT for about 2 or 3 years to heal with Katara, and upon heading back to Empire City, she takes an abrupt turn to spend more time isolated and on a sort of spirit journey in the wild because she didn't feel ready to face her destiny and her friends and was suffering from PTSD. She later returns to EC, and to Asami, and they are close together for the season.

This all caught the attention of the Korrasami shippers who had, at the time, kind of only been casually shipping them because, hey, wouldn't it be nice? and they were slowly and steadily getting more crumbs, and the ship gathered momentum as the seasons progressed.

But lo and behold, everyone else was saying such things as:

"they're a female/female ship, it will never happen, even if you want it to" (even shippers of Korrasami were resigned to this because the precedent in youth animation in western cartoons at the time, was of course, not inclusive of same sex couplings).

We SAW the subtle development between the two and DARED to hope and dream that it might one day become canon, even though we thought it unlikely because of the trend towards heteronormativity. We saw their interactions and toiled over if they were trying to hint at something more between them.

"They're just friends. You're reading into it"

Because the "just friends" behavior of Korrasami in later seasons were:

-Asami being deeply supportive of Korra when she was injured (and for a time, disabled) Like, literally, getting on a knee, putting her hand into Korra's and saying "I'm here for you, for ANYTHING you need" kind of supportive, even offering to COME to the SWT with her. (Korra sacrificed her desire to have Asami close because she didn't want Asami to drop her duties as basically a CEO to tend to her)

-Korra receiving letters from all of her friends during her healing period, but ONLY responding, in a very beautiful letter, to Asami's.

-Korra honestly apologizing for being gone so long without writing more than one letter or sharing more of what was going on or where she went

-Asami complimenting Korra's new hair and Korra BLUSHING and looking SO charmed(and returning the compliment of how amazing Asami always looks) --there is no hetero explanation for this.

-being battle partners and constantly having each other's backs

-Asami protecting Korra from pursuing enemies while she's in the Spirit World(leaving her physical body vulnerable)

-other characters in their circles being literally like "What's going on with you two??"

-Culminating in the final episode after the final battle with Asami breaking down, confessing that she wouldn't know what she had done if she had lost Korra in that final battle(she'd even lost her father the same day) AND THEN Korra comforting her and suggesting that they, the two of them, alone, take a trip together, to get away from it all for a bit.

-It ends, when They literally walk into the spirit world portal holding hands and staring lovingly into each other's eyes as the camera pans from them into the spirit portal

Which, LET ME TELL YOU, watching this when it first premiered, for the first time, WAS AN ALMOST TRANSCENDENT EXPERIENCE. It was a soft scene, emotional, beautifully animated, and the MUSIC just hit you right in the heart. Like, they didn't even kiss to really hammer it in that THEY ARE IN LOVE, however, it was an EMOTIONAL PAYOFF and there was NO arguing that they were not a couple. Creators soon after confirmed, yes, they are both bisexual women, and they are in love.

And so, you could definitely say that Korrasami could have been interpreted as just "Very Good Friends" behavior, of "Gals being Pals", and many people DID argue that, and would later claim that there wasn't "enough build-up to the relationship". And part of the atmosphere in media back then(esp. Nickelodeon at the time) they really couldn't be blatant about it up until that ending. It was even a thing that Nickelodeon had been kind of shooting them in the foot for a while with switching around air times, and eventually taking it off air and putting it only available to view ON THEIR WEBSITE. There was a lot of fuckery with the studio at the time, and It wouldn't have been far off to think that they had issue with the idea of this series ending with two girls together romantically.

..

It just kind of makes me think of people telling BKDK, not only "They're m/m, it'll never happen in shonen manga" but ALSO anything from "they hate eachother" to "They are toxic because Bakugou bullied him(blatant disregard for any current development of Bakugou's character) and so it can never ever happen" to "Ok sure they're becoming friends again, but that doesn't mean they love each other or will by the end of the story"

When arguably, Korrasami was basically given the same dismissal.

And my dudes, it's only gonna get more intense from here.

Like, Bakugou and Izuku are friends now(again). There's no denying that. They would literally die for one another. Their relationship, and the emotions between the two of them in the coming arcs will only be compounded, with how the last arc left off and how Izuku SUDDENLY left and how Bakugou has so many unresolved feelings, and how, like Korra being the Avatar and having to save the world multiple times over(and the PTSD she got from it), Izuku is carrying a heavy burden that Bakugou is determine to help him see it through to the end without LOSING Izuku in the process. Their stories are so closely tied together and they are SET to return to each other, and it CANNOT end WITHOUT them being together, in some capacity, even if it is just platonic.

So...I wouldn't write BKDK off just yet. We're at the same spot right now that Korrasami shippers were when they were starting to seriously think that there was something canon about Korrasami.

So, Am I saying that I for sure, 100% believe that BKDK will become romantically canon? Not really; the hurdle of it being a Shonen-oriented manga being actively marketed for boys, is admittedly a huge hurdle to overcome, and I, as an American, cannot begin to understand all of the cultural barriers, or implications breaking any of those barriers would have to a Japanese audience or for Horikoshi/his career as a manga-ka.

I still don't know what Horikoshi is thinking when it comes to BKDK, he's obviously very private and all we can do is speculate on what he feels about it; there's still a possibility, however small, that he may actually be the biggest BKDK of us all, and "telling the story he wants to tell" may yet include BKDK becoming canon(that quote may also have nothing whatsoever to do with any romance, but we don't know)...But, much like I was at the point in the Korrasami tale, I'm still painfully aware of the precedent that remains in the way.

Like the Korrasami tale, though, I suppose there is that possibility that we will see something completely amazing and groundbreaking, and I will once again have that transcendent experience where an unlikely ship suddenly becomes reality. At this state in the Korrasami tale, I had NO IDEA that we were shipping the real, canon deal, and it honestly surprised me, being that I usually attach myself to something that never becomes canon, lol(*cough*Zutara).

We're in the thick of it now, we just gotta wait it out and see.

[theotherace]

This might be an idea you've already touched on in one of your past works, but I'll give it a try here: In a taang marriage AU, how would you see Toph handling the role of basically being the Lady of the new Air Nomads (made up of both their future children and Aang's followers from the other 3 nations)?

Hmmm.

Well, usually there are Air Nomads other than Aang around in my AUs, so that question actually hasn't come up too much. The short answer is: I think she'd hate it.

For the long answer, let's look at the AUs I have where Aang actually is the last airbender. Boy, this is getting long.

Pre-LoK AU: By the time they get together, they each have a child from previous relationships; an airbending daughter and a nonbending son. Which means in this AU, she's not the (only) woman who helps bring back the airbenders, and she's not at all interested in encroaching on Yee Li's territory when her and Aang get married. Yee-Li knows what she's doing, she's been raising an airbender for the past six or so years, and she's been actively learning about their culture since she was a teenager. Toph can't compete with that kind of knowledge, and she doesn't want to, either.

Doesn't change the fact that people very quickly start looking at her like they previously did at Yee-Li. And it's infuriating because she didn't spend the last two and a half decades building an image only to then be made into something she isn't by the world just because she married Twinkle Toes.

She'd do her very best to learn and understand Aang's culture, of course, and not only because of the kids, but she's not an Acolyte, and if anyone called her "Mother of the Air Nomads" or some shit like that, I think they'd have to limp home. She also would absolutely not tolerate the Acolytes putting any of the kids on a pedestal just because they happen to be airbenders. Appreciate all of the Avatar's kids or appreciate none of them, but all of them are more Air Nomad than you'll ever be, so stop treating them like second-class citizens just because they're an earth/nonbender.

She'd absolutely be by Aang's side no matter what he does and how much he wants to teach their kids about their culture, as long as he's teaching all of them, but she's Toph Beifong while doing that, Greatest Earthbender in the World, and don't you forget it.

She'd reject the role in the beginning, and then begrudgingly accept that this is how it is now, while making sure nobody forgets who she is behind that. She'd help Aang rebuild, because she loves him, because it's important, because this is her children's heritage, too, but she very firmly stay herself, an Earth Kingdom woman at the end of the day.

(Also, the airbenders do come back in this AU eventually, but not through some Spirit Portal bullshit.)

His Father's Weight AU: This one's a little different, because Aang dies incredibly young, and their son is only born after Aang's death.

There's a lot of rumors surrounding the kid; not everybody thinks he's actually Aang's, some people think he's adopted, not even all the Acolytes know for sure who his father is because, well, his father was violently murdered, and nobody would like to see that happen to Kelsang.

In this AU, nobody treats Toph with any sort of reverence for being the mother of the last airbender. On the contrary, there's plenty of people who believe she had an affair or slept with some rando immediately after Aang's death. Nobody but some very close friends even know he's an airbender until he's about 15.

Toph would take being the mother of an airbender seriously in a much different way here. She has to find him teachers, she has to teach him what she remembers, she would curse herself for not listening to Aang better, and the Acolytes for sneering at her when she has questions. She would hate this, as well, but in another way entirely.

She'd take her role much more seriously in this AU, because there's nobody but fate forcing it on her, so she can tell herself that she's chosen it herself. It's not like there's anybody else around to make sure Kelsang knows about his father's culture, and she doesn't care so much who she goes down in history as, as long as it's not as the woman who cut off the last airbender from his Air Nomad heritage. And if it's as the Mother/Lady of the Air Nomads, well, that's not what she would've wished for, but at least it means she did a good job with her son, and that she did right by Aang. She's still Toph, of course, and unapologetically so, but she has much less energy to fight idiots. Call her what you want. Look at her however. She's got a kid to raise.

And once Kelsang reveals himself as an airbender, the music changes, of course, but by that time, she's fed up with suck-ups, especially those who had nothing better to do than rumor and whisper over the previous years. She doesn't change her behaviour, she still stands with the Air Acolytes (specifically Teo and the kid, obviously) at important events, she more fully immerses herself in Air Nomad culture in this AU than in any other and is somehow still the most disconnected from the Acoyltes in this than in most of my other stories. She's not the most happy person in this AU. Things are difficult.

Main AU: In which Aang isn't the last airbender, so any notions of her being some sort of important figure to the Air Nomads is quickly dispelled, should it come up. There's still weirdos around, of course, but she would shut them down quickly. The Acolytes would be more interested in the actual Air Nomads than her, which is more than fine by her. All in all, this would be very similiar to the Pre-Lok AU, with maybe a little more annoyance, because it's less understandable. There's Air Nomads! Airbender! Men, women, everything outside and in between! Leave her be, she isn't even the person who gave birth to the most airbenders in the last ten years. Still surportive of Aang and the kids. Still learning. But don't call her anything but Toph unless it's "Greatest Earthbender in the World".

And also, because re-reading made me unsure if you weren't maybe talking about some sort of arranged marriage, the Arragend Marriage AU: Toph would hate to be put in this situation and she would resent everybody who put her there. Maybe in this AU, the Gaang never stumbled upon her, and then one way or another, she ends up Aang's wife, anyway.

She hates him. She hates, hates, hates, hates, hates him. She hates that she'll never be more than what she was supposed to be now, and she hates that he's okay with just marrying this random girl who he knows nothing about. So she makes an effort to learn nothing and be as uncooperative as possible until she realises ... he's not pissed? In fact, he doesn't seem much of anything. He avoids her most days. He hasn't even touched her hand since they got married. He's gone a lot, and he always offers her to come with him, so one day, she does.

And they get to know each other, a little bit. And he promises he'll never do anything she doesn't want, and that she can leave whenever; he was just worn down after months and months of people urging him to take a wife. So neither of them were exactly excited about this marriage. And they aren't for quite a long time.

So this AU is very similar to the first and third once she's fallen in love with Aang, but she is just a giant dick in the beginning -- and she's earned that, too. Call her Lady of the Air Nomads again and catch these hands. She's not even bending, she's just kicking where it hurts the most. Also, leave her kids alone, she had those for herself, not for the world to gawk at. This Toph is very "Fuck off" in general; more so than in canon, and if an Acolyte (or whoever) gets weird about Aang/any kid being an airbender, they are banned from the family. ("Toph, I can't ban them from the Temple, this is their home, too." "Well, I can throw them off the mountain, if you'd prefer, Aang.")

Aaand ... I hope I answered your question? Sometimes I get lost in a thought and then talk right past an actual answer. In any case, thank you for the ask!

[miminiac]

Korrasami had build up, just maybe not one you identified with and that’s okay...

I am tired of the LGBTQ+ community hating on Legend of Korra (LoK) for not being gay enough. The critique that there wasn’t enough build up is (1) not productive at all and (2) honestly, not true. There was build up. It may not be the build up every LGBTQ+ person will like, and it may not relate to the experience of every person’s coming out, but it was there. Korrasami was something the creators had tossed around as soon as Book 1 (not that they necessarily had permission to do anything about it). Take this quote from Bryan Konietzko’s tumblr post after the finale aired:

As we wrote Book 1, before the audience had ever laid eyes on Korra and Asami, it was an idea I would kick around the writers’ room. At first we didn’t give it much weight, not because we think same-sex relationships are a joke, but because we never assumed it was something we would ever get away with depicting on an animated show for a kids network in this day and age, or at least in 2010. (link)

The post also discusses how Makorra was never meant to be endgame after Book 1. Again, the time LoK was airing was at a point where states were passing laws to actively prevent gay marriage (LoK ended in 2014, legalization of same-sex marriage by supreme court ruling wasn’t until 2015––context is important). Did they actively write a romance in Books 1 and 2, no they did not. However, as many creators and writers, they let the characters lead them and they discovered that Korra and Asami were more than just friends. Again, taken from the same post:

The more Korra and Asami’s relationship progressed, the more the idea of a romance between them organically blossomed for us

So what we have with Korra and Asami is not a planned romantic relationship from the very beginning, however, the characters have been leading them there since the beginning, whether they realized it or not. Now, I am a big fan of Barthes’ “Death of the Author”, so I 100% percent think that viewers/readers have the ability to inject their own narratives and that multiple narratives can coexist. However, the point of this post is to explain why a critique of “wish they did more” is not productive when it comes to discussion of LoK of a piece of LGBTQ+ media representation. Therefore, I turn to the creators to show that there was intent and there was subtext and build up within Book 3 and 4 (as Bryan discusses in his post, please read in full when you have time).

A lot of Korrasami was hidden in subtext, and that happened because of homophobia within the industry, which still exists today. Content creators of LGBTQ+ media continue to have to walk a fine line. Take Noelle Stevenson talking about Catradora:

My big fear was that I would show my hand too early and get told very definitively that I was not allowed to do this

And like with Catradora (though a little easier since Noelle told viewers that every character is a part of the LGBTQ+ community by default unless explicitly stated otherwise), people saw Korrasami from as early as Book 2 (if not Book 1 on a rewatch).

At the time LoK started airing, I still thought I was straight; I still thought I was straight when I was watching the third season and telling my then boyfriend how Korra and Asami were going to be a couple by the end (literally, when they interacted in the first episode of season 3 while Asami taught Korra how to drive, I turned to him and said it; he said they would never do that and it was a pipe dream). I continued to see Korrasami’s friendship build into something romantic (even if the characters themselves were unaware of it).  

Come Season 3 Episode 9, where Asami carries away a helpless Korra, mimicking Katara having carried away a helpless Aang. For those who had watched the original series and were big Korrasami shippers, this scene basically made it canon. It could be argued as the point that maybe the friendship switched to something more romantic. The rest of season 3 and all of season 4 only added moments between these two (side note: I came out as bisexual soon after season 4 started airing, though I had been questioning my sexuality probably since the end of season 3).

Now is the Korrasami relationship perfect, absolutely not. Bryke admits as much, but it was a significant step forward. Again, this happened in 2014, so a lot of narrative within media of states passing laws to discriminate against same-sex couples and deny marriage. The hand-holding scene everyone screams about not being enough. Well, they received plenty of homophobic backlash from that.

The critique that they didn’t do enough is not productive. It is a critique that could be said about most main-stream LGBTQ+ media. I get that we are tired of scraps; I get that we are tired of having to read between the lines because creators are still afraid to come out and say it (pun intended). However, to critique LoK as “not being gay enough” ignores the context in which it was created and what that representation meant to many of the viewers (like myself) who were discovering themselves and their sexuality at the time.

Avatar: the Last Airbender (ATLA) was made for 8-13 year olds (from season 1), and I would argue that LoK was made for that same group of people, who would have then been 14-19 years old when LoK first aired. Thus, LoK was being watched by those entering high school and college––a time of self-discovery.

Additionally, a critique that LoK doesn’t do enough leads to an idea that there is “a right way” to create a LGBTQ+ relationship, which I would argue is harmful to the community at large. If you did not identify with Korra’s coming out, that’s completely valid. If you did not identify with the way the Korrasami relationship progressed, that is also valid. But you cannot invalidate the relationship of Korrasami, as a relationship built off a friendship and mutual respect that blossomed by into something more. The relationship was not sexualized with wistful glances and blatant sexual tension, instead, it was built on a friendship and respect for boundaries.

Again, multiple narratives can be drawn given each viewer has a unique set of experiences. One such reading could show that Asami was more in tune with her feelings for Korra than Korra was about her feelings for Asami. And, instead of flirting non-stop with Korra, Asami respects Korra’s space (though we all saw her check out Korra’s back muscles) and recognizes that Korra has a lot on her plate being the avatar, a relationship is not something on the forefront of her mind. It is only after defeating Kuvira (and the healing/growth from a few episodes prior in "Beyond the Wilds”) that Korra is able to truly understand her feelings to Asami, suggesting they take a trip together––just the two of them.

Now, you may not identify with that type of coming out, but other people do. And to argue that “LoK didn’t make Korrasami explicit enough” undermines the experiences of those in the LGBTQ+ who heavily identified with Korra’s experiences and her coming out.

Holding LGBTQ+ media to this higher standard is inherently toxic. I would like to believe that these creators are coming from a good place with good intentions. There is nothing toxic or abusive in the way Korrasami is portrayed. There is nothing unrealistic about the way their relationship progressed throughout the series. It was not a fan service––it was the natural progression of the characters.

And let’s not forget that Korrasami is not only confirming a relationship between two women, but it is also two women of color. Now, it may not seem like a huge deal within the contexts of the Avatar World, but it is important to remember the context of where this show was airing.

There are things we can critique LoK on. It isn’t perfect. We can discuss the hiring of white voice actors (as a way to hold new media that is being created or will be created accountable, not as a way to just hate on LoK); we can discuss the voices within the writers room and the lack of diversity there. These are critiques that can be made of ATLA and LoK and countless of other media produced. This is a valid critique when used constructively. It is not meant to tear down an entire piece of media and everything that it has done for various communities, but rather to point to a flaw within the way media is being produced and the racist, sexist, and homophobic systems in place that determine what and how media is produced.

If we are to critique, we could look to reimagining how we create and consume media, not tearing down media that has already been produced and stands in a pivotal spot of the community. As Audre Lorde says:

For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

If we are continually operating within the systems of oppression, we will never truly be able to dismantle them. Thus, to operate within the institutions of Nickelodeon, Netflix, Disney, etc. is to be beholden to the rules and constraints of a moderate, heteronormative, sexist, racist society. If creators stray too far from that line too quickly, there will be backlash. The perfect LGBTQ+ representation cannot exist while made within these institutions.

I would like to mention this statement is not to say that we cannot critique or boycott movies or shows that are performative in their diversity. There is no excuse for Hollywood after the successes of Black Panther (2018) and Crazy Rich Asians (2018) (and others) to not fill the crew and writers with the same representation being shown on the screen. We can, and should, hold production companies accountable––and given the internet, it is something we can do even early on in the production process.

I have gotten a little off track, but my point is, think about your critiques. Really ask yourself if it is a productive critique, or if it is critique that actually harms or is toxic to the community. Critiques are hard, I understand that. When we first start to think critically, it is easy to just jump on these “low hanging fruit” type critiques. It takes practice and comfortability learning and expanding your world view to construct a critique that looks at context from various point of views and experiences.

[fu-yao]

tagged by @leonzhng​ thanks for making me dig through my most embarrassing crushes 😭✋

i’ll tag @highwarlockkareena​ @yibobibo​ @lan-xichens​ @purplexedhuman​ @aheartfullofjolllly​ @lanzhansmiles​ @nyx4​ i feel like i tag you guys in everything i am so sorry please ignore this if u don’t wanna do it !!

putting this under a read more for reasons

MEN 2010 – 2016

literally nothing more embarrassing than falling on the same type of white man over and over again (with the exception of minho from shinee bless his heart)

tommy joe ratliff → he was the bass player for adam lambert during his glamnation era (think of songs like for your entertainment and if i had you) idk why exactly i liked him so much but i just did.... however i searched him up again quite recently and found out he’s one of those republicans that says the dumbest shit on twitter so Big Yikes

harry styles → “baby you light up my world like nobody else, the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed, and when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell...” and BOOM 13-year-old me was sold for well over two years

louis tomlinson → basically i liked harry most until around 2013 when for some reason i started to like him a little less, and i got more focused on louis tomlinson, and although i didn’t like one direction anymore louis tomlinson always had a special place in my heart

ashton irwin → so ashton is 5sos’ drummer, i discovered 5sos through one direction & i stanned them until late 2014

harries twins → the harries twins (jack & finn) are basically the reason i started spending a lot of time on youtube, they were funny and pretty and they just had good videos in general, so for almost two years i’d watch their content regularly

choi minho → my first steps into kpop happened bc i was watching videos on youtube (most probably the harries twins) and suddenly i saw the sherlock mv in my recommended videos so i clicked on it and then 14-year-old me proceeded to fall for minho like an idiot

brooks twins → still youtubers, the brooks twins were 3/5 of the janoskians (jai & luke brooks, beau brooks, daniel sahyounie, & james yammouni), an australian youtube comedy group that was active from 2011-2018 though i was only around from 2012-2014 (when jai brooks was dating ariana grande)

jc caylen → surprise! another youtuber! jc caylen was part of o2l (our2ndlife) a youtube collaboration channel on which each of the 6 members posted videos on a certain day in the week (mondays with connor, tuesdays with ricky, wednesdays with sam, thursdays with jc, fridays with trevi (my 2nd favorite member bc she participated on the x factor), saturdays with ricardo, and then they had surprise sundays every week) and i remember how much joy jc & the others always brought me with their silly videos

misha collins → up next, you might know him as the gay angel that was sent to superhell after confessing his love to the homophobic hunter on supernatural, it’s misha collins! basically misha was a huge source of comfort for me, and i even went around calling myself emmisha for almost two full years (cringe)

henrik holm → he played even bech naesheim in skam and my crush on him reached that level of ridiculousness where i actually tried my hand at learning norwegian (i can only remember how to introduce myself and some curse words i would make a great first impression on him)

MEN 2016 – 2021

min yoongi → okay so my baby steps into kpop happened through shinee’s sherlock, but i only got really invested when yoongi dropped agust d 1 because Holy Fuck y’know??

kim namjoon → oh man i remember thinking namjoon was cute and a very good leader and then BAM he dressed like THAT at the 2016 mma’s and i fell in love. hard

park seojoon → i started liking park seojoon whilst i was watching hwarang (you guessed it, i watched it bc of taehyung), although he wasn’t my favorite character by far, but he was very silly off camera & i liked that (i’m not that into him anymore tho </3)

kim seokjin → OH BOY LET ME TELL U i liked seokjin from the very beginning (i got to know bts in late 2014) and i always liked seeing him perform and be himself and god once i realized i had a crush on him it just hit me like a mf truck, and he’s still one of my favorite people to this day

jung hoseok → god fake love era hoseok really hits different.... also yes i know i have all of bts’ hyung line on my list BUT bts was a really big part of my life for almost 6 years soooo honestly they deserve it i still think they’re great guys

choi san → when ateez made their debut in 2018 i immediately fell in love with san, he was such an amazing dancer and he captivated me right from the very beginning, to this day he’s still my bias in ateez uwu

xiao zhan → AND THEN, OCTOBER OF 2019 HAPPENS AND I WATCH CQL AND... i fall in love with xiao zhan, something i’d never expected would happen bc when i watched cql for the first time i wasn’t as invested in the story, but i really really really liked xiao zhan and one thing led to another and now here i am as a xfx

wang yibo → the thing is, i’ve known yibo since eoeo except i didn’t know cql yibo was uniq yibo (bc i’d forgotten his name) and when i looked it up i can tell you my jaw dropped to the floor bc holy shit????? also he is very silly and i love him loads ok

lee minho → ah, the man who has been my skz bias since 2018, not only is minho my bias i also kin him (there’s a lot of aspects of myself that i see in minho and vice versa) and he’s very comforting to me

bang chan → honestly, it was only a matter of time before i’d fall for bang chan, i knew the moment i got into skz again that i’d start biasing him and, well, here i am, double biasing chan & minho

WOMEN

this list is shorter bc i’ve in general always had less crushes on women than on men??? blame society forcing me into thinking i was straight for a LONG time

ariana grande → remember the 2011 layout of twitter?? where u could not only have an icon and a header, but also a background and ur twitter page was smack in the center of ur screen with the big ugly menu bar at the top??? yeah ariana grande was always my background for my l*rr* st*l*n*s*n layouts

perrie edwards → this was right around the time she was dating zayn & little mix was breaking out into the spotlight, yeah i just really loved her

andrea russett → okay so remember o2l?? andrea russett was kian’s girlfriend for a pretty long time and they always did videos together and i always thought she was super pretty

lily collins → maybe i don’t like clary in tmi all that much but i sure liked the way lily collins looked

alona tal → MY BISEXUAL AWAKENING, it’s only when i saw alona tal in spn that i realized, fuck i might be gay

park jihyo → i discovered twice (my 2nd jype group after day6) through the like ooh-ahh mv and red-haired jihyo really did something to my heart (i just rewatched it and god zombie bang chan is so mf cute)

kim jisoo → when bp made their square two comeback i was immediately smitten for red-haired jisoo in playing with fire, it’s also when i realized she was my bias out of the four members

shin ryujin → the reason that i have blue hair is partially bc of ryujin and her amazing intro in wannabe :D

xuan lu → her portrayal of jiang yanli was SO ON POINT and she’s just such a kindhearted wonderful person wow i want her hand in marriage

lee yoobin → god i’ve known dreamcatcher from back when they were still called minx and ever since i’ve always looked at dami that bit more than the rest, i was also able to see dreamcatcher live in october of 2019 and the whole experience was just so amazing !!

FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

there’s a whole lot more than just these 10 but i wanted to fit the evolution into one (1) slide as best as i could lmao

peter pan → this movie came out in 2003 (?) and he’s honestly the first fictional character i remember ever having a crush on

legolas → i was really doubting between placing haldir or legolas here but i only really got a vague haldir obsession when i was like 14

zuko → LOOK. ZUKO IN ATLA? HOT. ZUKO IN LOK? HOT EVEN IF HE’S AN OLD MAN.

will turner → man was annoying sometimes but i really liked him and his relationship with elizabeth was cute

jo harvelle → gosh i can’t believe she’s the only female character in here???? yeah she was one of my two spn faves and i’ll never forgive the screenwriters for the way they killed her off

castiel → does your fave ever get sent to super hell for being gay? no? well. mine did

kili → fili and kili’s storyline tore my heart out, spit on it, and then laughed straight in my face, KILI WAS LITERALLY MY FAVORITE DWARF

howl → i only watched this movie for the first time in 2020 so i kinda fucked up the tl cause i watched cql in 2019 but shh, anyways howl with his blonde hair was good looking but howl with his black hair just hits differently. i want a howl

lan jingyi → MY BABY BOY, TINIE LITTLE BABIE WHOMST I MUST PROTECT ok no but seriously this kid. i love him a lot

mu qing → BARK BARK. that’s all (that’s not all i love him a whole lot and it hurts me to see so many people misunderstand his character and only see the bad parts of him when they can forgive others for fucking up (eg. xie lian himself & feng xin) but bc mu qing doesn’t deal well with emotions suddenly he’s the bad guy??? i s2g if ppl are gonna do to him what they did to jiang cheng in the tgcf la i will RIOT)

[bloodbenderz]

this is possibly a dumb question and a weird one, so feel free to ignore! but i was reading one of ur analyses (on the lok anarchy article) and that was a lot of fun to read and i thought u made v salient points! i was wondering if u had any advice on how one can get better at coming up with their own analyses and stuff like that. maybe it’s a lack of brain cells or maybe it’s a part of my brain that i haven’t flexed in years, but i want to be able to do that (i think it’s called “critical thinking” lmao) but cannot fathom how to do so to the point of being able to think and organize analyses/essays like this. again this is a weird q with an answer that will vary/not exist depending on who’s asked, but i dig ur analyses so here i am

thank u sm! this is a super broad question but im just gonna assume u mean literary analysis cuz thats what this blog is about (usually)

my first piece of advice is to read nonfiction. for me nonfiction has always been the best way for me to build a Framework of critical thought (for example, learning about science and its history gives me the tools to criticize modern scientific education and pop science) aside from teaching u abt historical/scientific fact, these writers will usually have ways of thinking abt things that u will not have considered before, and as u follow them thru their argument, u will not only understand Theirs better but u will also start understanding better how to formulate ur own. u can find whatever format works best for u, like, podcasts/audiobooks or print or ebook or whatever, but find some content abt something that interests u and go for it! 

when it comes to fiction, i would say my advice is to both consume a lot of fiction AND ALSO consume a lot of analysis of it. (also remember that ur mind basically functions on You are what you eat. Dont spend too much time watching trashy dramas or reading fanfiction. read/watch/listen to a VARIETY of content) as u consume content, ask urself WHY do i like this? what specifically abt it is appealing to me? why does it ring true, or why doesn’t it? notice motifs bc thats usually the easiest way to notice symbolism (for example theres a lot of mirrors and reflections in russian doll. what does that mean?) and think abt what they could represent in the story. track character development, make mental notes of a character’s motivations and ideals, and notice how the story affects them and ask if it makes sense. give urself room to dislike things (Just because legend of korra is the sequel to a show u really liked doesnt mean u have to like lok too!), but ask urself why u disliked them, and see if u can form a convincing argument abt it.

look at other people’s analysis of fiction! watch video essays and read other people’s analysis! u dont have to agree w them, but see what patterns they’ve picked out, and see if u can pick out patterns like it next time. it’s really just practice the more u read/watch critically, the more u get better at it!

for me fiction is the most fun and creative way to Apply critical thought because like. every piece has a Point to it. Nonfiction will just come out and tell u what their point is, but fiction requires u to figure out what theirs is, and bc of that there’s a lot of flexibility in how u read it. (hint: as long as the text doesnt actually disprove ur reading, that’s a valid Point! another hint: not all Valid points are Good) also, i dont wanna sound like an asshole here but theres no way to avoid it so here it is: a lot of people dont criticize/analyze fiction properly bc of their emotional attachment to it. they’ll project things onto characters that arent supported by the text, they’ll write “fix it” fanfiction that ignores or misunderstands the important themes of a story, they’ll excuse genuinely bad writing bc theyre attached to the characters (can anyone say 2020 supernatural renaissance?). its fine to be emotionally attached to a story (and if it’s a good story u WILL be emotionally attached to it) but when u write analysis of a story set ur affection for the characters aside for the moment cuz u will always end up with much fairer and more interesting analysis when u do. 

also, find somebody to talk to abt fiction or make a blog abt it! its fun to talk about and u will find it easier to form arguments when ur actively talking abt it cuz honestly i only ever have a half formed thought when i write my long posts i just sit down and start typing and i organize my thoughts once theyre already down

so, idk. tldr: read more nonfiction, read less fanfiction, write more analysis. And pay attention in english class if ur in school

[phantompearlsalt]

Sour Cherry, Chapter 8

Here it is folks!! That sweet domestic bliss so many of y’all craved 💜 It was very interesting writing this but I still had a blast — it’s quite different from chapter 7 so brace yourselves. I will also note this one is distinct in that it’s more of a modern!AU setting so no bending or LoK elements at all, really. It was fun doing something so different! Lastly, make sure you have these songs queued up in case you want to play them as you reach those parts of the chapter 😉 And lastly, quick content warning for folks reading on here: there’s mention of cooking, food, but not eating! Feel free to check this out on AO3 too okay this is long: ENJOY!! 

There was a time in your life when you believed you would never have this: the comforting rustle of warm bed sheets against your toes, the muffled song of birds just outside your window, and the solid presence of Kuvira’s slumbering body beside your own. 

As you gradually blink into consciousness, you come to the pleasant realization that it’s Saturday. For the first time in weeks, you have nowhere to be and neither does Kuvira so you allow yourself to savor the rare and welcome contentment of a lazy morning in bed. 

You feel a faint tickle graze the nape of your neck and you realize that Kuvira is fast asleep, her arm strung loosely across your waist. Shifting carefully so as not to wake her, you move until your back is against the mattress and you can tilt your face to the side. Kuvira’s fingers twitch for a moment but she remains unperturbed by the slight motion, her jaw still slack. 

Given the bustling nature of her schedule, and her own no-nonsense disposition, there is always an element of tension present in Kuvira’s features. She’s still too young to have any significant wrinkles but during the day you never fail to notice the thin grooves around her mouth and along her forehead. Even when she’s not totally ensnared in the commotion of her job, she is rarely one to exude a sense of calm around others. It isn’t quite stress either but it’s certainly imposing.

When Kuvira sleeps, she is in her most vulnerable state. Every ounce of strain she carries in her body vanishes entirely, replaced with the weight of loosened limbs and heavy eyelids. Her brow relaxes completely, sometimes her mouth parts open and air will whistle through, her hair falls over her face in a curtain of vibrant black, and her shoulders sink freely into the downy comfort of your mattress.

Sometime in the distant past, you had believed a moment like this to be too out of reach. Too idealistic or picturesque. But as you gaze upon the beauty of this simple sight, understanding the depth of Kuvira’s trust that has allowed you to witness this side of her, you are overtaken by just how much your life has changed since you met Kuvira and how intensely you have grown to love her.

The sun has fully emerged outside and the rays start filtering through your gossamer curtains, casting a lovely golden glow across Kuvira’s face. You know she’ll start to stir within moments as the light starts to fall across her eyes so you treasure each remaining moment you have left like this. Gently, you lift your arm from beneath the bedsheets and let your hand cover hers.

It doesn’t take long for her to awaken after that — a handful of minutes pass before she makes a soft sound and her eyelids start to flicker open. Her gaze roams across the adjacent wall, slightly disoriented, before finally turning to focus on you. She blinks once and a muted smile tugs at the edges of her mouth.

“Good morning,” she murmurs. This time, you twist around so you’re on your side and you can twine your legs with hers. “Good morning to you,” you respond with a grin, cupping her cheek with your palm. “Looks like someone slept well.” Kuvira hums contentedly, stretching her arms high above her head.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to,” she says. “Yeah well, ridiculous work hours will really do that to a woman,” you tease. She gives you a withering glance which makes you burst into giggles, pulling her face towards yours so you can press a kiss against her forehead. “I’m not actually gonna kiss you until I can brush my teeth,” you inform her when you notice the expectant look on her face. “Then I suggest we do so immediately,” she replies promptly.

However, she proceeds to wrap an arm over your shoulder and tuck you against her chest, sinking her fingers into your hair as you brush your lips over her throat. For a moment you are tempted to point out the contradiction but you are far too delighted to actually do it. Though you cherish every morning you have with Kuvira, ones like these feel particularly special because of their rarity. Between her professional engagements and your own commitments, your mornings together are often hurried and fleeting.

So right now, with Kuvira’s arms encircling your body and your senses saturated by her scent and warmth, you want to hold onto this for as long as you can.

But of course, her arm starts falling asleep and your face gets too hot so you reluctantly pull away and fall into your habitual morning activities. You take a moment to stretch and crack away the stiffness of your joints while Kuvira messily clips her hair behind her neck before entering the bathroom where you’ll eventually join her.

The next few minutes pass in a rush of running water, toothpaste, and soap bubbles. You head back into the room to make your bed while Kuvira slides the glass pane open and a gust of brisk wind rushes through. As you slide into one of Kuvira’s old sweaters, you join her by the window. “I’ll go get our tea started, okay?” you say, touching your hand to her shoulder.

She nods once before responding, “Before you go.” Kuvira slips her fingers between yours before gently tugging you forward and bringing your lips together in a sleepy kiss. You let your arms wrap around her shoulders and you smile against the touch, feeling the tips of your ears grow red and your belly tingle with excitement. When you break apart, Kuvira watches you silently with a tender expression that heightens the emotion already rushing through your veins.

The longer you stay by her side, the more you find yourself feeling less inclined to leave so you quickly peck her on the mouth before scuttling out while she chuckles behind you.

Once you’re in the kitchen you quickly get to work on brewing your tea, relishing the sensation of sunlight falling across your back. As the water begins to boil on the stove, you push the window open and sigh at the burst of crisp air that follows. You detect the unmistakable scent of morning dew and realize it drizzled overnight. Getting on your tiptoes, you notice the plants outside are glossed over with a fine layer of moisture. It’s nearly a scene directly out of a film.

Finally your water is ready and you begin steeping Kuvira’s favorite oolong leaves, flicking on the radio and humming along to the entrancing melodies of the jazz station you have both grown so fond of. You’re pouring into your respective cups when a familiar set of arms curl around you from behind. Grinning, you place the pot down and lean back into Kuvira’s embrace. “I’ve missed this,” you sigh, suddenly forgetting about the steaming beverages as you feel a tickle swell inside your chest and your ribs.

“I have too,” she responds quietly, tightening her hold infinitesimally as she leans down to brush her lips against your cheekbone. “I know it’s been some time since we’ve been able to do this and...it’s nice. I didn’t realize how much I missed it myself.” You succumb to the enticement of that magical silence you only experience with Kuvira, allowing your body to press deeper against her chest until you can feel the heavy thrum of her heart.

Eventually, you have to step away when your stomach growls and you offer her the piping cup of tea. “Drink some of this and please be careful this time. Last time you burned your tongue you whined about it for a week.” Kuvira glares at you, unimpressed, which naturally makes you laugh. “Once you’re through with that, you can get started on chopping these up.” You push the bag of potatoes on the counter towards her and she inspects it apprehensively.

“Are you sure you trust me with that?” Kuvira asks over the rim of her teacup. “You know for someone who manages to scare almost everyone at her job, you’d think you could handle cutting some potatoes…” you sigh, earning a delightfully petty snort from Kuvira. You grin while smoothing her hair down against her head and press a chaste kiss to her nose. “You just have to get them into little cubes. Leave the actual cooking to me,” you chuckle. Kuvira still doesn’t look entirely convinced but she eventually picks up a knife from a drawer and carefully begins slicing the vegetables.

After sipping through about half your tea and admiring the stern look of concentration on Kuvira’s face, you join her and the music emanating from your small radio is soon accompanied by the clicking of knives and robust scent of onion, peppers, and garlic. There is a pleasant, unspoken dynamic between you and Kuvira that you’ve come to cherish, where you can merely exist together without the expectation of filling the space with frivolous conversation. If anything, you actually talk quite a bit on most days as a way to decompress from the exigencies of your respective work lives.

When you finally have the time to luxuriate in the freedom of an empty schedule, you allow yourselves to fully bask in that simple yet compelling joy of being in the other person’s presence.

Once your ingredients are properly diced and washed, you begin assembling everything which really just entails Kuvira tossing the cubes into the skillet while you sprinkle a variety of spices for good measure. Your fingers occasionally brush together as you lean over the stove and each time you see the apples of Kuvira’s face lift from the corner of your eye.

“You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this,” she notes. You snort and lovingly squeeze her hand before you start mixing everything together. “C’mon Kuvira, it’s been what? Over a year? I feel like I make this every other week so I wouldn’t get too confident about that. Give it a few more months and you’ll probably be gagging at the sight of sautéed vegetables.”

She moves towards your back and slides her hand down your arm until it rests over yours, temporarily pausing the stirring motion. “While I’m certainly not complaining about your exceptional breakfast-making skills, that’s not quite what I’m referring to. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this.” The words sweep along your ear and you feel a wave of goosebumps appear all across your flesh.

“Just being here, with you. I will never, ever tire of this,” she whispers against your neck. The words evoke a low hum in your ears as your blood rushes harder until the ringing feels like it’s sinking into your bones. You feel as though you have lost all coordination of your limbs, instead feeling them thrum with the wondrous glow of infatuation and only tethered down by the reassuring weight of Kuvira’s touch.

It still surprises you how these seemingly innocuous statements can unleash such an intense surge of emotion. Perhaps it’s because Kuvira isn’t the most eloquent when it comes to voicing her affections so when she does it’s particularly moving. Or perhaps it’s the shock of knowing another human being can love you as deeply as Kuvira does when you once found it impossible to conceive of such an idea.

Perhaps it’s a combination of the two and a million other things but you don’t dwell on that too long. At this moment in time, it doesn’t matter. Instead, you ground yourself in the steady and soothing warmth of Kuvira’s body and wiggle around until you can face her.

Kuvira lifts her hands to nestle your face between them, as if you might shatter into pieces with just the slightest movement, and presses her lips reverently against your forehead. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our breakfast is about one minute away from burning to a crisp,” she states.

Your attention returns to the skillet in a flurry of flailing arms and nonsensical shouting while Kuvira merely observes in silent amusement. Luckily, you manage to save your meal and remove it from the heat at just the right moment. A hearty aroma of crisp potatoes and caramelized onions wafts through the air and you feel your stomach rumble again.

Just as you are sliding the food onto your platters, an all-too familiar melody chimes from the radio that brings your movements to a sudden halt. Faraway memories hit you all at once and very quickly. You only see glimpses of the images as they flash through your mind in bursts of vivid colors and fuzzy sounds.

Old timey photographs framed against paisley walls. Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Wes Montgomery.

Hazy shadows twirling beneath dim golden lights. The carefree ripple of a skirt lifting in the air and jewelry glistening against a perspiring body.

The shuffle and snap of shoes sliding against a red-tiled floor. The clink of a heel tapping to the beat of a muted drum.

Kuvira’s hand resting confidently on your lower back, patiently guiding you through the movements, while another presses against your palm.

A distinctive voice croons, “The very thought of you/ And I forget to do/ Those little ordinary things/ That everyone ought to do…”

You are dragged out of your trance by the same touch you felt all those months ago. Kuvira pulls you away from the counter, the plates of steaming food now completely forgotten, and her eyes glitter with quiet mirth.

“Do you remember this song?” she asks quietly while she brings you close against her. Your muscles freeze and you chuckle nervously. “I do but, uh, you and I both know I’m not the ex-professional dancer here,” you remind her.

Kuvira merely shrugs, leaning down to press her forehead against yours. “Just follow my lead,” she murmurs. She moves her hands from your waist to gently take your wrists and wrap your fingers around the back of her neck. She snakes her palms along your arms and down your sides until they return to their original position, resting against the small patch at the base of your spine.

The ensuing steps are so simple it barely constitutes a dance at all but you still can’t hinder the raging blush that seems to radiate across every inch of your skin. Kuvira is rarely one to initiate exchanges of this nature so when she does your body reacts accordingly.

It’s not so much a dance as it is simply swaying back and forth, occasionally stepping backwards but never once splitting away from Kuvira. Your eyes flutter closed again and you burrow your face in the crook of her neck.

“I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you The very thought of you, my love”

You feel as though you have fallen into a field of flowers yourself. This moment...it’s the exhilarating rush of being pulled to the ground and the blissful recognition of falling into a perfumed refuge of velvety petals. As you rest your head against Kuvira, you inhale her fresh, earthy scent that is so reminiscent of the misty air outside. In your mind, the kitchen disappears entirely and your home dissipates into a rosy mist.

Instead, you find yourself in your own dimension where everything is concentrated in this very moment. Gravity is the touch of Kuvira’s hands against your hips and air is her breath mingling with yours. In this juncture of time and space, you are the only two beings in the universe. In this little cluster of minutes far away from the rest of the world, your only thoughts are on the simple movements of your feet, the graceful way Kuvira floats you across the ground, and the overpowering truth of how profoundly you love her.

The song eventually fades away into another tune, slowly bringing you back to the present moment. Kuvira’s hands haven’t left your body and you don’t make any move to break the embrace. Breakfast lays utterly forgotten and you imagine it’s gone cold. But it doesn’t matter. Not right now.

Within moments you find yourselves calmly rocking along to the soothing vocals and eventually a drizzle starts up outside. You pay no mind and smile when Kuvira brings her mouth to yours — that simple brush of lips seems to capture every ounce of emotion brimming in your body.

She whispers something that’s drowned out by the music but somehow, somewhere in the deepest crevices of your heart, the words still make sense.

---

“This is my first affair, please be kind Handle my heart with care, please be kind This is all so grand, my dreams are on parade If you'll just understand, they'll never, never fade”

[rotationalsymmetry]

Animorphs read-through: meta (saving the world)

One problem with the “saving the world” type storyline plus the “great man” approach to history is between the two, you can kind of be left with the impression that you should be able to, y’know, have a big old Master of the Four Elements fight the Fire Lord showdown. Or lead a million person March on Washington. Or whatever the big climax to this series ends up being, assuming it’s in that general ballpark. Taking down the Head Yeerk by morphing into a squirrel or whatever.

But most of us aren’t masters of the four elements who are destined to bring balance to the world. (You can argue about whether Legend of Korra succeeds at this, but at least it tries to write a conventional action hero who’s stuck with being unable to solve her problems primarily by fighting them, and that makes an intrinsically more interesting story than yet another Forces of Good fight Forces of Evil story. It drives me up the wall that there isn’t more LoK respect on this site.) And nobody starts out doing activism that’s going to get them written into the history books.

In my admittedly somewhat questionable experience, there’s basically three approaches to “saving the world”.

Providing services. This is: running domestic violence shelters, food banks, hotlines, legal help for refugees, bail funds, mutual aid networks (formal/informal — for instance queer people raising money for each other is mutual aid even if it’s not called that), the Underground Railroad, self care, getting your behind to therapy/otherwise working through trauma and/or dealing with your psych issues, parenting, care of elderly and disabled people, Planned Parenthood, public libraries, tutoring people who can’t pay for tutoring, road repair, strike funds, etc. Governmental, nonprofit/ngo, informal. These things are a lot of work and often underpaid or unpaid, and there’s very much a problem with work that isn’t paid or doesn’t involve answering to a boss tends to be seen as not “real” work.

Fighting political battles. Pushing the SSI Restoration Bill through Congress, fighting Line 3, fighting for same sex marriage (I have to mention this one, I’ve seen so many losses and not a lot of wins), that thing with the IATSE right now, doing sit-ins to get ethnic studies college classes or keep the security staff in-house rather than contracted out, protesting outside of the School of the Americas, legal action, rent strikes.

Attempting to change people’s worldviews (your own/others’.) Art, music, stories, teaching, child care. Promoting specific ideas. Whose stories get told, and how, and by whom.

Of course, not everything neatly fits into exactly one category and I might be leaving out some important stuff.

I get that “huge world-shaking stakes” and “keeping the cast of characters manageable” are both pretty understandable goals in terms of enjoyable storytelling, so this is not so much about the presence of save the world stories that rely on one small group of people being able to do the work of an entire movement, as much as the relative absence of stories and histories and idk biographies or whatever that tell a story that you can actually model your life decisions off of.

[diaryofabeautyfiend]

Small Time Witch (12)

Your meeting with Director Fury went better than you thought it would. He thought it was probably best for you to move to the compound. You shared with him how nervous you were that Hellphyr would destroy them like he destroyed your coven. He suggested when you return to the States that you have a meeting with Doctor Strange. At least he would be able to help you ward the place. You agreed to let him call on you if he ever needed you. He promised to continue to help you with the Kales. You shook hands and turned in your tac suit. He refused to take it back. “Maybe you’ll need it some day.”

You found Tony to tell him the good news. “So, boss, does Monday work for you?”

He clicked his tongue and drew you in for a hug. “I’ll have HR start the paperwork.”

“Great. That will give me a few days to find a place.”

“You’ll stay with us. We have the room. You won’t regret this, Y/N.”

“Famous last words.” You smiled and ducked out. The clock was ticking. You weren’t sure if Steve was just messing with you but he gave you serious dom vibes. You got excited thinking of what fifty shades of red white and blue would be like.

On your way back you ran into Loki coming out of his room. “Where are you rushing off to, Pet?”

“To meet Steve.” You couldn’t meet his eyes. Waves of jealousy radiated off of him. “I’m sorry.”

“No need. I won’t keep you then. When we get back can you make some time for me?” You held his hand. His body stiffened. You wanted to hug him but eyes were everywhere. This was not the time to make the plane ride home a contentious one.

“Of course, Lok. Are you ok?” He pulled his hand away. That stung a little.

“Never better. You’d better go. Don’t want to keep him waiting.” You smiled at each other and quickened your pace to Steve’s room.

He wasn’t there yet (thank goodness). You showered and got in bed. Following his instructions you let your hands wander to your pussy. Your thoughts went back to yesterday when he had you melting in his hands. You slipped in two fingers. Your other hand furiously rubbed your clit bringing you to the brink of crashing. Before you could you stopped. He told you not to come. Once it felt safe you went back to work. You took your time teasing your nipples. Tasting yourself. You let your fingers roam and explore your cunt bringing you to the brink again. This time you decided to stop completely until he got back.

It was well over an hour. You were reading when a message from Steve popped up on the screen.

SR: Sorry this is taking so long, baby. I’m trying to find an excuse to get out of here. I hope you’re following Captain’s orders. That pussy had better be dripping when I get back.

Perhaps to give him a bit of motivation you sent him a video to show exactly how wet you were. Sam was sitting next to him at the table. Steve tried to hide his phone but was unsuccessful.

“If you don’t run to that woman right now I will” Sam whispered. Steve turned every shade of red imaginable.

“Don’t look at my girl, Sam.”

“I didn’t see much. Her hand was in the way. I’m serious. These fools have been droning on for almost two hours. I’ll take notes. Get out of here.” Steve stood to excuse himself.

“Are we boring you, Captain Rogers? Somewhere more important to be?” Secretary Ross scolded.

“Bathroom, Mr. Secretary.” The man rolled his eyes and continued talking. He took large strides across camp ignoring everyone who called out to him. When he got back to the room you were sprawled out on the bed. He was positively salivating at the sight of you.

He growled low in his throat causing you to giggle. He was out of his sweats and on top of you in less than thirty seconds. His lips crushed yours desperately trying to devour you. “Sorry I was late. They wouldn’t shut up.” he said against your mouth. You breathed hard against him bringing him in for more hard kisses. He brought his hand down to feel you. When your slick coated his fingers he smiled, “Good girl. I’ll bet you’re ready to come.” You whined “Yeah you are. Come on, Princess. Give me what I want.” His words were your undoing. You moaned his name while he fucked you with his fingers. He inserted a third then a fourth finger while his thumb slowly massaged your clit. It was only minutes until you came again.

He could not take it anymore. His cock was hard to the point of pain. He rolled to his back and pulled you on top. You lowered yourself down gingerly feeling your orgasm build again. The stretch was too much. As soon as your clit brushed his pelvic bone you were a goner. “What is that? Three now? Let’s go for five. I know you can.” You ground down on him rocking your hips into your fourth orgasm. “Yes, baby. You feel so good.” You clenched around him and your whole body froze. You were dizzy so you braced yourself against his shoulders. “Get on all fours” he commanded. As soon as you positioned yourself he aggressively slammed into you. He kept the same pace urging you to hold on. “You ready, baby?” He thrusted one final time and he spilled everything inside of you.

You crawled towards the pillow completely out of breath. He laid next to you and pulled you in to lay on his chest. “You know, Steve, it occurred to me that we haven’t been on a third date yet.” He laughed.

“Yeah I thought about that. I usually don’t show anyone this side of me until we’re a solid two months in.”

“It did shock me how much of a freak you are.”

“I hope a good shock.”

You kissed his chest, “A great shock. Let’s go on a proper date when we get back. Dinner and a movie.”

“I’m up for that. I like this too. I just like spending time with you. If it happens to lead somewhere I’m not angry about it.”

You giggled to yourself. You thought Steve Rogers was living a chaste life only focused on avenging. At least that’s what all the girls at SHIELD thought. They all flirted with him when he came to the main office. Thinking back on it, you had too. You were sure that he didn’t remember. Even still, it was fairly well known that Steve was a virgin or at least that he was a born again virgin after coming out of the ice. Turns out he’s been out there fucking.

“So what did you tell Tony?” he was glad to change the subject. Yes, he had an active sex life. Doesn’t mean he wants to talk about it.

“That I would start on Monday. I’m moving into the compound. In my own room, of course.”

“Of course. Was Fury pissed?”

“No. He thought it was a good idea. I have to meet with Doctor Strange when we get back. Between him and Loki and Wanda I think we can protect the compound from any magical attack.” The mere mention of Loki’s name made him clench his jaw and grip you tighter.

He didn’t want to ask about Loki because he was not about to tell you how to live your life. He couldn’t help but feel like he would worry less if Loki stuck around. Then again, he didn’t quite trust him around you. The two of you seemed to have a special bond. He was sure he was overreacting. Never the less he had a pit in his stomach every time you were alone together. You two seemed to have your own language. Bucky mentioned on more than one occasion that he was sure the two of you had a thing. He decided to leave it alone for now.

You fell into a comfortable silence just enjoying one another. Your stomach growled loudly waking you from your dream state. He laughed and you hid your face in embarrassment. “I’m hungry too. Hang tight. I’m going to see what I can find and we’ll have a bed picnic.”

“I’ll come with you.” He pressed his palm into your chest lowering you back down onto the bed.

“You thought I was done? You don’t get to get dressed today, Princess. I plan on making you come several more times.”

“Captain Rogers!” You feigned outrage like a southern damsel, “You are nothing but a scoundrel, sir.” He smacked your ass and winked as he left the room.

He got back to the room only to find you passed out cold. Snoring even. He quietly put down the tray of snacks on the bedside table. He tried to make himself as light as possible so he didn’t wake you when he got into bed. He crawled like a cat between your legs and buried his tongue in your snatch. Your eyes flew open and you arched your back. You whined and panted while he moaned back in encouragement. His voice reverberated through your core and sent you over the edge. You grabbed the bed sheets trying to hold on for dear life as he kitten licked you back down.

He came up for air and wiped his face on a towel. “I couldn’t find food food so I brought all snacks.” He tossed you a muffin and a bottle of juice.

“Are you for real, Rogers? You made me cum like a million times...”

“Six” he said between gulps of water.

“....six times and then you feed me carbs? Carbs! You’re like amazing.”

“Thanks. Carbs are for quick energy. You need protein too. That provides lasting energy which you will need.” He handed you a half of a turkey sandwich. “Eat up. I’m not nearly done with you yet.” You rolled your eyes and took the sandwich. So bossy.

By the time you were finished both of you were exhausted sore and dehydrated. You drained a bottle of water in seconds trying to replenish what you had lost. You were sticky and sweaty. You were pretty sure you smelled. You didn’t even want to see what your hair looked like. He didn’t care. In his sleep he clutched you like he was afraid you’d float away. He was your anchor in these dark waters.

When you woke up the next morning there was more fucking then shower sex followed by breakfast then one more quickie in the plane hanger. You were like a couple of horny teenagers and he could not get enough of you. You slept a deep dreamless sleep on the way home. He spent the better part of the flight planning your proper date.

[army-of-mai-lovers]

hello arthur!! tbh people are being terrible in your inbox and the last ask killed my brain cells so this is your free bingo card to talk about anything you like. also sometimes googling sharks with human teeth (exactly what it sounds like) helps!! much love <3

oh my gosh I’m OBSESSED with these photos they’re so cute!!!! and thank you for the bingo card Effie I appreciate it so much. I’m gonna rant about Deadly Class (a show I definitely don’t like and thus don’t run a fan blog for....smh) bc it’s on my mind and it looks like it’s just going to go quietly into that good night instead of being made fun of and dissected and I think that should change bc goodness gracious that show does not deserve a dignified death. also I’m gonna put this rant under a readmore bc this is gonna be long and it has nothing to do w atla. warnings for discussions of racism, callous mentions of murder and death, swearing, discussion of Nazis, discussion of gore, abuse ment

Okay so for those not in the know (which is probably everyone considering the show was on Syfy and it’s being canceled due to low viewership) Deadly Class is a teen murder drama set in the late ‘80s starring Lana Condor, which makes it sound like it was engineered in a lab to appeal to me. Literally my friend and I were in the middle of watching Schitt’s Creek, which I adore, and she was like “well I heard about this show called Deadly Class” and described it and I was like fuck Schitt’s Creek we’re watching this. It had a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, which usually makes me nervous, but I was literally like “I don’t care because I know I’m going to love it.” 

And well. I did not love it. 

I truly do not understand how one fucks up “teenagers (mostly) of color go to murder boarding school in the late ‘80s” that bad (I mean the Russo brothers are involved and they fuck up everything they touch so perhaps it was just that). I haven’t read the comic the show is based on but it does appear that a *lot* of the issues of the show stem from the comic, which is...disappointing. Basically, our MC, Marcus, starts off the show homeless after his group home burned down (and it’s heavily implied that he was the one to do it) and gets hunted down by these elite teenage murderers who invite them to their murder school. 

Already, numerous problems are starting to show themselves. First of all, Marcus is Latino, which, yes, it’s very cool that the MC is Latino, except he is literally the white-passingest man I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve seen my dad. I didn’t realize that he was Latino until they showed his extremely stupid backstory in a shitty animated sequence and whoever was voicing his dad did this really, really thick Nicaraguan accent and I was like wait a damn minute. So then, I looked it up, and the guy playing Marcus is named Benjamin Wadsworth, which immediately made me think that they had pulled a Noah Centineo and made me think this fully white actor was half Latino (and yes, Latinos can be white, but I think Marcus is supposed to be a nonwhite Latino, and I thought Benjamin Wadsworth was both white and non-Latino). But you know, as an light skinned ethnically ambiguous mixed kid myself, I thought I owed it to him to dig a little deeper, and turns out our pal Ben is mixed (also, he’s like six months older than me and married, which is a trip). And like, okay, I guess I’m glad they didn’t get a white non-Latino man to play a Latino character, but they literally got the whitest looking Latino they could think of to play him. He originally auditioned for Billy. Billy’s the token white. And the producers were like “wait you have Latino ancestry?” (how they found that out I don’t fucking know) and let him go for Marcus. And like. Okay. The character in the comics is light-skinned but he does not look white, and Benjamin is not a good enough actor for them to just pass on the actors who surely auditioned for that role and were more visibly Latino but like. Okay, I guess. 

Second of all, this show is mega racist and it starts to reveal itself when you look at how the murder kids are styled in literally their first appearance. What struck me the most was the fact that the Latina (whose name is fucking Maria, for heaven’s sake) was wearing a sexy red dress and Day of the Dead makeup, which, I’m sorry, huh? That just so happens to be the Mexican girl’s murder outfit? I’ve tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and speculate that maybe she wears it to like, subvert people’s expectations, but at this point idk how this is subverting anyone’s expectations nor why she’d be so invested in that. Also, she’s supposed to be a teenager. It’s fucked up to sexualize any of your child characters but it really hits different when it’s your Latina character (and yeah, I know the actress playing Maria isn’t a teenager, but still, it’s the principle of the thing). And then of course, the Black guy, Willie (no he’s not related to Billy they were just like yeah two guys with rhyming names in our main cast sounds legit) is a gangbanger dude who talks the way that white people think Black people talk. I keep waiting for this guy to have one line that’s not complete garbage, but I’m five episodes deep and so far nada, which sucks so bad because there’s like, kernels of an interesting character buried in this horrible racist trope. Also, they had him sleep with a N*zi. I hate it here. Lana Condor (her character’s name is Saya) gets off fairly okay, at least in this first shot (they don’t have her wearing a kimono to go murder people, thank fuck), but the way she behaves is super weird, like kinda flirty towards Marcus, kinda badass but not enough to actually do anything, etc. Billy’s white so they couldn’t make him a racist caricature or anything but I have no idea why he’s here. See, instead of talking about the real politics of the real world, Deadly Class makes up fake prejudice that honestly makes the lok bender/nonbender bullshit look sensible. Maria, Willie, and Saya are Legacies, which means that their families are established murderers (fun fact: the N*zi girl is also a Legacy, because her father murdered hundreds of civil rights activists. And the characters of color align themselves with her. I don’t understand.) Billy, and later Marcus when he decides to go to murder school, are Rats, meaning they have no affiliation with established murder groups. So, in this show, the people of color have privilege over the (mostly white) Rats. Make it make sense. Further, this means that Maria, Saya, and Willie should have absolutely no reason to hang out with Billy, and yet they do because the Russo brothers have heard that the kids these days like the found family trope, so they put five unlikely friends in a room together and insinuated that they could all be besties. I swear, this show is the La Croix of found family tho, in that there is absolutely no flavor whatsoever. None of the characters develop into a found family. Saya is bound to care for Marcus for reasons, Maria is using him, Willie is also using him, and Billy is only his friend because they’re both Rats. Saya and Maria are already friends (and honestly their friendship is the most compelling thing in the whole show). There are no other connections between the characters. But they’re totes a found family!!!!/s

Also, they don’t let Saya be mean. Every character says “oh Saya’s such a bitch” but do we ever see Saya being a bitch??? No! Saya is literally just a nice girl who is kinda quiet sometimes and murders people and has a tragic backstory. There’s an argument to be made for Maria being more bitchy than her tbh. And like, fine, if you want Saya to be nice, she can be nice, but stop telling me she’s mean then!!! If you’re gonna tell me that I’m gonna get to see mean Lana Condor in a leather jacket in this show then deliver bitch. 

There’s truly so much more I could talk about (Chico??? What the fuck is Chico’s arc???? What in the actual hell were they thinking when they were writing anything to do with Chico????? my DUDES WHAT IN THE SAM HELL. also making Billy straight was so fucking stupid he’s literally gay come on now, also Master Lin is so fucking useless what is he even doing here) but instead I’m going to outline the version of Deadly Class my friend and I have been talking about while we watch the inferior real Deadly Class. 

lots of things are the same actually because there are some elements of the show that have potential. Marcus is still homeless at the beginning, everybody still thinks he burned down the group home but he didn’t, Willie is still a pacifist, he and Marcus are still partners for their first murder school assignment, Saya’s mean (but like actually), Billy still has green hair and is the token white of the group (although a Billy of color.....thinking), and they all hate Reagan

in an ideal world Willie and Maria would have different names (Willie bc his name rhymes with Billy’s and that’s fucking stupid, also Willie is just a terrible name in general, Maria partially because it sounds way too similar to Marcus and I don’t understand why the guy who wrote this couldn’t make his characters have different sounding names, and partially because no Latina character of mine is going to be named fucking Maria), but for the purposes of this outline I’ll keep their names the same for clarity.

Marcus doesn’t initially have his rep. He’s on the streets when he sees a girl his age (Saya) come out of this elevator in the back of a restaurant brandishing a sword, and decides to go into the elevator, sees the stash of weapons, and decides to steal one so he can fend for himself better. 

also keeping the detail of Rory murdering a bunch of homeless kids, but now Marcus knows that Rory is actively hunting him down. 

in the process of robbing the school’s weapons collection, Marcus figures out that it’s a murder school

Master Lin catches Marcus robbing the school, they fight, Master Lin overpowers Marcus and ties him up. He says the weapons are for students only, and Marcus says he’s applying. Lin asks what his qualifications are, and Marcus says “you know that group home that burned down three months ago? all the kids that died? I started the fire.” 

(also no shade to Benjamin Wadsworth but in this version he is not playing Marcus. Marcus is not white-passing)

Master Lin initially doesn’t believe him, but Marcus presses on and eventually convinces Master Lin that this is really what happened, and so Lin welcomes him to murder school. 

Marcus’s first class is Poisons, and his lab partner is Billy, who takes a shine to him and shows him around school. There’s no Legacy/Rat nonsense, but you do have normal high school drama adapted slightly for murder school. Maria is the prettiest and most popular girl in school, Saya is the mean girl/valedictorian, Willie is the jock, and Billy’s the punky weirdo. 

Marcus is, of course, the new kid with a reputation to live up to. 

Things kind of fall apart when Willie and Marcus are paired up for an assignment: to seek revenge on somebody. 

also Willie’s backstory is extremely different. his dad was a Black Panther, and he was murdered by the FBI when Willie was a kid. distraught, his mom moved to Texas, where she started working a corporate job and rose really high in the ranks. To maintain her status in the company, she had to do some really horrible things, including working with the FBI to take down other civil rights activists. Willie found out about this and was absolutely horrified. his mother insisted she was doing this so that he could have a better life, but he refused to listen to her, and ran away, and ended up at murder school. 

Willie got into murder school because Lin knows who his mom is, and assumes that Willie is just as cutthroat as she is. he gains a reputation as well. 

also, Willie’s extremely wealthy, and this shows in the way he dresses (preppy jock vibes)

you don’t find out about this backstory for a minute tho bc unlike Albert Kim and the Russo Brothers, I can wait until the right opportunity presents itself for a backstory drop. 

ok anyway back to what I was saying earlier

they have to seek revenge on somebody. Marcus asks Willie if there’s anybody he wants revenge on, and Willie very sincerely says no. Marcus scoffs at him and says he’s clearly had a very easy life, to which Willie replies, “Well, who do you want revenge on?” 

Marcus immediately says, “Rory.” 

So they track Rory down, and since Marcus hasn’t actually killed anybody, he hands the weapons over to Willie. Willie frowns and says that he has nothing against this dude he’s never met before, so Marcus should be the one to hurt him. Marcus says that this is a group project and Willie’s got to pull his weight, and they get into an argument

the argument gets loud, and Rory hears them fighting and starts chasing them. 

in the midst of the chase, both of them divulge their secrets to one another. Willie laughs hysterically and says that they deserve each other bc they both lied to get where they are, and now they’re going to die because of it

Rory backs them into a corner, and Marcus uses one of the swords he tried to steal earlier to shank Rory

They throw the body in a dumpster, and after this, they’re friends, and Marcus decides he’ll fit right in at murder school. 

ok so that was only one episode but things to look forward to in the version of Deadly Class that only exists in me and my friend’s heads: Marcus dealing with the emotional and moral fallout of his first murder, Willie trying to figure out what it means to be a pacifist in a world so hellbent on doing violence towards him, Saya being mean to everyone except Maria, Maria convincing Saya to relax and have fun, the gang bonding in a Breakfast Club style situation adapted for murder school and making a joke about how this is like the Breakfast Club because it’s the 80s and the movie just came out, Saya and Maria falling in lesbians, Marcus and Saya being depressing edgelord besties, Billy being gay and fighting his abusive father, Marcus and Billy being uncool weirdo bffs, Willie and Maria rolling their eyes at Marcus and Saya’s cynicism, Billy coming out to Marcus and talking about his experiences being gay, which makes Marcus think “hang on, why do I relate to that?”, Willie seeing Marcus make a sarcastic comment about kissing a guy and having a crisis, Marcus and Willie falling in love, the gang taking a road trip to Vegas to murder Billy’s dad and giving Billy a gnc thrift store makeover on the way, and eventually the gang murdering the shit out of Ronald Reagan. 

[cobraonthecob]

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

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

GET READY FOR THE META NO ONE ASKED FOR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’m getting there, be patient!

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

By making both characters recognize their faults.

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

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

Then there’s Yang.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Afterwards...

they don’t talk about it.

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

*Nightfalcon proceeds to take a few minutes to scream*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[guiltysecretpasttime]

The Airbender’s Wife (Chapter 3)

Note: Here’s the next chapter 😊 I have a rough outline of the rest of the story; all is left to actually put it all into writing. As you may have noticed, the plot more or less happens on the outskirts of what we see on season 1 of LoK with a Linzin AU focus.  Let me know what you think 😊

----

The next few training days were not any better.

In between training one-on-one with Tenzin and having sessions with the air acolytes, Korra felt she had not progressed as much as she should have. She was disappointed at herself – she had been able to grasp most of the other bending forms quite easily. Aligned with the worry of her other bending masters, she was adept in comprehending the physical aspect of her training but lacked connection with the spiritual side. Everyone knew that Air was the most spiritual among all the elements. This was also why she was training with Mr. Spiritual himself. There was no hint of disapproval from Tenzin, which made it worse.

The Avatar quickly fell into the routine.

Each morning would begin with meditation with Tenzin. The rest of the day would depend on the Airbending master’s schedule.

Korra would either have a training session or asked to join the Air Acolytes’ classes to learn more about the Air Nomad culture. On days that Tenzin was needed at city hall, Korra would be left to her own devices. On other days, Tenzin was able to work remotely from his home office and so is able to supervise training at the island.

One of the first things that she did back in Republic City was to request to go to the library, which pleased Tenzin a lot.

The teenager decided to brush up on the recent history, taking time to take seriously the reading lists that the White Lotus gave her years ago. She had also gone to the archives to just catch on what the press had been saying about the previous Avatar and his family, and by extension the currently last Airbender and his wife.

Aside from satisfying her curiosity, she felt she owed it as much to learn about her hosts to ensure she does not say anything offensive or taboo. Not that the airbender or the metalbender seemed to care a lot anyway.

Chief Beifong, meanwhile, as her husband mentioned previously, did not have regular hours. Korra cannot recall the last time she had seen the woman at the island aside from night of the Pro-bending match. At most, she would see Tenzin having short calls at night (“Yes dear, I understand.” A pause. “Mhmm, take care, okay? Yes, Korra’s here safe. What? Why would she need to blend in the crowd?” Another pause. “That makes sense, yes, the public knows that Avatar is from the Water Tribe.” A sigh. “Yes, dear. Stay safe.”).

-----

Korra had reached the top step of Republic City Hall, having come from exploring the city after spending an hour at the library. It was almost time for Tenzin’s office hours to be over. She was surprised to see the airbender standing in the foyer already.

“Ah, there you are, Korra.” Tenzin strode towards her. “Let’s go.”

“You’re done for today?” The councilman usually waited until the last minute before packing up. Then again, Korra did observe that Tenzin seemed to be disquieted by something in the past days.

“Yes.” He replied brusquely as he quickly exited the building, robes billowing in his wake.

“Uh – the ferry is that way?” Korra stopped and pointed to the opposite direction which Tenzin was heading towards.

“We’re dropping by somewhere first.”

Korra jogged beside him to keep up until they found themselves entering the police headquarters.

“Ah, Councilman Tenzin, Avatar.” The Deputy Chief greeted them as they entered arrived at the floor of the Chief of Police’s office, hands behind his back. “I wasn’t aware that you had an appointment today.”

“We don’t,” Tenzin responded still in that somber tone. “I’m here as Lin’s husband. Would you know where she is?”

Saikhan cracked a smile, barely perceptible but it was there. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Korra fidgeted by the balls of her feet. The last time she was in the presence of the deputy chief was when she was in the interrogation room more than a week ago. She figured that it might be a regular occurrence for Tenzin to drop by, judging by his reaction.

Tenzin released a heavy sigh. “How long has she been in?”

“She’s been here for close to four days,” The metalbender consulted his watch. “Four days entering the fifth day in a few minutes actually.”

“Four days?!” The teenager blurted out in shock. “That’s how many working hours?” She knew she had not seen the police chief recently, but she thought she just did not see the woman’s comings and goings from the island.

“Too many.” The grim airbender crossed his arms. “Didn’t she leave headquarters at all?” Korra remembered that the couple also owned property in the city; she supposed that Lin could have gone home there instead of Air Temple Island.

“She’s been out from time to time on case-related activities,” Saikhan responded with a frown. “But no, Chief spent the rest of the time here.” Chief’s husband tsked quietly at hearing this. “Right now, she’s finishing the last training class of officers and detectives.”

“I didn’t know it was time for the refresher exercises?” Tenzin looked towards the end of one of the corridors, which was connected to the stairwell of the training rooms.

“It’s not. The Chief decided to have mixed group sessions specifically for non-bending forms and techniques.”

“Oh?”

Both Tenzin and Korra were curious; after all, the police department was initially established with the elite metalbenders as the main members.

“With the rising anti-bending sentiment on the streets, the force needs to further assure the public that we are a non-biased organization who is out to serve both benders and non-benders alike.” Saikhan said tightly. “The chief saw it fit to equip all divisions with working knowledge of non-bending: both defensive and offensive. Generally, she instructed benders to use bending as a last resort when encountering non-benders in skirmishes. Maximum tolerance and all that – there’s no point in escalating the tension.”

That makes sense, Korra thought.

“I take it there has been some resistance?” Tenzin tugged at his beard, a mannerism that the Avatar was starting to recognize. He was either agitated or pensive. Korra voted for agitation this time.

“Of course,” Saikhan exhaled. “Good thing this happened now though; if it were a couple of years back, when there were just benders on the force or further back when it was all metalbenders, it would have been chaotic.”

Korra recalled reading that the current Chief Beifong had opened the police academy to non-benders early in her term as chief of police.

The airbender agreed. “It would have been more challenging to placate the public if that were the case.”

“If I may speak candidly, Councilman?” The deputy chief asked. Upon Tenzin’s nod, he continued. “Here’s hoping that the city council pass more…progressive laws for Republic City. There’s only so much that we can do to keep peace and order when enforcing some of your more pedantic laws.”

Any reply Councilman Tenzin might have given was cut-off as footsteps were heard coming from the stairwell. A group of sweaty, disgruntled yet subdued looking officers and detectives came rushing towards the showers, murmurs and shouts littering the air.

At the tail of the group was the Chief of Police in her non-metalbender uniform, wet hair stuck to her forehead and nape, towel on her arm, and a water bottle in hand. Both Tenzin and Saikhan noticed her at the same time and set about to approach her when she was intercepted by another uniformed officer.

“Chief, they’re ready for you in the briefing room.”

Lin nodded and strode purposely the room; Saikhan hurrying after her.

Tenzin was used to this occurrence, Korra figured, as he went inside what she supposed to be the Chief’s office.

The Avatar was surprised at the state of the room.

While the paperwork was arranged neatly on the desk (complete with folders, binders, and impressively cascading tabs), other areas of the room was in disarray – obviously, the owner of the office practically lived there.

The side table had several pots of beverages, (Korra sniffed at it – one was tea, two were coffee, and three were probably coffee at some point. She lifted a pot and tried to swirl it – it looked like toxic sludge, then again she would not put it past Lin to be capable to subsisting on bitter sludge just because she can), one empty cup, multiple bowls of partially eaten food (normal pantry food consisting of bread, noodles, some stir-fry and rice), and a metal tray (“Lin being Lin,” Tenzin dipped his head, smiling at his wife’s stubbornness. “She prefers to clean up herself, didn’t want the staff waiting on her.”).

The couch in the room was a little bit better; a folded blanket was placed on top of two pillows at the end (“She didn’t even bother to rest at the sleeping quarters.”).

Tenzin snuck a couple of packets of biscuits (which the teenager puzzled where he got them from) into the Chief’s desk drawers then he began clearing the side table.

As Korra helped him out, she realized that the airbending master has been worried about his wife not being home all this time.

She stopped to peek through the blinds that faced the rest of the floor.

She saw the police chief patiently listening to one of the officers gesturing towards a diagram on the board where several photos and a map were posted. Lin wiped the sweat off her face and took a long drink of water, eyes not wavering from the officer speaking in front. If that look of determination was anything to come by, the Avatar did not think that whatever the Chief was working on that week was not easily solved.

---

“Go home, Chief.” Saikhan attempted to get the folder from Lin’s hands after the briefing for the stake-out ended.

“No, the stake-out –.”

“Can be handled by myself and the rest of the team.” At the Chief of Police’s skeptical face, the Deputy Chief opened his hands imploringly. “Chief, we’ve worked together for a lot of years now. I know our protocols by heart.” He eyed her massaging a part of her left shoulder. “And, how many has it been? Eight?”

Anyone who has worked with Lin Beifong knew her philosophy of leaving all the confrontation on the mats. Having personal issues and altercations with fellow policemen on field or while on the beat may pose security concerns. It could also be a matter of the operation’s success or failure. She had then allowed sparring (regulated sparring, that is) at headquarters to get them to let off their steam.

With her recent focus on the integration of non-bending techniques, there have been a couple of people on the force (both detectives and uniformed officers) who were a tad too miffed (and that’s putting it lightly) at this development. At the start of each training session, she opened the floor to anyone who wanted to challenge her. To prove her point, she did not use earth or metalbending while her opponent can use either.

The last time Saikhan checked, there had been less than ten challengers so far.

“Fifteen is the final count.”

“Fifteen!” He was stunned. “So, seven more in the last session?”

Lin shrugged, testing her sore shoulder. “I saved the most difficult group for last.” She has managed to win each of the fifteen matches (Lin idly wondered if that was how her mother felt when she won her Earth Rumble championships back in the day).

“Well, either way, you need to rest up, Chief – you’ll be no good to us if you’re not in tiptop shape.” He half-jested, knowing fully well that his boss can still take anyone down even at her current state. The man received a punch to his forearm in retaliation. “Don’t worry about it, all that is left is the waiting game and paperwork. We can manage.” He waved towards the office, grinning. “And, if anything, I also do not want to be at the receiving end of the last airbender’s tirade should I not be able to convince you to get some rest. Your husband and the Avatar are waiting in your office.”

Saikhan did have a point and she did trust that the man was highly capable in her absence. He also knew very well that when Tenzin drops by as Lin’s husband, Chief Beifong has overstayed at work.

Lin thrusted two files under her arm to him. “Fine but call me as soon as you hear anything.” The man had the audacity to salute her as he shooed her away (“Get some rest, Chief!”).

The past days have been hectic.

The triads were taking advantage of the pockets of gatherings supporting the non-bending movement. Legally, there was not anything the police can do about it. The citizens do have the right of freedom of assembly. There has been no incident that would equate to any law-breaking; all the force can do is wait and observe.

Patrolling schedules were revamped to ensure mix of benders and non-benders per location. Both sensitivity training and non-bending techniques training were quickly delivered to the force. It was short-notice and the timing was tight but Lin believed that it would be better to be prepared than to be caught off guard.

The triads were not making it any better as they were, more often than not, composed of benders preying on establishments owned by non-benders. She had allotted more metalbenders as plainclothesmen in the vicinity to allay their fears. It did stave off crime.

For now, she thought pessimistically. The city never did seem to rest; by extension, neither did she.

Just today, she had given a go signal for stakeout made up of the mostly junior detectives and officers. There was a severe lack of progress in the intelligence reports provided by the seasoned officers. She figured that if this junior team produces more results, the other team would be challenged to step up and shape up.

Tenure was not enough to secure promotions in the force, after all. Spirits know she knew that very well.

She tilted her water bottle back, finishing the rest of her drink. An empty stomach and a sore body never did not make for a happy chief of police.

Another day at headquarters, another day to remind herself why she had to keep going.

As Lin approached her office, she could sense Tenzin pacing inside.

Well, there’s my number one reason.

The metalbender shook her head to clear maudlin thoughts (wouldn’t want to get distracted while on the job, wouldn’t we?) before turning the doorknob.

“Tenzin, Korra – to what do I owe this pleasure of a visit?” She entered the room, shutting the door behind her, correctly assuming that her husband was about to berate her.

“Visit?” Lin could hear the strain in Tenzin’s voice. “This isn’t a visit, Lin. It’s almost a week since you last went home. You’ve practically camped in your office.” The airbender’s robes flowed as he waved indicating the room. “This can’t be healthy, Lin.”

A blast of air escaped as he huffed, causing several paperwork to flutter from her desk.

“Don’t worry, I was just riling you.” Lin could vaguely see the Avatar cautiously watching the exchange from the couch, inching towards the desk to pick up the fallen sheets of paper. “I’m leaving headquarters with you.” She placed a hand on his arm, gripping it and trying to reassure him. “I’ve arranged it all with Saikhan. I’ll just have a quick shower.”

---

The next hour found the three of them in an alcove of a popular (albeit expensive) restaurant in the city. Tenzin selected this one as he was sure that they would be granted privacy (that and he knew that the service was quick). Soon their table was silent except for the clatter of utensils and bowls as they dug into their ordered food.

“Are you part Fire Nation?” Korra tilted her head, her face scrunching in disbelief at the amount of spicy on Lin’s plate. She had been unable to resist asking as she watched the metalbender scoop more chili garlic.

“Wouldn’t we all like to know,” Lin mumbled through a mouthful of said spicy noodles, not looking up from her plate.

Tenzin shot a warning look at the Avatar, silently communicating that she does not push the woman. Her heritage was a prohibited topic.

Lin’s nickname before she made chief was Captain Crankypants (though if he were a betting man - which he isn’t, mind you– he would bet that her detectives and officers still called her that away from her earshot). He knew her long enough to know the trick to this was to let her eat first. She was the very embodiment of hangry. It was for this particular reason that he always made sure to have some biscuits on his person. His robes, after all, were voluminous enough to hide a pack or two.

Korra had her mouth form an “O” in curiosity. Lin glared at her to stop her from probing further.

Tenzin thanked the spirits that the usually impulsive Avatar held her tongue.

He could see that other patrons of the restaurant were starting to notice their presence as dinner time approached. It was not like they were particularly inconspicuous – he with his Air Nomad robes, Lin in her particularly striking green attire and of course, Korra’s Water Tribe outfit. He realized that this was what Lin had called about a few days ago – for Korra’s protection, for her to ideally wear something less distinguishable that would mark her as the Avatar.

He tossed a side glance at his wife, knowing that she would probably have noticed the same attention that they were drawing but at the same time wishing that she would not chew him out just yet.

Instead, he discreetly pushed the fried salt and pepper squid to her.

Airbender through and through… redirect, diffuse the situation…

Lin stabbed two pieces of squid and that was that.

Tenzin knew Lin’s moods. He could feel the tension on her shoulders, coiled and ready to pounce at a single trigger. She was too amped-up to be coped in Air Temple Island. He would probably lose her to the earthbending training grounds if he insisted that they go home.

“Where do you want to go after dinner, Lin?”

The woman just continued to chew her food for a couple of moments; Tenzin started to doubt if she heard him.

“What day is it today?” Lin finally asked, chin resting on her hand.

Korra answered for him.

The earthbender turned to him. “There’s a pro-bending match today at the arena.”

Tenzin could feel the heat behind his ears as the Avatar also turned her attention to him. “You want to go to the arena?”

“Yes, why not?” Lin leaned to the back of her seat, where Tenzin’s arm waited, and crossed her arms. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a live match.”

On any other day, he would have tried to dissuade his wife from supporting a spectacle.

However, it wasn’t any other day. He has not seen his wife out of work for almost a week and he was not about start an argument during her first night out in a while.

“Pro-bending match it is.” He said resignedly as he tightened his grip on her shoulder, feeling at least a small amount of tension leave her posture.

I’d count that as a win, he thought, kissing the top of Lin’s head.

---

“Where is Korra? I would think she would be back by now.”

“She’ll be fine. There’s probably a long line at the loo.”

“But still – ouch - did you just punch me?”

“Tenzin, she’s the Avatar. She knows three elements; she can defend herself.”

Grumbling. Grumbling.

“Fine. Move – remove your arm around me, I need to stand up and concentrate– yes. That’s it.” Stomp. “She’s at the players’ platform.”

“She’s WHERE?”

Her hand clung to his robes, keeping Tenzin at his seat. It was all she can do to prevent him from storming down to where she detected Korra was through seismic sense.

“Tenzin,” She hissed as they both sat back down. “People are starting to look at us. Keep it down.”

Lin had selected these particular set of seats so as to not draw any attention to them (well, as minimal attention they could get with a tall bald tattooed airbender clothed in the colors of the sun as they could get).  She truly did enjoy pro-bending and she knew her husband was just humoring her tonight. Nonetheless, she was quite contented to sit through his griping throughout the match (“What kind of move was that? That waterbender had the worst form I’ve ever seen.”).

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd as the bell rang, proclaiming the Golden Temple Tigerdillos as the winner of the first round.

As the match went on, the earthbender felt her husband become more receptive to the sport as he started to lean forward in his seat (“That waterbender of the red team is an idiot. Why are they keeping him?”).  She laughed at his indignant face (“Where did they even find him; why don’t they kick him out??” “Tenzin, it doesn’t work that way.”); she found his reddening head endearing as he worked himself up on a sport he said was a mockery.

She gave his hand a squeeze.

The airbender looked down at her, seeing a smile on her tired face, the smile reflected by the crinkling at the corners of her eyes.

He returned her smile and he tugged her closer to him.

Maybe, just for now at least, Lin can pretend that they were just an ordinary couple on an evening out rather than the chief of police and the last airbender.

----

“Here they are – the Fire Ferrets.”

“Thanks, Toza.”

“Any time, Chief Beifong. Councilman Tenzin.” The burly man lumbered off, muttering a congratulations to the bending brothers.

“Chief, Tenzin!” Korra burst forth, placing herself ahead of the two Fire Ferrets in attendance. “I’m so sorry, I got distracted and I -.”

Tenzin turned to his wife, who had her hands on her hips defensively. “I told you this was a distraction, Lin!”

“What are you talking about? We’re all off duty tonight, aren’t we?” The Chief of Police responded sardonically, gesturing to her overcoat, reminding the airbender that her armor was on the sky bison’s saddle (“I’m calling Oogi tonight – leave your armor there Lin, I’m sure you’ve seen enough of your armor this week.”).

She tuned out the teenaged Avatar’s exuberant storytelling and continued to scan the room with interest.

Even as a follower of pro-bending who occasionally watched matches in the arena, Lin has never been to the player holding room. She noted the brothers – the earthbender, with wide eyes, was pulling at his brother’s sleeve, clearly trying to draw his attention to Lin. She caught the eye of the firebender, recognition dawning on both of them at the same time.

She felt the agitation come in waves from the firebender as indicated by his increased heartbeat. The Chief of Police glanced at Tenzin and Korra, both engrossed in their discussion, then approached the pro-benders.

“So, this is where you both ended up.”

“Yes, Chief Beifong.” The earthbender squeaked out, shifting his eyes between his brother and the policewoman.

The firebender, the older brother, if Lin’s memory served her correctly, inclined his head in as he added. “We’ve been trying to make ends meet – within the law, this time.”

“Good to hear, kid.” She could not resist the slight upturn of her lip. Juvenile delinquents who manage to turn around their lives were quite close to her heart (not that she’d admit it though it was fairly obvious to Suyin for obvious reasons). “You’ve been making quite a stir this season, good job.” It was the most that she could give as a compliment.

“You-you-you’re following pro-bending?” The green-eyed earthbender stammered. “You’ve followed the Fire Ferrets?” He was practically bouncing with excitement. “Mako, Mako! Chief Beifong knows who the Fire Ferrets are!” He stage-whispered to the firebender, Mako.

Mako rolled his eyes while he took off the arm guards. “Well technically, she did know us even before we became the Fire Ferrets.” He moved to clean his helmet.

Isn’t he just a ray of sunshine, Lin thought. He just might grow on me.

“Okay, fine!” A gust of wind got their attention as the airbending master had apparently bowed out to the Avatar and allowed her to spend some time training with the pro-benders in her spare time.

Lin decided that she did not give the kid enough credit. There might be the makings of the diplomat (or politician?) within her just yet if she was able to wrangle this agreement with the airbending master.

“Oof!” A blue blur hit her at the chest.

“Thank you- thank you -thank you -thank you!” Korra held the metalbender in a tight embrace.

Over the Avatar’s head, Lin threw a Tenzin a look, asking for help. The man had the gall to grin widely at her, signaling her to return the hug.

“I didn’t do anything, kid.” Lin gasped out as she awkwardly patted the teenager’s shoulder.

“Is she allowed to do that?” The younger Fire Ferret brother whispered loudly, hand partially covering his mouth, other hand pointing at the waterbender.

Mako looked disinterested while Tenzin shrugged, grin still plastered on his face.

The metalbender narrowed her eyes at him, thinking of ways to retaliate later at home.

------------------

Note: Hmm. So there.  Tossed in some thoughts based on headcanons for me like Lin actually liking pro-bending, because, well, she was raised (or minimally raised) by an Earth Rumble champion. And of course, I did not take Tarrlok’s comment about the Chief of Police’s track record sarcastically so I wanted to include bits on how she would have worked on the Equalist issue in the background (because she probably wasn't just a glorified body guard? 🤷🏽 Idk haha). Lemme know as well if you have specific HCs that you have in mind; quite curious too. :) 

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