this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.
good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.
sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.
so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.
one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.
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(Ahanon is currently lounging in their house, reading some random book Ms. Pela had made them beta read for her. Apparently she wrote it and wanted them specifically to speak their thoughts on it.)
Simple plot, but effective, it always got readers on the edge of their seat and makes them yell in frustration for the two to kiss… Heh, boy do I know the… Feeling…
(They immediately sat up, interested at a particular part of the story.)
… Oh my god, Ms. Pela…
The book read: “I do not love him! Your just spouting nonsense now!!!”
His friend stared at him with a deadpan stare. “Yeah, sure, mhm, totally— I’m not going to do this again Sam! You need to stop denying it and delaying or you’ll lose the chances you have of being with him!”
Sam rolled his eyes and stood up. “Like you said, I’m not doing this again either! I do not have any feelings. Period.”
“You didn’t seem like it that one time Garrett got the flu—“”That is beside the point.”
“No it’s not! I’m telling you, running around in circles like this won’t work!”
Sam sighed and walked back to his room, ignoring his friend yelling at him to ‘wake up.’
“… I don’t like him.”
… He admits he’s attractive, but so does everyone else! I mean, everyone likes Gerard! He’s a novel citizen, good work, good pay, good life, good family, and good money!
Sam? He can’t even count the amount of times he’s went to jail! He’s a crook, a criminal, an absolute fool… He and Gerard would never work. Never.
… Sometimes, though, he allows himself to wish.
.
.
.
.
“…ett…rett…”
…
“… Garrett!!!”
Garrett snaps out of his trance and looks back at his friend, who looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “These bags won’t carry themselves lover boy! Help me out!” “Ah, of course, sorry.”
Garrett immediately picked up a few bags and walked alongside his friend, who side-eyed him.
“If you were daydreaming about—“”I was not daydreaming about Sam.” “I didn’t even mention Sam.” “I can already tell you we’re going to bring him up.”
“Basta, tomato tomato.”
Garrett sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t like him, nor love him.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” “I’m serious.”
“And so am I, Garrett.” They said seriously, looking at them with a stern gaze as if they were a parent scolding their child. “You need to reflect seriously, and think about this. You can never just easily put a label like this when it comes to love.”
“I have already thought and reflected, and I can say with full confidence that I do not like Sam.” His friend sighed and kept walking.
“… You won’t be able to be with him forever, Garrett.” This made him stop walking, staring at them as if they had insulted him. “Again, I’m serious. You know how many enemies he has? How many enemies you have? Something could happen to either one of you or even both! And you would never get the chance to talk again.”
This made him stop once again, it made him think. Garrett was rich, sure, but it meant people wanted his money. His family was well known too, which made him even more of a target.
Sam… Sam always landed himself in jail. One day he himself could go too far and get tased by the cops, or worse, shot and killed. Not to mention the amount of people he’s hurt and scammed.
As Garrett was thinking, his friend snapped their fingers to get him out of his trance.
“See what I mean now, Garrett? Both of you are big figures, both well known, which makes an easy target.”
“…” They sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “You can still wait, but don’t keep each other waiting so long. Both of you have dangerous lives, you might as well spend what little you have left with each other not as rivals, but as lovers.”
…
(The book ended there.)
(Ahanon laughed loudly as they finished reading.)
Oh Ms. Pela, stooping to a new low I see!
(They sigh and place the book down on their table.)
… She asked me how she should end it…
(They said thoughtfully, looking towards an old picture of themself and Sampo, it was… From a really long time ago.)
… I haven’t seen him this happy… For a long time.
Maybe… Maybe I’ll wait and see, then I’ll tell her how the story should end.
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I’m so sorry other character stans but Toph Beifong is THE character of all time
Disabled, doesn’t “overcome” it but adapts and forces others to adapt instead.
Spoiled rotten rich kid with refined rich kid manners but chooses not to use them unless weaponizong them, can should and will kick your ass, but honest and good at her heart
A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER EARTHBENDING MASTER AND HUSTLER AT AGE 12
Literally the definition of swag from womb to tomb
Do I even need to bring up metalbending?
INVENTED METALBENDING
Violence to show affection
Aang and Sokka quite possibly the only thing holding her back from straight up murder several times.
Definition of “do you want me to kill that guy for you? Cause it seems like he sucks. And I’ll totally kill that guy for you”
^ this is the real reason we never got a Toph and Zuko teamup, it would probably take her 3 minutes to convince Zuko to just kill his dumb lame dad already
I’m soooo sorry but she is UNMATCHED. Toph Beifong for President
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