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mama2bears · 17 days

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Starting Over Again Chapter 9 - Final Chapter

Catch up here, starting with Chapter 1

Back to Chapter 8

Warnings: Violence, angest, injury

Chapter 9 – FINAL CHAPTER

Lee was staring angrily at the computer screen, then he spotted a new post.

“Look who's in Galveston! Are we expecting bad weather?” The post was followed by a video of you with Tyler in the truck.

“Maybe you can run, but you can't hide.” he seethed, grabbing his truck keys.

* * * *

It's been a week since you and the team arrived at the beach house. Everything was quiet, almost normal. Normal except that none of you were chasing storms. You weren't doing your job and everyone was itching to get back to work.

“There's going to be a big outbreak this weekend back in Oklahoma.” Boone stated.

You take Tyler's hand in yours, “If you are feeling up to it, I say let's go.” you smile.

He took a deep breathe. They couldn't run forever and they couldn't hide forever. They WOULDN'T. He wasn't going to let this asshole run your life. They were going to live their life and if Lee dared show his face again, then Tyler would beat his ass. Besides, it would be the whole team together. Six to one put the odds in your favor. Finally he nodded, “I say let's go.”

“Alright!” Lily cheered. Everyone had enjoyed their week at the beach. It was a much needed little trip to rest and recharge after everything that had happened, but now, they all were more then ready to get back to what they loved...storm chasing.

Tyler sucked in a breath and stood up, taking your hand in his, “Wanna go for a midnight walk on the beach?” he smiled. Maybe it wasn't midnight, but it was close enough. It was cloudy and dark, a cool breeze was blowing in off the ocean. From the house you could hear the crashing of the waves on the shore and the rustle of the palm trees. A storm was blowing in from the sea.

“I'd love to.” You smiled, standing next time him. He wrapped his arm around you, pulling you into a hug, “Alright guys, we'll be back soon. We'll head out tomorrow.”

With that, he lead you out the door and across the beach. Tyler was about out of breath by the time you made it to the water's edge. His leg still felt like it was on fire every time he walked more then a few steps and his ribs still hurt with every breath he took.

“You sure you okay to go back chasing?” you asked, concerned.

“Yeah, maybe we won't be driving into any tornadoes or anything like that for a few more weeks, but I am good to sit there and drive. We can chase, relay the information to the weather services, get videos and photos and help where we can. We don't need to be wild and crazy just yet.”

“I've really enjoyed our week here.” you sigh, holding his hand tightly and turning as the cool ocean breeze blew though your hair. “I really have missed the beach.. This was the perfect week to recharge and figure out where I want to go next with my life.”

Tyler was silent for a moment before asking, “And where do you want to go next?”

“I want to be with the team. I want to be with you. I want to pursue a career in storm chasing. I not only want to chase after storms, I want to chase after us. I think we have something special here. I can't say I have ever loved anyone like I love you...and I know it's quick. It's been less then two weeks...but I can't imagine a life without you in it.”

Tyler smiled, stopping and turning towards you, “You don't know how happy that makes me, Y/N.” he breathed against your lips, tenderly kissing them. “I love you. I have never been so sure of anything in my life. Sure, I've dated a lot, but I have never felt this kind of connection. It's like we were always meant to be together. Like...” he paused, “I don't know, like we knew each other in another lifetime and are soul mates. I know it might sound stupid or whatever, I just feel like I have always known you.”

The wind picked up and seemed to change directions causing both of you to look up. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lighting streaked across the sky. Tyler looked at you concerned, feeling the pressure drop. You felt it too. “Were they calling for anything bad tonight?” you asked.

“No..just some storms that may roll in from the sea. There were no super cells or anything.” Tyler said slowly, “but this don't feel right. Let's head back to the house.”

He squeezed your hand tighter, turning to hurry back to the house, his breathing becoming raspy and heavy as his ribs protested to the quickened movement.

“Here, take the keys to my truck. If a tornado comes, my truck will be the safest place. You and the team get in the truck. I'll be there in a minute.” he gasped, “I can't run,” he gasped.

“I am NOT leaving you!” you stated.

You and Tyler were too focused on the approaching storm to notice someone in the darkness behind you on the beach. They were quickly approaching and you turned at the last minute as a rough hand grabbed your arm.

“Well ain't this just sweet..” the man snarled.

Tyler didn't think twice, he spun, pulling you from the man's grasp and placing himself in front of you.

He heard you gasp, “Lee...what the hell...”

Rage flashed across Tyler's face as he narrowed his eyes at Lee. “Y/N...run” he yelled then charged for Lee, “son of a b...” he yelled as he tackled Lee to the ground, his fist connecting to Lee's right cheek. Tyler didn't stop there. He continued punching Lee with both fist. “How dare you lay hands on a woman...you chicken shit coward!” he yelled.

“Ty!” You yell, fear filling your voice. “Ty, let's go...he's not worth it.”

“Get....help.” Tyler yelled at you. He was already gasping for air, pain raged though his chest. He didn't know how long he could continue the assault on Lee, but he was going to keep up as long as he could. He needed to know that you were safe. “Get...to the...house.” he gasped.

Suddenly, Lee grabbed Tyler by the neck and threw him to the ground. Lee kept pressure on Tyler's neck, choking him.

Tyler struggled to breath, fighting to push Lee off of him. “Once I kill you...I am gonna get that bitch wife of mine and fuck her real good...then I'll beat her ass and then choke the life out of her...just like I am doing to ...”

Tyler brought his knee up and kicked Lee in the stomach, breaking the hold on his neck. “I'll kill you before I let you hurt her again.” Tyler gasped, grabbing Lee's throat. His lungs burned for air, pain raked though his body, but he wasn't going to give in. He wasn't going to let Lee go until he knew you'd be safe.

Lee grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in Tyler's face, breaking his concentration just enough. Lee grabbed Tyler around the neck again, slamming him to the ground.

Tyler yelled out in pain as Lee slammed his weight into his chest. Tyler was left gasping for air. Lee kept a strong hold on his neck and Tyler felt the life slipping from him. He gasped, but couldn't get air.

“TY!” You screamed as loud as you could, not sure if the others could even hear you from the house. You took off running and slammed as hard as you could into Lee, knocking him off of Tyler.

The sound of your voice made Tyler focus again, fight against the unconscious that threaten to overtake him. Y/N...no. You aren't suppose to be here. You should have went to the house. He struggled to focus his blurry vision. He saw you just a few feet away from him. You were on Lee's back, your figures digging into his eyes.

Vaguely, Tyler heard tornado sirens blaring. “Y/N.” he rasped out, “Go..” he struggled to get to his feet.

Lee threw an elbow into your side, knocking you off of him, and he spun sending a kick into your stomach. “Get off of her!” Tyler yelled, throwing his body weight into Lee and struggling to hold Lee down, praying to whatever God there may be that you would take that chance to run to the house. He knew couldn't hang on much longer. His lungs were burning for air as he struggled to get a breath, “I love you, Y/N.” he rasped. If this was it, then he wanted those to be his final words to you.

“Ty! No!” you screamed, seeing his body go limp on top of Lee's. You struggled to your feet and were about to go after Lee again when someone grabbed you from behind and you screamed.

“It's okay. We're here.” Dani said, holding you tightly. From out of the darkness Boone ran over to where Lee had shoved Tyler off of him and was starting to stand. Boone threw him to the ground and threw punches to his face, not letting up until Lee wasn't moving anymore.

“We've got to go! Tornado!” Boone yelled, grabbing Tyler and slinging him over his shoulder.

The wind was roaring and sand swirled around you stinging your eyes. Dani and Lily were on either side of you helping you fight against the wind towards the house. Boone and Dexter were close behind struggling to carry Tyler into the house. You glanced behind you, half expecting to see Lee charging at you again...but what you saw instead was a body being pulled from the beach into the tornado. Strangely, you felt relief, if not a bit of happiness.

Dani pushed the door open and everyone practically fell into the door. Boone slammed the door closed and ushered everyone into the master bath that you and Tyler had been using. It was the only room on the lower level of the house without windows.

Lily and Dani leaned against the bathroom door as Boone carefully laid Tyler's limp body down. The tornado roared outside and you heard glass shattering throughout the house. The walls shook under the power of the winds.

You threw yourself over Tyler's body, doing your best to protect him from any debris that might fall, while at the same time checking for pulse and breathing.

“Hang on, baby.” you whispered, feeling his chest rise slightly. He took a rattling raspy breath. His chest seemed to be barley moving, but he was breathing and there was a faint heartbeat. You laid over his body, covering his head with your arms, “I love you.” you whispered into his ear.

Boone was already on the phone to 911 telling them the address and nature of emergency.

“It's over.” Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

You laid next to Tyler, head resting lightly on his chest, listening to his uneven raspy breathes, feeling the slight rise and fall of his chest with each breath. You drowned out all other sounds, all other thoughts except his breathing. Breathing meant life. Life meant hope.

“I am here, it's okay. Hang on Ty.” you sobbed.

You heard a slight gasp from Tyler and his chest stopped moving. “TY! Guys, he stopped breathing!” you cried.

Boone was instantly at Tyler's side. Sirens could be heard approaching from the distance.

“one...two...” Boone started the compressions. You pinched Tyler's nose closed and tilted his head slightly back when Boone reached 30. You breathed two breaths into Tyler's mouth and Boone started pumping his chest again. You checked, still not finding a pulse or breathing, and repeated the steps.

Lily and Dani left to go flag down the ambulance and lead them in the right direction. Tears streamed down your face as you breathed air into his lungs again.

Suddenly there was a gasp as Tyler took a breath. You waited for what seemed like too long, but then there it was. A second ragged breathe.

“What happened?” A medic yelled rushing into the room.

You told them of Tyler's previous broken ribs, and the fight on the beach and the stitches in his leg...you broke down in sobs. So much in such little time. You couldn't help to think maybe it would have been better if you never came to Oklahoma to start with. At least, if you hadn't came, then Tyler wouldn't have suffered so much. His life wouldn't be hanging in the balance for a second time in as many weeks.

You watched as they placed an Ambu bag over his face and started pumping air into his lungs as they loaded him on a stretcher. “I am staying with him.” you told the medics and they motioned for you to follow them as they quickly loaded the stretcher into the waiting ambulance.

“We'll meet you there!” Lily called and the team stood with tears in their eyes as the ambulance disappeared into the night.

It was only minutes until the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Tyler was whisked away behind a pair of swinging doors while a nurse lead you to the waiting room, and that's where you were when you saw Dani and Dexter rush though the doors. You stand to give them a hug, “Where's Boone and Lily?” you asked concerned.

“They'll be here soon. They stayed behind to talk to the police. The police are searching the area.” Dani said, “We told them it was Lee. I recognized him from the hospital attack last week. They haven't found him yet.”

“I think he might have gotten sucked into the tornado.” you told her. “When we were going to the house, I looked behind us and saw a body getting sucked up. I couldn't see any details, but as far I know it was only Lee and us on the beach.”

Dani and Dexter sat next to you, each holding your hand, “If that's what happened to him, it couldn't have happened to a better person. They'll find him.”

Boone and Lily entered a little while later, quickly making their way to you.

“Any word yet?” Boone asked.

You shook your head, “No. What did the police have to say? Did they find him?” you asked. A little voice in the back of your mind wondering if Lee somehow survived and was still out there.

“No. They didn't find him yet. With him being on the beach during the tornado and not likely that he got to any indoor place, the police think he was killed in the tornado. They just didn't find the body yet.”

“They might never find him.” Lily said, “You know sometimes things are dropped miles away from a twister. He might have gotten thrown into the ocean a few miles out.”

“Good food for the sharks.” Boone shrugged.

“Who's here for Tyler Owens?” The doctor called. You all stood up. “Two of you can come back here with me.” he stated.

Boone took your hand and you both stepped forward and followed the Doctor behind the swinging doors.

“He's going to be okay.” The doctor started off, “His left lung collapsed due to the broken ribs. I understand he had broken ribs last week? He should have been resting and not getting into fights.” the doctor was stern, “We were able to repair the damage. He hasn't woken up yet, but we expect he will soon. We have him on oxygen for now until his oxygen levels return to normal. His lungs are still struggling to work. It's been a lot of trauma on his body. I'll allow two at a time to sit with him. Once he wakes up and his vitals are steady we will release him, but he must take it easy for six weeks. No heavy lifting, no strenuous activity, nothing of the sorts.”

“Yes doctor. Thank you.” you nodded and Boone pulled you into a hug. “Go sit with him. I'll give the news to the others and we'll take turns coming in checking on you two.”

“Thank you.” you hugged Boone as tightly as you could and followed the doctor to Tyler's room.

Tyler laid motionless in the bed. An IV, breathing tubes, and various other wires were attached to him. Monitors sent out a steady beep. The sound of the oxygen machine hummed. You couldn't hold the tears. Sitting next to the bed, you took his hand in yours. His hand felt cool to the touch...not the warm strong hand that was like a rock when need be, but touched you with such a tenderness, as if touching a delicate flower.

“I am here,” you whisper, “Everyone is okay.” you squeeze his hand, “I love you.”

Boone came in for a few minutes, followed by Lily, Dani and Dexter. Each stayed for a few moments and promised they would be out in the waiting room before leaving you to have some privacy.

“I am sorry for everything.” you said, not even knowing if Tyler could hear you. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, but I almost wished I never found you.” tears started to fall as you kissed his hand lightly, “If I never joined the team, then you would never have been stuck protecting me during that tornado. You would have never gotten hurt. Lee would have never found you. You wouldn't be here now, fighting for your life.” you bit your lip.

“Darling,” Tyler's voice was all but a whisper, his figures moved slightly against your hand. “This is where...I need you. With...me.” his voice was weak and he fought to open his eyes, looking at you. “I love you Y/N.” he took a few raspy breaths, his chest rising and falling heavily. “I wouldn't change a thing...other then meeting you sooner and getting you away from that asshole sooner.”

“Ty.” You lean over, kissing his lips softly. “How you feeling.”

“Like I've been ran over by a truck.” he gave you a smile, “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes full of concern.

“I am fine.” you promised him, “Thanks to you, and Boone, and Dani and everyone else. You all were there for me.” you whispered.

“Why didn't you run? I told you to run.” Tyler gasped, his lungs straining for the air he needed the more he talked. He started coughing, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. The machines started beeping and in a moment the doctor rushed into the room.

“Mr. Owens, calm down. Calm down...your lungs are still weak. Calm, slow breaths.” he encouraged. Tyler nodded taking deep calming breaths until his breathing evened out a little bit. The doctor increased the oxygen level. “Alright Mr. Owens...I am glad to see you are awake, but you've got to rest. Try not to talk too much or get upset, okay?” he said. “We can have you out of here in a few hours if your vitals become steady.”

Tyler nodded his agreement and took your hand once more when the doctor left the room. “So, why didn't you run?” he asked.

“Shh...you need to stop talking so much. You heard the doctor.” you squeezed his hand. “I didn't run because I wasn't about to leave you. I don't care what we face, we face it together. If it's Lee, a tornado or anything else. I will never leave you and I know you would never leave me. We're in it together.”

Tyler gave you a weak smile, “What happened with...him.” he studied you with worry in his eyes.

“I am not sure. I think he got sucked up by the tornado. When he was choking you, I attacked him. He gained the upper hand.” Tyler got a pained expression on his face at the sound that Lee had gotten the upper hand on you, “Boone was there. He tackled Lee and they fought. We ran when the tornado was closing in. Boone carried you. The whole team was there. I didn't see Lee get up, but as we approached the house, I saw someone get sucked into the tornado. Lee was the only one I know of left on the beach. The police have been looking, but he hasn't been found.”

Tyler nodded, “How did he find us?”

“We don't know...and it doesn't matter.” you say, leaning over to kiss him softly. “He's gone now. We are free to move on with our lives. I am just so sorry that you have went though so much pain because of me. I am not worth it.”

“Shh..” Tyler reached up and touched your face gently. “You are more then worth it. I love you with all my heart. You're worth it.” he whispered, his eyes growing heavy. “Now that I know you're safe...I am going to rest a bit.” he muttered, drifting back to sleep.

The door opened slowly and Boone quietly walked in, “We got a few hotel rooms for tonight right down the road.” he said, “Dani and Dexter are at the house packing everything up. Some windows got blown out and the roof is damaged so it's not safe to stay there.”

You nodded, “Thank you, Boone.”

“No problem. Lily and I will be in the waiting room. Once Tyler is free we'll take you guys to the hotel and I guess discuss what we're doing come tomorrow.”

Tyler opened his eyes, hearing Boone talking. “Hey man..thank you.” he said. “Thank you for being there.”

“No problem man. You just rest and get better. We've got ya.” Boone came over and gently patted Ty's shoulder and gave you a hug.

“Why don't you go to the room and get some sleep. Can't be good for you sitting in the chair.” Tyler said, squeezing your hand.

“No, I am not going anywhere without you. It shouldn't be too much longer before they let you out.”

Tyler sighed, knowing he was defeated. He didn't have the energy to argue and he know if the tables were turned, there would be nothing on this earth that would get him to leave your bedside.

* * * * *

The next morning you awoke in the hotel room, Tyler was sleeping, propped up on several pillows next to you. He had both his arms protectively wrapped around you. Your head was resting on his shoulder and he had his head leaning against yours. You shifted in the bed to move and get up for a cup of coffee. Even though you moved slowly and carefully, Tyler still awoke at the first sign of movement. “Morning beautiful.” he smiled.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Want some coffee?” you asked.

“Yeah. That sounds good, and you didn't wake me. I was already awake.” he grinned, reaching over to the bedside table and picking up the IPAD, looking to see what the weather was going to be.

“So what's the plan for today?” you asked.

He put the IPAD down and gazed at you as you fixed the coffee, “I'd like to take you back to my hometown.”

You turned and looked at him with surprise.

“I have a little farm in Arkansas, right across the state line. Looks like there's going to be a few big cells out that way. We can make my house base for a few days and I can show you around while we chase.”

“Tyler...I would love to see your hometown, but the doctor was very strict. You need to take it easy. You can't get hurt again. I can go with the team and chase while you take it easy at home.”

“No...I don't want the team, especially you, out there without me.” Tyler said. “I'll take it easy. We don't need to get close. We can just track the storms, document them, and report our findings to the weather service. Nothing crazy or dangerous. I'll stay in the truck. I'll even let you drive.” he grinned.

“Alright, but at the first sign the storm is getting too close, we are out of there.” you kiss him softly and hand him coffee.

“Deal...he smiled, pulling you down for a tender kiss. “This is the first day of the rest of our lives together.” he whispered, “And I swear to you I am going to give all I've got to give to make all your dreams come true.”

END STORY

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#twisters fanfiction #twisters fic #twisters x reader #tyler owens x reader #tyler owens fic #twisters fanfic #tyler owens x you

89 notes · View notes

manias-wordcount · 1 year

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Hi there I saw you do avatar the last Airbender would you be interested in doing a Mela Reader? In a poly relationship with azula Mai and Tylee ?

Poly Relationship HCs (Azula, Ty Lee, Mai, Male! Reader)

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆!

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

vat𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

The girls fight for your attention a lot

And the girls are never really as subtle as they think they are

Only your relationship with Azula is public (something she’s particularly boastful about- especially behind closed doors)

But despite it being in everyone’s best interest, it has caused some fights before

And caused you to get some questions about what is actually going on

You try to claim to the public (or at least the nosy servants that don’t know everything just yet) that you’re all just friends

But it’s really, really, really hard to do when you could have two of the girls pulling on your arms while shouting over your head about an argument you’re not even apart of

And somehow they can be even worse in private

For example, you could just be chilling in your quarters, reading a book to pass the time, and then Ty Lee comes up and cuddles up to you- all find and good

But before you even get a chance to wrap your arm around her shoulder and pull her close…here comes Mai…

…shoving you to the middle of the couch so she could lay on your other side and shove her legs into your lap

Meanwhile, Azula will come busting in the door- yelling at you to come to her for whatever reason

And suddenly it’s your job to quell the sudden argument that started between all three of them

But don’t worry- there have always been enough good days to balance out the bad

It’s the one-on-one time with each of the girls that really helps your relationship grow

The moments where you can be there for them and their worries and fears

And they can do the same for you

Those calm moments between two easily allow for moments where all four of you can be peaceful and happy despite all the stressors that the three most powerful girls in the Fire Nation face on a daily basis

So sometimes it’s explosive, sometimes it’s tense but sometimes your relationship can be just as sweet and happy as anyone else’s- it just needs a little hard work <3

…and for the girls to not gang up against you in random moments because they think it’s funny to go 3 against 1 when you least expect it

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aimlacely-sapphic · 2 years

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🔥Fire Lord Zuko Headcanons🔥

My semi-canon compliant headcanons of Zuko after the war with a side of Zukka

Zuko's first few months as firelord are a bit of a mess. He's desperately trying to put together some semblance of functional governance in place of the corruption left in his fathers wake, while simultaneously trying to negotiate peace treaties and settlement agreements with nations his predecessors attempted to destroy.

He's overworking himself, not sleeping enough, forgetting to eat and overall just not doing a great job taking care of himself, convinced if he doesn't take care of things instantly then he's not doing enough.

It all comes to a head once the assassination attempts start getting out of hand. At that point Zuko is simply not sleeping so Sokka, Mai, Tylee and Iroh stage an intervention (you cannot convince me Iroh would stay in Ba Sing Se once things start getting out of hand)

His security get upgraded, Toph gets brought in to vet the staff (she can tell when people are lying!! why wouldn't she get to kick people out of the palace?)

And finally things start to settle down

Once the peace talks and negotiations are done he starts transforming the Fire Nation itself

A lot of people have written about this but I am absolutely convinced that Zuko spends the first year trying to get the palace staff to trust him not to hurt them

By the second or third year they are willing to speak to him and have more than small talk

He goes about making a lot of changes in policy but first he disappears for 2 days only Sokka and his head guard knowing in advance

He goes incognito through dozens of towns and villages

He visits schools (putting his blue spirit skills to use)

He goes to orphanages and homeless shelters

He goes back to the Sun Warriors to tell them about the end of the war and seek advice on how to reshape the way firebending is taught to everyone (and maybe he ends up adopting a dragon egg in the process...)

When he returns to the palace he is ready to transform the nation

He makes it a crime to use corporeal punishment

He brings back old traditions and rule for Agni Kais where they can only be fought by adults against adults provided they both agree to the fight. The Agni Kai stops when a person surrenders or at first burn.

He wanted to completely end the practice of Agni Kais but tradition could not constantly be broken by his reign (according to his advisors) so the changes just make them less common or harmful until they go obsolete

He puts in place programs for veterans to get the treatment and support they need.

He creates a fostering program where children who have been left behind can find love with parents who have lost children or veterans who want to bring love and hope to the world

He works with Aang and Sokka and Master Piandao to create new curriculum for the schools which is historically accurate, brings back culture and joy and teaches students to think for themselves

He includes some of the wisdom from the sun warriors in the new curriculum so that firebending, and really all fighting forms can be taught with their duality in mind. Fire burns but it is also life. Martial Arts can be use to kill, but they are also an art form.

Making the curriculum stick is a longer process but with help from people on the inside, slowly but surely schools start to teach in a better. kinder way

Its around the time of Zuko's 20th birthday when advisors start to bother him about marrying.

It is while trying to avoid their matchmaking that he start realizing that he likes Sokka (he's an oblivious biromantic asexual, why would anyone expect it to take less time)

Not much changes when they get together, they still spar and go to the gardens to feed the turtleducks together, Sokka still makes silly faces behind ambassadors backs, Zuko still goes down to the kitchens to make them a pot of tea to have together witting in his room (the kitchen staff are used to this by now)

But they start sharing more intimacies, finding what feels comfortable for them in the form of hugs that last just a bit longer and chaste kisses on shoulders and cheeks and foreheads.

And when the egg from the sun warriors hatches and a tiny dragon comes tumbling out, they name him Druk and take care of him together

Zuko continues to go on trips incognito a few times a year and it is on one of these trips what he finds a young child alone on the side of the road. When he learns that she has know family he tries to taker her to the orphanage in the town near by. She runs away and there is nothing Zuko is willing to do to get her to go.

She has a grittiness and fighting spirit that reminds Zuko of his younger self, an independent streak and impulsiveness that border on dangerous. And even though Zuko has to leave her that day he can't stop thinking about her as he returns to the palace.

Sokka notices right away and they talk about her, and adoption, and the fact that Zuko needs an heir and end up figuring out that they want a child of their own to raise now that Druk is all grown up

When Zuko next returns to the town he brings Sokka, a legal witness and adoption papers with him.

He introduces her to Druk and when she pets him and falls in love they start to talk to her. She begins to trust them, telling them her name is Izumi and that she doesn't like the orphanage because it reminds her too much of her past.

They stay for a few days getting to know her and when they ask if she wants to live with them she does say yes.

Over time Zuko comes to find balance and love in the peace he created in the Fire Nation<3

Note: I cannot take credit for all of these ideas, some of them come from a bunch of fanfictions I've read over the years and especially Post-Canon Fire Lord Zuko (and his staff) by RejectsCanon

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #fire lord zuko #zukka #post canon atla #atla fanfic #dragon dad zuko #druk (avatar)#izumi avatar #the fire nation #peace time and healing #i'm biro ace #and definitely not projecting /s

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butterflydm · 1 year

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wot reread: a memory of light (ch 7-10)

spoilers through the final book, a memory of light

While they were inside having the meeting, Rand's presence in Merrilor has caused trees to sprout and grow outside the pavilion. Perrin says they're the same kinds of trees that he's seen inside an Ogier stedding. The trees are already hundreds of feet tall. I like all of this One with the Land stuff for Rand. It's enjoyable.

2. Elayne doesn't let herself get too distracted, instead calling for maps so that she can start figuring out the logistics of the army. Bryne being cold to Elayne because he holds the actions of her mom against her: damn, Siuan, you really settled when you went for him (he does mellow later and make it clear that he respects her as a leader but that his loyalties are now with the White Tower, so I will give him partial credit). Elayne does take charge here, even when Amys tries to say that the Aiel can handle their own parts of the battle and she doesn't budge when Aviendha tries to press her either, which I really like.

Proud as I am of Elayne for being the wrangler for the entire war effort here (she spends hours here with the generals, clan chiefs... and Perrin, lol), I am not super interested in the details of battles, so I'm not going to be relaying troop movements or anything like that unless it's emotionally important to one of the characters.

3. Let's talk about the Five Great Captains thing for a hot minute: one of the frustrating things that Jordan did was create five continent-famous generals and... they're all men. And the one place where maybe we could find a female Great Captain (the Green Ajah), we're explicitly told: nah, she isn't. So I am definitely glad that Elayne was placed at the head of all the armies here because it's really a Dude Show apart from her (and some input from Amys & Aviendha as Wise Ones).

I kinda hope that the show just does away with the whole "the Five Great Captains" concept as a whole. Give us one or maybe two really good generals on the Westlands side (Bashere is the most important) and then let the Captain-General of the Green Ajah actually be one of the big military leaders, along with including representatives from the Aiel (Rhuarc, Amys, & Aviendha) -- instead of Bryne, let the head of the Green Ajah in Salidar be the one leading Egwene's army.

Because as awful as the Seanchan are, one thing that they do have over the Westlands is that women are just as likely to be important military leaders (like Perrin's slaver BFF Tylee) as men are -- though even there, we had the weird thing where, at least for some of the female soldiers, marriage disqualifies you from service (just like with the Maidens).

So clearly Jordan was aware that women are capable of having strong tactical minds. He just... decided not to do that with the Westlands. For whatever reason.

(oh, I just realized that Lord Agelmar, one of the great captains in the books, has already been killed off in the show! My wish is partially granted already; and we've also seen that the Greens are more willing to fight in the show as well, so the other half of my wish -- that the Green leader in Salidar lead Egwene's armies -- seems pretty plausible, and that would cut Bryne out of the story fairly neatly)

4. The Ogier arrive, which is also when Elayne finds out that they were on the verge of leaving the planet entirely. But Loial's speech worked and every Ogier who is able to fight has come to fight on the side of the Light. lol, forever at Perrin pretending that he did anything when it comes to this; he says that he went ~looking for the Ogier~ to try to see if they could help but then they were already here at Merrilor. You stepped outside a tent? That's your big accomplishment here, Perrin?

5. When Elayne goes to assign Perrin a task, he refuses, because he is a useless person, but Faile steps up to volunteer, because she is a useful person. Anyway, Faile is now in charge of the supply chain, because Perrin thinks he's too good to listen to the person that Rand put in charge of the battle. The excuse he gives is that Rand ~needs Perrin by his side~ so I will wait and see if Perrin actually does stick right next to Rand's side to protect him or if he wanders off on his own.

6. Speaking of people who won't do as they need to: we get a mention of Mat not being here (this time in context of shirking his duty as the Hornblower for the Horn of Valere) and Perrin says that Mat is in Ebou Dar "doing something with the Seanchan" (you know, the people who are still the enemy right now).

How could Perrin know that? He's never been to Ebou Dar. He wouldn't recognize it even if he saw that Mat was there in a color swirl vision. Also, it's only been "hours" since Perrin had the vision of Mat on a dusty road and it takes a bit longer (weeks longer) than "hours" to go from the Tower of Ghenjei (which is in Andor) to Ebou Dar (which is on the southern tip of Altara).

...but I will refrain going into detail on this until we get a Mat PoV chapter, in case there is an explanation on his travel logistics.

7. Also, wow, we really needed to get more from Elayne on what she thinks is happening here. Perrin does not mention here that Mat is married to the Empress of the Slavers Seanchan so... interesting for him to leave that out, since he knows and was so tickled pink by it in his conversation with Mat; and Elayne is only aware that Mat had kidnapped one of the High Blood during his escape from Ebou Dar and that he'd freed Aes Sedai who had been captured as damane. Per ToM, Elayne got the 'heroic' story from Thom while Perrin got the 'Mat married a slaver' story from Thom.

So Perrin and Elayne are actually approaching this conversation from incredibly different levels of knowledge but we don't really get any implication here that Perrin is intentionally hiding the truth about Mat's relationship with the Seanchan from Elayne (due to her being a channeler and Mat's slaver wife being someone who would happily torture and enslave her), he just... doesn't happen to mention the full extent of what Mat is doing. Also: Perrin doesn't mention here that if Elayne wants to know more about what Mat was doing last, she should talk to Moiraine, Thom, and Grady. Why not? Why are we acting like Mat's movements are a state secret that can only be found out via mystic color swirls? Mat cannot go from Point A to distant Point B instantaneously unless he has a strong channeler helping him, because Mat can't channel.

8. All we get from Elayne here is "the Seanchan are the enemy. Mat doesn't seem to understand that, considering what he's done," which could just literally be a reaction to Perrin telling her that Mat has quit the field to go hang out with slavers. Especially since Perrin's 'explanation' was so vague and cagey despite how he actually knows for a fact that Mat is married to the fascist leader of the slaver empire. It could be that he's worried that if Elayne is hesitant to trust Faile due to not really knowing her*, that Elayne definitely wouldn't be willing to trust Mat with the Horn, if she knew that Mat had run off to play house with the enemy (because they are under the impression that the Heroes fight for whoever they're called to, rather than fighting for 'the Dragon' specifically). But, again, we don't really get a hint of that in his thought process here. He just doesn't tell Elayne about Mat's true relationship with the Seanchan for... reasons, I guess.

Elayne even worries here that Mat's "put himself into trouble" with the Seanchan, which makes sense, since the story she got from Thom was focused on Mat being a sneaky freedom fighter who frees slaves! And Perrin offers zero clarification.

(* I am going to point out that Elayne knows Perrin and Faile roughly equally well? She doesn't actually have a developed friendship with Perrin. She saw him briefly in Falme, post-battle, probably, would have spent an equal amount of time with Perrin and Faile during Tear because they were basically joined at the hip, and then the next time she saw him was when he showed up in Caemlyn in ToM. It's Mat who Elayne has spent time with and knows, not Perrin. It's weird because it felt like Sanderson was aware of this in the Elayne & Perrin scenes back in ToM)

9. Yeah, I really do feel like having Caemlyn be one of the battlefronts of the Last Battle doesn't feel needed at all. I'm guessing it's supposed to be there to add ~personal stakes~ to the fight for all our Andor-born characters but... literally all of them are people who understand that all of existence is at stake. They didn't really need the fight to have additional personal stakes. The stakes are already there. All the Caemlyn battle did was make it so that the book doesn't have room in the pacing for the important character moments that we keep skipping. This scene with Lan at Tarwin's Gap is good, though.

10. Elayne talks to Talmanes about the tragedy of Caemlyn. Perrin and his troops have... apparently come with Elayne to Caemlyn? Even though Rand isn't here? Wow, that really does make it seem like Perrin used Min's viewing as an excuse to get out of work that he didn't want to do rather than it actually being the main concern in his mind. That was literally only last chapter and Perrin has already gone away from Rand's side, lol.

Elayne notes here that Talmanes is one of Mat's "most trusted" men and is slightly disappointed that Mat hasn't 'corrupted' him into swearing more. I will note again that Talmanes is the one person* who knows that this entire tragedy could have prevented if Mat had been willing to read a letter. Mat not being confronted with his failure here is another example of Mat vanishing from a storyline and leaving a gaping hole, which is something that Jordan (and now Sanderson) did with Mat but not really any other character. It really does feel like Mat should have been two separate characters by this point in the story (honestly leaning towards feeling that Harriet was wrong to suggest Jordan cut The Fourth Ta'veren Boy back in TEotW) because he just leaves these massive narrative holes all over the place that have to be hastily shored up with tertiary characters.

(* apart from Olver, who didn't really seem to fully understand the note; also, side note... where is Olver? I dimly recall that he isn't dead -- no thanks to Mat -- but no one has mentioned him)

The Boy Who Defects To The Seanchan and The Boy Who Saves Moiraine At The Tower Of Ghenjei really are incompatible character through-lines, including just needing to be in completely different physical locations at roughly the same time. If we still had Fourth Boy (who I am assuming would be Seanchan-Defector Boy), then I assume Seanchan-Defector Boy would have simply gone back to Ebou Dar with Fortuona.

11. Elayne notes that it has been 'one day' since Talmanes was pulled out of the city. The attack on Caemlyn began literally while Talmanes and Olver were still waiting for Mat to return from the Tower of Ghenjei, something that Mat was explicitly planning on doing at the end of ToM.

I'm trying to wait until Mat's PoV chapter to truly judge this storyline but, wow, the logistics are a mess and make zero sense in terms of the timeline and geography involved. Mat is not a channeler. The channeler who was helping Mat with the Tower of Ghenjei is at Merrilor.

Mat has no viable path to Ebou Dar that doesn't go through Merrilor, not if he wants to get there sooner than a month or two months from when he and the others exited the Tower of Ghenjei. Moiraine went into the 'finn doorway before Egwene rediscovered Traveling for female channelers, so Moiraine would not know the Traveling weave (though I'm sure she's learned it by now -- probably the first thing she did after the meeting with Rand!).

I'm... extremely curious to see how Mat's first PoV chapter makes sense of the logistics of his storyline. Because as it stands right now, it looks like Sanderson & Team Jordan simply dropped the ball when it came to Mat's timeline in comparison with everyone else's, because this makes no logical sense.

12. It's so weird for Elayne to casually be thinking about how "Tam" has come along with Perrin with absolutely zero internal acknowledgement that he's the grandfather of the kids that she's currently carrying. I'm... pretty sure she knows that he's Rand's dad, right? Otherwise, why would she even mark out this specific captain of Perrin's as special? Also, Bashere has told Elayne that Rand gave him ~special instructions~ to watch over her. The contradictions of whether or not Elayne is being treated as Rand's love interest (who is pregnant with his kids!) continues to be super-weird.

Bashere suggests that Elayne make it public that her kids are also Rand's, and she tells him a. it's none of his business and b. that sort of thing would make her kids targets. Also, you know, if she does decide to do that, maybe she should... tell Tam first? Separately? Because he's their grandfather?

But, nope, Elayne decides to just make a general announcement, against her better judgement. I will note again that Tam is part of this wing of the army, so he would find out here that his son, who gave him a ~special introduction~ to Min back in ToM, also got the Queen of Andor pregnant. How is it possible that Tam doesn't have some questions about that?

13. The Last Battle is actively occurring on four different fronts, and Mat Cauthon is a deserter. It's hard to avoid that thought, as we move from battlefield to battlefield and Mat continues to be inexplicably not present. In Tarwin's Gap, Lan's forces have to retreat from the full crush of the Shadow's forces.

14. We learn from Egwene's thoughts that she and Gawyn got married in a private ceremony. Once again, I say, stop having important emotional moments happen off-screen!

How is the Morgase & Tallanvor's wedding ceremony more relevant to spend page time on than Egwene & Gawyn's wedding? Baffling priorities!

I feel like that's the main issue at hand with A Memory of Light: it does not feel like the narrative priorities are in the right place. We keep skipping important emotional moments so that we can have battle scenes instead. We've spent way too much time on tertiary characters in a subplot that is completely detached from the main plotlines (the Black Tower plotline).

I have absolutely no idea what rumors or gossip is currently out there about Rand's various relationships (especially after Elayne has now had it announced that she's pregnant with his kids -- Rand parading around with Min while Elayne is several months pregnant seems like it could hurt morale as much as it boosts it, because now Rand looks like a philandering douchebag, which is maybe not super-reassuring to the rank-and-file, who already viewed Min as Rand's "pet", per Min's PoV in TGS. we saw what kind of impact the Berelain situation had with Perrin back during the Slog; it made his men look at him with less trust and respect. not ideal!).

And we keep getting reminded that Mat isn't here, but it also makes no logical sense for him not to be here, given the set-up we were left with in the last book.

15. Elayne has suggested setting up a hospital for the wounded soldiers, run by Yellow Ajah Sisters. Of course she has! <3 <3 <3 <3 Egwene agrees that it's a good idea and suggests that they set it up in Mayene, far away from the various battlefields.

16. It's finally time for Egwene to talk to Leilwin née Egeanin, who Nynaeve has deemed 'marginally trustworthy', lol. Leilwin née Egeanin swears herself to Egwene's service but then admits that she doesn't have the kind of inside knowledge that Egwene is asking for. Even so, Egwene tells Leilwin née Egeanin to tell her what she can of the Seanchan & the Empress's plans. I, uh. Hope that someone is taking notes. For. Reasons. For the future.

17. Are Rand and Elayne finally going to interact in private? Rand snuck into Elayne's tent and is checking out her maps. It's so weird that he feels like he needs to sneak around to see her when she's literally throwing out public 'I love you's (and now announcing that he's the father of her future kids), what on earth is the public status of Rand's relationships?

(if Rand is here 'in secret', does that mean that Perrin still gets points for 'staying near him'? The color swirls aren't a radar detection technique that tells him where Rand is at all times, so I'm going to say 'no')

18. I genuinely loved this reunion but the timing makes no sense -- either they should be cutely sneaking around at the very beginning of the book (before the big meeting) or they both should have been firm on doing the spy games and pretending that they don't have a relationship and then it would make sense that it took this long before they could arrange to be in the same place. The half-and-half thing that the books actually went with it... kinda just weird.

19. But I will choose not to focus on that at this time and will instead focus on what we actually got out of the reunion: he's impressed by Elayne's battle planning (🥰🥰🥰); "golden hair with a hint of honey and rose" (🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 he is GONE for her 🥰🥰🥰🥰); here is life (🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰) ; he thinks everything about her is beautiful and amazing and wonderful (🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰). I love that he is capable of being absolutely gone over her in his head but also had zero issue treating her like fellow a capable ruler that he respects. They have the range. Ugh, we were cheated out of so much Rand & Elayne time in the books!

20. Elayne and Rand both mourn that they've never had time to figure out where their relationship fit into the whole 'the world is ending' scenario. Hey. Hey, there would have been a quick fix for that: Rand not immediately bouncing after their day & night together in Winter's Heart and actually staying in contact with Elayne & Aviendha after the bonding!

And even if his head was too screwed up to do that until after the epiphany, Rand had all of Towers of Midnight to visit Elayne BEFORE it was literally 'the middle of the Last Battle'; he knew exactly where to find her. But, in addition to letting him find out about the pregnancy, Rand visiting Elayne in Towers of Midnight would have also meant a Cauthor reunion in Towers of Midnight, and that would have made it even more ridiculous that Mat spontaneously deserted on the eve of the Last Battle, I guess. I mean, it's still ridiculous, because Mat was planning to return to Caemlyn at the end of ToM, but I repeat myself, lol.

(yes, yes, I promised I would hold off on complaining about the Mat plotline until we actually got there. I'm trying! lol)

AU idea: Rand goes to Caemlyn after his epiphany; runs into Mat and I guess maybe Perrin too, lol.

21. Okay, if she didn't know before that Tam is Rand's dad, she definitely knows now because he just said "Tam will be a grandfather" (which Tam also knows, because Elayne literally announced it to her army). So if Tam and Elayne interact in the future, they do so with Elayne knowing that's her boyfriend's dad and with Tam knowing that's the mother of his son's kids. So I would expect to actually see that reflected in how they interact.

Rand kneeling in front of Elayne so that he can touch her stomach is pretty cute. 🥰

So, Rand tells her here that he didn't know about her pregnancy "not until the night before the meeting." This would have been a perfect place for a justifiably puzzled Elayne to ask, "why didn't Min tell you? She told the entire Royal Palace," but then Min might actually be treated like a person who is capable of making mistakes* and not just as Rand's Sexy Accessory, so of course it doesn't come up.

(* the mistake in question being blabbing all over the palace about Elayne's personal secrets, which resulted in Elayne getting objectified by much of her household staff and being treated as nothing but a vessel for her pregnancy; Min getting so drunk that she forgot everything is just the Hand of the Author making sure that Rand isn't allowed to get any positive news during his downward spiral)

22. Rand feels "warmth" at the knowledge that he's going to be a dad but sorrow at the thought that he will probably die and leave them fatherless.

Awww, at this "last lesson" from Elayne on being a monarch. "It is all right to plan for the worst possibilities but you must not bask in them. You must not fixate on them. A queen must have hope before all else." As @markantonys and I have talked about, this really does feel like such a major part of why Jordan kept Elayne separated from Rand for so long -- because she could have given him useful advice on how to balance the concerns of being a ruler with what he needed to do to keep himself emotionally centered as a person.

What we've seen Rand get from both Elayne here and from Aviendha earlier on in the books, it's advice and reassurance that Jordan felt he needed to withhold from Rand in order for him to spiral down to rock-bottom. Rand wasn't allowed to have hope, so that's why Jordan made sure he couldn't spend too much time with Elayne. We saw in his private scenes with Min that she brushed off moments like this or tried to distract Rand with sex rather than engaging with him as a person (or sometimes she would threaten him with a knife).

23. Our two workaholics talk shop during their romantic dinner together. Of course they do. Elayne talks shop when she's taking a bath, lol.

Aaaah, I really do love Rand's thoughts here about how his love for Elayne was forged because of the things that they have in common and the burdens that they share. He feels like she can really understand the part of him that has been crushing him the most (maybe the second-most, after the prophecies of the dragon). Respect, understanding, attraction, and affection.

24. Elayne asks him about what happened "that day atop Dragonmount" and Rand thinks that he's not talked about that specific moment with anyone yet. He tells her that he realized how important it was that he care in order to fight this battle, and that means that he now truly feels the pain of all the deaths that are happening due to the Last Battle again, whereas before he could block it out.

Elayne intuits that he has Lews Therin's memories and when he confirms that he does, she's thrilled and tells him what an advantage that it gives them, and Rand is just blown away by her reaction.

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I do like Rand and Aviendha and I find a lot of their culture clash elements charming and enjoyable, but Elayne and Rand Just Get Each Other on a fundamental level (and they always have! Elayne often had thoughts about how Rand would likely react a certain way to something and she's usually correct!). If they'd actually been allowed to spend more time together... *regretful sigh*

And even with how much they have in common, Elayne's passion about doing her part in his fight still pleasantly surprises him and he compares talking with her to watching fireworks -- always beautiful but the form that the beauty will take can still surprise him. I love them, your honor.

25. Rand literally uses his ta'veren One With The Land Dragon Reborn powers for fix Elayne's tea so that it isn't spoiled any more. I will die from the cute. I will die. Such a lovely and sweet quality of life thing for him to do for her!

And then he gives her a personalized gift that shows how well he knows her and respects her both as a person and with her specific Aes Sedai Talents: a Seed to help create angreal. And she gives him the ter'angreal knife that will protect him from the view of the Shadow, to help him during his fight, the one that Aviendha gave her (so in some ways, it is a gift from both of them to Rand -- one way that the show could, imo, improve on this scene is by letting Aviendha, Rand, and Elayne's reunion all happen together the same night rather than Aviendha's right before the Last Battle and Elayne's while the battle is already underway; then they could give him the knife as a joint gift).

26. "They stayed together long into the night. " Oh, I bet they did. *wiggles eyebrows*

🥰🥰🥰🥰

27. Hmm, we get the info on how many medallion copies currently exist:

There's Mat's medallion

There's a medallion copy that Mat currently has that he was planning on giving to a slaver

There's a medallion copy that Birgitte currently wears

And one copy was stolen by the Darkfriend queen's guard dude

So one original medallion and three copies, at this point in time. And Elayne has said that she can't make any more copies without the original, I think.

28. Birgitte has also continued to get ever more bitter and controlling, which I have speculated was a deliberate change of characterization to show how her memory loss is affecting her but the issue is that some readers of the book will take any bitter rant against a character they dislike as the gospel truth, rather than treating it as a biased PoV. And that can be very frustrating.

Just... man, remember when Birgitte was a fun character to be around? I miss when Birgitte was fun.

29. On her way back to the battle-planning tent, Elayne runs into Uno here, and he tries to watch his language and she ~generously~ tells him that he doesn't need to. Haha, she should just tell him that she likes to listen to swearing; he would probably find it a relief.

30. Lan's front continues to need to retreat from the battlefield and it makes him feel like he's abandoning the idea of Malkier all over again. Aww, Lan.

Oh, also, the 'dreadlords' of the Shadow have shown up (the Black Ajah and various Turned channelers and Darkfriend Asha'man, I assume. No mention of the Aiel in red veils yet).

31. ...we just casually mentioned that Elayne is relaying some news to "Talmanes, the Aiel, and Tam al'Thor." You can probably guess what I'm going to say.

Stop! Having Important Emotional Moments! Happen Off-Screen!

Elayne and Rand have reconnected. That is Rand's father, who presumably knows by now that Elayne, Queen of Andor, is pregnant with his grandkid(s). How is it possible that we completely skipped over any kind of conversation between them at all? We got a whole, like, page-long scene about Bashere pressuring Elayne into publicly announcing her pregnancy, but this scene we skip? Priorities!

32. Also, I just want to note that Perrin is off "engaging the Trollocs" and not, in fact, hanging around Rand in case he's needed to save his life. I really do think that Perrin was just using Min's viewing to get out of a job that he didn't want to do.

33. It is genuinely so bizarre that Elayne is hanging out with the Two Rivers archers, led by Tam al'Thor, and absolutely no one in the scene acknowledges that she's pregnant with Rand's kids. Everyone is just strictly all business.

...did Elayne have a sword before? I don't remember her having a sword before.

34. Feels weird that Mat isn't the one who sees the dragons finally being used in action for the first time. Again, it feels like Mat is missing out on all the conclusions to his various character arcs -- this one being about the industrialization of war. Mat has been tied to this from very nearly the beginning (TDR when he used fireworks to blow a hole in the Stone of Tear), even before he got his 'finn memories, and yet he's not allowed to finish out this character arc either. Of seeing this moment and realizing how much the battlefield has changed. Sure, he can see it again later on, but the impact of the first time that the readers saw this weapon of war in action, and the destruction that it leaves behind... this is part of Mat's story. That's the third story element where it feels like Mat has been abruptly cut out of completing part of his character journey:

irrationally mistrusting Aes Sedai leading to the attack on Caemlyn -> Mat doesn't see the results of his mistrust and doesn't actually learn the lesson

accepting Rand as the Dragon and as a friend at the same time -> doesn't actually talk with post-Dragonmount Rand about it, to bring their story full-circle

bringing new (non-Powered) war to the world -> is not one of the first people to see the destruction & cause it, not there to realize how much this changes the future of war (Birgitte gets to do it instead)

Theoretically, that could all be on purpose, in order to deliberately leave the feeling that Mat's story is the most unfinished at the end, but the way that he's been vanished from the Westlands stories just doesn't add up on a practical level, either logistically or narratively. Doesn't make sense.

I'm about a third of the way through, so here are my feelings about the book so far in my reread:

There are some fantastic individual scenes:

The Avilayne reunion: adorable

The Avirand reunion: funny and sweet and cute

The Randlayne reunion: peak romance; I died several times

Rand setting up the pavilion at Merrilor: amazing

But the overall priorities of this book feel like they are in the wrong place. The center does not hold. Those great individual moments are in a framework that is rushing past and ignoring many other potentially great character moments. And I get why the book feels rushed -- it is rushed. AMoL would have been, like, three or four books all on its own if Jordan had lived to write it. But I feel like Sanderson was choosing some of the wrong things to brush over and some of the wrong things to linger over.

Anyway, this is getting long enough, I think, so I will end this section of the reread here.

spoilers for the rest of the book below, past chapters that I've done in my reread

Was the Elayne & Bashere scene meant to be a clue that Bashere had been Compelled?

Because Elayne is correct that there's no need to announce that her kids are also Rand's, and all it does it paint a new target on her back from Forsaken & Shadowspawn. Though from what I recall, there's absolutely zero story impact from this at all? Which kinda makes it even more unnecessary.

Arguments against this: Birgitte also seems all for it, for whatever reason?

I think that Bashere should have made the suggestion to make the announcement, Elayne should have rejected it, and then Bashere should have done it anyway. That would have been a very good clue that something was wrong with Bashere (though he could still justify it to himself by saying that he believes it will motivate the soldiers) without having Elayne cave to him for no real reason.

Elayne could even have found out that Bashere went behind her back because Tam came to her asking if it was true! We could have had an actual conversation between Elayne and Tam that led to them talking about the whole "Tam is gonna be a grandfather" thing.

#wot reread #wot #wheel of time #the wheel of time #elayne trakand #rand al'thor #egwene al'vere #mat cauthon #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #wot amol spoilers #wot a memory of light spoilers #randlayne

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child-of-of-the-sunshine · 11 days

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I contain it anymore I have to give a sneak peek at what I’ve been working with help form @snapghoul thanks for being my beta

I kinda had this idea but had no idea how to start it and then I thought to Snaps twin AU with Jake and Tyler and yeah it kinda just happened

Soon pilots started flowing into the bar. Penny took Amila home, she watched as her second family walked in, but her brother's words were nagging ‘How long had it been, it had to have been since after she started dating Mr. CEO’ “You look deep in thought.” Bradley said coming over and getting beers for him and Jake “Tyler called.”She shrugged her shoulders

“Tyler? What’d he want?” Bradley questioned her, she just nodded her head “Bradley the hell you do my sweet Callie?” Jake asked walking up to the bar

“Tyler called her.” He commented, “Oh yeah, what did he want?” Jake leaned against the bar tilting his head, he knew Tyle would never call her during work “Offered me a job, wants another member on his crew.” She mumbled, opening two bottles for Jake and Bradley

Jake hummed and nodded, he and Tyler both knew how much she needed a change “Take it, sis, what could go wrong?” “A lot of things.” Callie rolled her eyes

#top gun maverick #jake hangman seresin #top gun: maverick #twisters #bradley rooster bradshaw #glen powell #tyler owens #bradley bradshaw #i’m so excited #to get this out soon #seresin twins #jake seresin x oc!sister #tyler owens x sister!oc

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serpentbearer18 · 5 months

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The thing that pisses me off in So Help Me Todd is that Todd and Lyle very, very, very likely won't end up together. But if either of them were a woman, not only would it happen, it would be a GIVEN.

I mean come ON, boop, "Tyle" and "Team Lodd" (both said BY THEM THEMSELVES), Todd adding Lyle to the list of people he would like to kill when in s1 there was a scene where "loving someone means wanting to kill them sometimes" was a topic.

Lyle leaving and Todd. looking on! with a FOND SMILE!!!! And that's just one episode, there are a bunch of other moments throughout the show.

If this was about a straight couple, any discussion regarding them would be about how they are a slow burn rivals-to-lovers, to the point where it would be excessive and people would have to be reminded to also appreciate the friendship they are forming.

But since it's queer, we (at least, I) just ship it while being resigned it probably won't happen and really, really hoping it will.

Edit: especially now that the show is ENDING I'd completely forgotten it's been cancelled 😭😭

#just venting #i just really like them :(#and it makes me sad when i think about the chances of them actually getting together :((#So Help Me Todd #todd wright #lyle burton

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 2 years

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☕️Azula redemption

Oh gosh, I have many feelings on that. I feel like it can go down in many different ways but my favorite redemption/healing arcs for Azula involve her leaving the Fire Nation for a while for some introspection and so that she can find herself; who she wants to be, what she likes, independent of her father and Fire Nation socital expectations.

I really love redemptions where she finds comfort in art. She develops a skill that allows her to vent in a way that is safe for her whether its through music, artistic firebending, or something like wood burning.

I most favor redemptions where she finds new friends; people who she has no history with before she reconciles with people from her past. I feel like having new friends first would offer her unconditional support and give her important lessons about unconditional love and what not. A mentor who can help her unlearn what has been taught.

I do like the idea of her making amends with Zuko, her mother, Mai, and Tylee.

For me its super critical that she is still Azula. By thus I mean that id like her to still have her dark side and still be sarcastic with a tendency for off color remarks. I also like the idea of her still being a manipulator but using it for good so to speak.

I also like the idea of her having this super awkward phase. And depending on how it's done, I can see her being over apologetic like Aaron mentioned--mostky because she doesn't really have a framework for how much is too much, but eventually she starts to get a feel for when she doesn't have to apologize.

Another thing I tend to prefer is, if she is punished really harshly, I'd like it to be emphasized that its pretty messed up that the punishment is so cruel.

In terms of my no goes; I'm not very fond of fics and headcanonns where she loses her bending forever as part of the redemption. Her fire is just such an integral part of her character that I feel like she'd have a reaction similar to Tahno's. I just don't like the Azula loses her bending for good because that 'the only way she'll ever learn to be a good person'.

EDITS: Corrected some spellings that were messed up on mobile.

#avatar the last airbender #azula #azula redemption

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orithyiaeleven · 1 year

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UC Fanwork Celebration Day 1 (The early access version)

Day 1 was Favourite Arc / Roll for AU. My favourite Arc is Arc 3, and I rolled Class Swap, so I let the dice decide what each Arc 3 character's new class should be. I then re-imagined their first meeting with their new classes. This is shortly pre-Arc 3 Flashback.

However, I am not quite happy with the story yet, and will take the time to work on it before uploading it to AO3. Because today is the day, though, and technically the story is finished, I will post the current version of it under the cut here on Tumblr instead, and update you once I am happy and have uploaded it.

It doesn't even have a fixed name yet, but my working title would be "A different group of heroes". I hope you enjoy, and the finished piece will hopefully come soon.

The crackling sound of pyromagic mixes with the cheers of people, carried over to Lathe by a helpful little breeze gossiping in his ear. He closes his eyes and takes a moment to taste the caramel popcorn in the air. With a little smile, he quickens his step: Festivities are happening in the centre of Tyle, and he must know more.

Nimbly, he finds his way past the little shops and side alleys. A crowd of people is currently pushing towards the town centre, following the same siren’s call of laughter, fireworks, applause and cotton candy that he is tracking, but he knows the quickest ways around, and how to avoid getting stuck in the slowly moving mass of bodies. He sprints past the little bookstore with a “Good morning, Mx. Shinebearer”, through the backyard of a house that has been empty for ages, past a few spell component stores and the academy students gathered in front of them, until finally, he reaches the town centre. A man dressed in the borderline gaudy garb of a circus director stands on a small makeshift stage built up in front of the gigantic magician’s statue, addressing the gathered crowd with big movements.

“Come, come, one and all! Young and old, people of all shapes and sizes, come and gather to witness the magic and wonders of the Cinderbloom Circus!” More fireworks pop up, displaying flaming flowers in all colours of the rainbow.

“Now, people of Tyle and beyond, witness one of our audience favourites, our star, who has come all the way from frosty Glaceria to present her talents, our ice princess! And remember to come visit our full show and program in Maevir-Eirik-Park, from tomorrow until next week!”

With more cheers, the announcer clears the temporary stage they have set up for a young woman dressed in glittering pastel purple silks. She has a thin, but athletic build, and although she carries herself with the poise befitting her stage name, Lathe recognises the way her chin is slightly drawn forward, and the way her eyes seem to search the crows for someone daring to challenge her position.

Three circus assistants jog up to the statue and quickly arrange some silks to drape around the arms and the wand of the stone wizard, while the acrobat takes out a little flute from a pocket hidden in her garments. She bows to the crowd, looks to the assistants for a quick sign that they’re done, and grabs one of the aerial silks. Within moments, she is up on the statue’s shoulder, dangling her feet, and gives him a coquettish little kiss on the cheek before sliding down again to the tune of her own melody, seemingly falling. Just inches above the ground, she catches herself again, and climbs up the way she came. Her movements are fluid and seem entirely effortless, coming to her as easy as breathing, and all the while she still continues playing the flute as if to underline how little mind she has to pay her motion. Even the way her pastel purple hair falls seems to be choreographed and trained to perfection. She moves through the silks with ease, somehow finding grip on the smooth fabric. All of it seems so in sync, it’s captivating.

Her performance is only a few minutes, but the crowd explodes with cheers for her as she is finished. She gives a smile, together with a head movement that seems to say “see, I told you I could do it”. It fits her stage name, but again, Lathe recognises the signs of someone who had to prove herself all her life. While the announcer reminds the crowd again to visit the full show, the purple performer is already going backstage again, and Lathe follows. Instead of an actual backstage area, the circus has rented an empty store as their dressing room. Before the young woman enters, Lathe manages to get her attention.

“Excuse me, Miss! Can I talk to you for just a second?”

“A second, sure, how can I help you?”

“Lathe Nightrym, my pleasure, truly, what a wonderful performance-“

“Oh thank you, sir, I am always happy to inspire people.”

“You have definitely done that today, my dear. Could I ask you, would you be willing to join a little adventuring party?”

“Ah. Right. I, uhm, I am very honoured by your request, but I must say no. As the circus is travelling around quite a lot, it is simply not possible for me to take up any other obligations. But thank you, I always enjoy talking to fans.”

“Please, just think about it.” He hands her one of his flyers. “A small group of friends travelling through all of Hyranor, defeating monsters, saving the world – have you never dreamed of that? Of not having to prove your worth, but having the stories about your heroic deeds precede you?” She breaks eye contact and looks to the side. “Take the flyer, just consider it, for a moment. The adventures we could go on. The stories they would tell. Being invited to court by the Queen, mere hours after defeating a monster. I am currently trying to form such a group, and I just know that you would make the perfect addition. I have handed out and put up flyers all over town, and in two days, we will meet at the Brewster’s Potions for brunch to meet up. No strings attached yet, absolutely no requirements, just to get a feel for the people, do some brainstorming… And if you don’t like it, you can just leave and go back to this life here.”

She sighs and lets her fingers wander over the flyer. He really did his best to draw the dragon, but maybe in this case it’s not bad that it is reminiscent of children’s drawings. “Alright. I will consider it”, she finally says.

Lathe can’t help but grin. “Amazing. See you in two days, then!” He turns to leave.

“I said I will consider it!”

“Brewster’s Potions, right next to the Gilded Quill!”

Brewster’s Potion, right next to the Gilded Quill, is not empty, but also not bustling with patrons two days later. There is a pleasant drizzle of conversation from the surrounding nooks and tables as Lathe Nightrym sits at the back of the room, waiting for people to show up.

“Are you ordering, or still waiting?”, the server asks again.

“Still waiting, thanks, dear”, he answers with a smile.

“Alright love, you just call when you want anything.” For a moment, Lathe believes to see pity in her eyes. But people will show up, he was just early. He handed the flyers out to at least fifteen people, and put them up in places all around town, someone has to show up.

Mere moments later, they do. The big guy he met at the Academy enters the tavern, and Lathe waves excitedly to get his attention. Carefully, the Firbolg makes his way over to him, the greyish hair on his head scraping the ceiling, his Academy uniform neat, but not freshly ironed. Only when he is already standing in front of the table, Lathe sees that he has brought a friend, a young Halfling woman who seems even smaller, near comically tiny next to him, but dressed in full armour. Eagerly, Lathe puts out a hand, and the big guy shakes it.

“Hello, hello, so glad you decided to come! You’re the first here, and I see you brought a friend as well?”

“Annie Wintersummer”, the young woman answers, putting out a hand as well to greet Lathe.

“Delighted to meet you, Annie Wintersummer. Sorry, friend, your name was?”, he asks, turning towards the Firbolg again.

“Aldrum.”

“Right, right! I’ve met you during the Open Day at the Arcane Academy, truly, what a glorious performance of arcane work you did. And you, Annie – I hope it’s alright if I just call you Annie? – are you a student at the Academy as well?”

“No”, she answers, and Lathe can see Aldrum make the “delicate topic” face. “No, the Arcane Academy did not think my magical talent was… worth cultivating at their esteemed institution. So instead I decided to hone my skills with weapons. I spend my time with technique instead of theory. And my magical gifts can influence my blade as well.”

“That sounds incredibly interesting, would you care to show me?”

“Not inside here, but later outside I can absolutely show you what I can do.”

Lathe smiles with excitement to see what the young woman would show him. Having someone of her size who would be able to run through enemy lines and legs and stab them from behind could be very beneficial, and she seems determined enough.

His smile widens even more as he sees the woman with the pastel purple hair enter the tavern, her eyes searching around. He stands up and waves to get her attention, and she floats towards them.

“You really came! How wonderful, please, take a seat. This is Aldrum, a wizard from the Arcane Academy, who has recently presented a very interesting project on some new protective spells he is working on, and his friend Annie Wintersummer, who apparently is a very skilled fighter.”

“Fighter and warlock. I can do some magic. Even if the academy cannot appreciate it.”

The purple woman smiles and shakes their hands each. “Happy to meet you, my name is Fey Moss.”

It is only then that Lathe realises he never actually heard her say her real name before. “And Fey Moss here is an acrobat with an incredible skill set, truly, I have never seen anyone move that nimbly before, what a performance!”

She nods her head down, as if to indicate a bow. “You might have heard of me as the ice princess.”

“I haven’t, actually”, Annie says.

Fey looks a bit taken aback, although she catches herself with ease. “Well, I am also quite skilled at martial arts, if it is necessary. I would love to see you fight as well, Annie, I think it would be very interesting to see your skillset.”

“Surely, yes. I would appreciate that. I always like to broaden my horizon and learn new styles and techniques.”

“How wonderful!”, Lathe exclaims and claps his hands. “Truly, I am so glad you are getting along already. Let’s get some brunch, and we will get this party going! Excuse me, Miss- we would like to order, please!”

Right as the server brings them their milkshakes and sandwiches, the tavern door opens again. At first, it seems no one entered, until Lathe sits up straighter to be able to see down, where he can track the long ponytail of an elderly Halfling man move towards their table.

“Lathe Nightrym?”, the man asks, looking at him. “I believe you were looking for people with the mind and skillset for adventures?”

Lathe quickly scans the man. He doesn’t seem particularly strong or dextrous, but not frail, either. He wears sun-coloured robes, and there is a certain glint to his eyes that seems almost animalistic.

“Yes, absolutely, take a seat here with us. What’s your name, friend?”

The man gives a polite smile and takes the offered seat. “Diarmad. I saw your flyers around the city.”

“Oh perfect, so they did work, then! May I ask, what kind of skills do you bring to this group? Your robes seem religious, but I cannot see any symbol on them?”

“Right, no, I am a magician, but not the divine sort. The robes are just the kind of garments we wear at my commune. But I was, let’s say born with magic.”

“Why do you say ‘let’s say born’? Were you born with it or not?”, Annie asks, trying her best to cover a probably not too kind remark about sorcerers and nepotism from Aldrum.

Diarmad throws a quick glance over at the Firbolg in his shirt and cloak with the Academy logo, raising a brow, and then turns towards Annie with a much nicer expression on his face, nearly mischievous. “It’s not my first time around. My people have found a way to basically concentrate weak flows of magic in a person through a ritual of reincarnation, so… The weak magical potential of my previous life has been focused into a pretty mean set of magical skills.”

Aldrum doesn’t seem convinced. “And… how exactly is magical talent enhanced through reincarnation? That sounds like it contradicts most current theories on magic.”

“You tell me, you’re the scholar. It worked for me, and that’s all that matters. But you academy people prefer to keep the magic to yourselves anyways, right?”

Annie puts a hand on the hilt of her sword, glaring at the elderly Halfling. “Please don’t talk to my friend like that,” she says in a tone that isn’t a request.

Lathe decides to steer this conversation around as fast as possible. “Alright, friends, I think that’s enough of that, we’re supposed to become a party after all!”

“A party?” A tall person with brown skin and some suspiciously alive and worm-like looking accessories in her hair leans over the half-high room divider between the table they apparently sat at alone, and the table Lathe had ordered. “I love parties, can I come as well?”

“Oh, not that kind of party, we’re trying to go adventuring-“

“Adventures are fun, I love adventures, too!” She smiles, climbs over the wall instead of going around it, despite wearing breastplate armour, and squeezes in between Fey and Annie around the table. Fey looks at the, oh yes, definitely worms, with a mixture of morbid fascination and absolute horror.

“Alright, hi then,” Lathe begins, not too sorry about the distraction from the magic discourse, “and you are?”

“A friend! And a new party member for your group. Six is a much better number than five, anyways.” They smile at all of them.

“…And your name is?”

“Oh! Right! Bombyx Mori. Pleased to make your acquaintance,” she says slowly, tasting out every word in her mouth.

Annie continues the questions. “And you do adventures?”

“Absolutely! All the time! The forest is filled with adventures.”

Now, Diarmad seems intrigued. “You’re a forest kind of person?”

“Yes, definitely, that. I met some very nice trees some time ago, and they asked me for help against disrespectful woodcutters. So I helped them, and then I swore to help all the trees, and protect all the forests, and apparently, when you make an oath, that is really meaningful in this world. So now I have to protect the forests, and I haven’t really figured out what exactly that means, yet, but I have already fought some monsters and that has gone really well for me so far, so I think I might just have become invincible.”

“For sure, for sure”, Lathe says, trying to not show his disbelief too much. A paladin is something their party could use. Whether Bombyx Mori is the perfect addition or the last missing piece for a perfect disaster, or possibly even both, he isn’t as sure of, yet. But it’s worth a shot. Especially if they actually have some experience already. “Alright then, let’s order some more milkshakes for the two of you, and then I can already tell you about a potential first adventure.”

#unprepared casters #uc celebration 2023

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waterfire1848 · 1 year

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Dear person, youre on fire I freaking love your Azula / Azutara posts! Funny, adorable, angsty headcannons go!!!

Here's a few Azula prompts / questions. You don't have to answer (any or all) just throwing them out there if you want XD:

Azula (and Azutara) stans, what are some headcannons:

-Azula's humour?

-Azula big-time nerd? (Sokka friendship?)

-Azula raised as a soldier in a hardcore military family / environment?

-Azula growing up basically surrounded just by old people? (Lo and Li? Her vocabulary? Hobbies? Mannerisms?)

-Socially awkward Azula? (We know she can talk smooth as a lawyer and schools adults twice her age, but let her talk casually with people her age... its gonna be bad. The Gaang and or Mai and Tylees reactions lmao)

-Azula's friendship with Mai and Tylee? (Outside of the toxic time where they were all forced into the war pls)

LOVE your blog, your posts make my day.

❤🍎

Thanks for the ask!

Thank you so much! I’ve been having such a bad day and this really helped!

I will always answer Azula/Azutara prompts and headcanons.

- (Azula’s humor) Azula has a different style of humor I think. She lived her life in a military setting with Ozai as a dad so I wouldn’t be surprised if she thinks things like falling on your face are hilarious. Remember when Zuko laughed at the pirates getting their ship stole? That would be Azula’s whole sense of humor.

- (Azula big time nerd) 100%. She was just never allowed to show it because of Ozai, but after the war she infodumps about her latest mystery novel to anyone who will listen. While she healing a lot of that falls to Katara.

( Azula raised as a soldier in a hardcore military family / environment) - This could actually make an interesting modern AU now that I think about it, but it's still true. She grew up under her father's belief that she was going to be the next Firelord so she had to know military strategy, how to move troops, how to talk with enemies or other military leaders, etc. She and Sokka would be best friends after the war.

(Azula growing up basically surrounded just by old people? (Lo and Li? Her vocabulary? Hobbies? Mannerisms?)) Would this mean that she knows all the slang Aang uses. Like everyone else is confused when Aang says words like hotman and hotwoman but Azula responds correctly and confuses everyone. She might have a secret hobby that relates to her spending time with Lo and Li (I don't know what though).

Socially awkward Azula? I was just talking to @akiizayoi4869 about this! Katara, Suki and Toph would be shocked by Azula's lack of social understanding, but eventually (after laughing) they'd help. They would also be the ones to suggest Azula might be bad at flirting with guys because she likes girls (a relatively new concept to Azula, Mai and Ty Lee because they grew up in a nation where that's outlawed). Extending on that, Azula also doesn't know how to do some simply things like putting her hair up. Katara and Suki teach her how to do it in Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom fashion and Ty Lee teaches her the top knot.

Azula's friendship with Mai and Tylee? Since you specified outside the war....they do reconcile after Azula starts receiving treatment. At first she yells at them and doesn't even believe they're there, but after a few visits they start talking. Ty Lee is the first person who gets Azula to actually laugh. When Azula returns to the palace, Mai is waiting for her with cherry mochi. When Izumi is born, Azula is the first one (even before Iroh) who gets to hold her.

I'm so happy to hear that! I'm not kidding when I say that this really made my day. Thank you!

#ask #azula #azutara #ozai #zuko #sokka #aang #katara #suki #toph beifong #mai #ty lee #izumi #iroh

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thewickedbohemian · 4 months

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Thoughts on a show that deserves to not have this end its run and a show that can carry CBS's Blue Sky torch while the former hopefully makes it to another network

So Help Me Todd

ok where are they

boy is Todd a fish out of water

nice to see you two again

Never noticed the logo's a nest before

Hi Judy from seemingly out of nowhere nice to know they're continually dating not just one

ok where'd everybody go

ADHD's worst nightmare, reception

As if Margaret needs more on her plate Allison

OK Beverly sounding like a GoT character

hi suits, hi potential setup

nice multitasking and nice trick

Wright vs Easton

OK gay Tyle moment and Pitch Perfect reference

not Lyle getting an Elliot Spencer moment of accidental fame

anyone else think Margaret might be autistic

no no no triggering phobias

Todd how much phone shenanigans have you been doing

So Judy is Todd's Todd, cute

We're just bringing out all the returning faces

Gus goes dad mode on his gf

getting a little bit of Librarians vibes with the trio working together

Esp. because Judy knows multiple languages

metaphorically-RIP Francey

Answer the phone Margaret

this smells like a setup

good standing up for yourself Allison

cue ending montage proving why we should have a S3; Jodd kiss, senior associate Susan, detective!Allison in the future etc.

not as dangerous a cliffhanger as I was expecting but still something that means we deserve more seasons to have answers

Elsbeth

ok so alcohol snobs now (why are we always investigating rich people's cases here)

writer girl's cute

some of their talk feels like it codas the SHMT that just ended

mom had almost that kind of roommate

taking matters into his own hands I see

would the real Gemma Nelson please stand up, we're gonna have a problem here

I love that both SHMT and Elsbeth had bribery framing metaplots

Elsbeth playing with everything again

Bejeweled breast pumps no thanks

that looks like the cutest mocktail I've ever seen

whatcha doin with your shoes

still think Claudia's the real mastermind

nice unintentional foreshadowing (or at least dramatic-ironic foreshadowing) with the bartender thing

Joe feels like the most sympathetic killer and Gemma the most unsympathetic victim this show's ever had

the random acts of kindness shit (though not to lethal levels obviously) reminds me of stuff my sister used to do in a club at her high school

Ivy's too obvious a red herring even without the dramatic irony

No Broadway reference so far I'm surprised unless Deborah S. Craig counts (as she's half of what counted in E3)

Cue everyone immediately trying to make that mocktail (he listed the ingredients it's a matter of ratios)

I would think the story about bullying's a lie except Teddy's gay

and Joe's superhero complex suddenly got scary

One sting another sting

And Captain Wagner pulls a Todd

Weirdest Elsbeth outfit ever and ending you'd expect of a season finale when it's not

#so help me todd #cbs so help me todd #so help me todd cbs #elsbeth tascioni #cbs elsbeth #elsbeth cbs #save so help me todd #savesohelpmetodd #renewsohelpmetodd #sevenseasonsandamovie

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cherrychonk · 2 years

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The Past Present Part 5

Lian drew a long breath as Xue helped her out of the boat and into the wooden ramp.

“You're gonna love it here, everything is calm but lively unlike the city.” The woman spoke with a soft smile as they walked.

Lian didn't comment, only acknowledged the words as she gazed at the town. It wasn't small, yet it was nothing in comparison to how big Republic City was. There were no big flashy sato’s or tall buildings that grazed the sky.

Tao laughed seeing Lian’s face and walked closer to her side. “I know this place is smaller and quite old fashioned from the city, but there's still modern things here too. Don't expect skyscrapers or anything in that magnitude though, that's a Republic City thing.”

Lian was about to step on the sand of her new home when she stopped. She sighed and stood in the wooden path for a moment in complete silence.

This was it, no turning back. No familiar faces, no Kya to run to. No Katara to heal her wounds, No Aang for advice. Not a single friend, but not a single enemy either. A soft hand grabbed hers and Lian looked at Xue.

“You're not alone, you'll never be alone again.” She said.

Lin was still battling her thoughts when Tao spoke.

“You see that cargo ship near the docks?”

“Yes” Lian responded, looking at it.

“It's going to Republic City. You can still go back, you can still take your old life back. Your friends and family. Maybe they will understand you and take care of you, maybe not.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath imagining it.

“But…” He continued. “If you choose to stay, We promise that we'll be by your side. We'll teach you everything we know and take you in as one of our own. It may be hard, maybe it'll be one of the hardest things you ever do. But we're here Lian, we are here for you. We'll be with you like we would with our own children.” He offered her a kind smile.

Lian lifted her head and looked at the town once more, this time with absolute conviction. “My life starts now, I don't ever want to hear or speak of what my life used to be. The past is the past and I will move forward.”

Tao and Xue smiled and continued forward, helping the young woman walk towards her new home.

________

Tenzin and Izumi stayed at the temple per their parents' requests. Someone had to stay home just in case things went bad and they needed to leave for Su and Toph’s safety. Mei, Azula, Tylee, and Suki also stayed and watched over the island as they waited.

The bison ride to the examiners office was eternal and slow. Toph’s leg was bouncing out of control as she waited patiently to get there. Katara held her hand and told her everything would be alright. Even though Sokka had been rude, Toph had made Aang call him so they could hear the news together. He sat at the end of the saddle with Kya and Suyin. Deep inside he knew something wasn’t right and a sinking feeling weighed heavily on Sokka’s chest.

When they landed, Toph was the first to get off the bison, almost stumbling. She started fast walking towards the front doors and pushed them open forcefully. There a young woman was waiting for them, everyone else appeared to have banished from the building.

“Toph Beifong?” The woman asked.

“Give it to me straight, I already know that's not her.” She said, crossing her arms.

“I’m Doctor Amara and I’m the examiner working on this case. I will answer your questions. I’m afraid I can’t just give you the answers in one go since they have to be explained first.”

At that moment the rest of the team arrived and stood behind Toph waiting for answers.

“It’s against protocol to have such a big group here since it could cause a riot.” The doctor said

It was quite an unusually big group. We had Kya, Katara, Aang, Sokka, Zuko, Bumi, Suyin and Toph, all calm and collected but anxious to know what their future would look like after the news unfolded.

“We will behave, I give you my word as the Avatar.” Aang spoke

The doctor nodded and drew a deep breath before taking her clipboard and reading some documents.

“The body has been identified and the DNA matches perfectly with the sample given earlier. Please take in consideration that we have done extensive testing and the results are one hundred percent accurate.”

“Just get to the point. Is it my daughter or not?” Toph said starting to get irritated.

Su stood behind her mother and next to Kya, the waterbender side hugging her and waiting.

Amara looked at Aang and then at Su, both of them anxiously waiting for the next words coming out of her mouth. The doctor wore a sad expression as her eyes immediately landed on Toph.

“It’s her. It’s Lin Beifong.”

Bumi left without a word after hearing the news, he broke into sobs when he was out of the room. There was a silence for a couple of seconds as Toph’s face contorted into devastation. She crumbled to the ground and yelled at the top of her lungs in agony at the news. Her pain was so great and her power so uncontrollable, that the ground started to break and the building started shaking.

Katara grabbed Toph as she herself held back tears, she never let go of her dear friend.

Aang was still shocked, he looked at the doctor with disbelief.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

The woman nodded. “I'm sorry avatar, but all the tests came back positive for her dna. Everything checks out. My condolences for your loss.” Those were her last words as she left the grieving family.

“My baby! No! No! No!” Toph kept yelling in pain as everything started sinking in.

Suyin started walking backwards, her face showing her horror. ‘I killed her- I killed my sister, this is all my fault!’ Her mind started to flood with thoughts of blame as she ran out of the building sobbing.

Kya just stood there with tears in her eyes. She was trying to wrap her head around everything but couldn't. How could this be? Her Best friend was dead and she couldn't do anything about it. She would never see her again. She would never hug or joke with Lin. Lin… she's gone. She didn't know what to do, if she should go to Toph and her mother or if she should follow Suyin and make sure she was safe. Aang beat her to it and started marching outside.

“Spirits why!” Toph yelled angrily. “Why Lin! Why?!”

Suddenly everything came down and Kya fell to the ground sobbing. She covered her mouth as she cried, her chest growing heavy. She felt someone pick her up and hold her and she looked up to find her uncle Zuko crying by her side.

“She's gone uncle-” She cried.

“I know” He held her tighter.

“She's gone…” Kya whispered.

Toph started hyperventilating and screaming to the point Katara was starting to worry she could strain herself, she kept trying to comfort and calm the grieving mother. It got to the point that Toph’s body gave up from the stress and she collapsed. She was still crying as Katara rubbed her back and stayed by her side.

Aang came back carrying a crying Suyin, Sokka and Bumi walked right behind him in a hurry. Kya letting go of her uncle and quickly stood up seeing her father’s worried look.

“We need to take them to the temple, the press got wind of it. I don't know which bastard told them, but they know it's Lin.” Aang said as he handed Su to Zuko and grabbed Toph.

Toph just cried weakly into Aang's shoulder as she was carried.

“It's okay. We are here for you.” Aang reassured as he carried her out.

After a few minutes of planning, the group exited to the roof and got on the bison. Toph regained some energy and started wailing again, which only distressed Suyin more and soon Kya and Katara were working to soothe the two Beifongs. Nothing was working and Toph just seemed to get more melancholic as the moments went on. Sokka couldn't bear to see such a disheartening scene, he grabbed a dart filled with shirshu saliva from his hunting pouch and stabbed Toph on the neck, the woman falling unconscious almost immediately.

“Sokka!” Katara yelled.

“She’s going to have a heart attack!” He yelled back

“Sokka you have no right to do that!” Aang yelled.

“She needed that! She's distressed!”

“She was just told her daughter died! How would you expect her to react?!” Zuko said in disbelief.

On the other hand, Suyin seemed to have calmed down not hearing Toph yawl anymore. She crawled next to her mother and hugged her sleeping body. She kept crying but it was slower and softer now, seeing Toph at peace gave her a sense of calmness.

“We are having a talk when we get home.” Aang said disappointed.

______

Azula was at the very front of the temple waiting for their arrival. Seeing the bison she called the others, something was wrong. The air seemed heavy and everything was rushed. They haven't been listening to the radio so they didn't know or had a clue about the news. They would find out soon unfortunately.

When the bison touched ground and Aang carried an unconscious Toph in his arms Suki started running towards them concerned.

“What's going-”

“It's Lin, the body's hers.” Aang said interrupting Azula.

Azula’s usual cold demeanor broke in an instant and tears formed in her eyes. “No…” She whispered.

Katara carried Su and followed Aang to their bedroom where they settled the two in the bed. That's when Aang finally allowed himself to break. He walked to the middle of the sparring grounds and unleashed the most violent act of bending, letting his grief and frustration show in a safe space away from the others. He destroyed the grounds going into the Avatar State. Aang roared and white flames came from his mouth. He cursed and shouted till he felt weak. As he cried he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“I'm here friend.” Zuko said as he helped Aang to his feet and hugged him.

“I'm here.”

_____

Katara had let go too, she was like a second mother to Lin and the loss had broken and shattered her greatly. Tylee and Suki consoled her as Mei and Azula tried to digest the loss.

Lin was a very important person in their lives, especially to Azula who had named Lin her favorite niece. Lin was powerful and disciplined like her, something she always admired. Azula wondered if she had been there for her more, maybe she would still be with them.

Izumi, Bumi and Tenzin were consoling Kya who had been sobbing nonstop after the loss of her best friend. She was the closest person to Lin and she felt she had let her down. She blamed herself for not stopping Lin and not seeing the signs that day.

“If I had seen the signs! If I had paid attention!” Kya said between sobs.

“You couldn't have known!” Izumi said, whipping Kya’s tears and rubbing her back.

“I was supposed to know! I was her best friend!” She said trying to make sense of this act.

“You're not a mind reader Kya, no one would've guessed she would be capable of something like this.” Tenzin tried to reason.

“Someone is to blame for this!” Kya yelled.

“Maybe, but right now it's not the time to shift blame. We have to stick together like the family we are.” Bumi said sitting next to Kya.

“She's gone Bums, my Linny, she's dead.” Kya cried softly.

Bumi held his sister close as the day continued. It only seemed to get more painful as time went on.

#lin beifong #toph beifong #suyin beifong #Au #tlok

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