#go read flwogb

[royallpetrichor]

ok but like

im just thinking about the fact that 'easier' by the crane wives is like exactly zuko's mindset in @oldpotatoe's 'feels like we only go backwards'

I MEAN

So I'll just close my eyes and try To pretend That it gets easier

don't mind me just gonna go cry now, peace out homies <3

[akdjsjjw]

If you haven’t read “feels like we only go backwards” by oldpotatoe on ao3

Do I envy you. I wish I could read that thing for the first time again. How did I miss this craze in 2020. This is the best thing I’ve ever read.

Perhaps I will draw something from it bc Oml.

Edit: GUYS WHAT WAS CHAPTER 19 IM CRYING IM DYING IM RIPPING MY HEART OUT.

also how did no one catch the marvel reference at the end.

Edit numero dos: My therapist will be hearing about the events in Chapter 23. WHAT. LIKE. WHAT. LIKE WHAT THE ATCUAL. LIKE.

[rotisseries]

i still haven't read it

[oldpotatoe]

hiii this is. slightly odd i think?? but i just wanted to say thank you for something, because it's really changed my life. when i first started reading flwogb i had just finished my gcses and was picking my A levels, and i saw here on tumblr smth u posted about how you'd done a degree in a bioscience subject and that you were going into intellectual property. i'd never heard of that kind of career path before, but it sounded so interesting so i looked into it and thought i'd probably like to do something like that in the future. which is why i ended up doing 3 sciences and law at A level (MIGHTT have been a mistake doing all 4 bc it nearly killed me but hey)

fast forward to now, i'm doing a biochemistry degree and hoping to get a placement at a law firm dealing with life science intellectual property, all because i stumbled across your fic way back in 2020 by complete accident!! it's genuinely changed my life bc i would literally never have known about a career that feels so tailor made to my specific interests in science AND law together 💞 soooooo thank you haha, i really wouldn't be as happy now if it hadn't been for a random post u made like 3 years ago lol xx

(i do kind of want to kill myself when it comes to january exams on organic chem, genetics, thermodynamics, and biochem tho 😭😭 i love science but at what COST 😭)

hello! first of all:

not odd at all! this is one of the sweetest asks i've ever received i think??

also 3 SCIENCES AND LAW AT ALEVEL??? just thinking about that made me want to lie down. i admire your very undoubtedly wrinkly brain

i'm so very glad i was able to help you on your career journey like this! even i didn't know being a solicitor (specialising in life sciences intellectual property) or a patent attorney was a thing until i was in my final year of my biomed degree, so it makes me very happy that i was able to spread the knowledge about it this way!

best of luck in your jan exams (thinking about my biochem modules from uni still makes me queasy) i'm sure you'll do very well! and i hope you get that placement-- definitely look out for resources such as Aspiring Solicitors, Rare Recruitment or STRIVE that help students get access to the legal field and can help out with applications/interviews! Aspiring Solicitors in particular do a very helpful STEM mentoring scheme with a few IP law firms, so definitely one to check out

you got this <3

[thatonequeerdragon]

so. i wrote a poem for @oldpotatoe 's zukka fic "feels like we only go backwards" on ao3 because i needed to let out all my feelings i had about the chapter i've read and to everyone wondering if they should read it: please do read it!! its the most beautiful fic i've ever read and i cannot recommend it enough!! here it is:

a memory

golden eyes staring at me,

a desperation in them,

something broken deep within

as they realize that I turned into a stranger

I'm sorry, my love

I whisper, not knowing who I'm talking to

I'm sorry, my love

for I've forgotten who we were

crimson fire lilies and jasmine,

a scent so sweet

it makes me want to cry out in pain

at the familiarity of it

forgive me, my love

I sob, not knowing who I'm talking to

forgive me, my love

for I've forgotten who I was

black hair framing a pale face,

eyes hollow and filled with grief,

something distant in them

as they realize that I'm not the same anymore

my love, I whisper

crying out to someone I don't remember

my love, I sob

reaching out to someone I forgot

- by @thatonequeerdragon

Do not repost!

@oldpotatoe flwogb is such a beautiful fic and your words just made me want to read it as fast as i could because i NEEDED to know what happened in the next chapter! thank you for writing something so lovely and inspiring me and so many others to create something for it! i hope this can make you smile - or cry, both would be a welcome result <3

[dl4draws]

saw this photo and my mind instantly went to flwogb so,, yeah

[julchenawesome]

@oldpotatoe is back and my artistic sense just claim to be useful to a masterpiece

An also...

Ruby when she post FLWOGB chapter 21:

[backhurtyy]

when @oldpotatoe said “More proof of Zuko’s goodness, the purity of his heart. Like he even needs it at this point. Like he doesn’t already know, down to his very atoms, of all the light that pours out of Zuko, rivalling that of a hundred golden suns. How had the other Sokka basked in his radiance so easily? This one burns.” ........yeah. that.

[im-a-sokka-for-you-ooh]

Me: I'm going to bed early and am not going to reread "The Art of Burning" (@hella1975 ), "Another Brother" (@awesomeavocadolove ), "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" (@oldpotatoe), "The Blood of the Covenant" series (@hanuko) or "Salvage" (@muffinlance )

*me, at 3:17 a.m.:

[nyamafriend]

Whoop guess who just reread all of flwogb

[zukkaoru]

sk8 mutuals i'm sorry for the person i'm about to become

[ramenbowl01]

Can't talk now I'm doing sad gay shit

[enbies-and-felonies]

“ Oh, how he’d ached to know. Oh, how he ached to forget. “

FUCK YOUUUUUU I LOVE THIS AND I HATE THIS AND I’M ABOUT TO CRY AND SCREAMMMMM @oldpotatoe

[oldpotatoe]

hii, you don't know me, but i recently re-read flwogb in on evening and it's just as amazing as i remembered. your ability to create such a gut wrenching, wonderful, breathtaking piece of work is truly something i will always admire.

it's actually kind of silly, how easily you make me feel like i have known the characters and their little quirks for years, just like with old childhood friends.

actually, i wanted to get back into reading, but with everything going on in this world, it was kind of hard to focus. your writing was actually the first in a while that made reading feel easy and fun again, unlike a chore.

so i guess i just wanted to say thank you for sharing your gift with us and thank you for the tumblr gods for making me stumble across your blog! it's truly been wonderful, to be able to escape into your beautiful world!

-a secret admirer, who is sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors they may have made :)

how dare you end this lovely heartwarming message with an APOLOGY???

thank you for the kind words friend.

"actually, i wanted to get back into reading, but with everything going on in this world, it was kind of hard to focus. your writing was actually the first in a while that made reading feel easy and fun again, unlike a chore."

^^ i feel the exact same way right now - reading for fun feels so out of reach, especially when reading documents is my literal livelihood rn. so i'm so so so glad that my writing was able to break through the block for you <3

[the-hot-zone]

feels like we only go backwards culture is reading the chapter before the update email comes because you were scrolling through the atla tag, waiting for an update 

@oldpotatoe

[bookofjudith]

hello talkless. I have a bone to pick with you--several, actually. the tears I have shed over achtw are immeasurable, and while that was bad enough, I re-read the fic with casimir pulaski day playing in the background and I wept. like, in bed, ugly snot-crying wept. I spent the day huddled under my blankets, saying "and he takes and he takes and he takes" every half hour. I'm devastated. it's still one of the most beautiful things I've ever read, and you wrote it for free, which. unbelievable <3

hello oldpotatoe, 

the audacity of u to love achtw when u wrote the masterpiece that is “Feels like We Only Go Backwards”........ on god, oldpotatoe, i am obsessed with you. 

second of all, i can no longer listen to casimir pulaski day because i’ll be chest-deep in an existential crisis by the time sufjan sings “and he took my shoulders/ and he shook my face” and no longer able to function as a person for the rest of the day, so i am deeply sorry for inflicting this on u 

third of, thank u so much what the fuck 🥺