#i change my avatar and signature like every other week

[concerthopperblog]

Kiss of Death Tour '24 Part 2

Everyone has that one band that when they announce a tour, you’re feverishly scrolling through dates trying to find the town closest to you. For me, that’s anytime Ice Nine Kills announces a tour. Especially if In This Moment is right alongside them. As If Ice Nine Kills and In This Moment didn’t excite you enough, they brought along heavy metal hitters Avatar and friends TX2. Let’s also take a second to appreciate the fact that this tour was also named The Kiss of Death Tour 24’. How perfect for any horror loving, metal fans. With the newer Outer Harbor Terminal B venue in Buffalo, NY hosting, this Wednesday night show would prove to be the highlight of anyone’s week.  Fans quickly filled into the outdoor venue, securing spots in the pit as well as the lawn. What I loved about this venue was the openness of it. No matter where you stood or sat, the stage was in perfect view. Alongside a row of food trucks, drink stations and shaded areas, everything was easily accessible.

Up first was TX2. Not surprisingly there was huge crowd that had already formed for Fort Collins native TX2. Die-hard fans with their faces panted to mirror the bands lead singer anxiously awaited the bands opening song. As soon as the first chord hit the crowd was instantly drawn to the bands heavy hitting sound. If you haven’t heard of TX2 make sure to give them a listen.  The catchy hooks and melodic beats of this bands sound is unmistakable. A big message to TX2’s music is their passion for mental health. By creating a safe space for fans to vent and lift each other up, they’ve become of a part of huge movement in creating a positive atmosphere for everyone. The raw lyrics of their hip-hop/pop punk sound has proven popular to fans and has made them a fan favorite for all ages. “ I Would Hate Me Too”, “Vampire By Rumor”, and “Black Wedding” proved to be crowd favorites with fans almost singing louder than the singer himself.

Swedish heavy metal band Avatar took the stage next. Starting off the set, lead singer Johannes Eckerstrom emerged in his signature face paint out of a giant box on stage. The band donned matching red jackets with Eckerstrom as the ring leader of the group, representing their great metal circus theme. Their energetic, aggressive sound quickly warmed up the crowd. It became apparent that these guys had a large following with the amount of painted faces in the crowd and rabid fans singing along to every lyric. Everyone seemed to be hypnotized by the synchronized head banging of the band. Taking a break to drink from his gasoline jug, Eckerstrom spit out constant energy to the crowd who hung on his every song. Popular songs like “Dance Devil Dance”, “The Dirt I’m Buried In”, and my favorite “Hail the Apocalypse.”

In This Moment was up next and man was this crowd ready. The two bands always make for an appetizing performance. Various dunce caps could be seen throughout the crowd with the word “WHORE” in bright red. A popular song from the band that was pulled from singer Maria Brink’s honest and raw relationship with redefining the word . Her message empowering people, especially woman, to not let words and their definitions define you. The set was setup with a high stair case leading up to a huge platform, various mannequin heads surrounding the eerie setup and plenty of pyro and smoke machines to fulfill your every wish. Brink’s held the attention of the crowd along with her signature Blood Girls the whole night, changing into various outfits of red, black and white. Brink’s almost raspy edge to her voice is one of my favorites and makes her truly original.  “The Purge”, “Blood”, and “Big Bad Wolf” were among just some of the aggressive metal hits the band played throughout the night. With In This Moment being such a hard hitting mix of ear splitting riffs and deep haunting lyrics, its easy to see why people love them.

As crew members started to set up for Ice Nine Kills the crowd was vibrating with excitement. If you didn’t know these guys are huge horror film lovers so it would only be appropriate that their set portrayed that. Various fake body parts were scattered alongside the stage as well as various television screens, a gore themed microphone stand, and a huge blow up creature holding a knife. As the lights went out the venue quieted in silence eagerly awaiting what was to come next. Zombies emerged from side stage as the band appeared. Matched in white shirts and khakis with blood splattered across them, they quickly took their places on the high platforms above the crowd. Exploding into their first song “Rainy Day,” the crowd flocked even closer to the stage. Lead singer Spencer Ink immediately grabbed the attention of the crowd with his non-stop energy. Hyping fans up even more by running back and forth along stage encouraging them to sing along with him. The bands beautifully blended mix of metal and punk along with their high level production makes them truly unique. Throughout the night they pulled inspiration from top horror movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and a fan favorite IT. At one point a police officer wheeled a Hannibal Lecter with matching straight jacket and mask. In true Silence of the Lambs fashion, Hannibal Lecter broke free and attacked the police offer. A perfectly bloody scene that meshed perfectly with the bands overall persona. The night continued with fan favorites “Thank God It’s Friday,” “IT is the End,” “American Nightmare”, and “Welcome to Horrorwood.” Ice Nine Kills truly delivers an entrancing show every time.

If you haven’t gotten tickets for the Kiss of Death Tour Part 2, act now. This is a truly haunting tour you don’t want to miss out on. The tour continues through mid-September and tickets are still available for most dates so act fast!

[linkljdf]

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When Delores spent his first night actually out with the other chickens in the Cleveland Browns 76th Anniversary Signature Thank You For The Memories Shirt, I was anxious about how he would handle himself, as he was pretty shy. After a few false starts (and getting pushed off perches by the other chickens) he chose a walnut branch that lead to the night perches and slept on that. When Delores became a big, beautiful Golden Phoenix adult rooster, I thought the hens would probably make absolute fools of themselves trying to get his attention – and if he ignored them it would serve them right! I suppose I should have done something about the name – but Delores responded to “Delores” and appeared fine with it. (Also, my Aunt Delores would have been devastated if I changed his name.) A friend suggested calling him “Del” – which sort of made sense – but that sounded like he was lead singer in a retro 60’s band. As long as Delores didn’t mind – and let’s face it, he didn’t care – I was perfectly content to have a sweet rooster named Delores.

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[blazinguard]

if you’re on NA servers,,,, let’s b friends uwu  ♥  619444150

[atalana]

[copied over from my cr blog, also this is gonna get long, i’d apologise but im not sorry]

okay, so

this is a rant probably about 7 years in the making, bc when i first watched lok i had not done any music study, i had not done any composing of my own, my knowledge of music theory was at a primary school level and i still thought tv soundtracks were just made by one person composing a whole cache of music and then the audio editors pick and choose what track to place where

(spoiler alert that’s not how film and tv scoring works, i have now done a music composition course where we had to score a short film, among other things, and i have so much more respect for tv composers jesus christ)

but this one stuck out to me even way back then, bc me barely knowing what a leitmotif was was like “hey this one little refrain keeps popping up whenever bolin does lavabending, and i like it, i’m gonna see if it’s on the soundtrack”

it was not, and that’s sort of where i left it back in 2014, but i actually did a rewatch of lok pretty recently out of nostalgia, and then noticed it even more

and to explain why (and this is also a little bit why five’s stuck out to me in tua, i’ll get to that in another ask), let’s cover, leitmotifs, and tv scoring in general

so a leitmotif is basically just a short musical idea that represents something in a piece of music. when i studied motivic development we were encouraged to make that motif four notes or less, and then develop it into something longer (aka a theme), because if you can constantly come back to a really short idea while keeping the piece moving, that’s what makes a piece of music memorable

(you can ignore those rules on purpose but that’s a different essay)

so the most common way that a leitmotif shows up in soundtracks is to represent a character or a location - you play the motif when that character shows up or when you’re in that location and boom, the audience associates that motif with that person place or thing, and you can then use this to tell the audience things without actually telling them. for example, star wars playing the imperial march whenever someone does something darth vader related - darth vader isn’t on screen, but you can feel his presence, because his music is playing

and if we were a film score, where we have two hours to show one particular character’s development, great! we give them a simple motif, and then as they grow as a person we change their motif to reflect what is happening to them, until we end up with something that communicates on a subconscious level how much they’ve grown. we toss in as much symbolism as we can, and we have a really great soundtrack that’s instantly memorable

tv scoring, is harder. partially because of time constraints (have you ever composed half an hour of original music a week, and had to make sure it fits perfectly with every beat of what’s happening on screen? these guys have), partially because there’s a much larger focus on ensemble casts

so what atla and lok do, for the most part, is not score individual character motifs for everyone. this is fairly common in tv soundtracks, instead we score ideas, concepts, and feelings - these’ll come up a lot more and give you more information than just “oh hey this character’s on screen”

the avatar state, for example, has the strongest and most recognisable theme across both shows. i’m linking an atla track in here because it has the best example but you’ll know this shows up with korra too - and with particularly important moments for wan, for kyoshi, etc. they also appear in the opening of both shows, four strong notes that start and end on the same note (in the case of what i’m linking, it’s an F#)

the first part of this track is the more uncertain, pensive theme that comes up when both avatars are feeling doubt/worry/sadness, but then it transitions into the more recognisable four. worth noting though, those are both basically the same motif. if i write them out back to back, you’ll notice they both have four notes and start and end on F#. if i had to guess, four notes four elements, and it comes back to the start because the avatar is a cycle.

korra has a theme for when she’s fighting, but not an individual character theme. the airbenders as a concept have a theme, republic city has thematic instruments, as do some big name characters, like iroh and his tsungi horn (this is also a cross-series thing, he’s always playing it in atla, it shows up when zuko has to make big moral decisions, and when we first meet iroh in the spirit world in lok, it shows up there too, to let the audience know who this is before we properly see him)

so, if korra doesn’t get a single theme and instead has several for different aspects of her life, and mako and asami follow along with the mood of the story like all the other characters, the fact that bolin has a personal leitmotif at all, let alone a solid, developing one, is pretty remarkable!

now, granted, it mostly starts with book 3, before then he was like every other character, but it has clear symbolism through those last two books! and, initially i thought it was related only to his lavabending, since that’s most of when it shows up, but since my rewatch, i’ve started calling it his hero theme

see, when people wanna criticise mako and bolin, usually the comments they get are that bolin’s too immature and mako’s too serious/uptight. but like, that’s how they work, you can’t analyse either of them without the context of the other. since they were little kids on the streets, bolin chases his heart and mako makes sure they don’t die from it, that is their entire childhood. and neither would have got here on their own because mako wouldn’t take the necessary risks and bolin wouldn’t take the necessary precautions. (like. remove either one from the equation and they’d still be working for the triple threats bc s1 and their flashback miniseries make pretty clear that bolin got them out and mako kept them out)

and then book 2 proves it! because it splits team avatar up, and what happens? bolin is totally taken advantage of by varrick and used as a pawn in his evil plan and mako ends up in jail

so what’s book 3, to them? it’s, being able to find themselves without having that codependency. mako no longer has someone to protect, which is what he’s based his whole life around so far - bolin’s doing fine and he’s no longer dating either korra or asami. and bolin’s trying his hand at some of that responsibility (look at how he immediately adopts kai who is explicitly them but younger because he wants to be the older brother for once). most importantly, they find the rest of their family, and stop being defined by being orphans. they don’t have to be that singular piece of a puzzle, they can just be themselves. and that’s where bolin’s character really starts to shine, because that’s when they bring in the bending plot, and bending, perhaps more than any other character, really gets to the heart of who bolin is

if you want more of my thoughts on that i have an essay here, but tl;dr: bolin’s an extremely powerful earthbender, but he’s not a metalbender because metalbending requires you to double down on the earth characteristics and think like an earthbender, and bolin doesn’t, he’s too fluid for that, which is one of his major strengths, so of course he can lavabend

and finally - to his motif itself! (as a note, i’ve put all of these in the same key to show where it repeats, but there’s a variety of keys used in the show)

as far as i can find, it first shows up in s3e8, when bolin stuns p’li with this well placed shot

[Edit: it first showed up in the s2 finale, but again in a simplified version and again with him doing something heroic with earthbending, so we can still start the analysis here]

mako volunteers bolin for that job, because he knew bolin was capable of it. why? because bolin landed an identical shot earlier in the episode, after trying to metalbend, getting frustrated he can’t, and cheating with some extremely well aimed earthbending. it’s just a short refrain and you barely notice it, but it’s the first connection of this motif with the theme of bolin’s bending

it looks like this, and it’s always played on a trumpet, which is part of why i call it the hero theme, because, if you’re looking at music from a western perspective, trumpets were used to herald kings, and then used to represent military glory, and then when superhero themes started happening, they used trumpets too - it’s basically western music shorthand for hero these days

(it’s also symmetrical so that helps with the good vibes)

and he’s saving everyone here, so it’s linked to his bending, but it’s also linked to his heroism

it ties the two together, and they are tied together.

when’s the next time it shows up? episode 10, when the brothers are in prison in ba sing se, and bolin tries to metalbend them out. again, he’s doing this to save people, and this motif gets a few notes added on to the end in a raising pattern - they’re inspiring, but they don’t go anywhere. which is exactly what happens in the scene, because he’s trying to go about this in the wrong way. mako believes in him, but it won’t (and doesn’t) work

it appears in episode 12 when bolin saves everyone from ghazan destroying the temple, in a more fancy orchestral remake of the first version - it’s impressive, but it hasn’t actually developed yet, it’s just his discovery of it

the book 3 finale already has its own fucking amazing soundtrack, i love that entire episode’s score, but it gets its own moment there too, and the first real development!

because what we hear is not what we’ve heard before. we know it’s the same theme, because it’s using those signature trumpets, but it’s the second part of this phrase, the answer to the question supplied by the first one. why? because bolin’s figured out who he is and he’s starting to use it. it still hasn’t settled yet though, it’s early days and he’s still just turning ghazan’s lava back on him, so again, it raises, leaving it on a question mark

it doesn’t appear in s4e7 when he lavabends as a warning against the escaped prisoners, because he’s using it as a threat, not to help people. but it does later in the episode when he uses lavabending to save them from kuvira. and that’s when we get the first full phrase, question and answer

it keeps the first motif identical, takes out the first note of the second, and ties them together - except now it’s not open ended, now it knows where it’s going - it’s been three years, at this point bolin is confident in both himself and his bending

and then that phrase appears all over the place in the finale, because all bolin does is save people - everyone from the exploding building, he slows the giant mecha with lavabending, he saves opal, he slows the giant mecha again by collapsing a building on it, and most importantly, he’s the one rescuing his brother this time, instead of the other way around (though that one doesn’t get a motif appearance bc admittedly a fuck ton of other things are happening in the soundtrack at the time)

so to that question asked in book three - who is bolin when not next to someone else? well, funnily enough, we saw it in book two as well, just in a warped way, playing nuktuk. it just wasn’t truly him because it was created by varrick, and he needed to get away from varrick too. the question put forward by the narrative is who is bolin, and the answer given by the music is, he is a hero. and i don’t know why bolin is the only one to get a theme like this, but i think it may have something to do with the fact that, while everyone in team avatar has been a hero and saved people, he is the only one who has, from the start, solely been motivated by wanting to help people. he follows his heart, and his heart cares, about everyone. it’s been the driving force behind almost everything he’s ever done. and i love him so much

[tarhalindur]

Hurr durr.  I have been a fool.

So, I was thinking through a “how to fix Sotsu��� post, and noting that unlike some people I didn’t exactly mind the Gou episode 17 reveal because I got the impression that my old “the biggest deception in Gou is that it’s a mystery to be solved at all” take is correct and the core arc of Sotsugou is something other than a mystery.

And then it hit me: I’ve seen this kind of arc before, and I should have realized this quite a bit earlier than I did considering where I’ve seen it.

Satokowashi-hen and Sotsu don’t follow the structure of an OG Higurashi arc.  They might follow the structure of a broader Umineko character arc - my only partial familiarity with Seacats is showing.  But what Satokowashi-hen and Sotsu definitely follow is the structure of a *PMMM* arc.  That is to say, Sotsugou isn’t a mystery - rather, it is a *tragedy*.

(Sotsugou is nowhere near as good at it as PMMM is, mind you.  Gen “Urobutcher” Urobutchi might seriously be the best tragedy writer in at least a century, and while I can’t speak to Umineko Ryukishi07′s attempt at a tragic character arc in OG Higurashi might well be my pick for the single weakest element of the original - it’s a rather typical kind of bad, too, reminds me very much of Elfen Lied (and I’ve seen similar criticisms leveled at a couple of MagiReco character backstories).  But the core structure is the same, and honestly I can see a pretty solid argument that the core arc is better-executed than the relevant OG Higurashi element and the issues come from Sotsugou’s execution more generally.)

Spoilery explanation (for both franchises) under the cut:

A character runs into an unpleasant situation that’s ultimately quite minor in the grand scheme of things (something that happens to actual people all the time), is unable to really cope with it due to untreated mental illness, and this is then escalated into a larger catastrophe due to the intervention of an outside being offering a deal that ultimately results in the character becoming a Witch?  That’s a pretty fair summation of Satoko’s Sotsugou arc (where the untreated mental illness is ADHD plus social anxiety - we know she’s been diagnosed with the latter, courtesy of Dr. Irie in Minagoroshi-hen).  It is also a precise summation of Sayaka’s character arc in main series PMMM (where the mental illness is depression), and if you expand the terms a little (moderately less common situation with more supernatural influence courtesy of first timeline Madoka, majo -> akuma) and include Rebellion Homura’s character arc pretty much fits the description as well (not sure about ADHD, but I’d be shocked if Homura isn’t on the autism spectrum and suffering from Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria herself).  (Half the reason I’m facepalming is because I’ve only been making “Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni: The Rebellion Story” not-actually-jokes-anymore for almost a year now, and I raised the Eua-Kyubey comparison during Satokowashi-hen to boot.)  Honestly, if this is right then one of the single biggest Sotsugou mistakes is never using the resident author avatar (just to be clear, that’s spelled “Eua”) to explicitly point this out because we’re all so used to mystery mode that we weren’t going to switch gears without prompting..

It would also neatly explain parts of Sotsu’s structure.  At some level the answer to every murder mystery’s whydunnit is a tragedy, the explanation of exactly what drove a character to the unspeakable (see also: Othello).  If Sotsugou is in fact supposed to be a tragedy disguised as a mystery, then conceptually the framework they built the structure on makes sense: reveal the culprit at the point when the show fully transitions into a PMMM-style tragedy, then frame the tragic arc as an extended whydunnit.  Fair enough.

(Aside: ... Uh, hmm.  My brain spit out another idea: is part of the reason for the sheer amount of repetition in Sotsu that it’s inspired by how Madoka changes on a rewatch (the signature Madoka rewatch experience: shouting “YOU CHEEKY MOTHERFUCKERS” at the screen as you notice yet another piece of blatant foreshadowing hiding in plain sight)?  I wouldn’t put it past Ryukishi07, though if so either he or someone at Passione seriously botched the execution.  Oh wait, that’s basically Sotsugou’s tagline as a whole, so...)

(You could also argue that Sotsugou is using a Butch Gen plot as well more than a Ryukishi07 one; refusal to compromise leading to disastrous consequences is another Urobutcher thing.)

Now, if this is actually the intent then they fucked it up.  First, as mentioned above the extant fanbase was primed to view Sotsugou’s structure as the traditional When They Cry arc structure - question arcs setting up the mystery, followed by answer arcs gradually narrowing down the solution space until the truth is revealed.  If you’re going to break from that and want your existing fans to follow along, you need a signal that the rules have changed, and they didn’t give a good enough one.  (Or Ryukishi07 was intentionally trying to pull one over on the fans, but that only works if the fans notice.)  Second. they chased two rabbits and lost them both by trying to bring in other Umineko concepts at the same time (mostly the poorly set-up illusions to illusions solve for Tataridamashi-hen); on a related note, if the plan after Nekodamashi-hen was actually a tragedy then they really needed to focus on Satoko even more than they did.  Third, the characterizations of the most important characters feel off; Satoko goes off the deep end too quickly for a proper tragic arc, Rika has a major disjoint with her OG characterization (manga Nekodamashi-hen fixes this to some extent, so this may be an anime staff issue).  One of Butch Gen’s core themes as a writer is hamartia, tragedy driven by the flaws of the characters, and these issues with characterization put a major damper on any attempt on Sotsugou’s part to replicate that.  Relatedly and compounding this, as I have noted before it sure does feel like part of Ryukishi07's thought process  when writing Lambdatoko was looking at Homura’s detractors and going “let me show you what a character this actually applies to looks like” (which would also play into Ryukishi07′s usual “even the worst monsters can be redeemed” theme), but this works at cross purposes with the tragic arc (I don’t think it theoretically *has* to, but making it work would take much better execution than Sotsugou has).  Fourth and finally, they forgot the Endless Eight lesson when writing the Sotsu answer arcs.  (If Sotsugou does end next week without any sign of another season or movie then add 5) they made the redemption a little too cheap.  Again.  OG had the same issue, after all.  When They Cry themes as a solution to PMMM’s questions makes a ton of sense - there’s a reason I got the idea for that crossover, and it wasn’t just both casts yelling at me to make it - but there needs to be actual work for it.)

That said... if this is right, then the base idea is solid.  It *could* have worked.  It just didn’t.

[maybe-a-fangurl]

The Moon and the Sun (Zuko x Reader) part 3

Hey guys so here’s part three!! I know we don’t get to see Zuko in this part but we do get to learn a lot about Y/N which is exciting. But as always just ask to be added to the taglist, requests are open, and I hope you have a fantastic day!!!

Part 1  Part 2 Part 4

Masterlist

“Y/N, are you okay?” Katara asked as she sat down beside you on Appa’s saddle. “You haven’t talked that much since we left the North Pole, and you haven’t eaten or slept much either. We’re worried about you.”

“I’m just shaken up is all.” You said as you looked down at your hands, trying to stop tears from coming to your eyes as you thought about everything that happened in the North. It had been a few weeks but every time you let your mind wonder, you were back in the North, surrounded by fire as Zuko stood over you with his hand raised. Your dreams, well nightmares if you were being honest, took everything that happened and made it into something that would cause you to wake up crying and gasping for air.

“Do you want to talk about it? I know you haven’t wanted to but maybe you should.” She said, and you just bit your lip as you thought about where you would even start. “If you don’t want to its fine, I know that we haven’t really know each other that long, but if you do I’m here to listen.”

“I do want to talk.” You said as you looked up at her, her face immediately softened as she looked at the tears that were already filling your eyes and your lip that was starting to quiver. “I just don’t know where to even start.”

“You know, I still don’t know a lot about you, well how you ended up in the fire nation since you obviously aren’t from there. And how you ended up with Zuko.” Katara said with a small smile on her face, a smile that made you think of your mom and instantly you felt more comfortable than you had since you had been banished, you felt almost safe. “How about you start there?”

“I was from the Southern Water Tribe actually, I don’t know much about my real parents because I was a baby when I was taken to the Fire Nation. My fire nation parents had just lost their child a few months prior and my dad was a general and he happened to find me after they did a raid on one of the smaller villages. He said that I had been left behind, that there was no one in sight and when he seen me he knew that he couldn’t just leave me there. So, he was able to sneak me back into the Fire Nation and claimed that my mom died during birth and my dad died in battle and his dying wish was that he took care of me, no one questioned it of course. My mom was really close friends with Zuko’s mom, and my dad was high in the military, so we lived on the palace grounds. They never expected me to be a water bender, but when they realized I was they didn’t try to keep me from water bending, they wanted me to learn and to embrace that side of myself, so they found water scrolls and I taught myself. Zuko and his mom knew about my bending though, his mom helped us keep it a secret from her husband and the Fire Lord, she even found me scrolls and Zuko and I would spar sometimes when no one was around.” You said, your eyes were on your hands the whole time. “When Zuko was banished, I was also banished because I had revealed my water bending to heal him. His dad killed my parents for bringing me into the Nation and for letting me train in water bending, but somehow Azula was able to convince him to just banish me. So, I left with Zuko and I traveled around with him searching for The Avatar and then chased you guys around for a while.”

“Your parents sound like they were good people, and I understand what it’s like to lose someone you love to the fire nation, they took my mother from me.” Katara said and you could see the pain in her eyes as she said that.

“They were. And I’m sorry about your mother, but I know that she would have been proud of who you’ve become.” You said as you gave her a small smile, which she returned.

“Thank you.” She said as she glanced down at her hands for a moment before looking back up at you. “I was going to ask you about what happened after I was knocked out, but I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, I know you were pretty shaken up.”



“Once you were knocked out I tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t. We fought for a while before I turned the ground to ice and he surrounded us in a ring of fire. We fought for a while, but he knocked me down and I tried to get up, but I was only able to get on my knees when he stepped in front of me. I thought he was going to burn me, I even told him to do it, but he said that he couldn’t, not to me. And then he left me in there and I panicked, and I couldn’t do anything to get myself out. Do you remember when I said that he promised not to use his bending on me because I was scared of fire?” You asked, and she nodded, letting you know to continue. You took a breath as you looked down at your hands again. “The reason why I was scared of fire so much was because I got burned really bad when we were kids. I was sparring with Azula, and of course we didn’t use bending because she didn’t know I was a bender, but she wanted to make things interesting, so she put a ring of fire around us. We sparred for a while but eventually I lost my balance and fell back, Azula tried to catch me once she realized I would fall into the fire, but it was too late. My whole back is a huge scar because of it, after that happened I was terrified of fire and Zuko made that promise to me. I was so shaken up because not only did he break the promise of not to use his bending on me, but he also did the one things that made him promise that in the first place.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize that was why you were so upset when I found you.” She said as she took your hand in hers and gave you a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to get you out sooner.”

“It’s okay, I should have been able to get myself out of that, but I was just in my head.” You said as you looked up at her. “But I needed that to break me down, because I’m stronger now because of it.”

--

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” You said to them as you were standing on the platform waiting to trade the baby for King Bumi. You knew that the baby was Mai’s brother, you seen her with him the first night that you were here, and she came after you. She didn’t recognize you then because it was dark and you made sure to hide your face, but you knew now she would recognize you.

“It’ll be okay.” Sokka said as he gave you a small smile, you just nodded as you turned to where they were supposed to be coming from. Everything had been pretty crazy since you got to Omashu, and you knew that things were about to get worse when you seen three figures walking up the steps, three very familiar figures. You stepped behind Sokka as soon as you seen them and Katara sent you a confused glance, but you just ignored it as you closed your eyes, knowing for sure that this wasn’t going to end well.

“Hi, everybody!” Bumi yelled and you could hear the sound of them lowering him.

“You brought my brother?” Mai asked, and you just kept your eyes closed as you tried to calm your breathing.  

“He’s here, we’re ready to trade.” Aang said and you opened your eyes to look at the ground.

“I’m sorry but a thought just occurred to me.” You heard someone say and you would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Azula. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not Princess Azula.” Mai said to her and without looking you knew that Azula would have her signature smirk on her face.

“We’re trading a two-year-old for a King, a powerful earth bending King, it just doesn’t seem like a fair trade. Does it?” Azula said and you closed your eyes as you thought about what was about to happen. You knew that by now Azula was probably one of the best fire benders in the entire Fire Nation, and Mai and Ty Lee were both very capable of holding their own. You not only had to protect yourselves, but you had to protect the baby as well, and you knew that Azula would do whatever was necessary to get what she wants, even if that meant putting the baby in danger. And because of this, you were at a disadvantage.

“You’re right, the deals off.” Mai said after a pause, and you took in a deep breath. Part of you wanted to be shocked that Mai had just given up the chance at getting her brother back, but you knew that she wouldn’t go against what Azula had to say, she feared Azula more than she feared what would happen to her brother if they called the deal off.

“Whoa! See you all later!” Bumi yelled as they started to lift him back up.

“Bumi!” Aang yelled as he took off running.

“Aang stop!” You yelled but it was too late. You watched as Azula sent fire towards him and he jumped into the air and onto his glider.

“Y/N?” You heard Ty Lee say and you turned to see the girls were all looking at you. Azula looked away from Aang at you but as his head piece fell off she looked back up and realized who he was. She sent you one more glance, hesitating for a moment before running after Aang.

“We’ve gotta get the baby out of here!” Katara yelled as she stepped in front of you and Sokka.

“Way ahead of you.” Sokka said as he started to blow the whistle for Appa. He started to run towards the edge of the platform, but he was knocked down and you watched as Ty Lee jumped up and started to run towards him. You quickly bended water to grab her ankle and knock her down at you tried to go after Sokka. But once you were at the edge of the platform you heard Katara let out grunt and you turned to see Ty Lee hitting her, blocking her bending.

“Stop!” You yelled as you ran over to them, getting your water out as you stepped in front of Katara.

“I thought you left with Zuko.” Ty Lee said as she looked at you shocked.

“You two break up?” Mai said in a sarcastic tone as she sent you a glare.

“I did leave with him, but I had a change of heart.” You said, ignoring Mai’s comment as you brought the water in front of you, ready to defend Katara and yourself if you needed to. 



“You’re a traitor.” Mai said as she glared at you and brought a knife to her hand. “How could you betray us?”

“I didn’t want to, but the Fire Nation isn’t on the right side of the war. We don’t have to fight, we can all just walk away.” You said as you looked at the two of them, their features softened for a second before they glanced back at Katara.

“No, we can’t.” Mai said as she tightened her grip on the knife, ready to throw it. You just focused on the water in your hand as you got ready to fight. You knew that you would need to freeze Ty Lee to the ground and somehow freeze Mai’s hands but your thoughts were cut short as Sokka’s boomerang knocked Mai’s knife out of her hand. A smile came to your face as you looked to see Sokka riding on Appa, who landed and with one move of his tail sent the two of them flying off of the platform.

“Come on!” Sokka said, you quickly helped Katara up onto Appa before bringing all of the water back into her pouch and yours.

“You know them?” Katara asked as Appa started to fly in the direction that Aang went.

“They were my friends, I grew up with them.” You said as you looked over to where they were thrown off, and you couldn’t help but hope that they were okay.

“There’s Aang!” Katara said as she pointed to the mail systems.

“We can catch him.” Sokka said as he turned Appa towards where Aang was. You seen Azula behind him and a steady stream of blue flames was being sent his way. You watched as Aang and Bumi were thrown through the air and onto another mail shoot, but Bumi was able to stop Azula from following them. You stood up on Appa’s back and watched her as Appa flew away, you knew that was not the last time you would see Azula.

Once you got Aang he explained how Bumi surrendered and needed to stay and then went on to say that you all needed to continue your journey to find him an earth bending master. But of course, all of that had to wait until after you returned the baby to Mai’s family. Once you were all back at the camp site Aang decided that it would be best for him to go alone, which you all did not agree with, but he would not change his mind on going alone. So, that left you at the camp site with Sokka and Katara. You were sitting a little bit away from the group, thinking of everything that had happened that day when your thoughts were interrupted by Sokka.  

“What’s up?” Sokka asked as he came and sat beside you.

“What do you mean?” You asked as you raised an eyebrow at him, confused on what he meant by the question.

“You’ve been acting weird since earlier, just wanted to make sure you were good.” He said with a small smile.

“It’s just hard seeing them, I haven’t seen them in three years and I guess I just thought the next time we seen each other it would be under different circumstances.” You said as you let out a sigh. “I don’t want to fight them, but I don’t have a choice.”

“I get that you don’t want to fight them, but they chose their side, and you chose yours.” He said, and you just shook your head as you looked up at the night sky.

“But that’s the thing, they didn’t really have a choice in what side they chose.” You said as you kept your eyes on the sky.

“Of course they did, they could have left like you did if they wanted to.” He said but you just let out a sigh as you looked over at him to see he was looking at you confused by what you meant.  

“Sokka, if the water tribe had started a war and your father was leading it and told you it was the right thing to do. Would you believe him and stay on his side?” You asked as you looked at him. You knew that Sokka would never understand what it was like being in the fire nation, but you could at least try to give him an idea.

“Yes, but my dad is a good person.” He said without a second thought. “If he started a war it would be for the right reasons.”

“But what if he wasn’t, what if he was really just killing a bunch of people for no reason, but he told you it was for the right reasons and that people are going to die at war. What if you had been raised your whole life in schools that told you only half of the story, and that half made it sound justified and fair. If you never seen the real pain and suffering that the war was causing, you were only told lies about it being for the best.” You said, and you watched as he processed the words you were saying. “In history class when we were taught about how the Air Nomads were wiped out, they made it sound like a fair fight. They told us it was an actual battle, not that they ambushed and overwhelmed the nomads, using the comet to kill everyone and everything in sight.”

“Really? They just cover everything up?” He asked in shock as he looked at you and when you nodded he just looked down at his hands. “I guess if I were put in that situation I would stay loyal to my father and nation as well.”

“I think anyone would have. I changed sides because my circumstances were different, I was never really a part of the Nation and when I was banished with Zuko my parents were killed so I had no other reason to be loyal to the Fire Nation other than Zuko. And after traveling the world and seeing what the Fire Nation really was, I realized that even if Zuko was able to go back that I wouldn’t have went back with him.” You said and Sokka looked back up at you, shocked that you really wouldn’t have went back with Zuko. “But Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee they don’t have a choice to leave. They’ve never seen the real pain behind the war and they are so blinded by their parents that they wouldn’t even know it if they seen it.”

“If we wouldn’t have asked you to join us after what happened at the North, where would you have gone?” He asked, and you just let out a sigh as you looked back up at the sky.

“I was actually going to go to Ba Sing Se, but then I thought Zuko was dead and I knew I had to warn the North if I could, and I wanted to get even with Zhao.” You said as you kept your eyes on the stars. “But after everything that happened in the North, I was going to go to the South and see if maybe there was a chance that my parents were still alive. But after you guys asked me to come with you, I knew that it would have to wait.” “Do you know anything about your real parents?” Sokka asked and you just shook your head as you looked back over at him.

“All I know is that Y/N is the name they gave me, when my dad found me it was embroidered on my blanket and they wanted to at least give me that small piece of home.” You said, and you could practically see the wheels in his head turning.

“I’ll help you find your parents.” Sokka said as a smile came to his face, and you just looked at him with a hopeful smile.

“Really?” You asked as you looked at him, searching his face for any sign that he was lying.

“Yeah, I promise.” He said with a small nod.

“Thank you Sokka.” You said as you pulled him into a hug, the smile on your face only growing at the thought of maybe finding your real parents. You may not have known Sokka or Katara for that long, but you felt a bond with them, sure you felt a bond with Aang as well, but it was different with Sokka and Katara. It was like you had known them your whole life, and even in the few weeks you had spent together they were already starting to become like family.

Part 4

@cal-pal-cuddles @rosesfromcth @tpwkcal @caswinchester2000 @frickin-bats @winchestergirl907 @eridanuswave @the-firebender-girl @myarthetics @royahllty @izzieserra @akariblue @coldlilheart @thirstyforsometea 

[mycomfortblanket]

** UPDATED**Taang week 2020!!!

Taang Week 2020

So this is something I started on a few days ago, and I didn’t realize taang week was this week so it’s not finished. But, here is what I have so far!

There is some explicit stuff in here later, so um... yeah.

PS. didnt realize there was a theme going on when I posted this. so yeah. heh. 

Aang opened his eyes and immediately shut them again to block against the harsh sun rays that were coming in through the opened window. Keeping them squeezed shut, he rolls over onto his back and stretches his arms above his head, groaning in the process.

He squints his eyes against the morning sun as he began to take in his surroundings. He wasn’t in his designated room in the fire nation palace. The thought should have concerned him, but at the moment, he was too hungover to really care.

He couldn’t believe he had been talked into drinking last night. He had only drunk once before, and it had only been a sip of Fire Nation Wine at Zuko and Katara’s wedding. Toph had given him so much shit the night before about being too high strung and needing to loosen up. Just to appease her and shut her up, he had done one shot, and after that, he really didn’t have the willpower to turn down more of the drink that was helping him have so much fun. Because of how he is feeling now, he will never drink again.

Rubbing his face with his hands, trying to wake himself up a little, he rolled over to his side and bumped into something.

No. Not something. Someone.

Aang’s eyes shot open and he was met with the sight of a mess of black hair, the color of ink, spread out on the pillow and her back. She’s not wearing a shirt as far as he can tell from her bare back, and both of her arms are hidden under the blanket. In the back of his mind, he also realizes that he is not wearing any clothes either. Judging from both, her and his body position, he concludes that he was just wrapped around her back in a very explicit manner. The thought causes Aang to blush when thinking about the possible events that led them to be in that position.

Sitting up on his elbow a little, Aang attempts to get a look at her profile, but it’s mostly covered by hair, so that only her nose is visible.

He flops back onto his back and digs the heels of his hands into his eyes, causing little balls of light to dance behind his eyelids. What the hell happened last night???

He remembers going to a bar with Sokka, Suki, and Toph after they had dinner at the Fire Nation palace with Zuko and Katara. Even though the royal couple didn’t feel like going out, the rest of the Gaang wanted to experience true Fire Nation fun.

Aang tries to go through the events of the night, but all he gets is just glimpses of what happened. He sees him and Toph taking shots of Fire Nation Whiskey at the bar while Sokka and Suki were on the dance floor. He sees him and Sokka at the gambling table. Dancing with Toph. Standing outside in the alleyway with Sokka as he throws up. Stumbling back to the hotel with Toph-

As soon as this memory comes to him, the girl next to him rolls over and curls into his side with her head on his chest.

Toph.

He can feel her naked chest against his side and her bare leg thrown over his. He is frozen in shock. If she knew they were in the bed together, naked, she would bend him into oblivion. He can feel his heart pumping hard and fast and know it’s only a matter of time before it wakes her up.

As if on cue, Toph groans and turns her face more into his chest.

“What the hell, Twinkletoes? It’s too fucking early for-” She cuts herself off as she realizes that she is nakedly cuddling Aang. Her whole body goes rigid and together they both jump out of the bed. Toph clutching the bed sheets around her body and Aang holding a pillow in front of his manhood as if it matters- she can’t see it either way.

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?!” Toph screams at him.

“I don’t know! Why are you naked?!” Aang can’t help but look at her body that is covered by the sheet before averting his gaze just above her head. She really had filled out, developed curves; her hips growing a bit wider, her breast becoming fuller, and overall, became stunning. Her long black hair is falling over her shoulder and incredibly tangled.

Aang realizes that he has never seen Toph without her hair in her signature bun. Even when they were on the run as kids, her hair was either matted from sleeping or up in her bun.

“I’m allowed to be naked in my own room! Now get out before I murder you!” Toph screams.

Aang backs up to the door, feeling for the knob behind his back, before yanking it open and slipping into the hallway.

Just as he turns around, he crashes into Sokka. “What the-” he says, steadying Aang before he takes in his naked chest and pillow covering his front and then glancing at the door he just came out of. His eyes grew wide in realization.

“You didn’t!”

“Sokka please-”

“That’s Toph’s room!”

“Sokkaaa…” Aang pleads

“Oh my Spirits! Suki is not going to believe this! You know, I really had 2 gold pieces on you guys holding out a little longer,” Sokka’s voice rises with his unsuppressed glee.

“No! No you can’t tell anyon- wait. What do you mean you had 2 gold pieces riding on this? Were you betting that Toph and I would...” Aang doesn’t even finish the sentence.

“I never thought I would see the day where young Avatar Aang does the walk of shame!” Sokka boasts, completely ignoring his question.

Aang can feel his face heat up at this comment, “Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hoping to end the conversation, Aang pushes past him and to the door down the hall that leads into his own room.

“Yeah, okay! Well, I expect details later!” Sokka yells at him as he closes the door.

Finally alone, he leans against the door and stares into the undisturbed room.

What the hell was wrong with him? Toph??? Did he really sleep with Toph? He walks over to the unslept in bed before plopping down on it and resting his aching head in his hands.

Slowly, it begins to come back to him.

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

“Come on Top, it’s just one song,” Aang laughs as he drags Toph to the dance floor.

“Aang, seriously, I don’t dance!” He completely ignores her. Once they get to the middle of the floor, he turns to face her. He can see doubt and uneasiness playing on her face that is mostly hidden by her bangs.

“Hey, it’s going to be great. Here, we just have to get a little closer, like this,” Aang grabs her hands and pulls her to him. Toph steps forward a little bit, she can feel a slight blush creeping on her face but she is hoping that the cool air will be a good enough excuse. Their drunken state only adds to the fun and the sloppiness of their movements.

Aang places a hand on her waist and pulls her a little closer until their chests brush with every breath they take. “Now, just follow my lead.”

Every step Aang takes, Toph copies until she gets the dance down and is able to do it without waiting for instruction.

A smile begins to pull on her lips and soon laughter is escaping her as Aang spins her and pulls her flush against him. She can feel his chest vibrate with his laughter as well, but the sound of it is lost to the wind.

They dance to a few more fast paced songs before the DJ switches to a slow song with a soft beat. Both of the dancers become still in their movements. Toph begins to let go of Aang’s hand and move away, “Maybe we should sit this one out,” Toph mumbles.

But as she starts to pull her hand away, Aang tightens her grip and doesn’t let go, but gently pulls her back into him. He takes her opposite hand and places it on his shoulder before placing his hand on her lower back.

“Nah, don’t chicken out on me now,” Aang says in a low voice causing Toph to lean into him to make sure she heard him. He pulls her in close, closer than they were when they were dancing to the fast paced music. She knows that her blush is very prominent now and there is no way she can blame it on the alcohol or chill in the air.

She can feel his cheek brush against the side of her head every now and then as they move. A small, content smile graced her lips as she closed her eyes and soaks in the moment. Slowly, without realizing she has done it, she lowers her head and rests against his chest, listening to his strong and beating heart. Fatigue begins to set in as she becomes more and more engulfed in his scent and touch.

Aang didn’t really expect her to go along with him in a slow dance, this was much too intimate for her. But, when she laid her head against his chest, he couldn’t help but grin. He basks in the comfort of having her with him and the intimacy they are sharing. Without thinking, he presses a lingering kiss to the crown of her head.

Immediately, he realizes his mistake as her body grows rigid and she slowly raises her head slowly to ‘look’ at him. He knows she doesn’t realize, but her eyes line up directly to his as if she is really looking at him, stealing the breath from his lungs. Because she doesn’t immediately murder him, his confidence continues to grow with the aid of alcohol coursing through his system.

He reaches a hand up to cup her cheek as he takes in her features. Her skin soft and porcelain like, her milky green eyes that reminds him of a soft jade color, her small nose that leads down to her lips, full and slightly open as if to say something. Ever so slightly, she leans into his hand. Aang wouldn’t have been sure she had actually done that if he wasn’t looking at her so close.

Aang’s eyes stay on Toph’s lips as he leans down and he is sure that she pulls him a little closer by his tunic. He isn’t positive if it’s the alcohol that is fueling this surge of braveness or just his own stupidity and impulsiveness, but his lips barely graze hers, their noses bumping each other, before he fully seals her lips with his own.

They stand there, locked together as people move and dance around them. He can feel the song change to a more fast paced one with a steady beat, but still, they stand there. Toph tilts her head, deepening the kiss a little. Th sensation of his lips against hers warms her to the core and makes her toes curl in

She feels the hand that is cupping her cheek tighten its hold while the other remains on her lower back, still pulling her in. She slides her hand down from his shoulder and rests it over his heart while the other is gripping the back of his neck, making sure he doesn’t pull away. The kiss is so innocent that it short circuits her brain.

Toph hadn’t ever let herself consider the possibility of her and Aang.  They had slowly slipped past the friendship stage after Aang and Katara had called off their relationship a year or two after Sozin’s Comet. Katara had moved on with Zuko pretty quickly afterwards and Aang was weirdly okay with it and even congratulated the couple when they announced their courtship. Aang himself grew closer to Toph, the two of them traveling the world, putting down any resistance to the new Fire Lord.

Although her and Aang had slipped past the threshold of friendship and into something more, neither of them had acted on it. It was just something that made itself known in small touches, lingering hugs, and stolen glances. But now, something was happening and it was causing all sorts of chaos to erupt in Toph’s chest.

Toph had kept expecting Aang to eventually leave Toph behind, dump her at her parents or something, so she never let herself entertain the thought that he would want more.

Someone bumped into Aang, causing him to stumble onto Toph causing their lips to pull apart. Aang scanned her face, looking for any sign of discomfort or anger while Toph kept her hand on his heart, feeling for any sign or regret. Completely engulfed in their bubble, everything and everyone in the room fades to the background as they stare at each other.

“Aang, Hey! We gotta go!” they hear Suki yell for them. Both of them pull apart with embarrassment staining their cheeks, but Aang’s hand slips down and grips Toph’s, not willing to let her go just yet.

Gently, he begins to pull her after him as he walks off the dance floor and towards their friend. “Hey, Sokka is plastered and outside puking his guts out.” Suki says, jerking a thumb towards the exit. Aang nods and starts to walk outside, Toph trailing after him, her hand still in his.

“Hey, we need to get our coats, Toph come help me,” Suki says

“What? Why do I gotta help?” Toph says annoyed

“Because. Now come on!”

Toph casts one last glance at Aang before she gets dragged off to the Coat Check In. Not knowing what else to do, Aang heads outside and finds Sokka leaning against the wall of the bar holding his stomach.

“You good?” Aang asks, his breath coming out in a cloud.

“No. I keep puking. You’d think that nothing would be left in my stomach by now.” Sokka says miserably.

“As much as you eat, there won’t ever be an end to it,” Aang says laughing. A groan comes from Sokka's mouth as he bends over and throws up again. Aang grimaces and pats his friend on the back. Once finished, Sokka leans back against the wall and wipes his mouth just as the girls round the corner. His eyes immediately go to Toph and sees that her entire face is pink in what he thinks is embarrassment, and Suki has a wide smile on her face. They hand the guys their jackets and step back to avoid the vomit on the ground but don’t say anything about Sokka’s vomit or whatever they were talking about.

Finally ready to go, Suki loops her arm through Sokka’s who leans heavily against her, and begins walking towards the palace, not waiting for Toph or Aang to follow. Toph walks quietly beside Aang with little distance between them which gets smaller and smaller as they go until their shoulders are brushing against the other with every step.

As they walk, Toph’s feet become more and more numb with the cold and soon, she can barely see the vibrations because of her lack of feeling in them. When she stumbles on a dip in the pavement, Aang takes notice.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just hard to see since my feet are so fucking cold,” Toph says while wiping her nose with the sleeve of her coat.

Taking a look at Toph, Aang laughs through his nose before bending his knees and lowering himself slightly, “Here, jump on. You can ride me till we get back,”

Toph is stunned for a second, she doesn’t think he realizes what he just said. Her face burns with the implication that is in the sentence that he didn’t mean to put in. Trying to be casual, she faces him and reaches out a hand to feel for his back to get into position behind him.

Toph jumps onto his back, and Aang grabs onto the back of her knees, pulling her closer to him. She wraps her arms around his neck and holds on for dear life. Huffing a little at the complete lack of sight. She tightens her hold on Aang, her thighs gripping his hips a little tighter, she is completely at Aang’s mercy.

Aang notices her tense against him, and he realizes its because of her nervousness at the lack of sight. To try and put her at ease, he rubs his thumb against her leg and begins to walk again. When his thumb brushes the inside of her thigh, Toph tightens her arms around his neck and he can feel her breath against his neck stutter a little.

The slight feeling of his thumb rubbing circles mixed with the firm grip on her legs sends a shiver down her spine. Having him this close to her, especially between her thighs, even if he is facing the wrong way, is making a heat pool in her belly.

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

When he walks into the dining room, he notices that everyone is there. Well everyone besides Toph, which he breathes a sigh of relief after noticing.

He trudges over and sinks into the chair next to Katara and puts his head in his hands, massaging his temples. Zuko, who was sitting at the head of the table next to Katara, was talking to Sokka about some trade deals he was planning on making with the Southern Water tribe and wanted his input.

“So, did you guys have a good night?” Katara asks Aang while buttering a roll.

Holding back a groan he says lowly, “Yeah. it was nice. Really helped me relax.” Aang looks up to see Sokka grinning at him.

Aang’s eyes widened and he shook his head subtly trying to get him to not say anything. But, being the person he is, he just couldn’t let it go.

“Oh yeah. Toph really helped Aang relax. Never thought it would have happened,” Sokka says with a mischievous grin on his face before taking a bite out of his eggs. Suki snickers behind her hand before stifling it behind her cup.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t believe the amount of fun they had last night,” Suki says when she sets her cup down. Sokka lets out a cackle of laughter at Suki’s comment and leans back in his chair, throwing an arm over Suki’s.

Katara just shoots them a confused look before shaking her head and commenting how good it was that Aang was finally relaxing.

A servant placed his plate in front of him as Toph walked into the room, her hair back in its bun. She makes her way over and sits in the only available seat left, the one next to Aang.  Katara and Zuko say their normal good mornings to her.

“You tired, Toph? Looks like you didn’t get any sleep, must have been a wild night for you” Sokka says, shooting a shit eating grin her way.

Toph picks up on the implied comment and pushes her foot more firmly on the ground, sending a rock into his knee hard enough to leave a bruise.

“OUCH! What the fuc-” Sokka says, looking under the table.

“I actually slept fine last night, Sokka. Thanks for asking.”

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

What seems like an hour goes by but is probably only 20 minutes, before she hears the echo of his footsteps on marble, signaling that they are inside the palace. Aang eventually stops, and sets Toph down.. As soon as her feet make contact with the ground, she knows that they are directly outside her room, the door still closed.

“So…” Aang starts but before he can even get out another word, Toph has pushed up on her toes and fisted her hands in his robes, pulling him down to her, immediately pressing her lips to his, kissing him fiercely.

Although shocked by her actions, Aang is immediately kissing her back, grabbing her face in his haste to keep his lips near hers. Toph lets out a sigh when she feels Aang’s lips part her own and his tongue beginning to explore her mouth. This kiss is so much more than the one they shared at the dance hall. Where that one was soft and slow, this one was heated and fast.

This kiss was a mix of fevered lips, tongue, and breathy moans. Aang backed Toph up roughly against the door that led into her room. His hands seemed to be everywhere, leaving a burning path in their wake. Toph wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing herself closer to him. Aang’s hand left her face and began running down her sides, smoothing down her curves before gripping her hips, his nails biting into her skin.

Aang moves his lips and nipped at Toph's neck, eliciting a moan from her lips. The bite was sure to leave a bruise occurred to Toph as he soothed the bite over with his tongue.

She moans out his name and the sting from his bite. Not Twinkle Toes, but his actual name. The sound of his name coming off her lips in a breathy moan sends blood straight to his hard member.

Toph had never known Aang to be anything but gentle, but this dominant version of himself was a pleasant surprise. A darker part of her wanted him this way, wanted him to leave his mark on her, to feel his touch the next day.

Aang dragged his tongue along her throat up before reclaiming her lips with his own. Spirits, he could kiss. Where he learned to use his mouth like that was beyond her. The thought of other things he could do with his mouth made her groan into the kiss.

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

Breakfast seemed to never end with Sokka’s vaguely hinted comments and the awkwardness that could be felt between Aang and Toph. Aang was the first to leave the dining room. he wandered the halls of the palace, not really knowing where he was going, just not wanting to sit still or have to speak to anyone, especially about last night.

He thinks about the way Toph reacted to finding him in her bed this morning. He couldn’t read her reaction properly, was she disgusted or just shocked? After dancing around each other for so long, he finally thought they were getting somewhere.

Maybe he had been reading those interactions between the two of them wrong. Maybe he was reading too much into situations that had happened between them over the past two years. Maybe he was imagining the lingering touches, the way they sometimes sat too close together, or that one time, they fell asleep together beside the campfire, and she was against his back, holding on to him for dear life.

Aang shakes his head. No, there was no way what he was feeling was one sided. Sure, he had initiated most of these advances but sometimes, she would do little things. Things no one else would know were sentimental unless they knew Toph. Like sitting directly beside him at the campfire or actively seeking him out to tell her stories about the past air benders.

He eventually came to a room with shelves filled with books lined the walls. A little further in the room, there seemed to be tables and then beyond that, more rows of shelves. Aang was slightly surprised that there would be a library in the palace, but then he thought, why wouldn't a palace have a library?

Aang just stands there for a moment, staring into the library without really thinking much.

“So, are we going to talk?”

Aang jumped, not expecting Toph to be standing beside him. He thought she would be avoiding him just as much as he was avoiding her, and especially didn’t think she would want to talk about what happened last night.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, let’s go back there.” Realizing that he isn’t going to be able to avoid this like he would like, Aang points to the corner of the library that is hidden behind the shelves. Remembering that she can’t see where he is pointing, he grabs her hand and leads her.

When they get to the back corner, Aang is surprised to seat over-stuff chairs and benches decorating the dimly lit area.

Toph throws herself down onto one of the chairs, and Aang takes the one directly across from her, but perches on the edge of the seat, clasping his hands in between his knees. He stares at her, flashes of her naked form covered by a thin sheet go through his mind. Aang shakes his head, ridding his mind of those thoughts. He needed to be level headed since what they were about to talk about was serious.

“So, talk.” Toph says, chewing at one of her fingernails.

Aang’s mouth falls open slightly, “You’re the one that suggested we talk!” he says, exasperated.

“You're the one who was naked in my bed!”

“You were naked, too!”

Toph didn’t say anything to this, just continued biting at her nail refusing to look in his direction. Aang’s shoulders slumped in defeat, “I mean, it was only a matter of time before…”

At this, Toph shoots up to her feet, “Excuse me, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” she yells, her voice dripping with venom.

Aang stands up to, his blood boiling at the thought of her denying what had been blooming between the two of them the past couple years. “Don’t even try to pretend what happened last night didn’t mean anything to you.”

“It didn’t!”

“Bullshit, Toph! I know you can feel what has been happening between us, I could see it on your face every time we touched,” he spits out. Toph doesn’t say anything to this, just adverts her unseeing eyes away from him. He can see her clenching and unclenching her teeth.

They need to get through this, they need to have it all out in the open. He is tired of not being able to touch her when he wants or to hold her. He wants to brush her hair out of her face and to throw an arm around her waist when the urge hits him.

Aang steps closer to her and reaches for her hand and says more softly, “Tell me it didn’t mean anything to you. Tell me I’ve been imagining the small touches and subtle comments for the past two years.”

Toph shakes her head just barely, “Aang-”

He moves even closer to her, until they are just a few inches apart. He dips his head down until their lips are almost touching, his breath ghosting over her lips.

“Tell me and I’ll stop.” He tilts her face up with his thumb and index finger on her chin. Aang’s eyes search her face before falling on her lips.

“I can’t,” Toph says, her voice barely a whisper.

Aang smiles and closes the distance between them.

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

A new sensation broke through the haze of arousal: the vibrations of someone walking down the hallways towards them. They are still far enough away that they can't see Aang pressing Toph up against the door, but they were getting closer by the second.

Toph reluctantly broke the kiss and moved her head away. Aang, being denied access to her lips, began to kiss a line from her cheek to her jaw and down her neck.

"Aang-" She whimpered, her voice barely a whisper. She didn't think he heard her since he continued the assult on her neck. "Aang, someone is coming. They're going to see us," she tried again.

Aang grunted in acknowledgement before he bent slightly to grip around her thighs and lifted her. Toph let loose a girlish squeal-type noise, something she never thought would come from her mouth, and immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. Aang's hands moved from gripping her thighs to her ass so he could hold her up better.

His lips never left hers as Toph reached behind her and fumbled to open the door. Once through the door, Aang closed it with his foot before walking over to the bed and dumping her unceremoniously on the bed.

They both finally got a look at each other, Aang standing beside the bed, the moonlight streaming in from her open windows, and Toph, whose feet were still on the ground, looked up to where she thought his face might have been.

Aang could see her kiss-swollen lips and blush that spread down her neck and across her slightly exposed cleavage. Strands of black hair are falling out of her bun and down her shoulders in trendils.

Toph could sense his heartbeat, beating faster than she's ever noticed. She can tell that he is just staring at her, taking in her disarray state. She can feel her hair falling out of its bun and her shirt has shifted so that its showing more of her chest than normal.

The hesitation only lasts for a fraction of a second before Toph is pulling him down by the front of his robes at the same time as Aang leaning forward to push her back onto the bed. He slipped his hand underneath her tunic, feeling the heated skin there. He gripped her waist with both hands before shifting her up higher onto the bed so that her head was caressed by the pillows and Aang was resting between her legs.

Afterwards, when they finally stop, Aang is still laying between Toph's legs, rest his head against one of her breasts and his arms wrapped around her middle. Toph trails her fingertips up and down his spine, occasionally brushing over the scar that Azula had given him so long ago.

The air is thick with the smell of sex and the sweat that is drying on their skin. Neither of them talk, but instead, listen to each others heartbeats.

The movement of Toph's fingers on his back become slower and slower until they stop all together and just rest in between his shoulder blades. Her breathing has evened out into long deep breaths with the occasional quiet snore from the back of her throat.

Aang picks his head up and looks at her. Her hair is completely out of its bun, her headband somewhere in the room. He's never seen her hair down before. Not like this. It's incredibly tangled from him constantly running his hands through it and pulling at it.

Her head is turned to the side, exposing her neck, and he can see love bites marking from the base of her neck and down her chest.

The thought of how she is going to cover those enters his mind before he pushes it away. He wants other to see it. He wants everyone to know what they did last night, how he took her roughly.

The memories of the explicit things they did come back to him causing him to blush. They had gone at it for hours, multiple times. Once it was over and they would slump against each other, they would talk about the time that had been passing between them, and somehow, they would start all over again.

Aang crawls off of Toph and lays his head on the pillow next to her. When he has settled next to her, she immediately scooches back until she is pressed fully against him.

Aang wraps an arm around her waist, and presses into her back more firmly, burying his face in her neck, smelling her hair. He would never tell her this, but they fit perfectly together. Her body dips and curves in just the right places that make it seem like she is enveloping his body from behind.

Smiling contently, Aang kisses her shoulder before his head falls back against the pillow. He shuts his eyes, ready for the new day to start and for everything to be out in the open.

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

Hey! So i see you came back for the update!!!. well. thank you. I will be finishing this story so follow it on Archiveofourown.com! The link to this story is here! Thank you so much for reading, it means the world to me. Feel free to comment your constructive criticism or your thoughts/opinions. 

[imaginedevildom]

“Oh! It’s my favourite time of year.” With Asmo please :)

Hey alright sorry this is super late, I got a little carried away with it but anyways, here’s Asmo and Mc going out for a Valentine’s day lunch, getting sloshed, and they sweet kisses, hope you enjoy

When you woke up that morning it hadn’t even occurred to you what day it was. The constant night of the devildom was disorienting and made it almost impossible to tell one day from the next. So you were shocked as you rolled over to grab your D.D.D off the nightstand and found a bouquet of bright red roses with a note instead.

You reached over and grabbed one of the flowers and felt your eyebrows rise as you realized that they were in fact real flowers and not some plastic imitation. You knew that the Devildom had its own unique flora and fauna, most of it dangerous to humans, but you had never seen any roses amongst the native wildlife.

That on its own was enough to pique your interest, so you opened the letter that had come with the flowers and were yet again surprised as purple flowers fell out of the note and into your lap. You picked up one of the stray purple flowers and ran your fingers over it. Hmm, I think its pressed, you thought to yourself as you tried to figure out what kind of flower was now sitting in your hand. With a slight shrug you decided it probably didn’t matter and turned your attention back to the note.

To my dearest,

I hope you enjoyed the flowers, I had to go through a lot of work to get flowers from the human world, so I hope you appreciate them. I hope you just forgot that today was Valentine’s day. When Solomon brought it up last week, I was all ughh boring human religious holiday. But then Solomon told me it was a day that human couples used to celebrate the passion they felt for each other! So, I figured I’d surprise you. Meet me downstairs at 11’o’clock and you can show me all the other ways that humans celebrate Valentine’s day!

Ps.

also I took your D.D.D. so that the others wouldn’t be able to distract you from coming to see me.

With Love,

Asmodeus

For a second you almost couldn’t tell who the letter was from due to the lipstick stain on top of the signature, but that on its own was enough to confirm who had snuck into your room and left flowers on your nightstand. You looked over the letter once again and then checked the nightstand to confirm what he’d wrote in the letter about your D.D.D and found that yup, it was no longer connected to the charger on the wall.

Valentine’s day, you thought with a sigh as you rolled back over in bed. In truth you’d completely forgotten about it, normally you might do a small gift exchange with your friends but seeing as you’d been in the Devildom and not in contact with them, the holiday hadn’t even been a blip on your radar. It also wasn’t a surprise that Asmo of all the brothers would be excited about the holiday. You wondered what kind of explanation Solomon had given him. You could almost see Asmo’s delighted expression as stoic Solomon told him about the holiday you were sure produced more one-night stands than any other holiday sans maybe New Year’s Eve. That thought made you stop, and you wondered exactly what Asmodeus had in mind for the two of you today. You felt yourself blush slightly as you thought of all the things you’d like Asmodeus to do you and vice versa.  

Since coming the Devildom, you’d been trying your best to develop friendships with the seven demon brothers you suddenly found yourself living with- with varying degrees of success. Asmo had proved difficult to get to know at first. His narcissistic nature and his penchant for flirting had been slightly off-putting, and that been before you had even formed a pact with the fifth born. Since forming a pact with him his attitude had changed and his flirting had become over more overt.

While Asmo didn’t constantly occupy your living space like Mammon or Beel, he occupied your personal space more frequently than any of his brothers. As the avatar of lust, you had expected there to be a lack of hesitation in touching on Asmodeus’ part, but even still. You had never met another person so interested in physical contact. A hand brushing over yours as you ate snacks together or trailing across your clothing as he complimented or critiqued your clothing choices.

The constant affection was near maddening at times. Trying to discern the line between platonic and romantic with Asmo was a new type of mental gymnastics that you had never expected- this Valentine’s date was just another example.

With a huff you tossed the note back on the nightstand and got out of bed to find some clothes and idly wondered if you had time to shower before going to meet Asmo. A quick glance at the clock on the other side of the room showed that it was almost ten.

You showered quickly to give yourself time to get dressed and after you finished you slipped on a pair of shoes before heading out of your room to go meet Asmo outside. As you left the house you saw that Asmo was already outside waiting for you. Asmo caught sight of you and called your name as you approached and threw his arms around you in a light hug before pulling back and smiling at you sweetly.

“I’m soo glad you got my note, Solomon told me all about Valentine’s day, but I just can’t wait to see what you came up with us!”

“Well I was thinking that we could start with lunch, maybe head over to Hell’s Kitchen?” Asmo gave a quick nod and a bright smile before linking his arm with yours and heading down the street that would take you into the central part of town.

As you walked into Hell’s kitchen you weren’t terribly surprised to find that the restaurant was practically empty. Before Asmo had the chance to drag you over to the bar where you normally sat, and you grabbed his arm and pulled him over to one of the booths in the back of the restaurant. Asmo raised his eyebrows at you as he slid into the booth across from you.

“Well if you wanted to get me alone all you had to do was ask silly,” Asmo whispered conspiratorially as he leaned closer to you over top of the table. You flushed slightly as you realized, that yes, in trying to get Asmo away from the bar you had accidently pulled him into an even more vacantly populated part of the restaurant.

You laughed slightly as you leaned over the table to meet him, “As much as I love being alone with you Asmo, I was just trying to se the right mood. No proper Valentine’s date takes place while sitting at a dingy bar and I have every intention of showing you a proper Valentine’s day.”

It was your turn to smile mischievously as a small amount of color crept onto his cheeks. Even though he was the Avatar of Lust, you had a strong suspicion that Asmo had little experience with romance that wasn’t geared towards getting into someone’s pants.

Most of your lunch passed by with Asmo telling you all about the latest gossip in the devildom- most of it being about him- and by the time lunch was over you noticed that the two of you had gone through about half a bottle of whatever wine like beverage your waiter had brought you at the beginning of your meal. Whatever the beverage was, it was slightly stronger than you expected, you thought as you and Asmo clung tightly to each other to avoid falling over as you made your way back to the house of Lamentation. You took a quick look at Asmo which quickly turned into a long gaze as you took notice of the way his eyes sparkled and how absolutely he looked with a blush raging over his cheeks and down his neck. Asmo gave up trying to get the main door open as he noticed you staring you staring at him. He turned to focus his full attention on you, and you felt a smile slowly working its way onto your face as Asmo took a few steps closer to you. He let out a soft sigh that you barely registered as your name before he was upon you. The both of you must have been drunker than you thought as his lips met yours in a mess and you bumped noses before he pulled back, readjusted himself and dove back towards your mouth. This time when his mouth firmly met yours you were prepared, and both of your hands flew up to tangle in his hair. The two of you stayed there enjoying a slow lazy kiss until you pulled his head slightly so that you could take a breath. Asmo let out what was, frankly, a dreamy sigh as he brought his hands up to cup your cheeks before resting his forehead gently against yours.

The two of you stayed like that for a moment longer, just breathing the same air and you felt giddy as you were overwhelmed with a spicy scent that was almost surely whatever you’d had to drink back at the restaurant and then beneath that another smell that was purely Asmo.  He closed his eyes and let out a contented hum, “Ohhh Y/N, I think this just might be my new favorite time of the year.”

[missmalice202]

Designing Your Melody: Chapter 13 - Kisses

Chapter 01 - Chapter 12

“Viperion, are you humming right now?” Carapace asked. “You do realize we’re in the middle of a boss fight, right?”

“Leave the boy alone, Carapace. It’s obvious something good happened to him for him to be in such a good mood.” Rena Rouge scolded. Viperion chuckled at how fiercely she’d defended him, even though it didn’t bother him at all to be called out like that in the clan chat.

“Really? Care to share with the rest of the class?” Ladybug teased. She was a little disappointed that his humming had stopped, though. It made her smile to hear him unconsciously expressing his pleasure. He had an excellent humming voice. Is that even a thing? Or is it just a singing voice? Regardless, she enjoyed listening to him regardless of what kind of sound he was making. The smooth tone of his voice did wonderful things to her nerves and gave flight to the butterflies in her stomach.

“Well,” he said, hesitating. “I found her, guys.” He felt a little weird mentioning Marinette around Ladybug. She hadn’t been online when he had initially discussed his little problem regarding the hard-to-find designer, and now he was wondering if he shouldn’t have just kept it to himself. He and Ladybug had been growing closer over the past few months and it didn’t feel right talking about another girl when she was listening. But he was happy that he had found her and wanted to talk about it to his friends.

“You seriously found her?” Chat Noir asked. “Congrats! I’m glad it worked out for you.”

Carapace began giggling into his microphone, trying hard to hold back his laughter but failing miserably in the end.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chat’s voice sounded confused. What was so funny about Viperion finding the girl he’d been searching for? Chat was happy that his friend would finally be able to talk to her about her design. Plus, it was really sweet that he’d been so affected by her that he kept hearing her song in his head. He wasn’t really sure what that meant exactly, but Viperion obviously couldn’t forget about the girl… A feeling he knew all too well.

“Hold on a second,” Rena said. “Who is ‘her’?” She knew that her friend had a minor fascination with their reptilian clan mate, but if he was off the market, that would make things difficult for her to ship them together. She’d been trying for weeks to get Nino to tell her who he was, but her boyfriend was even harder to crack than his namesake.

“I first mentioned her to the guys about a month ago. You and Ladybug weren’t on that night, so I guess they didn’t tell you about it, huh?”

“No,” She replied through clenched teeth. “Carapace definitely did not mention that you were looking for some random girl.”

Carapace’s nervous chuckle echoed in their headsets. He was sure that his girlfriend would give him hell for not telling her about it later.

“Anyway, I’ve been looking for someone for a while now and I finally found her the other day.”

“That’s awesome, Viperion,” Chat cheered. He was a sucker for happy endings, especially since his own life felt like such a tragedy.

“Oh, Chat, if you only knew…” Carapace’s cryptic response confused everybody, but he quickly changed the subject before they could ask him about it. “So, are you going to see her again?”

“Yeah, we’re going to get together again later this week,” he replied, his anticipation palpable for them to hear.

“Aw, that’s great,” Chat cooed. “Good luck, buddy.”

A loud smack filtered through their headsets. Unbeknownst to the other listeners, Nino had slapped his forehead in exasperation at how completely clueless his friends were. Seriously, it was too much for him to take sometimes.

“That’s…awesome, Viperion. It’s just…awesome. If you’re so interested in her, she must be just…awesome.” Ladybug’s voice was stilted and they all could tell that something had upset their friend.

“Girl, you okay?” Rena had hoped that she wouldn’t be upset by this development, but it looked like it was inevitable. She sighed, knowing that she’d be doing damage control soon.

“Yeah, Rena, I’m awesome. I just remembered that I had this…thing I had to do so I’m gonna log off. I’ll talk to you later.”

With that, her avatar disappeared, indicating that she was now offline.

Viperion was concerned. Ladybug usually wasn’t the type of player to quit in the middle of battle, especially a boss battle. It was apparent that something had bothered her about the direction their conversation had taken. Maybe she was disappointed that he had been talking about stuff that had happened in the real world, something she was adamant about keeping separate from gaming. He felt guilty for driving her away. “Was it something I said?” he asked his friends.

“Dude,” Carapace said seriously, “you have no idea…”

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

It’s been almost a week since the fashion show and Luka’s patience was finally paying off.

Finally, after months of being stuck in the middle of the tug-of-war game between Mr. Roth and Jagged Stone, he’s been set free.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t mind being forced to come to the studio day after day to play for his idol, but the futility of the exercise and the fact that he had something else he would much rather be doing was enough to make the normally patient man quite irritable. His sister had even commented that he seemed to be on edge lately and wondered what the cause for it was.

But now, thank god, Vivica was back from her maternity leave and ready to take his place as Jagged’s guitarist. Luka didn’t mind being a temporary replacement. After all, he had no grand ambitions of being a rock star or anything. He just loved to play, even if it was playing someone else’s music.

Though, considering everything he and Jagged had worked on had been scrapped, it wasn’t as if he’d be given any sort of credit for the time he put in at the studio.

He didn’t let that bother him. He knew that if Jagged needed him again, he’d be there to play for him, no matter how frustrating the circumstances were.

The silver lining to the whole situation was that now he was free to pursue his current interest: a Miss Marinette DuPain-Cheng.

Resting his bike against the side of the bakery, he looked up at the storefront with a barely suppressed smile gracing his face. He’d been looking forward to seeing her again. He’d refrained from texting her until he would be able to see her for his fitting, even though every fiber of his being wanted to reach out to her.

Adjusting the acoustic guitar strapped to his back, he entered the shop where he was immediately comforted by the warm ambiance of the bakery. Sabine was behind the counter, as always. When she looked up at the bell ringing and saw him, she greeted him with a smile as sweet at the macaroons she was boxing up for a customer.

“Luka! Welcome back, sweetie. We haven’t seen you in a couple of days and I was starting to worry about you.”

He grinned down at the tiny Asian woman. Despite his true motive for frequenting the bakery in the past, he honestly had missed the gentle woman. However, he’d never admit to her that he’d actually been coming to the bakery so often in an attempt to track down her daughter. He didn’t think that admission would go over so well. Especially since he’d heard about how fiercely protective Tom DuPain was of his only daughter.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been by lately. Work has been keeping me busy, unfortunately.” He walked up to the counter. “But now I’ve got some time to spare, so I came to visit.”

She laughed. “Don’t bother trying to suck up to me. I know you’re here to see Marinette. She told me you’d found one of her designs and wanted her to make it for you.”

His eyebrows raised. Guess he was busted. “She told you about that, huh?”

She nodded. “Yes, she did, dear. I’m just surprised that you were able to find her based only on one of her drawings.”

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I actually have you to thank. I made the connection when I delivered that fabric to her room. I saw her designs on the wall and I recognized her signature.”

“Ah,” she said knowingly. “So that’s why you became such a regular customer.” Her usually cheerful face fell into a disappointed frown. “And here I thought you were coming for my pastries.”

Luka raised his hands in surrender. “I did come for your pastries. Honestly. They’re the best in the city! I would have come even if Marinette wasn’t here.” He spoke quickly, hoping to avoid offending the petite woman.

Taking pity on the poor boy, she started to laugh. “Relax, sweetie. I know.” She nodded her head toward the stairs that led to their apartment. “Head on up. She’s expecting you.”

Relieved that Mrs. Cheng didn’t hold his true motive for all his visits to the bakery against him, he climbed up the multiple staircases to Marinette’s space.

Upon opening her trap door, he could see that she was definitely not expecting his arrival.

Hunched over her desk, she looked almost possessed by whatever it was she was working on in her notebook. Her hair is pulled back in a messy bun and there’s a spare pencil tucked behind her ear. There’s another pencil between her clenched teeth as her almost crazed eyes scanned the page. With a growl, she grabbed a white eraser and began to furiously attack the paper with it. With a frustrated growl, she tossed the eraser aside, she used the pencil between her teeth to continue working.

It was obvious to Luka that she hadn’t heard the thump of the trap door opening, so rather than interrupt her work, he simply walked over to her pink chaise lounge and made himself comfortable. She was so interesting to watch when she was focused on a task. He could see her energy barely contained in her movements. Her hand jerked and swept across the paper.

Inspired by the movements her pencil made as she created her own form of beauty, he brought his guitar around and began to quietly play. Tempo fast, notes discordant, he created a melody to accompany the frantic dance of her hand.

Minutes pass before Marinette registered the music playing at the edge of her senses. Glancing toward the source, she was shocked to see Luka sitting with his legs folded under him to support the guitar he was playing.

With a squeak, she began to apologize. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

He didn’t even look at her as he continued to play, transitioning from her frantic song, to a slower melody, its gentle chords slowing her heartbeat and easing her tension. “It’s okay. I understand what it is to be taken over by inspiration. To have the world around you fall away and nothing else exists but what you’re creating.”

Her shoulders relaxed. Of course, he would get it. Feeling much more relaxed and less embarrassed at being caught in the midst of a designing storm, she released the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Thanks for your understanding. Just give me a minute to get this cleaned up and we can get started getting your measurements.”

She quickly gathered the papers scattered around her desk and stuffed them haphazardly in a folder.

“There’s no rush.” He looked up at her then, eyes piercing through his hair. “I like watching you work. The way your hand flies over the page as your drawing, it’s almost like a dance.” He smiled softly at her blank expression. “I was just providing some music for you to dance to.”

Marinette’s mind went blank as she stared dumbly at the musician.

“Yes., well, yeah…” She didn’t know what to say to that. What do you say to something like that? How do you respond to something so beautiful? “Let’s get started, shall we?”

Kissing any chance of this not being an embarrassing experience for both of them goodbye, she gestured to the stool in the middle of the room for him to climb on so she could take his measurements.

‘Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?’ she asked herself once more.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Chapter 14

*Sorry for the delay. I wasn't certain on where I wanted the story to go from here, but I finally figured it out. My original plan was to have 29 chapters to this story, to go along with the 29 days of Lukanette February prompts. Now, I'm not sure if I want to drag it out for that long. But I DO know that there will be at least a few more chapters to this. There's a lot of things I need to resolve before I can say "and they lived happily ever after" or whatever.

Special thanks to @novicevoice, @skatsh18, @macaknight, and @unabashedbookworm for your comments. I’m glad you all like this story I’ve come up with. Your kind words are very much appreciated <3

Until next time, my lovelies XOXO*

@write-for-your-life2

[rickthaniel]

Trial Slice-of-Life Avatar Fanfic

Tbh I’ve never written fanfiction before but wanted to try some in-universe stuff as a writing exercise. Had a lot of fun and will likely continue on my own, but am curious if there’s interest for this kind of thing here? If people would want to read it? My suspicion is it’s not really the kind of thing folks would be into, but maybe I’m wrong! So be gentle I guess but figured I’d put out a little trial piece. If you’d read more of this, I’d love to hear from you!

________________________________________________________________

The first morning, Kuyon awoke a full hour before dawn. It was the heat that did it, he thought – but then again, it could have just been the change in surroundings. Time off the water always took some getting used to. His first sea voyage as a child was fraught with sickness and insomnia, even though his mother had done everything she could to make him comfortable during the long journey south. The fear of the ocean itself was still present then – strong in him – and he worried that if he dozed off at the wrong moment, the ship would be swallowed up in his sleep. Years later, when he took his first post on a ship, it took him three months to finally get comfortable with the constant, quiet movement.

Now, it was the opposite. Being on land was what gave him restless nights. But it certainly didn’t help that the Fire Nation was also about as hot as the name suggested, even before summer had begun. It wasn’t just the heat either. It was the weight of the air, the dampness. So different from either of the homes Kuyon had known. As a child, it had baffled him how a city built on ice could be so very, very dry. And when he heard the stories of masters pulling water from the air itself, he’d been so excited to try – only to discover that in the heart of the Water Tribe, there was nothing in the air to bend. Maybe that was why the technique was only mentioned in distant rumors – something waterbenders did in foreign places.

Kuyon had unintentionally become that waterbender. Of course, this particular visit wasn’t his first to the Fire Nation, but every other time he’d only seen the ports, and he’d had the welcoming belly of the ship to fall asleep in. Besides, Ember Island didn’t feel like those places. For all the blackened, rocky shorelines and volcanic landscape that was the nation’s signature, he somehow expected the beach would not have sand. A rock beach would have been more fitting, but the stones on the island were smooth – nothing like the jagged rocks he’d seen elsewhere. And for all the explosions that had created the surrounding islands thousands of years ago, Ember Island felt serene. Despite the fact that it was a resort, Kuyon hadn’t actually expected it to feel peaceful. He didn’t think the Fire Nation could have peaceful places.

Unable to fall back to sleep, he got dressed in the dark and walk out to the beach. It was still black out, but there was enough starlight to see the way down to the water. The moon was barely there – just a sliver of a thing in the sky – and that too might have contributed to the restlessness he felt.

It wasn’t that he felt weak when it was waning. It was a latent thing – a scar of fear left over from when he was eight and saw the full moon in the sky go dark. From his window, he could see the warriors’ water fall, limp and useless, and he was sure at that moment that he was going to die. Even at such a young age, it had been instilled in him that men of the Northern Water Tribe did not run from a fight. But when the sky went red with the blood of the spirit – as the story would later be told – he saw the men if his tribe flee in panic. Every month since then, a part of him still feared that when that sliver vanished, it would not come back; that the sacrifice the chief’s daughter had made would wear out somehow.

At the water’s edge, Kuyon sat down in the sand and felt the edge of the tide wash over his toes. With his left hand, he gently pulled with its ebb and flow, barely bending it, just following the water’s lead. The breathing exercise had always calmed him, especially during his early days in the South Pole. At the time, his mother told him they were going to rebuild their sister tribe. Years later, he realized that most of the northerners who joined Master Pakku’s expedition were really looking to rebuild themselves. They had either lost someone in the siege, or were exhausted of hiding behind the city walls, waiting for the war to end. A whole generation had lived and died while the North was frightened to sail too far from home, and when reports started coming of what had been done to the benders in the Southern Tribe, an even greater fear set in.

In those early days in the south, his mother would take him down to where the ice became water and show him how to breathe into the tide. The same night he saw the moon go dark, Kuyon saw the great spirit rise from the waters of the city and wash the invaders out. It had taken weeks to sort through the wreckage left by the decimated navy, and though the spirit had saved them all, it had frightened him too. In the whole voyage south, he’d never spoken to the Avatar. Part of him had wanted to of course. At eight and twelve, the two weren’t so far apart in age. But despite his quiet demeanor on the ship, Kuyon was afraid of the airbender, for the same reason that for that whole journey he was afraid of the sea beneath him. That thing those two had become together – the boy with the tattoos and the spirit of the ocean – had both saved him and terrified him on the night the moon was killed. Pushing and pulling the tides with his mother, he remembered that the ocean could be peaceful too.

Even the water was different in the Fire nation though. The waves that splashed up on the sands of Ember Island were frothy and white; nothing like the perfect blue of the northern waters, or the icy stillness of the south. Once, after word had come that Ba Sing Se had fallen, he’d asked his mother why the Ocean Spirit didn’t simply appear on the shores of the Fire Nation as it had during the siege of the north. “It could wash away the whole army,’ he’d said, almost pleading with her, “like how it washed away the ships. Why doesn’t it?” Of course he knew vaguely that the spirits didn’t work that way, but his mother didn’t tell him that at the time. Instead she just sat beside him and put her arm around his shoulders, and said “I don’t know, Ku. I don’t know.”

Feeling the pulse of the Fire Nation’s ocean, Kuyon watched as the bottom of the sky began to bloom with pink, then orange, then yellow light. He focused his gaze on the water’s surface out by the horizon, in search of the thing that had brought him there, but with no luck. It would still be a few days before the migration passed by. Until then, he’d have to get used to sleeping in the heat.

Some members of the Water Tribes had developed a scorn for sunrise over the course of the war. Kuyon had never understood that. It was a beautiful thing, still.

The sky alight with early morning, he pushed himself up off the sand and began to walk down the beach, toward the town square that lay inland a ways further along the shore. There was no one else in sight as he went. Kuyon wondered if Ember Island’s stream of wealthy vacationing Fire Nation aristocrats had slowed in the past decade; if the shadow that had loomed over the country for the last fourteen years in the wake of its defeat extended even to the tourist industry. The families who owned homes here had taken major hits in reputation to be sure, but their fortunes likely suffered as well. He’d heard that the new Fire Lord had ousted most of Ozai’s true loyalists from the inner workings of government, but he doubted those expulsions meant any real severity for families with so much ancient wealth and power.

Strolling up the beach and through one of the town’s winding footpaths, Kuyon came eventually to a small plaza. Shops and restaurants lined the perimeter of the square, but almost all were still closed. Only one tea shop seemed to be awake at such an early hour. Inside, Kuyon found a tidy arrangement of wooden tables, and a small counter at the back. A woman, maybe ten years his senior, was wiping down one of the tabletops when she glanced up and saw him standing in the doorway. She squinted at him, straightened, and tucked the rag into the front of her apron.

“Would you like a table?”

“If you’re open.”

“Just the one of you?”

“Yes.”

She gestured from one wall to the other with an open hand.

“Wherever you like. What are you drinking?”

“What do people usually get?”

She walked behind the counter, pulled a set of spark rocks from a drawer he couldn’t see, and started a pot of water boiling.

“Our ginseng is the most popular.”

“I’ll have that then.”

She nodded and set to work. It was terribly quiet, despite the faint breeze that made its way off the water, through the plaza and into the room.

“Is this your shop?”

“Me? No. My uncle owns it. And I should warn you he only takes Fire Nation money.”

“I can pay.”

“I guess so if you’re staying around here. You a tourist?”

“I’m a fisherman.”

“Are you on vacation?” she asked, leaning over the counter toward him. Her hair was black like his, about as long, but worn up in the Fire Nation style. Her face was hard, but Kuyon couldn’t tell if it was because of his clothing or something else entirely.

“I guess,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to see the tiger dolphin migration. It only happens every four years, and they should be coming right by here in the next few days.”

“They got you in a shack down there?”

“It’s all I could afford. My ship’s in port at Hing Wa Island for the week, so I managed to get a little time away.”

“You should have stayed with them. Hing Wa is gorgeous this time of year. It’s ash banana season.”

“That’s why they’re there. My captain’s hoping to turn over our recent hauls for as much of the harvest as he can. They’re becoming something of a delicacy in the Earth Kingdom.”

She came out from behind the counter carrying a tray, the teapot and two small porcelain cups arranged on it, and set it down on the table in front of him. Steam rose from the neck of the pot. Without a word, she sat down in the chair across from him.

“Let it sit for another minute,” she said. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Please.”

“It’s just that I’ve never met a member of the Water Tribe before.”

Kuyon feigned shock, glancing down at his blue tunic, the blue rings on his fingers, the blue armband with the Tribe’s sigil.

“How did you know I was Water Tribe?”

She laughed.

“Which Tribe?”

“Both. I was born in the north, but we moved south when I was eight.”

“When you were eight.”

“After,” he said. “After the siege.”

She nodded, her arms crossed on the table before her, staring straight at the teapot and the steam rising between them.

“My husband was a technician on the Ilah’s Pride. It was one of the first ship’s to make contact with the wall. At least, that’s they told me.”

Kuyon looked at her, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. She picked up the teapot and poured them each a cup, but he hesitated to take his, suddenly tense and wary. Then she took a sip from her own and laughed again – a sharp, barking laughter.

“It’s not poisoned if that’s what you were thinking. I’m not a hateful person, really. And that whole naval crusade was an absurd vanity project to begin with.”

“Still,” he said, “I’m sorry. I saw what happened to those lead ships. It terrified me as a kid.”

“Yes, well, that’s what we get I suppose. Wei Ko should have known better than to join the navy. But that’s where all the advancement was in those days. He thought we needed the money. And why am I telling you all this?”

“I don’t know. You haven’t even told me your name.”

“Sung.”

“I’m Kuyon.”

“Well, I’d keep your head down while you wait for your dolphins, Kuyon. There’s a lot of naval heritage on Ember Island, and most folks won’t be as accepting of those Water Tribe colors as I am.”

[percabeth4life]

Three Old Ladies Knit Socks of Death

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || AO3

I’m really glad that I have a clue as to what happened, even if the constant buzzing surrounding everyone is driving me nuts.

Someone cast a spell of some sort to trick everyone into thinking that Ms. Dodds never existed. The buzzing kept trying to affect me, but it couldn’t get me through my Purifying powers.

Thank Pontus for those.

But the buzzing is very, very, very, annoying.

One important thing I noticed was that Grover didn’t have any buzzing around him, which means that he is fully aware of Ms. Dodds. That and the fact that he’s a horrible liar.

Mr. Brunner’s buzzing didn’t lower at all, but nor did it raise.

I think he’s the source of the buzzing honestly, still not sure if he’s safe. He hasn’t asked for the pen that’s a sword that’s a pen back.

But everyone is denying that Ms. Dodds exists.

…

I may or may not be using it as practice for my purification powers.

…

It seems like a good idea (and keeps my mind off of…)

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okay so one person had to go to the nurses office cause I managed to get rid of the buzzing around her with my purifying powers, and whoops…

Apparently, mortals can’t handle that.

Everyone is saying she had a psychotic break yelling about a Ms. Dodds and how she definitely exists…

So, I’ve decided that I should not test my purification powers on helpless mortals.

Katara would be ashamed of me for testing my powers like that.

I’ve also decided to rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender for the twenty-fourth time.

Don’t judge me, it’s a great show and my teacher for waterbending!

And maybe I’ll see more about healing with waterbending, I can’t remember all the details and I need a way to learn without hurting myself first.

Purification is still cooler, but healing will definitely be helpful in the future. Besides, it’s practically a signature move for Katara, the whole world would’ve ended in the show if it weren’t for her healing abilities.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Carl was excited for my experiments with the water holder, I was messing with some ice and ignoring the growing sense of doom that was coming as exams got closer.

Triton would be disappointed in me for not paying attention to my lessons now, but I can’t help it.

It’s so hard to focus when you’re trying not to focus on the fact that you killed someone, sure she was a fury, but she had feelings and stuff too.

I shook my head, nope nope nope, not thinking about that right now.

Work on the magic portable ice fish tank.

I sighed, fiddling with the ice to twist it into the right shape.

I’ll need to add the runes-

“Percy!”

I made the ice shatter into a thousand tiny pieces and melt and nearly fell off the bed.

…

“You okay man?”

I nodded, pushing myself up and pretending like my face wasn’t on fire.

“I’m fine.”

“What were you doing anyways?”

Uh…

“I was trying to do a palm reading on my hands.” Nailed it.

“Baa-ha-ha, you do palm readings?”

“No, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I was trying to see if I could pass my exams.”

“If you study you might,” Grover bleated out.

I sniffed, raising my nose and hiding a smile, “Studying is for the weak!” I declared grandly.

Grover laughed.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar view, fields with misty figures as far as the eye could see.

I frowned.

Where am I?

I wandered forward, waving a hand in the face of one of the figures. They didn’t react.

Yep definitely a dream.

Now I just have to figure out where I am.

I probably should’ve gotten around to reading up on prophetic dreaming like probably dad Oceanus mentioned one of those times I was there, but I got distracted.

I wandered the fields, looking around in confusion, this place was very unfamiliar.

Except, a feeling of familiarity clung to me from one direction, so I started that way.

It felt like a low burn edging my senses, I’m not sure where I felt it before, I don’t really remember this feeling.

The sound of leathery wings made me look up, my eyes widening at the three figures.

Hades’s furies.

I suddenly realized where I was.

The itch of a curse made me want to scratch my arms. But looking up, Ms. Dodds, one of the furies, is alive.

It was like I could breathe for the first time in weeks.

I didn’t just kill someone who could think and breathe and feel like us.

I almost felt like sitting down right there, I let out a breath and held back the tears.

Thank Pontus.

I woke up

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I practiced my Ocarina more, sitting next to some of the plants Grover has and settling the music book in front of me to try one of the basic tricks. Growing plants.

Technically it’s supposed to be done with coral and sea grass and other undersea plants, but I don’t have those. So, I just have to make due with the plants that Grover has.

Grover came in while I was mid-song, but I ignored him, the plant seems a bit brighter, just a little taller.

I smiled, it’s going alright.

Not as much as it should be, but it’s certainly improving.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

School was itching at my nerves. The constant buzzing was driving me up a wall and I was snapping quicker at people instead of doing it the smart way like Triton taught me.

I watched more Avatar and tried to resist the urge to break something.

I have no outlet, I can’t go practice my waterbending, I can’t talk to Triton, I only have Carl who just plain doesn’t understand.

School studies are getting harder and harder for me to do.

I could handle Pre-Calc thanks to all of Triton’s help in the past, and Latin wasn’t that hard either (why is every language but English easier? Should I try learning Spanish or French?), but otherwise… I kind of just gave up.

The buzzing stayed in the back of my head.

I threw myself into my books from Triton, devouring the information on Siren’s Song that I had been ignoring so far.

I practiced my Ocarina and paid attention to my clubs again some. Triton said they were good for me.

The buzzing filled the rooms when there was even a moment of silence.

I ended up kicked out of Model UN because of my lowering grades but music club had pity on me.

I practiced more.

The buzzing didn’t stop.

I snapped at a teacher one time too many, I’m not welcome back at the school next year.

What an underwhelming way to get kicked out this time.

The buzzing was unrelenting.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I’m really glad for my starglobe. I’ve just been sitting here staring at it for the last hour.

Grover keeps giving me weird looks, but… It’s just sparkly and pretty and reminds me of Triton. It reminds me of the sea that one time my mom let me “sleepover” at a friends house. I got to see the stars from the sea and it was amazing.

“Did you know your eyes change colors?”

I looked up at Grover.

“What?”

“Well, they’re normally this sharp green, like, sea green, but you’re looking at your sparkly snowglobe and your eyes just turn like, silver-gray?”

I blinked, “Do they?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s cool.”

“Hmm, I guess I get it from my mom, her’s do the same thing.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

It was the night before my Latin exam.

As much as I don’t trust Mr. Brunner, I just couldn’t figure out this one translation, and I lost the answer key.

Ugh.

I decided to go ask him, at least he would know I was trying. As long as he didn’t like, try to kill me or something, it’d be fine!

…

Hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I was almost to the door to his office, but something was off.

I stopped, realization hitting.

The buzzing was quiet.

I was almost to his door, where the buzzing is usually very loud, and there was nothing.

I frowned, was he not there? But the light is on?

The door was ajar slightly, and I stepped closer, as quiet as I can be.

“… worried about Percy, sir.”

I stopped, tilting my head. That was Grover.

My heart sank, so I was right, he is working with Mr. Brunner.

“… alone this summer?” Grover questioned, “I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-“

“We would only make matters worse by rushing him,” Mr. Brunner interrupted, “We need the boy to mature more.”

“But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-“

“Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.”

“Sir he saw her…”

“His imagination,” Mr. Brunner insisted. “The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. He may still have the pen, but the Mist over it will stop him from realizing.”

“Sir, I… I can’t fail in my duties again.” Grover’s voice was choked with emotion. “You know what that would mean.”

“You haven’t failed, Grover,” Mr. Brunner soothed. “I should have seen her for what she was. Now let’s just worry about keeping Percy-“

I shifted back, a small creak of my rubber shoe bottom on the linoleum floors echoes through the halls.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

I slipped back, seeing a shadow of something larger than Mr. Brunner in a wheelchair pass the lighted glass. It was holding an archer’s bow.

I moved, sliding into the first door I could find and pressed against the wall by the door.

I could fight if I needed too, my trident charm in hand, but… I need time to process.

A shadow went past, clop-clop-clop passing by. Like muffled hoof beats.

A large shadow paused by the window.

Mr. Brunner spoke, “Nothing, my nerves haven’t been right since the winter solstice.”

“Mine neither,” Grover said. “But I could have sworn…”

“Go back to the dorm,” Mr. Brunner told him. “You’ve got a long day of exams tomorrow.”

“Don’t remind me.”

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner’s office.

I waited there, going through what I just learned.

They’re worried about me, whether about my health of something else to do with me…

The buzzing is probably this Mist that he talked about, I’m not sure what that is, a spell of some kind I suppose. When I can talk to Triton again I’ll ask. Maybe it’s a land magic?

Mr. Brunner, whoever he is, has no idea that I know about gods and mythical beings and the like. I can use that to my advantage if he is actually a threat.

They know about the winter solstice mess, all I know is that there’s been a theft.

I frowned, are they blaming me too? And what’s this about a summer solstice deadline? That sounds bad.

Why do they need me to mature more? What do they need to worry about keeping me from? What’s going on?

One thing I’m sure of, Mr. Brunner is definitely not human. Some human animal crossover based on the sounds I heard. Horse half? Centaur? That’s the best I’ve got right now. I’ll look into it more later.

I stood in the dark waiting.

Grover is working with him though.

My chest hurt, could I trust Grover? Was he just going to attack me? Try to hurt me?

I want Triton, I want Triton so badly. He would know what to do.

But I can’t. Triton said not to contact him until things calmed down.

Based on Grover and Mr. Brunner, things are definitely not calm.

I stood in the dark.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I returned to my room when I calmed, nodding to Grover and settling back down with my notes.

“Hey,” He said, bleary-eyed. “You gonna be ready for this test?”

I glanced over, trying to bury any emotions, Triton had said that Grover might have empathic abilities and I can’t let him know what I’m feeling.

I forced a smile, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I faked a yawn, “I think I’m gonna go to bed now though. Too tired to get much more done.”

And I am tired, I’m so tired of being here.

I just want to go home, see my mom, hug her, talk to Triton.

I want to be back in the still dirty (but much improved) river and cleaning it and talking to the fish and other sea animals.

I want to go to events with Triton and talk to my merfolk friends and trade notes on our powers.

I don’t want to be here wondering if my friend is going to betray me and attack me. I don’t want to wonder if my teacher is going to try to hurt me.

I just want home.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Honestly, I fell asleep trying not to cry, so when I woke up in my probable dad’s palace, hidden in an alcove, I kinda burst into tears.

It’s like my dreams are trying to comfort me.

I curled up and cried, this year sucks.

Everything first semester was bad, but since the solstice I’ve been so alone.

Everything aches I just want to see Triton, to talk to my friends, to not be so utterly alone.

I can’t trust Grover, I can’t trust Mr. Brunner, I certainly can’t trust any of the other students in the school.

“Oh dear…”

Soothing curls wrapped around me, banishing the cold currents that felt so like my probable dad’s palace.

A hand was on my back, I couldn’t really see through the tears though.

“Hush now little Half-Blood, it’s alright.”

I took a few minutes to calm my breathing, to stop the tears, the unknown person whispering soothing words the whole time.

When I could finally look at them, I finally saw the Titaness Tethys.

…

Oh no, don’t tell me I just cried like an idiot in front of my probable dad’s wife.

I want to curl up and die, why me.

She settled next to me in the alcove, her hand still rubbing my back, “Are you feeling better?”

I swallowed, nodding.

“Yes Tethys-ran” I whispered.

Using the proper terms of respect are important. Ran is for queen, which she is, Ari would be for king.

She smiled at me, “There, that’s better. Let’s get you something to eat hmm?”

I nodded, letting her tug me out of the alcove.

“We still have only caught the beginning of your name little half-blood, starts with a P right?”

I flushed, “It’s Percy, Tethys-ran.”

“Ah, then a pleasure to meet you Percy-tou”

I flushed, tou is used for children regardless of gender, it’s basically calling them cute little one.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you to, Tethys-ran.”

She led me to the kitchens it seems. There’s a lot of noise as they work on making the food.

Her hand was still on my back, it was grounding.

“Do you have any favorites?”

She was looking at me.

“Oh uh, I like water chestnuts? And uh frozen Plumose? Um…”

She smiled, “Any meats?”

“… tuna?”

She nodded, nudging me forward as she spoke rapid Halmaheran.

“Get something -- him to eat, something on the --- end. And something -- snack on. And some --- if you --.”

I couldn’t catch everything that she said, unfortunately, but I’m pleased I caught as much as I did. She was talking really fast and had an accent I don’t know.

It took only a few minutes before she was ushering me out, a few bowls of food in her hands.

I ended up sitting with her in another alcove, nibbling on the snacks she got me. And sucking clean water from one of the plants, usually used for that purpose. Not like you can have cups with drinks underwater.

She let us eat quietly, her gaze on me.

I glanced at her, then looked away again.

“You seem to find yourself in our palace fairly often Percy-tou.”

I shifted, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why.”

She hummed, “It’s no fault of yours, though you should learn how to control your dream walking.”

I frowned, “Dream walking?”

She smiled, “That’s what this particular branch of prophetic dreaming is called, though the technical name is Hioipihaiho.”

I frowned, Halmaheran.

“You mind effectively leaves your body and travels to another place. It is different from Ahioimua, which is looking into the future of the place you are, Imuaireira, which is seeing the future or other places, Ahiomuri, which is seeing the past of your current location, and Amuritereira, seeing the past of another place.”

I wished I had my notebook to take notes.

“Dream walking is simply traveling, it’s the most common form of prophetic dreaming in Half-Bloods. None of them technically require dreaming, though it is the easiest way to receive the visions of the other forms.”

Okay that’s interesting, so I could do this awake… How would that work?

“Though slipping through the shields of our palace to prevent entrance from those trying to come is impressive. I’m very curious as to how you’ve done so accidentally.”

I chewed on one of the nuts in my snack bowl, “I don’t know, I just started showing up here.”

She nodded, “Well, it’s certainly interesting.”

It must be because Oceanus is my dad? Is this more evidence towards that? I have a lot of really solid evidence now.

I kinda want to say that I know, but I promised Triton I wouldn’t ask or talk about my immortal parent. It would interfere with my safety.

So, I kept my mouth shut and resisted the urge to tell her.

“What had you so upset? When you first arrived?”

I nibbled on one of the tuna pieces, “I uh… Just had a stressful week.”

I ducked my head.

“Oh? Anything in particular?”

“I have a lot of big tests, and found out a friend isn’t actually a friend…”

She hummed, “A sad thing to learn.”

“Yeah…”

She ran a hand through my hair, I peeked up.

She smiled, “Friends come and go like the tides, it is good to learn from your time with them, and they will leave a mark on you. But don’t let them hold you back or cling to what has passed. If they are not your friend accept that and move forward, else you will drown.”

I relaxed, she’s not wrong. Grover was apparently not really trying to be my friend, he was spying on me?

Regardless of what he was doing, I just have to accept it.

It hurts, but… it would be better for me to move on.

I nodded, “Thanks.”

“Well, I believe it is time for you to wake. I’ve already held you here longer than you should’ve been.”

She gathered our bowls and flicked away.

Almost immediately I felt the yank at me. Like a strong current tugging me away.

“Stay safe Percy-tou.”

Oh.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I finished the Latin exam.

I know that I messed up like half the grammar, but the translation to English wasn’t too hard, I could use context for some of the grammar, and I’m good at the word definitions so that was easy at least. The few history questions were annoying, but I didn’t struggle too badly.

The buzzing in my ear made it hard to focus though.

I think I managed a C? Maybe even a B if my guessing for the grammar was good enough.

I’ll just have to wait and see I guess.

I started to head out when Mr. Brunner called me back.

I swallowed back my fear that he found out about me overhearing him last night, he wouldn’t call me out for that in front of the class.

“Percy,” he said. “Don’t be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It’s… it’s for the best.”

My heart sank, I know that I can’t trust him, really, I do, but… I couldn’t help but like him as a teacher.

It hurt to hear him say that, in front of the whole class too.

The other students snickered, Nancy sent me a smug grin.

“Okay, sir.” I mumbled.

“I mean…” Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn’t sure what to say. “this isn’t the right place for you. It was only a matter of time.”

What does he mean by that?! That I’m destined to be kicked out? That despite the high standards he’s been holding me to he had zero faith in me? That he was going to insure I would be kicked out if it wasn’t something else?

“Right,” I whispered.

“No, no,” Mr. Brunner said. “Oh, confound it all. What I’m trying to say… you’re not normal, Percy. That’s-“

“Thanks,” I blurted, holding back my fear that he could know about my power, “Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.”

I bolted, hearing his call as I fled.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The last day of term had finally arrived.

I gathered up my notebooks, my waterskin, my assorted gifts from Triton and my friends, Carl in his new transportable tank, and carefully put everything up in my two bags, my waterskin on top. My suitcase held the extra and all of my clothes.

The other guys were talking about their plans for their breaks.

They’re all juvenile delinquents like me, kids that can’t manage it in other schools, but they’re rich ones.

Doesn’t mean I have to let them know that I’m not doing much unless Triton can contact me soon. I probably shouldn’t even go to the river until Triton gets ahold of me.

One of them asked what I was doing this summer.

“I’ll be visiting some of my friends overseas. I haven’t seen them since winter break.” I flashed them a bright smile that hid the ache in my chest as they questioned me more.

“Where do they live?”

“Oh, on some islands a bit out. They’re a bit spread out, so I’ll probably move around some.”

“That’s cool, looking forward to it?”

“Yeah,” I grinned, “They’re a lot of fun.”

They went back to talking about their trips but did leave an opening for me to join if I wanted.

I didn’t, they were all kind of jerks to Grover, but I appreciated it.

The only person that I was nervous about saying goodbye to was Grover. Even with Tethys’s advice, even knowing that he may try to harm me, it’s so hard to let it go.

Turns out I don’t have to yet though because he’s coming with me. We have tickets on the same Greyhound bus to Manhattan.

Seems suspicious.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover is clearly very nervous, glancing around and down the aisles, watching the passengers. It was similar to how he acted every time we left Yancy. I ducked my head and didn’t say anything about it.

“Hey Percy?”

I glanced at him, “Yeah?”

“I uh, I know that uh, that we’re going different ways this summer. But…. I thought, uh, here-“

He handed me a card, “Just take this, in case you need me this summer.”

I took the card, which is in the most obnoxious fancy script that took me a minute of squinting at to read.

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

My heart almost stopped, Half-Blood Hill.

What does this have to do with Half-Bloods?

“What’s Half-“

“Don’t say it aloud!” He yelped, “That’s my, um… summer address.”

I stared at him, is he trying to trick me into going into some sort of trap?

“Okay, so if I want to visit.”

“Or… or if you need me.” He nodded.

“Why would I need you?”

I couldn’t help the bitter words. How could I trust him after what I overheard the other day?

Grover blushed right down to his Adam’s apple. “Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you.”

I stared at him, the likely mythological being that I’m half convinced is supposed to be assassinating me.

“Grover, what exactly are you protecting me from?”

Could I have misunderstood?

Suddenly there was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced we’d all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everyone else, and my senses were on fire.

It was like a web of feeling, fabric flowing over me, almost sparking as it moved.

My head snapped around, on the other side of the road, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

There, next to it in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, sat three old ladies knitting the biggest pair of socks I’ve ever seen.

And those old ladies were... dangerous.

The energy I could tell was there, it was overloading my senses.

I couldn’t feel anything but the crackling fabric flowing over me.

The lady on the right knitted one of the socks, the lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn that made me feel like a knife was pressed to my throat.

The combined feelings made me want to claw at my skin, what is this? Who are they? What’s going on?

The three ladies were looking right at me. I rubbed at my arms.

Grover made a strangled sound and I glanced at him. Just barely resisting bolting from the area.

“Grover?” I said. “Hey, man—”

“Tell me they’re not looking at you. They are, aren’t they?”

I swallowed, oh dear.

“Yeah, why?”

The lady in the middle took out a pair of scissors, massive scissors—gold and silver, long bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

“We’re getting on the bus,” he told me. “Come on.”

I stood still, staring at the old ladies with the scissors that made my head spin, their presence that made electric fabric rub at my skin, and their yarn that felt like knives prickling my neck.

“Come on!” He called, prying open the door and climbing inside.

The old ladies still watched me, and the middle one lifted the scissors.

I could hear the snip of her cutting the yarn from across all four lanes of traffic. Her two friends bundled up the electric-blue socks and I felt the at this point familiar buzz fill my head. The three ladies were gone between one blink and the next.

At the fear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The prickling of a knife, the electric fabric, the head spinning all faded, almost entirely gone.

The passengers cheered.

“Darn right!” yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. “Everybody back on board!”

We got back on, the buzzing still nudging me. I pushed my power as hard as I could, shoving the buzzing trying to reach me away.

Grover looked sick, I didn’t feel great myself, but the buzzing had faded almost entirely.

“Grover?”

“Yeah?”

I hesitated, should I? I want to know… I need to know if he’s actually a threat.

I licked my lips, “What are you not telling me?”

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. “Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?”

“There were three old ladies, two knitting giant socks, one holding yarn. The one in the middle cut the yarn, then they left.

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers, one I recognized from my time with Triton. A symbol to ward of evil. With magic behind it, it can do small things. Otherwise it’s just a simple hand motion.

“You saw her snip the cord.”

“Yeah. So?” Who were those old ladies? Nothing has bothered my senses like them before.

“This is not happening,” Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. “I don’t want this to be like last time.”

I scowled, “What last time?”

“Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.”

“Grover,” I snapped, because I just want answers! “What are you talking about?”

“Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.”

I stared at him, there’s no way I’m letting him know where I live. I’m not endangering my mom like that.

“Sure.”

He continued to bemoan my fate, looking at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I’d like best on my coffin (Forget-me-nots so I can boss people around even when I’m dead).

[coconut-makris]

Commisions info/ TOS

✦✦✦ GENERAL INFO ✦✦✦

By purchasing any of my services you're automatically accepting my Terms of Service and being obligated to follow them. 

First come, first served. I will however always notify you the moment I start working on your comission.

You are only purchasing the digital file. Not the printed art.

I will send you the full resolution picture with signature by email but my signature will remain on it.

I reserve the right of canceling your petition if you have been proved troublesome or disrespectful in any way.

As an artist, my art is constantly evolving, so there might be slight differences between the samples in my gallery and the illustration you will receive (linearts style, coloring method, composition...). They are very slight changes, but please keep that in mind.

✦✦✦ COPYRIGHT / USAGE POLICY ✦✦✦

As the artist, I hold every right to the produced artwork, so I may do whatever I wish with it, in example;           ♦ Post/display the picture anywhere I want (giving you proper credit as the owner of the characters).           ♦ Promote myself with it in any place

As a commissioner you may:           ♦ Repost the art on other sites with proper credit to my social media or page (with no profit purposes).           ♦ Print the art and even make whatever merchandising you want as long as it's only for your personal use and not for sale.           ♦ Use it as decoration for your deviantART profile, Facebook avatar, Skype... as long as it's a personal account and you're not making any profit with it.

You are NOT ALLOWED to:           ♦ Change, modify, trace or use my works without my permission.           ♦ Reproduce the copyrighted artwork commercially (meaning making money of it in any way)           ♦ Take credit for the art.           ♦ Remove my watermarks /signatures..

✦✦✦ PAYMENT PROCESS ✦✦✦

I will only accept Paypal.

50% is required for me to start and 50% after I finish.

Paypal payments will only be accepted in EUROS If you don't know how much prices are in your currency please use a conversor.

Do not send me any kind of payment until I have confirmed I can accept your commission. Always wait for my instructions first!

If you wish to tip me for doing a good job you can do it through my ko-fi. I will deeply appreciate it ♥

✦✦✦ HOW TO ORDER? ✦✦✦

Contact me via mail: makrisart7@gmail.com or DM on Twitter/Instagram and send me THIS FORM with the needed references attached.

Wait for my answer so we can discuss further details.

✦✦✦ WORK PROCESS ✦✦✦

Contact me (via mail or MD) and send me THIS FORM filled.

After I have confirmed that I accept the comission you have to send the first payment. If I don’t receive the payment in the next 48 hours I will consider it cancelled.

I will start then and I will send you the sketch so you can make the changes you want before I proceed to the lineart.

Once I finish I will send the finished product with a heavy watermark, I will only send the clear file after the rest of the payment. ______________________

I will try to finish your pic ASAP, however, please be patient with me. I will always tell you the moment I start working on your comission. Accepting does not mean I instantly start working, I may have previous orders to do first. Average time takes between 1-3 weeks depending on the difficulty of the work.

I will always inform you if something comes up and there is a delay with the art.

If you need your commission to be finished by a certain date (example; the commission is a birthday present for someone) you must state it in the form. Depending on the urgency I may have to charge extra.

✦✦✦ CHANGES ✦✦✦

I can make all the changes you want in the sketch phase until the picture is to your liking. After that I will consider the sketch as final and proceed to the lineart, meaning I don’t accept any other change thereafter.

Once the picture is finished, I can do small changes such as color adjustments and/or adding tiny details I may have forgotten.

✦✦✦ REFUNDS ✦✦✦

I will refund 100% of the payment only if I have not started working on the sketch. Once I have started the sketch I can refund 50% of the payment. Once I reach the lineart stage there will be no refunds.

You have no right to cancel or demand a refund from the artist under any circumstances after payment is received.

If you file a chargeback against me on Paypal, your right to everything I have ever made for you will be retracted and I have the right to sell the copyrighted artwork to new buyers. Also note that you will be blocked and you won't be able to purchase anything from me anymore (commissions, adopts...). Your name and info will be publicly posted everywhere for others to watch out.

 ANY STATEMENT CAN BE BOUND TO CHANGE IF DISCUSSED WITH ME, THE ARTIST, PRIOR TO THE COMMISSION.

[sloforum-blog]

How to Leverage Online Forums For Blog Traffic

A discussion board demands members to be able to be all that it may be. Most every discussion board owner out there does whatever they presumably can to encourage members to be active and to make their discussion board nice so that more members be a part of. Encouraging membership on a message discussion Click here for read Blog board is probably not a simple job to many people but it isn't not possible or even near it. There are various totally different methods that a forum proprietor can use to encourage membership on their discussion board and growing their discussion board into an active online neighborhood.

If you open your new discussion board, it will be slow at first until you will have a workforce of members prepared to help you launch it. If you don't have that type of staff, it'll take you to get it began. It is best to start by treating the discussion board like a weblog. Begin making new matters, topics that isn't found wherever else but nonetheless contribute one thing worthy. Fake that individuals are studying them however just not commenting. Make as many subjects as you want every SloForum day and post them frequently. This can be a standard apply for the first couple of days and even weeks of your forum being online. It is advisable to focus on filling your forum with loads of content material for readers to touch upon in the event that they determine to join the discussion board. If there is no content on the forum, is the discussion board actually worth becoming a member of? You can not make a forum and expect members to do all the work, that isn't how it works!

One method to get members on a discussion board is to help another forum out in trade for posts. A put up trade is the place you submit one other discussion board and that forum owner matches the variety of your posts on your discussion board. It's just like the previous saying, you scratch my back and I will scratch your again! When you do put up exchanges, you must at all times make great quality posts on different forums because you will likely get it in return. The opposite beauty of post exchanges is you possibly can often post your forum hyperlink in your signature as nicely and that might carry more members in. You can even attempt providers like Put up Loop where you submit on different forums for points while permit you to list your discussion board to be posted on. Submit Loop has a score system so it is doubtless that posters will give higher quality posts because they want a better rating from you.

When you start getting actual members, it is best to start growing friendships with them. If you develop nice associates on your forum, then those friends will probably be loyal members as they'll wish to converse with you. It is a good suggestion to keep them on your forum so don't give out messenger addresses or personal social network addresses, the web sites that will let them converse with you off you discussion board that's! You need to always deal with very loyal members effectively, too! Don't let them abuse the foundations or something like that but take into account their options and attempt to make them as glad as attainable. Once you get an excellent group of loyal members, you possibly can request they invite their mates to help you get the discussion board bigger. Loyal associates will help their associates out!

Get your self recognized in your area of interest by turning into an professional in it. Join other related forums, to not promote however to become well-known for that niche. Blog about your area of interest so that an increasing number of people see extra about you in association with the area of interest. If you like to put in writing, release a few free eBooks concerning the area of interest, videos and articles on article websites like this one. Another good factor is to develop relationships with the other experts of a niche and turn into mates with them, good friends. Other individuals will start to discover this and need to develop a relationship with you! In the end, individuals who read this part of the article will likely be seeking to develop a relationship with you, the niche skilled.

Internet boards are a great way to interact, converse, build group, promote products and ideas, and generate content material and relationships online. Despite the fact that forums have existed since before the online, there are numerous people who nonetheless do not use boards, who do not know about them, or who suppose that internet forums are more limited than they are. This 5 half collection provides a fundamental introduction to net boards and solutions eight primary however important questions; addresses one of the negative facets of forums--haters--and learn how to hold a wholesome discussion board; discusses the basics of working a forum; is frank about common pests and issues which frequently infest boards; and eventually provides 5 helpful reminders about forums.

Thus far, this collection has addressed fundamental questions on boards in addition to considered one of boards' greatest problems: haters. Happily, you learn quickly how you can cope with them. In case Click here for Wikipedia you've been bitten by the forum bug, you're probably contemplating operating your own forum. This article addresses 4 key things to keep in mind when considering operating your individual forum.

The individual or individuals who management a discussion board are often known as that discussion board's "directors," or "admins" for brief. These are the individuals with the best degree of entry, who could make any change at any stage of the forum. You possibly can identify these customers by particular colors or textual content next to their posts. For instance, administrators could have the word "Administrator" next to their display screen title or avatar.

Directors typically give regular customers special privileges on their forums. These special customers are normally known as "moderators," or "mods" for brief. Mods are type of just like the police of the forum - they look ahead to violations of the discussion board rules and dole out discipline accordingly. That is the job they need to do in trade for being given special powers (reminiscent of the flexibility to delete posts) by the admins. Admins can revoke these powers at any time if they feel that the mods are not doing their jobs proper.

When you're willing to spend a few bucks a month on it, it couldn't be easier. There are a couple of very low priced discussion board hosting providers that will handle all the pieces for you - you simply have to allow them to know some fundamentals like what you want your discussion board to be called, what URL you want people to access it at, and so on.

It's also attainable to purchase a shared internet hosting account at a provider and to install and configure the discussion board software your self. Obviously, this will likely be a greater funding of time and assets in your half to study the ins and outs of a selected discussion board software program package deal. Plus, you continue to must pay the shared host supplier, so unless you're using the hosting house to host blogs or other websites, it is not pretty much as good of a deal as just using one of many easy discussion board hosts.

Lastly, it is possible to purchase or lease your own dedicated server and to put in forum software on there, but this selection is certainly reserved for people who find themselves concerned with forum internet hosting many forums at once or in reselling their area to others keen on internet hosting boards. (For those who go this route, you can even change into your personal mini shared host!)

It sounds obvious, however crucial thing is content material. In case your forum is hooked up to a larger web site, then you already have content - you simply have to ensure folks see the hyperlink to your discussion board and want to go there to debate your content.

In case your forum is not connected to a web site, then it is advisable to be sure that Google and the opposite engines like google are indexing your forum. Examine your search rank by typing in some phrases you assume are associated to your discussion board and taking a look at the place your discussion board is within the search results. Are you on the first page? Are you the primary hit? Strive starting some threads on your forum with prompts for individuals to debate. You may be shocked how rapidly people will begin posting if the topics interest them.

[scrawnydutchman]

Why “Justice League” is One of the Best Shows Ever Made

Let’s talk about one of the hottest topics of the week . . . the Justice League. What is perhaps the most exciting and mindblowing crossover superhero team in comic book history, the idea of DC comic legends like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and many others coming together to fight off the baddest villains in the DC multiverse is an idea too good and too profitable to pass up. The team has seen many incarnations across many mediums over the years. Many are heartfelt and memorable, others we’d like to forget. But Today I‘m talking about my introduction to the team; Bruce Timms animated run on the JL and the rise of the larger expanded DC animated universe, also known as the “Timm-verse“. After all, what better time to talk about this show than it’s 16th anniversary?

Oh, also the JL movies out I guess. Yeah, cool.

Premiering on November 16th, 2001, the Justice League animated series was an in-canon spinoff of the previous highly praised series Batman TAS and Superman TAS, both also produced by Bruce Timm. It offered everything it’s predecessors offered and more with tighter, more concise animation with fewer errors, faster paced action, thicker plots and schemes and best of all an unforgettable dynamic between the main cast. For all these reasons, It is easily my all time favorite TV show, and it gets even better with Unlimited. I’ve been thinking a lot about just how amazing this show is and watching some episodes in retrospect, it hasn’t gotten old in the slightest. Here are just some of the reasons why Justice League and Justice League Unlimited kick so much ass.

1. A strong showcase of multiple DC characters

When writing a long format piece like a film or television show, juggling multiple main characters is no easy task. It’s a great challenge to make each character involved feel real, distinct and like there really is crucial difference between them and the rest of the cast. Without doing this, there’s no real reason for an audience member to pick their favorite outside of who is the most physically powerful (hence Power Rangers). The best way to go about it without resorting to clichés too often is to make a central theme of the show all about interaction; express each characters personality in how they react and perceive each other. This show gets it, and as a result has excellently portrayed DC icons really show their chops in a way where everyone can pick a favorite based on their personal preference. It’s hilarious to watch the stern, cynical, no-nonsense Batman work off of the lighthearted, goofball Flash, and it feels extra sweet when in spite of their comedic banter they really express that they have nothing but respect for each other. The Flash is made all the more goofy by Batman and Batman is made all the more bruiting by Flash. Then of course you also have the noble boyscout Superman, the proud but compassionate Wonder Woman, the militant authoritative marine Green Lantern, the spunky and hard hitting Hawkgirl, and finally, the stoic and softspoken Martian Manhunter. All of them become lovable for different reasons and bring their own signature charm to the show. Not only do they work well off of each other, they each get a healthy dosage of screentime to do something silly, something badass, something sad, something touching. This show perfectly balances these heroes to really make them seem like a team and it becomes a fun discussion to talk about who in the group is your favorite. Not like a lot of other DC properties where they constantly insist Batman should be your favorite because he can beat anyone, solve anything by himself and really, if not for him the rest of the characters would apparently be incompetent assholes. Here he’s WAY more interesting because he still has badass moments but he‘s allowed to need help every once in a while. It also helps that the show has SUPREME acting talent like Kevin Conroy, Phil Lamarr, Clancy Brown and George Newbern.

This element of the show only gets better in Unlimited by the way. the team expands to lesser known characters like Green Arrow, Vigilante, Vixen and so on, and each one of them gets their fair share of badass likeable moments and nobody ever feels like they ever get too much or too little exposure. Except the Question and Star Girl. the Question should have been on screen way more often because he’s the best part of Unlimited and Star Girl was the worst part of it because everytime she appeared she was a snarky condescending bitch who ended up getting her ass kicked more than anyone else. 

2. Great Action (and Animation in General)

*this show has more than a few bitchslap moments and I love it for that*

Now, I’ve mentioned before and still hold onto the opinion that Justice League is the best work of Bruce Timm’s. I know many people hold Batman TAS to that stature for it’s intense drama and theming, and I certainly agree it is groundbreaking, but JL and ESPECIALLY JLU perfected what Batman TAS established. Batman TAS was the first look into what would become the DCAU and it very clearly shows that the show writers and animators were still trying to find their voice. If you watch the Batman TAS (especially earlier episodes) with a trained eye for animation you’ll notice more than a few consistency errors, with awkward stills and elements of character designs dropping out of frame here and there. JL and JLU is consistently more crisp and the errors are MUCH farther and fewer between. Not to mention the action and pacing are just better. I LOVE Batman TAS, I never want to make the impression that I don’t, but it DID have a tendency to move a touch too slowly at times, especially for what were supposed to be intense action scenes. In justice League the fighting is dynamic, it’s snappy, it‘s crackling with energy and creativity. Every punch, every kick, every spit in the eye really feels painful due to how quickly and smoothly it happens; you feel the weight of all of it. Each and every fight has a genius setup and plays further into enhancing how badass every character is. Not to mention the stakes are always high, be it on a physical level of how many people could die in the process or what the fight represents in who is in the right and who is in the wrong. One of the best examples is the fight between Superman and Captain Marvel. The context is Superman thinks Luthor is hiding a sinister motive because he can’t find it in himself to trust him, while Captain Marvel is defending Luthor by saying he believes in the merit of giving people the benefit of the doubt. The physical fight really came down to a difference in ideology and Superman losing sight of who he was. The fights are never random; they always serve the theme of the show greatly and the outcome of them further instills the drama of the subject matter. Going along the same example, Captain Marvel delivers a chilling and biding speech at the end of the episode that gives the conflict a bitter sweet resolution. I love it.

Oh, did I mention it’s all in GLORIOUS frame by frame? Yeah, this is right up there with Avatar: The Last Airbender as some of the most glorious and high quality animation to ever hit the airwaves. The easing, the anticipation, the reaction, the timing, it’s all on point.

3. Great plots, better execution

This show has TONS of iconic episodes and plots, whether they be wholly original or inspired by a comic book plot of the same name (like “The Man Who Has Everything”, the only Alan Moore adaptation approved by the man himself). The conspiracy about Superman murdering president Luthor, the invasion of Darkseid, the dark heart, the hijacking of the annihilator armor, both fights with the android Amazo. I honestly can’t think of a single bad episode of this show. I think the reason this shows stories are so strong are largely due to the reasons I already listed above. They play largely into character interaction which usually perpetuates some sort of central theme of the episode (and in some cases we get a showcase of a one time appearing DC character like Captain Marvel or Deadman). They also showcase well choreographed, well animated action that perfectly compliments the conflict and feels very deliberate. This shows greatest tool however, is how it uses escalating stakes. when making an action oriented show or movie, in order to keep the action truly compelling, you have to make it feel like there is something being lost as a consequence of the action. The reason why so many people don’t like Superman is because they don‘t see the drama in it if they feel like he can never lose. But this show ALWAYS makes sure there is something to be lost like mass destruction, the health of our heroes, sometimes straight up death. Or sometimes the fight results in a greater lesson being learned. The point is, the fights are never inconsequential. Something changes as a result of what has transpired. This seems so blatantly obvious but You’d be surprised how much media just throws a bunch of mindless shit at the wall and thinks it’s engaging because there’s a lot of shit going on and that‘s the only thought you have to give to it. This doesn't just apply to the physical fighting either. Everything that goes on is governed by character decision making, NOT by coincidence or happenstance. It’s such an easy trap to fall into to just have shit happen to people out of nowhere and on any other given day it would have never transpired, but real compelling storytelling happens as a result of who is in control of the situation, not nobody having it. So much of new fiction has an issue of “this guy robbed a bank JUST as Spidey was swinging around one day“ or “they were in a bad trap but luckily Batman had JUST the right gadget for the occasion” and other deus ex machina shit where the only reason the day is saved is basically because the heroes got lucky, but here each and every hero involved actually influences something in this show. It also helps that they made the DCAU more balanced physical wise so that more characters are actually a presentable threat to Superman. Also, though not completely necessary, this show will often reference previous episodes as justification for characters actions which makes for great continuity.

Conclusion:

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited is fantastic for all the same reasons many shows out there are fantastic. It gracefully juggles attention between a diverse set of characters, it perfects the Bruce Timm animation style with crisp and consistent animation and it has high stakes manifested by the characters being in control of the conflict. It certainly isn’t the first to accomplish any of these things, but it IS one of the very few shows ever put out to pull it off just so darn effectively. For those reasons among many others, Justice League is EASILY my personal favorite show of all time. Bruce Timm Himself once said it’s his favorite of his productions because it’s the only one he can go back to and still wholly enjoy every time, and I wholeheartedly agree.

[kentonramsey]

Harry Styles Isn’t The Only Reason To Tune In To GucciFest

In May, amid lockdown orders as a result of the pandemic, Gucci’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, announced that the brand would reduce the number of fashion shows it holds every year from five to two. In online diary entries, titled Notes from the Silence, Michele wrote, “I will abandon the worn-out ritual of seasonalities and shows to regain a new cadence, closer to my expressive call. We will meet just twice a year, to share the chapters of a new story. Irregular, joyful and absolutely free chapters, which will be written blending rules and genres, feeding on new spaces, linguistic codes and communication platforms.” 

Six months later, the Italian luxury brand has returned with GucciFest, a seven-day virtual fashion and film event running from November 16 to 22. During the mini-festival, not only is Gucci debuting its new collection through a series of short films, co-directed by filmmaker Gus Van Sant and Michele, but it’s also screening films by 15 other independent, young designers that are making a mark on the fashion industry.

OUVERTURE of Something that Never Ended — presented in the form of a seven-episode mini-series released over the course of the week — is notable for its approach to showcasing a new collection; it’s made even more buzz-worthy with appearances from A-listers and Gucci faces like Billie Eilish, Harry Styles (who appeared in jorts in Wednesday’s episode!), and Florence Welch. But what makes the event truly unexpected is the brand’s sharing of the platform with (and, as such, endorsement of) up-and-coming designers. So far, we’ve seen films from sustainably-minded brands like Collina Strada and Rave Review; labels that have been known to push the boundaries of gender and identity like Bianca Saunders, Mowalola, and Ahluwalia; and decidedly modern names like Gui Rosa, Rui, and Cormio. Put together by Michele and “proudly supported by the House,” the brand list rounds out with Shanel Campbell, Stefan Cooke, Charles De Vilmorin, JordanLuca, Yueqi Qi, Boramy Viguier, and Gareth Wrighton, whose films have yet to air.

“The opportunity to create a film with the support of Gucci is a lifetime opportunity,” British designer Priya Ahluwalia, the creative force behind her namesake label, tells Refinery29. Having never made a film before, she saw the partnership as an “opportunity to explore a new creative outlet” for her and the brand. Her menswear brand — that often pays tribute to her Nigerian and Indian heritage and is frequently inspired by growing up in South London in the ‘90s — specialises in patchwork-like designs, vibrant prints, and immaculate tailoring. Directed by Samona Olanipekun, the film Joy showcases these signature styles. More impactfully though, it serves as a celebration of Black culture and features a multigenerational cast of community leaders, poets, political activists, and more. 

“I have always thoroughly researched periods of Black liberation and those individuals who sought to gain it. I have so many books in my studio, and there is a certain selection that I go back to all the time. One of them is about Black teenagers in the ’70s and ‘80s, and I started to wonder what they were up to now, and how the families of people that were integral to the U.K. Black civil rights movement are doing now,” Ahluwalia says about the film. “[Olanipekun and I] decided we wanted to celebrate how amazing Black culture is and how we are allowed to express it because of the people who have fought hard before us. The film was really about the cast and all their individual stories and identities and how they relate to Black liberation.”

For her film Collina Land, New York-based Collina Strada, which has long used its NYFW time slot to raise climate awareness, created a video game in which models took on the roles of avatars and explored different worlds. “[There are] five levels — Desert World, Farm World, Ice World, Drawing World, and Underwater World — each with climate change objectives,” says the brand founder, Hillary Taymour, of the film that sees models planting virtual trees and chasing after an oversized squash. While the brand has previously done a film for its NYFW Spring 2021 presentation (which was similarly delightful and trippy), Taymour says she was “honoured to be a part of” the event. “GUCCIFEST is a new unique idea” Taymour explains. “They loved all the ideas I had and allowed me to just go for it which was a freeing experience.”

Another brand that tackled sustainability with its film is Stockholm-based label Rave Review. Known for embracing environmentally-friendly processes like upcycling, Jord, luft, eld, vatten (which translates to Earth, air, fire, water) touches on the relationship between fashion and nature — and shows an enviable array of winter-perfect coats. “The film manifests our core — sustainability in a subtle way. It’s an urban tribute to nature and earth but also to the power of standing out from a mass, by wearing a message for change,” say Rave Review’s Josephine Bergqvist and Livia Schück. According to them, when Gucci approached the brand to participate, they didn’t hesitate with their answer: “We saw it as a great opportunity to showcase in a cool context to a big audience.” 

Since the pandemic took hold, many designers have taken a step back to reassess their production practices, physical runway shows, and the archaic fashion calendar that encourages designers to put out collection after collection at a breakneck speed. Some, like Gucci, have opted out of the Fashion Month calendar to do a show on their own terms. Others have embraced more sustainable and transparent production practices, unable to ignore any longer the harmful effects that fashion overproduction has on the environment. And while a sense of collaboration has likewise been in the fashion air this year — in part maybe because of the Dries Van Noten-led open letter, signed by some of fashion’s biggest brands and retail names and calling for change in the industry; in part maybe because of the news that Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons would serve as co-creative directors at Prada — it’s still unexpected to see a partnership of this kind. Designer collaborations (like the forthcoming The North Face x Gucci collection) aside, it’s uncommon to see an established luxury brand share its platform and audience with not only younger designers, but also those whose aesthetic is different from their own.

“Meeting [the designers], I had the feeling of being an ‘us:’ We are all doing the same job. It was an interesting dialogue, the designers have their ears to the ground and are very aware,” Michele said at the Ouverture Press Conference ahead of the premiere. “We believe collaborating like this is the future,” say Bergqvist and Schück about why they were excited to have Rave Review participate. “Brands and designers should come together more as it questions a sometimes a bit excluding and elitist fashion system. In this way, Gucci uses their big influence in a very forward-thinking way.”

Watch Gucci’s OUVERTURE of Something that Never Ended episodes, as well as the designer films, as they drop every day until Sunday at GucciFest.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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Harry Styles Isn’t The Only Reason To Tune In To GucciFest published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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Texture Talk: 4 Canadian Black Women Open Up About Wearing Wigs

Welcome to Texture Talk, a weekly column that celebrates and deep dives into the dynamic world of curly hair, from crowns of curls that are free flowing to strands that are tucked away in a protective style. In today’s day and age, it shouldn’t be a secret that wig-life is alive and well, especially within the Black community, so this week we asked four local women who love rocking extensions on what wearing wigs means to them and their wig routines.

Sadé Powell, freelance writer and illustrator

Courtesy of Sadé Powell

On wig life:

“I’ve been wearing wigs on and off for six years. I love experimenting with colour, so I always purchase blonde wigs, which acts as a blank canvas for whatever colours inspire me that month. My favourite thing about wearing wigs is being able to change my style at a moment’s notice. If I’m bored of long pink hair, I’ll purchase and dye a short blue wig. It’s like being an avatar in a game! For me, hair is a means of expression. There are a lot of ways to transform hair to accentuate your style, but when you then start to incorporate wigs and extensions, things can get really creative. Being able to continuously change my hair colour using wigs, and without damaging my natural hair, has been such a fun hobby of mine. I love scrolling through Instagram for inspiration, buying the different colours I need to mix the perfect shade, or sometimes just using the colours I have at home, and experimenting. You can always cut your hair, grow it back, curl it, buy a new wig or add extensions.”

On her go-to protective style underneath:

“I typically cornrow my hair as a protective style.”

On the non-negotiables of her wig routine:

“Weekly washes and deep conditioning.”

On her hero wig care products:

“I just recently discovered Silicon Mix Bambu Hair Treatment. It’s great for restoring moisture into my wigs when they start to get frizzy.”

On her hair inspirations:

“It was @heathersanders_ who I first saw on Instagram rocking coloured wigs in blue, pink and ombre designs. She inspired me when I first started colouring my units back in 2015. Lately, I look to influencers like @nyane and @nikitadragun for colour inspiration. I love that they use wigs to create their own characters for that day, whether it’s for a party or just to grocery shop. These girls are constantly switching things up with their wig, makeup and outfit combos to create these striking fantasy looks that I really admire. They’re both very over the top and dramatic, but it reminds me to be playful with how I express myself through clothes, hair and makeup.”

Courtesy of Sadé Powell

On navigating mainstream beauty standards:

“I’ve definitely felt pressure to conform to Euro-centric beauty standards. Especially when you grow up not seeing girls like you represented on television or in advertising, you start to think that there is only one type of beautiful. You then, without even realizing it, adjust your outward appearance to fit in, and reject the parts of you that don’t. I feel like this was mostly true for me before high school, but I was lucky to be from a very diverse neighbourhood where I would see the older girls, especially Black girls, constantly experimenting with their hair. Sometimes the styles were bold and edgy, while other times they were questionable, but creative. Having their influence really helped me find my own style through hair and made me feel like I could try anything.”

Aurore Evee, bilingual communications and creative services specialist

Courtesy of Aurore Evee

On wig life:

“I bought my first wig six years ago. They’re a way for me to push my fashion style even further and play. I see them as accessories, or like makeup, and wear them when I have a specific style in mind that I want to recreate. Nine of the ten wigs I own are synthetic, and I mostly wear them for a day or two in a row. I try my best to take care of them by not applying anything on them, by combing them only before and after wearing them, and by putting them back in their boxes before going to bed.”

On her go-to protective style underneath:

“Braids, always.”

On the non-negotiables of her wig routine:

“Moisturising my own hair before doing my protective style. That way I know that when I remove my wig, I can wear my natural hair as an Afro right away.”

On her hair inspirations:

“Influencer Ambrosia Malbrough. She has been such an inspiration since the beginning of my hair journey and is still my favourite. She is so good with her hair. I love that she does everything herself and changes her hairstyle very often. I wish I had the patience to do so as well!”

Courtesy of Aurore Evee

On navigating mainstream beauty standards:

“My hair is everything to me, and I’ve had such a hair journey, like many Black women. I have felt the pressure to conform to a certain standard when I was in college; I remember wanting to have straighter hair. That’s probably why I started doing weaves back in college. Accepting my natural hair wasn’t easy, because I didn’t even know where to start. I didn’t have examples of women in magazines or on TV with their own natural hair. I didn’t know what products to use and how to avoid damage. I grew up in France where the Black community is big, but it was difficult to find hair products for my 4C curls. Some of the products I bought back then were even bad for my hair! But eventually I started going on YouTube and seeing all of these beautiful women rocking their natural hair, and I started having hope. When I started actually taking proper care of my curls, I understood that: the more I knew about my texture, the more I loved it. This has been my mantra.”

Chinenye Otakpor, rehabilitation specialist by day, fashion blogger by night

Courtesy of Chinenye Otakpor

On wig life:

“I have been rocking wigs for about 10 years now. I started in grade 10, buying my first bundle and watching tutorials on YouTube on how to make a U-part wig. My go-to wig style is always big and sassy, like my personality. I love curls, but I also wear straight hair looks that have volume. I love the versatility of wigs. They also have the ability to provide a certain kind of confidence you cannot explain. I’m sure other Black women understand what I mean by that. As a fashion blogger, my wigs complete my outfit most of the time, and allow me to project the attitude I want that outfit to give. The best part of wigs is it allows me to properly take care of my hair and maintain length without constantly exposing it to heat. The funny part that I also love is that wigs also gives me the ability to continuously confuse people in 2020. People who do not understand the concept of wigs and how it is impossible for me to be blonde today and jet black tomorrow!”

On her go-to protective style underneath:

“I normally have my hair in cornrows to keep my wig installs flat. And when I do not have my cornrows, I do Bantu knots to get that curl and volume for when I wear my hair out.”

On the non-negotiables of her wig routine:

“I would say securing my wig down with wig glue is non-negotiable. I cannot be out here getting my wig snatched and becoming a meme for the Internet! Another significant part of my routine is not over styling it or overloading it with product. My trick to refresh a stringy-looking wig is using dry shampoo.”

On her hero wig care products:

“I normally go for the Tresemme Volumizing Dry Shampoo. It adds the extra little boost my hair needs in those ‘refresh’ times. And my hero haircare product is the Giovanni Frizz Be Gone Super-Smoothing Anti-Frizz Hair Serum. I swear by this product because it leaves your strands so smooth and silky, especially when I straighten my wigs. It always makes my wigs so luscious and luxurious that I’m almost convinced it is my hair! Another product I use first after washing my wigs is the Beyond The Zone Turn Up The Heat Flat Iron Protection Spray. This is one of the best heat protectants I have tried in a while. My trick when using it is spraying it on my hands first and then working it through my hair. Because it’s an oil-based product, it can make your hair look greasy [if you apply too much].”

Courtesy of Chinenye Otakpor

On her hair inspirations:

“First and foremost I would definitely let Neal Farinah, Beyoncé’s hairstylist, bless my head with his hands. Others are @anthonycuts and @tokyostylez for wig installs. No one can slay a wig like these two talented human beings! I wish I could get my hands on one of their creations but my bank account continuously tells me to relax every time that thought crosses my mind. @romeofashionfix is also a huge hair inspiration. She has made me want pink hair or just any bold signature colour for the last year or so. I love that she has a signature hair colour and it never gets boring.”

On navigating mainstream beauty standards:

“I have definitely felt pressure to conform to the mainstream definition of beauty because it provides comfort that does not always need to be disturbed or questioned. I love my natural hair, but I cannot lie and say that I do not notice the difference in the way people look and treat me with my natural hair versus a wig. There are days I do wish I never started wearing wigs because it has conditioned this insecurity in me that makes me question my beauty and self-worth when I do not wear one. It then becomes a moment of continuous self-affirmation: to remind myself that I’m born beautiful just like my mother and that wigs never defined her beauty during her time, so why should they define my image — my self-worth? I have not fully been able to overcome that feeling yet. I just maintain a balance, and continuously remind myself that my natural hair is my crown. I think it’s our job as Black women to continuously remind each other of the beauty in our natural states.”

Francilia Odame-Nyarkoh, elementary school teacher and entrepreneur

Courtesy of Francilia Odame-Nyarkoh

On wig life:

“I’ve been wearing weaves and braids since I was ten and full head wigs since I was fifteen. For special occasions, I love to slip on my Brazilian lace front wigs. The hair is much softer and lighter, and it provides me with a look that I will never get on my own. For an everyday look, I love natural kinky hair wigs. I find that style blends in very well with my own hair. Plus, I don’t have people asking me if it’s my real hair. As a mother of four young kids, I never have time for my hair, so I love the convenience of wigs. I can just get up, slip one on and go. I don’t have to worry about pressing my hair, combing my hair, etc. Maybe in the future, when the kids get older, I will wear my hair natural.”

On her go-to protective style underneath:

“Straight cornrows to the back. Sometimes I leave a little bit of my own hair out to blend into the wig.”

On the non-negotiables of her wig routine:

“I always wear a cap underneath the wig before placing it on my head.”

On her hero wig care products:

“Got2b Glued Gel. My lace front wigs can’t survive without it. I also love using natural oils on my natural wigs made with human hair.”

On the best wig tip she’s picked up from a hair pro:

“Unless your wig is human hair, only use products labelled for synthetic wigs. Using products for real hair will stress and damage the synthetic fibres.”

On navigating mainstream beauty standards:

“My mom first relaxed my hair when I was six years old, so that right away gave me the notion that Afro hair is not beautiful. As I got older, I began to have an appreciation for natural hair. There was one major experience that gave me that ‘Aha! moment’. I had a student in my class, a beautiful Black girl with amazing Afro hair. One day she drew a picture of herself with straight hair. When I approached her to ask her why she didn’t draw her own hair, she responded by saying, ‘Because, I wish my hair was like yours.’ I was extremely saddened by this experience. I literally came to school the next day with my natural hair and didn’t even care that it wasn’t done! But in all honesty, after wearing my natural hair for a few days I realized I wasn’t really comfortable with the maintenance and look of it. So, I went back to wearing wigs. But we did have a very thorough lesson on acceptance, and we had a discussion regarding what my natural hair looks like and why I didn’t wear my natural hair. This experience taught me that, as adults, we really need to be careful of the information that we put out there (even if it’s subconscious). Ever since then, I’ve developed an appreciation for more natural looking wigs as well.”

And if you missed last week’s column, click here.

The post Texture Talk: 4 Canadian Black Women Open Up About Wearing Wigs appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Texture Talk: 4 Canadian Black Women Open Up About Wearing Wigs published first on https://borboletabags.tumblr.com/