#need to remember i can draw things besides bison

[tekkenenjoyerblue]

I have GOT to practice drawing Sagat it ain’t even funny anymore

[messrmoonyy]

- of smoking and dancing

Tess servopoulos x reader

Request- I know smoking is bad but seeing gifs of Anna smoking made me desperate to see Tess smoking it’s so hot somehow 😭😭 flirting and sharing a pack? Ahhhhhhh! ‘ combined with a bunch of requests for some kind of fluffy follow up to this drabble here

Warnings- I guess slightly ooc Tess. Shes a little awkward. A little soft. ( WC- 2.2k )

A/N- don’t smoke kids lmao. I really didn’t feel like posting this tbh. Some of my tess readers have been VILE in my ask box lately. Pls remember I am a human being. And not a word machine ready to churn out fic as you demand it.

Tess masterlist

“ you are a hard woman to find “ Tess tensed slightly as you spoke behind her, her hand loitering a little awkwardly half raised between her mouth and her side, cigarette balancing between her fingers. She collected herself quickly, bringing it back to her lips.

“ maybe you just don’t look hard enough “ that made you laugh a little, the small quiet kind meant to be shared between two people only. The kind that meant you weren’t trying to draw attention.

In all honesty she liked to think she was a little hard to find. Prided herself on her ability to go unnoticed when she chose it, slip around and keep herself to herself. She didn’t like company much. Not really. Yours though… she didn’t mind that. On the times she allowed herself to have it.

“ didn’t know you smoked “ you mused moving to stand beside her, tucking yourself into the shadowed spot behind the Bison that Tess had secluded herself to. She’d only left her house in the first place because Joel had asked, making stupid comments about you as he did. Acting like some burly Texan Cupid. Ass. But she had slipped away as soon as she’d seen the opportunity to. Not that she’d gone very far.

She didn’t quite know why she hadn’t just gone home. Or maybe she did. Maybe she knew exactly why she had chosen to hang around a little. Smoke the pack of cigarettes she’d been slowly making her way though since she’d found them. As if by some miracle they’d make her pluck up the courage to well… do something.

“ I don’t “ she didn’t. Not really. It’d never been her thing. She preferred the burning warmth of liquor than smoke. But she wanted an excuse to be outside and not look like some creeper loitering in the dark. And maybe they didn’t have the stress relieving factor of a glass of god knows what Tommy had been brewing. But they did have a little. And didn’t come with a free headache.

“ funny that… can I? “ Tess shrugged, half expecting to see you reach out and take it from her hand. But instead your leant forward a little, lips parting slightly in a way that made Tess’ skin flush. She placed it between your lips and watched you smile as you leant back, taking it from her fingers “ smokings so gross “ you sighed, blowing out a steady cloud of smoke “ specially these. How fucking old are they? “

“ I’m not forcing you to take the damn thing “ that made you smile again, tipping your head to the side to watch her light up another “ also… I don’t know. Found them in a house in the town by the creek trails “ you hummed a response, nose crinkling a little as you blew out some smoke and turned your wrist to look at the stale thing in between your fingers.

“ why you hiding away out here anyway? “ Tess shrugged leaning her arms down on the fence in front of her. You moved to stand beside her and she knew you were looking down at her without even needing to see your face. Could feel it.

“ just wanted some air “

“ sure “ you scoffed, holding your hand out over the fence to tap away the ash “ I always see you you know. How you turn up at these stupid things, hang around a little then slip away “ Tess shrugged again, glancing up at you. You flicked away your cigarette half smoked and turned to lean back against the fence, something clearly going on inside your mind that she could not figure out yet.

“ I don’t really like crowds “

“ I figured that much “ you said with a smile, glancing back down at her again in a way that made Tess’ skin flush “ you might like it if you involved yourself a little. Even just danced some “ it was Tess’ turn to scoff and she too tossed her cigarette and straightened herself out, resting her hip against the wood.

“ I don’t dance “

“ so you won’t dance with me? “ it was the first time you’d asked since she’d rejected you the last time. In the months in between you hadn’t seemed deterred by it. Had taken it on and acted as if it had never happened, continuing to try spend time with her and Tess had been trying her best not to push you away.

In fact she had been trying her hardest to actively try and be… friends. But sometimes those weird hopeful feelings would surface within her and she terrified herself. Would take two steps back from the one step she had taken forward. Not that you ever seemed particularly put off by it.

She still hadn’t answered you and gave a small sigh.

“ one dance. And if you absolutely hate it then you can run off back out here, hide away in the dark like some little cave troll and smoke your stale ass cigarettes and I’ll leave you to it “ the smile on your face as she spoke had her mind made up before she could even truly decide that she did or did not want to go back inside.

“ one “ you beamed at her as she said, truly a utter ray of sunshine on her moody and miserable self.

She tucked her cigarettes and matches down into her jean pockets and followed you back inside. As the night was wearing on it seemed a little less crowded than when she had first arrived, which she liked. Less people to look at her. Less people to talk.

Though Joel and Ellie clocked her the moment she stepped back inside, Joel looking incredibly smug watching you grab a hold of her hand and lead her out into the empty space that was serving as a dance area.

“ I think- “

“ don’t back out on me now Tess “ you said in a challenging tone, smile so cheeky she wanted to kiss it right off of you. And wasn’t that one of those terrible two steps back kind of thoughts.

“ I don’t know the steps “

“ no one knows the steps you just.. go with it. Just hold my hand I got you “ but before you could so much as twirl around the music switched from the previous upbeat song, to something slower. Her eyes darted over to where the music was coming from and she narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

Her eyes found Maria who looked incredibly proud of herself, even with Tess giving her a glare that could kill the woman she was sure. She froze as your arms looped around her neck, eyes leaving Maria to look at you instead.

“ this is better, no steps to this kinda song “ she felt like an awkward teenage boy at his first school dance, with no idea how to even look at a girl never mind dance with one.

But it felt nice. To have you holding onto her like that, standing so close there was barely an inch between the two of your bodies. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around your waist and you smiled.

“ see “ you said “ easy “ she could feel Maria’s eyes on her. Joel’s. Ellie’s. But it almost didn’t annoy her as much as it had at first. Because of the way you were looking up at her, the at you were so close together she could smell the shampoo you used. She was hyper aware of every part of your bodies that touched, skin burning and prickling at the sensation.

“ I don’t think you can class this as dancing “ you laughed a little and shrugged.

“ hmm maybe not. But it’s nice right? “ you were talking softly, directly to her and not for the prying eyes or ears of anyone around you.

She mulled over the question. Of course it was nice. It was beyond nice. It was what she had spent months pining for and moping around about. Hating herself for wanting you close and hating herself for how far she seemed to be from the woman back in Boston she had shaped herself into.

“ it’s nice “ you smiled warmly, arms tightening a little around her.

“ you’re doing me a favour too you know. Some guy from farming rotation? Been asking me to dance all night. Think he’ll get the picture now “ that made her chest tighten a little. Some stupid worry that, had you only asked her to dance to scare off some guy? “ I only really wanted to dance with you though “ you said silencing her fears before she could ever even dream to make them vocal.

The slow songs continued to play. And you both stayed there in that gentle swaying embrace, occasionally speaking about random things and fess listening diligently to everything you had to say to her. Eventually the crowd grew bored, demanding something a little more upbeat. And as much as Tess hadn’t particularly wanted to be there with you at first, she now didn’t want it to end. But unfortunately it had to.

You sighed as the song changed, taking a step back from her and rolling your eyes. Tess felt awkward again. And annoyed at herself for feeling awkward. She was ready to flee back outside and hide but you took her hand.

“ do you wanna go get some air? “ you asked her. She wondered if you sensed her discomfort, could feel the heat radiating off her “ kinda hot in here huh? “

“ yeah “

It was chilly outside. The temperature having dropped a lot since she had gone inside with you. But it was a nice contrast on her overheated skin, a nice break from the noise too. There were a few people lingering around, a few kids running around and playing with sticks as if they were swords. It made her smile.

“ I love being outside at night“ you mused, sitting yourself down on one of the benches outside. She slotted herself in beside you, chill escaping her as you shuffled close to her “ pretty. Calm “ Tess noticed you still hadn’t let go of her hand that you had grabbed to lead her back outside

Tess said nothing. Instead tried to internally process the entire situation. The night as a whole. How much she had enjoyed allowing herself to be in your company.

“ oh oh look. See him over there? That’s the one I told you about “ you said and nudged her with your shoulder, nodding over to a man leaving the bison looking a little worse for wear.

“ he seems… nice “ you laughed at that and snuggled a little closer to Tess “ you cold? “

“ hmm little “ she hesitated for a moment before freeing the arm trapped between you both and looping it around your shoulders. She felt you physically relax against her, sighing softly. The feelings were creeping again. And the fear that came alongside them. The fear of being vulnerable. Of letting someone in.

“ so you don’t. You don’t like him? “ she spoke in some attempt to derail her thought process.

“ I don’t like him “ you said immediately, not even a second thought “ I like someone else “ her chest hurt. A pang deep down that she couldn’t ignore if she tried.

And she hated it. She hated it so much. That she had allowed herself to feel. To strip back the layers of scary Boston Tess, leave herself some silly little crush and let herself be vulnerable.

“ I’m sure they’re very lucky “ she practically whispered.

“ they don’t even realise “

You turned your head slightly, cold nose brushing against her neck. She suddenly felt warm again. An anxious warmth radiating from her chest in a way she was unfamiliar with. Her old self would be laughing at her.

“ have you told them “ she felt you smile, felt the way your cheeks lifted and a small laugh vibrated past your lips.

“ the signs are obvious “ your face lifted from her neck and was suddenly incredibly close to hers. She licked her lips nervously. She wanted to kiss you. God did she want to kiss you. Old Tess would’ve. Old Tess would’ve kissed you months ago.

But that wasn’t her anymore. This was her. Sat with her arms around a girl that she liked. But didn’t like her. She was a fool. Really she was.

“ you’re a very smart woman Tess “ you started, voice low. Soft “ But fuck you’re oblivious as hell sometimes “ and then your lips were against hers, kissing her softly but with a quiet determination. She froze at first, unsure on how to react. But then she was kissing you back, hand reaching up to cup your cheek. Your hand twisted into the collar of her sweater like you didn’t want her to let go.

And she didn’t plan on it. Kissing you softly, slowly, savouring every single moment in case you decided you regretted it and she’d never get to kiss you again.

It seemed to last forever, so sensual and slow and she forgot where she was. Forgot about everything other than how incredible it felt to kiss you, to feel your cold hands in the collar of her sweater. To feel your cheeks flush with warmth under her fingers. She could taste the smoke, smell the fruitiness of your hair, the softness of your skin.

She didn’t want it to end. Didn’t want to stop.

But all good things must eventually come to an end.

When you did finally pull away it was barely a few centimetres, brushing your nose against hers before pressing your foreheads together. Her thumb was brushing softly across your cheekbone, reluctant to let you go.

“ you should’ve let me do that a long time ago “ you whispered, a smile tugging at your lips.

“ maybe I should’ve “

[faangirl101]

Burning Heart: Pt 3

Burning heart masterlist

Pairing: Zuko x reader, Zuko x y/n

Tags: Enemies to lovers, slow burn

Summary: Raised mostly by yourself, you made a living for your youth years as a maid in one of the richest families in Ba sing se, Beifongs. There Toph, a blind young rich girl, taught you earth bending and also became your new family. Not that you would admit that to her. Together you escape Ba sing se on the back of a flying bison with the Avatar, in a mission to take back the world from the fire nation. But on the journey you didn’t plan to team up with the Fire prince himself, and you definitely did not plan to get butterflies around him. But you couldn’t possibly catch feelings for a fire bender right? They ruined your life and took everything of value from you. But you couldn’t lie to your burning heart.

Warnings: swearing

I thought that since Toph was actually blind now, feet burned beyond recognition, that she would go easy on me today. I was clearly wrong. She was quickly up on her feet again (pun intended). Toph had been teaching me earth bending in secret since i was a maid to her family so her tough teaching techniques were no surprise. She had me and Aang working to the bone before we finally, covered in sweat, got a break. Or more like I got a break while Aang had his next bending lesson. Fire. His first. I couldn't help my curiosity as I stood leaned against the closest wall watching Zuko in his professor role.  The balcony of the upside down pagoda in the temple was hot. Sweat was climbing up my back as I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Zuko seemed to catch Aang's hyper demaoner “I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in it of itself is not something to fear.” Aang didn't meet his eyes but sighed deeply instead “Okay. Not something to fear”.Zuko nodded as he closed his fists. “But if you don't respect it”, he raised his voice so it echoed through the temple “it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!”. I held back the laugh threatening at the picture of Zuko with tensed eyes and a yelping Aang. Zuko clearly picked the “bad cop” technique when it came to teaching, just like Toph. He crossed his arms over his strong chest and took a step backwards “Now show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make”. Aang inhales nervously as he hesitates and moves out his arms. I can see fear in his eyes as they focus on the palm of his hand. A small, almost impossible to catch, cloud of smoke appears. But as fast as it comes it dissipates to nothing. The look on Aang was a blend of disappointment and relief.

Aang looked up hopefully “Maybe i need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?”. Zuko raised an eyebrow “Good idea, You might wanna take a couple steps back”. Even if he wasn't talking to me I obliged and moved further back. I hadn't seen him in action up close yet. I was unsure what to expect but that was definitely not it.  With a grunt Zuko opens his tightly closed fist to let out…. a flame smaller than the palm of my hand. Aang, supportive as he was, applauded at this disappointing display. Me? i bursted out laughing, finally alerting them of my presence. They both sharply turned to me, who was doubled over in laughter. “You might wanna take a couple steps back?”I wiped away fake tears “What was that? That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!”. Zuko did not take that mockery ease as he pursed his lips hard enough to break his jaw.  Aang interrupted Zuko before he could yell at me “I thought it was...nice”. He smiled slightly and shrugged which made it even harder to hold back my smile.

Zuko, annoyed at my amused face, tried to prove me wrong. He let out a loud grunt, which made a wave of excitement go through my stomach. But I pretended I didn't even notice it. His next three attempts resulted in very very small flames similar to the first. Defeated he glares frustrated down at his palms “what is happening”. Aang rubbed his head, trying to comfort Zuko “maybe it's the altitude”.I left my safe spot to move my way to them “Or maybe you can't firebend anymore, which is like the only reason we took you in”. Zuko’s burning eyes just lit my amusement more “oh oh! i call dibs on Zuko’s room when we throw him out”. Aang stretches his smaller hand out to stop me from upsetting anybody further. Zuko scrowls as he turns his back at me with clearly better self control than I thought he had. Time passes and Zuko keeps pushing himself with no improvement. Aang was sitting beside me on a broken pillar as we watched Zuko deliver a pointless blast after another. “that one kind of felt hot”, Aang bursted out as he got on his feet. I snickered at his comment, as I swung my legs against the pillar. But Zuko got angry, angrier than he had ever become after any of my comments. “Don't patronize me! You know what it’s supposed to look like!”. He was right, I had seen many fire benders but no one was as worthless as Zuko at the moment. “He didn't need to patronize you, you do that very well on your own”. Zuko aimed a flame at me that was even worse than his previous ones “Shut up!”. Aang held up his hands in defense “ Sorry, Sifu Hotman”. I bursted out laughing so hard it hurt the depths of my stomach.  Zuko raises his arms above his head and throws them back with a shout of frustration. Aang gringes at his sudden outburst. “And stop calling me that!”, Zuko yells which makes me laugh possibly even harder.

Night creeps up on us as everyone is getting settled for dinner. Even Appa has a mouthful of hay as he rests next to the fountain. Everyone is busy calming their rouring stomachs, everyone except Zuko. He’s leaning on a column with his arms crossed, looking down the cracked ground under him. He looks deep in thought with his wrinkled forehead, but no one seems to notice. No one except me of course. Suddenly he turns his head to the campfire as he makes his way over to where we’re sitting. “Listen everybody, I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff”, He looks below dejectedly. Toph, used to being accused of stealing by now, raises her hands above her head. “Don't look at me!”, she folded her arms “i didn't touch your stuff”. I giggle at her outburst and enjoy the view of Zuko’s ashamed face. He looks down again “I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone”. I cross my arms and throw my legs up on a pillar “as if you even had it in the first place”. Everybody around the fireplace sits up, different emotions painted on their faces. Sokka is the only one giving me a reaction as he pretends to fire bends with an annoyed face like Zuko had been doing the entire day. It brought a quiet shaking laugh from me. But my laugh quieted down as a clearer brighter laughter took place. Katara had her head bent backwards as her body shook from the laugh. Was Katara… mocking Zuko. It was the only time Katara had done anything remotely funny, but it still deep down struck a nerve that she was making fun of  him. It was my job. But I couldn't possibly be petty over such a small pointless thing. Everyone had turned their attention towards her, including Zuko, who had an annoyed expression twisting his handsome face. She held her hands up, hiding her face “I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would've been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago”. Zuko gringed “Well, it's not lost. It's just ... weaker for some reason”. Katara held up her bowl and glared at Zuko over the brim “Maybe you're not as good as you think you are”. Both me and Toph, alike as we are, Made a hissing noise at the same time and met each other's eyes “ouch”.  Zuko ignored Toph's sarcastic smile as he brightened up with an idea “I bet it's because I changed sides”. Katara gave him another glare as she brought the bowl to her lips “That's ridiculous”. It was the first time I had seen Aang disagree with Katara “I don't know. Maybe it isn't. Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to”.

“Zuko has not been angry? then what have i been doing all day”, i smirked over at Sokka who returned the facial expression. He leans towards zuko and points a finger above “Easy enough”. He pokes Zuko with his shining swords hilt in the head and waist several times. Toph and I cling onto each other to not fall over from laughing. Zuko growles behind closed teeth “okay cut it out!”. Sokka's sword slips from his hands and is thrown above before falling on his head. Zuko sighs and rubs his nose “look, even if you're right. I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way”.

Sokka rubs his head in pain from the burst with the sword but no one seems to pay him any care. Toph takes a big bite from her food “You're gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source”.I furrowed my eyebrows “I thought that fire bending's original source was pain, rage and suffering”. I didn't miss the way Zuko pursed his lips and looked down in something similar to shame. Sokka seemed to forget his head injury as he excitedly looked up “How's he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?”.Toph shook her head and wiggles her feet “No. Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is”. Sokka's dreams of Zuko diving into a volcano is crushed “So, is it jumping into a volcano?”.

“I don't know”,  Toph puts her bowl down beside her “For earthbending, the original benders were badgermoles''. I remembered the many times Toph had brought me to the tunnels and showed me where she met the Badgermoles. That seemed like forever ago.  “Isn't the original fire benders Dragons? Where the fuck are we going to find a dragon just chilling?”, I looked up at Zuko who sighed deeply. “we are not going to, Dragons are extinct”. Aang shook his head “What do you mean‌? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid”. Zuko's face twists up, as if he knows something we don't. “Well, they aren't around anymore, okay?”. I feel bad for Aang because he yelps at Zuko's harsh tone. “Okay, okay!”,he moved his arms in an appeasing manner “I'm sorry”. Zuko moves on his long slender legs to the fountain. “But maybe there's another way”, he looks away in deep thought “The first people to learn from the dragon were the ancient Sun warriors”.Aang who always seemed to think he knew the most since he was technically 100 years older than the rest walks towards Zuko. “Sun warriors? Well I know they weren't around when i was a kid”, Aang stood beside Zuko now. “No, they died off thousands of years ago. But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now”, Zuko  tilts his head toward Aang “Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins''. Sokka mirrors my suspicions “So what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old sun warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?”. He backs up his question by flaring his hands around in a weird motion which makes me hit my forehead with my hand. Zuko shifted his weight forward. “More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend '', he turns his head towards Aang ”or the Avatar has to find a new teacher”.

When Zuko left with the Avatar, the temple seemed to become much more quiet. Haru, the Duke and Teo were on yet another exploration mission. Katara was worrying for Aang, while she cooked the same meal we had been eating for days. Toph, Sokka and I laid spread out, floating over the water in the fountain. The heat had been getting worse and it was the only way to cool down. Sokka threw a worried look at her sister.“What do you think Sifu hotman and smaller bald Kyoshi is doing right now?”, I asked as I sat up in the fountain. My soaked hair was dripping down my back. Sokka smiled half way “Zuko is probably pissed because his worthless Sun warrior plan is not working out and Aang is probably playing peacemaker and trying to calm him down”.  Toph smirked and splashed some water with her feet. Katara sneered at us and I wondered if it was because she didn't like that we were talking about Aang or if she was jealous that we were bonding better then she had done with any of us. I was guessing on the latter. “If you could have any original animal from any bend type, which one would you have?”, Sokka asked to change the conversation subject. Toph didn't even need to think  for a second “obviously the badgermoles”. Sokka looked offended “really? You would pick a blind disgusting rat over a flying bison?”. I inhaled dramatically “Blind disgusting rat?! That's my best friend you're talking about!”. Sokka burst out in laughter and Toph rolled her eyes ironically “ha ha ha”.  I looked forward, deep in thought “I hate the fire nation but honestly the dragon is the most badass”. Sokka lifted an eyebrow surprised “they're extinct, remember?”. Katara moved a spoon through the home made meal as she mumbled “i wish that the entire fire nation was extinct”. We all fell silent, like we mostly did everytime Katara opened her mouth. I thought about how different my life would have been if the fire nation didn't exist. I would still have my mom. I would have grown up with a present and loving father. If my mom had gotten good care while giving birth, instead of hiding in a barn from the fire nation, she wouldn't have died in childbirth. And if my mom hadn't died, my dad wouldn't have blamed me for her death. He wouldn't have been slaughtered by the fire nation when they invaded my home years later on the look for something we didn't even have. But I would never have met Toph. I would never have gotten so good at earth bending. I wouldn't have met the avatar gang. But I still closed my eyes and imagined a world without the fire nation for just another second.

by the look of Aangs and Zuos excited faces when they returned, I guessed it was a successful mission. I can't help but feel relieved that they're okay, and to my surprise I'm relieved for both of them. A sense of calm fills me when I see that they're BOTH unharmed, but I would never admit that to anybody. They're quick to get into positions to start demonstrating what the sun warriors taught them. They moved gracefully, every motion mirrored between them as yin and yan. Fire licked the sides of their bodys without hurting them, as if the fire and their bodies were one. I had grown up with the view of fire as a plot of destruction, a tool for suffering and power play. But now, in the upside-down pagodas in the Western Air Temple, the fire looked nothing like that. It wasn't violent. It was beautiful, I could see shades of blue and green. I could see all the colors of the rainbow within the flames, similar to the reflection of water. Or the sharpened glass in the depths of the earth. Or how air bent sunlight on a hot day. I could see all elements moving from the palms of their hands in the shape of combustions of flames. Deep deep down within my bones I could feel a yearn for the fighting of flames. A longing for the feel of the heat against my hands, that I quickly pushed down. Fire was dangerous, it was not beautiful. It was difficult to convince myself when I left the hole of lament in my heart. The rest of the avatar gang interrupted my thoughts with applause as the two got into their final postures. “Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there”, Sokka bursted out playfully. Normally i would join him with a remark myself but i wasn't in the mood. My feelings were conflicted and I couldn't focus on anything else. Zuko seemed offended. “It's not a dance. It's a firebending form”. Sokka moves his fingers in a dancing manner “We’ll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord”.

Zuko makes his way over to Sokka with a threatening glimpse in his eyes “It's a sacred form that happens to be a thousand years old!”. Katara crosses her arms “Oh yeah? What is your little form called?”. Zuko's eyes met the ground embarrassed “The dancing Dragon”. The gang erupted in loud laughter as Zujo gringes in embarrassment. I stand quiet, not paying attention to how Zuko turns to me. “You haven't said any mocking remark about our form”, he bent down to my level to try to catch my attention. “You mean your dance?”I ask and raise an eyebrow. He mimics my expression “Really? is that it?”. I didn't even catch his bait as I waved him away “I'm not in the mood”. As I moved away I felt Zuko's burning eyes on the plate of my back. “Since when is she not in the mood”, Zuko mumbled to himself, confused. I was busy thinking about how I had longed to touch fire. The thing that destroyed my life.

Taglist: @eridanuswave , @Whalerus, @keiko0, @emogril , @theblueslytherin , @bbecc-a 

[grouptalekindnesssoulstories]

Prince Lee? Zuko the Tea Server

@fyrelordzuko i got some inspiration from your post. It sounds adorable. 

I decided as writer that I wanted more homosexual pining/tension. So I edited events to make it so! (Also Jet’s accusation was hard to find. Like, seriously you’d think there’d be more clips of it but noooooo)

Warnings: There’s some switching of perspective and names. ~ <- means a change in perspective (--) <- means time passes. When Sokka is the focus, Zuko is Lee. Otherwise I think I called him only Zuko?? IDK

“Uncle, that’s one of the avatar’s friends” Zuko tugged on Iroh’s arm, pointing to the customer who had just walked in. 

“Yes, so?” Iroh sighed to himself. He’d just gotten Zuko to stop obsessing over the group. 

“So, do you think he’s here to attack me?” Zuko’s voice was so scared and raw, and Iroh wanted nothing more than to just hug him. The banished prince acted so much older than his 16 years that hearing him just be 16 was good. Iroh wished it were something other than fear, but he’d take it as it came. He settled for calming his nephew’s nerves for now. 

“It’s broad daylight. He won’t do anything, and besides he hasn’t confronted you. He seems like the type to use the others for witnesses, so if he hasn’t said anything, you’re fine. Now, go take his order before he starts to get suspicious” Iroh gently pushed Zuko towards the table where the other kid sat. 

~~~~

“What can I get you?” A quiet voice interrupts Sokka’s thoughts. He looked up and his mind went completely blank. There was another boy around his own age, with black hair that looked so fluffy. One of his eyes had a burn mark over it, and Sokka immediately trusted him. It looked like the fire nation was no friend to this guy either. 

“Recommend?” Sokka croaked out after a second. That stupid face crinkled in the cutest way. 

“Huh?”

“What do you recommend! I’ve never had much..tea” 

“Oh. Jasmine tea is my favorite, and my uncle is the best at making it in my opinion” Sokka nodded and the boy started to walk away. 

“Wait, what’s your name?” 

“Oh, I’m Lee” The boy moved too quickly for Sokka to introduce himself. Lee comes back half an hour later bearing a teacup, placing it in front of Sokka. 

“I’m Sokka” 

“I know” Lee acknowledged that fact with an almost familiar smile. Sokka couldn't place it, but it set his heart on fire. Lee retreated once more, and barely reappeared until Sokka paid and left. 

~~~

“Zuko, are you alright?” Iroh asked after the shop was closed for the night. There was a small smile on his face, but it looked like he had aged several years. 

“I’m fine Uncle. Just....tired” Iroh pressed a hand to his nephew’s forehead worriedly. No sign of a fever. 

“Well, get some rest. I’m sure it was a one time occurrence” Iroh soothed, getting their apartment tidied for the night.  

----It wasn’t----

“Uncleeeee he’s baaaack” Around the same time the next day, Iroh was interrupted by Zuko tugging on his arm. Spirits, was this going to happen every day now?

“Well, go ask his order. This is a tea shop after all” Iroh was far less gentle pushing Zuko out from behind the counter this time.  

“What can I get for you today?” Zuko approached the water tribe kid awkwardly, repeating his standard customer greeting automatically. 

“Lee! you were right, the tea was amazing” Sokka visibly brightened the moment he heard Zuko’s voice. It was nice for once to see him not react defensively. Made Zuko smile a little wider. 

“Yes, like I said, Uncle is very good at what he does” 

“Well, can I get the same thing” Zuko nodded, turning to deliver the order. When he came back, Sokka was hunched over a map and a schedule, muttering to himself. 

“What’s that for?” Zuko asked, leaning over as he set down the tea. He had some time to just sit and talk, long as it remained this quiet. 

“Huh? Oh. I’m trying to get in to speak to the king, but we have a deadline. Plus, we haven’t seen Zu-someone in a while. And Appa is still missing.” Sokka was too distracted to notice the nervous half-stand Zuko dropped into.

“Maybe the person you’re looking for is on vacation? And the King is uh...private. So good luck with that” Zuko eased down again, glancing towards his uncle. The former general gave a slight nod, face uncharacteristically serious. 

“Maybe he got his honor back at last. It was restored by Azula!” Sokka huffed a laugh, shifting to pay attention to his companion. Zuko was gaping, his mouth open like a fish’s. After a moment he started to laugh from the sheer ridiculousness. His sister restoring his honor? She was the one who’d driven him to come here. Though his uncle was so much happier now, and it was nice without the pressure of being Prince Zuko. 

“...Perhaps-” he tried to suck in some more air “-anyway, you mentioned someone named Appa is missing?”

“Yea, my buddy’s air bison. It’s how we’ve gotten around since I left the south pole” Sokka shrugged, not realizing the mess that was Zuko’s mind. Because, first of all, damn those muscles were fine. Second, the avatar didn’t have his spirit guide and the bison had a name. 

“That’s-that’s ummmm”

“I have to get back anyways. See you Lee” Sokka stood up before Zuko could do more than stammer a vague response. 

He came back every day after that. Sokka lit up Zuko’s entire day, and he never wanted to go back. Iroh began looking forward to closing time since that was when his nephew truly lived. It was, to put it simply, the best thing for his heart. Until it wasn’t. 

“We’re making plans to invade the day of the black sun. We’ll have the advantage, especially if I can figure out this last piece” Sokka was busy writing situations in his messy shorthand as Zuko leaned over his shoulder, listening and pointing out flaws. He’d figured out they planned to attack the fire nation capital, but he found he didn’t care. For the first time in his life, he felt happy and there were no strings attached. He and his uncle had found a place to carve out a life, free of the fire lord. There was the problem of who would take over, but that was a problem for future Zuko. Then that hotheaded prick walked in. 

“That old man is a firebender! I saw him heat up his tea!” Jet yelled, glaring at Iroh. All of the patrons swapped glances. A pair of soldiers were the first to speak up. 

“Kid, he works in a tea shop. That’s his job” 

“He heats the tea with firebending! I saw him” 

“You’re confused. How about you come with us...” the other soldier said, rising slowly from his chair. 

“No! Fight me old man, and i’ll prove it to you” Jet drew his swords, ready to fly at Iroh to prove his point. 

“You want a show? I’ll give you a show” Zuko straightened completely, drawing the closest soldier’s swords. 

~~~

“Lee, be careful!” Sokka called, drowning out Iroh’s cry of “Zuko, no!” Sokka tried to jump in and help, but the pair were moving too fast and too precise. He didn’t dare jump in and risk Lee’s life. And damn was it hot. Lee ignored all of Jet’s taunts, using those swords as if it were his only weapon. Finally some more guards intervened, taking Jet away. Lee returned the swords and slipped into the crowd. 

“Uncle, can I get some of your special tea? Seeing him again was nerve-wracking” Sokka heard Lee say. He sounded so conflicted and tired. Sokka wanted to run in there and hug him. 

“Of course, we’ll close the shop early today. We both need to lie low for now. Hopefully that’s the end of it, but we should pack just in case” The old man’s voice was muffled. Sokka couldn’t remember his name. Wait, they knew Jet? Was...could Lee have been an old flame of Jet’s? Before he became so...back-stabby. Sokka decided now was not a good time to run to the other boy. He’d think over this and process whatever was sitting so heavily on his heart. 

----

“Uncle, I haven’t seen Sokka in days” Zuko paced the floor a few days later. After what had happened with Jet, Sokka hadn’t returned. 

“Maybe he had to go do something. You said he was looking for the avatar’s sky bison. Or is it buffalo? I can never tell...” Iroh mused, a cup of tea in his hands. 

“Uncle, this is serious. He hasn’t been here in a week! He never misses more than one day!” Zuko’s pacing increased as his panic rose. 

“Zuko, take a deep breath. We just got through a scare about someone figuring out who we were. I’m sure you’ll get a letter soon saying he had to leave for his invasion” Iroh beckoned the teenager to the table. he sat reluctantly, taking his uncle’s hand. Iroh guided him through some de-stressing methods. As they were finishing, a knock came at the door. Iroh stood to answer.

“The king has requested your presence. He would like you to serve tea to him. He wishes you to come now” A soldier stood there stiffly, his face expressionless as he delivered his message.

“Serving tea to the king? What an honor. We will be ready in one moment. I must grab my good pot!” Iroh beckoned Zuko over, handing him the pot and leading the way after the soldier. 

~~~~/-----

“Zuko, get out of here! Make sure the Avatar does too!” The old man pushed his nephew towards Sokka and his friends. Azula had taken over the castle and they needed to get the king and get out now. 

“Follow me. I know a way out” Lee, no Zuko, pulled Aang after him. 

“No! We need to get Katara!” Aang pulled back, stopping the escape. 

“Fine! But stay close to me” The prince turned around, running deeper into the compound. “Uh, Miss-, whatever I need you to see if you can find her with your earthbending!” 

“Turn left and then I can dig down!” Toph yelled, pointing towards a patch of grass with flowers sprouting out of it. 

“Hurry! I can hear pursuit!” Sokka yelled, pulling out his boomerang. 

“Twinkle toes! Help me dig a hole!” Toph yelled and Aang began pushing dirt out beside her. 

“They’re coming from the opposite way now. Azula won’t be far behind, Uncle’s only one person and she seems to have an army” 

“You would know, wouldn’t you, Prince Zuko!” Sokka yelled, turning on the prince. He didn’t miss the way his expression crumbled. Not the time Sokka, not the time!

“Get in! Now!” Toph yelled, breaking up their fight. Zuko hesitated as the rest jumped in.

“Go, I’ll hold them off. I can do that at least” Zuko’s face had that sorrowful smile that Sokka had gotten to know so well in those first few weeks with Lee. 

“That’ll give them a hint. Get in idiot!” Toph yelled and Sokka grabbed Le-Zuko’s arm by instinct. He pulled him into the hole and Toph covered them again before digging again. They finally reached Katara a few minutes later. It was too late, Azula had beaten them to her. 

“Oh Zuzu, I thought you were better than this” She sneered. 

“...go. Sokka, please. Take your sister and run. Run far away and do your plan. Make it the best damn plan. Wipe the whole group out. Start all over” Zuko turned to Sokka, eyes already tearing up. Katara didn’t hesitate, and ensnared her brother’s arm to drag him away. The last view of Zuko that Sokka got was him fighting desperately. He dodged every lightning bolt his sister threw at him. One bounced off, hitting Aang in the back. Sokka turned away to make sure he could get Aang out alive. Zuko could rot for all he cared. 

---

“This entire time, he was PRINCE ZUKO?” Sokka yelled, tempted to crawl into a hole and die. He had flirted with Prince ZUKO. 

“His scar’s pretty distinctive Sokka. Who else looks like someone tried to blind them?” Katara groaned, totally done with the whole ‘I like the guy whose been chasing us around the world’ thing. 

“Lee! Who I guess is just an alias for Zuko” 

“Ok Sokka, we’re done. Time to move on” Toph groaned, stopping her vigil over Aang for a moment. He had barely stirred. They knew he was alive, but who knew if he’d last long enough. All they could do was keep him healthy, and hope. 

(To Be continued?)

[sedge-and-sanctuary]

Sanctuary Pack Stories: The Herbalist [Part Three]

[Eight and Dace continue on their journey to track down an expert herbalist in an effort help cure the illness ravaging The Sanctuary Pack]

It’s good to be on the move again; a blue, brilliant winter morning, the air crisp and clear as glacial runoff. A few stubborn birds perch in the barren trees, trying their songs against the silence.

Dace clears her throat.  "Eight. I wanted to say."

"Hm?" Eight looks up, half-startled. She's been deep in thought all morning; 'hunting clouds', as Saturn would say.

And no wonder. There had been a moment, the night before, when Dace had made a mistake. Had made Eight uncomfortable-- had made things uncomfortable, between them.

Eight’s eyes meeting hers; her breath fogging in the winter air, and Dace had thought, I’ve missed this more than I can say. Something must have showed in her face; Eight had stepped away, fast, turning her head. 

She has been quiet, since.

"Just: last night. If I made you uncomfortable, or something." Dace shrugs,  keeps her eyes fixed forward. "You know-- sorry. Won’t happen again."

"Oh!" Eight shakes her head. "Oh no, Dace, that's-- No, I wasn't. Uncomfortable, I mean! It's fine."

Dace does twist, now, to look over Eight. She's not looking back; has her head craned around, staring with great intensity into the trees.

"Alright," Dace says. Resolves to keep a little more distance, anyway, if Eight’s going to be too polite to admit when she’s wrong-footed. 

The walk on, the loudest sound for miles the crunching of their paws through the crusty snow. The sun creeps its slow way across the sky.

 Eight clears her throat, venture: “Um, so--  how is it?”

Dace looks up.

“Being a-- scout. Or a loner? I mean--” she shrugs, looks briefly at Dace and then away again. “I don’t know. Is it-- fun? I guess? Do you like it?”

Dace nods. “It’s alright. It’s good, actually.” She looks out at the frozen wood: at the towering trees, bark black against the snow, the sharp pine-needle smell. At the sky, a piercing, thorn-sharp blue above. “I do like it. In fact…”

In fact, they're right by that old pond, aren't they? The frogs will be dug into the mud hibernating-- they could dig some out, like that crow had shown Dace last spring, and--

She looks sideways at Eight. Remembers her odd stiffness the night before. Clears her throat. “In fact, though, it can get a little boring.”

“Oh?” Eight cocks her head. 

“Sometimes.” Dace shrugs. “And you? Healing? That seems-- interesting.”

A stiff pause. Eight huffs. “Well, I guess-- a little too interesting, lately. Um.”

Dace winces. “Of course. Scat, Eight, I’m sorry-”

“No--” Eight shakes herself. “No, it’s okay. It is- not just now, I mean- interesting.” She laughs, a little awkwardly.

They walk along for a while. Dace watches her paws; studies the prints she makes, tries not to think about much else. 

After a while, Eight laughs again. “I’m sorry, Dace-- I don’t really know-- there aren't. Sorta, fun anecdotes, I guess? It isn’t--”

“No, you’re fine!” Dace huffs. “Just uh, not used to travelling with someone else. Probably getting too chatty.”

“No.” Eight sighs. “If it was spring- or summer or even fall, really- I could show you plants and stuff? Like herbs? But.” She looks out over the forest; undergrowth buried under months of snow, the trees dormant, roots all locked away beneath the frost.

“Sure,” Dace says, easily. “Bad season for it. Maybe--” I can come by in spring, and you can show me then. She almost says it. Clears her throat. “Maybe this would have been a little more fun in spring,” she settles on instead, trying to keep her voice light.

“Less cold,” Eight says, by way of agreement. 

They walk on-- endlessly, they walk on. 

It’s five more days of travel to reach the bear, and even Dace is starting to get a little footsore. The hard, icy surface of the snow is wearing away at her pawpads, sure as rough stone would.

Eight isn’t any better, facing all the same strain of long travel with none of the practice Dace has. She limps up to where Dace has paused on the edge of the forest, and comes to a stop, breath fogging as she catches her breath.

They’ve come to the edge of the forest.

Beyond, the prairie goes on forever. White, flat land, rolling endlessly on until the blue curve of the horizon. It seems very exposed. Dace imagines living there, without shelter of tree or rock, without shadow or undergrowth, and shivers, despite her thick winter coat.

Eight makes a low, uncertain sound in the back of her throat. She’s hunched up into herself; ears flat, tail tucking under, and Dace’s chest squeezes. 

“Pretty weird,” she says, to break the silence. 

And she hasn’t been saying as much, lately. Been trying to give Eight her space. But it’s worth it, now, to see Eight relax, a little. To see her stand up straighter.

“Pretty weird,” she agrees.

And still the prairie stretches on. Beyond the shelter of the trees, a wind kicks up, and a tumbleweed of snow goes skating out across the plain, silver against the brilliant, endless blue of the sky.

“Hoot,” Dace says, and finds her voice comes out a bit hushed. She clears her throat. Tries again. “Hoot used to talk about-- where she came from.”

“Mhm.” Eight can’t seem to find the words to respond; that’s okay.

Dace goes on. “On hunting trips- back when I was hunting- She's say about the ocean. You know?”

“Yes,” Eight says, low.

“About how there was somewhere the land stops. And it’s just water forever, after that. Until the-- the edge. Do you think...”

She doesn’t know how to put it. But Eight nods, eyes still fixed rigidly forward. “Yes,” she says, again. “This is-- it seems like--”

The both look out over the prairie again. Flat land, stretching on. It must end, somewhere. But--

Dace shakes herself. “Well,” she says, sounding just short of upbeat. “Well. Our bear lives out there, somewhere.”

Eight nods. “Yes,” she says. “Right.”

And if she sticks a little closer to Dace’s side, as they step out onto the plains-- Well. Dace can’t blame her, for it. 

It makes her feel better, too.

They reach the bear that evening. A low hill, a copse of cottonwoods, the ceaseless, piercing howling of the wind, unbroken across the whole of the prairie.

“Strange place for a bear to den,” Eight says, her voice very low. “Isn’t it? I mean--”

“Yes,” Dace says. Finds herself speaking very softly, involuntarily. She tries again, clearing her throat. “But from what I’ve heard, he’s a strange bear. He couldn’t help us if he wasn’t.”

Her voice comes out a little more strongly, and Eight straightens up. Nods. 

The cottonwoods grow close together, trunks dark and strangely straight, an unnatural quality to them. The wind breaks as they come through the trees, and leaves an eerie silence- not much better- in its absence. 

Dace’s own breath is loud in her ears. Something brushes her shoulder-- Eight, drawing close. They look at one another for just an instant. Dace lets out a breath, slowly. Is suddenly very glad to have Eight here with her, in this strange place.

The ground is rucked up by the roots of one enormous tree, in the very center of the grove; its bark is nearly black against the snow, the sharp white-blue of the sky. A dark space peeks out between the gnarled roots. 

They have come to the bear’s den, at last. 

Dace thinks, for a wild, stupid moment, of the stories Rover tells to pups; a great Rowan tree, a pack of monstrous wolves. 

She stares up at the giant cottonwood. Shakes herself. “Hello?” Her voice, thankfully, does not waver. “We’ve come from far away, seeking medicine.” She pauses. Looks sideways at Eight. 

Eight looks back at her, ears pulled down in uncertainty. “I’m a healer myself,” she tries, and Dace touches her shoulder, briefly, encouraging. “But I can’t heal this sickness-- we need your help.”

Another pause. The den is all shadow, before them; a deep pit, an open mouth, plunging down into the frozen earth. Dace can’t quite make herself step towards it; shivers at the idea of it, squeezing herself blind and helpless between the roots, towards who knows what.

She tries again, instead. I will go, she tells herself, sternly, if he does not answer this time, I will go in. “Great-- bear healer. May we speak with you?”

Nothing, for a long moment. Dace takes a breath-- wrenches herself away from Eight’s warm side and pads forward to the mouth of the den. Here goes, she thinks, and then--

“Dace!” Eight says, tight with alarm, and at the same time another, deeper voice sounds out.

“Well,” it says. “There’s no need to shout.”

Dace turns, slowly, and there is the bear.

A massive shape, almost unreal. His huge, blunt head dips down beside Eight, nearly the size of her entire torso. His shoulders, humped with muscle, could put pause to a bison. He crouches, peering at Dace, and when he curls his lip up to sniff, his teeth flash long and white.

Eight is stiff as if she’s frozen solid, only a paw’s length away from the creature. The whites of her eyes show, plainly frightened, and Dace wrenches herself into action. 

She folds into a bow, back hunching, tail tucking automatically. They don’t hold with submission much, at Sanctuary, but it is nearly instinctive to do it now. 

“Great bear,” she says, eyes fixed firmly on the ground- on the bear’s immense paws, heavy and clawtipped, digging furrows into the snow. “I have heard of your healing from other creatures--”

“Yes, yes,” the bear says, his deep voice strangely cheerful. “The geese, was it? They do love to gossip.”

Dace looks up at him, startled, for a moment, and then drops her eyes again, hastily. “It-- was the geese, sir.”

If the bear notices her surprise, he says nothing of it. “Hm. Just as well. Follow me, then!” And he shoulders past Dace- a brush of immense strength, something like one of the human’s cars blowing past on their roads- a near miss, an impression of power- and then he is by, lumbering awkwardly down into his den, and there is nothing left to do except to follow. 

[buddywaterfalls]

I Won’t Leave You CH 1 (Toph x Male Reader)

“I’m telling you, we’re gonna find it this time!” Zei exclaims. You stare out of the window as he goes on about how his life has been leading up to this moment. His words would be encouraging, if this weren’t his upteenth time making the same boring speech on the same boring topic. The train speeds out of Ba Sing Se and you pay half a mind to him, ignoring his speech. You’re his best student, always working to learn the history of the world and understand how people feel. Zei is a close friend, your best, and always makes sure to take you along on his numerous expeditions, you get to frequently travel around the globe and make your own analysis on several topics. You were an intellectual prodigy, and he brought you into the university to better yourself. “Are you excited?”

“For what?” You ask, nonchalantly.

“Us to make history, Y/N. I just know it.”

“If you say so.” You reply as the train slows to a halt and you both step off. “It's the dry season.” you grumble, covering your face with your hat and moving forwards. You hand your passports to the angry lady to get out of Ba Sing Se after a long period of waiting in line. Zei is much more patient than you are, and babbles on about the possibilities of the knowledge that lies within the library to keep your impatience at bay. You waited for three tedious hours to get out and onto a ferry. “It feels like there should be a better way to do this.” You say, watching the water roll by slowly, “So why are we going to Misty Palms?”

“Just a gut feeling.”

“So we’re risking a mugging because of a feeling in your stomach?”

“Yes. You’ll come to learn to trust a gut feeling eventually.”

“I’ll never understand you, old man.”

“One day you might.” He says, smiling. “So Squirt, you finally participated in poetry night, I hear.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately I like actual poetry and they were all over haikus.”

“Well, haikus are poetry.”

“Bah.” You grumble, “How’s the girlfriend?”

“Oh we… broke up. She wanted kids, I wasn’t ready to make that commitment.”

“Oh. Sorry, man.”

“No, you’re fine. Besides, I needed to focus more on my work anyway.” The rest of the ride is in awkward silence as they slowly arrive at a dock and rent ostrich-horses to ride their way to Misty Palms Oasis. At one point, it was a gorgeous paradise now it sits as a reminder of the temporary nature of the world on which you live. “The ice has melted another three meters since our last visit.” Zei notes, writing it down in his little book. “Wait in the bar for me.” Zei says, “I’ll be right with you.” He pulls out a Pai Sho piece and walks in a different direction. You walk awkwardly into the bar, feeling several pairs of eyes prying into you. 

You sit, “Uh… mango?” You ask the bartender, who hurries up and makes your drink after you pay him. A sip makes you feel more clear, and soon, you’ve finished.

“Well, you finished that quick, huh?” The professor asks, now walking in, looking better himself. “I’ll have what he’s having.” The tender makes another mango juice and he pays, right before a kid bumps into him, getting Zei’s drink spilled all over his outfit. “Sorry son, I didn’t-”

“No worries, I clean up easily.” The boy says, pushing his fists together and unleashing a gust of wind that dries him off. 

“You’re a living relic!” Zei exclaims, holding his hat to his head.

“Thanks, I try.” The boy says. As they continue to converse, you look over the kid’s group, they don’t look like bandits. There are two Water Tribe people, a boy and a girl of around the same age as you and a short blind girl, with a dress that looks distinctively like it’s from Gaoling due to the stitchwork, who is in the back. An odd bunch for sure, but you’ve seen weirder. Soon, they’ve laid out a map and Zei’s rattling his life’s story like it’s small talk. With a groan you stand beside Zei. 

“...and knowledge is priceless.” 

You thank the heavens that you missed his whole spiel about books, the blind girl has an unimpressed look on her face. “Hm. Sounds like good times.” She sounds utterly unimpressed as well, which is reasonable. While he may be kind, you will always defend professor Zei there, but his speeches are tiresome at best.

“Oh, it is!” He says cheerily, disregarding her lack of enthusiasm, “According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit; Wan-Chi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers.” 

“Oh! So this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?” the Water Tribe boy dumbly asks.

With a shove, the Water Tribe girl responds, “I think he means that they look like actual foxes, Sokka.”

“You’re both right! They’re handsome little creatures. Wan-Chi Tong and his little knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for mankind to read. So that we might better ourselves.” He smiles as he pulls out a scroll of the library and displays it on the table, and you sigh realizing that he’s reeled a couple more suckers into his crazy plot.

The Water Tribe boy-- Sokka speaks in realization. “If this place has books from all over the world, do you think they’ve got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?”

“Wait a second, we aren’t getting involved with the Fire Nation, are you crazy? Zei, we should go-”

“No. These people need our help.”

You stare him in the eyes, “Do you remember what those savages have done?”

“The Avatar is our best hope to stop them, Y/N.”

After a second’s hesitation you sigh, “Fine. Sorry, I’m just on edge here. You can’t trust anyone anymore.” You say. They all nod and look back at Zei.

“If a map exists at all, that’s the place it’d be.” He says, after a moment. 

“Then it’s settled!” Sokka exclaims, turning to the Air Nomad, “Aang, I do believe it’s my turn. I choose to spend my vacation at the library!” he animates the last part as if it’s a declaration of war and you groan. It’s quiet for a second before the blind girl speaks.

 “Uh, hey! What about me? When do I get to pick?”

“You gotta work here a little longer before you’re qualified for vacation time.” Sokka retorts, she slams her drink down, crosses her arms and grunts in annoyance. She’s new to the group. You note.

“Of course, there’s the matter of finding it. Me and Y/N have made several trips to the Zi Wong Desert and almost died each time. I’m afraid that desert’s impossible to cross.”

“Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?”

“A sky bison?! You actually have one?!” 

With that, he’s convinced so you trail the group with the blind girl until she finally speaks, “I’m Toph.” she says. 

“Y/N” you reply, “That kid’s really the Avatar?”

“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it?”

“Weird doesn’t scathe the surface. We were supposed to go on a tracking mission, just as guys, then we end up flying on a bison with a monkey that can also fly and the Avatar to dig up dirt on the Fire Nation. But screw it at this rate, you know?” She smiles at this as Zei shoos away sandbenders from the sky bison. “That thing is ridiculously huge.” you say, looking at it as everyone climbs up. Zei helps you onto the saddle and the air bender says something that makes the thing lift into the air. You screw your eyes shut and hold the saddle for dear life. As time ticks on, you feel more comfortable, but more restless. Sokka’s taken his shirt off and everyone’s cranky after a while. It doesn’t help that Zei reveals that the library might not even exist, which really ticks off Toph. Eventually she decides to blurt out a blatant lie, which everyone hilariously falls for.

“There it is!” she cheers. They look on her side seeing nothing but sand and back at her with scowls. “That’s what it will sound like when one of you spots it.” Then she waves her hand in front of her face to emphasize that she’s blind and you stifle laughter. She turns in your direction and smiles before scooting closer to you and striking up a conversation, “So where do you live?”

“Ba Sing Se. I go to university with Brainiac over there. He’s my teacher.”

“Are you a good student?”

“He’s the best!” Zei pipes up and chuckles as your face heats up.

“Best is an awful strong word, Zei.” You say, trying to redeem yourself from sounding narcissistic, “I’m good at what I find interesting.”

“I never went to school. I took earthbending classes, but my blindness held me back, so I sought out my own help.”

“Now you’re training the Avatar, that’s pretty cool.”

“How did you know one of them didn’t train him?”

“They’re both Water Tribe.” You say, nonchalantly, “And they’re wearing water tribe apparel.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Toph says, laughing nervously.

“That’s fine.”

“It shouldn’t be this hard to spot a giant ornate building from the air.” The girl says. 

Suddenly her brother speaks up, “Down there! What’s that?!” We descend to the ground and see a tower extending into the sky. 

The water tribe girl sighs. “Forget it. This obviously isn’t the building we’re looking for.” Aang looks over her shoulder at the scroll, “The building in this drawing is enormous.” Then you see a bright reflection of light in the distance and elbow Zei, who quickly turns around to see it. You all watch a fox-like creature come from the desert and scale the tower, entering a window near the top.

“I think that was one of the knowledge seekers,” Zei exclaims, “We must be close to the library!”

“No. This is the library, look!” Sokka says, comparing the tower with one of the towers in the picture. “It’s completely buried.”

It’s quiet for a few seconds before you feel the weight of Zei’s grief pour over him as he collapses to his knees, “The library’s buried?! My life’s ambition is full of sand!” You put a hand on his shoulder and he sighs, sucking the pain down and returning to his optimistic self, “Well, time to excavate!” He says cheerily, pulling out a tiny shovel and getting to work. 

“He’s… incorrigible.” You say, sighing. 

“Professor, that won’t be necessary.” Toph says, you look up and see her with a hand on the building and her eyes closed, “The inside seems to be completely intact, and it’s huge.”

“That fox thingy climbed in through a window. I say we go up there and give it a look.” Sokka says.

“I say you guys go up there without me.” Toph says.

“You got something against libraries?”

“I’ve held books before and, I gotta tell ya, they don’t exactly do it for me.” 

“Right. Sorry.”

“I’ll stay out here with her.” You say.

“But Y/N, this is our life’s work!”

“Reminder, I loathe spiders and if there is any place on Earth sure to have at least a thousand, it’s the library under two tons of sand, yeah?”

“Fine. Be safe, okay? Don’t do anything I’d do.” Zei smiles and ruffles your hair, chuckling at your scowl. 

“Let me know if they have something I can listen to.” Toph remarks. With that they make their way into the library, leaving you, Toph and Appa outside. “You know that I can handle myself, right?”

“I’m well aware. Like I said, spiders terrify me.”

“Why?”

“Well they’re eight-legged, hairy, revolting things that want to do nothing but kill.”

“That’s a little melodramatic, don’t you think?” She asks, sitting down, you can sense the smile on her face though and sigh, leaning back against the tower. “So, can you bend?”

“No. That’s why the fire nation makes me uneasy, what will I do if they invade again? Punch them to death? I can throw a punch, sure, but what’ll I do against an army?” You sigh, “Anyway, how do you walk without needing a cane or something? Not trying to offend of course! Just… intrigued.”

“When I was you, I… well what I did doesn’t matter, but it led to me being trained by the badgermoles. They taught me to see the way they do, through vibrations in the ground. This sand is awful because it’s all loose and shifty, it makes everything all fuzzy.” Appa roars, “Not that there’s anything wrong with fuzzy!” She adds, quickly. “Anyways, how’d you meet Zei?” 

“Well it’s a long story. My family had a big home, it was the oldest standing house in the world. Zei met me and we talked for a while, he was impressed. He wanted to take me back to Ba Sing Se so I could learn under guidance and my parents refused, insisting that I carry on the family tradition and live my life helping out people.” You sit down next to her, “Fortunately, my dad gave me a choice and I was able to use the cover of night to get away. I’ve since made peace with my family. I want to make a difference.”

She smiles, “I get it. Maybe you should join us.”

“I don’t think so, I don’t wanna be a burden.”

“You wouldn’t be a burden.” Toph cuts in, she blushes slightly and looks down. After a while of awkward chatting, you’ve fallen asleep against Appa, and Toph lays awkwardly next to you, after a while, Appa growls. “I already told you, I don’t want to snuggle.” Then Appa gets up, letting both of your heads fall into the ground, waking you up as you rub the back of your head. “Library's sinking.” she says calmly, then her eyes widen, as do yours. “Library’s sinking!” she yells, bolting into action and struggling to hold it up. 

You see sand rising in the distance and your senses start to tingle. “Uh, Toph?”

“What now?!”

“Whatever you do, focus on that building!” You say, taking up a fighting stance. The sandbenders conjure up a dust cloud that makes it hard to see. “Back off!” you shout at one who jumps off of his glider. He moves for a strike which you bat away and jab him three times in the stomach before crane-kicking him for the knockout blow.

“Who’s there?!”

“Sandbenders!” You shout back. Two more start to focus on you, using sand bending for cheap tactics and keeping you from fighting them fairly as their friends attack Appa. They try to hold you under the sand as they tie Appa up. With a huge effort you break free, leaping into the air and landing a swift kick on one. Then you feel something sharp puncture your neck. You pull it out and glare at the dart and then at the sandbenders. “It’ll take a lot more than-” Suddenly a barrage of about fifty darts fly your way, you run towards Toph and take about twenty that were heading for her before collapsing, “That’ll do.” You groan, watching the world fade in and out. Suddenly, she’s picked you up and leaped out of the way as the building crashes into the ground. You feel an overwhelming sense of failure as your mind sneaks itself into unconsciousness.

[foxtophat]

hello hello!!! it’s your friendly bi-weekly update here, telling you that this dumbass fic has updated and you can now read it!  mbmbam-style talking points: Springtime, Intimate Haircuts, Children Rebellions, and Grace Under Pressure!

i had a lot of fun putting this one together, mostly b/c the entire chapter changed when i went to work on it.  carmina is surprisingly fun to write, although i try to stay away from her dialogue as i can’t write children at all, and john is increasingly more frustrating for nick, which is always a blast.  i think we’ll probably check in with kim next chapter and see how things are holding up on her end. i’m sure it’s fine!

as usual, if you enjoy what i’m doing, feel free to leave a comment, or reblog, or send me anonymous asks telling me i’m not thinking about xyz deeply enough and should be ashamed!!!!  i won’t be ashamed but i will appreciate you taking the time to tell me i should be :)

for real though, thank you guys so much for being so supportive, and i hope that i continue to provide some good, engaging “nick and kim adopt an asshole” content!!! i appreciate each and every one of you.  below the cut is the text for this chapter, in case you don’t wanna leave tumblr!

The seasons seem to roll over without Nick ever really realizing it. The last snowfall was a week ago, and although the nights are still bitterly cold and long, the sun burns bright enough in the morning to chase the chills and frost away before noon. The vines that cover everything have begun to bud again, although it'll be a little while yet before they turn pink and blossom.

Nick is glad that spring is back, but coming out of semi-hibernation is a struggle. He wants to stay in bed, to pull on a few jackets and sit around the campfire, to work on the random DIY projects that kept him busy while they were partially snowed in. Now, it's time for Kim to start talking about planting again, and Carmina has started begging to go hunting with Aunt Grace, and the radio is coming to life every evening with people checking in after their own long winter rests. Hurk and Sharky are trying to peddle something they call party liquor over their own channel, suspiciously refusing to outright call it moonshine, and Fall's End has begun broadcasting about retaking the farmland that's become home to monstrous bison and two-headed cows.

Sometimes, Nick thinks he's stuck going ten miles-per-hour while everyone else can switch gears at the drop of a hat. Adaptability is the second name of survival out here, but damn it, Nick needs a couple of days before he can start thinking about trading with other survivors, much less making the long-needed visits he's been putting off since they climbed out of the ground. He needs to go into Fall's End proper, to pay his respects to Mary May and visit Jerome. He also needs to go out and finally trade out for some hens, so they can have eggs more often, and so they have their own supply to barter with. He's got a list a mile long of things he has to do; so does Kim, for that matter, although she handles it better than he does.

At least they can use John to pick up the extra slack. John's the reason why Nick was able to clear junk out of the hangar, and why all of the trash from Carmina's old room has been taken outside and burned. Ever since Nick fixed the window in his room, John's been quicker to work and easier to instruct, and his weird habits have mostly died off. He still gets distracted during long, monotonous tasks, and he doesn't speak unless spoken to most of the time, but at least he's stopped pacing around and muttering all night, and he's starting to remember what table manners are.

The first unofficial day of spring is family haircut day. Carmina demands that Kim lop all of her long hair off, leaving her with a see-your-manager bob that Nick hopes she'll get tired of. Kim helps Nick out too, trimming up the back for him as he cuts his bushy beard down to just off his chin. Getting a clean shave is more trouble than it's worth these days, and Nick has long since gotten used to wearing a beard. Besides, Kim doesn't seem to mind the Kenny Loggins look one bit, pulling gently on his whiskers to steal a kiss once he's done.

After Nick, Kim cuts John's hair. Nick doesn't know how he feels about John being included in a family affair, but the guy needs it more than any of them. There's only so many bucket-baths one man can take, and John's hair seems to have absorbed more dirt than water could remove. Nick's not sure if it's actually eight years worth of grime that he's keeping in his tangled hair, but it's bad enough to need serious attention.

They do it upstairs in John's room with the door locked, while Carmina reads downstairs — Nick really doesn't need her asking questions about why John's being included on family haircut day, thanks. He stands by the door just in case Carmina tries to interrupt, or in the unlikely event that John tries to bolt, unhappily watching ask Kim sits John down in a chair borrowed from downstairs.

John keeps his eyes fixed on his shoes as Kim assesses the damage, hands clasped tightly in his lap. When Kim huffs unhappily at the rat's nest she's facing, he drops his head so the hair can curtain his face.

Kim hacks off as much hair as she can, careful not to cut one side too much shorter than the other until she knows what she's got left to work with. She orbits slowly around John as she quietly trims away dreaded knots and grime-caked tangles, more focused on her work than on the dangerous psychopath who could grab her kitchen shears at any moment. As she trims his bangs back, John closes his eyes, and he keeps them that way even as she moves on, leaving his face exposed.

She wrinkles her nose as she clears enough hair to reveal John's destroyed ear, heavily scarred and torn from where the deputy shot him. She says nothing about it, but Nick can see from John's expression that it's all he's thinking about. Nick wonders if he can still hear out of it, or if his eardrum never recovered. He's never even thought about it before.

The space between the three of them starts to fill with the heaviness of unintentional silence, but Nick can't bring himself to break the quiet. He doesn't want to distract Kim or trigger some fighting instinct from John. And anyway, he doesn't know what he could say that would make this whole thing feel less weird.

"Well," Kim says, once she's stepped back to get a look at her handiwork, "I mean, it's... better."

It's a shaggier, poor man's version of what John's hair used to look like, but Nick can at least tell the hair that's left is clean. There's not enough hair for him to hide behind anymore, much less hide his busted ear. For the first time, Nick notices an old scar across John's forehead and the dark gray hair that's grown in at his temples. It's... jarring. All at once, Nick is looking at the man he'd sworn to destroy as if he'd only just now removed some kind of disguise. An older, more exhausted version of his sworn enemy is sitting right there, leaving Nick to wonder if cleaning him up was even such a good idea to begin with.

"Damn," Nick says as realization dawns on him, "There's no hiding who he is now, huh."

John's jaw clenches. Nick wonders if he'd been hedging his bets on being indistinguishable from any other survivor.

"We aren't hiding him," Kim huffs.

This is news to Nick, who's been operating with as much secrecy as possible. They'd even stopped having Grace come pick up Carmina, going out to meet her instead. "Yeah, well, we aren't exactly banging pots and pans to draw attention to him, either," he points out.

" You're the one who said he needed a haircut."

"And he did! Just... I didn't realize the difference it'd make, is all." Nick tries to catch John's attention, but he seems to be just fine blending into the surroundings while Nick and Kim argue about his stupid hair. "Anyone with a scope is gonna spot him half a mile away."

"People are going to find out about this eventually, Nick," Kim tells him. She goes so far as to rest a hand on John's shoulder to emphasize her point, saying, "We can't keep his survival a secret forever."

Nick frowns, but Kim's right. Eventually, they're going to have to make a case for letting John live. So far, it's been alright, but... well, is John really worth staking their reputations on? Even if he was, has he done enough to prove that Nick hadn't made a dumb, sympathetic mistake? And if not, is Nick going to have to step aside and let somebody else do what he should have done months ago?

"Well, we've got time to figure it out," Nick admits at last, mostly because he doesn't want to think about it right now. Since it feels weird having a conversation about John right in front of him without addressing him at all , Nick offers him some direct commentary. "I guess you better just keep working on that good karma, huh?" he asks, aiming for smug but falling somewhat short.

"Yeah," John rasps. "I guess so."

The haircut does something for John's attitude, although it takes a few days before Nick notices. After a couple months of strange demureness, he begins to react to things like a goddamn human again. He can meet Nick's eyes now, although he struggles to hold the contact for more than a few seconds. When Nick or Kim tell him to do something, there's no more mute nodding. Instead, John will say, "Okay," or, "I understand." Sometimes, he'll even ask questions about the things they tell him to do, like where to move things or if he's doing something right. Once, after a few solid hours in too-bright-for-February sunlight, John asks Nick for a break, and it doesn't feel like selling out to let him sit down and have some lunch.

Of course, Nick never forgets that John is a manipulative user. He's got a way of seeming reasonable at first, going from pleasantries to stealing your land out from under you before anyone realizes he's dropped the kind and charitable act. Nick can't afford to forget that. There's nobody left in the world who could help him if John decides to toy with him this time around. Before the bombs, there had been laws and regulations and an entire justice system that he could get help from, but now? Now, if John decides he wants Nick's property more than he wants to make amends, all he's gotta do is take it.

Nick would like to believe that John isn't planning some sort of coup, that he's not just acting pitiable to drop their guard, but he's already taking so many risks with the guy. It's not safe to think John is playing along with Nick and Kim because he feels bad about what happened. That kind of low-ball expectation is exactly what caused Hope County to underestimate the Seeds before, and Nick isn't going to do that again.

John always seems tense whenever Carmina is around. She knows better than to directly address him, of course, since Kim and Nick have told her multiple times not to, but somehow she manages to work around the rules. She'll pretend he isn't around when she asks about his tattoos or scars or how his ear looks weird, and no amount of scolding manages to stop her. She asks for specifics about what he did to get in so much trouble, and why they're always watching him, and why he's not allowed to handle guns or knives or anything bigger than a hammerhead missing its handle. The healthier John looks, the more she asks about him, and now that he's got a haircut and clothes that hide most of his scars and tattoos, Carmina's fascination has started full force.

The only thing that keeps her from turning to John outright for her answers is his avoidance of her entirely. John goes out of his way to avoid looking at her, and if there's any distance to be gained between them, he's the one looking to gain it. Nick can't tell if he just isn't fond of kids, or if he has something personal against Carmina. The latter concept probably shouldn't irritate him so much, but — well, that's his daughter, man! He's obligated to be irritated when someone doesn't like her, even if that someone is his oldest enemy.

Thankfully, now that it's nicer out, Carmina has better things to do than sit around speculating on the guy living in the spare room. Nick takes her on an unsuccessful fishing trip, Kim takes her to visit Grace, and on days when nothing special is planned, she gets to run pretty much free, as long as she's within earshot.

One morning, as Kim and Carmina get ready to go meet up with Grace, Carmina asks, "Does dad always have to watch John?"

Nick thinks she waited specifically until Nick had brought John downstairs to ask, which is a little too cunning for his liking. "I'm not always watching him," Nick replies. "Sometimes it's your mom."

"We've told you," Kim chides gently. "John needs supervision."

John doesn't look up from his customary spot on the bottom stair, chewing through his breakfast. His shoulders are held tight, but otherwise, it's as if he can't even hear the conversation happening around him. Nick has to admit, he's impressed that John doesn't get more worked up when they talk about him like he's not there. It'd piss the hell out of Nick if he were in the other's shoes.

"We could take him with us," Carmina suggests. Since she's standing in front of her mom, she can't see the horrified expression that Kim directs Nick's way.

"Uh, I don't think that'd be a good idea," Nick says, which is usually what he says whenever he wants the conversation to end.

Apparently, that's not going to fly this time around, as Carmina pouts and asks, "But why not ?"

Kim puts her hands gently on Carmina's shoulders, sighing and saying, "It's complicated, honey."

Well, great, they just used both of their canned responses to her back-to-back. Carmina is a good kid — patient, kind, tolerant — but she knows when she's being given the runaround and she won't put up with any of it.

"That's what you always say," she complains. "I want to know why! I'm complicated too, I can handle it!"

"Carmina, it's not that easy —"

"I don't care!" Carmina exclaims. Her frustration is about to boil over as she whirls to face John. "I'm talking to you, now!" she demands, downright offended that she has to declare it. Carmina hasn't worked herself up into a riot for a while now, but she certainly hasn't lost her touch. "You're supposed to be a bad guy, but all you do is hang around all day! Don't you want to go outside? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

Nick has definitely told John not to address Carmina, but this feels like extenuating circumstances. It was bound to happen — there's only so many times you can write off the prisoner in your house as a disagreeable weirdo before your daughter demands answers. He just isn't sure that there's anything John can say that won't raise more questions, each one harder to answer than the last.

John finally looks up from his breakfast to offer Carmina an unimpressed stare. "I have no interest in speaking to you," he tells her. His voice is downright chilly, with a tone best reserved for dismissing an incompetent secretary with an NDA. It's borderline offensive to have John talk to his little girl that way, but the ice freezes Carmina's escalating tantrum in its tracks.

"O-Oh," she says, deflating almost immediately. It's only going to dissuade her for a couple of days, tops, but by then they'll have figured something to say. Something that will paper over history that Nick can't afford to hide from her forever — eventually, they're going to have to tell her just how big John's role was in their suffering. But it's going to require nuance, and a better explanation than, Daddy's just going with his gut, sweetie .

"I'll try to explain," Kim tells her, turning her away from John's visible disinterest and facing her towards the door. "You just have to be patient. We're doing our best."

" He's not," Carmina sulks. She pulls on her coat, offering Nick a gloomy, "Bye, dad," before Kim ushers her out of the house.

Nick turns to John as soon as they leave, ready to lecture him on how to talk to children, but John doesn't look remotely up for it. Just the one interaction has left him wiped, and there's a distant glaze to his eyes as he gets caught up in his own thoughts. He keeps getting trapped in his own head; it used to irritate Nick, but lately, it's just worrisome behavior that he's got to keep an eye on. Like Carmina having nightmares, or Kim taking out her stress on firewood.

"You sure know how to handle kids," Nick winds up saying, which isn't exactly the fight he'd wanted to start.

John closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do you have something else for me to do today other than talk?" he sighs. He's trying for irritation, but he only manages to sound exhausted.

Nick can't help but think he's hit a nerve. Worse, he feels bad about it. He tries to brush it off, asking, "Well, what do you wanna do — pull siding or chop firewood?"

"Does it matter what I want?" John replies.

Damn, but John has perfected that cool dismissal, leaving Nick feeling chastised. "I guess not," he grouses.

Nick is definitely sulking as he sets John to removing some rotten siding. Thankfully, he has a whole bunch of wood to take his frustration out on. He's got John right in view, and he knows how to throw an ax and sometimes even hit things with one, so he should be fine. Anyway, John only ever has eyes for his work — Nick's not sure if escaping is really on his mind anymore. Sort of like feeding raccoons. You do it because you don't want them to go hungry, like any decent person, and the next thing you know they've stopped foraging and come by like clockwork every Wednesday night until the apocalypse.

Actually, maybe that's Stockholm syndrome? Nick isn't sure. He sure hopes not.

The day goes by as uneventfully as any other. It's not particularly hot out, but the sun is out and the birds are singing in true springtime fashion. It's actually a pretty nice day when all's said and done; Nick takes a minute or two after he finishes chopping wood to enjoy the blue sky and the tall, somewhat decimated trees swaying in the breeze. It's quiet all around, feeling like the edge of the world for a second or two before distant gunshots remind him that they aren't truly alone out here. He doubts it's anything to worry about, and he's sure that it has nothing to do with Kim and Carmina meeting Grace, but he still worries about it enough to chop down a few more logs.

Afterward, Nick definitely could use a break, sweaty and tired and a little hungry. John looks mostly done, too, having taken off nearly all of the section Nick had outlined for him. There's enough scrap to make plenty of shingles to finish the roof, even if it means leaving some of the house exposed. The nails will be useful, too, and Kim can probably figure out what to make with the unusable bits of wood.

"C'mon," he calls, shaking his canteen in John's direction, "Get some water. Then, you can start pulling any nails out of the boards that managed to survive. We can't afford to run out of those if we're gonna fix up the hangar."

John takes a gratefully large drink before he asks, "What's the point? You don't have a plane."

Nick rolls his eyes. Great, now he's got another petulant child asking dumb questions to deal with. "No, asshole, I don't. But I figure the house isn't really big enough for all the supplies we're gonna need. Wood, siding, sheet metal, not to mention the generator that's been sitting in the closet for longer than you've been here. There's that old chest freezer in there, maybe it'll still work." He waves towards the building, which is missing a good deal of its roof, RYE & SON faded across the front. "I'm not just gonna leave it like that."

John doesn't have anything to say to that — if he does, he keeps it to himself. Which is good. Fine! Nick doesn't need, or want , John to argue with him about the damn hangar.

Together, they drag long strips of old siding to the porch, where Nick has John sit while he gets to work on dinner, which is going to be classic, leftover-meat-and-potato stew. By the time Carmina and Kim get back, Nick will have everything taken care of and under control here. Kim will have probably figured out what to tell Carmina to keep her from putting too much trust in John, without telling her the gruesome, not-safe-for-children details. They'll sit down and talk about going fishing, and hopefully this time Nick won't ruin the stew with too much salt.

Carmina comes running towards the house a good hour before Nick expected her to be back. His heart immediately leaps into his throat as he imagines why she's alone, why she's towards him looking so upset. Thankfully, Kim is following right behind, which stops him from blocking Carmina as she bolts up the back porch and inside without a backward glance. The relief Nick feels at seeing Kim is short-lived as he realizes she isn't alone — Grace is standing there beside her, rifle in hand, staring across the backyard at John Seed sitting on the porch with a pile of nails at his feet.

"Ah, shit," is the first thing that Nick manages to say. He turns to John, with a fresh haircut and his sleeves rolled up to show off his tattoos, and he knows there's no mistaking him for anybody else. Grace is going to take one look at him through her scope and pop his head clean off his shoulders. "Don't move, don't speak, don't do anything ," Nick warns him. "Just... sit there, okay? Carmina's just upstairs. I don't want her to hear you get your brains blown out because you decided now was the time to bolt."

John doesn't respond, but he also doesn't move, frozen with a piece of wood clutched loosely in his hands. That should count for something. Nick turns back to Kim and Grace, who still haven't come any closer. Kim is talking to Grace, who may or may not be listening to whatever she's trying to say. All Nick knows is that Grace has him pinned dead to rights with an immeasurably pissed off glare.

He should be worrying less about John getting shot and more about Grace shooting him . Shit, should he go over to them and try to patch things up? That would be leaving John unattended. That would look bad for them, right?

Finally, Grace begins an approach. She's got her rifle clutched against her chest, her stony gaze sliding from Nick to John. Kim hovers behind her, anxiously giving Grace some distance as she tries to explain everything to Nick through frantic hand gestures alone.

Grace reaches the fire pit before she stops. She looks at the stew, bubbling in the pot, then to John, and finally to Nick.

"So it's true," she says.

"I know you're probably angry," Nick begins. From Grace's sharp glare, it's the wrong way to start the conversation.

"Angry doesn't begin to describe how I feel right now, Nick," she replies flatly. Nick starts to suspect that she's only holding on to her gun to keep herself from wailing on him. "You're harboring a goddamn cult leader in your home! You've been hiding John Seed in your home for months — what the hell are you thinking? Have you two forgotten what this maniac did to all of us?" She points accusingly at his chest, "Did you forget what he did to you ?"

"Of course I haven't!" Nick struggles not to raise his voice, trying desperately to maintain some kind of diplomacy with one of his oldest and closest friends. But he doesn't have any defense prepared for John, and he's not all that willing to defend him to begin with, so being backed into a corner isn't helping. "How could I? That's the reason he's here — he owes us!"

Kim jumps in to plead with Grace. "It's like I told you," she insists. "Nick gave him an ultimatum. He's been sticking by it."

Grace is overwhelmed enough that she spits in disgust. "You made a deal with a devil to mend fences and pull nails?" she asks. "You think that's what he owes Hope County? Some housework ? Is that really worth rekindling the god-damned cult?"

"Hey, there's none of that bullshit around here. John," Nick instructs, "Tell her."

"It's true," John rasps. He's pale and trembling, looking like he might faint. "Eden's Gate is dead."

"What makes you think I'd believe a word you'd say?" Grace snaps. "You're nothing but a murderous conman. Don't you dare speak to me."

"You don't need to believe him," Kim says, moving in to distract Grace's lethal glare from John. "You can believe us. The cult destroyed everything, and then it destroyed itself. All we're trying to do is put the pieces back together the best we can. For everyone ."

"You can't possibly think this is a good idea," Grace says, a distinct accusation buried in her words. "He's lying to you. He's using you two. And you're just going to let him?" When neither of them immediately respond, she scoffs loudly. "Unbelievable. If Rook were here..."

"You know exactly what they would do," Kim says.

Grace taps an irritated beat against her rifle, scowling first at Kim, then at John. She's probably trying to stare him to death. Nick's just glad she isn't directing that lethal glare his way. "And what do you expect me to do?" she asks.

Nick is sure that if Grace chooses to shoot John, he'll let it happen. He worries about the aftermath, about his relationship with Grace, about Carmina's wellbeing, about the kind of post-apocalyptic world they'd finally be living in, but he's sure that he won't try to stop her. Mostly sure. Pretty sure.

Lord , Nick prays, Please do not test me on this one today.

"I'm hoping you'll trust us to do what's right," Kim says, concluding what sounds like a defense she's been building since this whole mess started. Nick can only imagine what the walk back home must have been like.

For a moment, Grace doesn't move, her jaw clenching as she considers the stakes. Nick doesn't know what makes the decision for her, but finally, she eases up on her gun. "I must be an idiot," she mutters to herself, before addressing the two of them directly. "The minute he reveals his true colors, you tell me."

"Yeah," Nick says, surprised at how breathless he sounds. Had he been holding his breath? "Yeah, obviously."

"You're making me take a huge risk that I don't want to take," she informs them grimly, ignoring John as if her life depends on it. " Don't make me regret it."

Grace storms away with such righteous anger that Nick almost doesn't catch the retreat for what it is. He can hardly believe that she's leaving, still tensed for the gunshot he'd thought was inevitable. As soon as Grace disappears from view, John lurches from his seat, sweaty face going gray. He barely manages to stagger to the corner of the house before he throws up, clutching the wall for support.

Nick will handle that in a minute. First, though, he turns to ask his wife, "What the hell happened?"

"God, Nick, it was a disaster," Kim sighs, looking pale and trembly herself. "Carmina was still upset when we met Grace, and she spilled everything. I tried to soften the blow, to, you know, explain, but Grace didn't believe any of it at first, and then Carmina was talking about him being in our room all night..."

"Jesus." Nick rubs his eyes, then wraps his arms around Kim, feeling her melt into the hug. "I should've been there. I should've told Grace before Carmina could get the chance." He groans quietly, "Damn it, she's probably still freaking out up there."

"She was convinced Grace was going to kill him," Kim tells him. "She thought it was all her fault."

Nick sighs. "This was a big mistake. I should've taken him to Grace when I found him. Carmina doesn't deserve any of this."

Gently breaking away from the hug, Kim looks briefly towards John before gesturing towards the house. "I should go check on her. She needs to know everything is... well, stable. For now, anyway."

"Yeah, you do that. I'll, uh... I'll deal with this mess."

Nick watches Kim go inside, and then turns to watch the pathway Grace had disappeared down. He half expects to see her lurking in the bushes, but he knows Grace better than that. She would never let him see her coming if that were the case.

John sits down heavily against the side of the house, pale and wracked with uncontrollable tremors. It's not the reaction that Nick is used to — whenever he waved his gun around, John always seemed patiently resigned, waiting for the time when Nick would finally make good on his hollow threats. Grace hadn't even pointed her rifle at him, and he's losing his damned lunch.

Nick catches John muttering to himself as he approaches, but he doesn't hear the words, and John shuts up when he gets too close. He stands over John for a minute, but the move seems too aggressive when John looks up at him with saucer-wide eyes. Reluctantly, he crouches down, his knee popping in complaint.

"Well," Nick says, when John just stares at him, "Looks like you're still in one piece." When that doesn't get a reaction, he scrubs his beard and tries another approach. "I guess Carmina doesn't take the cold shoulder very well, huh?"

John takes a shaking breath. "She should have killed me," he rasps. "Why didn't she kill me?"

"Honestly, I've got no idea. I guess she probably didn't want Carmina to think it was her fault or something. I mean, she might've decided Kim and I know what we're doing, but..." Well, considering that Nick isn't too sure what he's doing, he doubts that's the case. All Nick knows is that he's glad he doesn't have to clean John's brain matter out of the wood. "Well, either way, you're still here."

"I am," John agrees, soundly deeply unsure about it. He takes a breath, then another, although neither seems to calm him down much. "I'll get back to work, I just need... I need a minute."

Nick had completely forgotten about the siding. He'd forgotten about the food on the fire, too, although it's bound to be fine, it's stew . He finds himself wanting to give John the rest of the night off, to... who knows, process what happened? Give him a chance to get his head on straight, to figure out what he might say the next time someone comes waving a gun at him? Nick's not sure what John's free time would even entail. Nick really hasn't been giving him any.

"Stop looking at me like that," John rasps. "I'm fine. I can still work."

Nick's not sure how to change his expression, but he can at least try not to openly pity the guy. "Fine, whatever. Look — take a break for now. I'll tell you when you can get back to it."

John nods, dropping his head back against the wall with a dull thud. He closes his eyes almost immediately, like he might just pass out then and there, and Nick knows that he's got to be finished for the day. Since Nick is the one timing the break, John won't notice if Nick lets him rest, and if he wants to complain, he can go eat a boot.

The stew is ready inside of an hour, although Nick had planned to let it sit for a while to thicken. Kim comes downstairs at some point with her cheeks blotchy red from tears, but she gives Nick an immediate smile to let him know everything is alright. She looks John's direction, but the guy hasn't moved for the last thirty minutes, so he isn't much to look at.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Nick asks her, unable to help himself.

"I want to think so," Kim replies, rubbing his back gently. "We'll see."

Kim calls Carmina down for dinner, but who knows how long it will take before she actually drags herself downstairs. It's been a pretty heavy day, so Nick doesn't blame her for wanting to hide for a little while longer.

He doesn't know if it would be better or worse to let John sleep through dinner, but the guy did throw up half of his lunch, so he probably needs the food. Going to John's side, Nick almost kicks him awake, but that feels too aggressive after everything that's happened. Tomorrow, Nick can go back to being a dick to him. For now, he settles on nudging John's shoulder until he seems to come to.

"C'mon," Nick says, "It's time to eat."

Maybe John hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep. He looks around as though he's never seen the backyard before, not quite comprehending the hazy late-afternoon glow that showed up while he was out. "What happened?" he asks, visibly dreading the answer.

Nick can't help but roll his eyes. "You fell asleep," he says. "It's a real shocker. Told you, even a kid can do it."

John frowns. He looks towards the pile of siding, ready to calculate how much work he's missed, but Nick nudges him with his foot to distract him.

"I figure, if you sit here and don't move, maybe you can stay down here to eat. At least that way, Carmina will know you didn't get shot at on her account."

There's something in John's expression that implies he might want to argue the point, but he doesn't. He nods, remaining seated as Nick goes back to the fire. He doesn't move when Kim comes out of the house with four bowls and spoons, although he watches her like he's expecting a bomb to go off in her hand.

"Is he okay?" Kim asks Nick over the pot, keeping her voice low as she watches John out of the corner of her eye. "He's staying down here?"

"Bad idea?" Nick asks. "I can move him, I just figured..."

"No, it's okay." She pats his arm. "Good work with dinner."

Carmina comes downstairs with all the reluctance of a girl with a straight-D report card. She trudges down the porch steps with her head down, looking at her parents briefly through her hair before she swivels her unhappy gaze towards John.

"Hey, honey," Nick calls as she solemnly makes her way over to where John is sitting, trying in vain to reel her back. She ignores him, coming to a stop some five feet in front of John, well out of his reach by instinct alone. Nick can't see her face, but he can hear her teary voice.

"I'm sorry, John," she apologizes, her hands clasped in front of her and her head bowed like she might never look anyone in the eye again. Nick has to clamp down on the visceral reaction he has to his own daughter apologizing to John Seed , but he manages to choke it down even if it risks souring his dinner.

For his part, John looks more ready to bolt now than he did when Grace had been actively threatening him. His heels dig into the dirt as he presses himself against the wall, eyes darting as he calculates an escape route. When neither Nick nor Kim attempt to pull Carmina away, he flings a wild glance their way, but there's no avoiding the little girl's apology.

"It's okay," he tells her, his throat almost dry enough to strangle the words. Carmina must not seem convinced, because he continues uneasily, "You didn't do anything wrong."

Thankfully, Carmina accepts the sentiment readily. Nick doesn't know if he could handle her insisting he take her apology. "Dad," she says, apparently satisfied enough to rise out of her morose mood, "Are we going fishing tomorrow still?"

"I don't see why not."

Nick's glad for the subject change. It's fun to tease Carmina, who keeps insisting she's good at fishing even though she's never caught anything, and it keeps her distracted from John. John doesn't seem to mind being left alone to eat. He seems miles away from the house and the conversation, distracted by the darkening path that Grace had disappeared down. He eats slowly, waiting for something to happen. Probably waiting for Grace to come back and finish what Nick started months ago.

[rheyninwrites]

The Photographer’s Assistant Part 2

(I apologize for the length. Right now I’m mobile only and cuts won’t work properly.)

Standing cautiously beside your horse, you huffed out an exasperated breath, blowing a few strands of hair out of your face. Despite the incident with the coyotes, as well as a few interesting run-ins with some pronghorn and deer, Albert was being a complete idiot again. Oh, and there’d been that near miss with the bison, too. This time, he’d tied a giant bag of meat up in a tree, in order to lure out some wolves nearby. You’d told him more than once that it was the dumbest idea since the coyote thing, but all he could do was tell you that this time all of his supplies were safely tucked away in the saddlebags, and that this time there wouldn’t be any trouble- as long as the wind stayed down. So there you were, beside your horse, watching your sweet but apparently insane cousin try to get eaten, and hoping for some kind of divine intervention to keep you both safe.

Something out there must have heard you, because as you watched Albert mumbling to himself, a figure you thought you recognized appeared on the horizon. Your heart skipped a beat. You’d hoped that you’d get to see him again, but knew that, realistically, it was improbable. Yet here he was again, approaching on horseback, sun shining behind him, like a figure from a fairy tale. You smiled broadly as he dismounted, watching him approach your oblivious cousin Albert.

“Hello again!”

“Oh!” Albert jumped away from his camera. “Hello again . . . Mr . . . .”

“Morgan.” You finished for him, walking towards them. You looked to Arthur and extended your hand, which he shook warmly, covering it with his other hand as he did. “It’s very nice to see you again.”

“Likewise.”

“Morgan! Yes, Mr Morgan. How are you sir?” Without waiting for a reply, Albert continued. “My nerves. Oh, I’m afraid I’m not quite the outdoor adventurer that I thought. God’s own country, and I feel as if I’m in purgatory.”

While they chatted, you couldn’t help but notice Arthur’s eyes continued to return to you, drinking you in. He probably thought he was being subtle, facing Albert, flicking his eyes towards you again and again, but the way his eyes lingered, tracing you from top to bottom, was anything but. You let out a soft chuckle and saw him smile in response, proving how closely he was watching you. Suddenly a word of Albert’s caught his ear, pulling his attention back.

“Wolves! You really are trying to get yourself eaten.”

“Well, I hope not. I left the meat over there.” Albert gestured vaguely in the direction of the tree where it was tied. “I thought we’d be safe. Given the wind.”

“Yeah, sure. If you manage to attract the world’s least intelligent wolf.” Arthur looked over to where you were standing, watching you mouth ‘help him’ as you rolled your eyes, and stifled a laugh. “I’ll stay with you a while. If anything comes, I’ll, uh, protect you as needed.” He looked to where you stood, giving you a wink, then kneeled beside Albert.

“You are a gentleman.” Albert’s shoulders relaxed instantly as Arthur settled in beside him.

“You don’t know me very well.”

You sidled over beside him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Nonsense, Mr Morgan. Only a true gentleman would be so willing to protect a man who seemed as set on getting himself eaten as cousin Albert here!”

Arthur laughed, while Albert offhandedly replied, “Oh, ha ha. You are a riot, dear cousin. Perhaps I should have left you with my aunt, to be married off to some stinking, boorish nitwit twice your age?”

“Albert!” You hissed.

Arthur looked back at you, concern in his eyes, while Albert continued talking, questioning Arthur about his experience in the outdoors. Though he answered every question, his eyes kept returning to you, mouth twisting as if he wanted to say something, but wasn’t quite sure how, or if it was okay. Every time you caught sight of his eyes, staring you down, you felt your stomach somersault. A part of you, deep inside, wanted to drag him off to the nearest quiet location, sit at his feet, and get him to tell you everything about himself, no secret left untold. The more realistic part thought that it would just be really nice to be able to spend some time with him without worrying about being eaten.

About that time, Arthur’s body stiffened, hushing you both. “Looks like we got company,” he whispered, nodding towards where the meat hung.

Your eyes followed, noticing first one, then another, until finally three wolves approached the tree. Albert shifted quietly behind his camera, coaxing the wolves out in a soft voice as he began snapping photos. Soon a total of five wolves had gathered beneath the tree. Arthur slowly and silently drew his pistol, readying it, as you moved behind him. With his free arm, he reached back to push you further behind him, elbow pressing against the side of your thigh, while his hand slid down the back of your calf. As the first wolf howled, you found yourself nervously gripping his shoulder. He shifted again, making sure to keep his eyes on the wolves and his body between yours and theirs.

The flash of Albert’s camera popped again and again, each time drawing the attention of another wolf. Though Albert seemed oblivious, your palms were sweating. One wolf broke off from the group, moving around the three of you to the left, while another moved to the right. Arthur was obviously nervous himself now, finger twitching on the trigger as his eyes glanced quickly from wolf to wolf.

The first wolf, the one right in front of the camera, shifted to stare at Albert, a low growl rising in its throat. It stalked towards him, eyes locked, while the two at the sides began pacing greedily back and forth. They began to snarl, while the first had edged forward, separated from the three of you by mere feet now, barking a harsh warning. You were being circled, surrounded.

It suddenly occurred to you that two of the five wolves were nowhere to be seen. While you shifted your head, frantically searching for them, the two from the sides joined the first in front of you, each of them focused on one of you, snarling as the readied themselves to pounce. Arthur wasted no time in firing a shot to the one in the center, the closest, hitting it right between the eyes and dropping it immediately. Then a rustling to the left caught your attention just as one of the final two wolves leapt out.

Arthur pushed you roughly behind him as he turned, firing two quick shots into its side, wounding but not killing it. While he was distracted by that, the fifth wolf jumped from the right, briefly latching onto his still outstretched arm before he downed it with a shot to the chest. He spun around to where the other three stood, firing a shot at each of them.

“They ain’t so very friendly, are they?” He yelled to Albert as he shot down another, the final two surging towards him. One latched onto his pistol arm momentarily, shaking it but not quite making him lose his grip. He kicked it off, a fine spray of blood covering them both as he put in the final shot to its skull.

Only one left, determined, vaulting at him and nearly knocking him over as it bit into his arm hard enough for him to cry out. You saw the dripping of red as he twisted away, firing three rapid shots to its chest. His face was a mask of anger and determination as he watched it fall, then softened as he turned to where you stood over Albert.

“Is that all of ‘em?” You nodded, breathing nearly as heavily as he was, though you hadn’t done nearly the work. He crossed the distance between you quickly before taking your hands and looking you over for injuries. “I think we might’ve kept the wolves from the door.”

Albert panted, grasping at his chest. “My whole futile existence flashed before my eyes! What a way to go . . . literally a dog’s dinner . . . .” He wandered off, mumbling to himself.

“They were just minding their own business before you hung that meat up there! Honestly, Albert, you have got to think a bit more! You could have gotten us all killed!” You screamed, your body still flushed with adrenaline. Arthur grabbed ahold of your shoulder to get your attention, shaking his head as he did.

“He ain’t gone listen.”

“I know. But, still . . . .”

“You hurt anywhere?”

You shook your head. “Thanks to you. I’m sorry you had to get involved in this.”

“If I hadn’t you might both be dead right now.”

You had to admit, he was right. Suddenly, you remembered the way he’d been attacked, and your eyes flew wide. You grabbed his arms, making him wince a bit.

“Oh, I haven’t been hurt, but you . . . they grabbed you!”

He tried to push you away, drawing his hands back. “Ain’t nothing, really. I can handle it.”

“Nonsense. You saved our lives, the least I can do is take care of the injuries you got doing so!”

You pulled him gently over to a nearby rock, pressing on his shoulders to make him sit down. Once he had, you tugged as carefully as you could on the jacket he was wearing, pulling it off and rolling up his shirtsleeves. You took one of his large, calloused hands into yours, carefully turning his arm to get a decent look at the wounds, then did the same to the other. They didn’t look too bad, thanks to the jacket he was wearing, but they needed cleaning and bandaging.

“Stay here,” you spoke firmly, giving him no choice but to obey. He watched, a soft smile playing at the corners of his mouth, while you gathered a canteen, bandages, and a small bottle of whiskey from your horse. When you returned, you gestured for him to lift his hands back up, and he did as you asked.

While you worked a dampened cloth carefully around his arms, his eyes took in your face. It was the first time he’d really had a chance to see you this closely, and he was even more certain than he had been before that you were the most attractive person he’d ever seen. He swallowed hard as he felt the softness of your hands moving against his skin, touching him so tenderly. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had touched him with this sort of kindness. He cleared his throat, trying to think of something, anything to say, when you looked up at him.

You’d been about to ask him if you were hurting him, but the question dissolved in your mouth when you noticed how close your face was to his. Eye to eye, your noses were nearly touching, and you could feel each of his soft breaths tickling your lips. Unable to look away from those eyes, you bit your lip, and saw his eyes glance down at your mouth, his breath hitching slightly. Without being fully conscious of it, one of your fingers began tracing along the lines of his palm, while you gently chewed on your bottom lip. His eyes closed while he enjoyed the feel of your hand against his.

“Do you want some whiskey? For the pain?” You breathed out the words quietly, afraid of scaring away this tender moment. He nodded, and you passed the bottle to him, taking a quick sip for yourself first. When he’d taken two large gulps, he passed the bottle back and you sat it down carefully pouring a bit on a fresh cloth to disinfect his wounds. “This may sting a bit.”

He flinched as you pressed the alcohol laden cloth against the broken skin on his arm, though you could tell he was trying to hide it. In response, you stroked carefully along the inside of his forearm, making soft shushing sounds. When both arms had been properly disinfected, you carefully wound bandages where he needed them, going out of your way to brush your skin against his. The way he seemed so needy, so hungry just to be touched woke something inside of you. Maybe a part of you felt the same way, even if you tried to deny it. Maybe it was just him you craved.

As you finished bandaging him, you found your eyes drawn to his lips. Plump, soft, you couldn’t help but wonder what they would feel like pressing against you, anywhere. Everywhere. How would he kiss you? Would he be rough, hard and hungry, like a starving animal? Or would he be tender, kisses falling like petals against your skin, tickling you and leaving you forever wanting more? Would his hands tangle in your hair as you breathed in against his skin, tasting the salt of his sweat in your mouth? Finally, you couldn’t make any more excuses to continue touching him, and you trailed your fingers down his arm before standing and moving away. He stood up, looking at you shyly for a minute before the two of you walked to his horse.

“I just wanted to thank you again, Mr Morgan-“

“Call me Arthur. Please.”

You inhaled, forcing yourself to look into his eyes, despite your shyness. “Arthur, then. Thank you again. For helping us. For saving our lives. If you hadn’t been here . . . .”

“I know.” He reached up and touched the side of your face. “I’m glad I was here too.”

He smiled softly at you before mounting his horse. Just as he was about to ride away, you put your hand on his knee.

“You know, next week we’re going to be staying out near Emerald Ranch. In case you happen to be out that way.”

“You know,” he said, a mischievous smile on his lips, “I think I just might.”

[wematch]

Avatar: The Legend of Neil

For many years, the four nations lived together in harmony.

Then, everything changed when a conspiracy to start a war began.

Only the avatar, master of all four elements, could stop it, but when the identity of the new avatar was found, he vanished.

Many years passed without anyone knowing where he was. Then he appeared in a farm in the Earth Kingdom, disguised as a firebender named Neil. And although his bending skills were weak when he got there, with practice he grew stronger every day that passed.

Now with a war looming by, Neil must find his own path into becoming the new avatar and bring balance to the world.

***

A huge thank you to @jsteneil​ for being an amazing beta! Your feedback made all the difference <3

This fic was inspired by this amazing piece of art by @aymmidumps​, go check it out! [here]

You can also read it from the start on [AO3]

Book 1: Air

Chapter 2: The Farm

For over a year, Nathaniel travels farther into the depths of the Earth kingdom. He doesn’t know exactly where he is; all he knows is that he’s slowly getting closer to Ba Sing Se and the closer he gets the busier the villages become, making it easier for him to blend in.

He travels from village to village, helping out in farms in exchange for some food and a few coins. Once his work is finished on a farm he collects his payment and resumes his journey. This time he travels for almost three days before he can see another village on the horizon. When he gets closer he makes camp in a place away from sight that still allows him to observe people coming and going into the village, just like his mother had taught him.

Afternoon comes and not seeing any immediate trouble with the guards or the people passing by, Nathaniel decides to go venture into the village. He can see people dressed in all the different nations colors. They’re merely talking to each other, laughing, buying groceries or discussing their lives—and he can’t help but remember that his father wants to destroy this, the peace between the nations.

Nathaniel keeps walking but whenever someone passes by him he tenses. Anyone from the fire nation could be working for his father; anyone could be disguised as a citizen of the earth kingdom and recognize him. Nathaniel takes a deep breath. He hasn’t seen Lola or anyone for over a year but he knows that they’re somewhere out there trying to find him. He keeps walking with his head down; busier streets means he will draw less attention and he’s dressed in earth kingdom clothes, he can easily blend in. And after finding a job he can keep away from prying eyes if he just stays near the farm.

Nathaniel buys food from a merchant and once he finishes, he asks a man selling cabbages on the street about any farms nearby accepting help. After being given directions to one farm in particular, Nathaniel goes back to where he left his ostrich horse and decides to rest and go to the farm on the following day.

That night as he watches the stars above him, he thinks about what identity he will use this time. In every new village he uses a different one. Eventually he decides on the name of Neil: it's a common name and close enough to his own.

***

The next morning, when the sun is starting to rise, Neil walks towards the farm. As he gets closer he begins to see people passing with baskets to collect food and he stops near the barn where a tall older man is giving directions and baskets to two girls, who turn to leave. The taller one flips her hair over her shoulder and looks at him for a moment, leaning to whisper something to the other girl as they continue to walk towards the fields. Neil tenses slightly but continues to walk, noticing that the man has a blue tattoo of an arrow running all over his arms and forehead. Even though they’re at peace it’s still strange to see an Air nomad living outside the temples. After a moment the man turns to his direction and arches an eyebrow.

“You’re an Air nomad,” Neil says, feeling stupid for saying out loud such an obvious thing.

“Aren’t you smart, kid,” the man replies.

“Uhm… I came to ask if you still need an extra pair of hands for your harvest?” He pauses and decides to add, “I’ve worked in other farms before.”

The man takes a long look at him, then he turns to look up to the sky. Neil follows his gaze and sees a small dot in the sky, becoming bigger and bigger by the second. The airbender begins to walk to the middle of the field and starts speaking loudly for Neil to hear, who begins to follow but stops when he notices that the dot he was seeing on the sky is a bison. The animal circles above them and lands at Wymack’s side. Neil is in awe, he’s never seen a bison this close before. Wymack jumps and lifts himself in the air to gracefully land at the animal's head. 

“Listen kid, I need to go. But my conditions are simple: you work from sunrise until afternoon, food is given to those who work here and at the end of the harvest, I’ll give you a few coins for your work.”

“Okay, that sounds good.” Neil answers, still looking at the massive creature in front of him.

The man eyes him for a second longer before he speaks,“In that case, welcome to my farm. You can call me Wymack, and this is Blue,” he says, petting the bison. “What’s your name?” he asks.

“Neil,” he answers, thinking that other questions will follow. When that doesn’t happen he adds, “where do you want me to start?”

“See those people near the apple trees?” After Neil nods he continues, “ask for Dan, tell her you’re going to help around here, she’ll give you work.” Wymack turns his attention to the sky and shouts “yip-yip,” and the bison takes off. Neil watches them disappear in the sky for a moment and then begins to walk towards the trees.

As he walks, he sees a few people already working at various points, but he stops short when he gets close enough to the trees to see the group working there. A tall guy with darker skin dressed in Water tribe colors is laughing as two Fire nation girls race to climb a tree. Then, the guy bends the water on the buckets nearby to make a slide from the tree to where their pile of baskets are.

Apples start sliding down and the guy and another girl start grabbing them and filling the baskets. Neil stares for a moment longer and then walks in their direction. As he gets closer he notices that the two are talking in hushed tones, but then the girl seems to notice him and stops talking.

“Hey, you came to work?” the girl, also dressed in tones of blue, asks.

“Yeah” Neil starts, staring at the slider again, “I’m looking for Dan.”

“Well, you found me,” Dan points to her side with an apple.”This is Matt,” and Matt gives him a quick wave. 

“Welcome to the farm. What’s your name?” Matt asks.

“Thanks, I’m Neil.”

Dan gets up. “Well, Neil, come with me,” she tells him and leads him towards a strawberry field. “You ever picked strawberries?” Neil nods. Dan grabs a basket nearby and passes it to him. “Alright, if you need anything, I’ll be harvesting the apples. We’ll call you when break time for lunch arrives.”

“Okay,” Neil answers and starts on his task. He can feel Dan watching him but he pays it no attention and after a while she seems satisfied with what he’s doing and gets back to her own work.

There’s only one other person working on the strawberry line, but he’s not close enough for Neil to see much besides his blond hair. Despite the uncomfortable job, time flies and when he gets up to grab another basket he sees the guy eating a few strawberries; he’s also wearing Earth Nation colors. As if sensing Neil, the guy looks up to meet his eyes, and then proceeds to eat another strawberry. Neil looks away, grabs the basket and walks back to his previous spot with his stomach growling, hoping that lunch won’t take long because he hasn’t eaten since yesterday. And he's not sure what rules are in place here but in other farms he could be punished for eating what he was supposed to be harvesting.

The sun is almost right on top of him when Matt calls him to lunch. Tired and hungry from work, Neil follows him back to the farm. 

Everyone begins to sit down under a tree around the food. Matt motions for him to sit next to him so Neil does. A tall young man with dark skin, sitting next to the blond one that is working closest to him, passes him a bowl of soup. Neil learns that his name is Nicky and besides him is sitting his cousin Aaron. He's greeted by the girls that had been climbing the trees called Renee and Allison, both from the Fire nation. And that’s when another blond man sits right in front of him. 

Confusion settles for a moment. Neil glances at his side at Aaron. At first he sees no difference between the two, besides the armbands with the Earth nation insignia that the one in front of him is wearing. Which makes him the one working next to Neil, and not Aaron. The thought that now he isn't sure which one could be working near him troubles Neil. Clothes can be easily changed and the twins could easily switch places without anyone noticing.

Through lunch Neil watches their interactions, his attention always coming back to the man sitting in front of him who has yet to say a word. When they're nearly finished with lunch, they see the bison approaching the farm and moments later Wymack comes to meet them, followed by an older woman. 

“Kevin will be coming back at the end of next week,” he informs them. Then as he starts to turn he adds pointing at Neil, “Oh, and Abby, this is Neil. He just started today.”

“Nice to meet you, Neil,” Abby says with an easy smile. She then turns to follow Wymack into the house.

“She’s a healer from the South pole,” Dan explains to Neil when Abby is out of sight.

Neil looks up at Dan, curious. “You’re from the same tribe?”

She shakes her head. “No, but I had heard rumors about a healer from the North living in this village, so I came here for her to teach me.”

Matt puts his arm around her. “And I came with her, of course.” They smile at each other fondly and Neil looks away. 

He had always envied waterbenders for their ability to heal, instead of just destroying everything around them like firebenders. It would have been very helpful to know how to heal himself as he was growing up. “You don’t have waterbenders in your tribe?”

“We do, but only a few and none knew how to heal. Our tribe is small when compared to the North, so most male waterbenders tend to go to our sister tribe to train, and then most of them never come back.”

“Just the males?”

“In the south there’s a silly tradition, that women can only learn how to be healers.” Matt explains. “It’s really stupid.” 

Dan gives him a tentative smile. “Luckily in our tribe we don’t have a lot of waterbenders so they train everyone the same. But healing is not that common. I’ve discovered it by accident actually. And then I decided I wanted to learn it too.”

“And that is why we’re here.” Matt adds. “What about you, Neil?”

“I’m just here for the job,” Neil answers. 

They continue eating for a few quiet moments until Allison speaks, “I bet Kevin’s going to arrive before practice starts.”

Matt grins and makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. “We’re talking about Kevin, of course he is.” 

Neil wonders who Kevin is and what kind of practice they’re talking about. But he doesn’t want the others to pay too much attention to him, so he doesn’t ask anything.

“Oh! Oh!” Nicky suddenly yells at his side, making Neil jump. “Andrew, can we go to the village this Friday? I’ve been wanting to send a falcon to Erik.”

“Fine,” Andrew, the man sitting across from Neil, answers, looking bored at his cousin. And then, as if sensing Neil he stares right back. Neil holds his gaze for a moment and then looks at Andrew’s twin when he speaks.

“Didn’t you send him one a few days ago?” Aaron asks.

“So?”

“Shouldn’t you wait for him to respond?”

Nicky looks down defeated. “You think?”

“Don’t listen to him, Nicky.” Renee tells him, “I think it’s sweet that you want to write him often.”

Renee and Nicky smile at each other, and as the others begin to talk, Neil finds himself studying Andrew. He takes a mental note of the differences he can point between Andrew and Aaron from watching them at lunch. He’s surprised that he can see very clear differences, from the way they interact with others to the way they carry themselves. That, and the armbands, will do to distinguish them for now.

He stores that piece of knowledge away, grabs a piece of bread and listens to the others speak about practice after work. They’re making bets on who can win matches or best the others at throwing knives. Matt and Allison try to make him talk about why he’s here and where he came from and Neil gives them short answers and a made-up story about his past. Andrew stares at him very intently when he speaks, but thankfully he doesn’t ask him any more questions and the others seem to quickly understand that he doesn’t wish to talk about himself and leave him alone. And not too long later, Wymack tells them to get back to work and Neil resumes his position collecting strawberries.

Andrew is still working close to him that afternoon so Neil decides to pay him a little more attention. Through the afternoon he occasionally glances in his direction but he only sees him working focused on his task, and not once he catches him eating strawberries again.

When his first day of work finally ends he quietly eats with the rest of the workers and starts to walk back towards the cave where he left his things hidden. He lays down to rest his back but he can’t help but be curious about everyone talking about practicing together. Matt had asked him if he wanted to join them but Neil had refused. He can’t get too close to these people. But he’s curious about what they’re doing and after a moment of hesitation he gets up to try and find the others. It will be a good opportunity to know the area surrounding the farm and make an exit route in case he needs to get out of here quickly.

It doesn’t take him long to find them because of all the noise they’re making. He can hear them shouting at one another way before he can see them. 

He moves slowly closer to them until he can distinguish them. Neil hides behind the vegetation and watches them.

Dan pulls water from the river nearby and creates a whip of water to stop the deadly knives Allison is throwing at her. Everyone else is sitting down under a tree, some even cheering and shouting instructions at the girls. Neil turns away not long after Matt gets up to switch places with Allison, and begins to walk back to his camp.

It was a mistake coming to see them. He knows he should stay away from bending; his mother had forbidden him to use his bending the moment they ran away, too afraid of the attention that could bring. But just watching them practicing together makes him miss it so much that it almost hurts. 

Days pass, and every afternoon Neil finds himself following them into the clearing they practice. And every night he tells himself that it will be the last time he follows them. He hates himself afterwards for not being strong enough to stop and hates himself even more for not having the courage to go join them.

[puppyexpressions]

The 7 Biggest Myths About Dog Food

The Internet can offer a wealth of tips and facts on dog health. Unfortunately, it provides even more myths and misinformation. Here’s a sampling of dog-feeding urban legends populating the Web and the truths behind them.

“Never feed dogs pork!”

My initial reaction to this was “hogwash!” But then I started to wonder why so few commercial foods contained pork. A perusal of the Internet found several sites warning me off the killer pig, including that pork’s high fat content will cause pancreatitis (yet pork contains a little over one-third the fat content of beef), that it contains something toxic to dogs’ livers (a mystery component), that pigs eat disgusting things including bugs (but it’s OK for people to eat them), and that pig meat is hard to come by (harder than bison?).

I found that a few dog food companies do offer pork-based foods. Its scarcity may simply be because so many parts of a pig are used for human consumption, so snouts and feet and such don’t make it to the dog food plant. And because of the possibility of trichinosis in uncooked pork, nobody is going to suggest it as a great raw-food ingredient.

Still, I needed a more authoritative source than my own musings, so I contacted one of the companies that offer a pork-based food. I spoke to veterinarian Al Townshend, DVM, to get the skinny on pork. “Pork is a highly digestible animal protein, an excellent source of amino acids, and a unique protein source that not all pets are typically exposed to,” he told me. “It’s less likely to cause an allergic reaction that some pets may have to other proteins. We recommend pork as a protein because it contains more calories per pound.” Besides, it’s the other white meat.

“Lamb is hypoallergenic.”

There is nothing inherently less allergenic in one meat compared to another. Lamb was initially used in hypoallergenic dog foods because it was a meat most dogs had not eaten before, and therefore were unlikely to have developed allergic reactions to. Now, with so many people feeding lamb as a regular diet, manufacturers have had to find more exotic meat sources such as duck or bison.

“High-protein diets cause kidney failure.”

The idea that excess protein causes kidney failure arises from the fact that high levels of protein have historically been ill-advised for dogs with kidney failure. Failing kidneys allow urea, a byproduct of protein metabolism, to build up in the blood, making the dog feel sick. That’s why the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is used as one index of kidney function. Decreasing dietary protein can decrease the BUN. But if the protein level is too low, the body simply draws on its own protein source, its muscles, causing more harm.

In fact, there’s a huge debate about whether restricted protein is the way to go for dogs with kidney disease, with studies disagreeing about whether it helps kidney patients live longer. Researchers do agree that protein sources with high biological value produce fewer waste products and are better choices. Egg protein has the highest biological value, followed by milk, meats, soybean, and grains.

But what about protein levels for dogs with normal kidney function? The idea got out that you could preserve kidney health by not taxing them with too much protein. There’s very little support for this precaution, however. We can start by looking at situations in humans where people eat a high-protein diet. Bodybuilders, for example, have a very high-protein diet but a recent study showed they have no protein-related kidney problems.

Even historically, members of the Lewis and Clark expedition reportedly ate a diet of mostly buffalo meat each day with no ill effects. More than 1,600 women followed for 11 years had no significant differences in glomerular filtration rate (GFR), a measure of kidney function, related to protein intake. In rats receiving a diet of 50 percent protein, no anatomical changes were noted in the kidneys compared to rats on a 14 percent protein diet.

There’s still disagreement about the ideal level of protein, but the bottom line is, feed a moderate level of high-quality protein, and your dog will likely be just fine.

“Meat is more nutritious than meat meal.”

If you’re comparing ingredient lists, should you choose the one with meat or with meat meal listed first? If your goal is to have the most meat nutrients, choose meat meal. Ingredients appear in descending order of their weight; that weight includes any water in the ingredient. When you see chicken listed as an ingredient, it means unprocessed chicken, complete with water. Chicken meal means chicken with the water and fat removed. It weighs less than chicken but actually can contain a higher percentage of protein.

“Grain, especially soy or corn, is bad for dogs.”

Some people blame grains for allergies, and it’s true some dogs can be allergic to some grains, just as some dogs can be allergic to some meats. But for most dogs, grain is fine, and usually contains more nutrients than replacement ingredients used in grain-free diets.

“Feed raw eggs for a shiny coat!”

I’ve heard this since I was a little kid. And I have never found one study showing it to be true. The idea isn’t without merit; eggs contain lots of protein, fat, and vitamins, all essential to hair growth and skin health. One of those vitamins is biotin, which is important for cell growth and fatty-acid metabolism. Biotin is widely accepted to be helpful for human hair, though that may be simply because deficiencies can cause hair loss. While egg whites contain avidin, a biotin inhibitor, the yolks contain enough biotin to make up for it. But diets high in fat have been shown to result in glossier and softer coats in dogs, and might do the coat more good than eggs would.

As for feeding them raw, it’s true that cooking will do away with the avidin, but some people feel it also destroys vitamins. And of course, the raw egg/salmonella debate rages, with most food authorities cautioning against feeding eggs raw and many dog naturalists advocating it, pointing out that the coyote that raised the chicken coop didn’t bother to cook them. And, I assume, had a shiny coat.

The bottom line is an egg is a good source of protein and other nutrients, but probably no better than any good diet at promoting a shiny coat.

“Dogs don’t like variety.”

Whatever dog food company first promoted this may have honestly thought so. It’s true that dogs raised on a non-varied diet prefer to stay on it and don’t accept new foods readily. But dogs raised on a varied diet prefer variety. From a nutritional standpoint, it makes sense for an animal to crave nutrients its current diet lacks.

While the Internet can be a great source of information, remember to use trustworthy sources and seek scientific research backing up any claims your Facebook friends may be making before hitting that share button.

[lykegenia]

The Things We Hide Ch. 28

Chapter 1 on AO3 This chapter on AO3 Masterpost here

-------

The cove where Appa landed a day later glittered under the setting sun, sugar-fine grains of sand cast the colour of molten copper as the last of the light bled from the sky. Like it was a melon rind, the water ate at the sweeping curve of the beach, biting it back further and further towards a line of thick, luscious jungle. Foliage rippled in the evening breeze, while bright flashes of colour dipped between gaps in the canopy as birds flew home to their roosts. It was the building complex overlooking the beach that drew everyone’s attention, however, a sprawling wooden construction of grand pillars and verandas under steeply sloped gables of yellow-glazed tiles.

“How did you know about this place?” Zuko asked as Sokka slithered to the ground beside him.

“Grand Master Iroh gave us directions,” came the reply. “He said it would be the best place to hide out until we meet our contact. Looks like he was right – all that storm damage is at least a year old. Nobody’s been here in a while.”

“Not for years,” Zuko muttered, still staring, though the words went unheeded as the others groaned and stretched out their cramped muscles. “There should be enough space for Appa in the main courtyard.”

“How do you know?” Aang checked.

The fire prince scowled. “This is the royal family’s dry season retreat. The weather’s milder than in the Caldera.”

“We’re staying in the Fire Lord’s house?” Sokka let loose a whoop of laughter. “Imagine the look on his face if he found out!”

“We should hope he doesn’t,” Katara retorted. “And we should get Appa off the beach before he gets spotted by a patrol.”

Aang nodded. “Good point. Come on buddy, just one more short hop and you can have a nice rest – see you guys up there!”

The sky bison grumbled as his master leapt back into position by the reins, hauling himself to his feet. At the avatar’s bright command, he struck off from the ground and veered towards the mansion, though he barely went high enough for his toes to clear the trees. It left the rest of them with a short walk up the slope, while overhead, the first stars glittered in a violet sky. Zuko led the way, both because the path was at least a little familiar to his memory, and because his firebending proved the perfect tool to light the path and sear away the overgrown jungle. He was grateful for the tired silence behind him. When they reached the gate, and the pair of stone lion-turtles that guarded it, he felt eyes on the back of his head, but he pushed on into the compound with his shoulders squared.

Aang greeted them with his usual enthusiasm, waving them over to where he was already unpacking their bags. “And look at this cool flower I found,” he added to Katara as she approached. “I think they’re nightbells – the petals only open after the sun goes down.”

“Thanks, Aang,” she replied. “I remember these. They grew in my garden in the capital, under the mangingko.” She plucked the bloom from his open palm, answering his smile with a smaller one as she recalled the long, hot days by her pond, minding lessons and reading the poetry Ursa had gifted her.

“You shouldn’t pay so much attention to him,” said a voice at her side.  

She narrowed her eyes at Zuko. “What’s it to you?”

“He’s not serious about it, he’s just flirting for the fun of it.”

“I know.” She blinked. “But it’s still none of your business.”

“I just – fine. Have it your way,” he snapped, and stalked away to follow Toph into the house.

While they waited for Iroh’s contact to meet them, they trained. They had to be careful, in case a passing fire navy patrol caught sight of activity in the supposedly empty house, but the walls were high and the jungle thick enough to mask all but the showiest bending forms. Zuko refused to teach Aang, but grumpily accepted the avatar’s presence while he practiced his own forms after Katara pointed out it would take less energy than continually chasing him away. In between these practices, they prepared for their journey to the Caldera, poring over maps and plans and schedules for hours at a time, working out rest points where they could hide Appa during the day. If worst came to worst, they could submerge again to avoid the central patrols, but Appa’s dislike of being underwater, coupled with the toll it took on Katara, meant it would be a last resort.

“We’ll need more supplies if it’s going to take us that long,” she pointed out on the fourth day as they gathered in the courtyard. “Someone’s bound to notice us if we keep stopping of at every town market we run across.”

Her brother scoffed. “Who says we need to go into towns at all – master hunter here, remember?”

“We would have to if we wanted to avoid the city guards chasing after us for poaching,” Zuko replied. “You need a permit to hunt.”

“You aren’t serious?”

“These are islands, with delicately balanced ecosystems,” he explained, drawing himself up into full regal bearing. “If everyone took what they wanted, populations wouldn’t be sustainable and people would starve.”

“It would make more sense to get supplies now anyway,” Suki interrupted, to forestall Sokka’s response. “We don’t know what delays we’ll run into out there.”

Sokka shot her a soppy look. “Have I mentioned how smart you are today? Alright, new plan. Katara, you know what we need – take Toph and Zuko to the village and stock up. We should have enough money to cover it. Aang, you should probably stay here in case someone recognises you, so you, me, and Suki will –”

“Aw can’t I go?” The avatar’s eyes widened like a moose-lion cub’s. “I haven’t seen the Fire Nation in a hundred years, I want to see what’s changed!”

“There’s a bounty on your head, for one thing,” Toph grunted.

“What if I covered my arrow?”  He pressed a hand over his forehead and grinned. “No one would recognise me! Besides, since I’m the oldest I’m technically in charge. I wouldn’t want to leave you all unsupervised,” he added with a sage nod of his head.

“You’ll just sneak out if I say no, won’t you?”

“Probably.”

Sokka groaned. “Fine. You go with the others, and me and Suki will repack what we do have.”

Toph smirked. “Suuuure that’s what you’ll be doing.”  

Sokka ignored her. “It can’t be worse than having the prince of the whole nation prancing down the street.”

“I don’t prance,” Zuko grumbled. “And they probably wouldn’t recognise me either.” His fingers twitched in his lap, resisting the impulse to touch the left side of his face.

“Well yeah,” Katara supplied next to him. “Last time you went among the people you had half a battalion of royal guards with you.” Her smirk jolted him from the dark spiral of his thoughts, back into the memory of that outing to the market, where she had charmed all the stallholders and offered mercy to the veteran who had tried to strike her. He might have replied to her teasing, but he was too aware of all the curious eyes on them, the silence that had fallen around the circle.

“When do we leave?” he asked instead.

The market was held under brightly coloured awnings in a paved square at the centre of the village, and spilled out along the streets leading down to dozens of rickety piers where the fishermen tied their boats. At one end, fruit sellers vied with florists for the attention of the crowd, calling and offering samples to show the beautiful ripeness of their wares, while the butchers and fishmongers stood at the other, downwind, swishing ostrich-horse-tail flails to keep flies off their produce. In between were clothiers, bean sellers, leatherworkers, smiths, carpenters, sweet merchants, and cooks selling hot snacks, all with vibrant displays designed to catch the eye.

“This place is great!” Toph announced as the strolled up the main street. “My feet are can see so much stuff – and what’s that smell?”

“Sun cakes,” Katara and Zuko replied in unison, then quickly glanced away from each other.

“What was that about? Your guys’ heartbeats just shot waaaay up.”

Katara cleared her throat. “I was expecting something a bit more rural.”

“Ember Island caters to a lot of the Fire Nation nobility trying to get away from the formality of court.” Zuko shrugged. “They like playing at being commoners, so a lot of them do their own shopping.”

“And get totally ripped off, I bet,” Toph snorted.

“Probably. My mother used to bring us here when we were kids.”

“Are you sure you won’t be recognised?” Katara asked, peering around them. The knot of tension in her shoulders eased as she noticed how many foreigners dotted about the place. It would be easier for them to blend in, even if Zuko’s pale skin would mark him instantly as someone of high rank.

“It’s too early in the season for anyone important to be here,” he answered, but nevertheless drew the hood he was wearing lower over his face.

“We should split up,” Aang suggested brightly, most of his attention already on the sweet sellers. “That way we’ll be done twice as fast, right?”

“Well...”

Toph grabbed onto his arm with far more enthusiasm than she had shown for anything so far. “I’m with Twinkle Toes! No offence to you, Sugar Queen, but he’s way more fun.”

Katara rolled her eyes, aware that agreeing would mean she was left alone with Zuko. It was going to be so... stilted.

“Fine,” she sighed, and tore their shopping list in half to hand to them with a fistful of coins. “You’re in charge of the medical supplies. Just don’t draw attention to yourselves. You need to get everything on here, and I swear if you spend it all on sweets instead, when you get sick I’m going to stand there and say I told you so instead of healing you.”

“Ugh. Yes, Mom.”

There was a beat of silence as the pair raced away, looking thankfully like an ordinary boy and his kid sister in their borrowed Fire Nation clothing, and the bandana that covered Aang’s head. The rest of the shoppers barely spared them a glance, but Katara’s nerves were still too high to really appreciate it.

“What?” she snapped at Zuko.

He turned away quickly. “Nothing. We should get going.”

They started with the dried food, beans and rice and jerky that they could pack lightly and would last for weeks. For Aang, they also bought jars of marinated tofu, and dried honey-lotus roots to go along with the long-lasting vegetables that would form the bulk of their meals. It meant they were burdened down very quickly, but Katara found it worth the ache in her arms to watch Zuko trying to look like he knew how to handle money.

Even so, there was a tension to their interaction as they both skirted difficult topics, and she was glad to set it down with the shopping when they stepped into the shade of a noodle shop for lunch. She had missed the vibrancy of the Fire Nation, the spices in the air and the liveliness of the people, and even the way the midday heat was stripped of its wrath by the calming sea wind. She smiled at the server as she ordered from a board of illustrated dishes, then followed Zuko back to their table to wait off her feet. Without the shared distraction of their task, silence settled awkwardly around them again.

“We’ve got most of what we came for,” she tried. “We should go and find the others and get back to the house.”

“Right.”

“The food smells good.”

“It usually is.”

“You’ve eaten here before?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Not for years.”

“Right.”

She picked at a loose thread in her tunic, and his gaze slid past her to a poster fixed to the opposite wall. It was a relief when the elderly server called their order and brought over two steaming bowls of soup, with a smile and a wish for them to enjoy their meal. Before she could leave, however, Zuko caught her attention and pointed to the poster, where ‘Suntide Circus’ was proclaimed in gold above illustrations of lion dogs, dancing poodle-ponies, and at the forefront a pair of shadowed figures back to back against a crowd of unseen enemies.

“What happened to the Ember Island Players?” he asked.

The server glanced at the poster. “Oh, they’re still around, just taking a break before the season starts. Those guys pulled into town yesterday, but they’ll move on soon enough.” She peered at Zuko suspiciously. “You sound like you’re from the capital – you’re a bit early.”

“My family are merchants,” he replied, though his smooth tone was betrayed by a wash of crimson rising up his face. “We travel all over.”

“Shame about that burn, for a merchant,” the old woman continued with a nod, and turned to Katara. “I bet he was pretty as paint before, eh? Bet he could charm all the young ladies out of their coin.”

It was Katara’s turn to flush. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Sure you don’t, girlie. You know, I heard that exiled prince had a pretty big scar on his face – you could do impressions if business goes south. Ha!”

“I heard Prince Zuko’s scar was on the other side,” Katara answered with a frown. “Thank you for the food – it looks delicious.”

Still chuckling to herself, the server winked at the dismissal and set two pairs of chopsticks on the rickety table before shuffling off to greet a new customer, a local man by the look of him, who had a small horde of children following him in through the door. She left a sharp silence in her wake, and Zuko didn’t look up as he reached for his chopsticks to mix the soup and noodles in with the condiments.

“Hey...” Katara ventured after a tense moment. “You shouldn’t pay too much attention to what she said – about your scar, and about...”

“We should just eat and find the others,” he interrupted. “It was a bad idea for me to come here.”

She bit her lip to keep from voicing aloud the words that rang in her head, knowing they wouldn’t be appreciated. She had enjoyed the time they spent together that morning, had appreciated his tacit offer to carry the supplies, and the way they worked together to find the best produce. It was the most normal she had felt since before the comet, and certainly the most relaxed. And yet, it was too close to that other day they had spent together, wandering the markets of the Caldera, their rapport overformal but growing fonder, until it had ended with him giving back her father’s hunting pouch. Was that the same person sitting before her? Sokka had told her to keep an eye on the exiled prince, to make sure he stayed away from any guards or ‘sneaky-looking jerkbenders’ in case he tried to sound the alarm and betray them, and she hated that part of her agreed with the precaution. She had kept parts of herself hidden through the whole of her incarceration in the Fire Nation, intending to betray him all along – it was too easy to imagine he might share similar motives now.  

She sighed, stirred her chopsticks around her bowl, and looked up again, words poised ready to try for conversation again – but a loud squeal echoed through the small room, and she looked around to see a small, lithe girl around her own age in the doorway. The stranger was wringing her hands, hopping between her toes with so much energy her long braid flickered behind her like a whip. And she was looking straight at them.

Katara started to rise. Her hand twitched, already calling for the water in the soup bowls, her thoughts racing ahead to the best way to get Zuko out of the room without revealing his identity – they would have to find Aang and Toph on the way, hope Sokka and Suki had done at least some packing while they were in the market, hope that they could escape on Appa before the mob had a chance to reach the house. It all flashed through her mind’s eye in an instant, but in the next, Zuko had risen with her, and instead of alarm, his voice registered shock and even a thread of happiness. It stopped her in mid-stance.

“Ty Lee?”

The girl squealed again and darted forward to wrap the astounded prince in a rib-bruising hug. “You remembered me!” she cried as she let him go. “And here I was going to come looking for you this afternoon. You saved me a trip out to that crusty old house, you know.”

Katara cleared her throat. “I don’t mean to be rude, but who exactly are you?”

“Katara, this is Ty Lee,” Zuko said hurriedly. “An old friend. But – what do you mean you were looking for me?”

“Didn’t you know?” Ty Lee beamed. “I’m the contact – well, Shuren is – he’s the ringmaster. Your uncle sent us to fetch you. For the circus?”

“The circus?” he repeated, rubbing the back of his neck. He passed a helpless glance to Katara, who still had yet to completely lose her mistrust of the newcomer and only frowned back.

“Of course the circus! We’re on tour, and we’re heading to the capital – it’s pretty convenient, right?” Ty Lee paused and blinked, as if noticing for the first time that the three of them were alone. “Where’s the rest of your group? Are they back at the house?” Her eyes shot wide and she cupped her hands over her mouth. “Have I interrupted a date?”

“What?”

“No!” Katara turned away from Zuko, hoping the heat in her cheeks didn’t match the mortification rising to the tips of his ears. She searched for the glacial calm Hama had taught her, but it remained elusive. “We are not on a date. We were buying supplies for – wait, you know what? Let’s go outside.”  

A crowd was beginning to form, attracted by the commotion, and the elderly server had paused taking the young family’s order to once again peer at them with more interest than was helpful. She left her bowl of mostly untouched noodles, ignoring the sullen grumble of her stomach as she tugged on Zuko’s sleeve and herded the newcomer ahead of her. Ty Lee glanced between them as they stepped out into the sunlight, but followed obediently as they padded back among the throng to search for Toph and Aang.

[lucifer-lacroix]

Strawberry Chapter 5

Red Dead Redemption Fan Fic see here for more

Romance/Western 

Arthur Morgan X Original Character 

Summary: It's 1898 and Arthur decides to leave the gang for a bit to go on a hunting trip. He stops by the village of Strawberry and meets a caravan of wealthy ladies. The famed Rosalyn Bush is in town, and he starts planning a heist on his own but discovers Isabella Morningstar. His former girlfriend and famed bounty hunter "The Devil in Red." is protecting them.

It didn't feel like morning, with the wind howling outside as rain pounded against the glass. There was little light in the room as the fire has gone out and the lamp by the beside had run out of oil. Arthur Morgan found himself face down in a mass of soft pillows and sheet which tangled his body up. The pound of a headache forced him awake, and he groaned lost for a moment in pain. Arthur spotted a glass of water by the bedside table and reached for it having to slide himself across the bed to get close enough. Once firm in his fingers he chugged it down and belched, how much did he drink last night? His mouth was an ashtray, and the water did little to wash away the dryness in his throat.  As he sat up while replaying the previous night in his mind needing a moment to remember how he ended up in this room. No one was inside the room but him, the bed was empty, and his clothes were gone. He looked for where they had been left and was sure he dropped his pants at the foot of the bed, but they were nowhere in sight. His gun was on the stool where he left it, but his shirt, pants, vest and undergarments were gone. 

"Izzy." 

He said with a snarl as he put his boots on and grabbed his gun belt. He looked around the room and spotted a black silk housecoat with purple trim. It didn't look like any regular house coat since it had orange stitched dragon embroidered in it and long cuffed sleeves. It must have been some Asian garb, but it was the only thing in the room that would fit his shoulders.  With a long heavy sigh, he put it on and covered up before leaving the room. Storming down the hallway in search of the devil who stole his clothes. As he crossed the long hallway to the stairs he passed so many people, the storm had locked everyone in, and now he had to walk across the hotel dressed as a woman with an audience. Gasps followed their snickers and giggles as not everyone found his display amusing but rather audacious. Holding the opening of the housecoat closed he kept his gun belt on with a hand resting on the hilt as he headed to the yellow lounge. Once he passed through the curtains, he noticed the tables filled with the same gaggle of ladies had company this morning. They all stopped and stared at him, some in snickers some full belly laughing, but he sure did make an impression on the lot of them. "Izzy," Arthur called to the room, everyone's eyes quickly darting to the back of the place where Isabella sat to breakfast with Rosalyn who had her back turned. Isabella had a big old smirk on her face and sat next to her on the table was a well-folded stack of clothes wrapped with one of the blankets from the room. She stared at Arthur with a victorious grin on her face as Rosalyn turned to see. The blonde immediately spitting out her coffee and gasping for breath once she looked at him. 'Why are you wearing my Kimono Mr Callaghan?" Rosalyn asked shocked and one of the only people not amused by the situation. "Izzy... my things." Arthur cleared his throat and spoke darkly not amused in the slightest. "I don't know what you're talking about I've been on guard all right. I did find this outside are they yours?" Isabella said and opened the blanket revealing his clothes correctly folded and neat for him. Arthur's eyes narrowed as Rosalyn got up and walked over to him grabbing the stack of clothes and shoving them into Arthur's hands. "Do you know how expensive that is, take it off immediately." She said bitterly to Arthur in a hushed tone to not embarrass him further. She took giving Izzy an icy glare.   "You happy now?" Arthur asked. "Delighted... you know you have something in your hair right?" Izzy said pointing to a glob of Strawberry jam caked on the side of his head. "Oh, you tried my jams? Which one was your favourite?" Rosalyn asked as her tone flipped and Arthur just marched away with no response. He stormed back to his room where he fished the key out of his pants, crossing the same crowds of people who wanted to comment but he responded this time. "Take a damn picture it will last longer. Now get outta my way!" He spoke loud and bitterly, and the crowds stepped out of his way still instilling fear with his march despite his outrageous attire. Once he slammed the door behind him to his room, he wanted to rip the Kimono off but spotted himself in the full-length Mirror seeing his reflection back at him. He looked himself up and down and just started laughing. He looked ridiculous but not wrong, his muscular frame filled out the Kimono rather nicely and to be honest it felt amazing on his skin. He could now tell how expensive it was and for a moment wanted to keep it. Where ever it was from it was very well made with small beads sewn into the dragons shaping its scales. He delicately took it off since Rosalyn was the only one who sympathised with him and folded it up to bring it back to her. He got dressed and scrubbed the jam from his hair and packed his things to leave. He was gazing out the window watching the waterfall of rain which covered the window. "I'm outta here." He said and searched through his satchel noticing something else was missing as he feverishly searched the bag unable to find it.  

Since Arthur had left to change Rosalyn returned to the table where Isabella sat rather proud with herself. Rosalyn was glaring down at her with arms crossed. "What?" She asked. "What are you doing to that man? First, you sleep with him then embarrass him in front of the whole town making it look like he slept with me?" Rosalyn asked. "Hey, that's not what I was." Izzy started, but Rosalyn put her finger up to silence her, and she did. "That's what you did. Your intentions don't matter it's your actions that speak. You think poking bears in fun?" Rosalyn in front of everyone started to scold her. "Rosie come on." "Don't Rosie me! I'm not going to sit here and let you act like a careless bitter loser who resorts to childish antics instead of acting like an adult. Do you want to come with me to the frontier? Then you will apologise to Mr Callaghan and return everything you took from him. " "Apologize! To him! He should apologise to me! Also, I gave back everything I took." Izzy stood up and threw her chair back "Oh really? Where is his room key?" She asked "In the left pocket where I found them." "So you went looking for them?" "N-No." "What did you do with his keys?" She asked. "Uh..." Izzy went quiet knowing if she kept talking Rosalyn would catch her in a lie. "Give it to me," Rosalyn ordered holding out her hand. When Isabella didn't move, she stomped her foot and shouted. "Now!" "Okay fine!" Izzy said and took out a leatherback journal from her bag and handed it to her. "Now go find your dog and hunt something for dinner." "It's pouring rain out!" "Take a poncho then," Rosalyn ordered and walked off with the journal headed towards Arthur's room.

Rosalyn got a few steps out of the room and slowed down a bit, tapping the binding of the journal in hand. Looking around she whistled innocently to herself and checked to see who was around while stepping into a little corner and quickly opened the book to a random page. Glancing she saw a drawing of a racoon sitting on a stump roughly sketched like it was in the middle of grooming. Another sketch was on the page as well of a small songbird and a deer lying in the grass. She scanned each drawing and flipped the page. This page had a sketch of a giant bison in the snowy hills that took up two pages in the book. "Whoa." She whispered turning the book to get a better view of the well-drawn picture. "Lady Rosalyn?" A voice called to her, and she folded up the journal and tucked it under her arm and turned to see Arthur of all people headed her way. Fully dressed this time in his dark coloured shirt and white leather jacket. "Mr Callaghan!" She said caught red-handed. "Have you seen Izzy? I believe she stole something from my room." He said slightly panicked as he handed back the folded Kimono to her. "Oh? What on earth did she take." Rosalyn asked clutching the journal behind her back. "Something I can't leave here without, can you point me in her direction please?" Arthur asked skipping details. Rosalyn finding herself in a precarious position. She hesitated, knowing that if she gave it back, he would surely brave the storm and leave after everything that happened last night. "I told her to go hunting," Rosalyn said briefly. "Shit, I better get to her before she leaves," Arthur said and took off towards the stable. "Arthur wait!" Rosalyn called after him and ran after him, but he was already out the door. "Oh no! oh no no no!" Rosalyn started to panic, she ran after Arthur but stopped on the patio watching him take off in the rain headed for the stable in a full sprint. She looked to the kimono in her hands and backed up to him and knew when Arthur found Izzy and she didn't have his journal, they might shoot each other. "Oh, what have I done!" Rosalyn ran upstairs and into her room and quickly she had to drop off the Kimono and grab everything she needed to go for a ride. Haphazardly packing a bag with the Journal as well as picking up her rifle. She noticed on the table the stable chip for Princess and took it too. Rosalyn emerged from the room wearing dark riding pants, a dark blue blouse and Chocolate brown leather jacket. Her riding gloves in hand and rifle strung over her shoulder, and as she launched down the stairs, she ran into the hotel owner. "Ms Bush! Where are you going? It's going to thunder again you should stay inside." "Oh, I know! I need to go pick up from berries for my pies. I'll be back in an hour or two. Honey will take care of things while I am gone and I'll be back so we can get a cooking promise, my dear." She said in one breath and pinched his cheek and took off out the door before he could stop her.  Running down the muddy road towards the stable as she saw Arthur riding away on Duke. "Fuck!" She screamed and ran into the stable. "Give me the horse!" She yelled and shoved the chip onto the stableman's hands "Ms Bush! I'm sorry Isabella already came and took Aristotle out hunting." "Not the Mustang the Arabian!" "Oh! The white one! I dunno miss she's been rather panicked this morning, the storm is scaring her something fierce I would wait till she comes back with Aristotle." "I can't wait! I need to go now! Just saddle her up I can handle her!" Rosalyn said exasperatedly. "As you say, miss." The stableman took her chip and went off to prepare Princess for her, and she stood there wide-eyed. Her thoughts were spinning revolving around the fantasy that once Arthur and Izzy found each other in the forest, they would shoot it out. "Whoa! Hey, calm down. It's just a journal." She sad and took it out. "Just a leather sketchbook. See." She started flipping through it. "Just a bunch of pictures and." As she was flipping through the pages, she stopped at a ledger marked with a string. She turned it open to the page and glanced it over. There was a list of numerical entries of the various dollar amount in a column, next to it a sketch of a city layout and a dot circled by an x. It looked like a treasure map next to a ledger recording all the savings held in Blackwater. "Uh oh." She closed it again as the colour from her face disappeared leaving her white as a ghost. "Miss. The horse is ready for you now." The stableman called out to her as she waved to him nervously as he leads the horse to her. Princess who was dragging her hooves in the dirt complained loudly as the two strangers handled her. Rosalyn made a squeak like sound while staring at the horse who seemed a lot bigger than the last time she rode her.  Rosalyn shoved the journal into her bag took a deep breath and took the reigns he handed to her. "Alright girl calm down!" Rosalyn said holding onto her dominant voice from when she spoke with Izzy, picturing the red-heads face in the eyes of the horse. "You are going to listen to me okay! We gotta get out there fast and come back in once piece okay!" Attempting to bargain with the horse who looked her over and calmed a little bit. "Hey, it worked." She said when Princess shoved her back with her nose and tried to bite the lead and rip it out of her grip. "No!!" Rosalyn shouted holding the reigns tightly and tangled it around her wrist so the horse couldn't pull it from her grip. "Okay! No more Ms nice lady." Rosalyn huffed and yanked the reign down making princess's head bow down. Rosalyn then grabbed the horn of the saddle and climbed up onto Princess despite her jaunting as the stableman assisted in keeping her still. "Okay. Off we go." Rosalyn tapped Princess's sides with her heels and clicked her tongue. Princess was going into a fast trot instead of a walk and took off down the road going the wrong way. "Princess!! Slow down!" Rosalyn panicked and focused on staying on the horses back as it stomped through the puddles and she held onto the reigns and tried to turn her around. Letting the horse lead a bit Rosalyn waited for her to calm down as people watched, hoping to see her thrown.  Once Princess got her burst of energy out Rosalyn turned her around and led the horse down the road after Arthur.

Up ahead Arthur and the Duke were trotting at a quick pace while he followed a trail on the road. The rain had cleared the path, and a single set of hoof prints lead him deeper into the forest. "Well Duke, if she went hunting this would be a good spot to go. " Arthur said out loud stopping the mule as the tracks left the road and into the trees. "You think she took it on purpose to lead me out here Duke?" He asked the creature who was eating a common bulrush plant on the roadside. "Yeah sounds rather stupid, why would she embarrass me like that if she just wanted to shoot me? Does she want to steal her money back from us you think?" He asked Duke out loud who kept munching nonchalantly.   "Yeah, she should have just taken the map, not the whole journal." He dismounted the mule and checked out the tracks in the dirt and noticed a set of paw prints next to the hoof prints. "This must be her... big dog," he said and put his hand next to the paw print which was filling up with water and the size of his palm. He stood back up and grabbed the lead of his mule and walked into the trees to follow the path slowly keeping quiet as they travelled into the forest.

Deep within the trees, the rain was light since the leaves above sheltered the forest floor. On such a stormy day many creatures stayed within their shelters but not everyone. A wild boar was honking and roaming about looking for truffles, his loud snorts pinpointing his location. The beast had stumbled upon a groove of mushrooms and was feasting on his own until a loud crack of a rifle echoed in the trees. The birds flew away, and a deer went scampering off, but the wild boar fell dead on the ground with a mouthful of half-eaten fungi. Izzy who was laid out under a shelter of leaves and brush cocked and reloaded her rifle which smoked from the last shot she fired. A perfect bullseye on the hog's skull and she could call it a day since the pig was pretty big. As Izzy finished reloading a fresh round, she noticed in the distance a Mule break through the brush on its own. He was saddled and headed straight for the groove of mushrooms where she had just shot the boar. The creature was happily eating on the patch of half-eaten mushrooms the boar had found, and Izzy looked around to see where the owner had gone. Hesitant she stayed in place watching the Mule through her scope. If someone went after her kill, she would be sure to give them the scare of their life. Fifteen minutes went by, and the Mule just ate and grazed calmly before sniffing over the boar and started to kick it. "Oh shit!" Izzy said and jumped out of her hiding spot and headed down to scare the Mule away before it ruined her kill. "Hey shoo!" She yelled and ran up to the beast before she heard a gun cock to her left. She stopped and cursed under her breath and turned to see Arthur Morgan of all people standing on a fallen tree he had ducked behind with a Carbine Repeater pointed at her. "I thought you had a sense of humour Arthur." She shouted and raised her hands her rifle in one of them. "Hilarious as that morning prank was, taking my things is not. I guess that's on me for trusting you." He said and started to approach her. "Haha yeah, that's why I gave em back. I'm not interested in robbing you. That's your thing." Izzy said and lowered her arms put kept her rifle pointed away from Arthur as she turned to him, but did point it at the Mule. She whistled and readied her gun at the Duke. "Hm, you think I wouldn't have noticed you pinch my journal." He asked quickly glancing around him wondering where the dog since it was not with her. "Yeah I thought you would, so I gave it to Rosalyn to give back to you," Izzy said also looking around for her dog hoping she was close but raised her gun to the Mule to atop Arthur from approaching her further. "Don't shoot my Mule, and don't lie. Give it back, and we can go our separate ways" Arthur said with narrow eyes. "Excuse me? I think I deserve the right to take away one of your beloved pets. Besides I'm not lying, go talk to Rosalyn she has your Journal." Izzy said before whistling again a little more desperately, this time hearing a twig snap in the distance making her heart lift with hope. "I did, she told me you were out here," Arthur said and fired a warning shot at her which hit the rocks at her feet and made Duke sprint off. Izzy was going to shoot when Arthur cracked a second shot closer to her feet making her jump. "Hand it over!" He ordered when a dog barked to his right. Before he could change targets, a colossal dog leapt out of the bushes and tackled him. Knocking the Repeater from his hands and tackling him to the ground. He was expecting to get mauled, but instead, the giant dog started licking him. She has a squished face with floppy ears and a brown and black coat of fur. The dog was massive and weighed at least 200 lbs centred on his chest. Arthur had drawn his pistol from his belt and was ready to shoot the dog, but since it wasn't biting him yet lovingly licking him, he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger as she slobbered all over his face. "Bijou, Bijou get off I got it," Izzy said now her rifle pointed at Arthur on the ground.   Arthur grabbed the dog's neck and pointed his pistol at her head. "Fuck off Arthur! Don't you fucking dare!" She said with bitter rage. "Give me back my journal!" Arthur yelled as the dog fought against his grip. "I don't have it!" Izzy screamed back as in the distance, and ear piercing scream broke through the trees. They both stopped recognising the tone of the voice as a female.   "Rosalyn told you she didn't have it?" Izzy asked her gun still training on him. "She said you went hunting. I... stormed out after that." Arthur said as a second scream was heard this time an English accented voice calling for help. "She didn't come with you did she?"Izzy asked with wide eyes. They both stared at each other for a second. "Shit." They said and unison. Izzy whistled again, and Bijou got off Arthur and ran up to her side not giving a shit about anything as her tail just wagged as she panted heavily. "How the hell did she get out this far? I have the only riding horse." "I think she took Princess," Arthur said as he got up and whistled for the Duke. "You mean my Arabian?" Izzy said and ran up the hill to a black Clydesdale horse hitched out of sight from the groove.  The male beast saddled with a gator skinned set up lined with fangs and was probably the best horse in these parts. "I thought you didn't want him," Arthur said saddled up on his Mule waiting for her. "Who would, she's a skittish coward. I went to take her out this morning, and she wouldn't come near me. How would Rosalyn get on her? She's afraid of horses." Izzy climbed up on Aristotle and turned him around towards where they heard her shouting. "She didn't mention that yesterday, the road is back that way I'll head up the road cutting through the trees to see if I can get in front of them before they get lost," Arthur said and scanned the trees. "You know, I wish I never met you," Izzy said sourly. "I thought we were getting along just fine last night, what the fuck happened?" He asked. "Now? You want to talk about it now?" Izzy asked and took off to head back for the road. "Yes actually! What the hell? I thought we had sorted things out?" Arthur asked abandoning his plan and following Izzy and Aristotle. The Duke was having a hard time keeping up with the stallion forcing Arthur to shout. "Becuase we slept together while you were drunk!? HA! Nothing has changed Arthur. You're still an outlaw, a degenerate and a thief!" Izzy shouted back as they dodged around the trees, Aristotle having to go around the obstacles the Duke could squeeze through. "Then why go along? Why lead me on like that? For revenge? To give me a taste of my own medicine?" Arthur demanded, catching up to her. Izzy went quiet as they broke out of the trees and onto the main road. She scanned the ground and noticed a sporadic set of prints charged through her not long ago. "Well!?" Arthur finally caught up as the Duke let out a wail having been pushed so hard to follow. "I'm thinking hold on!" Izzy yelled and checked which way the prints headed. Another scream was echoing ahead close by. "This way!" She called and took off. "Izzy!" Arthur yelled after her and looked to the Duke. "I'm sorry boy. Yaw!" He gave him a hard kick, and the Mule jolted off behind the Clydesdale. Unable to keep up with Izzy who had launched her stallion into a full gallop after Rosalyn and the Runaway Arabian.

[kristallioness]

21 Questions about ATLA

I was tagged by @atypicalkataangist. Wow, thanks for including me in this quiz! I've seen others reblog a list of numbered questions similar to these, expecting to receive some asks that they could answer in return. But now I get to do them in one go.

1) Who's your favourite male character?

I'm unoriginal and gonna say it's Aang. Not only because of him being the main character, but also because he was the first boy in the show who I immediately started to like (Sokka was second, Zuko was third in the beginning since he was a villain and I grew to love him more and more along with his character development), the way he balances his carefree, childish personality with his more mature, responsible side, his back story and peaceful culture.. Most importantly, without him, there wouldn't be the second half of such a lovely couple like he and Katara are.

2) Who's your favourite female character?

Katara. She's not only my favourite female character, but favourite character of them all, right from the start and until the end. The moment I saw her I fell in love since she looked really pretty and she wore a braid, just like me. Seeing what a caring, motherly, fierce personality she had (like mine) only fuelled my love for her.

3) What's your favourite quote?

Since Katara's my favourite character, then my first choice would be: "I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!" Because that's sort of who I am and what I'm like, too. It's almost like a motto that I live by without thinking about it twice. I'm self-sacrificing and try to help my friends whenever they need it and as much as I can. I just remembered another good one, a quote that affected me on a more personal level. I'm pretty sure that only 0.0000000001% of the fandom would choose this one: "I don't care what I look like. I'm not looking for anyone's approval. I know who I am." The best part is, this is something that Toph says to Katara after she's been made fun of for her appearance by a bunch of prissy Upper Ring Earth Kingdom girls. How did this affect me? I started crying when I first saw this scene. Why? Because this was something that I'd been struggling with for years. I'd been bullied for my appearance at school. It used to make me feel worthless, unlovable, alone, probably also the reason why I turned into such a quiet person who doesn't know how to be around real friends. Hearing a blind, tomboyish, badass earthbender say what I needed to hear all along made me understand that it's not true - my appearance does not define my worth or who I am inside.

4) What's your favourite fight?

I knew you answered Katara and Pakku's duel @atypicalkataangist (and that one came to my mind, too, since it is one of my favourites because of reasons), but since I recently rewatched "The Serpent's Pass", I'm gonna pick Aang and Katara beating up that huge serpent. That was some awesome bending teamwork there! I went through all of the episodes in my head, and I gotta say that I also really like the duel between Aang and Zuko in "Bato of the Water Tribe". And one of the first ones where Haru and his father Tyro, along with the rest of the earthbenders, fight their way to freedom in the prison. The ending of that episode always leaves me with such a powerful feeling.

5) What's your favourite episode?

The big finale, "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang". I sobbed practically throughout the entire episode when I first saw it. The soundtrack playing in the end is so beautiful to listen to and it still brings tears to my eyes. This episode concludes everything the show set up in the most unexpected ways possible. I mean, did any of us foresee Zuko being crowned the new Fire Lord (after you watched the first episode)? Did our hearts break into a million pieces when Katara and Aang kissed and became a couple in the end? Enough said.

6) From which nation would you like to be?

I'm not sure whether this is cheating or not, but since the story of ATLA continues in the comics and during Korra's time, I'd really love to be from the United Republic of Nations. I just love how it's a nation of mixed cultures, I am in LOVE with Republic City (as well as its 1920's aesthetic) and the capital reminds me of my own (Tallinn is also near the sea, has a marvellous silhouette, 4 seasons). Or if not, then my choice would definitely be the Water Tribes. I've explained it pretty well under the description of this drawing of mine.

7) Which element would you like to be able to bend and why?

Easy, I'd pick water since my 2nd choice when applying for university 5 years ago was to become a doctor. I'd like to use my healing abilities to cure people and my graceful waterbending to battle bad guys like Katara!

8) Favourite animal in the Avatar Universe?

I'm probably unoriginal, but I'm torn between the sky bison or the dragons. Oh, and the ostrich horses!

9) Who would you like to be your teacher and why?

I'm thinking it could be either Katara, Aang or Zuko, in this exact order. Katara and Aang would both be really supportive and I consider Zuko to be really wise (remember what he said to Korra before departing? he learned so much throughout the years).

10) What was the saddest moment in the show?

I have an entire list of the scenes/moments that made me cry, let me check.. *reads* Which sad moment made me cry the most, I'mma pick that one.. Okay, I can't decide because there are a few, let me name them: * the ones that stand out the most are all 3 finales * when Katara thought that her mother was alive in the swamp * when Aang enters the Avatar State and wants to kill the sandbenders, but Katara doesn't run away and instead grabs his hand and pulls him back down into her embrace and they cry together * Iroh singing the lullaby to his deceased son on his birthday (my parents have always said that one of the worst things a parent can live through is the death of their own child, so when I saw this scene, I understood what they meant and started crying) * Jet's death * Aang unlocking his heart chakra * almost the entirety of "The Awakening" (because everything seemed so hopeless and going the wrong way, when Katara and Hakoda talked), seriously, this is the most depressing episode in my book and that's why I love it so much * Sokka talking to Toph about how he's forgotten what his mother looks like and Katara is the one who's taken her place * when the invasion fleet was defeated on the Day of Black Sun and Katara knelt down beside Aang to comfort him * Zuko and his uncle Iroh's reconciliation and his speech to Team Avatar before they departed

11) What was the most shocking moment in the show?

You answered the same way: Aang getting shot with lightning. It came out of nowhere. When I saw Katara's face full of hope I thought that now they were going to make it since Aang had the power to face the Dai Li as well as Zuko and Azula. In a split second, everything changed and took a turn for the worst.

12) What was the funniest moment in the show?

There are so many good jokes, how do you expect me to pick just one??? Okay, umm.. when Sokka tried to fight against the villagers who believed too much of Aunt Wu's fortunes with logic and rational thinking (I can relate to him, poor Sokka).. How Aang messed up and unintentionally made Katara upset by insulting her instead of giving her a compliment when they were lost in the caves. Or the time Sokka and Katara had to pose as Aang's parents to go to the principal's office after school.

13) What was the most unforgettable moment in the show?

Maybe the whole scene before Zuko's coronation starts, "Peace" playing in the background, we see friends and family reunited, happy, alive. We witness something few of us could've predicted: the last person we ever thought, who went through and learned so much, is crowned the new Fire Lord. It's such a victorious moment and never leaves me without emotion.

14) Which one is your favourite book?

I have a weird system concerning this. Book 1 was sort of like the start of their journey, the world was slowly being built and introduced to us. Book 2 became much more serious, the characters gained more depth and the stakes began to rise. When I thought it couldn't get any better, I was proven horribly wrong. Book 3 became far more emotional than I ever could've imagined. So it's like my love grew with each book, and I kind of love the last one the most for this reason.

15) Who had the greatest character development in the show?

Everybody developed so much, but I'd definitely say it was Zuko. At first, I didn't really care much about him. Just another villain trying to capture someone for his own personal gain, I figured. But that all changed when I saw his back story in "The Storm". I started to look at him from a completely different angle. I began to understand where he came from, why he was doing this. I saw how much he struggled, how many wrongs he committed. The climax was when he faced his own father and told him: "No! I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own. Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was! The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation! They don't see our greatness, they hate us! And we deserve it." This is what he learned by spending time as a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, by witnessing firsthand what his nation, what this war was doing to others. And he was determined to set things right by joining Aang and his friends, teaching him firebending and stopping his own homeland from going down this path.

16) What do you love most about Avatar: The Last Airbender?

The story that Bryan and Michael came up with. I have NEVER cried so much, laughed at so many original jokes, heard such gorgeous instrumental music made by Jeremy Zuckerman, the raw emotion behind the voice actors.. every little bit is what makes this story and this series so amazing, fulfilling and perfect.

17) What do you hate most about Avatar: The Last Airbender?

I don't hate anything about the show per se, perhaps more about the way the fandom can act sometimes.

18) With which character do you identify most?

Like I answered in question 2, Katara. Her personality reflects mine the most, we share similar values in life, I love her family (Hakoda and Sokka) because they have such loving relationships with each other (Katara and Hakoda made me emotional several times, and they only had a few scenes together!).

19) Is Avatar: The Last Airbender your favourite cartoon/anime?

Ever since I discovered it, and I think it'll remain as my favourite cartoon for the rest of my life. Nothing can ever impact me as much as Avatar has.

20) Would you want to be the Avatar?

Thinking just how messed up our own world is right now, how my aggressive eastern neighbour has occupied parts of 2 independent countries, how helpless and angry I feel that I can't do anything about it - Y E S. I want to bring peace and balance back to our world, too. And if I had my own loving, supportive partner (like Aang) by my side, I'd do it again in a thousand lifetimes.

21) What's your favourite ship?

I personally ship everything that has been or is currently canon. My OTP is obviously Kataang, though I'm also one of the few friendly multishippers out here. Which means that I don't mind seeing beautiful stuff about Zutara either, for instance. (Seriously, you should check out my tag, there are so many lovely gifsets there, be it romantic or platonic.)

To sum up, thank you once more for tagging me! I'm not gonna tag anyone specific, but if any of you would like to do this, too, then go ahead! It was really fun to reflect back on why I love this show so much.

[rangerdrabbles]

The (semi) good psycho

A sort of sequel to ‘Of Psychos and Bisons’. If Virgie had stayed with the Wild Force gang a while. A narrative taking place during the Time Force/Wild Force teamup.

The teamup almost didn’t go so well, and it would have been Jen’s fault. Though you couldn’t have blamed her entirely. The first thing Jen saw when they got to the sight of the Mut-Org battle was a psycho ranger. History had yet to reveal a good one, so Jen acted on instinct, and aimed her blaster.

Only to have Eric grab her arm roughly and send the shot straight into the air. “Stand down, Jen.”

“Eric, it’s a psycho ranger! Do you have any idea-”

“Use your eyes, Jen. She’s protecting them.” Eric had seen something out of the corner of his eye that Jen hadn’t-a little red psycho ranger drawing the Mut-Orgs’ fire and attacks.

“I don’t understand,” Jen said. “It’s....a psycho ranger. Though this one isn’t the same...she’s shorter, and Psycho Red is supposed to be male. Though if she’s good, why doesn’t she just destroy them herself?

“Maybe she can’t,” Wes suggested.

“Psycho rangers are immensely powerful,” Jen replied. “She could handle it.”

“No...she wants to protect,” Trip spoke up. “That’s what she wants.” 

After a bit more talking, the Time Force gang joined the fray. Afterwards, thanks were had and introductions were made-though the red psycho, who introduced herself as Virgie, squinted suspiciously at all of them from beside Danny, who just gave her a reassuring pat on the arm.

Eric spent some time talking with Taylor, sharing a bit about their lives. He also asked about Virgie.

“Oh yeah, Danny brought her here one day. He helped her out when she was hurt, and then she returned the favor by helping us in a fight. She was still hurt though, so Danny brought her back here and she’s been here ever since,” Taylor explained. “Shayla seemed to know what Virgie was, though they’d never met. I had my doubts about Virgie, but Danny insisted, and Shayla said she had a good heart. Somehow Virgie’s managed to overcome whatever evil spell she was under, and now she tries to use what she has for good. “

“She seems pretty strong, though just drawing fire like that seems pretty reckless,” Eric mused. “Why doesn’t she just destroy them all herself?”

“I don’t think that’s what she wants,” Taylor replied. “But you’ll just have to ask her.”

So Eric excused himself and went to talk to Virgie, who was, for the moment, sitting off by herself due to Danny and Max playing some sort of game together. “You could be fighting a lot smarter, you know,” he said by way of greeting.

“Sure I could,” Virgie replied. “But I’m durable, and I can take most hits.”

“What happens when you can’t?”

Virgie just shrugged. “Dunno.”

There was silence for a moment, and Eric spoke up. “So what, you just stick around and act as a bodyguard for these guys or something?”

“I guess. I help them when they really need it, otherwise I hang out up here with Shayla or cover for Danny in the flower shop. Confidentially, Shayla’s so sweet she gives me cavities, but she doesn’t care where I came from.”

“How is it that you’re all of a sudden...well, not so psycho?” he asked. 

“Long story. It started with me remembering my name and Andros and his team using it. And at some point I thought ‘you know what, I don’t want to kill them any more.’ Maybe not be friends, but not destroy them. Things happened, I had a fight with Psycho Black, ended up in Ocean Bluff for a while, and wandered here after another fight. Believe it or not, I didn’t start it.”

“Uh huh.” 

“I really didn’t! Anyway, Danny was good to me, so I kind of stick around and help out sometimes. Only I don’t want to fight all the time.” She shook her head. “I was made to be nothing more than a weapon to destroy things. I don’t want anyone else to see me like that-even if it’s people I kind of like.”

“Wes will tell you that this is gonna sound weird coming from me, but your friends won’t do that to you.”

Virgie shook her head. “This is war against an evil entity. They have powers that make them weapons when they transform. The only difference is that they had a choice. And they have lives they remember. When all this is over, they can put the weapons away. I’ll always have it, whether I like it or not.”

“There was a time when I found a weapon, took it, and made it my own,” Eric mused. “Granted, it was still a choice, but-look, you may not have had a choice in getting it, but you have a choice in how you use it.”

“I guess so. But honestly? Don’t you think it’s more rewarding to help someone with something you’ve chosen?”

“Does it matter how you help them as long as you do? It’s helping for the sake of helping that matters.”

“I guess you’re right, but..it still bothers me. And there’s no one around that really understands. People are sympathetic, yeah, but I have yet to meet someone who gets it. Who was I before I became a weapon? How much of what I use is my own?”

“I don’t know.” That was the only thing Eric could think of to say. On a whim, he put a reassuring arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him. They sat there for the rest of the night, in companiable silence.

[nowwhateinstein]

Land of Endless Sky: ch 2

Intro & Prologue Chapter 1

++++++ Chapter 2

General, I respectfully address you on the matter regarding my continued service under your command. Events have transpired which have caused me to question my fitness and willingness to serve in my current capacity as Captain of Company “K” Second Dragoons. I herewith tender my resignation of my commission, to take effect immediately and unconditionally.

Very respectfully, Fox William Mulder Capt. Co. “K” 2d Dragoons U.S.A. June 16th, 1856

++++++ FORT KEARNY NEBRASKA TERRITORY

The sun beat down oppressively as Mulder passed through the gates of Kearny’s stockade and into the small, dusty town that had grown up in the shadow of the fort. He pushed open the door to Frohike’s Fine Goods and Provisions and entered the blessed shade and coolness of the shop.

From behind the counter, the balding, diminutive proprietor looked up from a months-old, yellowed issue of Harper’s Weekly. He squinted at Mulder through half-moon eyeglasses. “That you, Captain Mulder?”

“Yes, but not for much longer, Melvin. In two days’ time, I’ll be plain old ‘Mulder.’”

“Had enough of the frontier life, have you?” Frohike asked teasingly. “Miss the luxuries of a soft feather bed and a woman to keep you warm at night?”

“If I did, I’d have married you years ago.” It was a well-known secret that Frohike’s personal quarters at the back of the store was furnished with every modern comfort and luxury - all of it financed by the exorbitant prices he charged unwitting emigrants and spendthrift soldiers.

Frohike rolled his eyes at Mulder’s good-natured ribbing.

“Truthfully, Melvin,” Mulder said, his tone becoming serious, “I resigned my commission.”

Frohike’s face turned grave. “I heard about Ash Hollow. Can’t say much about them who would slaughter women and children, Indian or not. You’re a good man, Mulder. I’m sorry to see you leave like this.”

“As am I,” Mulder said, smiling sadly at the man who had become the closest thing he had to a friend during his time at the fort. “I’m in need of provisions. And,” he said, remembering the state of his civilian clothes, “some new attire.” What spare clothes he did have were moth-eaten and too large for him; years of living off Army rations and bison had made him leaner than when he’d first arrived from the East.

“If there’s anything I enjoy more than your company, Mulder, it’s your money,” Frohike said, jumping from his perch behind the counter and walking over to the small selection of shirts and trousers.

“Heading back East, I assume? Take up the family business?”

“No,” Mulder said, trying banish the image of his father, and the disappointed look on his face when Mulder told him he was entering West Point to earn an Army commission. He’d wanted Mulder to practice law, like he had. But the war with Mexico had captured young Mulder’s imagination, and he entertained boyish daydreams of earning glory on the battlefield. So he’d applied to the United States Military Academy. Never did he imagine that glory could be so one-sided and bloody.

His pause earned an inquisitive look from Frohike.

“I’m headed west,” Mulder went on to explain. “Maybe California. Or New Mexico. Anywhere but here.”

“Well, you picked a hell of a time to leave,” Frohike said. “Most of the emigrant trains passed through here a month ago.”

As he spoke, a lone cart with a team of four oxen passed in front of the store window. “As I was saying,” Frohike said, watching them go by with a frown, “most of them. Those folks will be lucky to make Fort Bridger by the first big snow.”

“I can make good time just myself and Ghost. If I need to lay by at Bridger or some other outpost for the winter, so be it. I’m in no hurry to get there - wherever there is.”

He handed Frohike a list of his requests. The older man nodded approvingly as he scanned the items. “I’ll have everything ready for you by this time tomorrow.”

Frohike quickly held up a hand. “Just a moment,” he said, then reached behind the counter and produced a small, bulging burlap sack. “A parting gift,” he said as he handed it to Mulder. He looked inside, and smiled at the sight of sunflower seeds.

“My thanks, as always, Melvin,” he said, and shook the man’s hand fondly.

Mulder stepped outside into the oppressive June heat as a small woman in a bonnet arrived in front of the shop. He quickly moved to open the door for her.

“Thank you,” she said, glancing up at him as she passed. Intelligent blue eyes met his. Mud and dust clung to the hem of her pale green dress, and her shoes bore evidence of miles of travel. Despite her well-worn attire, he found her remarkably beautiful and strangely familiar, and had to make a conscious effort to avoid staring longer than was appropriate.

He touched his hat in greeting. “Ma’am.”

She nodded politely, then disappeared into Frohike’s. Must be from that lone wagon party, he thought, glancing up the street. Sure enough, the wagon stood in the shade of the livery stable. The oxen stood unharnessed, taking long draws from the water trough. Frohike was right, he thought - at this rate, they would be hard-pressed to catch up with the mass of wagon trains.

++++++

He set out at first light two days later on the dusty, wheel-rutted road that led westward. The sparse, overgrazed vegetation that surrounded the fort presently gave way to a lush, waving sea of waist-high prairie grass. Above him, swallows swooped and dove in the mid-morning sun in search of insects. Their intricate acrobatics and constant twittering provided a welcome diversion from the images of dead Sioux that plagued his dreams and lingered increasingly into his waking hours. He felt his heart grow lighter with every mile he put between him and the fort. He even started singing one of his favorite tunes:

“I'm lonesome since I crossed the hill And over the moor that's sedgy Such lonely thoughts my heart do fill Since parting with my Sally I seek for one as fair and gay But find none to remind me How sweet the hours I passed away With the girl I left behind me”

Ghost snorted in agitation at his rider’s crooning. Mulder laughed and patted his neck affectionately.

“You’re right, boy. I can’t carry a tune. And I don’t even have a girl.”

He did, once. He’d fallen for the beautiful Diana Fowley when he was a cadet at West Point. The war with Mexico had raised the prestige of the Army in the eyes of the nation, and it became fashionable for a woman to be seen on the arm of a dashing young cadet. But the war ended, and when it became clear that she’d have to trade the comfort of New York City for the privations of the frontier, Diana had called off the engagement. She’d only loved him for his uniform, he’d realized too late, and the attention it afforded her within New York society.

And so, with a broken heart and a feeling of having played the fool, Mulder accepted his commission as a Second Lieutenant with the Second Dragoons and set off for the borderlands of the newly formed Republic of Texas. The pain of Diana’s rejection had eased with the change of scenery and the passage of time. He soon realized that the frontier held more opportunities for a man to avail himself of a woman’s pleasures than were afforded a young man among the New York elite. The forts had their fair share of women with questionable morals who were ready to bed any soldier with coin, but his infrequent encounters with such women always left him feeling empty and miserable, and soon he’d stopped visiting brothels altogether.

But if one had to feel empty, the Plains were a fitting place in which to find oneself, he’d discovered as the years went on. In his early days with the regiment, he’d developed a reputation as a loner, often volunteering to go out on solo patrols for weeks at a time. He could ride for days without seeing another soul, and that suited him just fine. Promotion through the ranks had decreased his opportunity to roam, and he found the responsibilities of an officer dull and tiresome. Out among the vast grasslands and rolling hills, he had found solitude, not loneliness; solace instead of restlessness. Now that he was free of the constraints of Army life, he prayed that freedom would be enough to exorcise the demons of Ash Hollow.

After a hurried midday meal taken under the slight shade of an eroded hillside, Mulder set Ghost back on the trail. He’d glance down at the trail every now and again to try to decipher the signs of those who had passed before him. Newer wheel tracks and fresh ox dung told him that a wagon had passed by not long ago. Probably the same party that had stopped over at the fort a few days prior. What’s more, he noticed, leaning over in his saddle for a better look, riders - three, perhaps four - had also used the trail after the wagon. The tell-tale U-shaped prints told him that the riders were white; Indians didn’t shod their horses, instead switching out mounts so as not to tire or injure them.

After a few miles, he crested a hill. What he saw on the other side caused him to immediately drew up on the reins to bring Ghost to a halt. He jumped down and pulled Ghost back down the hill until he was out of sight, then drawing his revolver, slowly crawled back to the top.

At the foot of the hill on the other side stood the wagon he’d seen pass through the fort; its contents were scattered on the ground nearby. The four oxen, still yoked, lay dead. He could detect no movement, no other signs of life. Carefully, he made his way down the hill to cart, using the tall grass as cover until he reached the cart. Mulder noticed arrows scattered about the ground, but curiously, they all faced in different directions, as if someone had haphazardly tossed a quiverfull up in the air and let them fall. Even odder: the oxen had all been shot by a small caliber pistol - not the firearm of choice by Plains Tribes, who much preferred rifles.

It took him a moment to notice the two bodies amid the tall grass. A bald, older man lay beside a younger, pimple-faced boy. Both had been shot and both, he saw with a sickening twist in his stomach, had been scalped. Whoever had done the scalping had botched it on the older man; his scalp was still partially attached to his skull. With rising dread, he frantically looked about for the woman he knew belonged to the the party - the woman with whom he briefly exchanged courtesies outside of Frohike’s.

As if in reply, a woman’s scream shattered the expansive stillness of the prairie. Mulder drew his revolver and sprinted down a small ravine in the direction of the scream.

Two men stood close together, laughing and cheering as they watched a third man struggling with something on the ground. The men were shirtless, their faces and chests painted in red and black paint. At first, Mulder took them for Indians, then one of them spoke.

“Come here and hold her down,” the man on the ground yelled in English. “She’s a feisty one.”

Mulder stiffened at the familiar voice of Sergeant Krycek. He squinted at the other men; beneath the copious red and black face paint, he recognized Private Colton and Corporal Kersh. Like Krycek, the two men had a poor reputation among the Kearney detachment: he recalled Colton had once been confined to quarters on bread and water rations for a month for attempting to steal a milk cow from an emigrant family passing through the fort.

“As long as you leave some of her for me,” Colton answered with a leer. He bent down and grabbed the woman’s arms, pulling them roughly above her head. Krycek paused to unbutton his trousers, leaving just enough opportunity for the woman to deliver a well-placed kick to his face; he fell hard on his ass, raising a laugh from Colton and the other soldier.

“Bitch!” he said, spitting out a mouthful of blood and stumbling to his feet. “You’ll wish I killed you with your father and brother, before I’m done with you.”

Krycek had barely taken a step forward before Mulder fired. The sergeant’s stomach suddenly blossomed crimson, and he staggered backwards before dropping to the ground.

Colton let go of the woman and whirled to face Mulder, his gun drawn. Kersh managed to get a shot off at Mulder; he winced at the sudden, searing pain in his left arm.

Before Kersh could fire again, another shot rang out, and he collapsed. Colton, confused, glanced down at the corporal. That bought Mulder just enough time to take aim at Colton. He fired. The private fell on top of Kersh.

Mulder ran over to the woman. She lay shaking, gasping on the ground. In her hands was Krycek’s revolver. Smoke curled upwards from the barrel. He helped her to her feet. She stared, shocked, at the weapon, then at the men who lay dead at her feet.

Before either could speak, a groan caused Mulder to turn away. Krycek was still alive; his breathing came in ragged gasps as he lay on the ground nearby, grasping at his bleeding stomach. Mulder stood over him. Krycek’s eyes focused on him and widened in recognition.

“Please, Captain, have mercy,” he said weakly between bloody coughs. “Have mercy.”

He was a dead man - it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to blood loss. But a gunshot wound to the stomach was painful, and often resulted in a slow death; anger rose within Mulder at all of the needless suffering and death this man had inflicted. He wanted to walk away and leave Krycek to a prolonged, agonizing demise.

Instead, Mulder pointed his gun at the sergeant. “The only mercy you’ll get from me is a quick death,” he said, his voice iron-edged, as he cocked the hammer with his thumb. Krycek whimpered. The air reverberated with the sharp crack of his Colt.

He holstered his gun and walked back to where the woman stood. Wordlessly, he took the revolver from her. She swayed, as if about to faint. He put a hand out to steady her. “Easy does it, ma’am.”

She didn’t fall, but instead took his hand in a tight, vice-like grip. He squeezed back, causing her to look up at him. Her eyes registered shock, surprise - and fear.

“It’s alright, ma’am,” he said gently. “You’re safe.”

Her eyes focused on him as if truly seeing him for the first time. She took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. He felt her hand slip from his.

“I must bury my father and brother,” she said, composing herself. Her face, although tear-stained and smeared with dirt, was set with a firmness and resolve that surprised him.

“Allow me to pay my respects by assisting you,” he said.

She hesitated, as if unsure whether to trust him, but presently gave brief nod of assent. Without speaking, she turned and headed in the direction of the cart and her dead kin.

Mulder picked up the dead men’s weapons and followed. Behind them, the shirtless, painted bodies of the soldiers lay staring upwards at the expansive sky.

[kristallioness]

Of comfort and connections

Summary: Aang thinks about things while being in Katara's embrace for a change.

Word count: 2,027

Author's note: This early Saturday morning I happened to go through a thread on a random forum (where people discussed some things that I indulge myself in) and I began reading how this sweet young man talked about what he liked to do with his girlfriend. He admitted that it felt weird to him when she wanted to be the one who'd cuddle him and let him listen to her heart, since he felt like HE should be the one who offers her protection/comfort and not the other way around (obviously he let her do it anyway, which is why he seemed like such a caring guy). I can understand the reasons why he might think that, but at the same time I thought of a certain other couple who has it both ways. It sparked this idea. (I'm not a member in that forum, so I couldn't add my opinion, but personally I really like and believe it can work both ways.) The story takes place some time after "The Rift". Also, there's a reference to how Aang/Raava survived based on the exact opposite of what Vaatu said to Wan (about how he could become stronger). I should probably stop writing/drawing so much fluff about these two and save some ideas for Kataang Week (I already sketched something new and I might use it for a prompt that fits, I'm not gonna post it yet because it's too good).

----------x----------

Aang's finger traced a path across the soft blue fabric, drawing the shape of a heart above hers. The sensation made her giggle. Katara grabbed his left hand for a second and laid it flat in the middle of her chest so he'd quit tickling her. He didn't mean to do that, but he got the message.

Aang was simply pondering why listening to her heartbeat felt so soothing. Why it made him wanna doze off, yet sort of felt like a wake-up call at the same time. He didn't get to do these kind of things so much before. Snuggling up to each other was new for both of them ever since they'd become a couple. Sure they'd hugged and comforted each other many times during the war, all of which helped build their friendship and lay the foundation for their relationship.

But this.. this was something much more intimate. His head resting on her chest, her left hand supporting his back and holding him close to her side. A blanket underneath them and a pillow behind her head for support. Cuddled up at the back of the saddle in the warm summer evening, getting ready to fall asleep and rest, only to wake up the next morning when new adventures would await their small gang.

He'd felt a bit.. okay, a lot awkward when Katara had offered that they took these poses, being first in their makeshift bed that night. He wasn't used to being the one who was cuddled, much less by a girl and in the position she'd suggested. He was supposed to be the cuddler.

His rosy cheeks had returned to their normal colour once he'd gotten used to the feeling of the side of his face squishing her breasts and found a comfortable spot that didn't bother either of them. Focusing on the steady rhythm of her heart helped a little.

Katara had laughed about it, saying that he needed to feel protected by her just as much as she did by him. That she wanted to give him that feeling. And that meant he'd get to experience what he'd previously allowed her to do - snuggling close to her side and resting his head above her heart. Yeah, this was something that only a couple could do without feeling embarrassed.

His head slowly rose and descended according to her breathing. Aang raised his head a bit to look into her eyes, but she wasn't even looking at him. Katara was busy gazing at the stars in the northern sky. Her diamond blue eyes shimmered similarly to them. She wore a loving smile that grew a little when she sensed that he was staring at her. She seemed so calm and happy, her mind free from constantly worrying about the state of the world. She had him to thank for that.

Aang lowered his head and pressed his right ear above her heart to continue listening. His fingers tiptoed a bit lower to a less awkward position as he rested them below her ribcage. One of them still rubbed at a rib that moved up and down under her right breast as she breathed. Why did this seem so familiar to him?

His hand nearly clasped her tunic from that spot when he finally remembered. It'd only been a short moment, but it was the sound that'd stopped him from leaving her. It went crazy at the thought of losing him forever. It was the first sound he'd heard when he came back to her, after she'd revived him with the spirit water. Her heart racing when she couldn't accept what'd just happened - that the water didn't work.

But it did work. She'd poured her love out, all over his limp body, which had helped revive his Avatar Spirit. He grumbled and managed to get a short glance of her relieved smile when she held him in her arms before everything faded into darkness again. Except that he could still hear that drumming in his ears for a while longer, until eventually that faded away, too.

He didn't know how it was possible, but she did. She'd held him close to her side all the way from Ba Sing Se to Chameleon Bay, not daring to let go for a second. The way she'd defended him had given him strength to recover. Hearing her beating heart tell him how much she loved him had given him breath to continue fighting. And it'd brought him back to life during that fateful night.

Aang frowned at the thought of what kind of hell he must've put her through during those following weeks. He pulled his left knee up a bit and curled up like a baby, trying to close what little space remained between their bodies. He nuzzled his nose against her chest and pulled his hand back under his chin, laying it over her heart before clenching it into a fist.

"Aang.. you okay?" she wondered, running her hand over his head a few times when she felt how his body tensed up. He looked up at her with a worried gaze, but simply seeing her being concerned about him helped wash away his sorrow and he offered her a reassuring smile instead.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about stuff."

"Mmm.." Katara hummed, her finger running down his nose and over his lips before she leaned forward a bit to give him a tender kiss on his temple. She rested her hand above his and gave it a gentle squeeze, making him relax his fist.

"Cosy?"

"Mhmm," Aang nodded against her chest, attempting to resume his train of thought. He startled a little when her stomach growled. She lifted her right knee up a bit, as if she had a stomach ache.

"Hungry?" he asked in return, seeing how she blushed and scratched the side of her face.

"Not really, we had a good supper. But I wouldn't mind a small snack."

"Psst! Momo.. Hey, Momo!" Aang quietly called the winged lemur, who'd been napping on top of Appa's head. Momo's big ears, followed by the rest of his head, popped up from behind the front of the saddle and he quickly leaped closer to the airbender, licking his face in the process.

"Ha-ha-ha! Cut it out, buddy! I need you to bring me something."

Momo quit licking him and jumped onto Katara's belly instead, tilting his head curiously to look at Aang.

"Momo, bring me an apple, please."

The winged lemur chirped a few times, then leaped over Katara's head to land on the luggage behind them. He sniffed through their bags and quickly found a backpack that was full of fruit, picking a nice juicy green apple for the Avatar's girl. Momo grabbed his loot and flew back to her side, handing the fruit over to Aang.

"Thanks, buddy! Here you go, sweetie."

"Thanks, sweetie. And thank you, Momo!" Katara said as she grabbed the apple in her right hand, then stroked the lemur with the back of it before biting into her snack. Momo yawned and curled up like a ball beside the couple to fall back asleep.

Aang began rubbing Katara's flat belly, like he was trying to ease a nonexistent pain while she ate. Running circles around that area reminded him of something else. If he'd thought about their past before, then now he started to think about their future.

He remembered what she'd told him during the battle for Yu Dao. How she'd seen a future where people from different nations could live together, where they're married and have a baby. He'd never thought about that before, what his life could look like in the future with Katara after the war was over.

Sure they'd stay together as a couple, but marriage hadn't crossed his mind since Aunt Wu predicted that he'd become her husband. At least not until Ursa and Ikem had pointed it out again on the two of them - how lucky they were to have found each other at such a young age. Aang did feel lucky that she'd found him in that iceberg. That Katara was the first person he'd woken up to a hundred years later. That during the final year of the war, they'd begun falling for each other. And that they were a couple now.

His palm stroked her tummy. That was another thing he hadn't given much consideration yet - starting a family with her. He'd never had to think about having children with someone before. Now he felt like it was his responsibility to think about it. If for no other reason, then for saving his people from extinction. Bringing a new airbender into this world was the only way to do that. Because even though sky bison were the original airbenders, he doubted that Appa would live to see the next Avatar and teach him or her airbending, especially since that would be the last element to master.

The idea made Aang feel a bit sick to his own stomach. Having a child simply because it's his duty to save the airbenders. If he wanted to have children with Katara, then it'd only be because both he and she wanted to. Because they'd love their baby for who he or she is, airbender or not. He'll figure something out when it concerned his next life, and Katara would certainly help with that. Yes, he decided that sounded a lot better.

And since she'd already imagined a baby in their future, then he concluded that she must want one. That she'd definitely love to have one with him. Honestly, he was glad that if that happened, then it would be with Katara, because she'd be the most caring and loving mother in the world to their children. The whole concept seemed scary now, but Aang felt sure that if and when she was ready to do all of those things, then he'd be ready, too.

"Katara?"

"Hmm?" she tilted her head while she took another bite from the apple.

"Remember when you first told me how you saw our future?"

"Mhmm.." she answered with a hum, nodding in agreement before swallowing.

"It got me thinking," Aang went on, his finger tenderly running around the edge of what he guessed was her belly button under that blue fabric.

"Yeah.." she said in a teasing tone, waiting for him to say whatever it was that he wanted to tell her.

"I'd be honoured to be your husband. And I'd love to raise a family with you, whenever you're ready. That is, if you wanna marry and have a baby, of course! No pressure!"

Katara chuckled as she took one last bite and threw the remainder of the fruit on the grass beside Appa. She licked her fingers clean and dried her hand against the side of her tunic, then cupped Aang's cheek.

"Yes, I'd love that, too. Very much," she murmured to him, caressing his cheek with her thumb. Aang propped himself up on his right elbow to look at her. Her cheeks were decorated with a tint of red, but she never broke eye contact. She was smiling back at him, her eyes half-lidded.

Katara beckoned him closer by softly pulling her hand away from his cheek, tugging him to follow. He shifted a bit so his face would be closer to hers, close enough for her lips to meet his so she could kiss him. He cupped her cheek in return after they'd broken their kiss, admiring her beautiful face.

"I love you so much, Katara," Aang said in a slightly shaky voice. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and wrapped his arms around her for a very tight hug, almost as if he was afraid of losing her. She was his whole world and he really didn't wanna let go so soon.

He felt how she snaked her arms around him, too, and rubbed his back in return. She hummed in delight, feeling both their heartbeats reciprocating the same against their chests.

"Mmm.. I know. I love you, too, Aang."