#sneezing-appa

[soulc-hilde]

Kids in the Iceberg

Series: The Lost Waterbender / Ch. 01

Pairing: Sokka x OC! Ikkara

Words: 1.1k

Divider by: @khaer

Synopsis: Sent off from her homeland in order to fulfill her duty, a young waterbender takes on the responsibility to teach the Avatar. Forced to abandon her people just like Aang was force to abandon his childhood, the two bond over their desire to be freed. Rushing off into the night, the duo are swept off in the midst of a rain storm. Waking in her homeland, Ikkara is left confused and 100 years behind the present.

With a pained groan, I open my eyes and wince at the unexpectant glare of light. Blinking a few more times, I could feel my vision adjust and what I thought was blue skies were blue eyes.

They stare down at me with curiosity and wariness. Sitting up as slow as my body would allow me to, I take note of him standing protectively in front of a girl who was practically his twin. Am I... Am I back home? 

Careful of the ice, I stand to my feet when a small hand grips onto my bicep. I look over to see the concerned, wide gray eyes that belong to the young airbender I was traveling with. 

"Ikkara, you're okay," he belts with joy, forcing his small form into my torso. As he nuzzles into my parka, I lightly pat my gloved hand on his bald head with a chuckle. 

"Of course, are you?" I ask, leaning him back in order to trail my eyes across his body. The boy behind him screeches, "who are you!" 

Before we could answer, a loud groan catches our attention. "Appa," Aang and I call out. Leaping over the slope of ice, we land on the white furry bison. Aang continuously swipes at his companion, fighting the animal's sleep while I simply patted the side of his head. Following after us, the siblings watch in horror. 

"What is that?!" The boy screams once again. Finally awaking, Appa nudges his head against me before licking Aang's backside. 

The airbender laughs, "this is Appa, my flying bison." The boy deadpans, gesturing to the girl, "and this is Katara, my flying sister." 

The large bison freezes, face twitching. "Oh-oh," I wince, ducking to avoid the ball of snot that had hit the teenage boy. With a scream of disgust, he flops around in the snow in hopes to wipe it off. 

"That's okay, it'll wash out," Aang laughs. I look around with slight familiarity, "are-are we in the south pole, by chance?" Aang nods, "do you guys live around here?" 

Immediately, the boy steps in front of Katara, pointing his spear at Aang and I. "Don't answer that, Katara. Did you see that bolt of light? They were probably trying to signal the Fire Navy."

Katara nudges him back, gesturing at us in annoyance, "oh yeah, I'm sure they're spies for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in their eyes, besides she's wearing Water Tribe clothes."

"Could be a disguise," the boy creates his own explanation. Cute, but paranoid... seems like my type

Katara gestures towards him, "the paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. What are your names?" I give her a small bow, "I'm Ikkara."

"And I'm A-a-a-a-a-aachoo!" Aang sneezes, shooting into the sky. Sliding down the icy walls and back onto his feet, he bows in greeting, "Aang." 

Sokka points at us, "you just sneezed and flew 10 feet in the air!" Aang and I shrug, "I thought/felt it was higher than that." 

"You're an Airbender!" Katara realizes with awe. She turns to me, "and are you one, too?" I shake my head, "afraid not. I'm a waterbender." 

If it was possible, her eyes seem to widen even more. "I'm a waterbender, too!" She nearly squeals. Sokka groans, "giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders, waterbenders... I think I got midnight sun madness," he walks off.

"I'm going home to where stuff makes sense," he scoffs. Pausing for a moment, Sokka realizes that he was in fact stranded on the glacier with the rest of us. I chuckle in my gloved palm, not wanting to come off as rude. 

"If you guys are stuck, Ikkara, Appa, and I can give you a lift!" Aang suggests, using his bending to flip onto the top of Appa's head. 

Katara smiles, "thanks!" I turn around and with a stiff stomp, a set of ice carved stairs form beside the bison. The younger waterbender gasps in awe, "whoa."

She joins my side in the saddle which left the three of us to watch Sokka mildly panic. "Oh no," he scoffs, "I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster."

"Well Sokka," I lightly tsk, "I don't see any boats around here for miles. Do you, Katara?" The girl smirks, shaking her head, "nope. Unless you're hoping some other kind of monster will give a ride home, you know, before you freeze to death?"

The stubborn teen sighs, climbing the icy stairs and hopping into the saddle. He shuffles in the very back, nearly digging the edges into his lower back. Aang doesn't mind though as he laughs away. 

"Okay, first time fliers, hold on tight!" He shouts, gripping the reigns, "Appa, yip-yip!" The bison releases a growl and launches himself in the air, all six legs fan out, before belly-flopping into the water.

"Wow," Sokka drags on, "that was truly amazing." I send him a quick side-eye, not appreciating the tone. Aang chimes, "Appa's just a little tired. After some rest, he'll be soaring through the sky!"

Katara shuffles to the front of the saddle while Aang watches her with a grin. She raises an eyebrow, "why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Oh," he stutters, "I was smiling?" I laugh, shaking my head as Sokka groans in mock disgust. As we drift onwards through the water, the evening turned to night. 

--- pov shift ---

Despite her long winded nap in the iceberg,  Ikkara felt the need to sleep attack her body once more. Curling into a ball beside Sokka, the boy couldn't evade his eyes as the moon glares down on her face. She was a masterpiece. 

Brown skin darker than his own, her short mane of curls danced playfully in the wind. Her pink lips hold a slight smile as the quiet ripples of the ocean and Appa's heartbeat soothes her to sleep. 

Get a grip, Sokka sighs, she's a possible threat to the tribe. 

Hearing someone cough, he turns to meet eyes with a humored Katara. Before he could say a word to defend his gaze, she wiggles her eyebrows before laying down for her own nap. Left grumbling to himself, the teen stares on into the night. 

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[flameo-fanfic]

Ripples of Destiny

Book 1 : Chapter 1 The Boy in the Iceberg

The south sun was rising on the snow-smattered ice and I was once again taking in the view, longing for the days when the rays had shone through vibrant leaves, for the days when my mother would call to me over the rushing river bends and my father would guide me home. The days are long here, and so are the nights, and they’re both just as cold. It has been just shy of three years of living in the Southern Water Tribe and I’m still getting used to the chill.

The voices of the village waking up filled the early air, gentle like the dawning light. Katara and Sokka were already out fishing for food. Knowing their bickering antics, it would take longer than intended, so here I sat in my own peace, awaiting their return so that I could begin feeding the many women and children who were also left behind by the warriors of the tribe. I spent many mornings like this, alone in my memories. Then, everything changed when a beam of light etched through the horizon, breaking my trance.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Northern Water Tribe saw that blast of light. The village was worried, we didn’t know what it was. Gran-Gran found me in her concern that Sokka and Katara weren’t back yet, so we waited agreeing if they weren’t back by nightfall that I would go out looking for them. When the siblings finally returned, our concerns ebbed as our questions were answered. It was an airbender.

“He was stuck in the ice?��� I questioned my friends as we helped the unconscious boy take a rest in one of the extra tents.

“Isn’t it amazing? An airbender! Maybe he can teach us, Kaida.” Katara beamed almost as bright as that unnatural light at the thought of finally having a master. I had to admit, this was an exciting discovery and it would be nice to have a bending master fall right into our laps, but I couldn’t help but to be a little suspicious considering he bursted out of an iceberg.

“Let’s get to know him a little bit first, yeah Katara?” She didn’t seem to let my tepid response affect her mood. She’s always been a stubborn optimist.

We waited for the boy from the iceberg to wake up, and when he finally did we had all gathered around to meet him. I was actually quite nervous. I’ve always respected the air nomads, at least from what I heard of them through stories, but I never thought I’d get the chance to meet one.

“Aang, this is the entire village.” Katara gestured to our remaining people. “Entire village, this is Aang.” Everyone but me had cowered a bit, not being used to meeting outsiders, let alone one that was thought to have been extinct. A pang rang in my heart as I remembered the day I arrived at the Southern Water Tribe and how hesitant everyone was to accept me, so I decided to respond with my own bow of respect for our new guest.

“Uh, why are they looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?” He was checking his clothes for bison snot when Gran-Gran stepped forward.

“Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you.”

“Extinct?” Aang exclaimed. I couldn’t help but think this was a strange reaction considering the general knowledge was that the air nomads had been murdered by the fire nation, but I decided to keep my questions to myself.

“Aang, this is my grandmother.” Katara gestured towards the elderly woman, ignoring his shock.

“Call me Gran-Gran.” The interaction was deadpan.

Sokka walked toward Aang and abruptly snatched his staff out of his hands, examining it.

“What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this!”

“It's not for stabbing! It's for airbending.” Aang snatched his staff back with a gentle gust of wind before revealing the red fans hidden within the staff.

“Wow…” I said, amazed and waiting to witness more.

“Magic trick! Do it again!” The little ones were just as excited as I was, they only expressed it more outwardly.

“Not magic, airbending.” He moved his glider around him, visually demonstrating what he was talking about. “It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly.”

“Ya know, last time I checked, humans can't fly!”

This comment had me jabbing my elbow into Sokka’s ribs, earning me a baffled look. Aang smiled before challenging Sokka. “Check again!”

Aang grabbed hold of his glider and pushed himself off the ground, leaving Katara, Sokka, and me to cover our faces against the sudden wind. The village stared in awe as Aang made some loops and turns in the sky.

“He’s flying!” Aang made another loop and sped up to soar past the gazing villagers. “It’s amazing!”

Aang's shadow passed over Katara and I, who were smiling at him. Aang, intending to further impress the villagers, flew sideways and closed his eyes while grinning broadly. He promptly flew head-on into the village's watchtower, causing his head to be stuck in its side. Katara covered her mouth as she watched Aang struggle to extricate his head from the icy watchtower. Succeeding, he tumbled downward onto a pile of snow at the base of the tower that crumbled from the building. Katara immediately rushed to his side while Sokka stared in shock at the damage inflicted on his watchtower. “My watchtower!”

Aang lay covered in snow at the base of the partially collapsed tower. Katara and some other girls of the tribe, including myself, ran toward Aang, beaming.

Offering her hand to pull him out of the snow, Katara announced, “That was amazing!”

Sokka ran to his watchtower in an attempt to keep it from being damaged anymore, but ended up getting a huge glob of snow on top of his head.

“Great. You're an airbender, Katara and Kaida are waterbenders. Together you can just waste time all day long.” He wedged himself free from underneath the weight of the snow and stalked off muttering to himself.

Aang whipped his head towards Katara and me, “You’re waterbenders?”

“Well, sort of. Not yet.” Katara sideways glanced at me in what seemed to be embarrassment.

“We still have a lot to learn.” I said.

“All right, no more playing. Come on, Katara, you have chores.” Gran-Gran disrupted the excitement by leading Katara away from Aang and I. The rest of the villagers let them pass but formed a crowd around Aang almost immediately to study him.

Aang started showing off some tricks again before licking his staff, his tongue freezing to the wood. “See? Now my tongue is stuck to my staff!” One of the younger boys started yanking the staff trying to unstick Aang’s tongue from the wood. I couldn’t help but giggle at how silly the interaction was.

Eventually we dispersed, I left Aang to have fun with the villagers as I got to work doing my own chores alongside Katara. As I was bending the excess water out of the laundry I was washing, I overheard Aang ask Sokka and Katara a jarring question.

“What war? What are you talking about?”

“You're kidding, right?”

I stood up and walked towards the group as I began to ask “What do you mean what wa-“ I was cut off by Aang screeching at the sight of an otter-penguin in the distance, and he left my words in the wind behind his back. “Penguin!”

Sokka glanced at Katara and me with an annoyed, dumbfounded look. “He’s kidding, right?” Katara and I began our trek as we attempted to find the exuberant airbender. “We might have to put a bell on that kid.” I said before I began to jog in Aang’s general direction.

“Aang?” We found him in a field full of otter-penguins, chasing the cute animals over the dunes of snow. “Hey, come on little guy. Wanna go sledding?” Aang begs as he jumped on one of the penguins with little to no luck. He belly-flopped on the ice with a grunt before airbending himself back onto his feet to face us. “Heh heh. I have a way with animals.” Aang stretched his arms wide and imitated the sound and movements of the otter-penguins, making Katara and I both laugh.

“Impressive tactics.” I let out a sarcastic tease amid my giggles.

“Hehehe, Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me and Kaida waterbending.”

Aang released the tail of a penguin that he had attempted to capture before responding to Katara’s request “You got a deal! Just one little problem ... I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?”

I looked over at Katara sympathetically “No. You're looking at the only waterbenders in the whole South Pole.” She said sadly, looking at her feet. “Kaida is the only one who has been able to teach me, but she hasn’t mastered waterbending, either.”

“This isn't right. A waterbender needs to master water.” He paused, and I knew what he was about to say. “What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you.”

“Maybe, but we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly "turn right at the second glacier". It's on the other side of the world.” It was Katara’s turn to look at me with an understanding look. We’ve all lost people to the war, and it was easy to recognize it in others, even if we were only children.

“But you forget, I have a flying bison. Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, Kaida, we're going to find you a master!”

Aang’s appearance in our humble lives here in the South Pole may have been a blessing. For once in my sixteen years in this world, hope was the strongest feeling in my heart. I had been yearning to go to the North Pole my entire life, yearning to learn more about my mother’s childhood, my mother’s family, and why she left home. “That’s a great idea, Aang!” I blurt out in a blitz of excitement, earning a smile from Aang.

“That's... I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before.” Katara spoke up timidly.

“Well, you think about it, but in the meantime, can you guys teach me to catch one of these penguins?”

Katara gave me a final look of consideration before turning back to Aang “Okay, listen closely my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art.” She summoned a hidden fish out of her sleeve. “Observe!”

Katara threw the fish into Aang’s grasp and he stood uncomprehending as the penguins crowded him in a flurry of desire for the fresh treat in his hands.

Soon enough we were all mounted on our new rides at the top of an iceberg that we were using as a makeshift slide. The air was whipping past my ears as Katara, Aang, and I soared through the air before once again meeting solid snow. We raced down the steep slope and Aang used another iceberg as a ramp to propel him into the air, soaring over Katara and me. Our penguins bolted down the hill and we both turned onto the next iceberg, gaining a bit of speed and landing once again next to Aang as we all let out euphoric laughter.

“I haven't done this since I was a kid!” Katara gleefully shouted.

“You still are a kid,” Aang responded.

We all entered a tunnel of ice, Katara in the lead, constantly changing her direction to hold Aang and me back. Aang used his airbending to race over the ceiling past both of us, picking up the lead. There was no way Katara or I would catch up to him, so it was between us to take last place and Katara was still a bit ahead of me.

“If he can play dirty, so can I.” I thought to myself before waterbending a clump of snow into Katara’s face. My penguin flew past hers as she lost her ability to steer for a second, and I cackled in competitive pride as I watched Katara slow behind Aang and me in third place.

“That’s so unfair!” Katara lightheartedly scolded me while wiping snow off of her cheeks and waterbending her own ball of snow at me in protest of my cheating behavior. The ball had missed my face and hit my shoulder before I bantered with my friend and we used our bending to send more snow towards each other. A full-blown snowball fight would have ensued if Aang hadn’t interrupted us. “Whoa! What is that?”

Katara’s expression darkened, “A Fire Navy ship. And a very bad memory for my people.” Aang began to approach the wreckage. “Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it! The ship could be booby-trapped!”

“If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear.” I could see Katara taking his remark into consideration before stepping forward to join him. I reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Wait, Katara. This could be dangerous.” No matter how much fun I was having with my new airbending acquaintance and my best friend, I wasn’t certain venturing into an old Fire Navy ship was the best idea, and I didn’t want Katara to get hurt.

“It’ll be okay. You’re with me.” Katara gave me a gentle smile and squeezed my hand before I let go of her wrist.

“Fine. But no messing around in there, okay?” Katara and Aang nodded respectfully, agreeing to my conditions as we all slowly entered the old ship.

There was little life left in the abandoned vessel, only some small hamsters that I spotted scurrying against the edges of the walls. We soon entered a room stocked full of weapons. “This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl.” Katara began as we spectated the weapons more closely. I picked up “It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks.”

“Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation.” Aang picked up a guandao to inspect it. “I've never seen any war.”

This is the second time now Aang’s statements have confused me and I couldn’t help but feel a bit questioning of him.

“Aang, how long were you in that iceberg?” Katara asked what I was thinking.

“I don’t know. A few days, maybe?”

“I think it was more like a hundred years!”

“What?! That's impossible! Do I look like a hundred-twelve-year-old man to you?”

“No, Aang. Katara is right.”

“Think about it. The War is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you were in there the whole time! It's the only explanation.” Aang’s expression was dooming as he slumped into the wall behind him.

“A hundred years! I can't believe it.” My heart broke slightly, looking down on this lost boy, one hundred years out of his time.

Katara, nurturing as she is, knelt down beside Aang. “I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe somehow there's a bright side to all this...”

“I did get to meet you.” Aang cheered up a bit, smiling warmly at Katara before averting his eyes towards me.

Katara offered him a warm smile of comfort. “Come on, let's get out of here.”

“Aang, let's head back, this place is creepy.”

“Agreed. This ship feels colder than it does out there.” I shivered, taking in my surroundings and rubbing my arms in an attempt for warmth. The metal walls felt empty and void of love, the complete opposite of the environment I was raised.

As we were heading towards the hole that we entered through, Aang tripped on an almost invisibly thin wire, causing metal bars to slam down and trap us inside.

“Huh?” Aang said as we all ran towards what would have been our exit. “What's that you said about booby traps?”

Just like Aang awakening from that iceberg, the gears of the shipwreck shifted to life. We all watched as the movements of the ship powered a flare high into the sky, exploding and alerting nearby inhabitants.

“Uh oh...” Aang looked up at a hole in the roof of the ship and took Katara in his arms. “Hold on tight!” Katara yelped as Aang hurled them upwards and out of the ship with his bending abilities before coming back for me. The shorter boy grabbed me by my waist in a flurry of incredible speed and suddenly I was being bolted out of the ship.

[mysticwolfshadows]

Taken - Zutara - Part 17

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Aang woke laying on his back. He was tired, groggy from what must have been a long nap. When he opened his eyes, he saw the prettiest girl he had ever seen. She had vibrant blue eyes, which stood out even more when surrounded by dark hair and red clothes. She looked like Water Tribe, but she had an distinct Fire Nation feel about her.

"I..." He starts, only for his voice to crack. "I need to ask you something..."

The girl leans in. "What is it?"

He beams. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

She pulls back, blinking at him. Glancing behind her, she looks to an older boy, definitely Water Tribe, and seems confused. When she turns back to him, she frowns. "I... guess?"

Aang, pleased to at least have that, breaths deep and moves the air to push himself up, in one smooth motion. The two step back in surprise as he looks around. "So what's going on here?"

The boy steps forward, a spear held up. He poked him with it. "Don't tell him anything, Katara. You saw that light. It's probably a signal for the Fire Navy!"

The girl - Katara! What a pretty name! - was standing behind the boy, he hands tucked tightly into her sleeves. She had a weird look on her face, seeming almost worried. "Sokka, that light wasn't a Fire Nation flare. And the only Fire Nation ship that comes out this way is-"

Aang doesn't hear the rest. Back in the crator of ice, Appa groans. Scrambling up, Aang joins his buddy, hugging him. The two Watere Tribe members moved forward, staring. He introduced them, happy and cheery. The boy was still suspicious, but Katara was looking increasingly concerned.

"Oh!" Aang said, suddenly remembering he hadn't told her his name yet. "I'm A- ah... Ah... CHOO!" He shot up in the air, a flurry of snow whirling around him. When he came back down, he beamed. "I'm Aang!"

The boy gaped. "You just sneezed! And flew ten feet in the air!"

"Really? It felt higher." He turned to Katara, grinning. That was cool, right?

Only, her face had grown pale and grim, as if she had been expecting that, and it was the worst possible thing. "You're an Airbender..."

She said it like a death sentence.

"Giant light beams," the boy, Sokka, started ranting, "flying bison, airbenders... I must have midnight sun madness. I'm going home, where things still make some sense!"

Only, when the boy turned, there's only water. Aang, seeing an oppurtunity, quickly perks up. "If you need help getting home, Appa and I can give you a lift."

Sokka was vehemently opposed. Katara, on the other hand, seemed resigned.

"It's our only option," she said to the boy, a hand on his arm. Aang hoped they were siblings... "The canoe is gone, and the ice chunks are hard to steer. We can have him drop us off as close to the village as he can without being seen."

Aang wondered why they had to worry about being seen, but was a bit distracted. Katara seemed to not want him around... He hoped he was wrong. Maybe she was just worried what people would say?

They two followed him onto Appa, and Katara moved closer to give him directions. As they went, he tried to ask a few questions about her, but she shifted the topic easily.

"When you drop us off, you have to be careful," she said, sitting stiffly in the sadle. "Rinzo and Taka can't see you. And when you leave, try to stay out of sight. Especially of Fire Nation ships. There should be one close by, and under no circumstances can they see you."

"Why?" Aang asked.

Sokka snorted. "Because she knows I'm right about the jerkbender. He's evil, and there's no way he'll let an Airbender escape."

"That's not it," Katara said, but she seemed a bit uncovinced by her own words. "Zuko just wants to go home. He's still looking for the Avatar."

Panic welled in Aang's chest. Something was wrong. "Why... Why would he be looking for the Avatar?'

"Because the Avatar is the biggest threat to the Fire Nation's war effort," Sokka said, rolling his eyes. "But prince jerk face is chasing a myth."

"War? Myth?"

Katara eyed him. "How long were you in that iceberg, Aang?"

Aang blinked. "I don't know... A few days?"

She took a deep breath. "Aang, if you're the Avatar-" He jerks, about to deny it, but she holds up a hand. "-then I have some bad news. The Fire Nation declared war on the rest of the world, and their first target was the Air Nomads. Under Fire Lord Sozin's orders, they committed a mass genocide. It upset the balance of the world, and they continue to press on." She let that sink in for a moment, before adding, "that was a hundred years ago."

Aang felt a gasp rip itself from his throat. "No! No, that can't be true!"

She shook her head. "The war continues even today. They raided our tribe until I became the last waterbender in the South. Its important that you take this seriously." She paused, pointing toward shore. "Have Appa stop there."

Shaking, Aang pulled the reins. He watched as Sokka and Katara climb out of the saddle, their boots crunching snow. He stared off into the distance, worried he would be sick.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Katara said, voice sincere. "I suggest you get Appa in the air and use the clouds for cover. Head to the North Pole. We've heard that they remain strong, their capital an impenetrable fortress that the Fire Nation has yet to break. They can keep you safe, and you can find a Waterbending Master."

He nodded numbly, gripping the reins. Katara gave him a polite bow, before pulling Sokka along behind her. They whispered to one another in shushed tones.

Aang wondered with Appa, his mind racing, until he found a spot to stop. Katara's words repeated in his mind, over and over. He had never asked to be the Avatar. He had never wanted that responsibility, and had run from it. But in doing so, he seemed to have plunged the world into chaos. He had failed before he even began.

Swollowing thickly, he tried to steel his resolve. Katara was right. He needed to get to the North. He had to make things right.

He spurred Appa, the bison finally taking to the air. A little rest had done him some good after all. As they rose, trying to reach the clouds, Aang saw it. Black snow. He reached out, catching a few flakes and rubbing them between his fingers.

Ash.

His heart lurched. He glanced around, squinting into the distance. Far below, he could see a village, small and not anything like the capital Aang knew should be there. Just to the side, a squad of soldiers were disembarking a metal ship.

"Fire Nation soldiers," he breathed. "So it's true..."

At the front, he could see another soldier reaching forward towards a girl in red that was flanked by two more soldiers.

Katara.

"Appa!" He called, tugging on reins. "We have to go help!"

And with that, Aang dove from the saddle, ready to defend the girl that given him hard truths.

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[oneatlatime]

The Winter Solstice part 2: Avatar Roku

This episode opens with a complete cul de sac of a conversation. I guess it was for character development? We already know Sokka and Katara are ride or die, but I like the idea of Appa getting to express opinions and be understood and listened to.

My thanks to this guy for moving the plot along.

Zuko is back to being an asshole. And he was so much more interesting last episode.

Zuko is only 16? I thought he was at least mid-twenties. He's in charge of a whole ship at 16. That's an alarming notion.

You know I haven't even met this firelord guy yet but something tells me that Iroh is right and Zuko is giving him too much credit. I'm kind of impressed by how much of a shadow the firelord character is casting over the show without even being introduced yet.

I don't get Katara's point here. It's too dangerous is exactly the reason they're there? It's a killer line but I don't think it makes sense? Also what is with their faces here? Sokka's poor teeth.

This asshole. I was hoping he was a single episode character. He's so good at being a villain that he undermines Zuko as the main villain. Although judging by the reaction of the guy on the left, Zhao's villainy is not typical of fire nation military. He's unusually evil. Also since when is Zuko a traitor? And why does Zhao wear a toga outside of his armour?

Going above the cloud ceiling actually made it worse. Did not see that coming. I have no knowledge of meteorology or whatever the relevant science is, but if they're high enough up to be above the cloud ceiling, shouldn't it be getting hard to breathe?

How. You know it's a good thing that airbenders were all monkly before they disappeared because I think they're all secretly one man armies.

Zhao is a butt, but he's a clever butt. Zuko probably would know more, although in this instance I don't know that he does? Unless that villager he kicked through the door told him. Actually that's probably why Zuko was so close on their tail. So yeah, Zhao is a clever butt.

I know the feeling buddy.

I know that feeling too.

Sokka very solidly being relegated to comic relief in this episode.

Surely if the temple was abandoned it wouldn't be so well swept? Or lit?

Airbenders once again being a one man army.

I was about to point out that there was no way they could know where they were going, but the show beat me to it. Points for self-deprecation.

Avatars can bend magma? Would that be earth bending? Or firebending because of the heat? Or waterbending because it's liquid? Actually, can water bending bend all liquids, or only water based ones? Could waterbenders bend oil? Can anyone?

I know as little about vulcanology as I know about meteorology, but wouldn't it be kind of hot walking there?

This sage's speech here is really well done. Worldbuilding, plus one hundred years of historical context, plus real world consequences to both the Avatar's disappearance and the firelords who took advantage of it. Of course the avatar never appearing would have consequences. Things have gotten warped. Also interesting that the sage uses the word 'hope.' What were they hoping for the next Avatar to do? Were the sages originally against a fire nation war? Were they hoping the avatar would appear and defeat the fire lord who started the war before it really got started? Has this 'Aang defeats the firelord' plan been in place for 100 years?

Sokka not being relegated to comic relief after all! I'd love to know the context of Sokka's dad inventing fake firebending and then feeling the need to pass it on to his son too. A party trick? Actually that would be pretty tasteless (or pretty gallows humour) given that they're southern water tribe.

How is this bridge still standing. Also pretty.

Sokka and Katara proving that they share a brain. Both a good plan, and a good save. Seeing them bounce off each other is always fun.

Momo has the most adorable sneeze!

"What took you so long?" Never has a rebuke been delivered in a more friendly way.

What is with the stairs in this temple? First Zuko can sneak up unheard, then Zhao and a whole crew/platoon/brigade/whatever shows up without anyone noticing? Is this temple carpeted?

So Aang has a maximum of about seven months to learn three other elements to a high enough standard to be able to defeat the firelord and whatever armies he brings with him. No pressure.

BADASS!!!!! You guys are screwed!!!!!!

Lava bending! Magma bending? Badass bending!

Momo saves the day! Did not see that coming!

This whole sequence is so good.

Zhao does not see nuance. Kind of satisfying to see that all the Fire sages are royally screwed. That's frankly quite realistic. Remember in school when one kid misbehaved so the whole class had to miss recess? Same energy from Zhao. Makes sense too: dictatorial empires are not interested in mercy or fairness.

I love the lighting on Zuko's boat. Very yummy textures.

And just like the southern air temple, this one also makes the correct decision and ends on silence.

Credits tell me that one of the voices this episode was done by someone with the abominably badass name of Clement von Frankenstein.

Can you believe these two shots are from the same episode? So pretty.

Final thoughts

I honestly forgot that this was part two of a two part episode. It was pretty much 1000% standalone.

This episode is also good. I think I preferred part 1, because the fire nation in general does get on my nerves a little. Part 1 had Zuko and Iroh being alternatively stupid and badass, which was fun to see. But I'm finding increasingly that Zuko and Iroh are not at all representative of the fire nation in general, and the fire nation in general annoys me. This episode is still really good, and it set up a whole lot for the rest of the season, but it also had Zhao the butt, so points off for that.

Sokka fell hundreds, if not thousands, of feet and is totally fine with it to the point where it never gets brought up again. As Sokka, or as Sokka's sister, I would have had to lie down for a bit after that.

Seeing Aang and company with the addition of the fire sage work as a team is fun, and I like how much understated yet important work Appa and Momo had to do this episode. Appa got them there safely through a hail of flaming whatever-those-were, Momo played Aang's shadow behind the firebending door and retrieved Appa when the temple was sinking, and Appa got them out of there again. They would be so lost without Appa.

There really wasn't much Katara this episode. There wasn't much Sokka either.

How are Aang and friends going to get out past the fire nation blockade again? How is Zuko?

The fact that Zuko is only 16 is something I'm going to have to turn over in my head for a bit. Learning that rattled me. I would say at first that he doesn't feel 16, but looking back at previous episodes with the knowledge of his age, I'm going to have to reevaluate all those times I called him an ass. Maybe he was just being 16. It feels crazy to put a 16 year old on a globetrotting manhunt and in charge of a ship, but this is a world where the Kyoshi warrior ladies are led by a girl Sokka's age, and a pair of teenagers are escorting a child avatar across the world with no adult supervision. Some of this is cartoon logic - it's a kids' show, so the heroes will be viewers' ages or close on, but also, every time I catch myself wondering where the responsible adults are, I have to remind myself that the war ate them up. I thought before this episode (when I thought Zuko was older) that it was a reflection of the state of the war that the fire nation had adults fighting while the other nations were reduced to relying on children/teenagers, but finding out Zuko is a teenager too puts a whole different spin on that. Seems this war has been universally destructive.

Zhao was determined to arrest Zuko (again, why is Zuko a traitor suddenly? Is it because he won the duel thing?) but the (bad) fire sages didn't try to stop Zuko; in fact they worked under his command. So I'm guessing Zhao's opinion of Zuko isn't the fire nation's opinion of him? Actually, is there any indication that the fire sages knew who Zuko was when he showed up?

This episode had good fights, lots of pretty heavy plot stuff and exposition stuff, both for what's coming and for the past and present state of their world. Not much in the way of humour, which makes sense given the subject matter. This episode could have devolved into an infodump, but it didn't.

I'm happy to see how consistently this show is sticking to the idea of consequences that can't be handwaved. Avatar disappears leads to fire sages losing hope. Fire nation going to war leads to previously non-partisan group getting twisted into serving the nation, to the point where they become the enemy of their previous purpose, which can be done to them partially because they have lost hope. Related: that one fire sage did not have to go against his fellow sages and his order's bastardised purpose. He could have taken the easy path, especially since the fire sages' purpose was changed long before he was born, probably. That's some impressive strength of character, to be loyal to an idea that basically died out before you were born. Given Zhao's general nature, all of the fire sages would have been arrested at the end of the episode regardless of what happened because Zhao had to have someone to blame, but that one sage couldn't know that. He's had weeks to come to a clear-eyed decision to betray the corrupt principles of his whole order/career/role. And he does! Good for him.

Now we have our ticking clock for the rest of the season. I loved what Roku said about how Aang will be able to learn the other bending styles because he's done it before. It establishes this permeability and connection between Aang and Roku, and maybe other avatars too. It kind of drives home that Aang isn't just a fun kid (although he absolutely is and I hope he never loses that), he's also something greater, bigger, older. He's like a cosmic entity, or a semi-divine being. And thank goodness he is such a goof, because a cosmic entity or a semi-divine being with unmatched and unmatchable skills and power that was also wrathful, or prideful, or any other negative quality, instead of a goofy happy peaceful kid would be apocalyptic.

That being said, this connection to Roku also goes kind of dark: how much of Aang is Aang? How much is an avatar an individual, as opposed to the sum of avatars that came before them? Can you separate the incarnation from the avatar? Will Aang ever get to belong to himself?

The fire sages are mostly quite old, and the last avatar was during their grandfathers' time. Is there anyone alive who remembers what it was like to live in a world where there is an avatar active? Bumi is very old, but he's Aang's age, so assuming becoming the avatar is something that happens when you're born or soon after, Bumi probably won't remember the last avatar. There was the old man from last episode that recognised Aang's airbender tattoos or clothes. Maybe he remembers the previous avatar? How closely do the last avatar dying and the air nomads getting wiped out coincide?

For that matter, even if Aang saves the world and gets reinstalled globally as the Avatar, does anyone know how to operate in a world where he's present? How do you address an avatar? Are you supposed to invite him to political events? Is he supposed to have a say in nations' internal conflicts? What is the avatar office and responsibilities in the human world? Is there even space for, or a need for, an avatar anymore, beyond the obvious 'defeat the fire nation' angle? What if, over the last century, people have taken over covering what were originally avatar responsibilities? Do those get given back to Aang? Are there any jobs that can only be performed by the avatar that have been left hanging for 100 years? How much clean up is Aang going to have to do? How many spirits like the black and white spirit from part 1 have been rampaging unpacified for a century? Are there whole swaths of the world made uninhabitable by unhappy spirits?

All the above questions could apply to a world that hasn't seen an airbender in a century too.

Also imagine how much it would have sucked being alive during the time when Aang originally should have appeared as the Avatar. Every new fire nation atrocity would have you thinking "surely this is the last straw that provokes the avatar into coming out into the open" and then, year after year, fire nation atrocity after fire nation atrocity, no one ever comes. I'd be so bitter.

The fire sage bringing up how long Aang has been gone made me think of something else: are Aang and Bumi the only people still living who know what it's like to live in peacetime? Everyone born in the last 100 years has been born into war. Forget about remembering how to live in a world with an avatar, or any airbenders, does anyone remember how to live in a world at peace?

Which makes it so fitting that it's Aang - one of two people who remember peace - that is being set up to defeat the firelord and if he does (rather, when he does - it's a kid's cartoon, the good guys are going to win somehow), it's going to be Aang, in his role as Avatar, who will be ideally placed to guide the world into transitioning to being at peace. I feel like it would be a different story if an avatar forged in war was being tasked with ending the war - for one, probably a much bloodier story. There's something quite poetic about one of the last people who remembers peace being the one destined to re-introduce/grant/give it to the rest of the world.

Looking back on what I wrote, I think I said more about random tangents that this episode made me think of than I said about the episode itself. Obviously it got me thinking. I guess that means it was good?

[fungalhazard]

following off of the previous au idea, an au where something goes funky while aang is in the iceberg with the avatar state and it doesn't change much, except when he comes out of the ice berg and sneezes, he doesn't air bend but firebend and like, oh boy is this kid definitely not admitting to being the avatar, and he doesn't know about the war so in a moment of panic and confusion is just like ‘oh yeah i'm a firebender h a h a h a totally not the avatar or an air bender pfft what are you talking about why would you think that?’ and besides, there's nothing wrong with firebenders,,,

right?

except sokka and katara immediately go on edge, but because katara has the brain cell that Doesn't Crave As Much Violence as Sokka, they still take him back to their village because he's a confused kid that was in an iceberg with a giant flying bison?? and so that kind of just goes the way it went in canon except with a fair bit more caution and suspicion, and maybe aang's having trouble controlling the element he's supposed to be using, and maybe even after processing things and realising the villagers would be less caution if he just came out and said he was the avatar, except he's decidedly Not Thinking About That and Still Very Confused, and then the abandoned fire nation ship happens and oh boy he should really, really tell katara but also a war?? a hundred years?? he is not processing

and then he gets kicked out of the village, and zuko shows up looking for the avatar and then suddenly there's this kid there who's dressed in air temple clothes but bending fire really, really poorly, and isn't the avatar supposed to be over a hundred years old?? master of all elements?? an air bender???

and maybe he's projecting a bit because this kid can't be him, then he thinks about that time he visited the southern air temple, and how it really isn't

far from here, is it, and he thinks about his own banishment, and the ease his father did it, which he tries not to do but really, this kid is so painfully a kid even to him, and then he puts two and two together, takes a dive into the metaphorical math trash for the biggest number he can catch and latches onto that with his stubborn, traumatised fists

and he comes to the conclusion that maybe this kid was banished too, left behind by a ship passing by and spent his days surviving alone surrounded by the remains of a culture, and he wonders how young the kid would have been, to pick up the scraps of that culture and make it his own despite the fire nation upbringing, how he seems to have based his bending forms off of the air nomads- the tattoos, even, how did the kid manage to do that?! and how did the kid even wind up in the southern water tribe? (later he'll see appa and that'll just add more questions)

so he sees this kid who's a fire bender as far away from home as himself, and sure a lot of things don't make sense about his train of thought but zuko is nothing but stubborn, and he can't leave this kid here can he? even with the avatar hunt? he really wishes he could ask uncle what to do but he's pretty sure iroh is taking a nap somewhere and he really doesn't want to disturb him, and really, he needs to find the avatar, but this kid- he's imagined himself like that before, what would have happened to him if uncle hadn't been there? would he have been that alone?

so he makes the split second decision to take the kid in and teach him proper fire bending and culture- the avatar is obviously not in this village anymore- what kind of avatar makes a bunch of kids fight a warship anyway? and so starts the travels of aang, who has no idea what mental gymnastics zuko just did but is a bit too friendly to just flee for his life, katara and sokka, who i haven't quite figured out why they're there but can't separate the gaang

and are just Very Confused, zuko, who can't do math and is perhaps a little too stuborn, and iroh, who can absolutely do math but deems seeing his nephew making friends for possibly the first time in his life far more important than reminding zuko that two plus two generally equals four

[baenxietydad]

Moon And Sand || Baes + Robbie

@justkeepdancing-nemo @robbie-ryeo

Date: Sometime early January

Marlin and Robbie have a very awkward interaction lol

MARLIN:

  A couple days before Nemo moved back into the dorms, they had a couple errands to run so he thought they’d start at Hatter’s with tea, a snack, and the to-do list. Mu-yeol clicked his pen a couple times before finally getting ready to write.

  “Okay, so.” Mu-yeol began. “What did we come to town for? I forget. I know we had to go to the market but for what? I’m getting old.”

  He wasn’t, not for a fairy anyway. But he was always tired.

  And maybe he did forget, or maybe he was hoping to kill another five minutes in Hatter’s for no reason at all.

  NEMO: 

Nemo had dreaded coming out. Errands meant that he was going back to school soon. School meant��� well, Nemo didn’t know. His head hurt thinking about it, even if he knew he needed to get used to it and not be a coward this time.

  So he very much was fine with stalling in Hatter’s for now, blowing a little on his hot cocoa. “Uh, you wanted to go by the market for tupperware…” Nemo mentioned. Appa was determined to send Nemo to school with a tonne of extra meals, convinced that his diet had been one of many factors that contributed to his embarrassing meltdown.

  His eyes flicked up at that moment and spotted someone coming through the door. “Robbie!” he blurted, without even thinking about it. It was instinct. Like a sneeze. 

  MARLIN:

  The neutral facial expression was expected from Mu-yeol. So was calmly sipping his tea. There were also lots of other things that maybe could be expected.

  An eye roll, a scoff, a ‘Nam-min, what are you doing?’ among other things, none of which happened.

  Instead, he set his tea down and very casually said, “Oh, that’s fortunate actually.”

  He turned around in his seat, following Nemo’s eyes, and said while beckoning Robbie over with his palm facing down, “야 Robbie, 이리와, 빨리.” (Ya i-ri-wa, ppal-li.)

  NEMO: 

His eyes widened. What?! What was Appa doing?! Nemo had been a blink away for apologizing but now–?!

  “Appa–” Nemo hissed. He glanced at Robbie and actually tried to shoo him away, even as Marlin beckoned him forward. 

  ROBBIE:

Um. 

  Robbie hadn’t actually expected to see Nemo in Hatters today, which normally would be a very pleasant surprise. Robbie obviously loved seeing Nemo and he smiled big and bright at first when Nemo called his name. Then Robbie realized that Nemo wasn’t alone and Marlin was with him. 

  Marlin, who was calling out to him and telling him to come quickly. Cue Robbie’s nervous laughter as he raised his hand in greeting and made his way over to the table. The whole Marlin situation was…delicate to say the least, and Robbie didn’t want to make anything worse by ignoring him or being rude! That’s why, despite Nemo’s shooing, he still sat down at the table. 

  “안녕하세요,” Robbie said respectfully, dipping his head in a tiny little bow. 

  MARLIN:

  “안녕,” Marlin returned the greeting, ever so slightly nodding his head to him. 

  There was a brief silence, no longer than four or five seconds, as Robbie settled into his seat. Mu-yeol ignored Nemo’s slightly agape jaw and looked directly at Robbie. 

  “I realize I neglected to thank you the other day for helping with Nam-min. I intended to but you can imagine I had a one-track dad mind.” He began in Korean. “So, thank you very much for telling me and everything. 고마워, and I apologize for not thanking you that day.”

  NEMO: 

  What was about to happen?! 

  It could be anything. For a long time Appa and Robbie existed in separate spheres of Nemo's life, which maybe wouldn't be all that weird if they also didn't pretend the other didn't exist. Robbie wasn't as bad as Appa. Robbie did ask about Marlin sometimes, or well, sometimes Nemo talked to Robbie about his abeoji… because how could he not? But with Appa, the rule didn't need to be spoken: don't talk about Robbie. Don't expect Appa to talk about him either. Nemo thought this was stupid and Appa too stubborn, but it was better than being at war. So he followed the rule.

  Now Appa broke the rule.

  Terrible visions of an all-out screaming match passed through Nemo's mind. He sat rigid, terrified. If this went bad, what would he do? Defend Robbie? Usher Appa out? Create a diversion? 

  He definitely didn't expect Appa to thank him. 

  Nemo blinked several times, but was too shocked to do anything more than that. His eyes darted from father to boyfriend in a dizzying mental game of ping pong. 

  ROBBIE:

Robbie wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do or say. This seemed like a normal interaction, one that could happen to anyone, but there were layers. So many layers and those layers weighed on him. 

  Marlin hated Robbie. That was the first layer and also the hardest one to forget because, in a lot of ways, it was the exact reason they were here in the first place. Marlin hating Robbie had affected his and Nemo’s relationship–they were driven closer together, loved harder, felt things more fiercely in the face of his father's disapproval. Marlin's hatred was a fact. 

  But then there was the second layer: Robbie wasn't a vampire anymore, the thing that Marlin hated the most, so he wasn't sure where that left them. He knew Marlin still didn't like him, didn't think he was good for Nemo, but Robbie felt that way about Marlin too. 

  A thing that should be simple, Marlin thanking Robbie, was buried underneath so many hard feelings that the moment was hard to extricate. 

  But Robbie had to try. 

  For Nemo.

  "You're welcome," Robbie said. "Anything to help Nemo, of course." ”

  MARLIN:

  Mu-yeol shook his head ever so slightly, a silent signal that, no no, that wasn’t entirely it. It was most of the reason Robbie did what he did, but not all of it. Robbie was mature in ways that Tae and Nemo simply weren’t yet and it made him think harder about things. 

  “I know being responsible and looking out for someone isn’t always easy, because sometimes you have to do something that might upset them for a moment to ultimately do what’s best.” He sympathized. “I really appreciate you making the choice that was about looking out for him, even if narcing on him to his dad might not have felt right.”

  ROBBIE:

Robbie was maybe a little bit tempted to remind Marlin that he probably knew a little bit more about protecting people and doing things others might not like simply because he'd been alive a lot longer than Marlin, but he knew Marlin really was just a grateful father and it was easy to forget that Robbie was actually over 300 years old. 

  "It was the right thing to do," he said and then looked at Nemo. "I'm sorry I upset you, Nemo, but I'm really glad you're okay." He reached over and squeezed his boyfriend's hand. 

  MARLIN:

  Mu-yeol sipped his tea and snorted, rolling his eyes in that way he does when Nemo roasts him accurately or something. 

  “He was over being mad in five minutes, I promise.” He said, glancing at Nemo. “We were able to work out a plan in time to keep him in school, which is what he wanted, thanks to you.”

  He nodded in Robbie’s direction. “And I’m very grateful, again.”

  NEMO: 

What was worse? Appa and Robbie hating each other?? Or uh– whatever this was?

Nemo couldn’t decide. Whatever this was, though, was a very specific type of humiliating. They were basically talking like he wasn’t even there! Nemo shrank in his seat a little as his ears went red. This was just so weird and embarrassing. Yah, Appa should have just– well- called Robbie or something! Why did they have to do this in front of him?

But he didn’t dare complain either. He’d wanted something like this for a long time. Just, y’know – a civil conversation.

Once again, his eyes darted between Robbie and Marlin. Appa’s final comment, though, irritated him too much to stay quiet (wasn’t that just the way with fathers?) “Um, I’m here too y’know, I can talk for myself,” Nemo broke in. “Robbie knows I’m not mad at him anymore.” 

  MARLIN:

  “I’m just assuring him you weren’t too upset about it,” Mu-yeol said, patting Nemo’s hand. “But you’re right, sorry.”

  He…didn’t think about this interaction past thanking Robbie actually. And telling him ‘go away now’ would just be rude, though he very much did not want to continue this interaction since he’d just unintentionally pissed Nemo off in front of Robbie, who surely hated him and thought he was a terrible father. 

  I can speak for myself Aiya Nemo why did you say it like that? As if he was actively not letting you speak and hadn’t just misstepped in reassuring your boyfriend that he hadn’t committed a grave offense. 

  Anyway. He smiled politely and, in an attempt to escape this situation that he was very aware he had started by calling Robbie over, pushed his tea aside. 

  “I’ll get out of here.” He sighed, lightly slapping the table. “You don’t need to run errands with me Nam-min if you don’t want.”

  NEMO: 

What? Now Appa was leaving?? What?

Well, Nemo didn’t really know what was going on, but he did think that was bad. Agh, he should’ve just shut up! Who cared about his pride? What if this never happened again?!

“No!” Nemo blurted quickly. “I mean! Finish your tea, Appa. Robbie, you can, um, you can join us, right? If you want, I mean, just for a little.” 

  MARLIN:

  Daebak. He was turning Nemo loose to hangout with his boyfriend and he was rejecting it? Wild stuff. Okay then…

  “Ah, I suppose you’re right, I did pay for this one.” Not that Mr. Hatter was unreasonable, but you know, you shouldn't waste something you pay for. 

  Sooooo…what now?

  ROBBIE:

Robbie didn’t really want to stay, if he was being honest, although it was a complicated situation and spending time with Nemo was always usually a wonderful way to spend his time. It was just that Marlin made him exceedingly uncomfortable. Especially this new, “Pro-Robbie” Marlin. He couldn’t help but wonder if there were some sort of ulterior motives behind Marlin’s actions, although that was probably a little more the distrusting 300-year-old vampire in him that felt that way. 

  He wasn’t exactly that person anymore, so he hesitated and then nodded. 

  “Ah, yes, I’d um–I’d love to stay,” he said with a smile. “Just for a bit, though, like you said. I don’t want to derail father-son time.”

  NEMO:

Nemo also wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but it was the only chance he might ever have to, hopefully, smooth things over with Appa and Robbie. He didn’t think they’d be friends. There was too much bad stuff between them. But if they could just get to the point of… having a conversation? If Nemo could mention Robbie to Appa without Appa acting like Nemo was committing some great, terrible sin by staying with him? He’d consider it a win. 

  It was all up to Nemo though. The pressure fell on his shoulders, heavy as rocks. He swallowed and searched his brain for something for both Robbie and Appa to talk about. 

  “Um, great! So ah, you um, come in here to study or something?” Nemo started here. “Appa, Robbie wants to be a veterinarian. Isn’t that nice?” 

  MARLIN:

  “Ah, it’s not really— we’re not — errands aren’t anything special. I’m sure he’d rather be still asleep.”

  Marlin bit back the knee-jerk instinct to say ‘no money in that,’ even if it was true. There wasn’t much money in professional dance either, not unless you got to star choreographer level, and yet he was financing his son’s dream of that. 

  “That’ll be nice.” Mu-yeol said. What was he supposed to say? He wanted out of this situation. “If he came to study, why don’t you help him?”

  The let me get out of here was tacitly encouraged, though his expression and mannerisms remained calm. Cool. A little too chill. 

  He sipped at his tea and, reluctantly, said something else. “How many years of school left?” There. Fine. He did Nemo, he asked a question. 

  ROBBIE:

  Robbie frowned, just a bit, at Marlin’s attempt to get out of spending time with his son. It was clear Nemo still wanted to spend time with him and here Marlin was trying to get Nemo to stay in the coffee shop with Robbie. Either that or it was a dig at Nemo not studying, in which case Robbie wanted to tear his head off, but he suppressed that particular thought. Ha. 

  The question Marlin asked caught Robbie off-guard and he blinked. He’d been so lost in his thoughts. “Oh, um, like four still. Probably. I mean, I want to do it the right way, actually go through all of the courses even if I know a lot of it. Plus there really is so much I don’t know yet. Animals were never something that I studied much, even though I’ve always loved them.” 

  NEMO:

“He’s good with them too,” Nemo chimed in.

  Maybe that hadn’t always been true. As a vampire, Robbie naturally frightened off many animals who could sense that he was a powerful predator. But even then, he’d been gentle with Lovely, and Lovely had quickly trusted Robbie. Now, he was quite the happy little hamster and always squeaked and purred. And Robbie also got on well with all the animals at Ruff to Fluff–

  Daebak. Did Marlin know Robbie worked there now? Nemo had no idea. Probably not, considering the unspoken don’t-talk-about-Robbie rule.

  “He um, he even started working at Ruff to Fluff. So he’s getting lots of practice with animals. I’m sure he’ll be great.” Nemo flashed a smile at Robbie and squeezed his hand again– under the table.

  MARLIN:

  “I’d hope you’re good with them. You’ll probably get bitten at least thirty percent less if you’ve actually got a way with animals.” Mu-yeol said, sticking with easy, inoffensive small talk. 

  He didn’t comment on him working with Nemo which was a tacit approval. 

  “Does pride u have a vet program? Or do you have to look at other vet schools?”

  ROBBIE:

"Pride U has a vet program which is great because I was already an established student. I also really like Pride U and Swynlake and I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere else." 

  Robbie looked at Marlin and then back at Nemo, fidgeting. He hoped he was doing okay. Was he passing the dad test? He hated this. 

  NEMO:

This was awkward. This was uncomfortable. He knew that Robbie and Appa both didn’t want to be having this conversation and Nemo forced it on them.

  Despite all of this, Nemo thought it was going well. Sure, it was stilted! But it was better than ignoring the other’s existence! 

  So Nemo smiled. “Yeah, and there’s even the special clinic for magical creatures! I dunno if Robbie will do anything with that but– it’s pretty cool. I bet Pride U’s the only school in England with something like that.” 

  MARLIN:

  He was not even administering the dad test yet, actually. Thanking him was an olive branch and this conversation stood in place of a proper introduction. The dad test was something for later, closer to if and when he actually decided Robbie was, say, welcome to celebrate Chuseok with them. This tense conversation was simply a knee-deep wade in the water for Nemo’s benefit.

  Mu-yeol wasn’t sure if Nemo so blatantly selling him made this more or less awkward.

  “Can’t imagine one anywhere else,” Mu-yeol said. “Have you thought about where you might want to start practicing, if not here? Years away, but. Always smart to look into areas where vet practitioners are needed.”

  ROBBIE:

“With the forest being so close to here, I always sort of assumed I’d stay in Swynlake, or somewhere near here. The Inn is my home–has been my home for awhile and leaving it isn’t really something I’d want to do. There are plenty of opportunities around here, which is nice. So many animals I can help. I think it’s that way everywhere, though, so really if I changed my mind it wouldn’t be too hard to find somewhere that needed a vet. 

  Robbie looked down at his hands and then back up at Marlin. “My goal is to help as many animals as possible. I guess it doesn’t really matter where I go.” 

  MARLIN:

  Perhaps as a fairy he should find this endearing. ‘I just want to help animals’ should strike all sorts of chords with him. It was sweet, and admirable, but nothing more than ‘that’s nice’ came to his mind. He had to admit it was a lovely goal to have, and knew he should, as a fairy, be impressed. 

  Mu-yeol recognized this as coming not from a place of distaste for Robbie’s ambitions — they were perfectly fine — but from the same place as  his own father’s ambivalence to So-yeon’s goals, and Bae Tae-il had adored his daughter-in-law. Mu-yeol was hardened the way his father was, where lofty, sugar-sweet dreams like ‘I want to save the environment’ and ‘I just want to take care of animals’ came across as idealistic and trite. 

  He supposed it was better than Robbie having no direction at all; no, he knew it was much better. And to his credit, it was achievable. Unlike the ambitions So-yeon had that he fell in love with. Animals wanted to be helped. Humans did not want to take care of their planet. 

  “That’s nice,” was still all he said. He didn’t know what else to say to that. But he did smile. 

  NEMO:

“Yeah!” Nemo said, more enthusiastically which was in part for Robbie–well, mostly for him– but for Appa too.

  After all, he noticed Appa’s smile. Even if it was just polite and forced, Nemo wanted to encourage it. If he was happy and bright, maybe Appa would finally see that Robbie was good for him. And he really was, on paper. He was smart, he was diligent, he got amazing grades and worked hard. He could teach Nemo good study habits! (Well, he could try. Nemo wasn’t sure there was anything Robbie could do for his windswept brain.)

  “It’s really hard stuff, honestly, but Robbie’s smart so he can do it,” mentioned Nemo. He wasn’t sure what else to say now… he needed to transition into another topic, probably, since Appa and Robbie were so painfully awkward with each other… 

  “We um, still practice Hangul,” was what he came up with. Welp. Better than nothing. 

  ROBBIE:

  That’s nice. 

  Robbie almost wanted to laugh. It was nice, wasn’t it? Him wanting to help animals. So why did it make his stomach churn just a little when Marlin said it? Probably because Marlin still didn’t like him, despite how hard he was trying to seem like maybe he did. Or maybe Robbie wasn’t being fair. Maybe it was Robbie who was seeing the worst in Marlin when it wasn’t really there. Either way, Robbie was trying very hard not to seem annoyed or offended so he smiled. 

  “We do,” Robbie said. “Nemo is doing great. Pretty soon he’ll be writing in Korean for everything.” 

  MARLIN:

  “I’m glad someone eventually convinced him to learn Hangul.” Mu-yeol said, even if it had hurt a little that Nemo was never interested in it before Robbie. He tried so hard to give his son their language, culture, and history despite living abroad, but teaching Nemo to read and write in Korean was an uphill battle that he gave up on early on.

  If he really fought Nemo on it, he could have made him. Just like he required Nemo to speak to him in Korean at home and tried to encourage it in public, he could have imposed mandatory hangul practice. But with how much Nemo protested he worried that Nemo would reject their language fully if he made too big a deal out of it.

  He didn’t want Nemo to associate Korean with punishment or consider it a chore. He’d rather his son not be able to read in Korean but speak it well with his father, than struggle to communicate with his son fully because he refused to use a language imposed on him. No matter how fluent Mu-yeol was in English, it was much easier for him to talk about important topics in their native language, and the thought of losing that connection with Nam-min…yes, giving up on Hangul was worth it.

  “Though, we don’t really use written language in pixie hollows, so I get why when he was six he was like ‘how about no.’  I’m very impressed with his progress in so little time, thank you, Robbie.” He turned to Nemo and smiled. “Your handwriting has gotten really nice, pretty much as neat as your English handwriting. And good with your double consonants now, Appa’s very proud.”

  This…this was finally feeling bearable. Talking about Korean things, he could do this easily. 

  NEMO:

Hey, Nemo would take it. Even if there was what Nemo felt was a hint of passive-aggressiveness in Appa’s tone. At least that passive-aggressiveness was toward Nemo and not Robbie, and maybe Nemo even deserved it. He could look back at his childhood and regret his own reluctance to practice his Korean. All the reasons he had then had been selfish– worse, they’d been reasons rooted in shame. And Nemo wasn’t ashamed of being Korean or anything, it was just…well, he’d already been so different as a kid, since he wasn’t born in Enchantra and his whole wing thing and he didn’t even have two parents like most seedlings and and and…

Whatever. He squirmed, swallowed down his embarrassment, and took it. At least he was fixing things now. 

  “Thanks. Um, Robbie’s a real good teacher,” mentioned Nemo. 

  ROBBIE:

Robbie wasn’t sure it was his teaching so much as it was that he wasn’t Marlin. Sometimes it was easier to be interested in things if your peers were the ones talking about it than when it was your parents. So Robbie definitely had that on his side. Plus, “I try, but it helps that you’re interested and you put in the effort. It also helps that I have a lot of practice too,” he added. 

  Robbie wanted to say that when you do something for 300 plus years you end up rather proficient, but he figured maybe that kind of comment wouldn’t go over so well. 

  Still he really wanted to say it. 

  He didn’t. 

  MARLIN:

  Mu-yeol didn’t know how to keep this conversation…safe. It was awkward. He was awkward. Robbie was awkward. Nemo was awkward. 

  Aish couldn’t he just thank Robbie and do interacting later? No. All right, ask something, come on Mu-yeol. 

  “Nam-min. If Robbie isn’t busy today I can go to the market myself. You can stay with him if you’d rather.” He said instead. His gaze only briefly landed on Robbie but it was disinterested at worst rather than poison. “But if you came to study Robbie I’ll —“ he clicked his tongue and mimed removing the Nemo distraction. 

  ROBBIE: 

  Robbie didn't want to interrupt Nemo and Marlin’s day any more than he already had. He actually hated it, to be honest, because Marlin made him feel so awkward and uncomfortable. That was definitely something he would need to work on in the future, but not today.

  Plus, Marlin had already tried to leave once and Nemo had said not to go. He clearly didn't want to ditch his father for Robbie, nor should he, and really the only thing to do was bow out gracefully. Take the pressure off of Nemo instead of piling it on. 

  "Oh, you guys already had plans," Robbie said with a smile. "It was really nice having tea with you, but I really do have a few things I need to go do." He turned and looked at Nemo, "We should hang out later, though, if you want."

  Then he looked at Marlin. "It was nice talking to you." 

  MARLIN:

  Mu-yeol nodded and politely ever so slightly bowed his head at Robbie as he got ready to leave. Nice was a generous way of describing it, it had been painfully awkward, but it was…fine. And you know, ‘fine’ for them was the same as nice. It was practically rainbows and butterflies.

  “어 (eo),” Mu-yeol said, figuring it was good to agree it was nice. “Thank you for having tea with us.”

  There. He was nice, welcoming even, no matter how…cautious. Nemo would appreciate that, right?

  He cast a furtive glance over at Nemo right before he finished off his tea.

  NEMO:

Nemo was relieved that he didn’t have to choose – Robbie removed that pressure from him.

  Because no matter what, he felt like there weren’t have been a right choice, right? If he stayed with Appa, Appa would insist he went with Robbie, and if he stayed with Robbie, Robbie might insist he go with Appa. It was dumb. There shouldn’t be all these unseen pressures, all these put-on manners. Wistfully, Nemo imagined what it might have been like if several years ago, Marlin hadn’t turned so quickly on Robbie. If they had started to heal earlier. Maybe running into each other would have been easy, even natural.

  At least things were healing now though, right? Better late than never. Nemo should stay optimistic.

  And so he just smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll text you! C’mon Appa, the market calls,” he joked, also getting up.

  And with a wave at Robbie, the Baes left Hatter’s. 

[cc-reese09]

AKASHA - Aang x Oc

Chapter 2 - The Southern Water Tribe

Air

I can finally breath again! But what happened to me? I start to feel something take control of me and make me stand up and almost tumble down until I feel someone catch me.

I open my eyes to be met with piercing blue eyes looking back at me. Their hair was in a sort of ponytail and they were wearing a water tribe coat.

"Well hi there." I say waving my hand in a greeting manner

"Um hi?" The boy says back to me but it sounded more like a question than a greeting.

I look to my side to see Aang being held up by a girl with the same blue eyes and water tribe coat. But her hair is in little loopy things.

I look back to the boy in the blue and ask, "What's your name?"

"Umm I don't think I should be telling a stranger that just came walking out of an iceberg that." He says looking to his sister I assume because of the easy resemblance.

I laugh at his smart but funny reasoning to not give me his name. I sit up on the ice, but a few moments later I feel a tug on my clothing. I look up and Aang is holding out his hands for me to grab so I can stand.

I wabble a little bit before I am able to stand up straight. "What's going on here?" Aang says pulling me closer by the waist just incase we are being found by not so nice people.

"You tell us!" The boy says, "How did you two get in the ice? And why aredn't ya'll frozen?" The boy pokes Aang in the side with the butt of his spear.

Aang pushes the spear to the side annoyed, "We aren't sure." He looks to me silently asking me if I new, but I just gave him a little shrug.

A low, gruff noise suddenly fills the air, coming from within the crater of the iceberg. Me and Aang look at each other and smile. We scramble up the ridge of the ice and happily jump on the head of Appa.

"Appa! Are you all right?" Aang says hanging down the side of the beast to look into his eyes which are still closed.

"Appa. Wake up, buddy." I say rubbing Appa's fur trying to wake him up. He suddenly opens his eyes and licks me and Aang while we laugh.

"Ha, ha! You're okay!" Aang and I hug the bison's nose.

"What is that thing?" The boy says with his eye's wide.

"This is Appa, my-" I elbow him in the side knowing that Aang needs to share Appa since I didn't get my flying bison.

"-our flying bison." Aang smiles and rubs his side while mumbling an 'ow' to me. I just smile and pat Appa on the nose.

"Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister." The boy gestures towards the girl which tells me that I was right and that her name is Katara. Aang dosen't know what to say because he knows only certain people (like me) can fly.

Our attentio is quickly diverted back towards the sky bison who is starting to inhale deeply. At this I start to walk back so I don't get bison snot on me. Aang ducks before Appa sneezes, sending a large blast of green snot flying directly onto the boy.

"Don't worry, it'll wash out" Aang says to the boy. "So do you guys live around here?"

"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light?! They were probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in their eye's." Katara says pushing her brothers spear down.

"The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You guys never told us your name."

"I'm A... a-a-a-Achoo!" Aang sneezes and flies about maybe 10 or more feet up in the air.

"Dramatic much?" I say to Aang as he lands softly on the ground. He looks at me as I smirk making him blush.

"I'm Aang, and this is Kirro."

"Hii!"

In total disbelief Sokka says, "You just sneezed... and flew up ten feet in the air!" and points up to the sky

"Really? It felt higher than that." Aang questions, not really sure how high he flew up.

A gasp is taken by Katara in relization saying, "You guys must be airbenders."

"Sure are." I say proudly pulling Aangs arm to interlock with mine, and shineing a proud smile at the two siblings.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders... I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Sokka says walking away but then realizing he has no where to go.

"Well, if you guys are stuck, we can give you a ride on Appa." I nod in agreement with him. Then mount Appa's head with Aang

"We'd love a ride! Thanks!" Katara says running to the side of Appa. I reach my arms down to help her get into the saddle. But then her brother starts to say, "Oh no! I'm not getting on that fluffy snot monster!"

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know before you freese to death?" Katara shoots back at Sokka knowing he has no choice but to eather freeze to death or get on the sky bison.

Sokka opens his mouth in defiance and point at Katara, ready to say something but he can't think of anything so he signs and bow his head in defeat. He walks over and i help him onto Appas saddle.

"Okay, first time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!" Aang whips the reins and App growls in response.

He moves his tail up and down and takes a huge jump into the air. He soars through the air for merely a few seconds, making it appear as though he would fly, before belly-flopping into the water with a splash.

"Come on,Appa. Yip-yip!" Aang says again trying to get Appa to fly but he just growls in return.

"Wow, that was truly amazing..." Sokka says sarcastically while Katara shoots her brother an angry glance.

"Appa's just a little tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky, You'll see."

__________

"Hey, I was wondering, ya'll being airbenders and all if one of you had any idea what happened to the Avatar and the Akasha?" Katara says turning her head to look down at me and Aang for an answer. But before I could tell her we were the Avatar and Akasha. Aang started speaking.

"Oh, no. I didn't know them. I mean, I knew people that knew them, but I didn't. Sorry." I looked towards Aang to see him looking at me already telling me to just go with it.

"Same here, sorry." I say to Katara and she replies with, "Okay. Just curious." She then turns back around to go to bed and get some rest before saying good night to us both.

"You know they are gonna have to find out sometime." I say looking to Aang with a worried look knowing what he is think about.

"Yeah, but not right now I mean we just met them."

"Okay." I say and lay my head on Aang's shoulder. I start to close my eyes and before I know it I'm fast asleep.

__________

I'm woken up by the sudden shaking of the person behind me I turn to see Katara shaking Aang awake. With his arm still holding my waist I turn to face him.

"Aang, Kirro, the village wants to meet ya'll." Katara says looking from Aang to me then her demeanor changes when she sees how Aang is holding me.

"Oh okay, we will be out there in a second." He calls back to her as she turns to go out the tent.

"Good morning." Aang says kissing my forehead.

"Good morning" I reply smiling. I throw the covers off of me and start to get dressed, and so does Aang.

We start to walk out of the tent when Katara runs up to use with the rest of the village behind her.

"Aang, Kirro, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang and Kirro." Katara says gesturing towards the group of people behind her.

Me and Aang bow in respect but the villagers cower back in fear which makes us look at each other wondering what is wrong.

"What's wrong? Why are they looking at us like that?" I say to Katara wondering why the villagers are scared of us.

"Did Appa sneeze on us?" Aang says looking to my clothing then to his clothing.

"Well no one has seen Airbenders in a hundred years." Said an old lady, "We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you two."

"Extinct?" Aang looks to me in confusion while I look to Katara in confusion. She just smiles at me.

"Aang, Kirro this is my grandmother." She says.

"Call me Gran-Gran." Gran-Gran says. Sokka walks up to Aang and snatches his glider out of his hands to examine it.

"What is this, a weapon?," He moves to the side then jabs Aang in the side acting as if he were stabbing him. "You can't stab anything with this!"

Aang airbends his staff back to his hands, "It's not for stabbing! It's for airbending." He opens the glider making Sokka gasp in fright and cover his head with his hands.

"Magic trick! Do it again!" A little village girl says jumping up and down excitingly.

"No magic, airbending," I say looking to Aang telling him to demonstrate. He does by moving his glider around him. "It let's him control the air currents around his glider and fly."

"Ya know, last time I checked, humans can't fly!" Sokka says, mocking us in his states of disbelief.

"Check Again!" Aandg looks to me telling me I should take off into the sky and fly, which is what I did. Leaving Katara smiling in astonish and Aang smiling in awe, but Sokka covering his face against the wind.

"She's flying" Says the little village girl.

"How is she flying without a glider thing?" Sokka says, Aang just looks at him with a smile proud of me knowing that I'm his Akasha.

Aang then grabs his glider and pushes himself off the ground. The village stares in awe is me and Aang loop around each other and turn in the sky.

"It's amazing." The village girl says looking at us as we fly around each other.

Aang passes over me smiling broadly at me. I smile back to him and turn sideways to show off to the villagers, but before I can turn my head to see where I'm going I run in to a huge watch tower and my head is stuck in the snow. 

I feel hands on my waist pulling me backwards to get me out which I assume is Aang. We tumble down the tower with snow covering us. Aang gets up and pulls me up with him hold my waist to steady me.

"That was amazing!" Katara says running over to where we collapsed.

Sokka runs towards the tower and starts to pat it in hope that he can save it from collapsing any further, but Sokka is knocked down by a large pack of snow that fell down.

"Great. You two are airbenders, Katara's a waterbender. Together yall can just waste time all day long." He says freeing himself fro underneath all the weight of the snow.

"You're a waterbender?" I look at Katara knowing that Aang needs a waterbending teacher to teach him waterbending.

"Well, sort of. Not yet."

"All right, no more playing. Come on, Katara you have chores." Gran-Gran leads Katara away from me and Aang, while the children surround us Aang then puts his tongue to his staff.

"See? Now my tongue is stuck to my staff!" A kid pulls on it and Aang stumbles forward.

__________

Me and Katara run up to Sokka as the children of the village leave. "Have you seen Aang? Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago." Katara says, then Aang appears out from the outhouse igloo.

"Wow! Everything frezes in there!" Aang says pulling his pants up a little bit higher. I snicker in response.

"Uh! Kirro, get him out of here! This lesson is for warriors only!" Sokka says pointing angrily at Aang.

"You mean children, Sokka?" I say putting my hand on my hips, raising a brow at him he just turns around to the sound of laughing to see the children sliding down Appa's tail like a slide.

At the end of his tail is Sokka's propped-up spear that they fly over. "Stop! Stop it right now!" The laughter of the village children stifled immediately. 

"What's wrong with you?! We don't have time for fun and games with the War going on." Sokka says directing his anger towards and which makes me scrunch up my face in anger that he is yelling at him for no reason.

"What war? What are you talking about?" Aang slides down from Appa's head as I go to stand by him.

"You're kidding, right?" Sokka looks at Aang but the expression on Aang's face changes when he see's a penguin. 

"Prenguin!"

The animal is startled by Aang's outburst and quickly waddles off. He starts to chase it, racing past Katara, Sokka, and I, enhancing his speed with his airbending. He leaves a deep trail in the snow as he dashes after the penguin.

"He's kidding, right?" Sokka says as I run and chase after Aang and the penguin.

__________

"Aang, Kirro?" I hear Katara yell as me and Ang are trying to catch a penguin for us to go sledding on.

She laughs at our horrible attempts, "Aang, Kirro. I'll help you catch a penguin if you both teach me waterbending."

Having grabbed the tail of a penguin, he holds on as it pulls him through the snow for a short way before letting go and looking up at Katara. 

"You got a deal! Just one little problem, " He airbends himself into a sitting position. "Were airbenders, not a waterbenders. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?"

"No, You're looking at the only waterbender in the whole south pole." Katara says sadly looking down.

"This isn't right. A waterbender needs to master water." He thinks for a moment. "What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you."

"Maybe, but we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly "turn right at the second glacier". It's on the other side of the world." Katara says gesturing that it is not that easy.

"But you forget, We have a flying bison. Appa, Kirro and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, we're going to find you a master!" Aang says pointing to himself and me happily.

"That's ... I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before." She says, unsure of the idea.

"Well, you think about it, but in the meantime, can you teach us to catch one of these penguins?"

"Okay, listen closely my young pupils.  Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art, " She conjures a fish out of her sleeve. "Observe!"

__________

We soar through the air for a moment before landing on the slope and continuing our journey downward. We race down and Aang uses another iceberg as a ramp to propel him into the air and to soar over and past Katara and I. 

I in turn use the next jump to land next to Aang again. We laugh and shout out as they gleefully ride over snowy bumps.

"I haven't done this since I was a kid!" Katara says.

"You still are a kid!" I say

The three of us ride through a tunnel of ice. I'm is in the lead and tries to hold Katara and Aang back by constantly changing my direction when he wants to pass me. 

Aang solves this problem by increasing his speed with airbending, enabling him to race over the ceiling past me. The tunnel levels out on an open plain of ice where the three of us get off our rides.

 The plain itself is dominated by a large metal ship, elevated and held in place by a large protrusion of ice with the bow pointing toward the sky. Curious, Aang gazes at it.

"Whoa! What is that?" Me and Aang said at the same time.

"A Fire Navy ship. And a very bad memory for my people." Aang begins to approach the wreckage with me behind him. 

"Aang, Kirro stop! we're not allowed to go near it! The ship could be booby-trapped!"

"If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear." I say to Katara and turn back around and walk faster to catch up to Aang.

Katara ponders over that remark for a moment and walks towards us with a scared look upon her face. We venture closer toward the ship. 

Aang helps Me to climb some of the blocks of ice that lay beside the ship and they crawl through a hole in the hull of the ship. While I help Katara. Aang walks through the silent rooms of the shipwreck. 

Some white hamsters roam the otherwise deserted ship. Aang enters a room stocked with weapons in various places.

"This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks." Her voice echoes through the room.

"Okay, back up. Me and Kirro have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation." Aang picks up a weapon but puts it back down then pulls me closer to him away from the weapons. "We've never seen any war."

"Kirro, how long were you two in that iceberg?" Katara ask me but I answer uncertainly

"I don't know. A few days, maybe?"

"I think it was more like a hundred years!" Katara exclaims I look at her in disbelief.

"What?!" Me and Aang say at the same time in unusion

"That's impossible! Do we look like a hundred-sixteen-year-old people to you?"

"Think about it. The War is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you both were in there the whole time! It's the only explanation" Katara says hinting at a point of why we don't know anything about any War.

I back away and slump to floor in shock. Aang sits beside me rubbing my back and holding my right arm in comfort.

"A hundred years!" I says sadly. "I can't believe it."

"I'm sorry, Kirro, Aang." I look to her in disbelief. I can't believe we have been gone a hundred years and that there has been a war going on this whole time.

"Maybe somehow there's a bright side to all this" Katara says I look up at her

"We did get to meet you." Aang says looking at Katara then back to me with a smile

"Come on, let's get out of here." Katara hold out a hand to help me up

Katara smiles and pulls me to my feet and we exit the room.

"Kirro, Aang, let's head back, this place is creepy." she says looking around in worry

Aang ventures down yet another room with me being on his trail. There, he trips over a thin rope; as he stumbles, metal bars slide downward over the entrance, barring it and trapping us inside.

"Huh?" Aang says turning around. Me and Katara follow his gaze.

We all run toward the bars and peek through them.

"What's that you said about booby traps?" I say holding on to the bars looking at where the bars came from.

The gears and engines of the shipwreck suddenly power up, beginning to function. In shock, Katara, I, and Aang follow the movements of the machines until suddenly, a flare is fired and explodes high in the sky.

"Uh oh" Aang notices a hole in the roof of the ship and takes me into his arms. while Katara hold on to Aang. "Hold on tight!"

"Aaah!" Katara yells

Aang enhances the power of his jump with his airbending to jump several feet into the air through the hole and down the glacers of ice. We walk back to the village to see everyone already there staring at us.

Uh oh they saw the flare too.

_______________________________________________________

Hi guys just wanted to say thank you for checking out my second book and I hope you like this story so far I am going to be updating a lot on this one so be aware.

[themovieblogonline]

Toph's About to Rumble into Live-Action Avatar on Netflix

Get ready to rumble, because the news is rolling in faster than Aang on Appa. Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender just got confirmed for two more seasons! That means one thing (besides more epic air scooter chases): Toph Beifong, the earthbending badass, is about to make her grand entrance. Season 1 of the live-action Avatar stirred up a whirlwind of mixed reviews, but one thing's for sure: it introduced a whole new generation to the awesomeness of Aang, Katara, Sokka, and the gang. They even managed to squeeze in some sweet storylines from the first two seasons of the OG animated series. Now, with two more seasons on the horizon, fans of the classic show can rejoice, all their favorite characters (including the ones who weren't there the first time around) are getting the live-action treatment. Who is Toph? Speaking of getting the treatment, Avatar's original animated series threw earthbending prodigy Toph Beifong at us in season 2. Remember when Aang and the crew rolled up to the Earth Kingdom needing a master (and let's be real, who else could handle Aang's ever-lasting student energy?). Enter Toph, a blind earthbending beast who could make mountains move with a flick of her wrist (and probably a snarky comment). Since these new seasons will delve deeper into the Earth Kingdom, it's a safe bet we'll see Toph rock the live-action scene too. But when exactly will this earthbending bonanza hit our screens? Well, Netflix is keeping that info under wraps tighter than Sokka's boomerang collection. No official production start date or release window has been announced yet. Season 2 is expected to follow the animated series' lead, focusing on Aang mastering earthbending under (presumably) Toph's tutelage. The Avatar Fan Excitement Speaking of Toph, the casting remains a mystery. Fan theories are swirling faster than a sky bison caught in a tornado, but Netflix is staying zipped-lipped. The animated Toph is a force to be reckoned with,  a blind, confident earthbending prodigy with a sassy attitude. Will the live-action version stay true to her character, or will they take some creative liberties (like, you know, the whole first season did)? Only time will tell. One thing's for sure: the anticipation for Toph's live-action debut is thundering louder than Appa's sneeze. Are you hyped to see the Blind Bandit throw down in the live-action Avatar universe? Let us know in the comments below! And remember, stay tuned, the Avatar world is just getting started. Source: ComicBook.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB_4VD6X-SE Read the full article

[feiiizhu]

⟡⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅|| UNPROMPTED;; Anonymous asked: would opal have an aang moment (minus the avatar state) if anything happened to juicy??

// Maybe not as intense as Aang? Of course Opal cares about Juicy and such, but she doesn't seem to have an intense bond as aang does with appa? Like, she loves the lug, but- idk. She tried to switch sky bison because she said that she checked. juicy goes through so much. Dude almost died from kuvira's ray gun. I don't blame him for sleeping when Opal calls for him. But anyways! She would raise a bit of hell if something happened to her boy.(ง'̀-'́)ง If anyone goes near him and tries to hurt him, I hope he covers them in the biggest of boogers! I have a headcanon Juicy sneezes a lot. Multiple times in a row! And because he's a sky bison, probably would cause a large gust of wind while sneezing and boogers would just go flying. Big dude would use it as a defense tactic! Just completely cover his attackers. xD

[hotgirlkorra]

Smh they didn't even make Appa sneeze snot on Sokka that was the main reason why I kept watching The Boy in the Iceberg back in 2005.

[clotpolesonly]

BITHC ITS UR BIRTHDAY OMFG HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS ILYSM

AAAHHHH I LOVE YOU TOO *HUGS AND KISSES*

[stitch1830]

Is Toph allergic to anything?

Hello! Thank you for the ask, and good question... Never really thought about it haha!

I would say it's likely that she has some allergies or intolerance to certain foods. Some perhaps she grew into.

My main guess would be that Toph has a bit of an intolerance toward dairy and lactose. A lot of people have that, and some people become intolerant to it over time.

I might've thought she'd be allergic to nuts, but she's seen eating some nuts with Momo in "Bitter Work."

I don't think she has any issues with animals with fur. She seems able to cuddle up next to Appa or Momo without an issue.

I'm guessing there's an opportunity for other allergies, too? I just can't think of any of the top of my head... Would love to hear your thoughts though! :)

But yeah this would be my main train of thought when it comes to allergies! Thanks again for the ask, feel free to send more if you'd like. Hope you have a great day!

......

Send me asks about ATLA, or anything, really! :D

[teamakerdragon]

Don't worry, it'll wash out.

[conjure-elemental]

arwen for the otp thing

Arthur + Gwen, the mighty and historic pairing of legends, is about to be slammed into some fluff because I love that shit 

((sorry this is so late!!!))Anyway,  my headcanons! [And here’s the ask meme if anyone wants to send me another pairing name! Preferably BBC Merlin, Sherlock, or a platonic Harry Potter or Labyrinth pairing?]

Okay so this is gonna take place kinda in a Modern!Reincarnation!AU but before Merlin and Arthur find each other again. 

_____________________-

1) Who rocks the Ferris Wheel seat and who flips out and begs them to stop?

~~Honestly I think Gwen would bc she thinks it’d be funny to watch Arthur squirm, and he wouldn’t even be able to get mad because her laughter clears the negativity from any area immediately 

2) Who is always horny and will have sex at any time, at any place and at any time?

~~I wanna say neither? But probably more likely Arthur?

3) Who is more into taking showers/baths together? Who tries to make it relaxing and who tries to make it sexy time?

~~bathtime is a mutually relaxing, kinda sacred time in which they wash each other’s cute, freckled shoulders and Arthur immensely enjoys playing with Gwen’s hair. 

4) Who likes to walk around the house naked and who tells the other to go put some clothes on?

~~Arthur walks around naked, or at least half naked, all. the. time. As if we don’t get enough of that in the canon show, this artwork from deheerkonjin proves that it’s a pretty widely accepted thing. (WARNING! link leads to VERY NSFW Merlin/Arthur fan art!) // yeah I know that link is switching it up from Arwen, but it proves my point- he’s an au naturale kinda guy 

,5) Who sleeps on the couch when they get into a fight?

~~Even though Arthur is a stubborn ass, he’d always let his queen take the bed :* 

6) Who takes photos of the other while they sleep?

~~I wanna say it’s Gwen. In a modern!AU, I think she’d make a pretty good photographer! Plus, she treasures her loved ones above anything- with the invention of a camera, she’d be snapping and savoring those keepsakes for ages. 

7) Who said “I love you” first? and who ends their arguments in a fight with “Because I love you”?

~~Arthur said it first  (p sure it’s that way in canon too), and then Gwen would definitely end an argument with that before storming out tearily, leaving Arthur to sit there and curse himself while his heart slowly dies :’( 

8) Who likes to wear the others sweatshirts?~~They both switch sometimes! Arthur’s usually fit her pretty well, a little big but cozy..... and hers just... well let’s say it comes up a little short in all directions, but it always amuses her, so he sticks with it. Plus, her clothes always smell like flowers!

9) Who wakes the other up in the middle of the night to tell them a cool dream they had? Who has the most nightmares, and who sings them back to sleep after?

~~Gwen often dreams of the “old days” when everyone was together and happy, and reminisces about these times with Arthur. Arthur is haunted by nightmares and flashbacks about the final battles, and Gwen sings him back to sleep with the folksy lullabies that the village people knew.  

10) Who is more likely to cheat?

~~Look we all know what happened between Gwen and Lancelot, I love Gwen, but if she didn’t feel secure/cemented in her relationship with Arthur, she’d be prone to wander. Once Arthur proves his devotion to her, however, she’s 100% faithful. 

11) Who makes fun of the other for having a crush on them, and who has to remind them that they are in a relationship?

~~ ooh I honestly don’t know this one, I’ve thought about it for a few minutes and I’m stumped 

12) Who starts a food fight in the kitchen?

~~Arthur plays with his food because he can’t cook worth a damn. He playfully tosses things at Gwen, and she’d pretend to be stern about it, but she would give in pretty quickly. :) 

13) Who initiates duets? and who is the better singer?

~~ Gwen often sings while she works, and what a beautiful voice she has! Arthur would be the one to join in rather obnoxiously, much in the style of a shanty singer at The Rising Sun, but they have a good time. 

14) Who starts the hand holding? Who grabs the others butt? Who slides their arm around their waist? Who likes to put their fingers in the belt loops?

~~ Gwen loves hand-holding... and butt-grabbing. Arthur’s butt is a grab-magnet. Arthur loves putting his arm(s) around his loved ones, and in belt loops.

15) Who likes writes the others name on their wrist?

~~Gwen has a lot of nice drawing pens and will doodle all over wrists and ankles :p 

16) Who is more seductive when they are drunk? and who is louder in bed?

~~ARTHUR FOR BOTH, TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE POSSIBLE 

17) Who is more protective?

~~Arthur would jump in front of a rampaging boar for Gwen, but Gwen probably has a whole network of people looking out for Arthur when she can’t access him directly, so really it’s both but in different ways? Also, Gwen would kick ass with a sword if necessary 

18) Who talks to the other while they are sleeping?

~~Arthur is v mumbly in his sleep 

19) Who drives and who has the window seat?

~~ Gwen drives because she definitely adapted to the modern life a lot quicker than Arthur. He rides shotgun to fiddle with the radio and try to help navigate (fun fact: she probably already knows where she’s going)

20) Who falls asleep in the others lap and who carries them to bed?

~~Gwen often nods off on Arthur and he happily carries her to bed and tucks her in :’)  

21) Who cuts the others hair?

~~ Gwen cuts Arthur’s hair! If Arthur tried to approach Gwen’s hair like that, his hands would get swatted away at lightning speed. #Don’tTouchMyCurls

22) Who is super bad at sexting? and who sends them encouraging messages throughout the day?

~~Arthur is really bad at sexting but makes up for it with real-life technique, so.... also, Gwen always sends cute messages throughout the day 

23) Who thinks they are not good enough for the others love? and who’s more afraid of loosing the other? Who thinks they keep messing up, only for the other to tell them they don’t need to worry?

~~I don’t like to think about these sad things :(  But I will tell you that in The Once And Future King (by T.A. Barron), Arthur dealt with a lot of insecurity issues and it added so much depth and color to his character. Gwen is always there to reassure him, telling him that no matter the pressures their lives put on them, they will always remember their sweet and humble beginnings. 

24) Who starts random slow dancing with the other in the kitchen? Who holds the other just above the ground and kisses them?

~~ARTHUR ON BOTH eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 

25) Who says shitty puns and sex jokes just to see the other giggle and blush?

~~ listen. Gwen has such an awful sense of humour that you would never see coming. Filthiest jokes ever, coupled with shameful puns? Gold. 

26) Who kissed first?

~~I don’t remember what it was in canon but I really feel like Gwen would just lose her control after a certain amount of mutual pining (over the class status divide thing) and lay a big one on him and he’d be swept completely off his feet 

27) Who orders take out at two in a morning? and who wakes the other up at three in the morning to go downstairs with them to get a glass of water because it’s too dark?

~~  “Gwen. I’m hungry”“.....Arthur it’s literally 2am. Go back to sleep.”“I can’t! I’m starving! I feel like I could eat a horse!” “Well I have a big day at work tomorrow, I’m not getting up to cook.”“Fine. I’m ordering food.” ----one hour later, five minutes after his head hits the pillow again---“Gwen....?”“.....what.”“Can you please get me some water?” “.....are you kidding me?”“I heard some weird noises coming back up the stairwell and I’m not too keen on poking around down there right now....pleeeeeease?”“Oh, fine.”“I love you!!!!”“Love you too....”

28) Who writes poems/stories and love songs about the other? Do they sing the songs the write for them?~~Arthur has so many secret poems and songs that he’s written, but never shares them because he’s scared that everyone will tease him.

29) Who does some crazy stunt to try and impress the other and who ends up driving them to the emergency room after it backfires?~~Arthur is the showboat that ends up hurting himself, Gwen is the one who drives him to the emergency room, slightly panicked but mostly exasperated 

30) Who is embarrassed when they have to wear their glasses and who thinks they look super cute?~~Arthur. detests. his reading glasses. Gwen finds them adorable- “so scholarly!” 

[feministnico]

moodboard for @sneezing-appa

[marmoraskeith]

Hey! For the blog rates, my favorite song right now trouble by cage the elephant! I also have a Voltron fan blog (hunks-headband) if you wouldn't mind doing that one??

url: idgi | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | tbh give me ur url it’s that good

icon: fascinating | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | i just licked my screen

mobile: nice! | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | plan my wedding?

overall: 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | u got me shook!

am I following: no but ilu | how was i not before? +f | yes!! i got u fam | i’ll die for u quicker than lance would die for coran

song rec: thank you! I rec Love Love Love by Of Monsters And Men