#this is what happens when you flirt with your crush's son to pull his metaphorical pigtails

[wiverly]

Slade: Hi, are you a pastry chef?

Dick: No, why?

Slade: Because your dad is a real pastry.

Dick: What?

Slade: Oh shit, sorry! You are the pastry, not your father, he is the pastry chef. Never mind, bye.

[f0xfordcomma]

re:union (kataang week 2021) DAY SEVEN

prompt: the sea and the sky

re:union

chapter seven: reunions

rating: T

words: 2529

summary: "He had fought hard for this unity. Had spent countless hours in courtrooms and offices arguing with dignitaries and representatives about the benefits of a United Republic. He had spent long nights drafting up documents and looking over contracts. He had dreamed of finally seeing this day, finally seeing this unity. All he could see tonight though, was a yellow flower drifting around the crowded room on an intricately braided head of ochre hair."

read it on ao3

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chapter seven: reunions

By the time Aang had handled Councilman Zhu’s dumpling crisis, he had lost track of Katara.

“She went to get changed for the feast,” a familiar, though deeper than he remembered, voice sounded from behind him.

“Sokka!”

“Hey buddy! It’s good to see you.”

They squeezed each other in a bone-crushing hug. The first one, Aang realized, he had gotten since his return. Aang held on a little harder at the thought.

“Where’s Suki?”

“Getting ready with the rest of the warriors. They are playing a special part in the performance tonight.”

“Wow! I can’t wait to see that!”

“Heh—yeah, me too.” Sokka’s voice went somewhere dreamy. “But, uh, I think it’ll be hard to watch with your head buried in my shoulder like this…”

“Oh right! Sorry… just happy to see you.”

“I missed you too buddy.” Sokka squeezed Aang’s shoulder reassuringly. “Now, you should go get ready! Can’t have the guest of honor stinking up the place tonight.”

“Guest of honor…” Aang grumbled, rolling his eyes in exasperation at Zhu’s exuberance. Still, he broke away from Sokka, giving him a nod as he made his way towards the room’s egress.

“Oh, and Aang?” called Sokka from near the food tables where he was stealing an hor’s d'oeuvre from under a cloche. “She’s not seeing anybody, in case you were wondering.”

Aang stopped still, his ears burned, his head swam. He hadn’t realized how much the question was plaguing him until he had heard it vocalized. She’s still single. There’s still time. He had let her go once, had regretted it every day since. She’s still single. He had no idea if she still wanted him the way he wanted her. But she’s still single. He resolved to try and change that fact by the end of the night.

He opened his mouth to speak but only a low whine came out. He cleared his throat but ended up coughing around the words as he forced them out. “I—is that… is that so?”

“It is.” Sokka snorted.

“That’s uh… thanks Sokka!” Aang shouted in salutation as he rushed out the door, needing to hide his burning blush and, as everyone had insisted, finally get cleaned up.

⬭

He wore a new set of robes. The pants dyed a dark amber with northern saffron. The belt and sash a sunny terra-cotta color that complimented the blue of his tattoos.

He surveyed his face in the mirror, taking in the scruff along his jawline, the tan around his temples, the laugh lines near his lips. He hadn’t spent much time looking at himself over the past few years, hadn’t had a mirror at any of the temples. The only time he would look at his reflection was when shaving his head, and even then, the refraction of the water made it difficult to examine his countenance with any detail.

Aang had never much minded the way that he looked--hadn’t had much use for vanity when living with the monks, hadn’t had much time for insecurity when running from the fire nation, hadn’t had much need for self-consciousness when being loved by Katara--he’d always thought his face was friendly enough, his body was strong enough. Something about looking at himself now though, fully a man, strong and steady and serene in a way that he’d never seen himself before, made his chest swell with confidence.

“I look good, huh buddy?” He directed the question to Momo, who had joined him in his room after an afternoon spent swooping around Cranefish City in search, no doubt, of sweets from strangers.

In reply, the lemur flew over to perch on his shoulder, scratching through the stubble on Aang’s chin with a squawk.

“You really think she’ll like it?” He scratched Momo between the ears and produced a plum from the pocket of his pants.

Momo took the fruit eagerly between his paws and greedily gobbled it down.

“Aw buddy, you flatter me.”

“Well babe,” a feminine voice dripping with thinly veiled amusement sounded from behind him, “it looks like we’ve officially lost him.”

“You’d think so, but he’s been talking to the lemur like that for as long as I’ve known him.”

“So what you’re telling me is, he has always been insane?”

“Pretty much.”

Aang’s face was beet red (he had lost count, at this point, as to how many times this had happened today) as he spun on his heel to face the Firelord and Firelady, who were standing in his doorway in their formal robes and appraising him with mirth-filled expressions.

“Uh, hey guys… how, uh… how long have you been standing there?”

“Oh, long enough, hot stuff.” Mai shot him a wry smile with a raised eyebrow before turning and pecking her husband on the cheek quickly as she took her leave. “I’m going to go make sure the kids are ready. We leave in ten, boys.”

Once Mai was out of earshot, Zuko burst into laughter and walked over to throw an arm around Aang. “Anything you want to talk about there, Aang?”

“Yeah! Why is it that I don’t see any of you for three whole years, and the first thing anyone does is tease me.”

“That’s not true! The first thing I did was put you on babysitting duty.”

“You’re not funny, Zuko.”

“Hey! Now who’s teasing whom?”

Aang scowled. Zuko, trying to school his face into a slightly more serious expression, straightened up and stalked a few paces across the small room.

“I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice because Uncle isn’t here to do it for me.” Zuko pantomimed stroking his beard and affected a strong accent that, ultimately, sounded nothing like Iroh. “Follow your heart.”

“Follow my heart? That’s it? No tea metaphors? No floral imagery? You make a pretty rotten Iroh, Zuko.”

“Hey, I tried.” Zuko shrugged. “I don’t know, man. You’re still in love with Katara, right?”

Aang flushed but nodded his head, eyes fixed on the floor.

“Are you going to do something about it?”

Aang met Zuko’s eyes determinedly and nodded again.

“Good. You’d better.”

“Thanks Zuko.”

“Any time. By the way? I agree with Momo, the beard really suits you.” At that, Zuko strode out of the room, chuckling softly to himself.

⬭

“So, Sugar Queen,” Toph plopped herself on Katara’s bed with a huff, swinging her bare feet up to rest on the adjacent wall so she could still feel what was happening. “You seemed pretty cozy with our Prodigal Son back there. Locked that down yet?”

“Toph!” Katara spluttered, pulling her paintbrush away from her lips.

“That’s a no, then?”

“Wha--no, not a… he just got back! And I don’t even know if… it’s none of your business, anyway.”

“Right, right. So you guys haven’t talked about your feelings, like, at all, yet? What the heck was all that flirting on the beach then?”

“What flirting? We were just hanging out. As friends! Being friendly! We were friends before we were ever anything else, Toph. You know that!”

“Uh huh, uh huh. Good point, Katara. Your definition of ‘friendly’ has always been a little bit off when it comes to Aang…”

“Toph! I will kick you out.”

“No, you won’t. Want to know why?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”

“You know me so well, Sweetness. And you aren’t going to kick me out because I know you very well and if I’m not here in, oh, seven minutes when you inevitably start second guessing yourself, to give you one of my patented Toph Beifong pep talks, you are going to freak out.”

Katara grumbled something crass under her breath and scowled at Toph’s reflection in the mirror, but ultimately, she knew her friend was right, so she obliged the company while she finished putting on her makeup.

Katara rarely wore makeup. It hadn’t really been a custom among the women in the Southern Water Tribe growing up, and during the war there hadn’t been time to worry over such trivialities. Afterwards, though, she had been the victim of many a makeover by Ty Lee. Had been the guest at many formal galas that required a bit of dressing up. Had been gifted a set of Kyoshi warrior paints by Suki. Had spent an afternoon wandering around the market in Caldera hunting down the exact right shade of lipstick with Mai and learning everything that she could possibly hope to know about knife maintenance.

Aang had always gotten incredibly flustered around her when she wore makeup. That was, perhaps, her favorite part of the process.

It had been years since she had put any makeup on her face. Her face was different now. Her eyes crinkled a bit at the corners when she smiled, her cheeks were less plump, more defined, her lips were fuller—perhaps the lipstick made her lips look too full? Perhaps it wasn’t the same color that she had used that one night in Omashu when Aang had ended up wearing more of it than she had? Perhaps she should wear something pinker? Redder? What had Mai said about skin undertones?

“You look fine.”

“You really think so, Toph?”

“No idea.” Toph deadpanned. “But I’m sure that even if you look like an armadillo-hog, Aang will still forget his own name when he sees you. That is your goal with the facepaint, right?”

“Uh…”

“Of course it is, don’t try to lie to me, Sweetness. Listen, I know two things: that boy’s heartbeat has always only ever been impacted by you, and a lot of other men have also had hammering heartbeats when they talk to you. Wanna know what that tells me? You ain’t ugly. In fact, I assume you’re pretty hot. So, chin up, shoulders back, let’s go get you your man back.”

Katara spluttered and blushed. “Oh… uh, okay.”

“You don’t sound confident yet. You are still in love with him, right?”

“Yes.” She whispered.

“Obviously. Then get your pretty little butt out of here and go do something about it. Chop chop, girly!” Toph, still laying on Katara’s bed, started snapping at her while she squared her shoulders in the mirror and gave herself one more once over, nodding at her reflection and resolving to talk to Aang as soon as she had the chance.

“Right. Okay. I can do this. Thank you, Toph.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Eh, yeah… I told Yugi to meet me here so we can head over together. Or wait… was it Satoru? Toklo? I don’t know, some guy is picking me up. Can’t show up to a stuffy formal function without someone to talk to all the boring people for me, now can I?”

“You do know all of your friends are going to be there tonight, right?”

“I said what I said.”

Katara rolled her eyes as she hurried past Toph and prepared to leave. “Whatever, just lock up when you leave, okay? Mrs. Shao is out tonight so I’m the last one in the house.”

⬭

The ballroom was lavishly decorated. The colors of all four nations draped around the room in every detail. Tapestries hung on the walls with the new seal of Republic City, flanked on either side by the insignias of the four nations. The tables were lined with dishes from across the world. The floral arrangements featured regional blooms from all over. In a ballroom in a government building in a sleepy corner of the Earth Kingdom continent, the entire world was united in one beautiful display.

He had fought hard for this unity. Had spent countless hours in courtrooms and offices arguing with dignitaries and representatives about the benefits of a United Republic. He had spent long nights drafting up documents and looking over contracts. He had dreamed of finally seeing this day, finally seeing this unity. All he could see tonight though, was a yellow flower drifting around the crowded room on an intricately braided head of ochre hair.

From his seat onstage next to Zuko, he watched her make her way around the room hugging and smiling and laughing and chatting. Her sleeveless blue dress was modern but carried traditional nods to her water tribe roots. Her lips were a dark cherry red. Her hair was braided. He had braided it. A yellow flower sat at her crown and winked sunshine at him whenever she turned her head. She was beautiful. Of course, he already knew that. But she was beautiful.

“Aang? Hello… Aang??”

“Huh, what?” Aang was drawn from his stupor when Zuko nudged him with his elbow.

“You’re up.”

“Oh.”

Zhu introduced him. He somehow made a speech. There was roaring applause.  Her eyes were blue, her lips were red, the flower was yellow. She was blushing.

He took his seat next to Zuko. Her eyes were blue . There were performances. Her lips were red . Suki shot finger guns at him in greeting as she and her warriors took the stage. The flower was yellow. Music started up and the gathered crowd dispersed to make way for dancing. She was blushing.

“Excuse me.” He rushed off-stage and into the crowd, chasing a glimpse of yellow in ochre, a swish of blue chiffon. She was pushing her way through the crowd, too. Her eyes were blue. “Katara, I--”

“Dance with me?”

She was offering him a hand. The tsungi horn rang out a familiar song. He took it. “Of course.”

They knew this dance by muscle memory. It was as familiar as their own names, as each other’s name. He flew around her in swirls. She swam around him on waves. They were the sea and the sky and there could not be one without the other. He lifted her, she spun around him. He dipped her, she glowed. She was the sun and he was the moon. She illuminated his sky. He compelled her tides.

The music ended. They were breathing heavy, faces inches apart, hearts still hammering the now silent drum beat.

“Can we go somewhere?”

⬭

The sound of the party flooded the streets of Republic City. Everyone seemed in good spirits, bustling about in a dance as they went about their evening errands. The cicada-crickets sang along to the Tsungi horn. The air was hot, heavy with humidity. They watched the waves from a rooftop. Their hands were intertwined.

Out across the bay, the sea and the sky collided in a canvas of colors. The green and yellow and red and orange of twilight reflected on the water’s dusky blue blue blue. The colors blurred together, obscuring the horizon line, obscuring the separation between their two elements. Out here, there was no sea, no sky. No air, no water. No Aang, no Katara. Just them. Just together. Just finally.

They made promises to each other. They held on. They did not let go.

“Sweetie?”

“Hmm?”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

He had to lean every so slightly down to kiss her.

Her hands in his hands.

Blue. Grey.

Sea. Sky.

Their city had a new name.

They were here.

They were home.

⬭

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It's done! It's done!

So sorry for the delay in posting this! I could've squeezed it out yesterday but didn't feel like doing so would wrap up all the things the way that I wanted to so I needed to take a bit more time on it and, obviously, this chapter grew to be quite a bit larger than the others.

I have had SO MUCH FUN participating in Kataang week this year and hope to do it again next year maybe? Also I /might/ have a little storm brewing for Maiko week so... be on the lookout for that at some point?

The love and support that I've gotten for this fic this week? OH MY GOD like wow it's been so lovely! Thank you all for reading.

And a million thanks to @foxy-knowledgeseeker for being an absolute angel and beta-ing this sucker for me. I'm gonna apologize for my choas just once more. (Sorry! Thank you!)

Bwah! Okay, time for a nap <3

@kataang-week

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

[jackyjango]

Dark Phoenix Review

I saw Dark Phoenix yesterday and I wanted to bank in my reactions until Saturday, because many more would have watched the film by then, but it turns out that I’m not very good at keeping my opinions to myself. I almost didn’t sleep the whole night (which isn’t healthy. lol)

So I’ll empty my guts here and leave it. You can read it now, or after you’ve watched the movie or not at all. Life’s full of options.

Oh, and 1 more thing, spoilers come free with my opinions

Who is that man in a wheelchair with a bald head and? They say he’s Charles Xavier. Listen, you want to portray Charles in grey shades, be my guest. Charles does have many dark qualities. He’s prideful, he’s manipulative, but one thing he’s not is selfish. He wouldn’t put his interests before the lives of someone he loves and cares. In fact, one of Charles’ greatest downfall is that he loves and cares too much. The man who practically drunk himself to death over Raven leaving him doesn’t shed a tear when she dies, instead gives a speech on what a hero she was.That, to me is not Charles Xavier. You get to see the real Charles Xavier only for the first 5 and last 15 minutes of the film, which is quite a tragedy in itself.

Jean making Charles walk up a flight of stairs while he pleads for her to stop was SO painful to watch. I can hate this movie for that scene alone. Using Charles’ disability against him is all kinds of screwed up.

The Helmet and the wheelchair has become symbolic of Erik and Charles in a way. I understand Jean destroying both of those is metaphorical and all, but they could have done it without putting Charles through that pain and humiliation.

I absolutely don’t understand Raven’s characterisation. Now, she’s suddenly the one to lecture about family (She’s not Mystique anymore). Wasn’t she the one giving speeches on how they’re not kids anymore and that they need to fight and not hide behind walls? And suddenly, they’re kids all over again? (They’re in their late twenties for fuck’s sake) The friction between her and Charles is really tiring.

Telling a little girl that she was responsible for her mother’s death and that her father didn’t want her because he thought that she was a freak is apparently the right thing to do. Brave XMCU! Blaming Charles for hiding that truth away and sending them on dangerous missions while he stays back is a low blow (He didn’t think about himself when he passed out using the cerebro, did he Raven? Is that dangerous enough for you!!?) Urghhh! I won’t even understand that trajectory, so fuck it. It pisses me off to no end.

As I expected, the friction between Charles and Hank is just baseless. Blaming Charles for Raven’s death (come on man, that was an ACCIDENT!!!) and running away to kill Jean was contradicting. Because Raven dies trying to save Jean and Hank now wants to do everything that Raven would have done? (Uhhhh? Where is the logic, exactly?)

I don’t know who wrote that scene where Hank forces Charles to admit that Raven’s death was his fault, because I’m sure I’ll tear that person to shreds if I meet them) ‘Come on, man. Admit it. Admit it to me right now!’ It’s not a juvenile version of ‘Truth or Dare’ where you force your friend to admit that they have a crush on someone.

Hank and Erik “bonding” over the fact they both loved Raven. You know what, I don’t even want to get started on that shit trail.

Why portray Charles as an almost-alcoholic? Was it really required? What did you want to show? That he’s drowning his sorrows and short comings in alcohol.? Well, in order to do that, you have to portray his sorrows first, you geniuses. It’s some shitty story telling.

Why bring in the storyline of Quicksilver being Mag’s son when you’re not going to broach the topic at all? Not once, not even in passing.

Hey, you know what? I’m terrible at writing dialogues. I write shit dialogues. But I thought that I could write better dialogues than who ever has written it in this movie. And if I can write better than them, just imagine how bad it is: In no universe I know would Charles say things like, ‘Yep’ and ‘Damn it man’. And in no universe would Erik say, ‘Save your ‘old friend’ shit Charles’. Listen, Erik might be a lot of things, but he isn’t the one to disrespect relationships. Above all else, Charles is the only meaningful relationship he has in his life (and need not be in a romantic way). He would in no way disrespect it. ‘So… yeah, I have killed people’ IS THAT THE BEST DIALOGUE YOU COULD HAVE COME UP WITH, YOU IDIOTS!? Bad dialogues are not new to the X-Men movies, but the actors have always pulled them off. Some of them in this are so bad that even James and Michael sound stupid saying it.

Some scenes are so bad that I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Jean just taking off after Raven dies. That’s so uncharacteristic!! You would shoo away a dog better than how Erik sends Jean away from Genosha.’Go! Leave now!’ Really? I almost died out of second hand embarrassment.

The aliens feel SO WEIRD in an X-Men movie. I thought I could get used to the idea, but… no. Didn't happen. You simply cannot associate aliens with an X-Men movie. Avengers, sure. Just not an X-Men movie. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, just weird.

No matter what, I can’t root for Jean and Scott’s relationship in this. The chemistry just falls flat. They look more like brother and sister. And since their relationship plays an important role, that whole branch of that arc doesn't entice me at all.

The trope of ‘someone important in Erik’s life dying to turn him bad again’ isn’t cute the fourth time around.

I knew the ending even before I went to see the movie, so I knew that Charles would leave his school to Scott (as it is in the comics), and I was thrilled at the prospect of cherik being canon. While I’m thrilled for the cherik ending, I feel like Charles was almost forced out of his own school. Okay, he lied to Jean to protect her from the truth, so what, he’s not fit to be a teacher anymore? He’s not the same man who guided and gave you guys a home and showed you how to control your powers, you ungrateful shits? There should have been some sort of closure where Charles chooses to retire voluntarily and says goodbye before leaving.

Well, there ARE some really good aspects to the movie as well. It’s not completely bad. I really enjoyed it in many ways:

The movie is actually centred around Jean, start to end. It shows her struggling with her powers and the story doesn’t stray away from her, so that’s definitely done better than last stand, where Jean was just a fuming bulldozer. I also love how powerful they’ve portrayed her to be.

Genosha is really nice and I especially like Erik’s flat/container/living situation. It’s very rusty and cool. Suits him (I would like that very narrow single bed to turn into a double bed once Charles is there) I also loved Erik’s and Charles’ wardrobes. (Though I prefer Charles in cardigans, suits do him good)

I didn’t like the fight sequence in New York because there were too many unwanted things going on, but I did like the fight sequence in the train. Mags especially! AWESOME!!

All of them fighting together. That’s what I always wanted.

The music is really good. But that’s expected from Hans Zimmers.

These movies would have hit rock bottom if not for the actors. Sophie is AMAZING!! Everyone as well. But Sophie stands out.

The officers in the train scene who are transporting the x-men are called ‘Mutant Containment Unit’. In short, they have MCU (also known as Marvel Cinematic Universe) plastered on their uniforms. Erik telling them ‘you need us’ was brilliant. If it was intentionally put in there, it’s a stroke of genius, else it’s just luck.

There’s a scene in the train sequence where Erik protects Charles, Scott and Jean by closing the compartment they’re in with metal. I literally clapped my hands. Similar to what Sir Ian did it in ‘Days of Future Past’. Not as obvious and grandiose in gesture as the ‘X’ in XMA, but it’s enough to satisfy my little cherik heart. 

I LOVED the chess proposal at the end!! And when Erik said, ‘You gave me a home once and I’d like to return the favour’ I think my heart exploded in my chest. If your OTP flirting with each other in the city of love while one proposes of moving in doesn’t make them canon, then I don’t know what does!!

In short, you’ll love the movie if you only love Jean Grey and Raven. If you love everyone else along with them, well…tough luck.

I said that I’ll be happy as long as they give me a cherik ending.

They did give me a cherik ending and all I want now is to read a fic where Charles and Erik are cuddled up on Erik’s very narrow bed while Erik re-assures Charles with kisses that nothing was his fault. (I’ve deleted the part where Charles loses his hair in XMA from my brain, so Charles still has his luscious locks intact in this fic I want to read)

It’s certainly a private joke to me that 19 years of X-Men ended with cherik being canon. The thing with X-Men, you can love it and hate it at the same time and somehow not get tired of it.