#tlas spin-off

[chryzuree]

once i reread tla, im going to be so fucking annoying abt tomlice…

[deep-sea-anemone]

Random One Piece Headcanons, Part One: Dancing

(Zoro+ Sanji+ implied Zosan)

Zoro and Sanji are both really good at partner-dancing

Sanji grew up learning ballroom dancing in Germa as part of his royal upbringing (he'd have to dance with dignitaries and such). It wasn't something the genetic modifications were designed for so he could actually keep up with his siblings and was the lessons he looked forward to the most (though that might not be saying much)

His mother was always bedridden so they never got to dance together but little Sanji would always show off what he'd learned and tell her that he couldnt wait for her to get better so that they could dance together

The Baratie taught Sanji about swing (and other) dancing. Before then he hadn't known there was any other way TO dance. (Imagine for a moment the Baratie after hours. All the chairs and tables are pushed against the wall to make room for a dance floor. Some of the staff play instruments, the sound is...not great, but it's lively and full of energy and soon Sanji is being spun around the floor by the staff-and it's exhilarating, like nothing he's felt before, and he realizes just how much passion there is outside of the world that he left behind. Picture the party scene from The Titanic, that kind of vibe)

Whenever they celebrate, either on land with new friends in a post-battle celebration, or just a lively night on the ship, he's always the first on the dance floor.

He pulls random strangers (mainly women, but not always-he just wants to dance is all) away from staying back in the shadows near a wall and soon has them laughing and smiling as he spins them around. He has the biggest grin and the most magical look in his eyes and they almost fall a little in love with him-until he opens his mouth anyways

Zoro doesn't really dance. He usually just watches from the sidelines, enjoying conversation and booze.

He is a master swordsman however, so he is quite light on his feet and has good balance, which is why when Sanji pulls suddenly pulls him off his feet to the tune of Brook's violin on the Sunny one night he doesn't completely embarrass himself

It does take him a minute, the cook pauses to show him where he needs to put his feet and normally Zoro would complain that HE should be the one leading, not the cook, but he's being swept around at a breathtaking pace and Sanji has a slightly maniacal grin in his eye and it feels so SO close to the way they fight and Zoro has to admit he doesn't hate the way the adrenaline makes him feel.

He let's Sanji lead cause frankly he's barely keeping up, and he has no idea what he would do if he were actually handed the reins.

He still won't dance with strangers, it's too awkward and really not his style, but he doesn't mind the happiness burning in his chest whenever his nakama coax him over to dance with them

One night after a battle, several of the Strawhats are fairly roughed up, but it's still a victory worth celebrating so Brook plays something slow to match the calmness of the candlelight and the crews just slowdances instead. Sanji and Zoro wind up paired together and yes, they were bickering just moments ago and normally they'd be giving each other the stink eye, but Zoro hurt his foot and Sanji is exhausted so Zoro let's his weight fall on Sanji for support and the cook just lets him and tlas they sway they share a look that's so SOFT that neither of them wants the night to end

Neither of them can solo-dance for shit

Sanji just kinda jerks his limbs around and the people surround him quickly learn to give him a few feet of space cause even he isn't quite sure what he's doing.

Zoro kinda just...stands there and rocks back and forth. Chopper tells him to be more enthusiastic so he soes that thing where you put your hands up and keep them still but still dance with the rest of your body. Usopp kindly asks him to stop

Sanji's excited cause Nami always seems to want to dance with him, but really she's just trying to get the cringiness to end

Whenever Zoro and Sanji stand next to each other alone during dances, one of their nakama will make sure to push them towards each other so they will dance together instead. That way no one has to experience the second hand embarrassment of watching their cringeworthy attempts on the dancefloor

Zoro and Sanji don't really mind. They're relieved to have each other during those moments so they don't have to suffer the awkwardness alone.

And...dancing together really isn't the worst anyways. Far from it, actually. It's not that different from fighting, after all, and that's something they do best.

[heimdallsbraids]

Blood of Mine | Ch. 3 (Heimdall x fem!reader)

Summary: Life is pretty simple. Survive the harsh conditions of Fimbulwinter in Midgard, trade with your dwarven friends in Svartalfheim and – avoid the shit out of Odin’s most loyal lapdog? If word reaches the All-Father about your blood-bending origins, you’re doomed… (Hints of Avatar: TLA, but not a crossover)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Profanity

First chapter | Previous chapter | Next chapter

View on AO3

Chapter Three: Asgard

Nerves had your stomach doing flips as you patiently awaited Odin’s ravens to take you to your next destination – Asgard. Home, for now, you supposed. It was a weird thought. To say you were mildly disappointed when you were transported into a large study lit by candlelight instead of the grand wall you knew surrounded the city was an understatement. You’ve heard many tales of the magnificent view up there, though very few were blessed to see it.

Only after a quick discussion about pay and the commencement of work tomorrow were you escorted out by a young teenage girl with thick strawberry-blond hair – Odin’s granddaughter, Thrúd. ‘Business awaits, you see,’ he had said right before his flock of ravens whisked him away. It threw you off a bit, being palmed off so quickly after what seemed like an eager pursuit, but you weren’t complaining. The less time around the man, the better.

She led up a set of stairs and into a vast hall that split off into different rooms, with a set of double doors sitting right down the end. Your room was the second one to the right. It was relatively spacious – bigger than you’ve ever had anyway – and held all the basics: a big bed pushed into the corner, two windows with a decent view, and a wardrobe to put your stuff in.

“You like it?” Thrúd asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“It’s nice,” you answered, running your fingers along the soft furs on the bed. “Thanks.”

“It was my brother’s… He’s no longer with us.”

Your face fell and, disturbed by the news, your hand recoiled. “O-oh! I’m sorry-”

She shrugged. “It’s alright. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She jutted her chin towards the cupboard. “You can throw your coats in there for now if you want. It’s pretty warm out today.”

Nodding, almost awkwardly, you stripped off the excess layers of clothing, leaving you in your plain tunic and pants. You couldn’t help but notice how worn your clothes looked. To you, it was simply a sign of the hard work you’d done, but you weren’t sure that’s how the people of Gladsheim would see it. You probably looked like a beggar.

“This is amazing,” you breathed as you followed your new host into what was known as The Great Hall.

It was rather quiet, with only a dozen or so people sitting around the huge dining table or lingering near doorways to eat and mingle. It was most likely due to it being the early afternoon, but you didn’t doubt that this place could easily withhold up to two hundred people – perhaps even more – on an eventful night. You didn’t have anything like this back home. The camp leader’s tent was about as grand as it got, which could all but fit four people at once.

 “Wait ‘til you see outside.”

Stepping outside of the lodge was like stepping into a whole new world. There was a huge, empty courtyard made of stone, but it was the surrounding city that had you gawping in amazement. “Holy shit…”

“Holy shit, indeed,” she agreed with a proud smile. “Sometimes I forget how lucky we are until we get new people.”

“I’m guessing that’s not a common occurrence?” You asked, spinning around to admire The Great Lodge once more. It was simple and totally not what you expected a God like Odin to reside in, but it was nice.

The city was huge, littered with an array of wooden buildings, streets and bridges, and while the fabled wall in the background was daunting, it was actually quite beautiful at the same time. It was impressive. Even more so than Niðavellir, and that was quite a feat in your eyes, considering the dwarves’ creativity was hard to beat.

“Nah, doesn’t happen too often.” She clarified, leading you up a set of stairs to what seemed like a tavern. “Midgardians are usually posted in the refugee town just outside the wall.”

You had half a mind to ask her why that was exactly, but the clamour that erupted from within the building was almost deafening. It was filled to the brim with Einherjar soldiers, drinking from tankards and getting rowdy with each other. Servants scuttled around with their heads bowed, refilling cups and cleaning as they went. Even they had pretty decent clothing, you noticed.

Thrúd tugged on your arm just in time to avoid you receiving a flying cup to the head. Shocked, you grimaced at the two soldiers delivering punches at the table nearby, their comrades surrounding them, jeering and egging them on.

“What the…”

“You’ll get used to it,” she laughed, guiding you with a hand on your shoulder. “This is nothing. You should see the feasts.”

The teenager took it upon herself to shield you from any more incoming projectiles in the shape of cups, bowls and the occasional body of a drunken soldier. It made you realise how built she was for a girl her age, watching her shove people aside as if they were merely sticks. Finally coming to the exit, you sucked in a long breath of fresh air once the door closed behind you.

“Gets pretty stuffy in there, hey.”

“Yeah… the soldiers kinda stunk,” you admitted.

She looked like she was going to add to that, but her friendly expression slipped as she saw something in the distance. “Ugh, great.”

“What? What’s wrong?” You asked, looking around to see what made her so sour. It was then that you spotted a familiar pair of bifröst eyes, and they were currently narrowed at you.

Heimdall. He looked irate as he rode along on a beast you’d never seen before. It looked like an aggressive oversized lion with horns, yet it seemed perfectly content with him sitting upon it, its long tail flicking about when others got too close.

“That’s my uncle,” she groaned. “Let’s get out of here before he kills the mood.”

You snorted, “That thing is your uncle? I am so sorry.”

“You sound like you’ve had the pleasure of meeting him before,” She grumbled as the two of you adopted a brisk walking pace in the opposite direction.

“Ruined my whole damn month.”

You peeked behind to see if he was following, but luckily, he wasn’t. He’d completely vanished from sight, which was odd considering the sheer size of the beast he was riding. You weren’t sure if you were relieved or not.

Over the next few hours, the two of you walked around the city, with Thrúd pointing out and describing important landmarks like the markets (where you’d begin trading when ready), the training grounds (you might watch the Valkyries sometime), and the lift that led directly to the top of the wall, though she encouraged you to avoid it like the plague if you didn’t want to run into Heimdall again.

For the final stop, she guided you to the local tailor shop, which, thankfully, wasn’t too far from the lodge. It turns out Odin had requested several new sets of clothes for you to wear on his tab.

“Isn’t this a little too much?” You asked Thrúd as the tailor danced around your position on a stool to take your measurements. “I only wanted one set to get me by until I can afford my own.”

 “The All-Father,” you had to stop yourself from gagging at the obnoxious term, “-is being generous. Just accept it.”

After being poked and prodded a bit more, you were eventually shoved into a backroom to change. Unfortunately, the man didn’t have much in the way of your size, but he managed to scrounge a decent set for you to wear while you waited for the others. It consisted of a fresh white tunic (that was slightly too big on you), brown leather pants (that fit suspiciously well) and a belt that had no purpose other than to ‘make you less boring’ (his words, not yours). Naturally, you weren’t amused at the time, but you had to admit, the way it hugged your waist was pretty enticing.

The Great Lodge was bustling with activity upon your and Thrúd’s return, countless people, Gods and soldiers moving about to get their fill of food and drink before turning in for the night. You were amazed at the massive spread of meat, vegetables, and delicacies spread wide along the huge dining table, and you flushed when your stomach rumbled loudly enough to be heard over the hustle and bustle of the crowd.

The young teen shook her head in amusement, “Let’s grab some food and join my mother.”

You were handed a bowl of braised meat stew and bread to start with, and your mouth was watering by the time you finally reached the end of the table where Thrúd’s mother, Sif, was sitting, quietly enjoying her meal. She was a beautiful woman with unbelievably long blond hair twisted intricately over her shoulders and front. You were a little shy initially, but she warmed you up relatively fast with a gentle smile and kind introductions.

“So,” Sif began, chewing on a piece of cheese. “You’ve never been to any other realm except Midgard and Svartalfheim?”

“And Vanaheim,” you added, shrugging. “But that was a long time ago now.”

“So, you are… mortal, then?” Thrúd interjected, her tone curious.

After a slight pause, you conjured up a short, “Sure am.” It might bite you in the ass later, but who knows how long you’ll be here.

The two shared a look, but you took no notice as you continued to enjoy your hot meal. By the time you were finished, you were ready to turn in for the night, so you stood up, excusing yourself from the mother-daughter duo. However, you didn’t make it very far as you backed into a firm chest. Your empty bowl clattered to the floor.

“And where do you think you’re going, sunshine?”

You knew that smooth voice. Fuck…

You turned around slowly, shoulders tense as you made eye contact with the blond-haired God. “Heimdall.”

His expression was one of judgement as he took in your appearance, brows furrowing as he gave you a firm shove. Back on the bench, it was, but not without a harsh glare being sent his way.

Unaffected, he took a seat beside you. “What brings filth like you into Asgard, I wonder?”

“Not you, that’s for sure.” You moved to leave, but his hand on your shoulder prevented you from going anywhere. You smacked it away, “What is your deal?”

You almost forgot your audience until Thrúd piped up, “Leave her alone. She’s got better things to do than deal with you.”

“Is that so?” He feigned innocence, reaching over to steal some bread from his niece’s bowl before she could stop him. He ripped it in half, all the while eyeing you down as you sat there, seething. “That remains to be seen.”

It was Sif’s turn to interrupt. “Heimdall. I take it you’re done patrolling the wall for the day?”

“Obviously,” he replied, almost lazily. “The real cause for concern right now is this thing.”

Irritation washed over you. He’d somehow heard your insult from earlier and was dishing it right back to you.

“Oh!” You gasped, a sickeningly sweet smile curling at your lips. “Did I hurt your feelings, asshole?”

A barely noticeable tick in his jaw told you you’d struck a nerve; the God clearly unused to people of your standing speaking to him in such a manner. Or at all, if his reputation with Thrúd and Sif extended to everyone else in Asgard.

He was quick to cover it up with a cruel smirk and another dig. “Tch, hardly. I’m afraid you lack the intelligence to achieve such a feat.”

You rolled your eyes at that.

Popping the last morsel of bread in his mouth, he stood up with an obnoxiously loud sigh. “Well, I have to say, this was… boring.” He gestured to the bowl on the floor with a careless wave of his hand. “I’d pick that up if I were you, sunshine.”

You did so, feigning throwing it at his shoulders as he sauntered off, which gained you a snort of amusement from Thrúd.

You huffed. “What an insufferable prick. Again, I am so sorry that you’re related to him.”

“Don’t be,” Sif said. She folded her arms across her chest. “It’s you that’s got his attention at the moment. I must warn you; he’s hard to get rid of once he digs his teeth in.”

“Plenty of chances to get back at him, then.” You conceded, running a hand through your hair.

You had no idea what crawled up his ass – or possessed him to even approach you in the first place, but you knew it couldn’t be good. He was the God of Foresight – the precious watchman of the Aesir – for a reason, so you’d have to tread carefully around him and Odin.

It wasn’t long before you were finally returning to your newly designated room and stripping down to your tunic for bed. It had been an extremely long day, especially with the added stress that came in the form of a righteous blond prick. It’s safe to say you were asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow.

[thelensofyashunews]

BLP KOSHER SHARES NEW VIDEO SINGLE "VIRGIN EARS"

BLP KOSHER has just shared his new single "Virgin Ears", along with an accompanying music video. Arriving on the heels of BLP KOSHER's breakthrough year in 2023, "Virgin Ears" is already his third release of 2024. After dropping his second full-length project Bars Mitzvah, which was backed by the hit single "Special K" (55M+ Streams) and features from DJ Premier, Luh Tyler and Trapland Pat,BLP KOSHER performed at Lyrical Lemonade's Summer Smash Festival and headed out on his first headlining tour, “The Dreidel That Never Stopped Spinning”, performing sold-out shows in major cities like L.A., Chicago, Atlanta and Toronto. After kicking off the year with the release of "Dreidel Bop" (3.8M+ Streams) and "Violent Lullaby" featuring Yung Lean (5M+ Streams), "Virgin Ears" continues BLP KOSHER's hot streak that's extended into 2024. Over the eerie piano loop and knocking drumline, BLP KOSHER flaunts his endless supply of clever punchlines – "I've been late to the party / 130 on the dash, with a glock like I'm Carti / Filled the gaps, then I'ma bridge it, wish 'em good luck Charlie", he raps in the track's memorable hook. After performing at Rolling Loud LA in March, BLP KOSHER will be hitting the road for another headlining tour – The Dreidelman Saga Tour, kicking off in Santa Ana, CA on 4/3.

Taking the internet by storm beginning in 2022 through his acrobatic wordplay, BLP KOSHER has quickly surpassed 100 Million Streams while receiving critical acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone and XXL and being co-signed from DJ Premier, BabyTron and Camila Cabello. Having now created a name for himself within the broader pop culture lexicon with a slew of hit tracks like the Cole Bennett-directed, BabyTron-featuring, “Mazel Tron” (35M+ Streams) and “Special K” (55M+ Streams), BLP KOSHER was quick to capitalize on his success, proving that his star power expands far beyond the virality with the release of Bars Mitzvah last year. The album features head-turning collaborations, such as with the legendary DJ Premier on “Endless”—a figure who KOSHER has always looked up to, and who has now blessed him with one of his signature scratched-up beats. BLP KOSHER has quickly cemented himself as a serious player in the contemporary Hip-Hop landscape, and is looking forward to keeping his momentum going with each subsequent release.

Tour Dates 04/03 – Santa Ana, CA – Observatory 04/05 – San Diego, CA – Observatory 04/06 – Phoenix, AZ – Nile Theater 04/08 – Austin, TX – Emo's 04/11 – Orlando, FL – The Vanguard 04/13 – Miami, FL – Fillmore 04/14 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground 04/16 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva 04/17 – Washington, DC – Fillmore Silver Spring 04/18 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA 04/21 – Montreal, QC – Beanfield Theatre 04/23 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall 04/25 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew's Hall 04/26 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave 04/27 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity

[sunset-wishes-upon-hill]

Christmas (Ciel x Yuri)

Spin-off to The Liars and The Soothsayer: FF I Wattpad

A/N: So this has been in my laptop for a long time and thought I actually lost it but I found it and decided to share!

He wasn’t sleeping. Yuri knew. The heavy bags underneath his eyes and darkening of circles grew each day with burdens that fell on his tiny little shoulders. Yet none of the servants seemed to say much. Finn had been the brave one to voice out his concerns only to be cut away with his cold glare. Sebastian, although concerned, didn’t seem too bothered as long as he stayed alive and stay alive he seemed determined.

Ciel has always been aloof and distant with edge of indifference. She wasn’t sure why, but as winter deepened and Christmas approached, something cracked inside him. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion; disturbed yet perversely engrossed as she watched in the courtside the destructive unravelling of a perfectionist.

His eyes lost all glimmer of light. He reminded her more of a machine than a ‘child’ or a ‘person’, shut away in his office, slaving away day and night with frightening speed and unsettling composure.

Pitiful. She thought.

In a way, he had the world under his control. The title, the wealth, the prestige; the opportunities so many people in this world only dreamed of having. She dreamed of having. Sometime, he reminded of a celebrity – oddly familiar yet strangely distant, like standing in front of a two sided mirror of a circus show. But to her, he was the one being controlled by the world. Perhaps, that reasoning also applied for the rest of the wealthy and famed too.

Yuri suspected he didn’t rest for the whole day; his exhaustion was clear and often, his plate would come back, untouched. All they can do was watch as he slowly became undone.

One day, she did. A front seat to his fall.

“Ciel!” She hurried over to the fallen boy. His breathing heavy and shallow, face red with heat and beads trailing down the side of his sunken cheeks.

“I-I’ll call Sebastian–“ Before she could react, he had grabbed her by her collar, pulling her forward, eyes wide, “Don’t. Don’t you dare tell anyone what you saw! I’ll kill you if you do..” She felt his vine like grip tightening.

It took her a few moments to gather her composure, nodding, “Can you stand?”

She offered him her hand only for him to slap it away, “I can stand on my own. Give me a minute.”

His eyes clenched shut as if he was injured and in pain, his hold on her a sort of anchor from whatever that seemed to ail him. She had stayed there by his side, wordless and for a long time, until he gathered enough to strength to stand. Even a machine will not last long, if not cared for.

This small body that wasn’t made of manmade mechanical parts? It would shatter.

She wasn’t sure exactly how she ended up helping him with his company matters but she managed to assimilate herself into his day little by little. It was mostly organising and stacking them into a file and pile in between retrieving something out of his reach.

“What do people usually do during Christmas in your time?” He asked one day so suddenly.

Yuri looked up from the documents she was arranging in surprise. He seldom spoke (unless he was giving commands) and most of the time, they’d work in silence.

A minute past.

Then another.

Ciel looked up from the paper he had been signing, a delicate brow raised with question, flipping it closed and putting them on top of the finished ones.

She realised why he was staring at her – she had been gaping at him and not responding to his question.

“Oh,” Yuri recovered soon after, “Um…it’s a huge thing in my time. You have Christmas sales, before that you have Black Friday which starts about a week before December, where shops sells merchandises at hugely discounted price and lots of people goes crazy for it-oh, streets have Christmas lights hung up which is really beautiful at night and winter special foods, Christmas movies-those are moving pictures I was talking about with actors and actresses..it rarely snows though compared to here..uh, it’s a bit like here I guess just more exciting and amplified.”

He leaned back, allowing the information to sink in then asking again, “What do you do?”

She had been filtering through the papers when he spoke up, stopping in her track as she pursed her lips before continuing the motion.

“Nothing much.” Yuri simply answered. “I..don’t really remember celebrating Christmas.”

“Your family don’t celebrate Christmas?”

“I only have my mum.” She said in matter-of-factly tone.

“Oh, your father is..I’m sorry.”

“He’s not dead.” She blatantly said, meeting his eyes with unwavering gaze, “He left us.”

“I’m sorry.”

Yuri scoffed, “Sorry about what? I hate when people say that. ‘I’m sorry your grandmother died’ or ‘I’m sorry that happened to you’, it’s not like they killed them or something.”

Ciel wasn’t sure what to say.

“Well, my mum, my brother and I work at Christmas.” She elaborated, swallowing the painful knot in her throat.

“You work?” He sounded astonished by the information, respecting her wishes to move on to their previous conversation, “What type of work?”

“Well, I did several before I started working in my current restaurants and retail, babysitting if I have time.” She muttered, “Um..waitressing, paper rounds, retails, house cleaning for this old couple few blocks down the road, assistant..just whatever I can find. Christmas pays are double the amount of normal working days and workplace is always short-staffed during holidays. Better than staying home alone.”

Ciel did not look up as his eyes moved across the written documents, signing and stacking them onto the pile on his right.

“How about you?” Yuri decided to ask in return, “What do you usually do during Christmas?”

There was a pregnant pause and she decided her question was lost in his concentration until he spoke up after considerable amount of time had passed.

“I used to celebrate.” Despite his lack of expression, his sombre tone did not go unnoticed.

Yuri knew the reason for the use of past tense and didn’t pursue further, simply finishing the conversation with, “I don’t know what people would normally do during Christmas in my time but from what I saw, they eat Christmas dinner, open presents with families and they have a nice time and everyone’s happy.”

“Do you..miss it?”

“I don’t know. Christmas was always another working day for me.” She said, remembering looking around the dining tables during one of her short break at Christmas day with a cold sandwich in her hand from the hidden corner paved for staffs that allowed them a bird view of the whole restaurant while hidden away from the guests gaze. She remembered feeling a sudden urge to cry as she chewed down the dry bread although she wasn’t sure why, “Well..I remember my first Christmas present from my mum when I was fifteen; it was small note pads, pens and cute rabbit doll, cheap and nothing special. It was all we could afford but I really liked that rabbit doll..still have them in my bed back at home..”

Yuri felt her eyes water, turning her attention to the files and sniffing up the unshed tears to cover up the fact she wanted nothing more than to cry and scream.

Later that night, she found a rabbit doll by her bed, against her pillow as though it had always been there, a red ribbon tied around its neck.

[pandaluver]

Idea for an Avatar Series!

The World at the time

It would be 320 AG. Meaning the world would be like the early 2000’s

The Fire Nation will be known to have the most powerful military

The Air Nomads will be the same as they were in the Legend Of Korra

Due to King Wu, The Earth Kingdom was split into several different states (I’ll figure out names for them all later)

Weapons like guns do exist at this point in the world.

Blood Bending and manipulation of spiritual energy is illegal.

The White Lotus is now an organization similar to the FBI or CIA.

Over the centuries more sports like Pro Bending came about. Some focusing solely on one element or more.

The Antagonist: The Blood Lotus

They are a group who follows a belief similar to the Zaheer of Red Lotus. In freedom through anarchy. But they definitely won't be a copy and paste of the Red Lotus!

Most of their members are benders coming from all elements.

For unknown reasons, all members are deformed like most humans who spirits possess are.

Their leader is a mystery, all that’s known about them is their alias, Ran Shao

Team Avatar

Yang, a young firebender who is a pro bender. She lives in republic city with her younger sister.

Jinpa, a Airbender who has yet to become a master. He is trained at the eastern air temple.

Kuo, a deaf earth bender who roams the world in hopes of finding inner peace.

Kala, the waterbending daughter of the Northen Water Tribe’s Leader

Hui-Ying, Yang’s non-bending younger sister who’s trained in Chi Blocking. She is training to be an officer of the Republic City Police Department.

Allies

Hiromi Sato, the current president of Republic City. She is not a blood descendant of Asami or Korra. She is a descendant of a child the two of them adopted.

Hiroshi Sato, the current leader of Future Industries. Younger brother to Hiromi, named after his ancestor the founder of Future Industries.

Ning, a White Lotus agent who mentors the current Team Avatar.

The Avatar

You guys are probably wondering why I didn’t mention the Avatar in the list for Team Avatar and that’s because....The Avatar hasn’t been revealed yet!

Plot

After years of terrorism, the organization known as the Blood Lotus comes close to its goal! Due to being unable to stop the Blood Lotus, The White Lotus sends Ning, a high ranking member, out in search of the Avatar, who vanished decades ago.

Well, that's all of my ideas for it so far...I might commission art of my characters or something. Oh yeah! I forgot to name the series...I can't name it after the Avatar....crap... Avatar: The Missing Legend. Is that good?

[elzifelzi]

Need Cartoon Network to desperately take Cues from Avatar TLA when it comes to the future of ben10.

Like you legit have an entire untapped Goldmine of potential.

Give me a Ben23 spin off series,that shows this Bens journey to becoming a hero while actually attending plumber academy.

A Max Spin off series focusing on his early years as a plumber.

A Lucky Girl Spin off(because I feel like seeing gwen with the omnitrix would be dumb) it can focus on gwen and kevins superhero life while they're at college.

A Ben10 reboot sequel

The whole intergalactic road trip that they teased at the end of Omniverse.

An OV sequel that essentially builds up to ben becoming ben10k(this could be the same series as the intergalactic road trip)

An alien force reboot that essentially answere the question what if ben never took off the omnitrix.

Vreedle Brothers comedic shorts

No Watch Ben show about him becoming a plumber/hero without an omnitrix.

A spin off focusing on Kevins years in the null void.

Eon Spinoff

Like the possibilities are literally endless and its weird that cartoon network hasn't figured that out yet.

[galex-exe]

Emotober 2021, Day 1

Ao3

Title : Freeze

Prompt : Emotober 2021, Day 1 : Collapse | “Why do you even care?”

Fandom : Avatar: The Last Airbender

Warnings : N/A

Word Count : 367

Summary : Zuko collapses in the snow at the north pole. The Gaang rescues him.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34270327

—

Zuko is surprised when he wakes up for more than one reason. First, because it's warm and last he remembers he was at the north pole, which isn’t warm at all.

Second, he’s not dead. Nor is he alone.

“Zuko! You’re awake!”

Zuko scrambles backwards and hits the frozen wall, which sends a pulse of pain through his head. He bites back a groan as he looks back to the group in front of him, consisting of none other than the avatar, the waterbender and the non-bender. Great. Just his luck.

He goes to sit up, but doing so makes his head spin and makes it feel like he’s falling.

“Stop moving,” says the waterbender. Zuko glares at her but stops because each movement sends another wave of pain through his head. Also because her tone is biting and he’d really rather not get killed while he can’t defend himself.

He pulls the blankets tighter around him, which he hadn’t realized were there before. He’s also shivering. He sighs at the obvious signs of weakness. The group hasn’t killed him yet though, but he’ll have to get out of there before they change their minds.

The waterbender turns away for a moment to route through a bag. The non-bender is shrugging off his parka and tossing it to Zuko, who sputters indignantly while the avatar hides his laughter.

“Put it on,” says the non-bender. “You were freezing.”

Zuko doesn’t, because he’s not about to take orders from the avatar’s friends. It’s pushed to the side, and the non-bender frowns at it.

“Why do you even care?” Zuko mumbles, but apparently, the avatar still hears it because he replies.

“Well we weren’t gonna let you freeze in the snow,” he says as if it were an obvious conclusion.

“Aang wasn’t going to let you freeze. I really don’t care whether you freeze or not.”

The waterbender tosses him something, which he fails to catch through layers of blanket. When he picks it up, it looks to be some sort of jerky.

“Eat.”

Zuko does so, but not without glaring at the waterbender first. His eyes grow heavy again soon after.

He sleeps for the rest of the day.

—

Can you tell i had no idea how to end this? Also I’ve never written A:TLA before, so,

This took me, like, an hour, and it shows.

[justsomewritingblogg]

Avatar: TLA  (Part 15 of many)

Request:  None

Requested By:  Nobody

Pairing:  Zuko x reader

Summary:  The Swamp

Warnings:  Some sadness!  Mentions of death

A/N:  Zuko’s in chapter 18, folks!

Word Count:  4K+

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flying over a large swamp in silence was not what you’d consider a good time.  Katara was looking at the map, Sokka was sharpening his weapon, and Aang was sitting on Appa’s head, though he was also looking at the swamp below.

“Hey, you taking us down for a reason?”  Sokka asked.  Getting no response, he tried again.  “Aang!  Why are we going down?!”

“What?  I didn’t even notice.”  Aang replied, wiping his forehead.

“I didn’t, either.”  You admitted quietly.  “It must be the size of it.  It’s playing tricks on our eyes.”

“Are you noticing now?”  Sokka questioned.  Appa was flying lower, and at a greater speed.

“Is something wrong?”  Katara inquired, stepping forward.

“I know this is going to sound weird….but I think the swamp is calling to me.”  Aang confessed.

“Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?”  Sokka asked, his hand on his stomach.

“No.  I- I think it wants us to land there.”  Aang replied.

“No offense to the swamp, but I don’t see any land there to land on.”  Sokka admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

“I don’t know.  Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen.  And now I’m actually hearing the earth.”

You cocked an eyebrow.  “This is freaking me out.”  You admitted.

“Do you want me to ignore it?”  Aang asked.  You, Katara, Sokka and Momo all looked over the edge of Appa’s saddle.

“Yes.”  Sokka informed.

“I don’t know.”  Katara started.  “There’s something ominous about that place.”  There was silence for a few moments, until Momo hid in the saddle, and Appa let out a roar.

“See?  Even Appa and Momo don’t like it here.”  Sokka noted.

“Okay.  Since everyone feels so strongly about this, bye, swamp.”  Aang flicked the reigns.  “Yip, yip.”

Appa rose higher into the air, and a tornado appeared out of nowhere, following the crew.

“You’d better throw in an extra ‘yip’.  We gotta move!”  Sokka shouted.  Aang steered Appa, zipping and zagging everywhere, but the tornado seemed to be following you.  It was tearing up trees, and it was closing in.  Sokka began to be lifted into the air, because he didn’t have ahold of the saddle.  You grabbed his wrist and grunted, trying to keep a strong grip on him, and the saddle.

Aang jumped over and put an air-bubble around Appa, making the air inside normal.  Sokka fell, landing on the saddle with a thud.  Aang fought hard to keep the bubble, but the pressure of the harsh winds outside eventually triumphed.  You were all scooped up into the air, and thrown into the swamp.  You, Sokka and Katara landed with a thud, but Aang used airbending just before he hit the swamp water, causing him to land softly.  Sokka sat up, groaning.

“Where’s Appa and Momo?”  Aang asked as you helped Sokka up.  You groaned quietly.

“Oh, no.”  You muttered.  “Don’t tell me.”

“I’m gonna go see if I can find them from the top of this tree.”  Aang determined, hopping up it.  You watched him, waiting anxiously.

“Sokka, you’ve got an elbow leech.”  Katara informed.

“Where!?  Where!?”  Sokka shouted, spinning around.

“Where do ya think?”  She asked, crossing her arms.

“Why do things keep attaching to me!?”  Sokka yelled, ripping the leech off his elbow and throwing it, barely missing his sister.  Aang suddenly swung in on a vine.

“You couldn’t find them?”  Katara asked.

“No.  And the tornado.  It just disappeared.”  Aang said.  The swamp seemed to become darker, and more eerie.  You all turned around, wide-eyed, staring at the creepy setting.

“I hate this.”  You voiced quietly.

~~~~~~~~~

“We better speed things up!”  Sokka announced, cutting through a cluster of vines.

“Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp.”  Aang suggested.  You turned.

“Aang, are you implying that the swamp is sentient?”  You asked.

“Yeah.  Aang, they’re just plants!”  Sokka agreed.  “Do you want me to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ as I swing my machete back and forth?”  He asked, hacking through another vine.

“Maybe you should listen to Aang.”  Katara offered.  “Something about this place feels……alive.”  She noted.  You rolled your eyes.

“Katara, are you serious?”  You questioned.

“I’m sure there are a lot of things that are alive here.”  Sokka started.  “And if we don’t want to get eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can.”  He determined, turning around and slashing another vine.

~~~~~~~~~

“Appa!  Momo!?”  Katara called.  It had gotten dark, and you were all tired of walking.

“There’s no way they can hear us, and no way we can see them.”  Sokka announced.  “We’ll have to make camp for the night.”  A buzzing was heard, shortly followed by Sokka flailing his machete, trying to kill the bugs that were attacking him.  A puff of air suddenly appeared in the shape of a cloud.

“What was that!?”  Katara asked, weary.

“Nothing.”  Sokka replied.  “Just swamp gas.  Look, there’s nothing supernatural going on here.”

A loud shriek was heard.  Everyone grabbed onto one another.  You turned, as it shrieked again, and your eyes followed the sound.

“It’s just a bird.”  You informed, letting go of Katara and Sokka.

“I think we should build a fire.”  Sokka said, rushing off to a tree.  He chopped off some of its roots and branches.

“Sokka, the longer we’re here, the more I feel like you shouldn’t be doing that.”  Aang told him.

“No, I asked the swamp.  It said this was fine.”  He replied.  “Right, swamp?”  He took ahold of one of the roots and shook it as he disguised his voice and said, “No problem, Sokka.”

He then proceeded to cut that root as well.

~~~~~~~~~

“Does anyone else get the feeling that we’re being watched?”  Katara asked, hugging her knees to her chest.  You had made the fire inside a hollow tree.  You watched the flames dance around, the rhythm, warmth, and color amazing you.

“Please,” Sokka complained, “we’re all alone out here.”  He began swatting at another fly.

“Except for bugs, apparently.”  You noted, looking away from the fire.  The bug suddenly lit up, glowing brightly.  You all winced, covering your eyes to shield them from the sudden contrast.  The light flew away, revealing several eyes in the woods.

“And them.”  Aang added on to your previous comment, a nervous tone in his voice.

“Right.”  Sokka noted.  “Except for them.”  He said, grabbing hold of the group again.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next thing you knew, you were disturbed from your slumber, being drug away.  Your friends were, as well.  You were all yelling.  You didn’t see any attacker, but you did see your friends disappear into the fog.  You let out a holler in your panic.  Your heart was thudding in your chest, but you managed to pull yourself together and grab ahold of a tree, keeping you in place.

You turned, seeing that several vines were wrapped around you.  You bended some of the swamp water, slicing the vines.  They fell limply around you.  You breathed a sigh of relief, standing and wiping your forehead.  You turned, just as more vines flew out of the fog, coming straight at you.  You sliced those with your bending as well, running off in what you thought was the direction you came.

You jumped over roots, ducked under branches, but you kept running.  “Sokka!!”  You shouted, moving a few motionless vines out of the way, jumping over another root.  “Aang!”  You dodged a tree.  “Katara!”  You shouted.  It had become light, and you only now realized how tired you were.  There was so much green everywhere.  A fog rested on the swamp floor.  You slowed to a walk, catching your breath.  Placing your hands on your hips, you looked around, your eyes catching a brief flash of blue.  You walked closer, seeing a male figure.  Your face brightened.

“Sokka!”  You yelled, running closer.  But the closer you got, the more you realized it wasn’t Sokka.  Your eyebrows furrowed.  You stopped running.  “Kaza?”  You whispered.  You observed the figure, staring at its back.  Your mouth pulled upwards as you rushed towards it.

“Kaza, I thought you were dead!  They said you had been killed by the firena-” You stopped short.  Where your brother had just been, now stands a large rock.  You stared at it in disbelief.  You stepped around it, so that you would have been facing your brother, had he actually been here.  You looked at the rock, before crashing forward, wrapping your arms around it.  You sobbed, sliding down it onto your knees.  You cried, mentally cursing the firenation, the swamp, and yourself, for believing in such a stupid lie.

You looked back up at the rock, pulling yourself to your feet.  You stood there, facing it head-on.  Your eyes narrowed and your face hardened.  You bended the swamp water, slicing the rock in half.  You glared down at the broken pieces, spitting on them in defiance, before marching away.

~~~~~~~~~

You continued to march, trying to clear your mind, when you were tackled from behind.  You rolled down a hill, landing with a thud.

“What do you guys think you’re doing!?  I’ve been looking all over for you!”  Sokka yelled.  You had never been so happy to hear anyone in your life, but you couldn’t bring yourself to smile.

“Get off me.”  You warned, voice agitated.  They all looked down at you wearily, climbing off.

“Well, I’ve been wandering around, looking for you!”  Katara yelled back at her brother.

“I was chasing some girl.”  Aang spoke quietly, bringing himself to his feet.

“What girl?”  Katara asked.  Sokka offered to help you up, but you denied it, standing on your own.

“I don’t know.”  Aang admitted, helping her up.  “I heard laughing, and I saw some girl in a fancy dress.”

“Well, there must be a tea party here, and we just didn’t get out invitations!”  Sokka exclaimed.

“I thought I saw Mom.”  Katara confessed.  Aang’s face fell.  Yours hardened.  There was silence for a few moments.

“Look, we were all just scared, and hungry, and our minds were playing tricks on us.  That’s why we all saw things out here.”  Sokka determined.

“You saw something, too?”  Katara asked, turning to fully face him.  He turned around.

“I thought I saw Yue, but that doesn’t prove anything.”  He turned back to face his sister.  “Look, I think about her all the time.  And you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot.”  He said, taking a few steps closer.

“What about me?  I didn’t know the girl I saw.”  Aang asked.  He turned.  “Y/n, what did you see?”

You looked up.  “Hmm?”

“What did you see?”  He repeated.

“Nothing.”  You lied.

“You must have seen something.  We all saw somethi-”

“I didn’t see anything!!”  You yelled, startling him.  There was silence for a few moments.  “I’m going to cool off.”  You informed.  Sokka grabbed your wrist.

“No, you’ll get lost.”

You tried to yank your arm free, but he tightened his grip.  “Sokka, let me go.”

“No.  You could get hurt, and who knows how long it’ll take to find you.”

You recoiled back slightly, but froze your actions.  He sounded like your brother.  Of course, you hadn’t noticed before, since you were trying to keep Kaza out of your head.  But since you just saw, or thought you saw him, the similarities were more present.  You stared into Sokka’s blue eyes, your own, glistening with tears.  A sob escaped your lips, and you placed your free hand over your mouth, trying to contain the noise.  Sokka’s eyes softened, and he pulled you into him.  He held onto you as you cried, though he wasn’t sure why you were so upset.  Clearly you’d lost someone, but you never talked about yourself.

“All of our visions led us right here.”  Aang said.

“Okay, so where’s here?”  Katara questioned.  “The middle of the swamp?”

“Yeah.  The center.  It’s the heart of the swamp.”  Aang determined.  “It’s been calling us here.  I knew it.”

“It’s just a tree.  It can’t call anyone.”  Sokka voiced.  You felt his chest move as he spoke.  “For the last time, there’s nothing after us, and there’s nothing magical happening here.”

As if on cue, a giant green creature rose up out of the water.  It appeared to be made of vines, while its face was made of tree-bark.  You all yelled, grabbing onto one another, before running off in different directions.  The creature reached towards Sokka, the vines that made up his hand separating and wrapping around him.

“Sokka!”  You shouted.  You sent water at it, slicing the vines, setting Sokka free.  The creature turned its attention to Aang, swatting him and sending the boy flying.  The creature re-grew its arms and grabbed Sokka again, before speeding off, sliding on the water.  Sokka yelled, and you and Katara rode in on waves, slicing at it.

“How can we fight something that regrows!?”  You asked loudly, slicing at it again.  Katara sent a wave at the creature, knocking it backwards.  She separated the water beneath her, so it rose in small waves on either side.  She ran forward, before getting swatted back, flying past an approaching Aang.  You glared at the creature.  “Drop him!”  You shouted, slicing at its arm again.  The creature grew a third arm, and smacked Aang away, before smacking you away as well.  It pulled Sokka into its chest, and you watched in horror as your friend became consumed by vines.  Your eyes widened as you charged again.

“Give him back!!”  You pleaded, grabbing onto Sokka’s arm.  You tugged, but to no avail.  Aang jumped on top of it and used airbending, twisting the creature up.  Katara froze you and Sokka, using waterbending, and pushed herself forward on a wave, knocking all of you out the other side of the monster.  You watched as the creature slapped its arms on the water, vines crawling up it and filling the hole Katara had just caused.  Aang jumped on its head from behind, smacking it into the water.  The creature swatted at the boy, sending him flying.  Katara glared and moved her arms in a circular motion, sending water arches at it, slicing into it.  She cut off several pieces, and you got a glimpse of a man inside.

“There’s someone in there!”  Sokka shouted.  “He’s bending the vines!”

Katara sliced at its head, cutting it off, but the vines its legs were made of grabbed her, and raised her into the air.  Aang jumped in, and blew a strong wind, revealing the man again.

“Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?”  He asked.

“Actually, that seems perfectly reasonable.”  You muttered, pulling yourself to your feet.

“Wait!  I didn’t call you here.”  The man said.  The vines all dropped, revealing his full form.  He only wore a few leaves.

“We were flying over and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land.”  Aang informed.

“He’s the avatar.”  Sokka clarified.  “Stuff like that happens to us a lot.”

“The avatar?  Come with me.”  The man said, gesturing behind him.  You all looked at each other, but followed the man to a very large tree, above the rest of them.

“So, who’re you, then?”  Katara asked.

“I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it.”  He explained, bending a vine out of the way.  “Like this fellow, with his big knife.”

“See?  Completely reasonable.”  Sokka said.

“Well, actually we didn’t want to hurt it.  It was just so hard to maneuver through.”  You explained.

“Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home!”  Sokka told Aang and Katara.  “Nothing mystical about it.”  He said, sheathing his machete and climbing the tree after them.

“Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right.”  The man said.  “It’s sacred.  I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree.  I heard it calling me, just like you did.”  He told Aang, sitting down.

“Sure ya did.  It seems real chatty.”  Sokka sassed.

“See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree, spread out over miles.  Branches spread and sink, and take root, and spread some more.  One big, living organism.  Just like the entire world.”  The man said.

“I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?”  Aang questioned, sitting down.  You and the siblings followed.

“Sure.”  The man said, shrugging.  “You think you’re any different from me?  Or your friends?  Or this tree?  If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing, breathing together.  You can feel everything growing.  We’re all living together, even if most folks don’t act like it.  We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree.”

“But what did our visions mean?”  Katara asked.  You frowned, hugging your knees to your chest.

“In the swamp we see visions of people we’ve lost.  People we loved.”  The man started.  You placed your forehead on your knees.  Sokka frowned at you.  “Folks we think are gone.  But the swamp tells us they’re not.  We’re still connected to ‘em.  Time is an illusion, and so is death.”

“But what about my vision?”  Aang asked.  “It was someone I had never met.”

“You’re the avatar.  You tell me.”  The man said.

“Time is an allusion.”  Aang echoed.  “So….it’s someone I will meet.”  The man nodded.  Sokka stood, stretching.

“Sorry to interrupt the lesson,”

“No you’re not.”  You muttered.

“But we still need to find Appa and Momo.”  He finished, glancing at you.

“I think I know how to find them.”  Aang declared, placing his hand on the root you were all sitting on.  “Everything is connected.”  He parroted.  His tattoo on his hand glowed, and a white line ran down the root of the tree, disappearing into the swamp.  You all stood, waiting.  He suddenly opened his eyes.  “Come on, we’ve got to hurry.”  He informed.

You groaned as Sokka pulled you to your feet.  “Here we go again.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of singing alerted you to a group of people.  Aang shot a wind-slice, and crashes were heard.  You all pushed past the vines, seeing more men, wearing only leaves, in wooden boats, dragging Appa.  The large bison had a net around him.

“Appa!”  Aang yelled.  He shot some wind at one of the men, who was holding a bag, and he dropped it, getting thrown off the side of the boat.  Momo flew out of the bag.

“We’re under attack!”  One yelled.  He raised a wave and shot it at you, but you, Katara and Aang blocked it.

“Hey.  You guys are waterbenders.”  Katara noted.

“That doesn’t make them nice.”  You countered.

“You, too!?  That means we’re kin!”  The man observed, gesturing to himself.  Katara frowned, dropping the wave.  Sokka and the man ran out.  “Hey, Hue.  How you been?”

“You know, scared some folks, flung some vines.  The usual.”  Hue replied.  Sokka’s eyebrow raised.

“Hue?”  He asked.

~~~~~~~~~~

They had led you back to their home, and served dinner.

“How do you like that possum-chicken?”  The man asked.

“Tastes just like arctic-hen.”  Sokka noted.  “So why were you guys so interested in eating Appa?”  He asked.  “You’ve got plenty of those big things wandering around.”  He observed, pointing at a catfish-gator.

“You want me to eat old Slim?  He’s like a member of the family.”  The man announced, tossing a piece of meat in the creature’s mouth.

“Nice Slim.”  Sokka told it, tossing his own piece of meat at it.  The creature growled.  Sokka yelled quietly.  The man laughed.

“He don’t eat no bugs!  That’s people food.”  The man said.  You looked at your food, placing it on the ground, deciding you were no longer hungry.

“Where’d you say you people were from?”  The other man asked.

“The South Pole.”  Katara answered.

“Didn’t know there was any other waterbenders except here.”  The man told her.  “They got a nice swamp there, do they?”

You face-palmed.

“No, it’s all ice and snow.”  Katara answered.

“Hm.  No wonder you left.”

You had to laugh at that.  You laughed out loud.

“You know, you’re from the North Pole.”  Sokka reminded, glaring at you.  “It’s cold there, too.”

“I know.  But I understand what he means.”  You explained between laughs.  Sokka frowned before turning to his sister.

“Well, I hope you realize now, that nothing strange was going on here.  Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp.”

“What about the visions?”  Katara inquired.

“I told you, we were hungry.  I’m eating a giant bug.”  He declared, taking a bite of it.  You shuddered.

“But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?”  Aang asked.

“That’s Avatar stuff; that doesn’t count.”  Sokka told him.  “The only thing I can’t figure out is how you made the tornado to suck us down.”  He told Hue.

“I can’t do anything like that.”  Hue answered.  “I just bend the water and the plants.”  He admitted.

“Well, no accounting for weather.”  Sokka continued.  “Still, there’s absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp.”  You frowned, thinking back to the visions.  If you had tried so hard to keep Kaza out of your mind, why did he appear now?  You stood, walking away from camp.

You walked into the darkness, placing your hand on the trunk of a tree.  You looked up at it.  “Why did you show me that?”  You whispered, closing your eyes and placing your forehead against it.  You felt a hand on your shoulder, and you spun around, being met with blue eyes.  You breathed out in relief.  “You scared me.”

“Sorry.”  Sokka apologized.  There was silence for a few seconds.

“Can I help you with something?”  You asked, bringing your hand off the tree.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could help you with something.”  Sokka confessed.  “You seem off today.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”  You replied.

“Yeah, but you seem especially off.”  He countered.  He frowned.  “Is something wrong?”  He asked.  You bit your lip.

“I- um.  It’s just what I saw.”

“I thought you said you didn’t see anything.”

“Yeah, well.  I lied.”  You dared to look up at him.  His features were soft.  He was looking down at you with concern.  “But I don’t want to complain.  You and Katara saw people you missed, too.  People that died.”  You said, wrapping your arms around yourself.

“You lost someone.”  Sokka deduced.  He took a step closer.  You nodded, though you weren’t sure if he could see you.  It was very dark away from the fire.  As if the swamp read your mind, the leaves above you separated, revealing a little moonlight.  You looked back up at him, now seeing more of his face.  He was waiting.  For what, you weren’t sure.  “Do you want to talk about it?”  He asked.  “I find that often helps.”  He admitted.  You sucked in a deep breath.

“It was my brother.”  You confessed.  Sokka’s posture changed.  He seemed to be more cautious, now.  “Kaza.”  You let out a humorless laugh.  “He was an idiot.  But he cared deeply about everyone, and everything.  That’s why he volunteered to join the battle.”  You swallowed, trying to get the lump out of your throat.  “He- um.  He didn’t come back.”  You informed.  Tears were streaming down your cheeks.  “He said he had to help.  He said he’d be okay.”  You paused briefly, trying to collect yourself.  “He said he’d come back.”  You choked on a sob.  “He always was so selfless.”  You muttered.

Sokka’s frown deepened, if that was even possible.  You continued.  “When you and Liam offered to help at the North Pole, I was afraid it would happen again.”  You confessed, looking up at him.  Sokka pulled you into him, resting his arms around your waist.  “I couldn’t let it happen again.”  You whispered.  “Not to Liam.  Not to you.”  You placed your forehead on his chest.

“He left.  The warriors fought for a day, without stopping.”  You informed.  “A man came to our house the next day, saying that he was lost in the battle.  Everything was different after that.”  You took another deep breath.  “He gave us Kaza’s bracelet I made him when we were little.”  You confessed, rolling up your sleeves.  On your left wrist was the white half of a ying-yang.  On your right wrist, the black half.  “The black one was his.”  You stared down at it for a moment, before pulling it off and holding it out to Sokka.  “I want you to have it.”  You told him.

“What?  I can’t.  It was your brother’s.”  He rejected.

“Sokka, please.”  You pleaded.  “For me?”  His gaze went from you, to the bracelet, then back to you.  He sighed, gently taking it from you.  He slid it on, it resting on his forearm.  You took ahold of the pendant, matching it up with yours, to reveal a perfect fit.  Sokka looked over at you.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”  You confessed, looking up at him.  You both stood there for a few moments, neither sure what to do next, until you pulled him in, wrapping him in a hug.

“Guys?”  A voice asked.  You separated and turned, seeing Aang and Katara.

“What are you doing out here?”  Katara questioned.

“Just…uh….talking.”  You told her.  Sokka looked down at you.

“We were just coming back.”  He said, leading you all back to the fire.  “We should get some rest before we continue the journey tomorrow.”  He admitted.  Aang and Katara gave you both weird looks before laying on the ground, soon falling asleep.  You and Sokka laid down as well, backs facing each other.  You stared down at your half of the bracelet, while unbeknownst to you, Sokka was doing the same.  You sighed, closing your eyes.  The exhaustion reached you, and you finally had some peace.

A/n:  So, you could say, ‘everything changed when the firenation attacked.’  :D

Tag List:  @pizzamelon7384, @rissa-doodles, @chewymoustachio, @book-nerd-and-a-fangirl, @exo-nova, @emo-plaidin, @dinoromp, @90skid018, @mack-n-size, @thenoblenomad, @importanttyrantruler, @poisonedinventor, @thepixelatedarcher, @hitsugayarose

[dragonofyang]

From the Sock Puppet’s Mouth

Well folks, good news and bad news.

Good news: the ABTV interview on March 4th confirmed for us that WEP is the reason for the last-minute changes and that certain things were fought tooth and nail for until they came down and axed it.

Bad news: WEP is still using the EPs as their meat shields to hide behind, and despite not being really able to refuse, Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery still said some fucked up shit in this interview and the one before. And we probably should gird our loins for the next interview with Let’s Voltron!

But Yang, why in the fuck are we not going after the EPs, then?

The answer to that and why this is happening is three little letters, my friends.

NDA.

Non-disclosure agreements.

AKA the bane of your existence. And ours. And almost certainly JDS, LM, voice actors, animators, and literally anybody who has to comply with the season 8 we got back in December and the resulting fallout.

These are fairly standard in lots of situations where you’ll be working with confidential material, stuff like stories, military paperwork, movie production, that sort of thing. They generally tell you that you can’t spill the beans until a certain date when the contract expires, or when the information becomes public knowledge and the need for secrecy is lifted. Pretty standard in the entertainment business, keeps people from getting spoiled to trade secrets or important plotlines and ensures that you can trust your employees with whatever you need done for the project in question.

One other thing that these pesky little pieces of paper do is give your employer (say, the owner of a franchise or a superior officer), the ability to order you what to say just as easily as what not to. Don’t believe me? Look up interviews with the people who were in The Last Airbender (yeah… THAT movie). During production and when it was new, they all said how excited they were to work on the movie and be a part of it, but once those magical dates came by to free them of their legal obligations, they spilled more tea than the American revolutionaries did back in Boston. As soon as they wouldn’t get sued, they changed their tune about working on TLA.

Sometimes you just don’t like a project, sometimes your boss is a dick, whatever, but the fact is, if you sign one of those little things titled “Non-Disclosure Agreement”, you are bound by law to say whatever your boss tells you to. It’s very much a “they say ‘jump’, you say ‘how high’” situation. The only time this sort of shit doesn’t apply is if it implicates you in a crime. So like, your boss can’t embezzle money and then tell you to say you did it, or that you helped, or whatever. If it means you’ll get pressed charges, then you’re free to stand up and say “fuck this noise” and leave.

But JDS and LM aren’t being forced to admit to a crime, as heinous as some of what they’ve said in the past two ABTV interviews was. I’ll admit, I saw red the first time I heard the interviews on February 25 and March 4, but ya know fuckin’ what? That was the goal. Those interviews were meant to be a targeted blow against those of us in the VLD fandom who want the real s8 and for the characters to get their stories told correctly, rather than the slipshod stoic nonsense that ultimately created a story with zero meaning.

WEP/World Events Productions/Bob Koplar holds the Voltron intellectual property. JDS and LM are their puppets right now because unless they’re ordered to admit to a crime or otherwise break the law, they could be ruined legally, financially, and closed off from their trade. Would it be nice if they stuck to the scruples they displayed back when the show first started? Fuck yeah. I’d love it if they said, “screw it, here’s the real s8 with the heroine’s journey and the parallel storylines and the ending you deserved to see and get catharsis with.”

Fact is, they can’t, but we, who have never signed an NDA with WEP, DreamWorks, or Netflix or whoever the fuck else is involved, can.

They’re lying, yes, and they said despicable things that would make anybody’s blood boil, but the fact is they’re just the unfortunate human shields that will let WEP get away scot-free and it sets a very dangerous precedent about what happens when a story is being told and someone up top doesn’t like what they see. The narrative LM and JDS are being told to spin is that when the writers left, they went ham and ruined the story and that the real season 8 would be worse than the concoction we got on December 14. LM and JDS have said awful shit as WEP tries to demoralize fans and chase them off from going after the original season 8 and deflecting blame off where it should be aimed. But why would they have to write a story that’s animated and would have been completed before the writers left? LM said it herself that animation is extremely ahead of schedule compared to releases, and if you’re a fan of HTTYD like myself, you’ll know that the third movie’s release date had to be pushed back multiple times to account for the animation schedule because they failed to accurately project when it would be complete, and so pushed it back as opposed to releasing a shoddy product.

It’s simple enough to realize that the story being spun is just logically fallible and factually untrue, but because so much of what’s been said has been attacking the fandom, it’s easy to believe it. I almost wanted to believe that, too. It’s easy when there’s already a face and a name to blame. It’s harder to dig through stinging nettles, even if you know there’s a pot of gold under it all. Luckily I brought work gloves and have friends who know how to wield gardening shears.

We knew before that there was last minute edits to season 8, and @leakinghate did an excellent breakdown of that here in case you want to settle in for a nice read to see what should have been. But the interview on March 4th confirmed multiple times that the problem with the changes and story didn’t come from the EPs or even Dreamworks. The pushback came from the IP owners. JDS says so right toward the beginning, about 12 minutes in when he’s talking about Adam and Shiro’s romance. JDS and LM both discuss how it was the IP owners who gave the order to change an already-storyboarded and approved plotline for Shiro, which directly negates their tweet on March 1 claiming that the store has no creative control and the letter Bob Koplar wrote to a few fans, also written March 1, which claimed the same thing and seemed intent on absolving him as a responsible party for s8. Sure, the person tweeting and the person handling orders might not have to approve things, but that account and the store are both owned by WEP, which is easily proven if you dial WEP’s number. But the IP holders got discussed multiple times throughout the entire episode, more towards the first half than the second, which is when what they’re saying gets really screwy in terms of logic and what they’ve said before and general bullfuckery. Until JDS and LM are thanking the hosts for the unprecedented two hour interview and JDS says, “I don’t agree with myself” at 43:03, they were thanking the fans and apologizing for what happened and explaining that it wasn’t them or Dreamworks, but rather the IP holders who were pushing back.

Don’t believe me?

Click to 12:10 of the March 4 interview. JDS talks about Adam and Shiro’s relationship and how it was originally meant to be portrayed, and at the 12:50 mark he says that they got pushback about their relationship, not from Dreamworks, but from “other controlling parties with Voltron.”

Click to 18:52, where JDS mentions how they didn’t have the position as being creators of the IP. He also points out that, “We were, for all intents and purposes, like, started as a show for boys 6 to 11 to sell as much toys as possible.”

Does that phrase bother you as much as it bothers me?

Because it should.

Ever since VLD ended and the fans started pushing back against what got published as season 8, the EPs have been silent, at least for the first two-ish months. They didn’t say a word anywhere publicly about the show or if they liked it, because their NDAs probably had an “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” clause. Generally, that’s the case because part of your job is to build good PR and hype up your project. Don’t believe me? Look at how they were after literally every other season, they came out immediately saying how much they loved it and how much they hoped the fans would too, and when there was pushback about Lotor’s abuse and the colony plot they were like, “please trust us, we want to do his story justice” even when it probably would have served them better to remain silent.

Not with S8.

Until these interviews, nobody talked. And when they finally did start talking?

They all kept saying the same things.

“This is a show for boys and their dads” and “this is a show meant to sell toys to little boys.”

At no point before this did anybody on the production team say anything even remotely related.

You can look for yourself, but I guarantee you won’t find anything. “Boy toy show” has been the go-to phrase for everybody ever since the silence around season 8 broke, and it’s not their words.

It is, without a doubt, from the IP holder.

We were promised that Lotor’s arc would continue and that “there’s a lot that is at play in his brain and his mind,” in the GeekDad article about him. Narratively, Lotor and Allura were meant to foil Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar. We should’ve gotten an alchemist-versus-alchemist showdown and a cool Lotor and Lance arc. Many things that were built up in seasons 1 through 6 were dropped, and if you refer back to Hate’s meta “Seeking Truth in Darkness”, you’ll find her analysis on what was cut, why, and the plot she pieced together based on the inconsistencies in the details of the season 8 that got released. In the latest interview, JDS said, “We were just trying to break the trope, our own trope. You know what I mean? Like Voltron was its own trope and the sort of little nook that we inhabited was, like, sort of boys toys was its own weird tropey situation.”

And despite all this talk of family and love and complexity and breaking barriers, we received two things from December 14 and on: VLD season 8, and silence.

Complete and utter silence.

The VAs were trotted out to face the wrath of the fans at SAC Anime 2019 and there was nary a word to be heard from the EPs, Dreamworks, WEP, Netflix… Nobody had anything to say about the final season of Voltron. The VAs even commented that there were things they were and weren’t allowed to say. And if they wanted to say anything, their NDAs and general social etiquette prevented them from saying whatever was actually on their mind, because I guarantee you nobody happy about the season would have kept silent. Even when all the season 7 backlash happened, JDS and LM asked us as a fandom to please wait and see, because there would be narrative payoff.

Which is why the latest two interviews with ABTV are all the more rightfully infuriating.

In the February 25 interview, LM specifically says that the initial pitch was to kill everybody, everybody would die and that would be the end of it, and that they had to back off from that. After the broken promises of season 8, that’s pretty damn believable to a fandom who’s rightfully hurting and grieving what could have finished a great show. But then with this March 4 interview, she says that she wanted to go Sailor Moon with it and have Allura come back as a baby after sacrificing herself. Kind of hard for those two stories to mesh when the person LM says would raise Allura would also have been one of the ones to die in the initial pitch.

So what exactly is the truth there?

Frankly, I think neither of those ideas is the truth. At least completely.

Why? A) It sounds like a super early pitch idea and B) because their general behavior disagrees with every interview leading up to season 8. Because if LM and JDS were proud of this product that got released, they would have said so and behaved as normal, if maybe a little more reserved due to fandom backlash. Because they wouldn’t be silent and only coming out with interviews after two months and several of #TeamPurpleLion metas that poke massive holes in what exists of season 8, CallVoltron has been sending letters, and #FREEVLDS8 garnered over 30,000 signatures. WEP has been trying to do damage control ever since we as a fandom started putting two and two together about where these disastrous last-minute changes came from, and only when the petition got updated to include WEP as a point of focus did WEP start trying to discredit the fans and meta writers who were coming too close to the truth. Here is a complete list of everything that’s happened since December 14, to give you an idea of just how wild of a ride this has been.

One main consistent thing throughout everything that’s happened since season 8 dropped is that everybody from the EPs up is lying, whether by omission or outright or through someone else, people have been lying like mad. WEP doesn’t want you to know that they own the IP and have strong input, despite confirming it by liking a tweet on February 13 and how you can be directed to their store if you call WEP’s phone number. WEP doesn’t want you to know that they gave the original season 8 the axe. WEP got scared that we got close and so they trotted out their EPs after two months of silence to try and break those of us hunting for the truth. These two interviews, which, mind you, came after what was scheduled to be the last one.

The official story continues to fall apart with every word of these last two interviews, too. JDS says that they were crafting the epilogue for season 8 during the aftermath of season 7, but according to him they completed season 8 back in June.

Again: which is the truth?

I stand with @leakinghate and the rest of #TeamPurpleLion and think that the original season 8 was completed back in June, but that the backlash from s7 and the general disapproval of a story of empowerment caused the truly-eleventh-hour edits to s8. The EPs are being forced to lie to you due to their contracts, WEP wants to keep hiding and lying and calling their customers liars and mocking them. But the funny thing is that the more intricate the lie, the harder it is to keep it straight versus the truth, as evidenced by how JDS and LM seem to be confusing what was in s8 versus what was pitched versus what they were told to say.

So what’s it all mean, then?

It means you should be watching and writing letters and calling WEP and calling them out publicly whenever WEP and Bob Koplar lie to the consumers and customers that express dissatisfaction with their service and their products.

WEP forgets that there is more to fandom than diehard dads and young boys.

The more they ignore the majority of their consumers, the more money they lose, the more faith they lose, and the less people will want to follow their future projects (like if they decide to do an MFE spinoff). Let’s Voltron is coming up with a new episode with JDS and LM, and they’re hoping to get it up soon. I’d just like to remind y’all that it’s scripted and pre-recorded, it’s not live, and it benefits from being the official Voltron podcast and has to keep good relations with WEP in order to retain that status. So don’t stop calling, write letters, hell just leave a Facebook or Twitter review of the business to express your satisfaction or lack thereof with how WEP treats customers and its show and everything. After all, the road to s8 is paved with honesty.

@felixazrael @leakinghate @crystal-rebellion @voltronisruiningmylife

[archivedxarsenal]

@siireniis​ asked: a moment of weakness

  Send ‘a moment of weakness’ and the generated outcome will be used for a small drabble scenario or starter. { tw violence } || accepting

16. My muse is sick and continues daily routine even though they seem on the verge of passing out.

        Atlas considers himself pretty damn tough. He’s struggled through all kinds of injuries,damn near-death experiences. He’s been stabbed, he’s almost been poisoned, and through all of this he’s managed to pull through everything like the survivor he was. But the morning before he’d felt a bit sick, brushing it off as a small cold.  

     But he kept getting worse, and by the next morning he was a disaster. Dizzy, nauseous, he’d slept in most of the morning. It’s evident he has a high fever, but the man is too tough for his own good. He forces himself to go to work, showing up at the casino for his shift.

   he doesn’t want to cause any trouble for the workers, so he’s uncharacteristically quite and too himself, trying to keep an eye on everything,do his job. He can’t let anyone down, not Zach, not his coworkers, the people he’s keeping safe. 

    he’s using the wall for support, the room is spinning and he can only go out for fresh air a few times before SOMEONE notices. When he sees that Zach seems to have picked up on his ill feeling, so he takes a deep breath, willing his normal facade into existence, despite the fact he can barely stand up straight.

      “Yo. Need somethin’? It’s pretty chill today.” Even his grin is weaker than it should be. no weakness.

[swanfireprincessmydear]

Okay, so I finally started watching Legend Of Korra

I originally watched the series’ first season as it aired, when LOK was meant to be a one-series-only spinoff but never continued.

That was years ago now and I’d pretty much forgotten everything besides the main few points of the season one storyline.

I am currently up to episode 6 and while I don’t want to judge to early... it’s bad. Most people, when explaining why they dislike Korra, talk about how they “ruined” the characters for TLA, however that’s not my issue. Korra herself along with Moko? Mako? Momo? And Bolin are straight up boring and a drag to watch. Not only are they incredibibly one dimensional, but their characterization just sucks. They bore me. There I said it. The characters are boring. We already have some sort of messy forced love-triangle that makes no sense (I’ll get to it in a minute) and Tenzin is... the only character who mildly interests me but at the same time just feels like any stubborn, serious, wise older man.

Okay, here’s where it really started to get on my nerves. We know that Korra likes Momo Fire Bender guy (I legit can’t remember his name I’m not even joking) because she told us so. We know Momo likes Korra because he told Bolin so and we know Bolin likes Korra because he said so. Nothing is shown. We are constantly told how the characters feel and it takes away from how I’m supposed to feel about how there feeling. I couldn’t care less about these characters because to me they don’t feel anything and if they do I know about it because they outright say it!

I also once saw something saying the LOK was like if you took the Avatar universe and said “MORE AMIRRICA” and slapped a bunch of US flags on it. I miss looking at the Asian architecture. I miss the precise style of bending. I don’t hate LOK so far, it’s entertaining and I’m enjoying watching it as a sorta fun TV show. But it no where near comes close to the impact and emotional level of The Last Airbender so far. Does it get better? Is there hope? Do I hold out or give up.

Here’s the thing. Korra was originally written to be a one-season spin off series. So I feel like as I’ve watched half of the season, it should have grabbed me in by now. Where’s my Blue Spirit episode? The episode that had people going “omg I want more!” Because I haven’t hit that point yet. Also Asumi is so bland and at this point she could just disappear randomly with no explanation like the dude from Lizzy McGuire and I wouldn’t care. Okay sorry this post is a mess I just wanted to air my grievances.

[excuse-to-procrastinate]

Anybody here wanna let me infodump about my Avatar TLA/TLoK spin-off idea? 👉🏽👈🏽

[recentanimenews]

Random Scattered Thoughts on Avatar: The Last Airbender

I historically would never bother with a non-Japanese animated series. Why mess with an “imitation” of anime when there’s plenty of the real thing? My previous, vague idea of Avatar: The Last Airbender was of just such a quaint, kiddy imitation with English voice actors that could never shape up to the style and depth of the best anime has to offer.

I have come to see these as horrible, ignorant opinions that have thankfully been reversed. A:TLA’s central theme is learning to move forward from past mistakes, and disliking the show sight unseen was definitely one such mistake. Having just completed the 61-episode series on Netflix, I can say without reservation that A:TLA is one of the finest pieces of televised entertainment I’ve ever had the privilege to watch. Talk about a reversal!

Does that mean the show is flawless? Not quite. Without getting into the nitty-gritty, any nitpicks I had with the show are vastly overshadowed by the sheer greatness exhibited by A:TLA in every aspect of what makes a great show: Characters, Story, Setting. All of the fundamentals are not only sound, but staggeringly adept.

Team Avatar, AKA the Aang Gang, is a group of friends, nay, a family for the ages. There’s Aang the Avatar with the weight of the world and past iterations of himself on his slight shoulders. The warm and passionate Katara. Her brother Sokka, with the plans and the jokes. Toph, one of the most stone bad-ass characters ever to grace the screen.

Then there’s Zuko, owner of one of the most dramatic, compelling character arcs of the show (or any show). His delightful, insightful Uncle Iroh. Appa and Momo. Sokka’s awesome Kyoshi Warrior friend Suki. Zuko’s twisted sister Azula and dowright evil dad Ozai. Mai and Ty Lee. The Cabbage Guy. The Boulder. Bumi. There are so goddamn many great characters, and how they grow, mature, learn from and interact with each other is never not compelling.

As I got into A:TLA, it became clear the creators borrowed a lot from the visual language of anime, from the blushing and head veins to the beautiful collection of various characters’ twisted reaction faces. But those are mainly surface resemblances. The creators didn’t just borrow the style, they expanded and in some cases, improved upon it, making something new and unique and excellent.

For all of the emotional heart of the characters and their shifting dynamics, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the astonishing action of A:TLA, with characters of different nations consistently demonstrating distinct styles of martial arts, all of it masterfully executed by the animation teams. The creativity with which fire, water, earth and air are used by the various benders cannot be overstated.

Many people have written many more and better words about this show, and I seem to be simply gushing about it right now, but suffice it to say, I am a full-blown convert: Avatar: The Last Airbender is legit great TV that transcends imitation anime at every turn. I can’t wait to dive into its spin-off series The Legend of Korra (currently streaming on CBS All-Access in the U.S.)…and to (probably)hate-watch the much-derided TLA live-action film!

By: braverade

[evanvanness]

Annotated edition for the June 14, 2020, Week in Ethereum News

It was a bit of a slow week on the Ethereum front.  Last week’s glut of layer2 was a bit lighter this week.

The Eth2 multi-client testnet was quite stable and they’re going to be spinning up a new one (mildly different spec, so new testnet).  Prysmatic has their own testnet and they launched a new one

If you’re a dev, then you probably already know about how ethers v5 is out, though the blog post is still forthcoming.

$COMP mining is happening now.  See below.

Finally, Bank Frick is offering customers the option to use USDC instead of SWIFT for cheaper and faster transfers.  A glimpse of the future.

Also, this newsletter now has a jobs section!  The ads certainly aren’t cheap, but it beats paying $20,000 to a headhunter. I’ve had the idea for a long time, but generally thought I’d have a recruiting side business.  But ultimately job listings feels more natural for me than being a recruiter.  

Here’s the most clicked for the week:

Hasu tweeted to his audience of mostly bitcoiners, “Elastic blocksize caps and congestion control systems could become an important building block in securing Bitcoin post block subsidy.”  That’s an interesting argument, but can anyone even imagine it happening though?  Can’t see Blockstream ever agreeing to it, so at best a bitcoin fork could put it in. 

Every week I mention a few higher level articles for Eth holders:

Analysis of EIP1559 (fee market change) from Hasu and Georgios Konstantopoulos

A framework to compare and evaluate layer2 solutions

These aren’t that high level this week, but there’s only 2 of them, so you can sacrifice quantity for quality.  

In the long run, for "crypto” to be successful at any meaningful societal level, most things will happen at layer2, so you might want to have an idea about the tradeoffs in layer2 system.  Matter Labs helpfully provided a framework and comparison chart.

As for 1559, it’s a big change and requires a lot of thought and testing - might get included in the hard fork at the end of the year, but it might not.  

Eth1

Analysis of EIP1559 (fee market change) from Hasu and Georgios Konstantopoulos

Latest core devs call. Notes from Tim Beiko: STATICCALL likely to be repriced to 40 gas, account abstraction prototype, option 2 for EIP2565, discussion of eth2 deposit proxy contract, YOLO ephemeral testnet issues

Geth v1.9.15 includes implementations of Berlin fork EIPs

Not much to say here that wasn’t already said

Eth2

Latest what’s new in Eth2, Witti multi-client testnet quite stable, next testnet in a week called Altona

Latest Eth2 call. Notes from Ben, discussion of validator key hygiene

Prysmatic successfully launched their Onyx testnet. An updated guide to staking on Onyx

Lighthouse client update – getting to the final spec, discv5 rewrite for CPU optimization, tiny RAM use

Updating and generating Kate witnesses in amortized sqrt(n) time

An explainer for phase zero of eth2

IvanOnTech’s eth2 explainer

Protecting withdrawal keys

Most of this has no further elaboration necessary, but I love how this section slips in “updating and generating Kate witnesses in amortized sqrt(n) time” right next to high level eth2 explainers.  Basically, that’s a mathy way fo explain Verkle Trees, which might replace Merkle trees if they can solve a bunch more problems.

Layer2

A framework to compare and evaluate layer2 solutions

Formally verifying state channels with TLA+

Volition: hybrid onchain/offchain data decision by users at the transaction level from StarkWare

Arguably the state channels verification post was more appropriate in the stuff for devs section.

Probably the best summary of the Volition post is their own graphic.

Volition is an interesting attempt to change the “offchain vs onchain data” paradigm.  Basically, they’ll let users decide for each transaction whether they want to put the data onchain. 

This newsletter is made possible by Trail of Bits!

Contract upgrades are not as safe as you think. Trail of Bits has catalogued 17 different ways that upgrades can go wrong, and built tools that help validate upgrades before you run them. Use Crytic to keep your contracts safe from these flaws.

Stuff for developers

ethers v5 is on npm, though RicMoo is still updating documentation

web3js v1.2.9 – better transaction submission tracking

Brownie and React starter tutorial

Querying your eth2 validator balance with Infura

Async event-driven app architecture with EthVigil

17 checks to make upgradeable contracts safer with Crytic

Diamond Setter manager for your Diamond Standard upradeable contracts

If you’re starting a new project, use ethers.   

Other than that, stuff mostly speaks for itself I think.

Ecosystem

Transaction pool analyzer tool

Deanonymization using transaction time and gas price analysis. Use good privacy hygiene and this isn’t a problem

3 transactions with massive transaction fees (1, 2, 3). First 2 paid over 10k ETH each for a transaction fee. Lots of speculation about who screwed up and how.

Trueblocks: how accurate is Etherscan?

Zengo’s tx pool analyzer is very neat.

I don’t want to get into the speculation about what’s going on with those crazy transaction fees.  Looks like some kind of bug to me; what’s odd is that they haven’t caught it.  

Ethermine decided that after 4 days without having heard from them, that they were going to distribute it to their miners.  It’s always been a nice part of Ethereum that pool operators have generally returned these mistake fees, so Ethermine got a bit of flak.  But as a mining pool operator, you don’t want to be in the position of custodying large amounts of money for indeterminate time periods.  

Now that a pool operator has distributed a large fee, you have to wonder whether that puts them in a competitive position versus other mining pools.  

Immediately after publishing, I saw that security firm PeckShield claims to have identified the victim:

Enterprise

Baseline protocol explained

Baselining business process across Microsoft Dynamics and Google Sheets video 

DAOs and Standards

TheLAO is extending Moloch v2 with Raid Guild’s Minion (programmatic proxy) framework for non-accredited investor baby DAOs

DAOs: governance as a service

EIP2711: Separate gas payer from msg.sender

EIP2718: Typed Transaction Envelope

It’s been interesting to see a lot of groups pick the Moloch codebase up and adapt it.  If I understand it correctly, Minion is a proxy that will let the DAO vote and adopt any bit of code.  Very neat, and will make the Moloch family of DAOs even more powerful.  

Application layer

Unstoppable Domains launches blogs on the dweb using 3Box and IPFS. Etherscan launches BlockScan, a dweb search engine

Use Balancer pools as swing trading

a Foundation Markets technical primer, automated market makers for artists

Austrian post office returns with CryptoStamps v2

LexDAO’s personal token factory with dispute resolution via their DAO vote

Opyn now has call options

TokenSets upgraded with better rebalancing for less slippage (ahem: higher returns!)

PodsFinance: Money legos with options, lock aUSDC as collateral when selling American put options. Live on testnet

Between the publication of Week in Eth News and this annotated edition, COMP started distributing its token.

In a word: 🚀

Lots of people are now mining for COMP, because the market cap exploded up to a billion (it’s come down a bit at time of screenshot)

So people are putting their assets into Compound to get the (now quite valuable) COMP token.   This screenshot from DeFiPulse shows the ETH locked has migrated to Compound

You can check how much you’d get of the $COMP token through various actions.   If you start mining, be careful with your leverage!

On retrospect, I could have written much of this about Balancer last week, though it was a bit different because the Balancer token does not yet exist. $COMP exists and is on Uniswap (and presumably Balancer soon as well, though Balancer uses Coingecko data for their token distribution, which is why I suppose no one has added it at the moment)

Tokens/Business/Regulation

Bank Frick lets customers replace SWIFT with USDC for faster processing

ConsenSys starts KYC/AML compliance service

Ontario Securities Commission report on Quadriga: Gerald Cotten lost 143m trading

Tim Swanson: 40 crypto controversies to look into

Dove Mountain Data – crypto venture investor directory and their deals

Opolis live – HR/benefits solution for the US

The oddest thing about the ConsenSys compliance service is the paranoid conspiracies.  It’s worth remembering that half the people got into “crypto” because, like a Rorschach test, many Bitcoiners can see conspiracy in anything.

These compliance services are a fact of life.  You may not like them, but with ConsenSys increasingly an enterprise-focused company, it makes sense that they have their own compliance offering, especially since they had Alethio already built.

Speaking of regulatory bodies, the Ontario Securities Commission found that Gerald Cotten lost AT LEAST 143m, the vast majority of which was lost on his own exchange. How bad at trading do you have to be to see all the data of what people are doing on your exchange AND STILL LOSE MONEY?

General

Crypto data breaches so far in 2020

Crosstalk: Cross side channel attack on Intel CPUs; can exploit SGX

SGAxe: Cacheout attack targeting SGX

Lamphone: measure light bulb variations from up to 80 ft away to record audio conversations

Gavin Andresen: Ethereum can scale Bitcoin

Checkout the job listings below!

I saw a tweet a few weeks ago about how SGX exists so that security researchers can write papers about how they broke the “secure enclave.”  

That Lamphone attack is something else though.  I remain skeptical that this is something that can ever really be used, sounds a bit more like Van Eck phreaking than it does an attack likely to be pulled off in the wild.

Job Listings

Reflexer Labs (RAI): smart contract dev lead, fullstack JS dev, python/devops lead

Aave: Solidity Rockstar? let’s build the future of DeFi together wecare@aave.com

Nomic Labs (Buidler): join our dev experience & tooling engineering team!

Chainlink: Lead Test Engineer and Senior Software Security Engineer

0x is hiring full-stack, back-end, front-end engineers + 1 data scientist

OpenZeppelin is hiring! To apply, visit: https://openzeppelin.com/jobs

Celer Network: Android developer

Trail of Bits is looking for masters of low-level security. Apply here.

Want your job listing here? $250 per line (~75 character limit including spaces), payable in ETH/DAI/USDC to evan.ethereum.eth. Questions? thecryptonewspodcast -at-gmail

Housekeeping

Follow me on Twitter @evan_van_ness to get the annotated edition of this newsletter on Monday or Tuesday. Plus I tweet most of what makes it into the newsletter.

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Permalink: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-june-14-2020/

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new/changes in bold):

June 15 – Gitcoin CLR matching grants begins

June 16 – deadline to apply for Gitcoin’s Kernel incubator

June 17 – Stateless Ethereum call

June 29 – Swarm first public event

Aug 2 – ENS grace period begins to end

Oct 2-Oct 30 – EthOnline hackathon

[majsmom]

Random Taggy Thing

I was tagged by @escapewithstories. Thanks for including me.

Rules: if you get this, you have to say 5 random things about yourself, then tag 10 other people

1. I'm addicted to make-up tutorials but I don't wear make-up.

2. I am so nosey. If there is something off, I'll sniff it out and get to the bottom of it. I have destroyed three surprise parties because of it.

3. I make up stories about people all day. I am that girl staring at you through the Starbucks window while you are arguing with your girlfriend. I'll have a whole universe put together before you even notice.

4. I love concerts of all kinds. I just like to hear and feel live music. It recharges your soul. I feel the same way about theatre.

5. I was only every high one time. I was at a concert at the TLA on South Street and there was this guy smoking this big ass blunt. I was standing in a really great spot so I refused to move. The room started spinning and my brother grabbed me before I sat down on the dirty floor. I made it to the end of the concert but I needed to get fresh air.

I tag any one that wants to participate.