#whats exploding? why are there explosions? sparky sparky boom man

[m340700]

he should be fine

[bard-llama]

WiP Wednesday: Early S3 AU

I decided I wanted to figure out how to make Zuko join the Gaang after Ba Sing Se but before the Invasion, so here’s what I came up with lol

After the war meeting in which the Fire Lord had proclaimed that they would burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground, Zuko had to get away from the palace. He knew he was too transparent, knew that if he lingered, his doubts would be visible and Father would be disappointed again and Azula would torment him and–

So. He left. He found a minor official duty to carry out far, far away from the capital. Touring the secure prison facilities of Fire Fountain City was one of those duties that everyone always put off, but was technically important, so getting approval for his trip was both easy and did not require speaking to his father face to face, for which he was grateful.

Zuko wore his heavy official robes and was shadowed by two royal guards as he followed the local Fire Fountain City guard through the jail. To be honest, he wasn’t paying that much attention, more focused on the screaming in his brain that had been there ever since Father had seriously decreed that they were going to burn down the Earth Kingdom.

Why!? What was the point of it!? Three and a half million people lived in the Earth Kingdom, including their own citizens! The Fire Nation colonies were in the Earth Kingdom, and Father hadn’t said anything specifically about them, but–

And for what? What good did burning the land they conquered do them!?

Why had everyone in that war room cheered for this plan!? Were they all insane!?

Zuko knew better than to speak out, but holding his tongue in that moment had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. He was the only one who hadn’t burst into applause after Father’s speech (though he’d forced himself to join in, so as not to attract undue attention).

Not a single other person on that war council had appeared to object to this plan in the slightest. How could that be!? What was wrong with them!?

He swallowed hard, recentering himself before he could lose control in front of the guards. He would – he would figure out something. There had to be a way to do something. There had to be.

“Up ahead, we have a specially-ordered wooden cell, to contain two very valuable prisoners,” the Fire Fountain City guard was saying when Zuko tuned back in. “There’s–”

He was cut off by an explosion and Zuko instinctively bent the flames away from them, moving into a battle stance. Two figures emerged from the cell and it took a moment for Zuko to recognize them through the smoke, but the piercing glare of Katara’s eyes was more than familiar.

“You!” Katara snarled.

“Katara,” the little earthbender girl, Toph, hissed. “We gotta find Aang before Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Man does!”

Zuko blinked as Katara nodded to her companion and then pulled water from somewhere, sending ice spikes at Zuko. He batted them aside with a burst of flame, but when his vision cleared, they were both gone.

“Wait!” He called out without thinking about it, running after them. The legend was that the Avatar was the only one who could stop the Fire Lord. That meant the Avatar needed to know how urgently that was needed.

“Your Highness!” one of his guards shouted after him and Zuko tore off the ornate outer robes, throwing them into the guards’ faces for long enough to elude them. The last thing he needed was them getting in the way.

Now with a freer range of motion, Zuko ran after Katara and Toph. It didn’t take long to catch up, especially not when the two he was following ran into their two missing compatriots. At the sight of him, they all sank into attack positions, but for once, he didn’t want to fight them.

Before he could say as much, the air around the Avatar sparked and exploded and he dove out of the way, running with his friends behind him.

Shit. Zuko knew he’d forgotten something.

The assassin he had hired followed after the Avatar and his friends and Zuko chased him without thought.

“Wait!” he yelled. “Stop! I order you to stop!”

The assassin did actually still, and for a second, Zuko really thought–

Then the assassin turned, eyes fixing on Zuko. It took a moment too long for Zuko to recognize the way the air crackled and he crossed his arms in front of his face, bending as much of the explosion as he could away.

It wasn’t enough and he was sent flying back, slamming into a wall. The last thing he thought before the world went black was fuck, feels like broken ribs.

––

Sokka did not know what was happening. It was not a feeling he enjoyed. All he knew was that Toph and Katara had been gone for too long on their scam, and when he and Aang went searching for them, they found the entire city seemingly abandoned.

Then the explosions had started.

Running into Katara and Toph – almost literally – was a relief, but he had no idea where they came from. That relief quickly soured as he caught sight of who was chasing after them.

“Zuko,” he snarled, holding his boomerang at the ready.

Another explosion went off, far too close to them and Sokka decided that maybe Zuko wasn’t such a significant concern right now. Not dying needed to be the priority.

Then, for some reason, Zuko shouted at Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Man – you know, maybe Combustion Man would be better – ordering him to stop.

Suddenly there was an explosion where Zuko was, and then there was a too-loud thud as Zuko collided with the closest wall.

Sokka had just a few seconds to take that in before the air around them was exploding again. He ran, making sure his friends stayed together and pushing Zuko from his mind.

They dodged around the city, trying to outrun Combustion Man, but they weren’t having much luck. They did get a small lead when Toph threw a boulder in front of an explosion and the shrapnel hit Combustion Man as well, but it wasn’t enough.

Somehow, they ended up near the wall that had a Zuko-shaped imprint. Zuko himself was leaning against the concave wall, one hand over his ribs, the other helping him stand. He definitely looked like he’d had better days and Sokka once again dismissed him from his thoughts. Right now, Combustion Man was the significant threat.

Speaking of…

Combustion Man had somehow managed to get ahead of them and he jumped down in front of them, his metal feet stomping into the cobblestone.

Fuck. Sokka and his friends backed, but all they had at their back was Zuko and a wall, and this was very, very bad.

“Aim for the eye,” a hoarse voice said and Sokka blinked.

“What?”

“Aim for the eye on his forehead. Disrupt his chi. Hurry!”

With a shrug at his companions, Sokka threw his boomerang because really, he had no better ideas.

He managed to score a hit, but it didn’t seem like it really did much other than stun Combustion Man, because he shook himself and inhaled, ready to explode them. Only it was the air around him that crackled and popped and–

“Duck!” Zuko shouted, and then there was a loud whoosh and fwoom and heat washed over Sokka’s back where he was curled around Toph, instinctively shielding her head. But the pain he was expecting never came and when Sokka glanced up, he saw Zuko with his arms spread, containing the explosion in a way he hadn’t known firebending could do.

Finally, it was over and Zuko slumped back against the wall, hugging his midriff. Sokka stood slowly, helping Toph up – and actually being permitted to do so – and checking on Aang and Katara. Everyone seemed to be okay.

Where Combustion Man had been, the cobblestone and the walls were charred black. There was… something lying in the ash, but if Sokka looked too closely, he was going to end up throwing up.

He made sure Aang didn’t look that way. He didn’t need to see that.

Instead, Sokka turned them to face Zuko, who… wasn’t actually attacking. Although, from the way he was holding his ribs, it was possible he couldn’t attack.

Still, Sokka was ready. They surrounded Zuko, all in defensive positions, but Zuko held out his free hand.

“I’m not here to fight you,” he said.

“Then why are you here?” Katara demanded.

Zuko licked his lips, then blurted out, “you have to stop him.”

“What?”

“You – you have to stop him,” Zuko repeated. “You have to stop my Father. You’re the only one who can.”

Sokka shared a confused glance with Aang and Katara.

“I thought you were on your Father’s side,” Aang said slowly.

“I am,” Zuko said immediately. “But – he’s planning to burn down the Earth Kingdom!”

“What!?”

“He’s – he’s gone crazy. They’ve all gone crazy!” Zuko continued, unscarred eye wide with something like panic. “They want to burn three point five million people to the ground!”

Sokka stared, speechless. The others didn’t seem much better either.

“He’s not lying,” Toph murmured quietly.

“Why are you warning us?” Katara asked suspiciously.

Zuko just shook his head. “Our colonies are in the Earth Kingdom! There’s thousands and thousands of civilians who have nothing to do with the war. You can’t let them burn.”

Before they could say anything, there was a shout of “Prince Zuko!” and pounding footsteps approached them. Shit.

Interestingly, Zuko appeared just as concerned about the approach as they were – and then he hissed quietly, “take me hostage.”

“What!?”

“Hurry!”

Sokka stared at Zuko, baffled, but then the guards were upon them and Toph had never needed telling twice when it came to following a bad idea.

“Back off!” she yelled, creating a sharp spike of stone and moving it to rest against Zuko’s throat.

“Your Highness!” the guards cried out, horrified. Zuko didn’t move.

Belatedly, Sokka shook himself and moved to actually restrain Zuko, holding his boomerang to Zuko’s throat, because maybe Toph had it covered, but he needed to do something.

Zuko did not resist in the slightest.

“If you come after us, we’ll kill your Prince!” Toph threatened, edging backwards. Aang blew the bison whistle frantically and they all edged away around the corner – and then bolted, Zuko easily freeing himself from Sokka’s grasp, but running with them anyway.

Appa landed in front of them and they all scrambled up into the saddle, Zuko seemingly encountering no issue with jumping from the ground, even though even Aang could only do that with airbending.

As soon as they were all on Appa, they took flight, and they could see the guards trying to follow them, but before long, they were out of sight.

Aang brought them to the first abandoned little island they could find and as soon as they landed, they all fell to the ground in relief. Except for Zuko, who landed lightly on his toes and immediately began pacing, swearing under his breath as he pulled his hair, ruffling the fancy topknot.

“Uh.” Sokka shared a confused look with Aang and Katara. This was not how confrontations with Zuko were supposed to go.

“Aren’t your ribs broken?” Toph asked eventually.

Zuko barely paused, just muttering, “had worse. I really need to stop getting blown up.”

“I’m sorry, what!?”

Zuko didn’t answer, going back to his pacing. Mostly he seemed to be repeating “fuck” to himself, so Sokka didn’t feel bad interrupting again.

“What the fuck is going on?” he demanded.

Zuko started rambling. “If the guards heard anything, they think I’m a traitor and I’m dead. If they didn’t… then they think I’m a hostage and will report it to my father. He probably won’t care much, ‘cause if I can’t free myself, what good am I? But if they report that you’re alive, then I’m dead anyway, because Azula told him I killed you. Also they probably think we murdered the assassin, which is not great, but better than being dead, so–”

“Hold up,” Sokka held up a hand. “First off, whose side are you on?”

“I don’t know!” Zuko said, pulling on his own hair. “He’s – he’s crazy! He – how can anyone think that’s a good idea!? But they did! All of them! The entire war council cheered at the idea of fucking genocide and–”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Toph said. “I think we need more context here. What’s going on, Sparky?”

Zuko stopped, blinking. “...Sparky?”

“Would you prefer Princey?”

“Definitely not,” Zuko said immediately. “Um. So, okay, yesterday, there was an important war council meeting. I was invited to attend.” He swallowed hard, breathing shaky. “The – the Generals reported that there were still earthbender rebellions that were causing trouble in the Earth Kingdom. They recommended sending more troops, but – my Father asked me if I thought sending more troops would help. And I – all I said was that the people of the Earth Kingdom are proud and strong and can endure anything as long as they have hope. But Father took that to mean we need to destroy their hope and then Azula suggested burning everything down and everyone applauded and Sozin’s Comet is coming and millions of people live in the Earth Kingdom! They’ve all gone crazy!”

Zuko’s frantic words fell over themselves as he spewed them out, clearly stressed and panicked. They’d never seen him like this before and frankly, it was weird. Where was the shouty, fire-happy asshole they knew and despised?

This guy in front of them almost seemed human.

“Zuko,” Aang interrupted Zuko’s tirade. “Breathe.”

Zuko sucked in a loud breath and let it out slowly. “What do we do?”

“‘We’!?”

“The Avatar is the only one who can stop the Fire Lord,” Zuko said casually. “And he has to be stopped. They all have to be stopped.”

“Are you… asking to join us?” Toph said slowly.

“No! Yes! I don’t know!” he threw his hands up in the air, then tugged on his hair again. “How can they all have gone crazy!? What is wrong with them!?”

“So… to be clear, you are not in favor of genocide?” Sokka asked.

“Of course not!” Zuko burst out, sounding offended.

“Okay, just gotta check,” Sokka held his hands out placatingly. “‘Cause you know, this isn’t exactly a new thing for the Fire Nation.”

Zuko stared at him. “What?”

Katara scoffed. “If you’re so opposed, why didn’t you say anything? If you really thought it was wrong, you would have spoken out.”

Face twisting with anger, Zuko snarled, “oh, forgive me for wanting to keep the other half of my face!”

Sokka blinked. “Wait, what!?”

Zuko blinked. “What?”

“What the fuck did you mean, about your face?”

“...oh.” Zuko looked like he’d swallowed something that wriggled. “You don’t know.”

“Know what?”

“When – when I was thirteen, I spoke out in a war council meeting,” Zuko said, voice shaking slightly.

[helliontherapscallion]

sibling hybrid!creeper reader headcannons/one-shot for SBI ( + ranboo? 🧍‍♀️ ) hurt/comfort. like maybe the reader struggles with emotions and doesn't know how to deal w/ them healthily, so they end up bottling them up and kinda explode at times.

sorry if this is too specific, i just really like your writing :) congrats on 1k!! <3

and one last thing,.. can i be 🫂 anon?

(A/N): I had a lot of fun with this one, and thank you : ) I hope you don’t mind that I added Tubbo. Also one more thing, I imagine the explosion is kinda like a Bakugou situation but uncontrollable

Warnings: anti-hybrid rhetoric/slurs (speciesism???), swearing, blood (not much, just mentions of a nose bleed)

It was completely an accident this time, it all just came so fast. You were standing in front of a store window when you felt something rub against your leg. When you looked down, panic engulfed your entire being when you saw an orange cat rubbing and nuzzling against your leg, letting out deep purrs. You had no clue why this cat wasn’t chasing you like all other cats usually did, but you didn’t want to ponder. You felt the familiar pressure building up inside of you as a startled hiss left your mouth and you jumped away from the creature. Your skin was sparking and popping as your freckles lit up in a glowing green light. 

Finally, explosions left your skin as the glass shattered next to you and gravel was turned up and thrown about. You fell to your knees and rubbed at your burning eyes and wiped the blood from your nose. Exploding like that had always taken a lot out of you and made your nose bleed. You suspected that it was because of the sudden build up and release of pressure and energy. 

The back of your shirt was grabbed and you were yanked off from the ground. There staring at you was the owner of the shop that you accidentally blew up. His green eyes were ablaze as he gritted his teeth and looked into your eyes.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?! You blew up my window!”

Small hisses left your mouth, “I-I’m sorry sir I swear I didn’t mean t-”

“Like hell you didn’t! Your kind always destroys everything!”

You stopped struggling and narrowed your eyes at him, “my kind?”

“Yes, hybrids! Filthy mutts, all you do is destroy! You’re a bunch of freaks.”

You could feel another explosion coming about and this time you did not even attempt to hold this one back. You stared him dead in the eyes with the harshest glare you could muster. As soon as the hisses started to leave your mouth and the freckles once again glowed green, the man’s eyes widened before he threw you into the street away from the building. Another explosion left you and disassembled the neat cobblestone of the road. A single stone flew and shattered what was left of the store window. Another flew and hit the store owner in the head knocking him out. 

And here you were now; hisses left your mouth as you ran down the beaten path of the village towards the exit. The iron golem following you was hot on your tail, it’s booming footsteps picking up dust clouds from the gravel. Villagers around you scattered and started to whisper fearfully amongst themselves. You could feel their fearful and angry stares burning holes through you. After you got out of the village and the iron golem was still chasing you, you ducked into the forest where you knew it wouldn’t follow you. You climbed up a tree and watched as the golem angrily smacked the foliage out of the way before it gave up and hobbled back into the village. 

You dragged your feet tiredly back home, wanting nothing more than to collapse in your bed. Your senses were on overdrive as you were hyper aware of everything around you. You’ve never exploded twice within the span of ten minutes before, and it wore you out. Small exhausted hisses left your mouth as you trudged along the path. 

After getting home you walked past a confused and concerned Wilbur, dodging his hands that were trying to grab you so he could get a better look at you. You walked up the stairs ignoring his questions and walked past Tommy.

“Hey sparky, what’s got you lookin like shit?” He asked you before he started to laugh to himself at the nickname he knew you hated. You winced at the volume of his voice before you hissed angrily and stomped off into your room before you passed out immediately in your bed the second you threw yourself onto it. 

You didn’t wake up until a hand shook you awake firmly. You peeled open your eyes to see Tommy hovering over you looking slightly scared. When you fully opened your eyes, he sighed in relief.

“Oh my fucking Ender, I thought you died for a second.”

You only groaned and covered your head with the covers trying to block out the morning light streaming into your room and Tommy’s voice. He shook you more, your entire bed shaking with it. “Get up. Dad wants you downstairs for breakfast cuz you skipped lunch and dinner.”

You said nothing as he ripped the covers off from you eventually and pulled you out of your bed. You landed on the floor with a thump and hissed a little in frustration. You stood up and pushed him out of your room and slammed the door behind him. The locked door handle jimmied before it stopped and everything was silent. You prayed that he went away, but alas he didn’t. You rubbed your forehead when he started to knock at your door in multiples of two.

Knock knock, “(y/n)?” Knock knock, “(y/n)?” Knock knock, “(y/n)?” Knock kno-

“I’ll be down in a minute fuckface. I’m gonna get dressed.”

“If you aren’t down in five minutes I’m getting Techno. He’ll carry your ass down.”

Downstairs, you shambled into the kitchen past the table and poured yourself a cup of coffee. Your family silently watched you before the conversation started back up again. You plopped down next to Wilbur and sipped at your coffee deliriously. He eyed you in concern, “you okay?” You hummed and poked at your eggs. You didn’t feel hungry at all. “You su-”

“Yes, I’m sure Wilbur.” You glanced at him from the corner of your eye and returned to your coffee. After your fourth cup of coffee you were cut off by a concerned Philza. Even after four cups of coffee, you still felt slightly physically drained and it showed in your sluggish movements. Your day went by with you holding in your frustration and anger from everybody constantly asking if you were okay. Days of holding in explosions passed with them finally leaving you alone. However, that did nothing to alleviate your bottled up frustrations.

Techno was sitting on the couch reading a book while Wilbur was sitting in the chair across the room trying to find the lyrics of his next song. Philza was in the kitchen doing who knows what. You were currently walking up to Tommy’s room to say hi to your old friends Tubbo and Ranboo after getting home from a trip to another village. 

That trip was rough for you but not as rough as the one a few days prior; you could only stand so much fear filled and hateful staring after all. Your creeper features consisting of pitch black irises and dark gray sclera, a mop of dark green hair, and green freckles sprayed randomly across your skin was definitely an attention grabber for anyone. A few of the kids even threw rotten tomatoes and stones at you, it was so hard holding in explosions by the time you left that you just felt very overwhelmed. Hanging out around the self proclaimed ‘bench trio’ always enough to calm you down from a rough day. Mellohi’s muffled relaxed beat makes the corners of your lips twitch into a small smile. 

However just as you opened the door to Tommy’s room, you could hear their conversation end. “Hey guys, how’re-”

A yelp left your throat as something very cold drenched your body. An iron bucket came tumbling down and hit your head before falling to the floor with a clank. The pressure that has been building up in your chest increased tenfold, but you closed your eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to walk to your room for a change of clothes. Behind you, you heard Tommy laughing hysterically while Tubbo tried to apologize between his own laughter. You didn’t even have to look at Ranboo to know that he was guiltily fiddling with his sleeves as his tail flicked back and forth sharply. 

After you went into your room, you grabbed your pillow and screamed as loud as you could into it to blow off some steam. After that didn’t work, you tried punching the pillow relentlessly but that didn’t work. You could still feel pressure and energy inside your chest lingering and threatening to burst. 

You sighed and made your way downstairs walking past Tommy’s door. You could now hear Ranboo laughing with them, and that just made you even more angry than you were before. 

Everything around you was pissing you off. Philza’s wings fluttering behind him subconsciously, Technoblade’s little ‘heh’’s as he read something that caught him off guard in his book, Wilbur’s humming and mumbling to himself as he composed his next song, Tommy’s, Ranboo’s, and Tubbo’s loud laughter echoing from Tommy’s room. Every little sound was enough to send you over the edge. Just as you were about to leave the house to calm down again, a knock sounded at the door.

Philza gently pushed you behind him with furrowed brows and a hand on the sword hung around his hip. Techno’s book snapped shut as he stood up to grab his axe while Wilbur walked over to you and put a protective hand on your shoulder. You understood why they were cautious; you didn’t normally get visitors and the last time the house did, it was someone that decided to try and attack Technoblade on sight when he opened the door screaming about how hybrids aren’t natural. Keyword: tried. Techno absolutely would’ve killed him if it wasn’t for Philza holding him back. 

You felt anxiety creep up inside you as you fought against the small hisses trying to escape your mouth. The door opened slowly to reveal the store owner from a few days ago. His eyes hardened when he saw the wings sprouting from Philza’s back before his eyes flicked to you. He did not look happy to see you behind your dad’s massive wings. Without another word, you turned and ran up to your room when you felt the pressure become almost unbearable. 

You ran past Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo who were leaving Tommy’s room with hesitance. You didn’t respond when they tried to stop you. Slamming your door closed, you sat on your bed with your head clutched in your hands desperately trying to fight against the pressure building up. Small pops sounded on your skin as you grit your teeth in concentration. You could hear knocking at your door, thank god you locked it behind you. You had no idea how long you were sitting there trying to hold it back.

When the pressure became too much and you felt yourself losing grip on your control, you knew you needed to get out of the house as soon as possible. This was going to be a huge explosion, probably the biggest one you were going to do. The loud continuous hiss that left your throat was something you weren’t actively doing, another telltale sign that you were about to explode. You ripped open the door, pulled yourself from Tommy’s grasp, and ran as fast as you could downstairs. Philza followed you with a furious expression when he saw you, the store owner seemingly having left. 

“(Y/n), what in the hell did you do?” He grabbed your arm and pulled you to the living room. You tried your hardest to pull out of his grasp, but he was holding on too tight. The hissing had gotten slightly louder, but you moved a hand up to your mouth to try and muffle it. He sat you down on the couch and started pacing in front of you, his feathers puffed up angrily. Wilbur and Techno were eyeing you warily from across the room. 

“What were you thinking, blowing up his store like that? Were you even thinking? Cuz that was stupid (y/n). Hybrids get enough bad rap, and you go and pull this?!”

“Dad-”

“Not now Wilbur. As I was saying, you could’ve killed someone! What would you do then-”

“Dad,” Techno’s assertive tone stopped Philza in his tracks as he ran a hand down his face. “What could you possibly want right now, boys?”

“(Y/n)’s gonna explode soon.” Wilbur hurried over to you and helped you up. You could hear the three younger boys’ steps thundering down the stairs. By now, you were visibly shaking and sweating with the effort of holding explosions back. You could see the glowing of your freckles through the reflection of Wilbur’s glasses. 

“Shit,” Philza sounded panicked in that moment as Wilbur ushered you out of the house and into the forest. You pushed him away and stumbled your way deeper into the forest. You heard them attempting to follow you, but you gestured for them to get back. You had no idea how big this one was going to be, but it was definitely going to be large. 

You ran deeper into the forest until you couldn’t hold it back anymore. Leaning against a tree, you finally let yourself explode. This one was painful; your skin burned with every pop that emanated from your freckles, the burning making your free nerve endings scream at you. The last thing you saw was a wave of dirt splashing up before you blacked out. 

You were in and out of consciousness for the next week or so. Whenever you would wake up slightly, it would only be for a couple moments before you would pass out again. It was in those moments that the pain and the lack of energy hit you at full force. You supposed being unconscious was better than the mental and physical fog and the pain. 

By the time you fully woke up, your senses were slightly hyperactive, but nowhere near how you felt when you blew up that store. You reached up with a heavy hand to wipe at your crusty eyes before you heard rustling next to you. You looked over to see Philza standing at the door with a glass of water in his hand. When he saw that you were awake, he rushed to your side and helped you sit up. You took the water gratefully and drank it, the liquid refreshed your dry throat. 

“How’re you feeling?” 

“Tired and a little sore. How long was I out for?”

“About a week, you really worried us. That was a really big one. Do you know why it was so big?”

You nodded and looked down at the water in your hands, swirling it around the glass. You didn’t want to tell him about feeling angry and overwhelmed at every little thing around you the past few days. You felt guilty at that, they were just trying to live their lives while you were cursing them for merely existing. A finger under your chin made you look up at Philza. His eyes were full of gentleness and empathy, “c’mon, you can tell me. I want to help you.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“Start wherever you feel comfortable. Take as much time as you need.” He sat on the edge of your bed and looked around your room while he waited. You took a second to gather your thoughts before you took a deep breath. Philza perked up and diverted his full attention to you. 

“It started when I first blew up that guy’s store. I swear it was an accident that time, a cat snuck up on me and rubbed on me,” you shuddered, small hisses leaving your mouth. “The guy came out and picked me up by my shirt. He called us some names so I kinda got mad and blew up on purpose.”

“‘Us’?”

You nodded, “hybrids. He said that ‘our kind’ destroys everything.” You glared at the glass in your hands, hissing in contempt and watching the freckles dully glow green. “He called us ‘filthy mutts’ and freaks, Dad.” Philza looked slightly peeved at the name calling, “still, you shouldn’t’ve blown up on him. You could’ve killed him, (y/n).”

“So you’re saying that it’s okay for him to call us slurs? Should we just let people slander us?” You narrowed your eyes at him. He shook his head, his medium length blond hair swaying with the movement. “Hell no, I’m not saying that at all. You should never let someone call you things, but violence is never the answer.”

You huffed, crossing your arms, “frankly, he deserved what was coming to him. I just wish he didn’t throw me before I could blow up.” 

“Hold on, he fucking threw you?” You nodded and watched his eyes darken and anger flash across his face, “violence is sometimes the answer then. Did he hurt you?” 

“No, but I just felt so… so drained. But so overwhelmed at the same time. I’ve never exploded twice in the same day before.”

He hummed in realization, “so that’s why you slept through most of the day. Sorry, go on.”

“After Tommy woke me up everything just felt worse. It was like everything around me was amplified. It was hell, the last few days I was just hyper aware of everything and it was pissing me off. Every little thing drove me crazy, I could feel myself getting closer and closer to exploding but I held it back until I couldn’t anymore.” 

“(Y/n), you know that’s not healthy… I talked to Sam, you remember right?” You shook your head, “well, he was an old friend of Wilbur’s. He used to come here all the time before he had to move away. He’s a creeper hybrid like you,” he chuckled when you perked up, “he gave me some advice on your anatomy when you were growing up. Anyways, he told me that sensory overload is common when you explode. He said that it’s normal to feel drained afterwards and to definitely get plenty of sleep. The sensory issues apparently get worse if your rest is interrupted, so that was probably why you felt overwhelmed in the past few days… He also told me that it really isn’t healthy to explode more than once a day or to hold it in for longer than necessary. Please just come to me if you’re feeling overwhelmed again or if you need to rest after exploding. I can even build you an obsidian building where you could go and not blow up anything.”

“...I’d like that. What- what else did he tell you?” Philza chuckled and started to tell you more about what Sam told him about his anatomy. He even gave you Sam’s comms contact so you could contact him if you had any questions or wanted some advice. He was a nice man when you talked to him, always having an answer for your questions. You even found old pictures of you as a baby following him around. Apparently you could tell that he was part creeper; wherever he was in the house, you were bound to be near him.

The rest of the day, you hung out with the rest of your family and the bench trio. 

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

Techno wasn’t one for open affection, being the type to give you little trinkets and giving you suggestions on what to read next. Every time you woke up, you would find small objects ranging from gold to emeralds and books on your nightstand. He would vehemently deny being the one that gave you the items, but you and the rest of the family knew better. Sometimes, he would drop into your room to ask you what you thought of the book and have a thorough discussion about it with you while you were recovering. 

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

You leaned against Wilbur’s side with his arm wrapped around you. The hand that was around you was rubbing circles into your shoulder. After he scolded you for bottling up your emotions, he climbed into your bed and pulled you to his side. Small hums left his throat. 

“(Y/n)?” You hummed, your eyes half lidded and almost about to fall asleep. “Would you mind if I wrote a song about you? It would fit with the next album’s theme.” 

“Knock yourself out.” Your words were slightly slurred as you nuzzled closer to him. He laughed a bit, the sound being muffled and reverberating his chest. “Get some sleep. I’ll brainstorm some ideas to run by you before you wake up.”

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

Hanging out with the self proclaimed ‘bench trio’ was always fun, even if you were on strict orders to stay in bed by Dadza. Nobody argues with a concerned Dadza, but they found other ways to hang out with you. Tommy had moved his jukebox into your room and was playing cat, the music soothing you immensely and putting an end to your worries. However, what didn’t soothe you was the card game in front of you. 

You were watching in horror as everybody put down a plus two card stacking the amount the victim would have to draw. So far, the plus two streak had already gone around the circle once and is now going around once more. It was nearing your turn and it was with great horror that you realized you didn’t have a color changing card or a plus two card. The two cards in your hand felt heavy as you watched Ranboo pull out another card.

“Please Ranboo, I’ll do anything. Don’t put that card down.” You watched as his ears twitched before he smiled innocently at you, putting the card down and laughing at you when you started the long process of drawing fourteen cards and sorting them. 

“Sorry, my hand slipped.”

“Get fucked (y/n)!” Tommy cackled at you. You flipped him off before you went back to sorting the cards. Tubbo put down a plus four color changing card and smiled at Tommy. 

“Sorry Tommy, but uno and the color is now red!”

“Goddamnit Tubbo! That’s the one color I don’t have,” he grumbled and drew four cards. Ranboo smiled triumphantly and put down his last card before showing you his empty hands. “What?! You didn’t even say uno!” You eyed his smug smile with disbelief. 

“You guys didn’t call me on it though.”

“That’s not the rules, Ranboo! You have to say uno!” Tommy argued. Long story short, the rules had to be looked up and the family had to be consulted before your group came to the conclusion that you in fact do not have to call out uno and the other players could call them out on it. Eventually after a few tense games, the three were sitting on your bed. Ranboo had some difficulty with it due to his height, but he managed with his legs crossed. 

“(Y/n) do you reckon you could become charged if you were hit by lightning?”

“Tubbo, you’re a genius,” Tommy breathed out, “let’s go see!” 

“No, you will not go see. Sit back down.” Wilbur called out as he passed your room. The group slumped slightly. “We’ll see when I get better. Mark my words, the next thunderstorm that happens I will see if I can be charged.” You whispered to them, your eyes glinting with mischief. 

“I don’t really think that’s a good idea.”

“Of course it is, Ranboo. It probably won’t kill them.”

“Probably?” Ranboo raised an eyebrow at Tommy’s nonchalant answer. “Yes, probably.”

“I still have three lives left. If I die, I die.” You wove a hand in the air as you spoke and watched as Tubbo nodded in agreement. “Do it for science, (y/n).”

“Oh I will. For science!” You raised your water glass in the air and Tommy and Tubbo followed suit with wide smiles. “For science!”

You three turned to stare at a deadpanning Ranboo. He sighed before he raised his glass of milk and let out a monotone “for science.” You, Tommy, and Tubbo cheered as you clanked your glasses together. You could see a hint of a fond smile on Ranboo’s face as he watched you three chug your waters before he downed his milk in one swallow. 

You smirked at them and leaned close, talking lowly so that anyone passing by wouldn’t overhear you. “So, what’s our plan?”

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[royaltealovingkookiness]

What do you think about Combustion man/sparky sparky boom man? Was he actually relevant or necessary for the book 3 plot? Was it even in character for Zuko to hire an assassin to go after avatar & co?

How much time you got? In short, I HATE with a fiery, burning passion everything about him.

Oh, did you ask why? I’m gonna tell you anyways…

Me, rubbing my hands before Book 3: I’m really looking forward to Book: Fire. I can’t wait to see something about the government and the politics of the Fire Nation, like we did with the others. And the fire siblings. Their relationship is so fascinating and full of contradictions, I love it. And the dangerous ladies. Can we get into that particular hot-mess? This should be good. 

Bryke: That’s boring. You know what would be cool? A guy that can make explosions with his forehead. I even have just the character-design.

Me: But the entire character makes no sense. He has no name, no background. He’s so powerful that the master-of-three elements Avatar, the greatest earthbender and a bloodbending waterbender can’t somehow deal with him? They even have a boomerang-and-space-sword-wielding plan-making genius? All you have to do is get behind the guy’s back…

Bryke: I know. Third-eye Explosions! Boom! Boom! That’s totally LIT!

Me: it also doesn’t really make sense for Zuko’s character. He immediately regretted his betrayal of Iroh and is very conflicted all the way home. He seems pretty bummed by his meeting with dear dad and that nothing is like he imagined it would be. And anyways, we saw him being compassionate and never really having the stomach for killing and violence. And he’s super-obsessed with honor. HONOR. HONOOOOOR! Hiring an assassin just seems kind of out of character. 

Bryke: Can’t hear you. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Me: And how does Zuko know this guy anyways? He just goes around the palace asking for assassin-recommendations? Or are you telling me, he always knew about him and could have just hired him way back in Book 1 instead of running around?

Bryke: It’s a kid show. Nobody will ask these questions. They’ll be too amazed with the EXPLOSIONS. And Zuko is DARK now and EDGY. Don’t you get the chiiiillz?

Me: Wouldn’t it make sense for Zuko to try to investigate himself every strange incident instead? I know… he could snoop around finding reports and getting more worried. If you want a cool design, make him the Blue Spirit again. That was great. He could maybe even beg an assignment investigating that factory Katara destroyed. I think it would be pretty cool if he realized immediately what had happened, and would be forced to cover it up, so Ozai doesn’t realize the Avatar is alive. And this way he could even meet Fire Nation commoners and see that the war didn’t particularly serve them well either. I mean if you plan to make him Fire Lord at the end of the series, wouldn’t it be meaningful for him to see the Fire Nation in its stark reality?

Bryke: Don’t worry. We got this. Zuko will be conflicted. He’ll brood. Even his hair will brood. It will be proper emo-length. And he’ll go to a beach party. Don’t you want to see a Fire Nation teenage beach party? It looks exactly like an American teenage beach party except everyone wears red. And there will be fire. E-X-P-L-O-S-I-O-N-S. BAAAM. That’s edgy.

Me:  But once Zuko realizes that he wants to be good and join the Avatar wouldn’t he just call off the entire assignment? It’s pretty anti-climatic.

Bryke: (*evil whisper) You cannot un-hire Sparky-Sparky-Boom Man.

Me: Why not? That makes no sense whatsoever. And you are not calling him that?

Bryke: Sure we are. It’s funny. Or maybe Combustion Man? Hmm, both are very cool. Anyways, then Zuko will swing in and Boom-Boom Man will almost kill him. BOOM-BOOM-EXPLOOOOOOOSIONS!!!!!

Me: Why would he want to kill Zuko? Isn’t Zuko paying him?

Bryke: Why are you nitpicking here? Combustion Man is not very smart. He just goes BOOM. The kids will love it. It’s fun action.

Me: Uhhm, OK. But if Boom Boom man is so dumb, how did he manage to come up with that whole trap for Katara and Toph in The Runaway?

Bryke: That was like six episodes ago? Who remembers that shit anymore? I know, we can add more booms and Sokka with his boomerang and the guy self-explodes. Boom Man is BOOM-eranged to death. It’s hilarious? Get it?

Me: Well… At least he’s dead. Let’s never ever mention him. Let’s forget he ever existed.  I’m so psyched about Zuko finally joining the Gaang. I waited 52 episodes for this….I’m not gonna let friggin’ Sparky-Sparky-BOOM-man ruin it. 

FIVE YEARS LATER…

Bryke: Hmmmm. Need some cool villains for this season. I know, I know!!!!… do you remember the best one we had? That guy with the exploding head???? I must have that drawing on the computer somewhere….

Me: No. No. that’s not your best villain. Remember Azula? She was great, smart, funny, chilling, tragic, great firebending, lots of booms. Or if you want someone with less high- profile, how about Long Feng, or Zhao or Hama?

Bryke: But do any of them have exploding heads???? No. You see? Sparky-Sparky-Boom-man, but this time we’ll make it a WOMAN. That’s originial. That’s representation. That’s progressive.

Me: Didn’t we say, we’ll never talk about this entire assassin-plot again? It was after all so OOC for Zuko.

Bryke:

X

Me: 

[bellatrixobsessed1]

The Art Of Remembrance (Part 23)

The air is rich with the scent of fire lily and ocean spray. Azula sits herself upon a large rock and kicks her feet at the water. Zuko should be there within the hour and she wants to get things moving, they have been idle for too long for her liking.

“Still want to hear that story?” Sokka asks as he leans himself against the rock.

She nods, “I wanted to hear it last night.”

Last night… It had been pleasant, all things considered. He has has arms folded across his chest. Memories between nightmares and the next morning are always rather fuzzy and distant, but she vividly remembers those arms folding around her. She feels like she ought to be flustered or weary but she isn’t. Not at all, in fact.

She steals a glance up at him, studying his face as she awaits his recant. He has a pleasant enough face, she supposes. He is a little scruffy, but charmingly so. She supposes that keeping him up all night with her night terrors doesn’t exactly help him keep the scraggles out of his hair and the tiredness out of his eyes. He looks doubly exhausted now. “You don’t have to share it if…”

“No.” He replies. “I want to. I just don’t know how to start.”

“The same way you did last time?”

He shakes his head.

“You told me that my brother sent him to kill the Avatar?” She prompts.This time she takes care not to make a joke of it.

He nods, “yeah, your brother was trying to capture the Avatar and...that’s a very long story. The point is, the guy, he was after us and he was terrifying.”

“Why?”

“He could explode things with his mind!”

“Imagine if I could do that.” She nudges him. “I could cause a whole new world of terror.” She hopes that her joke is in better taste this time. It must be, because he gives the slightest hint of a smile.

“Well, this guy was trying to kill all of us and so I threw my boomerang…”

“Your...boomerang?”

“Oh yeah! I never showed you boomerang! I mean I have...I hit you with boomerang once, but you don’t remember that.” He reaches behind him and comes back with a small boomerang. “Its really useful!”

Azula reaches out to touch it but he yanks it away. ‘Sorry!” He says quickly. “I just don’t let anyone touch boomerang.”

Azula rolls her eyes, but even as she does so he holds it out to her. “Okay, you can touch it, but that’s it, no holding, just touching.” She rolls her eyes once more and holds her hand atop its metal surface. “Glorious isn’t it.”

“It’s nice.”  She quirks a brow, somehow he gets the message; “oh, right, the story!” He says. It almost unsettles her that he has so quickly picked up her non-verbal cue.

“So that guy, I just called him Sparky Sparky Boom Man, he had this tattoo of an eye on his forehead. And as he was...powering it up for one of his explosions, I threw my boomerang at him. It hit him on that third eye. He still tried to do his sparky boom thing and...uh...it didn’t work out.”

“In other words, it’s not your fault, he did it to himself.” Azula shrugs.

“But I still feel like it is my fault. If I hadn’t thrown my boomerang he would…”

“Have killed your friends and then you’d blame yourself for that.” She pauses. “Wouldn’t that have been much harder to live with?”

“And that’s what I was saying the other day when I said that sometimes I think that you’re the lucky one.”

She can’t help but to agree, once again she almost feels blessed to have had her mind cleansed. She isn’t particularly sure exactly what she had seen during the war, what she had done, but she finds herself thinking that she doesn't want to know.

“You did what you had to do, Sokka.” She says.”You’re a man who knows what needs to be done and you know when to stop holding back.”

“Maybe.” He frowns. “But murder is still murder...we were just kids…”

“You did that so your little sister wouldn’t have to.” She tries.

He gives an even subtler smile than the one before. “I’d rather be the one to think about this than let her.

Azula nods.

“But I still think about it a lot. He was a human being and now he’s...he’s nothing at all. And it’s my fault.”

Azula sighs more to herself as she thinks it over. “That man might be dead because of you, but there are at least four others who are alive because of you.” She gives him a firm pat on the chest and lets herself slide off of the rock. “I think that, that holds a little more value.” She gives him a small peck on the cheek.

.oOo.

Sokka flushes, his eyes rather wide. He opens his mouth to sputter a response

“Look, Zuzu’s here.” She points to the ship pulling into the dock.

“Ye-yeah, we should probably head over there then.”

He gives a small jolt when she grabs his hand and hustles him towards the pier as though nothing has happened at all. His head spins and he isn’t sure if she is even aware of what she has just done; she never has been particularly good with social implications.

Holding her had been one thing, but a kiss, however innocent, is another. He isn’t even sure how innocent it had been.Yet he can’t say that he hadn’t enjoyed the surprise. For certain, he can know that Zuko shouldn’t hear about it.

His ship hasn’t quite docked yet by the time they arrive.

“Thank you for sharing your story with me.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

She shrugs. “As far as I know, you’re the only person who has ever...trusted me? To talk about something like that.

“Yeah, anytime.” He replies. He just hopes that he can trust her to talk with him about that kiss.