"I Think You Should Step Up And Call It Animal Abuse."

"I Think You Should Step Up And Call It Animal Abuse."

One of my favorite snippets from my 1st draft. Honestly, might rewrite it and work it into the new plot.

Background: Honestly, I think it's better without context. Guess I should let yall know Asumi is not black, but she is a colored. As in, she's the same color as Asuma and Hiruzen.

Rating: PG/E for everyone

Warning: None. Cute shit.

“That's fine, seeyouthenAsumi.” He jumped out the window. Oh dear, what has Asumi done to him? The door had been closer and yet he dove face-first out the building. Luckily, he is good at his job so he lands without a hair out of place.

Asumi and Hiruzen peer out the window at the retreating silver-haired figure. When he goes beyond their vision both Sarutobi turn and look at each other.

“So, anyway. Here is the response from the kazekage.” As much as Asumi wants to discuss what just happened, it's best to get work out the way first. Sadly her uncle didn’t get the memo.

“I’ve known Kakashi Hatake for a very long and I don't think I’ve ever seen him so..” the third trails off trying to find the right description.

“Flustered?”

“Hmm, that's not quite the word but yes, flustered.” Hiruzen leans back in his chair to look at his niece. A mischievous glint in her eye shone for a brief moment, immediately putting the Hokage in distress. The same look her mother had before doing something reckless, dear Kami help us.

“Well, anyways. The scroll.”

“Yes, yes put it here and go to the financial office for payment.”

“Sure thing, Uncle. Well, I guess-

“Oh no, no no, no. Sit down, young lady. We need to have a conversation about whatever is going on between you and Kakashi.” The noble and honorable third Hokage is just an old man that lives for gossip, Asumi thinks before plopping down in a chair that's not nearly as comfortable as the one her uncle sits in.

“UNCLE! There is nothing to talk about.”

“He jumped out the window, Asumi. I didn't get this old by ignoring changes in my village personnel.” Hiruzen speaks calmly while his niece groans loudly and twists around in her chair to show her discontent for this discussion.

“I’ve only interacted with him twice. And one was today on the way here.”

“The other?” Hiruzen, you gossip whore.

“I dropped off food for Naruto and his team was still there.” The faintest blush appears from this inquisition.

“Maybe I should ask Asuma what is-

“No, this is probably nothing. Kakashi hasn’t seen me for twelve years so he’s just surprised I'm competent enough to do my job.

“Stop interrupting me before I make you find that Tora cat for the next 3 weeks.” Hiruzen speaks absentmindedly, already devoting his mind to a plan to get the two young adults together. Asuma is with Kurenai even though his son would deny it to his grave. So, the lord Hokage ponders, it was time to find Asumi someone.

“At this point, I think you should step up and call it animal abuse.”

“Asumi-”

“Can I go now? I have a bottle of sake calling my name.” Two sets of brown eyes stare each other down before the third Hokage relents and waves his hand to send his niece off.

“We’ll continue this later.”

“Sure, sure. See ya!” Hiruzen watches her leave through the door and when it slams closed he sighs in relief. I’m too old for this shit.

This connects to my previous post. If he had access to the avatar state in that moment he would have succumbed to it.

i just realized in the ember island player’s episode when aang said “if ihadnt blocked my chakra i would be in the avatar state right now” he meant he was so angry about the portrayal of his and katara’s relationship in the play he wouldve been in the avatar state if not for his blocked chakra.

this entire time i thought it was about how he feels guilty about blocking his chakra because if he hadnt he’d be defeating ozai/wouldve already defeated him. i thought it was about how the reason he was reacting so angrily was because of all the pressure that had built up about the entire world relying on him, a twelve year old, to defeat (possibly kill) a master fire bender with years more experience than him and far less empathy. this is literally what ive thought since i watched the show for the first time when i was TEN. 

but no. you cant expect that type of nuanced writing from bryke. it was just a throwaway line about how he felt entitled to katara’s affection. and katara just had to take that. i dont care if he was “just 12.” i understand that 12 year olds make mistakes, thats not my issue here, but the fact that he’s never corrected or forced to confront these mistakes makes my blood boil. and bryke doesnt even try to make it seem like he’s in the wrong when he SO CLEARLY IS. i will never not be angry about how aang never has to apologize for these toxic behaviors and how he doesnt show significant growth. 

the lengths bryke will go through to strip katara of her agency so that they dont have to admit that the character they project onto has flaws is ASTOUNDING.

I see your point, but for me I’ve always connected the chakra blockage with the lightening bolt and the last chakra he had to unlock because of the reappearance of the purple avatar state image in the finale battle, the same one he was trying to access prior to the lightening.

My original point still stands though, regardless of the blockage caused by physical or mental damage. Throughout the show, aang had issues controlling the avatar state. In s2, guru pathik shows up with a way to help him control it, and his methods work. So aang knows how to unlock his chakra, but never attempts it. He never tries to figure out how to unclock it, even if was locked by physical damage, he never made that discovery. They just threw that conflict in the trash and made the guru arc pointless. Then threw in a well placed rock and called it a day.

Genuinely upset when i think about the second season finale of avatar. What was the point of giving aang internal conflict if later in season three a rock fixes the issue? Makes the entire guru arc pointless. Everytime i rewatch it i get upset

Whats boils my buttons is that the creators either forgot that specific conflict or repoed the original plot to give us kataang in the end. It doesn’t make sense. I think they repoed that shit bc in the ember island players episode aang literally talked about how if he hadn’t blocked his chakra he would be in the avatar state. So its like, Yall remembered the conflict? And just didn’t care anymore?

And *screech* you know what, i dont have time now, but later I’ll get into how the creators fucked themselves with kataang bc that ship makes no logical sense when you look at the overall story.

Wait… I just saw a post saying that “Aang let go of his attachment to Katara to protect her” in The Crossroads of Destiny but I honestly can’t remember that happening? I thought that he never ended up letting go of his attachment?? Is my memory just foggy??

They're talking about the scene where Aang and Katara are fighting against Azula and Zuko in the catacombs. The Dai Li arrive and surround them, Aang sees that they're overwhelmed, says "I'm sorry Katara," and then goes into the Avatar state.

I. Hate. This. Scene.

I've read SO many metas about it, from various perspectives, and none of them make it make sense. We're supposed to believe he gave up his attachment, yes, but it's not at all clear why or how or if he did it to protect Katara.

Aang does his thing and there's a shot of Zuko watching like "what in the holy Ba Sing Se is happening now???" That is me watching that scene.

Me too, Zuko. Me too.

I remember when I first watched this part I was like, extremely pissed at Aang. He sees Katara surrounded by Dai Li agents, struggling to fight them off, says he's sorry, then creates a structure of crystal around himself to meditate. I was pissed because his apology seems like he's giving up on saving her in exchange for going into the Avatar State. He seems to have realized that they can't win unless he purposefully goes into the Avatar state, but by doing so he's leaving Katara momentarily vulnerable.

See, that would really have been sacrificing his attachment to her.

It's not very clear that he's trying to protect her or how that exactly constitutes giving up on his attachment to her, how he manages to do it while leaving her vulnerable to the Dai Li, and why, if he's doing it to protect her, he's apologizing to her.

Like, I know he's supposed to be apologizing because he loves her, but like, dude, she's looking like this.

She's happy to see Aang going into the Avatar state willingly and consciously, not scary and out of control like the other times. This isn't sacrificing Katara, because this is what Katara wanted, the fulfillment of everything she'd been trying to do with Aang. Aang's apology isn't really for Katara, who never asked for Aang's love to begin with. It's an apology for himself. Which means he isn't actually letting her go at all. The only way this would actually be a sacrifice and a letting go is if he had to break up with her or something or would never see her again or doing this left Katara in danger somehow, which would make sense.

Except it only takes two seconds for him to give up his earthly attachment, the thing that he struggled with so hard in the last episode, and he opens his chakras just like that. There's some wonky spirit plane effects, and then BAM, fully realized Avatar.

Which is all well and good, I guess, because the show told us what he was supposed to do and that he did it, but we didn't actually see him do it. This is the epitome of telling and not showing.

Like giving up your earthly attachment to the world, to the person you love, is just a switch you flick in your head.

Look, I get that this is hard to portray in a cartoon show, but I would like a little narrative cohesion here, and I would like the plot elements to be meaningful to the characters.

How was Aang suddenly able to give up his earthly attachment to Katara, which it is established an episode prior is a representation for his love for his lost people? Did he just decide to? Did he just say "well screw her, I guess she can die?" How is this going to change his relationship to Katara (spoiler: it won't)? If Aang couldn't give up his attachment to Katara when he got a vision of her being captured, how in the Omashu is he going to give up his attachment to her while she's being menaced by an army of Dai Li? It just doesn't make sense. You don't meditate for two seconds during the climax of the battle, your adrenaline pumping while the bad guys are closing in, and then reach enlightenment. Even the most spiritual person in the world would find that impossible, without all the baggage that Aang is dealing with.

This is completely contrary to how Aang's Avatar state is established to work in the first episode of the season, too. There, Katara being in danger is enough to drive him into Avatar State overdrive, uncontrollable destructive rage and all. What changed? How did we get from there to Aang deliberately deciding to let go of Katara while she is in active danger and that being the thing that unlocks his chakra? How was Aang able to achieve this especially after flagrantly disregarding the Guru's words and lying about it?

I get that they're drawing from Eastern spirituality, and that they're trying to portray it in a way that would make sense to the average American young person, but the show literally did this with Zuko a million times better an episode ago, and was able to tie Zuko's spiritual awakening into the story in a way that made sense for the character. I totally believe that Zuko would be able to reach a more enlightened spiritual state after being at war with his own morals and suffering a long illness and having to be taken care of by his Uncle, and then waking up with a new appreciation of his life and his relationship to said Uncle, realizing that the home he wants could be the one he makes with Iroh. It makes sense on a spiritual level and a character level.

You know what's a good example of giving up earthly attachments? Zuko giving up his unhealthy obsession with capturing the Avatar and trying to please an unpleasable father and choosing instead the security of his tea shop life and his Uncle's love. You know what's another good example? Zuko choosing to break things off with Mai, even though he still loves her, to protect her. That's the difference between selfless love and unhealthy attachment.

But that doesn't matter because this conflict is not only thrown out the window in this episode, it is immediately replaced by the new conflict of Aang's chakra being blocked by Azula's lightning. Why was this necessary? Especially since book three Aang's attachment to Katara becomes more unhealthy, not less. Moreover, it is an external conflict replacing an internal one, and internal conflicts are always more compelling than external conflicts. The show literally threw up its hands and was like, "you know what, this is too complex and emotionally resonant to resolve in a way that makes sense to our audience! Have some lightning!"

Do you know what would have been a good way for the show to address this? Let's say Aang does reach the Avatar state voluntarily under Ba Sing Se by opening all his chakras, but Katara is captured in the process because Aang isn't there to fight off the Dai Li, because in this AU he spends a little bit longer in the spirit realm. Aang has to make the decision to let Katara be captured, and it eats him up inside, he's able to go into the Avatar state, but this doesn't actually solve his problem with being able to control it because now he's more attached to Katara than ever. This sets up the conflict for book three, where Aang has to deal with his increasingly possessive feelings for Katara, along with his insecurities about defeating the Fire Lord (two things that naturally go hand in hand, because the more insecure he gets, the more he clings to Katara) and resolve them in a meaningful way.

Thanks to the tropical storm, my school’s been shit down until these get better. That means I’ll be holed up in my dorm, working on my bruce wayne x reader series. Hopefully i can churn something out by Friday, we’ll see. I’ll also put some of my old works in the junkyard. Until then, stay safe if your in the gulf area like me.

Lovely

Happy to say I started the framework to give this series some background. Still don't know what to call the series though. open to suggestions. Anyway, the teaser:

She stood behind the man, measuring tape around her neck and a kettle of tea in her hands, dressed head to toe in knock-offs.

Her shoes were fake Luis Vuitton and the purse she carefully placed at her workstation looked to be fake Fendi. Her slacks, though in style, looked like they came from a discount store. Her shirt was the worst offender, the signature Burberry plaid was all wrong. The older women of Wayne Enterprises would call her attempt offensive.

Bruce thought she looked lovely.