hobie motherfuckin' brown!!!!!!
Spider-Punk by Matías Bergara
Paint, pencil, & ink on cardboard
We never hear any mention of Lu Ten’s mother, implying that I can make any headcanons I want about this, including:
- Lu Ten is an Earthbender
That’s it that’s the post goodbye
Ok, but this leads to a series of potential follow-up headcanons:
- Lu Ten is commonly believed to be a non-bender
- it’s not widely publicised that the wife of the Crown Prince is from the Earth Kingdom, given the war and everything
- and then she dies and quickly fades into obscurity
- besides, no-one looks at a prince of the Fire Nation and thinks ‘hey, I wonder if he’s an earthbender’
- …this includes Lu Ten himself
- Due to his lack of firebending, Lu Ten becomes proficient with metalweapons instead
- he suggests it as an alternative for Zuko when his cousin is frustrated with his own lack of bending progress
- He knows all the tactical theory - the common attacks and how to counter them, the prefered defences and how to get around them - but he’s never actually seen earthbending
- until he gets to the Front, that is
- Lu Ten quickly gains a reputation for being lucky against earthbenders
- he always seems to guess correctly which way to dodge to avoid flying rocks, when to move before the ground erupts from under him
- there were a couple of notable examples when he was able to warn his unit about imminent ambush by tunnelling earthbenders
- he plays it all off as a combination of luck and perception, but he can’t help but wonder…
- He starts paying more attention to the earthbenders he fights, not just matching forms to effects, but the nuances of stance and gesture
- Then he goes for a hike one day, far away from anyone who might see, and tries some of the forms for himself
- …
- …well fuck.
- He can’t keep it a secret
- now that he’s finally felt the perfect exhilaration of bending, he’s not sure he can just give it up again
- and now that his chi has learned to move in the surrounding earth, he’s not sure he can keep it from reaching out anyway
- it only takes one person to see something they shouldn’t, and tell someone they shouldn’t, and he won’t know that the charade has all fallen apart until it’s too late
- He can’t tell his father
- part of him is worried that Iroh will react badly, but part of him knows he won’t… and that’s worse
- everyone knows that victory in the siege is imminent, the moment that will make the General’s career
- but the scandal of the Dragon of the West having an earthbender for a son would overshadow even such an achievement
- he won’t put his father in a position where he has to make that choice
- He can’t tell his grandfather
- Azulon is the Fire Lord, and the good of the Nation will always come first
- while he could overlook Lu Ten being a non-bender, he won’t want to risk of having an earthbender so high in the line of succession
- not when he has two sons and another two grandchildren all as proper firebenders
- he’s not sure just what actions his grandfather might take, but he’s not going to wait to find out
- He can’t tell his uncle
- Lu Ten has no illusions about the man; he will see this as an opportunity
- while Azulon might be swayed to leniency, Ozai will do everything in his power to permanently remove his nephew… and probably his brother while he’s at it
- one way or another
- But perhaps that is the answer
- Lu Ten is a prince of the Fire Nation
- Lu Ten is an earthbender
- these facts cannot coexist
- He cannot change what he is, but he can change who he is
- it breaks his heart to do this to his father, but it must be done
- Prince Lu Ten dies, and a nameless earthbender slips in through the broken walls of Ba Sing Se
- (Years later, a golden-eyed earthbender walks into a teashop for a surprise family reunion)
👀👀👀👀
NICE
Ok I couldn’t go to bed without doing this SO!
Ani came bounding into the room with her characteristic enthusiasm. “Liu, you have got to come try this new tea place that’s just opened in the upper ring” she exclaimed. “It’s putting every tea shop in Ba Sing Se to shame!”
Liu looked up from his book, over the rims of his half-moon glasses. It had taken some persuasion from Ani to finally get him to relent and admit he needed them, but he couldn’t deny that he was getting older.
“Didn’t Doctor Pao say you should limit your tea intake these days?” He asked wryly.
“Oh hush” she laughed, rubbing her rounded belly. “I think the baby likes this tea shop just as much as I do. And of course I’m staying away from all the brews that Pao specifically mentioned.” she pouted.
He smiled up at his wife. She had been one of the first people he’d met, all those many years ago when he’d appeared as a refugee earth bender just trying to get to the safety of the city. Her boundless warmth and enthusiasm was like a small piece of home amidst the strange unfamiliarity of the city and its people. It hadn’t taken much for him to fall in love. To this day, she was the only person who knew anything about who he had been before he crossed those walls. And even then, she still didn’t know his real name.
She draped herself across his broad shoulders, and he reached up to stroke her hair. “All right, my love, I’d be happy to go with you tomorrow”
She pressed a delighted kiss against his temple, sashaying off as he returned to his reading.
***
Uncle had been unusually dour of late. Sure, the transition to living a life in hiding in Ba Sing Se hadn’t been easy for either of them, but with the opening of the Jasmine Dragon, Iroh had been a ray of sunshine compared to Zuko’s usual teenage glumness. He knows his uncle well enough by now to know it’s something else bothering him. Something he’s refusing to tell Zuko about.
He figures that if he really needs to know, uncle will tell him eventually. Maybe it had something to do with the anniversary of the siege, or Lu Ten’s death. It had been almost five years since the war in Ba Sing Se, after all. It must be painful for him, to be in hiding, here in the city that had killed his son.
The story that Zuko had always been told was a tale of the treachery and deviousness of the Earth Kingdom soldiers, often repeated to the Fire Nation military. How the earth kingdom soldiers had infiltrated the camp, and taken Lu Ten unawares while he was bathing at the river. His clothes left behind and a splash of blood along the shore, jagged rocks that could only have been an earthbenders work, covered with gore. There was no mystery about what had happened. Many soldiers had wanted to destroy the city, to march upon it then and there for the revenge of the crown prince. But Iroh had been broken by the sight, had fallen to the ground weeping, and the siege retreated not long after.
Zuko swallowed thickly. His father had spared him and Azula none of the details of Lu Ten’s death, even though they were children. Azula had barely batted an eye, but Zuko remembers many long nights afterwards hugging his pillow and trying not to let his sobs be overheard.
Maybe he should get uncle an incense burner. Nothing too overtly reminiscent of fire nation rituals, of course, but Iroh shouldn’t have to remember his son’s death on his own.
***
It was an ordinary day at the tea shop, a bustling afternoon with groups of friends sharing one of his uncle’s newest blends, young couples batting eyes at each other over a pot of jasmine rose, businessmen conferring over cups of pu’erh. Zuko wouldn’t have thought there was anything remarkable at all about the young woman and her husband who had taken a seat in the far corner of the room, enjoying the refreshing mint tea that Zuko had picked himself. Not until uncle came out of the kitchen and turned white as a sheet, the pot of tea in his hands crashing to the floor.
“Uncle Mushi, what’s the matter?” Zuko asked urgently. His uncle just stared at the man in the corner, who seemed similarly enraptured by Iroh. Both men looked as though they had seen a ghost.
Iroh shook himself back to awareness. “It’s nothing, Lee, nothing at all” he said just a little too brusquely. “I have to clean this up. What a clumsy old man I am. Dropping a teapot! For shame!” He bustled into the back, all the while followed by the gaze of that strange man.
He wandered over, the man finally turning his attention away from where Iroh had disappeared.
Their eyes met, Zuko swallowed. The man had the unmistakable golden eyes of a fire nation citizen. Was this a spy? Had they been recognized?
“Darling are you alright?” the woman across from him asked. He nodded, all the while not taking his eyes off of Zuko. He burned hotly as the man’s gaze traced his scar.
“Uh, hi. Lee here. Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. Have you been here before?”
“My wife has been many times, she insisted that I accompany her today.” The man toned, and if Zuko wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of barely repressed Fire Nation accent in his voice, only noticeable because Zuko was so desperately trying to conceal his own.
“Who… who is that?” the man asked softly, nodding towards the kitchen where Iroh now bustled over a fresh pot of oolong.
“Uh, he’s my uncle. We just arrived here, from the outer provinces. Trying to… you know… get away from it all.” He said, gesturing vaguely towards his scar.
“Your uncle?” The man asked, his golden eyes focusing on Zuko with more intensity than was comfortable.
“Yeah, Uncle Mushi.” Zuko supplied, desperate to get away from the man’s glare.
“I see.” The man finally said after an uncomfortably long period of silence.
“I…should really get back to the other customers.” He finally managed.
“Yes, my apologies for keeping you.” The man said. Zuko hurried away, hoping against hope that he might never have to see the man again.
***
The tea shop closed its doors at sunset, ushering the lingering customers out the door as the evening light faded. Iroh still hadn’t said a word to Zuko since he dropped the teapot earlier that day, studiously avoiding Zuko’s questioning looks.
A knock came at the door. Zuko turned the handle, the phrase “sorry, we’re closed for the evening” dying halfway out his lips as he met the golden eyes of the man from before, his wife standing behind him looking beside herself with worry.
“Is anyone else here?” he asked, looking over Zuko’s shoulder at where Iroh stood frozen in place. He mutely shook his head.
The man pushed past Zuko and sprinted across the room, sweeping Iroh up in a tight embrace.
“Hello, father.” He sobbed.
***
Several pots of tea later, Zuko was still in shock. Lu Ten? Alive? An EARTHBENDER?
At least he wasn’t alone in his shock. Ani looked about as gobsmacked as he felt. Lu Ten and Iroh, meanwhile, had hardly let go of one another since his arrival.
“Why did you never tell me about my mother?” Liu – Lu Ten asked. After the harrowing story of how Lu Ten had defected from the Fire Nation Army five years prior, Iroh had shared the tale of the princess consort from the colonies, how she had secretly been an earthbender, keeping it a closely guarded secret from everyone at court.
“It was a secret only between us that she could bend at all. Azulon would never have permitted the marriage otherwise. It was pushing it enough, having the crown prince marry someone from the colonies. Oh, I always wondered if you might have been an earthbender! But how could I have ever even suggested it? It would only have put you in danger.”
Lu Ten nodded, and Zuko ran through that particular scenario in his head. He shivered. Every possibility ended in catastrophe for everyone involved. As much as he hated to admit it, Lu Ten had chosen the best possible escape from his and Iroh’s certain death.
“And you are married!” Iroh exclaimed.
This seemed to shake Ani from her stupor, and she smiled weakly. “Yes, for two years now.” She ran a hand nervously over her belly. “Liu had told me that he was a defector from the fire nation army, and of course I knew he was an earthbender, but…”
“I had hoped you would never need to know.” He sighed. “This will only put us in danger. I’m sorry.” He dipped his head low, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. She reached out, taking his hand. “I always knew there was more to you. And I’m here with you through it all.” She whispered, sitting up straighter with conviction as she spoke. He nodded, still unable to meet her eyes, and she looked at him with a love that Zuko couldn’t fathom.
Lu Ten blinked away the tears clouding the corners of his eyes, looking up at Iroh again. “It isn’t safe, for us to be here together. There are spies in Ba Sing Se, and you are both recognizable enough that you might surely be spotted. I have been lucky, in that no one was looking for a ghost. But you are fugitives, and Ozai isn’t likely to take your escape lightly.”
“Don’t I know it.” Zuko grumbled. But now it was Iroh’s turn to blink back tears.
“So soon, my son? You are back from the dead and you would vanish again so quickly?”
Lu Ten squeezed his hand. “I know, father. But I have to keep my family safe. Ani, our child, I cannot drag them into this war.”
Iroh nodded, silver tears tracking down his face and tangling in his beard. “But you are alive, my son. You are alive, and you won’t deny me the joy of seeing my grandchild, now, would you?” he gave them all a watery smile. Zuko was vaguely aware of Ani crying.
Iroh’s voice dropped low. “I searched for you, in the spirit world. Of course, I never found you. I hadn’t dared to hope…” he stopped, steadying himself before continuing. “I never thought to search for you among the living, but the whisper of that possibility never did leave me alone.”
He stood, offering a hand to Ani as they all got unsteadily to their feet.
“We shall find each other again, my son. It is not by chance we are meeting here. It cannot be a coincidence that you married a woman with such a fine appreciation for tea!” he winked, and Lu Ten laughed. “She’s the only one who could make a pot of oolong that compares with yours, father.”
“I could not ask for a better bride for my son.” He pulled Ani into a fierce embrace, turning to embrace Lu Ten in turn.
“I will see you again soon, Lu Ten. When this war is over, we will find each other again.”
“I know we will, father.” Lu Ten folded his hands in the proper Fire Nation reverence for a parent. “Promise me you will be safe.”
“We’ll do what we can.” Zuko muttered. Lu Ten laughed, and then he and Ani disappeared, out into the darkness of the city at night.
what kind of cutie marks would you guys have... be honest
and what kind of pony would you be... and be realistic
you know what I’m gonna say it it’s super lame to reblog this with “how the hell would I know” or some variant because like you literally have the option to just decide based on your interests or what you would just like. There are people saying they’d be an alicorn with a blunt cutie mark. there is no reason to give me this i didn’t ask some deep though provoking question i asked what kind of pony you’d be and what symbol would be on your pony ass. man up and be a pony.
One of my roommates cannot stand the way I play minecraft
Instead of looking for diamonds, fighting mobs, trying to go to the nether, doing potions/enchantments/whatever, I like to build these 1-block-wide platforms far above the ground that i walk on to explore without getting lost, attacked or generally inconvenienced. And they hate it
“If you don’t want to get lost just use a compass!” Takes redstone. Also I don’t want to. And on the ground there’s mobs
“Fight the mobs, they’re part of the game!” no. I get scared
“Just use mine carts!” And use all that iron?
“Then use boats and ice!” You need enchantments to collect ice. All my paths take is dirt and ladders (and torches)
“But they’re so UGLY!” Not the point
my paths
Imagine being the last owner of Hanako, that 226 year old Japanese koi that was spawned in 1751 and died in 1977. A fish that outlived 7 emperors. A fish that survived the Second World War. And she dies in your care. I would never recover.
I would find peace in that she felt comfortable enough to finally rest in my company. Fish remember faces and voices of their caretakers. Perhaps she loved the last too much to watch them die before her, too.
oh….yeah…maybe
