#dreamrena

[tls123]

Francesca, do you mind me asking if there is personal lore behind the forget-me-nots? I don't have a favorite flower myself, but every time I see them I think of you now and appreciate them vicariously

the way you almost, technically, sorta answered your own question, rena 🥺💞

there is no personal lore of sorts, no, but i've been lucky enough to live in places that always had some around, maybe not full fields of them but still enough to notice them on the side of the street, in parks, etc. etc.

and baby francesca learned their name, thought "neat! that's so nice! you can just see them wherever and just, remember! people and places and moments! all the time!"

adding to it that it's such an uncomplicated little flower, it really does seem to grow wherever, almost weed-like in the way it perseveres. it delights me to think that i can look at the ground and stumble on a little reminder 💙

just seeing them makes me smile! and that's really all it comes down to. seeing them and thinking "yes, you're right, i remember" and it might be some time in my teens when i was hanging out with friends on the swings, it might be going to annoy my sister at school when we had recess outside, it might be 20yo me walking to work on my own. they're like little bookmarks!

in conclusion, maybe it was the name that drew me to them first (a flower commanding me to not forget!), but then i noticed just how common they are, how often you have these tiny blue dots winking at you from the ground, and realized.... you know what i mean? i had a bit of an italicized oh moment <3

so for you to come to me and ask this and explain it by telling me you've started thinking of me whenever you see them because you know they're my favorites! that's you forgetting-them-and-me-not and it made me smile like a fool at my laptop

truly the sweetest message i've ever gotten!

[goldrushzukka]

BEFORE THE BEGINNING pls miss alex macdenlesbian, tell us about Sokka picking Zuko up at the bar in And I'll Do Anything You Say

hi rena 🥰

at first i was going to just Explain how it happened with like. bullet points or something. but it got a little out of hand once i decided how it happened so i just wrote it instead. enjoy

before the beginning: something that happened before the plot of my current project

Pink Hair Septum Piercing - "Rhea," she tells him, before she tells him the rest - has a girlfriend, and in hindsight, Sokka probably should've guessed. He doesn't like to assume, but sometimes, especially when those times happen in the Flying Bison, it's safe to assume.

"That's strike two," Suki says when he approaches the bar again. "One more and you're out, babe."

"I know how the analogy works," Sokka grumbles.

"I'm taking my fifteen," she tells Haru. On her way past him, she whispers to Sokka, "swing, batter."

I have been swinging, Sokka thinks, and is immediately glad he doesn’t say it out loud. He knows what he means, but it’d be hard to convince an eavesdropper that he’s not trying to swap keys with all their friends.

The bar is nowhere close to crowded, but Suki manages to vanish anyway. Sokka glances around, mystified, trying to spot her.

And that’s when he sees him.

At the other end of the bar, sipping a drink so red it might taunt a bull, sits the most beautiful stranger Sokka has ever wanted to make a fool of himself in front of.

Beautiful Stranger is watching him. Sort of. He's doing the same thing Sokka does, where he looks over like it’s just an accident, until he makes eye contact and smiles and doesn’t have to pretend anymore. Sokka’s not sure he’s ever been on this end of it before. He's also not sure it’s ever worked before. First time for everything, he supposes.

Sokka thinks, third time’s the charm, and puts on his winningest smile as he saunters down the length of the bar.

He asks Beautiful Stranger, “Is this seat taken?”

Beautiful Stranger looks at him. “You’re pointing to my lap.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Beautiful Stranger’s mouth - oh no, Sokka thinks - quirks into a smile. He laughs like sin and says, “My name’s Zuko.”

“Sokka. Can I buy you a drink, Zuko?”

Zuko gives him a look like molten gold, and Sokka’s heart races.

“Sure, you can buy me a drink,” he says. His voice is like gravel. Sokka has never found gravel sexy before, but this night is full of surprises. Maybe he’ll find a couple more before it’s over.

and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands)

[dickpuncher420]

Okay hell yes to fly half sokka but have you considered the enemies to lovers potential of scrum half zuko who won't PASS THE FUCKING BALL DOWN THE LINE

(my team had a scrum half like this who thought they were better than everyone and loved to make a run for it out of the scrum. pretty sure our fly half wanted to strangle them)

Or just like. Fly half sokka and scrum half zuko and one of them is new to their position or the team and they just can't make a smooth connection out of the scrum and each of them blames the other and they have to work on building those instincts and reading each other's body language and fostering trust. Zuko has to trust that sokka has the best plan for the situation and that it'll work. Sokka has to trust that sometimes the scrum half going rogue is actually an incredible surprise maneuver (and hilarious) and that zuko will deploy it sparingly but effectively

Bonus points if, in the enemies arc, zuko's all like "oh you want me to pass it down the line? Fine!" and proceeds to consistently skip sokka and pass it straight to the inside center (because he has the arm strength and NO sokka doesn't find that attractive at all, katara, it's actually infuriating)

Okay, wow, i also have lots of feelings about a rugby au, phew!

omg. i love rival rugby players zukka but the idea of them being on the same team and HATING each other is so good too lmfao

ok but also i am too fond of zuko being a forward (gotta rep my forwards u know 😤 ) to have him as scrum half BUT. i love the idea of him just. consistently stealing the balls that are meant to go to the backs. sokka wants the ball off the scrum? oops nope zuko is doing an 8 pick again. ball is supposed to go to sokka off a ruck? surprise it’s zuko again, who comes in LITERALLY out of nowhere and intercepts the ball. and sokka is pissed, obviously, but also every time zuko gets the ball he somehow manages to break the line?? bc apparently nobody wants to tackle a crazy 8 man running at them full tilt with murder in his eyes. who knew.

of course they eventually get into a fight over it bc “the ball has to go to the backs at SOME point, zuko” and “you’re gonna get hurt if u dont start using ur brain for once” and huh. weird that sokka cares about whether zuko gets hurt or not but WHATEVER. that’s not the point. the point is that zuko’s a DICK and he’s not being a good team player!!

cue zuko actually starting to make an effort to listen to sokka when he’s calling plays and stuff, and sokka (begrudgingly) admits that zuko is actually a really good player and zuko (also begrudgingly) admits that sokka knows what he’s doing and knows what’s best for the team. and then they start (gasp) actually getting along and suddenly their team is doing better than ever and winning games left and right

oh man and then what if one of them gets hurt and then the entire team just falls apart bc they didn’t realize how much they’d come to rely on each other on the field and OOF. yeah. that’s the good shit 😤

[engagedzukka]

Homoerotic encounters in the pantry with a side of sexual tension are basically a staple of your DDD competition round chapters and I'm trying to figure out how you're going to escalate them from accidental hand holding and hovering inches from each other's faces. Is somebody gonna get railed in the pantry 👀 is this what finally gets them kicked off food network 👀

.

[sokkalore]

mad lad and legend @kouje wrote a zukka princess bride au! it's called "a kissing book"

OPENING A TAB....WILL BE READING THIS LATER THANK YOU

a kissing book by kouje aka the zukka princess bride au i didn’t know i needed until 5 minutes ago and now HAVE ALREADY 

[taotu]

So uh. Are you perchance writing a scene set at a vegan co-op house party in the future? Asking for a friend

(the friend is me and I've been rereading invisible string chapter four and had always assumed that tidbit was foreshadowing for some sexy shenanigans 🧐)

LMAO omg. well there’s an idea... at the time i chalked that weird anecdote up to sokka having vegan co-op trauma but... you have been known to plant narrative seeds in my mind SO... 😯

[hollypunkers]

*sighs*

don't want happiest season for a good, healthy, cute, fluffy wlw relationship or warm-hearted family bonding

*do* watch happiest season to enjoy kristen stewart in increasingly gay outfits, Daniel Levy being charming as all hell and Aubrey Plaza in the role she was born to play (extremely hot resigned small town sapphic)

take a deep breath. lower your expectations. enjoy accordingly

Thanks to my amazing, funny, and long-suffering pal @fruitysokka I am enjoying the movie on the merits of commenting on it

It is so fucking annoying though, like, when are we going to get a fun lgbt romp? Even when stupid hallmark christmas movies color it we cant get it? I just want to have stupid fun. I adore Daniel Levy and Aubrey Plaza and... far more so, Kristen Stewart so that will carry me through.

I hate this girlfriend character though, which is gunna be a struggle.

[dameferre]

I feel like it is my sacred duty, if you like the relationship dynamic of one small act of kindness leading to unconditional devotion, to recommend "invisible string" by @taotu . This is in my top five favorite fics of all time, across fandoms. It has probably THE most thoughtful adaptation of the atla characters in a modern AU that I've read, the characterizations are thoughtful and nuanced and real, the prose is incredible (a real master class of subtle hints of things unspoken), and, oh yeah, it's a fake-dating/bed-sharing fic. I could seriously go on, but please trust me and read this fic

a) holy shit you can tag people in asks now??

b) it has been added to my list!! i’ve got quite a few fics ive been meaning to read for some time now and i’m slowly making my way through because all zukka fics are long fics apparently, but it sounds lovely and i'll give it a go, thanks for the rec !