WHEN : oct 15th, 1995 ; hemingway's birthday party <3
WHERE : thoreau & whitman's apartment
STATUS : open to everyone
"man, i love a sunday party. hope all of us show up with a raging hangover tomorrow," hemingway chuckles as he finishes making his drink—a very unsophisticated mix of vodka and some disgustingly sweet soda. it's great. about ten more of these and maybe he'll start feeling them.
"thanks for being here, by the way. i really appreciate it," he grins at them, warm and genuine. he's only learned to enjoy his birthday in the last ... five ? six years ? ( does it even matter ? considering ... ) before then, it felt like an uncomfortable burden; a rock stuck in your shoe you can never get rid of. who knew you just needed the right people to make it better ?
"i'm making everyone sing karaoke. it's my party and y'all sing if i want you to," he sings the words to the tune of the lesley gore song, then bursts out laughing. "i think london should do cyndi lauper."
i will NEVER understand why bryke thought that quasi-face stealer amnesia plotline in the search comic was a good idea. never till the day i die.
because here’s the thing. i’ve harped before on how fucking dumb it is to take the character whose central line in the og show was “no matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are” and have them immediately afterwards 1. actually somehow just not leave the country they were banished from, and 2. deliberately and knowingly choose to have their own memories wiped. like ???????!!?
and yeah, that then leaves the question, when it’s revealed in late s3 that she was banished and is possibly still alive: why didn’t she ever come back for her kids? why didn’t she at least seek out zuko, who was also banished and therefore at least theoretically accessible to her? why didn’t she try to intervene when she presumably learned about the agni kai and her son’s disfigurement? and if she never learned of it, how could that be without her either deliberately forgetting she had kids or choosing to actively ignore any opportunity to get information about them?
and my friends, this is where the silliest part of the whole kerfuffle is. because there was ALREADY a built-in, solid, well-explored piece of worldbuilding that could very easily have answered all of those questions in a way that wouldn’t fundamentally violate the basic foundations of her character’s nature. that piece of worldbuilding? the city of ba sing se.
As a writer, this solves so many of your problems. If Ursa ends up in ba sing se (which there’s decent reason for her to do, given that it’s entirely reasonable that she’d be worried about ozai changing his mind and deciding he needs to tie up loose ends, and that the city just repelled iroh, making it about the most secure location she could get) then once she makes it inside the walls she discovers there is no war in ba sing se. suddenly, trying to get information about anything to do with the fire nation, let alone the royal family, becomes extremely difficult and dangerous. she has a plausible reason not to know, or have very little and extremely delayed awareness of what’s happening to her children.
also, the city is fucking massive and packed to the brim with refugees. even with zuko and iroh getting all about the lower and upper ring, it’s completely plausible for her to have even still been there without amnesia and just. never happened to cross paths. big cities are like that. you could see a million people in a day that you’ll never see again and they’ll only be a tiny fraction of all the people there that you’ll never catch a glimpse of. plus, once you’re lucky enough to get in as a refugee, it’s probably not so easy to leave again, especially if you want to have a chance of being able to come back.
if you really want the amnesia plot, the dai li/joo dee worldbuilding is already set up there too! all you have to do is have ursa keep trying to find out about her kids, maybe even discover zuko’s banishment and try to either reach out or leave the city in response, and have the dai li catch her in a sting to crack down on citizens promoting awareness of the war.
badabing, badaboom, ursa gets joo dee’d and now you have an amnesia plotline without ursa deliberately abandoning even the memory of her kids.
Summary: In which someone makes a bet that they wouldn't catch you if you ran towards them at full speed while their hands are full. So, you decided to test it out.
Characters: Illuga, Lohen, Xiao, Kinich
Illuga
Absolutely, 100%
Would drop everything in his hands just to catch you even if he was holding something precious or fragile. The only time he wouldn't catch you would be if he was holding something sharp or dangerous, anything that could potentially harm you if he accidentally dropped you.
“!? W-Wait! I'm still holding onto Sir Flins’ supplies!! If you fall—”
Despite his increasingly panicked attempts at persuasion, his body moved quicker than his mind. In less than a second, his hands had already dropped everything onto the floor and his feet were planted firmly into the ground, arms spread widely to catch you just in the nick of time
Uses his entire body to cushion the impact and slow you down, making sure that even if the two of you were to fall, he would be the one hitting the ground first. Luckily, his feet were planted firmly enough into the ground that none of you ended up tumbling onto the ground, with yourself landing safely into his arms.
After double (maybe triple) checking that you weren't hurt, he proceeds to chew your ear off for the next hour or so, reprimanding you for your reckless and irresponsible actions. That was far too dangerous! What if he slipped before he could catch you!?
“Don't ever do something so reckless again. If you do, don't expect me to catch you again (｀ヘ´)”
He absolutely would. But he would also prefer if you were to greet him normally next time instead of giving him a heart attack
… At least the feeling of carrying you in his arms more than makes up for it
(More below the cut)
Lohen
“Oh?”
He watched as you hurled yourself towards his direction, intrigue and a hint of puzzlement sketched onto his face
Depending on the time of day, there's a 50% chance Lohen would open his arms and catch you so that the two of you would fall together, as well as another 50% chance that he'll wait right up until the moment you're almost in front of him, step aside and then catch you just as you were about to fall face first into the ground. What can he say? An eye for an eye, a surprise for a surprise.
Honestly, he finds your trust in him rather endearing. Even though you know that he has a million tricks up his sleeves, you still chose to run towards him at full speed with your arms wide open, not caring if he was in the mood to catch you or not. It made his heart sing with pride, knowing that you had such blind trust in him.
Fortunately for you, he decided to play nice today and catch you immediately. The moment he tosses everything away and your body hits his, one of his hands curls around the back of your head while his other arm slyly snakes around your waist, keeping you pressed as closely to him as possible even when his back hits the gravel below.
“Too bad. Such tricks just aren’t enough to catch me off guard, darling.”
He doesn't try to fight back the wolfish grin surfacing on his face, nor say a word back when you start complaining. Only when you start trying to lift yourself off of him does he make his move. In the blink of an eye, he rolls over and pins you down into the same patch of gravel he was once lying on top, trailing his hand slowly from the back of your head down the back of your neck, all the way to your collarbones.
“Next time, don't announce yourself before you start running— not like that would stop me from sensing your presence beforehand anyways~”
Xiao
“Absolutely, 100%” the sequel
Wouldn't even think before dropping everything to catch up to you. He would even take a few steps forward to lessen the amount of time it would take for you to reach him before patiently waiting for your arrival with his arms wide open, counting down the seconds until you found your way home
Just like the first time he caught you back at the Jade Chamber, his arms are firmly wrapped around yours. Only this time, instead of them being over your shoulders, they are pressed closely yet warmly against your back, gently pushing you to fall deeper into his arms until your head hits his chest
“Did you need me?”
He asks in a calm, steady voice, thinking that any matter that required you to run to his side with such urgency without calling his name was one of utmost importance. If you had called, he would've undoubtedly reached your side in a moment's notice, perhaps even before his name had fully even left your lips. Too quickly? Nonsense. In his eyes, that was the least he should do.
When you told him that you simply wanted to see if he would drop everything just to catch you, he would blink in surprise before letting out a scoff so soft that it couldn't be called anything but fondness.
“If you think our bond was that weak, you needn't test me. I wouldn’t have appeared before you if you didn't mean anything to me.”
After a flicker of hesitation passed his face, he lowered his face and awkwardly nuzzled his forehead against yours, suppressing the urge to look away in order to whisper against your lips.
“... Since you're here now, can you stay a little longer? There’s a plate of almond tofu here that I would like you to try… Who made it?... I… cannot say.”
Kinich
“Ajaw”
“???”
“Catch”
“！？！？ KINICH YOU @%£@%@£@%£@@%@%£@££@%@%%@£@”
Tosses everything to Ajaw and forces him to catch it all before opening his arms as wide as possible, readily bracing for your impact
Honestly, if he had more time to prepare, he would’ve preferred putting everything aside to make better preparations on how to catch you. However, since the things he was holding onto were needn't to complete a commission, he had no choice but to rely his closest companion (which unfortunately had to be Ajaw) and improvise on the spot
Luckily, all that time he spent carrying you around his house before had taught him all he needed to know. Before you had even reached him, he took a few steps forward and waited for you to skid to a stop. Once you did, he ceremoniously placed one arm behind your knee, one arm behind your back and BAM— a princess carry.
“... Should I ask?”
He raises a questioning brow, waiting for you to speak. Once you finish your explanation, he simply sighs before pressing a tender kiss to the top of your head, looking down at you with a mix of exasperation and affection.
“The price for scaring me doesn't come cheap. I hope you're ready to pay for that stunt you just pulled tonight.”
