crookedmouth-mountainbones

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Good afternoon, Captain Ta Ming!

-What is your favorite invention or technological marvel to date? Have you ever had the pleasure of tinkering with it?

-If you could create any gadget or contraption, what would it be and what would it do?

-Confidentially, what would you say is the most irritating habit of your fellow soldiers?

The soldier blinks, and the barest fraction of tension leaves her body as she clearly enters a state of consideration.

"Since Fire Lord Zuko's ascension there has been a great deal of trade and growth across the nations. One hears tell of various... inventions and advancements, but whether these are matters of truth or imagination can be hard to tell, sometimes. I suppose if I were to have a preference for such things, it would be the artificial onsens that have been made available in some of the cities. A combination of plumbing and furnace systems and enginery that allows for a large body of water to stay heated, and in a state of perpetual motion, mimicking the thermal springs and pools that occur naturally throughout much of the Fire Nation. It's not terribly advanced technology, given that many of those same systems of pipes have been part of our war machines for years, but the application of it is novel. And most pleasant, I imagine. I have yet to visit one." Her mouth quirks, and it is unclear from her expression whether she is flattered or confused or quite likely a combination of the two.

"Ah, my apologies, but you have me at a loss. Certainly I have found machinery to be... comforting, in its design and reliability, the way that it can be taken apart and examined and improved upon, but I have no mind for such pursuits as... creation. I need a thing to exist before I can understand it."

Ta Ming is older here, has lived through the Hundred Year War and the various programs set forth by her newest Fire Lord to encourage an unlearning of a century's worth of propaganda. Her eyes are tired, and even still, there is no mistaking the flicker of them left to right as she considers who else might be within earshot.

"I imagine we all have... habits. Barrack-mates whose boots always smell, senior officers who confuse the loyalty of their charges with something to be taken advantage of, the sneering competition between divisions. It's hard to care about any of that when you're all collectively dodging boulders or fending off monsters from the deep, when at the core you and the men and women beside you -- no matter how irritating -- are all fighting for the same glory and preservation of your nation.

"But, whether by intent or accident, I can say that our differences in the definition of honour ran far deeper than semantics. And there were... consequences."

#oc ask game #ta ming #soldier girl #pointy boots #i am SO sorry it is taking me this long to respond #work in the games industry i said #it'll be fun i said #thank you for the ask! #moonsugar-and-spice

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Jhu Lin, shouting down at Bao from where she hangs over the railing of Ta Ming’s tiny airship:

“Hey, steambun! Do you miss having hair?”

Bao’s steps slow. His green eyes cut skyward with a glint of steel then lock onto hers as a slow, sly smile spreads across his face. Amusement and something darker, more predatory. He barks a caustic laugh, harsh and guttural.

Hair is a mere ornament, doll, a glorified decoration. I’ve got more important matters to focus on. Less to burn in a fight besides, and it’s a lack I more than make up for in other ways.

Scars, now they tell a real story, and they’re a damn sight more interesting than any silken tresses. Though, I suppose yours wouldn’t be entirely useless in the right… circumstances. Come down, firebird, and I’ll show you just how little I need hair to make an impression.

#oc ask game #atla oc #bao zirrik #bao the bloody #jhu lin #oc shenanigans #this was absolute impulsive tomfoolery on my part #thank you for indulging when i let the breasts boobily steer my brain

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

#fallout #the ghoul #cooper howard #well hot damn #if there was ever an ‘incorrect quote’ for me it’d be this

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Best character in fallout, period

PRINT

#fallout #cooper howard #the ghoul #mostwantedpotato is best potato #because they keep drawing my faves #thank you for the food #in the wise words of one of the cast concerning the lack of nose: i can work with it #there is to be no ‘making him better’ here #but by all means let him do his worst

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

#atla #natla #avatar last airbender #netflix avatar #spirit oasis #siege of the north #fire nation #zhao’s there in the background being his goober self #rip tui

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

I’d say I’m sorry for the vaultghoul trash I am about to become, but I’m actually not.

#fallout #lucy mclean #cooper howard #the ghoul #vaultie #vaultghoul #ghoulcy #dammit all we need consistent ship titles! #naturally i would veer towards a cannibal as a potential partner #the whole cowboy thing helps too #immaculate opposites attract #enemies to lovers hard mode #move over red string of fate trope — stitched finger is where it’s at #just because you don’t ship it don’t mean it don’t float

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Lu Da what challenges have you faced as an Earth Kingdom pirate/privateer working for the Fire Nation?

Well, for one thing, the whole “Earth Kingdom blood” business throws a tiny wrench into the welcome wagon, as you can imagine, with plenty of offers for a complimentary dirt nap.

Lu Da flashes a sharp grin, one tattooed cheek claiming more of the feral than the other, as a scowling lout shoves past him, hard, with a sneer. He glances over his shoulder, not at the lout or the stool where his empty drink sits, but for the soldier who’d yet to return with their second round.

Lotta folks here eyeing me as a traitorous outcast, to say nothing of what my own’ll think once word catches. It’s an awkward sorta limbo, yeah, but that’s a worry for another day. A guy’s gotta live, and in my line of work, the only fealty sworn is to the coin. Till my contract runs out, that coin is Fire Lord Ozai’s, whether they like it or not.

To top it off, then there’s the pirate business. Hard for some to stomach their lord consorting with a man of my occupation. Thing is, Ozai’s an opportunist. He’s in this to win it. He saw a way to skirt the red rope and fancy rules and a guy who gets shit done with the track record to prove it. Mercenary of my notoriety is a perfect weapon in the right hands.

So yeah, safe to say these first weeks since getting my official papers’ve been like hauling a treasure chest through a pit of blasting jelly. Part of why I got this soldier up my ass all the time now. Courtesy of the Fire Lord, for my protection. ‘Course I know damn well it’s as much a leash, keeping me in line, making sure I’m good for my word. And who better than a duty-drunk buzzkill who can cut a man down in two paces?

There is a cheeky tug at the edge of his voice, and his lips curl with it.

Can’t even take a shit without her sense of honor breathing down my neck. I’ve tried shaking her off a few times—dove headfirst into the mob at a Fire Festival, started a tavern brawl with some oafs twice my size—but dammit if she's not there again like a stubborn itch. If an itch were also useful, and deadly. Almost can’t help but admire the grind. Small price to pay for a lucrative gig, I s’pose. 

To boil it down, it’s a precarious balance that keeps me sharp, but the gossip and stink-eyes and death threats are just noise in the end. The results’ll speak for themselves in time. Never been one to shy away from a challenge, ‘specially when there’s good coin to be made and a reputation to uphold. What matters is the job at hand, and right now, that job is doing any and all dirty work Fire Lord Ozai wants done.

He casts another glance over the throngs, pausing to wink at a large man who spits a slur in his direction.

“Now where are our drinks?”

Ask my OC anything

#lu da #oc ask game #pirate king #atla oc #i love him your honour #soldier girl #(mentioned) #the adventures of this guy! #*kicking my feet twirling my hair giggling* #the biggest challenge of course being coming up with the best/worst nickname for zhao

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Howdy folks!

There’s been a stirring amongst the ultra rare pair fans, so the mods thought we would test the waters and see if there’s enough interest to run this event for the third time.

Fill out the form below and let us know what you think!

#avatar wtf weekend #atla #tlok #legend of korra #avatar last airbender #avatarwtfweekend #rare pair event #rarepairs #fanfiction #fanart #tiny ships with dedicated crews #just because you don’t ship it don’t mean it don’t float

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Since days ago was the eclipse,,,,Agni and Yue ☀️🌑

#atla #avatar last airbender #yue #agni #solar eclipse #eclipse2024 #day of black sun #i fucking adore this #such a fun concept #la in the background jealous as hell

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Jhu Lin have your every had sex in public? what is your favourite sex position and are you a top, bottom, or switch

Jhu Lin idly twirls a strand of hair around her finger as she leans against one arm, listening to you with a languid and utterly amused smile.

"Define 'public', darling.

"Here's the thing -- once we complete our contract and accept the terms, most of us girls don't leave the premises. Maybe they do it differently in the Earth Kingdom, but here in Agni's blessed nation we've got a sense of ritual and restriction, even for this."

She frees her hand from the thick strands of hair, gesturing dismissively with both shoulder and wrist.

"Personally, I don't think it much matters where the fucking happens so long as it happens right. If a client wants me out on the balcony, where anyone passing by might see..." she adopts an expression of exaggerated scandalization before dissolving into a smirk "...that is easily something that can be -- and has been -- accommodated.

"There's a certain thrill to it, perhaps, but someone willing to set a scene can have you feeling even more exposed in total privacy."

A raucous cheer from the far corner of the brothel foyer momentarily distracts you, and when you return to the next topic, the look in Jhu Lin's eyes is positively predatory.

"I'll bet you're thinking about it right now, aren't you? Me... positions..." there is no way that the slow slide of silk down her shoulder is accidental. "But the truth is that I like it best when there's more than one. Not in a cock-on-either-end way, but more of an embrace. It's warm, there's a totality in the level of contact and touch, and generally it's just less work for me."

"As for that last bit... well. What do you want me to be?"

#oc ask game #jhu lin #breasting boobily #thanks for the ask! #thanks anonymous #ever more brothel lore building #she's beauty she's grace #she wants to sit on ozai's face

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Sending queries for Bao ‘The Bloody’ Zirrik via a very nervous courier.

- Favourite person, and why?

- Has anyone, or anything, ever made you think maybe you were in the wrong line of work? Whether that be an unexpected joy in doing something else, not wanting to end up like someone, or perhaps, witnessing something so awful it liquified even your bowels.

- Is there anything you regret?

Bao leans back in his chair as he looks up from the letter to study the poor courier, his mouth crooking with an amused scoff.

Sentimentality has no place in the world I've carved. ‘Favorites’ can shift like sand in a desert storm. Sure, there’re those who’ve earned a measure of my respect, a few I’ve called friend, but it’s a currency easily devalued by incompetence, by betrayal. The ones at my side today are well familiar with the price. Though sometimes, in the dead of night… I think of my mother. Her laugh, her honeyed tea. I don’t linger on such things long.

There is a flicker in his skewering green eyes, there and gone too fast to name, before he grins. It is cold and dark and mocking.

Wrong line of work? The past is a graveyard of tittyfuckers who’ve doubted and dithered. Now I walk on them as I tend my garden, do my whittling out there too. Every man’s got his pastimes. Always had a knack for shaping things, maybe I missed my calling to be a sculptor, eh? But people are more interesting, and more malleable, than wood. And only fools and the weak can indulge the luxury of doubt, it’s not one you can afford in the chaos of forging an empire, a legacy.

Bao's smile shifts, and he shrugs one beefy shoulder.

Seen plenty. It can be a messy business, violence, and sometimes it's a damn spectacle. One standout was just the other week, some waterbender charged up on this new black market drug. Spiked a guy’s blood pressure so high it turned him into a human geyser, blood spraying out every hole and making new ones like juice bursting from a hot, overripe melon. Terrifying, sure, in an exhilarating kind of way. If anything, it hammered home the point that there’s only two sides to this coin. And if you’re not on one, you’re on the other.

As for regret, every choice has consequences, some foreseen, some not. I underestimated an upstart once. Saw their ambition, their hunger, and mistook it for recklessness. Shame, too, could've used them to my advantage.

#oc ask game #bao zirrik #bao the bloody #atla oc #oc shenanigans #*cut to jhu lin and me having a cackle* #awww… he’s a mommy’s boy! #for real though goddamn is he an eloquent villain #moonsugar you’re not allowed to do that #i CANNOT add this man to my list

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Me, remembering what Bao did to him:

Lu Da, what is your favorite swear and why?

Agni’s tits and every variant of it you can imagine is the one I’m likely known for. Might be a strange habit for an Earth Kingdom boy, but the Fire Nation has some of the best swears and a coin’s a coin no matter where it’s minted. But it's not my all-time favorite.

That distinction has to go to the one spawned in frustration with a young fumbling felon who, bless his heart, “Could fall into a barrel of tits and come out sucking his thumb.” I’m not just talking missing the mark; I’m talking missing the mark so spectacularly it made me question whether he could find his ass with both hands and a map.

Mercifully not a phrase I’ve found myself needing often, but it’s a favorite for its combination of ‘What the hell did he just say’ and ‘It’s true, swearing can be an art.’

Fuck me if the kid wasn’t trying his best, but there just wasn’t any hope for him in our line of work. Never woulda said it out loud though, least not to Bao, if I’d known what he’d do to him.

Ask my OC anything

#oc ask game #lu da #atla oc #when it comes to colourful language lu da is the rainbow #the mantis shrimp #*coughs* emphasis on the MAN *coughs* #the legend

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

You've always followed orders without question Ta Ming, but even the most hardcore soldiers have doubts sometimes. Have you ever had a twinge of doubt or questioned your Fire Nation's scorched earth approach to the war?

The six-hundred days of the Siege at Ba Sing Se are often spoken of without thought to the many other days that were spent marching from the coast to the Earth Kingdom's capital. Early on General Iroh directed several low-ranking soldiers -- including myself -- to accompany the Rough Rhinos special cavalry on a number of missions.

It was, as you might imagine, an honour to be so close to such revered military specialists -- men who had the general's utmost respect and trust. But there were... impracticalities... to their methods. Colonel Mongke was an excellent strategist, but he relied heavily on terror in ways that felt contradictory to our ultimate goal of sharing the glory of the Fire Nation.

We encountered several isolated forest communities during this time, all clustered near Gaipan. One of them, Sān Kē Shù, we burnt to the ground. The colonel had decided they needed to be made an example of. After all, the people had been... unreceptive.

I've been told that the trees in that area produce a special kind of aromatic oil, and are particularly fragrant when burned. I can still smell it, sometimes, when I dream.

#oc ask game #thanks for the ask! #love-speaks-in-flowers #ta ming #soldier girl

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

For the Truth or Dare game, if I'm not too late!

🧃 🍄 🍦

Share some personal lore you've never posted about before. - Personal lore? As in, something about myself? Well, despite having never been responsible for cleaning the morgue at the hospital where I worked as a teenager, I was on two separate occasions, mere inches away from individuals who had recently passed on.

Share a headcanon for one of your favourite ships or pairings. - Not necessarily a romantic pairing, more of an "&" scenario, but I strongly headcanon that Iroh and Toph maintained a close relationship following the events of the Hundred Year War. Somehow they were able to be emotionally vulnerable with each other and exchange advice/observations in ways they couldn't elsewhere.

Name three good things about a character you hate. - Guaranteed this one is going to get me some flack, but I actually don't really like Alistair Theirin from Dragon Age. "Hate" might be a strong word for how I feel about him, but it suffices for the purpose of the ask. - As for three good things... There are a lot of directions that Alistair's character can go in, depending on what branches the player chooses, and these extend beyond Origins all the way into Inquisition. From a gameplay perspective that's not only complex but impressive. I also happen to like the depth this adds to the experience -- real people are just as mutable. Origins has a very grim premise, all things considered, and in dark settings there is often a need for comedic relief and brevity. Alistair's character accomplishes this, and likely was more original in its delivery before the Marvel snappy-comeback became such an established aspect of entertainment. Assuming that we take the extended universe of the comics as canon, I also respect the fact that Alistair is willing to do some dirty work as a king, and not leave everything to others.

#ask game #truth or dare #moonsugar-and-spice #thanks for the ask! #apologies for being so delayed

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

some doodles of the Kinumi-adjacent OC troupe

#i love them your honour #kinumi #atla oc #monochromeswirl draws #the expressions are priceless #i like to imagine they’re not looking at a character off-screen but me as i stare at them through my phone #yawen #tingfei #akina #lian

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

Today I learned about shipping Korra with this rando White Lotus guard, who the fandom named Howl.

I've been in this fandom for almost four years and have literally never heard this. WHICH IS TRAGIC!! The last Korra/Howl (Howrra) fic was published in 2014.

A rarepair forgotten? I shall not stand for this.

Consider the challenge accepted. Looks like Howl is taking a trip to Republic City. I wonder who he'll find there?

#tlok #legend of korra #howrra #korra #howl #white lotus guy #rarepair renaissance! #rarepair #shipping #small ships with dedicated crews #just because you don’t ship it don’t mean it don’t float

[crookedmouth-mountainbones]

“people literally just made shit up to ship”

legend of korra book 1 shipping was wild. there was only one season of content so people literally just made shit up to ship whilst we wait for book 2. enough people were indifferent to the love triangle and it's conclusion, so any pairing had it's fans (especially borra compated to now). people loved amon x korra. ppl started a fandom for the hot order of the white lotus guard and shipped him with korra.

#tlok #legend of korra #shipping #crackships #rarepairs #amorra #just because you don’t ship it don’t mean it don’t float #rip white lotus guy — i think you were called howl