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vulcan-highblood · 4 years

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(Blue) Spirited Away

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender Pairing(s): Gen Chapter: 1/? Words: 4k Summary: Prince Zuko wasn't able to escape the Northern Water Tribe after the disastrous conclusion to the Siege of the North. However, Aang is more than happy to invite his old pal, the Blue Spirit, to join him and his friends on the first leg of their journey to the Earth Kingdom. (An AU where Aang never learned the true identity of the Blue Spirit, Zuko is desperate, and Spirits enjoy interfering in the lives of mortals)

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Chapter 1: Loss and Losing

Ice, Zuko observed distantly, made for some real dangerous shrapnel.

He swiped at his cheek. Seeing his hand come away streaked with red wasn’t really a surprise, but he was glad the ice shards hadn’t taken out his other eye, at least. So that was one thing going his way. He wasn’t going to count on it lasting, though, not with the way his luck had been going. After all, it seemed like all he’d done since he got to the North Pole was lose things. He’d lost the Avatar, again. Lost Zhao to the Ocean Spirit. Lost Uncle somewhere in the city.

Hopefully he was okay.

Zuko wasn’t even particularly sure of his own status at the moment. Still, he was alive, and trying desperately to sense flying projectiles launched from the remaining catapults of the Fire Nation’s scattered invasion forces - at least, the ones the Ocean Spirit hadn’t yet knocked from the ice and into the icy water. He hadn’t gotten to high enough ground to see exactly how much damage the Ocean Spirit had wrought, but the thing was massive enough to be visible even from the streets. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see more, not if it was out there with the fleet, his fleet, his people-!

Another flaming ball of burning rags tied around a thick jar of oil sailed overhead, crashing into one of the shops ahead, the oil splattering all over the area, burning cloths setting the oil ablaze. It quickly caught, more than Zuko had expected, at least until he realized what building had been hit. A pelt shop. Plenty of flammable materials there. Pulling his eyes away from the burning wreckage, he tried to catch his breath and center himself. He wasn’t sure where to go or what to do. He couldn’t go back to the fleet - if there would even be a fleet once the Ocean Spirit was done with it. Agni, that thought hurt. He didn’t really have time to dwell on it though, shrinking around a corner about two doors away from the burning pelt shop and taking a few deep breaths to center himself, spreading warmth down his limbs, trying to ward off the trembling in his hands. His breath of fire warmed him, but his hands didn’t stop shaking. Furious, Zuko gripped his head, trying to focus on what was happening right now. He couldn’t afford to worry about anything else.

What was he going to do? Where should he go? How could he move at all, when the city was full of Water Tribe barbarians itching for a fight? He didn’t have a plan. When the day started he’d been too concerned with just getting the Avatar. He recognized that as folly, now. Uncle was always on him about making plans, thinking before acting, drinking tea, joining music night… He’d dismissed all that as Uncle stuff, things he couldn’t be bothered with. Besides, he didn’t need to make plans or sit around sipping hot leaf juice and contemplating the weather, much less playing that stupid Tsungi horn Uncle had picked up in one of the colony ports. He managed just fine without all that nonsense.

He, uh. Wasn’t doing so fine right now, though. So maybe Uncle had a bit of a point, at least about the plans and thinking stuff. Not that he was going to admit that.

Another explosion, further off this time. What little luck he had was bound to run out soon, so Zuko needed to change tactics. He’d gone after Zhao, furious. Now, though, his anger had sputtered out, lost to the horror of watching the Admiral swallowed up by the grasping hands of the Ocean. He wasn’t quite sure what to do. The Avatar was with the Ocean Spirit - no way was Zuko going to reach him now, so that didn’t leave him the option of capturing the Avatar. Beyond that, if he stayed, he’d be caught. He needed to find Uncle and get out before the Water Tribe’s forces managed to subdue the meager members of the Fire Nation infantry still standing.

Distracted as he was, Zuko had just enough time to feel something inside him scream Heat! Fire! Incoming! and instinctively wrap himself in a shield of fire as an explosion ripped through the building he’d been huddled behind. It protected him from the worst of the ice debris, fortunately, but the force sent him spinning through the air, skidding across the street of partially-melted ice, tearing his clothing and adding a few more scrapes and bruises to his collection. His rib cage protested that it hadn’t managed to heal from the first cracked rib, so why had he gone and added a second?

Breath control was so much harder with cracked ribs, Zuko thought grimly, peeling himself off the street before freezing suddenly, eyes locked on what lay before him. Staring back at him was a mask. A hauntingly familiar mask, blue and white with a gleeful grimace and narrowed eyes. It wasn’t the only mask lying on the ground, he realized, rising unsteadily to his feet and taking in his surroundings. This mask, along with several others, appeared to have come from the now-decimated remains of the building he’d sheltered behind, some sort of import shop. There were trinkets of jade and other semi-precious stones lying all over the street, along with several stone-carving tools, a few interesting-looking weapons, and even some fire nation odds and ends - probably from the colonies. While it’s true that the Northern Water Tribe had remained mostly isolated, that didn’t mean they had cut off all trade routes entirely. Apparently, some enterprising Earth Kingdom merchants had managed to bring their wares all the way to the capital city itself.

Brushing himself off, watching little ice shards drop from his clothes and clatter to the uneven icy road, Zuko scowled down at the Blue Spirit’s mask. It felt… auspicious. Too auspicious. Still. He wasn’t one to refuse a gift from the spirits, especially one that gave him a chance to hide his face, since he felt it would be unwise to be discovered by either side of this battle. He was, after all, presumed dead by the Fire Navy, and public enemy number one with the Avatar’s group (and by extension, the Northern Water Tribe). Glancing around to make sure no one else was nearby, he scooped up the mask and tucked it under his arm, about to find a new place to hunker down before he stopped suddenly, remembering what else he’d seen scattered among the icy remains of the import store. Weapons… if the shop had weapons, maybe he could find a sword! Spinning back around, Zuko returned to the building, avoiding patches of burning rags and splattered oil to dig through the rubble of the decimated shop.

He was rather unsurprised to find a set of dual dao half-buried under some ice coated in burning oil. With a simple motion and a harsh breath that made his ribs twinge, he moved the fire aside and tentatively reached for the hilt of the sword, checking to make sure it wasn’t hot before scooping it up and swinging the swords around. Not the most balanced of swords, but they were certainly a better option than trying to find one of those whale-tooth scimitars he’d seen the Water Tribe barbarians carrying around. Glancing in the direction of where he could sense Agni, still below the horizon, he bowed respectfully. He knew spirit intervention when he saw it. With all the Spirit activity he’d seen tonight, he was glad that Agni had deigned to intervene on his behalf, more than a little surprised that he’d even been worth the Great Spirit’s notice in a land both inhabited by and devoted to Tui and La.

Next, he needed new clothes. Between swimming with turtle seals, struggling through a blizzard, fighting that waterbending peasant, and chasing down Zhao, his clothes were looking a little worse for wear. Beyond that, the explosion had ripped small tears in several places, letting in the icy wind and forcing him to use his breath of fire. His ribs didn’t like that, much. He needed new clothes.

His eyes slid to eye the shop with pelts. What were the odds…

Quite good, as it turned out, when he began digging through the rubble. He needed something that wasn’t going to stand out, so some of the bright blue clothes he found were quickly discarded, as was any badly singed clothing. A few singe marks would be fine - after an invasion, anyone was likely to be sporting a little singe here or there. But anything that had damaged the integrity of the furs would be no better than continuing to wear the shredded clothes already on his body.

He found the boots first, a sturdy hide boot that, unlike his own boots, were not still soaking wet from polar swims and waterbenders. He could use heat to dry most of his body, but the boots didn’t breathe nearly as much as the rest of his outfit, and he hadn’t exactly had much time to dry his feet, given the circumstances. He did, however, take a moment to do so as he peeled off his soggy boots, tugging on the pale white boots he’d found in his size. He said another mental prayer of thanks to Agni, and made a mental note to definitely find a shrine to make a formal offering whenever he found his way back to a Fire Nation colony. If he found his way back to a Fire Nation colony. That was still firmly lodged in the category of wishful thinking at the moment.

The next thing he found was a warm parka, in a pale blue, almost gray, edged with thick white fur. Good. It was a color that would help him slip through a city of ice, since it nearly mimicked the color of the material that made up the majority of the city structures. He peeled off his outer coat, burning it rather than leaving it as evidence - there was enough fire here from the catapult projectile, a few extra ashes wouldn’t be all that unusual. The parka was much better than his coat. Zuko hadn’t realized how much energy he’d been using to keep warm until he wrapped himself in the soft furs. He should have found some of these earlier, he might have had a better showing in his bout with the Water Tribe girl if he hadn’t been spending so much effort on staying warm.

The last thing he found was some blue pants, not nearly as pale as his parka, but not quite as loud as some of the colorful blues he’d sorted through. They were also warm, he noted, burning his pants as he had his shirt. He eyed his boots, wondering how much fire he’d need to burn them, considering how wet his feet had been. Still, he couldn’t exactly leave his clothes lying around. Knowing his luck, the Avatar’s friends would stumble across them and figure out that he’d changed clothes.

If he was truly trying to blend in, he probably would have ditched the sword and mask and tried to paint his face in a mimicry of the Water Tribe warriors, to try and hide his scar. But he didn’t quite trust the paint not to wash off, and the mask and swords were far more familiar and comfortable. He had no interest in using a new weapon in the middle of a battlefield, especially if he was trying to avoid getting wet in the middle of a city built of ice and full of waterways.

Once he’d rigged up a makeshift cross-body strap to hold the sheath of the dual swords, Zuko made sure the white hood he’d been using to protect his face was adjusted properly, and tied the mask to his face, then paused. He needed gloves, but all they had here were bulky mittens. He wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to use his swords with them.

Then again, he wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to use his swords with frostbite, either. With a sigh, he found the lightest shade of mittens he could find - a hair darker than his pants - and slipped them on. His fingers felt better, at least. Admittedly, mittens would also put a damper on his firebending, but Zuko never used his firebending when he donned the Blue Spirit mask anyway. It gave too much away. Zhao had figured him out, after all. If he was to firebend, even more people might realize the truth. As much as he hated to think it, he was somewhat relieved that the secret had gone to a watery grave with Zhao. Zuko had almost exposed himself during his escape from the Pohai stronghold - only sheer bloody-mindedness had kept him conscious after the Yu Yan archers’ final volley had clipped his mask. The Avatar had gotten away then, too, mostly because Zuko had been fighting back the urge to vomit. Being concussed was not conducive to capturing the Avatar. Though admittedly, Zuko had yet to discover anything that was conducive to capturing the Avatar. As far as he could tell, the little airbending cretin could wiggle out of literally anything. The only times he hadn’t been able to was in that Fire Nation temple during the solstice, and in Pohai Stronghold. Both times, he’d had help getting out. Both times, Zuko had failed to secure him after the escape.

Gritting his teeth, Zuko crept through the city, still not sure where to go. Where was uncle? How were they going to get out of this mess?

As the night wore on, the explosions dwindled until finally, about an hour before sunrise was due, the last catapult was destroyed. Zuko found his way to the rooftops, though he found navigation significantly more difficult due to the numerous canals criss-crossing the city. As the sun began to rise, he watched from hidden alcoves as warriors of the Water Tribe marched captive Fire Nation infantrymen in the direction of the city center.

So. They were taking prisoners. That was… a relief, Zuko supposed. Perhaps Uncle was among their number. Cautiously, he followed the prisoner transport, slipping from shadow to shadow as Agni finally crested the massive walls of the Northern Water Tribe’s capital city.

~~*~~

Zuko was beginning to lose hope of ever finding Uncle Iroh in this Agni-forsaken city of Ice and Slush. His parka was starting to lose the battle against the cold, and the fact that he hadn’t eaten in almost an entire day probably had something to do with that. Zuko had watched transport after transport of prisoners marched into what looked like a hastily constructed stockade, likely a product of several hours’ worth of work from a number of powerful waterbenders. He listened, trying to catch any information he could. One of the master waterbenders who stood at the entrance to the prison was called Master Pakku. He wasn’t especially large or imposing, had white hair, and wore a displeased look that seemed to be permanently affixed to his features. Despite his appearance, he must have been an important figure, as he was calling instructions to groups as they approached, indicating which cells firebenders would be kept, and which ones were designated for non-benders.

Uncle Iroh had been identified as a firebender in the Spirit Oasis, so if he had been captured, he would be on the firebender’s side. Which, of course, was more rigorously guarded and patrolled, because, well. City made of ice. Firebenders. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that much. Zuko was just beginning to mull over which end of the Firebender stockade would be easier to get into when he saw someone running over to Master Pakku. Curious, he edged closer to hear what was being said.

“Master Pakku,” the young man said, “The supplies you requested for your honored guest have been prepared at the eastside docks.”

Master Pakku’s face twisted a little at the word honored guest, but he didn’t make any comment about it. “Good. Leave them there for a while. It’s probably best if he’s not seen making his… exit.”

Curious. Still, not especially helpful, since Zuko had been hoping the urgent news would take Master Pakku away from the stockade. A reduction of waterbenders would have made infiltration so much easier. Sighing, Zuko crept around the back of the firebender side of the stockade. He was going to need to break through the wall, find Uncle Iroh, and get out, all before the guards spotted him. They seemed to be making twenty-minute loops around the stockade, so that didn’t give him much time.

Waiting until the guards had moved past the back of the stockade, Zuko crept to the side of the icy building and pulled off one mitten, urging a soft heat to enter the ice from the palm of his hand. He pushed, breathing slowly, allowing the heat to spread until the wall was just weak enough to crumble. Then he pulled his mitten back on and drew his swords, plunging them into the ice and chopping at it, wincing at the loud noise he was making. He expected the guards to come charging back around the corner any minute, but they didn’t. It took only a few seconds to break through and then wiggle into the prison, but his heart was in his throat the entire time. Once inside, he realized he needn’t have worried so much. There was so much shouting, clanking, and movement going on in the stockade that no one could have heard his ice chipping. He shouldn’t have been surprised. They were still dragging in and processing prisoners at the front, after all.

Now, he just had to sneak through the stockade. The stockade full of waterbenders. Zuko sighed to himself. When he finally did find Uncle, he just knew he was going to get an earful.

Unlike his tricks he’d managed in Pohai Stronghold, such as dousing a firebender’s flames with a bucket of water, the only real way to take down a waterbender was to get in close range, so they didn’t have flexibility. This was true for firebenders, too. The trick in both cases was being stealthy enough to get close. As Zuko softly padded down the hall, listening carefully for any sign of movement, he hoped that he’d be able to bypass the waterbending guards entirely. He couldn’t imagine a situation that was more unfavorably weighted in their favor.

Creeping down the hall, Zuko found the first block of prisoners. Each cell had a small window, which Zuko peered into, looking for his Uncle. Fifty cells later, he had successfully determined that Uncle Iroh was not in this block. He sighed, hearing the commotion of the next block down, obviously still in the process of being filled. Time to see just how sneaky he could be.

It wasn’t like there were any spaces to hide, really. But Zuko had realized that the halls were narrow. Just narrow enough to brace his arms and legs against and scramble up. So that’s what he did, holding himself overhead until the guards finished shoving the prisoners in their cells.

Zuko dropped to the floor as soon as they left, painfully aware that he was running out of time to find Uncle Iroh. Only about two-thirds of the cells had been filled in this side of the stockade, and Zuko had just finished checking them all when he heard a commotion - not from the front entrance, but from the other block.

Of course. His break-in had been discovered.

Panicking, Zuko scrambled into the nearest cell. Since he wasn’t a waterbender, he couldn’t exactly shut the door, but he moved to the back corner and tore off his mitten a second time, focusing on the wall, weakening it as best he could. He hoped desperately that none of the guards would notice him chipping through the wall on his way out, but dared not hope too hard. After all, with his luck, not only would they notice, they’d be waiting for him to wriggle out and then he’d be captured, too. Beneath the panic of escape, a quieter panic was also coursing through him. Where was Uncle Iroh? He had to be all right. He must have avoided capture, that’s all. Surely the Ocean Spirit wouldn’t have harmed him - he’d helped, he had told Zhao to release the moon! Uncle was fine. He had to be.

Wall sufficiently weakened by the heat, Zuko pulled the mitten back on and chopped at the wall with his swords again. If they hadn’t been dull before, they certainly would be by the end of this escapade, he thought wryly.

Once he’d made a hole big enough, he cautiously poked his head through. There was a large group of guards inspecting the hole he’d made at one end, but no one appeared to be looking his way. Unable to believe his good fortune, Zuko scrambled to exit the stockade, only to hear someone shout, “Hey you! Stop!”

He hadn’t bothered looking in the other direction. Now he saw a small group of warriors charging for him. He was still halfway enclosed in a wall of ice. None of them were waterbenders, or he’d already be stuck. Panicked, Zuko tore himself out of the wall and started running. He didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t care. He had to get away, had to move before Master Pakku or one of the other benders saw him and trapped him, he was on ice, there was nowhere to run without water!

Zuko made it to the outskirts of the stockade and charged back into the city. He saw the canal looming before him, but the bridge was several streets down. He didn’t have a choice, he couldn’t stop, couldn’t waste that time. Instead, he poured on the speed, charging headlong for the canal, launching himself into the air as he reached the edge. He nearly made it, scrabbling at the edge of the canal with mittened hands - no firebending, no fire, no way to make handholds - before sliding into the icy water. He wasn’t in there long, gripping the edge once more and pulling himself up to the ledge, hearing the pounding footsteps of approaching warriors. No, no! If they caught him here - !

With a burst of adrenaline, Zuko tore himself out of the canal, rolling to his feet. His clothes were heavy with water and he was freezing now, every inch of him soaked. It didn’t matter. He ran, slipping on the ice as water dripped from his clothes. He kept running, and running, and running, until finally he didn’t hear or see anyone else around. Judging by the scattered rubble surrounding him, he’d somehow found his way into another section of the city that had been damaged by catapults. Stumbling into the first standing building he could find, Zuko began peeling off his wet clothes, teeth chattering. Fortunately, there appeared to be a fireplace, with some wood stacked beside it and several cozy-looking pelts arranged on the floor around it. It seemed like someone’s house, which was good, because there were also some posts to hang up his soaking clothes and allow them to dry by the fireplace.

Zuko wrung out as much water from the parka and pants as he could, then did the same with his mittens and boots. Finally, he arranged the logs and started a small fire in the hut's fire pit. He worried about the smoke, and hoped that anyone looking would assume it was just smolders from the previous night’s attack.

Next, he needed food. After digging around a bit, he found some hard dried meat that tasted tolerable, and some incredibly fishy-tasting pickled fruits. Probably sea-prunes, though Zuko had never eaten them before, he’d heard of them. They weren’t bad, though admittedly he was so hungry he couldn’t have cared what they tasted like. Between the jerky and the sea prunes, Zuko managed a meager meal before wrapping himself up in one of the furs by the fire, and finally drifting off to sleep.

#atla #zuko #blue spirit #zuko fic #atla fic #au canon divergence #blue spirit unwillingly joins the gaang au

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chaos-of-the-abyss · 5 years

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How can you like daenerys

Quite a lot of reasons, actually. For the sake of my time, I’ll limit my answer to ten of them.

1. She tolerates disrespect in her own court.

“We are all dead, then. You gave us death, not freedom.” Ghael leapt to his feet and spat into her face.

Strong Belwas seized him by the shoulder and slammed him down onto the marble so hard that Dany heard Ghae’s teeth crack. The Shavepate would have done worse, but she stopped him.

“Enough,” she said, dabbing at her cheek with the end of her tokar. “No one has ever died from spittle. Take him away.”

How many leaders and rulers in ASOIAF would have tolerated being spat on in their own court? Not many, I’m sure.

2. She’s witty.

“Little girl, another woman once tried to geld me with her teeth. She has no teeth now, but my sword is as long and thick as ever. Shall I take it out and show you?”

“No need. After my eunuchs cut it off, I can examine it at my leisure.”

3. She’s a creative and resourceful ruler, despite having never received any sort of training, unlike the majority of other leaders.

“Not a hole. A ditch, to bring water from the river to the fields. We mean to plant beans. The beanfields must have water.”

Ser Barristan remained. “Our stores are ample for the moment,” he reminded her, “and Your Grace has planted beans and grapes and wheat. Your Dothraki have harried the slavers from the hills and struck the shackles from their slaves. They are planting too, and will be bringing their crops to Meereen to market. And you will have the friendship of Lhazar.”

4. One of, if not the most, compassionate ruler in ASOIAF who is determined to take care of her people, despite what her advisors might say.

“Ser Jorah, you say we have no food left. If I march west, how can I feed my freedmen?”

“You can’t. I am sorry, Khaleesi. They must feed themselves or starve. Many and more will die along the march, yes. That will be hard, but there is no way to save them. We need to put this scorched earth well behind us.”

Dany had left a trail of corpses behind her when she crossed the red waste. It was a sight she never meant to see again. “No,” she said. “I will not march my people off to die.” My children.

It was time, though. A girl might spend her life at play, but she was a woman grown, a queen, a wife, a mother to thousands. Her children had need of her.

Daenerys considers the people under her rule her children. That says enough about her compassion for others.

5. She’s pragmatic and a great military strategist, again despite having no formal training in these matters.

“Ser Jorah Mormont scowled. “You told the sellswords-”

“-that I wanted their answers on the morrow. I made no promises about tonight. The Stormcrows will be arguing about my offer. The Second Sons will be drunk on the wine I gave Mero. And the Yunkai’i believe they have three days. We will take them under cover of this darkness.”

“They will have scouts watching for us.”

“And in the dark, they will see hundreds of campfires burning,” said Dany. “If they see anything at all.”

“Khaleesi,” said Jhogo, “I will deal with these scouts. They are no riders, only slavers on horses.”

“Just so,” she agreed. “I think we should attack from three sides. Grey Worm, your Unsullied shall strike at them from right and left, while my kos lead my horse in wedge for a thrust through their center. Slave soldiers will never stand before mounted Dothraki.” She smiled. “To be sure, I am only a young girl and know little of war. What do you think, my lords?”

The following is describing Daenerys’ conquest of Meereen. Meereen’s walls have no weak points, the Harpies heads can squirt hot oil, and all the trees were burned by the slavers to prevent Daenerys from being able to build weapons. Daenerys doesn’t want to order the Unsullied to assault the wall directly because it would lead to pointless loss of their lives (courtesy of the boiling oil from the Harpies heads). So instead:

“Aegon the Conqueror had won Westeros with three dragons, but she had taken Meereen with sewer rats and a wooden cock, in less than a day. Poor Groleo. He still grieved for his ship, she knew. If a war galley could ram another ship, why not a gate? That had been her thought when she commanded the captains to drive their ships ashore. Their masts had become her battering rams, and swarms of freedmen had torn their hulls apart to build mantlets, turtles, catapults, and ladders. The sellswords had given each ram a bawdy name, and it had been the mainmast of Meraxes-formerly Joso’s Prank-that had broken the eastern gate."

6. She's willing to and makes an effort to learn, and learn she does.

Dany reined in her mare and looked across the fields, to where the Yunkish host lay athwart her path. Whitebeard had been teaching her how best to count the numbers of a foe. “Five thousand,” she said after a moment.

“A queen must listen to all,” she reminded him. “The highorn, and the low, the strong and the weak, the noble and the venal. One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found.” She had read that in a book.

7. She’s brave. Anyone who has the balls to face a dragon with only a whip is far more courageous than a considerable number of characters. And before anyone says,“the dragons wouldn’t hurt her no matter how angry they get, she’s their mother,” yes they would. Drogon tried to kill her.

His head turned. Smoke rose between his teeth. His blood was smoking too, where it dripped upon the ground. He beat his wings again, sending up a choing storm of scarlet sand. Dany stumbled into the hot red cloud, coughing. He snapped.

“No” was all that she had time to say. No, not me, don’t you know me? The black teeth closed inches from her face. He meant to tear my head off. The sand was in her eyes. She stumbled over the pitmaster’s corpse and fell on her backside.

8. Her idea of what it means to rule is extremely idealistic, even after all the exploitation she’s suffered. By intentions alone Daenerys is already a far better candidate as ruler than most other leaders in the books.

“I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn’t have done that. He wasn’t just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”

“Some kings make themselves, Robert did.”

“He was no true king,” Dany said scornfully. “He did no justice. Justice... that’s what kings are for.”

She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself.

She believes it’s her duty as a queen to protect her people and bring justice. In Dany’s eyes, a queen must put her people first, herself second. You’d think someone who suffered under the hand of her cruel and abusive older brother, who she also considers her king, and then exploited and sold like an animal by him to a barbarian tribe, would make a thirteen-year-old girl quite jaded about rulers. But Daenerys still wholeheartedly believes that rulers should be selfless, protect their people, and bring justice, though the people who had power over her in the past did none of those things for her.

9. She’s intensely self-critical.

That morning she summoned her captains and commanders to the garden, rather than descending to the audience chamber. “Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver’s Bay is death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on.”

“You have brought freedom as well,” Missandei pointed out.

“Freedom to starve?” asked Dany sharply. “Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?” Am I mad? Do I have the taint?

“A dragon,” Ser Barristan said with certainty. “Meereen is not Westeros, Your Grace.”

“But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?” He had no answer to that. Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. “My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I’ve freed all over again.” She turned back to look at their faces. I will not march.”

What sort of mother lets her children rot in darkness?

If I look back, I am doomed. Dany told herself... but how could she not look back? I should have seen it coming. Was I so blind, or did I close my eyes willfully, so I would not have to see the price of power?

Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought. Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I.

There is blood on my hands too, and on my heart, We are not so different, Daario and I. We are both monsters.

Bless me, Dany thought bitterly. Your city is gone to ash and bone, your people are dying all around you. I have no shelter for you, no medicine, no hope. Only stale bread and wormy meat, hard cheese, a little milk. Bless me, bless me.

Now we must keep in mind that Daenerys’ chapters are told from her POV. They are not objective by any means. The fact that she’s so self-critical in these quotes (and more) does not mean she can never be a good ruler. It’s a human thing to magnify your failures and judge yourself much more harshly than the others around you, and this is well-communicated on Dany’s POV.

Daenerys was trying to change a system that has been in place and served as the economic foundation of Slaver’s Bay for countless years. It’s an extremely radical - even revolutionary - change. There’s not a single character that would have been able to work that situation out smoothly and without bloodshed. Yet Daenerys never takes this into consideration, she simply blames herself.

The fact that she’s so self-deprecating reveals a lot about Daenerys. For one thing, she clearly doesn’t attempt to mentally shift the blame off of herself when things go awry. This means that she’s self-aware and willing to take responsibility for her actions. Being self-critical is also something I can very much relate to, so I empathize with Daenerys here.

10. She freed slaves.

I can already hear the storm of antis crowing that she did an awful job, which is ridiculous and I dare them to do any better. When such a revolutionary change is brought about, there is simply no way it’s going to go smoothly. Like I said before, there isn’t one character in ASOIAF who would have flawlessly handled the situation Dany was in.

The “white savior” argument is also something I find odd, because slavery in ASOIAF is not race-based. Among the slaves Daenerys liberated, there were Lyseni, who are blonde-haired and blue-eyed.

I love the fact that Daenerys, despite being a queen, empathizes with the lowborn. She’s experienced the same things they have - mistreatment, fear, exploitation, to name a few - in a time that she had no say about what happened to her, like them. When she does gain power, she does her best to use it primarily to help others.

“I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I’ve freed all over again.” She turned back to look at their faces. “I will not march.”

“Enough.” Dany slapped the table. “No one will be left to die. You are all my people.” Her dreams of home and love had blinded her. “I will not abandon Meereen to the fate of Astapor. It grieves me to say so, but Westeros must wait.”

#asoiaf #asks #daenerys targaryen #dany defense squad #daenerys defence squad #daenerys defense squad

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pigeoncentric · 4 years

Text

i did an A:TLA rewatch and took notes because that’s just what i do, and here’s the notes if anyone wants to see my thoughts

i haven't watched atla since about a year before korra started airing, so like, around 2011. i should also mention that i never watched korra through to the end, but i guess i'll do that after this. if i feel like it. i do know that the biggest bottles were never popped

i have such a clear memory of the first episode. it must've been on nickelodeon pretty often, even though when it was airing, i only watched it occasionally. i remember they also aired the library episode super often.

aang's voice is so tiny and sweet

i gotta turn off my dumb adult brain and put my dumb kid brain back on so i can better appreciate the nickelodeonness of it all

sokka and zuko's first interaction.......

zuko's intimidating approach and then his tiny teen voice

SOKKA AND ZUKO'S SECOND INTERACTION............

zuko's like "i'm going home." with aang. he must be feeling an incredible mixture of feelings, thinking he has the avatar and can reclaim his Honor. but he also must be terrified to go back, and in disbelief... fortunately he's not going home like he said and there are even more confused feelings in between

i just remembered that iroh's voice actor dies between seasons :(

thinking a lot about dante basco... no thoughts in particular, just a lot of them... and how he shipped zutara lmao

"my troubles cannot be soaked away!"

hei bai looks like a ben 10

mounts list (added to as i progressed through the series): zuko's rhinos. earth armored ostriches. metal noshing mole. north pole goatyak. azula and friends' fur geckos. sabertooth moose lion if you're not a wimp. appa-sized beetle. moose with aquatic features. Eel Hound.

you can't out-mom-friend katara. even when she's yelling and being reckless

it's true... airbenders are weak to nets.

the n*tfli* captions are making several mistakes. eat my ass ne*f*ix and hire me to do flawless captioning instead you dumb fucks

YEAH! even by episode 13 in season 1 we already know zuko is a good boy! well also by episode 12. and earlier. well i've seen the series before.

i've just learned that zach tyler eisen is the voice of aang and i have to give him huge props for having the perfect voice. i pay a lot of attention to voice acting, usually in a nitpicky way, and i've never heard an english voice actor whose voice is perfect on the level of ikue ohtani... and when he was like 12 years old. incredible. i'm not being remotely sarcastic

i gotta be 100% honest. i had completely forgotten the existence of zhao and that he's actually a pretty important character, at least in season 1. also his voice actor is pretty good. generally the voice acting is good in this show, and i'm picky.

god the animation where aang makes one catapult catapult the other is so good. also appa just picked up and grabbed a guy. with his fist. wait how many toes does appa have? is that 18 in total? also appa has scutes on his ventrum. anyway i love that appa can pick up and grab a guy but generally chooses not to. gives it more weight when he does choose to

zuko tells turtle seals to be quiet and then touches them unkindly :(

zuko busted out of katara's ice orb instead of melting it :\

zuko put his hood up like iroh told him to but aang just has his naked bald head in the snowy cold :(

seeing zhao grab and bag the moon spirit fish made me feel sick. such a foul act

god. the quality rope. i noticed sokka mention it and was like, "was this a chekhov's gun or a red herring" and then a few minutes later there was a pointed pan over to the quality rope.

anyway examining the quality of the voice acting here leads me to a thesis i might gather evidence to prove: american english voice acting for cartoons is far higher quality than american english voice acting for anime dubs. or is that just something obvious that everyone already agrees on

anyway anyway, the episode ended without the quality rope being put to use. unless i missed it, which is entirely possible.

jesus i heard azula's first lines and got an instant flashback to all the tumblr drama about grey delisle and her tumblr account and how she pretended it wasn't hers or something let's just erase all of this from my brain right now

this is kind of out of nowhere and borderline inappropriate but i'm glad characters in avatar are illustrated with nipples when they're shirtless... it always disturbs me a tiny bit when shirtless characters are depicted with zero nipple, not even a hint of nipple. (Aladdin.) not just because it implicitly stigmatizes something everyone has, but also because this scenario always plays in my head where it's like, a little kid sees a cartoon character without nipples and they think, "so i'm not supposed to have these..." and they start feeling weird and bad about themself... all you need to depict a nipple is a single unobtrusive dot. nothing visually offensive or explicit about it.

even to an audience who doesn't understand any cultural context, you can't not see the significance of zuko and iroh cutting off their topknots...

fandom seems to see sokka as the silliest one when in fact at least 40% of his entire role as a character is to be the tsukkomi

underrated moment: "you've got an elbow leech." "WHERE?! WHERE?!"

zuko should be a good boy and only steal if it's from pirates

stealy zuko stealing money and buying iroh a teapot !

god i forgot what a tiny baby voice toph has... so tiny

zuko trying really really hard but doing a bad job hammering (tears)

azula set up zuko and mai for a lucky sukebe...

when zuko's mom told him not to forget who he is, she didn't mean to remember that he's a prince and an heir as he revealed to the unsuspecting earth kingdom village. she meant to remember that he's someone with at least the base level of empathy and compassion, unlike most of his immediate family...

i still think aang's voice actor did a great job but i bet it sucks to be a young boy doing an excellent young boy voice and then when you grow up a little and presumably experience some puberty you just Cannot do the young boy voice anymore. hopefully in most cases where that happens, it's at least not abrupt

placing a bet that the writer for episode s2:e10 (the library) is different than most of the other episodes. i don't like it very much, at least in the first several minutes. if it's a name i recognize from the credits of several other episodes, i might be a bit disappointed in them. seriously, there's one stinker after another. and with such a great concept of an episode...

i didn't recognize the name of the guy who wrote this episode so i thought i was right but no, he wrote a bunch of episodes. must have been off his game for this one... either that or i'm in a very unforgiving mood and don't realize it... also when i went on wikipedia to look at who wrote which atla episodes, i learned that the animation for the show was split between two animation studios, and they're both korean. ah, i guess that doesn't mean all the animation took place overseas, as DM movie has a headquarters in the US. according to wikipedia.

oh, they're BUZZards... i get it... i gotcha.

aang with a vengeance is both scary and sad to see. but he does understand that property damage is nothing compared to a life

people who love azula are the exact same as people who love vriska: [comment redacted]

they have american birds in the avatar world. i keep hearing an eastern wood-peewee going "pee-pee-uwee" in the background :3

the serpent's pass seems geologically implausible.

sokka should really get face paint all over his face when he kisses suki. or like, the cartoonish image of when someone is covered in lipstick lip smacks, but it should be suki's makeup color

appa's been through so much and now he has to meet a boarcupine?!?! fortunately he still knows how to pick up and grab... but still :(

he touched appa's scutes and read them like a palm...

longshot translated his meaningful stares into out-loud words for katara and friends

zuko forgot that azula always lies :(

zuko should know that being redeemed in his father's eyes is the opposite of what he wants...

i LOVE aang's passionate tsungi horn dance

there are spring peepers in the fire nation

god the dripping of the rotten clams is so excessive

you know how ultrasonic humidifiers can create water vapor without heating it into steam, by vibrating it super fast? let's try that with waterbending, it'll be cool

two different bad guys have been skipped across the water like a rock

i love the fake time lapse of cleaning the river... and it showed how with pollution in real life, stopping the source of the pollution is not enough. it needs to be removed as well

sokka deserves LOTS of credit just for being able to handle a boomerang.

GOD THE SLOW PAN OVER THE BEAUTIFUL SWORD (in 3:4)

sokka also deserves LOTS of credit for being able to admit he doesn't know everything.

i managed to forget that zuko turns his back on iroh, while remembering that at some point, iroh gets buff

the voice of sokka's master is the voice of the boulder. right? right? no? are you kidding me? i suck at this

seems like kissing azula would have immediate consequences, like something melting

zuko is poorly socialized

zuko still forgot that azula always lies. even when she's being somewhat humanized in an episode like this.

so avatar roku had earthly attachments he did not let go of, presumably. such as his wife. did he have unfettered access to the avatar state? that's what i would ask him during this expositionfest if i was aang.

so sozin could do heatbending... that's amazing. i think i missed that the first time around.

that's right, zuko came back and his hair is long enough, but he hasn't recreated his topknot.

hawky is the only atla animal that poops on camera.

if you're gonna bend sweat, you might as well bend spit, and it's a little easier to obtain

wait so... is combustion man also a heatbender? i'll have to look into it later. [looked into it later: the avatar wiki has termed it "combustionbending?" are you shitting me?]

ooh it's the bloodbending episode! i'm pumped.

someone made a post about how when they watched this show and they were a kid they were thinking about how the characters are hot, and now they're watching as an adult and the characters are all tiny children... that's how i've been feeling. also season 3 episode 8 aang's voice sounds a little bit pubertous.

anyway damn this bloodbending episode is outright traumatic. good shit

oh, now zuko's topknot is back.

appa's armor covers each individual toe <:3c

i seriously misremembered the course of zuko's character development. and the timeline of the invasion in general. but now i understand that zuko has to tell his dad to eat shit face to face.

watching zuko's "zuko here" practice speech hurts 100% as much as it did the first time i saw it. and when he's delivering it to the gaang it's impossible to watch. i didn't put my hands on my head-- they just went there unbidden.

i kinda can't help picturing dante basco's face every time i hear zuko talk. the whole time. it's sometimes not optimal to know the faces of voice actors. especially when you're like me and you're not good at pushing out unwanted mental images.

what the fuck, combustion man? he just loves assassination so much you can't take back any orders. also i can't help but imagine that if you put a slice across his third eye his combustion would be fully inhibited. well i guess that's not a problem anymore.

i like that the gaang are a variety of heights, and that they're all noticeably shorter than most of the adults they meet. it just makes it feel realistic

if it was a US max security prison and prisoners were escaping they'd probably just fucking murder them

i love how when mai starts up the gondola again and azula is like "what is she DOING!" and ty lee just makes an "iunno" noise

tfw your best friend abandons you because you wouldn't let her murder her own brother

chit seng didn't get to free his girlfriend and best buddy :(

funny how azula seems almost docile when she's getting everything she wants. typical narcissist. well ok not the least bit typical.

sokka ate the rose. i remembered this scene Too clearly. but i didn't remember that.

um... was that the full moon? when katara bloodbent that guy? i should've looked at the sky... i went back and looked and still didn't see if it was the full moon. maybe the wiki knows. i don't care enough to look it up properly.

i was wondering when the melon lord would show up

none of the teens understand the obvious solution of defeating the fire lord by beating him INTO SUBMISSION (or oblivion) instead of killing him. just like in every anime fight ever. it's over when you acknowledge you've lost or you can't fight anymore, not when you die. (for the #1 best example of ending a fight the right way, see the way luffy defeats crocodile.)

so i know aang's gonna defeat the fire lord by essentially hitting him with a forced purification beam to the face and make him realize the errors of his ways or something. the fun part is how we get there

bumi bending entire houses through the air

aw i forgot the turtle island didn't have a cute face.

jyong jyong firebent a jet platform to fly around on?!

i guess the firelord can fly around like bakugou katsuki

i forgot that aang took away his firebending... and sokka hops up to him like "well, look at you, buster"

i'm glad i decided to watch this again. even if i didn't do a great job paying attention tbh. well i did spend a bit of time carving a little wooden spoon while i was watching. anyway i was thinking i wouldn't move right on to korra but rather read some of the atla comics that i know exist but have never read whatsoever. i wonder if i can find them in some kind of library...

i found the comics illegally on the internet and read a whole bunch (up until the end of the "zuko finds his mom" arc). i didn't write my thoughts down as i was reading, so i don't remember them. that's how my worthless brain works. i do remember that i found the comics satisfactory as an accurate extension of the show, and that i feel ambivalent about how azula is written/treated in the comics.

i don’t know if i feel like rewatching korra yet.

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askduelistyugi · 7 years

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Mystical Elf: Yugi, while Dark Magician is usually in charge of strategizing duels, it was actually my idea for Catapult Turtle and Black Luster Soldier to help you defeat Mai in the Duelist Kingdom finals. However, it was a last minute plan since we could not see what was going on inside the deck. Beaver Warrior suspected that it was because you and Yami were not in sync at the time.

Oh, wow- thank you for your help then! And, yes….. the Pharaoh and I were each fighting eachother for control of the duel then…. I was terrified he would lose control and recklessly hurt someone, like he almost did before…..but, thankfully, we learned to trust one another, and came out with a victory. And now- our bond is closer than ever.

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darkmagicianseyeliner · 2 years

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my favorite part about the cave scenes is mostly that we aren't exactly sure if it's ryou or yami bakura in control, so when he comes tearing down the tunnel with a skeleton on his back, i have to assume that, if it's yami bakura in control that he saw the skeleton, chuckled, and was like "let's have some fun" because he's just a punk bitch that way

#catapult turtle kingdom #yami bakura just fucking around and biding his time

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allcheatscodes · 7 years

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goat simulator android

http://allcheatscodes.com/goat-simulator-android/

goat simulator android

Goat Simulator cheats & more for Android (Android)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Get the updated and latest Goat Simulator cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, guides, hints, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for Android (Android). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the Android cheats we have available for Goat Simulator.

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Genre: Simulation, Pets

Developer: Unknown

Publisher: Unknown

ESRB Rating: Everyone

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Hints

Currently we have no tips for Goat Simulator yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Cheats

Unlockable Mutations

Angel Goat : Unlock the “Angel Goat” achievement

Devil Goat : Unlock the “Devil Goat” achievement

Feather Goat : Find 10 Golden Goat Statues

Giant Goat : Find 20 Golden Goat Statues

Goat Queen : Become the Queen of Goat Ville

Goatborn : Unlock the “Alexander Goatstafsson” achievement

Ripped Goat : Unlock the “Alexander Goatstafsson” achievement

Robot Goat : Unlock the “Trying to bring forth Sanctum 3?” achievement

Space Goat : Find all 30 Golden Goat Statues

Sweet Autumn Goat : Unlock the “Trying to bring forth Sanctum 3?” achievement

Tall Goat : Find 5 Golden Goat Statues

Unlockables

Achievements

A Story about my elevator : Get up on the skyscraper without using theelevator

A story about my goat : I’m sorry about my goat

Alexander Goatstafsson : Win the title bout!

An Unnecessary Journey : Throw the dwarf Bilbo into the lava

Angel Goat : Do no evil.

Around the World on 5 Trampolines : Visit 5 trampolines in one jump, bouncingon each trampoline once.

Better than Warlords of Dredmor : Reach level 101

BFF : Lick a friend

Boat ride : Enjoy your trip

Boulder of Death : Hit the party with the Boulder of Death.

Builder Goat : Find all the blocks

Butthurt : Do a lot of hurt. With your butt.

Cardio kills your gains : Drag a person into the treadmill with your tongue.

Columbian Sugar Lord : Ride the boat while on a sugar rush

Demogoat : Have 10 gas cannisters explode at the same time

Devil Goat : We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.

Disgusting : Why did you step in that? Yuck

Dodge This : Make sure the Hillbilly never drives again.

Elfstreet Boys : Baa with the choir

ExcaliGoat : Unlock the ExcaliGoat mutator

FINALLY : Become the master of the goat tower.

Flip-Kick : Kick something in the air while doing a backflip

Goat of the hill : Everything the light touches is your kingdom.

Goat Queen : Become the Queen of Goat Ville

GoatBuilt : Get on top of the Parkour obstacle course

Goats ‘n’ Stuff : Hold your own concert

Goatta catch ’em all! : How do you catch goats?

Gravity Goat : Unlock the gravity goat mutator

Hat Simulator : Buy all hats

Here’s Johnny! : Wield an axe with your tongue

I can’t believe that worked : Do 10 front flips in one trick.

I freaking love goats : Find all collectibles on level 2

Involuntary QA : Ooops, the game seems to have crashed.

Is that a goat? : Lick the rollercoaster with 6 batteries attached

Jörgen : Jörgen.

Jousting Goat : Unlock the jousting mutator

Ling Ling into battle go : Fight the turtles

LOEK master : Find the Sanctum 2 Walker Statue

Love or Hate? : Find all the trophies on the MMO Level.

Malleus Maleficarum : Burn them!

Mattress Madness : Bounce 100 times on mattresses within 30 seconds.

Maximum MLG Big Plays : Knock a bucket into a person

Mermaid Goat : Unlock the mermaid mutator

Mile High Club : Lick the Hanging Glider.

Music Non Stop : Jump on the launchpad

Neckbeard : Smell and look like one

Not again. : Get deviously trapped again

Old Goat : OMG IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?

One Ball : Ride a bike for 60 sec

One man, two shots and a religion : Inflate that guy’s knee

Pedestrian : Find the Sanctum 1 Walker Statue

Powerhoof SMASH : Kick a person into a car

Rymdskepp i Rymden : Travel to space!

Sällskapsresan : Visit all zones on the MMO level

srsly : srsly

Stand by for Goatfall : Finish all wallrun quest

Steal the show : Do a card trick at the magician

SteamWorld Goat : Get to a depth of 200 in SteamWorld Goat.

Steve’s Quest : Give Steve Works the apples

The Flapmaster : Score 10 points in Flappy Goat.

The Icelandic Experience : It never erupts when you want it to.

The mage’s favourite : Burn people from afar

The Savage : Paint with all the colors of the wind

Tony Goat : Finish all manual quests

Try Hard : Find all the trophies in Goat Ville!

Trying to bring forth Sanctum 3? : Sacrifice the 3 Sanctum items.

Valkyrie : Go on the catapult with a rider on your back

Vegas, baby! : Hit The jackpot.

Voluntary QA : Trash the server room

What is its purpose? : Thrash the Goathenge

Wheel Goat : Unlock the wheel of time mutator

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Goat Simulator yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for Goat Simulator yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently we have no guides or FAQs for Goat Simulator yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

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