cuttlekiss's personal blog

but zuko is so awkward and he might be broody but i mean, wouldn't you be broody after the things he's gone through?

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Happy NATLA day! 🎉

Marinette what could POSSIBLY be going on.. this finale is geniunely gonna be crazy omg

Also I’m really sorry if this comes across as mean or judgy. I really am just 100% curious as to your opinion, and I REALLY love your art

Hello, and thanks for asking!

Admittedly, I wasn't too invested in ships when I first watched ATLA. My main was Maiko, and that's because Mai was someone I admired and wished to emulate at the time for personal reasons. Time passed, I delved deeper into ATLA's narrative as a whole, found Zutara...and never looked back.

I never really had any issue with Kataang. It's such a sweet and comfortable ship, and I understand why people love it. It's just not for me (past experiences have shoved me into Katara's place in that kind of dynamic, and opened my eyes to a thing or two).

But other than that, it makes me sad that the writing didn't explore their potential. I say this as someone whose favorite ships are always, and I mean always, Partners (the person who understands you the most, the one who's at your side without question, always) to Lovers.

KA was that, for the longest time. But I feel like their dynamic, pure and genuine as it was, turned stagnant because—in-writing—the will-they-won't-they dynamic became an endless cycle up until the very end. The problem isn't the pairing itself, I think, but the way it was written during the final season.

It's the unresolved conflict of letting go, which would've been so deep and meaningful to see on screen.

Personally, I think of Kataang as a pure-hearted ship. But I don't think that getting in a relationship with each other would be the best resolution in-story, in-character.

And maybe I'm just projecting, but Aang growing to accept that Katara's platonic love for him is all he really wants and needs; and Katara learning to put her own needs and wants before everything else (flimsy predictions, her sense of responsibility to Aang)—I don't know, I think that's beautiful in its own way.

Aang deserves to be with someone who challenges him, who pushes him forward, who doesn't coddle him or put him in a pedestal for fear of doing him harm.

Katara deserves to be with someone she can lean on (as she so wished in canon), someone who would never abandon her or run away, who doesn't put her in a pedestal because they see only a side of her.

Both Aang and Katara deserve to be each other's person, each other's best friend—even if they're not each other's love.

That's the way I interpret their relationship, and the way I would like to see it develop. It doesn't necessarily means it has to be that way, or that you have to agree with me.

✦ 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 / 𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐘

• We meet at last. I confess, the rumors did not prepare me for the reality.   • The contracts bear both our seals. We are bound now, in the eyes of gods and men.   • I would ask that you refrain from such familiarity. This union may be lawful, but it is not affectionate.  

✦ 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 / 𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐆𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐒

• You did not meet my eyes once during the ceremony. Not once.   • I am not unaware that your heart belongs to another. I have eyes.   • You may take whichever chambers suit you. Save mine.  

✦ 𝐃𝐔𝐓𝐘 / 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

• The council anticipates an heir before year's end. We must discuss the practicalities of such an expectation.   • In public, I would appreciate the courtesy of civility, at minimum.   • I did not desire this match any more than you did. Let us not pretend otherwise.  

✦ 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 / 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

• Your realm secures our wealth. Mine ensures your protection. We both inherit disappointment.   • The court is watching. Kindly smile as though my presence does not revolt you.   • I could hear you in your chambers throughout the night. The walls are thinner than one might hope.  

✦ 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 / 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒

• If the ring offends you so deeply, you need not wear it.   • I was to wed your elder sibling. Until fate intervened and the alliance fell into our hands instead.   • Take my arm, if you would. We are expected to present a united aspect.  

✦ 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐄 / 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐄𝐓 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

• I fulfilled my duty to my house. I shall not apologize for that.   • You withdrew when I extended my hand. The servants took note.   • We are not adversaries by choice. Our families made us so. We are merely the consequence.  

✦ 𝐍𝐎 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄 / 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐒

• An annulment would ignite war across three kingdoms. We are bound to one another, like it or not.   • I discovered your correspondence with your former beloved. Hidden in your writing desk.   • I do not ask for affection. I do not even ask for friendship. But mutual respect would suffice.  

✦ 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 / 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍

• We maintain separate chambers for excellent reason. I suggest you retire to yours.   • The alliance grows more tenuous by the day. Without issue, the treaty collapses entirely. • You have taken wine again. To excess. The foreign dignitaries are beginning to whisper.  

✦ 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐒

• This was not my choosing, any more than it was yours.   • I would thank you to cease referring to me as your "treaty obligation" when at court.   • Your house slaughtered mine in the last campaign. Now I am meant to bear your name?  

✦ 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄

• We have been wed nigh on three months. I still know nothing of you.   • A letter arrived today. From the one I was to marry before you. Inquiring after my happiness.   • The physicians grow suspicious as to why I have not yet summoned them. Why has there been no... consummation.  

✦ 𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 / 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋

• You need not love me. But you must dance with me. It is our wedding celebration.   • I witnessed how you regarded them this evening. You make no effort at discretion anymore.   • This arrangement serves every interest save those of the two souls who spoke the vows.  

✦ 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

• Your kingdom required a consort. Mine required access to your ports. Thus, we arrive at this.   • Had I been granted choice in the matter, I would have chosen otherwise.   • The marriage bed serves as political theater. Let us discharge our duty and be done with it.  

✦ 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓 / 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

• You carry the scent of another's perfume. Have the decency to bathe before appearing at table.   • I do not ask for your love. I ask that you cease making a fool of me before the entire court.   • Your father threatened invasion. This marriage was offered as terms of peace.  

✦ 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

• We must sit in proximity. Touch hands. Convince them this alliance holds firm.   • I came upon your private writings. You described wedding me as akin to attending your own execution.   • The treaty contains a consummation clause. We cannot defer this indefinitely.  

✦ 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄

• You bestowed upon me a crown and a title. Everything save the one thing that cannot be commanded.   • I am with child. Do not feign such shock—we both knew this was a possibility.   • I find this as unbearable as you do. The difference is that I am attempting to honor it.  

✦  𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 / 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄