Cold Beboots was cold

[beboots]

The final evening at Christmas Reflections at Fort Edmonton! It ended up being like -27C in the river valley... The poor draft horses had frost all over their coats, and were brought into the stables (switched out for tractors AKA "mechanical horses" ;) ) halfway through the evening. I took a shower right before I left for work, and I put my hair in braids while wet. So after I lit the bonfires, and I realized about an hour into my shift that my braids had frozen. SOLID. Like, icicle cores. D: 

CHECK IT OUT



PIPI LONGSTOCKING COSPLAYS = NOW RIDICULOUSLY EASY. 

And for comparison purposes, here is what it looks like defrosted. SO FLOPPY



Here is a shot of the glorious bonfire I made yesterday, to warm you up wherever you are. :)

Comments

[beboots.livejournal.com]

"You can't treat me like this. You can't treat me like Zuko." I absolutely loved that line for all that it said about Azula, and, well, interactions within the Fire Nation royal family. ;_;

You are very right about Azula's childhood. I mean, it takes two to raise a child, and Ursa WAS there...

"I've made the assumption from the very start that Azula is a fantastic mimic, hence her very early understanding of bending. She has a nice grasp of the theory and fire, but she also can watch people move and then repeat them-- attention to detail that would let her replicate Kyoshi makeup perfectly, move the right ways, and do drill-based fighting very effortlessly. Long story short, those skills should make her a natural at empathy... but she's not." Oh man, I've never thought about it that way before! It makes excellent sense, I think. Perfectionists, by their very nature, have a close eye to details...

[feral-shrew.livejournal.com]

My friend's aunt adopted a little girl that really makes me think of Azula. The little girl was too small to hurt the horses, exactly, but she yelled and screamed and scared the daylights out of the skittish little Thoroughbred (rescued ex-race horse). It took years of being patient and explaining things that seem perfectly obvious, but it worked. There are studies that children with worldviews that look just like anti-social personality disorder/sociopathy just don't understand things that the rest of the world takes for granted. The example the article used was "when you return a car you borrowed, you should fill the tank with gas"-- social contract things that are implied, never stated, so then they come off even worse.

"Oh man, I've never thought about it that way before! It makes excellent sense, I think. Perfectionists, by their very nature, have a close eye to details..."

The best part is that the exact part of her brain/skill set that lets her manipulate people so well and copy things perfectly SHOULD let her understand exactly what people are feeling, but she doesn't. She would need a very new therapy where they coach children through appropriate emotions and responses and seeing from someone else's perspective. It sounds way too basic to some people, but that's how far away some kids are. Azula needed someone to stay with her, and no child throws rocks at turtle-ducks without some reason. I went to school with someone that used to play hacky-sack with frogs, and it took me two years to figure him out a little. He was really, really smart, but people ignored him unless he was being horrible. Something as small as talking to him every day in Criminal Justice class actually made him friendlier. I hated the thing he'd done with the frogs, but when I didn't react to it, we actually talked about the reading and then the news from the last week and... Ursa gave up on Azula, and then there was a line right around the Chase.

Paraphrased: Zuko says "I guess you're going to tell me that I shouldn't think that, because she's my sister." Iroh: "No. She's crazy and she needs to go down." Iroh's part is almost exact. Azula is crazy, okay fine that's debatable, but does she need to go down? She lost her mom when she was six, and you ignored her entirely. Her grandfather is dead, her cousin is dead, you ignore her... that leaves Ozai. Congratulations, Iroh. You let your brother create a "monster." (And Azula's smart enough to know exactly how the world sees her.)

[beboots.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly just nodding to myself as I read what you've written here. ;)

When I was younger, I saw kids my age squish worms on the sidewalk just for fun, but I always felt uncomfortable about it because even worm blood looks red like ours.

I think that Iroh's line in The Chase is too often played up just for laughs (he DID just nearly get killed by his fourteen year old niece) but if you actually stop to think about what he was saying... D:

[feral-shrew.livejournal.com]

At church, a lady with a stroller ran over an earthworm that was at least eight inches long. I immediately ran over to pick the poor thing up and put it over on the grass where it wouldn't happen again. I liked worms, and I still feel bad if I cut off a piece of a worm for going fishing. (I always do it from the back so that if I don't end up using a whole worm, the head end has a chance at still living.)

I do think Iroh's line was meant to be funny, yes, but... eesh. I honestly think Azula made the best choice about who she was going to hit, because how would they have reacted if she had shot the other likely candidates? Aang, Zuko, and Iroh had the most defenses against her attacks. Katara can shield, maybe, Sokka has no real defense (yet) against fire, and Toph might have gotten really hurt if she didn't realize in time.

Sure, she could have not blasted somebody with fire, but they had her cornered and she's not a nice person. She might have seen it as a morally superior choice, because that's how her world works.

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... I suppose that Iroh was a logical choice. Also, I don't get the feeling that she respects him, at all. ;)

[feral-shrew.livejournal.com]

He's old, he's overweight, he talks about tea and nonsense, and he used to be the best general in centuries (and somebody she could respect). He also sent her a doll when she was young.

He's her only uncle, but that doesn't mean that she wants him. It's not like he spent time with her when she was little. He took over for Zuko, because Ozai wouldn't, but the series implies that she and Iroh never had much use for each other.

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Very true. I know it's sort of implied that Li and Lo were Azula's mentors, but they never seemed much use except as mouthpieces for Ozai. :P

[feral-shrew.livejournal.com]

Plus, imagine Li and Lo as the sources of sex ed. Ick. The only other option is Ozai or Ty Lee, really, so... yeah. No illegitimate heirs from Azula.