To recover from ... everything.. I watched Legend of Korra after my birthday.
It's now one of my favorite animated shows (might beat out Steven Universe too). I'm also so glad that two of the main characters -- Korra and Asami -- are canonically bi and together at the end. Like, they really made that ending scene with them pretty iconic. They decide to go on a vacation together after everything that happened, and then look out at the spirit portal, and the sky is literally the bi flag, muted to look like sunset of course, but bi flag. And them in the portal holding hands and mirroring the wedding pose from a few minutes prior? Yup. They're in love.
I honestly think Season 3 and 4 of Legend of Korra is its strongest seasons. In three, Asami and Korra really bond and start to grow close, and Korra makes a sacrifice to save those she love - understanding that might be her duty someday. In a way, it mirrored Season 1 and 2, both of which she struggled with people seeking to take her Avatar self from her, but in those two seasons, she's able to bounce back. At the end of Season 3, she doesn't bounce back right away; she is truly suffering with chronic illness. In Season 4, seeing Korra in that wheelchair, seeing Asami love and help her no matter what, seeing Korra struggle through physical therapy and PTSD and healing -- that really spoke to me as a disabled person with PTSD and who uses a wheelchair. It was so rare to feel seen in a show.
Yes, Korra wanted to go back to her old self, but the show showed that her thinking of the wheelchair as trapping her was holding her back as much as her PTSD and impatience to push things faster than her body could heal. The wheelchair was a tool in the end, and when she healed enough, she could put it aside. Just as its a tool for me. I often need it to move around anywhere these days, but on my good days (often ironically after a T shot), I can stumble about on my crutches. Using different tools to live out my life. And that's okay. I am okay as I am, and I will still be loved as I am. Just as Asami loved Korra just as she is. I might not have a romantic relationship like those two, but I do have my found family, who I game with weekly on Thursday nights. They remind me how loved I am.
I also found Legend of Korra: Turf Wars comic, and holy crap, this is the most queer/bi comic ever, and I'm here for it. There's youtube videos that have the first book of it read by the original voice actors. Definitely one of my favorite comics. It shows the beauty and love inherent in Korra and Asami's relationship; how they work so well together, how they get through arguments in a healthy way, and how they listen and seek to understand each other. It's such a healthy dynamic, which I feel is often rarely shown in America's media.
I also read Ruins of Empire, and... I don't know if I like it. I get what they were trying to do with it, but it didn't quite jive with what we knew of the metal clan in the animated series. Though there is a scene of Korra and Asami in a room together, and it's very obvious that they now share a bed. Love to see it.
It inspired me to write more about the pair as they had such a healthy relationship in the show and comics.
I hadn't been able to write very much -- beyond these posts, and 1 short story all of last year -- because LongCovid has messed me up so much. But I stayed with this fanfiction - listened to the music, relistened to scenes to capture their voices, and because I didn't have to recreate my own characters and settling, my brain found it easier. Like a gentle practice field. Or a field to sow my seeds for when I am well enough to finish my original novels (set in my Elivera world).